herself to climatic decrees was a lesson still to be learnt. Oxley spoke
honestly when, in bitter disappointment, he prophesied the future of the
great plain to be that of an unprofitable waste, wherein the work of
men's hands and the cunning of their brains would avail nothing; but he
spoke hastily and almost thoughtlessly. The great plain had its glorious
mission to fulfil, but the secret, like all things worth knowing, was one
that took time and labour to solve; not in one or two generations was it
to be done.

There was one great factor in the reclamation of the desert that Oxley
could not take into his calculations--for he did not know its power--the
sure, if gradual change wrought by stocking. Under the ceaseless tread of
myriad hoofs, the loose, open soil was to become firm and hard, whilst
fresh growths of herb and grass followed the footsteps of the invading
herds. The shaking bogs and morasses were to become solidified, and the
waters that permeated them to retreat into well defined chains of ponds
and lagoons. This the first explorer could not foresee, he was
disheartened by what he found, and unwitting of the change that was to
follow he gave a hostile verdict. But although it did not fall to his lot
to trace out the great system of the Murray watershed, he had, at any
rate, the proud satisfaction of achieving the first stage.

Governor Macquarie, whose name has been sown broadcast over so much of
New South Wales, was a man bent on the development of the colony as
rapidly as possible, and although the defects in his administration have
been severely criticised, exploration received at his hands every
encouragement, and during his tenure of office, the first steps were
taken to open up the vast field of inland discovery. We must now remember
that the adaptability of the country to pastoral occupation was fully
recognised. The days when famine was imminent if the fleet from England