Statistics of Australia

Abstract

The material improvement in our Australian colonies, since the discovery of gold in that region of the earth, being, I believe, unexampled in the history of our race, I have thought that a few statistics, drawn from reliable sources, marking the wondrous progress in wealth in these dependencies of the British crown, might not prove uninteresting to this society. Thousands of our countrymen are flocking to that land, wherein they hope to realize, in a brief period of time, fortunes sufficiently large to place them in comfortable circumstances during the remainder of their lives. In this expectation a few are so fortunate as to have their hopes realized, but very many are doomed to disappointment. On the whole, however, the general result produced is an extraordinary progress in wealth ; and so enormous is the amount of commercial activity, that the trade of Melbourne has reached such a degree of importance, that its port is now said to rank fourth in the British dominions.