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Vol.1
^IlalatlSTRM
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EDITED BY
HON. ANDREW GARRAN, M.A., LL.D., M.L.C
ILLUSTRATED BY
LEADING AUSTRALIAN AND AMERICAN ARTISTS
Under the Supervision of Frederic B. Scheli
WITH OVER EIGHT HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
VOL. I.
nr
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7
Mf
Picturesque Atlas Publishing Company, Limited,
SYDNEY, MELBOURNE, LONDON, and NEW YORK.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
1892.
Copyrighted 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1891
IN GREAT BRITAIN
BY
The picturesque ATLAS PUBLISHING CO., Limited.
Copyrighted 1887 and 1891
BY
The PICTURESQUE ATLAS PUBLISHING CO., Limited,
IN THE
UNITED STATES OF AxMERICA.
PREFACE
Australia has no part in the early history of the human race or in the develop-
ment of its civilization ; it contains no traces of ever having been the seat of empire —
no ruins, no mounds, to indicate that it was the dwelling-place, in the far past, of
industrious and fertile populations. Its great contributions to the world's store, material
and spiritual, will have to be the work of the future, and it already promises not to be
backward in the fulfillment of that obligation. To the student of physical science, it is
indeed a land full of interest, because, geologically, it is one of the oldest countries in
the world, and has suffered so little from submersion that the earlier types of the earth's
fauna and flora — types found elsewhere only in the form of fossils — can still be studied
in a living state. To the enthusiastic searcher after the footprints left in the march of
past ages, Australia furnishes, in its animal and vegetable life, records which are only
just beginning to be deciphered. To the student of ethnology, Australia offers little
but the customs of a few degraded tribes — customs not materially differing from those
found elsewhere. For the student of comparative grammar, there is a variety of unde-
veloped dialects principally worth studying in order to determine to what branch of the
human family the Australian aborigines belong, and whence and when they migrated.
That in early days Australia was not better peopled, and that its inhabitants never
rose above the elementary stage of acquiring a subsistence, and fashioning the rude tools
necessary thereto, is largely due to the aridity of the climate on all but the eastern
coast. Wherever man depends on the bounty of Nature, and has not learnt how to
cultivate and garner, there can be no advance in civilization if that bounty is capricious.
Australia is a land of uncertain rain-fall and of certain droughts, and its barbarous
tribes, dependent on the spontaneous produce of Nature, could not increase. When the
clouds are pitiless, the people perish unfed. The Australian aborigines were in this way
kept down, and never reached the point when they were able by human contrivance to
neutralize the precariousness of the earth's spontaneous supph' of food.
For this reason Australia, though populated for centuries, was a blank in history
until it was discovered by Europeans ; and, even when discovered, it was thought to be
of no value. Ardent and intrepid navigators, suspecting its existence, searched for and
found it, but the jewel when discovered was rejected as worthless. The Dutch might
have owned this Great Island Continent if they had thought it worth while to follow up
the discoveries of their seamen ; but though plenty of coast-line was traversed and
,^, PREFACE.
charted, they saw nothing that promised sudden wealth, or that seemed to afford a basis
for permanent colonization. It was not till an Englishman sailed along the eastern coast
that a favourable report was given of the fitness of the country for settlement ; and
even the English, colonizers as they then were, and with their American experience to
guide and encourage them, would not have made this addition to their enterprise had
it not been that they were in search of a distant place whither to ship their criminals
so as to be troubled with them no more. It was to this social necessity, and not to
any greed of territory, that England owes it that her flag waves by all the " long wash
of Australian seas." Cook's discovery of the eastern coast remained unvalued and
unutilized until the idea was taken up that Botany Bay would be a good place to which
to ship off the accumulating inmates of the prisons. It is fortunate for the English
people that, having secured this prize, they were allowed to keep it for themselves.
All other national claims lapsed ; no rival flags have floated over this Island Continent,
and no military frontiers have been established. Within its own borders, the history of
the country has been peace.
Australia, beginning as a prison, revealed in time that it was a splendid wool-
farm, and, when that industry had been established on secure foundations, it made the
further revelation that underneath the grass lay a magnificent gold-mine. This " precipi-
tated it into a nation," and from that time forth its material resources have been
steadily developed. And side by side with its increase in wealth has been its advance-
ment socially, intellectually and politically.
Australia has just celebrated its Centenary, and looks back with some wonder, not
unmixed with pride, at what it has accomplished within the century. No time could be
more fitting to gather into one publication the record of that which has been, the
picture of that which is, and the adumbration of that which is to be. Such is the aim
of this book. It tells the story of the Great Southern Land in all its different subdivi-
sions, and, by the aid of pen and pencil, shows, to all who wish to know, how Australia
presents itself, and what are the shadowed indications of its coming destiny. This is a
task which has hitherto remained unaccomplished. So far as the historical portion is
concerned, reference has every-where been made, not only to the most trustworthy
records, but to living authorities wherever the memory of old colonists could be advan-
tageously laid under contribution, for there are men still living who were pioneers, and
who began to play their part when the country was in its first stage of development.
The movement described, though not without its oscillations, has, in the main, been one
of progress, and sometimes of rapid progress, and those who are engaged in working
out social and economical theories may find in the varied experience of the different
Australasian colonies many facts of great illustrative value. The writers and artists
engaged on this work have endeavoured to be true to Nature and to fact, and have
diligently sought out what was most worth presenting to the mind and to the eye.
Such as Australia is, it is here pourtrayed — sometimes in its native condition, sometimes
as modified by the civilizing hand of man. The country as it was found is contrasted
with the country as it has been made — the camping-ground of blackfellows with the
splendid and populous city ; the old hunting-grounds with the smiling orchards and
productive farms that have succeeded to them.
PREFACE. V
The Editor's special acknowledgments are due to those gentlemen who so kindly
responded to his request for literary assistance. It is proper to say that Mr. James
Smith, of Melbourne, kindly undertook the responsibility for the whole of the Vic-
torian section, and also for that of Tasmania ; the Rev. H. T. Burgess, for South
Australia ; Mr. W. H. Traill, for Queensland ; Sir T. Cockburn-Campbell, Bart., for
Western Australia ; Mr. H. Brett, for New Zealand ; and Mr. Frank J. Donohue, for
the Administrative and the social and political sections. The names of the several
contributors are acknowledged in the Table of Contents, and the Editor feels under
special obligations to those missionaries and ex-missionaries who have written on the
Islands, and who have furnished information which few but themselves could supply. It
has been a matter of great regret that the Editor has been unable to avail himself of
all the valuable matter put before him ; but in a publication of this kind, where the
number of parts is limited from the outset, where the occasional use of smaller type is
not available, and where each article has to be fitted with Procrustean rigour to the
exact space allotted to it, compression and omission have been unavoidable.
In addition to the regular contributors, the Editor has been under great obligations
for information, suggestion, correction and revision, to many gentlemen who have kindly
given their assistance, amongst whom he may specially mention Messrs. John Rae, late
Under Secretary for Public Works and Commissioner for Railways, New South Wales ;
P. F. Adams, Surveyor-General ; Harkie Wood, Under Secretary for Mines, Sydney ;
S. H. Lambton, Secretary to the General Post Office, Sydney; T. A. Coghlan,
A.M.I.C.E., Government Statistician, New South Wales; C. S. Wilkinson, F.G.S.,
Government Geologist, New South Wales ; R. L. J. Ellery, Government Astronomer,
Victoria ; Clement L. Wragge, Government Astronomer, Queensland ; Charles Todd,
C.M.G., F.R.A.S., P.M.G., South Australia; Charles Moore, Director of the Botanical
Gardens, Sydney ; W. R. Guilfoyle, Curator of the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne ;
J. G. Anderson, Under Secretary for Education, Queensland ; W. Gray, Secretary
General Post Office, Wellington, New Zealand; Captain J. Shortt, R.N., Tasmania;
Sir Malcolm A. C. Eraser, K.C.M.G., Western Australia; Rev. Dr. Woolls, Ph.D.,
F.L.S. ; His Honor Judge McFarland ; His Honor Judge Dowling ; Rev. T. S.
FoRSAiTH ; W. H. Hargraves ; Robert G. D. Fitzgerald, Deputy Surveyor-General ;
Sir Henry Ayres, President of the Legislative Council of South Australia; His Eminence
Cardinal Moran ; Hon. G. H. Cox ; Hon. P. G. King ; Lieutenant Field, R.N. ;
Nicholas Lockyer ; J. J. Atkinson; E. J. Welch; H. W. Howitt ; Henry Stuart
Russell, Author of "Genesis of Queensland"; W. Wilkins, late Under Secretary to
the Council of Education of New South Wales; Dr. Shortlanu; J. W. Hackett,
Editor of the Perth Examiner; Edward Dowling, late Secretary to the Board of
Technical Education in New South* Wales ; to Mr. Henry King, Sydney, and Messrs.
Foster and Martin, Melbourne ; and last, not least, to the Assistant Editor, .Mr. Fred.
J. Broomfield, to whose constant, patient and minute attention the work is greatly indebted.
ANDREW GARRAN.
CONTENTS
EARLY DISCOVERIES. By Fred. J. Broomfield
A.\D Alk.xander Sl'therl.\.nd
CAPTAIN COOK. By Fred. J. Broomfield and
Ai.E.\ANDER Sutherland .
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
By G. li. Barton, Alexander Suvherland
AND Fred. J. Broomfield.
Early Settlement .
Governor Hinter .
The Introduction of Wool
Governor King
Governor Bligh
Governor M.\cquarie
Governor Brisbane .
Governor Darling .
Governor Bourke .
Governor Gipps
Sir Chari.e.s Augustus Fitzroy
The New Constitution
EARLY AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. By Fred
J. Broomfield.
Bass and Flinders ....
Flinders in the "Investigator"
OXLEY and CUNNI.VGHAM .
Hume and Hoveli. . . .
Progress of Exploration from 1828
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. By
Alexander Sutherland, R. von Lendenfeldt
and Francis Myers.
The Coast-Line .....
Mountains ......
Rivers ......
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
Myers and Fred. J.
The Harbour
By the Editor, Francis
Broomfield.
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log
III
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145
The City and Suburbs . . . .
Parks and Pleasure Grounds
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. By
Francis Myers, Fred. J. Broomfield and
J. P. Dowling.
The Hunter River District
The Northern District .
The Western Dlstrict
The Southern District .
THE JENOLAN caves. By Francis Myers.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA. By James
Smith.
The Discovery of Port Phili.ii>
Collins at Sorrento ...
The First Settlement — The Hentys .
The Arrival of Bat.man .
The Story of Buckley ...
John Pascoe F'awkner
Captain Lonsdale ....
Governor Latrobe ....
The Discovery of Gold ...
Sir Henry Barkly — Burke and Wills .
From the Administraiton of Governor Darun(
The Melbourne International Exhibition
The Colony of Victoria in i8go
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA. By James Smith
The Coast-Line ....
Mountains .....
Lakes .....
Rivers .....
THE CITY OF MELBOURNE. By James Smith
Port Phillip Bay ....
The City .....
The Suburbs .....
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411
424
470
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Captain Cook . . Frontispiece.
Torres Straits To-day . . . . i
Torres on the Northern Coast of Australia . 3
Sighting Land ...... 4
The "Duyphen" in the Gulf of Carpentaria . 5
Antony Van Diemen ..... 7
Tasman's Carpenter Landing at .Storm Bay . 9
William Dampier ... .11
.\ Malay Proa in the Gulf of Carpentaria . 13
Cape Tribulation, North-eastern Coast of Aus-
tralia ...... 15
The Great Australian Barrier Reef . 17
.V North Australian Native . . .19
Australia's Iron-bound Coast .21
The " Cygnet " Beached . (Tail-piece) . 22
I.mtial " F " . . . . . 23
Sir Joseph Banks .24
A Mountain Gorge on the New Zealand Coast
Facing ...... 25
Cape Green, on the Eastern Coast of Australia
Captain Cook's Pigeon House
Bare Island, Botany Bay . . . .
Cook Landing at Botany Bay
Australian Birds and Fish ....
Captain Cook's Landing-Place, Botany Bay
Captain Cook proclaiming New South Wales a
British Possession, Botany Bay, 1770
Captain Cook Sighting the Glass-house Moun-
tains, Eastern Australia
Estuary near which the " Endeavour " Struck
The "Endeavour" on a Reef
Burial of Captain Cook's Remains at Sea, and
HIS Monument at Hawaii
Antoine de Bougainville ....
Figure-head of the "Resolution" .
Cook's Monument, Hyde Park, Sydney
A Forest Glade in Tropical Australia — Facing .
Shakespeare Head, Mercury B.\y, New Zealand
PAGE.
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47
VIIT
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Relics from Cook's ExPEmrioNs Tail-piece
Sydney Cove, Aigust 20, 1788
Viscount Sydney . . . •
Captain Arthur Phillip
Phillip's First Landing-place, Botany Bay
Jean Francois Ualaup, Comte de la Perouse
The Tomb i>k Lk Recevelr at Boiany Bay
The La Perouse Monument .
Relics from the La Perouse Expedition .
The First Fleet entering Botany Bay, tiir i8th
of January, 17SS
Captain Phillip's First Sight of Port Jackson
The First Government House : Pitt Street, Sydney
Governor John Hunter
The Cow I'astures, Camden Park
Macartiiur's Homestead, Camden
Macarthur's Tomb, at Camden
Thf. Hawkesbury at Wiseman's Ferry Facing
Governor Philip Gidi.ey King
Governor William Bi.igh
Bligh's Boat Abandoned by the "Bounty"
Blaxland and Lawson's Tree
The Old Road to Bathurst, Mount Victoria
Governor Lachlan Macquarie
The Argyle Cut . . .' . _
Port Macquarie, Sydney Cove
Old Government House, Parramatta
Governor Brisbane
Governor Darling
Bushranger's Cave, Mount Victoria
Governor Bourse's Statue
Governor Sir Richard Bourke
Wentworth's Statue in the Sydney University
Governor Sir George Gipps .
The .Gate Lodge, Government House
Government House, Sydney .
The Valley of the Grose . . Facing
Governor Sir Charles Fitzroy
Sir William Denison ....
Fort Denison .....
Sir John Young (Lord Lisgar)
The Earl of Belmore
Farm Cove and the Garden Palace, Sydney, in i
Sir Hercules Robinson
Lord Carrington ....
Frazer's Fountain, Sydney Tah.-i'ieck
Captain Matthew Flinders .
Flinders and Bass in the "Tom Thumh"
Bass's Straits .....
Caitain Nicholas Baudin
Cunningham's Monument, Boianicai. Gardens,
Sydney .....
The Marked Tree, Ai.bury .
Monument to Hume at Alburv
Sir Thomas Mitchell ....
Captain Charles Sturt
A Gully in the Blue Mountains Facing
Twofold Bay .....
Point Perpendicular, Jervis Bay
The Kiama Blow-hole
The Seal Rock Light-house .
Stone Cairn, Mount Kosciusko
Granite Rocks, Mount Kosciusko
Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains
GovrTT's Leap .....
The Katoomba Falls, and the Three Sisters
Mount Piddi.vgton ....
Mount Wincen .....
Mount Lindsay, in the Macpherson Range
The Water-fall at Goveit's Leaf* . Facing
Sandstone Peaks of the Far West .
A Sandstone Table-land
PAGE.
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Nothing in Sight: the Spinifex Country in the
Far West .
A Darling River Wool-Barge
The Nepean, near Penrith .
The Upper Nepean
The Hunter at Maitland
The River Paterson
The Richmond River at Coraki
The Clarence, near Grafton Tail-piece
South Head Light, -near the Entrance to Port
Jackson . . ' ■
The Entrance to Darling Harbour
The Eastern Side of Circular Quay
Elizabeth Bay and Darling Point
Sydney Harbour from Shark Point
Manly Beach ....
The Ocean Beach, Manly
Sydney Heads from the South . Facing
"The Gap" .....
Hornby Light-house, Inner South Head
The Fortifications at South Head
The Manly Wild-flower Show
One of the Big Guns at Middle Head .
Lavender Bay .....
Lane Cove River ....
Darling Harbour from the Pyrmont Bridge
Early^ Barrack-van ....
The Old Windmill at Miller's Point
Circular Quay on the Western Side
George Street from the Parapet of the Post
Office ....
The Sydney Post Office Tower
The Sydney Post Office Colonnade
King Strf.et looking East
The Sydney Town Hall and St. Andrew's
Cathedral
Pitt Street looking South .
Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour . Facing
Bridge Street from Macquarie Place
Mori's Statue, Macquarie Place
Macquarie Street from Bridge Street
A Cliff-face Stair-way, Darlinghurst
A Glimpse of Sydney from Darlinghurst
St. John's Church, Darlinghurst
The Redfern Railway Station
The Glebe Presbyterian Church
The Entrance to a State School .
A State School Class-room .
School Children Travelling at State Expense
The Central Markets .
The Interior of the Central Markets
A Parramatta Orange Grove
Saturday Night in George Street
The Inner Domain from the Siie ok Garden
Palace ....
The Pleasure Grounds of Sydney . Facing
The Lily Pond, Botanic Gardens .
A Walk in the Botanic Gardens .
The Sea-side Waj.k, Outer Domain
" Mrs. Macquarie's Chair " .
St. Mary's Gate, Outer Domain
Hyde Park, Sydney, from Chancery Square
In the Zoological Gardens .
Kangaroos .....
The Cassowary, Emu and Native Companion
The Dingo or Native Dog .
Coogee Bay .....
A Glimpse in Parramatta Park
The National Park, Port Hacking
Fletcher's Glen, Bondi . Tail-piece
Newcastle in 1829 ....
Nobby's Head, Newcastle . . ,
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ISS
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
IX
Hunter Sireet, Newcastle ....
Shippi.ng Coal at Bullock Island .
THi Lucerne Harvest' in the Maitland District
High Street, West Maitland
Newcastle from Nobby's Head . Facing
St. Mary's Church, West Maitland
The Town of East Maitland
The Town of West Maitland
The Church of England, Paterson
Church-going ai- Paterson Township
The Singleton Agriculiural Show-ground
Main Streei-, Singleton ....
The Peel River at Tamworth
Peel Street, Tamworih ....
The Dangar Falls .....
The Anglican Cathedral at Ar.midale
Armidale ......
TiiE Roman Caitioiic Cathedral at Armidale
The Wai.lamumbi Falls ....
The Rich.moni) at Lismore ....
Casino, on the Richmond ....
The River Clarence at Grafton
A Reach on the Clarence ...
The Wharf at Graf ion . . .
The Court House and the Post Office at Grafton
Hauling Cedar in the Richmond River District
Ke.mpsey and the Macleay River
The Sugar Industry on the Richmond River
Facing ....
Parramaita ....
St. Matthew's Church, Windsor
Stud Sheep of the Mudgee DisiRicr
The Anglican Cathedral at Baitiurst
BATHURSr, and the GoVERNMENr BUILDINGS
The Roman Catholic Cathedral at Bathuksi
The Presbvierian Church ai Bathurst-
The Sunny Corner Silver-mines
The Lachlan River and the Town of Forbes
Wellington .....
The Macquarie ai' Dubbo
A CAMEI.-TEAM AT Wll.CANNIA
The Windings of the Murray ai' Albury Facing
Main Street, Bourke .
Transit of Wool on the Darling
The Coi.i.in(;wood Paper Mill. Liverpool
St. John's Church. Campbei.ltown .
Ruse's Tombstone
FiTZROY Falls, Moss Vale
The Residence of Lord Carkingio.n ai Sutton
Forest
The City of Goui.bur.>
The Roman C.\thoi.ic Cathedral ai Goulburn
The Anglican Cathedral at Goulburn
Lake George .....
WoLLONGONG from lllL LlGili-lloUSE
WoLi.oNGONG Harbour
KlAMA ......
Carlotta Akcu, Jenolan Caves . Facing
Mori's Cheese Farm ai' Bodalla
Bega from Chapel Hill
The Wharf at Taihra
Gundagai .....
Cootamundra
The Public Gardens ai Dkniliquin
The Town Hall, Deniliquin
The Mi.'rrumbidgee at Wagga Wagga
Fac-simii.e of the Clai.mani's Hand-wiuiing
The Tichborne Claimant
The Original Site of the Claimant's Shop
An Albury Vineyard . . ■ •
Changing Trains at Albury
The Railway Station at Albury .
PAGE.
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Summer Streei', Orange Tail-piece
The Grand Arch, Eastern Entrance
The Arch Cave, Looking North
A Passage in the Caves
A Sassafras Gully in the Black Spur Facing
The Broken Column, Cathedral Cave
The Exhibition, Cathedral Cave .
The Devil's Coach-house, Jenolan Caves
The Wellington Caves
On the Road . Tail-piece
The " Lady Nelson " Entering Port Phillip
Lieutenant-Governor Collins
Thomas Henty .....
Hentv's Wool-stoke, the First Building Erected
in Victoria
Batman Treating wiih the Blacks
William Buckley
Buckley's Cave
Government House, Melbourne . Facing
The "Enterprise," and Fawkner's House on the
Yarra ....
Captain Lonsdale's House
John Pascoe Fawkner
Lord Melbourne
Captain Lonsdale
Batman's Monument
Governor Latrobe
"Black Thursday"
En Route for the Diggings ' .
A Hut and a Store at the Diggings
A Gold Escort in the Fifties
The Eureka Siockade, Bai.larat, on Sunday
Morning, December 3, 1854
Hon. Peter Lalor
Sir Charles Hotham
Sir Henry Barki.y
Robert O'Hara Burke
W. J. Wills
Cooper's Creek
John King
Houses of Pakliameni', Melbourne Facing
The Grave of Burke and Wills in the Mel
BOURNE Cemetery
The Monument 10 Burke and Wills
The Discovery of John King by E. J. Welch
Governor Sir Charles IL Darling
Viscount Canterbury .
The Marquis of Normanbv
The Exhibiiton Building, Carlton Gardens
Sir Hi'.nrv Brougham Loch
Fountain in the Carlton Gardens Tail-
Off the Victorian Coast
The Gabo Island Lighi-house
The Pier, Port Albert
Fishing off Port Albert
Wilson's Promontory .
Cape Otway ....
^Portland ....
Cape Nelson ....
Cape Schanck .... Facing
The Coast at Cape Bridgewater .
The Watery Cave
The Grand Cave
The Northern Face of Mount Bogong
The Western Peak of Mount Bogong
Mount Feathertop
Mount Abrupt .
Mount Arapii.es
The Mai.i.ee Hens' Nest
The Gippsland Lakes
Lake Tyers
A Farm near Lake Tyers
PAOB.
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Lake Corangamitk, from Mount Leura
Lakk Hindmarsh
Thk St. K11.DA Esplanade Facing
Thk Latrobk Rivkk
Thk Snowv River
Thk Lkrderbeku River at Bacchus Marsh
Thk Hopkins River
The Junction ok thk Rivers Mukkav anu Uaru.n
Thk G0UI.BURN River .
Thk Upper Murray and Mouni Dargal
qukknsci.iff ....
Sorrento ....
Es Route for Sorrento
Brighton Beach
Port Melbourne
Tiik Wili.iamstown Pier
The Alfred Gravi.ng Dock
Melbourne fro.m the Yarra Facing
Divers at Work in Hobson s Bay
Dredging the Yarra
The Basin of the Yarra
Flinders Street West
The Prince's Bridge
Flinders Lane
SWANSTON Street Looking North
The Melbourne Town Hall
Collins Street Looking East
Elizabeth Sirekt and the Posi Office
Bourke Strkei Looking East
A Night Alarm
A Horse Bazaar Bourke Stkeei
Collins Stkkei' East on Sunday Morning Facing
The Law Courts
The Equity Court
PAQB.
397
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Melbourne, Looking East, from the Dome of tiii-
Law CouRis
Melbourne, Looking East, from the Dome
Law Courts
The Tklei'hone Exchange
The Public Library
The Wesley Church .
Sr. Patrick's Cathedral
The Government Offices
The Legislative Council Chambers
The Fmzroy Gardens
The Carlton Gardens
Spuing Street, Melbourne Facing
The Hotham Town Hall
The Zoological Gardens
Okmond College
The Collingwood Town Hall
The Richmond Town Hall .
A Reach on the Yarra
The Methodist Ladies' College, Hawthorn
The College of St. Francis Xavier, Kew
The Yarra at Hawthorn
CiiiusT Church, South Yarra
The Pkahran Town Hall
Toorak, from the Old Governmeni House
The South Melbourne Town Hall
All Saints' Church, St. Kii.da
Erskine Falls, Lorne . Facing
The Ai.BERr Park Lagoon
The Melbourne Observatory
In the Melbourne Botanic Gardens
The Yarra above the Botanic Gardens
In the Fmzroy Gardens . Tail-piece
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AUSTRALIA
O radiant Laml I o'er whom the sun's first dawning
Fell brightest when God said, "Let there be Light";
O'er whom the day hung out its bluest awning,
Flushed to white deeps of star-lustre by night !
O Land exultant 1 on whose lirow reposes
A queenlier coronal than has been wrought
From light of pearls, or bloom of Eastern roses,
In the bright workshops of high Poet-thought !
"And once again will they, with eyes unheeding
His Sacritice, uplift their guilty hands
Each to his brother, and with rage exceeding,
.•Vnd hist and vengeance, desolate the lands ;
But this one land," so mused He, the Creator,
"This will I bless, and shield from all the woe,
That worthier among men, in ages later.
May tind it pure, and, haply, hold it sol"
O thou who hast, thy splendid hair entwining,
A toil wove wreath, where are no blood-won bays;
Who standest in a stainless vestment shining
Before the eyes and lips of love and praise 1
O wrought of old, in Orient clime and sunny.
With all His richest Iraunties largely decked ;
With heart all virgin gold and breath all honey,
.Supremest work of greatest Architect !
Thus, sweet Australia, fell His benediction
Of sleep up<m thee where no wandering breath
Might come to tell thee of the loud aflliction
Of cursing tongues, and clamouring hosts of death.
.So with the peace of His great love around thee,
And rest that clashing ages could not break,
.Strong prying eyes of English seekers found thee ;
Strong English voices cried to thee "Awake!"
O Land of widest hope, of promise boundless I
Why wert thou left upon a dark, strange sea,
To wait through ages fruitless, scentless, soundless,
Till from thy slumber men should waken thee?
Why didst thou lie with -ear that never hearkened
The sounds without — the cries of strife ard play.
As some sweet child within a chamber darkened.
Left sleeping long into a troubled day?
For them a continent undreamed of, peerless —
A realm for happier sons of theirs to be.
One spot preserved, unspotted, bloodless, tearless,
Beyond the rim of an enchanted sea
Lay folded in the soft compelling languor
Of warm south airs, as an awaiting bride.
While strife and hate, and culminating anger
Raged through the far-off nations battle-dyed.
What opiate sealed thine eyes till all the others
Grew tired and faint in East and West and North ?
Why didst thou dream until thy joyful brothers
Foimd where thou wert, and led thee smiling forth?
Why didst thou mask the radiant smile thou wearest ?
Why wert thou veiled from all the eager eyes?
Why left so long, O first of lands and fairest.
Beneath thy tent of unconjectured skies?
Here no dread vestiges stood up imprinted
W'ith evil messages and brands of Cain,
No mounds of death or walls of refuge dinted
With .signs that Christ had lived and died in vain ;
No chill memorials here proclaimed the story
Of kingships stricken for and murders done :
Here was a marvel and a separate glory
One land whose history ha<l not begun '.
We know thy secret. In the awful ages.
When yet was silence, and the world was white ;
Ere yet on the Recording Volume's pages
The stern-browed Angel had begun to write.
Ere yet from Eden the sad feet ha<l wandered,
Or yet was sin, or any spilth of blood ;
In august judgment, C;o<l the Father pondered
Upon His work, and saw that it was good —
The Sovereign of suns and stars, the thunder
Of whose dread I'ower we cannot understand,
Sate gazing long upon the shining wonder
Of this new world within His hollowed hand.
With high, sad eyes, as one that saw a vision.
And spake, " Lo, this My gift is fair to see
But Pri<le will mar the glory, and derision
Of many feet that will not follow Me.
" I give My creatures shields of hope and warning ;
I .set in fruitful ways of peace their first ;
But even these will turn from Me, and scorning
My counsel, hearken to the one Accurst,
And Sin and Pain and Death will make inva.sion
Of this alx)dc, and from a world undone.
To Heaven will sound the moans of expiation
They wring from Him, My well-beloved Son.
One unsown garden fenced by sea-crags sterile.
Whose mailed breasts push back strong-breasted waves,
From all the years of fierce unrest and peril.
And slaves, and lords, and broken blades, and graves
One gracious freehold for the free, where only
Soft dusky feet fell, reaching not thy sleep
One field inviolate, untroidiled, lonely
Across the dread of the uncharted deep !
O dear and fair 1 awakened from thy sleeping
So late 1 The world is breaking into noon ;
The eyes that all the morn were dim with weeping
Smile through the tears that will cease dropping soon I
Thine have no tears in them for olden sorrow.
Thou hast no heartache for a ruineil past ;
From bright to-day to many a bright to-morrow
Shall be thy way, O first of lands and last !
God make us worthy now I The bitter mornings
Of nations struggling from the blind long night
Of Wrong, set high before our eyes are warnings.
And finger-posts to guide us on to Right !
God make us manfullest of men, and bravest.
To fight the fight for Thine and Thee, and stand
Erect and watchful of this gift Thou gavest —
Until at last we sit at Thy right hand !
John Farrei.i..
DEDICATION.
To the memory of De Ouiros, Tasman, Dampier, Cook, Bass,
Flinders and all those brave mariners who discovered our
country ;
To the memory of Hume and Hovell, Sturt, Mitchell, Leichhardt,
Cunningham, Oxley, Burke and Wills, Kennedy. McKinlay,
Stuart and all those self-sacrificing pioneers who crossed and
recrossed our Continent and undeterred by privation and all
manner of hardship made known to us its resources ;
To the memory of Wentworth, and all those public-spirited men
who fought for and won our coniitiuitional rights and liberties;
To the settler, the miner, the farmer, the artisan ; to the muscle
and brain and enterprise which has given a new common-
wealth to the world ;
To the youth to whom we look to maintain and defend it,
^Ixis ^i5ook is dedicated.
AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
N the story of Australian
discovery which we are
about to record we find that
this great Continent is practi-
cally the prize of the latest
comer. Nation after nation fol-
lowed in each other's wake, but all unwitting of the treasure-trove which lay concealed
behind its uninviting shores. Like the soul of the licentiate in the immortal story of
" Gil Bias " one only could pierce the meaning of the inscription which marked the
depository of a fortune. Chinese and Malay, Portuguese and Spaniard, Dutchman and
Frenchman, urged as much by maritime passion and love of adventure as by national
pride and greed of gain, sought that Great Southern Land which is even now but passing
through the first stage of its infancy. At one time the Dutchman seemed to hold its future
2 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
in the hollow of his palm, but he relaxed his grasp and never regained it. It was a
great thing to lose — a Fifth part of the known world ; and he did not lose it by the
fortune of war but by the misfortune of being ignorant of its value. To him. however,
beloni'-s the credit of having traced the northern and western and part of the southern
coasts, from Cape York to Cape Arid;, but the tropical islands had more fascination for
him. as thev had for the English Dampier, than the bleak and desert coast-line he
explored. Hence as far as the Dutch were concerned the Continent remained open for
exploitation a century and a half from the date of l)e Quir's historical voyage in .search
of a Southern Land. The choice was like that of the leaden casket in the old fable — the
greatest prize was hidden in the lea.st, valuable exterior. Nor could the sturdy .sailors of
Holland have done much with .Australia at the time of their first visit even had they
tried to occupy it ; for, as we shall hereafter see, although the commerce of Australia had
its origin in the exportation of sealskins and whale oil, it received its greatest impetus
from the discover)' of the fitness of large tracts of the Continent for the growth of fine
wool, and the time for that trade had not yet arrived.
The ivory and spices which gave the East Indies their value in the eyes of the
Portuguese Australia was lacking in, and the gold which made .South America worth the
shedding of Spanish blood had not yet been discovered in the " New Atlantis " of the
South. Hence the romance which clings around Australia's early history is the romance
of effort rather than of achievement, a romance of old ships and old sailors, of mutinies
on the high seas and collisions with natives, of bloodshed and water-famine, of hope
deferred and heroic endeavour ; and then a great blank, as if the vision of the Tcrj-a
Austraiis of the roinist days of old had faded from men's minds for a season, to re-ap-
pear in a more modern, a commonplace and a less poetic gui.se.
It is impossible to say when the existence of Bacon's " New Atlantis," like that of
the old "Atlantis" of Plato's philosophic dream, was first diml\- suspected. Perhaps from
the earliest period of the world's histor)-. Even the Ptolemaic theory of the configura-
tion of the earth did not shut out from the minds of the Ancients some vague idea of
an unknown Tcri-a Austraiis, some Ultima Iliulc of the South, that yet remained to be
one day discovered ; and the early Christian Fathers discussed such hypotheses with as
much vigour as decision. .Amongst them the venerable St. .Augustine, with all the fervour
of strong religious conviction, wrote that " Nothing could be more absurd than to believe
that land, even if it existed, on the opposite side of the world could i^e inhabited by
human beings, for the Holy Scriptures made no mention of the fact, and it was
obviously impossible that any of the de.scendants of our first parents could have sailed
to or reached those countries without being missed."
The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492, not only disposed of
such arguments, but originated also a scientific theory that some extensive territory must
of necessity exist on the opposite side of the globe b\- way of counterbalance ; and the
Chinese, who were in all probability the earliest of the discoverers of the great Terra
Austraiis confirmed this theory in a tale of a vast but unknown Southern Land. Towards
the close of the thirteenth century Marco Polo \isited China, being the first European
of whom any record exists who had achieved such a journey, and he supports the belief
that the Chinese knew positively of the existence of Australia, although it is probable
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
that their discovery
referred only to New
Guinea — a country
which from a remote
period of antiquity had
been an object of curi-
osity to the civilized
world. It is, indeed,
matter for regret that
the historical evidence
of the first actual disco-
ver)- of Australia is so
shadowy and delusive.
Amongst the European
nations the Portuguese,
the Spanish, the Dutch,
the French have each
and at different times
shared the credit of its
achievement ; and also
amongst the peoples of
Asia the Chinese and
the Malays put for-
ward claims to have
been "the first that
ever burst into that
silent sea."
The first mention
in authentic history of
any European visiting
a supposed Southern
Continent is contained
in De Brosses' " His-
toire des Navigations
A ux Tcn-cs A us t rales,
and relates to a certain
Binot Paulmyer who,
nearly four hundred
years ago, landed on
what was for long con-
sidered to be the great
Terra .Ijistralis, although it was in all probability the island of Madagascar. Para-
phrasing the P>ench account, which is very circumstantial, we read somewhat as follows :
When Vasquez de Gama had opened the road to the East Indies, I'Vench merchants
H
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D
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s;
■A
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C-l
as
O
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H
Z
o
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Cd
O
.4 USTRALAS/A ILL USTRA TED.
SIC.iniNC l.ANI).
began to follow the Portuguese to those famous lands, and it was about this tni^e.
in the month of June. .503. that the ship L'Espo^r, commanded by Binot Paulmyer.
Sieur de GonneviUe. left the harbour of Honfleur. rounded the Cape of Good Hope,
and was then driven out of her course and reckoning by
a violent storm. The sight of birds coming from the south
decided the Captain to sail in that direction in the hope
of finding land where his vessel might be watered and
repaired. The storm-worn mariners were fortunate enough
to make a large island, which they named hides mcridi-
oiialcs, where they stopped six months. On the refusal of
the crew to sail further south the Captain put his ship
about, and taking with him a young native of the country,
steered for France, in sight of which he was lucky enough
to arrive when, between the isles of Jersey and Guern-
sey, an English privateer captured him and his men and
set them ashore on the French coast. At the command
of the Procnrair du Roi he filed a complaint before the
French Board of Marine, on the 19th of July, 1505, which
was signed by all his officers. This document was included
in the memoirs of a priest, which bore the imprint of
Cramoisy, Paris. 1663, and which were dedicated to Pope Alexander VH. This priest was
himself descended from the native whom De GonneviUe had brought back with him and
whom he married to one of his relations in Normandy. The priest, who claimed to be
the great-grandson of the native, signs himself with the initials J.P.D.G. — probabh' Jean
Paulmver de GonneviUe— Canon of the Cathedral S.P.D.L. He worked with writings
and traditions which existed in his family relating to Binot Paulmyer's voyage, the
logs and journals of which had fallen into the hands of the English and had never
been recovered. The Count de Maurepas, Minister of the Admiralty of France, in-
stituted researches in Normandy to find the original declaration of the .Sieur de
GonneviUe, but without success, as civil wars and an interval of two hundred and fifty
years rendered the search useless ; but the Count de Caylus ascertained that a very
consistent tradition current in the country attested the truth of the report, and M. E.
Marin Fa Meslee, Member of the Paris Society of Commercial Geography, gives a
full account of this interesting incident, which i)urports to be a translation from an old
Norman record — in all probability the very document which De Maurepas and I3e
Caylus successively searched for in vain.
Later maritime explorers, including Flinders, were inclined to believe that the coast
upon which De GonneviUe landed in 1503 was not. as he supposed, Australia, but the
island of Madagascar, fourteen hundred leagues to the west of that continent. On the
other hand a few writers consider that the old French navigator's story is corroborated
in some particulars by Sir George Grey in his " Journals of Two Expeditions of Dis-
coveries in North-west and Western Australia," particularly with regard to the appearance
of the country, and the manners and customs of the natives in the neighbourhood of
the Glenelg and Prince Regent Rivers, between the East and West Kimberley Districts.
EA RL } ' DISCO VERIKS.
The whole question of the first discovery of Australia is enveloped in doubt and
mystery. The researches of R. H. Major, of the British Museum, have from time to
time brought to light various manuscript charts, concerning the genuineness of which
there has been no little controversy. These maps were supposed to date from between
151 1 to 1542, and they
present a considerable
body of questionable
evidence in respect to
an early discovery of
Australia by the Portu-
guese, which has given
occasion to no end of
incjenious theorisinof on
the part of antiquaries
and geographers. G.
B. Barton, in his " His-
tory of New South
Wales," disposes judi-
ciously of the question
of an ante -historical
visit to Australia, the
proof of which rests on
so slender a foundation
as the manuscripts al-
luded to in the follow
ing passage, which we
have taken the liberty
to quote: — "To deal
with the subject of dis-
covery, in the darkness
which still surrounds it,
is hardly a less difficult
task than that of the
learned Burgomaster
Witsen, when he under-
took to write on the
' Migrations of Man-
kind.' We have only to
recall the various theories with respect to the question of priority among the discoverers in
order to see the existing state of confusion. There are at least five such theories still in
existence: one sets up the Malays and the Chinese as the first discoverers: another the
French ; a third, the Portuguese ; a fourth, the Spaniards : and a fifth, the Dutch. Each
of these theories is supported b>- a great deal of argument and some evidence; but
nothing seems to come of cither hut doubt and despair. To show how unsettled the
m T'.A^i.i='V'i\
THK "nUVKIIEX" IN THE C.ULK OF C.'\KPENT.\RI.\.
6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
question still remains, it is enough to mention that Major, in 1859. considered it highly
probable that the Portuguese discovered the country between 151 1 and ,529, and almost
certain that they discovered it before .542; but having found a mappemonde m the
British Museum . two vears after^vards, he came to the conclusion that the country was
positively discovered by the Portuguese in i6oi-the Dutch being thus summarily dis-
possessed of an honour they had enjoyed for more than two centuries. Purther
researches enabled the lucky discoverer of the map to satisfy himself that it was 'an
abominable imposture," and. the laurel crown was thereupon handed back to the Dutch.
Unfortunately, however, the detection of the imposture escaped the notice of many who
had read the account of the map— among them being the author of a valuable work
on the 'History of Australian Exploration,' in whose pages it appears as unquestioned
evidence of a ' Portuguese discovery of Australia immediately preceding tlie Dutch one.'
However interesting the point of priority may be, it is a matter of little importance
compared with a reasonably accurate knowledge of the whole subject— for which we
must wait until it is treated, like any other branch of inquiry, according to the critical
methods of the present day."
It is supposed that the survivors of the ill-fated expedition commanded by Fernando
de Magelhaens. caught a glimpse of the' western coast during their storm-tossed wander-
ings, but this is merely a matter of conjecture, founded, in all likelihood, upon the
existence of an undated track chart drafted by the old Portuguese mariner who, in
1520, sailed through the straits which bear his name into the South Seas, where, in the
following year, he lost his life in a fight with the natives of the Philippine Islands.
Amongst other evidences of a discovery of Australia before the close of the
sixteenth century, besides those adduced by R. H. Major in his "Introduction" to
•' Early Voyages to Terra Anstrah's," it is stated in Dalrymple's " Voyages and Dis-
coveries in the South Pacific Ocean" that Juan P^rnandez — whose name is associated
with the most popular of marine romances — was the finder of the Southern Land, and
in an edition of Ortelius, bearing the date of 1587, a map is given showing New Guinea
as an island separated by a strait from Terra Australis, and containing the words,
"'Ham continentem Australem nonnnlli Magellanicam regionem. ah ejus inventorc iiuneitpani."
V^arious editions of Mercator of about the same date give indications similar to those
on the map of Ortelius. "In the map to illustrate the voyages of Drake and Cavendish
{temp. Q. Elizabeth), New Guinea is an island, while Tein-a Ajtstralis, which is separated
from it. has an outline remarkably similar to that of the Gulf of Carpentaria."
Certain it is that as early as 1598 a distinct account of Australia, probably the
earliest in existence, was printed at Louvain in the " Descriptionis Ptolemaico' Augnien-
tum" of Cornelius Wytfliet. from which we quote the following: "The Australis Terra
is the most southern of all lands, and is separated from New Guinea by a narrow
strait. Its shores are hitherto but little known, since, after one voyage and another,
that route has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited unless when sailors are
driven there by storms. The Australis Terra begins at one or two degrees from the
equator and is ascertained by some to be of so great an extent that if it were
thoroughly explored it would be regarded as a fifth part of the world." Seventy years
later Sir William Temple, English Ambassador to the Court of Holland, informed his
HA RLY DISCO J'ER/HS.
royal master that the Dutch Kast India Company had long been aware of the existence
of a rich unknown country to the southward of Java, but fearing commercial competi-
tion and having alre.ady more trade than it could satisfactorily protect, the knowledge
was suppressed under threatened penalties of the severest description.
International hatreds and jealousies were doubtless the cause of so many years of
uncertainty as to the value of the unknown land. There was a bitter rivalry between
the Spanish and Portugjaese ^
Governments for the world's
commerce and the extension
of their colonial possessions,
and the famous Bull of Pope
Alexander VL. by defining
the different portions of the
earth's surface in which each
power might energetically
prosecute maritime discovery,
endeavoured to promote har-
mony and avoid a cause of
quarrel between these irascible
nations. It is, however, more
than probable that the peace-
able designs of the Pontiff
were defeated by the confi-
guration of the globe itself,
and that the early Portu-
guese discoverers were appre-
hensive that the continent
fell within the limit of the
Spanish boundary ; hence they
were little inclined to lay claim
to the honour of a discovery -^
the substantial benefits of which would accrue to their hated, stronger, and too often
successful rivals. The Dutch were at war with the Spaniards, and might well have
dreaded the possibility of having them for close neighbours in the South ; F" ranee appears
to have had no interest in the prosecution of maritime discovery until a much later
period, and there is no record of England having been in any way identified with the
new Continent prior to the landing of Dampier on the north-west coast in 1688.
In the year 1606, the expedition of De Ouiros, as he is called by the Spaniards,
discovered the largest island of the New Hebrides Group, and supposing that this
must be the Great Southern Land of ancient tradition, " la quai'hi parte del mundo Aus-
trialia incognita" he bestowed upon it the name of " Tci-ra Austrialia del Espiritu
Santo." But it is not so much as a discoverer as the apostle of discovery that De
Quir will be remembered. In the language of W. A. Duncan in the preface to his
translation of the " Rclacion" of "El Capitan Pedro Fernandez de Otiir" : — "It seems
ANTU.NV \A.N IMK.MEN.
S AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
certain that De Ouir was not the discoverer of the real continent ; that his " Ans-
trialia del Espiritu Santo" is the largest island of the group now called the New
Hebrides, and that the real Australian Continent had been discovered more than half
a centur)- before his time, although, for reasons of State, its discovery was kept as far
as possible secret. It is nevertheless true that the discoveries of De Ouir led to the
subsequent explorations of the Dutch, of De Bougainville and of Cook, and that, in the
words of Dalrjmple, ' The discovery of the Southern Continent, whenever and by tvhom-
soevcr it may be completely effected, is in justice due to his immortal name.'"
De Quiros inherited his zeal in the cause of exploration from his old leader,
Alvaro Mendafia de Neyra, who had cruised about in these mysterious seas as early as
1567. In that year he left Callao. and steering east discovered the Solomon Group,
and sailed round San Christoval and other neighbouring islands. He was in the same
latitude as the channel through which Torres afterwards worked his passage, and which
is now named after him, and within a few days' sail of the shores of the great Aus-
tralian Continent. Mendafia appears to have had some suspicion that greater discoveries
than he had yet made remained behind, for in the flamboyant account of his voyage,
which he gave the Court on his return to Spain, he made an earnest request for a
ship to prosecute further researches. Nearly thirty years passed away before his solicita-
tions were successful, but when at last he sailed, in 1595, he took De Quiros with him.
Mendafia on his voyage reached the Marquesas Islands, but was unable to find the
territories he had touched at so many years before. After much suffering and |)rivation.
and long-continued unsuccessful search, he succumbed eventually to the anxiety and dis-
appointment which supervened on his failure to realise his ambition, bequeathing to De
Quiros, who succeeded him in the command of his expedition, a similar fate.
Worn out with the hardships of the voyage, and working his vessel" with a crew of
grisly skeletons, De Quiros at length succeeded in making Manila, the capital of the
Philippine Islands, and undismayed by the perils of the past found his way thence to
the Court of Spain, where he petitioned King Philip the Third to grant him men and
ships to discover a still newer world than that given to P^erdinand and Isabella bj-
Columbus, of whom in so singular a way he was to emulate the unfulfilled renown.
For nearly thirty years he advocated the search for the Southern Land, and it is only
necessarj- to read any one of the many petitions that bear his name to see how com-
pletely he identified himself with the one great object of his life-time. He ever
persistently maintained, and sought to prove by many arguments, that the Southern Conti-
nent really existed. Again and again he importuned the Spanish Court to give him a
chance, only one single chance, to make good his promises of wealth and fame, to
present his country with a continent, and at last his importunity prevailed.
De Quiros started for Lima with letters royal instructing Don Luis de Yelasco, the
Viceroy of Peru, to give him men and ships, and with a letter from the Pope com-
manding all good Christians to assist him. A year of busy preparation, and then, amid
the ringing of bells and the prayers of the pious people of Callao, his three vessels dis-
appeared below the western horizon to plunge among the unknown terrors of that fascina-
ting ocean which to the old-time mariner was a limbo of all things weird or wonderful.
Island after island is seen and named; for the first time the coral-growth is noted
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
and described; but for months no large territory looms in sight. It gladdens the anxious
watcher's eyes at last ; some verdure-covered hills appear, which grow hourly more and
more distinct in all their tropical luxuriance. But there is visible no landing-place upon
that rocky shore, for even where a strip of dazzling sand is seen, overhung by palms
and evergreen thickets, rolls a heavy surf. After standing
outward for two days, the navigators round a bold cape
and anchor in a wide inlet of the Bay of St. Philip and
St. James. There, on sheltered waters fringed by a broad
crescent of yellow beach, the ships lie
at anchor — the Capitana, a high-pooped
craft of ancient Spain from which Hoats
the ensign of De Quir himself ; the
Almiranta, or ad-
miral's ship, the
commander of
which, Luis Vaez
de Torres, is rather
a military man than
a sailor, and a little
vessel to act as a za-
hra, or tender. Not
one of these ships
exceeds some fifty or
sixty tons, in our
eyes they would be
insignificant craft in-
deed for so formid-
able a service, and
they were certainly
wretched homes for
crowded crews in a
tropical climate, in
which the air hung
like a pall of vapour
from the sky, and
the pitch boiled and
blistered in the seams
of the deck -planks.
It must have been
a proud moment
for De Quiros when he saw before him that unbroken coast stretching as far as his eye
could range. Three days he had sailed past the hilly shores, and still an unvarying succes-
sion of bold tree-covered slopes and verdured bluffs, and then he felt assured that the Great
Southern Continent, his dream for nine and twenty vears, was at last in verv truth before him.
TASMAX S CARPENTER LANDING AT STORM BAY.
lO
A USTRALASIA ILL US TRA TED.
Strong in the belief that the land they had discovered was that Terra Anstralis
of fabled wealth, the voyagers landed and enjoyed the sight of fresh green sward and
limpid streams. The taste of the cool rill bubbling down from the mountains must
have been delicious to lips which for so long had been moistened only with tepid water
from putrid barrels, in a time when the scourge of scurvy decimated the crews in a
wholesale fashion and antiscorbutic remedies were all unknown.
•Pleasant days were spent in this beautiful island, till Spanish arrogance disturbed the
hannony existing between the natives and the crews. The sailors had wandered inland
and had not conducted themselves with scrupulous propriety, whereupon an island chief,
with perfect justice, drew upon the sand a line, and made signs warning the Spaniards
against crossing it. Torres, in haughty defiance, accepted the challenge and stepped
forward. At once an arrow rang on the steel corslet that covered his breast ; but the
Spaniards had their matches ready and a volley was fired, and the chief and several
of the natives fell. That night, either from fear of revenge or from disgust at the
hardships of the voyage, the crew of De Quiros mutinied, silently overpowered their
officers, weighed anchor under the cover of darkness, and when Torres looked forth
over the faintly-lighted bay at sunrise, where three vessels had been there lay at
anchor only two. He cruised for a week along the coast in search of the missing ship,
and stood a long way to the south, never suspecting that his chief was being com-
pelled by mutineers to navigate the Capitana to Mexico through all the horrors of
thirst, famine and dissension.
When De Quiros reached Spain he reported the discovery of a continent, to which
he gave the high-sounding name of " Terra Aiistrialia del Espiritti Santo." Torres,
however, knew better, for he had sailed round this land and had learnt that it was
only an island — a large one no doubt, the largest of the group called the New
Hebrides, but certainly not a continent. It is still known by a part of the name thus
given to it, and in all modern maps and references appears as " Espiritii Santo."
No longer entertaining any hope of falling in with the Capitana, Torres had to
determine what course he should pursue. His choice was to hold to the west, not
with the intention of making further discoveries, but in the hope of reaching the
Philippine Islands, where, at the Spanish city of Manila, his storm-beaten craft might be
repaired and re-victualled for the homeward voyage.
Right in front of him stretched the long coasts of Australia and New Guinea — a
line three thousand miles in length with only one break of a hundred miles in it all,
yet through the very centre of that passage he steered. Thus by ill-luck, which looked
at the moment like good fortune, Torres narrowly missed the honour of discovering the
Great South Land. In his report he mentions that he had sailed among numerous
islands, and that he had seen many scattered groups to the south ; it is even possible
that he sighted the northern point of Australia, the promontory since named Cape
York, but it would have loomed before his eyes only as another of those ocean rocks
that studded the sea around him. Thus sailing slowly through the straits which bear
his name, missing the main object of his voyage, much spent with toil, with ships
sadly battered and crews worn out, Torres painfully made his way to Manila, the
capital of Luzon, and rested for a while. Here he wrote a report of his voyage, and
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
II
lodged a copy in the public archives of the place. What became of the original is
uncertain, but the forgotten copy reposed unheeded beneath the accumulated dust of a
century and a half, when the British bombarded the city in 1792, brought to light the
ancient manuscript,
and honoured the
memory of the dough-
ty Spaniard by call-
ine the straits of his
discovery by his
name. This is the
only memorial left
us of his daring en-
terprise, for he was
hitherto in no way
identified with the
early exploration of
that Great South
Land which fired the
imagination and
baited the endeavour
of those romantic
old-time mariners.
Of De Quiros it
remains only to be
told that after his
miserable return to
Mexico with the mu-
tineers, he again re-
paired to the Court
of Spain, where he
spent two years of his fast-closing life in the old, weary work of memorialising and petition-
ing for but one single chance to finish his work. Nearly fifty memorials are said to have
been presented by the aged navigator ere he was once more commissioned to proceed
to America and start on another voyage. He reached Panama at last. His high hopes
were at the point of being really consummated, and a new world seemed again about
to be given to the haughty Don. But death cut abruptly short the gallant career
of the old Portuguese mariner, even as the wind of favouring fortune filled the sails of
his ships in the bay, and an unknown grave received the wasted body wherein had
dwelt the adventurous spirit of that noble sailor Don Pedro Fernandez De Quiros,
whose name will ever be honoured as that of the man who, through all difficulties and
discouragements, never doubted the existence of a great Terra Australis, and who de-
voted the best energies of his life to its discovery. Thus was brought to a dramatic
close one of the most romantic chapters in the annals of Spanish maritime stor>'; thus
perished the Columbus of the "New Atlantis" who, like his great prototype, was never
WILLIAM DAMPIER.
I 2
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
privileged to set his foot upon the land which filled his dreams and inspired his efforts.
It was in the month of August, 1606. that Torres threaded his way through the
intricate waters that bear his name, and curiously enough in this very same year another
partv of Europeans, approaching from the west, saw, and even landed upon. Australian
shores : but they also had not the least suspicion that they were looking on an unknown
continent. It appears from a paper discovered more than a century ago, that in 1605 a
party of Dutch sailors were sent out from Batavia to explore the coasts of New Guinea:
for while the Spaniards had been pushing to the west from America, with Lima for their
head-quarters, the Dutch had been steadily following their career of discovery, moving
eastward, as the Council of the Indies at Batavia were determined to lose no oppor-
tunity of securing for their newly-born republic as much of these unknown lands
as they could discover and appropriate.
The little vessel the Duyfhcn, or Dove, was therefore despatched to examine New
Guinea. She sailed along the southern shore of that island till early in 1606 she reached
the ver>' strait which Torres, only two or three months distant, was approaching from
the opposite direction. At this point her commander, whose name is unknown to history,
must have been deceived by bad weather, which made him fancy that the line of islets
so thickly studding the passage was a continuous coast. He steered steadily northward
till he reached Cape York Peninsula, when thinking himself still upon the shores of New
Guinea, he sailed into the great opening now called the Gulf of Carpentaria. His men
landed near a low point of red sandy bluffs, but in the attempt to penetrate the man-
grove swamps that fringed the shore they were attacked by ferocious blacks and several
were killed. The Dutchmen do not appear to have thirsted very ardently for further
discoveries, for they named this ill-fated point Cape " Keer-iuccr" or "Turn-again." made
sail, and stood out for sea on their return voyage. Their discovery was of no value, as
they themselves never suspected its importance, and not until nearly two centuries had
elapsed did its real significance become known.
During the next forty years the Dutch sent from Batavia a succession of small ex-
peditions. Besides these voyages, intended expressly for discovery, several navigators
wandered or were driven so far out of their course as accidentally to sight the Australian
.Shore, and in this manner the northern and western coasts gradually became known.
In 1616, Captain Dirk Hartog. Hertoge or Hartighs. in the ship Ecndraght, whilst
voyaging from Amsterdam to Bantam made the west coast of the Continent, landing on
the island which has since received his name, where he left a metal plate bearing a
record of the discovery. This was found about eighty years afterwards by Captain
Vlamingh of the Gcelvink, who transferred the inscription to a second plate of metal and
added thereto an account of his own voyage. In 1801. Captain Hamelin, of the French
ship Naturaliste, found this plate and re-erected it on a new post.
In 1622, the Dutch ship Leeiiwhu or Lioness, discovered the reef on the west coast
known as Houtman's Abrolhos, where seven years later Francis Pelsart was wrecked in
the Batavia, and in the year following the Leeuwins visit the yachts Pcra and Arnhem
were sent from Amboina to explore the coast previously discovered by the Duyfhcn.
Captain Jan Carstens of the Arnhan was, with many of the crew, murdered by the New
Guinea blacks, but the voyage was continued and several landings effected on the shores
£A RL Y DISCO VERIES.
13
of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Another expedition sailed from Banda in April, 1629, con-
sisting of the yachts Klyn, Amsterdam and Wczcl under Captain Gerrit Tomaz Pool, or
Poel, who was also murdered by the natives on the New Guinea Coast ; the subsequent
discoveries were prosecuted without any competent supervision, and after landing at a few
points of Arnhem's Land the ships returned— nevertheless the complete examination of
the Gulf of Carpentaria was the outcome of this voyage. Thus were the western coasts
A MALAY PROA IN THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA.
mapped out, mainly in a rough and ready fashion, by the masters of the Dutch vessels
which on their way from Europe to the West Indies had been swept out of their
courses by storms, as well as by those who had made special voyages of discovery.
The Commander of the Guide Zeepaard had in the meantime accidentally made the
south coast, and sailing along it for many hundreds of miles bestowed upon it the name
of Nuyts Land — the Pieter Nuyts associated with this voyage being, in the opinion of
R. H. Major, not the captain of the ship, but perhaps the Company's first merchant on
board. He was most likely a civilian, as Flinders notes that he was afterwards made
Governor of Formosa. Many other vessels, including the Mauritius, an outward bound
ship which appears to have made some discoveries upon the west coast in July, 161 8,
the Vianen of De Witt, and the Batavia of Pelsart had also visited the Australian
Coast at various points, but all their reports were unfavourable, both with regard to the
nature of the country and the characteristics of the inhabitants.
The visit of Pelsart, in 1629, is interesting from the fact that he was probably the
first of his countrymen to bring back to Europe anything like an authentic account of the
western coast of Australia. He .sailed from Texel on the 28th of October, 1628, having
,4 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
under his command ten ships besides his own. which was named the Batavia, and they
were all fitted out by the Dutch East India Company. On the 4th of June in the follow-
ing year, he was separated from his fleet by a storm, and driven on the shoals which
are now marked on the maps as the Abrolhos of Frederic Houtman, lying in latitude
twenty-eight degrees south, and named after Houtman of Alkmaer, who commanded a
fleet of Dutch East Indiamen in 161 8. When the Batavia, which had upwards of two
hundred and thirty men on board, struck upon these banks there was no land visible,
but an island about the distance of three leagues, and a few rocks which were nearer
to hand. On these the greater part of the crew were landed, together with the most
valuable portion of the cargo and the ship's water, of which there was none to be
found on any of the islands. The scarcity of this article and the complaints of his
company obliged Pelsart, rather against his will, to set out in the skiff and attempt to
procure water from some of the neighbouring islands, leaving his lieutenant and seventy
of his men still aboard the ship, and in danger of perishing along with her.
Pelsart coasted the islands with the greatest care, but found in most of them that
the rain water in the holes of the rocks was so mingled with sea water as to be
totally unfit for use. Obliged, therefore, to go further, he soon had sight of the main-
land, which seemed to be about sixteen miles north-by-west from the place where the
Batavia had struck. The day following he continued his quest, sailing sometimes north,
sometimes west, but the land appeared low and naked, and the shore excessively rocky
and uninviting. For two days the shipwrecked mariners steered on a northerly course
amid rough and tempestuous weather, the sea running so high as to make it impos-
sible for them to effect a landing.
As they proceeded on their voyage the land trended away to the north-east, and
the coast seemed to be but one continuous rock, remarkably level at the top and of a
reddish colour, against which the sea broke with such impetuosity as to make it ex-
tremely dangerous to attempt a landing. In twenty-four degrees south latitude, as
Pelsart and his men were sailing slowly along the coast, they perceived in the distance
a great deal of smoke, and rowed towards it with the utmost of their power in the hope of
finding inhabitants and, as a consequence, water. Approaching the shore, however, the
rocks were found so steep and jagged, and the surf so violent, that any attempt to
effect a landing appeared the height of fool-hardiness. Thereupon six of the skiff's crew,
trusting to their skill as swimmers, leapt overboard, and were fortunate enough to reach
land, where they spent the whole day in searching for water. They saw four natives,
who came very close to them, but upon one of the Dutch sailors advancing they ran
away with the utmost precipitance. These people are naively described as black savages,
and quite naked, not having so much as a covering about their middle. Relinquishing
all hope of finding water on this barren and uninviting coast, the men swam on board
again, much injured by the surf dashing them upon the rocks, and Pelsart weighed
anchor and continued on his course, trusting to find a better landing-place.
On the morning of the seventh day since they quitted the Batavia they discovered
a cape, from the extreme points of which ran a ridge of rocks a mile into the sea,
and behind it lay a second ridge. The sea being calm they ventured in between, but
found no passage. Towards noon another opening appeared which they attempted, being
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
15
this time successful. On landing they set immediately to work digging wells in order to
procure fresh water, but what they succeeded in getting was again so brackish that they
were unable to drink it, although ready to famish through excessive thirst. Ultimately
they discovered rain water in the hollows of the rocks, which was an inexpressible relief
to men who had for some days existed on an allowance of a pint apiece.
Near the place where Pelsart and his crew landed was a large heap of ashes and
the remains of some cray-fish, and from this they very reasonably concluded that a party
CAPE TRIBULATION, NORTH-EASTERN COAST OK AUSTRALIA.
of natives had lately been upon the spot. The country, however, appeared so barren
and unpromising that, although anxious to collect all the knowledge their circumstances
would admit of, they felt by no means allured far from the coast ; indeed, the part of
the Continent upon which they had landed is described by Pelsart as a thirsty, parched,
barren plain, covered with ant-hills, so high that at a distance they looked like the huts
of negroes, and the air was infested with such multitudes of flies that the Dutchmen
were scarcely able to keep themselves clear of them.
As the sailors explored this arid land they saw eight more natives, who appeared
at a distance, each with a staff in his hand, and advanced until they were within
musket-shot ; but as soon as Pelsart's company moved forward to meet them, like those
whom the sailors had first seen, they fled at the top of their speed.
The Commodore, entertaining no hope of procuring water, or of entering into
correspondence with the inhabitants, resolved to go on board and continue his course
northward, trusting to good fortune to find the river of Jacob Remmescens in De Witt's
Land ; the wind, however, veered about to the north-east, and he was no longer able
to follow the trend of the coast, and reflecting that they were now one hundred and
twenty leagues from Houtman's Shoals, with scarcely enough water to serve them during
the passage back, he came to a resolution to make the best of his way to Batavia, acquaint
the Governor-General with the misfortunes which had befallen his ship and his crew,
and obtain such assistance as he could procure for their relief. Pelsart's description of
this part of the Australian Coast agrees substantially with that given by Dampier, who
landed somewhere near the same spot sixty years later.
In 1642, Abel Janszen Tasman entered on the work of discovery, being placed by
Antony Van Diemen in command of an expedition commissioned to search for new lands
,6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
in the Southern Ocean. Van Diemen. in the year 1637, had been appointed by the Dutch
as their Governor-General in the East Indies, and although no navigator himself he was
the cause of much exploratory navigation by others. Shortly before he set sail from
Europe to take up his work of administering the affairs of Asiatic Holland, it so happened
that there had been published at Frankfort an account in Latin of the voyages of De
Quires, It cannot be doubted that Van Diemen knew of this, and being enterprising and
ambitious, was resolved to signalize his period of government by the further exploration
of this dreamt-of Southern Continent, and it is from an account of what the Dutch had
already done in these waters up to the time of Tasman's second voyage, which Van
Diemen caused to be drawn up, and which curiously enough, was discovered only a
century ago, that we have derived our meagre account of the Diiyfhcti and the other
Dutch ships which at various times explored small portions of the coast.
On the 14th of August, 1642, there set sail from Batavia two clumsy vessels, with
high square sterns, and sides bulging out prodigiously at the water-line, manned by
stolidly unromantic Dutch sailors who could at least be relied upon to do their duty.
These vessels were the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen, of the expedition fitted out by
Antony \^an Diemen, and commanded by Abel Janszen Tasman, and their mission was
the quest of a continent. At first they sailed south-west to the Mauritius, then turning
to the south-east, and encountering on their way the chilly storms from the South Pole,
they penetrated to latitude fifty degrees ; but they found no signs of a continent in
these seas, so Tasman shaped his course eastward, inclining slightly north along a line
that brought him in sight of a bold shore, rising a little way inland into rugged hills,
and behind these into deep blue mountains. As the vessels approached, Tasman, repeat-
ing the experience of De Quiros off the island of Espiritu Santo, could see no pros-
pect of a landing-place on that iron-bound coast ; he therefore headed southwards and
followed the shore-line, which soon trended to the north-east. After a day or two he
found himself .sailing between the beautiful shores of a spacious bay, and had .some
hope of landing and finding fresh water ; but as his vessels entered the weather
thickened, and in a fierce hurricane they were for three days driven out to sea. When
the gale moderated they again stood in to the land, and anchored in an arm of the inlet
they had previously attempted, to which Tasman gave the name of Storm Bay. The
coast was well timbered, and rose before the voyagers in picturesque masses of great
forest-clad mountains. Two boats' crews well armed were sent on shore, and cautiously
explored the margin of the dense forest — in all probability the first Europeans who
ever trod the lovely fern-carpeted glades of Tasmania.
They did not meet any natives, but they heard voices and other sounds ; and on
some of the trees, the smooth white trunks of which rose to a great height, they saw
notches cut at intervals of five feet, evidently for the convenience of a climber. Having
no knowledge of the manner in which opossums were caught by the natives, the Dutch-
men concluded that these must be a giant people whose strides were five feet in
length. Next day some men were seen through the haze on a rocky promontory, and
the fears of the crews magnified these inoffensive blacks into the sons of Anak they
had already imagined them to be. The ceremony of taking possession of the land had
not yet been performed, and no one seemed particularly anxious to make the personal
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
17
THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BARRIER REEF.
acquaintance of these monsters; but one man, Tasman's carpenter, was hardy enough to
enter the surf, bearing in his hand a pole from which floated, the flag of the Nether-
lands. This he stuck into the sand, thereby taking possession of one of the most
lovely islands of the Southern Hemisphere, on which neither he nor his fellows again
.set foot, and which his countrymen made not the least efi'ort to colonize.
Tasman gave the name of his patron to the coast he had discovered, and for
many years it was known to maritime history as Van Diemen's Land. He did not,
however, know that it
was an island. He was
content with what he
had seen, and held on
his course to the east,
where he became the
first discoverer of New
Zealand and many
smaller islands ; then
turning homewards he
reached Batavia, after
an absence of nearly
ten months. He was
probably the first to
chart the Australasian coasts from actual observation ; but the ungenerous policy of his
countrymen left all the work to be done over again by subsequent voyagers.
In 1644, V'an Diemen once more sent out an expedition under Tasman, consisting of
three vessels, the Linimcn, the Zeemeuw, and the tender, Dc Braak — the express objects
of the voyage being an examination of the northern shores of New Holland. So secret,
however, were the movements of the Dutch that we know very little of the results,
although we can follow Tasman's track in the names Linimen Bight, " Sweer's " and
" Maria " Islands, and other geographical appellations in the Gulf of Carpentaria, which
identify him with at least one portion of the work he was sent out to perform.
Indeed, Major gives the credit of the discovery of the Gulf of Carpentaria to Tasman,
who in all probability named it after Pieter Carpenter, Governor-General of the Company
of the Indies between the years 1623 and 1627, who returned to Europe in 1628 with
seven vessels, one of which was the famed I'ianen, commanded in all likelihood by that
De Witt whose name is borne by a portion of the northern coast. At any rate Tas-
man's narrative of this voyage, although not published, must, in the opinion of Major,
have been in existence, as Burgomaster Witsen in a work on the migrations of the
human race, which appeared in 1705, gives some notes on the inhabitants of New Guinea
and New Holland, and in these Tasman is quoted among those from whom he gained his
information, and it is the outline of the coasts visited in this voyage which is repre-
sented in the mosaic map laid down, in 1648, on the floor of the Groote Zaal of the
Stad-huys of Amsterdam. In the meantime the territory had been claimed by the Dutch
under the name of New Holland, but no effort was made to utilize the discovery, and
nearly half a century passed before attention was again directed to it.
,8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
With the exception of Francis Pelsart, the first voyager to publish any authentic
information about the main-land of Australia was William Dampier, an Englishman, whose
first visit was of a singular character. He had been for many years leading a roving
life among the West Indies, when an old friend of his, named Captain Swan, arrived
on the Brazilian coast in the Cygnet, a vessel fitted out by some London merchants for
the South American trade, and Dampier joined him as supercargo.
These seas were then swarming with buccaneers, and the Spaniards in their suspi-
cion would not suffer the Cygnet to approach their towns, much less to engage with
them in commerce. The crew became restless and mutinied. They resolved to become
buccaneers also, and rob the Spaniards, with whom they could not trade. Swan consented
to retain the command if the men were willing to allow his employers a share of the
spoils, and so they began a plundering career all over the high seas, in the course of
which they reached the Philippine Islands. Swan and the more orderly part of the crew
soon wearied of the life that their dissolute comrades were leading, and these, in
their turn, regarded them with contempt. The result was that the disgusted Commander
and forty of his company were landed on the Philippine Islands, and there left to shift
for themselves ;. but Dampier, having no wish to fall into the hands either of Spaniards
or of Malays, remained on board, and awaited a better opportunity to escape from his
uncongenial comrades and return to his native land.
After her long cruise the Cygnet badly needed overhauling, but the crew dared not
approach any settlement for the purpose. They accordingly fixed on New Holland, and
on the 4th of January, 1688, entered an inlet on the north-west coast, warped the vessel
up into shallow water, and on the fall of the tide had the satisfaction of seeing her
high and dry, a full half-mile from the water's edge. They then pitched tents on shore
and dug a well, as no surface water was to be found, and set to work to repair their
battered vessel and renew their supply of water. They were ten weeks on that inhospi-
table shore, hard at work cleaning the ship's bottom and generally overhauling her, but
Dampier, who had little communication with his privateering companions, spent a great
deal of his time in quiet examination of the surrounding country. When they again set
sail he resolved to leave them at the first opportunity, and with two others was put
ashore at the Nicobar Islands, from which, after many adventures, he reached Sumatra,
and thence obtained a passage to Europe. His buccaneering comrades met with no <rreat
luck. The Cygnet became a floating pandemonium, and after tossing about until she was
rotten, sank at her moorings in a lonely harbour in Madagascar.
Dampier found on his arrival in England that, during his absence, James II. had
retired to France, and that William III., Prince of Orange, was reignincr in his stead.
This sovereign took the greate.st possible interest in the two volumes of travels that
Dampier published, and showed it in an eminently practical manner by sending him
out with a small vessel, the Roeduek, to solve the problem as to whether this New
Holland was really a continent or only an archipelago.
He sailed with fifty men and provisions for a long voyage, and on the ist of
August. 1699, again sighted the north-west coast of Australia, and anchored in a fine
inlet, to which he gave the name of Shark Bay. Five days spent in looking for water
and digging wells gave no result, and they were glad to start on their cruise along
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
19
the coast. They sailed a thousand miles and often landed, but only once obtained fresh
water. Then, in order to ascertain where springs or running streams might be found,
they tried, but unsuccessfully, to catch one or two of the natives, who were too shy to
come within speaking distance. To Dampier it seemed that a longer stay on this
desolate coast would be wholly fruitless ; he considered that he had discovered the most
miserable spot on the face of the earth, and therefore continued his course along the
shores of New Guinea,
and among the adjacent
islands. However, the
prevalence of scurvy on
board, and a sickness
which attacked Dampier
himself, induced him to begin his
homeward passage; but at the island
of Ascension the Roebuck went ashore
and became a total wreck, and all
the relics of the voyage were lost.
The shipwrecked crew were res-
cued by an English vessel after having
been five weeks on the island, and
upon their arrival in England, Dampier
published a full account of the voy-
age and dedicated it to his patron,
.the Earl of Pembroke. He received
no acknowledgement of his services,
and he has no historical record after
this date, but he is said to have been
connected with the expedition of
Woodes Rodgers which, in 1 709, rescued Alexander Selkirk, the prototype of De Foe's
immortal "Robinson Crusoe," from his solitary exile on the island of Juan Fernandez.
Dampier's discoveries added considerably to the knowledge of geography, but they
did not settle the problem of the Great South Land ; and the report he took back of
this poverty-stricken country and its wretched inhabitants deterred the seamen or the
Governments of Europe from further investigations. His works were eagerly read, but
when the public saw, among the glowing and picturesque accounts of the tropical
regions and the lovely islands of the South that he had visited, this uninviting descrip-
tion of the north-west coast of Australia, curiosity was satisfied, and for seventy years
the exploration of the newly-found Continent was practically at an end.
Between Dampier's first and second voyages an accident caused a close investigation
of the western coasts to be made by the Dutch. In 1684 the Riddcrschap had sailed
from Holland, rounded the Cape, and had never afterwards been heard of. She had on
board many passengers and a valuable cargo ; and in 1696 the East India Company
ordered Commander Vlamingh, when on his way out to Batavia, to examine the coasts
of Australia, and to discover if by some chance the crew might still be living there.
A NORTH AU.STRALIAN NATIVE.
20
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
He entered a stream which, on account of its numerous black swans, was called Swan
River, and here he landed with eighty-eight men, and marched fifty miles inland, but he
neither saw nor heard anything of the missing crew. He then sailed northward, creeping
slowly along the shore and putting off boats to examine every likely inlet, yet dis-
covering no trace of the missing ship. At last he anchored in Shark Bay, just two
years before the arrival of Dampier. He there thought that a clue to the lost ship and
crew was discovered, but it turned out to be merely a post on which was nailed a
plate containing the information that Dirk Hartog had landed there in 1616 — about
eighty years before. The extreme sterility of all this part of the coast made it impos-
sible that the Dutchmen could have lived on it for twelve years, and so the Commander
abandoned his search, and from the North West Cape shaped his course for Batavia ; but
with him he took charts that added to the knowledge of the western coast of Australia.
Henceforth the Southern Ocean and its lands became better and better known. Anson,
Byron, Wallis, and Carteret; De Boungainville, La Perouse and D'Entrecasteaux sailed hither
and thither. Vain dreams and vague theories of sunset archipelagoes and ice-bound
Southern Continents filled men's minds and urged them outward bound. In the eloquent
words of Besant : — " The English brain was fired with the thought of the Pacific as in
Queen Elizabeth's time it had been fired with the thought of the West Indies. Reports
came home of lovely islands ; the English, though as yet they knew nothing of Hawaii
or Tahiti, had heard of Juan Fernandez and Masafuera ; they had read the voyages of
Woodes Rogers, of Clipperton and Shelvocke ; with Anson they had visited the lovely
Tinian, with its strange avenues of pillars ; they knew of the Galapagos, the sea-lions of
California, the Spice Islands and the Ladrones, the Tierra del Fuego and its miserable
people. The long smouldering theory of the Southern Continent revived again. Scientific
men proved beyond a doubt that the right balance of the globe required a Southern
Continent ; otherwise it would of course tip over. Geographers pointed out how Ouiros,
Juan Fernandez and Tasman had all touched at various points of that Continent. Men
of imagination spoke of treasures of all kinds which would be found there, and would
belong to the nation which should discover and annex this land ; they laid it down on
the maps and reckoned up the various kinds of climate which would be enjoyed in a
country stretching from the Southern Pole through forty degrees of latitude. The most
extravagant ideas were formed of what might be found, fictitious travels fed the imagi-
nation of the people ; men confidently looked forward to acquiring a prolonged rule over
other golden lands, such as had been for nearly three hundred years the making and
the unmaking of Spain. In every age there is always a grasping after what seems to
promise the sovereignty of the world. In every age there is a Carthage to be destroyed ;
and in every age there are half a dozen countries each of which is eager and anxious
to enact the part of Rome. Such is, in brief outline, the story many times told but
always new, of the principal voyages of discovery on the great Pacific Ocean."
Up to the time of Cook one name stands forth among the names of those who
.sought a Southern Continent. In the history of maritime exploration and discovery in
connection with Australia undoubtedly the romantic figure of De Ouiros looms forth in
proportions which dwarf the long succession of mariners whom chance or misfortune cast
upon the shores of that land of which he is the apostle. It is true that the actual
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
21
32
A USTRALASIA ILL US TEA TED.
territory which he discovered and named "Austrmlia del Espiritti Santo" was not the con-
tinent of his dreams. But his expedition led the way in which the navigators of the
future were to follow, and the subsequent discoveries of De Bougainville, of Cook and others
were but the fulfillment of the great scheme which he first definitely elaborated. His
expedition was no mere blundering cruise of irresponsible adventure, but a voyage as
expressly undertaken for a distinct object as that of the discoverer of America. The
Duyfhen had indeed touched at Australian soil, and so by the hap-hazard of an accident
arrived at the reality that De Ouiros was never to know that he had missed. But such
a circumstance cannot detract from the merit of the work of a whole life-time, or deprive
the old Portuguese pilot of the honour he so gallantly earned. Subsequent expeditions
of the Dutch gave them a right to the possession of the -Continent they named New
Holland, and in neglecting it they merely followed the example of the Spanish Court
which so long turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances of De Ouiros. The Continent
thus remained open for exploitation for rather more than a century and a half after this
period, and so far as any immediate result of the discovery of De Quiros was concerned,
his enterprise was but thrown away on the master he served.
It is, however, to the mariners of Holland and to William Dampier that Europe
owes her first authentic knowledge of the Great South Land ; but it is to the labours
of James Cook that we are indebted for its actual settlement, for he only, amongst all
who had touched at its shores, brought back any report which was not either alarming
or discouraging of savage natives or of sterile coasts.
CAPTAIN COOK.
IRST among the names of the mariners whom England delights
to honour stands that of James Cook. His advent
, upon the field of maritime discovery marks the era
of definite knowledge in regard to the Great Southern
Continent, of which, hitherto, only the haziest notions
had prevailed. Other navigators had landed on its
shores, but to him belongs the credit of first attract-
ing attention to its possible value for settlement, and
of navigating and charting its eastern coast-line. With
the exception of Tasman's solitary landing-place in
Storm Bay, all Australia that had hitherto been seen
was said to be bare and forbidding in the extreme.
Cook was not only the first to see, he was the first
also to describe some of its many beauties, the first
to grasp the national significance of the discovery,
and the first to claim it as a British possession.
For nearly seventy years from the beginning of
the eighteenth century the world's available knowledge of Australia may be said to have
been limited to the information contained in the " Relation " of De Quiros, the published
accounts of the voyages of Dampier, the Dutch official reports, and some speculative
references to the unexplored mysteries of the Southern Ocean in the writings of certain
old geographers. The collections of voyages published by Harris, Callander, De Brosses
and Dalrymple embody the greater part of this information up to about the period of
the revival of British interest in the subject. Dampier came again in 1710, and the
French navigators, De Bougainville and De Surville, were in Australian waters in the
years 1768 and 1769. The name "Australia" had not yet been' definitely applied to
the territory which the Dutch had named New Holland, and the unknown lands about
the South Pole were still designated by the name of Terra Aiistralis Incognita, or, as
in the map of Descelliers, La Terra AiistraHc. Nearly the whole of the eastern coast
had been left unexplored, but the time had now come when almost by an accident the
Continent was to be thrown open to scientific exploration and to settlement by the enter-
prise of a British navigator, in a manner at once decisive and final.
English interest in the work of -South Pacific exploration revived after the peace of
1763, and the voyages of Wallis and Carteret were the first fruits of the re-awakening.
These navigators had not yet returned when the Royal Society began to move in the
matter of having an expedition fitted out to observe a transit of Venus which had been
calculated for the year 1 769, and which could be best observed from some station in
the South Pacific. On Wallis's return he reported that the island of Otaheite was the
24
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
was
most suitable point of view for the purpose, and the Royal Society was urgent in
dwelling upon the necessity for taking advantage of this opportunity to calculate for the
f^rst time the distance of the earth from the sun.
The Government was induced to make the enterprise a national one, and no time
lost after its willingness was intimated to the Royal Society in April, 1768, in
preparing the expedi-
tion for its work. The
com m a n d was fi rst
offered to Dalrymple,
whose astronomical
knowledge, as well as
his labours in the cause
of South Pacific explo-
ration, readily distin-
guished him for the
service. But a difficulty
was caused by a demand
on his part for a brevet
commission as captain
of the vessel, and during
the delay which ensued
the Secretary to the
Admiralty spoke to the
Board of the
qualifications of
a certain master in the
Navy named James
Cook, who had already
distinguished himself
by his services.
James Cook was
born at Marton, a little
village in that part of Yorkshire known as Cleveland, on the 27th of October, 1728 His
father was an agricultural labourer of Scotch descent, afterwards a landlord's hind, and
subsequently a stone-mason ; his mother, of like humble origin, was a Yorkshire woman,
and the surroundings of the future discoverer of Eastern Australia were as rude as his
education was rudimentary. At the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to one Sanderson,
a shop-keeper in the fishing town of The Staithes, who combined the commercial func-
tions of draper and grocer to the sturdy fisher-folk who braved the midnight perils of
the German Ocean and plied their calling whilst others slept. Of course, a boy cannot
live within sound of the sea, and in daily intercourse with those whose bronzed faces
are flecked with salt crystals and whose very words give off an odour of ocean, without
becoming terribly discontented with a life prospect of sugar-weighing and flannel-measuring ;
so it was not very long before young Cook stole away between a sunset and a sunrise,
SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
A MOUNTAIN GORGE ON THE NEW ZEALAND COAST.
CAPTAIN COOK. 25
and followed in the wake of apprentices innumerable since the first boy broke away
from the bonds of leaden usage and dull plenty for the coarse fare and the long hours,
the hardships and the dangers and adventures of the deep.
Cook succeeded in realizing the wish of his heart. He re-appears as a ship's boy
on board a collier belonging to a Whitby firm, but he did not spend all his time in
trading up and down the coast, for he spoke afterwards to Forster, the botanist, of his
voyages to Norway. At the age of twenty-seven he held a mate's certificate, and in
that capacity he acted until the year 1755, when war broke out between England and
France, and the press-gangs actively bestirred themselves in running down merchant
sailors with whom to man His Majesty's ships. Now those employed on board the
colliers regularly trading between Newcastle and London were smart sailors, and thus
became the natural and desirable prey of that terrible institution. Cook, who had no
particular ties to bind him to the coal trade, thought it wiser to enlist willingly as a
volunteer than to be dragged on board a man-o'-war against his will. The Eagle, of
sixty guns, lay at her moorings off Wapping Old Stairs, and thither he repaired in
order to enter the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman under Captain John Hamer, who
was six months afterwards succeeded by Sir Hugh Palliser, in whom Cook subsequently
found an active and a trenuine friend.
Four years spent by Australia's greatest navigator as an ordinary sailor largely
developed both his powers of endurance and his knowledge of practical seamanship, and
when, in 1759, at the solicitation of Mr. Osbaldiston, Member for Scarborough, and by
Captain Palliser's support, he was raised to the rank of master, he was found to be
fully equal to the demands of the ofifice. He was first appointed to the Grampus, but
when it was discovered that the former master had returned to his ship, Cook was
transferred to the Garland. The Garland had, however, already sailed, and Cook
ultimately secured his master's rating in the Mercury, destined for service in North
American waters, in conjunction with the other ships of the fleet under the command of
Sir Charles Saunders.
At that time the famous expedition of General Wolfe was lying at the mouth of
the St. Lawrence, waiting for that opportunity which came at last on the Heights
of Abraham, when Wolfe and Montcalm met in the deadly struggle which ended in the
capture of Quebec. The Mercury had no sooner arrived at her destination than she
was placed under orders to join the fleet, which was then co-operating with the land
forces under General Wolfe. However, nothing could be done against Quebec, which
was the principal object of attack, until a careful survey of the river had been made,
so that when the flght began the heavy ships might take up positions in front of the town
without delay, and yet without danger of stranding.
To take soundings within cannon-range of the enemy was a dangerous task, requir-
ing skill, nerve, and presence of mind, as well as a special knowledge of the work to
be performed, and it speaks eloquently in Cook's favour that he was recommended
for such perilous duty by his constant friend. Captain Palliser. Under cover of night,
for several nights in succession. Cook stole cautiously up the St. Lawrence, with oars
muffled and every man on the alert, and there, under the very guns of the city, and
actually within ear-shot of the sentry's challenge, he silently performed his task and
25 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
retired before morning. At length he was discovered, and a number of canoes manned
by Indians were ambuscadoed in a wood by the waterside, and launched at night-time
for the purpose of surrounding him and cutting off his retreat. On this occasion he
had a close shave. He was obliged to run for it and make the island of Orleans, where
he landed near the guard of the English hospital. Kippis, who gives a graphic account
of the incident, says that "some of the Indians entered at the stern of the boat as
Mr. Cook leaped out at the bow ; and the boat, which was a barge belonging to one
of the ships of war, was carried away in triumph." The work Cook was chosen to
perform was, however, practically finished, and when the English ships moved to the attack
the Admiral had abundant information as to the waters in which it was necessary to operate
a knowledge which greatly contributed to the subsequent success of the attack upon the
city. Kippis writes, " Sir Hugh Palliser has good reason to believe that before this time
Mr. Cook had scarcely ever used a pencil, and that he knew nothing of drawing. But
such was his capacity that he speedily made himself master of every object to which
he applied his attention."
In the September following the capture of Quebec by the English forces, Cook was
transferred from the Mercury to the Northumberland, a first-rate man-o'-war, and the
Admiral's flag-ship. Walter Besant, in his life of Cook, says: "They wintered at Halifax;
during the winter Cook is said to have first begun the study of geometry, mathematics,
and astronomy. The amount of mathematics required for the practice of marine survey-
ing, taking observations, making charts, calculating latitudes and longitudes is not very
considerable ; but that a man should actually begin the study of mathematics after
thirty, and after performing surveys and making charts, can hardly be believed. That
Cook spent a laborious winter working at those branches of mathematical science which
are concerned with navigation, that he advanced himself considerably, and that he
brought a clear head and a strong will to the work, may be and must be believed."
In the autumn of 1762 the Northumberland returned to England, and on the 21st
of December of that year Cook was married at Barking, in Essex, to a Miss Elizabeth
Batts, by whom he had six children. Four months after his marriage he was sent by
the Admiralty to survey the islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre, which had been ceded
to the French by the Treaty of Peace, and which they were about to occupy. This work
finished, he again returned to England. Early in 1 764 Cook's services were once more
put in requisition in North America, for his friend Sir Hugh Palliser, now Governor and
Commodore of Newfoundland and Labrador, offered him an appointment as marine sur-
veyor of those shores, an appointment which Cook accepted. He was put in command
of the schooner Grenville, and sailed in April for his station. The work, which he per-
formed with characteristic thoroughness and ability, lasted until the year 1767. Cook did
not, however, remain on his station the whole time, for he sailed to England every
autumn, and returned to Newfoundland with the spring. While engaged as a marine
surveyor he did not neglect his other scientific studies, as is amply attested by a paper
of his entitled "An Observation of an Eclipse of the Sun at the Island of Newfoundland, 5th
August, 1 766," which constituted the basis of some important scientific work. Walter Besant
enthusiastically observes, " There were not many officers in the Royal Navy of that time who
were capable of taking such -an observation, or of making any deductions from it."
CAPTAIN COOK.
27
Cook had completely finished his work by the year 1767, when happened the great
tide in his affairs that led to fortune,
would, in 1 769, pass across the disc of
the sun, and as only two such pheno-
mena occur in a hundred and twenty
years, it was deemed advisable to ob-
tain the best possible observation of the
occurrence. Now the best possible ob-
servation of the transit was to be
obtained from some place in the Pacific
Ocean, and astronomers represented that
if the planet's path were accurately
observed it would be possible for the
first time to deduce approximately the
distance of the earth from the sun. Of
course the scientific world was consider-
ably exercised, and the Royal Society
petitioned the King to make the obser-
vation of the transit a national under-
taking. The petition was successful, the
Government acceded, and preparations
were immediately begun. The man who
could have led the expedition, Alexander
Dalrymple, geographer and scientist, was
set aside, because he wanted to command
the ship as well as to observe the tran-
sit. Cook happened to be on the spot,
as well as to be the only man who, as
a practical seaman, possessed scientific
attaimnents which were at all adequate to
the requirements of the mission to be
undertaken. Besant puts the case very
concisely in the following passage : —
" Mr. Dalrymple first refused to go at
all, and then wanted to go ; and finally,
when it was too late, seems to have
sulked, and ever afterwards complained
that he had been badly treated by the
Admiralty. They then cast about for an
ofificer who could not only command the
ship but also conduct the scientific pur-
pose of the expedition. No other man
could be found than James Cook,
Master in the Royal Navy. Everything
According to astronomical calculations, Venus
\
1'.,:
':
<
<
H
to
D
<
O
<
O
u
z
<
o
a
as
<
■■J
28
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
CAPTAIN COOK S PIGEON-HOUSE.
happened fortunately and opportunely for him ; he had just returned from the important post of
Surveyor of Newfoundland and Labrador; he was therefore available, and on the spot. He
had brought himself into great notice by his admirable charts, and he was well recommended
by ever)- ofificer under whom he had served. It is indeed most probable that no other ofificer
in the Navy possessed so much scientific knowledge as Cook. To have mastered the whole
art of navigation, with the methods and tactics of naval warfare in all its branches, was
then considered an education sufficient for the best and most ambitious ofificer. Yet one
doubts whether Cook would have received the appointment had either Wallis or Carteret
returned in time. Their
experience of the Pacific
would have outweighed
Cook's proved zeal, intelli-
gence, and scientific attain-
ments. However, Cook
was recommended by Mr.
Stephens, Secretary to the
Admiralty, and no other
ofificer seems to have been
considered at all. Certainly
the command of an expe-
dition, not warlike, from which no glory of the usual kind could be obtained, certain to be
long and tedious, and equally certain to be full of dangers and discomforts, was not a post
for which back-stairs influence would be employed, or favouritism brought into request."
In the language of this biographer, " Cook accepted the ofTer eagerly and instantly.
It was indeed an enormous step upwards ; he was taken out of the master's line, from
which there was seldom any promotion possible, and placed into the higher branch ; he
received the rank of lieutenant." With Sir Huijh Palliser he at once set to work to
examine the vessels then for sale in the Thames, and selected as the most suitable for
the contemplated mission, a small barque of three hundred and seventy tons burden,
which had been built originally for the coal trade in Cook's old sailing-port of Whitby.
She was therefore constructed with a view to strength rather than to speed, and calculated
to withstand the stress of the severest weather. She was carefully fitted out, armed
with ten carriage and twelve swivel guns, provisioned for eighteen months, and commis-
sioned for His Majesty's Navy under the name of the Endeavour, commanded by
Lieutenant James Cook.
While the ship lay at anchor in the Thames, the little party of scientific adventurers
was making its last preparations for what must have been regarded by most of them as
a somewhat hazardous enterprise. The President of the Royal Society, afterwards known
to the history of colonization as Sir Joseph Banks, "a man of large private means, and
already of considerable scientific reputation," decided to join the expedition. Astronomer
Charles Green, who had for years occupied the responsible ofifice of first assistant to the
Astronomer-Royal, was selected to superintend that portion of the proposed observations,
and Dr. Solander, a Swedish botanist and one of the assistants of the British Museum,
volunteered to accompany the expedition, and aid Banks in making collections of plants
CAPTAFN COOK.
29
and animals. Banks took also with him a draughtsman named Sydney Parkinson (who
wrote a journal of the voyage), a naturalist, and others as assistants.
Before the Endeavour was fitted out Captain Wallis returned with news of the
discovery of Otaheite, the Tahiti of modern spelling, which he had named "King
George the Third's Island," and which is probably identical with La Sagittai'ia of Ue
Quires ; and as this place seemed more convenient for the purposes of astronomical
observation than any of the islands of the Marquesas Group, it was determined that
the scientific preparations for that object should be made there, and the path of the
planet across the sun's disc followed from some convenient spot within the island.
On the 26th of August, 1 768, which happened to fall on a Friday, the Endeavour
set sail from Plymouth Sound, having on board a complement of eighty-five men,
" including the captain, two lieutenants, three midshipmen, a master, surgeon, boatswain,
carpenter, and the other petty officers, with forty-one able seamen, twelve marines, and
nine servants," and thus the first of the celebrated voyages of England's most famous
navigator was begun.
A voyage of six months carried the Endeavour round Cape Horn, and a pleasant
run of four months across the Pacific saw her anchored at Otaheite, where a small fort
and an observatory
were built. Nearly two
months passed i n
friendly intercourse ^_^,»_^»_ — ^___„^^^_^^_^^
with the natives, and ^' ' -■■ - ■■ ^ -'-•^^^^^^^^^^^^■■(■^^^■ik. . -.» .
the eventful day of
the transit dawned
with a cloudless sky.
The observations were
successful beyond all
anticipation, and by
combining the results with those of other observers conclusions were arrived at which,
though afterwards slightly modified, have been of more than ordinar)- importance, both
in themselves and in the suggestions to which they have given rise, not only to the study
of astronomy, but to the business of practical navigation.
On leaving Otaheite the Endeavour started on her homeward voyage. Cook intend-
ing to round the Cape of Good Hope and thus make his voyage one of circumnaviga-
tion. But his commission instructed him to solve, if possible, on his return passage, the
still unravelled mystery- of the .Southern Ocean, and ascertain "whether the unexplored
part of the .Southern Hemisphere be only an immense mass of water or contain another
continent," as he says in the introduction to the account of his second voyage. So he
sailed for three months on a traverse through the Pacific and at last sighted a coast
which, on nearer approach, presented a bold and picturesque aspect. He at first thought
this to be the eastern coast of the great unknown territory he was in search of, but
further reflection convinced him that it was only the land, now knowm as New Zealand,
which had been seen a hundred and twenty years before by Tasman. Cook
steered to the southward until he sighted Cape Turn-again, when, in order scrupulously
BARE ISLAM;, i^ulAN, i;a\.
,o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
to obsen'e his instructions, he doubled on his course, and sailing close to the shore
examined and named in succession Hawke, Poverty and Mercur>' Bays. Then carefully
threadinij his way through the wild volcanic islands of the Hauraki Gulf, he rounded
Cape Maria van Diemen, and directing his course again to the south, entered for the
first time that well-known passage since called Cook's Strait ; he then coasted the other
large island of New Zealand, and observed both so closely as to be able to make a fairly
correct chart of all the shores.
Repeated efforts were made to land and cultivate friendly relations with the natives,
but the Maoris were found to be both suspicious and combative, their conduct leading
frequently to collisions, often accompanied with bloodshed. Having completed his examina-
tion of the shores of New Zealand in such a manner as to leave little work for future
discoverers, Cook left Cape Farewell on the 31st of March, 1770, and held on his
course to the west.
So far as the cruise of the Endeavour had now gone, as the narrative of this first
voyage points out, the vessel's track had demonstrated that the various points of land
seen or touched at b\- the earlier navigators were not portions of the Great Antarctic
Continent. This was one important negative result of the expedition. The direction in
which Cook was now steering was leading him to the solution of a more positive
question in the discovery of the east coast of New Holland — the name given by the
Dutch to the Terra Australis Incognita of all the old geographers. On the 19th of
April, and after a run of nearly three weeks from New Zealand, land was sighted, and
called Point Hicks after the first lieutenant of the E?ideavoiir, but Cook must have been
deceived in some way by the sand-hills of the Ninety-mile Beach, for on that part of
the Victorian Coast there is no such point to be found. Then, steering to the north-
ward, he rounded and named the bare and sandy Cape Howe, now so well known as a
boundary mark between the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales.
To the eyes of these weather-beaten navigators the shore-line must have appeared
ver)' beautiful with its picturesque line of cliffs, broken here and there by small harbours
and beaches of dazzling sand; forming, too, so agreeable a contrast to the fringe of
arid desert which their own experience, and the reports of Dampier, had led them to
expect. Behind the curiing breakers and the rocky escarpment of the coast rose ranges of
hills and mountains which, against the clear Australian sky of that Easter season, must
have loomed singularly soft and lovely, seamed as they were with deep gorges and
gullies densely tree-fledged, and purpled with the atmospheric damson -bloom that distance
lends to forest-mantled hills. Mount Dromedary, the Pigeon House, Point Upright, Cape
St. George and Red Point still bear evidence in the names then given them of the
minute attention this coast attracted and received.
On the 28th of April, the Endeavour, after King becalmed for some hours about a
mile and a half off the shore, sailed between the sheltering points of a narrow opening
into the waters of a large bay. Here Cook landed for the first time on Australian
soil. The mariners hoped to make friends of the natives, but from the first it was
evident they would receive opposition, for as the pinnace was rowed along by the beach
m search of a suitable anchorage, a string of savages, bearing their light spears and
their boomerangs in readiness to strike, paced the sands abreast of her. They were all
CAPTAIN COOK. ,,
quite naked, and their bodies were fancifully marked with white streaks. The Endeavour
cast anchor at a spot right opposite a group of eight mia-mias, under the shade of
which was an old woman with three children, in all their dusky nudity, apparently
engaged in cooking, for
they paid little or no
attention to the strange
sight of the white man's
ship, nor to the harsh
sound made by the paj-
ing out of her cable through the hawse-hole.
In the course of the afternoon Cook
prepared to make a landing, but as his
boats neared the shore two natives ran down
to the rocks with spears in their hands, and
" in a very loud tone, and in a harsh dissonant language" — which a New Zealander, whom
Cook had taken with him. was unable to understand — they appeared to be forbidding the
visitors to advance. A present of some nails and beads seemed for a moment to produce
a good effect, but on the attempt to land being renewed, the natives again showed signs
of opposition. Cook endeavoured to make them understand that he wanted water, ami
that no injury was designed, but his attempts at conciliation met with no success. A
DING
32 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
musket was then fired between them, upon which the younger of the natives, who
appeared to be about nineteen or twenty years of age, "brought a bundle of lances on
the rock, but recollecting himself in an instant snatched them up again in great haste.'
One of them threw a stone at the boat ; this was replied to by a discharge of small
shot, which struck him on the legs, and he and his companion took to flight. Cook
landed, thinking the unequal contest at an end ; but he had scarcely quitted the boat
when the aboriginals returned, armed with heclamans, or shields, for their defence. They
approached towards the white men and threw their spears, but with no result. A musket
was again fired at them, to which they replied with another spear, and then they vanished
from sight among the high grass and bushes in the vicinity, giving the navigators a
favourable impression of their courage and intrepidity.
Cook and his party walked up to the deserted camp, and with much curiosity examined
the household economy of its simple inhabitants. Then, leaving some beads, ribbons and
pieces of cloth in exchange for two or three spears, which they appropriated, the white
men returned to their boat, observing on their way some light canoes, each made of a
single sheet of bark, bent and tied up at both ends.
In his pinnace Cook sailed round this bay, which he found generally shallow. l>ut
the shores proved verj' interesting and yielded to the botanists such a collection of
plants totally new to science, that the place received the name of Botany Bay in com-
memoration of the circumstance. In the evening two boats' crews were sent away fishing,
and they caught, in four hauls of the seine, some three or four hundred-weight of
excellent fish. Many efforts were made to conciliate the natives, who would, however,
hold no communication with any of the strangers, except by trying to make them under-
stand, though without attacking them, that their presence on shore was offensive. One
of the first duties the visitors had to discharge was the burial of a comrade, a
seaman named Forby Sutherland, who was thus, as far as we have any historical
evidence, the first white man buried on the eastern coast of Australia.
A day or two after their first landing Cook. Banks and Solander made a short
trip inland, and were delighted at the sight of flocks of parrots and paroquets, but
more especially was their attention engaged by the beautifully-crested cockatoos, then
quite unknown in Europe. As they penetrated these silent forests their eyes were feasted
with sights wholly novel, and the exultation of the naturalists at the prospect of the
additions they were about to make to the sum of ascertained scientific knowledge may
well be imagined. Cook, who was concerned rather with the practical aspect of the
countr)', noted with pleasure some charming meadow-lands and patches of excellent black
soil, as well as places where good freestone could be had for house-building. Had chance
but led their steps a little to the north they would have seen the unrivalled harbour
on which Sydney now stands, but by them it was destined to remain undiscovered,
even though in subsequent rambles they must have been within two or three hundred
yards of eminences from which its long bright reaches would have been distinctly visible.
During his sojourn at Botany Bay, Cook caused the English colours to be hoisted daily,
having taken possession of the territory in the name of His Majesty, King George HI.,
an occasion commemorated in the picture painted by T. A. Gilfillan, and presented by him
to the Philosophical Institute of Victoria. It can readily be imagined, though Cook's
CAPTAIN COOK.
33
narrative says nothing about it, that such a circumstance as this was not allowed to
pass without the usual festivities, and it is not difficult to hear in fancy the rattle
of the royal salute from the muskets of the marines; thus awakening, and probably
for the first time, the echoes of a silent Continent.
At day-break on the 6th of May, 1770, the Endeavour sailed out of Botany Bay,
and while passing northward along the coast, sighted a small opening which appeared
to be the entrance to a
large harbour. To this
Cook gave the name of
Port Jackson, in honour
of his friend Sir George
Jackson, the Secretary
to the Admiralty ; but
he kept on his course,
and thus again missed
the opportunity of add-
ing to his fame by a
report of the discovery
of one of the finest and
most commodious har-
bours in the world. Soon
afterwards another break
in the rocks was noted,
and this Cook judged to
be the entrance to a
small inlet, which he
called Broken Bay. Pur-
suing his course northward, and not having time to examine the various indentations along
the coast, and merely setting down the general trend of the land, he sailed past high shores
of rolling hills, verdant to the very top with dark-foliaged trees, and sighted Smoky Cape
— so named from the smoke of the natives' fires upon it ; the next prominent head-
land, Cape Byron, was called after the distinguished circumnavigator, who was at that time
an admiral, and Governor of Newfoundland ; at Point Danger the Endeavour experienced
a somewhat narrow escape from disaster ; and so the process of discovery and naming
after an old-world place or friend, a high authority, some incident of the voyage or
natural feature that came under the navigator's notice, went on daily.
Without knowing it to be insular, Cook passed the long stretch of miserable sand-
AUSTKALIAN BIRDS AND KISIl.
34 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
hills now called Moreton Island, and rounding a low spit, which he named Cape
Moreton, he descried a broad and shallow inlet, which was set down on the chart as
Moreton Bay. A somewhat similar opening was discovered further north, and called
Hervey's Bay. though it was in reality a strait ; and soon after he crossed the tropic
of Capricorn, and reached the latitude of the Great Barrier Reef, a natural outwork of
coral, which fringes the coast of Queensland for nearly a thousand miles. The shores
now seemed low and swampy, and fringed with mangroves, but inland there rose
picturesque hills, on which the cabbage-tree palm could frequently be discerned.
At Keppel Bay, Cook, Banks and Solander again landed, and had a long and
fatiguing, but highly interesting excursion inland. Large hills built by white ants, myriad
flights of gay butterflies, singular fish that had the power to leap from stone to stone
on the dry land, hitherto unknown plants and some ver)- beautiful birds were observed,
but they could see nothing of the natives, nor could they find any fresh water. On
setting sail again, and still steering to the northward, the Endeavour skirted a shore
consisting of pleasant meadow -like land, backed by timbered hills, while to the seaward
could be seen the foam-flecked lines of the Barrier Reef, over which the sea broke and
made smooth water between it and the shore; but dangerous indeed to navigation on
account of the constant succession of rocks rising near to the surface, and in some
places above it. Cook had so far navigated his vessel in perfect safety along thirteen
hundred miles of a totally unknown coast, probably never before sighted by Europeans ;
but here, off a rocky point which he called from the circumstance Cape Tribulation, he
met with what was fortunately his first, although not his most serious disaster.
It was ten o'clock on a fine moonlight night, all seemed well, the vessel was in
water twenty fathoms deep, and Cook had retired to rest, when, without a moment's
warning, a crash resounded throughout the ship, a shudder was felt pulsating through her
timbers, she heeled over, quivered like a living thing from stem to stern — then log-like
she lay, immovable, hard jammed upon a reef. .A.t once all was bustle, all hands were
hastily summoned to quarters, sails were shortened, boats launched, kedges dropped,
capstans manned, and every effort made to ease the vessel off — but in vain. As the
wind freshened, the ship began to rise slowly on the crest of the waves, and to bump
heavily in the trough — the copper-sheathing was stripping, and large pieces of false keel
came swirling to the surface. As the tide receded she settled down in a hollow between
two jutting points of coral. The only chance of release was by lightening the ship, and
preparing her for floating off when the tide should again rise. To this and six guns,
a quantity of chain cable, decayed stores, casks, and so forth, were thrown overboard.
The pumps were kept at work all night, discipline prevailed, for all were impressed with
the imminence of their fate, but day dawned with painful slowness, only to show
them the nearest point of land nearly four and twenty miles away.
At noon the sea fell to almost a perfect calm, but the tide did not rise high
enough to float the ship. It was therefore necessary to wait until midnight, keeping the
pumps hard at work the whole time. \t nine o'clock in the evening the vessel suddenly
righted with a lurch that sent everybody staggering ; but so great was the body of water
which had gained on the pumps that Cook feared she would inevitably founder as soon
as she lifted off the rocks. The critical moment came at twenty minutes past ten,
CAPTAIN COOK.
35
when she slowly moved out of her place, and was still buoyant enough to ride on the
rising swell. The men were so spent with toil at the pumps that they could work in
relays of only five minutes at a time, throwing themselves in utter exhaustion on the
deck when their strength was spent. Sail was hoisted, and all speed made for the shore ;
but before a place could be discovered on which to beach the ship the leak was found to
be gaining on the pumps at a dangerous rate. However, by passing an old sail under
CAl'TAIN COOKS LANDING-PLACE, BOTANY BAY.
the keel, and keeping it tight with ropes, the influx of water was at length so far
reduced as not to gain on the pumps. Two days later the vessel entered an estuary
which Cook called the hlndcavotir River, where she was successfully beached.
A tent was soon pitched to serve as a hospital for the scurvy-smitten seamen ; a
blacksmith's forge and shops for the carpenters were erected, and the necessary repairs
to the vessel were begun. On examination it was found that the hole made would have
been far more than sufficient to sink her, but that a large piece of coral, which to a
great extent stopped the leak, had been embedded in the gap. The damage was soon
repaired, but while the sick were recovering there was time for explorations into the
countr}', and Banks, having with him two greyhounds, added to the pleasures of botanical
collection that of a kangaroo-hunt, which he was thus, perhaps, the first European to
enjoy. One kangaroo was shot, and the meat was highly appreciated by the not too
dainty sailors, who for months past had subsisted upon salt junk.
After an interval of seven weeks, and all repairs having been effected, the Endeavour
was floated ; and Cook being determined to make the open sea on the other side of
the Barrier Reef, directed his course towards an opening where no breakers were visible.
The passage was made in safety, and then, steering to the northward, the promontory
36
A US TRALASIA ILL US TRA TED.
of Cape York was rounded and named. At this point Cool< altered his course to the
westward, and sailing through the great water-way which bears the name of the Spaniard
Torres, he bore away for Batavia. Cook did not know that he was simply following in
the wake of the old Almirante of Ue Quiros, and under the impression that he was the
original discoverer, he gave to the sea-road which separates Australia from New Guinea
the name of Endeavour Straits.
It will be remembered that up to this tiine, and for some years afterwards, the
report of Torres lay among the archives at Manila, neglected and forgotten, so that
the existence of a passage from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean had not yet been made
known. An eager desire to set the question at rest now took possession of Cook's
mind. In threading the channel he found that it grew gradually wider, and two distant
points were descried between which no land was visible. Cook landed on one of the
islands, and after scaling an eminence, which commanded an uninterrupted view to
the south-west and west-south-west for a distance of forty miles, the suspicion that he
had found a practicable passage between New Guinea and the main-land gave place to
what was almost an absolute certainty. Here, for the time being. Cook brought his
Australian exploration to a close ; but before he passed through the straits that Torres
had discovered more than a century and a half before, he hoisted the Union Jack on
Possession Island — as he named the spot where he landed on this occasion. It was his
fifth landing-place since the date of his first approach to the Australian Coast, and here
he went through a ceremony which is best described in his own words.
" As I am now about to quit the eastern coast of New Holland," wrote the
fortunate circumnavigator, " which I have coasted from latitude thirty-eight degrees to
this place, and which I am confident no European has ever seen before, I once more
hoist English colours ; and though I have already taken possession of several parts, I
now take possession of the whole of the eastern coast, b)' the name of New South
Wales (from" Its great similarity to that part of the principality of Wales), in right of
my Sovereign, George the Third, King of Great Britain." The marines who surrounded
him then fired three volleys of small arms, which were responded to by the same
number from the ship. Sail was promptly made, and soon the Australian coast sank
beneath the horizon, as the Endeavour passed on her way through Torres Straits to
Batavia, where she was again beached and repaired.
By this time the confinement of so long a voyage had caused the utmost prostra-
tion to the crew, who were so much affected by the fever-laden atmosphere of Batavia,
that all but ten were stricken down, and seven deaths occurred ; on resuming their
homeward journey the men began to succumb to scurvy, so that by the time the vessel
reached England, she was little better than a floating hospital. Besant, Cook's latest
biographer, in a graphic passage writes : — " After leaving Batavia, where the whole com-
pany seem to have been poisoned by the heat and the stinks of the place, scurvy and
fever together fell upon the crew, so that forty were on the sick list. Out of the forty
twenty-three died. This dreadful calamity— the sight of all the suffering— impressed Cook
so much that in future we shall find him taking as much thought for the prevention of
scurvy, as for the prosecution of the enterprise in hand ; and after the second voyage
he was as much congratulated on his success in this respect as on his achievements as
CAPTAIN COOK.
n
o
>
<
y.
o
X
as &
5 S
O
t/:
o
<
o
o
C£.
O
O
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<:
u
38
.-^ ( 'STRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
an explorer of unknown seas. The death Hst, indeed, was frightful. The astronomer,
Charles Green, died ; the surgeon, Monkhouse, died ; the first lieutenant, Hicks, died ;
among others who died were Sporing and Parkinson, both of Banks's party ; two mid-
shipmen ; the master—' a young man of good parts, but unhappily given up to intem-
perance, which brought on disorders that put an end to his life ' ; the boatswain : the
carpenter, his mate, and two of his crew ; the sail-maker — a good old man of sevent)-,
who had kept himself from fever in Batavia by getting drunk every day — and his mate ;
the corporal of marines ; the cook, and in all about a dozen seamen. This was a
goodly roll out of a company of eighty. But this was the last voyage in which scurvy
was to demand such an enormous proportion of victims. Cook was going to prove the
best physician ever known in the prevention of scurvy. The onl\- true method of pre-
vention, however, the mode of preserving every variety of fresh food, was not discovered
for a long time afterwards. Mr. Clark Russell has remarked in his 'Life of Dampier '
that in those days they over-salted the beef and pork. The remark is equally true of
the provisions served out in Cook's time. They were over-salted. George Forster, of the
second voyage, complains bitterly of the time when the private stores of the officers and
passengers were exhausted, and they had to live on the ship's provisions just like the
crew. He tells us how, everv-dav, the sight and smell of the salt junk that was served
to them made them loathe their food, which, besides, was so hard that there was neither
nourishment nor flavour left in it. Imagine the misery, the solid misery, of having to live
upon nothing but a fibrous mass of highly-salted animal matter, accompanied by rotten
and weevily biscuit ! Think of this going on da)' after day for a hundred days, and
sometimes more, at a stretch — three long months — with no bread, vegetables, butter, or
fruit ; even the water gone bad, and no tea, cofifee, or cocoa."
From such a commissariat, and the sickness and death which it induced, the crew
of the Endeavour obtained a respite at the Cape, where a long stay with fresh food and
much care re-invigorated them sufficiently to set sail in April, and continue their home-
ward voyage. After a call at .St. Helena, the vessel anchored in the Downs on the
1 2th of June, 1771, after an absence of nearly three years.
Cook brought back to England the shattered remnant of a crew, and a vessel with
sails and ropes so rotten that they dropped to pieces at the slightest strain, and the
Endeavours safe return to port was a subject as much for astonishment as gratitude.
But the astronomical, geographical, botanical and ethnographical results of this voyage
were so great, and awakened so much enthusiasm, that the King desired another expedi-
tion to set forth without delay. The great navigator was promoted to the rank of
Commander, and the publication, by Dr. Hawkesworth, of an account of his adventures
excited the greatest interest and attention in the national mind. The Earl of Sandwich,
who was at that time at the head of the Admiralty, selected two vessels, the Rcso/u-
tion and the Adventure ; Cook was placed in command of the expedition as Captain of
the former, with Tobias Furneaux, w^ho had been Wallis's first lieutenant, as his
a.ssociate, and the preparations for departure were pushed busily forward.
Curiously enough, during the Endeavours absence on her celebrated first voyage,
Dalrymple, whose command of the expedition had, through some misunderstanding with
the Admiralty, reverted to Cook, published his famous " Historical Collection of
CAPTAIN LOOK.
39
Voyages," with a dedication which reads as follows : — " Not to him who discovered
scarcely anything but Patagonians ; not to him who, from twenty degrees South Latitude,
thinking it impossible to go on discovery iiito thirty degrees South, determined to come
home round the world into fifty degrees North ; nor to him who, infatuated with female
blandishments, forgot for what he went abroad, and hasten'd back to amuse the Euro-
pean world with stories of Enchantments in the New Cytherea ; but to the man who,
J.R.R^H'
CAl'TAlX CUOR SIGHTING TIIK (iLASS-HOUSE Mi),.\
1. .'..-. I l.l-.\
emulous of Magalhanes and the heroes of former times, undeterr'd by Difficulties, and
unseduc'd by Pleasure, shall persist through every Obstacle, and not by Chance but by
Virtue and Good Conduct succeed in establishing an intercourse with a Southern Conti-
nent, this historical collection of former discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean is
presented by Alexander Dalrymple."
Cook seemed pointed to by a kindly fate as the man who, by virtue of inherent
right, was to appropriate this dedication of Dalrymple's, and he himself writes of his
second voyage that it was undertaken " to complete the discovery of the Southern
Hemisphere." But he did not find it. The Great Antarctic Continent, which had filled
men's minds for centuries, the thought of which had spurred them on to much heroic
effort, did not exist ; and to Cook belongs the credit of dissipating the fascinating dream.
On the 13th of July, 1772, the two vessels sailed from Plymouth Sound, and after
a voyage of one hundred and nine days made Table Bay, where Sparrman, a pupil of
the great Linne, joined the expedition. After a stay of about three weeks, the Resolu-
tion and the Advetiture left the Cape in the month of November on the dreary quest
of an Antarctic Continent. Heading direct south. Cook crossed the Circle amid wild and
stormy weather, neither sun nor moon being visible for nearly two months. In the
rolling fogs, and thick and sombre atmosphere .of these inhospitable regions, the two
ships wandered up and down, threading their way with incessant watchfulness amid an
40 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
endless succession of rocking icebergs and crunching floes, but no sign of land was
seen. In the gloom and storm they lost each other, but met again at their rendezvous
in Queen Charlotte Sound, where Cook upon arrixal found the Adventure already at
anchor. Furneau.x reported that Van Diemen's Land was joined to New South Wales,
with a wide bay between, and this stopped further enquiry in that direction, and they
aimin pierced the southern fogs, and crossed once more that chilly Antarctic Circle,
enduring many hardships from the severity of the climate, but no discovery of land of
any e.xtent rewarded their efforts, and in a heavy gale which they encountered the
sliips once more parted company. Cook again visited the Sound, where he waited for
three weeks, when, as the Adventure did not arrive, he sailed northward to the beautiful
islands he had previously seen — to Otaheite, the New Hebrides, the Marquesas and
other groups. These had been already discovered, and man)- of them named, by. the
illustrious Frenchman, De Bougainville, only a year or two before ; but Cook was the
first to map them out completely, and to ascertain their exact positions. It was during
the course of this passage that he discovered and mapped out New Caledonia, and then
turning south in order to pass the hottest month or two of the year, he found on his
way that beautiful oasis of the ocean, wonderfully fertile, but lacking a single inhabitant,
to which he gave the name of Norfolk Island.
After calling at New Zealand, Cook sailed for Cape Horn, where he employed
some time in making: a verv careful chart of the coasts. Still an.xious to discover the
Antarctic Continent in search of which he had been sent, he turned south again into
the region of perpetual ice — and this time found land. It was a high coast covered
with thick ice, which ever and anon .slipped slowly down from the steep barren hills,
and breaking off at the cliff-verges plunged over with sudden splashes that echoed, from
minute to minute, far up the fiords and around the silent peaks that towered like
spires of frosted silver in the icy air. The Continent was at last, perhaps, discovered ;
but it was useless for settlement, and full of dangers. Cook soon abandoned it, and
sailed for the Cape of Good Hope. He reached England in July, 1775, after an
ab.sence of about three years, having circumnavigated the world, and thus completed a
voyage which, with all its windings, was not less than sixty thousand miles. The crew
of this expedition numbered one hundred and eighteen men ; yet of that number all
returned save four, a remarkable testimony to the care and assiduity of their Com-
mander who then, for the first time, found means of preventing the ravages of the
scurvy which had so long been the dread of mariners on long voyages.
It will be recollected that the Adventure, Captain Furneaux's ship, had been
separated from her consort in the fog and storm of an Antarctic traverse, and subse-
quently meeting with tempestuous weather she failed to put in an appearance at Queen
Charlotte's Sound, the place of rendezvous appointed by Cook, until after the Resolution
had left. During her stay on this part of the New Zealand Coast some trouble of a
tragic character occurred with the natives. One day a boat's crew which had landed
from the Adventure were surprised, butchered, and eaten ; immediately after which Fur-
neaux set sail for England, and arrived there some months before the Resolutioti.
Cook's reception by his fellow-countrymen was for the second time of a most
enthusiastic character. Not long after his return he was raised to the rank of Post-
CAPTAIN COOK.
41
Captain. He was also appointed a Captain in Greenwich Hospital, and this position
provided him for Hfe with a residence, if he chose to Hve there. He was unanimously
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and he received its gold medal for 1776 for
the best experimental research of the year. This honour was bestowed upon the great
circumnavigator for his paper on " The Preservation of Seamen Engaged on Long
Voyages from Scurvy."
He was every-where re-
ceived with the highest
marks of distinction, and
had he so chosen might
have enjoyed the re-
mainder of his life in
peace and security in the
bosom of his family.
But little more than
a year of rest had passed
before he was again at
ESTUARY NEAR WHICH THp; " ENDEAVOUR STRUCK.
THE "EMiEAVoLK ON A REEF.
sea, this time on his third and last
voyage. The discovery of a North-
West Passage to the East Indies
had long been a dream of English
enterprise, and the Earl of Sand-
wich, who was still First Lord of
the Admiralty, was specially desirous of achieving something in that direction.
While disclaiming any intention of interfering with Captain Cook's well-earned leisure,
it was felt that he was the person best qualified to give advice and counsel on
such a subject. Lord Sandwich therefore invited Cook, Sir Hugh Palliser, and Mr.
Secretary Stephens — who first recommended the navigator to the notice of the Board
of Admiralty — to dine with him together one day, and in the course of an after-dinner
conversation, so wrought on the imagination of Cook, and so fired his ambition, that he
leapt to his feet and at once volunteered to take command of an expedition to be sent
out in search of a North-West Passage to the East Indies. The proposal was at once
laid before the King, a bounty of twenty thousand pounds was promised for division
amongst the crew on the successful return of the ships, and in June, 1776, the expedi-
42 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
tion was read)- for sea. Cook was re-appointed to his old ship, the Resolution, with the
Discoz'en: a vessel of three hundred tons, commanded by Captain Clerke, to act under
his orders. For a considerable time Cook concealed from his wife the fact that he again
intended to tempt fate and fortune upon the high seas, and his widow was to the end of
her life wont to grieve that his acceptance of the command of the expedition had been
withheld from her. Cook had in all probability good reason for his conduct, seeing that
his youngest child, Hugh, was born just after his father's ship had sailed from Plymouth
for the South Pacific Main. On the iith of July, the Resolution 2iX\d xha Discovery vKtxgheA
anchor and stood out for sea, with that England abaft the beam which the eyes of the
greatest of her sailors should never greet again.
Instead of trying the passage by the Atlantic route. Cook suggested that the expe-
dition should proceed south to the Pacific, and thence attempt the enterprise by reaching
the high latitudes between Asia and America. It was the continual failure of every
expedition that essayed the accomplishment of a North-West Passage that occasioned this
change of plans. Hitherto mariners had sought to force their ships through the frozen
waters of the North Atlantic, and it was this alteration from the usually-pursued course
which lent the expedition an assurance of success. From the Pacific, therefore, the North-
West Passage was to be discovered.
By the close of the jear, the Resolution and the Discovery had rounded the Cape,
passed Prince Edward Island, so named by Cook, and the Marion and Crozet Groups,
and touched at the indescribably desolate shores of Kerguelen Land, which, in 1772, had
been discovered by the French navigator whose name it bears. Thence they sailed to
Van Diemen's Land, anchoring a few days in Adventure Bay, where they landed and
found the natives very friendly. Cook did not in any way map out the coasts, and resumed
his voyage under the continued impression that Van Diemen's Land was only the southern
point of New Holland. On the loth of February, 1777, New Zealand hove in sight, and the
day following the expedition made Queen Charlotte's Sound, where the sailors "refreshed"
for about a fortnight. On the 25th of February Cook resumed his voyage, and steering-
northwards discovered a group of islands, which he named after tlie Earl of Sandwich,
but he did not remain long in the waters of this beautiful archipelago. He was, how-
ever, so bafiled by contrary winds and bad weather that, on reaching the coast of North
America and entering Behring Sea, he found the ice already forming and an early
winter setting in, which precluded the immediate prospect of accomplishing the object of
the expedition, he therefore, decided to turn back and employ his time in making a
more careful examination of the Sandwich Islands. On his return he discovered the
largest and one of the most beautiful of the group, called by .the natives Hawaii, but
written in Cook's spelling of the word Owhyee.
The -South Sea Islanders were notorious thieves, and the natives of Hawaii being
no exception to the rule, the navigators were much troubled by the peculations of
the visitors' to their .ships. One night the cutter was stolen, and in the morning Captain
Cook went ashore to see the king about it, and as neither information nor .satisfaction
was to be had, he resolved to seize so important a personage, and to take him on
board one of the ships, with a view of keeping him prisoner until the missing cutter
was restored. A vast crowd of natives, however, surprised and alarmed at seeing their
CAPTAIN COOK.
43
head man being led down to the shore by a party of marines,
gathered around the Englishmen with an evident intention of
opposing the monarch's forcible abduction. Just then news
was brought from another part of the island that the white
strangers had fired on some Hawaiians and killed a chief.
This produced great excitement, and
seeing that the detention of the king
could only end in bloodshed, Cook
liberated his prisoner and hailed his boats.
As the embarkation proceeded, the
natives began their attack with showers
of stones, but without doing any damage.
Cook let his men go on board one of
f
BURIAL OF CAl'TIAX COOKS REMAINS AT SEA, AND HIS MONUMENT AT HAWAII.
the boats, and that being filled he himself waited for the other, which was only a few
yards distant. He was thus left alone for a moment, and a native taking advantage of
44
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
'■^^
ANTOIXE UK BOUGAIWII.I.E.
it, Stepped up from behind and struck him on the back of the head. He fell in
shallow water, and there was at once a rush of savages over his fallen bod). They
stabbed him in many places, and as the second boat approached in the attempt to
effect a rescue, a marine and three sailors were killed, and a lieutenant, a sergeant and
two other men were wounded, the boats being
compelled to pull off without recovering the
body, which was taken inland and treated by
the Hawaiian islanders with great barbarity.
Thus perished at the post of duty the most
successful leader in the work of Australian
exploration, after laying open a new Continent
to the world, and solving the mystery of the
Southern Ocean that had perplexed geographers
so long. One who accompanied Captain Cook
on his last expedition, writes : — " I need make
no reflection on the loss we suffered on this
occasion, or attempt to describe what we felt.
It is enough to .say that no man was ever
more beloved or admired ; and it is trul)' painful
to reflect that he seems to have fallen a sacri-
fice merely for want of being properly sup-
ported ; a fate singularly to be lamented as
having fallen to his lot who had ever been
conspicuous for his care of tho.se under his command, and who seemed to the
last to pay as much attention to their preservation as to that of his own life."
Several of Cook's biographers have, however, altogether misunderstood the causes that
led up to his death at the hands of the Hawaiians — causes
that were intimately connected with certain legends of
their mythology, which associated an absconding god, Lono,
with the great navigator who was so unfortunate as to
outlive their 'belief in his divinity. The explanation of the
tragedy has been given at length by Manley Hopkins,
Hawaiian Consul-General, in his " History of Hawaii," and
he obtained it direct from the islanders themselve.s.
There is considerable doubt as to the fate of Cook's
remains, some contending that they were carried away by
the natives and deposited in their sacred places ; however,
a pas.sage in Kippis's edition of " Cook's Voyages," published ■
in 1 788, says that " though every exertion was made for
that purpose, though negotiation and threatenings were
alternately employed, little more than the principal part of
his bones, and that with great difficulty, were recovered. By the possession of them
our navigators were enabled to perform the last offices to their eminent and unfortunate
commander." The bones were placed in a coffin, and when the vessels were at sea the
FIGURE-HEAD OF THE
" RE.SOLUTION."
CAPTAIN COOK.
45
funeral service was
read over them, and
with military honours
they were committed
to the deep. " What,"
writes Kippis, " were
the feelings of the
companies of both the
ships on this occasion
must be left to the
world to conceive, for
those who were pre-
sent know, that it is
not in the power of
any pen to express
them."
After Cook's death
the command of the
expedition devolved on
Captain Clerke, of the
Discovery, and both
ships once more pro-
ceeded on their voy-
age. On the 2nd of
August Clerke died of
iths after the death of his
id in Kamschatka, and was
succeeded in the command of his own ship by
Lieutenant King ; Gore, first lieutenant of the Resolution, taking charge of the expedition.
The vessels arrived safely in England in October, 1780, after an absence of over four
years. They had not succeeded in the attempt to discover a passage to the north of
America, although many other islands besides the .Sandwich Group had been discovered
and charted, and many valuable additions had been made to geographical knowledge.
The melancholy fate of Cook is, however, the one especial incident by which the expe-
dition will ever be remembered.
The news of the death of the great explorer was received in his native country
with some emotion, and in more than one continental centre with regret. Gold and
silver medals were struck by the Royal Society to commemorate its late member,
yearly pensions of two hundred pounds to his widow and twenty-five pounds to each of
his three sons were awarded by the Government, and a coat of arms was granted to his
family. But the noblest memorial of the distinguished services of Captain Cook, outside
of the record of his work itself, is to be found in the magnificent statue and monument
of the great circumnavigator erected by the people of New South Wales. It stands on
a picturesque site in Hyde Park, Sydney — a noble memorial of one of England's greatest
was
46 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
naval heroes. The Government of that colony has also purchased and deposited in the
Sydney Museum the only obtainable relics of his celebrated voyages— the compass, tele-
scope and water-bottles, which are said to have been used by him on board his ships
during his famous expeditions.
Cook is reaily the last of the great discoverers. He brings to a splendid close
that story of the Sea which had its opening chapters in the first faint dawn of civiliza-
tion in the Old World. His death marks a new period in maritime history. Henceforth
the work of navigation becomes limited and circumscribed, confined mainly to marine
surveying and the making of charts. True it is that some discoveries still remained to
be made by such men as La Perouse, Vancouver, Bligh, D'Entrecasteaux, Portlock,
Hampton, Alt, F'linders, Bass, Grant, Murray, Baudin, Hamelin and others ; but the
days of the great voyages were over — the golden mists of morning, which liid from the
old-time mariners they knew not what, had lifted before the rays of the rising sun of
exploration and research. The .spirit of romance which had brooded over the bosom of
the Ocean for centuries had spread her wings and tied. Her seas were fathomed and
her islets charted, her lands were measured and labelled, and the world began to shrink
beneath the meridians and parallels that bound it in. Cook appears like the last figure
of a mighty procession stretching away through the centuries till it is lost in the mists
of antiquity. But in what a muster-roll of heroes his name is written ! From that pale
past when Jason gave a legend to his country's mythic lore, from days of viking pirate
and the time of that Erik who first put foot upon a Western Continent, down to De
Gama, Columbus, Magalhaens, De Leon, Balboa, Drake, Raleigh, De Ouiros, Tasman,
Dampier and Cook, the world may read in the history of the .Sea, a record of the
greatest courage, the firmest hope, the most beautiful enthusiasm, the most heroic forti-
tude and the sublimest faith, enlisted in the effort to solve the unknown something that
hung like a pall upon the verge of Ocean, the mystery of that other-where which
ever)' child experiences when he watches the sun go down behind the western waves.
A fine tribute has been paid to the memory of Cook by his latest biographer,
Walter Besant, in the following words : — " It seems idle to add anything concerning the
character of James Cook to what has gone before. He was hard to endure, true to
carry out his mission, perfectly loyal and single-minded, he was fearless, he was hot-
tempered and impatient, he was self-reliant, he asked none of his subordinates for help
or for advice, he was temperate, strong, and of simple tastes, he was born to a hard
life, and he never murmured however hard things proved. And, like all men born to
be great, when he began to rise, with each .step he assumed, as if it belonged to him, the
dignity of his new rank. A plain man, those who knew him say, but of good manners."
Of Cook's services to mankind, Besant writes : — " Such as his achievements required,
such he was. Let us, however, once more repeat briefly what those achievements were,
because they were so great and splendid, and because no other sailor has ever so
greatly enlarged the borders of the earth. He discovered the Society Islands ; he proved
New Zealand to be two islands and he surveyed its coasts ; he followed the unknown
coast of New Holland for two thousand miles and proved that it was separated from
New Guinea ; he traversed the Antarctic Ocean on three successive voyages, sailing
completely round the globe in its high latitudes, and proving that the dream of the
I
1
A FOREST GLADE IN TROPICAL AUSTRALIA.
CAPTAIN COOK.
47
Great Southern Continent had no foundation, unless it was close around the Pole and so
beyond the reach of ships; he discovered and explored a great part of the coast of
New Caledonia, the largest island in the South Pacific next to New Zealand ; he found
the desolate island of Georgia, and Sandwichland, the southernmost land yet known; he
SHAKESPEARE HEAD, MERCURY BAY, NEW ZEALAND.
THE HEADLAND Off WHICH CAPTAIN COOK ERECTED HIS OBSERVATORY.
discovered the fair and fertile archipelago called the Sandwich Islands ; he explored
three thousand five hundred miles of the North American Coast, and he traversed the
icy seas of the North Pacific, as he had done in the south, in search of the passage
which he failed to discover. All this, without counting the small islands which he found
scattered about the Pacific. Again, he not only proved the existence of these islands,
but he was in advance of his a<re in the observations and the minute examination which
he made into the religion, manners, customs, arts, and language of the natives wherever
he went. It was he who directed these inquiries, and he was himself the principal
48
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
observer. When astronomical observations had to be made it was he who acted as
principal astronomer. He was as much awake to the importance of botany, especially of
medicinal plants, as he was to the laying down of a correct chart. It is certain that
there was not in the whole of the King's Navy any officer who could compare with
Cook in breadth and depth of knowledge, in forethought, in the power of conceiving
great designs, and in courage and pertinacity in carrying them through. Let us always
think of the Captain growing only more cheerful as his ship forced her way southwards,
though his men lay half-starved and half-poisoned on the deck."
Besant rightly renders full meed of praise to Cook for his struggles to vanquish, on
long sea-voyages, the terrible pest of scurvy, which, prior to his efforts in this direction,
had decimated the crews in a wholesale fashion. He says: — "His voyages would have
been impossible, his discoveries could not have been made, but for that invaluable dis-
covery of his whereby scurvy was kept off, and the men enabled to remain at sea long
months without a change. I have called attention to the brief mention he makes of
privation and hardships ; he barely notes the accident by which half his company were
poisoned by fish, he says nothing about the men's discomforts when their biscuit was
rotten. These things, you see, are not scurvy. One may go hungry for a while, but
recover when food is found, and is none the worse ; one gets sick of salt junk, but if
scurvy is averted, mere disgust is not worth observation. To drive off scurvy — to keep
it off — was the greatest boon that any man could confer upon sailors. Cook has the
honour and glory of finding out the way to avert this scourge. Those who have read
of this horrible disease — the tortures it entailed, the terror it was on all long voyages
will understand how great should be the gratitude of the country to this man. Since
the disease fell chiefly upon the men before the mast, it was fitting that one who had
also in his youth run up the rigging to the music of the boatswain's pipe should discover
that way and confer that boon." With these noble words of hone.sr admiration for a
good man and a great sailor, who opened, up a continent for settlement by England, let
us take our leave of the grandest figure in the history of maritime discovery since the
days of the heroic Genoese who gave a continent to Spain.
UUS. WlLLlAX llKNBT bUTTOB, M. L. 0.
Ueoboe K. Dibbs, M.P.
Hon. Edmund Bauton, Q.C, M.I..C.
Sib Henry Farkes, K.C.M.G,,
President of the Convention.
Hon. .Joseph Palueb Abbott, Speaker L. A.
Sir Patbick Jennings, K. CM. G.
Hon. William McMillan, M.P.
THE NEW SOUTH WALES DELEG.VTES T(» illE FEDER.\TION CONVENTION, SYDNEY, 1891.
s^■|)^•Kv covK. august 20, 1788.
PACVSIHII^ OF AN OLD PRINT, FROM A SKETCH BV GOVERNOR HLNTEK
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALP:S.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
T T was in 1779 that the greatest navigator of the eighteenth century, James Cook,
-*■ fell by the hands of savages in the remote island of Hawaii, and the same year
is memorable for the appointment of a Committee of the House of Commons for the
purpose of devising some means for the relief of the gaols, which were then over-crowded
with criminals ; and only thirteen years after the date of Cook's landing at Botany Bay,
the question of colonizing the territory he had discovered was already a practical one in
England. This first attempt to colonize Australia was, moreover, part of a great and
beneficent change in the criminal laws of the mother-country. Men were turning away
with horror from the reckless sacrifice of human life that had for centuries characterized
the administration of justice in " Merrie England " — from that ferocity which had hanged
two thousand persons annually throughout the reign of King Henry VHI., and even a
greater number in the reign of Queen Elizabeth — from that judicial cruelty which boiled
a man alive in the public streets of London during the time of Shakespeare. The
wretch who stole an article of the value of five shillings forfeited his life as the price
of his crime, and took his place with a score of others at Tyburn, on the Monday
morning, to be hanged in the presence of a crowd who assembled early, and brought
their breakfasts with them in order to witness the spectacle. So outrageous became the
number of executions in England that the royal prerogative was continually being called
into requisition to commute the death sentence to one of banishment for life. The criminal
had to seek some foreign shore, and if he returned summary execution awaited him.
50 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
At this time England had just started on her great career of colonization in North
America, and thither the exiles for the most part wandered. After a time the Govern-
ment began to provide a passage for those who were thus forced into exile, and who
had no money to take them over the Atlantic ; but before a century had passed the
number who had to be transported at the State expense became so excessive as to be
a severe tax on the royal revenue ; and, as the colonists were eager to secure the
services of the men, it was discovered to be a profitable arrangement to put them up
to auction. Not that they were sold as slaves, but their services were disposed of to
the planters for a term of years ; and as the planters took the utmost out of these
exiles that could be got, and left them the merest wrecks at the end of their period
of service, it was generally thought that undisguised slavery might have been preferable.
The loss of the American colonies in 1776 completely put an end to this system,
and it was about the same time that ideas of a more humane tendency began to take
root in England. A few philanthropical writers began to argue that crime was to a great
extent the result of deficient social organization. The criminal became more an object of
pity and consideration than he had ever been before. Hence arose the new idea of
treating him with more leniency, of endeavouring to show him the superior happiness
and wisdom of virtue, and of enabling him to obtain a fresh start in life.
It was in 1779 that the first effort was made to reduce these principles to practice,
and this great reform must be forever connected with the names of Blackstone, Eden,
and Howard. By an Act passed in that year, provision was made for the establishment
of large penitentiaries, and of hulks in which prisoners were to be detained with a view
to their reclamation. But by the reformers it was urged, with sufficient wisdom, that the
reclaimed prisoner, when set free in the midst of his former haunts, was very apt, or
even certain, to relapse : the influence of old companions and ever-constant temptations
would be too much for him. It was proposed, therefore, to form a colony of these unfor-
tunate people, and the famous Minister, William Pitt, who was then in power, took up
the idea with commendable largeness of view, and a Bill was passed by the English
Parliament for the transportation of offenders to some place " beyond the seas," the
Government intending to give every one a chance of eventually forming for himself a new
home and an honourable career, under a different sky and with wholly altered surroundings.
Viscount Sydney was the Secretary for the Colonies in Pitt's Cabinet, and to him
was assigned the duty of putting into practice the designs of the Government. As it
was anticipated that the proposed colony would at first prove costly, a Special Vote was
to be passed annually in Parliament to provide the necessary funds.
So far all was suitably arranged ; but now came the question — Where should this
colony be planted ? Many places were spoken of ; but as Cook's voyages had just been
published, and had attracted more notice than any previous record of travels, many men's
thoughts turned instinctively to those charming lands of the South, and fixed hopefully
on Botany Bay, that agreeabre coast which figures so pleasantly in Cook's narrative, and
after much discussion this was at length selected as the spot for the new experiment.
The condition of the gaols, however, granted but brief space for consideration. The
American ports had been closed to English convict ships, and the situation became one
of daily-increasing difficulty; hence the appointment of a Committee, whose chief duty
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
51
\
it was to advise the Government what to do with the surplus convicts of the land, since
the trans-Atlantic plantations were no longer available for their reception. The recent
publication of selections from the " Brabourne Papers " throws an entirely new light on
this and many other incidents connected with the early days of the colony, which have
hitherto been more or less incorrectly stated. The principal witness examined before the
Committee was Sir Joseph
Banks, then President of the
Royal Society, who was
accepted, on account of his
past experience, as the most
trustworthy authority on the
subject of Australia. Banks
expressed himself in very
favourable terms about Botany
Bay as a field for a penal
settlement, and by the variety
and value of his knowledge,
as well as by his earnestness,
succeeded in the not very
difificult task of convincing the
Committee, whose report in
favour of the scheme was
agreed to by the House.
Nevertheless nearly four
years elapsed before any active
steps were taken to carry the
scheme into effect ; years
during which Howard, Bentham, and other philanthropists constantly interested themselves
in the endeavour to improve the condition of the wretched prisoners ; and it was not
until peace had been declared with the United States that the Government attempted to
consider seriously the advice given by Banks with regard to the criminal colonization
of Australia. It was about this time that a proposition was made to the Government by
a gentleman named James Maria Matra, on behalf of the American colonists who had
lost their property, and whose homes had been ruined by the war. Matra's proposition
was to create of New -South Wales " a colony that might in time atone for the loss
of the American colonies ; and to people it with such American colonists as had
remained loyal, and had suffered for their loyalty to the Crown during the war." This
he considered could be done at a cost of ^^3000, and with very great advantages to
England, but the proposal was not favourably received.
Two years later a similar proposition was made by Sir George Young, a naval officer
who had served with distinction against the French in Canada, and who was in this sup-
ported by Sir Joseph Banks. One of the suggestions of the latter was, that "any number of
useful inhabitants might be drawn from China," to assist in forming the new colony, "agree-
ably to an invariable custom of the Dutch in forming or recruiting their eastern settlements."
VISCOUNT SYDNEY.
52 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
In the meantime the over-crowded condition of the gaols was constantly forced upon
the attention of the authorities, and the official plan already alluded to for disposing of
the convicts was drawn up and approved by Lord Sydney, who presided at the Home
Office. Matra and Sir George Young again persistently urged the claims of the distressed
American colonists ; but the colonization of Australia by free settlers had to give way to
the necessities of the time, and by an Order in Council, made on the 6th of Decem-
ber, 1 786, " the eastern coast of New South Wales was declared and appointed to be
the place to which certain offenders should be transported."
The decision of the Cabinet produced a feeling of great interest. The imaginations
of people were singularly fired by this idea of founding so novel a colony so far from
Home, on a shore which it was well known would provide but little by its own fruitful-
ness, whatever it might give in return for the industry of the settlers. In 1786
advertisements appeared in the English papers for a number of ships to be chartered
for this unusual service. They were required to carry about a thousand persons, with
all the implements that a colony could want, as well as provisions for two years.
Preliminaries were soon arranged for giving effect to the decision of the Govern-
ment, but much care was necessary in the selection of a Commander, and the choice
happily fell on Captain Arthur Phillip — a man whom long training in the Navy had
accustomed to discipline and method, and yet one whose gentle heart could feel for the
misfortunes of the poor exiles under his care. How much of the ultimate success of
the plan was due to the calm and even mind, the hopeful and generous disposition,
that lay behind the sweetness of those features, so pinched and pale with illness, it is
difficult even now to estimate.
The Government wisely resolved to trust a great deal to the discretion of the
leader of the expedition, and while giving him a commission as Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief over the eastern part of Australia, all the rest of that Continent being
claimed by the Dutch, they allowed the utmost latitude to his own judgment, although
careful instructions were forwarded to him as to the aims and purposes of the expedition.
An East Indiaman, the Bcrzoick, was bought, and re-christened the Siriiis : she was
armed with twenty guns, and fitted out to act as frigate to the expedition, and it was
intended that she should remain in the service of the future colony. Captain John
Hunter was appointed to the command of this vessel, and a smart little brig, called the
Supply, was added as tender. Colonel David Collins was sent out to act as Judge-
Advocate in the new settlement, and also to perform the duties of Secretary.
The squadron gathered at the Isle of Wight, and there, on the 13th of May, 1787,
Captain Phillip hoisted the signal for sailing, and the Fleet swept down the Channel, the
SjrtJis leading the way. The Hycena, a frigate of twenty-four guns, accompanied the
expedition to convoy it safely past European shores. The wind was fair and was
blowing freely, as with plunging prows and swelling sails they pursued their track to
the coast of Spain. Behind the sprightly Supply came three store-ships, the Golden
Grove, the Borradale, and the Ftshbuni, all small craft according to our modern notions
— square-built barques of from two hundred and seventy-five to three hundred and
seventy-eight tons. Next came four transports, the Prmce of Wales, the Scarborough,
the Alexander and the Friendship, of which the largest was about four hundred and
HISTORICAL RF.VIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES
S3
fift\- tons. Lastly, two more transports, clumsy vessels and heavy sailers, the Charlotlc,
of three hundred and thirty-five, and the Lady Penrhyn, of three hundred and thirty-
three tons ; and these always lagged behind forcing the others to shorten sail from time
to time in order to avoid division of the fleet.
These transports carried into exile five hundred and sixty-four males and one
hundred and ninety-two females ; also one hundred and sixty-eight soldiers and forty
officers holding various ranks
to guard or superintend them,
five surgeons, and a staff of
artificers, together with the
wives of forty of the soldiers
and a few of their children,
as also thirteen unfortunate
little creatures, the offspring
of convict mothers. Thus
there were despatched in all
one thousand and seventeen
persons to found the new
settlement at Botany Bay.
Among the minor details
which caused Phillip much
annoyance up to the hour of
sailing, was the fact that a
supply of clothing for the
women convicts had not been
sent on board ; but it was not
until the fleet reached Tene-
riffe that it was discovered
that they had been sent to
sea without cartridges for the
marines' muskets, or musket
balls, or armourers' tools with which to keep their weapons in order. Everything was
done that humanity could do to secure the health, and even the comfort of the
prisoners ; and yet if we could but descend one of those companion-ladders into the
hold of the Alexander, and see its dingy space lighted only by the hatchways, filled
with two long lines of hammocks swinging less than a foot and a half apart, with two
hundred and thirty human creatures packed in suffocating rows, we should, perhaps, have
sympathized to some extent with those who in after years descanted on the horrors of
the passage. As for the convicts themselves, many were utterly broken down by the
nameless mystery of the voyage. They had no knowledge whither they were going ;
but had vaguely heard that it was to the opposite side of the world, to a land only
once seen by civilized men, and inhabited by hostile savages. Others took the future
witli the callous indifference of low natures, and sought only to gather as much ease
for the time being as they could bully or cozen out of their neighbours.
CAPTAIN ARTHUR PHILI.II>.
THE FIBST GOVERNOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
54 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
They were well fed, but in the tropics suffered from the confinement of their
narrow quarters in the hold ; and no sooner had the humanity of the captains allowed
them a little liberty, and permission to walk by turns on the deck, than the prisoners
on board the Scarborough formed a desperate conspiracy for escape, and the concessions
that had been granted were revoked. The Fleet reached Rio Janeiro without disaster,
and after "refreshing" there held over to the Cape of Good Hope, where also it called
to obtain fresh water and a supply of live stock for the intended colony.
On leaving the Cape, Captain Phillip went on board the Siipply, and, with three
fast sailing transports, proceeded ; leaving the seven slower vessels to follow as best they
could. The Governor's desire was to make his choice of a suitable locality, and to be pre-
pared to land his charges whenever they arrived. On the i8th of January, 1788, the
Supply stood in through the entrance to Botany Bay, and anchored in the shelter of
South Head, being soon after joined by the transports. Thus after a voyage of thirty-
six weeks from Portsmouth, during which only thirty-two lives were lost, from all causes,
including accidents, the Fleet arrived at its destination in safety ; justifying the comment
of Judge-Advocate Collins that : — " This fortunate completion of it afforded even to our-
selves as much matter of surprise as of general satisfaction ; for in the above space of
time we had sailed five thousand and twenty-one leagues, had touched at the American
and African continents, and had at last rested within a few days' sail of the antipodes
of our native country, without meeting with any accident in a fleet of eleven sail, nine
of which were merchantmen that had never before sailed in that distant and so imper-
fectly explored ocean."
Phillip's instructions to form a settlement on the shores of Botany Bay, as suggested
by Banks, did not meet with his approval. He found himself in a beautiful inlet,
seemingly round, and of some six or seven miles in diameter ; its shores were not high,
but behind the long curves of white and yellow beaches there were pleasant, tree-clad
undulations, green and fresh to eyes that had finished an eight months' voyage. But on
landing he was greatly disappointed ; the ground was either rocky or covered with
barren sand, and no water was visible, except where extensive swamps seemed to threaten,
in this warm climate, a plentiful experience of fever in the future. But Captain Phillip
had hardly finished his examination when the remaining seven vessels arrived. The Bay
being shallow, he could not find anchorage for all his ships in deep water, and some
lay dangerously exposed to the swell that rolled through the entrance.
Longer confinement in these close vessels beneath that blazing summer sky being
attended with the greatest risk, Phillip was compelled to make the necessary preparations
for debarking, but resolved, in the meantime, to examine the inlets of the neighbouring
coast, in the hope of finding a better harbour than Botany Bay. With three ships'
boats he steered out into the Pacific, and turned north along the shore. Sailing
under the heavy cliffs, and along the hot and glaring beaches for a distance of eight
or nine miles, he passed into the little opening or boat-harbour set down by Cook as
Port Jackson. On each side there frowned grim-looking rocks of considerable height ; but
what was his surprise to find this channel open out into a noble harbour, winding away
to the west in numberless arms and bays with verdant shores and sunny little islets, all
sleeping in sheltered silence under the delicately-tinted blue of an unbroken Australian sky.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES
55
Phillip, Hunter and Collins were all charmed by the beauty and security of this
port. Here on these high and well-drained shores was no fear of fever; and when,
after examining bay after bay, they lay on their oars in admiration within a small tree-
shadowed cove into which a little babbling stream discharged its limpid waters, Phillip
determined there to fix his colony; and he gave to the place the name of Sydney Cove,
PHILLIPS FIRST LANDING-PLACE, BOTANY BAY.
FROM A RECENT SKETCH.
in honour of the Secretary of State, under whose
directions the expedition had been carried out.
The little bay was deep, and surrounded by
large boulders rising only a few feet above the
surface, out of twenty feet of water, and in that
the Governor saw much prospect of convenience. But to be certain that this was the
best situation, he spent three days in sailing into every arm, being every-where pleased,
yet finding no reason to alter his choice. His first interview with the natives was at
a pretty little inlet near the Heads, where some of them who had been fishing came
forward in response to a signal, and encouraged by his kindly smile showed him some
of the fish that they had caught, and their rude appliances for fishing. They retired
with quiet dignity, and Phillip was so pleased with their bearing that he gave to the
place the name of Manly Beach.
When the boats returned to Botany Bay it was found that wells were being sunk
and wharves constructed, but on the joyful news being spread of the grand harbour
discovered, all was alacrity to depart. At day-break the anchors were being weighed, and
the echoes of the sailors' chorus were rolling over the bay, when the unexpected
appearance of two vessels off the port attracted attention ; they ran up French colours
and proved to be the BoussoU and the Astrolabe — an expedition of discover^' under Admiral
56
A US TRA LA SI A ILL US TRA TED.
La Perouse. Captain Phillip sailed out in the Supply, and gave a welcome to the
celebrated Frenchman, whose ships came to an anchor in Botany Bay just as the ten
English vessels were leaving. The convict squadron was soon within the shelter of Port
Jackson, and in the evening all the men were assembled, the Union Jack was run up
to the top of a. flag-staff that had just been erected, and with three volleys they
signalized the termination of their long and dreary voyage.
A canvas house was put up for the Governor on the east side of the Cove, and
round it was formed a small garden wherein might be cultivated the fig, the orange and
the grape, of which young plants had been brought from the Cape. The live stock was
landed, and on the 6th of February, when the settlement began to look a little com-
fortable, the women went on shore. On the following day the marines were drawn up
in a square, on a slope afterwards known as Dawes' Point, and the Governor's commis-
sion was read. He then addressed the convicts, and in a speech of much earnestness
besought them to consult their own happiness and welfare by leading praiseworthy lives
in their new abode.
Judged by his correspondence, which has but recently been published in the work
already quoted, Phillip had an arduous time of it in arranging all the details of the
great undertaking which had been entrusted to his command. He appears to have made
written notes of any ideas that occurred to him in connection with it, and in a marked
degree these notes display the keen foresight and judgment which distinguished the man ;
many of them betray only his want of knowledge of the land in which he was about
to settle ; and some are absolutely quaint in their suggestiveness : As, for instance, in
referring to the probable necessity for inflicting capital punishment on the convicts, he
says : — " I should think it will never be necessary. In fact I doubt if the fear of death
ever prevented a man of no principle from committing a bad action. There are two
crimes that would merit death, and for either of them I should wish to confine the
criminal till an opportunity offered of delivering him as a prisoner to the natives of New
Zealand, and let them eat him. The dread of this will operate much stronger than the
fear of death " And again, in contemplation of the social and domestic difficulties of the
position, which might well have alarmed a more worldly-minded man than the conscien-
tious sailor, he says : — " The women (convicts) in general, I should suppose, possess
neither virtue nor honesty. . . . The natives may, it is probable, permit their women
to marry the men (convicts) after a certain time. . . . Women may be brought from
the Friendly and other islands, a proper place prepared to receive them, and where
they will be supported for a time, and lots of land assigned to such as marry with the
soldiers of the garrison." Then, with perhaps some prevision of the future greatness of
the nation he was about to found with such unpromising materials, he writes : — " As I
would not wish convicts to lay the foundation of an empire. I think they should ever
remain separated from the garrison and other settlers that ma)- come from Europe ; and
not be allowed to mix with them, even after the seven or fourteen years for which they
are transported may be expired."
A hard task, however, lay before him, for he had been instructed by the English
Government to make the colony self-supporting, and two years were allowed in which to
secure by farming and other industries at least half the sustenance of the people under his
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE NEW SOUTH WALES,
57
\
\
charge. As Norfolk Island had been praised by Cook for its fertility, it was thought
desirable to commence farming operations there ; and being overrun with Hax— a commodity
in great demand— it was believed that the convicts could secure in its growth and pre-
paration a very respectable sum to contribute to their support. Lieutenant King was
therefore sent to the
island with fifteen con-
victs, nine soldiers, a sur-
geon, and two free men
who understood flax dress-
ing. The settlement pros-
pered, and thirty - nine
persons more were sent
over a few months later.
It was in the month
of March that La Perouse
sailed from Botany Bay..
What became of him, or
his two well-appointed ves-
sels and their crews, was
a mystery unsolved for
thirty-eight years, though
the French sent an expe-
dition to search for their
celebrated sailor. But in
the year 1826 Captain
Peter Dillon, of the East
India Company's service,
was cruising in these seas, and on the coast of Vanikoro, the most southerly island of
the Santa Cruz Group, he came upon unmistakable signs of shipwreck. These were the
remains of La Perouse's expedition, and they told its fate. In 1883 Lieutenant Benier,
in the Bniat, recovered some guns, anchors, chains and other relics, and took them to
France, where they were deposited in the Museum of Paris. In memory of the cele-
brated Frenchman, a monument was erected by the people of Sydney on the north
shore of Botany Bay, near the last place where he is known to have touched the land.
Not far from the same place there was buried the French priest, M. Le Receveur, who
accompanied La Perouse as naturalist, and who, while prosecuting his researches, had
been speared by the natives of the Navigator's Islands, but had lingered on till he died
of his wounds, when he received a grave on Australian soil.
The glowing prospects entertained by Governor Phillip died away very quickly when
the colonists settled down into stern reality after the novelty of their arrival. Famine
was the great danger, and a series of unlucky accidents made it doubtful for a time
whether the colony was to survive this initial trouble. A piece of land at Rose Hill — now
called Parramatta, at the head of a deep salt-water reach popularly regarded as a river —
was placed under crop, but the prospect it afforded was not at all one of lavish
JEAN FRANCOIS GALAUP, COMTE DE LA PEROUSE.
58
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
abundance. The convicts were many of them incorrigibly idle, and improvident beyond
belief. The weekly allowance given them was consumed and wasted during the first
day or two. and then in the destitution of the latter part of the week they came with
pitiful appeals to the Governor for relief. One man, on receiving his week's allowance,
eight pounds of flour, made it into cakes, consumed the whole at a meal, and died
next day of the surfeit. The stores were constantly broken into and the provisions
carried off. The men put to work on the farms broke or secreted their tools, careless
of the fact that their indolence might mean want of food. A convict who had been
set to watch the few head of cattle that had been brought to the colony negligently
allowed them to stray away. When they were discovered some years afterwards, on the
banks of the Nepean, their number had increased to sixty. In addition to all these
troubles, Phillip suffered considerable annoyance from his military subordinates, strained
relations having existed between himself and Major Ross, who was at the head of the
small force, ever since their landing. Phillip was anxious that the officers should use
their personal and moral influence in dealing with the convicts, while the officers, on the
other hand, stood on their dignity, and declined to accept his .suggestions. A series of
petty squabbles and irritations, fomented by Major Ross, who was supported by his
brother officers, eventually resulted in the Major being dispatched to Norfolk Island,
with a commission as Lieutenant-Governor.
The first stone for the foundation of a temporary Government House was laid by
the Governor in Pitt Street on the 15th of May, 1788. In November the ration of
each man, including officers and the Governor alike, was reduced by a third, and in
March, 1 790, as the stock of provisions was becoming alarmingly low, two hundred and
eighty persons were sent over to Norfolk Island, where it was thought there would
soon be plenty. The Siriiis was to take them over, and then to sail to Europe to
procure provisions for the colony at Sydney. But as she neared the island heavy
weather set in ; she was standing off and on to land the people, when suddenly the
vessel was driven on to the rocks and lost. The passengers and crew were saved, but
their effects were destroyed. Then came the disappointing news to the half-drowned
men and women who landed, that just the month before the island had been visited
by a hurricane, which had swept away granaries, casks, bags and crops in one wild
confusion. What the winds had spared a rising flood had carried away. When this
news reached Sydney the Governor still further decreased the ration, and parties were
sent out to supplement the fast-diminishing stores by fishing and shooting.
In June there arrived another transport with two hundred and twenty-two female
prisoners ; and the sad intelligence was brought that the Guardian, store-ship, after
rounding the Cape of Good Hope, had struck an iceberg, and to save the vessel nearly
the whole of a two years' supply of provisions had to be thrown overboard, while with
the rest she returned to the Cape for repairs.
Again the daily ration was reduced, till it was little more than a quarter of that
which had at first been issued. A curious illustration of the scarcity of food is to be
found m the fact that during the severest pinch persons who were invited to dine with
the Governor were requested to bring their own fare with them. The Supply was sent
for provisions to Batavia. She would be absent at least six months, and at the decreased
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
59
THE TOMB OF LE RECEVEUR AT BOTANY BAY.
rate there were just eight months' stores left in the colony. While the Governor was
racked with anxiety, the Justinian arrived at the Heads. She brought a considerable
quantity of stores with her. But just as she was standing in, the wind changed, and
blew with such violence out to sea, that she was driven a long way to the north and
nearly wrecked ; indeed, the colonists had lost all hope of seeing her, when after all her
perils she once more appeared,
and to the great joy of the
community entered the Harbour
in safety. But their happiness
was damped by the arrival, a few
days later, of three more trans-
ports, bringing a large number
of prisoners and a detachment of
the New South Wales Corps — a
body of soldiers enlisted in Eng-
land for special service in the
colony, to which ordinary soldiers
disliked to go. These vessels
broug^ht no provisions, but they
brought to the famishing colony
a fever-stricken crowd that filled the hospital with patients and the residents with dismay.
In the beginning of 1791 things began to brighten. The Supply, accompanied by a
chartered vessel, arrived from Batavia loaded with provisions which more than doubled
the stores of the colony. Crops began to be gathered at Rose Hill. A number of free
men, mostly soldiers or sailors, obtained grants of land, and began farming in something
like a systematic way. And so matters went smoothly forward till September, when nine
more vessels arrived, bringing with them over two thousand fresh convicts ; but as they
brought abundance of supplies, the famine troubles of the colony were practically over.
In the following year, Phillip, whose health had been gradually declining, petitioned the
Home Government to relieve him of his arduous duties and allow him to return to
England. After some delay his request was granted, and on the loth of December,
1793, he took his departure, after a command of five years. His memory will always be
held in respect, not only as that of the first Governor, but as that of a man who,
under the most trying conditions, did at all times what he believed to be his duty, and
when he left the colony it was with the respect and esteem of all classes and amid
public expressions of general regret.
The Government of the colony now passed into the hands of Major Francis Grose,
Commandant of the New South Wales Corps, who had just arrived bearing a commission
as Lieutenant-Governor, and the appointment of this officer initiated a condition of
affairs which was practically a military despotism. Events soon began to show that he
was not qualified for his position. The good order established by Governor Phillip
speedily disappeared. The source of Grose's misgovernment appeared to lie in his
sympathy with his brother officers. He superseded the civil magistrates and appointed
ofificers in their place ; he disregarded the express instructions of the Imperial Govern-
6o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
ment, not only in making extravagant grants of land to the officers, but also in allowing
them an excessive supply of convict labour — thirteen servants each, instead of two ; and
he permitted them to pay for labour with spirits instead of money, in order that they
might make enormous profits on the sale. Spirits were sold to the officers at the
Government stores at prime cost, and were retailed by them at any price they pleased.
It had always been Phillip's policy to prevent the convicts from obtaining spirits, knowing
that otherwise he could not hope to preserve discipline among them — still less to reform
them. But no sooner had he left the colony than the military and civil officers of the
establishment eagerly seized the opportunity for making money by this traffic ; the result
being that habits of drunken debauchery spread throughout the settlement, everything
being sacrificed to an insane craving for drink. The officers made it their business to
import spirits and wine, not only from England, but from India, the Brazils and the
Cape of Good Hope. As soon as it became known abroad that a good trade could be
done in Sydney Cove with spirits, cargoes were shipped from all parts of the world.
Indian merchants, in particular, at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, exerted themselves to
secure as much of the infamous traffic as possible ; just as in later years their country-
men and successors strove their utmost to extend the opium trade with China. The
opportunity of acquiring large areas of land was also too good to be neglected ; and
immense blocks, which were then of comparatively little value, passed into the hands of
men whose only claim to consideration was that of cleaving hard and fast to their
traditions, and upholding might as right.
Under this system of misgovernment was thus laid the foundations of an Australian
landed aristocracy, and unscrupulous men were not slow in taking advantage of their
official positions, to the great detriment of the welfare and morals of the community.
Another item of public interest which characterized the military interregnum was the
arrival, in the month of January, 1793, of the Bcllona, the first ship to bring out free
settlers. They were supplied with tools and two years' provisions by the Government,
also with a proportion of convict labour, and they settled on land at Liberty Plains,
which, however, they soon abandoned, and migrated to the banks of the Hawkesbury.
Governor Huntkr.
The difficulties occasioned by the military misrule inaugurated by Major Grose
severely taxed the energies of the three Governors who next succeeded. The Home
Government having become aware of the state of things in Sydney under Major Grose, and
latterly Captain Paterson — who succeeded Grose as Lieutenant-Governor in December,
'794 — determined to remedy the mischief by suppressing the traffic in spirits altogether.
Captain John Hunter, formerly of the Sirius, was appointed Governor in 1795, with express
instructions for that purpose, but although he honestly endeavoured to carr)- them out,
he was not strong enough to resist the official ring by which he was surrounded, and he
gradually allowed himself to sink under its influence. The result was that his feeble
efforts at reform ended in signal failure, and he was recalled in 1800.
A year after the wreck of the Sirius at Norfolk Island, in March, 1790, Captain
Hunter had sailed from Sydney to Batavia in a Dutch vessel, which had been chartered
by Governor Phillip. From that port he sailed for England, where he arrived in the
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
6i
THE LA I'EROUSE MONUMENT.
I
following year. While at Home he wrote and published his " Historical Journal of the
Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island." During his subsequent term of ofifice
as Governor, he took an active interest in the work of exploration, a subject which
naturally engaged the attention of all the early Governors, and many discoveries were made.
It was during Hunter's Administration that the gallant Surgeon Bass, accompanied by
Lieutenant Flinders, explored
the south-eastern coast in a
little open boat, only eight
feet long, called the To7n
TJuimh, and a year later, sail-
ing south again,
they entered West-
ern Port, when their
provisions being ex-
hausted they were
compelled to return
to Sydney. In their
next voyage they
discovered the pas-
sage since known
to the world as
Bass's Straits, sailed
round the coast of \'an Dienien's Land, and completely demonstrated its insular character.
Another discovery was made during Hunter's time, which has since been identified
with his name. In June, 1796, some fishermen were driven by stress of weather into
what seemed to them to be a small ba)-, but which was really the mouth of a large
river. Landing there, they found coal lying on the surface of the ground. The town
of Newcastle now stands on the spot ; and the river, well-known as the Hunter, was
discovered one year later by a military party sent in search of runaway convict.s.
Hunter's Administration was marked by the restoration of the civil magistrates, whose
functions had been usurped by the military men during the time of Grose and Paterson.
The Governor referred to this singular proceeding in a despatch to the Secretary of
State, in which he said : — " After the departure of Governor Phillip, a general change
took place. All his plans and regulations were completely laid aside. The civil magis-
trates were superseded entirely, and all the duties respecting the distribution of justice,
and every other concern of that ofiice, was taken into the hands of the military." At
the same time they had used their powers to obtain a complete monopoly of trade.
They were not only magistrates, but they were general merchants and importers as well ;
and by this means they had made themselves so powerful in every direction that Hun-
ter found it difficult to exercise any kind of authority over them.
The progress of settlement in the colony at this time was checked by the spread
of this degrading traffic. Everything was sacrificed to the dealers in rum. Out of
nearly eleven thousand acres cleared in 1800, only seven thousand were under cultiva-
tion. The reason will be found in a despatch from Governor King, written in
62
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
December, 1801 : — "It is notorious that since Governor Phillip left this colony in 1792,
the utmost licentiousness has prevailed among this class (settlers who had been convicts),
although they have used the most laborious exertions in clearing land of timber.
Unfortunately, the produce went to a few monopolizing traders, who had their agents in
ever)' corner of the settlement, not failing to ruin those they marked for their prey by
the baneful lure of spirits. It can scarce be credited that, in a soil and climate equal
to the production of any plant or vegetable, out of four hundred and five settlers
scarce one grew either potato or cabbage. Growing wheat and maize, which are the
articles required by the public stores (and which were paid for in spirits), was their
only object ; and when that has been attained, it has often occurred that one night's
drinking at the house of one of those agents has eased them of all their labour had
acquired in the preceding year." Such were the evils which Hunter saw around him,
but vainly tried to remed)-.
In other directions, however, some progress was made. A small newspaper, the
Sydney Gazette, was established as the official organ of the Ciovernment ; a church
was erected on the eastern side
of the Cove, and a wind-mill on
I'lag-staff Hill. A play-house was
also built, and opened with a
performance by some prisoners of
Farquhar's comedy, " The Recruit-
ing-officer," for which a prologue
was written by the notorious
George Harrington. A herd of
wild cattle, the progeny of the
two bulls and five cows lost in
1 788, was discovered inland, a
considerable distance beyond Parra-
matta, at a place which was called the Cow-pastures. The first public meeting ever held
in the colony was in June, 1799, for the purpose of raising funds to build a more secure
gaol (a curious commentary on the administration , of the day), but subscriptions were
freely given both of money and materials, and the gaol was erected.
RELICS FROM THE LA PEROUSE EXPEDITION.
DISCOVERED ON THE VANIKORO REEFS.
The Introduction ok Wool.
The mo.st important event connected with Governor Hunter's term of office was the
inauguration of the great wool-growing industry, the pioneer of which was John
Macarthur, who arrived in the colony in the year 1791, as a captain of the New South
Wales Corps. He was a man of unusual sagacity, energy and perseverance, and was
well qualified to gain distinction in a much larger sphere than that presented to him
by Sydney at the end of the last century. His ambition was not to be satisfied by
the profits, large though they were, to be made out of the squalid rum traffic. He
saw the capabilities of the new country for grazing sheep and cattle, and having a few
head of both, he determined to utilize the advantages which free grants of land, free
labour, and the command of a market offered him in his new home.
k
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
63
At that time the wool-
len mills of England were
supplied with the finer sorts
of wool from Saxony and
Spain, where the merino
sheep had been highly cul-
tivated. But althouofh the
Saxons and the Spaniards
possessed the finest breed
of sheep in the world, they
were not large wool-growers,
and consequently the suppl)-
of wool in the English
market was ver)- limited.
The first thing to be done
was to introduce the proper
breed of sheep, not an easy
matter in those da)s, when
the pure merino was a rare
animal every-where except in
Saxony and in Spain.
When Governor Phillip
landed in 1 78<S, he brous/ht
ashore with him twenty-nine
sheep, which he had taken
on board at the Cape of
Good Hope ; and when he
left the colony in i 792, the -^
little Hock had increased to
one hundred and five. It
was in the following year
that Macarthur commenced
his operations. The story
will be best told in his own
words, as we find them in
the report of his evidence
before Mr. Commissioner
Bigge in 1820: — "In 1794,
I purchased from an officer , ,; ,
sixty Bengal ewes and
lambs, which had been im-
ported from Calcutta, and very soon afterwards I procured from the captain of a
transport from Ireland, two Irish ewes and a young ram. The Indian sheep produced
coarse hair, and the wool of the Irish sheep was then valued at no more than ninepence
■X,
X)
r>.
3i
<
O
n
o
A
H
Z
M
in
%
64
A US TRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
per pound. By crossing the two breeds, I had the satisfaction of seeing the lambs of
the Indian ewes bear a mingled fleece of hair and wool. This circumstance originated
the idea of producing
fine wool in New South
Wales."
Two years after-
wards two sloops of war
were sent from Sydney
to the Cape of Good
Hope, and their com-
manders being friends of
Macarthur's, he requested
them to ascertain whether
there were an)' wool-
bearing sheep at the
Cape. When they arrived
' they fortunately found
for sale in the market
some merinos bred from
animals of the celebrated
Escurial Hock, which had
been presented by the
King of Spain to the
Dutch Government, and
sent to the Cape. About twenty were purchased, and of these, said Macarthur, " I was
favoured with five ewes and three rams. The remainder were distributed among different
individuals, who did not take the necessary precautions to preserve the pure breed,
and they soon disappeared. Mine were carefully guarded against any impure mixtures,
and increased in number and improved in the quality of their wool. In a year or two
after I had an opportunity of augmenting my flocks by the purchase from Colonel
Foveaux of twelve hundred sheep of the common Cape breed. The results soon made
themselves manifest. In iSoi, I took to England
specimens of the wool of the pure merino, and
of the best of the cross-bred ; and, having sub-
mitted them to the inspection of a committee of
manufacturers, they reported that the merino wool
was equal to any Spanish wool, and the cross-
bred of considerable value. Thus encouraged, I
purchased nine rams and an ewe from the Royal
flock at Kew, and returned to this country
determined to devote my attention to the im-
provement of the wool of my flocks."
Then began negotiations with the Imperial Government for the purpose of obtaining
sufficient pastures for the increasing flocks. Macarthur presented a memorial to the Privy
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS FIRST SIGHT OK PORT JACKSON.
THE FIRST GOVERNMENT HOUSE :
PITT STREET, SYDNEY.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES
65
Council in 1804, when he was in London, praying that he should be allotted sixty
thousand acres, and thirty convicts as shepherds. The Privy Council summoned him to
attend in person before them, and give evidence as to the nature of his project. He
made a favourable impression, although the Council did not recommend that his proposals
should be accepted. But
the woollen manufacturers of
England supported him, and
their influence speedily
settled the question. Lord
Camden, then .Secretary of
State for the Colonies, sent
a despatch to Governor
King, under date of the
31st of October, 1804, '"
which he desired His Excel-
lency to have " a proper
grant of land, fit for the
pasture of sheep, conveyed
to the said John Macarthur,
Esq., in perpetuity, with the
usual reserve of quit rents
to the Crown, containing
not less than five thousand
acres." The land now known
as the Camden Estate, which
had lieen selected in the
first instance by the cattle
that had strayed from the
settlement in early days, on account of the sweet grass in the whin-stone country, was
chosen for the purpose. Macarthur died in 1834, and was buried at Camden, the scene
of one of the most successful enterprises that ever blessed the industry of man.
GOVEK.NOK JOHN HUNTER.
Governor King.
In September, 1800, Governor Hunter sailed for England, where shortly after his
arrival he was appointed to the command of a line-of-battle ship. Barrington says in
his "History" that: — "Hunter's departure was attended with every mark of respect and
regret. The road to the wharf was lined with troops, and he was accompanied by the
officers of the civil and military departments, with a concourse of inhabitants, who
showed by their deportment the high sense they entertained of the regard he had ever
paid to their interests, and of the justice and humanity of his Government."
The next Governor was Philip Gidley King, who came out with the First Fleet as
lieutenant of the Sirius, and had been sent in February, 1788, to establish the settle-
ment at Norfolk Island. He had served as Lieutenant-Governor there until he was
appointed to administer the Government of New South Wales. He and Phillip had
66
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
been brother ofificers ; they had always worked cordially together in establishing the
infant settlements under their charge ; and it was a piece of singular good fortune that
both of them were admirably qualified for their posts. When King superseded Hunter
in 1800, he found the
official monopoly in
full swing ; but warned
l)y the fate of his
predecessor, he set
himself resolutely to
the work of reform,
rhe Royal Instruc-
tions required him
" to order and direct
that no spirits be
landed from any ves-
sel coming to Port
[ackson without your
consent." He accord-
ingly issued the most
strmgcnt
regulations
THE cow PASTURES,
CAMDEN PARK.
in order to prevent
the landing of spirits,
beyond certain speci-
fied ([uantities, from
ships arriving in the
Port ; and in many cases he actually sent back
the ships without allowing them to land any.
In 1806, when he left the colony, he had thus
sent back nearly seventy thousand gallons of
spirits, and over thirty-one thousand gallons of wine. The
quantity which he allowed to land was sold at prices fixed
by his order, ranging from four to ten shillings a gallon.
The ruling retail price at the time of his arrival was forty
shillings a gallon ; its prime cost to the importers not being
more than seven and sixpence to half-a-sovereign. In Hunter's time, eight pounds a
gallon had been recovered by the plaintiff in open Court, and the judgment which
allowed this excessive rate was affirmed by that Governor on appeal.
Whether King was absolutely successful in carrying out his policy of reform is not
altogether clear, historical authorities being divided on the subject ; but there can be
no question that he succeeded in doing so to a very considerable extent, and that
under his rule the settlement made extraordinary progress. It may be said, indeed,
that the success of the experiment made by the Imperial Government in sending out the
First Fleet dates from the first year of the century ; and there can be little doubt that
the result was largely due to the energetic and intelligent Administration of Governor
HISTORICAL REl'IEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 67
King. Industry and order took the place of drunkenness and crime. The convicts.
restrained from unceasin_t,r indulgence in drink, strove hard to earn their freedom by
attention to discipline and good conduct ; while the settlers, no longer compelled to take
spirits in payment for their produce, were enabled to extend and miprove their farming
operations. Schools, churches, and other useful institutions were established by the
1ti0{m.<JUlJ:.
MACARTHUKS HOMESTEAD, CAMDEK.
Government ; children were educated,
Divine Service was attended, and
the blessings of social life made themselves
felt among all classes. Trade and industry
began to spread their branches in every direc-
tion, and legitimate commerce was fostered and
encouraged. Captain John Macarthur had dis-
covered a source of immense wealth in the
growth of tine wool ; his Hocks of sheep were now attracting general attention, and
the most prominent mill-owners of England had begun to look forward to shipments of
Australian wool. Coal had been found in 1796 at Newcastle and at Bulli. The banks
of the Hawkesbury and the Nepean had revealed their richness to the settlers, whom
neither sudden floods nor savage blacks deterred from taking up the land. -Sydney
Cove was full of shipping from all parts of the world ; vessels were fitted out for
sealing and whaling voyages in adjacent waters ; trade was opened up with New Zealand
and the .South Sea Islands. So great was the industrial activity that when the French
ships Lc Gdographc and Lc Naturaliste, commanded b\' Haudin, and sent out on a
voyage of discovery, dropped anchor in Sydney Cove on the 20th of June, 1802, the
Frenchmen regarded with a.stonishment the size and progress of the place; and Peron,
one of the naturalists attached to the expedition, recorded in his journal with expressions
68
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
of surprise the many evidences of prosperity he had observed in the infant settlement
during the five months over which his visit extended.
It was under the Administration of Governor King that the first settlements were
formed at V'an Diemen's Land and at Port Phillip. In August, 1803, two vessels were
dispatched from Sydney for Van Diemen's Land, under the command of Lieutenant
Bowen, a naval officer. The party landed at Risdon Cove, and formed a settlement
there. It was about the same time that Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, who had come out
with the First Fleet as Judge-Advocate, but
had returned to England, was dispatched
with another large party in two ships from
Portsmouth, for the purpose of establishing
a settlement at Port Phillip. Collins reached
his destination on the 9th of October, 1 803 ;
but he sent such unfavourable reports as to
the nature of the surrounding country, that
Port Phillip was declared to be " totally
unfit in every point of view " for the pur-
pose of settlement. The whole party was
soon after removed to \'an Diemen's Land ;
and on arrival there Collins selected a site
on the beautiful banks of the I])erwent
River, at a place named by him .Sullivan's
Cove ; but on the transfer of the settlement
under Lieutenant Bowen to that spot it
was named Hobart, and subsequently Hobart
Town, in honour of Lord Hobart, then
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Alarmed by a rumour that the French intended to form a settlement in Van
Diemen's Land, King sent, in October, 1802, a party under Lieutenant Charles Robbins.
in an armed schooner, the Cumberland, " in order to assert His Majesty's claims to the
territory, and dispossess and remove any party that may be landed there." The Surveyor
General accompanied the expedition, which was instructed to sail to King's Island, Port
Phillip and Storm Bay, " taking care to -hoist His Majesty's colours every day on shore
during your examination of those places, placing a guard of two men at each place, who
are to turn up ground for a garden, and sow the seeds you are furnished with."
A naval engagement, which took place off the Sydney Heads, in November, 1804,
deserves mention as a remarkable incident of the times. An English whaling-ship, the
Policy, carrying letters of marque and six twelve-pounders, came up with a Dutch ship,
the Sioift, armed with six eighteen-pounders, and the whaler, after two hours' hard
fighting, compelled the latter to strike her colours. The prize, with twenty thousand
Spanish dollars on board, was taken into Port Jackson, condemned and sold.
When Governor King left the colony in 1806, the population numbered about nine
thousand ; of land under occupation there were nearly one hundred and sixty-six thou-
sand acres, of which about twelve thousand acres were cultivated, and over a hundred
MACARTHUKS TOMH AT CAMDEN.
IHh ilAW KbM-iL K\ , Ai w laii.viAN S FERRY,
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE NEW SOUTH WALES.
69
ciovEKNOK i'hu.ii' gidlkv king.
and forty-six thousand acres used for grazing ; the number of sheep in the hands of the
settlers had increased to nearly seventeen thousand ; they owned also over three thousand
head of cattle, about five hundred horses, fourteen thousand pigs, and three thousand
goats — these figures include Norfolk Island
and Van Diemen's Land. Among other
evidences of progress, it may be mentioned
that in 1803 a public brewery was established
at Parramatta, which King hoped would prove
useful in "preventing the thirst for spirits."
Factories for the manufacture of wool and
flax were also set at work, and salt was
made in pans at Sydney and Newcastle. The
development of industrial enterprise was at
all times warmly encouraged by King.
Governor Bligh.
William Bligh, a Post-Captain in the Navy,
succeeded Governor King, in August, 1806.
His name is associated with the romantic
event known as the " Mutiny of the Bounty"
and the official records of the settlement of Australia connect it also with one
of the most exciting incidents in colonial history. His character and reputation have
been severely criticised, but he had attained the rank of Post-Captain in the Navy by
active and honourable service, long before he was appointed to succeed King, and
seventeen years after the startling and historical
episode with which the annals of South Pacific
discovery are indissolubly linked. He sailed for
Tahiti in 1787, in command of His Majesty's
ship Bojintv, for the express purpose of trans-
planting the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies.
But he stayed so long in this lovely isle
that, as some say, his crew fell in love with
the dark-eyed beauties whom they found under
the bread-fruit trees and were seized with a
desire to spend their lives among them. Others
assert that the men were driven into rebellion
by their Commander's extreme harshness and
severity of discipline. Be that as it may, when
they put to sea again, the acting-lieutenant of
the Bounty, Fletcher Christian, instigated the
men to mutiny, and succeeded in getting possession of the vessel. Bligh was put
into the ship's launch, with eighteen of his crew who remained faithful to him, and
set adrift on the wide ocean. They had a compass and a quadrant, but neither chart
nor almanac ; and as there was very little chance of sighting a ship in that part of
GOVERNOR WILLIA.M BLIGH.
70 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
the ocean they steered for the Indian Archipelago ; although they might have made for
the new settlement at Port Jackson, which had been founded just a year before, had
they known of its existence. After a voyage of more than three thousand miles, during
which they endured the most terrible sufferings, they landed at the Dutch settlement
of Timor, and ultimately the survivors made their way back to England.
But although Bligh could steer an open boat through almost unknown seas without
a chart, he could not steer the little ship of state which was placed under his command
when he received his commission as Governor of ' New South Wales ; but the fault was
not so much in himself as in the circumstances which formed his environment.
The recent publication of the " Brabourne Papers" reveals the fact that the offer of the
Governorship of New South Wales was made to Captain Bligh by his warm personal
friend. Sir Joseph Banks. The latter was consulted by His Majesty's Ministers, as
indeed he was in every case in which Australian interests were concerned, and asked to
suggest the name of a good man for the post. In his letter to Bligh he says: — "I
was this day asked if I knew a man proper to be sent out in his (King's) stead ' one
who has integrity unimpeached a mind capable of providing its own resources in diffi-
culties without leening on others for advice firm in discipline civil in deportment and
not subject to whimper and whine when severity of discipline is wanted to meet
(emergencies). I immediately answered as this man must be chosen from among the
post-captains I know of no one but Captain Bligh who will suit. ... I can there-
fore if you chuse it place you in the government of the new colony with an income of
;^200o a year and with the whole of the Government power and stores at your disposal."
Bligh was a rough and ready sailor of the old school, without any idea of tact or
conciliation, accustomed to absolute command and utterly impatient of contradiction ; but
he is said to have been of a courteous nature, and of a kindly disposition to his
inferiors. Perhaps, however, the memorable voyage of three thousand miles in the ship's
launch had not sweetened his disposition.
Bligh brought out with him stringent instructions for the suppression of the liquor
trafific, and found himself immediately upon his arrival in New South Wales face to face
with the bitter enmity of those to whom its existence was of vital importance. Regarding
Captain Macarthur as the leading spirit in the public affairs of the colony, he appears
to have openly manifested his dislike for that officer, and to have spoken very plainly
to him on the subject of the large grant of land he had obtained at Camden ; and in
a very short time the quarrel between them became serious.
Here is a picture of the Governor drawn by his enemy, in the course of his
evidence before the court-martial on Major Johnston : — " I went to the Government
House ; this was about a month after he had taken the command. I found him
walking in the garden, perfectly disengaged and alone ; and thinking it a proper
opportunity to speak to him on the subject of my affairs, I inquired if he had been
informed of the wishes of the Government respecting them. 1 particularly alluded to
the sheep, and the probable advantage that might result to the colony and the mother-
country from the production of fine wool. He burst out instantly into a most violent
passion, exclaiming, ' What have I to do with your sheep, sir ? What have I to do
with your cattle ? Are you to have such flocks of sheep and such herds of cattle as
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
7'
no man ever heard of before? No, sir!' I endeavoured to appease him, by stating
that I had understood the Government at Home had particularly recommended me to
his notice. He repHed, 'I have heard of your concerns, sir; you have got five thousand
acres of land in the finest situation in the country ; but, by God, you shan't keep
it!' We immediately after entered the Government House, where we found
Governor and Mrs. King, and sat down to breakfast. He then renewed the conversation
about my sheep, address-
ing himself to Governor
King, when he used such
violent and insulting lan-
guage to him that Go-
vernor King burst into
tears." Of course, con-
sidering how interested
Macarthur was in this
matter, the account may
not be wholly unpreju-
diced ; indeed, we are
justified in regarding it as
considerably over-coloured.
The officers of the
regiment naturally sym-
pathized with Macarthur,
and Bligh found himself
standing alone, when mat-
ters were brought to a
crisis in consequence of
Bligh's expressed deter-
mination to cancel, on
public grounds, certain grants of land which Macarthur and other ofificers had
obtained from Governor King. At this time Macarthur owned a ves.sel named the
Parramatta, from which a convict had made his escape, a fact which rendered
the owner liable to the forfeiture of a bond for nine hundred sterling ; Bligh
seized his opportunity, declared the bond forfeited, arrested Macarthur and put
him in gaol. The officers of his regiment immediately took him out, and knowing
that open war between themselves and the Governor would be the result, they
determined to turn the tables on him at once. Major Johnston, the Commandant,
was accordingly persuaded to place him under arrest, and to take the Government
out of his hands until a new Governor should be sent out. On the 26th of
January, 1808, the soldiers were marched to Government House, with band playing and
colours flying. Bligh was captured in a bedroom while endeavouring to secrete some
important documents which he was desirous of keeping from the hands of his captors.
He was kept in arrest ; Major Johnston assumed the position of Lieutenant-Governor,
which he filled until relieved by Lieutenant-Colonel Foveaux, who returned from
BLIGH S BOAT ABANDONED BY THE " BOUNTY.
72
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
England in July of the same year. In the early part of 1809 Colonel Paterson arrived
from Van Diemen's Land and superseded F"oveaux ; Bligh having been in the meantime
allowed to take command of the Porpoise, in which ship he sailed for Tasmania, where
he remained until the arrival in Sydney of Governor Macquarie.
Anticipating an enquiry, Johnston and Macarthur had already left for England, but
it was not until May, 181 1, that Johnston was tried for the mutiny by court-martial,
assembled at Chelsea Hospital, under the presidency of Lieutenant-General Keppel. An
immense amount of evidence was taken, and a determined attempt made to fasten a
charge of cowardice on Bligh by asserting that he tried to escape arrest by hiding
under a bed. The shame of the attempt
reflected only on the men who made it, Bligh
successfully refuting the accusation.
Here is an extract from the sturdy sailor's
evidence, which could hardly issue from the lips
of a coward: — "Just before I was arrested, on
hearing of the approach of the regiment, I
called for my uniform (which is not a dress
adapted to concealment), and going into the
room where the papers were kept I selected
a few which I thought most important, either
to retain for the protection of my character, or
to prevent from falling into the hands of the
insurgents. Among the latter were copies of
my private and confidential communications to
the Secretary of State on the conduct of
several persons then in the colony. With these
I retired upstairs, and having concealed some
about ni)- person, I proceeded to tear the
remainder. In the attitude of stooping for this
purpose, with my papers aljout on the floor, I
was discovered by the soldiers on the other
side of the bed. As to the situation in which
it is said I was found, I can prove by two
witnesses that it was utterly impossible ; and I
should have done so in the first instance had
I not thought that Colonel Johnston was in-
capable of degrading his defence by the admis-
sion of a slander, which, if true, affords him no
excuse, and if false, is highly disgraceful.
" I know that Mr. Macarthur wrote the
despatch in which this circumstance is mentioned
with vulgar triumph ; but I could not anticipate that Colonel Johnston's address to
the Court would be written in the same spirit ; and that after being the victim of Mr.
Macarthur's intrigues he would allow himself to be made the tool of his revenge.
BLAXLAND AND LAWSON S TREE.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE NEW SOUTH WALES.
11
THE OLD ROAD TO BATHURST,
MOUNT VICTORIA.
" It has been said that this circumstance would
make the heroes of the British Navy blush with
shame and burn witli indignation. I certainly at such
a suggestion burn with indignation, but who ought
to blush with shame I leave others to determine.
" The Court will forgive me if I intrude a moment on
their time to mention the services in which I have been
employed. For twenty-one years I have been a Post-
Captain, and have been engaged in services of danger not
falling within the ordinary duties of my profession. For
four years with Captain Cook in the Resolution, and four
years more as a Commander myself, I traversed unknown
seas, braving difficulties more terrible because less frequently
encountered. In subordinate situations I fought under Admiral Parker at the Dogger
Bank, and Lord Howe at Gibraltar. In the battle of Camperdown, the Director, under
my command, first silenced and then boarded the ship of Admiral de Winter, and after
the battle of Copenhagen, where I commanded the Glatton, I was sent for by Lord
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Nelson, to receive his thanks publicly on the quarter-deck. Was it for me, then,
to sully my reputation and to disgrace the medal 1 wear by shrinking from death,
which I had braveil in every shape ? An honourable mind will look for some
other motive for my retirement, and will find it in my anxiety for those papers,
which during this inquiry have been occasionally produced to the confusion of those
witnesses who thought they no longer existed."
The sentence of the Court, which was delivered on the 2nd of July, reads as
follows : — " The Court having duly and maturely weighed and considered the whole of
the evidence adduced on the prosecution, as well as that which has been offered in
defence, are of opinion that Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston is guilty of the act of mutiny,
as described in the charge, and do therefore sentence him to be cashiered." Macarthur,
having left the Army some time before, was no longer amenable to military discipline,
but the Home Government interdicted his return to the colony for a period of eio^ht
> years. Bligh was made a
Rear-Admiral of the lilue,
and died in 181 7, nine
years after the celebrated
military mutiny at Sydney,
and twenty-six years after
that romantic episode in
the histor)' of the Sea
known as the " Mutiny of
the Bounty" with which his
name is inseparably linked.
Governor Macquarie.
Colonel Lachlan Mac-
(juarie, who succeeded Cap-
tain Bligh, arrived in Port
Jackson on the last day
of the year 1809, bring-
ing with him a detach-
ment of his regiment, the
Seventy- third. He also
brought a despatch from
Lord Castlereagh, an-
nouncing that Major John-
ston was to be sent Home
under arrest on a charge
of mutiny ; that the New
South Wales Corps was to be relieved by the Seventy-third ; and, as an expression of
the opinion entertained by the Home Government of the recent transactions, that Bligh
was to be re-instated as Governor for twenty-four hours by Macquarie, whom he was to
recognize as his successor, and then proceed to England. But as Bligh was not in
GOVERNOR LACHLAN MACQUARIE.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE NEW SOUTH WALES.
75
Sydney when Macqiiarie arrived, he could not be re-instated, so Macquarie began to
administer the Government at once. Three days after his accession to office he issued a
proclamation in which it was notified that all appointments made by Johnston, Foveaux and
Paterson were null and void, and that all trials, grants and investigations held or made
under their authority w^ere
invalid. He set aside every-
thing that had been done by
the mutineers ; sent for Bligh,
who was cruising off the
Tasmanian coast ; received
him with military honours on
his return, and sent him to
England in the following
May. In a despatch to the
Colonial Office, written in that
month, Macquarie said of
Bligh, that " he is a most
unsatisfactory man to transact
business with, from his want
of candour and decision, inso-
much that it is impossible
to place the smallest reliance
on the fulfillment of any
engagement he enters into."
At the same time, he said
he had " not been able to
discover any act of Bligh's
which could in any degree
form an excuse for the violent the argvle cut.
and mutinous proceedings pursued against him."
Macquarie had no sooner begun to administer the Government than he adopted a
line of policy which soon brought him into conflict with all the free settlers in the
colony. He had conceived the idea that the settlement was established for the benefit
of the convict population, and that the first aim of the authorities should be to offer
them every encouragement to reform and rise in the scale of society. The convict who
had served his sentence, or had gained a pardon, was to be treated as if he had never
been a convict at all ; he was to be received into the society of the free on equal
terms, and rewarded with public appointments and other marks of honour. This policy
naturally excited the indignation of the free settlers, whose minds were embittered by the
knowledge that the head of the Government was always on the side of the convicts.
In a despatch written when he had been scarcely four months in the colony, Macquarie
expressed his surprise at "the extraordinary and illiberal policy" which had been adopted
by previous Governors with regard to the Emancipists, adding: — "These persons have
never been countenanced or received into society. I have, however, taken upon myself
;6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
to adopt a new line of conduct." In 1813 he wrote to the Secretary of State that
" free people should consider they are coming to a convict country, and if they are too
proud or too delicate in their feelings to associate with the population of the country,
they should consider it in time and bend their course to some other country." He
added that " free settlers in general, who are sent out from England, are by tar the
most discontented persons in the country-, and that emancipated convicts, or persons
become free by servitude, made in many instances the best description of settlers."
Macquarie's policy in this respect produced such unpleasant complications, that at last the
Home Government was obliged to interfere. They sent out a Special Commissioner to
conduct an inquiry into all matters connected with his Administration, and the result of
the inquir)' led to his recall.
Macquarie was pre-eminently the building Governor. He devoted a great deal of
attention to the construction of roads and public buildings, on which convict labour was
largely employed ; and many of the principal edifices erected in his time still remain —
peculiar though useful monuments of his architectural taste. Many of our most important
public institutions were established in his day, among them being the first Supreme
Court, the Bank of New South Wales, and the Infirmary ; St. James's Church was
erected, the foundations of St. Mary's Cathedral were laid, and the first wharf, called
the King's Wharf, was constructed at the Circular Quay.
Mrs. Macquarie contributed her share towards the adornment of Sydney, and her
name has been perpetuated in connection with the beautiful reserve on which " Mrs.
Macquarie's Chair" was cut in one of the rocks overlooking the Harbour, the winding
carriage-road round the inside of the Domain which leads to this spot having been
planned by her. She also planted Norfolk Island pines in the Botanical Gardens.
But the great achievement of Macquarie's day was the discovery of a passage over
the Blue Mountains. Governor Phillip, Captain Tench, Lieutenant Dawes and others
had made repeated efforts to enlarge the area of settlement by crossing this formidable
barrier, but all without success. Bass, surgeon of the Reliance, whose name is connected
with some of the most daring exploits yet recorded in the annals of discovery, tried to
force his way through the tangled scrub and rocky defiles, and after incredible labour
succeeded in reaching the summit of a high spur, from which, however, he could see
nothing beyond but a succession of still higher ranges, and he also retired from the
struggle. Until 1813, these m.ountains had been regarded as impassable, all previous
attempts to penetrate them having failed.
The infant colony was thus deprived of all natural means of expansion, and the
belief had almost become general that its resources were confined within the narrow
limits of the county of Cumberland. But on the nth of May in the year 1813, when the
land was suffering from a prolonged drought, and the stock was dying for want of
fodder, an expedition formed by Gregory Blaxland, Lieutenant Lawson and William
Charles Wentworth, with four servants, four horses and fiAe dogs, started from
South Creek, near Penrith, with six weeks' provisions, for the purpose of exploring the
countr)% They crossed the Nepean River at Emu Plains, and were soon on the ascent ;
they were, however, forced to clear a track through the thick scrub, to clamber up and
down the rocky gorges, and to find their way across the gloomy chasms and the
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
77
densely-timbered gullies which make up the now famous scenery of the mountains.
They had to cut grass wherever they could find it, and to carry it with them to feed
their horses. On the 31st of May, when they had travelled fifty miles, finding them-
selves in fine grass-land, they conceived that they
had " sufificiently accomplished the design of their
undertaking, and on the following day they bent
their steps homewards." A tree was marked on
the old Bathurst Road, at the heights of the
mountains overlooking the Kanimbula Valley, and
it still stands as a monument of a gallant enterprise.
In the following November, Macquarie dis-
patched George W. Evans, Deputy-Surveyor-General,
with five men, to define the track which Wentworth
and his companions had cut. He followed it to
FORT MACQUARIE, SYDNEY COVE.
the end, and continued his exploration for twenty-one days, passing beyond the
ranges and on to the edge of the western plains. The country he discovered
was described by him as " equal to every demand which this colony may have for
extension of tillage and pasture lands for a century to come." Convicts were soon set
to work at making a road across the mountains, which was completed and opened in
April, 181 5. A site for a town, now known as Bathurst, was selected by Macquarie,
who paid a visit of inspection to the new territory. The settlers were not long in
availing themselves of the fresh pastures for their sheep and cattle ; fiocks and herds
were sent to occup\- the grassy lands watered by the western rivers, and the colony
entered on a new and still more prosperous era.
Notwithstanding his errors of policy, Macquarie's Administration is entitled to take
high rank in our history. It was distinguished by his energetic endeavours to promote
-8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
the prosperity of the settlement, and the social as well as the material well-being of the
people under his control. In all his efforts to attain these ends he was most ably
seconded by his wife, who was generally distinguished by the title of "Lady" Macquarie,
to which prefix, however, she had no claim other than that arising from a deeply-felt
sense of public gratitude. Macquarie was recalled in the latter part of 1821, but remained
in the colony for some months after vacating office in favour of his successor.
Governor Brisbane.
Sir Thomas Brisbane landed in Sydney in November, 1821, and on the ist of
December following, the King's Commission appointing him Captain-General and Governor-
in-Chief was read at an official gathering in Hyde Park. The retiring Governor,
Macquarie, was present on the occasion, and read his farewell address to tlie inhabitants.
In this valedictory speech he contrasted the state of the colony on his arrival with its
flourishing condition at the time of his departure. His successor was a man of very
different, and in some respects very much higher qualifications. At the time of his
appointment he was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and being devoted to
astronomv, he brought with him two assistants, and a collection of scientific books and
instruments, and soon after his arrival he built an observatory at Parramatta, where he
usually resided. The results of the observations conducted under his supervision during
his term of office were published in 1835, and are still of great value.
However, astronomy did not absorb the Governor's attention. Like most of his
predecessors, he showed much interest in the work of exploration, and his efforts in that
direction were attended with great success. In 1823 Surveyor-General Oxley was dis-
patched to survey Port Curtis and Moreton Bay. The expedition resulted in the
discovery of a river, which Oxley named the Brisbane, and in the formation on its banks
of a convict settlement — which has since become known to the world as the capital of
Queensland— also named after the Governor. In the following year Brisbane dispatched
another expedition, this time to the south, under the command of Hamilton Hume,
accompanied by a sailor named Hovell. The object in view was to ascertain whether
any large rivers poured their waters into the sea on the eastern coast. Brisbane suggested
that the exploring party should be landed at Western Port, and left to make their way
overland to Sydney. Hume preferred taking his party from Lake George to Western
Port, and back. The plan was agreed to, and the work was successfully accomplished in
sixteen weeks, the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers being discovered on the way.
Brisbane showed his sympathy with freedom of opinion by abolishing the rigid
censorship of the Press, which had been maintained up to this time. On the 15th of
October, 1824, the editor of the Sydttey Gazette which, till then, had been merely a
medium for the publication of Government notices, was officially informed that the censor-
ship would cease. Trial by jury, that is by non-military jurors, was introduced at the
same time, mainly through the exertions of Chief Justice Forbes. The first civil jury
empanelled in the colony sat in the Court of Quarter Sessions, on the 2nd of Novem-
ber, 1824. The dawn of free institutions may be traced in an Act of the British
Parliament passed in 1823, which virtually created a new Constitution for the colony.
It greatly modified the old system, under which the Governor was an arbitrary ruler
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
79
with no other check than that of the Colonial Office. A Legislative Council was created
consisting of seven members, comprising the principal officials. Purely nominee as it was,
this Council contained the germs of constitutional government in the colony.
One of the most notable events of this period was the appearance in public life of
William Charles Wentworth, the first native of the colony who distinguished himself as
OLD GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
PARRAMATTA.
an orator and a statesman.
He had been educated at
Oxford, and called to the
Bar in London. On his return to the colony in 1824, he was admitted to the Bar, and
soon after became tlie champion of the popular party in the bitter struggles which, at
that time and for many years afterwards, were carried on between the " Emancipists "
and the " Exclusives." The first public question in which he was engaged was that of
trial by jury. When civil juries were first empanelled in the Courts of Quarter
Sessions, the Emancipists were held to be disqualified from serving as jurors ; an
exclusion which naturally aroused their indignation. Wentworth led the agitation, not
only in public meetings but in the columns of the Atistralian (a newspaper founded in
1824), in favour of the admission of Emancipists to the ranks of jurors. This agitation
was soon followed by another, for the purpose of extending the right of trial by jury
to the Supreme Court ; that is to say, trial by jurors drawn from the ranks of
Emancipists -as well as of free settlers, instead of the merely military juries then in
existence. It was not till 1833 that these principles were fully established.
A still more important question in which Wentworth was destined to find his
greatest distinction occupied the minds of the colonists at this time. The colony had
outgrown the system of arbitrary government under the rule of a Governor, and the
popular party demanded those constitutional rights in the administration of their own
affairs which, they said, were the birthright of Englishmen. They held frequent public
So
.-i USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
GOVERNOR BRISBANE.
meetings on this subject, at which Wentworth was the principal and most enthusiastic
speaker. Memorials were sent to the British Parliament in which the claims of the
colonists to be represented in their own Legislature were forcibly urged. Taxation by
representation being a fundamental doctrine of the Constitution, they dwelt upon the
injustice to which they were subjected, in being taxed
by a legislative body in which they had no voice.
Their cause was advocated in the House of Commons
by Sir James Macintosh, Charles Duller, and other cele-
brated Members of Parliament.
Another distinguished man also entered upon his
public career during Brisbane's Administration. John
Dunmore Lang, a young Presbyterian minister, who
having been ordained in 1822 came to the colony in
the following year. I-^or many years his energies were
mainly devoted to the furtherance of religious and
educational interests ; but his active and comprehensive
mind naturally led him to take a prominent part in
the various public questions of the day. As a
speaker at public meetings, and as a writer in the Press, he was not less
enthusiastic than Wentworth in his advocacy of popular rights. He published many
volumes on various subjects connected with the colony, in particular a " Historical and
Statistical Account of New South Wales" printed in 1834, which, after going through
several editions, still remains a standard work of reference.
Sir Thomas Brisbane was the colony's sixth Governor, and his Administration lasted
four years, at the end of which period Sir Ralph Darling was appointed to succeed him.
Sir Thomas left Sydney for England in December, 1825, and the Government, pending
Darling's arrival, was administered for about a fortnight
by Colonel Stewart of the Third Regiment or " Buffs."
Governor Darling.
It was unfortunate for himself, as well as for the
colony, that General Darling's ideas of government, like
those of his immediate predecessors, were strongly
coloured by his military associations. If Phillip and the
naval men who succeeded him. Hunter, King and Bligh,
ruled the colony as they had been accustomed to rule a
ship from the quarter-deck, the military men who followed
them, from Macquarie onwards, were not less distinguished
by their love of absolute command. Darling was a strict
disciplinarian in every sense of the word ; and not
being disposed to encourage the growth of an inde-
pendent or popular party in the little community of which he was the head, he soon
became involved in fiery squabbles with its leaders. From his stand-point, no doubt,
they were no better than rebels or mutineers ; while in their eyes he was simply a tyrant.
governor darling.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE NEW SOUTH WALES.
8i
The chiefs of the
popular party made
fierce and violent
attacks upon the new
Governor in their
newspapers (of which
t h e >' had f o u r ) ;
while, in return.
Darling prosecuted
the editors and pub-
lishers for seditious
libel ; and, not con-
tent with the heavy
penalties imposed
upon them, he passed
a Bill through his
Legislative Council,
making a second
conviction for libel
punishable with ban-
ishment from New
South Wales. This
provision was aimed
at Wentworth and
his friends, but the
Home Government
thought it a little
too severe, and Dar-
ling was obliged to
repeal it. His no-
tions as to the
liberty of the Press
may be judged from
the fact that the
publisher of the
Australian news-
paper was fined one
hundred pounds and
imprisoned for six
months for saying
that, in a certain
case which then ex-
cited great public interest, the Governor had substituted his will for the law. Yet not-
withstanding the bitter feud between Sir Ralph Darling and the Kmancipist party, their
BUSHRANGERS CAVE, MOUNT VICTORIA.
82 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
efforts to secure admission to the jury' lists met with some success during his Adminis-
tration. Convicts who had served their term of transportation were declared eligible as
jurors, but on a second conviction in the colony they were to be disqualified. A further
advance towards constitutional government was made in the new Constitution Act, passed
by the Imperial Parliament in 1828, by which the Legislative Council was enlarged to
fifteen members. The Bushranging Act, one of the most remarkable measures known in
the colony, was passed by this Council, in 1830, at a single sitting. That species of
highway robbery known as " bushranging," which had become prevalent many years
before, had reached such a height at this time as to cause a general feeling of alarm.
Sometimes the escaped convicts who took to the bush formed large gangs, and attacked
the police as well as the settlers. On one occasion a pitched battle was fought at
Campbell's River, in the Bathurst District, between a party of bushrangers, over fifty in
number, and a large gathering of settlers ; but neither side was victorious. The police
were next attacked, and some of them killed. Re-inforcements were then sent from Goul-
burn, and having come upon the bushrangers at the Lachlan River, another engagement
took place, but without much result. The whole gang, however, soon after surrendered
to a detachment of the Thirty-ninth Regiment sent from Sydney, and ten of them were
hanged at Bathurst. To suppress such outrages as these, the Act provided that all
suspected persons might be apprehended without a warrant ; that any one carrying arms
might be arrested, and any one suspected of having them might be searched ; that
general warrants to search houses might be granted, armed with which the police should
be empowered to break and enter any house by daj- or by night, seize fire-arms found
therein, and arrest the inmates. Robbers and house-breakers were to suffer death on the
third day after conviction. The effect of this Act in suppressing crime and restoring
order was described as magical. But the alarm caused by the bushrangers must have
been great indeed to justify such an extension of the powers entrusted to the police.
Considerable progress in the noble work of discovery was made during Darling's
Administration. Allan Cunningham, a celebrated botanist, was dispatched in 1827 on an
inland expedition to the north. Starting from the head of the Hunter River, he traversed
the affluents of the Namoi and the Gwydir, and discovered the Darling Downs. Two
years later he set out on a second expedition from Moreton Bay, whither he had
gone by sea; explored the sources of the Brisbane River, took up the tracks of his
former journey, and gave the name of Cunningham's Gap to an opening by which the
Darling Downs could be reached through the Liverpool Ranges. Cunningham will ever
be gratefully remembered by the people of Sydney as one of the many learned and
tasteful men who have from time to time watched over the arrangement and cultiva-
tion of the beautiful reserve known as the Botanical Gardens. Indeed one of the loveliest
vistas in this singularly lovely domain is to be obtained from the margin of the small
lagoon from the centre of which, embowered in the drooping fronds of some species of
palm, rises the obelisk which commemorates the name and fame of the intrepid scientist.
Another distinguished explorer was commissioned by Darling, in 1828, to make
researches in the interior. This was Captain Charles Sturt, of the Thirty-ninth Regiment,
Hamilton Hume being associated with him. They struck out towards the region which
had bafifled Oxley, discovered the Darling River, thence turned north, and after some
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
83
months of labour found that the Macquarie and Castlereagh Rivers, with the Namoi
and the Gvvydir, were tributaries of that artery of the west which he named the Darhng.
Sturt was sent out on another expedition in the following year — this time to the
south. He was accompanied by George, the son of Alexander Macleay, who had arrived
in the colony as Colonial Secretary
soon after Darling. Sturt made for
the Murrumbidgee River, which he
descended in a small boat, passed
its junction with the Hume, which .
he named the Murray — not know-
ing that it had been named the
Hume by its discoverer — and then
traced the united waters of the
Murrumbidgee, Murray and Dar-
ling till they fell into Lake
Alexandrina, and eventually into
the sea in Encounter Bay.
The designs of the French
to form settlements in Australia
and \ an Diemen's Land were so
strongly suspected by the British
Government, that repeated instruc-
tions were sent out • to the
Governors of New South Wales
to keep watch and ward along
their shores. The alarm was kept
up for many years i^y the ap-
pearance of French ships off the
coast, nominally equipped for pur-
poses of discovery or scientific research ; but in reality, as it was then believed, to
take possession of any unoccupied territory they could find. In Darling's time, for
instance, a French corvette, the Astrolabe, sailed into Port Jackson, and her Commander,
in reply to enquiries made by His Excellency, informed him that the expedition was
a purely scientific one. But Darling, in his despatches to the Home Government,
wrote that it was perhaps fortunate that three men-o'-war were then anchored in the
Harbour, and that another had just sailed for Western Port ; facts which, he said,
might make the Frenchman a little " more circumspect in his proceedings than he other-
wise would have beer."
To prevent the French from occupying the territory. Darling sent out two expedi-
tions in 1826 — one to Western Port, and the other to King George's Sound. In the
event of the officers in charge finding the French already in occupation at either of
those places, they were thus instructed : — " You will, notwithstanding, land the troops,
and signify to tho Frenchmen that their continuance with any view to establishing
themselves, or colonization, would be considered an unjustifiable intrusion on His
UOVERNOR BOURKE S STATUE.
84
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Britannic Majesty's possessions." The settlements were formed accordingly ; but the
reports made by the officers in charge were so unfavourable that, in 1828, Western
Port was abandoned. A site for the intended settlement at King George's Sound was
fixed at a place called Albany, but it made no progress so far as colonizing was
concerned. It was, however, maintained as a military post until 1830, when it was
transferred from the Government of New South Wales to that of Western Australia.
A third settlement was formed at Swan River for the same purpose as the others.
Captain Stirling was sent to survey it in 1827, and was subsequently appointed Governor
of the settlement, established there two years afterwards by certain speculators with the
approval of the British Government. The scheme, unfortunately, proved a total failure,
the land policy upon which it was based being unsuitable.
Governor Darling left Sydney on the 22nd of October, 1831, and from that date
until the 2nd of December of the same year the duties of Acting-Governor were
administered by Colonel Lindsay of the Thirty-ninth Regiment. Although Darling had
been much troubled with political agitators on the one hand, and bushrangers on the
other, he was still able to glve^ a good account of his five years' Administration, the
colony having made substantial progress during the period. When he left the colony the
population had increased to over fifty-one thousand, and the export of wool had reached a
million and a half pounds in weight, the total exports amounting to half-a-million sterling.
Governor Bourke.
Major-General Sir Richard Bourke, K.C.B., arrived in Sydney on the 2nd of
December, 1831, and the clouds of unpopularity which closed round Darling's Adminis-
tration served only to make his fortunate successor popular almost before he landed.
Bourke was received with every demonstration of welcome, and an address presented
to him by the free inhabitants stated that " after
nearly six years of public endurance, arising partly from
the visitations of Providence, but more from an inveterate
system of misgovernment," they hailed His Excellency's
arrival " as the dawn of a happier era." So indeed it
proved ; for the six years during which Bourke adminis-
tered the affairs of the colony were not only free from
class warfare, but were distinguished by the rapid growth
of industr)- and commerce, and the steady development
of national life under new forms. In fact, the history of
the colony as a free State, so to speak, may be said to
date from Bourke's time. It was then that the hopes
and aspirations of the popular party for the constitutional
rights of free men first began to be truly realized,
although in a ver)' modified form. Trial by jury in the Superior Courts — that is, by
civilian instead of by military jurors — was granted in an optional form in 1833; and
although representative government was still withheld by the Home authorities, the
administration of public affairs was conducted by Bourke on constitutional principles,
nth very little resort to the arbitrary power which had made his predecessor's rule
GOVERNOR SIR RICHARD BOURKE.
I
k
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES
85
distasteful to the whole community. Bourkc did not allow his military training or
career to petrify his ideas of government. Being essentially liberal and high-minded, with
too much tact to make personal enemies, or to suffer himself to be embroiled in petty
squabbles, although at the same
time not wanting in firmness, he
generally succeeded in having his
own way. As soon as practicable
after his arrival he paid a series of
visits of inspection to the different
out-lying settlements, for the purpose
of acquainting himself personally
with their present condition and
future prospects, and thereby ob-
tained an extent of popularity which
none of his predecessors had enjoyed.
Some proof of his sense of justice
and moderation of temper will be
found in the fact that no Govern-
ment prosecutions for libel took
place during his term of office.
Many valuable reforms were carried
out by him both in Government
and in Administration ; the convict
system was amended by providing
for a more equitable distribution of
assigned servants among the settlers,
and at the same time regulating
the amount of punishment by the
lash to which convicts were subjected
at the will of their masters ; the
system of Government aid to the
churches of different denominations
was improved by establishing reli-
gious equality among the sects — a
policy by which it was hoped, in
the language of Bourke, that " the
people of those persuasions will be united together in one bond of peace, and taught
to look up to the Government as their common protector and friend;" the immigration
of free settlers was promoted by the joint action of the Home and Colonial Governments;
arid he endeavoured, though vainly, to establish a system of national education.
The estimates laid before the Legislative Council shortly after Bourke's arrival, con-
tained the first vote in aid of immigration — the Home Government having expressed its
intention to contribute double the amount voted by the colony. The first immigrant ship
had entered the Harbour, only a few months before, bringing fifty young women from an
WEXTWORTH S STATUE IN THE SYDNEY UNIVERSITY.
86 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
orphan school in Cork. The second ship had on board fifty-nine mechanics (principally
stone-masons and carpenters), who came out under arrangements with the Rev. Dr. Lang,
for the purpose of building the Australian College which had been projected by him.
The progress of exploration during this period is distinguished by the expeditions
conducted by Major (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mitchell, the Surveyor-General who had
succeeded Oxley. The first was directed to the north, to the Liverpool Plains ; the
second to e.xplore the countr)' between the Bogan and the Macquarie ; the third had for
its object a survey of the Darling ; and the fourth was to the west and south-west, and
resulted in the discovery of Australia Felix. Settlement on the eastern shores of New
South Wales kept pace with the development of the interior. Timber-getters in search
of cedar established themselves on the banks of the Clarence, and subsequently occu-
pied the Bellinger, Tweed and Richmond Rivers.
In 1836 Sir Richard Bourke prevailed upon the Home Government to waive its
objections to the proclamation of a new settlement at Port Phillip, and he sent Captain
Lonsdale, of the Fourth Regiment, in H.M.S. Rattlesnake commanded by Captain
Hobson, to take charge of it. In March of the following year, Bourke himself visited
the new settlement, gave the name of Melbourne to the township, and laid out several of
the streets. In his despatch to the Secretary of State, he said : — " I found on my arrival,
on the spot selected for a settlement by Mr. Batman on the banks of the Yarra River,
at the head of the inland sea called Port Phillip, an assembled population consisting of
from sixt)- to seventy families. The situation appearing to be well chosen, I directed a
town to be immediately laid out, which your lordship will perceive by the map has
received the name of Melbourne."
Among the numerous progressive public measures passed during Bourke's tenure of
office was a Bill admitting the Emancipists to serve on civil and criminal juries, and
the abolition of free grants of land. The sites of the present Government House and
the gaol at Darlinghurst were chosen by Committees
appointed for the purpose, and the erection of these
buildings recommended. The proposal to form a semi-
circular wharf from shore to shore at the head of the
inlet, named by Phillip Sydney Cove, was also approved.
That the popularity which Bourke obtained on his
arrival was not lessened by his public career in the
colony, is- amply proved by the bronze statue which stands
at the entrance to the Domain. It still forms one of
the most conspicuous monuments in Sydney, and was
erected in his honour by the private subscription of the
people. He resigned his post and returned to England
GOVERNOR .SIR GEORGE GIPPS. '" December, 1837, and the Government of the colony
passed temporarily into the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel
Kenneth Snodgrass, C.B., pending the arrival of Bourke's successor.
In the year 1838 the French again appeared off the coasts, two ships — the Astrolabe
and Zelie — turning up at Raffles Bay, soon after an English expedition, under Sir Gordon
Bremer, had fixed upon the site of a settlement at Port Essington. In his narrative of
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
87
the event, Captain Stokes says that " the officers of the two nations seemed to vie with
each other in courtesy, but the question whether Foreign Powers were entitled to take
possession of points on the coast of Australia was much debated at the time, and it
was popularly believed that the French had entertained some intentions of forestalling
our settlement." Shortly after this event they nearly succeeded through the intrigues
of Baron de Thierry in taking possession of New Zealand.
Governor Gipps.
The history of the colony during the Administration of Sir George Gipps, a Captain
in the Royal Engineers, who arrived in F"ebruary, 1838, assumes proportions altogether
unknown to it under
the rule of his prede-
cessors. It is no longer
occupied with the melan-
choly records of the
convict class, or the
bitter feuds between the
Emancipists and the
Exclusives. The state
of society had changed ;
free immigration had
begun to flow in ; capi-
tal was introduced b\- ini. u.^u. llL",.l, i.v\ l:. :,:_;_> ; U'L-:..
settlers from abroad antl
invested in sheep and cattle stations ; the system of assigned' servants ceased in 1838,
and transportation itself, which had been yearly growing more unpopular, was abolished by
an Order in Council two years later, although it was not finally extinguished until 1851.
The most remarkable event of this period was the establishment of a new Consti-
tution, under an Act passed by the Imperial Parliament in 1842. Representative insti
tutions were at length conceded to the colony, although responsible government was
still withheld. The new Legislative Council was composed of thirty-six members, of
whom twenty-four were elected and twelve appointed by the Crown. The Port Phillip
District returned five members, of whom Melbourne had one. Property qualifications were
required in the case of electors as well as elected, and the political rights for which
the Emancipists had struggled so long were at last conferred upon them. The first
writs for the ejection of members were issued in 1843; and the new Council met on
the 1st of August in that year. Among its most prominent members were Wentworth
and Dr. Bland, who sat for Sydney ; Dr. Lang, who represented a constituency in Port
Phillip ; Richard Windeyer and William Foster, both members of the Bar ; Charles
Cowper, Terence Aubrey Murray, Major D'Arcy Wentworth, the statesman's brother ;
Roger Therry, then Attorney-General ; and Alexander Macleay, the former Colonial
Secretary, who was elected Speaker. Among the members appointed by the Crown were
E. Deas-Thompson, the Colonial Secretary; John Hubert Plunkett, after\vards Attorney-
General ; and Robert Lowe, afterwards known as Lord Sherbrooke, a successful barrister
88 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
who took his seat in November of the same year. It is a very singular fact that a
legislative body composed of so many able men should have been called into existence
in a colony where, but a few years before, public questions were almost wholly confined
to matters in dispute between the free settlers and the Emancipists.
Among the first questions with which the new Council was called upon to deal, the
most important related to the extreme distress which existed more or less among all
classes. From 1840 to 1846, the colony was plunged in a state of depression which
brought the shadow of ruin to every man's door. This was to some extent the result
of a re-action from the inflated state of prosperity which had existed a few years before,
when prices of land and stock rose to a fictitious value, and speculation in land
absorbed all the floating capital in the country. Among the immediate causes of depres-
sion were the cessation of Imperial expenditure on transportation, and the withdrawal of
Government deposits from the banks ; the consequent pressure brought to bear by those
institutions on their customers ; the substitution of free labour for that of the assigned
servants, necessitating cash payment of wages ; the locking up of capital in large
purchases of land, which up to that time had been sold at five and subsequently twelve
shillings an acre ; and indulgence in excessive speculation, by which the ordinary indus-
tries of the country were deprived of capital. The result was that every branch of trade
and industry fell into a state of utter collapse ; property became unsaleable ; sheep
(ordinary ewes) that had been purchased shortly before at two guineas each, were
hardly disposable at five or six shillings ; money had almost disappeared from circulation ;
and finally, as if to intensify the crisis, the Bank of Australia closed its doors with
liabilities amounting to a quarter of a million.
One of the first remedies for this state of things proposed in the Council was a
"Monetary Confidence" Bill, passed in the session of 1844 on the motion of Mr.
Richard Windeyer. The Bill proposed to " avert ruin " by pledging the public credit,
but Gipps withheld the Royal Assent, and the project was therefore never carried out.
During the debate an amendment was moved by Mr. Charles Cowper, in which, after
declaring that " the miseries of the time were increasing with frightful rapidity, and
were likely to involve in ruin the whole community," it was suggested that the Govern-
ment should relieve the strain by issuing exchequer bills. That proposal, however, was
rejected. Another desperate remedy, in the shape of a Lottery Bill, was submitted with
more success by Mr. Wentworth, who had now become the most conspicuous figure in
the country. The failure of the Bank of Australia, established on the principle of
unlimited liability, had not only rendered it necessary for the bank to realise its assets
— comprising a great deal of landed property — but the share-holders had become involved
in its fall. It was contended that if they were subjected to levy and distress, the
immediate result would be "a panic which would annihilate the value of property." The
Bill empowered the proprietors of the bank to dispose of its assets by lottery ; its
author justifying the scheme on the ground that a lottery was " the only adequate
remedy for a great public danger, which threatens nothing less than the disorganization
of society by the confiscation of tliat property for whose protection it mainly exists."
The Bill passed, three members only opposing it ; but it was disallowed by the Home
Government. However, the pressure was so intense that the terrors of the law were
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
89
felt to be insignificant and scarcely worthy consideration when compared with the more
tangible terrors of unlimited liability. The lottery tickets were therefore disposed of, and
the scheme successfully completed before the law could be set in motion against it.
The practical genius of Wentworth did not exhaust itself in the framing of a
Lottery Bill. Among other measures he introduced and carried a Bill to legalise liens
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, SYDNEY.
on wool and mortgages of stock, which
ultimately became law — although dis-
allowed in the first instance by the
Home Government as, to quote Lord Stanley's despatch, " irreconcilably opposed to
the principles of legislation immemorially recognized in this country respecting the
alienation or pledging of things movable." It was not only the means of affording
relief to the settlers at that time, but it has since proved to be one of the most
practically useful measures known to colonial law. The idea was taken from the practice
of the sugar-planters in the West Indies, among whom it had long been customary to
mortgage not only their sugar crops, but the negroes who cultivated them.
A more practical remedy than legislation, however, was needed to revive the flagging
industries of the colony, particularly on the sheep and cattle stations. A settler at
Yass, named Henry O'Brien, hit upon a happy idea which did more to restore prosperity
than anything that mere legislation could effect. As Wentworth had taken a hint from
the West Indies, so O'Brien availed himself of a knowledge of the practice in Russia,
where surplus stock was boiled down for fat, and the trade in tallow was large and
profitable. Boiling-down began at Yass in January, 1843, and the results showed that
at least six shillings a head might be obtained for ordinary sheep. The effect was
magical. Sheep and cattle at once rose in value ; boiling-down became universal
90 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
throughout the pastoral districts, and the unfortunate stock-owners were saved at the
last moment from absolute ruin. A new trade was thus established with Europe, and
the export of tallow, hides and skins, which originated in the collapse of local business
operations, began to take rank among the permanent sources of colonial wealth. Following
immediately on the introduction of the boiling-down industry came also that of meat-
preserving, which was begun on a small scale by Mr. Sizar Elliott, and has since
developed into an important and lucrative business.
Politics at this time gave rise to a bitter struggle. Certain Crown Lands Regulations
which Sir George Gipps had framed and issued in 1844, provoked determined opposition
on the part of the squatters, whose views were advocated by W'entworth and Lowe.
Their opposition did not confine itself to the Council, but was carried on in the Press
with a degree of aiiiniiis which must have told severely on the Governor. His proposal
to tax the holders of Crown lands was denounced as tyranny, the argument being — as
stated by Wentworth — that " the right claimed by the Government of imposing arbitrary
and unlimited imposts for the occupation of Crown lands affected the vital interests of
the whole community, and rendered the right of imposing taxes by the representatives
of the people almost nugatory." To that argument Gipps replied that " to take a pay-
ment for the use of Crown lands is not to impose a tax." The constitutional question
thus raised by Wentworth attracted universal attention, and the Governor found himself
engaged in a struggle with the whole community. . His license fees for the occupation
of Crown lands were compared with the ship-money which King Charles attempted to
levy and which Hampden resisted ; and the contest itself was termed a question between
prerogative and the liberty of the people. The ultimate result was that the Council
refused to renew the Land Act framed by Gipps, which had been passed for one )ear
only, and the Governor's land policy was at an end. Sir George Gipps closed his career
in New South Wales in July, 1846, and died in England the following February. The
present Government House was built during his Administration, and was first occupied
in May, 1843. Sir Maurice O'Connell, Commander of the military forces, administered
the Government of the colony for a few weeks after Sir George Gipps had sailed.
-Sir Charles Augu.stus Fitzrov.
Sir Charles Fitzroy arrived in Sydney at a time when the colony had entered on
an era of prosperity hitherto unknown in its histor\-. He was the first of our Governors
who had enjoyed the advantage of previous experience in a like capacit\-, having held
office in Prince Edward's Island, and also in Antigua. That experience, no doubt, largely
contributed to the success of his Administration ; and his tact, good temper, and
moderation, combined with his knowledge of constitutional government, enabled him to
avoid collision with, contending parties. In the first speech he addressed to the Legisla-
tive Council on its meeting in .September, 1846, a month after his arrival, he
congratulated its members on the general prosperity- of the country — a prgsperity the
more remarkable, inasmuch as the colony was " onl\- just emerging from those difficulties
which were experienced under that monetary depression which afTected all classes of the
community." Among the many striking evidences of the new life which had been infused
into the colony at this time, mainly as a result of free immigration and the rapid
THE VALLEY UK THE CiKU.SE.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 91
extension of settlement in the interior, the most conspicuous were the movements set on foot
for the construction of railways and the establishment of steam communication with England.
The gradual increase in the tide of immigration had greatly contributed to promote
the prosperity of the people, and check existing abuses. It did not begin to How in
any sensible volume until the attention of the British
public had been drawn to the colony by the ofificial
report prepared by Mr. Bigge, the Special Commissioner
sent out to report on Governor Macquarie's Administra-
tion. The publication of Edward Gibbon Wakefield's
celebrated " Letter from Sydney," in 1829, materially
aided in directing the attention of statesman interested
in the work of colonization to the true principles on
which immigration should be carried out. The progress
of settlement in the colony took the Home and Colonial
Governments completely by surprise. Flocks and herds
were driven further and further inland as each new
discovery made the resources of the interior known ; but governor sir charles fitzroy.
stock-owners and settlers were met with the ever-increasintr
difficulty of finding a sufficient supph' of labour. Convict labour was nominally cheap, but
really dear at any price ; and the growing repugnance felt towards it as an element of
home life, created a corresponding demand for the free immigrant. A system of free immi-
gration therefore became one of the great social questions of the time. Free grants of land
had been offered by the British Government in the early da)s ; but very few immigrants
were attracted in this way. Then came the bounty system, under which so much a
head was paid for every immigrant ; but that fell into disrepute, owing principally to
the starvation allowance and bad accommodation on board the passenger ships. Then it
gradually became recognized as a principle of State policy, mainly owing to Wakefield's
teaching, that the revenue arising from the land should be appropriated to the purpose of
promoting immigration. Under that system money was remitted by the Colonial Govern-
ment every year to be expended by a Board of Emigration Commissioners appointed in
London, who selected and despatched the best emigrants they could get. But .■\mencan
competition was keenly felt in the labour market, and the Government had to tempt
people to emigrate to Australia by paying half the passage money and offering small
loans to mechanics, who could be induced to leave England on no other terms.
The demand for laljour became so great that in 1836 a Committee of the Council
reported in favour of a project to import coolies from India. But the coolie proposals
did not meet the necessity of the case, which in 1838 became still more serious, owing
to the cessation of the assignment system in that year. Select Committees of the Council
met year after year to consider the subject and devise remedies for the growing malady
of the State. When the land sales were large, both money and immigrants became
plentiful ; but when the sales declined, as they did in times of depression, there was
no money and no immigration. The Coiuicil then recommended that a loan should be
negotiated in England. Sir George Gipps preferred economy to borrowing, and spoke
his mind out freely to the Council. The colony was thus compelled to struggle with
92 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
its difficulties as best it could, the head of the State insisting on rigid economy as the
only sound policy, and resolutely scouting the idea of a loan ; although the distress
arising from want of labour was described as ." almost incredible." The state of affairs
in the colony for the long period of stagnation from 1841 to 1846 may be seen in the
fact that during its continuance immigration was almost entirely stopped. In 1847 it
began to revive, and in 1851 the wonderful gold-discovery took place, which was followed
by a mighty rush of population from every quarter of the globe. And thus the great
immigration question, which for so many years had defied the efforts of legislators and
statesmen, was practically settled by a gold-digger.
Among the many remarkable events which contributed to render the Administration
of Sir Charles Fitzroy conspicuous was the establishment of the Sydney University.
Although the project had been brought before the Council by Wentworth in 1849, '^
was not until October, 1853, that the institution itself was formally inaugurated. The
Committee expressed itself strongly in favour of the proposal, but at the same time
insisted on the necessity of making it " a truly national institution — one to which all
classes and denominations might resort for secular education." The report was adopted
by the Council, and an Act to incorporate the University was shortly afterwards passed.
The services rendered by Wentworth, on this and other occasions, were appropriately
recognized by his fellow-countrymen when his statue was erected within the walls of the
noble institution he had founded.
A measure of still greater importance, in the shape of a new Constitution based on
the principles of representative government, occupied the attention of this distinguished
statesman during the same period. Engaged as he had been for so many years in the
long and painful struggle for self-government, it naturally fell to his lot to complete the
structure he had so earnestly endeavoured to erect. The Home authorities had no
doubt acted with greater wisdom than colonial patriots were then prepared to admit,
when they determined to extend the principle of repre-
sentation slowly and gradually, instead of granting it in
full measure at a time when the colony was not ripe
for it. The gradual extension of the self-governing
power from time to time undoubtedly did much to pre-
pare the colonists for the healthier and more active
political life which the establishment of responsible
government brought with it.
The conduct of public affairs by the Council, in
which Wentworth was the principal figure, had been so
distinguished for statesman-like ability that the capacity
,-„..::.,p^„^r,,- qJ- jj^g colonists for self-government could no longer be
SIR WILLIAM DENISON. denied. But a still more potent influence had been at work.
The great gold-discoveries, which took place in 1849, ^^^^,
in Wentworth's phrase, precipitated the colony into a nation, and the demand for free
institutions came upon the Home Government with a degree of force it was impossible
to resist. When, therefore, the popular advocate of self-government obtained a Committee
in 1852 to prepare a new Constitution for the colony, in pursuance of the powers
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
93
FORT UE.MSOX
conferred on the Council by the Imperial Parliament, it was felt that the time had at
last arrived when the life-long struggle of the patriot would be crowned with success.
The second reading of the Bill was moved by him in the session of the following year,
and was carried by a majority of thirty-four to eight. It was strongly opposed by a
considerable section of the public on the ground that the Members of the Upper House
should be elected, instead of
being nominated by the Crown.
But the nominee principle
was considered essential by
the framers of the Bill, for
the purpose of reproducing
the Constitution of the British
Parliament as closely as possi-
ble ; and in deference to those
views, the Bill was passed as
it stood. In order to assist its progress through
the Imperial Parliament, Wentworth was commissioned by the Council to proceed to
England with the Colonial Secretary, E. Deas-Thomson, who had greatly distinguished him-
self by his successful conduct of public business for many years. The Bill, which was
passed in due course, was received in the colony in October, 1855. The old Legislative
Council was finally dissolved on the 19th of December following, and the new Con-
stitution was formally inaugurated by the Governor-General, Sir William Denison, who
had succeeded Sir Charles Fitzroy in the beginning of the year.
The New Constitution.
The establishment of responsible government brought about so great a change in the
political system of the colony that from that date the current of its history may be
said to run in a totally different channel. Other actors come upon the .scene. The
martial figure of the Governor disappears, his place being occupied by men henceforth
known as the responsible Ministers of the Crown. The old system of arbitrary rule,
resting on military force, is superseded by a form of government in which the elected
representatives of the people control the destinies of the country. Under the former,
the history of the colony was simply the biography of the Governor ; under the latter,
he becomes known as the representative of Majesty. From a mere handful of turbulent
and dissatisfied colonists always clamouring for political rights, and too often picking
quarrels with the Governor of the day in order to assert their claim to independence,
the people of New South Wales had suddenly begun to display the athletic forms and
proportions of national life. For more than half a century their progress had been a
slow and generally a painful one, although their destiny had been written in unmistak-
able lines by the hand of Nature, even at the foundation of the settlement. No
community ever struggled more manfully against the difficulties with which they were
surrounded from the outset of their history ; none ever fought more hopefully against
the long succession of disasters and reverses which met them on all sides in their
efforts to cultivate the wilderness. The great gold-discovery of 1851 might be said to
94 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
have come just at the right time to complete the work of individual enterprise in
developing the vast resources of the country. Had it come earlier it would certainly
have disorganized, and might possibly have wrecked, the community in a chaos of wild
disorder, in which the most dangerous classes would have found free play for their
vicious instincts. Coming as it did, and when it did, it was almost an unmixed good
fortune. By attracting population from every quarter, it settled the great question
connected with the supply of labour, brought the world's commerce to the shores of
Port Jackson, and gave a fresh impulse to every form of industrial occupation.
The Administration of Sir Charles Fitzroy marks the transition period from the
old form of government to the new. The colony in its inception was simply an
unwalled prison, in which a few free men were permitted to reside, and so rigid was the
exclusion that even a clergyman was re-shipped because he arrived without authority.
By a kind of natural instinct, naval officers -were chosen as the earliest Governors, being
accustomed to command, and to insist upon obedience. But in the nature of the case the
colonial prison tended to become a society, and the arbitrariness of the Governor became
inconsistent with the enjoyment of those personal and political rights which Englishmen
had been taught so dearly to cherish. With the exception of Captain Phillip, the naval
ofificers were not skilled in adapting themselves to the situation, and the mutiny in the time
of Governor Bligh convinced the Home Government that some change was necessary.
A new principle of selection was therefore established, and military men took the
place of the sea-captains of former days. Colonel Macquarie was sent out with a view
to establish a different system of Administration, and from that time to the departure
of Sir George Gipps, the colony was governed on principles considerably .more enlightened
than those which had previously obtained, though the personal authority of the Governor
remained unaltered. The steady progress of the colony, notwithstanding all its reverses,
combined with the rapid increase of the free population, brought about a condition of
things which rendered military rule no longer possible. The colonists demanded the
rights and privileges of British subjects, and this demand was felt to be so natural and
so just, that it continued with increasing strength until it was satisfied.
With .Sir Charles Fitzroy came in a new order of Governors, neither soldiers nor
sailors, but gentlemen of high official or social standing, whose previous experience better
fitted them for the performance of their duties than that of their predecessors. A Legis-
lative Council, consisting of one-third Crown nominees and two-thirds elected members,
established in 1843, had brought the principle of popular representation partially into play.
It gave parliamentary voice to public opinion, and put pressure on the Administration
to govern in harmony with the wishes of the people. The Governor, too, though still
nominally absolute, rested largely on the advice of the experienced officers who presided
over the different departments — so much so, that it ma)- be said that during Sir Charles
Fitzroy's term of ofifice the colony was really governed by the Colonial Secretary, Sir
E. Deas-Thomson, a gentleman of considerable capacity and high character.
This state of things happily prepared the way for the introduction of responsible
government, under which the Viceroy should reign but not rule, following the advice of
his Cabinet in all but certain reserved matters of Imperial importance. This system has
now lasted for over thirty years without any serious hitch, anil with the result that the
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
95
SIR JOHN YOUXC. (I.ORI) LISGAK).
colonists have become completely educated in the work of self-governmeot, understanding
fully their powtns, their opportunities and their responsibilities, while all traces of the
absolutist system have entirely disappeared. Under this regime six Governors have suc-
cessively represented the Queen— namely, Sir William Denison, Sir John Young (Lord
Lisgar), the Earl of Belmore, Sir Hercules Robinson,
Lord Augustus Loftus and Lord Carrington. Though
very different in their previous experience and in their
indi\Idual temperament, and though differently estimated
by the people of New South Wales, they have all entered
fairly into the spirit of the British Constitution in its
modern phase, while maintaining the dignity of their office.
On several occasions since the granting of the new
Constitution they have differed in opinion from their
advisers, especially in respect of granting dissolutions of
Parliament, the pardoning of prisoners, and the relation
of the Governor as Commander-in-Chief to the discipline
of the military, forces. But those differences, though
resulting sometimes in a ministerial resignation, have
produced no serious political crisis. The Governors have, on the whole, held the balance
impartially between the different political parties, using their personal influence indirectly,
rather than directly, while at the same time remaining the confidential advisers of the
Crown, and the protectors of its prerogative. In a small communit)', the acts of every
public man are exposed to searching criticism, and it was, therefore, not to be expected
that all they did could be approved of by all parties ; but under their presidency the
constitutional system has worked without any dangerous friction, and there has been no
parliamentary appeal against any of their actions — a
fact which speaks well not only for the system, but
for the men who had no small share in its representation.
Wentworth himself did not remain in the colony to
give his personal services at the initiation of the consti-
tutional system he had laboured so hard to establish — a
task which devolved on the gentlemen who had already
gained parliamentary experience in the mixed nominee
and representative Council, and who secured, to start
with, the assistance of one or two old heads of depart-
ments. Wentworth returned to the colony during the
Administration of Sir John Young. He had contended
ardently for the principle of a nominated Upper House,
because he thought a Chamber so constituted was ana-
logous to the House of Lords, and formed the best possible protection against rash
democratic lec^islation ; but he did not foresee the use to which nomineeism could be put.
Under the Constitution Act, the first Legislative Council was nominated for a limited
term of years, and just prior to the close of this term, the Government of the day
suddenly nominated twenty-one gentlemen, with a view to force the passage of a
THE EARL OK liELMOKE.
96 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
particular Bill. This " swamping " of the Council destroyed Wentworth's belief in the
principle of nomineeism, and made him a convert to that of election. At the request
of the Governor he accepted the office of President of the newly-appointed Legislative
Council, in order that he might assist in preparing a Constitution for the Upper House,
"which should supersede the present one, and prevent the recurrence of any future
attack upon its independence." A Bill to make the Upper House elective was introduced
into the Council in 1861, and referred to a Select Committee, of which Wentworth was
the Chairman. The Bill passed through the Council, but it was shelved in the Assembly.
The day after the third reading took place in the Council, the aged statesman
announced his intention of resigning his office and returning to England, where he died
eleven years afterwards — not the first, and not likely to be the last, of those reformers
who have lived long enough to be partially dissatisfied with the working of institutions
they have spent the best part of their lives in demanding and establishing. At his own
request ' his remains were brought to Sydney for interment near his old residence at
Vaucluse, one of the many beautiful spots which adorn the shores of Sydney Harbour.
The Government accorded him a public funeral, and though a new generation had grown
up since the date of his great services, the immense attendance of people attested the
respect in which his memory was held.
Sir William Denison succeeded Governor Fitzroy in the month of January, 1855, and
in his opening speech at the meeting of the Legislative Council in the following June
urged the importance of providing for the education of children, the development of
the railway system and the subsidising of a regular mail service with England. In the
month of October in the same year the Governor sent to the Legislative Council a
message enclosing an Act of Parliament, by which the Queen had given assent to a Bill
for conferring a Constitution on New South Wales, accompanied by a despatch from
Lord John Russell expressing a hope that the new institution might prove a solid and
permanent advantage ; and in the year following a general election was held and the
first responsible Ministry formed by Stuart Donaldson, Colonial Secretary, his colleagues
being Thomas Holt, Treasurer ; W. M. Manning, Attorney-General ; J. B. Darvall,
Solicitor-General ; G. R. Nichols, Secretary for Lands and Works ; and W. C. Mayne,
the representative of the Government in the Council. The first Parliament assembled on
the 22nd of May, when Sir Alfred Stephen was appointed President of the Council, and
Daniel Cooper was elected Speaker of the Assembly. A Bill to amend the electoral law,
in which the number of members was increased to eight)-, was passed ; but an attempt
to regulate Chinese immigration by the imposition of a poll-tax of three pounds a head
was thrown out, decisive legislation on this matter being deferred for over thirty years.
The change from the old system of government to the new was happih' contempo-
raneous with the new life on which Australia entered as a consequence of the gold-
discoveries. A fresh and vigorous population poured in ; pastoral enterprise found enlarged
support in the rapidly-expanding local market for animal food ; new industries began to
spring up, and that passion for wealth which, in spite of the selfishness it engenders
and the many social evils that follow in its train, has yet done so much to raise up
great industrial communities, seized upon the whole people. This necessarily re-acted on
the political life of the community. There was a short struggle between the newl)--
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
97
enfranchised population and the
old dominant party, to which,
under an enlarged suffrage,
there could be but one termina-
tion. The old party politics
of the colony from that time
disappeared, and the questions
which divided the people, and
divided them differently, were
such as related to the disposal
of the public lands, the con-
nection between Church and
State, public education, the
extension and distribution of
the suffrage, the incidence of
taxation, and the relative merits
of Free-trade and Protection —
some of which questions are
even now undertrointr discussion.
The material progress made
by the colony under the system
of self-government exceeded all
its previous experience. Tele-
graphic communication was es-
tablished between Victoria and
South Australia by the com-
pletion of a line to Albury,
and the report of an alleged
discovery of rich gold-fields on
the Fitzroy River, at Keppel
Bay, was the cause of a con-
siderable "rush" from Sydney
and Melbourne. The separa-
tion of Moreton I^ay from New
South Wales, and its erection
into a separate colony under
the name of Oueen.sland, took
place in 1859. ^ he pastoral
industry was still the country's
main-stay ; and stimulated by
large profits this form of
commercial enterprise greatly expanded. The squatters pushed further and further into
the great western plains, and it was found that districts once despised as utterly useless
were very valuable for fattening sheep and cattle, as the .salt-bush that grew in the
gg AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
interior was both wholesome and nutritious. More and more the country lying back
from the river frontages was taken up and utilized. Wells were sunk and dams were
made to secure water. Flocks and herds multiplied ; there was an immense increase
in the export of wool, and in the sale of live-stock to supply the meat market in
Victoria. Agriculture also took a fresh start, especially in the growth of maize along
the coast, in dairy produce, and in the cultivation of sugar on the northern rivers.
Wheat-culture was considerably checked by the appearance of rust, but in the inland
districts farming progressed near the townships, and supplied the wants of the settlers who
were occupying the back country. The growth of wheat for the metropolis had to await
the construction of railways to furnish cheap transit.
During Denison's Administration the salary of the Governor was fixed at five
thousand pounds, the railway to Parramatta was opened, the first submarine cable
connecting Australia with the outside world was laid. In Parliament much legislation
was accomplished dealing with the public lands and the establishment of an ocean postal
sen' ice ; with Chinese immigration and the condition of the working-classes. The year 1857
was marked by the disastrous wrecks of the Dunbar and the Catherine Adanisou at the
Heads. Sir William Denison was transferred to the Madras Presidency in 1861, and was
succeeded in the Government of New South Wales by Sir John Young, afterwards known
as Lord Lisgar, who arrived in the colony in the month of March of the same year.
Young's accession to office was marked by a parliamentary crisis which took place
shortly after his arrival in the colony. It was occasioned by the appointment of twent)--
one new members to the Upper House, in consequence of the action taken by the
Council in regard to the Crown Lands Alienation Bill, introduced by Mr. (afterwards
Sir John) Robertson. During this Governor's Administration Messrs. Henry Parkes and
William Bede Dalley — who have since held the highest positions in the country, the
latter being elevated to the Privy Council — were appointed Commissioners to visit
England for the purpose of inducing voluntary immigration to the colony.
Among other instances of the new era of progress upon which the colony was
steadily entering since the bestowal by the Home authorities of responsible government
may be mentioned the authorization of tram-way construction and the extensive legislation in
connection with the public lands of the colony — legislation which engaged the attention of
Parliament for a very considerable period. During Governor Young's reign also, the
first intercolonial conference was held in Melbourne, and had for its objects the discussion
of transportation, immigration, the postal service, and other matters of general wide-spread
importance. The gold-fields were being actively exploited, and at Burrangong several
riots took place, these being occasioned by an invasion of the field by an army of
Chinese, to whom the diggers very naturally objected. A military force was thereupon
dispatched from Sydney, armed with field-pieces, but the disturbance was fortunately
quelled by the withdrawal of the Chinese. Governor Young retired from office in the
month of December, 1867, and was succeeded in the month of January following by
the Earl of Belmore, whose Administration was marked by the withdrawal of Imperial
troops from the colony, whilst that of Governor Robinson is memorable for the
successful establishment of telegraphic communication between Great Britain and the
Australasian Colonies, and the holding in Sydney of an intercolonial conference for the
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES
99
consideration of an improved ocean mail service, a policy of intercolonial Free-trade, and
other questions generally affecting the welfare of the various Australian Governments.
The progress thus made by the colony was fully manifested at an International
Exhibition held in the year 1879, which grew out of an ambitious attempt made by the
Agricultural Society to enlarge its display by inviting competitive exhibits from abroad.
This Society, which had grown into vigorous
life as a consequence of the enlarged rural
enterprise of the colony, had successfully held
several Annual Exhibitions in a buildinof erected
for that purpose by the City Corporation in
the Prince Alfred Park. These local exhibi-
tions proved so attractive and beneficial that
the Committee determined to attempt an
international one, but the response to its
invitation was so much in excess of what had
been anticipated, that the affair outgrew the
power and resources of the Society.
To recall what had been done was, how-
ever, impossible ; and to prevent a failure
which might have discredited the colony the
Government took the matter over, and entrusted
the management to a large Honorary Commis-
sion. A handsome and commodious building
was hastily erected on a commanding site in
the Inner Domain; its noble dome being a
SIR HERCULES ROBINSON.
striking feature in the landscape as seen from
the Harbour ; and one of the first public acts of Lord Augustus Loftus after his
arrival in the colony was the opening of one of those world-famous worlds' fairs of
which so young a country may justly feel proud. The Exhibition was a great success,
nearly all the civilized countries of the world being represented. It cost the colony
about a quarter of a million, but it was deemed that the money had been well spent.
The resources of the country were displayed to great advantage, and as a natural
consequence commerce was greatly quickened. The Exhibition Building was unfortu-
nately burnt down two years afterwards, the handsome erection being totally destroyed.
A still more striking proof of the power and resources of the colony was furnished
in 1885, during the Administration of Governor Loftus, by the dispatch of a military
Contingent to the English Army then serving in the Soudan, which had been work-
ing its way up the Nile in the endeavour to rescue General Gordon. The death of
that gallant officer, and the capture of Khartoum, produced a profound impression in the
, colony, and the Government, under the idea that an expedition from Suakim to the
Nile was about to be immediately undertaken, offered to land at that point, within sixty
days, a body of infantry and artillery, together with the necessary supply of horses.
The offer was accepted. By dint of great exertion everything was in readiness by the
day named ; two large steam-ships, the Iberia and the Australasian, left Port Jackson
lOO
A USTRALASIA ILL US TRA TED.
with the first militarj' support ever tendered by any of these colonies to the mother-
countr>-. and no more brilHant and exciting spectacle had ever been seen in Sydney
than was witnessed on the day of the departure of the troops. The military plans for
the Egyptian campaign were subsequently modified, and the little army returned in
safety without having seen much service ; but the impression produced in England by
the spontaneous loyalty of the Colonies was extraordinary. It gave rise to a new estimate
of the value of the Colonial Empire, and to this day it is impossible to calculate
fully all the indirect results that have flowed from this action. It stimulated greatly
the discussion of the whole question of Imperial Federation ; it gave a new aspect to
the problem of the naval defence of the Empire, which afterwards bore fruit in a joint
parliamentary action on the part of all the colonies with the exception of Queensland ;
and it greatly augmented the English interest in the Indian and Colonial Exhibition.
Prior to this appearance of an Australian colony as an ally of the mother-country,
the interests of Australia in the Pacific had been brought prominently under notice. It
was mainly at the instance of the Australian colonies that the English Government
consented, during the Administration of Sir Hercules Robinson, to take over from King
Thakombau the Fiji Islands. The project had been discussed of making these islands a
dependency of one of the colonies, but it was ultimately thought better, for the present
at least, to constitute them a Crown colony, and this course having been adopted the
Colonial Governments were not made contributors. A different policy was pursued a
few years afterwards in connection with the island of New Guinea. The Queensland
Government annexed by a formal proclamation all that part of this island not claimed
by the Dutch ; and it did this, not from any desire for new territory, but because it
regarded the possession of that part of New Guinea as important to the future security
of the colony. This act was disallowed by the Home Government, on the ground that it
was beyond the power of a Colonial Administration thus to enlarge the boundaries of
the Empire. The Colonial Governments assembled in conference urged the annexation
as an Imperial act, and the English Government so far yielded as to send an expedi-
tion to plant its flag on the southern coast, and declare a vague protectorate there, the
Colonies agreeing to contribute the sum of fifteen thousand sterling a year. The German
Government immediately followed suit by hoisting its flag on the northern coast, much
to the chagrin of the colonists, and a dividing line between the territories of the two
countries was subsequently agreed upon.
The connection between the colonies and the mother-county, which is visibly main-
tained by the presence of the Governor as the representative of Her Majesty, has been
twice marked during the last few years by visits from members of the Royal family ;
the Duke of Edinburgh having made the Australian tour in command of the frigate
Galatea, and the two eldest sons of the Prince of Wales having visited the colony as
midshipmen on board the Bacchante. On each occasion the Royal visitors were received
with the utmost cordiality and loyalty. The last representative of Her Majesty in New
South Wales, Lord Carrington, arrived in Sydney on the 12th of December, 1885,
and received a hearty welcome. His Administration has been marked by several occur-
rences of more or less importance, but he will in the main be recollected as the
Governor in whose term of office the Centenary of the settlement was celebrated.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
101
The year 1888 is a red-letter year in the history of the colony as being the one
hundredth anniversary of its birthday, and the Centenary of New South Wales— and, in
fact, Australia as a whole — was celebrated by general public festivities. On the 24th of
January a statue of the Queen was unveiled in Chancery Square, Sydney ; and on the
25th the Centennial Intercolonial Agricultural Exhibition was opened in Moore Park. On
this day also a complimentary picnic was given by the Roman Catholic laity to the
archbishops, bishops, and other
ecclesiastical dignitaries of that
church on a visit to the city of
Sydney, in connection with the
Centenary celebrations. But the
great event in the programme was
the opening and dedication of the
Centennial Park on the 27th of
January, 1888, just one hundred
jears from the date of the founda-
tion by Captain Arthur Phillip of
the little settlement of soldiers
and convicts on the shores of
Sydney Cove. The reserve out
of which the Park has been formed
was previously known as the
Lachlan Swamps, and was for
many years the place whence the
principal water-supply of the city
of Sydney was drawn The area
of the Centennial Park is equal
to about one thousand acres ; in
the centre are four or five lagoons,
and the view from the higher
portions of the land is both ex-
tensive and beautiful. The occasion
was marked by a procession from Government House, headed by the Governors of all the
Colonies. A naval and military parade also formed part of the programme, and between
thirty and forty thousand spectators were present at the ceremony. On the same day a
State Banquet was held in the Exhibition Building ; the city \vas given over to holidays
and rejoicings for the time being ; the streets were gaily decorated and at night they
presented avenues of illuminary designs. General public holidays were proclaimed
throughout the colony ; a national regatta, a trades and labour demonstration, a working-
lads' picnic, and Harbour fireworks and pyrotechnic displays by night from the ships of
war were also included in the festivities. The foundation-stone of the new Houses of
Parliament was laid in the Domain on the 31st of January, and all denominations held
religious services during the week in commemoration of the one hundredth birthday of the
land sighted by Captain Cook in the year 1770. The celebration of the Centenary of the
LORD CAKKIXUTU.X.
I02
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
colony of New South Wales was indeed in every respect an unqualified and genuine success.
At this point in its development the country had time to pause and survey the progress
it had made, and to gather from the experience of the past new hopes and fresh
aspirations for the future. For the hundred years which had just elapsed its history
had indeed been a varied one. It had compressed within a centur\' the progress which
the nations of the old-world had taken ages to realize. It had grown from the stage
of an experimental outpost of purely military occupation and convict settlement to a
nation representing all the complex conditions of a highly-organized society — the nomad,
the shepherd, the digger giving place in turn to each other, and each contributing to
bring about that culminating point on which the country stands to-day.
Lord Carrington will, moreover, in addition to the Centenary, be remembered by the
lively interest he displayed in the progress and public institutions of the colony, as
well as by his hospitality and personal cordiality of manner ; for this Governor made
himself highly popular amongst all classes, and in his hands the office of Viceroy pre-
served all its usefulness and importance. After a term of office lasting for a period of
nearly five years His Excellency left the colony in the month of November, 1890, his
departure being made the occasion of a series of festivities by which the people sought
to convey their appreciation of both his social and political fitness for a position which
had never been filled by one who had made himself more popular. Lord Carrington was
succeeded in the Administration by Sir Alfred Stephen, the Lieutenant-Governor, until
the arrival of Lord Jersey on the 14th of January, 1891. His Lordship and Lady
Jersey have, since their landing in New South Wales, achieved a popularity which well
maintains the social prestige of the Representatives of Royalty in Australia. His
Excellency's term of office has been prominently marked by the holding of the Federa-
tion Convention at Sydney, in March, 1891.
EARLY AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
BASS AND FLINDERS.
\ MONO the most determined and intrepid successors of Captain Cook and the earlier
^*- Australian navigators must be reckoned Captain Matthew Flinders and Surgeon
Bass, to whose skill, courage, and perseverance we owe the discovery of the straits which
separate the Australian con-
tinent from Tasmania, the
discovery of Kangaroo
Island, the h)'drography of
Tasmania, the exploration
of the coasts of New South
Wales and South Australia ;
of those portions of Western
Australia known as Nuyts
Land and Leeuwin Land ;
and the determination of
numerous points in the Gulf
of Carpentaria, Torres Straits
and the coast of Arnhem
Land. This valuable and
varied work was performed
by them first in conjunction,
then by Bass alone, and
finally by Flinders, who
probably survived his com-
rade by some years.
One of the first works
undertaken by Captain
Hunter after his arrival in
New South Wales in 1 788, was a marine survey of Botany and Broken Bays and Port
Jackson, with the greater number of the rivers which empty into them. Captain Cook
had certainly examined Botany Bay, but he had seen the entrances only of the other
two harbours. Hunter's survey, the first that was made of these inlets, included the
intermediate portions of the coasts, and was published shortly after the charts had been
sent to England by Governor Phillip. In 1795 Captain Hunter made his second voyage
to New South Wales, bringing with him His Majesty's armed vessels Reliance and
Supply ; on board the former ship was a midshipman, recently returned from a South Sea
voyage, who, moved by a passion for exploration and novel adventure, seized the opportunity
for the indulgence of his leading characteristic on virgin soil. This adventurous midshipman
was Matthew Flinders, and with him the history of Australian coastal exploration begins.
CAPTAIN MATTHEW FLINDERS.
I04
A US TRA LA SI A ILL US TRA TED.
Matthew Flinders was born at Donington, in Lincolnshire, England, in the year
1760, and early entered the merchant service, but quitted it for the Navy, which he
joined as a midshipman in 1 793. Donington is not far from Sleaford, in the same
county, and- the latter was the birthplace of George Bass. It is more than probable
that the two explorers went to school together. When Flinders landed at Port Jackson
in September, 1 795, the knowledge possessed by the colonists of even the three harbours
mentioned was of the most rudimentary and imperfect kind. Lieutenant Richard Bowen
had indeed entered Jervis Bay, and to the north, Surveyor-General Grimes and Captain
Broughton, of H.M.S. Providence, had examined Port Stephens ; l)ut of the intermediate
parts of the coast, both in a northerly and in a southerly direction, little more was known
than could be learnt from Cook's general chart, while the exploration of the more remote
coastal indentations indicated by the famous sailor had been entirely neglected.
The chance of adding something to hydrographical science fired the ardour of
Flinders, and in George Bass, who came out with Captain Hunter as surgeon of the
Reliance, he found a brave and determined coadjutor. Bass was the son of a farmer
who had a holding at Asworthy ; but unfortunately for the future explorer he lost this
parent in his infancy. From his boyhood Bass
gave his heart to the sea, and although his
mother sought to cure him of what she
regarded as folly by having him apprenticed
to a Boston surgeon, her efforts were without
avail. Curiously enough P^linders also was
intended for the medical profession, his father
being a doctor ; but his passion for the sea,
first stimulated, according to his own con-
fession, by the perusal of " Robinson Crusoe,"
overcame all the opposition of his family.
These two courageous men resolved to
complete the survey of the east coast of New
South Wales to the best of their ability and
to the utmost of their procurable means and
opportunities. The first venture was made in
a little boat only eight feet long, the famous
Tom Thumb ; and Flinders, Bass and a boy
formed the entire crew. In this frail craft in
the month following the arrival of the Reliance
and the Supply, they left Port Jackson for
Botany Bay, and ascending George's River,
explored its tortuous course for twenty miles
beyond the point at which Hunter's survey
had terminated. The result of this expedition was the establishment of a d(fp6t under
the name of Bankstown, which has since grown into a flourishing suburb of Sydney.
In 1796, upon the return of Flinders from a voyage to Norfolk Island, the
intrepid explorers sailed out of Port Jackson on a fresh March morning in search
FUNDERS AND BASS IN THE "TOM THUMB.
EARLY AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
•o5
of a reported river, which proved a miserable brook. They proceeded south-west past
Red Point in safety, but were nearly drowned when makinj^ the return voyage in the
nii^ht. As described in the graphic language of- F"linders : — " The shade of the cliffs
over our heads, and the noise of the surfs breaking at their feet, were the directions
by which our course was steered parallel to the coast." While Bass held the sheet of
the sail in his hand,
occasionally drawing it
in a few inches when
he saw a more than
usually heavy sea com-
ing; blinders, steering
with an oar, had tcj
keep the little boat
from broaching to ; in
his own words, "a
single wrong move-
ment, or a moment's
inattention," would
have sent them to
the bottom. The box's
duty was baling out
the water, which not
all their care and
de.xterity could prevent
from breaking over their tin\- skiff. At a
favourable moment the\ sliippcd tlieir mast and
lay to at W'atla - Moi^'lcc ( Prt)\idential Cove),
about three or four miles southwaril of Port
Hacking or Dccban. Eight da\s from setting
out, and after a voyage of a most perilous
character, the Tom Thumh was safely brought to its moorings alongside II. M.S.
Reliance in Port Jackson. Near Red Point, Tom ThumUs Lagoon commemorates
the voyage, and preserves in its name a memento of this preliminary expedition of the
adventurous voyagers, whose future exploits were to surpass anything previously attempted.
During the following year, while Flinders was occupied with his duties on shipboard,
Bass made several excursions into the interior, one such resulting in the survey of the
course of the Grose. About this time the Sydney Cove was wrecked on the Furneaux
Islands ; and it was in the September of the same year that Lieutenant John Shortland,
while returning from a chase after some runaway convicts — who had seized a boat with
the intention of reaching China — discovered the Hunter River, upon the shores of which
the settlement of Newcastle was afterwards established.
On the 3rd of December, 1797, Bass sailed southward in a whale-boat, manned by
six niL-n and provisioned for six weeks. In this boat he discovered Twofold Bay,
doubled Cape Howe, and found himself on New Year's day of the. following year
UASSS biK.vris.
,o6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
«
coasting Long Beach. On the 4th of January Bass made Western Port, the limit of his
voyage southward, thence sailing for Port Jackson a fortnight afterwards and arriving in
Sydney Cove, after a long experience of foul weather, on the night of the 24th of
February. The results of this voyage supplemented the previous knowledge of the
coast by discoveries reaching from the Ram Head to Western Port, the new coast
being traced three hundred miles. In the language of Bass's admirer, Flinders:
" A voyage expressly undertaken for discovery in an open boat, and in which six
hundred miles of coast, mostly in a boisterous climate, was explored, has not perhaps
its equal in the annals of maritime history."
While Bass was prosecuting his explorations in the whale-boat. Flinders, on board
the schooner Francis, was proceeding to the wreck of the Sydney Cove at Preservation
Island, having left Port Jackson on the 3rd of February. After passing and naming
Green Cape, Flinders followed Bass's route and sighted Wilson's Promontory. The Kent's
Group, the Babel Isles, and Cape I3arren Island were among Flinders's discoveries
during this voyage, from which he returned in March. On landing at Sydney on the
7th of that month he found that Bass had arrived a fortnight before him.
On the 7th of October, 1798, Flinders and Bass again set sail from Port Jackson, and
following the Tasmanian coast discovered Port Dalrymple and surveyed the River
Tamar. Resuming their course westward, the explorers discovered and named a number
of capes and islands along the northern coast, and by doubling Cape Grim proved
conclusively the existence of a strait between the Australian Continent and the island
then known as Van Diemen's Land. Voyaging southward they completed their survey
of the Tasmanian Coast as far as the Derwent, returning to Port Jackson on the iith of
January. To the passage between the Continent and Tasmania Ciovernor Hunter gave the
name of Bass's Straits, and no honour was more deserved than the one thus conferred on
this intrepid and persevering mariner. Bass set sail for Home shortly after his return
to Port Jackson, and died, it is said, in South America, though other accounts state
that he w^as last heard of in the Straits of Malacca. Flinders felt deeply the loss of
his courageous coadjutor and wrote : " Of the assistance of my able friend Bass I was
deprived, he having quitted the station to return to England." In July of the same
year -Flinders sailed on a voyage northward to survey the coast as far as Glass-house
and Hervey's Bays. This voyage resulted in the discovery of Moreton Bay, and
was conducted with the thoroughness characteristic of the man.
Flinders i.\ the "Investigator."
Flinders returned to England in the Reliance, in iSoo, with the object of inducing
the Admiralty to place him in command of a suitable vessel in which he could prosecute
a thorough examination of the southern coast of the Australian Continent, which was no
longer the terra incognita of La Perouse or of Cook. Antoine de Bougainville had passed
Cape York, and left the evidences of French discovery in the Louisiade Archipelago.
M'Cluer, Bligh (of Bounty fame), Portlock, Bampton and Alt had explored among the
different island groups clustering round the north-eastern coast of Australia. Southern
Australia had been least visited, but even there De St. Alouarn was reported to have
anchored off Cape Leeuwin ; Vancouver had entered King George's Sound ; and Bruny
EARLY AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
107
CAPTAIN NICHOLAS liAL'DIN.
D'Entrecasteaux, when in search of the unfortunate La P(^rouse had sailed along the
coast of the land discovered by the old Dutch mariner who gave the name of Nuyts
Land to the southern shores of Western Australia, which he coasted for many hundred miles.
The Lords of the Admiralty, though seldom given to profuse expenditure for
scientific purposes, were— when Flinders submitted his proposals to them— in a mood of
opportune complaisance, and on the 25th of
January, 1801, gave him the command of
the Investigator, in which he left England on
the 1 8th of July of the same year. His
crew, including ofificers, numbered eighty-eight,
and was a truly remarkable one. Amongst
those on board were John Crosley the
astronomer, who afterwards left the expedition
at the Cape of Good Hope ; Dr. Robert
Brown, the greatest botanist of his age and
the friend of Sir Joseph Banks ; William
Westall, the equally celebrated landscape
painter ; Ferdinand Bauer, the natural history
painter; R. !\1. Fowler (afterwards admiral),
first lieutenant ; S. M. F'linders, the captain's
brother, second lieutenant; and six midshipmen,
one of whom subsequently became Governor
of Tasmania, and made a name in the history of maritime discovery as Sir John Franklin,
the ill-fated hero of Arctic exploration, and a martyr to the cause of geographical research.
Flinders began his further work of discovery and marine survey by coasting the
Great Australian Bight ; he then traced the southern boundary of the country now known
as South Australia. On the 8th of April, 1802, he entered PIncounter Bay, and found
there Nicholas Baudin, of the French ship Lc Geographc, separated from her consort,
Le Nat2iralistc, by a gale in Bass's .Straits. Flinders and Baudin interchanged civilities,
Dr. Robert I5rown, the naturalist, acting as interpreter.
Baudin had been sent out by the Republic to make good the French claims to
Southern Australia, from Western Port to Nuyts Archipelago, which they called 7V;';r
Napoleon. The French entirely ignored . the claims of England, or the discoveries of
English sailors. Spencer Gulf was Golfc Bonaparte ; Kangaroo Lsland masqueraded as
L Isle Dceres ; Gulf St. Vincent lost its identity in Golfe Josdpliine ; not even the
smallest bay or inlet escaped the infliction of a Gallic christening.
That the French knew perfectly well that this was a fraudulent effort to appropriate
the fruits of earlier explorers is amply proved by the remark addressed to Flinders by
Baudin's first lieutenant at the house of Governor Kijig, when they met in Sydney :
" Captain, if we had not been kept so long picking up shells and catching butterflies
at Van Diemen's Land, you would not have discovered the south coast before us."
Flinders names Cape Banks, or Ihiffon, as the eastern limit of French discovery.
Following Grant's course in the Lady N'c/son — the first vessel to sail through Bass's
Straits — Flinders passed King's Island and examined the entrance channel of the wide
io8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
bay named Port Phillip by Grant ten weeks before. Quitting this harbour Flinders
sailed straight to Sydney Cove, where he arrived on the 9th of May, 1802. Here he
found Baudin's consort, Lc Naturalists commanded b\- Hamelin, and Baudin himself
arrived in the month of June following.
On the 22nd of July Flinders again sailed to carry out his long-cherished intention
of surveying Torres Straits. In this voyage he was seriously embarrassed b) the Great
Barrier Reef, having sought a passage for fourteen days and sailed more than five
hundred miles before one could be found to the open sea. Arriving in the Gulf of
Carpentaria he began his survey with characteristic thoroughness ; to use his own words,
he " followed land so closely that the washing of the surf upon it should be visible,
and no opening, nor anything of interest escape notice."
On the 8th of April, 1803, the Investigator made the Dutch settlement of Coepang,
Timor, and sailing thence for Point D'Entrecasteaux, Flinders intended to make a further
and more complete examination of the southern coasts. Dysentery and fever, however,
compelled an immediate return to Port Jackson.
The Investigator being too old to again take to sea, Minders embarked on board
the Porpoise for England, in company with the Cato and the Bridgexvalcr ; but the con-
sorts had left port only a week when the former two vessels ran aground on a reef.
Captain Palmer of the Bridgewater, who had escaped a like fate, cowardh- deserting his
companions in their extremity. Flinders immediately assumed the command. Leaving the
main body in charge of the captain of the Porpoise, he and a small crew set out for
Port Jackson in an open boat, and after a terribly arduous journey arrived there on the
8th of September. Governor King immediately dispatched the Rolla lo tiie scene of the
wreck. Flinders accompanying in the Cuiuberland, a crazy boat of twenty-five tons in
which he hoped to make England after conveying assistance to his shipwrecked comrades.
They arrived at Wreck Reef on the 7th of October, where the Citii/bcrlaiid parted com-
pany and continued her voyage, calling at the Dutch settlement of Coepang ; whence
after a short stay Flinders again set sail for Europe by way of Mauritius. The vessel
becoming more unseaworthy every day compelled him to call in at St. Louis, where he
and his people were promptly imprisoned by General De Caen, the brench Governor.
The Cumberland was confiscated, her captain branded an imposter, and all the valuable
charts, journals and papers relating to the Investigator s voyage were seized.
The substance of the discoveries made b)- Flinders in the Investigator was afterwards
published in Paris as the work of Baudin, and although the charts and other matters
relating to the voyage came again into Flinders's hands, the third journal could never be
recovered. He was kept prisoner for six years, not being released until 1810. This
seems almost like poetic justice, for as the French now treated Minders, the old
Honfleur navigator, Binot Paulmyer, Sieur de Gonneville, had been treated by the
English three hundred years before.
In the annals of Australian coastal discovery, Matthew Flinders will ever rank second
only to the famous Captain Cook. Among the man)- things Australians owe to him is the
popular application of the name of their Continent — a name before used only very
occasionally by chart-makers and geographers. In a note in the first volume of his great
voyage, he .says : — " Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it
EARLY AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
109
would have been to convert it into Australia, as being more agreeable to the ear. and
an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."
OxLEv AND Cunningham.
Although the coast-line of the Australian Continent had been accurately surveyed,
inland exploration had made but little progress. For a period of about five and twenty years
after the landing of Governor Phillip the
country beyond the Blue Mountains . .
remained an unexplored territory, and
rewards were offered for the discovery
of even a sheep-track. Governor Phillip
had certainly made a trip towards the
range which shut in this terra incognita,
and his trip had resulted in the dis-
covery of the Carmarthen and Richmond
Hills, but further exploration ceased at
the foot of this seemingly impassable
barrier. Dawes, Bass, Barreillier, Cayley
and others had in turn attempted the
discovery of the golden interior, but all
these attempts had resulted in failure
and disappointment. Most of the early
assaults upon the grim bastions of Nature
were made by way of the valleys, which
are really gorges, and which to this day
are difficult to traverse. .Success was not
achieved till the dividinyr ridee between
the Cox and the Grose was followed.
The first expedition of value was that
of Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, who,
following the ridge, descended the slopes of Mount York, caught a glimpse of the V'ale
of Clwyd, and climbed to the summit of Mount Blaxland. Surveyor Evans followed the
track of Lawson and his comrades, and extended their discoveries over a distance of
ninet)'-eight miles further inland. Two years afterwards Governor Macquarie opened
the road to Bathurst, and P'vans was again sent out to follow the course of the
Lachlan. The result of this expedition was the preparation of another on a more
important scale, which_ was sent out under Survejor-General Oxley in 181 7, to trace the
courses of the Lachlan and the Macquarie to their debouchures.
Oxley set out from Sydney on the 6th of April, 1817, and passing through Queen
Charlotte's Valley, struck the Lachlan on the 28th of that month, and followed its course
north-west through poor swampy country until it became lost in the marshes lying east
of Field's Plains. In the hope of again finding the river the party turned south-west,
and after enduring great privations from bad water — which particularly affected the
horses — skirted west and north-west round Mount Cayley and Mount Brogden. Here
CUNNINGHA.M S MONUMENT, BOTANICAL GARDENS,
SYDNEY.
I lO
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
the explorers discovered a serious loss of provisions, and were compelled to shorten the
daily allowance of food, which considerably lessened the effectiveness of the expedition.
On the 23rd of June, Oxley and Cunningham again struck the Lachlan, north of
the Peel Range, and followed it in a south-westerly direction until' it was lost in stag-
nant and impure marshes. Fearful of the rapid diminution of provisions, and ignorant
of the immediate proximity of the parent stream, the Murrumbidgee, the party began
the return journey on the 9th of July, and leaving the course of the Lachlan on the
following month, journeyed in a north-easterly route across barren country, which became
more fertile as they neared the Macquarie, which river was sighted on the 22nd of
August and its course followed to the town of Bathurst, where the expedition terminated.
The party had been absent for over four months, and had narrowly missed the discovery
of the Murrumbidgee, which was effected by Ovens and Currie six years afterwards.
On the 20th of
S May in the following
year, Oxley left Syd-
ney on a second
expedition, and fol-
■ lowed the course of
the Macquarie until
it ended in country
covered with reeds and
under water. Crossing
successively the Castle-
reagh. Peel, Cockburn
and Apsley Rivers, he
traced the Hastings
to Port Macquarie,
having journeyed four
MONUMENT TO HUME AT ALBURV.
THE MARKED TREE, ALBURV:
WHERE HCME AND BOVELL CROSSED THE MUBKAT.
hundred miles in a straight line from
the extreme western point made by
the expedition. Finding a boat half-buried in the sand, the explorers carried it on their
shoulders from inlet to inlet along the coast for about ninety miles until they reached
Newcastle, whence they proceeded to Sydney after an absence of five months. In the
month of October, 1823, Oxley went on a survey voyage to Moreton Bay, where he found
EARLY AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Ill
a white man named Pamphlet, who had been shipwrecked, living among the blacks.
Pamphlet's information led to the discovery of a river emptying into Moreton Bay named
by Oxley the Brisbane, on which is now the site of the capital of Queensland.
As Government botanist to the Mermaid explorations to various parts of the
Australian Coast, conducted by Captain Phillip King, Cunningham added greatly to the
botanical knowledge of Australia ; and, as an explorer, he discovered an available route
through the Liverpool Ranges to the fertile northern plains, besides conducting an exami-
nation of the Cudgegong
and Goulburn Rivers. Some
years afterwards he dis-
covered a gap in the coast-
range by which the Darling
Downs could be easily
reached, and penetrated
seventy-five miles west of
Brisbane. He died in
Sydney on the 27th of June,
1839, and an obelisk com-
memorating his achievements
in the field of botanical re-
search was erected in the
Sydney Botanical Gardens,
of which reserve it now
forms one of the most pro-
minent ornaments.
Hume and Hovell.
Two years after Cun-
ningham had found an out-
let through the Pandora
Pass to the extensive plains
lying north of the Liverpool
Ranges, a private expedition
SIR THOMAS MITCHELL.
of an important character engaged in the work of exploration in a south-south-westerly
direction from the county of Argyle, with the intention of intersecting the southern coast
in a journey of from four to five hundred miles. The leaders of this expedition were
Hamilton Hume and Captain W. H. Hovell. Hume was a native of Parramatta and a
splendid bushman. He had been engaged in exploring work from a very early age, ■having
with his brother, John Kennedy Hume, discovered the country called Argyle in 1814.
He had since then accompanied Surveyor Meehan in a journey which had resulted in
the discovery of Lake Bathurst, and he had also sailed with Lieutenant Johnson in the
Snappers survey voyage. Hovell had previously belonged to the merchant service, and
he was not only a bold and determined leader, but a man of great physical endu-
rance. Setting out from Lake George they journeyed in a south-westerly direction until
1 12
A us TRA LA SI A ILL US TRA TED.
they arrived on the banks of the Murrumbidgee, which river was greatly swollen by
recent rains, and could only be crossed in a boat. Hume and one of Hovell's servants
named Boyd swam the river, carrying a rope between their teeth, and the horses and
bullocks were then punted over in a cart.
On their wa\- they sighted a grand range of mountains, afterwards known as the
Australian Alps. In November they came to the River Hume, or Murra)-, but could
not cross it at the point of discovery. They first proceeded down the stream, but the
continual recurrence of lagoons hindered their progress, and the\- were compelled to
return to their starting-place, whence they journeyed east, still following the water-course
through magnificent country. They crossed the river at .\lbury on the 17th of November,
1824. A marked tree
and a memorial,
erected by the inhabi-
tants in honour of
Hume, now commemo-
rate the i n c i d e n t.
.After fording a number
of tributaries of the
M urray, H u me and
Hovell discovered the
Ovens River on the
24th, and on the 3rd
of the following
month, th(; Hovell or
Ooulburn. Iraversing
the Julian Range and
still journeying in a
south - westerl)' direc-
tion, Jillong, the i)re-
s e n t s i 1 1? of the
X'ictorian city of Gee-
long, was reached on
the 1 7th of December.
It is remarkable that
neither Hume nor
Hovell was certain of
the identity of Port
Phillip with the har-
bour tliscovered by
Lieutenant Murray, and each persisted for some time after in confounding it with Western
Port. This noteworthy expedition, which opened up a wide field for the enterprise and
energy of the colony, was completed in sixteen weeks from its start, and was altogether
devoid of those catastrophes which have attended so many .Australian exploring parties.
Subsequent to this overland journey to Port Phillip, Hume accompanied Captain
C.\PT.\IN' CH.\RLES STUKT.
A GULLY IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.
I
EARLY AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. 1,3
Sturt on his first expedition into the interior, and Hovell was one of the early settlers
who left Sydney with Wright and Wetherall's party in the Fly, to forestall the I'Vench
in their intentions on the southern coast by the establishment of a d^pdt at Western Port.
Progress ok Exploration from 1828.
The discoveries of Oxley and Cunningham, Hume and Hovell, greatly increased the
knowledge of the interior, and subsequent expeditions were to a considerable extent
divested of that keen commercial interest with which the settlers, anxious to enlarge their
pastures, regarded the previous efforts to find the fabled El Dorado supposed to lie
beyond the Great Dividing Range.
Captain Sturt and Hamilton Hume, in the year 1828, conducted an expedition to
the head of the Macquarie, and following that river in a north-westerly direction
discovered successively the Bogan and the Darling, the latter being famed as the third
longest river in the world, taking precedence of the Nile. In the following year Captain
Sturt, with a well-equipped party, again set out, and sailing down the Murrumbidgee,
reached the River Murray and followed its course to Lake Alexandrina — discovering
while en route the debouchure of the Darling. He returned by the same route, having
explored the entire course of the Murray from its junction with the Murrumbidgee. A
year after this remarkable journey of Start's, Captain Barker and Mr. Kent conducted
an examination of the district round Lake Alexandrina. During the survey. Barker was
murdered by the blacks, after having sighted the country upon which now stands the city
of Adelaide and its suburbs.
In the year 1831, Major Mitchell went on a northern expedition in the direction of
the Liverpool Plains, and traversed the country bounded by the Namoi, Darling and
Gwydir Rivers and the Liverpool Ranges, following the Gwydir as far as the Macintyre,
one of the first tributaries of importance to the Darling. A volunteer, named Finch,
and two men had been sent by Mitchell from the Peel to the Hunter for stores, but
the men were surprised and murdered by the blacks, and the stores rifled, while Finch
was absent from the camp. Mitchell began his second expedition in the month of March,
1835. Setting out in command of a large party of men, with drays, horses and a couple
of boats, he followed the courses of the Darling and Bogan, and made an exhaustive
survey of the country lying between those rivers. During this journey he was unfortunate
in losing, near the Bogan, Richard Cunningham, the brother of that celebrated botanist
who accompanied Oxley on his first expedition into the interior. This enthusiastic scientist,
engrossed in the study of botanical specimens, wandered from his party and was found by the
blacks, who murdered him when he was delirious, being frightened at his strange behaviour.
A third expedition was directed to the Darling and Murray Rivers in the same
year. This was the most famous of all Mitchell's journeys inland, and resulted in the
discovery of Australia Felix. After following the course of the Lachlan to its debouchure
in the Murrumbidgee, he passed through the Murray scrubs, and arrived at the junction
of the latter river with the Darling. In exploring up the stream the mouth of the
Edwards was 'passed without observation ; but the Loddon, emptying on the opposite
side, was fully examined, and its course followed south-east for three days. Leaving
Pyramid Creek and Mount Hope behind him, Mitchell explored across that vast tract of
114 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
country known as the Wimmera, and then proceeded to an examination of the south-
west corner of V'ictoria, which territory' was named by him Australia Felix. On the
return journey the expedition traversed a vast extent of country, making numerous
discoveries in every direction. From the summit of Mount Macedon, upon which he
erected a stone cohrnin, Mitchell saw the white tents of the settlement of Fawkner and
Batman, and the broad expanse of Port Phillip. He returned to Sydney by a north-
easterly route, after one of the most extensive surveys which had then been made of
the colon)- of New South Wales, and one which added greatly to the knowledge of that
southern district now known as the colony of Victoria. Mitchell was knighted when the
news of this discovery was received in England.
After the discovery of Australia Felix, Leichhardt's courageous journey to Port
Essington, Sturt's expedition to the Central Desert, and Mitchell's through tropical
Australia are of the greatest interest. Leichhardt returned to Sydney by sea after a
land journey of three thou.sand miles, which extended over a period of fifteen months.
Sturt's route was across the terrible desert situated on the border lines of the three
colonies of New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. This expedition was of
little commercial value, and entailed frightful suffering upon Sturt and his party.
Mitchell's expedition traversed a vast expanse of Queensland territory, and resulted in
the discovery of the celebrated Barcoo or Victoria River.
A year or two later, Leichhardt set out on a journey from the Condamine with the
intention of making the Swan River in a line which should bisect the interior of the
Continent at its greatest breadth. P>om the date of his setting forth until July, 1847,
a period of over seven months, the expedition appears to have wandered aimlessly about,
having been arrested by heavy rains, which induced a fever that attacked its members. In
1848 Leichhardt, still determined to cross the Continent, started out with another party, and
from that time till to-day no clue to his fate has ever been discovered. Leichhardt was
lost, and the history of eastern exploration becomes largely the chronicle of the successive
expeditions sent out to find any trace of the missing scientist. Vague rumours of a white
man living among the blacks have obtained prominence at intervals, the white man being
always identified as Classen, Leichhardt's brother-in-law, and a member of his party. One
Hume stated that when employed in the construction of the overland telegraph line he had
seen Classen, and learnt from him that Leichhardt was murdered during a mutiny in the
camp, after which the party became disorganized and lost. Hume and two companions were
fitted out to go in search of Classen, which they did, but only one man returned, Hume
and the other having perished from thirst in Western Queensland. A search expedition
under Hely was sent out in 1852, and another under M'Intyre in 1865, but in each
case without result.
The gradual widening of the area of exploration is really the history of settlement.
In the footsteps of the early discoverers followed commercial enterprise and internal
development. The first pioneers were the scjuatters, who, driven by drought, were forced
to seek fresh pastures for their flocks, and being thus driven beyond the boundaries of
actual occupation, enlarged the sphere of colonial enterprise, and paved the way for that
rapid and extended settlement which has taken place within the last few years.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
THE COAST-LINE.
I "HE coast of New South Wales, though not deeply indented, has by no means a
-*- monotonous outline, and from beginning to end it is of great interest and
frequently of much beauty. A voyage in a coasting vessel along these six hundred
miles of shore affords one long succession of varying effects, and requires only the
beautiful weather which generally prevails to make the changing panorama delightful.
The lover of the picturesque
finds all he can desire in the
constantly- recurring change
from cliffs to sandy beaches
and from promontories to
bays, in the contrast between
the vegetation on the rich
flats with the more sombre
hue of that which clothes
the poorer lands on the
TWOFOLD BAY.
seaward mountain slopes, in the rapid succession of pretty little outports with their
beacons and their ever active craft, and in the always varying outline of the dusky-
verdured background as the hills rise and fall, advance and recede. There is plenty,
too, to occupy the geologist in noting the change from granite to sandstone, in the
irregular reddening of the latter by iron-stone deposits, in the visible inclination of the
strata, in the dip of the coal seams, and in the occasional signs of eruptive action.
ii6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
In sailing north we get the best chance of a close view, for there is a southerly
current that sets strongly down the coast. Vessels bound south stand weU out to get
its full benefit, but the coasters going northward hug the shore to escape it. It is
owing to this that nearly all the vessels wrecked on the coast of New South Wales
have come to grief when going north.
Cape Howe is not imposing : a low sandy point rising steadily into a hill some
three miles inland, the bare patches of glaring white sand being varied only in places
by dark lines of stunted shrubs. From this point the boundary line between New South
Wales and Victoria starts, running inland in a north-westerly direction, to a point on
the Snowy River. The dividing line — which is quite an arbitrary one, and follows no
natural features of the country — was in the first instance merely drawn on the map, and
was planned to give all the south coast to Victoria, and all the east coast to New
South Wales. The line has now been carefully marked out by surveyors, a part of
their straight clearing through the forest being visible from the deck of the vessel.
Gabo Island lies behind Cape Howe on the \'ictorian side, its ledges of granite
being covered in the centre by sand-hills that have been tossed up by the Pacific in
its angrier moods. On a ledge stands the light-house of dark red stone, throwing by
night the long rays of its fixed white light, from a height of one hundred and eighty
feet, over twenty miles of the darkly-heaving Pacific. But we are no sooner past the
Victorian border than the coast rises in lines of bold, though not lofty, cliffs of dark
red rocks. These run due north for eighteen or twenty miles, and then we see the
open sweep of Disaster Bay, formed by the projection of the smoothly-descending
boulders called Green Cape. Here also is a light-house, flashing its beams once a
minute throughout the night. Near this point occurred the disastrous wreck of the
Ly-ee-Moon. Forming a bold background rises Mount Imlay, inland about seventeen
miles, and towering nearly three thousand feet above the sea-level.
A short run of eight miles along a rocky coast, with rugged ranges behind it,
brings us to the opening of Twofold Bay. The entrance is wide and free from danger ;
a jutting headland divides the bay into two portions, the southern being the larger and
the more sheltered. On the central point stands a wooden light-house painted white.
Behind rise dark ranges, timbered to the summit, gloomy and impressive, that seem to
shut the inlet out from the country behind. A long pier runs out into the bay, and
is the landing-place for the township of Eden, which at present is little more than a
scattered group of houses. This and a still more primitive town called Boyd, situated
on the southern . shore, and named after one of the early commercial adventurers, were
once regarded as the coming cities of this coast, and were thought to be destined to
a glorious future ; but the whaling and other industries on which all this prosperity was
to depend, proved " disappointing. So also was a subsequent expectation based on
promising gold-fields ; as these declined, so did both towns. Houses and land were left
deserted ; and now the townships, planned for a great destiny, suggest the idea of
unrealized prophecy. But there is still some life and activity in Eden. The harljour is
good, and the hilly country inland gives every indication of mineral wealth, so that
the district may yet have a prosperous future, and redeem to some extent the all too
sanguine hopes of those who expected more than it could give.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
"7
Leaving the shelter of Twofold Hay, we ha^e a long line of dark and rocky coast
to follow; clift-faces upon which the pure white lines of foam are ever breaking from
the ceaseless swell of the restless ocean, and for ninety miles onwards there are always
mountain ranges in
view, and a rocky shore
and occasional beaches.
North of Haystack
Point the coast is re-
cessed in a wide open
bay, into. the southern
end of which the Pan-
bula River discharges
itself, forming an outlet
from a lake of the same
name, while into the
northern end the
Merimbula River simi-
larly debouches from
a corresponding lake.
Both these points are
visited by the small
coasting steamers, for
the country carries
many dairy farms,
though the area of rich
land is limited. P\ir-
ther north the mouth
of the Bega makes a
little port for the
coasters that trade in
farm produce from the
rich pastures between
t li e shore and t h e
ranges that rise in lines
of faint blue some
twenty miles inland, the
anchorage being under
the shelter of Tathra
Head. Subject to weather — for these ports are bar-harbours — vessels also visit the mouth
of the Tuross River and the Moruya River, the local trade being in dairy produce, timber
and return stores. But there is no opening of any considerable size throughout all these
ninety miles ; rock\- cliffs, carved-out inledges, buttres.ses and caverns, varied by sandy
coves at the feet of rounded hills of burnt and yellow grass, succeed one another all
the way. But far behind these again rise the ever-present mountains, giving a bold
POINT PERPENDICULAR, JERVIS BAY.
,,8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
background to the landscape. They constantly vary in outline ; now receding in soft
azure tint ; now near at hand like Mount Dromedary which, less than two miles off the
coast, lifts its two dark humps into the sky ; and they are all well timbered. Could a
landing be effected many a delightful ramble in umbrageous tree-fern gullies along the
courses of murmuring streams might be indulged in by the coasting voyager.
The ne.\t port is Bateman's Bay, about four miles wide at the opening, and tapering
inland to the sandy bar that effectually closes the navigation to large vessels ; smaller
craft go up to Nelligeri. This bay is really the estuary of the Clyde River ; it has
some importance as the outlet for a busy district, including the gold-mining townships of
Braidwood and Araluen.
Here the ranges, which are luxuriantly beautiful, approach nearer the coast-line and
add greatly to its grandeur. That high point with the breakers running far out indi-
cates the proximity of the small and pretty harbour of UUadulla, which lies at the head of
an inlet in a secure little bay only half-a-mile wide, and is also a shipping-place for dairy
produce. The singular outline of Cook's Pigeon-house rises from a cluster of fine hills,
and the gullies between them are rich with palms and tree-ferns.
A great sweep of the coast to the east, past rich forest-lands, brings in view the
bold cliffs of Cape St. George, looming out of the heaving waters. I3eyond its weather-
graven profile, and on another rocky projection a mile or so farther on, stands the
light-house, a short white tower ; this light, fixed two hundred and twenty feet high, is
eagerly sought for in bad weather by the seaman ; its successive flashes of green, red
and white being the surest guide the mariner has for nearly two hundred miles of coast
between Sydney and Gabo. Past this promontory lies a passage two miles wide, leading
into jervis Bay. The inlet is deep, and if an easterly wind blows, rough ; but in so
capacious a harbour, with each headland overlapping a large area of good anchorage,
plenty of sheltered water is to be found. There is very little sign of habitation on its
mountain-fringed shores ; for commodious as is the harbour, there is but little agricultural
land behind it, and its future depends entirely upon the development of its coal-fields.
Jervis Bay affords one of those instances of which there are several on the
Australian Coast — of a magnificent harbour apparently thrown away. There is no easy
access to the interior, and a range of hills cuts it off from connection with the valley of
the Upper Shoalhaven, most of the trade of which district reaches Sydney through the
township of Marulan, on the Great Southern Railway. The produce of all the rich land
along this southern coast finds its commercial outlets through poor, and sometimes
dangerous harbours, often inaccessible in heavy weather, and always calling for the greatest
caution on the part of the skilful navigators who conduct the maritime trade, and who,
to their credit, have met with comparatively few casualties. The one good harbour along
the coast has hitherto been useless ; though before many years are past it will probably
be turned to account, for the South Coast Railway from Sydney is intended to reach
as far as this bay, when it is expected that the port will be busy with the shipment of
coal. The coal-seams have been traced to the south of the .Shoalhaven River, though
no attempt has yet been made to open any mine in this locality. But the owners of
coal-land lying at the back of Kiama look to Jervis Bay as their chief port of shipment
as soon as the railway is constructed. The smallness of the coast harbours hitherto used
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
"9
for the shipment of coal has been a great
hindrance to the trade, because everything has
to be carried in small steamers and trans-
shipped at Sydney. At Jervis Bay the largest
vessels might lie alongside in perfect shelter,
and take their coal direct from cranes or staiths.
It is a hundred and seventy miles nearer Mel-
bourne than the port of Newcastle, from which
the greater part of the coal is at present
shipped, and an impression therefore prevails
that this saving of distance would draw a large
trade to this fine southern port if coal of the
best quality can be furnished in combination
with unequalled harbour facilities. Jervis Bay,
therefore, which for the hundred years since
the first founding of the colony, has been of
little use except as a port of refuge, may
before long show signs of great commercial
activity. As to the quality of the coal in this
district, it may be noted that there is a striking
difference between the seams to the south of
Sydney and those to the north. The latter is
less bituminous, and more anthracitic in its
character. It burns
slowly, makes but little
smoke, and requires a
strong draught. It is
much used for steamers
that take long voyages,
but it is not suitable
for making coke or gas.
.Sailing out of
Jervis Bay, Point Per-
pendicular, w h i c h
guards the northern
entrance, boldly con-
fronts us. It is a steep,
stern cliff, rising sheer
from the water fully
three hundred feet, and
its storm-beaten sum-
mit, bare of tree or
shrub, throws a long harsh line against the sky. Leaving Point Perpendicular, the scenerj-
still remains charming till the long stretches of flat sand are reached that mark the
THE KIAMA BLOW-HOLE.
120 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
mouth of the Shoalhaven River, where also there is a small shipping-port. Among these
sands lie shallow lagoons, and a little beyond them highly fertile plains backed by the
rugged coast-ranges. To the north, the shores rise again in dark lines of battlemented
and turreted rocks — water-worn forms scored and scarred by the wash of centuries.
The thriving little town of Kiama, resting on green leas swelling gently from the
margin of its sheltered cove, is seen in passing ; and if there is anything like a swell,
we may get a sight of that curious natural phenomenon called " The Blow-hole." This
is a lateral tunnel at the water's edge, terminating in a perpendicular shaft, some soft
deposit in the hard basaltic rock having been worn away. The swell dashes into the
tunnel, and then bursts up in spray through the shaft. Beyond Point Bass is Shellhar-
bour and the entrance to Lake Illawarra — its cultivated shores overlooked by the wildly-
timbered ranges. A few miles north of the Lake is Wollongong, lying at the foot of
the steep mountain slopes. Its little harbour has been secured by a mass of heavy
masonry ; and round the basin, which has been cut out of the solid rock, are busy-
wharves. The mountains fringing this part of the coast are all coal-bearing. A sharp eye
will detect the mouths of tunnels running into the hills, and from those openings can be
seen the coal-laden trucks speeding along the steep incline of the tram-way down to the
wharves, where they discharge their loads into the waiting steamers. Wollongong is
an active commercial centre and a place of great trade, second only to Newcastle
among the coast towns of New South Wales.
A few miles to the north is the mining town of Bulli, the shore in front of which
does not seem a very promising place for the shipment of coal, being exposed to nearly
all winds ; yet on its pier are coal-laden trucks, and it is only when a very unfavourable
wind is blowing that vessels have to haul off to their moorings, or go out to sea.
Two or three miles beyond Bulli is Coalcliff, with another mining township and a simi-
larly exposed shipping-place.
From, this point to Botany Bay only a few little sandy beaches break the mono-
tonous line of cliffs. The hills decrease in height, and are bare and barren-looking.
Between the moderately-elevated cliffs of Cape Banks and Cape Solander lies the
entrance to that famous expanse which Cook called Botany Bay. To the south the
tree-clad undulations run down to the water's edge, and there end in a shore of rocks
and boulders ; to the west sweeps the long curve of a fine beach ; to the north, the
land, flat at first, rises inland to hills whereon are scattered the white villas of the
rapidly-spreading Sydney suburbs. Close to the north head of the Bay lies Bare Island,
which has been selected as the site of the fortification to truard the entrance.
From Botany Bay to Port Jackson are nine miles of picturesque coast-line,
consisting alternately of bold sandstone cliffs and sandy bays, where in easterly gales the
surf breaks with magnificent effect. Two of these inlets, Coogee and Bondi, are
connected with the city by tram-way, and are favourite holiday resorts. Suburban villas
may be seen capping all the rises. On the South Head stands the light-house, a white
tower, perched three hundred feet high near the edge of jagged and precipitous cliffs ;
at night the dazzling stream of its revolving electric light sweeps the horizon once a
minute, and the reflection of its beam is said to be visible on a clear night for
a distance of sixty miles. On the point of the headland is the inner light-house, a
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
121
THE SEAL ROCK LIGHT-HOUSE.
I
prominent object with its red
and white stripes, some ninety
feet above the water ; round-
ing this, the voyager may see unfolding be-
fore his eyes the famous Harbour of Port
Jackson, the gate of Sydney, the great com-
mercial centre of the South Pacific.
Sailing out again under the vertical cliffs
of the North Head, and keeping northwards
past alternate rocks and sandy beaches for
sixteen miles, we round the high cone of
Barren joey Head, where an entrance two
miles wide leads into Broken Bay, the estuary of the
picturesque Hawkesbury River, discovered by Governor
Phillip in 1789, during one of his excursions in search
of better land for cultivation than that found on the
shores of Port Jackson. The Hawkesbury branches out
into long arms of deep water, lying very dark and still,
like small fiords, overshadowed by cliffs that rise often
to five and six hundred feet in height. But there is
wonderful variety in this beautiful inlet, the shores being
sometimes beaches of a deep-red or reddish-brown colour, which look very bright when set
off by the dark-green foliage of the background. There are not many places in the
122 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
world that can rival the mouth of the Hawkesbur}^ River for majestic scenery, and the
stream is well named, in the language of an Australian poet, the Rhine of the South.
North of this estuary the shore is rocky and weather-worn, with barren-looking hills
beyond ; then come the smooth flat wastes of sand, varied by the shining expanses of
the Tuggerah and Macquarie Lakes, which are visible from the bridge of a passing
vessel. Behind these rise ranges fledged to their summits with the dusky-foliaged euca-
lypts which seem so strange to eyes accustomed to the bright and lush greens of
Enn-land's forest-trees. Hills of blown sand line all the shore, except where the bluff^s of
Red Head vary the monotony, and here the tug-boats are generally to be seen waiting
to tow vessels into the Newcastle Harbour; at night the flash of a blue light indicates
their whereabouts. The view is picturesque as we double Nobby's, once a rocky islet, but
now joined by a long breakwater to the city itself, which rises tier on tier with rows
of houses on a rounded hill. At the foot of the city, at the water's edge, and on the
shore of Bullock Island, are constructed the steam-cranes and the loading-shoots that fill
with coal the great fleet of vessels that make of Newcastle a busy port. The sea is
often wild and dangerous of? this Nobby's Head, and many a vessel has gone ashore
when striving to cross the bar, made tumultuous by easterly gales and a six-knot
current. That green buoy a cable's length off shows where the ill-fated Cawarra went
down wMth passengers and crew ; being swept away by the rolling breakers one fearful
night, nearly thirty years ago. Winding away inland is the line of the Hunter River
with its many arms and sandy islands.
From Newcastle Harbour for twenty miles the coast is smooth, bare and mono-
tonous. The long rollers foam against a sandy beach, which rises into two small hills
tipped with straggling scrub, till we come to Morna Point with its cliffs and hills of sand-
stone. Then round the light-house on the Point, and into Port Stephens ; a good harbour,
but with low, and in some places, swampy shores in no way inviting to the eye.
Much of the harbour consists of banks and shoals, which at ebb-tide are left uncovered,
and present a wide and somewhat dismal waste of glistening sand, but inland there are
fine wooded ranges. Sailing out of Port Stephens a pleasing contrast is presented by
the bold hills that stand like sentinels on either side of the entrance ; each is from
five to seven hundred feet in height, and slopes steeply down to the high cliffs which
descend sheer to the breakers below.
The shore now seems tamer than it did before, showing only bare white hills of
sand for twenty miles, though off the coast there are crowds of rocks and shoals and
sunken ledges kept white with the hissing breakers. The next feature of interest is
Sugarloaf Point, where vessels are obliged to keep out a little from land to shun the
Seal Rocks and their attendant dangers. Beyond the scrub-covered hummocks of the
Point there stretches a low and level coast densely covered with scrub, but pleasantly
diversified by the lagoons called Myall Lake, Smith Lake and Wallis Lake. Isolated
peaks covered with timber rise in succession a few miles inland ; and this scenery
continues with monotonous persistency to Cape Hawke and the bare sand-hills that
mark the entrance to the Manning River ; from thence the same wide-spreading flats
and sandy hills form the coast-line till the light-house of Crowdy Head is reached,
where navigation is endangered by the breakers and a broad patch of the Mermaid Reef.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
123
The rugged nakedness of the hills that form Indian Head is only a little relief, and
behind the long scrub-covered flats are lagoons, the entrance to which is the bar-locked
inlet of Camden Haven. For some distance north there is still the same monotony ; a
sharply- defined shore
of low-lying rocks, with
slightly undulating
land behind them,
covered with a dense
unvarying scrub, till
passing the broad la-
goon called Lake Innes
and rounding the low
shelving rocks called
Tacking Point, the
snow-white light-house
may be seen, backed
by dark purple masses
of verdure-covered hills
which here and there
run down to the water's
edge.
Beyond this lies
Port Macquarie, over
the broad bar of which
the rollers break with
ever - recurring roar,
leaving a narrow and
dangerous channel by which the
steamers have access to the navigation of the
Hastings River. The monotonous scrub-
covered flats re-appear ; but there is a varia-
tion where the rounded peaks of the Saddle
Hills lift their timbered slopes from the very
edge of the water. This timber-covered land,
fronted by a low and rocky shore, is broken
by the broad peaks of Smoky Cape. Further on is Trial Bay, where a long sandy spit
divides the sea from the Macleay River. This ridge is six or seven miles long, thrown
up by the waves and obstructing the entrance to the river, which finds its way into
the sea far to the north of its original embouchure.
Thence scrub-covered plains continue, with occasional ranges such as the Bellinger
Peaks and Triple Peaks ; lines of bluffs, and then low sandy shores ; rolling sand-hills
and swampy lands succeed each other, till the woody ranges that have so long been
faint blue lines in the distance approach the coast and show their bold though not
lofty outlines. At Evans Head the cliffs become high, and on the ranges that rise
124
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
steeply from their edge are a few pandamis palms lifting up their picturesque heads
above the general level of banksias and dwarf gum-trees.
The mouth of the Clarence River lies between low blufTs covered with storm-riven
bushes, and that fine stream, for seventy miles above its mouth, continues half a mile
broad with deep and easily navigable waters. The number of vessels visiting the port
indicates the richness
and prosperity of the
surrounding district,
which is largely de-
pendent on the cultiva-
tion of sugar. South
of the Clarence the
attempts to grow sugar
have been a failure.
Farther north is
the entrance to another
river — the Richmond.
Its lontr stretches of
wet sands and sad-
coloured swamps are
not inviting ; and the
line of breakers sweep-
ing in a curve a little
way from the coast
shows where the for-
midable bar is situated,
and explains the small-
ness of the traffic.
But if the immediate
shore is low and un-
interesting, it is a constant pleasure to watch the gradual unfolding of new effects on those
inland mountains, which by degrees approach the coast, terminating at length in the bold
promontory of Cape Byron, whose precipices rise high up to its wooded crest, towering
above the surrounding shores so as to give the sailor warning of the reefs and foam-
clad dangers that skirt its base. As our Australian poet, Brunton Stephens, writes : —
The grandeur of the lone old promontory ;
The distant bourne of hills in purple guise,
Athrob with soft enchantment ; high in glory
The peak of Warning bosomed in the skies !
North of the Richmond sandy beaches extend for many miles with plains behind,
the coast-ranges forming a background, the peaks called the Twins being noticeable
landmarks. Then comes a wide area, where the dashing of breakers and the constant
hiss of the subsiding foam mark the spot where Cook's ship more than a century ago
nearly came to grief. No little skill and care is requisite to steer safely through these
GRANITE ROCKS, MOUNT KOSCIUSKO.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
125
successive reefs ; and
it is easy to under-
stand why Cook gave
the name of Point
Danger to that shel-
ving cape beyond the
breakers. Castingf a
glance inland we see
a range of high
mountains — the Mac-
pherson Range — with
blue-tinted peaks
rising nearly four
thousand feet into the
sky; it is this range,
sweeping down to the
plain, that forms the
headland of the
Point. After having
gradually descended
to the sea-level, it
runs under water a
long way out to sea,
forming the treacher-
ous Danger Reefs.
Once safely round
Point Danger, the
coast of New South
Wales is left behind,
and that of Queens-
land begins ; the bold
and rugged Macpher-
son Range, a lateral
spur of the Big Divide, running almost at right angles to the main chain and termina-
ting on the coast, forms part of the northern boundary-line of the former colony.
VVENTWORTH FALLS, BLUE MOUNTAINS.
Mountains.
The mountains of Australia are not remarkable for altitude, being all below the
perpetual snow-line; and they have no active volcano to enhance their interest. In some
far distant ages their height may have been proportionate to their gigantic bulk, and in
some dim future they may possess a history and a romance as thrilling or inspiring as
those lingering like familiar spirits about every crag, peak and ravine of Europe and of
Asia. A tremendous geological age, and an absolute babyhood of human interest and
effort, are characteristic of Australian mountains, as of everything else on Austral earth.
, ,6 A UHTHALASM ILL (fSTHA TH/J,
ihc i\T%K itrirad vitm (A ihe Au«traliaii a^fdilUrra iM*m^ «"> mA a am^/an/umAy f am m-
\inn'AtM <aith «rl<;vat(on, l/ut % \mxt'w.t i4 im:v4M hundred miU» m hngik httwttm im>
oeeskn% Ka*t ami wtr«t %n the wat«rr» from it» rkl^e; Umsm; to tJi« Pacific Oeeaflu flmw;
tn tbi; Indian. Th^; mcrn oi th« inrmttr di«char;^e upon the coast, wlule tliose of dbe
oth<;r wandf;r «luKf^i<»hly, and in no j^rcat y»\\tnw% acutm tim iffrtat pbim of the intcnor.
wh<rrir th«ry join oihrrr rivers, which in turn (low on, still in a «outlvwectefly d&cctioa,
diminishing; in numt>«:r a<» they pUKtxd, like the gathered thread* of a «kdn« until tlicy
meet the Murray, which diwchar^^eK into Lake Alexandrina, The most cfaaractemtically
mountainous part of . Australia lies in its sout}w:astem comer, for here » the Highest
point, here is the larf^cst area of elevated land, and from this part runs to the north
tliL' l)ivi(lin)( Kan)(e of Ivastern Australia, and also the great lateral spur to the west
which forms the Dividing Kange of Victoria,
The first point of im(>ortancc in the New South Wales portion of the Australian
Alps is the Pilot, rising over six thousand feet above the level of the sea, the next in
order —the Kam Head of the early navigators — having an additional eight hundred feet ;
but these |>eaks are totally eclipsed by the group in the Central Alps known as the
Kosciusko group, which is the most Alpine in its character in the entire range. Of
these, Kosciusko — so named by Count Strzlecki in memory of his distinguished countrjman.
the hero of Poland — was long thought to be the highest point in the Australian Conti-
nent, Inil I)r, von Lcndcnfeld has shown Mount Townsend to have a superior elevation
of eighty-five feet, A thorough examination of these peaks was conducted by Mr.
Hetts, of the New South Wales Survey Department, and they are now amongst the
best known of the Australian mountains.
There ■ is no sharpness or abruptness in the form of Mount Kosciusko. An
Australian driver would take his coach and four to its topmost peak and drive about
the huge stone cairn, which bears the inscription of many visitors. Nor is great
height shown by a wonderfully expansive view, Kosciusko fs a hummock of a great
table-land, not a cone or peak springing from a plain. A rugged series of mountain
heads rise on every side. From five thousand to si,\ thousand five hundred feet is
their average height, and the monarch of all claims the altitude of seven thousand
three hundred and fifty one feet. Throughout the winter months the snow lies deep
on Kosciusko, and the wild cattle are down in the valleys. It is unbroken solitude,
the wliite peace of Nature, beneath which grow slowly the rare and beautiful wild-
plants, to l)ud wllii the melting of the snow in the spring-time and to blossom through
lilt: long anil by no means oppressive summer. There is snow in some sunless crannies
of that mountain head which no December melts, and every June freezes. But over the
greater breadth of his summit, gray rock with black earth appears, bearing from November
to January a luxuriant carpet of bloom — flowers strange to the dwellers in lower lands,
representatives of the lily and ranunculus and aster tribes, with heath-like plants not more
than six inches high, but fragrant and dense, A little lower on the eastern slope is the
tiny Lake Albina, from which starts the Snowy River, most impetuous and direct in its
course of all Australian streams, and twenty miles farther on, and two thousand feet lower,
is a main source of the Murray in the Tooma River, But this corner of the colony abounds
in water-courses, a great number of streams taking their rise in these Alpine solitudes.
TOPOGKA/'ifv or Nnw sour// wales.
1*7
128 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Northward from its starting-point in the Alps, and in its axis generally parallel with the
coast, runs this great range. It changes its name as many of our Australian rivers change
their names, the continuity not being recognized by the first discoverers. At Kosciusko it
is called the Muniong Chain, and this range runs parallel to the Gourock Spur, with
Jindulian, its highest point, four thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea.
Around the head-waters of the Murrumbidgee, the Great Divide and its lateral spurs
are known as the Monaro and Murrumbidgee Ranges. The former reaches its greatest
elevation at the head of the Kybean River, and the latter culminates in Marragural,
nearly seven thousand feet. Continuing northward, the Cullarin Range, with its
Mundoonen Peak, leads on to the minor spurs known as the Hunter, Mittagong and
Macquarie Ranges, and the cordillera east of Sydney is called the Blue Mountains.
Here are many notable points, highest of which is Mount Beemarang, over four thou-
sand feet, which altitude is nearly attained by Mount- Clarence in this same division of
the Great Divide. The average elevation of the main chain at this part is three thou-
sand three hundred feet, and the Blue Mountains proper extend from the thirty-fourth
parallel of latitude northward to the Liverpool Range. At Monaro the height is much
less than on the principal part of the Muniong Range, yet it is sufficient to produce a
long and rigorous winter, even in the towns that nestle in the valleys, or on the slopes
of the hills. But north of Monaro there is a decided drop. The plateau of the main
range is here comparatively narrow ; th::re are no towering peaks, no stupendous crags
or lofty isolated summits. The backbone is less marked, and otherwise so level and
diversified in character as almost to escape recognition. In the latitude of Goulburn the
plateau widens out, but the general height is not more than two thousand feet ; and on
to the northward it grows still more elevated and rugged.
At the Blue Mountains — " The Mountains " par excellence to the people of Sydney —
the backbone asserts itself and takes bold shape again. The grim escarpment of the
seaward face of this section of the Big Divide is associated with all the history, trials
and efforts of the early Australian colonists. Governor Phillip saw it in his first journey
inland ; looked out towards it from his Rose Hill farm and his settlement on Toon-
gabbie and Castle Hill. The bold blue bastion guarded all the secret of the inner land
through the first twenty years of Australian history. A road painfully made by convict
labour, and for years painfully traversed, opened the far west to commerce, but only
with the railway did the beauties and pleasures and glories of the mountains become
accessible to the multitudes of the city. They are all within an easy journey now.
Without serious effort or hardship or privation of any kind, the tourist of to-day may
stand on the precise spot where, after much trial and endurance, the gallant little band
of first explorers stood ; may pass by the graves of the soldiers who kept the first
camp at Blackheath ; may look at the marvel of Govett's Leap ; at the Grose and
Kanimbula Valleys ; at the multitude of waterfalls ; and — softest and perhaps loveliest
picture of all — at the plains and the river below Lapstone Hill.
But he who would really know the mountains, must give weeks and months to them ;
must not only see the mysteries and beauties of the everlasting gulfs, the falling waters,
the distant forest-carpet and the lace-like fringe of ferns and flowers, but he must let the
majestic colouring and clothing of the sunset sink into his being. He must watch while
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
129
riMM
lili. KATOOMBA FALLS AND
THE THREE SISTERS.
Nature weaves the robes of
imperial purple and royal gold ;
while down in the gorges the
pale gray mists and the deep
blue shadows are prepared ;
while every salient point, ever)'
unshadowed ridge is flooded
with fiery rays ; while the bare
crags gleam and glow in the
lambent flame of the sunset as
if in process of transmutation,
and the gnarled and stunted
trees of the summit stand out
in weird and fantastic outline
in the burning spectral light
The tourist who starts from
Sydney to study the scener>'
of the Blue Mountains travels
through some of the most charming country in New South Wales, where the original
wildness of the bush has been subdued, and the landscape looks almost English in its
I30 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
character. Thirty miles from Sydney is the Nepean, the water-level of which is at this
point not more than eighty feet above the high-tide mark of Port Jackson. Across
the river lies a short plain backed by a steep, densely-timbered slope of sandstone rocks.
This is the beginning of the Blue Mountains. The railway climbs the escarpment by
a zig-zag, achieving in this way an ascent of nearly a thousand feet. The traveller as
he rises gets a view of a lovely landscape — a rich plain with a river sauntering through
it ; enclosed farms with their variegated patches of different crops ; settlers' homes
scattered irregularly about ; beyond, the half-cleared paddocks, mostly devoted to cattle-
grazing ; and in the distance the white houses of the elevated suburbs of Sydney, and
the wreathed smoke from the many steamers passing up and down the coast.
Once on the top of the Zig-zag the traveller is' at the beginning of a great plateau
of sandstone rock. The material of which it is composed is believed to be the detritus
of an older rock deposited here long after the coal-seams had been laid in their beds.
The general opinion is that this sand was deposited in water, but the Rev. J. E.
Tenison-Woods has urged strong reasons in favour of its all being wind-blown. In any
case, it was submerged, and covered with the same Wainamatta shale that overspreads
the Sydney Plains. It was then re-lifted and mostly denuded of its shale covering, which
remains in only one or two places to tell the tale. This sandstone has been deeply
furrowed, so that it now consists of ridges and gorges. Here and there the trap-rock
has burst through, as at Mount Tomah, Mount Hay, Mount King George and Mount
Wilson, and the generally sterile soil is suddenly exchanged for rich land densely
covered with forest-trees, giant ferns, and a thick jungle of matted vines and creepers.
Across these mountains the line taken by the road, and followed by the railway line,
keeps to the ridge that separates the valleys of the Grose on the north side, and the
Cox on the south. This ridge is very circuitous, and rises regularly all the way to
Blackheath. On either side are to be seen lateral spurs and the valleys between them,
the scenery having some variety, but at the same time preserving a general sameness.
The road and railway line cross and re-cross each other, for the ridge is in places very
narrow, and nowhere does it attain any considerable breadth. These mountains are now
becoming the great sanatorium of Sydney. The railroad rises from the plains con-
tinuously till an elevation of three thousand eight hundred feet is reached, and there
are stations every few miles. This gives a special value to these mountains as a health-
resort, because invalids can choose their elevation to suit their taste or their complaint.
At Wentworth begins the great waterfall country, for here the valleys are deeper,
and the hill-sides are more abrupt. In dry weather the quantity of water falling over
the rock-edges dwindles to small proportions, as the gathering-ground is so small. But
though the views are mostly named from the falls, the real grandeur of the scenery lies
in the valleys, where depth and distance deceive from their very magnitude, and where
the sombre hue of the gum-forests, far down below and beyond, contrasts with the
bright colour of the cliffs reddened with iron-stone stains. " The Great Falls," which bear
appropriately the name of that famed Australian who was among the first to cross their
water-shed, make a descent in three successive cascades of a thousand feet, having at
their base a tall point, which from above seems but a bank of moss half-hidden by the
mist of the broken water. At Katoomba there is one great fall, a sheer drop of two
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES,
I'? I
hundred feet over the edge of
the cliff ; but perhaps there is
more beauty in the lesser cas-
cades, of which there are many
within a mile of Katoomba, on
the northern edge of the Kanim-
bula Valley. Ten miles farther
on, and southward from Black-
heath, is a valley without a
waterfall, but with a beauty
peculiarly its own. It is called
the Mermaid's Cave — a channel
or cranny in a great gray rock,
that almost divides the vale.
All above is a rugged, coarse,
common-place Australian gully, all below is soft, luxurious beauty. This is the rest and
the peace of the mountains. The grandeur, the profundity of gloom, the Titanic force
and passion must be sought in another place, and in none better, perhaps, than in the
Valley of the Grose, at Govett's Leap.
A mile to the northward of Blackheath Station this greatest marvel of the moun-
tains is hidden, unperceived from the railway-track by reason of the mountainous gum-
'32
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
forest. The road to the Leap lies to the right of the line, falling by an easy descent ;
and the first promise of wonderland is given by the characteristic blue of the hills
beyond the huge chasm, seen occasionally through the trees. But the veil is drawn
abruptly when the last turn is made, and there is nothing between the spectator and
the vastness of the gorge. From a ledge of gray rock, thinly robed with a few wind-
tortured trees and scrub, the view is down into a gulf whose floor, though clothed with
a great forest, undulates like the face of a rolling, but unbroken sea. The tree-tops are
twelve hundred feet below. The Grose River runs beneath, but it is not heard, and
only occasionally is there a glimpse of the tall tree-ferns upon its banks, or a flash of
its silver current, where, after heavy rains, its flood-tide rush has torn a broader gap
through the leaves. Out into the gulf runs a little peninsula whose extreme point bears
the name of " The Pulpit," and from " The Pulpit's " ledge one may look down into
the abyss, or glancing across to the right, may see the precipice that bears the name
of Govett's Leap, so called after the surveyor who "first discovered it. The water is
collected and held in a broad morass at the head of a little gully, and filtering through
gathers in a long shallow basin and overflows its edge, which is the lip of the gorge.
In summer weather it is but a fairy fall, an undine maiden's bridal wreath, a thin
veil of silvery spray
and transparent water
shimmering upon the
surface of the brown
rock, in every nook
and cranny of which
shine wet fern-leaves
of a bright yet tender
green. It drops five
hundred and twenty
feet, breaks on a pro-
trudinsj ledye at the
cliff^'s foot, and loses
itself in a bank of
ferns on the edge of
the forest. These
different waterfalls —
though each with spe-
cial characteristics of
its own — have general
features common to
them all, and the lover
of Nature who lingers long enough at any one may saturate himself with all the inspi-
ration which this bold and beautiful plateau can give. There is something sacred and
secret about all great mountains which impresses men with the sense of their own
littleness, and this huge rocky mass, lying as it does in sight of a great and populous
city, is no incompetent interpreter of the lessons that Nature has to teach to Man.
5*^"
MOUNT WINGEN.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
^11
I'our miles beyontl Blackheath is Mount Victoria, close to which is Mount Piddington,
a favourite point of view with tourists. The last and some of the fairest of the water-
falls arc about Mount Victoria, and by an easy drive beyond the peak on the northern
side of the line Mount York is reached, down whose western face Blaxland, Wentworth
and Lawson descended on their first journey. The Lithgow Valley is the western limit
MOUNT LINDSAY, IN THE MACPHERSON kANoh.
of the Blue Mountains proper, but the great ridge continues its northward course, the
branch railroad to Mudgee skirting it at some little distance inland. At Capertee the
view seaward is down a gorge as deep as that of the Grose, the great cavity here
having long ago received the name of " The Gulf." At the head of the Goulburn
River, the principal tributary of the Hunter, the range is at its farthest point from the
sea. It then trends eastward, and becomes known as the Liverpool Range, first sighted
by Oxley, whose name has been given to its highest peak, four thousand five hundred
feet above the level of the sea. At the foot of this range, near the township of Scone,
is the singular phenomenon of a mountain on fire. It is the one burning mountain of
the Continent, but its fires are not volcanic. The nether forces beneath Australia do not
show upon the surface, and earthquake shocks are rarely felt. Wingen is not a volcano,
but a mountain in whose face a coal seam has become ignited, and the flames, eating
into the hill, have followed the seam. Mounds of scoricB lie about its mouth, and
sulphurous dust is in places solidified, or formed into crystals.
134 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Through the western gorges of the Liverpool Range, Allan Cunningham, botanist
and explorer, found the road northward which he named the Pandora Pass. The railway
from Newcastle to the north country climbs the mountains here, making a bold sweep
up their face and, piercing the ridge with a tunnel, coming out on the Liverpool Plains.
From this point the range runs north, forming a fairly broad plateau, over large areas
of which the soil is rich with the decomposition of the intrusive trap-rock, and thus is
reached the New England Range, forming the vast northern table-land. The average
elevation of this portion of the Great Divide is three thousand five hundred feet, and
its highest point, the renowned Ben Lomond, looks down from an altitude of five
thousand feet. A lateral spur is the Macpherson Range, which runs east to Point
Danger and culminates in Mount Lindsay, with a height of seven hundred feet above
that of Ben Lomond in the main range. This great table-land to the north of the
Liverpool mountain chain grows wheat in abundance, and supports a numerous and
increasing population, who find health and wealth on its well-watered, breezy surface.
Two hundred miles it stretches, not without patches of romantic beauty and glimpses of
grandeur in mountain and in valley. On its seaward slopes there is wildness enough,
as those settlers discovered who sought a more direct outlet to the sea than that
through Newcastle.
Some of the grandest mountains are set in the extreme north-eastern corner of the
colony. They are very little known, and many of them may never have been ascended ;
but from the tropical fringe of the sugar-lands, or the bold headland of Point Danger,
to the magnificent height of Mount Lindsay, they are beautiful in form and in foliage
beyond all other hills of the colony. Mount Lindsay, with its castellated summit, may
well be described as the giant warder of our northern frontier. Seen from the heights
above Casino, or from the great table-land, his grim front rises through the forests a
sheer crag, a thousand feet in height, robed with foliage, and with his wet rocky
helmet flashing jewel-like in the sun.
The cradles of some of the greatest Australian waters are about these northern
mountains. Here spring brooks which, later on, combine with others to form the great
Darling. Westward they all flow from the mountain slopes ; and on what a long and
marvellous journey they go — out on to the broad western plains, down the tortuous
courses of the Darling and the Murray till they find the sea on the southern coast !
And the waters of the eastern slopes, what will they discover ? They see such abrupt
contrasts, such varieties of vegetation, as no other Australian waters are privileged to
see. Their birthplace is in the highlands, amongst shrubs of poor and wintry growth ;
but in a few miles they come down to warm and fertile dales, through which they
gleam and sparkle on their journey to the sea, putting a fringe about the robe of the
Big Divide which in its richness is unapproached by any other forest of the Continent.
The greatest breadth of this tropical verdure, which bears the prosaic and misleading
name of the Big Scrub, spreads itself about those feet of the mountains which come
down to the sea by the little towns of the Richmond River.
At Mount Lindsay ends the New South Wales portion of the mountain chain. The
Cordillera, running generally parallel with the direction of the coast, comprises either in
its principal range, or in its lateral spurs, all the great mountains, the water-gathering or
k
THE WATERFATX AT GOVETT S LKAT.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 135
water-dividing grounds of the colony. Sometimes high, bold, and wild — a serrated or
razor-backed divide ; at others a broad plateau, affording in semi-tropical latitudes the
conditions of the temperate zone ; rugged and desolate over many miles, showing only
the l:)arren sandstone, and that poorly fertilized by the decay of its own meagre vegeta-
tion, with here and there large fertile patches of the decomposed trap-rock which mark
the old volcanic overflows.
The continuity of the table-land of New South Wales is broken by the Hunter
River, which geographically divides it into a northern and a southern portion. The
northern stretches from the Liverpool Range to the border, and far into Queensland.
Its eastern edge is a mountain chain, and it approaches the coast to within thirty-five
miles, reaching in some places a height of three thousand six hundred feet above the
sea-level ; its average elevation, however, does not exceed two thousand five hundred feet.
Its declivity thence to the sea is steep and rugged, but it slopes gradually to the west
The corresponding southern table-land begins with the mountains skirting the head of the
Goulburn, and extends in a southerly direction into the colony of Victoria. It is remark-
ably similar to the northern plateau, though its elevation is somewhat less, not exceeding
an average of two thousand two hundred feet. West of these elevated portions of the
colony stretch the great plains of the interior, with a slope so insignificant as to
be insufficient for carrying off the water deposited on their surface by the heavy rains,
and these vast tracts of level land constitute nearly half of the entire colony.
The coast-ranges occupy an intermediate position between the great cordillera and
the Pacific Ocean, and are generally minor ranges running parallel to the tables of the
Divide. Mount Seaview is the only peak of these attaining a remarkable altitude, rising
six thousand feet, giving birth to the Hastings River, and looking right out to the
Pacific across sixty miles of varied country. Other prominent mountains of these coast-
ranges are Mount Coolungubbera, over three thousand seven hundred feet high, and
Mount Budawang, three thousand eight hundred feet, which are noted peaks of the
southern portion of this mountainous parallel to the Great Divide. Besides these coast-
spurs a number of isolated peaks stud the coast-line and the plains of the inland
country. Some of the most conspicuous of these points have been already described in
the chapter on the coast scenery of New South Wales, and although mountains of this
character occur in several parts of the colony, they do not materially affect its geo-
graphical features.
In the far west there is no continuous mountain range, but there are groups
remarkable if only by reason of their isolation. Such are the Grey and Stanley or
Barrier Ranges, which attain in some of their peaks a height of two thousand feet,
terrible memorials of hideous droughts, bearing nothing but scrub and ^pinifex, and
inhabited only by wild dogs and a few carrion birds. A rare wet season may bring
them a temporary coat of green, and start salt and cotton bush about their slopes to
produce crops of drought-withstanding food. And in their valleys a few adventurous
diggers may be busy ; but these sultry dales are only the skirts or outposts of the great
inner land of wildness, vastness, and awe-inspiring solitude. Between these western hills
and the foot of the cordillera lies that great plain-country of the colony through the
heart of which the Darling winds its tortuous way. There are no hills — scarcely undula-
136
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
tions — and only the beds of the water-courses indicate the fall of the land. In many
parts the soil is rich, but the rainfall is so precarious that a carpet of green is the
exception and not the rule, the vegetation being principally salt-bush. Kendall, in some
graphic verses, has well described the summer aspect of these arid stretches of sun-
scorched soil : —
Swarthy wastelands, wide and woodless, glittering miles and miles away.
Where the south wind seldom wanders, and the winters will not stay ;
Lurid wastelands, pent in silence thick with hot and thirsty sighs,
Where the scanty thorn-leaves twinkle with their haggard hopeless eyes ;
Furnaced wastelands, lumched with hillocks like to stony billows rolled
Where the naked flats lie swirling, like a sea of darkened gold ;
Burning wastelands, glancing upward with a weird and vacant stare,
Where the languid heavens quiver o'er red depths of stirless air !
SANDSTONE PEAKS OF THE FAR WEST.
Rivers.
The river system of New South
Wales divides itself naturally into two
parts, namely, the eastern and western
flowing waters. All the rivers take
their rise in some part of the great
Cordillera range, which runs roughly
parallel with the coast, though at a
distance varying from thirty to one
hundred and fifty miles. Throughout
its whole length this range constitutes
the Big Divide, the water falling on
its eastern slope flowing to the sea, and that on the western side going into the Murray.
The division of the colony thus made is very unequal in area, three-fourths of it lying
to the west of the main range. The whole of the surplus rainfall on the inland area
drains into the Murray at Wentworth, the principal tributaries of this main artery being
A SANDSTONE TABLE-LAND.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
^il
the Upper Murray, the Murrumbidgee, the Lachlan and the Darling. The last-named
has some of its sources in Queensland, and the whole basin thus drained is estimated
at one hundred and ninety-eight thousand square miles. The area is vast enough to fill
I- 1*
NOTHING I.\
_N . 1 I \ (. i.)L A 1 ;.
a Mississippi or an Amazon, and yet so uncertain and occasionally so scanty is the rain-fall,
and so great is the ground-soakage, that the Murray at its outlet into Lake Alexandrina
is not really a large river. Careful calculations have shewn that there is carried to the
sea only a small fraction of the rain-fall ; the rest soaks into the soil, and when in
excess finds its way to the coast by under-ground channels. These subterranean supplies
are now being tapped with the best results.
The Murray, which is the southernmost of the western rivers of New South Wales,
takes its rise near Mount Kosciusko in the Muniong Range of the Australian Alps, and
from the source of its tributary, the Indi, to Ghowella below the junction of the Darling
it forms the boundary of New South Wales. It is occasionally navigable as far as
Albury, when the river is in flood from heavy rains or the melting of the snow on the
Alps ; but practically Echuca is the head of navigation. This river was first opened
to commerce by Captain Cadell, who tempted by a bonus offered by the South
Australian Government built the Lady Aiigusta in Sydney, navigated her round the
coast, took her over the dangerous bar at the mouth, and ascended the river as far as
Swan Hill, where the Victorian stream, the Marraboor, flows into the Murray.
The Murrumbidgee, the next river to the north, also takes its rise in the Australian
Alps, not very far from the source of the Murray, and it drains the greater part of the
north-lying slopes of that mountain mass. The various streams, which flow north for a
time, turn to the west and unite to form the Murrumbidgee, which then runs westerly
till it joins the Lachlan at Nap Nap. Its drainage area is estimated at five and twenty
thousand square ' miles. It is occasionally navigable as far as Gundagai, but steamers
seldom go beyond Wagga Wagga, and the water-transit is now largely superseded by
the railway. Next, in order among the northern rivers is the Lachlan, its principal
138 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
sources being in the ranges between Goulburn and Bathurst. This stream is hardly at
all navigable, but it drains a basin of twenty-seven thousand square miles.
The Darling drains the western rain-fall from Bathurst to the northern boundary of
the colony. Its principal tributaries — the Bogan, the Macquarie and the Castlereagh — run
for a considerable distance north-west, and this greatly puzzled the early explorers, who
thought they had found the sources of some river that would empty itself on the
northern coast, and it was no little disappointment to find that all these streams
converged into the channel of the Darling, running to the south-west. The general
system of the western water-shed, therefore, roughly resembles the shape of an outspread
hand, the wrist being the outlet and the fingers the great feeders. All these branches
have picturesque reaches at the beginning, where they are falling from the hills ; but
once out upon the plains they have but few tributaries, and they zig-zag slowly across
the level country, their course being generally marked by a thin fringe of stunted gum-
trees. They are welcome enough to the thirsty traveller, and the water-frontages are
highly prized by stock-owners, but they present little to charm an artist's eye. When the
waters are up there is something picturesque in the steam-boats pufiing along through
the gum-tree groves with tremendous noise and stir ; by day darkening the soft blue of
the sky with smoke, and by night belching forth meteoric showers of sparks from their
funnels, and throwing long rays from their powerful lamps into the weird and silent
darkness of the forest that fringes the river's banks. Sometimes the waters are high
enough for these steamers to disregard the channel and, cutting off the bends, to pass
over the fallen tree-tops and sunken logs ; but in ordinary seasons the navigation is
most tortuous, and the risk of empalement on some of the innumerable snags that lie
hidden in the channel is not inconsiderable. Along the plains the red-gum is the prin-
cipal river timber. On some rich flats, where the overflow has carried seeds, the
marginal strip broadens to a river-side forest, in which some charming vistas and natural
avenues may be found, the trees tall and well-crowned with dark-green foliage, but a
few varieties of wattle are almost the only undergrowth. In the summer of a dry
season the outlook ov^er all the western country is monotonous in the extreme. Then
the great rivers are shrunk to puny streams, and a man may wade across the Darling,
or swim across the Murray in half a dozen strokes ; then the tributaries on the plains
and back-blocks have ceased to run, the back-water creeks are covered with a brittle gauze
of marsh-film, their courses being marked by only a fringe of stunted box-trees, and their
disused channels shewn by patches of bare sand or shingle, hot as the desert floor.
On the eastern water-shed the character of the rivers is altogether different. Some
of them are short, and make a straight and quick descent to the coast, their velocity
being checked when they reach the narrow strip of plain, where they often form lagoons
closed in by a sand-bar, through which, when their torrents are swollen, they force a
passage to the sea. The smaller streams to the north of Cape Howe are all very
much of the same character — mountain torrents in wet weather, disconnected pools in
dry, but nearly all watering a rich though narrow plain before their course is finished.
The principal river to the south of .Sydney is the Shoalhaven, which for a considerable
distance runs northward, being forced in that direction by the secondary coast-range ;
but it turns to the east in the latitude of Goulburn, and cuts its way to the sea after a
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
139
run of two hundred and sixty miles. The only considerable stream between that point
and Sydney is the George's River, which also has a northerly course for some distance,
but it turns to the east at Liverpool, makes a
curve south and debouches into Botany Bay.
But north of Sydney is a noble stream
which in its lower reaches is called the
Hawkesbury. Some of its tributaries, rising
as far south as Goulburn, are likewise forced
into a northerly course by the secondary
coastal range. The Nepean and the Nattai
drain the western slope of the coast-range,
while the Warragamba, which joins the Wollon-
dilly, drains the southern slopes of the Blue
Mountains. The united waters go north as
far as Wiseman's Ferry, where they turn to
the east and find their outlet to the sea
through Broken Bay. This river thus almost
encircles the metropolitan county of Cumber-
land, for some of the tributaries to the Nepean
rise on the western slopes of the hill at the
back of Wollongong, and it is from these
streams running down in sandstone gorges
that the water-supply of Sydney is now
obtained. At a lower point in the Nepean
is the Camden District, to w^iich the cattle
that escaped from the first settlement betook
themselves as the best grazing-ground near
Sydney. Lower down the river, from Penrith
to Richmond and Windsor, is a broad valley
with rich soil, a deposit from frequent Hoods,
and this was the first agricultural land farmed
by the early settlers. The river, therefore,
which enfolds the metropolitan county as in
its arm, is identified with the struofo-les of the
00
young colony, and is still closely connected
with the needs of Sydney. It gave the settlers
their first rich pasturage ; its banks were
the scene of the first great wool-farm ; its
rich flats gave the first harvest ; and the
gorges in its upper reaches now give their
daily supply of water to the city, to whose inhabitants it is a holiday play-ground.
Towards its mouth the Hawkesbury becomes romantic. This part of the river is
to Australia what the Rhine is to Europe. It is the river of the artist and the tourist.
and a favourite haunt of the yachtsman. The great bridge of the Newcastle Railway
o
a:
<
aa
Jl
O
O
■A
■3
<
140
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
crosses it just about the point which divides the river proper from the estuarj'. Bold
cHffs rise three hundred feet from the water's edge, their faces of weather-worn sand-
stone displaying countless tints of red and brown ; and great hills, timbered from base
to summit, tower above, and are reproduced in the perfect mirror of the water below.
Reeds grow freely upon any bit of swampy fore-shore, and when a little patch of
alluvial soil has been so far built up as to harden and become sweet, the corn shoots
tall and fair ; and at evening or morning, or at any hour of a bright winter's day,
there is a beauty about the narrowing estuary which pen and pencil seek in \ain to
depict. The beauty of form, the graceful lines of the hills, the long water-tongue
stretching out into the sea, the artist may depict ; but who can paint the soft raiment
of atmosphere — that finest of all textures woven by Nature out of cloud and river mist,
the soft, intangible film that
beautifies all the crown and
front of the mountain, as a
smile illumines the human
face — the violet lights, the
purple shadows, the bands
of emerald below and the
shield of sapphire above, the
river of gold that seems to
roll out of the setting sun,
and to flood all valleys and
crown all hill-tops with every
dying day ?
Forty miles to the north
of the Hawkesbur)' is the
mouth of the f^unter — a
river which drains eight
thousand square miles, and
which is navigable as far as
Morpeth, thirty miles inland.
1 he great coal-shipping port
of Newcastle lies just inside
the entrance. On both sides
of the river the immediate
country is tiat, and nearly
all the way to Morpeth may
be seen rich lucerne pad-
docks, yielding six crops a year, which make of this district the great hay-field of Sydney.
This rich soil is the result of the alluvial deposit of centuries, and the ground is still
from time to time enriched by floods. Above Maitland the river is tapped for the
water-supply of all the townships between that point and the sea, and a quarter of a
million sterling has already been expended in carrying out the necessary work of storage
and distribution. The valley of the Upper Hunter is more undulating, but still richly-
.y':-\%,^
THE XEVEAN NEAR PENRITH.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES,
141
grassed, and on the prosperous farms and the fine stations of this district are to be
found the children and the grandchildren of some of the earliest settlers the colony knew.
The Paterson is a beautiful little river which joins the Hunter at Hinton 'township,
seven miles below West Maitland, and runs through rich red soil, largely occupied by
farmers and vignerons. The ground is fertile, and the grapes grow rich and abundant.
The fig-tree and the pomegranate flourish luxuriantly, and melons lie as thick as weeds
about their roots.
Steam-ships ply be-
tween the townships
on the river and the
port of Newcastle,
and above the head of navigation the river winds through many leagues of beauty.
Scattered round its upper waters are rich cattle-stations and noted stud-farms, which
are brought at once to the memor\' of those familiar with Australian sport by the
mention of such names as Tocal and Segenhoe.
North of the Hunter lie three rivers, the Hastings, the Manning and the Macleay,
which have mucli the same general character. They roll down from the slopes of the
New England table-land, coming out of timbered mountains down to rich valleys
originally well stocked with cedars and pines, and across plains well adapted to
prosperous agriculture, but whose development has been somewhat retarded by the
badness of the harbours of the l)ar-mouthed rivers', the transit of produce being
thus made difficult and expensive. Farther to the north is the Clarence, a noble and
navigable river. Notwithstanding a broad, difficult and shifting bar — which the engineers
are busy reducing — large steamers enter the heads and ascend to the wharves of Grafton,
forty-five miles from the sea. Vox a considerable stretch up the river there are low
banks and sand-shoals, and then come wooded isles and fertile shores with frequent
jetties ; the smoke of many sugar-mills indicating that the rich lands are turned to a
good account. It is hoped that the river may be rendered navigable for small craft as
142
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
THE HUNTER AT MAITLAXI).
far as Solferino, one hundred and thirty miles from
the heads, from which point up to the table-land the
ascent is steep ; but notwithstanding this a projected
line of railway has been surveyed.
Twenty miles to the north of the Clarence the
Richmond springs out of Mount Lindsay, and although it also drains an area of rich
land, its bar Is unfortunately worse than that of the former river. Steamers, however,
go in and out, though subject to many delays, making up to Lismore on one branch,
and up to Casino on the other. Among the lower reaches of the stream the shores are
flat, but on the upper waters there are many charming vistas, the overhanging foliage
being of rare luxuriance. The Tweed is the most northerly river of the colony. It
rises in Mount Warning and makes a rapid course of thirty miles to the sea. The soil
of the district is rich and the vegetation most luxuriant ; and perhaps no greater
contrast is possible than the magnificent flora of this well-watered country and the arid
districts traversed b\' the western rivers we have previously described.
The lakes of New South Wales are neither numerous nor important. A great
number of so-called lakes are merely salt-water estuaries formed by the inroads of the
sea on the softer portions of the coast. To this class belong Lake Illawarra, Lake
Macquarie, Lake Tuggerah and several others. Some of the coast lakes are merely
intercepted river outlets, banked up by sand-bars. The fresh-water lakes are for the
most part simply depressed surfaces where the storm-water collects into lagoons. The
western plains are so level, and are so little drained by continuous creeks, that after
heavy rains small shallow lakes of this kind abound. The squatters call them clay-pans,
and plough channels into them in order to collect as much water as possible, but they
rapidly dry up under the intense heat of the summer sun. Some of the larger natural
hollows are more permanent. Of these the most important is Lake George, which has,
however, been dry within the last half-century, and cattle have grazed over its bed.
Still it is the largest and undoubtedlv the finest fresh-water lake in the colon\-. It
TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
>43
is situated about twenty-five miles south-west of tiie town ol Goulburn on the border-
line between the counties of Argyle and Murray. It is twenty-five miles in len^nh and
eight miles in breadth, and lies at the feet of the Big Divide, on its western side. On
the other side of the ridge, and a few miles directly east of Lake George, is the little
sheet of fresh water known as Lake Hathurst. To the eastward of Jerilderie, in the
county Urana, is situated the small lake of the same name, and surrounding it are a few
lagoons, also dignified with the designation of lakes. Approaching the head-waters of the
Talyawalka, one of the tributaries of the Darling, are a chain of fresh-water swamps,
and on the western side of the same river the most important lagoons are Lakes
Menindie, Cawndilla, Tandon and Tandare ; farther north is the broad swamp called
Poopelloe Lake, but few of these are permanent. In the north-west corner of the
colony occurs another chain of so-called lakes, but they are little better than swamps,
,r^«-rT'»ii :
■^i^^^ei. ^M^^i^ig^'i'tii'iiipiNHy^^g?^
THE KIVKK PATERSON.
full in the rainy seasons, but drying rapidly with the approach of the summer heat.
The lake area is singularly small in a country containing three hundred and eleven thousand
and seventy-eight square miles, or one hundred and ninety-nine million ninety thousand
and two hundred and seventeen acres — a tract of country more than half as large again
as I'rance, or five times the area of England and Wales.
At one time the term New South Wales was applied to the entire eastern half of
the Continent, this being the name given it by Captain Cook who took possession of it
five different times, landing first at Botany Bay and finally at Possession Island, the
144
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
point at which the
great navigator bade
farewell to the land of
his discover)-. How-
ever, the name is now
used to designate only
the colony lying be-
tween twenty-eight and
thirty - seA'en degrees
south latitude, and the
meridians of one hun-
dred and forty-one and
one hundred and fifty-
four degrees east longi-
tude. Taken diagonally, its greatest length is nine hundred
miles, but its length due north and south is about six hun-
dred and fifty ; its greatest breadth is about seven hundred and
sixty miles. Its eastern side is longer than its western, and in shape
it is an irregular quadrangle. The colony of Queensland forms its
northern boundary, from which it is separated b\' the IJumaresq
River, the Dividing Range and Macpherson's Range. The Pacific Ocean bounds it on
the east, and the colony of Victoria on the south, from which it is separated by a
surveyed straight line from Cape Howe to the source of the Murray, thence by that
river to the meridian of one hundred and forty-one degrees east, which forms its western
limit and separates it from the colony of South Australia.
THK RICHMOND RIVER AT CORAKI.
.'.'^._
SUUTU HEAD LIGHT, NEAR THE ENTRANCE TO PORT JACKSON.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
THE HARBOUR.
/"^OMING towards Port Jackson from the east, at a distance of about sixty miles,
^^-^ when the last reflection of daylight has died out of the sky, and the stars are
shining through an even depth of gloom from the zenith to the water's edge, the
captain of any Sydney-bound craft will note, nearly where the sun has set, the first indi-
cation of a faintly luminous haze. That is the Sydney light, or rather the reflection of
the flash thrown up on the sky, for the tower and lantern are still below the horizon.
On every re-appearance this pale blue light becomes a little brighter, and presently a
movement like a very rapid play of faint aurora rays is noticeable. Then a spark, like
the nucleus of a comet, seems kindled just beneath the luminous beam — a spark that
glows for a moment and then expires, and is again enkindled, and now a little brighter —
a little brighter with every minute, a little larger with every quarter of an hour, till
two hours before the Heads are reached it has erown to be a flash of intense
brilliancy, and its long rays sweep the horizon, dividing the darkness of the night with
lines of living fire, and scoring the black surface of the ocean with bands of whitest flame.
All eyes are scanning the coast-line, which stands out clearly at each successive flash.
Right across the course it stretches, with no apparent opening. Yet almost straight for
the steep and rugged rock on which the light-house stands the ship is steered, till on a
nearer approach the flash is left a little on the port bow. For now another beacon has
appeared, red and steady, slightly to the north of the first light ; and between the two
is '.' The Gap " — a dip in the outline of the sea-cliff, over which pn a clear night the
glow of the Sydney lights may be seen. The Outer South Head, from which the
electric flash flames forth, is a high, bold headland to the south of "The Gap." It was
nearly under this perpendicular cliff, on a wild night black with tempest, and when the
old light was invisible during the severest gusts of the driving rain, that the ill-fated
,46 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Dunbar, though commanded by an experienced officer familiar with the Port, crashed upon
the rocks, and went down with the loss of all hands but one, who was ultimately rescued.
North of " The Gap " the cliff again rises, and then descends, trending at the same
time inland. Its extreme point is the Inner South Head, on which is the fixed red light
marking the entrance, and serving also as a warning against the short reef in which the
headland terminates. Even on a moonless night the grandeur of the entrance is visible.
The tall steep cliff of the North Head stands up sheer on the right, dark and sombre,
and straight in front is the bold outline of the Middle Head. But the breadtli of the
entrance and the depth of the water permit the vessel to proceed with unchecked speed;
and, in fact, nothing so impresses the traveller arriving by night as the ease and confi-
dence with which the largest vessel is taken in, so different from the cautious creeping
way in which harbours are frequently entered.
Once inside the North Head the traveller will notice that there is a large opening
to the right. This is the entrance to North Harbour and Middle Harbour; but it
is not the route to the city. On the port bow is seen a light-ship, anchored there to
mark the only obstruction in the entrance — a rocky patch known as the " Sow and
Pigs." Between these rocks and the nearest headland on either side lies the shoalest
part of the entrance, but having on it twenty feet of water at low-tide. To admit the
passage of the largest ships at all times a deep cut has been dredged in the eastern
channel, the course of which is indicated at night by lights along the shore, and in the
day-time by obelisks. Steering through this channel, and passing Shark Point and Shark
Island — names only too suggestive of a danger in which the Harbour abounds — the
magnificent sweep of the shore-line of Rose Bay is seen on the left, and on the right
Bradley's Head projecting into the water like a huge and lofty mole. Here begins the
Inner Harbour, and heedless of the sleepers in the villas that crown the heights the
cautious commander wakes all the echoes by a blast of his fog-horn, for he is entering
now the region of careful navigation, and is under strict regulations to announce his
advance and check his speed ; for this Inner Harbour is alive and active by night as
well as by day with colliers, ferr)-boats, coasters and fishing-craft.
At this point the signs of a great city burst into view. All ahead is light and
life ; lights twinkling through the trees of the shore on either hand ; lights moving
rapidly over the surface of the water between all the dark points in front ; lights beyond
the red spark which caps the round tower of l-'ort Denison ; and lines of lights where
the streets of the city climb and extend along the ridges of the hills. The great ship
moves slowly past the round tower, for coming out of different bays ferry-boats, to and
from North Shore, are crossing and re-crossing, and approaching may be the last boat
to Manly, and the nightly coasting-steamers leaving for Newcastle or the Illawarra port^.
On the left lie the men-o'-war at anchor, and perhaps from some deck, wh(;re the spread of
bunting and the brilliant illuminations betoken festival, may come strains of music, while
swift launches are darting hither and thither, keeping up communication with the shore.
Between Lavender Bay on the one side and Circular Quay on the other the lights
multiply and thicken — white lights from overhanging windows, red lights and green from
piers and ships, reproducing themselves as luminous columns in the depths. If the
water be still they are so many lines of many-coloured flame, but the plash of an oar
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
'47
fefe% ||lii
li
^m.
IjiMp ^^
m. %
ft-
' i
'' m
Jk
,48 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
or the dash of a paddle-boat sets them on the dance. They entwine, intermingle, become
convoluted — blent and broken in a maze of colour like the transformation scene of a
pantomime. The Circular Quay is brilliant with the electric-beam which, piercing through
the rigging and reflected from the sides of the vessels that crowd the wharves, gives to
the water-surface a steely blue, showing up with strong lights and shades the outlines of
giant ships and ocean-steamers lying round the wharf, and the shadowy masses of the
great wool-stores behind.
Aloft, tier above tier on the westward side, the lighted windows of old Sydney
look down upon the Cove where the first anchor was dropped, close upon a hundred
years ago ; for the steepest part of all the city was the earliest occupied, the settlers
clambering up these cliffs, and lingering in sight of the water from which they seemed
loath to break away. This high ground is kept in view as the ship rounds the embattled
rise of Dawes' Point. Another line of jetties, ships, wharves and warehouses occupies
the sweep between the Battery and Miller's Point ; and past the latter is the entrance
to Darling Harbour — a busy scene even by night. The shore is thick with jetties,
alongside which loom, silent and dark, the bold forms of various craft, while elsewhere
are steamers agleam with long rows of cabin-lights, their decks alive with the bustle
of departure. Passengers, porters and stewards throng the gangways ; seamen rush
hither and thither at the order of the officer pacing the bridge and hurrying forward
the departure ; the shrill scream of the whistle breaks upon the ear ; and the clang of
the signal-bell ringing out upon the midnight air echoes from the silent hills that skirt
the water's edge upon the other side. Behind the long line of vessels is the back-
ground of the rising land, with houses irregularly grouped, and the summit of the
rocky hill — the Acropolis of Sydney — crowned with the tower of the Observatory. It is
pleasant after the voyage to step out on the wharf, to hurrj- up the steep-cut rocky
street, to eet to rest and to dream and to wait for the morrow.
To see Sydney first by night is to see it full of bewildering mystery. To see it
afterwards by daylight, while it will explain the unknown, will also reveal new charms.
A good way to understand the Harbour is to take a steam-launch, and starting from
Circular Quay to coast along the southern shore to the Heads, noting en route the
continuous succession of promontories and bays ; then, crossing over to Manly and
Middle Harbour, and following up the northern shore towards Parramatta, to return to
Darling Harbour by the western shore. Such a trip will omit the upper branch of the
Parramatta River, but it will give a fair view of the greater part of Sydney Harbour
at present occupied for business or for pleasure.
Let the start be made from the Circular Quay at an early hour, just as the great
city awakens to another day of strong-pulsed life and bustling activity. P>om the mouth
of the bay a backward glance at the Quay shews the whole situation, and the contour
of Sydney Cove — the chief water-gate of the city — with its background of stores, is
taken in at one view. The low land at the mouth of the old Tank Stream — shewn
elsewhere in a map of early Sydney — was filled in, and a semicircular wharf replaced
the original shore-line, making a splendid city-front, with an easier gradient to the
main streets than there is from any other wharf ; and the whole of this frontage remains
as one property in the hands of the Government.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
149
THE EASTERN SIDE OF CIRCULAR (^UAV
I50 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
The extreme point on the western side is not a wharf at all, but a reserve in
front of Dawes' Battery, the guns of which point eastward straight down the Harbour ;
the grassy slope in front — generally dotted over with nurse-maids and children — makes on
a summer afternoon a pleasant contrast to the adjoining jetties, steamers and sheds,
always alive with strenuous labour. South of these jetties is the berth occupied by the
Peninsular and Oriental boats, one of which is always lying alongside, the lascars and
coolies on deck, with their red caps and blue smocks, relieving the black hull with bits
of foreign colour, while on the slope of the land rise the red brick ofifices built by the
old "A.S.N." Company. South of the "P. and O." steamer begins the Government
portion of the wharf, with a fine berth for a large vessel, and behind it ma)' be seen
the Sailors' Home, the Mariners' Church and the Commissariat Store. This last is one
of the oldest stone buildings in the colony, plain but substantial, built of material
quarried on the spot, and shewing that Sydney sandstone can weather a hundred years
of exposure without deterioration. The centre of the crescent was once ordinary wharfage,
but it has now been entirely given up to waterman's stairs and for tlie accommodation
of Harbour steamers, the passenger traffic focalizing here, connected as this place is
with the tram service and the omnibus routes. Clustering on the water's edge, along
the dark stone coping of the Quay, are the waiting-rooms attached to the jetties of the
Harbour ferry-boats. On the eastern side, a portion of the wharf is devoted to outward-
bound ships, which load up their cargoes from the great produce-stores, separated from
the wharf by only the width of the road. Northward the Orient Company has rented
a portion of the wharf frontage, with one of its covered goods-sheds, and beyond that
again lie the boats of the Messageries Maritinics, lively with foreign imiforms and
costumes, and telling of that intermingling of the peoples . of many lands which follows
so closely in the train of commerce. Adjoining this berth is the boat-shed of the
Harbour Police, and next to that the steam-ferry for horses and carts which plies all
day long to Milson's Point. The eastern, like the western tongue, is still a public reserve,
the site of Fort Macquarie, one of the ancient structures, but probably destined to give
way to a railway-shed. Leading up to the Fort is a rocky escarpment, the pathway
along the summit of which has received the borrowed name of the Tarpeian Waj-.
Glancing round the wharf the great produce-stores arrest the attention of the
observer at once, as indicating the character, as well as the extent, of the business done.
The lartjest and one of the earliest of these is Goldsborougrh and Mort's wool-store,
which occupies the whole frontage between Phillip and Castlereagh Streets. It stands
foursquare, simple, massive, elegant, striking as it were the key-note to the commercial
movement of the colony. A little distance behind it is the tall stone-built store of
Messrs. Harrison, Jones and Devlin, while all along the east front of the Quay runs a
line of stores ending with the high handsome warehouse lately built for the business of
Messrs. Maiden, Hill and Clark. The number and capacity of these stores tell tiie tale
of the magnitude of the business for which they were constructed, while their quality
displays the enterprise and taste of their proprietors, and the confidence felt in tlie
future. On the high ground behind Mort's store may be seen the upper windows of two
palatial structures built for the accommodation of some of the Civil Service Departments,
used as offices for the Colonial Secretary, the Minister for Works and the Minister for
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
151
Lands ; and behind these are the towers and spires of the city. Through the rigging
of the ships, on the eastward side of the Quay, is seen the rising ground of the
Government Domain, surmounted by the tower and flag-staff of the vice-regal residence.
The greenery of this Domain,
and that of the Battery reserve
on the other side of the Cove,
is grateful to the eye, bringing
as it does into strong and strik-
ing relief the contrast between
the leisure and the labour of life.
ELIZABETH BAY AM) DARLING POINT.
'^ On the outer side of P'ort Macquarie
lies the little boat-harbour, formed by a
projecting mole, which is the landing-place
for Government House, and also the
point nearest to the anchorage of the men-o'-war, situated
at the mouth of I*"arm Cove. Here, when not on duty
in the other colonies, rides the Admiral's flag-ship — symbol of the naval power of
Great Britain, and of the close connection between the colonies and the mother-country.
Round her cluster the other vessels of the squadron, ranging in size and power
from frigates to corvettes, gun-boats and yacht-like schooners. Here, too, anchor at
present all foreign men-o'-war that enter the Port, and not unfrequently the ensigns of
half a dozen nations may be seen at the same time floating on the breeze. Cruisers
from all countries, when in these seas, make for Sydney Harbour to coal and to refit,
and there "is not a well-known flag that has not been seen flying in Farm Cove,
including a representative of the new-born navy of Japan. When many vessels are at
152 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
anchor here the stairs of the Httle boat-harbour are alive with officers in uniform landing
or departing in long-boats manned by blue-jacketed sailors, or with consuls and visitors
going on board to pay their respects, for nowhere is international courtesy more observed,
or hospitality to visitors more displayed, than in Sydnej' ; and a foreign man-o'-war rarely
leaves the Port without some festive demonstration in return for kindness received. The
view from the deck, or through the large port-holes of any of the men-o'-war, is singu-
larly charming, especially to the south, for the eye there rests on the gracefully-curved
sea-wall of the Cove, with the Botanic Gardens in the background, with their smooth
broad lawns in front and their umbrageous slopes and winding walks rising behind.
Through the tree-tops may be seen peeps of here and there a church-spire and the roofs
of the taller houses of the city.
Government House stands well out to view on the western slope, with its
picturesque gardens and lawns terraced down towards the water. A few years ago the
dominating object of this view was the Garden Palace, the Exhibition Building of 1879,
the dome of which was the largest and finest on which the Southern Cross has ever
shone. But one mild summer morning the whole disappeared, leaving only a heap of
ashes. No building, however, is necessary to give a charm to the Botanic Gardens. One
of the earliest attemps at horticulture was made on this site, and from the very
beginning it has been carefully reserved. Nature has done much for the position, and its
original beauties have been turned to the best account by the art of the landscape
gardener. With good reason is it a favourite resort of the Sydney public, especially on
the afternoons when there is any performance by one of the military or naval bands.
A part of the Gardens has been laid out with a view to instruction in botany, but the
predominant purpose has been to make a pleasure-ground. Naval men could not wish
for a lovelier spot for their repose than one that gives them a constant view of this
singularly charming landscape ; and striking indeed, to one standing on the deck, is the
contrast between the implements of grim-visaged war and this abode of peace. The house
selected for the residence of the Admiral is situated on Kiarabilli Point, on the northern
side of the Harbour, and commands a complete view of the squadron.
On the headland of the peninsula on the eastern side of the Cove is the stone
seat upon which the wife of one of the early Governors — a lady who took much interest in
laying out the Domain for popular enjoyment — used to rest after her rambles, and on
the stone her name is carved. Sitting on " Mrs. Macquarie's Chair," and looking north-
wards, the eye rests on the island of Fort Denison, a small rock lying in mid-channel.
In early days it was christened Pinch-gut by convict prisoners, who had painful memories
of being sent there to repent on short commons. In Governor Denison's time it was
turned into a fortification, a round tower being erected and several guns placed at
barbette. Round Mrs. Macquarie's Chair is the entrance to Woolloomooloo Bay, on
the western side of which are the public baths. At the head of the Bay is a wooden
wharf much used for the landing of coal and timber, and over the piles of lumber
may be seen the clock-tower of the P^ish Market ; beyond lies a monotonous mass of
houses, the streets rising steeply towards the distant ridge, and on the western side is
a precipitous rocky escarpment up which stone staircases have been cut ^for foot-
passengers and these remain as a memorial of an earlier date.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
J 53
Off the mouth of
Woolloomooloo Bay
lies Garden Island,
where one of the first
gardens was formed.
It is now given up
to the Imperial Go-
vernment as a naval
ddpot, and the original
form of the island is
largely lost through
the alterations made
to fit it for its pre-
sent requirements. At
Pott's Point business
ceases and pleasure
takes its place, for
here begin those
water - side mansions
and gardens for which
Sydney Harbour is so
justly famed. The
climate gives every
encouragement to the
florist and the land-
scape gardener. Frost
is unknown along
these Harbour slopes,
the extremes of sum-
mer heat are tem-
pered by the ocean
breezes, and flowers
can be gathered and
roses will bloom the
winter long. The
mean temperature of
Sydney is two de-
grees above .that of
Nice, and only three
degrees lower than
that of Messina.
Here Nature gives heightened effect to the labours of Art. The myrtle flourishes beside
the orange-tree, and hyacinths burst into all their florid glory with the opening days of
spring. At Pott's Point the rock-face to the water was originally a steep slope, and the
•J.
O
as
D
O
2
<
>
Q
>
05
154 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
utmost has been done, while following the lines of nature, to turn to good account every
inch of ground. In some cases the frontage is occupied by boat and bathing houses ; else-
where trees grow down to the water's edge, and almost dip their branches into the rippling
waves. The broad shining leaves of the native fig overhang the gra}' rock awash at high
tide, and beyond are glimpses of green lawns flanked by creeper-mantled terraced walls,
above which are the windows of houses peeping through everlasting wreaths of foliage, and
festooned with frequent masses of various fragrant bloom. All along the fore-shore of
the Point is the same fair order with perpetual variety — lu.\urious villas, elaborate garden-
grounds. Now and again the rugged ascent is scored with stair-ways cut from the living
rock ; carved with balustrades, and adorned with vases, from which spring plants of the
cactus or yucca tribes ; the heights being sometimes crowned with arbours, ferneries,
conservatories and summer-huts, all embosomed in foliage and bloom.
Beyond the Point lies Elizabeth Bay with its sandy beach — the old family mansion
of the estate just showing its dome above the surrounding trees. Then comes Elizabeth
Bay Point, with another cluster of water-side houses, and then the open sweep of Rush-
cutter's Bay, where the fore-shore has been reclaimed and is now a public park. The
flat ground in front is surrounded b)- an amphitheatre of higher ground, on the ridges of
which are the thickly-clustered houses of Darlinghurst, Paddington and Woollahra. Darling
Point flanks the Bay on the east, and on its heights may be seen one of the most
picturesque churches of Sydney, St. Mark's, the graceful spire of which rises from the
dense hanging foliage that crowns a verdant sloping lea. On this promontory the beauties of
Elizabeth Bay are repeated with equal effectiveness, though with many variations. It is a
lovely and favourite suburb, and contains many magnificent mansions, castellated, turreted,
mimic citadels of peace, surrounded by grassy lawns and well-kept gardens. Almost directly
opposite the point, and separated from it by a strait about a quarter of a mile in
width, is Clark's Island, dedicated as a reserve for public recreation. The high ground
of Darling Point overlooks on the eastern side the beautiful inlet of Double Bay — its
white beach a public reserve, while the flat behind is fairly built upon. Behind the
streets of Double Bay a few houses dot the hill-slopes and merge into one of Sydney's
most beautiful suburbs — the populous and fast-spreading suburb of Woollahra, studded
with handsome mansions, many of which are not inferior to the Harbour homes that
cluster along the water's edge.
The promontory on the eastern side of Double Bay is known by the name of
Point Piper — so called after an early settler — and on its eastern point stands a handsome
structure reared by an Australian millionaire. The grounds of this mansion occupy
nearly the whole extent of the Point. Its noble fa9ade looks out upon the Harbour
over broad sweeps of lawn, in which the native trees have been carefully preserved,
their sombre hue being broken and relieved by the intermingling of trees of European
and tropic growth. Viewed from the water the Point glows WMth a variety of tints and
shades — from rich emerald to subdued olive lovely contrasts are presented in masses of
lustrous green. The sea about the rocks and tiny beaches is of crystal clearness, and
all sights and sounds of the busy city are curtained off by the abrupt western rise of the
hill. Where the rocks of Point Piper end the blonde beach of Rose Bay begins, and
sweeps in a broken crescent — a mile and a half in extent — round to the white sand of
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
•55
I
Milk Beach and the battery reserve of Shark's
Point. From Rose Bay to Bondi Bay on the
ocean beach was once an old Harbour mouth,
which has been gradually filled and choked up by the slow washings of ocean sand.
Near the snowy span of Milk Beach is an old house possessing an * historic
interest ; its builder having been no other than Wentworth, that renowned Australian to
whom the colony owes its Constitution. He is buried close at hand, and the little
mausoleum that marks his resting-place is a spot much visited by all who take an
interest in the history of Australia. About the entrance of the Harbour the traveller will
have continual remembrances of names familiar in the annals of the colony, for a
number of her statesmen have settled on the various reaches of the Port.
Passing Vaucluse Bay and Parsley Bay, and the cluster of rocks known as the
" Bottle and Glass," the broad sweep of Watson's Bay is reached. This is a favourite
holiday-resort, and also the nearest landing-place for those who wish to climb the South
Head, and look down on the long wash of the Pacific, and the green curling waves
that break into pools and cascades of snowy foam at the feet of the rugged cliffs. On
the summit of the cliff is the great light-house, the reflection of whose electric-beam is
seen for sixty miles out at sea. Between the light-house and the Inner South Head is a
fissure in the seaward face of the cliff, known as "Jacob's Ladder," to be attempted only
by an agile climber, down which descended the brave Icelandic lad who took succour to
the Dunbar s sole survivor, Ijing on a ledge above the tragic " Gap." Here, too, frown-
ing grimly above fair green mounds of turf, are the great guns pointing out to sea, and
nearer the Inner Head others of heavier metal are fi.xed on pivots in pits cut in the
rock. Below them is a torpedo ddpot, and at Camp Cove is the Pilot Station, to
which is attached a steamer kept in constant readiness for disaster or emergency. Right
out beyond the guns, and almost on the extreme edge of the Inner South Head, stands
the Hornby Light-house, with its striped tower, the fixed red light of which makes
so noticeable a feature in the darkness when entering the Sj-dney Heads by night
IS6
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Returning to the little town of Watson's Bay, which nestles about the slopes behind
the curved stretch of sandy beach, the traveller again embarks, and sailing across the
mouth of the Port, with its long lazy roll, gets under the lee of the bold North Head,
and finds himself in front of the Quarantine Station. All the requirements of such an
institution are fulfilled here. The locality is six miles from the city, and easily acces-
sible. The area is superabundant for all the claims that can be made upon it ; the
position is breezy and healthy, and the swampy crown of the hill furnishes an ample
supply of fresh water. Recent events have led to great improvements in the appliances
of the establishment. Small-pox, though frequently imported, has never yet obtained a
footing in Australia, having been always stamped out b)' the most vigorous measures.
Passengers arrive now in such large steamers that a single case of infectious disease
means the sending of several hundreds of people to the Quarantine Ground. Thanks to
the liberality of the Government and the energy of the Health Department, every
facility for dealing with the largest passenger-ship has been provided. A steam-laundry
has been built capable of washing the whole of the linen in twenty-four hours ; fumi-
gating chambers for disinfecting all woollen garments are provided ; while cottages and
pavilion hospitals are scattered about in sufficient numbers, and with a degree of isola-
tion equal to any probable emergency. The ground for infected passengers is specially
marked off, and the whole Station is enclosed by a fence extending across the penin-
sula from the Harbour to the
sea. It is at all times annoying
to be detained at the end of a
long voyage, but everything pos-
sible has been done to make a
forced residence agreeable. From
the summit of the hill there is a
grand panorama of the ocean and
the main entrance to Port Jackson ;
while the view up the Harbour is
singularly lovely, and a man might
lie and look at it for days if he
were not fretting to get away.
The discomforts and nuisances
too often inseparable from a com-
pulsory detention in a lazaretto
are happily absent here.
At the head of North Har-
bour lies the village of Manly,
which is situated on a fiat between
the North Head on the one side
and the Manly Heights on the
other. This flat is really an old Harbour mouth, which has been slowly barred by the sand
washed in by centuries of billows. " The Corso," as the level street is named which runs
from the landing-jetty to the beach, is only a few hundred yards in length. Manly,
THE OCEAN BEACH, MANLY.
SYDNEY HEADS FROM THE SOUTH.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY. 157
therefore, has this special peculiarity as a watering-place— that it is a Harbour-side and
a sea-side village all in one, and in a walk of a few minutes the visitor can pass from
a land-locked sheet of water, smooth and transparent as a lake, to the ocean beach,
fretted with the long roll of the Pacific. Standing on a magnificent and commanding site
on the north-east point of the North Head is the Cardinal's palace, and by its side a
Roman Catholic seminary. The village of Manly, which originally nestled on the flats,
is now creeping up the heights, and the line of cottages is extending all along the
road to Middle Harbour. Of all the water-side resorts Manly is the most frequented.
Well-appointed steamers maintain a constant communication with the city. Many
merchants have their homes here, while the tired workers from the town flock down
on holidays to loll and stroll upon the beach and to fill their lungs with the fresh sea
breeze. In summer time the beach is a promenade, gay with colour and vocal with the
laughter of children. But the great fete of the village is the wild-flower show which
takes place in the month of September, and which has now become an institution. It
had its origin in an effort to pay off a church debt — a happy inspiration -suggesting it
as an improvement on the ordinary bazaar. Flowers fill all the bush about Manly in
the spring. Heath-like epacrids of many varieties carpet the table-lands ; wattles of
various shades of yellow bloom in the scrub on the flats and fill the air with their
fragrant perfume'; waratahs or native tulips shine in their crimson beauty like cones of
fire in the gullies ; the aromatic native roses and other boroneas grow in profusion ;
the gold and silver stars of Bethlehem lie thickly tufted on the ground, and on many
rocky faces of the coast-ravines are beautiful orchids called rock-lilies. The suggestion
was to blend these beauties of the bush together. The idea was eagerly taken up, and
was by tasteful hands made a reality. The old pavilion in the little park was trans-
formed into a gay green bower, in which flowers and ferns were artistically interwoven ;
palms took the place of ordinary pillars ; the berries of the bush made harmonies with
dark-green leaves ; fountains plashed and cascades danced over mimic falls and grottoes,
which in the . evening were illuminated by a well-directed play of the electric beam. The
fairy-scene became an immense attraction, and the flowers paid the church debt.
Coasting from Manly up the Harbour the first great headland passed is Dobroyd,
a bold cliff exposed to the full force of south-easterly gales. The navigation here for
small craft is somewhat dangerous, for at times the Biimborah rises suddenly when the
groundswell from the ocean touches the ledge of rocks that reaches out from the foot
of the cliff, and the slow-rolling wave becomes then an angry breaker, which has brought
disaster on many a boat's unwary crew. After rounding Dobroyd the entrance into
Middle Harbour opens out. This is a long many-armed estuary stretching from the
entrance fully five miles into the heart of the hills. The weather side of this entrance
is exposed to the sea rolling in from the Heads, but the eastern side is protected, and
here, on the tranquil shore, holiday-seekers by the thousand are landed, for at the foot
of the rocky hill spreads out a large well-grassed flat and a smooth white beach that
seem made by Nature for picnics. So roomy a playground, and one so easily
accessible, does not often lie close to a great city. Opposite Clontarf runs out a long
sand-spit, making a natural breakwater and narrowing the channel. Between its point
and the opposite shore is a punt, which forms a connecting link in the overland route
1=58
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
to Manly. Round "The Spit" the
waters divide into Long Bay and
Middle Harbour proper. The latter,
after throwing off one or two inlets,
ceases to be navigable except for small
boats, as it narrows and shallows be-
tween steep, rocky, timber - covered
banks. At present Middle Harbour is
almost untouched by commerce, and
the houses on its overlooking ridges
are not many, but it is a favourite
cruising-ground and summer camping-
place on account of its lake-like beauty
— the headlands overlapping each other,
producing something of the appearance
of a Scotch loch. No more tranquil
retreat than these solitudes afford could
be desired, and that a busy city lies
only a few miles off seems impossible.
The south arm of the estuary of Middle Harbour runs westward for some distance,
making of Middle Head a broad, bold peninsula. On the point of this, looking straight
out to sea, stands the greatest fortification of Sydney. The gun-carriages are placed in
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
'59
shallow circular wells ; the rock is caverned with magazines, and the powerful guns
sweep all the water's face in front. To this point come the artillery, professional and
volunteer, to practice marksmanship, and to learn with accuracy the distance of any
point that could be occupied by an invading foe. Often on a Saturday afternoon the
headlands are alive with spectators watching the practice. Here, too, the scientific
THE FORTIFICATIONS AT SOUTH HEAD,
manoeuvres of the Easter encampment are elaborately gone through, while a detachment
of infantry occupies an entrenched camp on the summit, and rehearses the operations
necessary to prevent a landing on either of the Middle Harbour bays, or an attempt
to take the forts in the rear. At the foot of the cliff at George's Head are
embrasures in which are guns that command the channel and at the same time sweep
the area of the torpedo-field, and protect any boom which might be constructed.
West of George's Head lies Ghowder Bay, another favourite picnic-haunt, where a
large hotel, a dancing pavilion, lawns and promenades are provided for holiday-seekers.
Beyond Taylor's Bay, much visited by boating-parties and botanizers, Bradley's Head
runs out due south, and forms with the opposite headland of Point Piper the entrance
to the Inner Harbour. Past these are many charming bays deeply indenting the shore;
Little Sirius Cove, Mossman's Bay, Shell Gove, Neutral Harbour and Gareening Gove.
It is hard to say which of these is the most beautiful. They have a general resem-
blance, yet each has its own special characteristics ; and they are all deserved favourites
with boating-parties. The large water-space in front of them, between Kurraba Point
and Kiarabilli, is Neutral Bay, the anchorage for outward-bound ships, which can lie
here in the shelter and out of the fair-way. Past Kiarabilli is Milson's Point, important
as being the terminus of the principal North Shore ferry and one of the starting-places
of the Great North Road. Then comes the deep recess of Lavender Bay, the street
from the wharf at the head of which is a long flight of steps cut in the solid rock.
i6o
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED,
leading picturesquely, if somewhat toil-
somely, to the streets above. Mc
Mahon's Point is another ferry-landing,
the road running at a stiff gradient
up to the higher land. Then come
Berry's Bay and Ball's
Head Bay, both deeply
recessed, and the en-
trance to Lane Cove,
an estuary running up
a considerable distance
into the hills, though
only navigable but for
a few miles.
This northern
side of Syd-
ney Harbour
has as deep
a water -fron-
tage as the
southern, but
the rise from
the shore is
steeper, and
the elevated
rround much
scored by the deep
gorges of Middle
Harbour and Lane
Cove, and the nu-
merous lateral val-
leys running down
to them. The sur-
face is thus broken
up into ridges and
gullies, the main
road running along
the summit. The
soil on the hi<rh
ground has been the manly wild-flower show.
found admirably adapted to orangeries and orchards, and market-gardens abound for many
miles inland. This orchard cultivation characterizes all the district westward as far as Parra-
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
i6i
inatta ; indeed, the line which follows the course taken by this arm of the Harbour
may almost be said to be the line of orange culture, the lower land on the south
being more exposed to frosts and mists than the warm ridges on the northern side.
Hunter's Hill occupies the peninsula between Lane Cove and the Tarramatta River,
affording a large water-frontage to the water-side residences. The Hill is covered with
ONE OF THE BIG GUNS AT MIDDLE HEAD.
villas not less picturesque, though less imposing, than those found about the fore-shores
nearer the city. The soil here is loamy, and being set a little inland from the salt sea-
breezes, rich and delicate vegetation makes a more luxuriant display. The houses are
mostly built of the fine sandstone which lies a few feet beneath the surface, and gorgeous
and glorious creepers are trained wherever balcony or trellis-work affords an opportunity.
It is a richly floral district, and it is almost impossible to exaggerate the beauty and
splendour of the rich masses of Bojigainvillca which cover a whole house-side in the
earliest days of spring, or of the climbing rose that makes a veritable " field of cloth of
gold " over a hundred square feet of trellis in every spring and autumn. Nowhere else
along the river or l)y the sea can be seen finer contrasts of colour and foliage — bananas
and plantains by the water's edge, cedars drooping on the slopes, hibiscus and flame-trees
putting out their crimson and scarlet blooms, the tender green of the budding vine
prophetic of the purple show of autumn, and the dark glossy leaves of the orange trees
rich with their golden fruit. At Gladesville, a little higher up the river, is one of the
large asylums for the mentally diseased, where the thoughtful care of the superintendent
I 62
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
LAVENDER BAY.
has done everything possible to veil the sombre
aspects of the place, and to alleviate inevitable
confinement by surrounding it with a glory of
flowers. Steamers go up the River within a short
distance of Parramatta, and as far as Ryde the
scenery on either side is charming. Two bridges
are thrown across — one for the road connecting
Fivedock with Gladesville, and the other at Con-
cord for the Great Northern Railway to Newcastle.
Returning to the mouth of Lane Cove the con-
spicuous feature in the River, after passing the
magazine at Spectacle Island, is Cockatoo Island,
the site of one of the earliest prisons in the
colony. Out of its rocky side a graving-dock was hewn many years ago large enough
for the ships of that day ; and here the Galatea was docked. But a still larger one
is wanted for the iron-clads of the present time, and accordingly another large excavation
has recently been constructed which will accommodate any vessel not more than six
hundred feet long. From Cockatoo there is a beautiful view up Iron Cove, over
which is a bridge connecting the peninsula of Fivedock with that of Balmain. On the
heights of the latter is the large lunatic asylum at Callan Park, built on the pavilion
principle, at a- cost of more than a quarter of a million, and capable of receiving six
hundred patients. After passing Goat Island, the site of another powder-magazine, the
eastern side of the Balmain Peninsula comes into view, and a busy industry makes itself
seen and heard. On one of its subsidiary bays are Mort's Dock and Engineering Works,
where vessels of all sizes are repaired, and where the clang of hammers and the whirr
of machinery make perpetual din. Other industrial establishments have also pitched their
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
163
quarters here, and as a large number of artisans are obliged to live near their work
Balmain claims the reputation of being pre-eminently the engineering suburb.
Between Balmain and the older parts of the city lies Pyrmont, another of those
peninsulas which stretch like the fingers of a hand into the Harbour. Here is the patent
slip of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company, and various other industrial establish-
ments haunt this locality. But the specialty of Pyrmont is its quarry. The sandstone
here is of finer grain and more uniform colour than that found anywhere else around
Sydney. All the finest of the new buildings are constructed or faced with this stone,
and the original hill of Pyrmont is fast disappearing under the active labours of the
quarrymen. Pyrmont, which is in the city limit, is connected with the eastern side of
Darling Harbour by a wooden bridge, which opens in the centre to allow the passage
of ships. The western shore of this Harbour is occupied by a Government railway-
wharf. The opposite side is crowded with wharves and jetties. Several of the steam-
boat companies have their head-quarters here, although the access by steep and narrow
streets is very difficult, and a real inconvenience to the Harbour traffic.
On the highest point of the Sydney ridge is the Fort Phillip reserve, on which is
« -^j^--
ViiaJir.
,_vit^v
^•yl-T.T^lv
LANE COVE RIVER.
built the Observatory, and here, terminating our imaginary cruise, we may stand and
take a general survey of the route traversed. There is, indeed, no one point from
which Sydney Harbour can be entirely commanded, for its special characteristic is that
it is not a bay, but a series of bays — bays on the north and bays on the south.
Any one of its principal coves would make an ordinary haven, while their multiplicity
gives a superabundance of accommodation let Sydney grow ever so great. The shore-line
1 64 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
is more than a hundred miles in length. This Harbour, over which the citizens are
naturally so enthusiastic, is to them and to their heirs a perpetual possession ; it is a reserve
that can never be built upon ; it is a playground that can never be worn out ; a
training-ground for all aquatic sports ; a school of seamanship that will count its pupils
by the thousand. It gives to naval defence all that it can need, and to commerce more
than it can use, while from childhood to old age, and from generation to generation, it
is a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.
The City and Suburbs.
The streets of Sydney are not as the streets of other New World cities. They are
not laid out on a chess-board pattern, following some draftsman's predetermined plan,
irrespective of the contour of the ground. George Street is, in fact, the survival of the
primitive bush-track by which the bullock-drays entered and left the settlement. Its bends
and its irregular width bear witness to this day to its origin. The other main track,
Pitt Street, which lies roughly parallel to it, is straighter and more regular, but it was
not at first continued through to Circular Quay. Sydney began on the western shore of
the Cove, close to the present site of the Manly steamers' wharf, where the short street,
still called Queen's Wharf, leads into George Street, and its topography will best be
understood by studying the fall of the land at that point. The natural feature that deter-
mined the selection of the site of the city was the Tank Stream, which furnished an
immediate supply of fresh water — that prime essential to a young settlement. The supply
was not very abundant, as the settlers soon found out, for the tide rose as far as Bridge
Street, and above that the Stream had a length of only a few hundred yards ; but there
was enough to begin with, and tanks were dug out to store that little. A reference to
the plan of early Sydney will show that the course of the Tank Stream is nearly north.
The track, which is now George Street, starting from the western side of the Cove,
followed the bank of this creek, then over the ridge down the slope called Brickfield
Hill into the valley of a water-course running into the head of Darling Harbour, and so
on towards Parramatta. This was the first great artery of traffic.
Beginning as Sydney did at the mouth of the Tank Stream, its earlier streets
naturally occupied the two slopes leading down into the valley. On its western side the
ground sloped upward to the ridge, and then over it . steeply down to the waters of
Darling Harbour. On the eastern side the ground sloped up to another ridge, and down
to the waters of Woolloomooloo Bay ; but on that side so much of the land was reserved
for public uses that the city could not spread in that direction, and its earliest develop-
ment was therefore on the portion lying between the Tank Stream and Darling Harbour.
The highest land on this peninsula is that just abreast of the landing-place, and up
the slope towards this height, now occupied by the Observatory, climbed some of the
earlier settlers. On the top was erected one of the first windmills, the only remaining
memorial of which is Windmill Street leading down from Lower Fort Street to the
water. The roads were necessarily steep and irregular, and so they remain to this daj-,
though the original -tracks have been in some places civilized into stair-ways cut in the
rock. The primitive houses were perched wherever convenience dictated, and the arrange-
ments were not at all adapted to modern notions of sanitary science or city engineering.
77^5" CITY OF SYDNEY.
165
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The old sea-faring folk used to climbing had a fancy for this point of high land, for
even when ashore they liked a sight of the blue water and the moving craft.
The earliest private wharves were formed along the shore from Dawes' Point and
round by Miller's Point, and the great knob of land which was thus half-encircled was
a convenient dwelling-place for those who did not wish to go far from their ships or
1 66
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Jh .f V^>-^
AN EAKLY BARRACK-VAN.
their business. This part of Sydney, which is still known as " The Rocks," has a quaint
Old World air about it. It has a suggestion of old Folkestone, with a touch of Wapping
and a reminiscence of Poplar Those who are in search of primitive Sydney will find
more of it here than anywhere else. What are now called hovels were once respectable
tenements ; but in Upper and Lower F"ort Streets there are substantial houses, once the
homes of well-to-do merchants and skippers. The great commercial buildings have since
settled themselves in another direc-
tion, in positions more central to
business, and to which the access by
road is easier. But old Sydney still
remains very much as first fashioned,
a little straightened and smoothened,
but in its main outlines what it
originally was.
Of late years the neighbourhood
of Lower George Street has become
the favourite haunt of the Chinese
immigrants, who naturally gravitated
to the older and shabbier part of the town, and here their stores, their lodging-houses
and their furniture-shops abound. It is half China-town, sprinkled with Caucasian trade-
marks. Opium fumes are in the air, and indications also of the peculiar cookery of China.
Mongolian wares are seen in the windows. In the open shops the Turanian is busy making
and polishing furniture, and half-breed children play upon the steps. Signs and symptoms
of fan-tan, lotteries and other games of chance may sometimes be noticed by the initiated,
though the police occasionally make official raids upon these gambling establishments. The
Chinese show unremitting industry, and yet afford a singular contrast to the smartness
and enterprise of colonial commerce. Their quarter in Sydney is thoroughly intermixed
with European establishments, and is by no means so exclusively national as the Chinese
quarter in San Francisco, or even in some other Australian cities.
The route from Lower George Street round to Miller's Point, by way of Dawes'
Battery, was in the early days considered inconveniently circuitous, while to take laden
drays over the height was out of the question. So a passage, known as the "Argyle
Cut," was driven through the rock, the intersected streets being preserved by means of
overhead bridges. This was a more important passage when first made than it is now,
for before Circular Quay was improved by the Government the wharves and warehouses
on the western side of the Point gave the principal accommodation to the shipping ; and
even that accommodation was subject to one great drawback, namely, the steepness of
all the roadways to the water's edge. The harbour-frontage is all that can be desired,
but the access to it is very inferior. In the early days the streets were laid out on
the natural gradients, for there were no funds available for expensive works and
bullocks and horses were left to do the best they could. The " Druitt Street test" used
to be the warranty given with a horse, for an animal that could draw a ton straight
up from Darling Harbour into George Street was considered stanch. Since the
commerce of Sydney has increased the inconvenient access to the wharves of Darling
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
167
Harbour has been more and more a matter of complaint, and several have been the
projects for making a grand reformation along the whole fore-shore by the construction
of a continuous wharf, a new road and a railway. These, however, are at present only
schemes, but some fine profile for the water-frontage may find its place in an illustrated
Sydney of. the future. At present the old city maintains in this quarter its ancient
form, varied only by the construction of longer and stronger jetties, and the erection of
new, capacious and handsome warehouses. Great
improvements have been made in this respect,
but they leave unaltered all the defects of the
primitive plan, and indeed increase the cost
and difficulty of any comprehensive alterations.
As the line of water-frontage to Darling
Harbour runs nearly parallel to George Street,
the intervening streets necessarily take the same
general direction. The official loyalty of early
days was very effusive, and constantly assumed
the form of giving
to places the titu-
lar designations of "^
THE OLD WINDMILL AT MILLERS POINT.
members of the reigning family.
This tendency is seen in the names
Sussex Street, Kent Street, Clarence
Street and York Street, lying be-
tween George Street and the water.
The rugged contour of the original ground in this part of
Sydney is still seen in the irregular way in which the houses
are pitched. To improve the gradients the streets have in
many places been cut down, and consequently every here and
^ there may be seen houses perched on the rock ten or twenty
_^ feet above the level of the pathway, and their front-doors are
approached by cumbrous stone or wooden steps. Bit by bit,
however, such memorials of old-time Sydney are disappearing.
These streets are the favourite haunts of persons connected with the shipping, and
especially of those engaged in the coasting and intercolonial trade. Produce-stores of
every kind and size abound, into which are unloaded cargoes of lucerne hay from the
Hunter River, maize from the coast farther north, potatoes from the south, and farm
produce from Tasmania, New Zealand, Victoria and South Australia Crates of fowls.
i68 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
baskets of eggs, sides of bacon, kegs of butter and every description of farm produce are
exposed for sale. The locality is practically an open market, and the dealers, acting
either as agents for their country consignors, or as speculators anxious to turn over
their bargains quickly, are busy all day long selling to shop-keepers and private house-
holders. The houses in the neighbourhood have been from the earliest days of the
colony occupied by traders of this class, or by sea-faring people, stevedores, wharf-
labourers, ships' carpenters and keepers of lodging-houses, with, of course, a due supply of
public-houses and retail shops. But a great change is rapidly coming over this part of
Sydney. Some of the most primitive and dilapidated tenements have been closed or
pulled dov.'n by the orders of successive mayors, who periodically promenade the town,
and condemn as unfit anything below the present standard of what is suitable for human
habitation. Even where there has been no such municipal mandate the mere increase
in the value of land has lead to the removal of many of the ancient structures, and
the substitution of new and commodious stores. The business part of Sydney — practically
a peninsula — is pinched in, and the rapid increase of commerce has created a demand
for mercantile premises. Persons who cannot afford the high prices asked in George
Street have sous^ht suitable sites in these back streets. Artisans tro out into the
suburbs, to which there is now convenient access by boat, tram and railway, and ware-
houses now rise where cottages once stood.
Among the wharves, and nearly behind St. Philip's Church, were erected the first
gas-works. The business of the establishment — still conducted by a company — has out-
grown the cramped position which was ample for its first beginnings ; new and larger
works have been constructed at Mortlake, on the Parramatta River, six miles from the
centre of the city. On the top of the hill, looking down on the- site of the old
gas-works, was built in the early days a naval hospital, in the solid heavy style of
architecture which seems to have been favoured at that time. Many years ago it was
turned into a model school, and is used for that purpose still. Another Government
establishment, the Barracks, occupied a large area between George Street and York
Street, but when, in course of time, the ground grew to be too valuable for this purpose it
was given to the local Government on condition that new and larger barracks were
built on the Paddington Road. Barrack Street, which connects George, York and
Clarence Streets, is a reminiscence of the purpose to which the land was originally put.
Wynyard Square was retained as a reserve when the old barrack-ground was subdivided
into allotments, and still remains as one of the pleasant lungs of Sydney. Before it
was improved it was a site on which the hustings for the elections for West Sydney
were erected, and was the scene of many a fierce display of political oratory. The
hu.stings having been transferred to the Town Hall enclosure, the .Square was railed in
and planted with trees and flowers. The breaking up of the old I^arracks was a con-
siderable advantage to the cit)-, because it made the business part of George Street
on the west side continuous.
The new shops built on the old barrack-ground, though now more than forty jears
old, were at the time of their erection a great improvement to Sydney, and still
contrast favourably with the shops on the opposite side. But farther up the street
stands the new Post Office — one of the finest buildings in the city. Its main and
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
169
longest fa9ade runs
through from George to
Pitt Street, and until
recently looked upon a
narrow conncctinL,'- lane,
the frontages to the two
main streets beincj com-
paratively short ; how-
ever, the ground occu-
pied by the business
premises opposite this
facade has been resimied
by the Government for
the purpose of forming
a public square. The
Post Office is built of
Pyrmont sandstone, but
2
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the massive pillars supporting the long colonnade are of polished granite obtained from
Australian quarries. From the centre of the building rises a handsome tower, the loftiest
I70
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
in the city, and one of its finest architectural features.
From the arcade of the Post Ofifice the eye of the \isitor
is caught by two of the handsomest structures in Sydney;
namely, the Mutual Fire Assurance Company's offices
just completed at the corner of Wynyard Street, and
the neo-Greek edifice of the Australian Joint Stock Bank
at the corner of King Street, with a frontage to George
Street. King Street is a little beyond the Post
Office, and is a scene of busy traffic, leading up
»tilli 1MU 3iWhmW«EaiJ
GEORGE STREET FROM THE
PARAPET OF THE
POST OFFICE.
as it does to the Court-house,
and being also an omnibus
route to Woolloomooloo.
The high ground on the summit of this
thoroughfare, on which it is intended to
erect some grand public edifice, is at
present occupied by inferior buildings.
From King Street to Park Street
George Street remains very much what
it was fifty years ago, but every here and there
shops of modern style are taking the place of the
old buildings. At Park Street the ground reaches its
greatest elevation, and here stand, side by side, the
Town Hall and the Cathedral ; the former being built
on the site of an old burying-ground. The Town Hall is
an ambitious structure, but altogether too fiorid in its style
of architecture. The Cathedral was planned fifty years ago,
and is now too small ; but it is a good specimen of perpendicular Gothic, and contrasts
not unfavourably with the Italian edifice by its side. They both stand central and
dominant in the city — the street here having widened out to a hundred and fifty
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
171
feet — and the grounds surrounding them
are relieved by small shrubberies and lawns.
Beyond the Cathedral George Street
descends the slope of Brickfiekl Hill, the
street continuing broad, though irregular
in its alignment. It is a district of shops
of the less fashionable order ; but at the
foot of the hill on the Haymarket flat is
the great establishment of Messrs. Anthony
Hordern and Sons — a Sydney imitation of
Whiteley's in London. From the Hay-
market George Street rises steeply towards
the Redfern Railway Station, before reach-
ing which Pitt Street converges into it at
a sharp angle. The tram-line, which forms
the main artery of communication with the
Railway .Station and the southern and
western suburbs, is laid along Elizabeth
Street from Hunter Street to the Hay-
market, where it crosses Belmore Park in
a diagonal direction, and follows the trend
of Pitt Street into the broad plaza which
crowns the rise in front of the Redfern
Railway Station.
Though running parallel to George
Street, and at no great distance from it,
Pitt Street was in the early days cut off
by the Tank Stream, nor was it continued,
as it is now, northward to the Quay, but
turned off at Hunter Street. The mouth
of the Tank Stream, in its natural forma-
tion, opened out, and what is now known
as Macquarie Place was once a water-side
street following the direction of the east
bank. It was not until after the flat
ground at the mouth of the Stream was
filled in that Pitt .Street was continued
straight from Hunter .Street to the Circular
Quay. The line of traffic, as thus com-
pleted, not only gives a better gradient
from the Quay all the way to the ridge
which follows the alignment of Bathunst
.Street, but it affords, in a very striking
way, a close connection between the city
THE SYDNEY POST OFFICE TOWER.
172 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
and the ships, for looking down Pitt Street the masts of the great vessels are seen,
and behind them the green hills of the North Shore. " The ships seem lying in the
streets" is sometimes the remark of visitors, and they do lie actually alongside the
roadway, for the western side of the Quay is only a continuation of it, and the traveller
is driven in his hansom from his hotel to the gangway of the ocean liner, which hauls
off from the wharf and goes straight away to sea. Walking up this street from the
wharf the visitor notes on both sides the offices of steam-ship companies, shipping and
insurance agents, importers and brokers.
At the intersection of Bridge Street is the Exchange, erected by a mercantile
corporation on a site granted by the Government. It was built many years ago, and
has answered its purpose ; but though a fine structure it is now dwarfed by the taller
premises surrounding it. A large hotel stands in the rear, and is part of the property ;
it having been found that luncheon was a necessary sequel to the exchange hour.
Handsome offices occupy both sides of the street beyond this point ; the premises
built for the Australian Mutual Provident Society, the Bank of New Zealand and the
Pacific Insurance Company being prominent for their architectural merit. At one corner
of Hunter Street stands the office of the Sydney Morning Herald — the oldest and
largest newspaper in the colony. Opposite are the newly-built premises of the Union
Bank, which fronts the large freestone building of the Empire Hotel. From this
point to King Street the new buildings are lofty, the value of the land compelling
proprietors to find in height compensation for narrowness. Among the stone structures
Vickery's Buildings and the handsome offices of Messrs. Dalton are the most striking,
while in brick and cement the stores of Messrs. Hoffnung tower over all others which
stand by their side, and even dwarf the Pitt Street facade of the Post Office.
At . the corner of King Street is Beach's Hotel, so named after the champion
oarsman of the world, and fronting it is a fine freestone building, the pediments of
which are ornamented with allegorical groups in bronze. At the intersection of Market
Street is the long range of Messrs. Farmer's drapery establishment, opposite which
is the newest and largest theatre in Sydney. A little farther on, and before reaching
the Mechanics' School of Arts, is one of the largest and handsomest of the many
arcades which are characteristic of Sydney. The School of Arts was established in this
quarter many years ago, and still holds its old position, though reconstructed internally
to meet its growing needs. This portion of Pitt Street is chiefly characterized by
horse-bazaars, furniture-rooms and the shops of niiscellaneous trades, though a little
farther on new and handsome structures are rapidly rising, and the locality is undergoing
a thorough transformation ; but over the Bathurst Street ridge, and descending towards the
Haymarket valley, it still wears a good deal of its ancient character.
The Tank Stream was the early dividing line between East and West Sydney. A
bridge thrown over it at high-water mark was the first connecting link between the two
parts, and originated Bridge Street, which by a happy accident is one of the few
broad thoroughfares of the city, though unfortunately it is not in line with the equally
broad thoroughfare of Charlotte Place on the opposite side of George Street. But in
those early days hardly anyone seems to have thought of laying out the city on a
symmetrical plan. Bridge Street now contains some fine mercantile buildings, its proxi-
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
'73
174 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
mity to the shipping as well as to the commercial centre making it a good position for
offices. On the eastern side of the old Stream, which is now a covered sewer, begins a
quarter much occupied with Government offices, and this characteristic feature is a survival
from the earliest days. When Governor Phillip first landed, his canvas hut was put up
on the eastern side of the Stream, while the convicts were debarked on the other ; and
thus, while commercial Sydney made its start from the latter point, official Sydney had
its centre near the Governor's first residence. Traces of this are still to be seen in the
direction of the streets, which radiate outwards from this old central point ; O'Connell
Street and Spring Street going towards the Stream, and Bent Street sloping upwards in
an opposite direction towards Macquarie Street. An early Government House was built
here, and here too stands the obelisk from which the length of all the streets and roads
in the colony is measured. Official Sydney has clung to this locality ever since, although
it is no longer central. The ground has become very valuable for commercial purposes, but
the new and magnificent buildings that have lately been erected, as well as the proximity
of the vice-regal residence, seem likely to fix this permanently as the Government quarter.
The Government Reserve originally came down to Macquarie Place, and of this the
obelisk triangle is a small remnant. At the corner of this little patch of green grass and
shady trees stands the statue of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, the first of the city merchants
thus honoured, and one who well deserved the distinction. His name has already been
mentioned in connection with the great wool-store on the Circular Quay ; it was he,
too, who first established a private graving-dock and the great engineering works
necessary for the repair of ships visiting the Port. He is also identified with rural enter-
prise in a great cheese-farm at Bodalla on the southern coast, while for years he
laboured under the greatest discouragements at working out the problem of freezing meat
— a problem successfully solved just as his career closed. His name was prominent
in almost every department of industry ; he was a strong and liberal supporter of
religion, art, science and culture, and had a deep sympathy with everything that could
promote the welfare of the .great mass of the people. His life and career won for him
the affectionate respect of his contemporaries, and when he died the movement to honour
his memory was spontaneous.
On the side of the thoroughfare facing Mort's Statue is the handsome new building
erected for the Lands Department, and farther up on the same side are the offices for
the Colonial Secretary and the Minister for Public Works. At the northern corner is
the Treasury, a handsome building, though it looks small now in comparison to the more
recent and stately piles in its neighbourhood. A vacant space in the rear of the Treasury
has been turned into a temporary tram-terminus, which by no means improves the general
appearance of the street ; but the engineers seized upon it as the only piece of ground
suitable for their purpose, and it is a scene of restless activity from morning till night.
The area is insufficient, but by dint of management the tram-cars are incessantly entering,
shunting and departing from early dawn till midnight. These street tram-ways are an
institution in Sydney, and though everybody condemns their ugliness and admits their
danger, the public could not now do without them. The first was constructed in the
year of the International Exhibition, to take travellers from the Redfern Railway Ter-
minus to a point near the Macquarie Street entrance to the Domain. It was found so
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
»75
convenient antl so profitable that
the Government was besieged
^ ' with entreaties to extend the
system into the various suburbs.
This has been done till the profit has disappeared but the convenience to suburban residents
has been immense, and until suburban railways are made Sydney will not part with its
tram-ways. The streets are really too narrow for the system, and the terminus is altogether
too cramped, but the Government ha's to do the best it can. Horse tram-ways would be
unequal to the traffic on such gradients, except on some of the branch lines ; on the
steep incline of the North Shore a cable tram-way has been successfully established.
Bridge Street terminates opposite the entrance gate to Government House, making
thus a bold and handsome approach to the vice-regal residence. Macquarie Street is an
176 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
eastern boundary to this part of the city, one side of it being all public reserve ; in
fact, it was partly carved out of the original Domain, which was pushed back to this
line. The northern end is almost wholly devoted to wool-stores, which have one face to
it and another to the Circular Quay. South of the lodge-gates Macquarie Street is
devoted to private residences, and makes a street-front equal in beauty to that of any
city in the world. The windows of the houses look out on the Domain and the
Harbour beyond, the balconies commanding all the moving panorama of the daily ileet of
incoming and outgoing vessels, while the sea breeze comes up fresh and cool ; indeed,
it would be difficult to find anywhere so charming a residential street so close to the
centre of the commercial operations of a great city.
The original Macquarie Street began at the corner of Bent Street, where stands the
Free Public Library. In the Domain are the Parliament Houses, the old Infirmary
and the Mint. The first-named is a very plain building, which has been added to from
time to time to meet the demand for increased accommodation, and is therefore an
architectural jumble. Designs for a grand structure have been prepared, but Parliament
has been more liberal to the Civil Service than to itself, and is still content with its
old quarters. The front of the Infirmary was pulled down some years ago, having
become unfit for hospital purposes. Plans for a new and costly structure were prepared
and partly carried out, when with a change of Administration came a change of policy.
Objections were made to putting a large hospital so close to the populous parts of the
city, and the work of building was suspended. The Mint was an adaptation of an old
building, and the front is in the antiquated style of the Macquarie age of architecture.
The end of Macquarie Street opens out into the broad plaza facing Hyde Park.
The old and ugly Immigration Barracks occupy a site on the east — a noble and
commanding position, on which a new public building is to be erected. On the other
side stands St. James's Church — a characteristic red-brick building of the okl style — and
next to it is the Supreme Court, also plain and dingy, soon to be superseded by some-
thing more befitting the site. Next to the Court, and facing P21izabeth Street, is the
Registrar-General's Office, where are kept all the archives relating to births, deaths and
marriages, all statistical documents, and the deeds and ledgers connected with the regis-
tration of titles to land. Macquarie Street was formerly continued through Hyde Park, but
the latter was closed and turned into a broad promenade, the street traffic being deflected
to the east along College Street past St. Mary's Cathedral, which, though still incomplete,
is the finest piece of ecclesiastical architecture in Sydney. In a line with this specimen
of Gothic — though separated from it by intervening park-land in which is situated the
Sydney Bowling-green — is the Museum, an imposing structure in a purely Grecian style
and on a commanding site. It stands at the corner of Park and College Streets. The
Boomerang Road, the route followed by the 'buses running to Woolloomooloo, begins at St.
Mary's Cathedral and ends at the foot of William Street, which ceases at this point to bear
the name of Park Street. This is the great artery of traffic for Woolloomooloo and Dar-
linghurst, and the omnibus route for the water-side suburbs beyond. The road following
the old steep and inconvenient gradient runs down into the valley, and, passing the William
Street Post Office, still more precipitou.sly up to the ridge beyond. On its summit the road
breaks into six branches ; namely, the Darlinghurst Road, Victoria Street South, William
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
^77
I
Street South, Bayswater Road, Macleay Street and Victoria Street North, and these serve as
the arteries to the southern and eastern suburbs. In the early days the ridge upon which
William Street terminates was faced by a cliff, a portion of which still remains, forming
!78
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
one of the curious features of this part of Sydney. Victoria Street North runs along
the top of the old cliff, the back windows of the houses on its western side looking
down upon the mass of dwellings in the valley
below. Streets up this steep cliff there are none,
but flights of stone steps give a pathway for
foot-passengers. From the top of these stairs a
good view is obtained of a portion of the city,
for the eye ranges over the whole of Woolloo-
mooloo Bay, up the western slope of the Domain
to Hyde Park and the lofty buildings beyond.
The valley of Woolloomooloo itself is the
least pleasing part of the prospect, for it is a
poor quarter, though not one of the poorest.
The main streets are laid out straight, and of a
fair width, but subdivisions, carried out by private
PITT STREET LOOKIXC SOUTH.
individuals before the present stringent law regulated such matters, have multiplied narrow
streets and lanes, in which rows of squalid tenements are huddled together. On the elevated
ridge of Darlinghurst the houses are generally of a superior class, and the principal street
on the summit, Macleay Street, leading to Pott's Point, contains several terraces of fair-
sized houses, and many handsome detached residences surrounded with beautiful gardens
and well-kept grounds. To the south Victoria Street leads past St. John's Church — the
graceful spired tower of which is a really fine specimen of Gothic architecture — on to the
Gaol, whose grim bleak walls are scored and scarred with the cyphers of their convict hewers.
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THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
'79
Over the ricltre Bayswater Road makes a steep descent into the valley of Rushcut-
ters' Hay. This, farther on, Ijecomes the Main South Head Road, and one of the
favourite drives out of ihc city, leading as it does past the suburbs of Darlinjr Point.
Double Bay antl Rose Bay. The Old South Head Road, on the versant of which those
suburbs lie, runs on the rido^e in conformity with the primitive colonial practice : to keep
clear of the necessity for bridges being the great aim of the early road engineers. It
was the task of a later day to face such constructive works and to open out improved
routes. Tliis old road follows the line of the divide between the water-shed of Fort
Jackson and that of Botany Bay ; the topography of the eastern suburbs is understood
at once when this line is traced, with its lateral spurs running northward and terminating
as promontories in the Harbour. The western end of this divide — on the western point
of which stands the Town Hall — is really the city ridge already referred to, that sepa-
rated the head of the Tank Stream from the creek flowing into Darling Harbour. ■ This
ridge, following the line of Bathurst Street, and crossing the southern end of Hyde
Park diagonall)-, continues up Oxford Street to the Gaol, through Paddington to
W'averley, at which point it trends south, dividing the water falling into the ocean from
that running towards the old Water Reserve, and passing through the suburb of Upper
I-iandwick continues to the North Head of Botany. This is the backbone of all the
land to the eastern side of Sydney.
On its southern slope lies that sandy space which for many years has furnished
the water-supply of the metropolis, and which is one of the most remarkable city
reservoirs in the world. It is really a great slope formed by the action of the southerly
wind durino- unnumbered a^es, blowing up the sand a<rainst the face of the southern
ridge. The rain-water that falls upon this sandy area slowly percolates through it, and
finally oozes out into the bed of a creek which the water has formed for itself. The
sand acts like an immense sponge, from which the water drains out slowly. The first
attempt to supply the city from this source was made at the instance of Mr. Busby,
who found, near the head of the creek, a lagoon then known by the name of Lachlan's
.Swamp, the elevation of which was above that of Hyde Park. He persuaded the
Government to let him make a tunnel under the ridge from the swamp to the park, a
work which, owing to the indolence and incompetence of the convict workmen, he
carried out with verj- great difficulty ; but it answered its purpose, and was an immense
boon to the citizens of that day, who had iiecome severely pressed for want of water,
the Tank Stream ha\ing proved wholly insufficient, and also getting very much polluted
by the increasing population on its banks.
I^usby's Bore, as this tunnel was called, has with occasional repairs lasted to this
day, and still partially supplies the lower levels of the city by gravitation. Its utility
was so great that a closer examination was made of the whole sandy swamp, and when
an additional supply was required a pumping-engine was erected at the mouth of the
creek where the water runs into Botany Bay, a line of pipes six miles in length being
laid to a brick reservoir constructed in Crown Street, Surry Hills. All the wool-washing
establishments were removed from the line of the creek, and a puddle-wall was erected
across the outlet. Subsequently broad sand-dams, with wooden by-washes, were built
down its course, partly to store the water, and still more to hold it back so as to
i8o
.-/ i 'S TRALASJA ILL USTRA THP.
keep the land satu-
rated as much as
possible. This sand-
basin thus treated
has never been abso-
lutely dry. Several
times the citizens
have been put on
short allowance till
rain fell and re-
plenished the reser-
voirs, but there has
always been enough
for the absolute
necessities of the
population. The
water, too, is of very
good quality, being
rain-water filtered
through sand, and
the advantage of its
being thus stored,
instead of in an open reservoir, is that it is less subject to evaporation ; nor is it exposed
to any contaminating influence. Hut the fact that the water is hidden has been a constant
puzzle to visitors. When asking to be shown the city water-suppK', and on being
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
iJJi
pointed to a small, feebly-running creek and a shallow engine-ppnd, they have derisively
ejaculated, " Why, there is not a week's supply." And it is quite true that very often
there is not so much as a week's supply visible on the surface ; but it continually
oozes out, and in very dry seasons the percolation has been assisted by cutting ditches
into the hills.
The Botany supply became, however, unequal to the wants of the population, and the
water from the Nepean is now the principal reliance of the city ; but the Botany sand-
slope served the purposes of Sydney for about half a century. Its peculiar character
and value were not at first understood, and it was condemned as insufficient for very
many years before it really proved so. It was only by slow degrees that its extra-
ordinary capability was duly appreciated ; and it is still one of the curiosities of the
place, and a study for hydraulic engineers.
The new system for supplying the city is on a larger scale, and follows the
customary lines. The water is intercepted at a distance of sixty miles or thereabouts
from Sydney, in deep gorges
in sandstone country ; the
channels are dammed, and
the water is then diverted
through two long tunnels to
a point from which it can be
conveyed in an open cutting,
by a steadily-descending gra-
dient to a large reservoir
constructed at Prospect, about
four miles to the south-west of
Parramatta. No considerable
quantity can be stored at the
sources, because the character
of the country does not admit
of the formation of any capa-
cious basin, and therefore the
water has to be collected at
the most suitable place that
can be found on the line of
route. F"rom the Prospect
Reservoir it is conveyed in
an open cutting to a point
about ten miles from Sydney,
and for the remainder of the
distance in pipes, through
which it is delivered by gravitation into a large brick tank at Surrj- Hills. For the
supply of the more elevated suburbs water is pumped into a second tank at Paddington,
and into a third, at a still greater elevation, at Waverley. The cost of this scheme, by
the time it is finally completed, will be about two million sterling.
"""••liiiiiiiil
MURT's ST.\TUE, MACgUARIE PLACE.
1 82 A USTRALASfA ILL USTRA TED.
The backbone ridge, which we have already described as running eastward from
Sydney, is the principal high-road to the suburbs in that direction, and makes also the-
general course of the great under-ground drain, the Cloaca Maxima, constructed to carr\-
the Sydney sewage to the sea. The primitive drainage system of the city, like its
early streets, naturally followed the contour of the countr)', and the sewers were all
emptied into the Harbour. The engineers thought Port Jackson large enough to swallow
any amount of sewage and show itself none the worse ; but this has proved a great
mistake. The water near the outfalls has been made filthy, and the fore-shores in the
neighbourhood have become foul with jjutrescent slime. After much study and consulta-
tion it was resolved to construct a main outlet to the ocean, and the place was lixed
at Ben Buckler, a rocky projection north of Hondi Beach. This conduit will drain all
but a zone of land forming the coast-belt, which has to be dealt with separately. The
effect of this great drainage system is alread)- proving beneficial, and the waters of the
Harbour have now regained something of their pristine purity. The portion on the
southern side of Sydney which cannot be drained by the Cloaca Maxima, has its
discharge on a sandy tongue of land on the shore of Botany Bay — a large portion of
the southern side of Surry Hills being thus drained.
This suburb stands upon a plateau spreading out on the southern side of the main
ridge. Shea's Creek, corresponding in its character to the creek on the Water Reserve,
and really forming part of the same general sandy ijasin, runs into the mouth of Cook's
River, and is the natural drainage channel for this part of Sydney. Had the creek been
reserved early enough it would have increased the area of water catchment for the city
supply, but it was hopelessly befouled by wool-washing works and tanneries. The supply
of fresh water obtainable from the sand has caused many manufacturing industries to
settle along the line of road. Some of the ground is too swampy for anything but
market-gardens, and their Chinese cultivators fully appreciate the value of the water. The
shortest road to Botany Bay, now also supplied with a tram-way, runs over this gently-
sloping and nearly level land to the south of .Sydney. The general character of the
ground on the north and south of the eastern ridge is very different. On the northern
side are bold spurs with deep valleys between them ; on the southern is the sandy
slope falling into flat ground towards Botany Bay. The southern side is not much
occupied, because so large a portion is reserved for the water-suppl\-, the Race-course
and Moore Park. It is principally along the Waterloo Estate that population has
settled, but some of the ground is low and difficult to drain, and it is to be regretted
that it was not included in the earliest reserves. The shore is the northern coast of
Botany Bay, which, though low and flat, is a favourite holiday resort.
Standing on the western edge of the Surry Hills plateau, the spectator looks down
upon Redfern and the Railway Station. The site for what is now the centre of a
very busy traffic was originally selected simply because there happened to be a vacant
piece of ground there called the Cleveland Paddocks, and economy rather than con-
venience was the first consideration. The Railway Station was almost out of town when
first built, but the suburbs have now so thickened aroimd it that it is central to the
population. The line of the first engineer was soon criticized by his successor, who
pointed out that in a sea-port the railway should be brought into close connection with
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
L83
the wharves; a branch line was therefore made from the Station-yard down to the
Pyrmont side of Darling Harbour. But the purpose of this line has remained largely
undeveloped, th<- traffic between the Station and the ships being mainly conducted by
drays. Most of the incoming goods go straight to the
wholesale warehouses, where they are unpacked and sorted
and then repacked for country delivery. A comparatively
small portion of what is landed on the wharves
^' .;.
MACQUARIE STREET FROM UKIDGE STREET.
unbroken parcels into the country. So too with the
produce coming down from the interior. Most of it
has to be classified, examined and exposed for sale in
Sydney, and only a portion is tlestined to go straight
from the railway to the ship's hold. As therefore the
greater part of the commerce of the port in and out
is filtered through the city, and a breaking of bulk has
, ' to take place, the fact tliat there is a gap between
the Railway Station and the water-side has not been
so great an inconvenience. But the need of close connection is becoming more and
more felt, and the (iovernment, with the view of making there an extensive railway-
wharf, and erecting warehouses for stores and produce, has resumed a large area of
land on the P\rinont side of Darling Harbour. In building in this locality the Govern-
ment has been anticipated by Goldsbrough and Company, who have alreadj' erected a
large and massi\e stone store, into which wool can be delivered direct from the railway-
trucks. It is the largest building in this quarter, and its long imposing front is the most
conspicuous feature in the landscape when Pyrmont is viewed from the Sydney side.
1 84 AUSTRALASIA J LLUSTRATf.D.
As far as the passenger traffic is concerned the position of the Railwa) Station,
just beyond the point where Pitt and George Streets converge, is not inconvenient for
travellers from the country, who, encumbered by luggage, take cabs to their hotels, or
to any of the suburbs to which they may be bound. But the city and suburban traffic
has increased, and the inconvenience of the railway terminating a mile short of the
business centre has been more and more complained of. Many yea^rs ago a tram-way worked
by horse-power, which proved a decided convenience, was laid down in Pitt Street by
George Francis Train. The tram-service, however, being a great interruption to the
ordinary traffic of a street so narrow and so busy, and the complaints being so loud
and general, the Government was forced to take up the line, and daily travellers had
once more to have recourse to omnibuses until the revival of the tram-way experiment
in 1879, to meet the needs of the International Exhibition. Since then the tram-way
has acted as the last link of the railway-service. But even this does not satisfy the
demands of the rapidly-increasing number of suburban travellers, and an extension of
the railway itself into the city has recently been proposed, and is now under consideration.
The suburban business did not at all enter into the plans of the earl) projectors
of the railway, who were thinking only of opening up the interior and bringing down
the produce of the country — indeed, for some years after the railway had been at work
there was but little addition to the number of residents along the line. The localities
served b\' the Harbour steam-boats, and those accessible by a short omnibus ride, were
the favourite places of residence. But owing to the increase of population, and to the
desire of many people to get away from the relaxing influence of the sea air, the
railway was more and more used by those whose business took them dail)' to the city.
During the last ten years the development of the suburban traffic has been unexpectedly
great. Stations have been multiplied, and now all the way from Sydney to Parramatta
there is one continuous series of townships, the population as far as Homebush being
thickly settled.
The country passed through by this line is for the most part gently undulating,
but with no great variety of scenery. The most elevated ground along the route lies
pretty close to the city, the country be)ond Petersham falling gradually to the west.
In laying out the railway suburbs no general plan has been followed, every proprietor
subdividing his land according to his own fancy or interest. The separate municipalities
have accordingly had to deal with the problems of streets and sewerage as l)est they
could, and have found the task rather difficult. When each house stood in its own
ground sanitary questions did not arise ; but the increase in the value of land, causing
subdivision into small allotments, has so altered this state of things, that owing to
imperfect drainage the death-rate is now greater outside the city than within its
boundaries. The older western suburbs lie along the road to Parramatta, and these
have now grown greatl)' in consequence of their being served by tram-ways — such as
the Glebe, Forest Lodge, Camperdown, Leichhardt and Annandale.
At a point beyond Homebush, about eight miles from the city, the Corporation has
constructed large yards, where sales of cattle and sheep are held, most of the live-stock
being now brought into Sydney by railway. The Abattoirs are at Glebe Island, on the
eastern shore of the Balmain Peninsula, five miles distant from the yards. This is
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
•85
admitted to be an unsatisfactory arrangement,
and the Government has erected large meat-
sheds provided with refrigerating rooms at a
railway siding at Pyrmont. This has been done
with a view to encourage the kilHng of cattle
in the country, so as to sjave the animals the
long and deteriorating journey, and bring the
meat into the city in better condition. Should
this system be largely
developed the impor-
tance of the city sale-
yards will be greatly
diminished.
Farther along the
railway line is situated
the great cemetery of
Rookwood, a veri-
table city of the dead,
and between this and
Parramatta are
several manufacturinpf
establishments — the
largest of which is
that at C 1 )• d e of
Hudson Brothers,
who migrated from
town to get the ad-
vantage of space.
The traffic on the
present line proving
too great for the
accommodation fur-
nished, a double line
from Sydney to Par-
ramatta is now- being-
constructed, a work which when completed will involve the expenditure of several millions.
In addition to the original railway from Sydney to Parramatta two other lines have
lately been constructed, and these are creating new suburban districts. The first is the
South Coast Line, which, crossing the George's River, climbs the high land beyond, and
runs through somewhat rugged and picturesque country- to Wollongong. At Waterfall
Station, twenty miles from Sydney, this line reaches an elevation of seven hundred and
twenty feet. The other railway, which acts as a suburban outlet, is the line connecting
Sydney with Newcastle. It turns off to the north, eight miles from Sydney, and crossing
the Parramatta River climbs the slopes on the northern side through the pretty village
A CLIFF-FACE STAIR-WAV,
DARLING HURST.
i86 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
of Ryde, working up on to the ridge, along which it continues till it descends to the
Hawkesbury River at Peat's Ferry. At Hornsby, twenty-one miles from Sydney, this
line attains the height of five hundred and ninety-two feet. Both these new railways
give the benefit of elevation within a few miles of the city, accompanied by a drier
and more bracing air. A great variety of climate is thus obtainable within a short
radius, and as tastes and constitutions vary this is no small advantage.
All the railways converge into the Redfern Station, the area of which is becoming
too small to accommodate the trafftc. In order partially to relieve it, the Government
purchased, a mile from the city terminus, a large estate at Eveleigh, where extensive
workshops and engine-sheds have been erected, and where all the railway stores are
kept. Thus for a mile or two out of Sydney the line runs almost continuously through
a busy railway-yard.
In common with all the other colonial capitals Sydney is the seat of the central
Government. The people in this respect have followed the example of the mother-
country rather than that of America, and the metropolis is the centre of politics as
well as of commerce. This was inevitable in early days, when the means of communica-
tion were very poor, and hitherto there has been no disposition to alter the established
practice. The Governor's residence, the seat of Parliament and the centre of administra-
tive action are therefore in the metropolis, and though this arrangement has its
conveniences it tends to give the city preponderant influence, for nearly one-third of the
population is gathered in the metropolitan county. New South Wales would be better
balanced if it had more large local centres; but this can only arise out of a greater
development of natural resources.
The local administration is in the hands of a council of aldermen, who elect the
Mayor. Half a century ago the citizens became dissatisfied with the ordinary municipal
system, which was therefore exchanged for a paid commission ; but after a short experience
of this arrangement they returned to the old-fashioned custom, and have adhered
to it ever since. The gross city revenue from all sources is nearly four hundred
thousand pounds annually, including an endowment from the Government ; the yearly
value of the city property is over two millions sterling. The population within the city
limits is about one hundred and twenty-five thousand; that of the immediate suburbs is
larger, the total population of the whole metropolitan area being close upon three hun-
dred thousand. Each separate suburb has its own municipal system, but the want of
union is increasingly felt, especially in connection with sanitary arrangements. The new
sewerage and water-works systems will remain in the hands of the Government till their
completion, but it is contemplated to appoint a Metropolitan Board of Works to deal
with all matters that are common to the city and suburbs.
The narrowness of the streets and the concentration of traffic on them has made
their maintenance a difficult task. The ordinary macadam wears out very fast, and
several varieties of asphalt roadway have been tried, though without success in the
principal streets, where even bluestone cubes do not last long. But at length, after
several experiments, wooden pavements made of brick-shaped blocks have been found to
be very durable. Several varieties of colonial hardwood have been subjected to experi-
ment, those that have proved the most suitable being blue-gum, black-butt, spotted-gum
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
187
A GLIMPSE OF SVDiNEV 1- KUM DAKLINGHUKST.
and tallow-wood. This new method of road-making is expensive in the first instance, but
the economy in maintenance is very great, the wooden roadways proving tough and durable.
The licensed vehicles are under the management of a Transit Commission. There is
one omnibus company, which commands the business on the principal streets ; the
accommodation is excellent and the fares are low. On several other roads the omnibuses are
managed by private speculators. The characteristic conveyance of Sydney is the hansom-
cab, there being only a few two-horse vehicles. These cabs, mostly owned by their drivers,
are of excellent quality, equal in general equipment to those of any city in the world.
Considering the extremely inflammable materials of which many of the Sydney buildings
are composed, particularly those in the metropolitan suburbs, the small proportion of fires
1 88
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
is somewhat remarkable. The Fire Brigade Agency has lately been re-organized, and a
Metropolitan Brigade has been appointed, under the control of an officer who is also the
Superintendent of all Sydney Fire Brigades, volunteer or otherwise. The system is
jointly subsidized by the Government, the municipal councils and the insurance companies.
The temporary head fire-station is in Bathurst Street, and its apparatus and general
equipment are highly creditable. The volunteer system has not been found to work
satisfactorily, as the members are not sufficiently under control or amenable to discipline ;
but during the year 1885 a sum of two thousand five hundred pounds was voted by the
Fire Brigades Board to the volunteer companies for the year's services. At the Board's
temporary central office the telephone system is fairly effective, the various branches of
the Metropolitan Brigade, volunteer companies and police stations being connected. At
most of the street-corners alarm-boxes have been fixed, and the sjstem will be gradually
extended throughout the city and suburbs.
Sydney is well provided with charitable institutions. The new Prince Alfred Hospital,
a detached building in the University Reserve, was planned after an exhaustive exami-
nation of the best models in FLurope
and America. It is in a healthy position,
away from the densely-populated part of
the town. The original funds were raised
by private subscription, but the greater
part of the money spent upon the build-
ing has been furnished by Government.
The management is in the hands of a
joint committee, nominated by the sub-
scribers and the Government respectively.
All the administrative arrangements are
excellent, and the patients enjoy not only
comfort but luxury. The situation is
close to the Medical School, and the
clinical instruction is under the general
supervision of the University Senate.
The old Infirmary, now called the Sydney
Hospital, is still carried on, though under
the disadvantages attendant on an incom-
plete building. It is, however, conve-
niently situated for cases of accident
arising among the shipping, or at the
northern end of the city, and its wards
are generalh' full. It has a special and
detached department for ophthalmic cases.
St. \'incent's Hospital in Victoria Street,
on the heights of Darlinghurst, is a Roman Catholic institution, and though its accommo-
dation is limited it is excellently conducted. The administration is of course denomina-
tional, but the beds are open to sufferers without distinction of creed. At the Glebe
ST. JOHNS CHURCH, DARLINGHURST.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
189
\
•A
O
<
<
Point is the Children's Hospital, to which the Government contributes, though the
management is exclusively in the hands of a committee appointed by the subscribers.
The Benevolent Asylum, partly supported by private contributions, though mainly dependent
igo
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
on the Government, deals directly with a large amount of casual poverty ; it distri-
butes outdoor relief after making all enquiries possible under the circumstances ; it has
a maternity hospital, and its doors are open at all times to take in the waifs and strays
who may fall into the hands of the police. The care of destitute children was for many
years attended to by the Randwick Asylum, an institution which originated in private
philanthropy, but which gradually
came to depend mainl)- on public
funds — a tendency common to all
the charitable institutions of the
colony, which look parth' to private
and partly to public resources ; the
only exceptions being those cases
in which the Government limits its
bpunty strictly to a pound for every
pound privately subscribed. In addi-
tion to the Randwick Asylum there
were for many years a Protestant
and a Catholic orphan school at
Parramatta, each supported b)- the
Government ; but of late years the
public policy has undergone a change.
The experiment of boarding out
children was undertaken tentatively
by a few ladies, in whose hands
the Government placed a small sum
of money for the purpose. The
experiment proved so successful
that the Government adopted the
arrangement officiall)'. All the State
children are now boarded out, and
Government assistance has been withdrawn from the orphan and destitute asylums. But
the Randwick Asylum still continues its charitable work, though dependent on its private
resources. There are also in Sydney two soup-kitchens, two female refuges and the
Charity Organization Society, which does its utmost to make enquiries before giving
relief. In addition to this all the churches have their detached organizations for relieving
the poor and destitute. As a general check upon the abuses of the charitable institutions,
the Government employs an officer called the Inspector of Charities, who has the right
of entry and inspection wherever public money is granted, and whose duty it is to see
that the money is properly .spent, and that mendicity is not encouraged by philanthropy.
The primary schools are maintained at the expense of the Government. The more
modern buildings are architecturally good, and have been carefully designed in the light
of a large experience. It is difficult in a clo.sely-packed city to secure any large area
for playgrounds, but as much has been done in this respect as was practicable, and in
every case covered sheds are provided, so as to give the children protection from the
THE GLEBE PRESBVTEKIAN CHURCH
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
IQI
TH1-: ENTRANCE TO A STATE SCIIOOU
weather, and to admit also of classes being held
out of doors. In addition to the public schools
the Roman Catholics have also several excellent
private schools.
Under the care of the Government there is
also a large technical school, in which most of
the lectures are delivered in the evening. This
institution, previously supervised by a board, is
intended to give instruction to artisans, especially
the young, in the theory as well as in the practice
of their respective trades. More than a thousand
students are already in attendance at the different
classes, and the number is rapidly increasing. In
place of the cumbrous premises used at present,
which are for the most part rented, and since the
Department of Public Instruction has assumed the
sole control, there is being erected a large and
commodious college fitted with all the most ad-
vanced and modern scientific and educational
appliances. This institution will occupy a central site at Ultimo, a suburb immediately
adjoining the Railway Station, and within five minutes' walk of the suburban trains.
The Government has also a High School in the city, close to Hyde Park. Admis-
sion is by examination ; the education is not gratuitous, but the fees are low. The
school is intended principally for the more
promising children from the public schools, and
is intended to facilitate their preparation for the
University. The public Grammar School is on
the opposite side of the Park and adjoins the
Museum. It gets from the Government the use
of the building and an annual endowment of
fifteen hundred pounds ; it has accommodation
for four hundred boys. The situation is con-
veniently central, but the premises, though
largely altered, are old-fashioned, and the area
for recreation is limited. As an educational
institution this school has been very successful,
and has sent to the University many prizemen.
The Sydney Public Library, which has
recently undergone complete and thorough reno-
vation, is at the corner of Bent Street and
Macquarie Street. The institution was originally
a private .subscription library, which embar-
rassed itself by an undue expenditure in
building. The Government took the property
;.n^* »-■ n*-
A STATE SCHOOL CLA.SS-ROO.M.
192 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
over and made the library free. The size of the building has since been doubled, and a
separate lending branch has been opened in Macquarie Street, nearly opposite. Although
the position is not central the library is well attended. In several of the suburban munici-
palities there are free libraries, the law allowing a portion of the rates to be applied to this
purpose. There is a large library of general literature attached to the Mechanics' School of
Arts, access to which is attainable by a subscription of five shillings a quarter. There is
also a Parliamentary Library, a scientific library attached to the Royal Society, a law library'
at the Supreme Court, and another library at the University, which latter will be greatly
enlarged as soon as the Fisher bequest for that purpose has been expended.
The markets of a city are generally characteristic places, and in many respects
typical of the habits and character of the population. Sydney has three agoras, but
only the Fish Market at Woolloomooloo can claim any consideration on architectural
grounds. One is situated in the old Haymarket — the hollow that lies between the
Railway Station and Brickfield Hill. This locality, as its name implies, was in earlier
days the place where the farmers who brought in their ha)- from the country drew up
their waggons and waited for customers. But the character of this trade has now under-
gone a change ; most of the hay comes to the city by train, and goes down to the
goods-station at Darling Harbour. The George Street frontage of the Haymarket
-'iliKil. CHILDREN TRAVELLING AT SI \
has been let on building lease by the Corporation, and a portion of the spare ground
in the rear is a favourite place for travelling circus managers to pitch their tents. On
part of the land the Belmore market-sheds have been erected — very plain, commonplace
buildings, and only specially interesting on Saturday nights. The market-sheds are then
all filled with farm and garden produce, meat, clothing and children's toys ; buying and
selling going on vigorously. In the adjoining open ground merry-go-rounds are humming
and roaring, jugglers are playing their tricks on temporary platforms, tragedies are
enacted on a stage in front of a canvas theatre, pennyworths of electricity are sold to
those who like the sensation of a shock, a panorama of the last great war is to be
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
»93
THE INTERIOR OF THE CENTRAL MARKETS.
W.'T'^M<:">-»cy
THE CENTRAL MARKETS.
seen in a showman's booth, and the
sellers of boiled peas ply their trade
with vigour ; for peas are so much a
specialty in Sydney as chestnuts in Italy,
roast potatoes in England, and pea-nuts
in America. The Sydney larrikin may
be studied here enjoying himself in his
own peculiar way. .Some of them are
shabby, though not from want of money ;
but others, amid all their vulgarity,
affect a certain degree of showiness in
dress, accompanied with an evident self-consciousness of the elaborate style in which they
are got up. The physique indicates a preponderance of the animal, and the conversa-
tion is painfully overladen with profanity. They, with their female companions, take a
pleasure in seeing and in being seen ; promenading towards the city at times to turn into
one of those dancing saloons, or cheap music-halls, which of late years have greatly
increased in the city — A consequence of the large amount of money which lads in
.Sydney can easily earn, and which they like to spend in pleasure.
Another metropolitan market is the older one in George Street on the northern side
of the Town Hall, adjoining the land on which lately stood the old City Police Court,
since condemned and pulled down. The market building is utterly unworthy of its posi-
tion or of the city, and its removal is only a question of time. It is at present a
disputed point whether the Markets ought to be reconstructed here. The site was con-
venient enough in early days, when Sydney was small, but it is altogether inadequate at
present. A position on the water's edge, or nearer to the Railway Station, would be
194 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
more suitable. It has been proposed to clear the whole ground for a square, but the
land is verj' valuable, and the Corporation naturally wants a revenue. At a very early
hour in the morning on market days a large business is transacted here by the fruit-sellers,
who dispose of their produce to the dealers, and during the day a considerable retail
trade is done at the stalls, while the firms engaged in shipping fruit to the other
colonies are actively, employed in making up their packages and dispatching them to the
steamers. Sydney is supplied with fresh fruit of some kind all the year round, for not
only has it its own double climate of the coast and the table-land to draw upon, but cool
Tasmania to the south, tropical Queensland to the north, and I-"iji to the east, all send
in their contributions. But the gala time for these markets is the Christmas week,
when the dingy sheds are made glorious with flowers and fruit.
Nothing strikes a visitor from the northern hemisphere so much as the altered
character of Christmas wares in Australia. All his usual associations are upset — the
temperature, the vegetation, the fruits and the [lowers seem out of season ; the year is
turned ■ upside down. Let him go into the Sydney Markets in the Christmas week and
he will see the people all dressed in light summer costume, and the stalls profusely
heaped with summer produce. There are lilies, pelargoniums, fuchsias, hydrangeas, and
rhododendrons yielding great clusters of bloom, with here and there some roses left from
the wealth of spring. Close to them, stacked in profusion, are apples and pears, plums
and nectarines, apricots and peaches, with other garden fruit. A few grapes have been
already ripened on some sunny eastern slope, and gathered from a shady patch, where
once the mosses grew by the water-side, strawberries ma)- )et remain. Side by side with
baskets and boxes of cherries looking as fresh as the product of a Kentish June,
melons, pomegranates and figs maintain the semi-tropical aspect of the show, which is
further accentuated by huge bunches of bananas hanging aloft, close to bread-fruit and
date-plums brought from the neighbouring islands. The vendors of animals seem, from
the pains they take with their display, to calculate on a good trade at Christmas ;
black-nosed pugs, hairy poodles, monkeys, cockatoos, paroquets, flying-foxes, and even kan-
garoos and emus are on view for sale.
Standing by the main entrance to the Markets, and looking down the avenue past
the piled pomegranates and melons, the palms and the pampas-grass, the blaze of colour
from the flowers, the pink-tipped green of the Christmas-bush, and the gay-coloured
scarves and handkerchiefs of the fancy stalls to the live creatures mewed in cages at
the farther end, the scene may seem to a visitor to resemble rather an Eastern bazaar
than the market-place of a people of the English race. Yet it is unlike either — in fact,
it is like nothing else in the world ; it is characteristic of Australian development ; it
has come of a prosperous people slowly departing from their old-world, cold-clime notions
under the influence of a semi-tropical sky. Even in dress, manners and appearance
the people are various, and show in different degrees the influence of new conditions.
Eronting the same stall two gentlemen may be seen, the one dark costumed, the other
in cool and pleasant white ; one wearing a tall silk hat, the other a pith helmet ; one in
polished boots, the other in canvas shoes. Say not that the one is comfortable and
that the other suffers, for there is an appreciable satisfaction in clinging to old-world
customs, and the gentleman in broadcloth looks complacent and dignified, though flushed.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
195
More noticeable still, perhaps, are the contrasts among those who buy and sell and
do the work of the Markets. The old porter sitting upon his hand-barrow wears his
moleskins and checked cotton shirt as in the days of regulations. If Christmas now
brings more grog and tobacco, Christmas is welcome to him; but he would not change
the order of his attire for Christmas, or for any other f^c day ; and almost as stanch
to old traditions is the
portly and prosperous man
who has kept a stall and
sold garden - produce for
forty years, has kept also
his old cut of coat, his old
watch-chain with seals, and
•a-
^*^^^*«:.^^,
A PARRAMATTA ORANGE GROVE.
his old contempt for things new-fangled or un-English. But the sons and grandsons of
the earlier generation have taken other views and other forms ; the climate has had an
effect on them in physiognomy, in physique and in tastes. The youth from the farms
and market-gardens are mostly tall and slim, somewhat lank-limbed, sunburnt, often dark-
haired and dark-eyed ; they contrast well with their oranges, their melons and their
grapes ; their taste for rich colours comes naturally in a land where so much is richly-
coloured. The silk veils on their soft felt hats are frequently bright blue or green ; they
twist crimson sashes around their waists ; they are addicted to gorgeous cravats, and
lounge about their stalls or carts as though the dolcc far niente were a familiar experience ;
196 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
they are lazily self-possessed, independent in spirit, and careless of patronage — typical of
a development in a new world and under progressive social conditions.
Not more characteristic, but on a larger scale, is the Sydney crowd in George
Street on an ordinary Saturday night. Anyone who wishes to study the physiognomy,
the dress, the style and carriage of the people, may have his fill of opportunity here.
From the Haymarket to King Street is one continuous crowded promenade. Why so
many people turn out at this particular time to march in solemn procession it is hard
to say ; but men are gregarious and the creatures of custom, and all the world goes
where all the world goes. This is not the promenade for the wealthier classes : there
is nothing in Sydney approaching to the character of a fashionable Parisian boulevard;
George Street on a Saturday night gathers the metropolitan multitude. Of late )ears
several arcades have been made, runnintj throu<>h from Georo;e Street to the streets
behind. These covered-ways are brilliantly illuminated at night, and thickly set with shops
on either side, but the main street is the chief promenade. A visitor coming in to the
city from the Railway Station for the first time might wonder what the commotion was
about; but this is the normal condition of the street every Saturday night. It is a
stream of people a mile long, and very seldom indeed is it stirred boisterously or rude))-
by any exhibition of passion or of blackguardism.
Although the type is dominantly Australian, there is a visible mixture of various
nationalities. This is due partly to the variety always to be found in a great sea-port,
and partly to the attraction the colon)- has held out to immigrants from different
countries. One may recognize the physiognomy of the industrious German settlers,
French and Italian vignerons interested in the sale of their wines, and strangely-garbed
Asiatics who have strolled up from the ships lying alongside the Quay at the end of the
street. Tints of black and brown are seen together; dark Arab boys from Aden, ebon-
hued as the coals they handle, without a trace of lustre on their cheeks, clad in dingy
blue frocks,- red scarves and parti-coloured caps; shiny-brown fellows from Madras and
Bombay, many of them as handsome as Greeks, and gaily dressed in crimson and blue
and gold. They come to the street bazaar to do a stroke of trade, bringing bundles
of carved and polished sticks, trays of silver and filigree work, curiousl\-cut ivory, and
scarves and kerchiefs of the rich colours and intricate patterns peculiar to Eastern
looms. Passing tliem may be seen the yellow, fiat-faced, slant-eyed Chinamen, who have
come in from their vegetable gardens, or up from their gambling-saloons and furniture-
shops, and who thread their way unobtrusively and submissively through the crowd ;
while deepest in colour, and perhaps lowest in type of all, is the black boy from North
Queensland, brought down by some squatter from an exploring or a droving trip, and sent
down town with an injunction " not to get bushed." Touched with all these points of
colour and darkness, ebbs and fiows the main Caucasian current, not without peculiarities
and curiosities of its own, to some of which sad and strange histories are attached.
The blind beggar stands with his medical certificate and scriptural text hanging on
his breast, indifferent apparently as a statue, and only moved to display some symptom
of life when a passer-by drops a penny in his box. The blind fiddler scra])es away at
tunes that seem to have forgotten their music ; and the attendant old woman, whose
shawl and bonnet look like relics of English work-house life, extends her saucer in which
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
197
■A
'A
•J
as
O
id
•J
the pennies rattle. By the steps of the Post Office— as at the gate of the temple called
Beautiful — some cripple, hour after hour, makes his monotonous vendor's call : and the
old newspaper seller, with his bundle of assorted wares on his knees, sits patiently,
unstirred by the hurry of competition, and taught by long experience that out of all the
198 . AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
tens of thousands who pass by enough will want something for Sunday reading to clear
out his stock and send him home provided for. The representatives of the fever of
competition are to be found in the newsboys, who, barefooted and often bare-headed,
dart at every chance of a likely customer,, filling up the intervals of actual business with
shrill cries and eager appeals, and disposing of thousands of copies of the latest issues
of the evening press.
And over all resound the city chimes. Eight o'clock, and the crowd is beginning
to gather ; nine, and it is thickening fast ; ten, it is thinning ; eleven, it is hurrying
homeward. At this hour the slow and aimless step gives place to haste, for the theatres
are emptying, the hotel doors are closing by order of the law, the shop-windows are
darkening, and the life and desire of the city is dying out. By midnight George Street
is quiet. If the moon be clear the shadows of the great buildings lie across the silent
roadways, the policeman's footfall echoes on the pavement, and the only noise comes
from some midnight revellers, homeward-bound and trolling forth a chorused song.
Later on the silence is hardly broken at all. The policeman is seen passing from door
to door, trying if each is securely locked; the gas burns fainth' in some of the windows;
while others are barred and brightly lighted. Down the cross streets that meet the
water the wharf-lamps are reflected in the still depths, and the only sounds that disturb
the quiet is from some inward-bound vessel working slowly up to her moorings.
Parks and Pleasure Grounds.
Sydney, with its suburbs, is gradually filling all the space between Port Jackson
and liotany Bay, but more by accident than design, there is a belt of unalienated land
— part of which is already devoted to pleasure grounds — running across in an almost
continuous line between the southern shore of the former and the north shore of the
latter, and this is mostly park ground. The beautiful Botanic Gardens touch the waters
of Farm Cove. On their southern side they are divided only by the breadth of a street
from Hyde Park, which stretches south as far as Liverpool Street. Here there is a
break in the continuity of pleasant green reserve, for the suburb of Surry Hills is
closely built, and unrelieved by any square — too compact a mass of brick, mortar and
macadam for a city in this climate. But beyond this suburb begins the ample space of
Moore Park, and that adjoins the Centennial Park and the upper part of the old City
Water Reserve, and this, though partly private property, stretches down to the engine-
pond, which is separated by only a dam from the waters of Botany Bay. The reser-
vation of parks did not form a part of the plans of the early founders of the city. In
their days acres were many and people were few, and the administrators had pressing
troubles enough to exercise their minds without thinking of the wants of a densely-
populated city of the future. Had It occurred to any surveyor to lay out the plan of
a large city and intersperse the building areas with suitable reserves, the site would
have lent itself admirably to a design that could hardly have been surpassed. But the
city was left to grow without a plan, and the reserves as we now have them are happy
accidents. As it is, the area reserved from building is large, but it might have been
much better distributed, there being considerable blocks thickly built upon without any
suitable open spaces to refresh the eye and sweeten the air.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
199
By far the most
beautiful and high-
ly improved of all
our public reserves
is the Hotanic Gar-
dens, which are
devoted to the de-
velopment of the
floral beauties of
the temperate and
semi-tropical zones.
It was chosen for
cultivation pur-
poses in the first
instance as being
the nearest suitable
spot to the Go-
vernor's canvas
dwelling, but a bet-
u
■A
y.
2 Q
3i
ter site for permanent Botanic Gardens could hardly have been selected had the country
been scoured for a dozen miles around. It has a frontage to the lovely Farm Cove,
200 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
the curved line of which is a charm in itself. The ground lies open to the north,
and slopes upwards to the other three points of the compass. The shelter is greatest
on the western side where it is most wanted, for the wind from that quarter is at all
times trying to delicate flowers, and it is also protected from the south and the east.
Except in the hollow the soil was not naturally rich, and in some places is very
shallow, the sandstone protruding here and there. But art has turned these jutting
blocks of stone to the best account, and the soil has been artificially improved by
constant and elaborate culture. Nature furnished a happy opportunity, and the gardener's
skill has done the rest. It was first used as a farm — hence the name Farm Cove ; but
in the year 1816 it was dedicated as a reserve, and its ornamentation as a public
garden then began. The old stone wall — which still remains pierced with its pillared
gate — over-grown with ivy and faced with magnificent clumps of azaleas, separates the
upper from the lower garden, and was in the early days the boundary between the public
grounds and some bush-land that lay between them and the ba)'. When the lower garden
was added to the upper, the road-way between the two was made a broad promenade.
A further annexation from the Government House Domain took place after the
close of the International Exhibition in 1879. '" '^^e Governor's paddock was built
the Garden Palace, and after its destruction by fire the ground on which it stood was
added to the area of the public gardens. The Norfolk Island pines, which at once
arrest the attention of the visitor as he enters by the original gate-way in the valley
of the Domain, are among the oldest specimens of arboriculture in the colony, and in
their present condition are said to be finer than any that can be found in Norfolk
Island itself. The two trees that face the visitor as he enters were first planted at
the entrance to the old Government House in Bridge Street, but in the year 181 7,
when twelve-feet saplings, they were transplanted to their present position. These trees
are not only attractive by their symmetry and abundant shade, but they have also an
historic interest. They are of equal date Vv'ith the surveying of the Domain Road by
Mrs. Macquarie, and indeed that energetic lady may have watched their transplanting,
even if she did not order it. Many capable men had the Gardens in charge in early
years, amongst whom were Allan Cunningham, the King's Botanist ; Messrs. Eraser,
Anderson, and others; and for forty years Mr. Charles Moore, the present Director, has
made it a labour of love to improve and l^eautify them. The broad grassed fiat near
the water was at one time a sandy beach. The tide rose to the point where Allan
Cunningham's monument now stands, and the walk round to the Governor's bathing-house
was a bit of rough rocky fore-shore, thick with sea-weed. All the present frontage for
some distance back from the sea-wall has been reclaimed.
The best entrance to the Gardens is now from Macquarie .Street, opposite the
Public Library, and in front of the fine bronze statue of Sir Richard liourke. Hanked
by cannon trophies captured in the Crimean war and presented to the colon)-. The
gates open on broad lawns tastefully decorated with carpet-bedding. This high ground
was the site of the Garden Palace, and at the foot of a flight of steps the cemented
basement of the foundations of the central dome is still to be seen, the only remaining
relic of that palace of delight. Dome, courts and galleries were all reduced to ashes
in the fire, but where the ruins lay are now well-ordered terraces and lawns, which
PLEASURE GROUNDS, SYDNhV.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
20I
extend from the Domain boundary on the one side to Government House on the other.
The open spaces— chiefly of soft and shining green, here and there a clump of
blossoming shrubs, or brilliant-tinted flowers and leaves— give colour and variety to the
landscape, while below, the dense foliage of the lower garden rises in beautiful contrast.
Bordering the path leading down are some pieces of statuary— copies of celebrated
works, C a n o V a ' s
" Boxers " and the
" Apollo Belvidere "
being conspicuous
amongst them ; while
farther on a " Venus
di Medici " gleams
snow)'-white amid the
glossy foliage. Below
the terraces, and
w i t h i n the ample
shade which covers
all the walks of the
western slope of this
old garden, are the
larger beauties of the
lordlier zones ; palms
rise in clumps, small-
fruiting cocoa-nuts
and sago-trees from
Brazil lift their
feathery plumes high
towards the sky, and
giants of the yjicca
tribe put out their
flower-spikes. In the
thickets close by are
rare plants from New
Zealand, and richly-
foliaged shrubs culled
from the gullies and
ravines of our eastern shores. By the side of the creek a great variety of Australian
ferns have been planted ; they grow to perfection in the rich soil, and beneath the
undisturbed shade of the higher trees. In little groves wild duck and teal sport
in happy security ; and just beyond the rustic bridge that spans the creek is the
giant pine, which from this point is seen to great advantage. Indeed, as the tree
of a foreign forest, towering over all those of native growth, it stands symbolical
of the established supremacy of immigrants of foreign sap over the old native race.
Since it was planted many men of colonial fame have sat and moralized beneath
rut; LILY I'U.NU, 13UTAMC GARDENS.
202
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
its cool shade, looking up through its latticed roof to the distant glimpses of the soft
blue sky. Surrounding this celebrated pine are many gorgeous trees — hibiscus with
crimson trumpet-shaped blooms, flame-trees with flowers as scarlet as feathers from a
flamingo's breast, tulip-trees and magnolias from China and Japan, lovely jacarandas from
South America ; and by the side of these droop graceful English willows, the whole
group giving a perpetually varying contrast of colour and form of foliage. Nearer to
the Harbour waters are shaded knolls commanding lovely views of the Cove, its waters
flecked on summer holidays with countless white sails ; in the near distance Government
House rises behind its well-grown and tastefully-grouped trees like a baronial castle set
in some English park. Close to the sea-wall, which sweeps in a bold curve from
" Mrs. Macquarie's Chair " to the man-o'-war steps at Fort Macquarie, is a continuous
soft carpet of buffalo grass — a great promenade of green, which, despite the tread of
innumerable feet, maintains its freshness and elasticity.
To the botanist the great range of vegetation represented in these Gardens is
exceedingly interesting. The coffee-plant is seen growing side by side with the mango,
the elm and the lime-tree, and our own kurrajoiigs by the palms of the Islands.
Danwiaras and araucarias
are as luxuriant and grand
as in their native homes.
The great majority of
English flowers come to
perfection, though some that
love the damp thickets and
six months' winters of the
old world cannot withstand
the too-abundant sunshine.
Rhododendrons manage to
flower, but azaleas seem to
revel in the richness of their
ofenial surroundinp's. Of
English trees, poplars and
elms thrive well, the horse-
chestnut and hornbeam but
poorly, and the beech and
ash barely exist. The oaks
annually throw out good
foliaee, but do not seem
likely to produce anything
worthy the name of timber.
The hearts of oak so famed in song and story will never be truly Australian on the
low land, for the trunks tend to become pipy in twenty years. The trees indi-
genous to high altitudes and excessively moist localities fail to display the vigour
and beauty natural to their proper habitats. Some trees native to Australia also object
to the cool sea-breezes and the rajs of a semi-tropical sun ; sassafras struggles, as do
A WALK IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS.
THE CITY OF SYDNEY,
203
THE SEA-SIDE WALK, OUTER DOMAIN.
also most of the sun and drought proof
scrubs of the western plains, with the
exception of salt-ljush, the great fodder-
plant of the interior, which, with the
fragrant myall and the vast tribe of aca-
cias, thrives well. Lime-trees resist the
humid heat, and coffee plants from Ceylon
and palms from Brazil withstand the cold
of the Sydney winter. Scientific botany
has not been neglected in the Gardens.
There is a small museum containing a
good and well-arranged collection, while
for the benefit of students plants and
trees are described by their botanic titles,
as well as, wherever practicable, by their
common and familiar names.
South and east of the Gardens lies
the general public Domain. A pleasant carriage-drive leads round by " Mrs. Macquarie's
Chair" — a favourite rendezvous on holidays, as it is a commanding position from which to
view the Harbour. On regatta days, or when a man-o'-war is leaving, this is practically
a grand-stand. From the "Chair" the drive returns past the Public Baths to the Director's
residence, from which point there are three exits — one into
the valley of Woolloomooloo, another past the Art Gallery' to
St. Mary's Cathedral, and a third into Macquarie Street, the
road which connects the two latter passing at the rear of the
Houses of Parliament and the Infirmary. The entire drive,
which is naturally
much appreciated, is
beautiful throughout,
and in some parts
strikingly picturesque.
Hyde Park is
practically a continua-
tion of the Outer
Domain, being cut ofT
from it by only an
intervening road. At
the northern entrance
of the broad prome-
nade which runs down
its centre stands a
fine bronze statue of the late Prince Consort. Facing it in Chancery Square, within
a railed space fronting St. James's Church, is also a bronze statue of the Queen, on a
granite pedestal. Hyde Park was reserved in the first instance as a race-course for the
iS^\
MRS. MACQUARIE S CHAIR.
204
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
amusement of the citizens of the early days. It was dedicated by Governor Macquarie,
and cleared as a course by the ofiFicers of the regiment then on service in the colony, but
when the noble sport moved further afield the ground was retained as a pleasure-reserve.
It is now vested in the hands of trustees, who have done much by judicious planting
and careful gardening to make it a very delightful resort. Hyde Park is the finest
boulevard and promenade that the city possesses. At the intersection of Park Street, and
facing the corner of College Street, is the magnificent bronze statue of Captain Cook,
the work of Woolner, the sculptor. At the opposite corner is a rotunda where on certain
afternoons and evenings a military or naval band performs. Throughout its area the
'.V,.
ST. MARY S CATE, OUTER DOMAIN.
Park is ornamented with fountains and parterres of flowers, and its splendid broad boule-
vards are planted with heavilj-foliaged Moreton Bay fig-trees, which make on fervent
summer days a cool and umbrageous retreat.
The citizens of Sydney owe Moore Park to the action of a few of their predeces-
sors, who in the early days secured from the Government a grant of the land. But
it was not for themselves, or for their children, or for their children's children, that
they asked for this area ; it was for their cows. There was no commonage attached to
the young settlement ; the petitioners asked for one, and so the Governor apportioned
off a large space of what was then a waste of wind-driven sand-hills. It is fortunate
that the land was poor, or some influential person would have got it as a grant ; but
because it was poor it was little used, and the citizens themselves in time forgot all
about it. The officials in the Lands Office had no better memory, and in spite of the
dedication it was treated as Crown land. The new Barracks were built upon it, and bit
by bit the land was sold. But in a happy moment some one rummaging among old
papers discovered the forgotten grant. The Corporation immediately laid claim to the
land ; the Government, having poached on the domain, was at first inclined to treat the
grant as having lapsed, but at last conceded the title so far as the unsold portion was
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
205
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concerned. The city was put in possession ; an Act was passed enabling the Corporation
to sell a portion of the estate, and to borrow money for the improvement of the rest.
Since then the appearance of the property has undergone a great change. The road to
Randwick runs through it ; the western side has been levelled and grassed, and is largely
used for foot-ball and cricket practice. A portion, once a swampy piece of ground, is
devoted to the purpose of a Zoological Garden ; the pit of the old morass is now a little
lake with an island in its centre, on which palms, willows and ferns display their graceful
foliage. Animals from various climes are suitably housed and provided for. Young broods
of lions and tigers are here ; elephants, with their liowdalis frequently packed with many
children ; and, in addition to camels, bears, leopards, and the other ordinary occupants of
a menagerie, there is a fine collection of the birds and beasts of Australasia — marsupials
of every kind, from the six-feet " old-man " to the tiny and dainty rock-wallaby, wombats,
dingoes, Tasmanian devils, opossums, tiger-cats, and all the denizens of the forests and the
plains. A good idea of the varied form and plumage of the different Australian birds
may be obtained by a visit to these Gardens ; for nearly all are to be found here,
from the emu and cassowary to the little silver-eye and the blue robin ; from the native
companion to the diminutive teal and water-hen.
On the eastern side of the Randwick Road the reclaimed portion of the Park is
devoted to different purposes. A long strip lying at the back of the Barracks forms
the rifle-range, the targets being backed by a high natural wall of rock. It was first
turned to its present purpose by the English soldiers who were quartered in the
Barracks ; so, too, they were the first to level and lay out the present cricket-ground.
This is now vested in trustees and managed by the Cricket Association. Twelve acres
are enclosed, the playing-ground measuring one hundred and seventy-six by one hundred
and sixty-four yards. Two thousand people can be seated in the grand-stand and a
thousand in the pavilion. Uncovered seats round the oval will accommodate two thousand,
and on the sloping banks behind them is standing-room for fully twenty thousand people ;
on the occasion of great matches every inch of standing-room is occupied. Bicycle con-
tests and athletic sports of all kinds also come off here, and tennis-courts, both grass
and asphalt, are in the enclosure. Beyond the cricket-ground is the space granted to the
Agricultural Society. Here, in addition to stalls for the display of every description of
stock, is a good circular track for trotting matches, and a large central enclosure round
which the horses and cattle are paraded to be judged. The Randwick Race-course lies
south of Moore Park, and is well enclosed and planted ; there is a splendid grand-stand,
and all the appliances suited to a first-class race-course. The tram-wa)' from Sydney
lands visitors at the gates of the Cricket Ground, the Agricultural Show Ground and
the Race-course.
The Centennial Park, a magnificent reserve of about a thousand acres, to which
reference has already been made, lies east of Moore Park. It is laid out in carriage-
drives and ornamented with lagoons, the intention being to recoup the initial expense by
selling a ring of residential sites within the Park. To the east of Randwick, and on the
shore, is Coogee Bay. The whole beach, from point to point, is reserved for the public,
and on both rocky headlands there are liberal spaces in frequent use as picnic-grounds.
The beach is a popular promenade and a favourite bathing-place, the tram-way running down
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
207
to its edge bringing on holidays multitudes of the city folk to enjoy the freshness of the
pure salt water and the Pacific breezes. To the northward of Coogee is another reserved
beach, furnished with a bathing-place, an aquarium and a skating-rink. It skirts Bond! Bay,
the tram-road reaching within half a mile of the water. To the southward lie other inlets.
especially Maroubra Bay and Long Bay, but these have not yet been made accessible by
the tram, or even by good roads; but they are both available for future marine esplanades.
^
' -^
x.^.
IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
At the north headland of Botany there is also a large public reserve. The Customs
House has a small station here ; and here, too, starts the telegraph-cable to New
Zealand ; and a swing-bridge leads to the fortifications of Bare Island. The northern
beach of Botany Bay, which is mostly reserved, is cut off from the western beach by
the mouth of Cook's River, which debouches through a winding outlet between muddy
banks into the north-west corner of the Bay. The whole of the western beach, from
the mouth of Cook's River to the mouth of George's River, has been reserved for the
public for a hundred feet above high-water mark, and is vested in trustees ; a public
bathing-reserve is projected at Doll's Point. The whole line of the beach is admirably
adapted for bathing purposes, as the sandy floor shelves gradually down, and only very
seldom do the heavy easterly gales make any rough water on the shore. The Govern-
ment has done but little as yet to improve this reserve, but private enterprise has
already made a beginning in the work of turning to account its bathing facilities. The
Illawarra Railway, after crossing Cook's River, runs within a mile of the shore, and
from the Rockdale Station a private tram-line has been made to the water, where about
an acre has been enclosed with piles to make the bathing-ground secure against sharks.
This locality is so admirably fitted to be the bathing-ground for Sydney that the
accommodation for it is sure to grow.
Parallel to the beach, and a few hundred yards from it, but connected with it by
a boulevard three chains wide, is Scarborough Park, another recent dedication. It was
originally a swamp, receiving the drainage of the land to the west, and described in old
Government maps as of no value. But as the beach was opened up to occupation, and
208
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
its future importance became recognized by a few far-seeing men, it occurred to them
that the swamp might be utihzed and turned into ponds, islands and rich grassy Ijanks.
Application was therefore made to the Minister for Lands to have the whole area set
apart for public use, and some adjoining private land was added. When the projected
improvements are completed, this long narrow park, connected as it is by a broad
botilevard with a nine-mile beach, will became one of the most beautiful and popular
recreation-grounds in the southern suburbs.
The other reserves within and close to the city are not very extensive. They might
with advantage have been both bigger and better situated. Belmore Park, though inter-
sected by the tram-way, and lying close to the Haymarket hollow, preserves ten acres,
KANGAROOS.
which are enclosed but not much improved ; the site is a favourite one for circus
managers. Prince Alfred Park, adjoining the Railway Station, and therefore on the
borders of Redfern and Surry Hills, contains eighteen acres. It is a part of the
Cleveland Paddocks, the domain attached to the old Cleveland House — which still stands
as a relic of past architecture, amid the busy streets and closely-built terraces covering
all the surrounding space. A portion of the old Paddocks was appropriated to the Railway
Station, and the present Park is simph- a remnant. In one corner stands the Ex-
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
209
Tin: CAS.SOWARV, KMf AM) -NATUi; CUM 1' ANION.
hibition Building, originally built by the Corporation for the Agricultural Society, but now
devoted to a variety of uses ; concerts, public meetings, poultry and dog shows, bazaars,
athletic contests, balls, minor exhibitions ; for all of which it is found convenient, while in the
wool-season it is sometimes used as a store.
Just outside the southern boundary of
the city is a fortunate reservation — Grose
Farm, a hundred and seventy-five acres of
land originally devoted to one of the early
agricultural experiments of the Government.
The farming may not have been a particu-
lar success, but we owe to it the happy
result that the land was not granted awa)'.
It is now subdivided, but onl)- detached pub-
lic buildings stand on it. The University,
with the Medical School, occupies a com-
manding position on the highest ground.
The three affiliated colleges have each a
good slice of land, and the Prince Alfred
Hospital stands between two of them.
Another portion, of twenty-four acres, has
been put in trust as the Victoria Park. The
University cricket-oval lies in the valley to the west. None of the ground is at present
as . highly improved as it should be, but every year something is done to ornament this
valuable lung of the city and to make it as beautiful as it is useful.
About a mile to the north of the
University Reserve is Wentworth Park,
originally a sea-swamp over which the high-
tide sluggishly Mowed ; it had become
greatly befouled by the drainage from the
early Abattoirs, from the sugar-refinery on
the Blackfriars' Estate, and from the
houses on the slopes of the surrounding
hills. It was reclaimed by a deposit of
silt raised by the Harbour dredges, and this
silt was covered with good soil. Instead of
a nuisance it is now a fine Park of about
twenty acres, lying between the suburbs of
Pyrmont and the Glebe ; ornamental ponds
have been made ; young trees are growing
luxuriantly ; a cricket-oval has been formed
in the centre, and a local bowling club has
made an excellent ground in one corner.
Another instance of the reclamation of a spoilt fore-shore is to be found on the
east side of Sydney at Rushcutters' Bay. As its name implies, it was originally a
••.jj^-
THE DINGO OK NAT I VI-; DOG.
2IO AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
swampy area in which grew long coarse grass — very serviceable in making some of
those early huts, which, if they did not adorn the streets of Sydney, at least accommo-
dated the inhabitants. Being easily procured, the reeds formed a cheap material, and reed-
huts answered well enough till slab or weather-board houses were available. As the
high ground surrounding the flat became occupied, the house drainage poured down into
the valley and made an otTensive accumulation, while the silt from the streets filled up
the head of the Bay. The portion to the north of the road has been reclaimed and
walled in, and now forms a park in a rudimentary stage. The area on the other side
of the road is private property, and remains in a neglected condition.
The reclamation of the heads of the numerous bays in Port Jackson is still a work
to be accomplished, but now that public attention has been strongly turned in that
direction there is every probability that the water-side parks of Sydney will be multiplied.
Down the Harbour there is a grand opportunity at Rose Bay, where the level ground
reaches back to the sand-hills on Bondi Beach. Westward of the city the head of
Johnstone's Bay, of White Bay, Hen and Chickens Bay and the swampy flats of the
Parramatta River all invite attention. It is only a question of money ; tide-covered mud
can be transformed into lovely gardens.
Although the metropolis itself has by good luck a fair provision of park-land the
suburbs are not so fortunate. The land outside Sydney was mostly granted or sold ;
each proprietor subdivided in his own interest, and very few cared to adorn their plans
with squares or crescents. As the population has thickened in these suburbs the
people have felt the need of open spaces, and from them the movement originated for
the purchase, while there was still time, of land not yet built upon. The Government
has responded to this demand, and for each of the past four years a grant has been
made for this purpose. As much as two hundred and seventy thousand pounds have
already been spent in buying back parks for the people. A tenth part of this sum would
have been sufificient twenty years ago ; in public matters there is always a penalty to be paid
for delay. What the people now feel is that it is better late than never, and in laying
out new townships it has become a part of our public policy to make ample reservations.
At the South Head is a reserved area for defence works and light-houses, and the
greater part of the North Head is retained for quarantine purposes. Manly has its long
ocean-beach, with an esplanade overlooking it, and its Harbour-beach backed by another
esplanade and its park ; there is also a reserve of a hundred feet in breadth round the
adjoining headland which will some day be made into a beautiful water-side drive. On
the peninsula between Middle Harbour and Port Jackson proper are the defence reserves
of Middle Head, George's Head and Bradley's Head, and there are some, though not
sufficient, reservations up Middle Harbour, the best known and most used being a public
park at Balmoral, with a long strip of beautiful frontage of sandy beach. At St. Leonards,
on the heights of North Shore, there is a reserved area of forty-five acres — already well
planted with trees of foreign and native growth, enclosing well-kept cricket and foot-ball
grounds and broad well-shaded walks. The cable-tram runs to its gate, making it acces-
sible to the population living on the lower ground.
Farther to the west on the north side of the Parramatta, and stretching back from the
western shore of Lane Cove, was a large reserve of over six thousand acres known as
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
211
the " Field of Mars." It received its title because it was the commonage attached to the
free grants given in early days to the soldiers, who were planted in the district of Ryde
in the hope that tlicy would become industrious freeholders. The hope was not very
largely realized, and the farms quickly changed hands, but the common remained. The
inhabitants of the district, cut off from Sydney by the Parramatta River, thought, how-
ever, that a good road would be more valuable to them than a common, most of which
was poor soil and thickly covered with inferior timber ; so they bargained with the
Cl)(JGEE BAY.
Government that it should take over the common, and give them in return a direct
road to town, with two bridges, one over the Parramatta and one over Iron Cove.
The bridges have been built, the road has been opened and has proved a great con-
venience. The railway to Newcastle skirts the western edge of the " Field of Mars,"
and makes it accessible in that direction. The land is being subdivided and sold, but
some portions are reserved. The old "Field of Mars" will be in a few years a populous
suburb. Farther to the west lies the beautiful reserve of Parramatta Park, -the preser-
vation of which for public enjoyment we owe to the fact that it was the domain
attached to the old Government House, which still e.xists. Governors knew how to
reserve land for themselves, if they were not always forethoughtful for the people, who,
however, inherit what was once vice-regal luxury. The old Government House is not
worth much, but the reserve, which was meant as a run for the Governor's horses and
cows, is worth a great deal. It is now a fine Park, with beautiful drives around and
212
A USTR ALAS/A ILL USTRA TED.
through it. Near the principal entrance still stands the tree against which Governor
Fitzroy's carriage was dashed when Lady Fitzroy was killed.
But the largest of all the metropolitan pleasure grounds is the great National Park
lying to the south of Port Hacking — reserved by the Government of which Sir John
Robertson was Premier. The railway to Illawarra skirts it on the west, and makes it
accessible at that edge ; but the estate itself occupies nearly the whole area lying
between the railway and the sea-coast, its northern boundary being the estuary of Port
Hacking, and its southern a line drawn from Wattamola boat-liarbour on the coast to
the head of the Hacking River. Within these lines an area of about thirty-six thousand
three hundred acres is enclosed — a territory of infinitely varied beauty, giving on its
heights broad plateaux suitable for military camps and manoeuvres ; on its beaches, in
numerous little gullies and on open grassy plots, abundance of those situations
experienced picnickers seek out ; while on and about the upper reaches of the river are
some of the most glorious examples of forest-growth and semi-tropical luxuriance the
colony affords. By the expenditure of a little money and some engineering skill, the
waters of the upper river have been dammed back at a point eight miles from the
cataract head of navigation ; the tides no longer rise, the floods coming down havfe
washed out the salt, and a long fresh-water reach has been constructed, which, sheltered
by the high hills and forests on either hand, is charmingly tranquil. A good carriage-
A GLIMPSE I\ PARRAMATTA PARK.
drive has been formed along the southern bank, following which the ferns, cabbage-tree
palms, cedars and great Australian lilies, which form the most characteristic and beautiful
features in Australian semi-tropical vegetation, are passed in abundance ; vines and
parasitic creepers make also a grand display, climbing a hundred feet aloft to the top-
most boughs of the tallest gums, and dropping thence gigantic tassels. Various other
roads have also been made through the Park — one strikino- across from the head-waters
of the River to the ocean-beach, bringing the charming little boat-harbour of Wattamola
within reach of those who object to the ocean trip. Hitherto, however, there have not
THE CITY OF SYDNEY.
213
uii: .\.wiu.\al takk, i'.'i.r hacking.
214
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
been any large efforts made to impart an aspect of civilization to this Park. Its manage-
ment is in the hands of trustees, who get a grant of three thousand pounds a year to
spend on its preservation and improvement, and with that they can do little more than
open up roadways. The natural ruggedness and freedom have been largely and wisely
preserved ; it is a bit of original Australia kept to recall to us what the coast country
was like in the earliest days ; it is a bit of wild nature within easy reach of the civili-
zation of a great metropolis ; it is an uncultivated botanic garden in which survive the
native floral beauties of the land ; it is a wilderness for those who like the change from
hot and dusty streets ; it is, and will probably long continue, a place where the labours
and worries of town may be temporarily forgotten, and where on all holidays the multi-
tude may get out and find scope for the free enjoyment of all innocent natural propen-
sities. It is the great Park of the future, and though it may remain a wild preserve,
the railway will soon bring the long line of southern suburbs close up to its edge.
S
X
^-'' ^^(..
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
THE HUNTER RIVER DISTRICT.
A BOUT seventy-five miles north of Fort Jackson the Hunter River finds its outlet
to the sea. Ninety-three years ago Lieutenant Shortland, when hunting for some
runaway convicts, saw the inlet north of Nobby's, and very cautiously entered. He found
no convicts, but he found coal, which was far more important. He called the stream
Coal River, and Coal River it remained for some time, though before the close of the
I
NEWCASTLE IN 1 829.
PAO-SIMILE OF A SKETCH BY SIR THOMAS MITCHELL.
eighteenth centur)- the settlement had been formally christened Newcastle, while the main
river had received the name of the Hunter, after the Governor. The only regular
communication at that time was by the little schooners Cumberland and Integrity, of
twenty-six and fifty-nine tons respectively, which plied for a year or two between the
settlement and the Port. In those days there were no companies and no grants. In
1801 Governor King declared all coal and timber discovered at the Hunter River to be
the exclusive property of the Crown, and no ship was allowed to trade without recog-
nizances of fifty pounds, and two sureties of twenty pounds each. The license to dig
cost five shillings, and there was also a duty of two shillings and sixpence per ton to
be paid on all coal shipped, and that this might be satisfactorily collected it was advised
that onl)- one kind of basket should be used, " weighing one hundred-weight, to measure
the coal in and out of the vessel."
Such was the beginning of the town which now ranks first among the coal-ports of
the Southern Hemisphere, and which in its appliances for safe and rapid shipment is
fully abreast of the needs of the trade. The resources of the Port and district are so
large and varied that there could be no doubt about their ultimate growth when once
enterprise had taken root, though the stringent regulations of the early days made
progress slow and not always proportionately sure. Prior to 1804 there had been many
accidents owing to " mines having been dug by individuals in the most shameful manner,
without having props." For this, sailors were responsible ; ships used to put in, and the
crews would both cut and ship coal, burrow into the hill-side as far as seemed safe, and
leave unprotected the excavations they had made. To prevent a recurrence of these
accidents an order was made that in future no sailors should work in the mines, but
2i6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
only Government men under the direction of professional miners. These latter were paid
at the rate of three shillings and sixpence per day, and the coal was sold in Sydney at
a cost of ten shillings per ton, or more accurately a ton of coal was bartered for ten
shillings-worth of wheat, corn, mutton or pork. In 1821, the last year of the Adminis-
tration of Governor Macquarie, the district was thrown open for settlement, and at that
date its history proper begins. We cannot here trace all the steps of its progress ; we shall
at once pass from the puny efforts of sixty years ago to the marvellous results of to-da\'.
The passage from Sydney is effected at present by steamer — two good lines
ministering to the wants of Newcastle in this particular — though the North-Eastern Line of
Railway from Strathfield to Waratah, recently completed, has largely superseded ocean transit.
The harbour is protected by a breakwater, connecting on one side of the entrance the
main-land with the rocky hummock known as Nobby's Head and stretching beyond it
into the open sea, and by a second dyke of great stones on the other side reaching
towards Nobby's from the oyster-bank — narrowing the entrance and increasing the scour.
Even on a comparatively quiet day a silver line marks the course of this weather-wall,
and when the wind blows roughly from the south or east huge white-crested billows may
break over it, momentarily disturbing the calm of the Port. On a very boisterous da)-
it is interesting to note, from the the hill-top of the peninsula-head, the difference between
the rough sea breaking on the coast — causing the big steamer weathering the farthest
point to heave and pitch — and the smoothness of the protected haven.
Upon the arrival of the steamer at her moorings, and • on an ordinary working day,
the traveller will view a scene .of animated labour. On the main wharf there are the
steam-cranes lifting the coal and depositing it in the hold x)f some dingy collier or ocean
mail-boat. Past the steam-cranes, and continuing the sweep of the wharf, are staiths for
loading the smaller kinds of vessels, and beyond these again are the staiths of the Austra-
lian Agricultural Company. The accommodation for ships coaling here was found to be
altogether insufficient, and so Bullock Island, lying directly opposite the cvihoucluirc of the
River and close to the shore, was connected with the main-land by a railroad ; eight large
cranes were erected upon the fore-shore, and these are worked b)' a powerful hydraulic
apparatus located in a neat stone building about a hundred yards to the rear. Along-
side the wharves gather all the Melbourne regular liners, Sydney traders, ships and
steamers by the dozen, taking coal to the other colonies, the Islands, California and
India. The connection between the Government line and the collieries is maintained by
various private lines.
A good comprehensive view of the shipping of Newcastle is to be obtained from
a point on the wharf a hundred yards to the eastward of the Customs House, though
if a i^erfect panorama be desired it is better to climb Nobby's Head, or up to the
summit of Monument Hill. From the latter point a good view oi the town also is to
be had. It is set in a rather cramped nook, its development resembling that of a
fig-tree which has chanced to take root in a little earth-patch, with rock all below and
beyond. It has grown in whatever direction it could find space ; straggled along the
harbour front ; climbed boldly up the escarpment of the shore. It lies on the seaward
face of Monument Hill, with its one important street curving round the hill-foot
roughly parallel to the wharves, and the other streets coming straight down the steep
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES
217
slope in a sheer descent, joining this main city-artery at right angles. The banks, the
hotels and the newspaper offices are in this busy traffic-way. named Hunter Street, and
above them nestle dwelling houses, looking out across the Hill— the site of the public park
NOBBY S HEAD, NEWCASTLE.
-Wr
and recreation-ground — down on the bold coast-line, and away to the ocean beyond. In
Newcastle, as in Launceston, the hill-face is terraced with roofs, and one's garden-gate
may swing level with the chimney-pots of the adjoining houses.
The town is famed rather for its commercial importance than for its beauty. Utility
is the foremost consideration, and the whole city is eloquent of its staple product.
There are no public buildings in Newcastle worthy of the importance of the town, or
commensurate with its prosperit)-. The Customs Office is commodious and neat, and the
Asylum for Imbeciles finely situated on the Hill. The banks are rather substantial than
2l8
A US TEA L ASIA ILL USTRA TED.
ornate in their design, and the churches have evidently been built to meet the wants
of a practical people, and not out of munificent endowments. The School of Arts is a
convenient and modern building, while the theatre is suggestive of early days. The
Post Office and the Court House — with an imposing portico supported by four Doric
columns — are at the southern end of Hunter Street, and here also are the more
important hotels. At the northern end of the Street is a scene of busy life ; omnibuses
ply all day to the various outlying villages, and the foot-paths are bustling with shippers
and sea-faring men. On Saturday night the one business artery of the city is thickh-
thronged with crowds of men and women, and youth of both sexes, gaily tricked out in
holiday attire. The visitor listening will catch words and phrases with the west of
England accent, and may well imagine himself in a Cornish mining town, although the
surroundings are rather suggestive of the north of England.
The population of Newcastle and the surrounding colliery district is not less than
twenty thousand, but it covers a wide area. There are no suburbs proper to the great
northern coaling city, but each colliery has its separate town. Hamilton, Lambton,
Waratah, Plattsburg, Wallsend, Stockton, Wickham, Charlestown, Anvil Creek, Greta and
HUNTER STREET, NEWCASTLE.
Minmi are important mining centres — the homes of miners who toil upon the spot.
Each colliery is connected with Newcastle by rail, and around its mouth spread acres
of huts, which are deserted every Saturday night when the tired toilers take their
weekly holiday in their dusky city. Interspersed among the homes of each colliery are
r
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
219
SHIPPING COAL AT BULLOCK ISLAND.
the shops of general dealers, and
the churches, schools and other in-
stitutions provided by the State or
raised by local effort. From the
summit of Monument Hill the largest
of these may be seen set in clusters along the
seaward slopes of the low, bare or sparsely-
timbered hills, the houses straggling out towards
them across dreary flats. As Newcastle progresses
the town will embrace all these outlying posts ; the shallow reaches and bays between
Bullock Island and the swampy land about the mouth of the Hunter River will be
220 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
dredged, and where necessary excavated ; docks will be made, and wharves for the extended
commerce will fill all the available areas in the Port and continue far up the River; the
metals of the North will be brought down to the pit-mouths for smelting ; manufac-
tories growing and commerce increasing, so that the coal-city will divide with Sydney
the commerce of New South Wales. This is not an extravagant forecast, as the
Port and district have extraordinary resources, which the new line of railway from
Strathfield to Waratah will greatly develope. The cpiantity of coal raised for one year was
over two million tons, and Newcastle is besides increasingly becoming a ddpot-^oxX.
for wool, the shipment of which for the l.ondon market during the wool-season of
1889 numbering nearly forty-eight thousand bales.
Stockton, a busy mining and ship-building suburb of Newcastle, is situated on the
northern side of the harbour. Amongst the various industries that support it lime-
burning and steam-saw-milling take an important place. In connection with the ship-
building yards is a patent slip constructed with a view of repairing ships of the largest
tonnage, while the work-shops are fully abreast of the latest improvements of the trade.
The shears here have been erected to lift a weight of thirty tons. The principal coal-
seam of the district has been proved to underlie this suburb, and shafts have been sunk
to work it. At Stockton begins the northern breakwater, several hundred feet in length,
but it is at present incomplete. When finished it will, in conjunction with the southern
dyke, keep the c/Souc/mrc of the Hunter River within a comparatively narrow channel,
and thus increase the scour of the harbour. The population of .Stockton is about eight
hundred, and communication with Newcastle is kept up by means of half-hourly steamers.
An important suburb of Newcastle, and one which includes the villages of Tighe's
Hill, Port Waratah, Islington and Linwood, is the colliery municipality of Wickham,
distant from the city about one mile. It has a population of over two thousand, and
ratable property valued at nearly three hundred thousand sterling annually. At
Wickham one of the principal industries is the Hunter River Copper Works, with
twenty-two furnaces manipulated by a large number of hands. Messrs. Hudson Brothers
have here large engineering works ; and here, too, are located the Sydney Soap Company's
manufactory, cordial factories, saw-mills, and various wool-washing and fell-mongering
establishments. Wickham includes the P^erndale and the Maryville collieries.
Hamilton, a colliery suburb of Newcastle, is the site of the Australian Agricultural
Company's mining operations. The great shaft was sunk many years ago through a
troublesome quick.sand, but the seam is of first-class quality, its cleanness causing it to be
much appreciated for generating gas, as well as for household use. Several bores have
been put. down at different points of the Company's large estate with a view of attacking
the seam at other places. The town has a population of about two thousand inhabi-
tants, the great majority of whom find employment for their labour in coal-mining. The
Castlemaine Brewery has a branch here, and here also is the patent fuel factory, which
takes the small coal from the different pits and fashions it into oval blocks, turning out
about sixty tons of fuel a day. The ratable annual value of the property in this
district is estimated at over three hundred thousand sterling.
Waratah is not now so important as a coal-mining centre as it was some years ago,
the seam on the original estate having been worked out. The Waratah Coal Company
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
22!
has transferred the principal portion of its plant to South Waratah, or Raspberry Gully,
adjoining the village of Charlestown, where a new mine has been opened out. But
Waratah is not dependent on its coal alone. The clay has been found suitable for
pottery, ant! cop-
per and tin smelt-
i n g works are
successfully con-
ducted, while in
the vicinit)- of the
town large quan-
tities of oranges,
grapes, bananas
and other varie-
ties of fruit are
raised. The
population of the
district of which
Waratah is the centre is close upon
three thousand. Charlestown proper
is but a small village of about five
hundred inhabitants, but with every
prospect of future growth and pros-
perity. It is situated on the road to
Belmont, a little marine village pic-
turesquely planted on the shores of
Lake Macquarie, and a prospective watering-place for the Newcastle and Hunter River District.
Lambton, an important suburb of the northern coal-city, is distant five miles from
Newcastle. The colliery here belongs to the Scottish Australian Mining Company, which
has been working on this site for the past thirteen years ; it employs the larger
THE LUCEK.NE HARVEST I.V THE
MAITLAND DISTRICT.
222
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
number of the inhabitants. The pit is connected with the Great Northern Railway by a
private line. Oranges and vines are cultivated in the vicinity of the town, and stone-
quarrying and steam-saw-milling are thriving industries. One mile distant is the estate of
Messrs. Brown and Dibbs, on which is situated the colliery village of New Lambton,
the seam here being the same as that worked in the adjoining parent township. In the
vicinity are the New Lambton Smelting Works, and but a short distance away are the
stone-quarries and steam-saw-mill of Jesmond or Dark Creek.
Of the colliery townships around Newcastle undoubtedly the most important is
Wallsend, the scene of the operations of one of the w-ealthiest coal-mining corporations
in Australia — the Newcastle and Wallsend Company, whose colliery employs nearly seven
hundred men and boys, and whose output is frequently over three thousand tons of coal
a day. The seam dips from the outcrop to a depth of about three hundred feet. There
are three pits on the estate, but the greater part of the coal is drawn from a tunnel
put in at the outcrop. In respect to population Wallsend ranks as more than a mere
suburb, three thousand being the estimated number of its inhabitants. It possesses a
school of arts and various churches, and property to the ratable value of nearly three
hundred thousand pounds per anniun. Its importance as a mining-centre may be gauged
from the fact that it is ranked in the same class as the largest collieries in England.
HIGH .STREET, WEST MAITLAND.
Adjoining the important coal-mining town of Wallsend is another colliery, Plattsburg,
the head-quarters of the Co-operative Colliery, employing nearly five hundred hands This
town is also renowned for coke-producing, having a large number of ovens erected for
the purpose. The State school here is capable of accommodating eight hundred children,
and is considered one of the finest institutions of the kind in the district. Plattsburg
<
X
n
O
z
s
o
as
m
w
<
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
223
I
possesses also a fine building in its School of Arts. The seam of coal worked by the
Co-operative Colliery is the same as that worked by the VVallsend Company,
The population of Minmi is about two thousand, the greater number being employed
in the local collieries, the property of Messrs. J. and A. Brown. Minmi is about six
miles from the railway station of Hexham, which again is distant from Newcastle four-
teen miles. A private line, how-
ever, connects Minmi with the Great
Northern route and tlie shipping-
shoots at Hexham. At one pit over
six hundred hands are employed,
and they raise above a thousand
tons of coal a day. In the vicinity
of the town oranges are cultivated
with considerable success.
Anvil Creek and Greta are
adjoining collieries, which, although
lying beyond the town of Mait-
land, are properly adjuncts of the
Newcastle coal-trade. The seam
at the Anvil Creek colliery, known
as "Farthings," is over fourteen feet
in thickness, while that of the Greta
Coal and Shale Company is nearly
as thick. The latter mine has two
shafts, one of which is over two
hundred feet in depth. Its average
output is considerably over fifteen
hundred tons, raised by nearly three
hundred hands. The population of
the district is about two thousand.
Up the Hunter River or by the Great Northern Railway is the approach to the
larger areas whose commerce focalizes naturally in the coal-port. A somewhat uninteresting
river about its ocean estuary is the Hunter; flat as the fen-country of Lincolnshire,
but with manirro\es meetinjj the low and luxuriant scrub-gfrowths of the fresh-water
country about innumerable reaches and lagoons ; and yet it is a countrj' that in places
lacks not sentiment or beauty "of a peculiar kind. Exquisite pictures may indeed be
seen from the railway line, where some mile-broad swamp is set in low, wooded knolls,
the feathery oaks rising dark alcove the lower foliage ; light grass of a delicate green
rustling over the surface, and the water shining beneath. Long-legged cranes may be
seen flapping lazy wings, or a little herd of cattle wading knee-deep, giving life and
warmth to a picture that might otherwise be monotonous. But the ground rises ^lowly,
and hardens with every mile. The salt swamp-foliage is left behind. The black soil
sweetens and takes on a rich coat of lucerne, or a luxurious garment of sorghum,
maize, or oats. The broad flats consist of alluvial drift many feet deep, and the lucerne-
ST. .MAKV S CHURCH, WliST MAITLAM).
224
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
roots, striking down to the water-level, get nourishment from the under-soil without the
need of any deep ploughing. Five or six crops are obtained in the year, and year after
year, without any fresh tillage. The husbandman's labour is that of perpetual harvest.
At the head of navigation is the town of Morpeth — once the great shipping-port, but
whose trade has been largely diverted by the railway. It is, however, one of the
prettiest towns on the Hunter River, and is reputed to be one of the healthiest. A
branch line of railway connects it with the town of East Maitland, and it has daily
steamers to and from Sydney. Near it are some coal-pits, but the business of the town
rests mainly on the fertility of the flats that fringe the river. Morpeth is well laid out,
and contains several fine buildings, the Anglican church being one of the most picturesque
structures of the kind in the colony. Along the river-banks are the wharves of two
steam-ship companies which connect with the railway, the Hunter being navigable as far
as Morpeth to vessels of eight hundred tons burthen. The Government has here a
coal-staith to accommodate one of the main industries of the district. . The population
is nearly fifteen hundred, and the ratable property of the municipality close upon one
hundred and twelve thousand pounds a year.
But the town for this district, or rather the double town, is Maitland, divided by
the water of Wallis's Creek. East Maitland, laid out on hitrh and dr\- crround, is the
Government town ; but West Maitland, laid out on the alluvial flat by the river-side as
a private town, took the public fancy more; and, though occasionally liable to floods,
has become the principal business place. Expensive works, however, have been undertaken
to prevent the Creek from encroaching on the main street, which runs along the rich
THE TOWN OK EAST MAITLAND.
alluvijil flat, and which has on cither side many interesting relics of tlie old order, and
some good specimens of the new. Patriarchal verandahed hotels look out from their
small-paned windows, burdened with many memories, and fine new four-storeyed buildings
of stone, brick and cement have arisen which would not discredit Sydney. Yet there is
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES
225
\
r.
-a
S
Hi.. :: -rMiUM' i
an indolent air about ever^'thing and everybody — an air of contentment and confidence.
The richness of the soil seems to impart an infection of trustful laziness. Everything
grows with a minhnuni of toil ; a neglected b^ck-yard becomes a lii.xuriant pasturage,
226
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
and a moss that is green as grass puts a beautiful if not a healthful coat over many
old shingle roofs. The new, however, is fast out-growing the okl. The banks have
shown their appreciation of the importance of the place by the superior style of their
premises. The Maitland Mercury, the oldest paper in the northern district, has expressed
its belief in the future by building substantial offices, and the churches make display
of faith by solid and beautiful works. The Hospital is a large building, on a good
site, and the schools, both State and private, are large and handsome, well-finished and
well-furnished. Several factories have taken root, and some hundreds of the inhabitants
find regular employment in tanning leather, making boots and shoes, building carriages,
sawing timber, manufacturing tobacco, brewing beer and making brooms. Hut the farmers
are the main-stay and support of the place, for the land about Maitland is so rich and so
easily worked that the freehold of a hundred acres is a fair fortune. Some blocks used
solely for lucerne-growing have been sold at upwards of one hundred pounds an acre.
The farmers of the district have also developed an aptitude for skilfully and economically
managing their own business. They were, for a long time taxed by the commissions of
middle-men ; but in a happy moment they adopted the idea of a " Farmer's Union,"
every member of which should bind himself to sell his produce at auction. The market
or fair was inaugurated. It needed no elaborate building, a space of open ground near
the railway station, with a few
„,4«, sheds for perishable articles,
being sufficient.
To this market-place on
Wednesda)' in each week come
the farmers and the townsfolk,
and many dealers from the Port
and the metropolis. The gather-
ing is large and unique of its
kind. Nowhere in Australia,
perhaps, could you find a more
thoroughly representative as-
semblage of Australian-bred men
and women. The settlement
is very old, and many of the
farming- people are natives of
the second and third generation.
There are clear indications of
the distinctive Australian type,
the sallow on men's faces blot-
ting out the russet which their
grandfathers brought from England. There is very little superfluous flesh amongst either
the men or the women. But if the people are beginning to vary a little from the
English type, the produce they bring to market varies still more.
Certainly the pigs of all sizes, with the dressed sheep of an abnormal fatness,
would be familiar enough in England, as would also the crates of poultry of all
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, I'ATERSON.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
227
varieties; but somewhat un-Entrllsh would appear the piled drays' of farmers' produce —
great green melons and bulky pumpkins stacked in mounds to be sold by the ton ;
grapes, rich, luscious, heavy as the clusters of Eschol ; oranges in their golden glory ;
tomatoes in boxes; chillies and pomegranates; bundles of green sorghum and maize and
great bales of fragrant lucerne hay. It is such produce as the peasants on the Arno,
or even farther south on the warm and fertile slopes of Etna, would bring down to the
Italian cities for sale. All is bought and sold there with abundance of good-humoured
Australian banter, and when all is over the
farmers mount their drajs or carts, -waggons
or buL^L^ies, and io<r alonu; homeward with
man)' a gossiping pause. It is their life
from week to week, from )-ear to year — a
fairly useful and satisfactor\' life, with which
in all our rich coastal districts we ought to
be far more familiar, for we have other
breadths of naturally fertile country, though
few, perhaps, so rich as Maitland in pros-
perous agricultural development, and certainly
very few that would lend themselves so fairly
and kindly to artistic treatment.
The rich soil and humid climate
afford not only luxurious vegetation and
beautiful foliage, but an atmosphere which
CHURCH-GOING AT PATERSOX TOWNSHIP.
>28
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
permits warm lights in the foreground, with soft and mellow distances (even before the
eye is brought to rest on the spurs of the Liverpool Range), and a sky of all manner
of cloud-shapes, from the faintest, fairest forms of cirrus to the dense strata through
which the setting sun scarce breaks, and the rolling masses of ciminli with their lustres
and lights of silver and gold.
At Maitland are the water-works for the district. The water is pumped from the
Creek, filtered in large beds and delivered by gravitation. One feature of the scheme is
a great artificial lake to be filled whenever the Creek is clear, so that in flood or fresh
the supply may be had from this reserve store, instead of from the turbid stream.
From Maitland it is but an easy two hours' journey to the Paterson River and
the pretty village of Paterson, passing on the way the healthy little settlement of Hinton,
lying on the south bank of the Hunter, opposite the junction with the Paterson. In
very early days settlers took up the land on the river-banks, and within a few )'ears
must have set the willow twigs which show such luxurious beauty of form, and yield in
summer time such delightful shade. The fruit-trees and English oaks on the clearings
of the upland have an equal date with the willows, and many an old resident can
remember the time when Sydney seemed a month's journey away, and to travel to
Newcastle was to incur unknown risks. P'olk live long about the Paterson — perhaps because
they live well. Everything favours them ; the climate is genial, the soil is rich, Nature as
beautiful as she is bountiful, and there are no signs of hurr\- or bustle anywhere. Sunday
is a busy day in the little town, for the Paterson people are fond of their church, or it
may be of the pleasant church-going, which to the country settlers is not a dreary pilgrim-
age along an uncomfortable road, or a walk stiff-starched through citj-streets, but a drive
or a gallop of an hour along the bush-roads or the river-banks, bordered with the
fragrant wattles or the shadowy willows. Bright girls and stalwart lads, from the orangeries,
the vineyards and the farms, may be seen on Sunday afternoon cantering down the
village street, tying their horses up to the fence, and, with all the reverence that can
be associated with
riding-habits and
spurs, entering the
little church.
Northward from
Maitland the rail-
way proceeds along
the narrowing val-
ley of the Hunter
R i \- e r , through
country well fitted
to the vine— the vineyards at Lochinvar and Branxton being especially celebrated. Just
before the first great bridge of the line is reached stands Singleton, fifty miles from the
coast as the rail runs. Singleton dates as a settlement from 1825, and the town has much
of the substantial if not the venerable aspect of age. The rich alluvial flats known as
Patrick's Plains will grow maize, tobacco and grapes as long as people are found to till
them, and the coal industry established at Rix's Creek, three miles away, shows signs of a
THE SINGLETON AGRICULTURAL SHOW-GROUND.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
229
large development. Singleton is a prosperous and contented colonial town, putting on the
airs and aspect of importance only when the annual agricultural display is made in the
really fine pavilion of the local show-ground, at which time excellent stock is to be seen in*
the adjoining stalls and yards. The next town is Muswellbrook, remarkable for its beautiful
V"' f'
church, built by a
wealthy local family at
a cost of eleven thou-
sand pounds, from the
designs of Sir Gilbert
Scott. Muswellbrook
is the centre of an agricultural and pastoral district, but the character of the country
is principally fitted for tillage. Though situated in the valley of the Hunter, it is fairly
elevated, being nearly five hundred feet above the sea-level. The population of the
town is somewhat over a thousand, and that of the entire district nearly four thousand ;
the chief local industries are the growing of wheat, maize and tobacco, and the cultivation
of the vine. Of its public buildings, besides its fine church, the Hospital and the
School of Arts are the most noteworthy.
From this point branches off the road to the north-west, through an important
district, and one which was early settled in consequence . of its convenient access to the
sea. The road lies through the towns of Denman, Wybong, Merriwa, C'assilis, Denison
Town and Cobborah, and there is no other route from the coast by which the main
range is so easily crossed. Denman is situated on the Hunter River, three miles from
its junction with the Goulburn. It lies in an agricultural and pastoral district ; the flood-
deposits of rich soil being bounded by ranges of sandstone hills. Standing on the main
road to Sydney, it forms a watering-station for travelling stock. Wybong, the next town
in order, is a little to the north-west of Denman, and is really but a small and unim-
portant village. More to the northward is the agricultural centre of Kayuga, while to
230 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
the south-west lies Gungal. Of these north-western towns, however, Merriwa undoubtedly
occupies the first place. It is situated on the ' Merriwa River and on the main north-
western route to Bourke, and is in a very thriving condition. At Worontli Hill, in its
vicinity, gold has been found, and at Portmantle coal and kerosene-shale. Throughout
the district iron-bark, box, pine, gum, cedar and stringy-bark flourish, and the soil is well
suited to the cultivation of wheat, maize, potatoes and the vine. But the country about
Merriwa is neither entirely mineral nor agricultural, pastoral pursuits claiming a fair share
of the attention of the settlers. The scenery near the town is exceedingly fine ; moun-
tains surround it, and their stern grandeur is softened by the numerous streams that
have their rise in the Liverpool Range. A feature of the place is the fine bridge which
spans the River near the recreation-ground. Merriwa is famous for its merino sheep,
and the names of Brindley Park and Collaroy are well known to Australian breeders
and wool-brokers. Cassilis, on the Munmurra Creek, to the west of Merriwa, is the chief
town of a large pastoral district. The soil is very rich, being composed of basaltic
detritus. Beyond Cassilis is Denison Town, and still farther west Cobborah, which
belongs properly to the Dubbo District, being reached by coach from the Western
Railway. Cobborah is the last town of this north-western route, which stretches through
a broad expanse of highly fertile pastoral and agricultural country.
North of Muswellbrook lies Aberdeen, situated on the Hunter River, and touched
by the main road stretching between Muswellbrook and Scone. Aberdeen is over six
hundred feet above sea-level. The country around it is both farming and wool-growing,
though the latter predominates. This town is also a railway station on the Great
Northern Line. Eight miles farther on the railway passes through the old settlement of
Scone. Although the elevation is seven hundred feet above the level of the sea, the
climate is genial in winter and warm in summer. The country in the neighbourhood
consists of well-wooded plains and gently undulating ground, for the most part occupied
as pasture - land ; but on the Kingdon Ponds, a tributary of the Hunter, wheat is
cultivated with success. The ugly cactus bush, known as the prickly-pear, has unfortunately
been allowed to overrun many fields, and completely beats the farmer, the cost of
clearing being more than the land is worth. I-'rom Scone the spurs of the Liverpool
Range may be seen in the distance, and about ten miles in a northerly direction is the
one burning mountain of the Continent — Wingen. Closer to the town is a highly
romantic and wildly picturesque bit of scenery known as Flat Rock, a never-failing
attraction to northern tourists. Scone has the character of a sanatorium, and its climate
is as healthful as the scenery of its mountains is grand. (lold is found near the town,
though not in large quantities, the district being more a farming than a mining one.
Pastoral and agricultural pursuits are successfully conducted, the main products of tillage
being wheat, maize and tobacco. Wingen, the next important station on the railway line,
is situated on the Kingdon Ponds Creek, at an altitude of a thousand feet above sea-
level. Kerosene-shale and coal of good quality are found in the neighbouring hills, but
the village is very small, and is chiefly known from the proximity of the burning hill
of the same name, some three miles distant. After leaving Wingen the railway traveller
passes some miles of plain-country, till the train plunges once more into a mountainous
region, and passing through the mineral village of Blandford, rich in silver, copper and
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
231
lead, it emercjes into the valley of the Page River, at the head of which stands
Murrurundi, so called by the abori^nnes, the term signifying "a great camping-ground."
The Ri\er, flowing through the town, divides it into two parts. Murrurundi, at the foot
of the hills, is over fifteen hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is the last town
on the Great Northern Railway before the line crosses the Liverpool Range — the
boundary of the Northern District proper. A fine wooden bridge afifords communication
with the important village of Haydonton.
T H K No R r H K K N D I ST K ICT.
At this point begins the great railway-work of surmounting the bold front of the
Liverpool Range. Beyond Murrurundi the line, sweeping with a rising gradient round
the face of the enclosing hills, pierces the mountain with a tunnel over five hundred
yards in length. On emerging a new kind of country is disclosed — a great squatting
area, a vast tract with marvellous resources
as yet undeveloped. Its virgin harvest, and
little more, has thus far been reaped. It
is the country of the Liverpool Plains, the
" Cobbon Comleroy " of the natives, ten
million acres of rich
volcanic soil sloping
away from the coastal
range towards the
Darling River.
The first station
of any importance after
entering this Northern
District is O u i r i n d i ,
situated on the Qui-
rindi Creek, a little
village of some three
hundred inhabitants.
Hut though itself in-
significant, it is sur-
rounded by a splen-
d i d 1 y fertile country
capable of producing
in a propitious year a
hundred thousand
bushels of various kinds of grain ; this area supports also numerous flocks of sheep and
herds of cattle. To the east, in an almost direct line, are Nundle, Hanging Rock and
Dungowan ; to the west, a line of villages ending with Warkton and Coonabarabran.
A few miles beyond Ouirindi is the station of Werris's Creek, from which branches
off in a north-westerly direction a line through rich level country. The greater part of
the journey is along the edge of a treeless plain, twenty-four miles in breadth. Here
THii ri-;i:i. uivkk at
TAMWOKTll.
232
A US TRA LA SI A ILL US TRA TED.
the mirage is a common phenomenon, and north of Maitland there is hardly a more
beautiful vision than this vast expanse, a sea of green in spring, of yellow in autumn,
the boundaries of which are woods so distant that they appear in a purple haze below
the line of the dark blue mountains against the pale blue sky. The railway passes
through the little vil-
lages of Gap, Breeza
and Curlewis, but the
first considerable stop-
ping-place is Gunnedah
— a town of about a
thousand inhabitants,
situated at the junc-
tion of the Mooki
Creek with the River
Namoi — which, being
the centre of a district
already prosperous, and
destined soon to sup-
port a larger popula-
tion, promises to be an
important market town.
The surrounding coun-
try grows large quanti-
ties of excellent wheat,
over five thousand
acres being under til-
lage. Far westward is the little village of Baradine, the terminus of a coach-service
from Gunnedah. Farther on along the line is the small settlement of Boggabri, sur-
rounded by rich alluvial plains well fitted for the production of various kinds of grain.
Passing through Baan Baa and Turrawan the line terminates at present at Narrabri,
though it is intended to continue it to some point on the Darling.
Narrabri, the second town of importance on the North-Western Railway Line, is
situated on a creek of the same name, and contains nearly nine hundrctl inhabitants.
The soil is very fertile, but is occasionally submerged by the floods that rush down from
the ranges. There are, however, vast tracts of rich land on the hill-slopes that are
altogether out of danger of inundation, and these are being rapidly settled by pioneer
farmers, whom the opening up of the district by railway extension has induced to
migrate from the country traversed by the longer established routes. Due north from
Narrabri is the little pastoral village of Millie, and farther north again the slightly more
important one of Moree, from which latter, travelling in a westerly direction, the border
town of Mungindi is reached. It stands on the New South Wales side of the River
Barwon, and is a most important frontier settlement and river-crossing for travelling
stock. The main roads from Sydney and Maitland pass through it, and a great quantity
of South Queensland wool crosses the River at this point on its way to Sydney. Mogil
PEEL STREET, TAMWORTH.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES
233
M o g i 1 , Wee Waa
and Pilliga are out-
post villages to the
west ami north-west,
connected with Nar-
r a b r i by various
postal and stock-
travelling routes.
This is the bor-
der-land between
grazi
tural occupations,
and only the uncer-
tainty of the rain-fa
and the limited
market prevent the
latter from winning
the victory. A few
years ago the district
was all pastoral, and
nothing more than a
little cultivation for
station supplies was
thought of. The
m a p b e }' o n d was
then -'all white," but
now every inch of
available country to
the west has been
taken up, and natu-
rally looks for its
supplies of produce
to the agricultural
district which is near
it. In good .seasons
the frontier farmers
have the advantage
of supplying the
back settlers, but
when thro u g h
drought their har-
vest has failed,
wheat, hay, bran and
potatoes have to be
brought up by rail
from the cou n try
lower down, or even
from Newcastle.
The squatter can
.stand dry weather better than the farmer, but even the squatter has often been
sorely punished. Notwithstanding the richness of the .soil, therefore, and the facilities
offered by the railway, the dr)ness of successive seasons has kept agriculture back. But
the farmers have got a footing, and will keep it ; though as yet they have not changed
234
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
the dominant pastoral occupation of the country ; indeed, the Liverpool Plains still
constitute one of the finest squatting districts of the colony. On this volcanic soil the
grass is always sweet, and after the most devastating drought the face of the countr)
is changed in a week by a good fall of rain. The rapidity of the transformation is
almost magical. Over an immense area, looking just before as bare as a road, there is
green grass, and in a few weeks it will be waving like a field of young wheat. In
many places it will shoot up as the cane-growth of a tropic swamp ; a horseman may
take some of the longest seed-stems and knot them above his head. Cattle are hidden
in it, and sheep have to be taken back to higher and poorer feeding-ground. A stranger
looking at this riiagnificent growth of grass could hardly believe that a few months or
weeks previously animals were dying for want of food. It is one of the troubles of the
Australian squatter that he is treated alternately to a feast or to a famine. Nature is
profuse at intervals, but she has also her seasons of niggardliness. What man has to
do in these climates is to learn the art of storing the surplus of good years, and making
it provide for the wants of scanty years. Nature here teaches the lesson of forecast and
prudence, and it is because this lesson has been so insufficiently learned that there have
been so many reverses of fortune — that Australia has been alternately praised as a land
of plenty and denounced as a land of barrenness. Enough has already been done b)'
irrigation in some districts to show that by a moderate outlay in preserving water, and
pumping from the rivers, sufficient hay could be grown at a reasonable price to save
from destruction the choicest portions of the flocks. In a climate where the rain-fall is
so uncertain, permanent
and productive settle-
ment can only be se-
cured by the storage of
water and the storage
of food, and this is the
double problem that lies
before the settlers of
the future.
Tamworth or Armi-
dale ? Which is to be
the greater of these
northern towns ? The
question is one of local
interest, and provokes
some rivalry not alto-
gether unwholesome.
Both show a closer re-
semblance to English county- towns than do most of the inland cities of Australia.
Both enjoy a fine and invigorating climate, both have about them fertile areas ample
for the support of large populations. Tamworth was the first settled, and in respect
to population still retains the lead. Like Maitland, it is a divided town — Tamworth
East and Tamworth West. The western side is the first touched by the railway,
THE ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL AT ARMIUALE.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
235
and in the course of nature should have been the larger of the two. l)ut the Peel
River Company, an offshoot of the Australian Agricultural Company, possessed and
used for pastoral purposes all the magnificent land to the south and west, and freehold
farmers could get no footing there. "No farmers, no town," is a law in these districts.
ARMIDALE.
Great squattagcs are not so favourable to the growth of inland towns as small farms
are, because their business lies more with the commercial towns on the coast. Absentee
landed proprietors, especially when they take the form of dividend-seeking companies,
have no close sympathy with local movements ; for while they favour some forms of
enterprise, and often display a spirited application of capital in the way of improvements,
they frequently block the natural course of settlement. Tamworth, cramped on the
western side, spread to the east across the Peel River. Farmers searched out and took
up tracts of country fitted to grow wheat, thus finding ample means of subsistence, and
a sure source of permanent prosperity.
Minerals were found in many localities — gold at Nundle and Barraba, diamonds at
Bingera, and copper at Dungowan. Flour-mills were erected to grind the wheat, and
stores multiplied to supply the wants of the increasing population. The Roman Catholics
have done most for ecclesiastical architecture in Tamworth, and indeed their church is
superior to all the other buildings in the tow^n ; they have also a fine, well-built convent
to which is attached a good school. The corporation has had the good .sense to plant
trees along most of the streets, and to found an excellent public library. Amongst the
business enteqjrises of the place are flour and saw mills, coach factories, breweries and
a manufactory of galvanized iron.
Northward from Tamworth the railway route follows the general line of the old
road along the backbone of the colony, which here spreads out into a great table-land.
Over the Moonbi Ranges— a terrible trial to teamsters in the old days— the line passes
236
A US TRA LA SI A ILL CIS TRA TED.
Bendemeer and Salisbury Plains, runs a few miles west of Walcha and throuo^h Uralla.
For a space of about ten miles across the Moonbi a vast breadth of some of the
grandest and most characteristic of Australian scenery is seen from the railway : great
round hills, forest-clothed to their summit ; crag-fronted mountains with deep-ploughed
ravines in their sides ; giant tree-ferns, seen palm-like in the water-fed nooks below ;
and the lords of the forest, the great blue-gums of the mountains, towering (like the
serried lances of the Miltonic host) above the bright blossomed odorous scrub-growth.
Occasionally the glint of a brook or the Hash of a waterfall is seen, the black cockatoo
shrieks as he flies disturbed from his lofty eyrie, and the eagle floats along the sky,
apparently regarding even this most stupendous innovation of the human race with
supreme contempt.
Uralla is situated on the Rockv River, and (rood ^oXA has been found in the
beds of ancient streams covered in many places by eruptive volcanic matter or the
detritus of ages, so that the town has been largely supported by miners. Fifteen miles
beyond is the city of Armidale, at an elevation of over three thousand three hundred
feet. This is the cathedral town of the Anglican bishop of the North, and sometimes
his residence. The cathedral church of St. Peter's is one of the finest brick structures
in the place. The city, also the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, is the centre of
a district of large and varied resources. The open downs invite the plough, and miners
have found profitable scope for their labour within an easy distance. The soil and
climate are especially adapted for orchards, the European fruit produced here being of
first-class quality. Antimony exists in considerable quantities, and the ore is rich.
Churches, schools, official and commercial buildings give indications of a rich, prosperous
city. The Post Office is a large
and handsome structure, while the
banks are built in a style showing
unmistakably faith in permanent
and profitable business. Armidale
is also the centre of a district rich
in natural beauty. A few miles
from the town the mountain chain
rises — wild and picturesque, with
precipitous heights and deep
gorges, down whicli after summer
storms and winter rains great
bodies of water rush, producing
the Uangar, Wallamumbi and
many other lesser and unnamed
cataracts. The Wallamumbi Falls
are of peculiar beauty, especially
at that hour when the slanting
sun-rays, playing on the water-mist, spans the twin torrents with a bow of prism tints.
In ordinary seasons, however, water is scarce here, and only rivulets trickle through
the ferns and fall in spray-showers over the bare faces of the rocks.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL AT ARMIDALE.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
m
The mineral enterprise of the New England District finds its larger development
more to the north in the neighbourhood of Glen Innes, Tenterfield and Inverell. the
two former towns being along the route of the railway to the Queensland border.
Inverell lies to the
west of Glen Innes,
and is to be con-
nected with the main
line by a branch rail-
way. Many settlers
from the Scottish
Highlands were at-
tracted to this district
by the congenial
climate, and li a v e
fastened on the coun-
try some old familiar
names — Ben Lomond,
Oban, Glencoe. Ben
Lomond is the sum-
mit of the range, the
railway track reaching
at this point an eleva-
tion of four thousand
five hundred feet ;
after passing the sum-
mit the line runs down
to Glen Innes, a pros-
perous town of two
thousand people, in a
fine invitroratinof
climate. Tin - mining
has added greatly to
the prosperity of the
place, the metal hav-
ing been discovered
in large quantities at Vegetable Creek, twenty-eight miles in a northerly direction. Many of
the deposits were profitably washed out by the primitive appliances of the first discoverers,
but "claims" more difficult to deal with have since been successfully worked by elaborate
machinery. Inverell is also the centre of a tin-producing district, and the country lying
between it and the town of Glen Innes contains a large breadth of agricultural land. The
vine flourishes here, and is extensively grown. Where the soil invites to farming and the
climate is favourable, mining often leads to permanent settlement. The mineral is the
magnet that draws the people ; who, searching for subterranean treasure, are struck by
the richness of the easily-worked soil, and many adventurers throw aside pick, shovel
THE WALLAMUMBI FALLS.
238 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
and sluicing-gear for ploughshare and reaping-hojok. The miners furnish an immediate
market for the local produce, and even if the mining industry should fall off, the
farmers stick to their land and look for customers farther afield. This has been the
histor)' of many a settlement in Australia which began with one industry and finally
gravitated to another.
Tenterfield, the border town, is also to some extent agricultural, though the country
is granitic and the soil shallow. Minerals of several sorts have been traced about the
mountain spurs and the river-beds that lie to the east and north. Gold, silver and tin
have all been discovered in payable quantities. Some of the richest ores, however, are
rather untractable, and those which could be most easily worked are in somewhat
inaccessible positions. The thorough development of the wealth of this district awaits
the right combination of skill and capital. The next township to the north, Stanthorpe,
the centre of the Maryland tin-fields, is within the Queensland territory. On the border-
line is the junction of the railway systems, a break of gauge necessitating a stoppage
and a transfer.
This high table-land, along which the Northern Railwa)- runs, will always be the
home of a robust population. To the west the ground slopes away, and as the rain-fall
becomes smaller and smaller, agriculture gradually ceases, till pastoral occupation holds
almost undisputed sway. And this is mainl)- the character of the large triangular tract
of countrv Ivine to the west of the Great Northern Line ; of which Tenterfield and
Mungindi may be regarded as the extreme points of the base and Tamworth the apex,
•while the two railway routes bound it on either side. Within these lines cluster a
number of villages more or less important. The principal are Yetman, Warialda, Emma-
ville, Stannifer, Tingha, Bundarra, Bingera and Barraba. None of all this number has,
however, arrived to the rank of a town ; they are merely mineral or pastoral villages,
whose growth and whose future hang upon the caprices of climate and the success
which may attend the enterprise of mining speculators.
The high table-land, on which Glen Innes and Tenterfield stand, lies between the
great pastoral slope towards the west and the rich agricultural province on the east.
The elevation of the table-land makes the descent to the coast necessarily steep, and
for this reason the connection between the two is difficult and expensive. In early days
a bullock-track was cleared up the ridges from Grafton to the high land ; later a coach-
road was made, and the streams were crossed by substantial bridges. But even this
road is a severe one for traffic, and the inhabitants both of the highlands and the
lowlands have been pressing for a railway. Such a line, it is said, would not only g.fve
to the table-lands the quickest access to the sea, but it would also facilitate an inter-
change of the semi-tropical coast produce with the wheat of the colder climate »f the
plateau. Two different routes have been surveyed ; one goes from Grafton to Glon
Innes, the other starting from the same point passes through the Richmond Rivc^r
District to Tenterfield ; each has its local advocates. The latter route would pass through
the townships of Casino and Tabulam,
Casino is ninety miles from the sea, at the head of navigation of one of the
branches of the Richmond River. In early days it was a rendezvous for stock-men,
squatters and drovers, who sent their fat "mobs" across the river, where now stands the
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
239
largest timber bridge in Australia, The whole of this district is a fine grazing countr)',
and the rearing of cattle for the market was its primitive industry. To this was added
timber-cutting, for the cedar, especially on the lower lands, grew luxuriantly. Timber-
getters drew their logs .to the water's edge, and floated them in rafts down the River.
All the best trees within easy reach of the water
have now been cleared away ; but as one pursuit
decayed a new one arose to take its place.
The advent of sugar-growing altered the indus-
trial character of the
district, and enabled
agriculture to replace
the earlier pastoral
occupation. The rich
flats were eagerly
taken up for planting
purposes as soon as it
was found that sugar
would grow and that
sugar w o u 1 d pa y.
Thick scrub, which it
was not profitable to
clear for pastoral uses,
disappeared under the
woodman's axe, and
the rich soil became
available for tillage.
The population
around Casino rapidly
increased, and the
town has now fifteen
hundred inhabitants;
it is well supplied with churches, schools and a hospital, while the stores and shops
along the broad main street give evident signs of a healthy commercial development.
At the junction of the north and south arms of the River is the township of
Coraki, and at the head of navigation of the northern arm stands Lismore, the port
of the Big Scrub and the outlet for a large timber-trade. The timber-getters, forced to
go further and further back, have often to cut their own tracks — tracks so rough and
steep that to bring the cedar down them would to the uninitiated seem impracticable.
But bullocks are patient animals ; a long team of them pulling together, guided and
urged by a skilful dri\er, do wonders. Lismore is a town of a thousand people, and
fully three thousand find profitable employment in the surrounding district. A fine iron
bridge spans the river, and good roads are beginning to stretch out into the countrj',
now being settled by industrious farmers. Down the Richmond, at its southern bend, is
the township of Woodburn, the centre of a large area of sugar-growing country.
THE KICHMUXD AT LISxMORE.
I40
A US TRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
The sea-port of the Richmond is Ballina, a small place at present, the land on the
lower part of the River being poor and sandy. The bar is both difficult and dangerous,
but an Act has now passed Parliament for improving the entrance by the construction
of training-walls, to be extended, if necessary', as breakwaters. If the scheme proves a
success the entrance will be made as good as that of the Clarence. The latter is the
larger river of the two ; its entrance is already the more available, and its improvement
has also been sanctioned by Parliament. In each case the designs have been made by
Sir John Coode. The basins of the two rivers put together constitute one of the fairest
and richest provinces of New South Wales ; their great want is better communication with
the metropolis. In the valley of the Orara, one of the tributaries of the Clarence, is a
magnificent timber forest, and when transit facilities are provided by railway, a large and
profitable industr)' will be developed. When the trees have been removed the highly
fertile soil will be valuable for farms.
Grafton is the capital of the Clarence District, and indeed may be regarded as the
queen city of the North. It is the head of navigation for large vessels, but small
CASINO, ON THE RICHMOND.
craft can ascend fifty miles higher ; the town is laid
out on both sides of the River, which at this point,
forty-five miles from the sea, is half a mile in breadth.
It is in the centre of a sugar-growing district, while
behind it lie prosperous squattages. In the creeks and
mountains in the background many indications have been
found of mineral wealth. Grafton, which with Armidale is the see of an Anglican bishop,
is practically "The City" for a large number of people for whom the great metropolis is
too far off. Hither they come to see and to be seen, to buy their stores, to spend their
surplus, and to enjoy life. The surveyors laid out the town with streets of a width
sufficient to allow of their being shady avenues as well as convenient routes for traffic.
Trees have been planted, and are already well grown ; they give grateful coolness in the
hot summer months, and contrast pleasantly with the glistening fronts of the buildings.
Of these the Court House is the most considerable, although the banks are built sub-
stantially, and taken as a whole the city is not unworthy of its fine surroundings. The
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
24T
<m^.
^^:
^RffiyMiv'
population is at present about
five thousand, but Grafton is
one of tliose centres which are
destined to grow. When the
River entrance is improved,
and railway communication is
open with the table-land and
the rich coast country, the
development of the district will
be greatly quickened.
Around Grafton, and stud-
ding the Clarence between it
and the coast, a number of
thriving villages have sprung
up. Chatsworth Island, lying
at the mouth of the River, is
an important maize and sugar
growing localit)-. The soil is
very rich, and produces large
crops every year. There are
here eight sugar-mills, including
the extensive works of the
Colonial Sugar Company,
which employs some hundreds
of hands. The population is
over twelve hundred, and its
prosperity is gradually increa-
sing. Lawrence, a shipping port
for a great deal of the Tenter-
field wool, is another river-side
village, and the site of three
sugar-mills. It is situated on
the Clarence, about eighteen
miles from the city. A little
to the south, on the opposite
bank of the River, is Brush-
grove, a village with one sugar-
mill ; and following the course
of the Clarence Ulmarra is
reached, with a population of
over twenty-three hundred, and
supporting four sugar -mills.
To the south-west of Grafton- — from which it can be reached by coach,
route from Uralla — is the little mining settlement of Dalmorton, with its
^
o
H
<:
o
<
o
<
U
OS
u
>
or by another
one quartz-reef.
242
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
South of the Clarence sugar-growing is
not profitable. The cane thrives luxuriantly
enough, and many settlers went into the
cultivation with high hopes ; but there is just
enough frost in winter to spoil the sap, and
after repeated experiments the attempt had
to be abandoned. But both in respect to soil
and climate the district is admirably adapted
to the growth of maize, and this is the great
support of the farmers, the market for the
produce being principally in Sydney and in
Melbourne.
The Nambucca and Bellingen Rivers,
thoueh small streams, are the outlets for rich
districts, in which there are many prosperous
settlers whose only want is better means of
transit. Farther south lies the large water-
shed of the Macleay River. The port here
is in about the same latitude as Armidale,
but the track up to the table-land is very
rough, hence the commercial intercourse be-
tween the coast and the country inland is
limited. The township of the Macleay Valley
is Kempsey, with about fifteen hundred inhabi-
tants. The people build great hopes for the future, first on the Government expenditure
on the great breakwater at Trial Bay— where the chief labour prison of the colony is
situated — and then on the fine harbour of refuge
which will be created when the breakwater is
finished. Three little villages are situated on the
Macleay — Gladstone, F'rederickton and Smith-
town, of which the last is the most important.
Farther south again lies the similar water-shed of
the Hastings River, of which the town is Port
Macquarie, with a population of about nine
hundred. It was a convict settlement in the early
days, and many substantial buildings, for which
it is difficult to find a use, still remain as relics
of the olden time. The newer town is simply
the business centre of the agricultural district
and the pastoral background. The products of
the district are maize, barley, oats and potatoes ;
the cultivation of the vine is also an important
industry. Copper has been found in the vicinity,
and, towards the head of the River, gold in the wharf at grafton.
A reach on the clarence.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
243
payable quantities. The geographical feature of the country is Mount Seaview, rising six
thousand feet, and it is the proximity of this great cloud-gatherer that makes Port
Macquarie one of the rainiest townships on the coast.
South of the Hastings lies the valley of the Manning — not so populous as the
country to the north, but of a somewhat similar character. There is fine timber in the
district, and there are some mineral indications, but as yet no profitable mines. A
number of settlements lie along the course of the Manning, among the more important
being the towns of Croki, Cundlctown, Taree, Tinonee and Wingham, the last-named,
which stands at the head of navigation, being the centre of a rich and prosperous agri-
cultural district. These little centres have populations ranging from two to six hundred.
The inlets on this coast, especially that at Camden Haven, are famous for their oysters.
A large district — of which Port Stephens, with its town of Carrington, is the natural
outlet — lies south of the Manning. Along the shore are the extensive Myall Lakes, on
the banks of which are
valuable forests.
Stroud, the principal
town, has a large saw-
milling industry ; far-
ther north is Glouces-
ter, and to the north-
west the gold-mining
settlement of Cope-
land. In the county of
Gloucester is the great
property of the Austra-
lian Asrricultural Com-
pany, but no corres-
ponding development
of the country has justified the policy of making such large grants. One or two small
gold-fields have been discov^ered, but as a whole the district has not been progressive.
These northern rivers in the coast district between Port Stephens and the northern
border of the colony, constitute a very valuable portion of New South Wales, but as
the communication with them is almost wholly by sea, and as all the rivers are bar-bound
and demand a large expenditure to open them to navigation, progress has been greatly
checked. A coast-line of railway has been proposed, and should this be carried out the
chain of settlements along the northern coast will greatly increase in importance.
It is customary to regard the whole of that part of the colony which lies north
of Sydney, and extends as far as the Queensland border, as the Northern District, although
this area really eml)races three districts. The first of these is the Hunter River District,
which falls away from the Liverpool Range and constitutes the water-shed of the Hunter.
This stream finds its cmboiuhiirc in the port of the same name, and upon it stands
the coal-city of Newcastle, which thus makes a focalizing point for the trade of
the district. The Northern District proper has its base on the Liverpool Range, falls
away east and west from the Moonbi, and the main chain which runs parallel to the
iM'"
THE COURT HOUSE '.aiND THE POST OFFICE AT GRAFTON.
244
AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
i
i-H
a
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o
u
teau, and this mountainous
inland-country and makes a
coastal range, and
follows the rocky
backbone which is
also the route of the
Great Northern Rail-
way Line, with the
busy centres of Tam-
worth, Armidale, Glen
Innes and Tenterfiekl
as successive vertebrre
in its spinal column.
From the Nandewar
Rano-e it extends
westward along the
course of the River
Nanioi, and on from
the junction of this
stream with the River
Barwon up to the
Queensland border,
where its boundary
is marked by the
travelling-stock town
of Mungindi. The
town-centres along
the branch-route are
Werris's Creek, Gun-
nedah and Narrabri.
The north boundary
line of this roughly-
drawn triangle is
made by the meander-
ing rivers which cut
off New South Wales
from Queensland —
the Macintyre and
the Dumaresq. The
eastern boundary of
the Northern District
is the coastal range
which flanks the great
New England pla-
parallel to the Big Divide cuts the coast off from the
tropical seaward slope which is popularly known as " The
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AT BBOAOVJMcP.
Richmond FVWtR..
THE bUGAk 1NDU.STRY, RICHMOND RIVER.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
245
Rivers " District, and comprises all the fertile basins of the Richmond, the Clarence, the
Bellingcn, the Nambucca, the Macleay, the Hastings, the Manning and all the country
north of Cape Hawke. South of this point the rivers flow south and south-east, instead
of east, and empty into the salt-water lakes along the coast and into Port Stephens and
Port Hunter, which constitute a middle-district between "The Rivers" and the South
Coast. The South Coast is similarly shut off from the interior by the main range, and
forms a district peculiar in its climate, soil and
products from country lying in the same parallels
of latitude on the other side of the Big Divide.
The Southern District pro-
per trends away along the
railway route from Parra-
matta to Goulburn, from
AND THE MACLEAY RIVER.
I
Goulburn on to Murrumburrah, Cootamundra, Wagga Wagga and Albury, taking in the
few branch-lines that diverge from it en route. Beyond lies an enormous tract of country,
in shape an irregular tetragon. Its two towns at the extreme points of its bisecting
line of railway are Bathurst and Bourke. Between these lie many important centres —
Orange, Wellington, Dubbo and Nyngan. On its southern boundary, and leagues apart,
are Hay and Wentworth. On its western edge is Silverton ; nearly in its centre is
Cobar. This vast territory is known as " The West," and out towards Wilcannia, and
beyond it, " The Far West." It is bisected in a curved line by the River Darling,
which, after a course of many leagues over the boundless plains of the interior, empties
itself into the Murray just below Wentworth. This splendid territory has been closely
identified with the development of the colony from its very beginnings. When once the
barrier of the Big Divide had been crossed the great industry founded by Macarthur
246 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
spread itself over the vast grazing-grounds of the inland downs. The squatters were the
early pioneers. In the wake of the squatter followed the farmer and the railway; but
the great check to the development of the interior has been the successive terrible
droughts. These natural foes to settlement are now being combated, and partially over-
come, by artesian wells and water-storing tanks, maintained on stock-travelling routes by
Government. But this splendid domain is practically virgin territory ; the problem of " The
West" still challenges solution, and the wealth of "The West" will never be truly realized
until a scientific system of irrigation is employed throughout its almost boundless areas.
The Western District.
Nearly a hundred years ago— in the month of November of the year 1788 —
Governor Phillip went up to the head of the Harbour to choose a site for a redoubt,
and quarters for those who were to be employed in clearing and tilling the agricultural
land in the vicinity. Two years later— so successful had the primitive tillage been— the
Governor issued orders for the laying out of a regular town, which received the name
of Parramatta. It is thus, after Sydney, the oldest town in the colony.
This old settlement, with a record beginning with the earliest history of the colony,
lies at the head of that farthest-reaching arm of Port Jackson called the Parramatta
River. Steamers of moderate draught run up from Sydney in about two hours, which
are passed pleasantly enough. As the River narrows the scenery changes gradually to
lower, less rugged and more fertile banks. From the head of navigation a tram-line
constructed by private enterprise conveys passengers to the Park-gates on the westward
side of the town. But there is another and .beautiful route by the north shore of
the River through Gladesville and Ryde, or longer still by the Lane Cove Road
through Hornsby and Pennant Hills — a delightful drive, affording magnificent views of
the city and its surroundings; of rolling woodlands, with occasional glimpses of the
water, and of glorious orange groves rich with fruit or odorous with bloom.
The town of Parramatta nestles in the bosom of the hills at the head of the River,
and is not only quaint, but unmistakably old-fashioned. The tale of a hundred years is
written plainly on the gray stone walls still backing up the ancient public buildings ; on
the broad leafy crowns of the beautiful oaks and the great heads of the stone-pines.
The churches, however, as seen from the hills, have by no means an antique
appearance, though the double-spired St, John's dates as far back as 1803. There is
little, however, of the original structure left, save the old foundations and some portions
of the main walls. It was built originally to imitate the old church at Reculvers on
the Kentish coast, the last ecclesiastical edifice on which rested the eyes of Mrs. Mac-
arthur when saying good-bye to old England, and which she piously vowed to reproduce
in her new country if she ever lived to reach it in safety — the vow was kept. All
Saints', with the tallest spire, is of recent date, and the handsome buildings erected by
Roman Catholics and Congregationalists are also modern, typifying a new generation, in
contrast with the oaks, and the cottages they overshadow
Among the buildings to be noted are the Mercury newspaper office, the banks, the
commodious public offices, the old Court House and the Post Office, deeply alcoved along
its front; the old-fashioned and well-named "Woolpack" Inn, lying behind its broad lawn
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
247
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fringed with tall and shady trees, has been recently turned into police-barracks, and a
new structure has usurped the historic title. Primary schools, both public and denomina-
j^g AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
tional. are good and commodious. But the one educational establishment whose history is
inseparable from that of Parramatta, and whose influence extends far and wide throughout
the colony, is the old King's School, under the direct control of the Episcopal Church.
Founded in the year 1832, when Sir Richard Bourke was the head of the State and
Bishop Broughton of the Church, it immediately became the great Church of England
school of the colony. It is by no means a beautiful building, having suffered many
additions wherein utility was the primary object. The excellence of its management is,
however, evidenced by the positions of many old pupils, now in the foremost ranks of
social, professional and political life.
Manufactures in the town have been in a small way successful. There are tile
and pipe works, three establishments where wool is woven into tweed and a soap and
candle factor)-. In early days linen was made from llax grown on the Government farm,
but that useful industr)- died out. Conspicuous in the old town are the penal and
eleemosynary establishments — general and criminal lunatic asylums accommodating together
eight hundred and fifty patients, a reformatory for girls, a benevolent asylum, a commo-
dious gaol, a district hospital and a hospital for erysipelas. Quite early in the history of
the colony, Parramatta, having a natural water-supply, was selected for the pauper and
criminal institutions, and most of them have been retained to this day.
To all visitors of cultured, artistic, aesthetic or even historic tastes, the chief glory
of Parramatta is the Park — the old Domain, admittance to which is by an archway built
in the Tudor style. Within the enclosure oaks tower aloft and shake their leaves in
the light summer breeze with a cool and pleasant rustle, and willows in the damp flats
bend their boughs, mighty in their gift of perfect shade. Pines from Norfolk Island,
only less beautiful and grand than those in the Sydney Gardens ; pines from southern
Italy ; pines from the Californian slopes, and pines from Scottish and Norwegian hills, stand
tall, strong and shady, contrasting with the trees of native birth still lingering beside
the shallow and generally turgid waters of the characteristic Australian creek. The firs
grew from cones, the oaks from acorns, the willows from slips, which Mr. George
Suttor, Australia's first gardener, brought over in his plant-house on the Porpoise at the
beginning of the present century.
The Park-lands slope gently upward to a round knoll, where stands a plain old
house about which cling many historic associations. It is the old Government House,
the country residence of the sailor Governors, and of four at least of their successors — the
.place of their rest, and frequently of their most active labours. It was while walking in
these grounds that John Macarthur met Governor Bligh in the earliest days of a
troubled Administration. In one of these old parlours they sat down together to break-
fast with ex-Governor King, and when the meal was ended they walked across to that
other old house below the town by the River-side, ami inspected on the Elizabeth Farm
the little flock of sheep mustered on that estate. We can imagine the sheep folded in
the evening for fear of the wild dogs, and the two distinguished officials looking curiously
at the little flock whose development has been the main cause of the larger prosperity
of Australia. It was at this town also that Governor Denison fixed his observatory.
It has been well said that even had Parramatta been the least convenient of all
towns the beauty of its surroundings would have made it a desirable dwelling-place.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
249
Old residents say with pride, " We can drive around throufjh forty miles of oranges,"
and the statement is fairly accurate. From Parramatta to Ryde, Hornsby, Pennant and
Baulkham Hills, and towards Prospect, orange groves fringe the road in almost endless
succession. The trees are planted chiefly on the rich ridges or the higher eastern slopes
of the hills. English fruit-trees, caring little for an occasional bite of frost, do better in
the hollows. The inland drives to Baulkham Hills, or through Toongabbie towards
Prospect, are charming, and it is as pleasant to be about Parramatta in September as in
Kent in April. The orange is a winter fruit ; in spring the trees are laden with their
white and fragrant blossoms ; the green fruit forms and hangs during the summer,
getting its golden colour as autumn begins, and becoming fully ripe as the winter
deepens. But the seasons are so mild in this temperate climate that they intermix, and a
tree may often be seen bearing at the same time the lingering fruit of last sea.son and
the blossoms and young fruit of the next.
The country lying between Parramatta
and the Hawkesbury River is for the most
part gently undulating. It was easily tra-
versed in the earlier days, but being thickly
timbered was comparatively neglected ; the
attention of the colonists being naturally
drawn first to the rich alluvial land on the
banks of the River, at once available for the
growth of maize, wheat and hay. The prin-
cipal track from Parramatta to this early
granary of the colony ran north-west to
Windsor, a town occupying an area of rising
ground at the point where the River turns
northward, and which was then the head of
navigation. A second track, which crossed
the Hawkesbury, went westward to Penrith,
and from this place the explored route over
the Blue Mountains was opened. Tillage on
the banks of the Hawkesbury, early begun,
has never ceased, for the deep rich soil seems incapable of exhaustion, though several
times the settlers have seen their farms under water, having to run from their cottages,
or, when too late for flight, to be rescued in boats. Back from this alluvial belt the
land is of a poorer quality, though on the tops of the hills, where some fairly good
red soil is to be found, many patches were cleared for wheat, till the persistent appearance
of rust compelled the abandonment of this description of crop.
Por many years the greater part of the district was subdivided into large grazing-
paddocks in which the sheep and cattle that had travelled down from the back-country
rested and fattened for market. On the western road a good deal of land has of late
years been utilized for vineyards and orangeries, especially in the neighbourhood of
Seven Hills, and still mare recently this land has become valuable for residential purposes,
particularly for those who desire a larger block than is easily obtainable eastward of
ST. MATTHEW S CHURCH, WINDSOR.
250 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Parramatta. The railway line as far as Blacktown serves the purpose both of the
western and north-western roads, the branch to Richmond turning northwards from this
junction. On the route is the station of Riverstone, where private enterprise has
established a successful slaughtering and meat-preserving establishment. The flocks and
herds on their way down from the northern pastures are intercepted at this point and
sent on as dressed meat to Sydney.
Windsor, which ne.xt to Parramatta is the oldest of the country towns, still retains
the characteristics of early days. The ivy creeps over the old brick walls; the trees
look almost weary with age in many neglected gardens. Old men in checked cotton
shirts, moleskin trousers and cabbage-tree hats, sit beneath the long verandahs of one-
storeyed inns and tell tales of the old, old times. Characteristic, too, of those times is
Sl Matthew's Church, built substantially on high ground in the basilican style of
architecture. The foundation-stone of this church was laid, says the official record, a
little after sunset on Sunday, the nth of October, 1817, by Governor Macquarie, and
his speech on that spring evening was short and very much to the point. He saw the
"holey dollar" (the Spanish dollar with the centre cut out) safely deposited in the
bottle, he tried the stone with the square, tapped it with the mallet, and saying " God
bless St. Matthew's Church " left it in peace, but not, as shown in the sequel, in
security. For that night sundry rascals uplifted the stone, broke the botde and abstracted
the dollar. His Excellency, holding to the belief that coin of the realm was the only
sure foundation for the Church, began the proceedings dc novo, called together the whole
of the respectable inhabitants and the notabilities of the vice-regal court, addressed them
in a pathetic manner, passed a high eulogy on the clergy and planted other dollars,
which, alas for the morality of the times, were within two days likewise abstracted.
After this it appears that the Governor contented himself with fulminating against the
probable robbers, and permitting the walls to rise without the silver basis. Yet no good
luck attended this. For we read that " two years after, the walls of the building had
to be pulled down to the very foundation, owing to some defect in their construction,
and another building of much larger dimensions and of the best materials was commenced
on its site." This church is the St. Matthew's of to-day.
Four miles west of Windsor is Richmond, another village dating from the first
decade of the colony. It is not so busy now as it has been — for the railways have
diverted the great trade on which its early prosperity was built — but it still shows
evidence, not only of past vigour, but of present vitality. Two great stock-routes
converge on the slope of the hills on the other side of the stream. By the northern
one, known as the Bulga Road, came down sheep and cattle from Patrick's Plains on
the Hunter River, along a rough and somewhat grassless track. The other route came
from the " Far West," and crossed the Blue Mountains by what is still known, after the
surveyor who discovered it, as Bell's Line. This route takes the dividing ridge between
the waters of the Grose and those of the Colo, and joins the other line near Mount
Clarence. Richmond, therefore, was the gate-way through which for many years passed
the greater portion of the live stock destined for the Sydney market. The Kurrajong
Hills look down upon Richmond from the northern side of the River. Their seaward
slope is covered with singularly fertile soil, originally thickly-timbered and clothed with
THE TOWNS OF NFAV SOUTH WALES.
251
a dense undergrowth of rich scrub vegetation. Most of this has now been cleared away,
and orange-trees have been planted to the summit — an elevation of nearly two thousand
feet. The drive up the steep ascent is very beautiful, the undulating ground of the
fertile lower slopes presenting a landscape of remarkably soft and varied aspect. The
Hills have long been celebrated for the purity and mildness of their air, and are a favourite
resort for invalids. Over the ridge to the west the aspect of the country instantly
changes. Rugged
sandstone comes to
the surface, and re-
mains characteristic of
Bell's Line, which is
broken only by the
rich patches of Mount
Tomah and Mount
Wilson, where the trap-
rock has burst through
the sandstone, produ-
cinsj the soil that has
given birth to magni-
ficent tree-ferns and a
rich jungle of semi-
tropical appearance.
From Blacktown
Junction the Great Western Railway continues through slightly undulating country. Rooty
Hill was once a thickly-timbered elevation, and still yields a supply of fire-wood and
railway-sleepers ; but it has become more celebrated for its coursing-ground, a great
lover of sport having fixed his head-quarters here. The line crosses South Creek, the
valley of which is in flood-time filled with back-water. After this the country is moderately
level as far as Penrith. This is one of the old-fashioned road-side townships — a place
where the carriers used to rest before starting for the heavy pull up the mountains, or
after coming down. Delay, too, was sometimes caused by the River being swollen by
heavy rains, when the punt could not be worked.
Above Penrith is a beautiful reach of the Nepean, with still, deep water for about
fifteen miles up to its junction with the Warragamba. For a mile or two above the
bridge the banks are moderately low, but gradually become steep and rocky. During
the great floods the scene here is magnificent. The waters that come rolling down,
gathered from an enormous water-shed, are piled up between the steep rocky banks,
because there is no lateral discharge for them. Mood-marks on the trees show that the
river has risen sixty and even eighty feet above the ordinary height ; but as it rushes
out of the gorge and spreads out over the low land, which is mostly on the eastern
side, the level sinks rapidly.
To the west of the River lie the Emu Plains, gently sloping to the foot of the
hills. They are mostly above flood-level ; the soil is fertile, and this mile-wide belt was
early occupied and tilled. It has never ceased to be profitable to the farmer. Where
STUD SHEEP OF THE MUDGEE DISTRICT.
252
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
the Plains end the mountains at once begin. In the old coaching-days there were little
more than road-side inns all the way until the mountain was descended on the other
side, when agricultural and pastoral occupation once more began. But since the railway
has been at work some coal-mines have been opened up, hotels have been built, and
little townships have sprung up, • such as at Springwood, Katoomba, Blackheath and
Mount Victoria. The older road, which was superseded by a better one down Mount
Victoria, made its descent into the western country at Mount York ; but the railway
engineers decided on going west and making the descent, not into the Vale of Hartley,
but into the Valley of Lithgow. The line, therefore, after passing Mount Victoria, keeps
its elevation for some distance, running along the Darling Causeway— the dividing ridge
between the head of the Grose and the Valley of the Lett. On the left is a branch
constructed by the Hartley Kerosene Company ; the line makes a steep descent into
the Vale of Hartley, the trucks
being drawn up by a rope.
After all the rugged gorges
at the head of the Grose have
been passed, the point of junc-
tion with Bell's Line of road
is reached at Mount Wilson
Station. The railway then tun-
nels under Mount Clarence and
emerges on a spur looking
down upon Lithgow. To make
the descent the engineers had
recourse once more to a "zig
zag" — a much more difficult
piece of work than that by
w h i c h the mountain was
climbed on the eastern side.
The road down is in turn
sidling, viaduct, tunnel and cutting. Below there are two or three points of vantage
whence may be seen the manner in which the line sweeps down the face of this bold
inland cliff — the three ledges, one above another, being commanded in one view.
At the foot of the "Zig-zag" are the two adjoining townships of Eskbank and
Lithgow. We are here at the western outcrop of the immense coal-seams which
underlie the whole of the Blue Mountains, and it is this which gives character to the
industries of the place. At several points the scams have been attacked, sometimes by
adits driven into the hills, sometimes by shallow shafts. A good market for the coal
is found along the line of railway both west and east, as well as in Sydney. The
existence of iron ore in the neighbourhood naturally suggested the possibility of smelting-
works, but the enterprise has met with many difficulties. The ore is scattered, and not
cheaply raised, the lime has to be brought from a distance, and colonial labour is
costly. It has been impossible, therefore, to produce iron as cheaply as it can be
imported. But the basis of the industry has been laid, and its further development only
THE ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL AT 13ATHUKST.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
253
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awaits more favourable conditions. Meanwhile a good deal of work has been done for
the Government in re-rolling old rails. Lithgow Valley is also well supplied with a
great variety of clay ; a successful pottery has been established, which is equipped with
J54
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
the most recent machinerj-. The coarser productions are naturally those for which there
is the greater demand, and drain-pipes, tiles and bricks are the articles principally
manufactured. Enough, however, has been done with pottery of the finer kinds to show
the potentialities of the industry, and with abundance of the best clay close to coal,
Lithgow has its hope in reserve.
Beyond Lithgow is the pretty, old road-side village of Bowenfels, and still farther
on Wallerawang — a township lying in the centre of a district rich in mineral wealth.
.■\t this point a branch line strikes off in a north-westerly direction to the town of
Mudgee, about eighty miles distant. The route lies through somewhat rugged country,
which is only sparsely populated. The line runs not far from the dividing ridge, and skirts
the heads of the streams running down into the Colo. On the western side stretches
a large area of country unmistakably auriferous, in which rich patches of gold have
been found. The enthusiasm for mining has, however, greatly fallen off, and a systematic
investigation of the district awaits the time when under-ground work can be carried on
more economically. At Cudgegong, which is near the railway route, cinnabar ore has
been found, but only in quantities to tempt, not to reward, the enterprise of the miner.
Before the line reaches Mudgee the character of the country improves, and a fine
grazing district comes into view. The town itself exhibits a curious mixture of the old
and the new. It was an early centre of pastoral occupation, but it is now showing the
effects of railway communication. The trees on the River are old, the crumbling cottages
on the outskirts are old, the ways of the people savour of old colonization, while the
new churches, banks and public buildings appear as innovations on an established order.
Mudgee is the first place on
a western journey where the
true bush - life is reached ;
men with genuine Australian
swags on their backs pass
frequently ; station-hands,
lithe, spare, and brown from
much riding under hot skies,
come in booted and spurred.
On the road b)- the Race-
course a trim jockey exercises
a well-clothed racer, and past
him rides a " cockatoo-boy "
on a palfrey whose hide knows
no more of grooming than
that of a kangaroo. Mudgee, with all its old-world air, has the capabilities of a beautiful
town, being laid out on a rich flat, surrounded by well-grassed, highly-timbered hills.
It is more than fifty years since the first .settlers came to Mudgee. They obtained
large grants of the rich soil, and all throve on them ; they have passed away, and their
sons gather the fruit of their labours. Their homesteads stand on the surroundincj hills,
three or four miles from the town— substantial, comfortable places, with broad and shad)'
trees on the lawns, and roses in the gardens, making Australian November fragrant as
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHliURAL AT BATHURST.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
255
English June. The climate and soil are similar to those of the eastern valleys of the
Himalayas — the cradle of the merino race — the table-lands of Spain, and the high lands
of Algiers, and were therefore specially suitable for stud-flocks. The best available blood
was early taken up there, and good breeding was backed by liberal feeding, and thus
was produced the dis-
tinct and profitable
strain of merinos now
so much sought after
by flock- masters
throughout Australia.
The sheep are small
in size, but the fleeces
are dense and the
staple is fine. It is in
requisition for the deli-
cate fabrics of the
l-'rench looms, and has
realized in the market
over four shillings a
pound. The effect of
climate in some parts
of Australia, both on
the frame-work of the
animals and the quality
of the wool, is very
quickly seen by a de-
terioration in type.
Fresh strains are therefore regularly needed. To supply these, the choice stock is carried
away to less favoured districts, and there is consequently a perpetual demand for Mudgee
sheep. Buyers from all parts of the Continent gather at the sale of stud-rams, which makes
an annual festival in the town. At these fairs, and at the races, Mudgee seems suddenly to
start into life. The streets are busy, the hotels are full. Stylish equipages roll down from
the hills, and colonial lads scamper along the dusty roads on steeds that an Arab sheik
might envy. lUit at other times all is very dull. Morning, noon and night the town
seems half asleep, and it is a matter of marvel where the people come from who on
Sundays fill the really handsome and commodious churches, which in Mudgee are far
superior to any other buildings. Some of the banks are substantial and handsome, but
on the usual public edifices no money has been uselessly wasted, nor have store-keepers
raised any very notable structures. The School of Arts is a fine building, well equipped,
and, what is not always the case with these institutions, out of debt.
The soil and climate of Mudgee are favourable to the growth of many English
flowers, and seem also to be well adapted to the cultivation of the grape. The medals
in the cellars of a local vigneron are eloquent of the success that has already been
achieved, and indicate the possibilities of the future. Maize grows freely, and yields its
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT BATHURST.
2-6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
abundant harvest within a few months of the sowing, and hay runs up a luxuriant crop.
In a good spring season all the flats are green with the young Indian corn, or fragrant
with the odouc of new-mown hay ; while amongst the rich native grasses run the clean-
looking sheep just relieved of their weighty and valuable fleeces. Around Mudgee there
has been a good deal of gold-mining, but the known alluvial deposit has nearly all been
gathered, and the development of quartz-reefs proceeds but slowly. There are indications
of copper and silver, and also of coal. A line of railway has been surveyed up the
Colo Valley from Richmond, which would strike the Mudgee Line about Rylstone, and a
far easier gradient could be secured by this route than obtains on the present railway.
A trunk-line from Sydney may in the future follow the course of this valley, in which case
the Mudgee Line could be extended to the north-west. At present the town is a railway-
terminus, but does not concentrate very much traffic, because Dubbo catches the inland trade.
From Wallerawang westward to Bathurst the railway line runs through undulating
and sometimes rather rough country. The soil is of poor quality, though here and there
are clearings and little farms. At Rydal may be seen drays loading for the Sunny
Corner silver-mines, which for a time were very productive, a hundred tons of pure
silver having been obtained during a period of six months. But the lode has become
less productive, and none of the other promising "claims" in the neighbourhood has as yet
realized expectations. The district, however, is of a strongly-marked mineral character, and
though eager speculators are quickly discouraged, it is the opinion of geologists that
valuable mines will yet be developed in this locality'.
Farther to the west is Tarana, the station from which visitors usually start for the
Jenolan Caves, although other routes are now open. These caves will be described in a
separate chapter. The road falls as the Bathurst Plains come in sight — that rich instal-
ment of the great western country which gladdened the eyes of the first explorers, and
gave a stimulus to early pastoral occupation.
Bathurst has naturally become the capital of the West, for its site was well chosen.
Placed on the banks of the Macquarie it has a secure supply of fresh water, and when
viewed from the city the surrounding country is seen to be a girdle of undulating hills,
some bare, some highly-timbered. The soil is rich, and fails to yield its harvest only
in those years of drought when Nature, to put a little restraint on the avarice of man,
compels a fallow. The value of the land was keenly appreciated by the early settlers,
and the homesteads of the great proprietors crown the hills that make a circle round
the town, which is placed on the north bank of the River, and is the centre of a
district which from the first has been one of rural industry. Upon that its prosperity
still mainly depends, though it has also been the centre to which the business of several
mining districts converged. Hill End, Sofala, Turon and Trunkey have all at different
times been "rushed" by miners. The glory of these gold-fields, however, has for the
present departed, and their thorough development awaits the day when mining shall be
more scientifically and economically conducted.
Each of the four great denominations is well represented in Bathurst. The Anglican
Church of All Saints' is perhaps the finest building ; and, surrounded by exceptionally
well-kept grounds, it is a chief ornament of the town. But more pleasant to the eye is the
square-towered cathedral of the Roman Catholics, by reason of the great trees growing
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES
257
close beside it, and tempering with their deep green tints the dull red of its massive
brick walls. The priest walking there at even-tide studiously perusing his breviary, the
sisters in the neighbouring convent chanting the Angelus, the rolling organ with its deep
and solemn tones pealing through open windows and doors, together form a picture and
leave a memory singularly in contrast with the ordinary
sentiment of the inner Austral land.
But the block of buildings the Bathurst people
regard with most pride is situated in the centre of the
town, and comprises the whole of the public offices—
the Lands, Police,
Post and Telegraph
Offices, together
with the Court
House and the Gaol.
A dome, well-propor-
tioned, though some-
what lacking in ele
THE SUNNY CORNER SILVER-MINES,
vation, rises from
the centre of the block. The wings, formed by long corridors, are pleasantly broken and
diversified by open quadrangles, planted with trees and flowers. The block is compact,
convenient, sufficiently ornate, and yet free from any air of pretension.
The Hospital, built on the breadth of another hill about a mile to the north, is in
every respect a creditable establishment. There is no building of the kind in the
colony better fitted or better situated for hospital-work. The wards are lofty and
roomy, with windows opening on to an unimpeded view of the fresh green downs. The
architectural effect is good, the red brick and the white stone having been blended in
an excellent modern Gothic design.
All Samts' Grammar School, nearer the city, is an important local institution, with
a creditable record of good work well done ; and the State School, centrally situated,
IS a worthy representative of the system which levies a tax of one pound sterling a
head on every unit of the population for educational work. The Roman Catholic College
of St. Stanislaus takes a high rank amongst kindred institutions. The School of Arts,
m which educational work and recreation are combined, is one of the best of its kind
,58 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
out of the metropolis. The commercial buildings, however, make no particular display;
banks, insurance offices and stores are commodious and sufficient, but not imposing.
Manufactures have not secured much footing in the town, though a few tall chimneys
indicate flour-mills, breweries and agricultural implement works. A mile up the Macquarie
is the pumping-engine which supplies water to the town.
The railway from Bathurst goes westward in the direction of Blayney. For the first
few miles it follows the direction of a pleasant road beside the water-course of George's
V'ale. the creek winding in long curves fringed with willows. On either side are clover-
paddocks and corn-fields, orchards and gardens; homesteads of all sorts— from the substan-
tial house of the wealthy settler to the mud-walled cabin of the humble tenant who
rents a little patch of rich alluvial land. After continuing thus for eight miles the line
enters rougher country which does not invite to agriculture, and which even in a good
year is only scantily clothed with short wiry grass. The hills are sparsely timbered and
strewn with boulders. The township of Blayney is built chiefly on a flat by the side
of the Belubula River. It is a moderately prosperous place, because at no great
distance there is some fine agricultural land. At Blayney there is also a railway junc-
tion, the main line going off to the north-west ; but towards the south-west there is a
cross-country line connecting the Western and Southern Railways. This branch line runs
through Carcoar. Cowra and Young to Murrumburrah, and affords a direct route from
the colony of Victoria to the western slopes of New South Wales, and thence on to
Bourke. It is likely to become a great route for the transmission of live stock from
Queensland to the Melbourne market. The first considerable township on this line is
Carcoar, the centre of a mining district, situated in a deep mountain valley ; some en-
gineering difficulties had to be encountered to make the descent. The next important
place is Cowra, in the valley of the Lachlan. Prior to the advent of the iron-horse it
was little more than a halting-place for carriers and drovers, but the railway makes a
speedy change where the land is fertile. Selections are taken up, farms are tilled, the
old camping-place becomes a village, and in a few years the village grows to a town.
Westward of Cowra lies Grenfell, once a prosperous alluvial gold-field, where shafts and
batteries still make a busy show, though the maize and wheat-fields and the rich red soil
of the newly-cleared land indicate that the larger hope of the future lies in agriculture.
Twenty miles beyond Blayney along the railway line is Orange. The route trends
over elevated ground, the line at one part being over three thousand feet above the
level of the sea. Clearings and paddocks are to be seen all along the line, and at
some intervening villages, such as Millthorpe and Springhill, large areas of land have
been brought under tillage. Near the town the country is more open, and the rich red
volcanic soil is well adapted for every description of agriculture. Orange lies among
grassy hills, over which tower the Canoblas, capped through several months of the year
with snow. There is no river near, but there is an abundant rain-fall, and water is seldom
scarce. The district is commonly said to have the most "English" appearance of any in
the colony, the farms and the vegetation reminding one of English rural scenes. The range
of temperature is that of our mountain climate generally^hot in the middle of the day in
summer, but cool in the evening, and very cold and bracing in winter. In the gardens
and fields the influence of the cooler climate is very noticeable. The daphnes, magnolias
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
259
and oleanders of the Sydney gardens are absent, but the hawthorne hedges are vigorous,
currants and gooseberries come to perfection, and the wheat harvest is later than that
of Bathurst. The district was taken up for a cattle-station about the year 1830, and
made a great start at the time of the gold fever of 185 1. It was at Lewis Ponds, a
small tributary of Summer Hill Creek, about three miles from
the town, that Mr. E. H. Hargraves made his first discovery of
Australian gold, and this set everybody on the alert to look for
THE LACHLAX RIVER, AM) THE TOWN UK l-URliES.
auriferous indi-
cations. Near
Lucknow some
gravel carted on
to a newly-con-
structed bridge
attracted the
attention of a
few C ornish-
men, who during
the night carried it down to the Creek, washed it, and in the morning sold the results
of their night's labour for sixty pounds a man. Of course there was a wild "rush" to the
pit from which the gravel had been taken. Claims were "pegged out" in all directions.
Shop-men, shoe-makers and tailors took to digging holes and washing gravel in nail-cans,
buckets and tubs. Little fortimes were ([uickly made and quickly spent. A similar
discovery afterwards took place at Ophir, followed by a similar excitement till the
alluvial patch was worked out. Orange, as the local centre, grew rapidly during the
gold-digging days, but subsequently had a non-progressive time. The construction of the
railway gave a great stimulus to agricultural development ; forests were cleared and
,6o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
land was tilled, and the basis of a permanent prosperity was laid. Mining, too, was
resumed, and auriferous ground that had been hastily scratched in the first instance was
more thoroughly examined and systematically worked. Several gold-bearing reefs yielding
large and continuous returns were opened. At Lucknow some excellent mining machinery
is employed. Rock-drills are worked by compressed air, and the free gold is treated in
the usual way; but the more complex ores of antimony, silver, lead and gold are sent
to Germany for treatment by a special process.
South-west from Orange run some of the head-waters of the Lachlan River, which
rise in the Canoblas, traversing in their course the old mining districts of Canowindra
and Cargo, and several fertile agricultural areas. A good coach-road runs to Forbes,
which is situated eighty-four miles distant on the Lachlan River, and along this route
a railway line has been surveyed. The land on either side is capable of supporting a
large number of settlers, the climate is good, and the soil, except in the broad patches
of mineral countrj-, exceptionally rich. Forbes was the scene of one of the successful
Australian gold-rushes. Diggers from the older fields of Young and Grenfell hastened
thither ; life for a time was wild and impetuous ; miners worked with the excitement of
gamblers, and the human vultures that crowd around successful diggers to ease them of
their cash fared well. Hut when the alluvial ground was worked out the excitement all
passed away ; the wild life has gone, and the steadier existence of farmers and squatters
has succeeded. For a time there was some doubt whether the soil, rich as it was,
would grow wheat ; but all doubts on that point have long been settled. With an
average rain-fall wheat yields from twenty to thirty bushels an acre, and oats from
forty to sixty ; potatoes and maize thrive well, and both soil and climate seem specially
suited to tobacco. Forbes, as the centre of this rich district, is already a considerable
town. It is built on moderately elevated land on the northern l)ank of the River, which
winds along the edge of a broad and fertile Hat. This is occasionally submerged ;
indeed in times of high-flood the Lachlan spreads above and below the town miles wide,
filling billabongs and ana-branches innumerable, and storing water for dry seasons. Any
damage done by these floods is abundantly compensated by the wealth they leave behind
them. Rich fiats are on either side of the River, and the country in the rear yields
excellent pasture. Some of the largest sheep-stations in the colony lie between Forbes,
Condobolin and Booligal farther down stream — Burrawang Station, about twenty-five
miles distant, having a freehold of about two hundred and fifty thousand acres, and
shearing in favourable seasons about two hundred thousand sheep. A railway line has
been surveyed from Forbes to Wilcannia, on the River Darling, the central township
from which roads go north-west and south-west, through a dry but pastoral district, to
the gold and silver bearing countr)' of the Barrier Ranges.
Twenty-two miles north-west of Forbes is Parkes, a sister town with a \ery similar
origin and history — first a camping-place in the old pastoral days, then invaded by a
"rush" of gold-diggers, and finally a township with a settled population depending
chiefly on mining and agriculture. The town will shortly be accessible by railway, as
an Act has been passed for a line from Molong through Parkes to Forbes. Cudal,
nearer to the Western Line, is another prosperous and pleasantly-situated village ; it
is twenty-eight miles from Orange, and in the district of Molong. All these western
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
26]
settlements focalize naturally upon Orange, bringing into that healthy and promising
town the produce from their farms, stations and mines. Westward from Orange the
descent from the high land is rapid. Looking from the windows of the railway carriage
in the earlier stage of the journey, a lightly-wooded country is seen sloping away towards
the setting sun ; the pasture still green even in the
early days of midsummer, the wild-flowers starring
the grass, and occasionally almost covering it with
their colour and light. A little lower down and a
wash of the more sombre tints of the Australian
WELLINGTON.
summer is felt rather than perceived over all the landscape. The cool fresh mountain
air is passing away, and the heat arises from the plains, now so rapidly approached.
Gray-trunked box-trees sparsely stud the broad downs, together with iron-bark and gum,
and also the beautiful kurrajongs, closely cropped for food during the years of drought,
but bursting with the first return of rain into fresh and luxuriant foliage. Thirty-
262 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
five miles on. and a thousand feet down from Orange, is the mining village of Iron-
barks, and twenty-one miles farther, the town of Wellington. On cither side of the
line farms have been established ; in dry years the crop is a failure, but in a good
season the soil is wonderfully prolific, though too often even plentiful rains have their
troubles for the famier, who sees his hay, oats or wheat beaten down by a heavj
storm just as he begins to count on an abundant compensation for all his losses during
the years of drought. Much of the soil is decomposed trap, over-lying the limestone
and granite at the base of the hills, while the rich alluvial deposits brought down by
the Macquarie and the Hell Rivers cover all the flats. The town is at the junction of
the two streams, and is built on the spot where an outpost of the earliest pastoral
system was established more than half a century ago. Agriculture comes ciuite up to
the town, the wheat-fields lying almost at the doors of the stores and mills. The hills,
which are the farthest-extending feet of the westerly-reaching spurs of the Great
Divide, come down almost to the river's bank in lightly-wooded knolls and open braes,
above which rise craggy and boulder-strewn slopes, with an occasional cone suggestive
of the source of the fertilizing trap-rock. The foliage of these hills is more varied than
is usual in the Australian bush. In the caverns and ravines the geologist finds a field
for endless research, for long before the human interest of the world began, into these
limestone caves came those monstrous beasts whose proportions to the animals of to-day
are as those of the sons of Anak to pigmies. The tooth of a diprotodon has been found
there with some fragmentary bones of an ccJiidna — whose complete bulk must have been
beyond that of any of his tribe we know to-daj', as much as the New Zealand moa
surpasses that quaint relic of his genus, the apteryx — and a bone of an old-world
marsupial, which Professor Owen pronounces to have been of the lion species. There
was large life in Australia in the days when creatures such as these came down into
the mountain-caverns to die. Jungle and forest-growths, rivers rolling through broad
savannahs prevailed the;n where now is sometimes seen but the dust of drought, and
the marsh-film of meagre streams.
The buildings of Wellington are substantial and comfortable, rather than beautiful ;
they are all of brick, and of that deep-red tint to which most of the inland clays seem
to burn. The hotels are broad-verandahed and cool, the churches roomy and sombre in
aspect, the banks and insurance offices somewhat ornate and metropolitan in style, and
the stores generally of the old colonial order. Lying grouped in the valley amid the
trees by the River's edge and the rich foliage of orchards and gardens, they form a
charming picture — a pleasing head and crown to the valley — which stretches on inland
for many a mile. The railway crosses the river by a bridge, the foundations of which
were laid with difficulty, as the engineers had to pierce an enormous stratum of drift —
an indication of an old geologic age. Beyond the town are fiat patches of rich green corn,
acres of tobacco-plant, and breadths of wheat on a larger scale of farming than is generally
seen in the colony. At Mar>'vale, twelve miles from Wellington, there are farms of a
thousand and twelve hundred acres all under cultivation, and despite continual droughts, and
occasional losses through heavy rain-storms, the farmers are prosperous and hopeful. With
intervals of quartz and granite country, with the usual clothing of stunted forest and scant
herbage, the good soil runs right down the Macquarie to Dubbo, thirty miles to the north-west.
I
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
263
Dubbo is ordinarily associated with pastoral work on a larj^c scale, with fierce
heats, long droughts, and that old Australian life which knew of little beyond mutton,
wool and beef, and the labour by which they are produced. In its earliest days it was
the natural business-centre for the sheep and cattle stations of the lower Bogan and
a
D
Q
D
C
u
<
IS
u
B
H
the Macquarie. A slab-walled, bark-roofed shanty was the primitive style of building,
giving way in the ordinary course of development to the one-storeyed public-house, with
separate ends for squatters and bush-men. It is almost half a centurj' since the first store
was opened at Dubbo, and forty years since the earliest holders of Crown grants tried any
experiment in agriculture. The drought-proof salt-bush \yas high and dense on all the
264 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
plains, and the millions of kurrajongs, myalls and vnilgas had never been cropped on
their lower boujjhs by the cattle in seasons of distress. Nature's reserves were sufficient
to stand the severest trials, and the only anxiety of teamsters and bullock-drivers, even
in the driest seasons, was to make from water to water. Still a little farming was
successfully carried on, the grain was carted thirty tedious miles to the Wellington mill,
and back again as flour. Hut after the Land Act of 1861 many selectors settled on
the fertile soil. In 1.S72 the town had become so considerable that it was proclaimed a
municipality, and stores, hotels and banks followed in the wake of the settlers. I'^or a
few subsequent years there were abundant rains ; the country was prosperous and ricli
in promise ; sheep and cattle multiplied on the land. Not only frontages and fertile flats,
but back-blocks, naturally waterless, were taken up and fully stocked. The fat years
passed, a long lean time succeeded — a monotonous drought, broken only by one interval,
and lasting for ten years ; and yet, in spite of heavy losses, the occupation of the
country has survived the test.
The town of Dubbo is a busy one, with enlarging industries, and about it arc all
the indications of stout-hearted occupation and steady advance. Nor is this surprising,
for it is not a village set in a pastoral wilderness, but the farthest western outpost of
prosperous agriculture. All down the Macquarie anything from maize to wheat, and from
cotton to potatoes, may be grown abundantly. For many miles along its farthest course
the River consists of a series of basin-like depressions, sl'ut in and divided by bars of
rock ; at varying distances below its present bed extends a stratum of loose drift or
gravel, which, touched by a shaft or boring-tube, yields a pure and never-failing supply
of water. The township of I3ubbo lies within one of these basins, and numerous wind-
mills in ever green gardens irrigate the thirsty soil. The Dubbo basin was probably at
one time a lake or marsh, similar to those still existing lower down the River, and
this was gradually filled up by the detritus l^rought down b)- the higher levels, a
narrow channel only being kept open. The surface-river is but the visible drainage-
channel ; the permanent waters lie below, saved from pollution and heat by the easily-
pierced coating of over-lying earth. This under-ground supply of water has an important
bearing on the future of the district; as, in addition to meeting all domestic demands,
it will furnish enough for a limited irrigation. Every settler can have his well and his
wind-mill, with not only a full supply for domestic luxury, but for all the requirements of
garden, orchard and paddock. The area capable of irrigation is large, and the agri
culture of the future will have wide scope in providing provender for the pastoral
stations on either side. Nor does the future prosperity of the town depend on
agriculture and pastoral work alone. Coal crops up in the neighbourhood, and on the
Baltimore Mountain one seam nearly six feet in thickness has been opened out. The
country to the north-west is known to be rich in copper ore, and it is reasonable to
look forward to the establishment of a large smelting industry. At present, however,
Dubbo is little more than a pleasant village, with comfortable cottage-homes and the usual
commercial and public buildings. The district is healthful and the children thrive, though not
with .such promise in their limbs, or roses in their faces, as are seen on the table-lands.
As the traveller follows the line of the railway more to the north-west, he notes
that the a.spect of the country gradually changes. The trees fall back, the plains
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
26 =
expand, native-oak belts enclose great flats, where in a good season tall wild-oats hide
the sheep ; the salt-bush becomes frequent, and soon large clumps of lemon-tinted
narran are seen, with sandal-wood and emu-bush, and then a flat all luyatls and salt-
bush. On this broad plain the beautiful viyall is not only characteristic, but supreme.
It spreads from the railway-fence to the dark-green belt on the horizon, willow-like in
its pendant boughs, with dark trunk and olive-silvery foliage ; and, if but a bough be
broken, exuding an odour as sweet as that of violets or new-mown hay. Of all the
native-growths the myall is the fittest to droop over a grave ; to be the in niemoriam
tree of Australia, sacred as the • yew in England and the cypress in Italy.
1
Ws
A camel-t?:am at wilcannia.
The railway line follows the ridge of the water-shed between the Bogan and the
Macquarie Rivers. The first township of any importance is Nyngan, where the rail-
road crosses the Bogan, and from which a line is projected to the west to the
mining township of Cobar. From Nyngan the railway runs over a poor, patchy pastoral
country, passing Girilambone, where there are large outcrops of copper ore, which,
however, have not yet led to the discovery of profitable mines ; past Coolabah — the
native name for a full-foliaged handsome description of eucalyptus — and on to Bourke,
whicli is at present the terminus of the North-Western Railway. To get a comprehensive
understanding of this north-western district, it will be well to follow the line from
Nyngan to Cobar. For the whole seventy miles there is hardly a sign of an agricultural
or a pastoral homestead. The soil is a light red sand, and patches of scrub are frequent.
There is little to be seen but wire fences, and sheep clustered about the dams, or
camped in the shade of the trees.
Cobar, a mining township seventy miles from Nyngan, looks an anomaly among the
great pasturages — a municipality with mayor and aldermen, court house, banks, churches
and schools, out in the midst of the sheep and cattle, the kangaroos and emus, and
the wild scrub-country. The germ from which the isolated township grew was an
266 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
outcrop of copper ore — a singular deposit, contained chiefly in a conical hill, on a
poorly-jjrassed, lightly-timbered plain. In the hill-side is a spring, and stock-men and
shepherds were often puzzled by the bright green deposit about the rocks, and the
metallic taste of the water. Some practical investigators, attracted by the bush-men's
yarns, set themselves to trace out the cause of this green deposit, and very soon came
on magnificent lodes of various descriptions of copper ore. A company was formed to
work the property, and a township grew with great rapidity. Cornish and Welsh miners
were brought up the Darling from Adelaide, furnaces were built, shafts sunk, adits
driven, and copper to the value of upwards of a million sterling has already been
raised. The primitive buildings were mostly of slabs, pine-logs, or pist< work, but many
of them have already been replaced by substantial brick structures. A fall in the price
of the metal and the difificulty of obtaining fuel for roasting ores and smelting have
given a check to the progress of the place. Firewood has to be brought in by a tram-
line, fifteen miles in length, the bush for some distance round having been cleared of
timber. The hope of this copper district — for the indications of copper ore are widely
spread — lies in railway communication with the coal-fields in the neighbourhood of Dubbo.
Beyond Cobar, to the west, and running through much scrub-land, is the road to
Wilcannia, the river-port of the central Darling, of the Paroo, of the Barcoo, and the
Diamantina country of Queensland, of the gold and silver country in the burnt bleak
Barrier Ranges, and of a great area of rich pastoral land bordering on and adjacent to
the River. Wilcannia has grown up since 1868, being the best crossing-place for stock
travelling from the north-western pastures to the Melbourne and Sydney markets. From
being a mere fording township it grew to more importance as the starting-point to the
gold-fields of Mount Brown and the silver-country to the south-west. Excellent stone
has been found in quarries in the neighbouring hill, and good and substantial buildings
indicate that the old ford is to be a permanent township. A varied and peculiar traffic
is found in Wilcannia. Horse and bullock teams trend through the streets and camp on
the common every day. The river-steamers, constructed for shallow-water navigation, pass
up the stream laden with stores, and down tjie stream with bales of wool. But novel
to Australian bush-men are the camel-teams, which were introduced in order to make the
journey to the mining districts when two or three days' stages had to be travelled
without water. From four to eight pairs of these quaint creatures are harnessed to an
ordinary horse-waggon, and encouraged by their Arab or Afghan driver, toil with many
a grunt and groan over their weary and arduous journey. Two hundred miles lie
between Wilcannia and the townships of the gold and silver fields — a dreary distance
unrelieved by any pleasant break.
But travelling up and down this River when the water is in flood is by no means
dreadful. The boats used in the trade are fairly comfortable, with sleeping-cabins placed
on a hurricane-deck. Towing one or two barges astern, they fight their way manfully
up stream, cutting out in times of high-flood to ana-branches or side-currents, steaming
away over tree-tops, and not unfrequently getting hung up or snagged on submerged
obstacles. They travel by day and by night, some old river-pilots preferring the darkest
night, as the three or four powerful lights invariably carried show ahead a broad illu-
mmated path, along which it is tolerably easy to steer. But the up-river journey is
I
THE WINDINGS OF THE MURRAY AT ALBURY.
i
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 267
always tedious ; nor is there much charm of scenery to break the monotony. The frinji^e
of eucalyptus is ahiiost continuous, and on the banks beyond spread out the plains — in
a good season green with innumerable herbs and luxuriant grass, and in time of drought
covered with brown, gray, or red dust, and dotted with bleaching bones. Some distance
north of Wilcannia is the little settlement of Louth — a purely pastoral village, deriving
all its importance from the stock-traffic, and the enterprise of the few inhabitants who
have shown what the soil is capable of when treated to a little judicious irrigation.
North of Louth is Bourke, the one historic and characteristic township of the great
inland River. Bourke has an Australian name and fame. It is to the pastoral life what
Ballarat is to the mining. The typical drover, squatter, shepherd, stock-man, is as
thoroughly identified with the one as the old-time digger with the other, and though in
these times a commonplace conventionalism tends to make men more and more alike,
the men who pass through Bourke up and down, or who linger there for a holiday,
despite the superior charms of the coastal towns, so easily accessible by railway, have
many characteristics and peculiarities of their own. The town is built on a black flat
on the left or southern bank of the River — a dead level that stretches away to the
horizon, with a few poor clumps of trees to diversify its bleak and shapeless aspect.
Thirty miles north-east is the remarkable Mount Oxley, rising to the height of seven
hundred feet sheer from the plain, its treeless ridge straight as a roof-line. Red
soil is found on the skirts of the black plain, marking the limit of past overflows, for
the River now very rarely rises to the streets of the town. Salt and cotton bush, and
many varieties of river-bank herbage — cresses, spinifex, luarrigal cabbage, Darling peas and
native tobacco — grow freely over all the flat, and intrude themselves as familiar weeds
in the gardens and streets and the enclosures of the railway. All the great buildings
— churches, hospitals, schools, banks and principal hotels — are of brick ; the more humble
establishments and the cottages are of galvanized iron, sawn pine, or the various materials
ingeniously applied to back-block architecture. The streets are broad, but unmetalled. In
a dry hot day of midsummer black dust as fine as flour blows along them. In a
wet day of winter the sticky mud clings to all things with which it comes in contact
- — boot-soles, buggy-wheels, the hoofs of horses. The traveller finds himself in a few
minutes walking in clogs, so quickly does the plastic mass grow beneath him. The
experienced resident keeps within doors, holding fast to the common creed that there
was never yet so much hurry in Bourke that a man need go outside when it rained.
About once in a quarter of a century there is a flood, when the waters are four feet
deep in all the lower parts of the town. This, however, is not due to the local rain-
fall, but to the swollen streams that roll down from the western slopes of the Queens-
land main ranw and converc^e above the town.
There are not many wet days in Bourke. Winter months bring occasionally
piercing winds, the thermometer standing at fifty degrees. Summer is unmistakably hot ;
the mercury, even in the shade, often ranging from a hundred and ten to a hundred
and twenty-five degrees. It is not the place in which a man favoured with a choice
would choose for a residence, and yet the regular inhabitants, with the frequent visitors,
seem to live with tolerable comfort and health, though in a way of their own. From
the balcony of either of the large hotels b)' the River, where most of the life of the
268
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
town focalizes or passes by, much that is interesting and peculiar may be seen. The
larger hotels, after the old colonial style, are divided into two parts— this the squatter's
side, that the bush-man's. There are of course characters of all sorts, and some are
steady and sober; but too many of the bush-men, stock-men, shearers, boundary-riders,
STREET, BUURKE.
drovers, steam-boat men, all drink together,
get drunk, lie upon the benches, get sober,
go down to the River for a swim, "get
broke" — or, in more intelligible phrase, spend
all their earnings — and clear out for work
again. The squatters lounge about the other
side. These master pastoralists are of two
kinds — old fellows inured to bush-life and
lost to all desire of the city, and young
fellows only a year from the coast ; but all
of them having the fine copper)- hue which a
year of the Darling sun puts on. The busi-
ness of the day seems to be to lounge, to drink at intervals, to yarn continuously, to
speculate on the prospects of the season, and without ceasing, though in their own
fashion, to pray for rain. The towns-folk go about their business leisurely enough.
THE TRANSIT OF WOOL ON THE DARLING.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 269
Bankers, public officials and others keep for awhile a metropolitan style, hut not beyond a
single summer ; the languor of the hot North changes their manners before they them-
selves change the cut of their clothes. The two great businesses in Bourke are the
carrying of goods and the purveying of drinks. Every second shop seems to dispense
liquors, and happily, since the completion of the railway, many varieties of drinks are
brewed from the lemons and oranges and ice brought up by the daily train from the
coast. Bullock-teams, horse-teams and American coaches come into the town from all
points of the compass, and in the busy season the streets are lively with shearers with
pack-horses, and swag-men with all their estate on their backs, steam-boat hands, and
drovers from the Warrego, the Paroo, and the Bulloo.
The shearers may have left their mountain homes at Monaro in midwinter, may
travel a couple of thousand miles, do good work, and then reach home again by harvest.
The swag-man may have walked the length and breadth of the colonies ; but the river-
men live, and hope to die, on the water. The drovers aie the busiest and perhaps the
most interesting of all — wild fellows who live at least sixteen hours out of the twenty-
four in the saddle, who bring down the big "mobs" of cattle from the rich pasturages of
Western Queensland, truck them at the yards a couple of miles out of the town, enjoy
in their own way their loose day or two, and then make back again. Strange expe^'ience
this for the cattle — creatures as wild as bufi^aloes, who on their native pastures would
bolt from a man who should venture near them unmounted ; yet not less than fifty
thousand are trucked every year, long trains with the living freight starting city-wards
every day. In the near future this live-stock traffic may end, and a great slaughtering
and freezing establishment may be at work on the edge of the great pastures. If this
anticipated change takes place, Bourke may develope somewhat on the lines of Chicago.
Nor is it necessary that the produce of the district should be confined to wool and
meat only. A glance at the Chinese garden, irrigated by an engine and a Tangye pump
lifting water' from two wells, shows that the soil will grow anything — peaches, grapes,
oranges, oats, cotton, tobacco, maize, and all sorts of vegetables. Three miles east of
Bourke the River is bridged, and from, the bridge the roads branch off to the border,
and over ten degrees of longitude to the great downs of Queensland and the Northern
Territory of .South Australia.
To the north lies the country of the springs, a remarkable tract running between
the Warrego and the Paroo, where the water breaks right through to the surface —
sometimes through a stratum of pipe-clay, bearing up so much of that easily-soluble
substance as to be undrinkable and valueless, at others from a stratum of unsalted drift,
through limestone or ferruginous rock, overflowing pure, limpid, cool ; giving birth to a
verdant grass and reed growth, and making a rare oasis on the plain. Beyond the
springs lies a poor scrubby country, with a sparse supply of spinifex, and before the
rich downs of Queensland are reached is Barrigun, where ultimately the great Queensland
overland line will join that of New .South Wales.
Brewarrina is seventy miles east of Bourke on the left bank of the Darling. It is
somewhat similar to the latter both in architecture and design, and anticipates a like
future. To the north, towards the Queensland border, it commands a country infinitely
superior to the background of Bourke — at least twenty thousand square miles of rich
.-o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
black flats, broken up by occasional sand-ridges, traversed by the four creeks which
receive the waters of the Queensland Balonne and discharge into the Cato (a branch of
the Darling), and the Narran Lake. There are great possibilities in this country, but as
yet enterprise has been only primitively pastoral. The waters run to waste in floods, the
plains bake and burn in times of drought; a few tanks indeed have been excavated, a few
dams made on the creeks, but nothing adequately to meet the terrible exigencies of a climate
whose fat and lean years come almost as regularly as those foretold by Joseph in Eg)pt.
The aspect of this great country is not wanting in the picturesque ; the mirage is
frequently seen in perfection — trees inverted in phantom lakes, sheep in the distance
looming like advancing armies, swag-men taking on gigantic proportions, and seeming at
times to rise suddenly from the earth. Here also is seen that peculiar phenomenon of
the lifting or expanding horizon at sunrise and even. In the heat of day all around
seems bare, bald, plain ; the range of vision being limited by the refraction of heated
air, but just at dawn or evening the traveller, familiar only with the daylight aspect, is
astonished to see long lines of black timber by various lagoons and creeks, the serrated
crest of a pine-ridge, with the dark and tangled woods below, horses and bullocks an
hour's ride away, and emus and kangaroos making down to the water. All are swallowed
up, and with almost equal rapidity, in increasing light and darkness. Many varieties of
timber-trees also are found here quite foreign to dwellers on the high lands of the
coast. The ghostly brigalow grows in thorny clumps on the poorest ground, the gidya
bears a broad and shady crown with bunches of pale yellow blossoms malodorous in the
extreme ; the leopard-tree lifts its quaint spotted trunk, and here is found the beef-wood,
which shows on its cleavage a grain strongly resembling that of a broad-cut steak ;
niulga, myall and yarran are abundant, and as undergrowth there are all kinds of salt
and cotton bush, and an infinite variety of succulent herbs.
Farther up the River is Walgett, the permanent head of tlie Darling navigation ; and
from Walgett there is a good coach-road to Coonamble and thence to Dubbo. Walgett
is an important town, and most favourably situated with respect to general convenience
of trade. It is accessible from the northern as well as from the western lines, and does
also a very considerable business with the country beyond the River. Both its rivers are
bridged, and an effort has been made to make both navigable, but the snags in the
Namoi proved too formidable even when covered by the highest flood.
Coonamble, a hundred miles down the Castlereagh, and almost due south ot
Walgett. touches again on the agricultural country. The future of the town depends on
the development of the agricultural resources, which are scarcely inferior to those of
Dubbo. Indeed the soil here, east, west, north and south, is adapted to tillage ; but
the alternating years of terrible floods and disastrous droughts are disheartening to any
but well sustained and strongly supported effort.
A hundred and ten miles of coaching, through as fair a pastoral country as any
squatting prospector could desire, brings the traveller from Coonamble back to Dubbo.
Creeks and rivers are frequent throughout the journey — all that net-work of streams from
the Namoi to the Bogan which water some of the finest stations the colony knows — a
glorious country in a rainy spring, a terrible scene of desolation in a dry summer.
Agriculture attacks its .southern skirts, and supports such little townships as Warren and
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 271
Cannonbar ; but all its northern breadth is given over to sheep, and probably will be
held exclusively for sheep through many future years. But it may be so developed and
improved by water conservation and irrigation, by the reservation and storage of the
extra-growth of good years, as to be habitable and tolerable, and ultimately profitable,
through any succession of seasons or of cycles.
Generally speaking the western and north-western portion of New South Wales
constitutes a district distinctly marked out by Nature as having its own special character.
Hitherto it has been purely pastoral, except so far as it has been interfered with by
mining adventurers. In a state of nature the country is not very occupiable any distance
back from the Darling. When first taken up by speculative pastoralists the land was only
•available for grazing purposes for half the year, and not even that unless there had been
an average rain-fall. But by dint of much labour in increasing the water-supply many
large districts have been made pasturable all the year round. For increasing this water-
supply two methods have been adopted. The first has been to gather the surface-water,
and this has been done by selecting natural hollows, deepening them and running plough-
furrows towards them. In this way the surplus rain-fall is collected into large earthen
tanks. The soil excavated makes a high bank around, and this breaks the play of the
wind over the water and diminishes the evaporation. Many tanks of this kind, however,
have been prepared for over three years before enough rain fell to fill them.
The other method of storing water is by sinking wells. The subterranean supply
has these two advantages : it is cooler, and it is not exposed to evaporation. Generally,
however, it has to be pumped to the surface, and the wells are costly to make and costly
to maintain. Scores have been sunk without tapping water at all, and in. many other
cases the water has been too salt for use. But the enterprise of the squatter is often
rewarded by a well which never fails even in the driest season ; in fact, the well is quite
independent of the local rain-fall, for the water pumped up in the basin of the Darling
has fallen first upon the western plains of Queensland, and having soaked in there is
pursuing its under-ground course to the sea.
The natural fodder of the "Great West" consists of grass and the various salsolaceous
plants. The former, however, exists only a short time after rain, the intense . heat soon
turning the green herbage into something resembling live hay, after which it dries up
into chips and powder and is blown away by the wind, leaving the ground as bare as
a road. Yet with all these drawbacks the country has been not unprofitably occupied,
for it is remarkably healthy for both sheep and cattle ; the squatters, who in the main
have been a highly enterprising class, have already done much to protect themselves
against the irregularities of the climate, and every year they are learning more and more
the art of turning the great western country to account. Forbidding as the land looks
to a stranger in the bad season, this vast district is a very valuable province of New
South Wales, and comprises within its area several of the richest mines and many broad
tracts of the finest pasturage in the country.
For the sake of convenience in dealing with the public lands the colony is divided
into three territorial divisions, and these again into ninety-five land districts, under the
administration of sixteen land boards. The Eastern Division extends from the Dumaresq
to the head-waters of the Murray, and comprises the nine land board areas of Albury,
,-, . AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Cooma. Goulburn. Sydney, Orange, Maitland, portion of Tamworth, Glen Innes and
Grafton ; and the land districts of Eden, Bombala, Bega, Cooma, Moruya, Albury,
Tiimut. Queanbeyan. Braidwood, Milton, Nowra, Goulburn, Yass, Gundagai, Cootamundra,
Young, Boorowa, Gunning, Berrima, Kiama, Wollongong. Campbelltown, Camden, Liver-
pool. Lithgow, Carcoar, Cowra, Molong, Wellington, Orange, Bathurst, Penrith, Parra-
matta, the Metropolitan, Gosford, Windsor, Rylstone, Mudgee, Wollombi, Newcastle,
Raymond Terrace, Maitland, Singleton, Muswellbrook, Cassilis, Scone, Paterson, Dungog,
Stroud, Taree, Port Macquarie, Murrurundi, Tamworth, Walcha, Kempsey, Armidale,
Inverell. Glen Innes, Grafton, Lismore, Murwillumbah, Casino and Tenterfield — in all
sixty-three land districts. The Central Division flanks the Eastern Division on its
western ed^-e. runs parallel to the coast, and bisects the colony in a broad belt and in
a dia«'onal direction. It comprises the five land board areas of Wagga Wagga, Foirbes,
Dubbo. portion of Tamworth, and Moree ; and the twenty-three land districts of Corowa,
Deniliquin. Urana, Wagga Wagga, Narrandera, Hay, Balranald South, Hillston, Grcnfell,
Forbes, Condobolin, Parkes, Dubbo, Cobar East, Brewarrina Elast, Coonamble, Coona-
barabran, Gunnedah, Narrabri, Walgett, Bingera, Warialda and Moree. The Western
Division extends from the River Barwon and the River Lachlan, and a surveyed line
drawn between them, to the one hundred and forty-first meridian of east longitude and
the twenty-ninth degree of south latitude. It occupies the whole of the western corner
of the colony, and comprises the three land board areas of Hay, Bourke and Wilcannia ;
and the nine land districts of Wentworth, Balranald, Hay North, Hillston North, Wil-
cannia, Cobar, Bourke, Brewarrina and Walgett North.
The Southern District.
From Sydney to Parramatta Junction — now called Granville — the railway line is
common to both the West and the South. The junction township is becoming a place of
importance, and already growing dusky with the smoke-stains of brick-kilns and chimney-
stacks, the soil being well suited for the manufacture of drain-pipes and bricks. At this
point the Southern Railway branches off, and roughly following the coast-line, though
gradually diverging from it, traverses broad pasture-paddocks, with here and there a
vineyard and a waving corn-field. For a few miles from Granville huge piles of fire-wood
ready for transport flank the railroad, and indicate the locality whence Sydney receives
a portion of its fuel. This district is not yet suburban, but the subdivisions into building
allotments of estate after estate forecast its future.
Twenty-two miles from Sydney stands the early settlement of Liverpool, so called in
honour of the well-known English statesman of that name, and with an assumption of a
prophetic character touching its future development ; it being a fond illusion of its
founders that the colonial Liverpool would one day stand in the same relation to Sydney
that the English city of the same name stood to the metropolis of Great Britain — like
many other dearly cherished hopes this has long been dead. It is characteristic of
colonial development that the forecasts even of practical men should prove wrong, places
of which great expectations are entertained remaining provokingly unprogressive, while
despised townships shoot ahead with unexpected vigour. Prosperity cannot be grafted
on barren stock ; commerce takes its own path, and declines to be dictated to.
'J'HJi TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
!73
y\rountl this lirst collection of huts a town gradually grew up ; it long resisted
modernizing inlluences, but is now a thriving place, the chief industries being poultry-
rearing, dairy-farming, wool-washing and fellmongering. The Collingwood Paper Mill,
established some years back at a large outlay, and built upon the left bank of the
George's River, is now the best of its kind in Australia, employing a number of hands
;^i«*. -■■'
THE COLLINGWOOD PAPER MILL, LIVERPOOL.
and turning out paper of an excellent quality. The River, whose banks are the site of
most of the industries of the place, is navigable for vessels of moderate draught as far as
the town, where in the early days a dam was constructed to bank back the fresh water.
One of the more famous institutions of Liverpool is Moore College, situated but a
short distance from the town, a seminary endowed by private munificence for the purpose
of teaching youths intended for the ministry of the Anglican Church. It has been
274
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
determined, however, by the Church authorities to remove this college to Sydney so as
to be near the University. The principal public institution of the place is a benevolent
asylum for old men. This charity has its head-quarters in a rambling old building on
the west bank of George's River, with a quadrangle in which sleep, sheltered h)' a
meagre awning of canvas, the tough veterans accustomed to exposure in the bush. The
inmates of the asylum number eight hundred. Many of these, years ago, were strong
and stalwart busl\-men — active on the shearing-floor, intrepid in the stock-yard and the
cattle-camp ; and some have trod the unknown and sterile desert with early exploring
parties. Hut wages went as freely as they came, and age crept on without any provision.
Many of them, though old, are remarkably hale, notwithstanding a rough and hard
experience ; they afford a proof of the healthiness of a country life, passed in the open
air, beneath the blue sky and the fervid sun of Australia. These old fellows no longer
take an interest in the affairs that occup)- the remainder of the world. They are resting
here before passing the final stage. Captious are they on some points. W'hen, a few
years ago, a damp corner of the cemetery was set apart for paupers, the old men arose
and carried their grievance to the Rev. Mr. Walker, at that time incumbent of the
old church of St. Luke's. The reverend gentleman at first argued that it made slight
difference to the immortal soul where the spiritless body might be laid, but being unsuc-
cessful in convincing his hearers, he concluded his remonstrance with a promise that his
body should rest with
their own. The pro-
mise was kept, and the
clergyman's tomb is in
the damp corner.
The Anglican
church of St. Luke's
was erected by convict
labour in the year
i8ig. When, several
years ago, its interior
Sittings were removed,
there was found, under
the ffoor of the gallery
formerly occupied by
the convict portion of
the congregation, a
number of old Spanish
dollars. This discovery
was taken as evidence
that during the services a little gambling was done. Besides St. Luke's, a note-
worthy piece of prisoners' handiwork is the massive stone bridge over Prospect Creek,
consisting of a single arch, the span of which is one hundred and twenty feet. The
design is placed to the credit of David Lennox, and the foundation stone was laid
over fifty years ago. A monument to Captain Cook ornaments the recreation reserve.
Sr. JOHN S CHURCH, CAMPBELLTOWN.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
275
Ilia
Above Liverpool the River becomes shallow, and on the left or eastward side, is a
wide tract of country consisting of poor light soil, though on the right are pleasing
undulating slopes, and some pretty glimpses of agricultural settlement. Less than twelve
miles from Liverpool there is a rise of one hundred and sixty feet to Campbelltown, a
healthy old road-side township, two hundred and ten feet above sea-level. Here, placed
on the highest hill, is the Roman Catholic chapel of
St. John's, consecrated by Arch-priest Therry over half
a century since. In the adjoining grave-yard is a stone
which informs the curious that beneath it lie the
mortal remains of one James Ruse, native of Cornwall,
who came to the colony with the I'irst Meet, and
who sowed the first wheat grown in New South Wales.
Fifty-six years ago Campbelltown was the centre
of a large wheat-growing district, but about the year
i860 the rust made its appearance, and gradually
overcame the farmers. Ploughs were laid by and
flour-mills ceased grinding corn, and the land was
mainly used for growing hay and grazing stock. But
as time passed on the population increased ; many
settlers finding attractions on this part of the Southern
Line, the old farms changed hands, and considerable
sums were spent on improvements. P>om this point
on the railroad branches off a light line to Camden, a
small town about ten miles to the westward, and the
nucleus of early agricultural settlement. It has been
described at length, in connection with the introduction
of wool, in a previous chapter. Here also is agriculture harassed by plant-diseases, and
damages done by vegetable parasites. Many years ago rust attacked the wheat-fields ; there
is now phylloxera in the vineyards. An additional trouble is found in the irregularity of the
climate ; for several seasons the rain-fall has been provokingly scanty. Yet, notwithstanding
these various drawbacks, Camden is a contented little spot, with few wants and fair prospects,
and its annual agricultural exhibitions rank well among the best rural displays of the South.
The old road, which was laid out by Sir Thomas Mitchell, followed the ridge lying
between the Nepean River and the George's River, and then, crossing the spurs running
down inland from the coast range, descended into the deep intervening gullies from
which the water-supply of Sydney is now obtained. A later and easier road took a
course which in the main is followed by the railway line. This route passes through the
town of Menangle, where it crosses the River, six miles from Campbelltown, on a bridge
nearly five hundred feet in length, built on the box-girder principle. In ordinary seasons
its four huge supports tower giant-like over the stream, but instances are not rare when
they have had their solidity well tested by torrents which have risen to within a few
feet of the roadway.
Douglas Park is some miles farther on, and to the eastward appears the massive
stone residence known as the Nepean Towers, a mansion originally erected by Sir
CKpAKIL-Q THIS LIFE 5#^i,.,
*S.EPV i" IWTBETEABfoP™
HOUSE LOHD 1857 i^AI^^F '^
iNTHtS'COLKMYBYTHIi
FoKSTTHET AGED 77
MV MOTHER REREAD HtltoDEMY 1
I -wirB KE SHETQCiMOcH PAINES '
ANBWHENIAltVEIliNTWIiCoELl^Ey .
SiOWD THEEORSX GRAIN ffiTONoW
.uTft s^- lte\feJ}I:^i■ fATHIRlHoPE
l'Ci>^..lcaSlB:JO "REMAIN
RUSES TOMBSTONE.
,76 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Thomas Mitchell, then Surveyor-General. The soil here, although of poor quality.
pastured not long ago a valuable herd of pure-bred short-horns, some of which were
from the best stock of Great Britain. To the left of the line is Mount Gilead, upon
the apex of which stands as a prominent landmark a large and well-preserved building
of a circular form— the remains of an old wind-mill. Winding around the foot of the
Mount is the wide conduit through which slowly flows to the metropolis the pure clear
water of fresh mountain-streams.
Picton. fifty-three miles from Sydney, the next important stopping-place, though lying
in the valley of the River, enjoys an elevation of over five hundred feet, which makes
it a favourite health-resort. Its reputation as a sanatorium is so considerable that it
has been chosen as a favourite locality for a hospital for consumptives, established and
endowed by private benevolence. At Picton the railway begins the ascent to the table-
land, the gradient on leaving the station being one in thirty-three ; within a distance of
si.x miles there is a rise of over five hundred feet, at which point the engines stay
their course to replenish their tanks. This is done from a chain of lagoons known as
the Picton Lakes, lying on the right in the broadened bed of a sandstone gully —
rough and uninviting country, densely timbered and but little used. A few miles to the
east is the darkly-famed Bargo Brush — a primitive forest, through which ran the Southern
Road, and which, in days of old, gave shelter and concealment to man\- bold and
blood-thirsty bushrangers, whose dark and sanguinary deeds have inscribed the name of
Bargo on the crimson calendar of crime, for in outlaw lore it stands even before
Eugowra and Glenrowan.
Fifteen miles of climbing through long, deep, expensive cuttings follows, the engines
labouring upward through the narrow sandstone cleft, and within the distance making an
ascent qf nine hundred feet. On the hill-top begins the southern line of summer retreats,
though the first of importance is Mittagong, w^hich stands at an elevation of over two
thousand feet above sea-level. Here the horse-road and railway routes reunite. Mitta-
gong long remained a terminus, as a tunnel of nearly six hundred yards in length had
to be bored before the railroad could proceed on its journey farther south. Considerable
deposits of very fine hematite iron ore, with promising seams of coal near at hand,
lie close to the town, and large sums have been spent in fruitless endeavours to develope
these treasures. But the lack of technical knowledge, as has been the case in regard to
so many colonial industries, swamped the capital at the outset. The coal was found to
be ill-adapted for smelting, and lime had to be brought from a considerable distance ;
all this militated against the economical treatment of the ores. The minerals, however,
still remain, and may in years to come be profitably worked. Fifteen miles distant, at
Joadja Creek, a seam of kerosene-shale, estimated to contain one million and a half tons,
is being attacked by two companies, both thriving, and employing large nimibers of
workmen. A private narrow-gauge railway has been constructed by one of the companies
from the station down into the deep gorge where the mineral is worked.
Berrima, four miles from the trunk line, and situated on the Main Southern Road,
is the centre of a district rich in minerals. Here, at an elevation of two thousand
three hundred feet above the level of the .sea, stands a gaol, conducted on what is
known as the "silent system"; prisoners who receive long sentences have to serve at
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
277
Berrima one month for every year of their term, and the name has a terrifying effect
on evil-doers. Four miles from the town a seam of coal is being successfully worked.
Just beyond Mittagong the railway passes by a tunnel under the Gibraltar Ridge
and comes out on Howral, which in the hot
weather is a popular resort for the tired and
jaded workers from the city, the plateau on the
Southern Line Ijeing the rival of the Blue Moun-
tains as a summer retreat. The latter have
these advantages
— that a given
elevation is ob-
tainable within a
shorter distance
from the metro-
polis, that the rail-
way ascends a
thousand feet
higher, and that
they are freer
from the salt sea-
breezes ; on the
other hand, the
land traversed by
the southern
route is more
open and fertile,
provisions are ob-
tained with less
difficult}', and
there are greater opportuni-
ties for extended excursions.
Wide tracts of rich volcanic
soil abound, and the
scenery, although neither
grand nor imposing, is
varied and beautiful. The
atmosphere is dry and ex-
hilarating, and the fresh
breeze blows over open ver-
dant leas and undulating
slopes which remind the
traveller of many an En-
glish county. Around Bow-
ral and Moss Vale are a
number of interesting
drives, a journey of about
two hours, proceeding in
an easterly direction, bring-
ing the tourist to the first
cataract of the Fitzroy
Falls. Here, in rainy sea-
sons, a large volume of
water flows over a blufT at
the head of a gorge which is half a mile in width, one thousand feet in depth, and many
miles in length — in general outline somewhat similar to those famed and picturesque chasms
THE FITZKOY FALLS, MOSS VALE.
!78
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
that constitute the characteristic scenerj' of the Blue Mountains. High rocks and preci-
pices, scarred by the rains of ages, line the gorge on either side, while the steep-wooded
slopes descend to the bed of a silver)' stream, which has sprung over a perpendicular
precipice four hundred feet in depth, scattering into the air a mist of golden spray.
There are three principal falls and several minor ones, all. of which are easily accessible.
The locality is a favourite resort, and a shelter-shed is provided for picnic-parties. The
Falls are a public reserve, and under the charge of a care-taker.
Burrawang and Robertson, two picturesque settlements situated on the margin of a
rich flat, formerly the bed of an ancient lake, are also attractive to tourists, being
within easy driving-distance of Moss Vale. Twenty years ago the country around was
known as the Big Scrub. It proved expensive land to clear, but it well repaid the
outlay, being the best dairying country on the Southern Line.
In the spring and summer, when the enervating " north-easters " leave smoke-dried
city-dwellers limp and gasping, all who can afford the luxury fly to the inland heights.
Bowral and Moss \'ale, both highly prosperous towns, share between them the profits
of this great health-dispensing business. A few miles from Moss Vale is Sutton Forest,
also a favourite retreat, once honoured with vice-regal patronage, Lord Carrington's summer
residence being within its boundaries. Apart, however, from these considerations there
remain with this fortunate portion of the South the substantial benefits which good soil
and a favourable climate
afford. It is a suitable
district for dairy-farm-
ing, and contributes
largely to the milk-sup-
ply of the capital.
Every acre of land is
now put to a good use,
and large sums are
being expended in ob-
taining the best breeds
of dairy -stock. There
is an increase in the
work of cultivation, and
the old residents are
being incited to emulate
the activity and zeal of
the new-comers, hence farming has become fashionable, while at the same time it gives
cheering promise of being profitable. At one of the highest points of the Main Southern
Line, about ninety miles from Sydney, 'is kept a herd of Ayrshires, the milk being daily
forwarded to Sydney. It is cooled on the farm by being gradually poured over surfaces
beneath which cold water is kept running. When the weather is very warm ice is used
in the railway-cars in which are placed the cans, and there are stores artificially refrigerated
at the metropolitan end. By this system, originated by the late Mr. Thomas Sutcliffe
Mort, Sydney is now most successfully supplied with pure country milk.
I
THE RESIDE.NCE OF LORD CAKRINGTON AT SUTTON FOREST.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
279
\
II*'
'A
ai
D
O
-J
Hitherto the course of the railway has been roughly parallel with the coast, but
from the ninety-mile post a turn is taken to the westward, a direction which is hence-
forward followed for a distance of nearly two hundred miles. Between Moss Vale and
28o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Goulburn is a stretch of country, nearly fifty miles in extent, suited to a mixed system
of farming. Both climate and soil favour the production of fruit, but there are few
orchards, the settlers, though equally strangers to opulence or to poverty, lacking that
energy necessary to develope the varied resources of so rich a district. At Marulan, a
small town near the railway line, are quarries of marble and lime, large quantities of
which are sent to the metropolis.
.\ glance at the map of New South Wales at once discloses the reason why Goul-
burn became first a favourite camp, next a permanent settlement, and then gradually
put on the garb and aspect of a city. A chain of ponds, known as the Mulwarrec,
joined to the Wollondilly River, afforded an ample water-supply for pastoral purposes, and
the surrounding country being materially aided by Lakes George and Bathurst, many of the
pioneer squatters secured large freehold estates in the neighbourhood. Even in the early
days of its existence, Goulburn was remarkable for the variety and extent of its industries.
It was admirably laid out in wide streets, the blocks for occupation being in every case
rectangular ; large stores were erected, flour-mills were set to work, and tradesmen began
small businesses which have since developed into large and important local manufactories.
The settlers on the soil zealously supported the efforts of the townsmen; large
areas were placed under crop ; orchards were formed, and tanneries, fellmongering works
and boot factories were started. About a quarter of a century ago the town became a
city. Episcopalians and Roman Catholics having chosen it as a favourite centre for their
dioceses. The Church of England Cathedral is a beautiful building of a chaste Gothic
design, and the interior fittings are in thorough keeping with the sacred character of
the edifice. The Roman Catholic Cathedral is a commodious, handsome structure, while
Presbyterians, Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have also liberally contributed to the
architectural treasures of the city. Hut the principal buildings in Goulburn are the Post
and Telegraph Offices, which are surmounted by a high tower ; a model gaol, not long-
since completed ; the railway buildings ; and the well-built and only recently finished Court
House and other public offices. The local Agricultural -Society, a vigorous institution, has
a show-ground which is considered a model for enclosures of the kind. The city is
surrounded by valuable estates, upon which stock-breeding is conducted on scientific prin-
ciples, and horses and cattle bred in the district have established an enviable reputa-
tion ; but it is with merino sheep that its greatest triumphs have been achieved. At the
annual intercolonial stud-sheep fairs held in the metropolis, the sheep from the
southern city frequently top the market. A branch line of railway, which passes through
some excellent agricultural country, has been constructed from Goulburn to Cooma, the
central town of the great pastoral plains of Monaro.
Lake George, situated twenty-five miles south-west of Goulburn, and guarded by
spurs of the Great Dividing Range, is the largest lake in the colony, being twenty-five
miles in length and eight miles in breadth. The evaporation from this vast sheet of water
is very great, and thirty-five years ago its bed was perfectly dry. It is now, however, well
filled, and although the water is slightly saline, it is a great boon to the occupiers of
the land in its neighbourhood.
Before proceeding farther inland along the line of the Great Southern Railway it
will be convenient to take a glance at the South Coast District — the harbours and bays of
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
281
which were described in a former chapter — and to return to Goulburn by the coach-route.
Illawarra, the rugged strip of coast-land through which the cedar-cutters of half a
century back had to cleave their way — then a dense jungle, but now known as the
" Garden of New South Wales " — extends from Coalcliff on the north to Broughton
Creek on the south.
Its principal town is
Wollongong, and
there are besides the
smaller centres, Bulli,
Clifton, Woonoona,
Figtree and Dapto.
The last - mentioned
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL AT UOULBURN.
village is close to the Illawarra Lake, on the shores of which is the home of William
Beach, one of Australia's ablest oarsmen and for long the champion sculler of the world.
There is no southern road from Sydney which keeps close to the sea, because the
great estuaries of Botany Bay and Port Hacking prevent it. But a road was laid out
in early days which crossed the George's River by a punt, about five miles from its
moutli, and followed the ridge of the Bottle Forest that lies between the valley of
Hacking Creek and the Woronora. This route fell into disuse, but it is now opened up
again by the railway, which for a considerable distance follows the old track. The more
usual journey by road has been from Campbelltown up to Appin, on the ridge that lies
to the east of the Nepean, and along it till the descent to the coast is made by the
Bulli Pass. The point at which the road emerges from the bush, and where the ocean
bursts first upon the view, is one of the most magnificent sights near Sydney. Webber's
Look-out —a platform fixed on the edge of the Bulli Mountain, fully a thousand feet
above the waves which lash the rugged rocks beneath — is a spot which tourists who
survey the scene beneath for the first time are loath to quit ; for after an eight-mile
drive through stunted and gnarled box-forest and bittern-haunted morass, the road comes
out suddenly, close to the crest of the coastal range, and the traveller finds himself near
!82
^ USTRALAS/A ILL USTRA TED.
the gate of the BiiUi Pass. From the platform, which is on the outermost edge of a
tall precipice, a varied and extended view is obtained of many miles of southern coast-
line, and of rich and fertile farms as far south as Kiama. The white sand> bays
guarded by bold headlands appear as a fringe to emerald-clad ridges and ricli grassy
flats adown which silver-glistening streams glide onward to the sea. The jetties, run out
for shipping coal, look like slender frame-works stretching into the ocean, and dwarfed
by distance along them move what seem to be toy freight-trains bearing miniature loads
to model vessels. This magnificent distant view is made more impressit^e by the sudden
change in the forest-foliage. From a dreary Australian waste, the traveller passes almost
with a stride into the dense and varied verdure of
a semi-tropical jungle. Great white-trunked figs bear
aloft their broad-leaved lustrous crowns above the
myrtles, pittosporums and lillipillies which overhang
the ferns and mosses of every little ravine. The
cabbage-tree palms shoot up straight from matted
vines and blossoming creepers, their heads waving
plume-like against the sky. All is rich, tropical,
odorous — a growth proper for a region nearer to the
equator. The reason for this luxuriance, however,
is not hard to discover. In olden days the molten
trap-rock was forced up from below in long walls
or dykes, and its de-
composition spreading
over the surface has
furnished a rich deep
soil. The sloping
coastal range, too, is
sheltered from the cut-
ting westerly gales and
open to the warm moist
breezes of the sea, thus
a climate is secured in
which all plants of tem-
perate and semi - tro-
pical zones grow to
perfection.
Close to the BuUi
Pass is the Bulli Coal-
mine, where from a
tunnel four hundred feet above sea-level is drawn an annual output of two hundred
thousand tons of valuable coal, and north and south similar mines are at work. F"ar along
the shore extends a range of habitations, and seven miles southward and sixty-four miles
from Sydney lies Wollongong, with a trade, mainly seaward, equal to sixty thousand tons
yearly. The town is built upon a gently-sloping ridge, the point of which forms the
THE ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL AT GOULBURN.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
283
southern side of a small harbour. Near the sea, by the side of a large lagoon, the
Agricultural Society's Ground and the Race-course are situated, and at the back on the
mountain ridges are hundreds of small dairy-farms. A line of railway connects Illawarra
with the metropolis, and Wollongong now takes an active share in Sydney's milk-trade.
Its yearly export of butter
is about seven hundred 1^^^^^^
tons, though the generally T
fortunate farmers are not
wholly exempt from the
droughts which afflict
other parts of the colon\-.
Seven miles distant, at
the head of Lake Illawarra,
is Dapto, with its old flour-
mill and its handsome
church ; and a few miles
farther south where the
mountains recede, thus
leaving a greater breadth
LAKE GEOKGli.
of rich pasture-land, lies
the little centre of Albion
Park, which has its own
small port. At this point
the lower carboniferous
and subcarboniferous stra-
ta upon which Wollon-
gong rests is overlaid by
basalt. The peaceful vil-
lage known as Jamberoo
rests snugly in a valley on
the right, and in front,
about four-score miles from Sydney, is the coast's famed
gem, Kiama, noted for its beauty, its butter, its blue-
stone, and its Blow-hole. This choice spot has been
likened to a precious emerald placed in a very rough setting, being most unlike all other
parts of the coast, its basaltic bluffs which overhang the ocean bearing rich herbage to
their extreme edges. The soil is wonderfully rich, and liberally supports its tillers, who for
the greater part are independent freeholders. A block of forty acres here is worth to the
farmer more than a square mile of ordinary country, and a railway runs almost on its
boundary. The trade in its bluestone, immense quantities of which are required for Sydney's
streets, has been to it a great support. Its dairy cattle are the best on the coast,
supplying two butter factories ; indeed, it was Kiama that started the first. Coal is
found in the district, but the seams, which crop out of the hills some miles inland, are
at present unworked. The harbour is very small, and when easterly gales set in
284
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
dangerous. An excellent coach-road leads from Kiama up the mountain to Moss Vale,
passing through the village of Robertson, and skirting the Wingecarribee Swamp. This
is a favourite drive, and picturesque from start to finish.
The drive from Kiama southward to Broughton Creek, a hundred and nine miles
distant from the metropolis, is one of the greatest treats the hospitable residents of the
coast can place on a traveller's programme. Several small bays, each worthy of a
sketching party's efforts, are passed, and every mile of the way is pleasantly diversified
until the pretty village of Geringong is reached. Here, too, there is dairy-farming, and
a small port from which in fair weather produce can be sent. At this point ends for
a time the freehold system of farming, for here is the boundary of the great estate of
the Berry family. Broughton Creek is a village surrounded by fertile soil, which yields
large crops of maize and considerable quantities of dairy produce. A steamer, put on
specially by the late Mr. Berry for the use of his tenants, plies regularly between the
metropolis and the Creek, which is entered from the Crookhaven and Shoalhaven Rivers.
Ten miles southward, the wide low-lying alluvial flats of the Shoalhaven River contain
no fewer than twenty-one towns or villages, of which, including the farms of Broughton
Creek, there are about fifty thousand acres under crop, the Berry Estate comprising
nearly one hundred thousand acres in this locality. The principal product is maize, of
which in good seasons very large yields are obtained. The Shoalhaven River is crossed
by a bridge e.xtending over one thousand lineal feet of water. Nowra, a thriving
business place, is the principal town and has the chief public offices of the district. A
good road runs from Nowra up to Moss Vale on the table-land, the coach covering
the distance in about six hours. This road is not a uniform ascent to the plateau, for
after rising some distance it descends into the lovely Kangaroo Valley, evidently once
the bed of a lake, and now a singularly rich flat, sheltered on all sides, except where
the Creek winds its rugged way down to the Shoalhaven River. An admirable road has
been cut up the mountain, and not far from the summit are the Fitzroy Falls. The
view ascending or descending is quite equal to any on the coast ; indeed, the journey
down the Bulli Pass along the coast to Shoalhaven, and up the seaward slope of the
mountain to Moss Vale, is one which all travellers in search of fresh natural beauties should
not fail to make, as it includes some of the most charming coast views of the colony.
South of the Shoalhaven River there are forty miles of sandstone country to cross,
the soil of which is not inviting to the agriculturist. The road passes through dense
forests utilized to some extent by shipments made at Jervis Bay, near which there are
some good coal-lands as jet unworked, for. the simple reason that other parts of the
coast meet the present demand. After a dreary drive or ride the traveller reaches a
prosperous dairy-farming district, of which the chief centres of settlement are Milton and
Ulladulla. The latter is on the shores of the harbour, which is sufficiently commodious
for the requirements of the district. In this locality there are beds of clay well suited
for the manufacture of the best kinds of pottery, and, although not now utilized, it is
thought, and with good reason, that the time is not far distant when Ulladulla may
become an Australian Staffordshire. .
The next settlement worthy of note is Moruya, about two hundred miles south of
the metropolis. Slate and granite quarries have been opened in the neighbourhood, and
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
285
there is a silver-mine, the ores of which, although somewhat refractory, are likely at some
future time to be made to yield their treasures at a cost which will leave a profit to
the workers. There is an extensive business done by the proprietors of saw-mills, and
the farmers around raise crops which well repay them for their toil and enterprise.
WOLLONGONG FROM THE LIGHT-HOUSE.
About a quarter of a century ago an enterprising mercnant, the late Mr. Thomas
Sutcliffe Mort, became possessed of thirty thousand acres of pasture-land at Bodalla,
sixteen miles south of Moruya, and manfully set to work with the object of teaching his
fellow-colonists how dairy-farming should be conducted. Capital 'was not spared. Before
the first cheese was fit for the table forty thousand pounds had been expended. The
output now is three hundred tons of cheese annually, and every winter twelve hundred
p^s are slaughtered and sent to Sydney as bacon and hams. The system of farming
pursued is the best known, and the venture, as its founder anticipated, has been
productive of much national good. On an eminence overlooking the village stands the
Mort Memorial Church, a model of choice ecclesiastical architecture. The geology of
Bodalla is quartzite and clay-slate, with rich alluvial flats through which the Tuross winds,
and this formation continues almost to Bega, when basalt again occurs, overlying granite
and old rocks of probably Devonian origin.
Beyond Bodalla is the pretty little village of Cobargo. Ten miles off is its sea-port,
Bermagui, near which, not many years ago, rich deposits of gold were found beneath
the sands of the sea-shore. There was a great "rush" of diggers, but the field was soon
proved to be but small — not, however, before Mr. Lamont Young, a clever geologist of
the Mines Department, and a small party, sent to make a special survey, disappeared in
:86
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
a most mysterious manner. Their boat was found, but no trace of their bodies. The
occurrence is known to this day as "The Bermagui Mystery."
Bega, one of the most prosperous districts of the coast, next claims attention. The
town is placed on a well-chosen site, and being the mart of the district, is a thriving
centre. The sea-port, Tathra, is ten miles off, but farther south is a more reliable outlet
at Eden. The principal industries of the district are maize-growing, cheese-making and
pig-slaughtering; Bega bacon commanding the highest price in the metropolitan markets.
On the road inland stands Candelo, a town romantically situated, and the centre of one
of the best areas of the many good portions of the district. Twofold Bay, however, is
not so much used as the founders of the town expected, steamers of small draught
being able to make Tathra and Merimbula, which are nearer by road to the chief town.
Shipments of cattle, however, are frequently made to Tasmania, and vessels bound for
Victoria occasionally make it a port of call.
From the coast to the cooler regions of the table-land two roads are open for
choice. l*"or a journey in the saddle the rugged picturesque track, known by the team-
sters as •' The Big Jack," may be taken ; but if coaching or buggy-driving is preferred
Tantawanglo Road is the easier. A day's ride from Bega can be made to cover the
intervening space, but it is pleasanter to travel slowly and tarry for a day at Candelo,
distant fourteen miles. Prior to 1885, the last year of what may be, without exaggeration,
ternied the " Great Drought," Candelo was justly considered one of the most prosperous
farming centres of the colony. Luxuriant pastures and never-failing creeks, aided by a
climate with which no fault could be found, furnished advantages which industrious
farmers were not slow in appreciating. But when, after years of prosperity, drought
came, its results were disastrous in the extreme. There were no stores of fodder to meet
the emergency, and immense sums were spent in purchasing hay and corn to save the
valuable dairy-herds. In too many cases the drought outlasted the bank accounts, and
many of the farmers had to face what they had never even dreamt of — ruin. The frowns of
adverse fortune have now disappeared ; prosperity again crowns the efforts of the farmer, and
Candelo, with its many picturesque homesteads and cheerful gardens, is once more gay.
It is necessary to rise about two thousand feet before the edge of the great
pastoral country, Monaro, is reached. To the west, not many miles off, are the Gipps-
land Ranges, and closer still the boundary line which divides the mother-colony from
Victoria. In front is the cozy town of Bombala, surrounded by grazing estates and farms,
the soil of which is as good as any in the colony. .Such country as this is admirably
suited for farmers in all but one particular — its distance from profitable markets. Hops,
equal to the best Kentish, and fruits of almost all kinds may here be grown. In years
to come, and as population increases, the land may be put to its most profitable uses
and large quantities of produce shipped from Eden. There are, too, lodes of valuable
ore — gold, silver and lead- — which may materially assist the district's exports. The late
Rev. W. B. Clarke, an eminent geologist, who carefully examined this part of the
country, used to say that some day Bombala would be a place of big chimneys. But
though promising indications abound, no profitable mine has as yet established the
popular belief in the treasures under-ground. The geological formation of the locality is
Silurian, and some of the organic remains found embedded in the slate are believed to
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
287
be the oldest in New South Wales, and in the same district are some of the most
recent. Wood found embedded in the ground when first exhumed can be worked with
carpenters' tools, but after being exposed for some time to a dry atmosphere assumes
the characteristics of bituminous lignite.
Turning northwards from Bombala over basaltic country, a long day's journey brings
the traveller to the important town of Cooma, towards which a railway from Goulburn
has been recently extended. This is the
great pastoral centre of the south-east
corner of the colon)'. Thirteen years ago
a prison was erected here which has filled
successively the purposes of a temporary lunatic asylum and a lands office, although it is
intended ultimately for a penal establishment. But more harmonious with the surroundings,
which are grand in point of scenic attraction, is the distant Hospital, a well-conducted and
very useful institution. A few miles off, the River Murrumbidgee, a shallow stream, flows
sluggishly through rich tracts of deep black soil. The country around for the greater
part is bare of timber, but on the ridge-tops are fringes of stunted trees. Each hill has
its spring, each gull)- its stream, no part of the colony being better watered or less
subject to drought. Its grazing capabilities have long stood severe tests, and it still
ranks high for stock-breeding purposes. Like Bombala, the localit)- is also well adapted
for the plough. Better wheat-soil could not be desired. In a geological sense this
southern district closely resembles the northern table-lands, the formation being precisely
similar; on the coast, silurian rocks; on the mountain-tops, basalt and large areas of
granite. Cooma is about two thousand seven hundred feet above sea-level ; and, being
much exposed to the chilling blasts which come from the Snowy Range, its winters are
extraordinarily severe. Colder still is Kiandra, which is north-west from Cooma a long
day's ride. Here, in the heart of the Australian Alps, although only three hundred and
twenty miles from the metropolis, the seeker after adventures may indulge in Arctic
.sea.sons and experience the sensation of being " snowed up " for months at a stretch.
>88
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
the elevation being nearly five thousand feet ; but during the spring and summer months
Kiandra enjoys an enviable climate. Its establishment is due, like that of many other
Australian towns, to the energy of the adventurous digger. Nearly thirty years ago,
when the country traversed by the Snowy River was occasionally used by a few squatters
as a free summer pasture for their herds, a stock-man accidentally discovered gold in one
of the water-courses. The news soon spread, and there was a " rush " of gold-seekers
from all parts of Australia. The field, however, proved to be small, and gradually the
population dwindled away, but there are still many promising mines on the Ranges, and
Kiandra maintains its character as a prosperous, although quiet little settlement. A little
to the north of Kiandra are the celebrated caves of Yarrangobilly, only second in size,
wonder and beauty to those of Jenolan.
On the western slopes of the Snowy Range there are the fertile Tumut Valley and
the mining regions known as Tumberumba and Adelong, the last-mentioned being the
oldest and most permanent reefing-district of the colony. It has payable gold to a depth
of below a thousand feet, and is surrounded by several patches of alluvial country,
from which large quantities have been obtained. Tumberumba is a thriving, salubrious
little town, with gold in its creek-beds and on its hill-sides. Tumut, placed iii the
centre of a rich valley, from which large crops of wheat, maize and tobacco are
obtained, is one of the most substantial towns of the South.
By recrossing the Snowy Ranges to the east, the main road from Cooma to
Queanbeyan, Bungendore and Goulburn is struck. Along this route a railway has recently
been laid down and is now open for traffic. The most important centre on the way is
Queanbeyan, a favourite district with agriculturists, about ten thousand acres being under
CARLOTTA ARCH, JENOLAN CAVES.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 289
cultivation, and although the soil has been worked for many years its yield of cereals
is still heavy. Pastoral occupation also holds its place in the district, nearly five hundred
thousand sheep and over twenty thousand head of cattle finding pasturage in the fertile
lands surrounding the town. Braidwood, another good farming centre, is a few miles
to the eastward. It for many years received substantial aid from the gold-fields, of
which Arahien was the principal, but it is now, like many other places, suffering through
the decreased yields of the precious metal. Araluen is fifteen miles distant, and although
now partially deserted, recent discoveries of rich reefs furnish some hope that this
portion of the colony will again become prosperous.
At Goulburn the branch railway comes into the Main Southern Line, which
proceeds westward from this point. A little to the north of it lies Crookwell, one of
the numerous prolific agricultural districts of the South, but like many other fertile locali-
ties, needing a railway to encourage its occupiers, who are now to a great extent
hampered by high rates for carriage. F"ifteen miles westward from Goulburn is Breadal-
bane, nearly two thousand three hundred feet above sea-level, the highest point of the
Main Southern Line. The characteristic of the country here is the broad level plain,
excellent as pasture-land, but exposed to very keen winds in winter. From this there is
a steep decline of over two hundred feet in twelve miles to the Fish River. The soil
is poor, and the distance dividing the cultivated patches becomes greater. It is not
until the Yass River is in sight, one hundred and eighty-seven miles from the metro-
polis, that substantial settlement is apparent. Yass, with a climate more than ordinarily
favourable to the grazier, affords pasturage to many horses, cattle and sheep.
The wide-spread impression that New South Wales is a colony in which the
agriculturist of small means cannot proceed far on the high-road to fortune, is to a
very great extent dispelled by a journey from Yass to the Murray River. It is perfectly
true that the plough has been but slightly used — that not one acre of land per head
of the population is cultivated ; but it is also plain that there are millions of acres the
soil of which would amply repay tillage. Fashion is potent even in the commonplace
matter of land-utilization. In the early days of settlement it was the fashion to keep
sheep. Shepherds tended small flocks and stock-riders kept watch over herds of cattle.
When these men and their relatives became land-owners the work still' moved in the
old groove. There was no thought of sending wheat, oats or barley to the coast ;
roads were bad ; and farming was much heavier labour than grazing and clipping sheep.
But enough was done to prove the great fertility of the soil ; and the alluvial gold-
fields, by creating a local market, greatly stimulated the formation of small farms.
Thus around Yass many farming-centres were established — Burrowa, Binalong, Galong,
Rocky Ponds and Murrumburrah are all localities where the plough has done no little
service, and the southern half of the main railway line and its branches run through
first-class agricultural land.
Burrowa, north of the main line, thirty-eight miles from Yass, is a town situated in
a broad area of cultivated land, while Murrumburrah, a railway township two hundred
and thirty miles from Sydney, is also favoured with good soil. It is the point from
which a branch line runs northward to join the main western route, which, after passing
through Young and Cowra, it strikes at Blayney. Young, a prosperous grazing and
390
A US TRALASIA ILL US TRA TED.
farming centre,
and one of the
most important
settlements of the
South, was named
after Sir John
Young, one of the
colony's former
Governors. In
i860 the spot
Ifev
h
OHi-C«t KOO
whereon it stands was a
sheep-walk, but gold was
discovered, and attracted
thousands of diggers. It
proved a very rich field,
and when the escort re-
turns commenced to
dwindle, attention was
paid to the soil. The
pick and shovel were dropped and the
plough and harrow used. About thirty
thousand acres were cultivated ; and
the yearly crops of cereals now make
a total of nearly three hundred and
fifty thousand bushels,- while the vine-
yards yield close on ten thousand
gallons of wine. About fifty miles
farther to the north is Cowra, with
gold and copper mines, and soil which
regularly produces large crops. Both
of these centres have only recently obtained railway communication • a loop-line now
opens to them the principal markets of the West and the South.
Returning to Murrumburrah, and travelling twenty-three miles west along the Main
Southern Line, Cootamundra, another important town, is reached. During the past five
years what was a mere road-side village has grown to a town with large and expensive
buildings, while the country around is well farmed, and produces wheat of admirable
mort's cheese-farm at hodalla.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
291
(luality. Thirty miles to the north-west is Temora, which a few years ago was a large
gold-field with ;i population of several thousands. Its mineral returns are now small,
hut being in the heart of a good agricultural district it will soon regain vigour. From
Cootamundra a branch railway line runs to Gundagai, a thriving town situated thirty-four
miles distant,
at a [joint
which is the
head of navi-
gation of the
Murrumbid-
gee River.
The bridge
which spans
it, together
with its via-
TlIE WHARF AT TATHRA.
duct, is nearly three-quarters of a mile in
length, the low lands around the town
being subject to floods. The original
township, which was unfortunately built
on the river-flat, was almost washed away
by a freshet which occurred in 1852,
nearly four-score dwellings being wrecked
and many of their occupants drowned. But Gundagai is again a flourishing place with
excellent prospects ; its soil is rich, and there are gold-reefs, slate-quarries, and rich
seams of asbestos to be developed. Adelong and Tumut are on the southern side of
Gundagai, and materially assist its trade.
From Cootamunda the main line turns to the south • to Junee, a point from which
the south-western branch to Hay extends, and the first halting-place on any of the
colony's lines at which refreshments could be obtained. On the strength of its railway
importance Junee has become a sturdy place ; but the town can make little progress
without a good system of water-supply.
At this point, half-way from Sydney to Melbourne, the country begins to fall.
Junee is nine hundred and eighty-five feet above sea-level ; Albur)', one hundred miles
farther south, is lower by four hundred and fifty feet. Looking to the west, the station
at Hay, nearly one hundred and seventy miles off, has an elevation of only three hundred
and \ivft feet. These facts indicate the existence of a large water-shed, which the map
shews to be drained by the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers. As explained in a
former part, these water-arteries materially assisted the arduous labour of the pioneer
292
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
squatters who were the first to put the great western and south-western plains to a
profitable use. The Murrumbidgee, which was a shallow stream near Cooma, becomes a
large body of water at Gundagai. In all it runs a course of thirteen hundred and fifty
miles, and along nearly one half of this distance it is navigable. Near Balranald it falls
into the Murray, which flows along the southern boundar)' of the colony, being navigable
nearly all the distance When it was ascertained that two great rivers joined the
Murray, and that it was possible to sail from the interior of this colony to the sea or
to points close to sea-ports, two very important conditions of settlement were satisfactorily
met. It was plain that supplies could be obtained, and in return produce sent away.
It is necessary to mention these particulars at this point, as nearly all the towns about
to be visited are the outcome of the system of settlement which the rivers encouraged.
Many years ago, when all the traffic of the great south-western pastoral country was
performed by steam-boats and river-barges, the wool, hides and tallow were all shipped
for England from the sea-ports of South Australia and Victoria. The occupiers of the
country had faint hazy notions that at some time in the far-off future the centre of
Government, to which they grudgingly contributed, might send them railways. There was
on the rivers great discontent, which gradually gained force until it took the form of
GUiNDAGAl.
an appeal for separation. It was urged that the river-country should have the control
of its affairs, and should be named Riverina. This proposal met with powerful opposition,
and was ineffective. The Riverine towns were much agitated, and vows of vengeance
agamst Sydney and all her friends were made and duly registered. Victoria was
perfectly willing to include the dissatisfied territory within her boundaries, but the
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
293
ini
interesting little fable concerning the fish, the frying-pan and the fire being still remem-
bered, the annexation did not take place. After a long period of unfriendliness the
rly navvy made peace between this outlying district and the metropolis. Having
conquered the stubborn
mountains, he came
speedily across the plains
and laid the iron rails
down on -the river-banks,
crossing the Murrumbid-
gee at Wagga Wagga,
three hundred and nine
miles from Sydney, and
then rushing off to the
Murray, which he reached
at Albury. Not satisfied,
he came back to Junee,
and ran his lines along the
north bank of the Mur-
rumbidgee, all the way to
Hay, and made a branch'
from a point on the Mur-
rumbidgee known as Nar-
randera, seventy miles
south-west, to the pastoral
settlement of Jerilderie.
Then arose a struggle
between the rival ports of
Sydney and Melbourne for this southern country's
trade. The river-trafific was soon overcome, but it
took some years to bring even a part of Riverina's
custom to Sydney, and it was done only by an
artificial arrangement of the railway rates, by which
the cost of carriage for long distances was reduced.
An area, comprising nearly three-fourths of the
country through which the lines to Ha)- and Jerilderie pass, has been alienated from
the Crown, through being either selected or purchased under the Land Act of 1861 ;
the estates are large, some comprising a quarter of a million acres each. The
river-frontages are very valuable ; they are nearly all now used for grazing sheep, but
by-and-b)'e there . will be powerful irrigating plants and broad cultivation paddocks.
Give this river-country moisture, and the soil is so rich that it will produce immense
crops ; even now there is no better land for wool-raising in Australia, a sheep to each
acre being about its actual sustaining power.
As the engine speeds along from Junee some small estates are crossed where
hundreds of acres are under cereal crops, mainly grown for hay. Then appear on the-
COOTAMUNDRA.
294
A US TRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
right of the line tracts covered by dense growths of pine-trees. Farther north pine-
scrubs have covered miUions of acres of land and ruined many pastoralists, the young
pines growing very quickly and very densely, and completely beating the grazier back.
On a short lease it does not pay to clear the ground, and in order to recover it for
grass it is proposed to grant a longer tenure. On the left, close to the River, there
are wool-sheds and buildings such as are useful to the sheep-farmer. Each farm or
scjuattage has its garden, where beautiful flowers and choice fruits are plentiful. Sixty
miles from Junee is Narrandera, where a substantial lattice-girder bridge crosses the River.
The population of the place is supported by various industries, timber-cutting being the
principal, the red-gum and pine, which grow on the river-flats, being of excellent
quality. There are good farms, too, in the neighbourhood, and excellent shows of agri-
cultural produce and pure-bred stock are held annually. The sheep of the district, bred
from the best strains that can be secured from Victoria and Tasmania, are of a superior
class, an average "clip" of seven pounds per sheep being frequently obtained.
One hundred miles west from Narrandera is the very important pastoral township of
Hay. It is the point on the Murrumbidgee where the overland traffic from the Darling
crosses the River to make straight for Deniliquin across the Old Man Plains, and it is
the natural business-centre for a large area of pastoral country, as well as the cathedral
city of the new Riverina episcopal diocese endowed by the late Hon, John Campbell.
The streets are wide and shaded by trees, and some of the buildings are more than
ordinarily large. Besides two local newspapers and an adequate system of water-supply.
Hay boasts a masonic hall, three theatres, two breweries, a hospital, an athena;um and
a free library. Of course an agricultural society and a jockey club are among the
institutions of the place ; likewise a
customs house, for it is a port of
entry. Hay is over four hundred
and fifty miles from the metropolis,
and at present the western terminus
of the sj'stem of railways constructed
to catch the Riverina trade, but it
is expected that the line will be
extended before long to the Darling.
The south-western route secures
much of the wool grown in the
Lachlan River country, and takes an
active share in the trade of the
pastoral area between the Lachlan
and the Bogan Rivers. The district
of Hay alone pastures a million
sheep and six thousand head of larger stock, and the traffic to Booligal, Hillston,
Wilcannia and Deniliquin is extensive. The shipping business is now at a very low ebb,
but the railway is a beneficial substitute, it being much better to have a certainty in
the matter of time of journey than the tantalizing chances connected with water-carriage.
.Yet there are residents of Hay who lament the departure of the "good old times"
THE PUBLIC GARDENS AT DENILIQUIN.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
295
when wool and supplies were often delayed for months on flats or snags, and when
heavily-laden barges used occasionally to " turn turtle " and seek repose on the river-bed.
Jerilderie, a pastoral town surrounded by immense freehold estates and a few selec-
tions, is situated on the Billabong Creek, sixty-five miles distant by rail from Narran-
dera. Sheep-farming on a scientific plan is being con-
ducted here, the cultivation paddocks playing an im-
portant part. The green crops, some of which are
conserved in silos, are produced by pumping water from
-: thp: town hall, dkmi.iquin.
-. - the beds of the creeks, where it is upheld
•-_ by dams, and allowing it to flow over the
planted ground.
There is a break in the railway com-
munication between Jerilderie and Denili-
quin, and travellers who are bound south have to undergo a night's journey of about
eighty miles by coach, which crosses the River by a bridge four hundred yards in length.
Broad plains are traversed — the world-famed salt-bush country, once remarkably rich in
herbage, but now suffering from the evil effects of over-stocking. No pastures could
successfully withstand the heavy strain which constant feeding off imposed, and the saline
herbage and tlie best of the natural grasses have almost completely disappeared. Long
seasons of drought, too, have injured this ordinarily rich pastoral tract. During the last
drought there were immense losses of valuable stock, but late rains have done excellent
.service, and Riverina is again in full bloom.
The coach journey is drearily monotonous, but as the sun rises the landscape
becomes more varied, glimpses are had of the timber-belts and numerous cultivated
patches near the banks of the Edward River, upon which is situated the thriving town
of Deniliquin. Mere spreads a vineyard, there a corn-field ; grapes abound — large, luscious,
good as any produced in Australia; for Nature has been bounteous in this locality;
though hard and protracted have been the struggles to obtain land. Pastoral lessee has
fought selector, and many a fat lawsuit has been the result. Fortunately for all parties
296 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
concerned, the warfare is now almost concluded ; and. save that an occasional squabble
occurs over some reserve, there is peace.
If Hay is massive and rectangular, Deniliquin is charmingly irregular. At every
turn there is something to admire. Its public garden and lake, with shady trees and
bowers, are bewitchingly attractive. It is a busy place, too, with a fine town hall, which
is the neater building, though its court house is the larger ; the latter is also superior
to any justice hall in the metropolis. The local Pastoral Society is noted for the e.\cel-
lence of its shows of sheep, while there is a race-course as good as any in the colony.
The railway from Deniliquin runs forty-five miles to meet the Victorian line at Echuca
on the River Murray, the complete distance to Melbourne being only about two hundred
miles. Ten years have passed since a private company obtained the right to construct
the link which binds Deniliquin to the Victorian capital, the object being to secure the
western trade to Melbourne. The concession was a great boon to Riverina ; and, despite
the subsequent extension of the New South Wales railway to Ha)', the private line
still does a good business. Jerilderie is not more than fifty miles from Deniliquin, so
it will be seen that this portion of the colony is well supplied with means of speedy
transit. The Deniliquin State School is one of the best in the colony ; indeed, taken as
a whole, the town has received a fair share of the public funds. The district pastures
more than a million sheep and ten thousand horses and cattle ; the pure-bred herds and
flocks, of which there are several, attract many customers ; agriculture is increasing every
year, and already some of the large freehold estates are being divi'ded so that they may
be leased or sold for farming purposes.
The border town on the Murray nearest to Deniliquin is Moama, formerly known
as Maiden's Punt. A railway bridge now spans the river to Echuca, a town on the
Victorian side, which has wholly outstripped its northern rival. Moama has a large dock,
and takes an active part in the shipping trade, and being on the border has its customs
house. But it is on the wrong side of the river for trade, and the country behind it
is more used for pasture than for tillage. There is some cultivation done, and it has a
store of wealth in its- large forests of red-gum trees, which, however, are now strictl)'
conserved for future use.
Down the Murray from this point there are several pastoral centres. Euston, six
hundred and fifty miles south-west of .Sydney, is a crossing-place, and has a customs
station, but Wentworth is the principal town of this far-distant quarter of the colony.
Here on the banks of the Darling, near its confluence with the Murray, and over seven
hundred miles from the metropolis, is a flourishing settlement. Being close to the borders of
South Australia there is regular communication with Adelaide, and it is expected that both
Victoria and South Australia will stretch their railways as iar as Wentworth. It is probable
that some time in the future the South-Western Line of this colon)- may be extended
so far, but in the absence of railway lines Wentworth has an extensive steam-boat trade.
Up the Murray from Moama is the delightful little centre, Corowa, which is four
hundred miles from the metropolis and forty miles west of Albury. This is one of the
most fertile parts of the valley of the Murray — a perfect paradise for agriculturists ; a
place with a great future, pasturing at present about a million head of stock, much of
its progress being due to the efforts of the local Agricultural Society. Over the
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
297
Murray, and only half a mile off, there is a railway station affording cheap communica-
tion with Melbourne, which thus obtains a considerable portion of the trade of this district.
From this point a northerly course to the Murrumbidgee leads over a pastoral
country of first-class quality. En rotUe is Urana, distant seventy-six miles from the main
^ ''~^HP,
s?-^"'
^^y tllflj;.'':'
THE MURRUMBIDGEE AT WAGGA WAGGA.
railway line at Wagga Wagga, and only seventeen miles from the Jerilderie branch line.
Around the small lake from which the town takes its name about one million sheep
are pastured. The farmers are increasing in this locality, the soil being as good as any
in Riverina, though, as in the case of many other districts, it is a difficult matter to
obtain land. It is now seen that it would have been more conducive to the prosperity
of New South Wales if the public lands had not been so freely parted with by the
298 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRAl^ED.
State at a time when there was only a pastoral demand for it. The opportunities
afforded to acquire large holdings tempted many capitalists to invest to an extent which
made borrowing a necessity. Bad seasons and high rates of interest have placed a heavy
handicap on the big freeholds. Hence springs the hope that the time is not far
distant when Riverina will have jpore farms than sheep-walks, and export as many hogs-
heads of wine as bales of wool ; for high prices are required to keep the bank balance
of squattages on the right side.
When travelling through New South Wales the visitor will be impressed by the
number of towns and villages ; the proportion of these being somewhat great when the
total population is taken into consideration. Despite the fact that nearly one-third of the
million of people who form the latter is massed in or around the metropolis, there are
in the country about five hundred centres which have about them the material necessary
to support a much larger number of workers than are at present available. The South
especially is very thickly dotted over with small towns, and this spreading of business
di'pdis is a healthy sign. There is, at least in an industrial sense, the frame-work upon
which may be reared a large edifice. Regarding the present, however, it is to many
puzzling how some of the towns manage to exist. The proprietors of inns and stores
must have customers, or the shutters would not be down, and the blacksmiths and
wheelwrights need occasionally to work. It is necessary to explain to the inquirer that
the business done in most of these centres is of the intermittent class — that there are
seasons during which a flood of business covers the settlement. In Jul)' the shearers
are on their way to the stations to gather the great wool-harvest ; in September they
are either going home or they are bound for other localities in w^hich the clipping is
not begun until later in the year. The teamsters, too, are passing, so that they may
take part in conveying the fleece to the coast. The wool season lasts for more than a
quarter of the year, and before it has closed there is work to do in the cultivation
paddccks. The hay and wheat crops are ready for the reaping-machine, and the threshers
follow in its wake. The nomadic workers
who assist farmers and wool-growers are
not economical in the matter of dis-
bursing their earnings ; they spend their
wages freely — in some cases lavishly.
Thus the towns have the harvest of the
•O-t'^^'^^
harvests. Each place with any preten-
sion to importance has its jockey club
. ^. , , and its atrricultural society, which pro-
A FAC-SLMILE OF THE CLAIMANTS HAND-WRITING. * J ' i
vide the annual shows lasting three or
four days, and during this time the inns are crowded. In a few years, when population
increases, the towns will have business of a more solid character^ — vineyards and orchards
will occupy spots where now are to be seen only flocks of sheep ; there is plenty of
material to work upon, and the . towns in their present condition may be regarded as the
survey-marks which usually precede extensive settlement.
Returning to Junee Junction, from which point the branch to Hay went off, with
its sub-branch to Jerilderie, the main line to the frontier has to be followed. Its course
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
299
is nearly south over a level fertile country till it strikes the Murrumbidgee, which is
crossed by a costly bridge — one of the principal engineering works which hindered the
extension of the Southern Line. The main channel of the River is spanned by two
continuous wrought-iron lattice-girders of six hundred and forty feet each, the supports
being cast-iron cylinders, nine feet, in diameter. On the north side there are two hun-
dred and fifty-seven spans of thirty
feet each, and on the south fifty-six
spans of the same width, so that in
the event of floods there may be a
good outlet for the powerful stream,
the River here being wide and deep,
and havino- chained much force and
volume on its western course from
Gundagai. The necessity for pre-
cautions of this kind was forcibly
illustrated some years ago, when
the mountain waters came down
with force and made a huge gulf in
the railway embankment close to
Cootamundra, thus causing the
wreckage of a passenger train. To
the right, on a level which is con-
siderably lower than that occupied
by the railway line, stands one of
the most important towns of the
South, whose name, Wagga Wagga,
is not unfamiliar to dwellers on the
other side of the globe. Its fame,
indeed, is wide-spread, it having
been the place in which the claimant of the great Tichborne estates was twenty-five years
ago unearthed. On the 26th of July, 1865, there appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald
an advertisement offering a handsome reward to an)' person who would furnish information
which would lead to the discovery of the fate of one Roger Charles Tichborne, a young
gentleman who had sailed from the port of Rio Janeiro twelve years before in a ship
named La Bella. It was thought that this vessel was wrecked, and that a number of her
passengers had been picked up and brought to Australia. The Tichborne which the adver-
tisement sought was described as being about thirty-two years of age, and of a delicate
condition. He was heir to all the estates left by his father. Sir James Tichborne, Bart.
It happened that there was residing at Wagga Wagga a rough burly butcher known as
Tom Castro, and a sharp solicitor — with the keenness for which the legal profession is
remarkable — discovered in this vendor of chops, steaks and sausages, the identical scion of
English nobility to whom the advertisement referred. The announcement took Wagga
Wagga by surprise — even the most intimate friends or most liberal customers of Castro had
not entertained the faintest idea that they had been so highly honoured. He was not an
THE TICHBORNE CLAIMANT.
300 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
educated man. but he had certain birth-marks, and he remembered certain family par-
ticulars; and this so far impressed his discoverers that he was sent to England, where,
after some delay, he waited upon the venerable lady whose maternit)- he claimed. The
genuineness of his claim was. however, disputed by those in possession, and a case, the
most remarkable which .has occupied the attention of the English Courts for many
years, was the result. The claimant was condemned for perjury and cast into an
English prison, where he remained for many years.
Although the country around \\'agga Wagga is for the greater part devoted to
grazing, the farmers are not without representation, nearly thirty thousand acres being
under cultivation, and over a million and a half of sheep, with about twenty thousand
head of cattle and horses, being pastured in the district. The grazing properties of this
portion of the Murrumbidgee are held in high estimation by capitalists, and between the
years 1872 and 1880 many of the stations were sold at high prices. Seasons of drought,
however, much affected the district during the succeeding five years, but it is now again
in a prosperous condition.
In sporting matters Wagga Wagga has a strong lead, its jockey club being the
most enterprising of its class, and the first to offer large sums as prizes for principal
races. Besides the Race-course there is close to the town a large show-ground recently
occupied by the local Agricultural Society. The shipping trade of the River is now but
ver)' small, Wagga Wagga having good facilities for the transit of goods by rail to
Sydney and Melbourne. In consequence of having a good water-supply it is probable
that this town will shortly become the site of extensive railway works, and a proposal
has been made that a branch of the Southern Line should be extended from this point
of the Murrumbidgee in a south-easterly direction to Tumberumba, near the upper part
of the River Murray.
Passing south from Wagga Wagga the line runs to Albury, a frontier town on the
Murray, and the head of navigation. No section of the colony is better suited for
the breeding of high-class horses, cattle and sheep than the district between these two
towns ; indeed, the latter are remarkably well favoured by the climate, and produce fine
wool of a superior quality. Pure-bred short-horn cattle, of which there are several herds,
thrive, and help to swell the amounts which change hands at the annual stock-fairs. A
few miles out in an easterly direction at Tarcutta, there are several reefs from which
large quantities of gold are regularly obtained, and farther along in the same direction
there is, in the heart of a good agricultural tract of country, the busy little settlement
of Germanton. The grape-vine flourishes here, and although the vineyards are not large
they give profitable employment to many hands. The nearest railway station is Culcairn,
about half-way between Wagga Wagga and Albury.
The Upper Murray country, on the western slopes of the Snowy Range, although
in many parts rugged, is valuable for horse-breeding. Some of the best horse-stock in
Australia is from the hills of this district — a fact recognized by the buyers of Indian
remounts. Down the Murray, two miles from the River and twelve from Albury, lies
the little settlement of Bowna, surrounded by small farms ; and a few miles off at
Tabletop is a large freehold pastoral propert)-, where horse-breeding is conducted on a
very extensive scale The country to the east of the railway line is picturesque, the
V
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
301
scenery being agreeably diversified by a range of hills, of which the castellated mount
known as Tabletop is the most lofty. In a south-westerly direction is the agricultural
settlement of Jindera, but the country for the greater part is used for sheei>grazing. A
few miles from the traci<, at Gerogery, several Germans settled upon small vineyards,
but it is not until Ettamogah, a point five miles north of the boundary, is in view
that a fair idea of the agricultural wealth of the
Murray Valley can be formed. On both sides of
M^m^kmmjru
THE ORIGINAL SITE Ul" THE CLAIMANTS SHOP.
the line the hill-slopes are verdant with vine-
yards, regularly yielding heavy crops of lus-
cious grapes, which grow luxuriantly in the warm climate of a valley over five hundred
and thirty feet above sea-level. The soil in this locality is derived from the decom-
position of felspathic granite, which is scattered over the district, and occurs with
schist and other crystalline rocks, forming a soil peculiarly favourable to the grape,
which has been shewn to possess alcoholic properties scarcely approached, and seldom
surpassed, by the grape in other countries.
This part of the colony was discovered b)' the brave and adventurous explorers,
flume and Hovell, who were chosen to explore the country as far as Western Port.
They travelled through the Murray Valley, and on the north bank of the River there
still stands a red-gum tree which bears witness to the fact by the following inscription
skilfully carved on its trunk: ''Hovell, Nov. 17 x 24." The spot whereon the explorers
were supposed to have camped was marked by a neat monument, which some vandals
so disfigured that it was thought advisable to remove it to a safer site in the local
?02
^ USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Botanic Gardens, where it now stands. It bears the following inscription: "This monu-
ment was erected by the inhabitants of the Hume River District in honour of Hamilton
Hume, Esq., to commemorate his discovery of this river on the 17th of November,
1824." The squatters followed Hume's track, and gradually a small settlement was
formed; but it was not until Victoria had made some progress that a punt was placed
on the Murray. Then followed the blacksmith's shop, the public-house, the store; and a
few small patches were placed under crop. The discovery of gold on the Ovens River
in Victoria materially assisted Albury, as did the services of several Germans, who set
to work most industriously to cultivate the Murray Valley soil. The railway from
Melbourne to the southern bank, now known as Wodonga, was opened in November,
1^^; but it was not until eight years after that the Southern Line from Sydney reached
this part of the border. Two years later the colonies were joined by an iron link — the
massive railway bridge, which crosses the Murray at Albury. There was great rejoicing
over the event, which was celebrated by a grand demonstration, at which were
present the Governors of both colonies and a large assemblage of notabilities from
Sydney and Melbourne.
The capital of the southern colony had thus in the matter of railway communication
with Albury, a long start of Sydney; indeed, prior to 1883, the Murray Valley was
considered more Victorian than otherwise. The distance to Melbourne, being less than
one hundred and ninety miles, naturally caused the greater part of the trade to gravi-
tate southwards, and all business connections were with the southern port. Nor were
these much disturbed by the opening of the Sydney line, the distance — nearly three
hundred and ninety miles to Port Jackson — proving a handicap on the latter city's
trade. But cheap rates and special concessions on the part of the railway authorities
had the effect of turning the attention of the borderers to the northern capital. The
Victorian tariff, too, being inimical to the interests of the Murray agriculturists, lost
Melbourne many friends.
Each side of the River has its customs house, with active officers, who are careful
that no smuggling takes place on the dividing line. The Railway Station and its
numerous buildings were constructed regardless of cost, and occupy an area over three-
quarters of a mile in length and nine chains in width, the main building extending
in one direction over three hundred feet. The New South Wales trains run through
to Wodonga ; Victoria returns the compliment by sending her trains to Albury, the
break of gauge necessitating a change of carriage and a transfer of goods.
Albury is a picturesque place, the red brick buildings having an effective background
in the purplish green hills which make a circle round the town. The Post and Tele-
graph Offices are large handsome buildings, and the Hospital is considered one of the
best institutions in the colony. Sixty thousand gallons of wine and a thousand tons of
wheat are produced annually, and of the minor industries tobacco-culture takes the lead.
An attempt was made to promote sericulture, but after a protracted and careful trial a
disease, which proved fatal to the silk-worms, caused the abandonment of the industry.
About a million head of stock are pastured in the district, and the Agricultural Society
is justly considered one of the most important and most useful institutions in New
South Wales, its annual show held in 1886 being the best in the colony for that year.
1
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
303
AN ALBURY VINEYARD.
It is predicted, and with some confi-
dence, tliat Albury will at some time in the
future rank as a great city. The present
rate of progress favours the prophecy that
ere long the population, now about seven
thousand, will reach the five-figure standard,
turally and pastorally the district is eminently prosperous,
and the vine-growing industry can be largely expanded,
the latest departure in this direction being the successful
establishment of champagne-making at one of the principal vineyards. The sparkling
wines of Albury are sold mostly in London, where they command prices which bear
comparison with those obtained for the medium qualities imported from France.
Both agricul-
3^
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
As an instance of the changes which railways bring about, it may be mentioned
that some years ago one of the wool-growers of the Murray sent his "clip" to Sydney,
with directions to the teamsters to return as speedily as possible with stores. After the
drays had set out the wool-grower left for England, which he reached safely, and had
actually returned to Albury in time to meet his drays with the Sydney supplies — it had
taken half a year to do what is now commonly accomplished in less than a day.
River-traffic at this part of the Murray is now but of very slight importance. The
trip down to the point of ddbouchnre in Lake Alexandrina, eighteen hundred miles distant,
is tedious though interesting. But it is beginning to be seen that the great value of the
River lies in its supply of water for irrigating purposes. In years to come, when the efforts
of the Water Conservation Commissioners — now industriously employed in gauging the
great stores of wealth which are wastefully poured into the Pacific Ocean — have taken
effect, the water will be distributed over the soil, and the banks of the Murray, as well
as much of the back country, will yield immense quantities of cereals and w'ine. Aus-
tralia will then take a share in supplying food to coun-
tries less favoured by Nature, and the occupiers of its
soil will learn how to combat with adverse seasons.
Victoria has made great progress in this direction.
The description
which has been given
of the towns of the
colony, and the rural
districts of which they
are centres, will have
shown plainly that up
to the present time the
inland districts have
been only very par-
tially developed. The
metropolis is dispro-
portionately large as
compared with the
population of the in-
terior, and even of the
rural districts the coast-
line has been much
more thickly settled
than the country west
of the main range.
This is incidental to
the development of the colony. Its basis as a commercial community lay in the
production of wool. The pioneer squatters overspread the country and turned the natural
grasses to good account. W^ealth was thus created with great rapidity, and in a quantity
surprisingly large compared with the amount of labour and capital employed. Perhaps
CHANGING TRAINS AT ALBURY.
THE TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
305
there is no part of the world where early colonization was carried out with so little
difficulty and with such good financial results as on the western slopes of New South
Wales. The country was accessible, the. native population offered but little or no resistance,
and the natural herbage was immediately available. But though wealth was rapidly
accumulated, this sort of
occupation did not lead to
any large settlement of popu-
lation. Few forms of indus-
try demand comparatively so
small an amount of labour
as that of pastoral hus-
bandry. Shepherds, hut-
keepers and shearers, with a
few drovers and overseers,
constitute the industrial
staff ; while a few townships
on the main highways, with
their public -houses, stores,
blacksmiths' forges, and a
small official staff to carry
on the business of Govern-
ment, do not materially add
to the population. The first
invasion of the pastoral soli-
tudes was made by the miners. V/herever a gold-field was discpvered there was a rush of
population. Diggers are an exacting class which pushes every other aside, and the grazing-
right of the squatter had to retire before the demands of the invading miner, except in
those few cases in which the grazier had been beforehand, and had secured a freehold.
Where the gold-field was at all durable a township was established, and though these
roughly-improvised settlements have often failed to realize first expectations, still no mining
township once established has ever altogether disappeared. A farming population, too, always
clusters round a gold-field as an immediate market for vegetables, hay and dairj'-produce,
and the demand for these commodities is sure to create the supply. Mining, although a
fascinating pursuit, is very uncertain in its rewards, and considerable experience has
shown that in the long run it pays better to supply the miners with food than to dig
for the precious metal.
The next great cause of increase in the rural population has been the extension of
railways, and they have promoted settlement by furnishing an outlet for the produce of
the soil. The immediate local market is the best the farmer can have, but whenever
in any good season that market is over-provided, the only available outlet is the
metropolis. Many small trades, too, have sprung up on the lines of railway, and
the demand for labour for the improvement of freehold properties has been greatly
stimulated by the cheap carriage of material and appliances of all kinds. Without
facilities for transit, extensive settlement in the interior is impossible; wool it is said
;x.\il,\\A\ MAUiiN \\ .\\.\\\:\<\.
306
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
can bear a waggon-carriage of three hundred miles when the market-price is favourable,
but for the export of agricultural produce there must be either river or railway transit.
The colony is now on the eve of another great improvement which more than anything
else may be expected to promote the settlement of population in the interior — and that
is irrigation. Although the rain-fall west of the range is comparatively light, and shades
off towards the plains, as a study of the rain-fall map will show, still data enough have
already been collected to show that a very large amount of water is available for
irrigation if it be only carefully conserved and distributed ; and in addition to what falls on
the surface there is the large under-current of water which has come down from
Queensland. The soil in many parts is extraordinarily rich, and the heat forces vegeta-
tion whenever there is moisture. It is only the irregularity of the rain-fall which has
kept agriculture back, as it does not pay a farmer to lose three crops out of four ;
but with a continuous supply of water there is no limit to the possibilities of cultivation
in the interior of the colony. The only ground for anxiety is as to the extent and remu-
nerativeness of the market for the produce. In the preceding pages we have described
the country as it is ; but that which is, is only the beginning of that which shall be.
THE JENOLAN CAVES.
THE GRAND ARCH, EASTERN
ENTRANCE.
T N the description of the towns
-*- lyintj along the Western Line,
a passing mention was made of the
Jenolan Caves, and an intimation
was given that they would be
separately described. They deserve
this distinction, as being not only the most picturesque feature in the Western District,
but one of the great sights of New South Wales. They are not the only limestone
caves in the colony, as there are others at Wambeyan, Yarrangobilly, Wellington and
Boree. All of these are not only remarkable for natural beauty, but are highly
interesting to the geologist for their fossil remains. The Jenolan Caves, however, are
the most remarkable, the best explored, and the most accessible. Formerly, though
3o8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
erroneously, they were known as the Fish River Caves, but though close to the
dividinij water-shed of that River, they are not in it. They lie in a valley which drains
into the Cox, and so into the Nepean and Hawkesbury.
Jenolan lies in a wide bend of the Great Western Railway, and so may be reached
from several points from the line. It is actually nearest to Katoomba, but the track is
over very rough bush-country. A coach-road from Mount Victoria leads to the top of the
hill looking down into the valley. There are tracks also from Hartley and Rydal, but
the usual travellers' route is from Tarana through Oberon.
The Caves are in a limestone belt from two to four hundred yards wide — an old
coral-reef. This belt runs right across the valley, but the creeks, instead of cutting
through it, worked subterranean channels, and so carved out the tunnels and caves.
The limestone is of the palaeozoic siluro-Devonian age, and the erosion of the present
valleys took place chiefly during the pliocene tertiary epoch.
As the visitor approaches the valley by any of the routes, he sees a great green
mountain, covered at its base with grass, ferns and flowering shrubs, lightly-timbered on
its crown, and generally free from protruding rocks. It is in no sense a rugged
mountain, and seems set as in special contrast with the boulder-strewn slopes, the sheer
crag-faces, the bastions, ramparts and pinnacles immediately around and below. Descending,
all is stern and wild. Beauty of blossom and foliage vary the scene, but fail to clothe
it. Any patch of soil there may be on the rocks bears mountain violets, buttercups —
quaint golden knobs — and little star-shaped, daisies. In the crannies many varieties of
fern are rooted, and where trees appear they are gnarled and knotted gums; or by the
water's edge the dismal shea-oaks — the Australian whisper trees, whose presence and
voice add a sentiment of weirdness to the rugged grandeur of the mountain landscape.
The Caves explored are situated in a saddle between the two hills, from whose
summits descend the Mount Victoria and Tarana Roads. Limestone is seen on the
surface continuously for a distance of about five miles, but the underlying stratum has
been proved by occasional outcrops for thirty miles, and is supposed to stretch far under-
ground and appear again in the quarries at Marulan, on the Great Southern Railway Line.
There are explored, and accessible to tourists, five great caves — " The Imperial " (with two
branches), "The Cathedral," "The Nettle," "The Arch " and "The Elder." These subterra-
nean halls are reached from two immense arches or grottoes piercing the mountain-saddle.
The first of the Caves, " The Grand Arch," opens on the western side into the
ravine where the cave-house and buildings are, and on the east into the gorge of the
Mackewan Creek, • the subterranean river of the Caves. This has been hollowed out
beneath gigantic fortress-like masses of rock. On the western side the entrance is com-
paratively low, roughly resembling a Moorish arch, and is fifty feet wide at the base,
and about thirty feet high. Excepting a narrow irregular space, through which the
foliage of the gully beyond is seen, the inside is blocked by huge masses of fallen
rock, past which a channel about fourteen feet in width gives access to the huge-domed
interior and opens out the eastern entrance, which appears from within as an irregular
triangle, with sides of about one hundred and twenty feet in length and a base of not
less than two hundred feet. These sides are slightly arched — the angle at the crown
appears almost perfect. The length across is four hundred and sixty feet, the top of
THE JENOLAN CAVES.
309
the dome is seventy feet from the floor, the extreme width at the centre is two
hundred feet. All along the southern side is an immense pile of fallen rocks ; on the
right is one huge mass forty feet in length, twenty in height, and averaging twenty in
thickness-^a portion of the outer edge of its summit distantly resembles a pulpit-rail,
hence probably its name, " The Pulpit." Immediately behind " The Pulpit " is " The
Organ," a shallow cavity in the wall of the cavern, where stalactites and stalagmites
have met and formed a front resembling the pipes of an organ. Farther round are
rock-faces from which the masses on the floor would seem to have been rent away by
direct cleavage — not water-torn, but singularly weather-stained ; and the roof is a marvel !
All over it, all over the inner-arch of such a dome as would cap St. Peter's, immense
masses of rock seem literally to hang. They resemble a drooping skirt of gigantic
THE ARCH CAVE, LOOKING NORTH.
garments, fossilized, turned into a dull gray stone, which, impregnated with iron and
copper, has assumed mysterious tints and blends of dark red and green. Wherever an
open space is left, it is quaintly mottled with mildew, and over all there is gloom,
perpetual shadow, mystery, a sentiment of the nether world. It is the Hall of Eblis,
3IO
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
A PASSAGE IN THE CAVES.
most truly, and just round the comer is " The Devil's Coach-house." Upon the eastern
edge, within the arch, a flight of wooden steps leads to a vault-like entrance guarded by
an iron gate. This gate the guide opens, and following him with candles lighted,
visitors leave daylight and the outer world, and enter the realm of the gnomes. It is
the double-branched " Imperial Cave." The first marvel discovered is a chamber, " The
Wool-shed," some
twenty feet broad and
of a noble height,
where particles of lime-
stone, carried down by
dripping water, have
been deposited in
shapes resembling
fleeces — tiny fleeces
shorn from the lambs
of fairy-flocks, and huge
fleece^ ample to swathe
the limbs of Hercules,
hung apparently on
benches, drooping from
ledges, or spread upon
the floor, looking in
the flickering light of the candles as soft as newly-shorn wool. "The Vestry" follows
" The Wool-shed," and then, in what may be termed an alcove of the Cave, " The
Architect's Studio." This is a large chamber whose walls are a dull gray, and about
whose floor are many columns, indeed a double chamber, as is presently seen, for
through a noble Gothic arch faint white lights gleam, which, in the glow of the
magnesium wire, declare themselves as clustered stalagmites of infinitely varied form
— an experiment, it might well be supposed, of some architect of the gnome world,
and an effort which resulted in the perfections to be discovered later on. A hun-
dred yards in from this " Studio," the narrow channel leads by walls, at times dripping
wet and sparkling in every ray of light — at others dull, cold, gray and vault-like ; and
occasionally strewing the floor are bones rapidly changing into beautiful specimens. A
little farther in there is the " Margaretta Cave," with innumerable columns and curtains
of marble and alabaster. "Helen's Cave" is similarly glorified, and sanctified moreover
by the presence of a " Madonna " — not a perfect Madonna, or one carved by human
hands, but a stalagmite left solitary — a column of dull white marble, weather-worn into
a shape resembling the mother and child ; at times, no matter how dim be the light,
the mother seems to wear a sun-bonnet. Still onward runs the narrow wa\-, and soon
the " Lucinda " is found, of which it may be well to speak at length, in order to
explain some terms which must be frequently used in future description. The " Lucinda
Cave " is rich in " shawls ;" they hang from the roof and drape the walls, and enfold
the alabaster columns of the great central formation, which would make the noblest,
most beautiful reredos that ever adorned cathedral sanctuary. But these " shawls " are
A SASSAFRAS GULLY ON TUE liLACK SPUR,
THE J E NOLAN CAVES. 311
not of the texture of any earthly loom. They are of purest marble and alabaster,
tinted with solutions of the native ores of the hills. They droop from the rocks (being
the results of slowly-dripping water they are never seen to project) from three inches
to six feet in length, and from an eighth to a half an inch in thickness. If the light
from the magnesium lamp be thrown behind them they are seen to be semi-transparent,
to be of varit;d and delicate tints, of such whites and pinks as were seen in the lost
terraces of New Zealand — such pale yellow, such apricot tones as are seldom seen else-
where in the world ; and across them run bands of such deep orange, red and brown
as Persian dyers love. These clothe the chamber of the " Lucinda," whose main object
resembles a mighty altar-piece — semi-transparent snowy columns rising from rich gray
bases of a substance resembling dull marble ; stalactites, drooping from a continuous
mass of glistening white, approaching them ; pendants innumerable of many delicate
tints; the dull and distant gray roof arched above, and all the floor bestrewn with crystals.
Such is the utterly inadequate and certainly unexaggerated description of one grotto of
the Caves — one of a hundred already explored, one of thousands lying away east and
west beneath the grim outer garments of the far-extending hills.
Beyond it lies " The Jewel Casket," a cavern of crystals and beautiful forms of
pinnacle, spire and pendant in miniature ; and in the extremity, at the end of a mile of
wonder-land, is " Katie's Bower," specially rich in " shawls " and most delicate furnishings.
It is a half-day's work to explore it, and no day of all the year could be better filled
than by traversing the right-hand branch which completes the " Imperial Cave." The
guides (chief and master of whom is Jeremiah Wilson, explorer and opener up of all
these caves) regard the right-hand branch of "The Imperial" as the richest treasure-house
of all their realm ; and it is indeed a scene, or a continuance of scenes, of bewildering
beaut)' — a succession of treasure-stores, of palaces, of fairy playgrounds, of most beau-
tiful and sacred grottoes, of triumphs and trophies of fairy-work, hung upon the walls
or buried in little chambers of the rocks ; of vast distances and lofty-domed retreats,
where stand solitary snow-white columns, as if the builders and furnishers of the place
had turned themselves to stone, that so they might dwell with and watch over their
treasures for ever. Hard by the entrance to this Cave, and forty feet below its floor,
flows "The Hidden River," only to be reached by the somewhat perilous descent of an iron
ladder ; a little farther on is " The Crystal Rock," then another " shawl " cave, rich with
an infinite variety of these beautiful creations. " The Confectioner's Shop " is a lengthy
cavern, where stalactite and stalagmite, and encrustation on the walls, and crystallization
on the floor, seem the realizations of all those ideas which confectioners strive to work
out. This is indeed a homely illustration, and the " cates and comfits" of fairy-land must
be imagined if the charm of the place is in any degree to be understood. Next,
surrounded by shadow)- walls — where projecting rock-masses seem to take shape as armed
knights ; where fragments above appear as eagles with spread wings, as Titanic hands
lifted in menace or in warning, as veiled figures, as cloaked arms pointing inward-^the
beautiful solitary stalagmite is reached which bears the name of " Lot's Wife," a lonely
column, semi-transparent, whiter than any marble, upon a dark brown floor.
" The Crystal Cities," down the next decline, would take many pages to describe, for
how in a few words can we set forth the beauties of a space fifty yards in length
3,2 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
and an average of four in breadth, crowded with results of crystallization and metallic
colouring, infinite as the varied forms of water, from the filmiest summer cloud or the
thinnest steam, to solid arctic ice! More spires here than Merlin gave to Camelot,
more icicles than ever hung from any palace of the Neva ; and on the floor are terraced
gardens of jewels, and in broad parterres, ranks of tiny stalagmites like armies of fairy
fighting-men. What a contrast to pass from them all, and to see set upon a hill in a
high-arched cavern beyond, another solitary white column, bearing the name of "Lot," looking
back at his lost wife over all these treasures! A remark made here by one of Lot's
wife's sex is not unworthy of record — " I am glad something has been done to ///;// at last."
In a little cavern near by are a strange collection of crystals flashing like gems in
the rays of the lamp— they are called " The Queen's Jewels." Down the main avenue
are "Selina's Cave" and "The Josephine Grotto" — grand with huge column.s, festooned
with " shawls," " curtains," and many-formed and many-tinted marble draperies, stalactites,
cr>^stal-clear, snowy white, and of all the shades between transparent apricot and deep-
toned terra cotta ; after which "The Mystery," a cavern set high in the wall, with spikes
and spicules, with tiny columns and quaint figures in infinite variety — cast, spun, woven,
hewn from plastic crystal and alabaster. Hardly is it passed when there come dazzling
flashes from " The Diamond Wall," and beyond is seen the mystic " Bridal Veil," bearing
an actual resemblance to a fall of lace sprinkled with tiny jewels. It is solid marble —
marble that has actually flowed out of the heart of the hills — more handiwork of the
gnomes, those marvellous earth-forces. How masterfully, yet how imperceptibly they toil !
"The Crystal Palace" and "The Garden Palace" are rich with radiant gems, with
spires and pendants of all the hues with which cave experience makes us familiar, and
" The Gem of the West " is held by the custodian to be also the gem of the Caves.
This marvellous formation hangs somewhat as an orchid on a garden wall. It might
well be imagined to have grown as a flower. A broad shell-like back, shaped some-
what as the body of a stag-horn fern, projects about three feet, and terminates on its
outer edge in a perfect semi-circle of transparent fringe. From its base droop crystal
pendants transparent as ice, brilliant as diamonds, fine as threads of spun glass — some
three feet in length and stout as the largest icicles, others three inches and as fine as
needles. There was never a chandelier in any palace of the world to compare with it,
never ornament or treasure manufactured by man's hand that would not seem insignifi-
cant when placed beside it. It is beyond doubt a gem of the whole world — one of the
treasures which a jealous Nature very rarely yields to mortal eyes. '
" The Fairy's Retreat " beyond, a cavern of crystals, a mile and a half from the
entrance, is accepted for the present as the termination of this remarkable cave.
Returning by way of the long wooden stairs and stepping out from "The Arch," the sweet-
ness and light of the outer world are felt in the odour of countless snow-white blooms
hanging in festoons from the verdant greenery of the Creek. They completely cover the
heads of some of the tallest trees, and droop in long tendrils to the rich and varied
fern-growth about the edge of the rapidly-flowing water ; for the Creek springs to light
again here from its hidden currents in the Caves, and brawls along a merry half-mile to
a bare rock-face fifteen feet in height. There, of course, is the fall — the gathered waters
leap into a broad, deep pool below, making music which fills all the air around.
THE JENOLAN CAVES.
m
Looking upward from the bed of the Creek through the roughky-piled rocks and the
bright and varied foHage, a half of "The Carlotta Arch" is seen, and beyond, a flight
of concrete steps on the high ground ahnost beneath the arch. This is the entrance to
" The Nettle Cave," so called because of the abundance of nettles which in the old days
grew about its entrance. It is a sad misnomer. "New Luxor," " Karnac," "The Basilica,"
"The Hall of the Kings," " Asgard," or "The Tombs of the Giants" would be more
fitting, for all within
is vast and grand, and
it is as magnificent a
contrast to the spark-
ling beauties of " The
Imperial " as a forest's
mighty oak to a gar-
den hyacinth.
The "Nettle Caves"
connect with "The
Arch " ; the)' may be
viewed and described
as one. All their char-
acteristics are the same;
vastness, grandeur,
colossal proportions
everywhere — huge
caverns upheld by
gigantic columns, great
shapes recumbent as of
dead giants at rest,
vaulted roofs a hun-
dred feet aloft, and
walls crowded with figures in which may be seen countless statuesque shapes of a soft, pure
gray, like the interior of a mediaeval cathedral, or else green-stained through saturation with
coppery solutions. On entering "The Nettle Cave" the first group met with is "The Com-
pany of the Ancients " — five huge stalagmites worn and fretted away to poor stumps of
their former magnificence, but still massive and picturesque. Only one, a little apart, stands
erect and complete, fourteen feet in height and of proportionate bulk, somewhat kingly in
attitude. A long hall is seen beyond — " The Ancient," with one perfect column, where
stalactite and stalagmite have met, reaching from roof to floor. Once there were five, but
an abominable vandalism, in the days when the Caves had no secure guard, broke down
and destroyed four. One remains central in this long hall or corridor, whose smooth
floor, thirty yards in length and ten in width, leads to a grotto named "The Sculptor's
Studio," where, it might well be imagined, spirits who had wrought in building or
decorating the dead cities of the Old World had suddenly ceased from their earlier toil,
for these caverns and columns are older by untold ages than any cities the Old World
knew. There are stalactites, marked by the keeper of the Caves, which have grown but
THE BROKEN COLUMN, CATHEDRAL CAVE.
,,4 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
three-quarters of an inch in eighteen years, and a learned professor, taking only a
moderate-sized pendant and calculating from this basis, estimated that its growth must
have occupied a period of two hundred and sixty-nine thousand years— so long has
Nature been labouring in preparing this palace for our delight. It must not be supposed,
however, that any such limit can be fixed to the term of the formation of the Caves.
When the geologist looks closely into the limestone of which they are formed he
discovers it to consist almost entirely of corals and shells, and thus he infers that the
parent material of all the rock at one time lived and grew in the warm ocean. I'lie
stillness of the central sea was once over all this caverned space, the coral-reef grew
in the darkness of the unfathomed depths, and in the fulness of time was upheaved by
the central forces of the world three thousand feet above the sea-level ; and through
what enormous periods wrought by air and water, scooping out the great gorges,
hollowing'- out the great caves ! Two hundred and sixty-nine thousand years represent
but a moiety of the time occupied in their decoration, the building and the preparation
of the material were all before. Well says the guide, pointing to a huge projection on
the upper wall of " The Devil's Coach-house " (seen from " The Arch Cave "), whose
crown is shaped as the head of an ancient, rugged and vast with Homer-like locks
curling far down, " He was old there, before Adam was made."
A great cavern, with a floor-space sixty feet by forty, in " The Arch Cave," bears
the name of " The Ball-room," and around its walls are many very stately columns and
stalactites of a perfect terra-cotta tint, all rich and chaste, and free from the slightest
speck. The only trace of a crystal or transparent formation is in some half-exposed
masses, knee and elbow shaped, a section of a trunk at times protruding, ringed as the
back of a lobster, and in colour a pale malachite. They resemble the bodies of some
monsters of an old world rising slowly from their burial-places. A sense of awe mingles
with wonder as their shapes are fancied out, and a shudder of horror is hardly resisted
as the warm human hand rests upon their clammy surface.
Near to them is a cluster of huge many-domed formations named " The Willows,"
bearing a striking resemblance to willow-trees bowed down with snow — snow which in
some mysterious manner has been transmuted into stone, whose surface has by some
subsequent process of Nature been painted green, bright almost as the leaves of willow-
trees. Far above "The Willows" is the pear-shaped opening on the roof of "The Devil's
Coach-house " ; about its sides are some few traces of the outer w-orld — fern-leaves and
tendrils of a delicate green. They break the spell of the enchantment bred by the
spirit of the inner recesses. Turn again from the subdued daylight, look for a moment
at the two grotesque masses which are supposed to resemble fighting-cocks. Look
attentively, and one becomes an eagle with bent beak and talons rooted in its prey,
suggestive of the Promethean legend.
With lighted candles the guide leads past pillar, pinnacle and arch, by a narrow
passage into a cavern where great clubs of rock hang from the roof. Let the lights be
extinguished, and then in a darkness that may be felt, wait and listen ! Suddenly,
startlingly, close to the ear, comes the boom of a deep-toned bell. Another and another,
with higher, clearer tones — an actual chime rung. It strikes through the ear to the
deepest wonder-chambers of the mind. It seems as if in the intense darkness the
THE JENOLAN CAVES.
315
spirits of the Caves were tolling a knell for the mighty dead sepulchred around and below.
But when lights are rekindled the sound is discovered to proceed from the clubs or
mace-like stalactites, whose lower extremities are hollow, and when struck by a piece of
THE EXHIBITION, CATHEDRAL CAVE.
soft rock produce
this peculiar effect.
The largest and
deepest-toned sends
a boom along the
c o r r i d o r 1 i k e t h e
sound of the great bell of an English minster, heard across miles of woodland.
Let " The Belfry " ring farewell to " The Arch Cave," and pass out beneath the
mighty "Arch," where a great bough of a beautiful vine, white as jasmine and densely-
flowered as banksia rose, swings by the cliff-wall almost to the iron grating of the
entrance ; climl) then to the upper opening, and look through the long valley of
Mackewan Creek, with its water-falls singing far below. ' From this point the valley
3,6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
resembles a picture set in the frame of "The Arch." The walls are eighty feet in height,
the breadth of the flat rock which joins them is thirty feet, and all along its edge
droop stalactites, black against the blue sky. It is a very fitting entrance to such caves
as are found below— a portal worthy of the sepulchres of the gods.
With the intricate and delicate beauties of the "Imperial Caves" still in mind, but
overshadowed by the colossal grandeur of those beneath the " Carlotta Arch," another
vista in wonder-land opens out; this is the portico of the great "Cathedral Cave," which
lies chiefly within the crown and about the southern side of " The Grand Arch." Imme-
diately the iron gate is closed, the candles lit, and the descent begun, new chords of
sensation are struck. Fairy-land and wonder-land have been seen before ; here Is vaulted
gloom, suggestive of the tests to which all adventurers of fairy-lore were submitted
before the triumph of their quest was achieved :
Downward De Vaux through dubious ways
And darksome vaults hath gone,
Till issue from the wildering maze
Or safe retreat seems none.
Down flight after flight of damp steps winds the path, by dark dank walls, over
grave-like floor-spaces, by rocks of mountainous bulk piled in weird confusion, an
occasional bat" flitting across the gloom and vanishing into the darkness far overhead.
After an eerie ten minutes of journeying, the magnesium wire is lit, and then the great
nave of "The Cathedral" is fullv disclosed. Its dome towers aloft three hundred feet.
Its greatest diameter is not less than two hundred. Its colours, as shown by the light,
are all cold and gloomy, an occasional stalactite-formation of a warmer gray affording
but scant relief. Still down goes the path, but not to a succession of glooms and
dolours. A " shawl " cave is presently reached, but not of the proportions of those seen
in " The Imperial." The shawls here trail from great walls, droop from the front of
rocks like precipice edges, hang screen-like upon dark spaces, so perfect In every fold
that a strange desire is felt to stretch a hand and draw them aside. One special
curtain In this chamber should bear the name of " The Marble Screen." It hangs upon
the left-hand wall, and is seen across a chasm about thirty feet wide. It is about eight
feet in length by ten in breadth, and appears in the lamp-light to drape so exactly
like long folds of white samite, that if the least breath of wind should blow one might
expect to see a ripple of motion pass from fold to fold. It Is a screen that has never
been withdrawn. Nature wove and hung It there, and still labours towards Its perfec-
tion. When this cave of marble drapery Is left in darkness another great space opens
which is called " The Exhibition " — a vast hall or vault of majestic desolation. The
most prominent object Is " The Broken Column." A marble base, a marble cornice and
capital above, enriched with those decorations which are of the order of Nature ; a shaft
rising, a shaft descending — so Nature builds here, mocking all the art of man ; but the
two will never meet, for on some great day of a far-away time the foundation of the
stalagmite slipped forward just so much as to render completion forever impossible.
One might Imagine that day saw a terrible havoc In these vaults, that some spirits had
set about here to reproduce the glories of another world, that they had made marvellous
progress with their work, but were suddenly arrested, condemned, overthrown ; all their
THE JENOLAN CAVES.
317
THE DEVILS COACH-HOUSE, JE.NOLAN CAVES.
o
i8
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
co;
mpleted work wrecked— all their plans confounded. For it is but the beauty of magni-
ficent incompleteness which is seen in the marvellous formation right opposite to "The
Broken Column." Marble columns and walls seem to have been begun with intent to
support a canopy, the first lines of whose decoration had been carefully inwrought ; a
few stalactites had been drooped as mortals hang tapestry, and for a hundred feet in
len'^th the square front of the canopy of a great throne had been planned and left.
The wreck, the chaos, the fragments of the mighty building are marvellously beautiful,
but there is a sentiment of death, of stoppage, of obstruction in them all— a false senti-
ment, for still the work proceeds, still stalactite and stalagmite descend and arise, still
the marvellous textures of the "shawls" extend, the screens are perfected, and walls and
domes and inner recesses clothed with an ever-increasing beauty. Downward from " The
Exhibition," past tinted rocks reaching from ceiling to floor like cataracts, that tumbling
down, in colour as the mane of a chestnut steed, had been turned to stone and
crystallized and .sprinkled with powdered diamonds ; by monstrous columns, grotesque and
grand and beautiful ; past little grottoes, each one a treasure-house, the path still leads ;
and before making the ascent which leads to "The Music Hall" and " Lurline's Grotto,"
it is well to pause and look aloft and realize the magnitude of the tremendous dip of
roof, which smooth and solid stretches as the segment of a little world high overhead.
The portion seen by the rays of the lamp cannot be less than eight hundred feet in
measurement, and so slight is the curve that it does not appear to contain more than
three or four degrees of circumference. It slants downward as the smooth face of a
tremendous cloud-bank, flattened, yet driven, by a growing wind. It is such a vault as
might well be imagined beneath the greatest pyramid. But few visitors regard the roof
or walls when the light begins to play about the glories of " Lurline's Grotto," the
completed shrine where every pillar and column and frieze and cornice seem complete,
where such work has been accomplished as was never seen about tlie kingliest tomb or
the lordliest shrine of the world. It is as though alabaster and marble, and jacinth and
chrysolite had been freely used. Everything is suffused with lovely semi-transparent
colour. The iron and the copper are so intermixed with the crystal that the faintest
and yet most perfect tints are produced ; no vein, or stain, or blot on them all. " The
Music Gallery" is near to "Lurline's Grotto," another group of resonant stalactites,
smaller than those of " The Belfry," and rather shrill than sweet or deep in tone. When
these are passed a cavern yawns, across which an iron bridge has been swung near to
the inner wall. Down the depths "The Hidden River" flows; a stone flung over
the rail rebounds from rock to rock, and finally splashes in the still, clear waters.
Beyond the bridge, in still deeper recesses of the cave, Nature has wrought fantastically ;
there is a heap of " potatoes " — marble fragments rounded and encrusted with some brown
substance like the outer skin of potatoes newly dug from the soil. Near by are " snow-
balls" and "cauliflowers" — almost perfect images of these familiar shapes hanging to walls
and ceilings, shown upon the floor — and last (so far as at present explored) in a little
grotto beyond a narrow passage, a single massive stalagmite rises before a cranny in the
rock-face through which is no possibility of entry, sparkling with an opal-like fire wher-
ever touched by a moving light. This is called the end of the cave. Having seen it
steps are retraced until an iron ladder is reached, which gives access b)- a short cut to
THE JENOLAN CAVES.
319
the upper vaults of " The Cathedral," and thence by long flights of stone steps to the
outer air. An oppressive burden of memories is gathered by a single visit to this great
Cave — awful depth of gloom, vastness, incompleteness, chaos, scraps of beauty perfected
amongst mountains of stupendous ruins. To write or to paint its full description would
be as impossible as
to tell the full tale
of the pathos, the
agony, the heroism,
the martyrdom of
the longest gallery
of the catacombs
of old Rome. "The
Elder Cave," so
called from a great
and beautiful elder-
THE WELLINGTON CAVES.
tree overshadowing its well-like
mouth, lies farthest north of all
the Caves. Its interior is a terrible
chaos of tumbled rocks and narrow
tortuous passages, with only a few occasional patches of rare and delicate beauty. In
its farthest and latest discovered chamber are some coral formations, springing branch-
like from floor and walls. If found alone they would well repay a visit, but at Jenolan
they are fairly outshone by the superior beauties immediately around. Last to be seen
is " The Devil's Coach-house," another stupendous cavern cut beneath the limestone bar
by the rush and ripple of the water of the Mackewan Creek. It is two hundred and
seventy-five feet from roof to floor, five hundred feet from northern to southern entrance,
four hundred feet in extreme breadth. A pear-shaped opening high in the roof admits
daylight enough to shew marvels and mysteries on the walls and the pendants on the
320
A US TRALA SI A ILL US TEA TED.
roof, grotesquely shaped and stained ; while in the full light that streams through the
arched openings huge masses of marble are seen heaped on the floor, black as the crags
of Sinai, with boulders of a dull blue or slate colour strewn about their bases. Some
outer galleries of " The Arch " and " The Nettle " Caves, seen from the northern entrance
high up, are to the right. It is a vast, a weird, an awful place, by no means ill-named
by its early explorers ; such a place " Heme the Hunter," or " Lutzow, the Jager of the
German Woods," would choose to tether his fire-fed steeds. It completes the circuit of
the Caves as at present opened; is as appropriate a gate of departure as "The Grand
Arch " is of entrance ; the outer door, if so the visitor choose, of such a temple of
Nature as was never opened to mortal eyes in the world before : " And as yet," says
the quaint and worthy keeper and explorer, " we are but at the beginning. By that
rock (a half-mile away) is another cave-entrance, by that tree (high up on the cliff-side)
is another into which we have but peered. In ' The Mammoth,' two miles awa), I was
lowered down two hundred feet into a hollow vault where the biggest church of Sydney
might have swung without touching any wall."
How far the caves extend and what new beauties they may reveal are problems
only to be solved by future exploration. They are with good reason supposed to extend
through several leagues of country north and south of the spur in which those now
opened are situated, and there are grounds for believing that they reach below the deepest
levels yet explored. At greater depth it is also believed that stalactite and stalagmite
and all the varied forms the limestone assumes, will be found more perfectly crystallized ;
as in all the caves which have hitherto been opened — opaque formations lie near the
surface, marbles and alabasters a little below, while deepest of all are the glassy and
ice-like shapes which form the most intricate and delicate beauties of the Caves. The
process of exploration is necessarily slow, as any new caves must lie more remote from
the entrance, and the keeper can only give to the work the time not claimed by visitors.
The Caves already made accessible have recently been illuminated by the electric-light,
which imparts to them an added charm.
Colonel William Collard Smith, M.P.
AUTBED DeaKIN, M.P.
THE DELEGATES FROM VICTORIA lO THE FEDERATION CONVEXTIOX, SYDNEY. iSgi.
»
THE " LAUV NELSON " ENTERING PUKT I'llILLIP.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
THE DISCOVERY OF PORT PHILLIP.
^^ O far as we have any authentic Information to guide us we are bound to conclude
*^-^ that the coast-Hne of what is now the colony of Victoria was first sighted by
Captain Cook, as he was beating up from New Zealand towards the mysterious Continent
spoken of by earlier navigators as the Great Terra Anstralis. It was on the morning
of Thursday, the 19th of April, 1770, that his first-lieutenant made out a promontor)'
supposed to be that now known as Cape Everard, but which then received the name
of Point Hicks, in honour of the discoverer. Gabo Island and Cape Howe were noted
on the evening of the same day. Twenty-seven years elapsed before anything more was
seen or heard of the southern trend of the huge island which was believed to run
322 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
down below the forty-third parallel. Then came the expedition of that gallant adventurer,
George Bass, fully described in an earlier chapter of this work. He entered the inlet
of Western Port on the 4th of January,. 1798; but after a stay of thirteen days there
was compelled by stress of circumstances to retrace his course to Port Jackson. In a
subsequent voyage he doubled Cape Grim, thus conclusively proving that Tasmania was
an island, and proving also the existence of the strait which bears his name. But to
Lieutenant Grant, of the brig Lady Nelson, belongs the honour of having discovered
and defined the whole of the coast-line of Victoria from Cape Bridgewater to Cape
Schank, and of having circumnavigated by way of Bass's Strait the south-east of
Australia from the first-named Cape to Port Jackson,
The annals of maritime adventure narrate few more gallant and successful exploits
than that of the commander of the Lady Nelsoji. She was a small brig, fitted witli
sliding keels, the recent invention of a Captain John Schank, a friend of Grant's, whose
name has been commemorated in connection with a headland to the eastward of Port
Phillip Heads. The little vessel had a crew of twelve men, and was provisioned for
a voyage of nine months. Among sea-faring folk on the River Thames she had obtained
the nickname of " His Majesty's tinder-box," and when she had taken her stores on
board and shipped her four brass guns and ammunition, her gunwale was only two feet
nine inches above the water-line. That such a craft would ever reach the other end of
the globe was regarded by many people as a chimerical expectation, and these apprehen-
sions communicated themselves to the crew, so that Lieutenant Grant had considerable
difficulty in keeping them together. He had been commissioned by the Duke of Port-
land, then First Lord of the Admiralty, to survey the south and south-west coasts of
Australia, to examine the shores of Van Diemen's Land, to search for and determine
the course of any rivers of importance that might exist, to report upon the soil,
products and indigenous inhabitants of these regions, and to take possession in the
King's name of such territory as it might be desirable to acquire in the interests of
Great Britain. Grant sailed from Portsmouth on the 17th of March, 1800, put in at
the Cape of Good Hope on the 8th of July, and did not depart thence until the 7th
of October. At eight o'clock on the morning of the 3rd of December land loomed
through the hot haze right ahead of the little craft, and a bold promontory, with a
reef of rocks at its base, and two mountains behind it, the one peaked and the other
table-topped, revealed themselves. Upon the headland he bestowed the name of Cape
Northumberland, and the mountains he designated Gambier and Schank respectively.
Shifting his course somewhat to the southward. Grant successively sighted and named
Capes Banks, Bridgewater, Nelson and Solicitor, also Lawrence Island and Lady Julian's
Island, both of them at the entrance of that half-protected bight which he called Port-
land Bay. As he coasted along Grant was much struck by the beauty of the scenery,
which he compared to that of Devonshire and the Isle of Wight, and he attempted to
land a little to the westward of Apollo Bay, but failed to do so on account of the heavy
surf. Cape Otway he had previously passed and named, and then, steering a point or
two to the south of east, and disregarding the deep indentation of the coast to the
northward, he sighted and named Cape Liptrap, and on the loth of December made an
ineffectual effort to land on an island off Wilson's Promontory. Having sailed through
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
323
the Strait, Grant reached Sydney on the i6th of that month. Thus the Lady Nelson was
the first vessel to go "sounding on a dim and perilous way," along a route which is now
traversed by a fleet of ocean and coasting steamers and merchantmen, laden with the pro-
duce of all nations ; and compared with the magnitude and importance of her commander's
achievements the exploits of Jason and his companions in the Argos when in search of
the " Golden Fleece," or those more famed of Telemachus' sire, fade into insignificance.
On the 8th of March, 1801, the Lady Nelson sailed from Port Jackson on a second
exploring expedition, passing Wilson's Promontory on the 20th of that month. Grant
saw and named Cape
Paterson, entered
Western Port, cleared
and planted a garden
upon Churchill's
Island, and after sur-
veying twenty miles of
the coast between the
inlet and Wilson's Pro-
montory returned to
Sydney on the 14th of
May, 1801. Grant left
Sydney for England,
and was succeeded in
the command of the
Lady Nelson Ijy his
chief officer, John
Murray, who in the
following December
reaped the first Vic-
torian harvest from the
grain which had been
sown by his predeces-
sor. The little brig quitted Port Jackson on the 12th of November, 1801, and after visiting
Western Port left there on the 5th of January, 1802, intending to explore the coast which
trended to the north-westward. Beaten back by baffling winds, and unable to enter what
appeared to be the inlet to an estuary, Murray sent round his first mate. Bower, with
five seamen in a launch to examine this inlet. Rounding the promontory, which the
Lieutenant designated Point Nepean, the launch was carried through "The Rip" on the ist
of February, and the adventurous crew saw a great inland sea expand before them.
They remained in it until the fourth of the same month, when they returned to the
Lady Nelson to report the important discovery they had made. Eleven days later the
brig herself sailed through the Heads.
The natives on shore must have looked with mingled feelings of wonder and con-
sternation on that strange apparition, shaped like a fish, but winged like a bird, which
skimmed over the surface of the water, and contained within its capacious body a
LIEUTEXAM-GOVKRNUK COLLINS.
324 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
number of men with white skins and curious garments — men who were armed with long
tubes which vomited fire and thunder, and could inflict sudden death upon creatures far
beyond the reach of the black man's spear. Their dismay would have been still greater
if they could have foreseen that the vision which met their gaze portended the ultimate
extinction of their own race.
Lieutenant Murray was charmed with the landscape scenery of the "noble harbour"
he had entered, and compares it to that of Greenwich Park ami Blackheath, " the hills
and valleys rising and falling with inexpressible elegance." On landing he saw numerous
native huts, and several hundred acres of land which had been recently cleared by fire.
Upon an island in the west channel, much affected by aquatic birds, he bestowed the
name of Swan Island ; and to a lofty eminence on the eastern shores of the bay he
gave the title of Arthur's Seat, from its resemblance to the massive hill which over-
looks Edinburgh. Next day, the i6th, he saw some natives, with whom he and his party
entered into friendly conference ; but in spite of the gifts made to them, and the con-
ciliatory spirit exhibited by the new-comers, the blacks endeavoured on the day following
to spear the white men, and the latter were obliged to discharge their guns at their
assailants. Three weeks were spent in exploring the narrow peninsula off which the
Lafty jVc/so>i was moored, and on the 9th of March Lieutenant Murra)' took formal
possession of the country in the King's name, hoisting a flag on Point Patterson and
discharging three volleys of small-arms and artillery. On the 1 2th the vessel ran
through "The Rip" with the ebb of the tide, and regained the harbour of Port Jackson on
the 24th. The last we hear of this stanch little vessel is that about the month of
January, 1825, while trading in the waters of Torres Straits, she fell into the hands
of the Malays, who massacred her crew and probably destroyed her. Certain it is she
was never heard of afterwards.
When Captain Flinders, after having skirted the south-vest coast of Victoria from
Cape Bridgewater to Cape Otway, as described in a previous chapter, sailed through
the Heads into Port Phillip, on the 27th of April, 1802, he was under the impression
that it must be Western Port. He soon discovered his mistake, and found to his crreat
surprise that the sheet of water was so extensive as to leave its northern boundaries
indiscernible, even from a hill which he ascended for the purpose of ascertaining them.
He visited and named it Indented Head, and crossing the western arm of the bay made
for the isolated range which bears the native name of JJ'iirc/i }'ona)io;, conferring on its
highest eminence, which he climbed, the title of Station Peak. He was much struck
with the fine grazing capabilities of the country, but failed to discover any rills of fresh
water, although there were three witiiin a few miles of Station Peak.
Collins at Sorrento.
Captain Flinders quitted Port Phillip for Port Jackson on the 3rd of May, and his
report to Governor King was of such a favourable character that that functionary warmly
urged upon the Duke of Portland the advantage and necessity of authorizing the forma-
tion of a settlement at Port Phillip, partly on account of the fertility of the soil and
the amenity of the climate, and partly to forestall the French, who contemplated a similar
step — Captain Baudin, of Lc G^ographc, having explored portions of the Australian coast
1
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
325
with that object in view. Before Governor King could receive a reply from the Home
Authorities he commissioned Surveyor-General Grimes and Lieutenant Charles Rohbins
to walk round the harbour discovered by Lieutenant Murray and to report upon it.
This was in December, 1802. In fulfillment of the duty thus imposed upon them, Mr.
Grimes, as the leader of the expedition, discovered the River Yarra on the 30th of
January, 1803, and ascended it as
far as Dight's P'alls. The course of
the Saltwater River was also traced
from its outfall back to Keilor, but
although Corio Bay was carefully
circumambulated the party hugged
its margin too closely to allow of
their discovering either the Barwon
or the Moorabool. Strange to say
the report of the Surveyor-General
was altogether condemnatory of the
country as a place of settlement.
The British Government, however,
had meanwhile arrived at a different
conclusion, and had issued instruc-
tions, eight days after the discovery
of the Yarra, to Lieutenant-Governor
Collins to proceed to Port Phillip,
or any part of the southern coast
of New South Wales or the islands
adjacent, and establish a settlement.
there. The selection of that officer was unfortunate, for he appears to have come out to
Australia with a foregone conclusion that his mission would prove an unsuccessful one.
Collins sailed from England in the Calcictta, accompanied by the Ocean as a store-ship, on
the 24th of April, 1803, having on board two hundred and ninety-nine male convicts,
sixteen married women, a few settlers, and fifty men and petty otificers belonging to the
Royal Marines. The Calcutta entered Port Phillip Heads on the i8th of October following
and found that the Ocean had preceded her. A landing was effected at what is now
Sorrento, and Lieutenant Tuckey, with two assistants, was dispatched in the Calcutids
launch to survey the harbour, which occupied the party nine days. " The disadvantages of
Port Phillip," and the unsuitability of the " bay itself, when viewed in a commercial light,"
for the purposes of a colonial establishment, were strongly dwelt upon by Collins in his
despatches to the Admiralty, and he ventured to predict that the harbour would never
be " resorted to by speculative men." Influenced by his representations Lord Hobart
sent him instructions to break up the settlement and proceed to the River Derwent, in
Van piemen's Land. These were cheerfully obeyed, and on the 27th of January, 1804,
Collins quitted Port Philip in the Ocean. During the fifteen weeks which the expedi-
tion had spent on shore there had been one birth, one marriage, and twenty-one deaths.
The first white child born in Victoria saw the light on the 25th of November, 1803,
•"■sg*.
THOMAS HENTY.
326
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
\:^m^
and received the name of William James Hobart Thorne. The first wedding took place
on the 28th of that month, the contracting parties being Richard Garratt, a convict, and
Hannah Har\'ey. a free woman; and the first death was that of John Skilhorne, a
settler, on the loth of October.
For twenty years the interior of Victoria remained 'untrodden by the foot of the
white man, and the first to penetrate the virgin territory were Hamilton Hume, who
was a native of New South Wales, and Captain Hovell. The former had previously
distinguished himself as a good bush traveller-energetic, resolute and intrepid; and had
been consulted in Sydney by Sir- Thomas Brisbane on the subject of an overland expedition
to the south coast of New South Wales. With this Governor's approbation a party of
eight men was organized for' that purpose by Mr. Hume, and a start was made on the
3rd of October, 1824. Taking a south-westerly direction the explorers crossed the
Murray on the 17th of November, and on the 24th discovered and named the Ovens
River— after Major Ovens, who had been private secretary to Sir Thomas Brisbane;
struck the head-waters
of the Goulburn on
the 3rd of December ;
discovered King Parrot
Creek on the 7th ; and
reached the shores of
Corio Bay, near the
site of the present city
of Geelong, on the i 7th
of that month. They
commenced their home-
ward journey on the
day following and ar-
rived in safety at their
starting-point near
Lake George, on the
1 8th of January, 1825.
As there was some danger of the French founding a settlement in Western Port
an expedition was dispatched thither from Sydney by Governor Darling, in December,
1826, under the command of Captain P. R. Wetherall, of H.M.S. Fly, who was
accompanied by Captain Wright, of the brig Dragon. Their reports were not unfavourable
on the whole, but Captain Wright declared the situation to be unsuited to the forma-
tion of a penal settlement, and the expedition was recalled.
§1
.flu
XiS™**^ ^ ■ * '
k
-■te
henty's wool-store, the first building erected
in victoria.
The First Settlement — The Hentvs.
Passing over Captain Sturt's exploration of the Murray, which belongs to the history of
geographical discovery in Australia generally, we come to the first permanent settlement
in Victoria by a little colony of Englishmen, who had previously tested and had been
disappointed with the capabilities of Western Australia and Van Diemen's Land. These
were the brothers Henty — Edward, Stephen, Frank and John — two of whom, Edward and
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
327
<
o
2
2
H
<
n
Stephen, landed in Portland Bay with farm-servants, live stock, agricultural implements,
stores, and all the various necessaries for profitable occupation, on the 19th of Novem-
ber, 1834; they became, by means of a flock of merino sheep which they had brought
3,8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
with them from England, tlic pioneers of the great pastoral industry of the colony,
just as. at a later period, they were foremost in commercial enterprise.
The head of the family. Mr. Thomas Henty. who had been a banker and a landed
proprietor in Sussex, came out to join his sons at Launceston, in Van Diemen's Land,
after they had relinquished their project of settling in Western Australia, and he memo-
rialized the Secretary of State for the Colonies for permission to purchase two thousand
five hundred acres of land, at five. shillings an acre, between the parallels of one hundred
and thirty-five degrees and one hundred and forty-five degrees of east longitude, on the
south coast of Victoria; offering at the same time to relinquish his title to eighty
thousand acres of land on the Swan River. But the application was refused ; and we
learn from a subsequent memorial to the Governor of New South Wales, in 1840, that
the Hentys had erected two considerable houses at Portland Bay, one of them containing
twelve rooms, and two other substantial habitations at Merino Downs ; and had expended
altogether between eight and ten thousand pounds in the construction of barns, stores,
stables, work-shops, a dairy and other permanent improvements.
By a remarkable coincidence the scene of this settlement was the precise point of
the coast struck by Major, afterwards Sir Thomas, Mitchell, on his memorable journey
overland from the Murray to the sea. That intrepid explorer, after having spent three
months in examining the river-systems of what are now known as the Riverina and
the Darling Districts, turned southward on the 20th of June, 1835, at the junction of
the Loddon with the Murray. Ascending the banks of the former stream for three days
he then lost it ; and bending his course to the westward he crossed the Avoca and the
Wimmera, sighted the Grampians, and climbed to the summit of Mount William, over-
looking thence a lovely panorama, combining such elements of grandeur, beauty and
extent, such an interchange of solemn forests and far-stretching pastures of undulating downs
and green valleys, of gleaming lakes and refreshing water-courses, as more than confirmed
all the favourable impressions he had previously received from the country he had passed
through, and justified him, as he conceived, in denominating this part of the Continent
Australia Felix. Looking southward he saw few obstructions to the prosecution of his
journey, and so he set his face in the direction of the sea. Passing Mount Arapiles,
Mitchell reached a river bearing the native name of Nargula, on the 31st of July, and
called it the Glenelg, after the Secretary of .State for the Colonies. He subsequently
discovered the beautiful valley of the Wannon, lying to the eastward of the Glenelg ;
and on the 20th of August Mitchell and his party came in sight of the sea, and found
to their immense astonishment " a considerable farming establishment belonging to the
Messrs. Henty," from whom the travellers met with a hospitable reception. We need
not follow the energetic explorer on his homeward way. E^nough to say that he varied
his route, crossing a gap in the Australian Pyrenees, and skirting the Great Dividing
Range, he ascended Mount Macedon, in order that he might obtain a view of Port
Phillip, passed over the site of the present town of Castlemaine, and reached the River
Murray on the 1 7th of October.
Speaking of the view from the summit of the mountain, upon which he bestowed
the name it bears, Major Mitchell says, " I could trace no signs of life about this
harbour {i.e.. Port Phillip). No stock-yards, cattle, nor even smoke, although at the
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
329
highest northern point of the bay I saw a mass of white objects, which might have
been either tents or vessels." Yet, fifteen months before, a settlement had been already
effected near the shores of the Bay, and the foundations had been laid of the future city
of Melbourne, and the capital of one of the most flourishing of the Australasian colonies.
The Arrival of Batman.
As early as the month of January, 1827, Messrs. J. T. Gellibrand and John Batman,
of Launceston, Van Diemen's Land, solicited a grant of land at Western Port, with a
view to establishing a pastoral settlement there ; but the application was curtly refused
by Governor Darling, to whom it had been
addressed. The project was allowed to slumber
until the year 1835, when a vessel was char-
tered at Launceston, and this same John Batman,
accompanied by seven aborigines from Sydney,
proceeded to Port Phillip, and landed there on
the 26th of May. Palling in with some natives,
Batman succeeded in disarming their fears and
conciliating their confidence by numerous pre-
sents and reiterated assurances of his pacific
intentions ; the blacks he had brought with him
acting as interpreters. He then asked to be
conveyed to the chiefs of the tribe, with whom
he spent four-and-twenty hours negotiating for
the purchase of a tract of their country in order
to stock it with sheep and cattle. The proposi-
tion is alleged to have been agreeably received
and cheerfully acquiesced in ; the boundaries of
the land to be purchased were defined ; and on
the day following Batman and the chiefs pro-
ceeded to mark the trees at each an^le of the
estate of half a million acres, which was to be
conveyed to the purchaser in consideration of
twenty pairs of blankets, thirty tomahawks, one
hundred knives, fifty pairs of scissors, thirty
looking-glasses, two hundred handkerchiefs, one
hundred pounds of Hour and six shirts, to be
paid down at once ; and an annual tribute of one hundred pairs of blankets, one hundred
knives, one hundred tomahawks, fifty suits of clothing, fifty looking-glasses, fifty pairs of
scissors and five tons of flour. A contract of sale was drawn up in due form on the 6th
of June, 1835— the original document is in the Melbourne Public Librar> — and possession
was given of this magnificent principality by the chiefs delivering to Batman a sod of earth,
after which he returned to Launceston, leaving three white men and five of the Sydney
natives to lay out a garden, and commence the erection of a house " near the harbour."
A second conveyance had been executed, covering one hundred thousand acres of land
WILLIAM BUCKLEY.
330 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
belonjjing to a tribe named Iramoo and Gccloiig, professing to be the lords of an
extensive domain encircling Corio Bay. Had these ambitious and overreaching transac-
tions been carried through they would have conferred upon Batman and his fourteen
associates — all of them, with one exception, residents in Launceston — boundless affluence ;
for the value of the territory thus acquired can only be estimated at the present time
by scores of millions sterling. This vast estate was to be divided into seventeen equal
parts, two of which were to be awarded to Batman ; and the government of the new
settlement was to be entrusted to Messrs. Charles Swanston, James Simpson and Joseph
Tice Gellibrand, three of the partners in the enterprise, subject to a code of rules
prepared for that purpose. Batman forwarded a detailed statement of his proceedings to
Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, in Van Diemen's Land, who transmitted a copy of it,
together with a draft of the conveyance, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
That gentleman, however, declined to confirm the grant, but promised that the serious
consideration of the Home Government should be given to the subject of forming a
settlement in the vicinity of Port Phillip. Meanwhile, Mr. J. H. Wedge, one of
Batman's partners in the undertaking, and formerly an officer in the Survey Department,
had made an examination of the country surrounding Port Phillip, and had extended his
investigations to a distance of from twenty-five to forty miles inland, laying down the
various eminences, as well as the rivers and creeks, upon a chart.
The Story of Bucklkv.
In spite of the friendly relations which Batman believed he had established with the
natives, some of them had concerted an attack upon the little party he had left behind
him, and it was only frustrated by the interposition of a white man who had lived
among them for a period of thirty-two years. This was William Buckley, the narrative of
whose career constitutes one of the most romantic . episodes in the early history of
Victoria. He was one of the convicts who had been landed from the Calcutta at Sorrento
m 1803. and who had made his escape into the bush with two other men under sentence,
both of whom are believed to have perished. He was a man of commanding stature-
six feet five inches in height without his shoes— and to this circumstance probably,
coupled with the belief that he was mtmrnong guurk—\\^2X is to say, a chieftain who had
been killed in battle and had been resuscitated a white man— he owed his escape from
death. He had been wandering about for a whole year, however, before he fell in with
the natives; and the lonely cavern in which he is reported to have taken refuge at
night is still pointed out as "Buckley's Cave." One of the blacks detected some immense
foot-prints in a sand hummock near the outfall of the River Barwon, and following them
up found the white stranger sunning himself upon the beach after a bath in the sea.
An alarm was given, and Buckley presently found himself surrounded by the whole of
the tribe. -Yon Kondak Baarwon?" asked one of the party. It was the name of a
departed chief. The white man nodded and grunted assent. Other questions were put
to him on the subject of his re-incarnation, all of which he fortunately replied to in the
affirmative,, and he was forthwith admitted a member of the tribe, gradually learning
their language and forgetting his own. They gave him a wife, but she preferred a
lover of her own complexion, and she and her paramour were put to death in conse-
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
331
BUCKLEY S CAVE.
quencc. A second consort was bestowed upon him, bearing the name of Purrantnurnm
Tallarwurnin, but he had no offspring by either wife. It was she, in her widowhood,
who furnished the foregoing particulars of his discovery and adoption. She added that
the children of the tribe always regarded him with awe as a mooroop, or spirit of the
departed ; and that
when vessels touched
at the coast for wood
and water Buckley
avoided making him-
self known to them.
When a wreck occurred
the white stranger and
the other members of
the tribe would acquire
what salvage they
could in the shape of
blankets, axes and use-
ful implements, in the
employment of which
Buckley taught them
to become almost as
expert as himself. So, without seeing the face or hearing the voice of a civilized
being for upwards of thirty years, the bearded giant gradually lapsed into barbarism,
conforming in all things to the habits of his associates ; sharing in their pastimes ;
partaking of their food, and refraining only from the practice of cannibalism. When
he learned that white men had landed in I^ort Phillip he also discovered that some
of the natives, who had been threatened with punishment for stealing an axe, had
resolved on spearing the Europeans. Blood is thicker than water, and Buckley deter-
mined to prevent the attack and to obtain an interview with the strangers. He
intimidated the blacks by representing to them the overpowering numbers of the whites,
and he made a two days' journey for the purpose of discovering who the new-comers
were. His majestic figure, bronzed by exposure to the weather, was rendered more
imposing by his flowing hair, the great sweep of his beard, the growth of three-
and-thirty years ; by the kangaroo-skin which enveloped his sinewy limbs, and by the
native weapons which he carried. He sat himself down in grim silence, and affected to
take no notice of the white men, who were puzzled alike by his features and his
demeanour. But a closer scrutiny of the former left no doubt upon their minds that
he was a European. To the questions which were addressed to him he could make no
answer. All recollection of his mother-tongue seemed to have faded out of his mind ;
nor was it until ten days afterwards that the secret cells of his memory began to be
gradually unlocked, and the language of his childhood and of his early life came slowly
back to him. He had escaped from the short-lived settlement at Sorrento on the 27th
of December, 1803, and on the 28th of August, 1835, he experienced the gratification
of receiving from Governor Arthur a free pardon, which occasioned so much delight and
332 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
excitement to the recipient as to deprive him of the power of utterance for some time
afterwards. It only remains to piece out the story of his life. Buckley was a native
of Macclesfield, where he was born in 1780. He enlisted in the Cheshire Militia, and
thence was drafted into the Fourth Regiment of Infantry, known as the King's Own.
He appears to have taken part in the inglorious Walcheren expedition ; and was tried,
convicted, and sentenced to transportation for having been concerned, it is said, in a
mutiny at Gibraltar. After receiving his pardon Buckley rendered important assistance
to Batman's party as an interpreter, and when Captain William Lonsdale was sent
round from Sydney to the infant settlement with a small detachment of the very regi-
ment to which " the wild white man " had formerly belonged, Buckley entered that
officer's ser\'ice. But dissatisfied with the treatment he received, he quitted Port Phillip
in 1837 and settled down in Van Diemen's Land, where Sir John F"ranklin, who was
then Governor, provided him with suitable employment. There he married a widow with
one daughter, but had no children of his own. In 1852 the Government of that
colony bestowed a pension of twelve pounds per annum on Buckley, to which the
Victorian Government added ten pounds, and he lived to be seventy-six years of age,
his death having resulted from an accident on the 2nd of February, 1856.
During his solitary wanderings Buckley had discovered a cavern on the sea-
shore, in which the lonely fugitive took up his abode, subsisting upon shell-fish,
and gradually acquiring those habits of taciturnity and reserve which clung to him
for the rest of his life. Separated for something like a twelvemonth from all human
intercourse his intellect became permanently enfeebled, and his organs of speech seemed
to be partially atrophied by disuse. When discovered by the natives, in the manner
described, he acquiesced with a dull resignation, if not a placid stupidity, in everything
they assumed or proposed concerning him, whether by word or sign. Yet this very
obtuseness of mind and stolidity of manner wrought with them in his favour, for they
accepted both as the direct consequence and clear evidence of the transmigration of
Kondak Baarzuoiis soul into the body of a white man, a process which, in their opinion,
implied mental and physical degeneration. The first thing which roused him from his
intellectual torpor was a feast, at which certain black men, killed in battle, were served
up as the principal dishes. Against this his emotions and his appetite alike revolted,
and he severed himself for a time from the tribe, taking with him two children — a
blind boy and his sister — whom he had adopted. The latter married, and the former is
said to have been murdered and eaten. Some time afterwards — for Buckley had lost all
memory of dates, and the narrative of his life among the aborigines is a confused and
confusing one — occurred his first marriage, and he appears to have deri\ed a grim satis-
faction from the fact that the wife who deserted him was speared b)- a lover who had
been violently incensed by the coquetry of the sable flirt. Twice only, during the
lengthened period of his association with the blacks, did some faint prospect of escape
present itself. On the first occasion an unknown vessel entered the Heads and anchored
in Port Phillip. Most of the crew landed to obtain supplies of wood and water, and in
their absence a number of natives swam to the ship and helped themselves to whatever
portable articles they could lay their hands on. When the Europeans returned and
discovered their loss they tripped their anchor and hastily departed. Buckley endea-
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA. m
voured to attract their attention from the shore, but was probably mistaken for one of
the marauders, and his signals were disregarded. On another occasion a boat was
stranded in the harbour, and the two sailors who were in it were kindly treated by the
natives of his own tribe, but were afterwards speared by those of the Yarra tribe. He
had been also told by his black companions of a third vessel having entered Fort
Phillip, of a boat-load of seamen having landed, and of two men having been tied to
a tree and shot. But statements like these must be received with a certain amount of
suspicion, owing to the clouded condition of Buckley's faculties ; the man who had lost
the memory of his native tongue had naturally little recollection of past facts. Governor
Bourke, who saw him in 1837, could extract nothing from him but a few monosyllables ;
Captain Lonsdale was equally unsuccessful; Mr. J. P. Fawkner called him "a mindless
lump of matter ; " and Mr. George Arden, who wrote the earliest pamphlet published in
the colony (1840), tells us that "Buckley's extreme reserve rendered it almost impossible
to learn anything from him of his past life, or of his acquaintance with the aborigines."
The last glimpse we obtain of him is in Hobart Town, where his gigantic figure was
to be seen almost daily "pacing along the middle of the road with his eyes vacantly
fixed upon some object before him, never turning his head to either side or saluting a
passer by ; and seeming as one not belonging to the world."
John Pascoe Fawkner.
While Batman was negotiating with the tribal chiefs for the acquisition of six
hundred thousand acres of land on the northern and western shores of Port Phillip,
another Launceston man, John Pascoe Fawkner, was organizing an expedition for the
colonization of the same territory. It consisted of Captain Lancey, George Evans,
Robert Hay Marr, W. Jackson, a blacksmith named James, and a ploughman named
Wyse. Fawkner had been on board the Calcutta when Collins had made his abortive
effort at a settlement, and therefore knew something of the harbour. He was an energetic
little man, "whose life in low estate began;" who had fought his way up, and who had
been called upon to " breast the blows of circumstance, and grapple with his evil star."
Self-educated, self-reliant, and self-assertive, he possessed some excellent qualities for
a pioneer ; and he lived to witness the obscure settlement he may claim to have founded
on the banks of the Yarra, grow and ripen into a great city. He had chartered for
his expedition the Enterprise, a fifty-ton schooner, trading from the port of Launceston.
She dropped down the Tamar in the middle of July, 1835, but was detained by foul
weather from putting to sea until the 4th of August. Fawkner was prevented by illness
from accompanying the expedition, the command of which devolved upon Captain Lancey.
After calling at Western Port the vessel entered the Heads on the ■i6th of August, and
carefully feeling her way up the Bay she reached the mouth of the Yarra, and a boat
was sent to explore that stream. It proceeded as far as the site of Melbourne, and
having found a suitable landing-place, where the River widened into a spacious pool below
a ledge of rocks which barred further progress at that spot, the Enterprise sailed up
the Yarra on the 2gth, but mistaking the Saltwater River for the main channel, pursued
a wrong course until the error was discovered and retrieved. On the day following, the
vessel was moored on the north bank of the stream, immediately opposite the present
334
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Customs House in Flinders Street. It was in the early spring, and the scene which
presented itself to the eyes of the new-comers was a charming one. The land rose in
a series of gentle undulations to the northward of the River, and was as lightly timbered
as the pleasure-grounds of a country mansion in
England. Freshened by the winter rains the
green sward was vividly verdant ; and in the far
distance ranges of purple mountains lifted their
massive outlines to the north and east asjainst the
stainless azure of the sky. The banks of the
Yarra were fringed with feathery scrub, and the
THE "ENTERPRISE, AND FAWKNER S
HOUSE ON THE YARRA.
stream itself, as yet untainted by
the sewage of a populous city,
glided downward to the sea in its
pristine freshness and purity. It
was evidently permanent, and there-
fore the future settlement was
assured of an abundant supply of
one of its prime necessities. The
Enterprise landed its cargo, con-
sisting of horses and ploughs, pigs, dogs, farming implements, household furniture
and blacksmith's materials ; tents were pitched ; five acres of land were broken up
and sown with corn; fruit-trees and garden seeds were planted; and the little vessel
was sent back to the settlement at Launceston for supplies of sheep and cattle.
CAPTAIN Lonsdale's house.
\
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
335
Hut in the meantime Batman's party — encamped at Indented Head — had seen the
E7tterp7'isc as she cautiously crept up the Bay, and they hastened to warn the intruders
off the soil, which had been conveyed to the Association. The new-comers disputed the
title of their predecessors, and the latter, forsaking Indented Head, transferred their
camp to an eminence, afterwards
known as Batman's Hill, overlook-
ing the spot of which Fawkner's
party had taken possession. The
Hill itself has long since been
levelled in order to meet the re-
quirements of the great railway
station which now covers its site.
Fawkner came over from Laun-
ceston on the loth of October,
1835, and shifted his quarters to
the south side of the River, where
the writer remembers to have seen
the furrows of a corn-field upon a
low-lying plot of ground at present
occupied by manufactories and
warehouses. Five hundred sheep
and fifty head of cattle arrived
from Launceston in the following
month, and Mr. John Aitken, who
had chartered the schooner Endca-
votir at that port, brought with him a number of sheep, and proceeding in the direction
of Mount Macedon, where a gap which he discovered perpetuates his name, he became
the pioneer of the pastoral industry in that part of Victoria.
In a map delineating Port Phillip Bay, which seems to have accompanied Batman's
letter to Governor Arthur, immediately after the transaction of the former with the
native chiefs, the applicant had marked out a large block of land embracing the whole
of the area now covered by South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and Fisherman's Bend,
as a reserve for a township and other purposes, while the marshy ground, which after-
wards came to be known as Batman's Swamp, he purposed setting apart as a public
common. But when the legality of the purchase of territory from the blacks was
disallowed by the authorities in Van Diemen's Land and at Westminster, and the whole
country was free for occupation, Fawkner, with superior judgment and foresight, chose
the rising ground on the north side of the River as the more eligible site for the rudi-
ments of a township.
Batman, who had returned to Port Phillip from Launceston at the end of April,
1836 — bringing with him his wife and family, Mr. James Simpson, who married his
daughter, and the Rev. James Orton, a Wesleyan minister — fixed his residence on the
hill which afterwards bore his name, opened a store there, and pastured a flock on the
grassy slopes stretching thence to the hollow now known as Elizabeth Street, his shep-
JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER.
336
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
herd's hut being erected on the site now occupied by St. James's Cathedral. Soon
afterwards Mr. James Sutherland arrived from Van Diemen's Land in the Francis Freeling,
with eight hundred sheep, and formed a station in the neighbourhood of Geelong.
By the middle of June the settlement on the banks of the Yarra had assumed
sufficient cohesion and importance to justify its residents in taking some steps for
organizing a form of govern-
ment, or for establishing a
tribunal empowered to settle
any disputes which might
arise among themselves.
Accordingly a public meeting
was held, attended by thirty-
one persons, including
Fawkner, Batman and
Wedge ; and two resolutions
were passed — one appointing
Mr. James Simpson to arbi-
trate between disputants on
all questions excepting those
relating to land, with power
to name two assistants if he
thought proper; and the
other directing that a petition
should be prepared, praying
Governor Bourke to appoint
a resident magistrate at Port
Phillip. This request was
complied with, and when Mr.
George Stewart, ^ho had been designated to fill that office temporarily, arrived from
Sydney, he found that one hundred and seventy-seven persons from Van Diemen's
Land had settled in the district, and were possessed of live stock and other property
to the value of one hundred and ten thousand pounds. During the remainder of the
year 1836 the settlement continued to receive numerous accessions to its population,
and large numbers of sheep and cattle. During this year the first funeral in the
settlement — that of a child named Goodman — took place on Flagstaff Hill.
LORD MELBOURNE.
Captain Lonsdale.
On the 29th of September the Rattlesnake, Captain Hobson, arrived in the Bay,
bringing Captain Lonsdale, who was afterwards to act as resident magistrate. The
harbour was thoroughly surveyed by the commander of the Rattlesnake, and it received
his name in consequence ; one of his lieutenants gallantly bestowing upon Mounts
Martha and Eliza the epithets they bear, in honour of Mrs. Lonsdale and Mrs. Batman
respectively. A survey was soon afterwards made by Mr. Russell and his assistants of
the site of" the present city of Melbourne, a spot which was sometimes spoken of as
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
337
Bearbrass, and sometimes as Dtitergalla, its native name. When a census was taken on
the 8th of November, 1836, the population of Port PhilUp was found to number one
hundred and eighty-six males and thirty-eight females ; while the aborigines within a
circuit of thirty miles around the settlement were ascertained to consist of seven hundred
men, women and children. They composed three tribes — the Wawoorongs, the Boonoorongs
and the Watotirongs. It was with the last-named tribe that Buckley became affiliated, when
he effected his escape from the Calcutta during Collins's stay at Sorrento.
The year 1836 was memorable in other respects. Not only had the pioneers of
settlement signified their desire for orderly rule and self-government, but they had taken
steps to secure for themselves the ministrations of religion, and Divine service was cele-
brated for the first time under a group of trees upon the slope of Batman's Hill, in
the month of April, by the Wesleyan minister previously referred to. Nor were the
spiritual wants of the natives overlooked, for Mr. George Langhorne was entrusted with
the charge of a missionary station which was established on the site of the present
Botanical Gardens, and Mr. John Thomas Smith, subsequently celebrated as the
" Australian Whittington," acted as his assistant. In Mr. Arden's pamphlet some authentic
particulars are given of the appearance of the little township at this date :— " In the six
months which had elapsed since the close of the preceding year (1835), the settlement
had assumed the appearance of a village, several buildings, although of rude construction,
having been erected ; of these
many had their plot of ground
attached. A blacksmith's forge was
at work ; soil fit for the manufac-
ture of bricks had been discovered
and experimentally tried, and up-
wards of fifty acres of rich light
black loam had been brought into
general cultivation." A public-
house erected and occupied by
Fawkner in Collins Street West,
near the corner of what is now
Market Street, may be regarded as
the core and centre of the infant
settlement, which spread thence in
an easterly direction. The cot-
tages, constructed for the most part
of wattle-and-dab, were few and far
between, the thoroughfares were
mere bush-tracks, and the rising
ground eastward of Swanston
Street was a sylvan wilderness. During the rainy season a turbulent creek flowed down
the valley, now marked by the alignment of Elizabeth Street, which separates the two
divisions of the present city ; and the blacks came in and camped and held corroborrees
upon sites now occupied by some of the most important buildings in Melbourne,
CAPTAIN LONSDALE.
JJ
8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
In March, 1S37, the first flock of sheep brought overland from New South Wales
reached the shores of Port Phillip, and it may be interesting to note that the first
sheep-shearing commenced on the 9th of November, 1836, opposite the present race-
course. On the 4th of March the settlement received a visit from Sir Richard Bourke,
who occupied an encampment at the western extremity of the street which bears his
name. Not long after his arrival he experienced a somewhat strong shock of earthquake,
which occasioned some misgivings in his mind as to the expediency of laying out a
town in such a locality. But, as the shock was not repeated, Mr. Hoddle was instructed
to proceed with the survey. By some happy inspiration he gave a width of ninety-nine-
feet to the principal streets, but in deference to the wishes of Sir Richard I^ourke he
made provision for some narrow lanes, to be called mews, intending them as entrances
to the gardens. in the rear of the houses in the main streets. Upon the town itself
was bestowed the name of the English Premier of the day ; the thoroughfares running
east and west receiving their titles in honour of Captain Flinders, Lieutenant-Governor
Collins, Sir Richard Bourke and Captain Lonsdale. That the principal street in the
city should have been called after an officer by whom the settlement of Port Phillip
was so emphatically condemned is another example of the irony of fate. Williamstown
and Geelong were also laid out, the former bearing the name of the reigning sovereign,
while the latter is a corruption of the native name Jillong. On the 30th of April the
first child born in the settlement was baptized by the name of John Melbourne Gilbert ;
and on the ist of June the first land sale held in Melbourne took place, Mr. Robert
Hoddle, the surveyor in charge of the district, performing the duties of auctioneer. The
average price obtained was thirty-five pounds the half-acre allotment ; but five months
later, when a second land sale was held, the price averaged forty-two pounds for the
same area. During his stay in the infant settlement Sir Richard Bourke made two
excursions into the interior of the country, visiting Mount Macedon and Geelong,
bestowing upon the latter the name by which the locality had previously been known
among the natives. In the same year the first steamer, the James Jl'att, entered
Hobson's Bay from Sydney ; and on the 30th of December an overland mail was
established between that city and Melbourne ; an intrepid stock-rider named John liourke
undertaking to carry it on horseback from Yass to Port Phillip. Some tragic incidents
darkened the annals of 1836. Two of the first settlers, Messrs. Gellibrand and Hesse,
endeavoured to explore the Cape Otway Ranges and were never again heard of ; but
long afterwards a skeleton was discovered which was identified as that of Mr. Gellibrand,
from the gold-stopping of one of the teeth in the skull. A bushranger named Cummer-
ford confessed to having, in concert with two accomplices, murdered six bushrangers
while they were a.sleep, on the track between Melbourne and Portland Bay. A police-
sergeant, two constables and a soldier were directed to accompany him to the scene of
the crime for the purpose of verifying his statements. On arrival there they found
neariy two bushels of calcined bones, besides various relics of the murdered men. On
their way homeward one of the constables and the soldier turned back for some tea
which had been left behind, and whilst the .sergeant was making a fire, Cummerford
seized his musket, and shooting the remaining constable dead, made his escape into the
bush, where he baffled the ineffectual pursuit of the sergeant. Two days afterwards.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA. 339
however, this miscreant was captured while attempting to steal a horse, and met at
the hands of the law with the punishment which he had so richly merited.
In the early part of 1838 Messrs. Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney, with a
party of nine men, started on an overland expedition with cattle from a station on the
Murray for Adelaide, discovering and naming en route Lakes Victoria and Bonney, and
after a journey of upwards of three months reached their destination on the 30th of
April. At the beginning of the year Fawkner had commenced the issue of a weekly
newspaper in manuscript entitled the Melbourne Advertiser, which the frequenters of the
hotel were privileged to read ; and in the following March the arrival of a hand-press
and some type from Launceston enabled him to produce a printed journal. This was
styled the Melbourne Daily Neius and Port Phillip Patriot, and was edited for a time
by a brother of Mr. Boucicault, the dramatist. A rival sprang up six months later in
the Port Phillip Gazette, edited by Mr. Arden.
Life was still very insecure in the pastoral districts of the settlement, and on the
iith of April, 1838, as a party of fifteen men, in charge of travelling stock, were
crossing the country from the Broken River to Goulburn, they were attacked in over-
whelming numbers by the natives, and eight of the Europeans were killed by the spears
of their assailants, and most of the others wounded.
Two branches of Sydney banks were established in Melbourne ; the Port Phillip
Bank was likewise instituted ; the first Post Office was opened in a small brick building
somewhat to the westward of what is now Temple Court ; a mail-cart began to travel
between Melbourne and Geelong ; the aborigines were placed under the protection of
Government officers ; the first Roman Catholic clergyman and the first Presbyterian
minister arrived in Melbourne ; Mr. Peter Snodgrass was appointed Commissioner of
Crown I^ands for the Port Phillip District, and the price was raised from five to twelve
shillings an acre ; a general fast was observed on account of a prolonged drought ; the
Melbourne Club was instituted ; the barque Hope arrived from Sydney bringing about
two hundred immigrants, and Captain Lonsdale, on the ist of January, 1839, began to
exercise the functions of police magistrate. By this time the incoherent settlement had
assumed the character of a definite organism, and was already nearly ripe for a
corporate existence.
Governor Latrobe.
On the 4th of February, 1839, Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for the Colonies,
saw fit to appoint Mr. Charles Joseph Latrobe Superintendent of the district of Port
Phillip, an office carrying with it the authority and functions of a Lieutenant-Governor.
Mr. Latrobe was the son of a Moravian minister, and had acquired the reputation of
being an amialjle man of studious habits and philanthropic principles ; and it seems to
have been considered, that having previously identified himself with the cause of negro
emancipation in the West Lulies, he was eminently well calculated to look after the
temporal and spiritual interests of the aborigines in the south-east of Australia. He
arrived with his family in the Pyrenees on the 2nd of October, 1839, and shortly after-
wards erected, on a gentle eminence eastward of the city, upon which he bestowed the
name of Jolimont, a wooden house he had brought with him from England. In later
340
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
years, when a more suitable residence was provided for him, JoHmont was tenanted by
the Protestant Bishop of Melbourne. The pleasure-grounds surrounding the house have
been since subdivided, and are now covered by a populous suburb.
Captain Lonsdale was appointed secretary to Mr. Latrobe, and also sub-treasurer at
Melbourne, and it was considered necessary for the more effectual administration of
justice to station a resident judge at Port Phillip. Mr. Justice Wills was selected for
that purpose, and the choice proved to be an unfortunate one, for he was afterwards
removed on account of infirmities of temper, exhibited on the bench. During the month
of May, 1839, the pioneer settler, John Batman, was gathered to his fathers. A simple
obelisk of dressed bluestone was erected to his memory in the year 1881. It stands in
the old Melbourne Cemetery — a place of burial which is now no longer used.
By the end of the year 1840 Governor Gipps was enabled to report to the Colonial
Office that villages had been laid out along the road from Sydney to Melbourne, that
police stations had been formed, and that the route between the two places was as safe and
as easily traversed as any other in New South Wales. The large and fertile province of
Gippsland was discovered and partially explored by Angus McMillan, who started on the
nth of January, 1840, from a station near the Snowy Mountains, accompanied by a stock-
rider and a native, and penetrated to within sixty miles of Wilson's Promontory. On
his return he met Count Strzlecki, who was setting out on a similar expedition. That
gentleman ascended the Murray to its sources in
the Australian Alps, discovered and named Mount
Kosciusko, travelled thence in a south-westerly
direction to Mount Tambo and the Omeo District ;
crossed the Great Dividing Range, and heading for
Western Port passed over and named eight large
rivers ; was compelled to abandon his horses, which
were exhausted ; and, after undergoing the severest
hardships and privations, succeeded in opening up a
magnificent country, covering an area of five thou-
sand six hundred square miles, with two thousand
square miles of coast range and two hundred and
fifty miles of sea-board, rich in natural resources,
remarkable for its picturesqueness and fertility, and
capable of supporting a population of several mil-
lions. It only remains to add — by way of com-
pleting the record of Victorian exploration — that
in 1854 Dr. Baron Ferdinand von Mueller sup-
plemented the important discoveries in the moun-
tainous country to the northward of the Great
Dividing Range by the ascent of Mount Wel-
lington, by exploring the sources of the Mitta Mitta River, and by scaling the two highest
peaks of the Bogong Range, which he named Mounts Hotham and Latrobe respectively.
By an Act of the Imperial Parliament passed in 1842 the inhabitants of Port Phillip
were empowered to send six representatives to the Legislative Council of New South
BATMAiN S MONUMENT.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
341
Wales, and in the same year municipal government was bestowed upon Melbourne. Mr,
Henry Condell was the first Mayor of the town, and he was also chosen to represent
it in Sydney, while Mr. C. H. Ebden and Dr. Alexander Thomson, settlers in Tort
Phillip; the Rev. Dr. Lang, Dr. (now Sir Charles) Nicholson, and Mr. Thomas Walker,
all then of Sydney, were
elected by the voters outside
the metropolis of the district.
Some time previously an agita-
tion had arisen among the
people of Port Phillip for
separation from New South
Wales, and expression was
given to this feeling by Dr.
Lang, who moved a resolution
affirming its necessity in the
Legislative Council on the
20th of August, 1844. It was
negatived, however, by more
than three to one, and the
debate upon it was rendered
somewhat remarkable by a
speech from the present Lord
Sherbrooke, in which he de-
clared his belief that the time
would come when the mother-
country would " knit herself
and her colonies into one
mighty confederacy, girdling
the earth in its whole circum-
ference, and confident against
the world in art and arms."
Sedulously bent upon attaining separation, the electors of Melbourne, having occasion soon
afterwards to choose a fresh representative, selected Earl Grey, the Secretary for the
Colonies, and this argumentitm ad absurdum probably contributed to bring about the
desired object. By way of preparation for it, Her Majesty allowed the settlement
to substitute her own name for that of Port Phillip, and on the 5th of August, 1850,
an Imperial Enactment erected the district into a separate colony, Mr. Latrobe, the
Superintendent of the district of Port Phillip, being appointed its first Governor.
During his term of of^ce two events occurred which rendered the period memorable
m the history of the colony. The first was a calamity which created wide-spread conster-
nation and suffering, while the second filled the whole civilized world with magnified
reports of its actual marvels. The year 1850 had been one of exceptional heat and
drought. Pastures had withered ; creeks had become fissured clay-pans ; water-holes had
disappeared ; sheep and cattle had perished in great numbers, and the sun-burnt plains
GOVERNOR LATROBE.
342 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
were strewn with their bleached skeletons; the very leaves upon the trees crackled in
the heat and appeared to be as inflammable as tinder. As the summer advanced the
temperature became torrid, and on the morning of the 6th of February, 1851, the air
which blew down from the north resembled the breath of a furnace. A fierce wind
arose, gathering strength and velocity from hour to hour, until about noon it blew with
the violence of a tornado. By some inexplicable means it wrapped the whole countr)'
in a sheet of flame — fierce, awful and irresistible. Men, women and children, sheep and
cattle, birds and snakes fled before the fire in a common panic. The air was darkened
by volumes of smoke, relieved by showers of sparks ; the forests were ablaze, and on
the ranges the conflagration transformed their wooded slopes into appalling masses of
incandescent columns and arches. Farm-houses, fences, crops, orchards, gardens, hay-stacks,
bridges, wool-sheds, were swept away by the impetuous onrush of the flames which left
behind them nothing but a charred heap of ruins, and a scene of pitiable desolation.
The human fugitives fled to water, wherever it could be found, and stood in it,
breathing with difliculty the suffocating atmosphere, and listening with awe to the roar
of the elements and the cries of the affrighted animals. Many lives were lost, and the
value of the property and live stock destroyed on " Black Thursday " can only be
vaguely conjectured. I^ate in the evening a strong sea-breeze began to blow, driving
back the heavy pall of smoke that had deepened the darkness of the night, and the
next day dawned upon blackened homesteads, smouldering forests, charred carcases of
sheep, oxen, horses, poultry, and wild animals, and the face of the country presented such
an aspect of ruin and devastation as could never be effaced from the recollection of
those wiio had witnessed and survived the calamity.
The Discovery of Golu.
Four months afterwards men's minds were stirred by an excitement of another kind.
It was announced in the columns of the Poi'i Phillip Gazette that gold had been
discovered in the Plenty Ranges, at no great distance from Melbourne ; and on the
loth of June, 1851, Mr. William Campbell, a settler on the Loddon, found some specks
of gold in quartz upon the station of Mr. Donald Cameron, at Clunes. The news
spread, and hundreds of eager eyes were soon searching for traces of the precious
metal in all the settled districts of the colony. The simultaneousness and magnitude of
the discoveries were perfectly startling. It seemed as if the richest " pockets," the
heaviest nuggets, and the most precious " wash-dirt," had been deposited by a bounteous
Nature so near the surface, that nothing was necessary to get at the gold but the
simplest appliances and the labour of a few days, and, in some instances, of only a few
hours. At Clunes, at Buninyong, at Ballarat, and near most of the creeks in the
valley of the Loddon, men were congregated by hundreds and by thousands. Melbourne
was deserted, and so were the country townships, the sheep-farms and the cattle-stations.
" The sacred thirst for gold " seized upon all classes, and its acquisition levelled all distinc-
tions. Who could be expected to pursue the ordinary occupations of industry, when, by
sinking a hole in the earth for a few feet, he might come upon an old river-bed
glittering with golden sand, or find a " jeweller's shop," packed with nuggets as large
as potatoes, or discover a solid mass of the precious metal, too heavy to be lifted by
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
343
one pair of arms ? The public service was deserted ; the guardians of the peace disap-
peared ; and male and female domestics helped to swell the general stampede. Society
was not merely disorganized, it was dissolved ; and the position of the unfortunate
Governor was one of unprecedented embarrassment. Something like eleven thousand
" BLACK THURSDAY.
people poured into Victoria from South Australia and from Van Diemen's Land, without
reckoning those who crossed the Murray from New South Wales in the second half of
1 85 1. The scenes witnessed on the roads to the principal diggings were of the most
animated character. Every gold-seeker was inspired by a feverish hope ; and, in many
instances, his most sanguine expectations were far surpassed.
Before the end of December, upwards of ten tons of gold had been obtained from
the Victorian gold-fields, and the supply appeared to be inexhaustible, so that no sooner
did the news of these extraordinary discoveries reach Europe and America, than a great
tide of population began to flow outward, in the direction of the new land of Ophir.
Upwards of fifteen thousand immigrants arrived by sea during the latter part of 1851,
ninety-four thousand in the year following, and nearly a quarter of a million in 1853-4-5.
Week after week vessels continued to arrive in Hobson's Bay, landing passengers and
discharging cargo as they best could, for they were usually deserted by their crews as
soon as they dropped anchor. There was no accommodation for a fiftieth part of the
new arrivals in Mell^ourne ; so an encampment, as large as an extensive village, sprang
up on the south side of the Yarra, which became known as Canvas Town, and there,
men, women and children — those who had been gently born and gently nurtured, and
those who had been familiar with a rough life in old countries ; professional men,
artisans, husbandmen from rural England, fugitives from justice in California, political
refugees from France and from Germany, escaped convicts from the other side of the
Strait, and people who had quitted the mother-country with visions of becoming suddenly
544
A USl^RALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
rich upon the Victorian gold-fields — all these were forced into a strange companionship,
and were depressed to the same social level by the force of untoward circumstances. At
the same time a horde of Asiatics descended on the colony from the Straits Settlentents
and from Canton ; and not less than twenty-five thousand Chinamen were allured to the
gold-fields by the widely-spread rumours of their richness.
For a period of ten years the yield of the precious metal was enormous, but it
reached its max/mum only two years after its discovery, when no less than twelve
million six hundred thousand pounds' worth was taken from the soil in the space of
twelve months; while the value of the gold raised from 1852 to i860 inclusive was
upwards of ninety-five millions sterling, the population of the colony in the latter year being
a little over half a million. All the splendid prizes in the captivating lottery of gold-
digging were discovered in the early days. The first large nugget, .weighing one thousand
six hundred and twenty ounces, was unearthed in Canadian Gully, Ballarat, in February,
1853, and was surpassed in weight by another found on Bakery Hill, in the same district,
in June, 1858. This turned the scale at two thousand two hundred and seventeen ounces;
while the heaviest ever found was procured at Mount Moliagul, in the Dunolly District, in
February, 1869; for this weighed two thousand two hundred and eighty ounces. Men mining
on Golden Point, Ballarat, were known to be making as much as from three hundred to
four hundred pounds sterling per day each ; and Governor Latrobe, who visited this spot
in 1 85 1, mentions that he saw eight pounds' weight of gold washed from two tin dishes of
EN ROUTE FOR THE DIGGINGS.
Adapted from a sketch bu F. Gill.
dirt, and heard of a party that had raised sixteen pounds at an early hour of that day,
and had succeeded in obtaining thirty-one pounds before night-fall. But there were many
blanks, and numbers of disappointed diggers betook themselves to their former employ-
ments, at which they found they could earn from a pound to twenty-five shillings per
day. Not a few turned carters, for as much as one hundred pounds sterling per ton was
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE VICTORIA.
345
paid for the transport of stores from the sea-port to the principal gold-fields; and it is
recorded that one publican, owning or controlling as many as a hundred and twenty-two
public-houses, or " shanties," disbursed no less than one thousand five hundred pounds
sterling a week for cartage, during seven consecutive months of 1853. The criminal
element in the population, com-
posed chiefly of convicts who
had escaped from Van Die-
men's Land, became a source
of danger and depredation to
the ccmimunity. On the 2nd
of April, 1852, a gang of these
desperadoes boarded the Nel-
son, lying in Hobson's Bay,
and succeeded in carrying off
gold-dust to the value of
twenty-four thousand pounds ;
escorts were robbed on their
way down from the gold-fields
to Melbourne, and life and
property became so insecure
that diggers slept, and moved
about from place to place, with
loaded revolvers by their side.
Mr. Latrobe was succeeded
as Governor by Sir Charles
Hotham, who arrived in Mel-
bourne on the 21st of June,
1854, and inherited a legacy
of troubles left by his pre-
decessor. The separation of Port Phillip from New South Wales had been attended
by the creation of a Legislative Council, composed of ten nominee and twenty elected
Members. But among the latter there were no representatives of the great mass,, of the
population concentrated on the gold-fields. One of the first acts of this body was to
impose a license fee of thirty shillings per month — which was raised for a time to sixty
shillings — on every person searching for gold. The license was not transferable ; it was
available for use only within half a mile of the police camp from which it had been
issued, and it had to be produced whenever demanded by a police ofiicer. This was the
most irritating circumstance connected with the license, for digger-hunting became a
popular pastime with the young cadets who wore the Government uniform, and was often
practised with a harshness and t)ranny which were altogether indefensible. Every digger
who had neglected to procure or to renew, or who had lost or mislaid, his license, was
liable to be apprehended ; and it was no uncommon spectacle to see fifty or sixty men
handcuffed together like so many felons and dragged to the camp, there to be fined
or otherwise dealt with. An agitation for the suppression of this impost — which was
A HUT AND A STOKE AT THE DIGGINGS.
Adapted from a sketch by F. Gill,
346
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
inequitable in its operation, and was exacted with exasperating insolence of language and
harshness of conduct — was commenced at Bendigo in 1853, and soon spread to the other
gold-fields. Leagues were formed, and the Government, far from exhibiting a conciliatory
spirit, issued an order, in October, 1854, that the police should devote two days a week
to hunting down unlicensed diggers. Nowhere was the public indignation inspired by this
mistaken policy stronger than at Ballarat, and an accident kindled this indignation into
a flame. In a scuffle a digger named Scobie was killed in the Eureka Hotel on
Specimen Hill, kept by one Bentley, who was believed to be implicated in the murder.
The police magistrate, before whom Bentley was brought, acquitted him — under corrupt
influences, it was alleged. Certain it is that he was removed from office ; he afterwards
migrated to British Columbia, embezzled some money there, and committed suicide in
Paris. Indignation meetings were held, and at one of these, on the 12th of October,
the hotel was set on fire and burned down. Bentley himself escaped on horseback.
Three men, not one of whom was concerned in the act, were arrested, and a public
meeting was promptly held, at which resolutions were adopted demanding their release,
and afifirming the right of the people to the exercise of political power, and at the
same time asking for the abolition of the license fee. The three prisoners — Maclntyre,
Fletcher and Westerby — were conveyed to Melbourne for trial, and each was sentenced
to short terms of imprisonment. Another demand was made for their release, but was
refused, and the aspect of affairs was so threatening at Ballarat that two detachments
of infantry were ordered up from Melbourne. They reached that place on the 28th of
November, and were attacked by the diggers who followed them to the camp, from
which a strong body of police made a sortie and drove their assailants back. Two dajs
afterwards the local
authorities ordered
another digger- hunt,
and the military were
called out to support
the police. The dig-
gers resisted, and mat-
ters had now reached
such a pass that they
organized themselves
for an armed defence,
elected Mr. Peter Lalor
as their commander-in-
chief, and entrenched
themselves behind a
stockade close to Eureka Street. On Sunday, the 3rd of December, in the gray dawn
of an Australian summer's day, the military and the police, including a strong body of
cavalry, proceeded to attack the Stockade. Besides Mr. Peter Lalor, who acted as
commander-in-chief to the insurgent miners, the leaders of the so-called rebels were
Frederick Vern, a native of Hanover, an Italian named Carboni Raffaello, Alfred Black,
John Lynch, J. W. Esmond, J. B. Humffray, James H. M'Gill, Curtain, Lesman and
A GOLD ESCORT IN THE FIFTIES.
Adapted from a sketch by F. Gill.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
347
548
A USTRALASIA ILL US TRA TED.
Kenworthy. The diggers who took an active part in the defence of the Stockade
numbered two hundred or thereabout ; and they conducted themselves with great bravery.
The mihtary and poHce numbered two hundred and seventy-six. Of these one hundred
and seventeen, belonging to the Fortieth Regiment, were commanded by Captain Wise
and Lieutenants Bowdler, Hall and Gardyne; sixty-five belonged to the Twelfth Regiment,
under the command of Captain Queade and Lieutenant Paul : the mounted police, led
by Sub-inspectors Furnley. Langley, Chomley and Lieutenant Cossack, numbered .seventy ;
and the foot police, under Sub-inspector Carter, twenty-four.
After several volleys had been fired on both sides, the first line of defence, a rough
barricade, was crossed, and the police sprang over the inner barrier and captured the
flag hoisted by the insurgents. The military followed, and in spite of the gallant resis-
tance offered by the diggers, carried the entrenchment at the point of the bayonet.
During the engagement, which lasted for nearly half an hour, several volleys were fired
on both sides. Captain Wise, of the Fortieth, was mortally wounded; Mr. Peter Lalor '
was left for dead in the Stockade, but escaped with the loss of an arm ; Lieutenant
Paul, of the Twelfth, was severely wounded ; about thirt\- of the insurgents are believed
to have been killed, one hundred and twenty-five were taken prisoners, while the casual-
ties among the military were four dead and many wounded. All the tents witliin the
enclosure were burnt down, and the district was placed under martial law. Upon the ist
of April, 1855, the prisoners were arraigned on a charge of high treason in the Supreme
Court at Melbourne, but the three leading actors in the insurrection, Messrs. Lalor, Vern
and Black, succeeded in evading the vigi-
lance of the police, and the fir'st-named
gentleman, who is only recently deceased,
was for years afterwards Speaker of the
Legislative Assembly of X'ictoria. Public
sympathy was so powerfully enlisted on
behalf of the insurgents, owing to the charac-
ter of the provocation tlic)' had received to
take up arms in resistance to the malad-
ministration of the law, that no jury could
he found to convict th(; men who had been
placed upon their trial. Their defence was
gratuitously undertaken by several of the
leading barristers, and their acquittal was
hailed witli general satisfaction. It was
followed by an amnesty, and the judicious
removal of the causes which had led to the
outbreak. .A commission of inquiry declared
that the diggers had been goaded to insur-
rection by bad laws badly enforced, and recommended the introduction of constitutional
government, with a -broad franchise as the basis of its representative system.
Between the last hours of the year 1855 and the first of the year 1856, Sir Charles
Hotham succumbed to an attack of dysentery, brought on or aggravated by mental worry,
HON. PETER LALOR.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF 1 7C TORI A.
349
and the administration of the Government devolved on Major-General Macarthur. A few
weeks before this event, namely, on the 23rd of November, 1855, a new Constitution,
prepared by the Legislative Council of Victoria, and sanctioned by the Imperial Parliament,
was proclaimed. It established responsible government, and created two Chambers, both
of them elective. The first Cabinet, with Mr. Haines as its chief, took ofifice, and at
the first general election, Messrs. Lalor and Humffray— the latter also one of the insur-
gents at the Eureka Stockade— were returned to the Assembly for the district of Ballarat.
Sir Henry Barkly — Burke and Wills.
Sir Henry Barkly, who had been appointed to succeed Sir Charles Hotham, did not
arrive in the colony until the 23rd of December, 1856, and the first few months of his
residence in Victoria were
darkened b\- a domestic be-
reavement, which occasioned
general sorrow. Lady Barkl)-
was driving out in a pony-
phaeton, when her vehicle was
overturned !))■ a runaway om-
nibus, and slie herself was
violently thrown out. A few
days afterwards she was pre-
maturely delivered of a son ;
the shock had proved too
great for her system ; she
sank under it, and was laid
in the same grave with her
infant. Lad\' Barkly was uni-
versally popular, and the tru-
est sympathy was e.xpressed
on all sides for her discon-
solate husband, who was sur-
rounded at the same time
with the troubles and anxie-
jties of the first ministerial
crisis which had occurred in
the newly-constituted colony.
During the seven years
in which he held office some
radical changes were made by the Legislature in its own Constitution and in the laws of
the c(jlon\-. Manhood suffrage and vote by ballot were instituted, and the property quali-
fication for Members of the Assembly was abolished. Large areas of land were thrown open
for selection, in quantities not exceeding six hundred and forty acres for each person,
and State aid to religion was abrogated. Among the incidents with which Sir Henry
Barkly was personally identified was the memorable Burke and Wills expedition.
SIR CHARLES HOTHAM
o50
A USTRALASIA ILL US TEA TED.
The Royal Society (at that time the Philosophical Institute of Victoria), in.
November, 1857, had taken up the question of exploring the interior of Australia, and
had appointed a Committee to inquire into and report upon the subject. In September,
1858, the sum of one thousand pounds was anonymously offered for the promotion of
this object, on condition that a further sum of two thousand pounds should be obtained
by subscription within a twelvemonth. This amount having been raised in the time
specified, the Victorian Parliament supplemented it by a vote of six thousand pounds,
and an e.xpedition was organized under the leadership of Mr. Robert O'Hara Burke,
with G. J. Landells as second in command; W. J. Wills, surveyor and astronomer; T.
Beckler. medical ofificer and botanist ; L. Becker, artist and naturalist ; C. D. Ferguson
assistant and foreman, and nine associates. Twenty-five camels, twenty-three horses, with
forage, waggons for transport, food, stores and medicine were provided for the explorers,
who started from the Royal Park, Melbourne, on the 20th of August, i860, amidst the
valedictions of a vast assemblage. The instructions furnished to Burke directed him to
make Cooper's Creek the base of his operations — to form a depot there, to explore the
countr)- lying between it and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and to follow water-courses and
tracts yielding herbage wherever practicable. At the same time he was entrusted " with
the largest discretion as regards the formation of depots and his movements generally,"
inasmuch as, when the expedition passed beyond the limits of pastoral settlement, it
would be necessarily outside the con-
trol of the Committee. At Menin-
die, on the Darling, a resident
named Wright offered to show
Burke a well-watered track to the
Barcoo, and the leader, with Wills,
six men and some camels, started
on the igth of October. It is be-
lieved that intelligence had reached
him, while he was at Menindie, of
Stuart's intended expedition across
the centre of Australia, and that he
(Burke) was anxious to be the first
to achieve the exploit. At any rate,
he pushed on to Torowoto, on the
thirtieth parallel of south latitude,
whence he sent hack Wright, whom
he had appointed third officer, to
bring up the rest of the expedition
to Cooper's Creek, which Burke
and Wills had reached on the iith
of November. A ddpdt was formed, and for six weeks Burke awaited the arrival of the
rest of the party under Wright. Weary of the delay Burke and Wills, with two
assistants, Gray and King, one horse and six camels, set forth on Sunday, the i6th of
December; leaving four men, six camels, and twelve horses at the depot, in charge of
SIR HENRY BARKLV.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE VICTORIA.
351
William Brahe, pending the arrival of Wright. The latter did not leave Menindie until
the 27th of January, 1861, and on the way up to Cooper's Creek the party was
attacked by scurvy, to which Becker and two of the assistants succumbed. With a
dilatoriness which is quite inexplicable, Wright moved forward, so slowly that on the
29th of April he had not reached the Creek, .but met Brahe and his party returning
thence. Brahe had patiently waited
at the ddpot for four months and
four days, and then, despairing of
Burke's return, had started south-
ward on the 2 1 St of April.
In the meantime Burke and
Wills were pushing across the Con-
tinent, with heroic determination but
injudicious speed. They reached
the tropics on the 7th of Januar)',
1 86 1, and they stood upon the banks
of the Flinders River on the loth
of February. By this time their
provisions were reduced to eighty-
three pounds of flour, thirty-eight
pounds of meal, twelve pounds of
biscuit, the same quantity of rice,
and ten pounds of sugar, and on the
2 1 St of February they began to re-
trace their steps. The whole of
the party soon afterwards fell ill,
and their provisions began to run short. They were obliged to leave one of the
camels behind, and to kill two of the others, as also the horse. During the night
of the 1 6th of April, Gray died, and five days afterwards the three survivors reached
the depot at Cooper's Creek, and found it deserted. On a tree was the direction :
" Dig three feet westward." There they came upon a camel-trunk containing a letter
stating that Brahe and his party had left the dcpdt on that very day. Even then,
so leisurely did the latter move, if Burke, after a night's rest, had followed them
up, he would have overtaken them, or failing that would have met them returning to
Cooper's Creek ; for Brahe and Wriglit went back to the dt!p6t, arrived there on the
8th of May, and never thought of looking to see if the buried provisions had been
disturbed. Had they done so they would have found a letter from Burke stating that
he and his companions had started off in the direction of Mount Hopeless sixteen days
previously. Baffled in their attempts to reach South Australia by that route, the three
men would have starved, but for the seeds of the nardoo plant, which forms an article
of diet with the natives in the district. Wills struggled back to the dipot on the 30th
of May, buried his journal there, but discerned no traces of the place having been
visited since he left. On rejoining Burke and King, all three met with kindly treatment
from some natives, but fatigue, hunger, and the inclemency of the winter nights had
ROBERT O H.\RA BURKE.
352
^ US TRALASIA ILL US TRA TED.
told fearfully on the explorers. Wills was the first to succiimti, and faced his death
with wonderful cheerfulness and serenity. A few days afterwards, Burke, feeling his end
approaching, begged King to remain with him to the last, and to leave his corpse
unburied with his pistol in his hand. His release occurred on the following morning,
and poor King was left alone. He set out in search of a native camp, and after
wandering about for some days was fortunate enough to find one, and to meet with a
hospitable reception. This was towards the end of June, before which Wright had
reached the Darling, and sent despatches to the Exploration Committee in Melbourne
explaining the position of affairs. Five relief parties were promptly organized, and started
from different points of the Continent in search of the missing men. One of these
parties (led by Mr. A. W. Howitt, a son of William and Mary Howitt), started in
June, 1861, to reach the Barcoo from Menindie, gained that River on the 8th of
September, and a week afterwards succeeded in finding King under the following circum-
stances, the particulars of which are derived from the M.S. diary of Mr. Edwin j.
Welch, surveyor to the Victorian Contingent Exploration Party, as it was called. On
the morning of Sunday, the 15th of September, as the party were proceeding along the
banks of a creek, their attention was attracted by the shouts and gesticulations of a
large body of natives on the other side, who were pointing down the creek, where
several other blacks appeared to be
awaiting the arrival of the ex-
plorers. On approaching them Mr.
Welch was startled by observing
what appeared to be a white man
among them. " Gi\ing my horse
his head," he writes, " I dashed
down the Ixmk towards him, when
he fell on his knees in the sand
for a few moments in the attitude
of prayer. On reaching him I hur-
riedly asked, 'Who, in the name of
wonder, are you ?' and received the
reply, ' I am King, sir, the last man
of the exploring expedition.' The
party having come in, we halted and
camped. King was put in a tent
and carefully attended to, and by
degrees we got his story from him."
The emaciated surxivor of the
disastrous enterprise is described as
looking more like an animated skeleton when he was found than anvthint,^ else, and as
resembling a blackfellow in almost everything but colour. His narrative was a truly
pathetic one. The three explorers on leaving the dcpdt at Cooper's Creek took with
them the two camels, both of which, succumbing soon afterwards to privations and fatigue,
Their own provisions were speedily exhausted ; their ragged clothing
W. J. WILLS.
had to be shot.
HISTORICAL RFA'IEW OF VICTORIA.
553
afforded them an insufficient protection against the low temperature to which they were
exposed at night ; and their ijodies (enfeebled by the meagre and innutritious food
derivable from the seed of the nardoo, pounded into powder, and then baked), were
incapable of offering any effectual resistance to disease. Wills was the first to feel the
approach of death, and begged of
Hurke and King to seek for the
blackfellows as their only chance of
salvation by procuring food. They
did so, although reluctant to leave
their comrade
in a position
so critical,
and after a
weary and in-
effectual jour-
ney of from
twelve to fifteen miles Rurke felt himself too
much exhausted to proceed any further. In
the night he was conscious that his end was
near, gave his last instructions to his faithful
companion, and about eight o'clock in the morn-
ing of the 29tli of June breathed his last, and King was left alone.
I' aim ant! famishing, the Ijrave survivor, determined to persevere in his efforts to
procure some food for Wills, was fortunate enough to find a large supply of nardoo
in a deserted _<^itiiya/i, with whicli lie retraced his steps to where he had left the second
of his leaders. I'our days had been unavoidably consumed in going ancf coming, and
poignant were the grief and dismay of the forlorn wayfarer on discovering that he had
returned to a corpse. King remained with it, having for a fortnight no other com-
panions but his own sad thoughts, and then covering up the emaciated body as best
he could, he set out in .search of a tribe of black.s. On finding one he was at first
kindly received, but was presently regarded as a burdensome encumbrance. He continued
354
^ USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
to cling to them, however, with all the pertinacity of despair, until at last he came to be
looked upon with feelings of compassion, and was tolerated as a poor dependent. Thus,
from the middle of July until the 15th of September, John King lived the life of the
aboriinnes, buoyed up by the hope that his fellow-colonists would not suffer him to
perish in the wilderness, but would rescue him sooner or later. The narrative would be
incomplete if we omitted to mention that the kindly natives were liberally rewarded by
the Victorian Government for the shelter and protection they had afforded to the sole
survivor of the expedition.
After the remains of Wills and Burke had been found and buried, the Contingent
Expedition started on the return journey as far as Menindie, whence Mr. Welch,
deputed by his leader to conduct King to Melbourne, set out, while Mr. Howitt
remained in camp to rest his men and camels before proceeding further south. Mr.
Howitt was subsequently instructed to revisit Cooper's Creek and bring back the bones
of the heroic explorers, in order that they might receive a public funeral, which proved
to be one of the most impressive spectacles ever witnessed in the capital of Victoria.
Large sums of money were voted to the nearest of kin of Burke and Wills, and
an annuity was settled on King, which he did not live many years to enjo\-, his
constitution having been shattered
by the privations and hardships he
had undergone ; while the heroic
exploit of the two explorers was
commemorated by bronze statues of
the two men, modelled and cast by
the late Charles Summers, and
erected in one of the principal
thoroughfares of Melbourne, the
more 'important incidents in which
the leaders had figured being com-
memorated by bronze bas-reliefs
on the plinth.
The other search expeditions
proved to be the means of adding
largely to our knowledge of the
interior of the Continent, and of
opening up to pastoral settlement
enormous areas of country previ-
ously believed to be deserts.
Flocks and herds now graze in
the immediate neighbourhood of
the spot where Burke and Wills perished, and the names of Landsborough, Walker
and McKinlay, like that of Mr.. Alfred Howitt, will ever be honourably associated
with those of the heroic men who have just been mentioned as the pioneers of
mdustrial progress and civilization in the heart of this Continent, and whose labours
have assisted so materially in its development. Nor must we omit to mention the name
JOHN KING.
O
n
S
D
O
M
►J
<
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
355
of the donor of the thousand pounds, which gave the first impulse to the work of
exploring the interior. It was Mr. Ambrose Kyte, a self-made citizen of Melbourne.
From the Administration of Governor Darling.
The period during which Sir C. H. Darling represented Her Majesty in Victoria,
1 863- 1 866, was an exceedingly troubled one, as it was that of an angry and protracted
conflict with respect to the future fiscal policy of the country, in which a majority of
the people and the Legislative Assem
bly espoused the cause of Protection,
while a large and influential minority
and the Legislative Council sought
to maintain that of Free Trade. A
Bill imposing numerous customs
duties of a protective character was
passed by the Lower and rejected by
the Upper House. The measure was
then tacked on to the Appropriation
Bill, which was in consequence thrown
out by the Council. The Govern-
ment proceeded to collect the duties
on the authority of the Assembly,
and as no funds were available for
the Public Service, the Executive
Council, with the approbation of the
Governor, borrowed money from one
of the banks and confessed judgment
as often as the loan reached forty
thousand pounds. The collection of
customs duties on a mere resolution of the Assembly was pronounced by the Supreme
Court to be illegal, and in another session the Tariff Bill, severed from the Appropriation
Bill, was again passed by the Lower and again thrown out by the Upper House. A
dissolution followed, and the new Assembly numbered fifty-eight Protectionists to twenty
Free-traders. That Chamber for a third time passed the measure in controversy, which was
for a third time rejected. The Ministry resigned, and Mr. Fellows, as leader of the Oppo-
sition, formed an Administration and asked for a dissolution, but the Governor would
neither consent to grant it, nor to see the Chief Secretary. In the meantime the salaries
and wages of every person in the service of the Crown had fallen ten weeks in arrear ;
the late Chief Secretary, Sir James M'Culloch, had returned to office, and a third
session of Parliament was held, in which the Tariff Bill was passed through all its
stages, and sent up to the Council with a preamble asserting the absolute and exclusive
right of the Legislative Assembly to grant supplies. This was objected to by the Upper
House as inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution Act, and a con-
ference was agreed to, when, the obnoxious portions of the preamble having been
withdrawn, the measure was passed through all its stages, as also the Supply Bill, and
THE GRAVE OF BURKE AND WILLS IN THE
MELBOURNE CEMETERY.
356
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED,
the crisis terminated. Its conclusion was precipitated by the arrival of the mail at
Adelaide, bringing the intelligence of the recall by Her Majesty of Sir C. H. Darling,
on the ground that he had not maintained that strict neutrality during the political
crisis which, as a constitutional Governor, it was incumbent upon him to observe. His
departure from Melbourne was made the occasion of a great public demonstration on
the part of his political friends, and the Assembly afterwards voted Lady Darling twenty
thousand pounds of the public money as a solatium for her husband's recall. The Bill
for the appropriation of
this amount did not
meet with the concur-
rence of the Legislative
Council. An unsuccess-
ful attempt was made
by the Assembly to
force the Upper House
to acquiesce in it by
means of a tack, and
another dead-lock en-
sued. Then came the
news of Sir Charles
Darling's death in Eng-
land, and Mr. Fellows
proposed that an an-
nuity should be granted
to Lady Darling — a
suggestion which met
with the approbation of
all parties, and thus the
crisis came to an end.
The Rt. Hon. J. H.
T. Manners-Sutton, who
afterwards became Vis-
count Canterbury by the
death of his father, as-
sumed the Governorship
of Victoria on the 15th
of August, 1866, and
held it until the 2nd
of March, 1873. During his term of office there was a partial lull in the vehemence of
party warfare ; the fiscal policy of the country had been settled, the revenue was generally
prosperous, manufacturing enterprise underwent a considerable expansion, the railway sys-
tem of the colony was being steadily developed, and the absence of any violent strife in
politics, after the settlement of the exciting " Darling Grant " question, proved to be
conducive to the welfare and progress of all classes of the community. There were, it is
THE MONUMENT TO BURKE AND WILLS.
I
HISTORICAL REVIEW QE VICTORIA.
357
%
£
¥
rf* ». r^^
true, six changes of Ministry in less than seven years, but the earth continued to
" bring forth its kindly fruits in due season " notwithstanding, and the beneficial opera-
tions of human industry remained unaffected by the substitution in the Cabinet of one
set of men for another. One measure of more than ordinary importance received the
Royal assent at the hands of Viscount Canterbury. This was the Education Act of
1872, drafted by Mr.
Wilberforce Stephen.
Two systems, the na-
tional and denomina-
tional, had Ijcen pre-
viously in operation.
These were abolished
by the law which came
into force on the ist
of Januray, 1873, its
fundamental principle
being gratuitous, secu-
lar and compulsory
instruction up to a
certain standard.
During the first twelve
years of its operation
there was an increase
of seventy-two per
cent., in the number
of schools opened ; of
seventy-four per cent,
in the number of in-
structors ; of sixty-
three per cent., in
that of the scholars
on the rolls ; of seven-
ty-six per cent., in
their average attend-
ance ; and of sixty-six
per cent., in the esti-
mated average num-
ber of distinct children
in attendance.
The visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Victoria occurred during Viscount Canterbury's
term of office, and called forth demonstrations of loyalty and a display of enthusiasm in
which the inhabitants of all parts of the colony participated. He laid the first stone of
the new Town Hall in Swanston Street, and also of a spacious hospital on the St. Kilda
Road, near the city, which, in his honour, received the name of the Alfred Hospital.
THE DISCOVERY OF JOHiN' KING BY E. J. WELCH.
358
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Sir George Ferguson Bowen succeedeel Viscount Canterbury, and took office on the
31st of March. 1873. He, too, soon found himself embroiled in political troubles. The
old feud between the two Houses of Parliament had slumbered, but had not ceased.
They had differed on the subject of payment of Members. On two occasions the Upper
House had acquiesced in a measure of
this kind to be operative for three
years, but in 1877, at the beginning of
the third session of the Parliament, a
new Ministry, at the head of which
was Mr. Berry, backed by a powerful
majority, announced that it did not in-
tend to introduce a specific measure
for the renewal of this payment, but
would tack the item to the Appro-
priation Bill. It did so, and the Council
set the Bill aside. Thus there were
no funds available for the payment of
public servants, and on the 8th of
January, 1878, which was thenceforward
known as " Black Wednesday," a notice
appeared in the Government Gazette
dismissing the Heads of Departments,
together with the Judges of County
Courts, Courts of Mines, Courts of
Insolvency, Police Magistrates, Crown
Prosecutors, and a number of other
functionaries. The proceeding was ad-
mitted to be a "revolutionary" one, and its effect on the community, by impairing confi-
dence and inspiring alarm, was disastrous. Property depreciated in value, business underwent
a sudden contraction, there was a considerable exodus of capital and labour to a neigh-
bouring colony, and party 'feeling was greatly exacerbated by the extreme measures
resorted to by the Government. On the 28th of May the Council passed a separate
Bill for the. payment of Members, and also an Appropriation Bill with the tack omitted.
In the Assembly soon afterwards a measure was introduced which virtually deprived the
Upper House of most of its power as a co-ordinate branch of the Legislature, and intro-
duced the principle of the plebiscite. It was thrown out by the Council, and the Lower
House voted five thousand pounds sterling to enable Mr. Berry and a colleague to proceed
to England for the purpose of conferring with the Secretary of State for the Colonies on
the subject of the constitutional difficulties of the colony. On the 4th of December Sir
George Bowen received a despatch announcing his recall, and informing him that the
Marquis of Normanby had been appointed as his successor. His Lordship assumed office
on the 27th of February, 1879. In the meantime Messrs. Berry and Pearson had
proceeded to England to invoke Imperial interference in the political troubles of the
colony. But Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, who was at that time at the head of the
GOVERNOR SIR CHARLES H. DARLING.
r
f
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA. 359
Colonial Office, had already signified that, in his opinion, no sufficient case had been
made out for the intervention of the British Parliament, and to this opinion he
continued to adhere. The right of self-government had been conferred upon the colony
of Victoria, and it was for her to work out her own constitutional problems. He
advised the Assembly not to introduce foreign elements into Supply Bills, and he
considered that the Council in such a case was not likely to reject them. The despatch,
which was shown to Messrs. Berry and Pearson before its transmission to the Governor,
concluded by stating that the Imperial Parliament would never alter the Constitution of
Victoria at the request of one House only. After this the political effervescence, which
had lasted with little interruption for upwards of a decade, subsided. Parties became
more evenly balanced, and there was less temptation to resort to " the falsehood of
extremes." Happily, moreover, the project of an international exhibition to be held in
Melbourne, as the sequence of that which had been so brilliantly successful in Sydney,
served to divert men's minds from the strife and stress of politics. There had previously
been five industrial exhibitions in the former city. The first two — those of 1854 and 1861
— had been of a purely local character; the others, held in 1866, 1872, and 1875
respectively, were intercolonial. The number of exhibits in 1854 was four hundred and
twenty-eight only; in 1875 't had risen to four thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine,
or, in other words, it had decupled.
Thj; Melbourne International Exhibition.
An Act was passed by the Victorian Legislature in 1878 appropriating the sum of
one hundred thousand sterling for the erection of a building in the Carlton Gardens,
for which the designs prepared by Messrs. Reed and Barnes were accepted by the
Royal Commission appointed to conduct the undertaking. It was found necessary to sup-
plement the space covered by the main building by the erection of two annexes, and
in the end the total cost of the structure amounted to upwards of a quarter of a million
sterling, which represented five per cent, of the current revenue of the colony. The
fagade facing the Carlton Gardens has a frontage of five hundred feet ; the dome has
an elevation of two hundred and twenty feet, and the two towers which flank the southerrt
entrance rise to a height of one hundred feet. The eastern and western fa9ades are four
hundred and sixty feet in length. The principal edifice is cruciform, and the dome rises
from the intersection of the naves and transepts. Both the drum and the cupola are
octagonal, each having an internal diameter of sixty feet, while the apex of the dome is
one hundred and sixty-five feet above the floor. At the extremity of the western nave
an organ was erected by Mr. Fincham, a local builder, at a cost of five thousand pounds.
The space covered by the main structure is less than one-fifth of the area embraced by
the annexes, which were less substantially built ; but even then they were not more than
adequate for tlie immense volume of exhibits which poured in from all parts of the
world. Australia may be said to have been practically unknown to the great bulk
of the people of Europe until the International Exhibition in Sydney opened their
eyes to the territorial and commercial importance of these colonies, the generally
prosperous circumstances of their inhabitants, the character and variety of the natural
resources of the country', and the magnitude of the markets, which the rapid increase
36o
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
of population would eventually open up for the manufactured products of the old world,
and more especially for those articles of luxury, which are the outgrowth of the complex
civilization, and the artificial wants of societies, which have enjoyed many centuries of wealth
and culture. Hence, every nation in central, western and southern Europe — France, Belgium,
Germany, Holland, Austria, Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Switzerland -was repre-
sented at the Melbourne International Exhibition; as well as the United States, India,
Mauritius, Japan, China and the
South Sea Islands, together with
the whole of the Australasian
Colonies. Nor was the display
limited exclusively to the pro-
ductions of commercial industry,
for the galleries in the principal
buildina^ were filled with marble
and bronze statuary, and with oil
paintings and water-colour draw-
in<rs from the chief art centres
of Europe. Great Britain, France,
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Holland
and Austria, all contributed to
render this department of the
Exhibition particularly attractive,
the aggregate result being a col-
lection of fifteen hundred works
of art, irrespective of a large
number of pictures, many of them
highly meritorious, sent in by
Australian artists.
The Melbourne International Exhibition was opened on the ist of October, 1880, by
the Marquis of Normanby, in the presence of the Governors of New South Wales,
South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, the commanders of the British and
foreign war-ships lying in the Bay, and the principal personages of the colony. The day
had been proclaimed a public holiday, Melbourne was fairly decorated for the occasion,
and nothing had been neglected that was calculated to heighten the festive and picturesque
character of the ceremonial. Sir W. J. Clarke, as the President of the Commission, read
the address prepared for the occasion — after the performance of a cantata, specially com-
posed by M. Leon Caron ; the words having been written for it by Mr. J. W. Meaden.
A telegram was dispatched to Her Majesty the Queen announcing the successful opening
of the Exhibition.
To the native-born population of the colony such a display of the products of the
looms, factories and work-shops of Europe and the East proved a revelation. It was
indeed an illustrated lesson-book of economic geography and industrial development, and
it brought about quite a revolution in public taste, more especially as regards household
furniture and decoration. It created a demand for elegant and artistic cabinet work.
VISCOUNT CANTERBURY.
HISTORICAL REVIEW OE VICTORIA.
361
ceramics, hangings and metal ornaments, and many British and foreign houses established
branches in Melbourne for the purpose of supplying that demand ; while it also stimulated
local ingenuity, inventiveness and enterprise, and supplied higher standards of judgment
and comparison to colonial artificers than those previously accessible.
During the seven months the Exhibition was open the admissions of all classes
numbered one million three hundred and nine thousand four hundred and ninety-six, the
receipts amounted to fifty thousand pounds, and the deficiency was covered by a sum
of about six thousand pounds. It closed in May, 1881, and after all the exhibits had
been removed, and the annexes disposed of to the Railway Department, the building was
handed over to the control of a body of trustees in order that it might be applied to
purposes of popular instruction and recreation.
The only other important event which occurred during the time the Marquis of
Normanby was Governor of Victoria, was a reform in the Constitution of the Legis-
lative. Council. This was effected
in 1 88 1. It increased the num-
ber of Members from thirty to
forty-two, lowered the property
qualification required from them,
abbreviated the tenure of their
seats, and widened the electoral
basis uj3on which that House
rests ; any person rated on a
freehold of the annual value of
ten pounds, or a leasehold of the
annual value of twenty-five pounds,
being entitled to exercise the
franchise for the Legislative Coun-
cil. The same year may be said
to have witnessed the termination
of that epoch of political Sturm
und Drang which the colony had
been passing through, with brief
intermissions, for a period of
thirty years. All the burning
questions had burnt themselves
out ; and after the overthrow of
the third Berry Administration in July, 1881, and the advent to office of Sir Brj'an
O'Loghlen— who announced a policy of " peace, progress, and prosperity " — there was a
revival of confidence, and a general feeling that better times were at hand ; and this
feeling, which events were beginning to justify, was strengthened by the formation in
1883 of a coalition Government, comprising the leading members on both sides of the
Assembly. This was sufficiently strong in Parliamentary support, and in the encourage-
ment which it received from public opinion outside, to apply itself to the preparation
and passage of measures of great public utility. One of these enabled the creation
THE MARQUIS OF NORMANBY.
362 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
of a Harbour Trust, while another vested the administration of the whole of the railways
in \ictoria in a Hoard of Commissioners, three in number ; a Chairman for that Board
having been procured from England, in the person of. Mr. Speight, a gentleman who
had acquired his valuable training and experience in the management of one of the
great trunk-lines in the mother-country. Under the prudent and commercial system of
working the railways introduced by these gentlemen, the receipts from those under-
takings have not merely sufficed to defray the interest on the loans contracted for their
construction, as well as the working expenses, but have yielded a small surplus to the
general revenue. As the removal of the railways from political influence had been
found to be attended by such beneficial consequences, the same method of administration
was resorted to for the whole of the Public Service of the colony ; and an Act was
passed by which a Board of Commissioners was instituted for this purpose also, so as to
remove appointments and promotions out of the hands of the Ministry for the time
being. The failing health of both the Marquis and Marchioness of Normanby induced
His Excellency to apply to the Secretary of State for the Colonies to be relieved from
duties which were beginning to press too severely upon him ; and on the i8th of April,
1884, the Marquis was authorized to relinquish his high trust into the hands of Sir
William Stawell, the Chief Justice, who acted as Governor until the arrival of Sir Henry
Brougham Loch in the following July. The new Governor had held for many years a
similar appointment in the Isle of Man, where His Excellency and Lady Loch acquired
a high degree of popularity. They cordially accepted the duties and responsibilities as
well as the honours of their new position ; and were peculiarly well qualified, both
by character and by temperament, for the leadership of society in this distant land.
On the 1st of August, 1888, the Government celebrated the Centenary of the
settlement of Europeans in Australia by a second Exhibition ; which proved, especially
from an artistic standpoint, one of the most successful of its kind ever held beneath
the Southern Cross ; as a world's fair it challenged comparison with even those of
many of the established countries of the Old World ; while as a means of celebrating
the anniversary of the landing of Captain Phillip upon the shores of the Continent, and
the first rudimentary efforts at colonization, it outshone all the various attempts to render
the year a memorable one to those Australians who had reached a period in their
country's development, from which the struggles and the triumphs of a century might be
contemplated. At the beginning of the year 1889 Sir Henry Brougham and Lady Loch,
with their family, paid a visit to England, their departure being marked by a banquet
tendered to the Governor by 4;he citizens of Melbourne. On the day of the Arcadia's
departure immense crowds gathered at the Williamstown Pier, and testified to His
Excellency's popularity by a genuinely enthusiastic valediction. The day following, the
9th of March, Sir William C. F. Robinson was sworn in as Acting-Governor, and on
the same day the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition was open to the public
for the last time. Sir Henry Loch returned to the colony on the i8th of October, but
left again for England on the 15th of the following month. During his brief stay in
Melbourne a number of farewell festivities was tendered to the Governor by the people of
the colony and manifested the estimation in which he was held. Lady Loch was no less
popular, and before returning to England with her husband, by the Damascus, she was
I
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA.
363
the recipient of a farewell address, together with a diamond souvenir, from the ladies
of Melbourne. On the 15th of the month Sir William C, F. Robinson was again
sworn in as Acting-Governor, but on the 28th the Earl of Hopetoun arrived in the
colony, and was accorded one of the most enthusiastic receptions that ever greeted the
a
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o
z
o
H
J
<
o
z
a
Z
o
X
X
H
364 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
advent of an Australian Governor; on the 4th of December His Excellency held his
first levee in Melbourne, and established the basis of a popularity which has in no
respect diminished during the period he has represented Her Majesty in the colony.
The Colony of Victoria in 1890.
It is but little more than half a century since Major Mitchell crossed this colony
from the Murray to the sea ; found an infant settlement established in Portland Bay ;
and discovered from the summit of Mount Macedon, on his return, something that
looked like tents pitched on the site now occupied by the city of South Melbourne.
This may be a fitting place, then^ to pause and inquire what has been accomplished
since 1836. Over a million persons of European birth or descent inhabit the country of
which that explorer has left us such glowing descriptions.
The metropolis of the colony, with its belt of suburbs, which include three cities
and fourteen other municipalities, contains within a ten-mile radius a population of nearly
four hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. A Government, based on manhood suffrage,
administers an annual revenue of over eight millions sterling ; and the laws of the com-
munity are enacted by two Legislative Chambers, both of them elective. The principle
of self-government is so widely ramified that the local affairs of upwards of one hundred
and twenty shires, and sixty cities, towns and boroughs are managed b)- bodies chosen
for that purpose by the rate-payers, and invested with the authority to levy and collect
the funds necessary to be expended on works of public utility.
Of the fifty-six million two hundred and forty-five thousand seven hundred and sixty
acres of land comprehended within the limits of the colony, about fourteen million acres
have passed into private ownership, and something like eight million acres are in process
of alienation. Another twenty-one million acres are occupied as squatting runs, or under
grazing rights. The extent of land under cultivation may be estimated at two million
five hundred and sixty-five thousand acres, yielding between nine and ten million bushels
of wheat, about three million bushels of oats, two million bushels of barley, one hundred
and sixty thousand tons of potatoes, and four hundred thousand tons of hay, besides
garden produce, fruit and hops. But, of course, these returns are liable to great fluctua-
tions from year to year ; the aggregate value of the whole exceeding a sum not less
than six million pounds sterling. Upon farms and stations, upwards of eleven million
sheep, one million three hundred and eighty thousand head of cattle, and over three
hundred thousand horses are being depastured. The annual "clip" of wool may be taken
at seventy million pounds weight ; and the total value of pastoral and dairy produce,
one year with another, will be found to average ten million pounds sterling.
Exclusive of flour-mills, breweries, distilleries, woollen mills, brick-yards, potteries, soap
and candle works, tobacco and cigar factories, tanneries, fellmongeries and wool-washing
establishments, there are close upon three thousand manufacturing establishments in the
colony, employing fifty thousand men, women and children, operating upon raw material
of the annual value of eight million pounds, and turning out products exceeding thirteen
million pounds in value. Including manufactories of all kinds the total number is three
thousand one hundred and fifty-four, employing over fifty-six thousand hands ; and the
approximate value of buildings, land, and machinery and plant is close upon fifteen
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA,
365
million pounds sterling. The gold raised reaches an average of eight hundred thousand
ounces, of the value of four million pounds ; and the total contributions of Victoria to
the world's stock of this precious metal exceeds fifty-six million ounces, valued at two
hundred and twenty-four million pounds. The combined import and export trade of the
colony represents a yearly
average of over thirty-one
million pounds sterling ;
the bulk of the exports
being articles of Victorian
produce or manufacture.
There are upwards
of twenty-two hundred
miles of railway open for
trafific, and more than ten
thousand miles of tele-
graph in operation.
Nearly sixteen hundred
post-ofifices are scattered
over the face of the
country, and there are
upwards of six hundred
telegraph stations.
The spiritual wants
of the people are minis-
tered to by eleven hun-
dred priests and clergy-
men of various denomi-
nations, and there are as
many as four thousand
three hundred buildings
used for Divine service,
providing accommodation
for eight hundred thousand worshippers. The registered clergy, by returns to the ist of
January, 1888, numbering one thousand one hundred and one, were classified as follows: —
Church of England, one hundred and ninety-seven ; Free Church of England, one ;
Roman Catholics, one hundred and twenty-three ; Presbyterians, two hundred and seven ;
Free Presbyterians, six ; Wesleyans, one hundred and thirty-seven ; Primitive Methodists,
thirty-six ; United Methodist Free Church, twenty-seven ; Congregationalists, fifty-seven ;
Baptists, forty-five ; Bible Christians, thirty-nine ; Evangelical Lutherans, fourteen ; Welsh
Calvinists, nine ; Church of Christ, twenty-one ; Moravians, three ; Protestants unattached,
one ; Unitarian, one ; Union, eight ; Swedenborgian, one ; Society of Friends, two ;
Catholic Apostolic, sixteen ; Christian Israelites, one ; Jews, eight ; Salvation Army, one
hundred and thirty-seven ; Australian Church, one ; and Seventh Day Adventists, three.
The higher education of the inhabitants of the colony is conducted by the Univer-
SIR HENRY BROUGHAM Lucll.
366
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
sity, with its two affiliated colleges, one attached to the Church of England and the
other to the Presbyterian Church. There are, besides, two Roman Catholic colleges,
two Wesleyan colleges, and one, which is conducted by the Presbyterian Church, for
ladies, the Scotch College, and numerous grammar schools and private educational
establishments of a high character ; while the schools controlled directly by the State
furnish gratuitous instruction to upwards of two hundred and thirty thousand children
of both sexes, irrespective of the Roman Catholic schools maintained independently
of the Government ; and of the Sunday schools connected with the principal places
of worship belonging to the various denominations. The number of State schools
in the colony on the 31st of December, 1887, was one thousand nine hundred and
eleven. Of these nineteen were night schools. The number of children enrolled during
this year was two hundred and thirty thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, of whom
one hundred and nineteen thousand five hundred and fifty-nine were boys, and one
hundred and eleven thousand three hundred and twenty-three were girls. The average
attendance was one hundred and twenty-three thousand five hundred and sixty-three. The
educational staff of the State system numbers four thousand two hundred and ninety-six
persons ; of whom one thousand three hundred and seventy-one males, and five hundred
and nine females, were enrolled as head teachers ; one hundred and seventy-one males
and six hundred females, assistant teachers; five hundred and twenty-eight work-mistresses;
and two hundred and nine males and nine hundred and eight females, pupil teachers.
On the same date the private schools of all kinds throughout the colony numbered
seven hundred and forty-nine, and had one thousand eight hundred and twelve teachers,
and thirty-seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-three scholars. This included the six
colleges and grammar schools, with sixty-two masters or professors, and one thousand and
eighty-six pupils.
OFF THE VICTOKIAN COAST.
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA.
THE COAST-LINE.
T~) ELATIVELY to the area of the colony its coast-line is somewhat extended, owing
-*-*- to such spacious indentations as Port Phillip Bay, Western Port and Corner Inlet;
as also to the southward trend of the land at the two points known as Cape Otway
and Wilson's Promontory. Roughly speaking, there are about six hundred miles of sea-
margin between Cape Howe at the eastern, and Mount Ruskin at the western, extremity
of the Victorian Coast. Starting from the boundary line between the colony of New
South Wales and the most easterly of the counties into which its offspring has been
divided, the first object which meets the eye is the rocky island of Gabo, composed of
porphyritic granite, upon which a light-house has been erected, standing about one
hundred and eighty feet above the sea-level. It is therefore sighted by vessels passing
southward before reaching Cape Howe, and by those proceeding northward as soon as
they are abreast of Ram Head. At the point where the submarine cable from the
light-house touches the shore, the coast-line is crescent-shaped, its southern horn resting
on Little Ram Head. Here some bold cliffs, flanking the ocean, attain an altitude of
nearly two hundred feet, and sweep round to Bastion Point, situated in the centre of
the crescent, whence they decline in height to sixty-three feet. Close by is Mallacoota
Inlet, a narrow neck of water which gives admission to the Purgagoolah Lakes,
embosomed in wooded hills, and receiving the whole of the discharge of the Wallaga-
raugh and Genoa Rivers. Both of these take their rise in New South Wales,
the Genoa flowing down in a south-easterly direction between two mountain ranges,
which help to augment its volume by their water-shed. After rounding Ram Head,
368
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
Petrel Point and Cape Everard (or Hicks Point) come in view ; the latter, a bold
headland forming the southern spur of a range which culminates in Mount Everard,
seven miles inland, and one thousand two hundred feet high. Eight miles to the west-
ward of this, Tamboon Inlet
gives access to three lakes,
united by narrow channels
and fed by two streams —
the Noorinbee and the Tam-
boon, the courses of which
are still unexplored. From
this inlet to the mouth of
the Snowy River the coast
is for the most part marshy,
with here and there a reedy
lagoon, and here and there
a shallow lake, which serve
as breeding-places for innu-
merable wild fowl, and as
secure and secluded coverts
for their young. One of
these lakes, which has ob-
tained the name of Syden-
ham Inlet, is, however, of
tolerably large proportions,
and is united by a channel,
a mile long, with a smaller
sheet of water encircled by
hills. But, excepting that
the position of Mount Cann,
about ten miles to the north-
ward, has been defined, the
country for fifty miles inland remains unexplored. At Cape Conran commences what is
commonly called the Ninety-mile Beach, although in reality it is of much greater extent,
stretching, in fact, as far as the entrance to Corner Inlet. Nine or ten miles from the
point at which it commences, the Snowy River, whose rise is at no great distance from
the sources of the Murrumbidgee in New South Wales, pours into the ocean its opulent
flood, to which a hundred tributaries have lent their waters. The Ninety-mile Beach
may be described in general terms as a prolonged and attenuated sand-bar, separating
the sea from an equally narrow strip of lagoons locally designated the Back Lakes,
inside of which are the greater sheets of water to which we shall hereafter have
occasion more particularly to refer. Between Shallow Inlet east and the entrance to
Corner Inlet quite an archipelago has been formed, under circumstances similar, in all
probability, to those which were instrumental in building up the islets upon which the
city of Venice was constructed, the rivers Albert and Tarra bringing down alltivintn
THE GABO ISLAND LIGHT-HOUSE.
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA.
369
• ^itfr^J.
%
from the land, and the sea casting up sand-banks as it comes rushing in. At the
mouth of the Albert lies a little fishing-town, which has taken its name from the River.
It is peopled by a hardy race
of boatmen, to whose exer-
tions the metropolis of Vic-
toria is partly indebted for
its supply of fish.
Unfortunately their sources
of livelihood are precarious
in the extreme, especially du-
ring the summer months,
when it not unfrequently hap-
pens that the entire consign-
ment is ordered to be de-
stroyed, in consequence of
not reaching the market in a the pier, port albert.
condition fit for human con-
sumption. There are numerous indications of coal in the surrounding district, and hopes
are confidently expressed that this portion of Victoria will become famous for its collieries.
Some rich patches of gold have been struck at the foot of the Middle Range, and the
neighbouring forests yield an abundance of the finest timber. About twenty years ago
the Government expended a large sum of money in the erection of a pier at Welshpool,
in order to facilitate the shipment of the produce of the surrounding country, but it
was shortly after^wards burnt down ; it is believed, by an incendiary ; only a mass of
charred timber serves
to mark its site and
commemorate the
disaster.
From the entrance
to Corner Inlet the
coast-line runs down
nearly due south for
a distance of more
than five-and-twenty
miles to the extremity
of a mountainous
peninsula, having an
average breadth of
sixteen miles, and ter-
minating in the bold
headland known as
Wilson's Promontory.
On the eastern side it is indented by Sealer's Cove and Waterloo Bay, between which
the land juts out so as to form four prominences, entitled Horn Point, Hobb's Head,
'«» «-=. cT -^"_r
ruKl ALBERT.
370 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
Brown's Head and Cape Wellington ; a well-sheltered harbour, appropriately named Refuge
Cove, lies between the second and third of these. On the western, which is also the
windward side of the peninsula, there are three bays— Leonard, Norman and Oberon—
partially protected from the violence of the sea by some islands, four or five miles
distant from the main-land, and following its southerly trend. By far the greater part
of the area of the peninsula is covered by irregular ranges, or by isolated mountains,
which nowhere attain a greater altitude than two thousand five hundred feet ; but, massed
together, they present an imposing appearance by reason of their bulk. Such trees
as flourish on their slopes are deflected and contorted by the fierce winds with which
they have to wrestle both in summer and in winter, and the sea-mists which are driven
inwards are condensed into rain as they impinge upon the shaggy sides of Mount
Boulder, Mount Wilson, Mount Oberon and Mount Ramsay, and thus form the sources
of half-a-dozen streams which speedily lose themselves in the ocean.
Wilson's Promontory is the most southerly point of the Victorian coast, and is
crowned by a light-house which rises nearly four hundred feet above the level of the
sea. From the eminence on which it stands the cliff shelves obliquely downward to the
roaring surf below, which, when a strong south-westerly gale is blowing, leaps up the
rocky barrier erected by Nature against its encroachments, and is shattered into clouds
of spray, or churned into snow-white ridges of froth and foam. Nor can anything be
imagined more sullen or more sombre than the aspect of this grim headland when it
is partially enveloped in fogs, which augment the magnitude of its mass while blurring
its outline, and only partially reveal the pharos which stands upon its crest.
From South-west Point, nearly parallel with the light-house, but lying on the oppo-
site side of the Promontory, the coast curves upward for nearly thirty miles to Waratah
Bay, the line being broken only at Shallow Inlet, through which an entrance is gained
to Yanakie Lake, about eight miles in length, but nowhere exceeding two miles in breadth,
with a large tract of marshy country on its right shore, and the commencement of a
mountain range at its northern extremity. In respect to contour Waratah Bay is one
of the handsomest on the Victorian Coast. Its shape is that of a half-moon, and it is
encircled by a range of hills on its western side. From Bell Point, which may be taken
as defining its boundary to the east, it is ten miles to the entrance of Shallow Inlet,
directly opposite. The little promontory upon which the township of Waratah is situated
runs down to the narrow point of Cape Liptrap, a few miles behind which a hill, about
five hundred and fifty feet in height, and bearing the same name, constitutes a
prominent landmark. On the west shore of Waratah Bay, a little to the northward of
Bird Rock, there is an outcrop of fine limestone, composed of ten layers, varying in
thickness from six to ten feet, with a cave underneath the lower stratum, while the
. summit of the bluff is overlaid by a mass of ferruginous sandstone, in which quantities
of brown iron ore of great purity have been found. The whole formation is believed to
belong to the upper silurian series, and its value, from an economic point of view, must
be considerable, for the texture, as described by Mr. G. H. P. "Ulrich, is " crystalline
granular, varying from fine to coarse-grained, and it assumes in places — more especially
at the base of the bluff — the character of a black and white mottled and veined marble,
suitable for chimney-pieces and other ornamental building work." An analysis made by
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA.
371
I
I
Mr. Cosmo Newbery shews it to be one of the purest limestones yet discovered in Victoria,
containing as it does nearly ninety-five per cent, of carbonate of lime, its other components
being carbonate of iron, siHcate of alumina, and water, with traces of carbonate of magnesia.
After passing Cape Liptrap the coast-line makes an abrupt bend to the northward, with
k.
372 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
a slight westerly inclination, and the range to which Mount Liptrap belongs dips down-
ward to the sea at the point ; close to the shore, which is marshy in places and inter-
sected by shallow lakes and reedy lagoons, lie half-a-dozen diminutive islands. At Point
Smythe the entrance is reached of a large estuar)-, curving round in a south-easterly
direction for a distance of ten miles, but nowhere exceeding two miles in breadth. It
is known as Anderson's Inlet, and receives the waters of the Tarwin, a river that takes
its rise in the ranges near Mirboo, forty or fifty miles distant from the coast ; but its
intermediate meanderings are as yet undefined. Opposite to Point Smythe is Point
Norman, a mile or two south of which rises, in Venus Bay, an isolated mass, appro-
priately named the Petrel Rock, for here
Amidst the flashing of feathery foam,
The stormy petrel finds a liome ;
A home, if such a place may be,
For her who lives on the wide, wide sea.
Four miles to the westward of the entrance to Venus Bay is Cape Paterson. In its
immediate neighbourhood are numerous coal-seams, but in no ceise have the shafts,
which were sunk to test the thickness of the veins, revealed the existence of more than
two feet four inches of coal, lying for the most part upon sandy or dark gray .shales,
interspersed with bands of indurated clay.
After passing Cape Paterson we skirt the county of Moniington for a di.stance of
fifteen miles, as the crow flies, to the eastern entrance to Western Port, where the most
notable landmark is the narrow promontory, resembling the head of a spear, which juts
out into the sea from Phillip Island, with Cape Woolamai at its acute point. Upon this
bluff, which is connected with the Island by a narrow ridge of rock, thousands of
mutton-birds annually congregate for the purpose of laying their eggs and rearing their
young, acting in concert, organized like a regiment of soldiers, and taking up the posi-
tions assigned to them by their leaders with an order, a regularity and an obedience
which denote a rare intelligence and the perfection of discipline. Their collective resting-
place is a huge parallelogram, surrounded by a low wall of stones. It is swept sinooth by
the birds, and subdivided into a number of square enclosures, in the centre of which
the female bird hollows out a cavity wherein to deposit her eggs, and when the process
of incubation has been completed, and the young are sufficiently strong for flight, the
whole colony takes wing to other regions, from which it will return, in the year
following, almost on the very day and hour of its previous visit.
Phillip Island presents a general resemblance in shape to a turtle, with its carapace
to the north, its head to the west, and one fin stretched out so as to form what is
called Pyramid Rock. The southern coast-line, from Point Grant to Cape Woolamai, a
distance of five-and-twenty miles, is defined by ruddy cliffs of ironstone, rising to a
height of a hundred feet, and scooped into hollows by the action of the wave.s. At low
water masses of black rock are seen stretching far out into the sea, and presenting the
appearance of a huge causeway roughly paved with boulders worn to the same level,
and curiously fissured by the incessant planing of the sea ; the breakers that roll in upon
this rugged platform from the south-west marking their sinuous outline by a broad and
fluctuating fringe of foam. At a little distance from the shore the waves have sculp-
tured some outlying rocks into fantastic shapes. One of these has received the appro-
I
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA.
373
priate appellation of the Pyramid, and another at the western extremity of the island ir,
so amorphous as to have acquired the vague title of the Nobby.
On the opposite side of the broad opening, through which a strong current runs
into Western Port
with every inflow of
the tide, a bold pro-
montory is thrown out
in a south-westerly
direction sheltering a
little bay, around
which are clustered
the rudiments of a
future watering-place,
with a natural amphi-
theatre for its "under-
cliff." It bears the
name of Flinders, and
is the point of depar-
ture for the submarine
cable connecting the
Australian Continent
with the island of
Tasmania. For some
miles to the westward
masses of crag are
met with that look
like ruined fortresses ;
they are isolated frag-
ments of the iron-
bound coast that have
been detached from
the grim and storm-
beaten cliffs that
frown down upon
them. The restless
sea sometimes creeps
up to them as if to
take a stealthy glance
at the resistance ca-
pable of being offered
by their bulk and
strength to the advancing waves; at other times it leaps at them like a raging wild beast,
and fills all the country-side with its resounding roar. Such, indeed, is the character of the
coastal scenery all along the bold headland stretching as far as Cape Schank — with its
>
<
O
M
<
374 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
light-house occupying a commanding position for the guidance of vessels voyaging from
the eastward, the westward, or the southward — and the romantic mass of basalt, deeply
coloured by olivine and augite, known as the Pulpit Rock, lifting its rugged form above
the angry waters which always surge, and sometimes furiously rave, about its base.
From Cape Schank the coast is deflected obliquely, and almost in a straight line, to the
north-west It consists for the most part of sand hummocks and dunes. These are
found on examination to be largely composed of pulverized shells, ■i,^ov\^^-spiculcc, polyzoa,
formanifera, and spines of the echini, thrown up and triturated apparently by the action
of the " hollow ocean-ridges roaring into cataracts," under the strong compulsion of the
south-westerly gales, which prevail in this region at certain seasons of the year.
Point Nepean and Point Lonsdale mark the entrance to Port Phillip Heads, passing
which the coast-line curves round in a westerly direction to the Barwon Heads, where
the boldly projecting headland designated Point Flinders serves as a breakwater to
shelter the entrance to Lake Connewarre, into which are poured the waters of the
Barwon. Thence the coast trends continually downwards towards the south-west, until it
reaches its most southerly point in this part of Victoria at Cape Otway. In the interval
something like a hundred creeks discharge their currents into the sea, and the scenery
on shore assumes a character of remarkable grandeur and beauty after passing the village
of Puebla. For a distance of sixty miles the land-wall is composed of carbonaceous
mesozoic rocks, upwards of three hundred feet in thickness, exposed in almost continuous
sections as far as Stony Creek, and obtaining in one place the grim appellation of the
Demon's Bluff. They are geologically interesting, because, according to the report of
Mr. P. M. Krause, who was one of the first to explore the district in 1S73, the range
which now forms the water-shed between the Barwon and Gellibrand Rivers, " was in
tertiary times an island about seventy miles long in a south-westerly direction, and from
ten to sixteen miles in breadth, with a chain of hills upwards of one thousand feet in
height." So rugged is the coast, that from Barwon Heads to Cape Otway there are
only two places at which it is possible to effect a landing, namely, Loutit Bay and
Apollo Bay, and neither of these is easily accessible when a south-westerly wind is
blowing. The ranges, which run inland for a distance of upwards of twenty miles in a
northerly direction from Apollo Bay, and reach their culminating point at Mount Sabine,
one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight feet above the sea-level, are densely wooded:
on the tertiary slopes honeysuckle scrub, the grass-tree and the ti-tree are found to
prevail ; the stringy-bark predominates on the lower spurs, while the iron-bark nourishes
at a loftier elevation ; near the corner of the range, messmate and blue-gum rise out of
a thick undergrowth of shrubs and creepers ; in the valleys the vegetation is luxuriant
in the extreme, the blue-gum, the beech and the black-wood being intermingled with the
tree-fern, so that the finest foliage of the Australian forest is here combined and
contrasted with an enchanting effect. Owing to the number of springs which issue from
the northern slopes of the range, and the moisture of the atmosphere, the tree-ferns not
merely abound in their natural habitat among the damp valleys, but climb to the summit
of the secondary spurs, and crown them with their graceful plumes. The light-house at
Cape Otway is admirably placed at the western extremity of an imposing headland about
three miles in width, if measured from Point Flinders to Point Franklin ; the land
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA.
375
rising behind it to a
plateau, composed of
calcareous sandstone,
overlaid in places by
dunes, the result of
sand washed up on
the shore and thence
swept inland by the
south-westerly gales.
These dunes contain
curious concretions
resembling the fossi-
lized branches and
roots of trees, for
which, in fact, they
have been sometimes
mistaken; on ex-
amination, however,
they are found to be
composed of a magne-
sian limestone.
Five miles beyond
the Otway the united
waters of the Rivers
Aire and Calder find
an outlet in the sea,
after expanding into
a narrow lake skirted
on the east side bv
a low range of mio-
cene limestone. Be-
yond the embouchure
of these streams the
Eagle's Nest and the
Sentinel Rocks stand
like guardians of the
coast, which maintains
the same rusjeed
aspect to Moonlight
Head; at the back of
which the Latrobe
Range recedes in a north-easterly direction. The country inland has been very imperfectly
explored owing to the difficulties it presents, for it is in places so heavily timbered, and
there is such a tangled mass of under-wood to obstruct the tourist, that the most adven-
Q
<
H
as
O
a.
376
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
turous lover of the picturesque is baffled in his efforts to penetrate it. Deep ravines
separate ranges so precipitous by such narrow intervals, that a bridge four or five hun-
dred feet long would serve to unite the summits of opposite hills. The trees not
unfrequently attain an
altitude of three iiun-
dred feet, and rise in
their columnar majesty
as high as one hundred
feet before they throw
out their first branch.
At the bottom of these
chasms springs of de-
liciously pure and icily
cold water ripple and
bubble beneath the
overarchincr fronds of
motionless tree-ferns ;
the soil is completely
hidden by the matted
herbage, intermingled
with which are fantas-
tic creepers and para-
sites — shrubs which
distil an aromatic odour
on the air, and others
which are garnished at
•
particular seasons of
the year, and notably
towards the end of the
summer, with lustrous
berries — white, crim-
son, purple and a deli-
cate amber — the fruit
of the Exocarpiis ai-
pressifoniius, the A7'i-
slotelia pcdinicniaris
and the Drymophila
cyanocai'pa of botanists,
sylvan ornaments upon which, perhaps, more homely names will hereafter be bestowed.
After passing a bold projection which constitutes the wave-washed buttress of the
range just described, and has received the descriptive epithet of Gable, the coast begins
to trend steadily towards the north-west, the high lands visible from the water consisting
of heathy plateaux and grass-tree plains about five hundred feet above the level of the
sea. Some two miles beyond Moonlight Head a change occurs in the formation of such
CAPE NKL.SU\.
ft
ft
CAPE SCHANK.
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA. 2,77
cliffs as present themselves, and the mesozoic sandstone finally disappears. At Point
Ronald the River Gellibrand empties its waters into the Pacific ; the coast is generally
depressed, and the only indentation of any importance is the estuary known as Curdie's
Inlet, which receives a river of the same name, both of them deriving their appellation
from an early settler. Just beyond this inlet is the Bay of Martyrs, with which
tradition associates the murder of several white people by the natives.
The only conspicuous landmarks which attract the eye as the voyager skirts the
coast are Flaxman's Hill and Point Buttress. Just before reaching the flourishing sea-
port town of Warrnambool, is perceived the outfall of the Hopkins River, which, taking
its rise in the Great Dividing Range, a hundred miles distant as the crow flies,
absorbs an immense number of affluents in its tortuous course. The coast curves round
somewhat at Warrnambool and thus forms a pretty bay, and a breakwater is in course
of construction which will shelter it from the violence of the south-westerly gales and seas.
From a geological point of view, the whole of the coast from this point westward
as far as the emdotcc/inre of the Shaw and Eumeralla Rivers at Yambuk, a distance of
something like forty miles, is highly interesting, because over the whole of this tract of
country a stream of lava must have flowed, projected from the then active volcano of
Mount Rouse, thirty-six miles inland. Belfast, or Port Fairy, as it was formerly called,
which lies midway between these points, was formed of basalt thus ejected ; while the
indurated tufas of Tower Hill, in its immediate neighbourhood, are found to have been
originally composed of ashes, red-hot stone of a vitreous structure, dust and vapour.
Three distinct coast-lines are traceable hereabouts, with limestone bluffs running from
east to west for a distance of six or seven miles, while in a marshy flat on the right
bank of the River Moyne, which flows into the sea at Belfast, shafts, which have been
sunk for wells, have bottomed on the original sea-bed, plentifully strewn with shells.
Two small islands guard the entrance to the harbour, and just behind the town the
waters of the Moyne, after having formed the Tower Hill Swamp, expand into a lagoon
somewhat resembling a boomerang in shape.
Five miles westward is the entrance of Portland Bay, the scene of the earliest
settlement in Victoria, although long before the landing of the Hentys it had been
often visited by ships engaged in the capture of whales ; and it is remarkable that the
contour of the Bay strikingly resembles that of the head and shoulders of one of these
leviathans of the deep, with its nose resting on what is known as Whaler Point. Sixty
or seventy years ago "schools" of these sociable creatures used to visit Portland Bay
at certain periods of the year, and as this was soon discovered by the hardy adven-
turers engaged in their pursuit, the place was selected as a whaling-station, and at
various " points of vantage " lookouts were established ; one of these, as Mr. Richmond
Henty tells us, having been stationed at the Light-house Point, another at the Whalers'
Bluff, and a third at a spot seven miles north from Portland known as the " Convincing
Ground." The writer who has just been quoted states that he has seen as many as
thirty whales at a time spouting in the waters of the Bay, and " rubbing their huge
bodies on the sandy bottom in order to clear away the barnacles which clung to them."
To-day the whales have pretty well disappeared from this part of the coast, and
instead of nineteen or twenty per annum being captured — as when the Hentys reaped
378 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED.
the harvest both of sea and land — the apparition of a solitary whale in Portland Bay
is a phenomenon which excites a powerful sensation in the district. The Bay itself is
named after the Duke of Portland ; it is upwards of thirty miles wide at the entrance,
while its greatest indentation is between five and six miles from the chord of the
irregular arc formed by the coast. This consists chiefly of sandy hillocks, and the
country inland is densely-timbered, with occasional flat patches and swamps. Eighteen
miles from the coast a mass of basalt lifts itself one hundred and fifty feet above the
level of the sea which welters round its base ; it is exactly bisected by the one
hundred and forty-second meridian of east longitude, and is familiar to all mariners as
Lady Julia Percy Island.
From its isolation and its difficulties of access this huge pillar, fissured and grooved
by the never-ceasing action of the elements, and perforated with caverns excavated by
the restless sea, has been selected by the gregarious seal as a place of sojourn during
two periods of the year. Hither these aquatic mammals resort by hundreds, recalling to
mind Poseidon's flock, and the passage in the " Odyssey " descriptive of old Proteus, as
the herdsman of that strange assemblage, classing them in groups of five. Here these
gentle, timid creatures, with such a curiously human look in their soft brown eyes, and
with such preternaturally acute senses of hearing and of vision, lie basking in the sun,
and living in perfect amity with such of the sea-fowl as make their nesting-places on
the rocks. Each family selects and appropriates its own exclusive little bit of territory,
and the mother brings forth her young upon a couch of sea-weed, or other marine
plants. Nothing can exceed the tenderness of the affection or the depth of the solicitude
which she exhibits for her offspring. This comes into the world fully developed and
covered with a thick soft fleece which prevents it from taking to the water. In a
short time this is exchanged for its future coat, and the grotesque little seal — with its
dog's "head, its cat's muzzle, its short arms terminating in fins that look like hands
arrested in process of development, its valvular nostrils, its cropped ears and its soft
flute-like voice — is conducted to the sea, where it receives its first lesson in swimming
and diving from its watchful parent, who seems to derive as much amusement from its
gambols as human beings do from the performances of a company of trained athletes.
But, in general, the seals on Lady Julia Percy Island are but little disposed to bodily
exercise. Their delight is rather that of the Laureate's " Lotos Eaters." : —
To watch the crisping ripples on the beach,
And tender curving lines of creamy spray •
To lend their hearts and spirits wholly
To the influence of mild-minded melancholy.
At the western extremity of Portland Bay — which is admirably sheltered from the
gales on this side, although exposed to those which blow from the south-east — is the
bold headland fronted by the little Lawrence Island, and known as Point Danger,
whence the cliffs curve round to the rugged promontory named after Sir William
Evans. From the summit of this headland a noble and extensive prospect is obtained,
and one that varies amazingly with the season and the weather. In the calm and
brightness of a midsummer afternoon, when the clif? expands its "broad bright side
beneath the broad bright sun; " " the lazy sea-weed glistens in the light ; the lazy sea-fowl
dry their steaming wings ; the lazy swells creep whispering up the ledge and sink again."
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA.
379
^iS*'
-:vifa?sfei
Sa^*»J
THl': CJUASt AT CAPE liKIDGEWATER,
In one direction Cape Nelson lifts its rugged
outline against the western sky, while in another
the eye takes in the graceful sweep of the Bay,
with Percy Island breaking the unwrinkled level
of the slumbering sea to the eastward, the Law-
rence Rocks, only two miles off, serving as a
foreground. The far-distant line of the horizon is almost undistinguishable in colour from
the sky which bends down to it, and the whole scene is suggestive of drowsy languor
and dreamy reverie.
Nelson Bay, shaped like a sickle, has Cape Nelson for its heft, and the cliffs, with
high land behind them, heavily-timbered in part, and in part covered with scrub, maintain
the same rugged character from point to point. Upon a platform of rock jutting out
into the ocean, like a vast bastion reared by Titanic might, stands the light-house, over-
looking a wide expanse of sea ; and, beneath that lofty ledge, there is
A belt of dark-red storm-beaten crags, which grimly face
The baffled billows that lie ever panting at their feet,
Or gurgling in black-throated caves where still they moan and beat.
On the western side of this peninsula, the coast-line bends backward slightly to the
east, and the land dips downward to a semicircular ridge of sandy hummocks which
extend along the margin of Bridgewater Bay to a point almost exactly opposite to that
at which they have commenced, where a broader promontory opposes another fortress of
basaltic rocks to the impetuous and tempestuous seas, which come surging up from the
south-west under stress of foul weather. Bridgewater Bay is about six miles wide, but
its land-margin is nowhere more than two miles from the open ocean. The headland,
of which Cape Bridgewater is the south-eastern extremity, is barely a mile across at its
neck or junction with the main-land, and it rises nearly four hundred and fifty feet
above the level of the sea, at what may be called its point of greatest resistance to
the waves. .Some of the inost romantic coast-scenery in Victoria is to be found in this
locality, and to see it under its most impre.ssive and imposing aspect, it should be
visited when the summit of the huge blufT is being swept by the skirts of the thunder-
cloud, and the tumultuous sea is flinging itself with all its might against the dark
masses of immovable rock which forms its base ; while " in many a spire the pyramid
38o
A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
billows, with white points of brine, on the cope of the lightning inconstantly shine as
piercing the sky from the floor of the sea."
At such a time the spectator is awed by the savage grandeur of the scene, which
is terrible in its sublimity, and conveys an overwhelming sense of the tremendous power
of the forces of Nature, and of the relative insignificance of the feeble observer, who
staggers under the
shock of the fierce
wind which comes
raging up from the
icy South, and feels
the very earth be-
neath his feet shud-
dering as the waves
leap at it as if in
a frenzy of ungo-
vernable passion.
Then, too, the re-
sounding sea comes
THE WATERY CAVE.
up with a rush and a roar
through a blow-hole in the
cliff, and sends a column of
water, crowned with a wreath
of snow-white foam, high into
the air; and the caves which
have been hollowed out of
the solid rock, as if by the
labour of human hands, are
transformed into seething
chauldrons ; while the boom
of the ocean, the deep diapa-
son of the thunder, and the
dissonant shrieking and howl-
ing of the gale are heard far
inland, and people listening
to the elemental discord in comfort and security by their own firesides, put up a silent
prayer for those who are in peril on the sea. But in the halcyon days of summer,
when no breath of air is stirring on sea or shore, and the faint ebb and flow of the
THE GRAND CAVE.
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA. 381
tide resemble in their soft regularity the pulse of a sleeping child ; when a hot haze
settles down upon the scarcely definable horizon, and the hills inland lose the ordinary
sharpness of their outline by reason of the veil of vapour which softens their colour
and confuses their bulk ; Cape Bridgewater — no longer the grim and austere buttress
against the encroaching waves " that lifted its awful form " above them when they were
lashing themselves into foam against its massive escarpment, and " lacing the black
rocks with a thousand snowy streams" — seems to bask in the warm sunshine, and to be
enveloped in an atmosphere of peace and serenity ; while its caves, which are only
accessible when the sea is calm, are delightfully cool and shadowy by comparison with
tlie dazzling glare of the water, and the heat that radiates from the land. What is
known as " The Watery Cave " is just the sort of place where Stephano, in the " Tem-
pest," would have hidden the butt of sack which he rescued from the wreck, and
Caliban would have chosen for a hiding-place when he had done anything to subject
him to the displeasure of his sovereign lord and master.
The coast from Cape Bridgewater to the mouth of the Glenelg trends in a north-
westerly direction. The country is of an undulating character ; hummocks of sand, marshes
and diminutive lakes of fresh and salt water, with a background of high land, for the
most part heavily-timbered, constituting its leading features.
Mountains.
The most conspicuous feature of the mountain scenery of Victoria is an undulating
and devious spine, commencing at the eastern boundary of the colony, near some of the
sources of the Snowy River, dipping down into the valley of the Mitchell, then making
its re-appearance five and twenty miles to the northward, and curving round, like a bow,
to Kilmore, whence it stretches in a westerly direction to Mount Ararat, where it throws
out a few spurs and then stops short in face of the massive ranges which there run
from north to south. Upon the southern slopes rise the numerous rivers which discharge
their waters into the sea, while the northern flanks supply the various affluents of the
Murray. But in no case does the highest peak attain a loftier elevation than six thou-
sand one hundred feet above sea-level, althoufjh this altitude is exceeded in two instances
by spurs thrown off from the main or Great Dividing Range. These spurs are of
remarkable complexity in the eastern counties of the colony, in some of which (as, for
example, in Benambra, Tambo, Dargo, the north-western part of Croajingolong, Bogong,
the southern half of Delatite, Wonnangatta and Evelyn), the area of country occupied
by labyrinthine ranges probably exceeds that of the valleys and lowlands comprehended
within their limits. In many instances the mountains grouped together, independently of
the dorsal range, resemble in shape an octopus. From a central eminence between four
and five thousand feet in height, as at Mount Baldhead, Mount Bindi and Mount
Bowen, limbs are thrown out towards all points of the compass, terminating generally in
a bold declivity. Occasionally an isolated range will wriggle, snake-like, for a distance
of thirty or forty miles through an otherwise open country. At other times a mountain
chain will protrude short spurs, or foot-hills, at almost regular intervals, like the feet of
a caterpillar, to which its irregular contour will offer a certain fantastic and exaggerated
resemblance. Strictly speaking the Great Dividing Range is merely a continuation, or
382
A USTRALASIA ILL US TRA TED.
THE NORTHERN FACE OF
MOUNT BOGONG.
extension, of that which runs clown
the whole of the Australian Continent
from Cape York to Forest Hill, at which point it
is deflected to the south-westward, so as still to
maintain, in the direction it assumes, that paral-
lelism to the coast which it has observed in its
previous course. At Mount Baw Baw it appears to
send out a southerly tier of equal magnitude and
altitude to that which constitutes its western exten-
sion, and this stretches to the sea-coast, and re-appears on the island of Tasmania.
Entering the colony at Forest Hill, the Great Dividing Range sweeps round in a
semicircle to the peak, six thousand and twenty-five feet high, known as the Cobberas,
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA. 383
whence it pursues a serpentine course, under the name of the Bowen Ranges, until it
reaches its most southerly point in the amphitheatre where the Mitta Mitta River
gathers together the springs which form its source. Southward, a remarkable offset
shoots out, about ten miles in length, with Notch Hill (over- four thousand six hundred
feet in height) — half-way between the main system — and Mount Baldhead (four thousand
five hundred and seven feet), as its points of greatest elevation. Vxom this, as from a
ganglion, radiate in all directions subsidiary ranges, which in their ramifications resemble
the distribution of the nerves in the human body. The Great Divide, doubling back to
the north, reaches its greatest altitude at Mount Hotham (over four thousand feet),
which is another ganglion, sending forth its plexus to the north. The Barry Mountains,
running almost in a straight line due west, serve as a connecting link between Mount
Hotham and Mount Howitt (over five thousand seven hundred feet), above which the
main range bends round to the south, resuming its westerly course at Mount Selma ;
and pursues it thence, with numerous fluctuations, until it dips into a marshy plain a
few miles beyond Ararat, at the western extremity of which the Grampians, the Serra
and Victoria Ranges, runnmg from north to south, constitute an independent system.
For picturesque variety the Bogong Range can scarcely be surpassed, even in the
Alpine region to which it belongs, teeming as it does with lofty peaks and softly-
rounded domes, solitary heights which no human foot has trodden from the foundation
of the world, and deep ravines and moist valleys, with springs and streams which main-
tain a perpetual verdure by their never-failing water. During the winter months the
summits of the higher mountains are clothed in robes of dazzling snow, stainless as an
infant's soul, which glitter like helmets and cuirasses of plated silver in the sunlight,
and have a weird wan beauty that has something spectral and eerie in it when the
moon touches them with a pallid lustre. They impress the mind less, perhaps, by
majesty of form than by magnitude of substance. A chain seventy miles in length, and
culminating in a peak attaining the elevation of six thousand five hundred and eight
feet, sends out lateral ranges to the eastward from fifteen to twenty miles in extension,
numbering its spurs by hundreds, and giving birth to innumerable water-sources, swollen
to the dimensions of rivers directly the snow begins to melt at the beginning of the
summer ; and if, as has been said, " loveliness of colour, perfection of form, endlessness
of change and wonderfulness of structure are precious to all undiseased human minds,"
we may find them all combined in this lonely and lovely district. Under all the vicissi-
tudes of the season, and in all hours of the day, the colour of the mountains prefers
an indisputable claim upon the admiration. Under some aspects it is an intense purple,
and there is a suggestion in it of softness and smoothness of texture, as if the hills
were apparelled in sumptuous velvet or sheeny plush ; at other times the hue is a
turquoise blue, variegated in the shadowy recesses by a deep emerald green. Again, the
lofty landscape will be enveloped in a filmy veil of vapour, very tender in tone, and
analogous in tint to the first reek of a peat fire, as it issues in spiral wreaths from the
chimney of a highland shieling when the braes are purple with the changing heather.
As to form, the variety is endless, and the beautiful curves of the flowing lines are
charmingly broken in upon and diversified by sharp peaks, by granitic pinnacles, and by
the acute points of broad-based pyramids. Not only so, but at the very summit of the
384
♦ A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED.
o
o
H
;-3
Bogong Ranges, as is the case
also in the Dargo Ranges,
which run parallel to them,
there are grassy plains of
considerable extent, from
four to six thousand feet
above the level of the sea,
undulating in surface and not
altogether bare of timber.
From these lofty plateaux
the descent into the valleys
beneath is precipitous, tim-
bered thickly in some places,
and clothed with a dense
scrub in others. The struc-
ture of these mountains is
full of interest to the geo-
logist. According to the
careful study of the district
made by Alfred W. Howitt,
the explorer (who worthily
sustains the good name he
has inherited from William
and Mary Howitt), the bed-
rock is composed of lower
silurian shales and sand-
stones, with metamorphic
schists of granites. Above
these occur the gravels, sands
and clays deposited there in
the miocene age, overlying
which are beds of lava,
constituting the plains pre-
viously spoken of, the highest
peaks consisting of paliEOzoic
rocks. 'ioxwQ. o{ \\\^ plateaux
are described as presenting
the appearance of having
been "paved with five-sided
blocks of stone, and in some
of the mountain sides, where
land-slips have taken place, are acres covered with jumbled heaps of five-sided logs of
basalt." As the thickness of the volcanic outflow amounts in some places to seven hun-
dred feet, it is reasonably concluded that this could not have been poured forth in a
r.
TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA.
385
single stream. Up to the present time no extinct craters have been discovered in this
mountainous region, which has been only partially explored, and Mr, Hewitt believes they
will have to be sought for in the country to the north and north-west of the highlands
of Bogong and Dargo. Many of the creeks and gullies draining the plateaux are repre-
sented to be auriferous, but the gold appears to be thinly distributed over so wide an
area as to preclude its being mined, except on a large scale.
As the tourist toils laboriously to the summit of one of the more accessible of these
mountains in a secluded portion of the range, amidst the awful silence of a forest
peopled with patriarchal trees, he is oppressed by a feeling of solitude which
MOUNT FEATHERTOi-.
has in it something of solemnity. He stands face to face, moreover, with an