treme north of the state, where the average July temperature is not less than 55° F., seem to prosper.

On the other hand, as we have seen, the wheat belt reaches no farther north than to latitude 26° S., near Roma, and here a summer temperature of 80° F., corre

perature and rainfall of typical stations in each of the chief climatic regions (see Fig. 27).

Temperature Fo.

Rainfall Inches.

Station.

Jan. July. Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring. Year.

The difference between the cattle and sheep areas is partly due to the sheep not being so suitable for the rough pioneer districts of the north, but also to the fact that cattle can withstand greater heat than sheep. Moreover, the sheep themselves are of two breedsfine-haired merinoes and coarse-wool Lincolns. The former find an ideal climate in the comparatively hot western plains, while the Lincolns thrive on the cooler highlands nearer the coast.

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION

35. Australia has been settled over a century now, and as in most new countries people establish themselves where they may most easily make use of the natural resources, we may confidently expect to find some relation between the factors of rainfall, tempera

Fig. 28. Population and Density.

ture, animal and plant products, and the distribution of population.

36. Uninhabited Areas. The map in Fig. 28 shows that there are two regions which are practically as free from settlement as when Cook discovered the continent. These are the great central area, with a rainfall of less than ten inches, and the whole of the tropical country

except that included in eastern Queensland. Yet th are three exceptions to this statement: there is a c siderable settlement at Broome, in western Austral and the two southern corners of the desert area ha a comparatively dense population, which is quite isolat

from that of the more populous coastal districts. This needs explanation.

37. Chief Towns. Each of the capital towns is the centre of an area of close settlement. Indeed, more than one-third of the population (36 per cent.) is in the six towns of Sydney (633,000), Melbourne (590,000), Adelaide (190,000), Brisbane (140,000), Perth (105,000),

Hobart (42,000). If a line be drawn from Adelaide to Brisbane it divides Australia into two parts, roughly 87 per cent. and 13 per cent. respectively of the whole area of the continent. Yet in this 13 per cent. of area are included about 3,500,000 people, or 81 per cent. of those in the continent. (See map of towns over 3,000 inhabitants, Fig. 29).

38. Importance of Climatic Conditions in Settle. ment. Some of the reasons leading to this concentration in the south-east portion of Australia will have been made clear. It contains the great wheat belt, the chief agricultural area of Australia. Five out of the six capital cities are there. More important still, since Australia does not allow the introduction of coloured immigrants, it is the sole region, except part of western Australia, where the climatic conditions of rainfall and temperature resemble those of the original home of white peoples-central and southern Europe. So it is natural that such favourable areas should be filled before the less home-like country to the north. The table on the next page shows the resemblance of the various portions of Australasia to regions of older settlement.

The chief centres of pure white population are western Europe and the United States. We see that these are allied to the regions A, B, C, and D in the table, and this suitability of climate is the chief reason for the concentration of population in the south-east of Australia.

39. Effect of Mineral Wealth on Settlement. But there are, as we saw, two areas of comparatively dense settlement situated in the arid region-which is the one most unlike those usually colonized by white people. These two areas (round Kalgoorlie in West Australia, and Broken Hill in New South Wales) remind us that we have left out of account almost the