The School Tour to Australia
[The first organized tour of British school boys to Australia has been very successful. Be Story is here told by the Bev. G. H. Woolley, V.C., M.C., who was in charge of the boys throughout. We hope that further tours to other parts of the British Commonwealth will follow, for it is impossible to overestimate the benefits of such visits. —ED. Spectator.] THE party of forty boys from British Public and secondary schools which left England on August 3rd for a tour through Australia has just returned. The object of the tour, organized by the School Empire Tour Committee, of 39 Victoria Street, S.W. 1, was primarily educational—to give boys of from 16 to 19 years of age a practical lesson in history and geography, and in the meaning of the British Empire. It is also hoped that by such tours unity and good will within the Empire may be strengthened by the knowledge gained and by the exchange of hospitality, and that the visits may have a favourable influence' upon Empire settlement and trade. Certainly the generous kindness lavished upon the party by all concerned deserves the recognition of people at home in the way of increased interest in the needs and opportunities of the Australian Cztamonwealth, and it will be found that interests of Dominion and Mother Country go hand-in-hand. Commonwealth and State Governments, mayors and councils of cities and small towns, owners of estates and managers of factories, all combined to entertain the boys and to show them what the country offers both in the way of natural beauty and of commercial value. Private people gave the hospitality of their homes, so that the boys all got an insight into the ordinary home life—in most ways so similar to that at home.
• The tour took us through parts of every State. In Western Australia the itinerary was arranged under Government supervision by the Young Australia League, which in 1925 sent a party of 140 Australian -boys on a tour to England and Western Europe. In each State thanks to the help given by the State Governors and Premiers, first rate programmes were fixed up; and we were almost overwhelmed with invitations for excursions,
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evening entertainments and dances.- -For the most part the capital cities of each State were the headquarters of- the party during our stay, but excursions were arranged so that we should see as much as possible of the country life in each State. The provision of sleeping cars enabled us to cover the long distances involved with comfort and a minimum of fatigue. Thus, in -:Western Australia, we saw the group settlements in the south-west—a pioneering scheme of great promise and romance to build up dairy-farming on communal lines in heavily-timbered districts ; three days were spent in the fringe of the great belt of sheep and wheat country, 70 • miles east of-Perth, and 80 hours at Calgoorlie gave all a • ehance -of going down gold -mines. . .
• -The journey -on the Transcontinental Railway, with its -one stretch of 300 miles without curve or -culvert or cutting was a satisfactory demonstration of Australia's size and empty spaces. In Adelaide and Melbourne we saw some- thing of the manufacturing industries ; the standards of up-to-date machinery, wages, provisions for health and recreation seemed in every case to be very high. Besides purely sight-seeing excursions, visits were made to big sheep-stations, vineyards, wheat country, and the fruit, growing and dairy district in the irrigation area in the north of Victoria. The ten days spent in Tasmania were more of a holiday, enjoying the scenery of the island, but there was plenty to be seen of mineral, industrial and agricultural wealth asking to be developed, as well as the beauty of the harbours, river valleys, and mountains.
In New South Wales all the boys stayed at some period on sheep-stations ; a number visited the Murrumbidgee Irrigation area and two days were spent in the Blue Mountains. Sydney and its harbour provided a variety of expeditions. Visits to agricultural institutes, colleges and research farms enabled us to see how problems of climate and soil are being tackled and what training (at very moderate fees) is being offered to those who wish to take up farming scientifically. In Queensland visits were made as far north as Lauris and the Atherton table-land, and as far west as Longreach and Townsville. The State was suffering from an intense drought, so that sheep and cattle-stations and tropical fruit farms and sugar plantations were seen at their worst, but the evidence of the immense recuperative powers of the country explained the patience and courage of the people under trying conditions. The tour ended with a visit to the new capital at Canberra.
This brief survey with the fact that the party travelled some 10,000 miles by rail and motor will give some idea of the extent and thoroughness of the tour. The fact that the only illness was a mild case of" flu "necessitating one boy staying four days in hospital in Queensland is a sufficient tribute to the climate and general healthiness of Australia. But more than with the distances of travel, the pleasure of sunshine and scenery, we were impressed with the open-hearted hospitality of all the people both in crowded cities and in the remotest country districts. The warmth of their welcome was based upon their intense affection for the Mother Country, helped undoubtedly by common sufferings and mutual kindnesses during the War. There was constantly reiterated the demand for more settlers of British stock—if possible with some capital to invest in the development of land and of minerals, but in any ease with the more essential capital implied in character, brains, and a determination to work.
One could not help being struck with admiration at the amount of work already done in a comparatively short time by, relatively, so few people. The great progress in transforming such vast stretches of country to productive use and in building such fine cities is a remarkable tribute to the pioneers. There is still ample room for further progress, but pioneering is hard and often lonely work and demands high qualities. We saw enough to convince us that in any branch of rural work a man can make good and, in from five to ten years, be in a position to own his house and keep a family with an assured return from sheep or wheat or fruit undreamed of in similar circumstances in England. Australia is a land of opportunity.
On the return journey, besides having a few hours ashore at Colombo, where they were entertained and shown round by the members of the European Association, the boys were able to quit the Esperanee Bay' at Suez and spend an afternoon and night in Cairo. Visits Were arranged " through Messrs. T. Cook & Son to the Cairo Museum (the Tutankhamen Galleries), the Pyramids and Sphinx, and to the Citadel. The five months' tour has been of wide and vivid educational value, as well as of intense enjoyment throughout. It is to be hoped that any further tours to the Dominions will be warmly supported by head-masters and by parents, so that the School Empire Tour Committee may be warranted in continuing its work, which should prove a real asset not only to the boys but to the Empire.
G. H. WOOLLEY.
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