“But the greatest event that has ever occurred has happened in our Own Days, viz.:
“The Rise and Progress
of the
Great Empire of Britain,
With its immense Dependencies;
Its vast Colonies;
Its Huge Centres of Commerce,
Amongst which can be numbered those
Great Emporiums of Trade, viz.,
London on the Thames
and
Townsville on the Ross.”
I liked this town and its go-ahead spirit; and could see fine possibilities before it. They have had the bad taste to allow the rocks and cliffs to be covered with huge painted advertisements of somebody’s sewing machines and the like.
I sat down on the rocks under an umbrella sketching, surrounding by goats, children, dogs, flies, and the empty tins and bottles. The dogs, flies, children, and goats were deeply interested in my work and gave me no peace; the empty tins and bottles were done with the vanities of life and had no interest in Art. Now and again goats and children fell over rocks for my benefit, and then came to see if it was made historical in the picture, and were quite put out that their artistic efforts had been in vain. The goats butted me behind, and the children said I must “Go a-wy, or else they would put me in the By,” which was quite poetical of them. (These sketches of Townsville—as the proposed capital of the new colony—were published in The Graphic, but neither colony nor capital has come into existence. When The Graphic returned me these sketches, after using them, accompanied by a nice cheque, they addressed the letter to “Victoria, New South Wales. Australia.” Victoria and New South
