Our acquaintances on shore spoke in sanguine terms of the prospects of the settlement, and the future greatness which is in store for the northern territory; but to us strangers the appearance of Port Darwin and the surrounding country was by no means indicative of progress, or suggestive of a superabundance of the elements of greatness. Indeed, although the settlement has been in existence since 1872, yet the white population of the whole northern territory does not exceed two hundred; and if it were not for the Chinamen, who have been attracted thither by the "gold-rush," and whose numbers--including those at Port Darwin, Southport, and the gold-fields--amount to 6,000, there would be almost no manual labour available for the white colonists.
The auriferous quartz reefs, which here constitute what are called the "gold-fields," are situated on the side of a range of hills beginning at a distance of about one hundred miles from Port Darwin, in a southerly direction. The usual route thither is by steamboat for twenty-five miles to Southport, a small settlement at the southern extremity of one of the arms of the inlet, and thence by cart track for eighty miles. Unfortunately, during the wet season this track is almost impassable. The gold is obtained from the ore by crushing and amalgamating with mercury in the usual way. In this country the crushing or stamping machines are known as "batteries," and I believe in the northern territory they are worked entirely by steam power. The average yield of gold from the reefs ranges from one and a quarter to one and a half ounces per ton of crushed material, although rock has been met with containing no less than twenty ounces per ton. The latter, however, is altogether exceptional. There are in the same localities alluvial diggings worked in a small way by Chinamen, but the yield of gold is insignificant compared with that from the reefs. I find it stated in the returns furnished by the customs officer at Port Darwin that during the year ending 31st of March, 1881, the northern territory exported 10,107-1/2 ounces, valued at £36,227.
I was told that at the time of our visit there were only two genuine squatters in the whole northern territory. From their stations is drawn the beef supply for the people living at Port Darwin, Southport, and the gold-fields, and it would seem that the supply was quite equal to the demand. Most of the land in the territory is now held on lease by speculators, who pay to the South Australian Government an annual rental of sixpence per square mile, which gives them, under certain conditions, a right of pre-emption, and these speculators now hold on to the land with a view to ultimately disposing of their interest to _bonâ fide_ settlers at a large profit to themselves. But until the Colonial Government takes the initiative in affording facilities for the conveyance of produce from the interior to Port Darwin, there seems little likelihood of the land being taken up for either agricultural or pastoral purposes.