'
Contrasts were sharp in Oceana when she was young, which entitles you to
pass quickly from Sir George Grey's careful estimate of the native races
he ruled, to a little romance of South Australia. A Highland settler,
with the Highland name McFarland, lived in a cottage some twenty miles
from Adelaide. He was an informed and interesting Scot, and when the
Governor was tired, he would ride over to his shieling and stay a day or
two.
'A number of German colonists,' Sir George's narrative on this proceeded,
'had come to South Australia, seeking to improve their condition. Labour
being scarce and highly paid, the German girls went out and did shearing.
They moved from farm to farm, accompanied by some of the older women, and
at night they would be housed by the settler who happened to be employing
them.
'Among the shearers was a girl who had a great reputation for beauty. She
was quite a belle, and so winning that everybody liked her. One morning
old McFarland rushed in upon me at Adelaide, in a state of high
excitement. His nephew, a genuine McFarland also, had, the previous
night, eloped with the German beauty. The uncle was indignant that the
nephew should run away with a foreigner--yes, a foreigner! He implored me
to send the police to search for them, but I replied that I could do
nothing.
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