BRISBANE, ROCKHAMPTON, TOWNSVILLE, CARPENTARIA, GULF OF. For vegetation and fauna see AUSTRALIA.) Population, Settlement and Development.—The popula tion of in plus some 17,700 aborigi nals and half-castes—represents a density of 1.41 per sq. mile, after Western Australia and the Northern Territory the lowest in the Commonwealth, and males show an excess over females of 5.57%• In the 1926 census her birth-rate (22.58 per 1,000) came third after that of Tasmania and New South Wales, her death-rate (9.39 per i,000) is relatively low, and her rate of increase has been consistently high in recent years (1921-26: 2.81%, the highest in the Commonwealth). Settlement varies in different areas, and about two-fifths of the population is concentrated in the south east. A large part of the remainder is contained in individual areas spaced out along the east coast up to and including the Atherton Plateau, with centres Maryborough, Rockhampton, Townsville, Cairns, etc. ; settlement in the south and centre is spreading west wards along the main railway lines; nearly 23% of the State is unoccupied, and a much greater proportion has a negligible popu lation density. Geographically the following areas may be dis tinguished: (i.) the great plains and downs of the central west and north-west interior with their almost exclusively pastoral occupa tion; (ii.) the eastern highlands, with some outliers—notably that of the Cloncurry area in the north-west—with hitherto mainly mining but also pastoral industries ; (iii.) the south-east districts with an expanding and intensifying mixed agricultural and dairying regime, as well as mining and some manufactures ; (iv.) the eastern coastal lowlands with prevailing sub-tropical to tropical agricul ture, some dairying and timber-cutting; (v.) the coasts with their harbours, ports, trade and commerce, besides some manufacturing and fishing interests.
The pastoral industry is by no means confined to the interior plains. Some of the largest cattle-stations are in the coastal belt, and many sheep are kept as an element in the mixed-farming areas of the south-east. Queensland is pre-eminently the pastoral State, itself, in certain respects, a sign of youthful development. Droughts, though often fairly local, cause severe fluctuations: thus in 1926, 31.64% of the total number of sheep was lost, 4,500,000 head (84.4% of the total loss) through drought, the remaining losses being due to disease, dingoes and natural causes. The state of the cattle industry also gives cause for concern. (See AUSTRALIA.) Yet Queensland had (1926) 460,000 sq. miles (296, 000,000 acres-68.6%) of her total area occupied for pastoral purposes (cf. 1921: 313,000,000 ac.-73.7%) and the value of her pastoral products (1926: £21,118,000) is greater than that of any other State. Artesian water (v. p. 842) has worked a revolution, bores (440 Government; 3,885 private) serve an area of 8,30o sq. miles (2,30o miles of "drains") and supply c. 290,000,000 gal. a day.
Sheep, nearly all merinos, have varied in recent years between 20,000,000-16,000,000 (1926: 16,861,00o), c. 2o% of the Com
monwealth's total, second only to New South Wales. Holdings ("runs" or "stations") are still often large: the largest was (1923) c. 5,000 sq. miles, and holdings of under 6o,000 ac. are called "grazing farms" or "selections," but the tendency is towards smaller and more-intensively managed units. In 1926 there were owners of holdings having an average flock of 3,470 head apiece.
Cattle, which average 5,500,00o-7,000,00o head (1926: ono, including 611,000 dairy cattle), represent 48% of the Com monwealth's total, Queensland leading easily in this respect. Cat tle (for slaughter) have a much wider range than sheep, thrive in the hot and humid north and east coastal districts, but are more de pendent on ample food and water supplies—the drought of 1925– 26 caused the loss of c. I,000,000 head—and do not pay so well as sheep. There were (1926) 45,000 cattle owners with average herds of 122 each, but much larger holdings and herds exist in the eastern coastlands and in the north-west( io,000-5o,000 head). (See CARPENTARIA, GULF OF.) Of the total pastoral production (1925-26: £21,118,000) wool represented nearly LI 1,000,000 (c. 159,000,000 lb.; 1927: c. 115,000,000 lb.) ; live stock slaughtered (cattle, sheep, goats, rabbits), £10,124,500 lb., of which about 210,000, 000 lb.-247.25 lb. per caput—were for home consumption). (For chief towns and settlements : v. p. 844, TRANSPORT.) (ii.) The ancient rocks of the Eastern Highlands, with the outlying area in the north-west (Cloncurry, etc.) contain the bulk of the State's mineral wealth. The gold, copper, and silver out put has declined (1926). On the other hand the output of tin (1926: £174,000) was maintained, while that of coal is steadily rising (1921 : £831,000; 1926: £i,ioo,000 nearly), and these, with lead (c. III6,000) make the bulk of the total production of miner als and quarry products (1926: 11,6o8.000). Tin is worked in the district behind Cooktown (north), at Stanthorpe (south-east), and at Kangaroo Hills near Townsville (1926: £31,500), but the mineral fields of the Atherton Plateau behind Cairns (q.v.), notably those of Herberton (120 miles), are the most productive. Coal is scattered over the eastern highland belt. The seams at present (1926) mainly worked are those of the Ipswich (65o,000 tons); Bowen (I 75,00o tons) ; Wide Bay (Burrum, Maryborough, q.v.) (I Io,000 tons) ; Darling Downs (1o5.000 tons) ; with smaller amounts from the Blair Athol (Clermont), Rockhampton, Mount Morgan, Bundaberg and other districts. Queensland coals have a great range of variety and utility—anthracite (Dawson Baralaba field) to bituminous (Ipswich), and the reserves are 412,000,000 tons actual, 2,201,000,000 probable. The State owns and works coal mines on the Bowen, Baralaba, Styx River and Mount Mulligan fields, besides mineral-testing batteries and drilling plants in various mining areas. An opal field of value exists at Anakie (Rockhampton–Longreach railway) east of Emerald (1926: £6,800) and other gems (sapphires, etc.) occur.