from the Albany-Beverley Railway, at a point ten miles from Albany, to the rich hardwood forests at Torbay. The concessionnaires were Messrs. C. and E. Millar, who agreed to build, outfit, and maintain a 3-ft. 6-in. gauge line within one year, from November, 1889, in return for a grant in fee-simple of 2,000 acres of land for every mile constructed. The Messrs. Millar contracted to fence, clear, and cultivate one-twelfth of their total grant within seven years, and a further one-twelfth within the following seven years. The Government retained the right, at three months' notice, to purchase the railway at the rate of £1,000 per mile. At the end of fourteen years the line was to revert to the Government free of charge. The work was completed on 18th November, 1890.
The Government persisted in their determination to improve the Fremantle Harbour. Sir John Coode was again communicated with, and he approved of opening a passage through Success Bank into Owen anchorage, and through the Parmelia Rock into Jervois Bay and Cockburn Sound, if necessary. The Government at first favoured the construction of a harbour at Owen anchorage, connecting it by a short railway, one mile and a half in length, with Fremantle. Mr. C.Y. O'Connor, the Engineer-in-Chief, advocated the construction of moles nearer Fremantle. He did not think that there was any evidence that sand-travel existed. In the absence of any artificial mole or abrupt headland there was no positive proof. Any accumulation, however, could be counteracted by dredging. His scheme included the erection of two breakwaters, extending from Arthur and Rous Heads, at the mouth of the Swan, and the excavation of a channel between the moles, through both rock and sand. An inner basin would also have to be excavated, and wharves and stores constructed. The estimated cost was £560,000. An extension, or rather the completion, of the scheme included further excavations in both the inner and outer channels, and the prolongation of the wharves, which would bring the cost to £800,000. Other engineers took Mr. O'Connor's view as to the sand-travel. The two schemes were debated by the Government, by Parliament, and by a Joint Committee of the two Houses, and it was formally decided, in 1892, to accept that of the Engineer-in-Chief. On 16th November of that year the work was set in progress, when Lady Robinson "tilted" the first load of stones for the formation of one of the moles. Thus it was left to responsible Ministers to make an organised attempt to solve the problem—as old as the colony—of providing a safe harbour at Fremantle. By this scheme it was hoped that a commodious harbour would be provided at the mouth of the Swan River Estuary for the berthing of steamers of the Royal Mail lines. Large limestone quarries were opened up at Rocky Bay, on the Swan; whence a short railway ran to the proposed moles, and tipped the stone into the sea. The mole from Rous Head, on the north bank, was designed to have a length of 2,934 feet, and that from Arthur Head, on the south bank, of 2,956 feet. The channel between them was proposed to have a depth of 30 feet from low water-mark; and a width at the entrance to the harbour of 700 feet, with a maximum width further in of 1,500 feet. The first wharf was to be 3,350 feet in length, and when the whole works were completed of 6,250 feet. The total superficial area of waterway was designed to be about 187 acres. Harbour improvements were made in various other ports of the colony. On all the coasts the Government enterprisingly spent public money to assist trade and commerce.
It would seen that the gold era of Western Australian history waited until the granting of self-government. Although discoveries were made over a wide area before 1891, the developments were not be compared with those which quickly followed. That stimulus which is begot of responsibility in affairs worked with gratifying force in the mining industry. The Government, localised and determinate, could quickly meet the rapidly changing conditions and requirements without having to refer to statesmen in another hemisphere, who knew nothing whatever of colonial life. The Forrest Government, in this regard, was vigorous and anxious to accelerate and foster development in every conceivable way. No Government could have done more, and few would have been courageous enough to do so much. This fostering care, this expeditious manner of giving help to a new industry, undoubtedly contributed very largely to the rapid and even sensational developments of the Western Australian goldfields. In water conservation, in supplying transport facilities, in appointing wardens and registrars and police to administrate the fields on the spot, and in giving miners and prospectors as many advantages as the peculiar circumstances would admit, they pursued a bold and successful policy.
The condition of the Yilgarn field at the beginning of 1889 was not encouraging. The usual storekeepers and publicans had followed the prospectors and set up in business in the mining camp at Golden Valley, but so gloomy was the outlook that they now thought of abandoning the place and moving back to civilisation. Of all the claims that had been pegged out only a few were being worked, and these with little success. There were between seventy and eighty men at Golden Valley, but only about thirty of them were working regularly. There was little system in the methods of mining, and the miners yet on the field were not capable of efficiently prospecting and developing reefs. Mr. Woodward, the Government Geologist, said that most of them were successful only when they found "gold sticking out on the surface," and even then they did not know how to develop the quartz reef in which it was embedded. Combined with this unfortunate ineptitude was a scarcity of water. Most of the water discovered by sinking was salt, and it was principally from the soakages of the granite outcrops that fresh water could be obtained. The Government made tanks in various places, but the supply had given out by February, 1889, and the Warden granted holders of protection areas thirty days' exemption. Under such circumstances the prospects were gloomy indeed.
But reefs more promising had been come upon. About thirty-five miles to the south of Golden Valley the Phœnix party—Mr. Risely and other prospectors—had discovered, in 1888, good reefs at a place which they named Southern Cross, because they used that constellation as a guide while travelling to the locality by night. There was a series of true lodes, running more or less north and south, which held some rich quartz. The surrounding country was dreary and of comparatively slight elevation. Low, thickly-timbered hills, with flats and clay pans, or lakes, made an unattractive picture. The reefs generally appeared in the low ridges, but in some cases they were found on the edges of the lakes. Here, too, water was scarce and salt, and prospecting was therefore difficult. Several companies were soon formed in Perth and Fremantle and so hopeful did the outcrops seem that shares were applied for by people in the other colonies, especially in Adelaide. The Central, Central Extended, Fraser's, and Fraser's South gold mining companies were floated, machinery was ordered, and
