Our Australian Sisters.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6090, 21 November 1887, Page 3

Our Australian Sisters.

[St James' Budycl.) The Australian woman is worth studying, if only for the potentiality of her development. By the Australian womanisnotmeant the Englishwoman who has gone to reside in Australia, or even the anglo-Colonial who stands half-way between the two. Amid the diversity of classes and characters which co -existed in old Australia hasbeen developed a more or less uniform type, which may be called the real Australian. The Australian woman, therefore, like the Australian man, is young as yet. Her education has been good ; for the educational system of the Colonies is copied from the best models to be found in the Old World. She may even have had the advantage of a European tour, including residence in England. But whatever the actual course, her education is quite up to the average education of an English girl. Nevertheless, she may fail to strike you as a girl of real culture. She does not care forthe more serious reading which is cultivated now by so many English girls. She has few literary tastes. Only in rare instances is she guilty of small poems, manuscript novels, and magazine essays. She soon j gets tired of exercising her intellect, and J her literary aspirations, if they exist at j all, come to an early close. Some j people would consider this an advantage. | The explanation of it seems to lie partly in the fact that there is an absence of literary " atmosphere " in Australian. Tho Colonies depend upon the Mother country for tho eupply of mental pabulum. Their literary taste is receptive and passive, not creative and active j so that, while there is a good deal of of reading, there is but little writing in a country where, though, education is common, educated leisure is rare. The printing press is, with few exceptions, confined in Australia to the issue of newspapers. The era of book-writing must come later. Another reason for the apparent want of culture in the Australian girl is the restlessness of Coloniallifc, which drives her to seek physical rather than mental exercise and to enjoy life rather than to think about it. There is no cultivated repose about her j ehe is brimful of activity and change. She reads a great deal ; but what she reads is chiefly fiction. More elevated literature she does not much care about. There is too much rej flection and too little «go " about it. Her

shortcomings in this direction spring mostly from her want of sentiment. What she lacks is educated sentiment, which can appreciate the subtler phases o£ life and thought. What she has is more sentimentality than sentiment ; though, to do her justice, she has plenty of sound and sterling common sense too. She is vigorous in her amusements. Her passion is dancing, and she indulges it on every possible occasion. But she is also devoted to riding, tennis, and other forms of outdoor pastime. From some of the qualities which might be supposed to follow upon these lively tastes she is preserved by other conditions. For one thing, she is practically monarch of all she surveys. It is ungallant to look at things from this practical point of view ; but it Ib nevertheless important to remember that there are more men than women in the Colonies. There is no danger of the "garrison hack "in Australian life. Women, being less numerous, can allow ithemselves a little latitude without seeming to be unwomanly. Yet, though there is more latitude, though the restrictions upon women in Australian society aro less severe than here, there is far from being tbe same freedom that there is in America. Tlie Australian girl does not travel by herself — at least, not more than the English girl. She does not live in hotels by herself. In another essential she differs from her American sister. The latter is very much of a " fine lady," who, being somewhat of a forced blossom, exercises the right of such artificial products to receive careful and fastidious attention. The Australian girl is a much healthier type. If need be, she will turn to and assist in the household affairs, and she will be not unskilful. Perhaps Australia is not old enough to have reached the point of development to which America has attained. The Australian like the American girl is passionately fond of dreßS. There is relatively more show in dress in Australia than in England. English fashions are despatched to the Colonies the very next mail after their issue in London or Paris ; and although the difference in season throws back fashion in its new home six months, yet any innovation or novelty which is independent of season is adopted at once. The Australian girl is a thorough Australian ; but she has a strong affection for the home of her fathers. When she comes "Home" she sees everything, enjoys everything ; but in her heart of hearts Bhe thinks that nothing is so good as what "we have in tho Oolonies." You will be lucky if you get her to admire without depreciatory comparison. Some Britishers are rather annoyed at this sort of behaviour ; but they should remember that it springs from the sentiment out of which national pride and patriotism are made. The physique of the Colonial girl varies very much. She is tall, as a rule, like the Colonial youth. In Australia itself she is accused of lacking 1 complexion, and the charge ia moro or less true; as also is the assertion that she matures earlier and "goes off" earlier than the English girl. But the Victorian girl is decidedly good-looking. The New Zealand girl has a far better complexion than the Australian, and is fresher and more healthy, perhaps ; for the climate is milder. She resembles the English girl much more than does the Australian, and her development keeps pace with the former. But Tasmania iB said to be the home of beauty, and it certainly seems to have more than its share of fair maidens. It is not at all uncommon . for the Melbournian to run across to the little island for the purpose of enjoying a well-earned holiday and "picking up* a wife. But, when all is said and done, neither in complexion, beauty, nor " staying power " does the Australian or the New Zealander or the Tasmanian surpass the daughters of the mother-country.