The book has been rebound. It has new black boards which frame part of the original ones which have been neatly cut and pasted onto the new one. This includes the original spine, which has a tear towards the tail. The contents page has had a short tear near the inner edge which has been repaired with acid free tape. It has new paste downs and end papers, though the original end papers are foxed and the back one staine as are pages 343-344, the last index pages, though only at the edge and not badly. A clean, and needless to say solid copy. Includes 5 maps, one of which is a fold out one. PREFACE: The rapidity with which Australia has risen into importance is without parallel in the history of the world. Eighty years ago the Great South Land was a terra incognita, whose outline was uncertain and whose interior was unexplored. Within the memory of persons now living the first detachment of European settlers landed upon its shores. Yet the colonies then founded probably surpass, in wealth and population, England in the days of the Tudors. In the course of a single generation Australia has reached a position which few nations have attained by the slow growth of centuries. From the vastness of itsresources, the energy of its settlers, and its commanding position, it is impossible to prescribe limits to its future.Every English village, almost every family, has helped to people its towns, cultivqe its soil, cover its pastures with flocks, or explore its mineral treas.. res. Some of our most important manufactures depend for their prosperity upon the raw material which it supplies. Its yield of gold affects the money-markets of the world.The design of the present volume is to trace the history of this progress, to describe the soil and climate, the flora and fauna-so strange to English eyes-of its different colonies, and to give exact information upon the points likely to interest persons about to emigrate. It is believed that in no other work on Australia are the statistics so recent and so full. Statistical returns are indeed somewhat uninteresting to the general reader, yet in no other mode can the progress of the colonies be so clearly traced, or their present position be so accurately defined.The Author writes from long and familiar acquaintance with the country and the people. He has visited all the colonies, has resided in most of them, and has enjoyed special advantages for arriving at a just estimate of their history and prospects. Differences of opinion will, of course, exist as to many of the questions discussed : he does not pretend to infallibility ; but he claims to have spared no pains in his investigation of the facts, and sedulously to have aimed at impartiality in his judgment of them. For all the statements made and opinions offered he alone is personally responsible.The plans of towns and harbours add greatly to the value of the volume. For these acknowledgments are due to Messrs. Blackie and Sons."