THE

BOOK OF THE BUSH

CONTAINING

MANY TRUTHFUL SKETCHES OF THE EARLY COLONIAL LIFE OF SQUATTERS, WHALERS, CONVICTS, DIGGERS, AND OTHERS WHO LEFT THEIR NATIVE LAND AND NEVER RETURNED.

By

GEORGE DUNDERDALE.

ILLUSTRATED BY J. MACFARLANE.

LONDON:
WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED,
WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE.

CONTENTS.

PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.
FIRST SETTLERS.
WRECK OF THE CONVICT SHIP "NEVA" ON KING'S ISLAND.
DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER HOPKINS.
WHALING.
OUT WEST IN 1849.
AMONG THE DIGGERS IN 1853.
A BUSH HERMIT.
THE TWO SHEPHERDS.
A VALIANT POLICE-SERGEANT.
WHITE SLAVERS.
THE GOVERNMENT STROKE.
ON THE NINETY-MILE.
GIPPSLAND PIONEERS.
THE ISLE OF BLASTED HOPES.
GLENGARRY IN GIPPSLAND.
WANTED, A CATTLE MARKET.
TWO SPECIAL SURVEYS.
HOW GOVERNMENT CAME TO GIPPSLAND.
GIPPSLAND UNDER THE LAW.
UNTIL THE GOLDEN DAWN.
A NEW RUSH.
GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.
GOVERNMENT OFFICERS IN THE BUSH.
SEAL ISLANDS AND SEALERS.
A HAPPY CONVICT.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

ILLUSTRATION 1. "Joey's out."
ILLUSTRATION 2. "I'll show you who is master aboard this ship."
ILLUSTRATION 3. "You stockman, Frank, come off that horse."
ILLUSTRATION 4. "The biggest bully apropriated the belle of the ball."

"The best article in the March (1893) number of the 'Austral Light' is a pen picture by Mr. George Dunderdale of the famous Ninety-Mile Beach, the vast stretch of white and lonely sea-sands, which forms the sea-barrier of Gippsland."--'Review of Reviews', March, 1893.

"The most interesting article in 'Austral Light' is one on Gippsland pioneers, by George Dunderdale."--'Review of Reviews', March, 1895.

"In 'Austral Light' for September Mr. George Dunderdale contributes, under the title of 'Gippsland under the Law,' one of those realistic sketches of early colonial life which only he can write."--'Review of Reviews', September, 1895.

THE BOOK OF THE BUSH.

PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.

While the world was young, nations could be founded peaceably. There was plenty of unoccupied country, and when two neighbouring patriarchs found their flocks were becoming too numerous for the pasture, one said to the other: "Let there be no quarrel, I pray, between thee and me; the whole earth is between us, and the land is watered as the garden of Paradise. If thou wilt go to the east, I will go to the west; or if thou wilt go to the west, I will go to the east." So they parted in peace.

But when the human flood covered the whole earth, the surplus population was disposed of by war, famine, or pestilence. Death is the effectual remedy for over-population. Heroes arose who had no conscientious scruples. They skinned their natives alive, or crucified them. They were then adored as demi-gods, and placed among the stars.

Pious Aeneas was the pattern of a good emigrant in the early times, but with all his piety he did