But South Australia and
Tasmania suffered severely from the drain of population, which set in
toward the diggings.
In South Australia, the effect was in some districts almost as if a
pestilence had swept away the men, leaving the women and children
untouched. Some of the emigrants really deserted their families, but the
bulk were honorable men, and remittances of gold soon began to find
their way to Adelaide for distribution among relatives in the colony.
After the comparative failure of the gold-diggings in South Australia,
the Government had wisely set itself to secure some part of the
prosperity of the gold discoveries for its colony by establishing both
land and river traffic routes. In these efforts it was highly
successful. Many South Australians made handsome fortunes by sending
provisions to the Buninyong and Mount Alexander districts, and the new
steamers on the Murray proved a source of profit to the colony which
lasted until the development of the railroad system. Unfortunately, this
prosperity could hardly be realized at the time, owing to the great
scarcity of coined money in the colony.
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