The Art of Living in Australia | Page 8

from Puritans, and eager, as men of their climate
must be, for pleasant lives, they will thirst for dependent possessions,
for gardens where fortunes grow. The early Americans were men of
austere temper, who led, on an ungrateful soil, lives of permanent
hardship. They had to fight the sea, the snow, the forest, the Indians,
and their own hearts. The Australians, with a warmer climate, without
Puritan traditions, with wealth among them from the first, will be a
softer, though not a weaker people; fonder of luxury, and better fitted to
enjoy Art, with an appreciation of beauty which the Americans have
never shown. They will be a people growing and drinking wine, caring
much for easy society, addicted to conversation, and never happy

without servants. The note of discontent which penetrates the whole
American character will be absent."
From the climatic standpoint alone it is safe to predict that the future
Australian will be more nearly akin to the inhabitants of Southern
Europe than to his progenitors in the old country; though, naturally,
there will be considerable diversity between the native born of the
various regions, covering as they do such a vast extent of territory. The
ample opportunities for outdoor life will do much towards ensuring
physical development. And, finally, the imaginative faculties will be
very active, and it is quite permissible to hope that in time there will be
a long roll of artists, musicians, and poets.
As it will be seen, a considerable portion of this work is taken up with
the practical side of living, as exemplified by the Australian Cookery
Recipes. From the very first it was recognised that it was imperative to
include them within its compass. It occurred to me, however, that this
important department would better be undertaken by someone
thoroughly conversant with the subject. With this object in view,
therefore, I submitted to Mrs. H. Wicken what I required. I knew Mrs.
Wicken to be well qualified for the task from the following facts,
namely, that she had previously been successful in her culinary
writings; that she was a Diplomee of the National Training School for
Cookery, South Kensington; and that she occupied the responsible post
of lecturer to the Technical College, Sydney. My propositions were that
the recipes were to be written purely for Australian use, and that they
were to be of the strictly economical order. Mrs. Wicken accepted the
task, and it can only be hoped that her efforts will meet with the
approbation they deserve.
In their original form the three chapters on Australian Food Habits,
Australian Fish and Oysters, and on Salads, appeared in THE DAILY
TELEGRAPH, Sydney. I take this opportunity, therefore, of expressing
my sense of obligation to the Proprietors thereof for their courtesy in
permitting me to make complete use of these three contributions. As
they now appear in chapters they have been revised, considerably
altered, and materially added to, for the purposes of reproduction in
book form.
143, Elizabeth Street Hyde Park, Sydney September 1893

EPIGRAPH
A farmer being on the point of death, and wishing to show his sons the
way to success in farming, called them to him and said--"My children I
am now departing this life, but all that I have to leave you, you will
find in the vineyard." The sons, supposing that he referred to some
hidden treasure, as soon as the old man was dead, set to work with their
spades and ploughs and every implement that was at hand, and turned
up the soil over and over again. They found indeed no treasure; but the
vines, strengthened and improved by this thorough tillage, yielded a
finer vintage than they had ever yielded before, and more than repaid
the young husbandmen for all their trouble. So truly is industry in itself
a treasure.--THE FABLES OF AESOP.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I
. THE CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA. Their semi-tropical climate
hitherto unrecognised by the people of Australia--Reasons advanced for
this statement; early gold-mining era influences still at work, and
Anglo-Saxon heredities--Hot months and cooler months; temperatures
of the Australian capital cities--Fluctuations of temperature and
barometric pressure not extreme--Equability of Australian climate a
marked feature--Not many successive days of great heat--Humidity of
atmosphere in different colonies--A dry heat always preferable to a
moist heat--Duration of the different seasons, and months apportioned
to each season--Prevailing winds, and ROLE of hot winds

CHAPTER II
. THE ALPHABETICAL PENTAGON OF HEALTH FOR
AUSTRALIA. The Alphabetical Pentagon a convenient form of
remembering that the FIVE essentials of health--namely, Ablution: the
Skin and the Bath; Bedroom Ventilation; Clothing; Diet; and
Exercise--occur in alphabetical order

CHAPTER III
. ABLUTION--THE SKIN AND THE BATH. Important and numerous
functions of the skin--The skin itself and its different parts--The use of
the scarf skin--The structure of the true