thirty million dollars; the other principal exports were of wool, cereals and flour, hides, skins and furs, leather and harness, butter and live stock. Half of the cultivated area is under wheat, the other crops being oats, barley, hay and potatoes. Since 1851 it is estimated that gold to the amount of 1,365 million dollars has been extracted from the mines. The educational institutions include, besides the state primary and technical schools, the University of Melbourne, with three affliliated colleges, The latter has both an examining and a teaching body, and by royal charter, granted in 1839, is empowered to grant degrees in all faculties save divinity.
Queensland comprises the whole northeastern area of the continent, with its adjacent islands in the Pacific and in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The northern portion of the colony was, prior to 1850, known as the Moreton Bay District. From its great area and climate, its products are many and diversified, including not only the staple cereals and grains, vegetables, etc., but sugar cane, oranges, pineapples, bananas, arrow-root, tobacco, coffee and cotton. The woods afford large supplies of fine timber, and bees are raised largely, as nearly all the forest trees flower and provide large supplies of honey and pollen; while the winters are so mild that the bees are not compelled to remain in the hives and consume their own stores, as in colder countries. Within the colony, it is estimated, there are 5,000 square miles of coal-yielding country, though scarcity of labor, it is said, hinders its mining development. Primary secular education is provided free by the state. There are also schools of art, where technical instruction is given. Brisbane, the capital, with two municipalities (Brisbane and South Brisbane), has a combined population (1907), of 130,000. The gold product for the year 1905, amounted to 592,620 ounces; other minerals mined include silver, copper and tin.
South Australia extends across the center of the continent from north to south, having Western Australia on the west and the other colonies (Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria) on the east. The capital is Adelaide, on the river Torrens, which has a university; its population is 184,393. It is the great emporium of the colony for its large exports of wool, wheat, hay, live stock and its minerals, silver and copper ore. In the northern territory of the colony large numbers of horses, cattle and sheep are raised. In 1911 it had 1,935 miles of railway open for traffic and nearly 6,000 miles of telegraph in operation, including the overland line running between Adelaide and Port Darwin (a distance of 2,000 miles) in connect-tion with the British Australian cable.
Western Australia is the largest of the commonwealth colonies, though it is the most sparsely settled, except in the southwest corner around Perth, the capital (population 54,354). The other chief town is Fremantle (19,346), named after Captain Fremantle, who after the first settlement of the colony, in 1829, claimed possession of it in the name of George IV. The colony was then known as the Swan River settlement. In 1850 it became for a time a penal settlement of Britain; but in 1868 transportation of the criminal class was abolished. The chief difficulty in the interior is said to be want of water. The inland mining region around Copl-gardie and Kalgoorlie is one of great industrial activity, especially since the railway has been constructed to these mining centers and on as far as Menzies. The chief exports are gold (the value of which, shipped, in 1904 amounted to $19,000,000), pearls and pearl-shell; sandalwood, timber, wool and skins. Along the river courses of the north and northeast are, it is estimated, about 20,000,000 acres of fairly well-watered country, affording good pasturage. Australian defense is maintained by subsidies granted by the separate colonies, including Tasmania and New Zealand. At Sydney, N. S. W., there is a first-class naval station, the headquarters of the British fleet in Australasia. The principal ports of the colonies are protected by fortifications, maintained at the expense of each colony.
Australian Ballot System is the system of voting used by the several colonies of Australia. It was invented to secure absolute secrecy to the voter and so prevent bribery at elections and effectively check fraud in voting. The printing of the tickets and all expenses are borne by the government. There is but one ticket, on which are printed the names of all the candidates. No electioneering is allowed within fifty feet of the polls. Separate compartments or voting-booths are provided, into which one voter at a time goes, and prepares his vote by drawing a line through the names of the candidates he does not wish to vote for. The system was adopted in New South Wales in 1858, and speedily came into use in the other Australian colonies, where it proved highly successful. The present law in regard to voting in Great Britain, based on this system, was passed in 1872. The Australian method, with some changes, has been adopted in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Connecticut and other states, where it has been heartily approved.
Aus'tria-Hun'gary, the second largest country in Europe, lies between Germany, Russia, Rumania, Servia, Turkey, the Adriatic, Italy and Switzerland. It is a loose union of two independent states; extends 800 miles east and west, 650 from
