19 JULY 1919, Page 22

A Source Book of Australian History. Compiled by Gwendolen H.

Swinburne. 5s. net.)—Australian history did not begin until Tasman first discovered the island-continent in 1642, and, for practical purposes, dates from the later part of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless this collection of fairly long extracts from original sources is curiously interesting, especially in regard to the difficulties of the early settlement. Wakefield's scheme of colonization is naturally included,. Mrs. Clacy's account of Melbourne in 1852, at the height of the gold-mining fever, is a vivid picture. She met a young man of good family who was earning f400 a year as a carpenter, and still spent his nights " at some ball or soiree among the elite of Melbourne."