Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume I Part 20

(*Footnote. A name derived from rivulet, and a very good one, being short.)

VILLAGE RESERVE.

A wooden bridge has been erected across this stream and the site of a village marked out on the bank opposite it. When such a spot has once been determined on for the establishment of a town or village, and divided into small allotments available to blacksmiths, wheelwrights, coopers, innkeepers, etc. The land is no longer liable to be sold in a section of a square mile, according to the land regulations. Much attention is necessary during the progress of colonisation to prevent the monopoly of the land in thoroughfares where water is to be had. The convenience of the public and the encouragement of the mechanic, who is indeed the pioneer of colonists, cannot be sufficiently studied in affording facilities for the establishment of inns and the growth of population along great roads.

GRANITE FORMATION.

The aspect of this valley is very different from that of the mountain region, and equally so from that of the lower country on the Hawkesbury.

This change is obviously owing to the difference in the rock. Granite appears here for the first time on this road; and we accordingly find those bold undulations and that thinly wooded surface which usually distinguish the formation in Australia. It is at this point in general finely grained, but the felspar partly decomposed, with distinct crystals of felspar unchanged.

From the pa.s.s of Mount Victoria I travelled to Bathurst by an entirely new road, opened in a direction first recommended by me in 1827.

FARMER'S CREEK.

At fourteen miles from Mount Victoria is Farmer's Creek, so named after a useful horse which fell there and broke his neck when I was surveying and marking out the line of road. The formation of the descent to this mountain stream was a work of considerable labour, and at that time several gangs of prisoners in irons were employed upon it.

RIVER c.o.x AND INTENDED BRIDGE.

Crossing Farmer's Creek near its junction with c.o.x's river the road is continued for one mile along the right bank, to the site chosen for throwing a bridge over this river. The ascent on the opposite side has been cut, with unnecessary labour, through a point of the hill, and upon this the gangs were then at work. The gangs of prisoners in irons were lodged in a stockade which had been erected here and was guarded by a detachment of the 17th regiment. The river c.o.x is at this point 2,172 feet above the level of the sea. It pursues its course through a wild inaccessible mountain country, and joins the Warragamba about twenty miles to the southward of Emu plains. This course of the c.o.x could be traced by the surveyors only by scrambling on foot, or by following out the several extremities of the mountain ranges which abut upon its rocky channel.

MOUNT WALKER.

Mount Walker overlooks that part of the c.o.x which is crossed by the new line of road. The summit of this hill consists of a dark grey felspar. At its base and in the bed of the river is trap, which appears to be the princ.i.p.al rock of the country to some distance beyond the river.

SOLITARY CREEK.

The road reaches at three miles from the c.o.x a small brook, named Solitary Creek, which waters a valley where an inn was then building.

This is the first rivulet falling towards the interior country, all the other streams previously crossed by this road flowing to the eastern coast; consequently the apparently low ridge between Solitary creek and c.o.x's river is there part of what is termed the Coast Range, which extends from Cape Howe to Cape York, across 33 degrees of lat.i.tude.

HONEYSUCKLE HILL.

The road beyond Solitary creek winds around the side of Honeysuckle Hill, a summit of considerable elevation, consisting of trap-rock. The country beyond that hill is more open and favourable for road-making. An inn has been built on a small flat, distant about twenty-three miles from Mount Victoria, and about halfway between that pa.s.s and Bathurst.

STONY RANGE.

The only remarkable feature on the remainder of this line is Stony Range, distant from Bathurst fourteen miles. It is a ridge of high ground which traverses the country from north to south and terminates on the Fish river. The road crosses it at the very lowest part, and where the rock consists of a dark grey felspar with grains of quartz. The soil is red and rich, and bears trees of uncommon magnitude. The timber is found useful by the inhabitants of the Bathurst district, who keep the sawyers constantly at work there.

PLAINS OF BATHURST.

From Stony Range the plains of Bathurst appear in the distance to great advantage; the eye of the traveller from Sydney having long sought, in vain, for some relief from the prospect of so much waste mountainous country.

THE TOWN.

We reached the open plains of Bathurst, six miles from the settlement. I arrived early at Mrs. Dillon's inn, where I took up my quarters, in order that I might complete, with less interruption, a report which I was instructed to make to the Governor from this place, respecting the state of the works along the road.

April 3.

My friend Rankin called and insisted on my accompanying him to his residence at Saltram, which I accordingly did. The houses of the inhabitants here are scattered over the extensive open country, and give a most cheerful appearance to the plains of Bathurst. These fine downs only a few years before must have been as desolate as those of a similar character still are on the banks of the Namoi and Karaula. Peace and plenty now smile on the banks of Wambool,* and British enterprise and industry may produce in time a similar change on the desolate banks of the Namoi, Gwydir, and Karaula, and throughout those extensive regions behind the Coast range, still further northward--all as yet unpeopled, save by the wandering aborigines, who may then, as at Bathurst now, enjoy that security and protection to which they have so just a claim.

(*Footnote. Native name for the river Macquarie.)

INCONVENIENCE OF WANT OF ARRANGEMENT IN EARLY COLONIZATION.

The inconvenience of a want of plan for roads and streets is strikingly obvious at Bathurst. A vast tract had indeed been reserved as a towns.h.i.+p, but then, no streets having been laid out, allotments for building could neither be obtained by grant nor purchase. The site for the town was therefore only distinguished by a government house, jail, courthouse, postoffice, and barracks; while the population had collected in 60 or 80 houses built in an irregular manner on the Sydney side of the river, and at the distance of a mile from the intended site of the town. The consequence of a want of arrangement became equally apparent in the line of approach to the towns.h.i.+p, for the only road in use being very indirect, and pa.s.sing through a muddy hollow, named The Bay of Biscay, could not be altered because the adjacent land had been granted to individuals. Thus when the good people of Bathurst prayed in pet.i.tions for delivery from their Bay of Biscay, and a dry and more direct line for the road had been easily found and marked out, the irregular buildings and private property lay in the way of the desired improvement. All these inconveniences might have been obviated by due attention to such arrangements in the first instance, when any plan was practicable; whereas subsequently it has been found possible to remedy them only in a limited degree. The streets having now been laid out a church and many houses are in course of erection and a new road, leading over firm ground to the site of the intended bridge, has been opened with the consent of the owner of the property.

SMALLFARMERS.

Part of the reserved land of the towns.h.i.+p has been given to smallfarmers--a cla.s.s very essential to the increase of population, but by no means numerous in New South Wales, and least of all at Bathurst, where the land is laid out chiefly in large sheep farms.

INTENDED BRIDGE.

A bridge across the Macquarie has long been a desideratum. This river, although in common seasons fordable, and in dry seasons scarcely fluent, is liable, after heavy falls of rain in the mountains, to rise suddenly to a great height, and cut off the communication between the public buildings on the one side, and the peopled suburbs and great road from Sydney on the other. The country beyond the Macquarie affords excellent sheep-pasturage, the hills consisting chiefly of granite. A number of respectable colonists are domiciled on the surrounding plains, and the society of their hospitable circle presents a very pleasing picture of pastoral happiness and independence.

DEPARTURE FROM BATHURST.

April 4.

It was not until two o'clock that I could conclude my correspondence with the road-making, land-measuring world, and join a very agreeable party, a.s.sembled by my friend Rankin, to partake of an early dinner and witness my departure.

CHARLEY BOOTH.

Mr. Rankin accompanied me in my ride that afternoon, and we reached at a late hour the house of Charley Booth, distant about 25 miles from Bathurst. Some years had elapsed since I first pa.s.sed a night at Charley's hut or cattle station, then a resting-place for whoever might occasionally pa.s.s; and inhabited by grim-looking stockmen of whom Charley, as my friend called him, seemed one. Now the march of improvement had told wonderfully on the place. The hut was converted into a house, in which the curtained neatness and good arrangement were remarkable for such an out-station. Mr. Booth himself looked younger by some years, and we at length discovered the source of the increased comforts of his home in a wife whom he had wisely selected from among the recently arrived emigrants.

ROAD TO BUREE.

April 5.

Here I at length took leave of my friend to pursue a long and dreary ride along the track which led to Buree. The wood consisted chiefly of those kinds of eucalyptus termed box and apple-tree, forming a very open kind of forest, the hollows being in general quite clear of trees. The farther I proceeded westward the more the country exhibited the withering effects of long drought.

CAn.o.bOLAS.

The mountain ma.s.s of the Can.o.bolas lay to the southward of my route; and on crossing the lofty range which here divides the counties of Bathurst and Wellington the summit was distant only four miles. The country in the neighbourhood of that ma.s.s consists of trap and limestone, and is upon the whole very favourable for sheep-farming. The region to the westward of the Can.o.bolas is still unsurveyed, being beyond the limits of the county divisions.

ARRIVAL AT THE CAMP OF THE PARTY.

Before sunset I joined my men in the merry greene wood, and in my tent, which I found already pitched on the sweet-scented turf, I could at length indulge in exploratory schemes, free from all the cares of office.

CHAPTER 2.2.

Ascend the Can.o.bolas.

Choose the direction of my route.

Ascend the hill north of Buree.

Encamp on the Mundadgery.

Cross a granitic range.

King's Creek.

Cross Hervey's range.

First view of the interior.

Parched state of the interior country.