, ^^.^ RICHARD. FIRST EARL HO^E
FHOM TH}lj PHIGTNvVL OF r,AIN SBOltm'GH IN
THE TUl^'|■r^ udtse. loxdox
DEDICATED BY fSwm AUTHORITY TO
ler Mmi Qimm ^p- Miip\\\ tl)t (turn.
AUSTRALIA
COMPRISING
HEW lOIITH WAI,II;
VICTORIA OR PORT PHILIP; SOUTH AUSTRALIA;
AND
WESTERN AUSTRALIA:
THEIR
WMm\, €n|iiigriijil)i], Cmiiiitiiiii, lUsmirrffi, Itfltistirn,
GOLD DISCOVERIES, MINES OF COFFER, LEAD,
ETC., ETC. ;
GENERAL INFORMATION FOR EMIGRANTS, MERCHANTS,
MANUFACTURERS, AND SHIPOWNERS;
WITH THE
LATEST OFFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF
HER MAJESTIES GOVERNMENT.
BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, ESQ.,
LATE TREASURER TO THE GUEEN AT HONG KONG, AND MEMBER OF HER MAJESTl's LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL IN CHINA.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN TALLIS AND COMPANY,
LONDON AND NEW YORK.
'"IriiU
I ox
Jf^iratina.
TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
Madam, — .
. Among your Majesty's varied and valuable Possessions in every
quarter of the globe, none promise to exercise greater influence on the condition
of the Bi'itish Nation in the Eastern, as well as in the Western Hemisphere,
than the interesting and important settlements formed from time to time on
the coast-line of the Island-continent of Australia.
The singular chain of circumstances which led to the gradual annexation
of this extensive region, — its almost boundless pastoral and agricultural resources,
and its rapid numerical, commercial, political, and religious progress, alone suffice
to render the history of this distant land one of the leading features of the
present century. But when, in the middle of the year 1851, it became known
that the very surface of this favoured country was thickly strewn with gold, a tide
of voluntary emigration took place — unparalleled in the annals of colonization—
which has ab-eady produced strange and marvellous results. To record some
of these, and to place before the British Public a picture of the present condition
of their enterprising fellow-subjects in Australia, is the immediate object of
the writer, — who, in so doing, hopes to illustrate, however feebly, the remarkable
manner in which the Ruler of Nations has vouchsafed to bestow upon England a
new and unlooked-for source of wealth and power, at a period of emergency, as
— 4724 gG-' ~
UBSetB
DEDICATION.
if in Divine recognition of the national efforts which, in the establishment of
a penal settlement at the Antipodes (notwithstanding many defects and errors
in the details of the scheme), were then directed, almost for the first time, to
the reformation, rather than to the punishment, of criminals.
This sound, because truly Christian, principle has been of late years
increasingly developed, and the cordial interest evinced by your Majesty, and His
Royal Highness Prince Albert, in every project which, by conducing to improve the
moral and material condition of the mass of the People, increase their comforts,
and elevate their tastes and habits — tends to ward off the besetting temptations
peculiar to their state — is in itself a sufficient assurance that your Majesty
cannot but regard with peculiar solicitude the progress of a country once a Land
of Exile, but now thronged to as a Land of Promise by thousands of free and
loyal British subjects.
With deep respect, I beg to subscribe myself,
Your Majesty's dutiful Subject,
R. M. MARTIN.
Kensingtok, April, 1853.
Iijanpis iif tljt IBnrk.
I. — Discovery of Australia — Exploration by Dutch, Spanish, French, and English
navigators, and by the Inland travellers, Wentworth, Evans, Oxley, Cun-
ningham, Hume, Mitchell, Sturt, Eyre, Grey, Leichardt, Kennedy, Strze-
lecki, King, Stokes, Russell, Jukes, Irby, Gregory, and others.
II. — Physical Features — Area, Coast-line, Bays, Havens, Rivers, and Lakes, —
Mountains, Promontories, and Headlands, — Inland discoveries.
III. — Geological, Mineral, and Coal formations, Volcanic and Diluvian agency,
— Soil, Climate, Seasons, — Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms.
IV. — New South Wales, Victoria or Port Philip, South Australia, and Swan
River or Western Australia — their separate Origin, Rise, Progress,
former Convict system, past history and present state as British Colonies.
V. — Territorial Divisions into Counties, Cities, Towns, and Villages, — Aspect of
the Country, — Peculiarities of each District, and remarkable adaptation for
the abodes of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races, — the Aborigines, their cha-
racter, appearan.ce, customs, &c,
VI. — Population — its distribution, moral condition, state of Religion, Education
and Crime, form of Government, Taxation, and Tariff,— Expenditure, —
Banks, Monetary System, Joint-stock Associations, and Public Companies,
—Imports and Exports, Shipping, Staple Products,— Agriculture, Pasture,
number of Sheep, Horses, and Horned Cattle,— Manufactures, Copper-
SYNOPSIS OF THE WORK.
mines, and Fisheries, — Waste Land, and its price, — rates of Wages and
cost of Provisions, — modes of Settlement, choice of Localities, and Practical
Suggestions to Emigrants
VII. — Recent discoveries of Gold, — extraordinary quantity procured, and
mode of obtainment — its diffusion over a large area, — Mineralogical
cliai'acter of the Country, — Probable diffusion of Silver and other
valuable Metals, — Beneficial effect on the Colonies and on England, —
Consequences of a Navigable Ship Canal through the Isthmus of Panama
on the Commerce, Navigation, and Peace of the World; and ultimate
influence of Australia on British India, on China, and generally through-
out the Eastern Hemisphere.
l^nkt
Circumstances have done more for England than principles : in other words. Divine
Providence has graciously over-ruled the errors of our national policy ; and as if to reward
feeble, but well-intended efforts, has enabled us to reap an abundant harvest from seed
sown, as it were, at a venture. Such at least would seem to be the only reasonable
explanation of the present condition of the group of colonies now under consideration.
Although portions of Australia were visited, and its coast-line partially explored, by
the leading maritime nations of Europe, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they
formed no colony there; England especially manifested little interest on the subject; and
even the cursory examination by Captain Cook, of the eastern shore, in 1770, constituted
no part of the object for which this celebrated voyage to the South Seas was undertaken.
And when, towards the close of the eighteenth century, the formation of a penal station
at Botany Bay was decided upon, it was not in pursuance of any defined plan of coloni-
zation ; doubts indeed were entertained whether the country was capable of supporting a
large number of prisoners, and events seemed to justify such fears; for, at intervals, up
to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the convicts were, on several occasions,
reduced to the verge of starvation ; and it was even seriously contemplated to abandon
New South Wales, and remove the whole establishment to a more fertile part of the
globe. Long after the settlers raised sufficient food for their own support, the place
was viewed merely as a great penitentiary ; and Governor Macquarrie used to say it was
only fit for those who had been, or those who deserved to be, transported. Even when the
capabilities of the settlement began to be better understood, and free emigrants were
attracted thither, successive Secretaries of State objected to its further extension ; and
individual enterprise, not national policy, prompted the gradual and distinct measures by
which the whole of Australia has been eventually engrafted on the British Empire. Nor is
it only in the mere annexation of this vast region that the operations of a superintending
Providence have been clearly manifested : the same influence may be traced in almost
every step that has been taken, from the day on which the Union Jack first waved on the
shores of Sydney Cove to the present period.
The want of animal food ; the distance of any land from whence it could be readily
obtained; and the general ignorance of the convicts and their guards of agriculture,
necessitated an early attention to pastoral pursuits, whereby the foundation was laid for
the immense flocks and herds which have proved so safe a basis for the numerical increase
and growing commerce of the settlement. When the colonists were straitened for new
pasturage, the Blue Mountain or coast-line ridge, which seemed to form an almost
impenetrable barrier, was scaled, and the Bathurst, WeUington, and adjoining Downs,
rewarded the courage and perseverance of the explorers.
viu PREFACE.
There the fine-woollecl sheep which the apathetic Dutch rejected at the Cape of
Good Hope, multiplied with extraordinary rapidity, on a nutritious and perennial
herhage; and the foresight of an English gentleman (John M'Arthur), who narrowly
escaped heing hanged for alleged treason, but whose patriotism and public spirit deserved
a coronet, by careful attention to the introduction of improved Merino and Saxon breeds,
laid the foundation of the modern " Golden Fleece/'
By granting local pardons to well-conducted prisoners, to whom small farms, seed-
corn, and stock were furnished; by issuing "tickets of leave" to others, who were thus
enabled to work on their own account ; by inducing retired officers from the army and
navy, and other respectable settlers^ to make Australia their home, on receiving consider-
able tracts of fine land; the preparatory stage of a healthy colonial existence was
quickly passed, and the varied resources derivable from a rich soil and genial clime became
manifest.
The primeval forest was felled, the virgin earth yielded abundant increase, the
aborigines few, widely scattered, and in the lowest state of barbarism, offered no
resistance to the spread of population ; villages arose in the wilderness, which good roads,
constructed by convict labour, soon tended to convert into townships ; well-filled barns,
extensive sheep-pens, and large stock-yards delighted the eye ; ships crowded the noble
harbour of Sydney, and those who a few short years before saw gaunt famine staring
them in the face, now beheld plenty rewarding all who, \\hatever their antecedents had
been, had learned to regard industry and probity as the duties of Hfe.
These extraordinary results, but especially the wonderful and almost unlocked for
reformation which had taken place among a large part of the convicts, awakened con-
siderable interest in the British public, and overcame the habitual indiflPerence with
which events occurring at the other end of the earth, were, while ail communication was
scanty and imperfect, not unnaturally regarded.
At this period the difficulties of forming new settlements on the coast-line were
materially diminished by the prosperity of New South Vv'^ales ; and almost, despite the
wishes, certainly comparatively unaided by government, Port Philip (Victoria), South
Australia, and other localities, were taken possession of by enterprising and intelligent
adventurers, and thousands of men and women of unspotted character migrated from
the United Kingdom, and sought in Australia the competence or distinction they could
not reasonably expect to obtain in England. By this means the population was both
increased and leavened ; and having passed the preliminary stage in which convict labour
proves beneficial, became anxious for the discontinuance of its importation, which was at
length conceded, and the transportation of criminals to New South Wales finally ceased
in 1840. Since that time the prisoners previously introduced have gradually obtained
their freedom by pardon or by servitude, and become absorbed among the rest of the
inhabitants. The progress of the Australian colonies, however, at one period received
a severe check, for while agriculture and commerce were there advancing with rapid
strides, impracticable but plausible theories prevailed in the Imperial Legislature over
the dictates of experience and sound principle; and, contrary to the wishes of the
colonists at New South Wales and Victoria (Port Philip), and to the opinion of the
Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, a high was substituted for a moderate price for crowji
lands, and consequently the man whose sole property was his labour, could no longer
( IlKtST CIU'UCH, OXl-'ORD.
jON j!tjiiJ4wyoi(x .
PREFACE.
reasonably expect, by diligence and tbrift, to become eventually the proprietor of the
soil which he tilled. The stream of immigration was by this ill-judged policy in great
measure diverted from the land, where its fertilizing influence was so beneficial; and
excessive speculation being followed by an almost complete cessation of all land-sales,
ended in a colonial " panic," and a general and deplorable depreciation of property.
But out of a serious error good was educed ; there being no buyers at the ' sufficient
price,^ which, though never defined, would yet appear to have invariably signified an
extravagantly high relative rate, it was deemed expedient to lease cattle-runs of great
extent, for short stated periods, at almost nominal rents. By this unavoidable compromise,
the fallacies of the system which necessitated it were clearly proved ; for while the declared
object of that system, — concentration, was intended to be accomplished by rendering land
so dear that it could be purchased only in very limited portions, if at all, by small
capitalists, who it was supposed would consequently be compelled to congregate together,
its actual eflFect was the very reverse ; nor, indeed, is it easy to conceive any measure,
better calculated, under the peculiar circumstances of the country, to promote dispersion,
by inducing enterprising and energetic men to renounce in despair the acquisition and
improvement of farms of their own, and betake themselves with their herds and flocks
to the vast plains, whose abundant pasturage they well knew the local authorities
could not but grant them permission to enjoy on easy terms, having no executive force
adequate to their expulsion.
The profits of sheep-farming at length became noised abroad in the United Kingdom,
and soon attracted thence an educated class with some capital, who having invested it in
the purchase of superior breeds of cattle and sheep, took possession, as "squatters,"
of the grassy wastes of the interior, where the foot of civilized man, or the hoof of
domesticated animals, had never before trodden.
On wide-spread downs, in each valley, beside every rivulet, and on all available
spots, stock-stations were formed by men of gentle blood, many of whom had graduated
at Oxford and Cambridge, and by hundreds of bold and hardy spirits, who preferred the
rough bush-life of sunny Australia with its numerous discomforts, but present independence,
and prospects of speedy affluence, to an inglorious existence and hard struggle to maintain
at home the station in which they had been born and nurtured. Thus arose a new race of
citizens, who must eventually exercise considerable influence in their adopted counti'y.
Their employment did not, however, continue so profitable as it had at first been, or
as it afterwards again became. An unlimited range of fresh herbage caused the depas-
turing animals to multiply everywhere with extraordinary rapidity, while at the same
time a commercial depression in Europe occasioned a large reduction in the value of wool.
The price of sheep fell to one or two shillings per head, and horned cattle in proportion.
The best fresh meat was from a halfpenny to a penny per pound, and so abundant as to
be scarcely saleable at any price. This very excess suggested a partial remedy ; vats were
constructed wherein entire carcases of fat animals were boiled down, and tallow of
excellent quality, and in considerable quantities, was added to the staple exports of the
colonies.
But this resource alone was insufficient for the eficctual relief of the settlers, and
could not prevent many mercantile failures, and much distress ; the high price of land still
precluded the immigration of thousands of small capitalists, whose steps were meanwhile
DIV. I. b
PREFACE.
powerfully attracted to the United States, where land was sold at the rate of 55. per
acre, and where a comparatively poor man with a large family could soon become a
comfortable farmer, and bestow upon his children the means of acquiring an honest and
improving livelihood. Political discontent, which frequently accompanies financial em-
barrassment, added to the present trials despondency as to the future prosperity
of the Australian colonies ; many persons quitted their shores, and capitalists con-
sidered that as a site for the profitable employment of accumulated wealth, their items of
production were few, and their value overrated.
The truth was, that of their numerous resources only the pastoral had yet been
fau'ly developed; the Bui'ra-Burra, and other rich copper mines of South Australia, opened
up a new source of profit ; but the vast agricultural capabilities of all the colonies were yet
as a sealed book, from the want of labourers to till the fertile soil. At the same time the
United Kingdom was burdened with a redundant population, occasioning enormous parochial
assessments for the support of the able-bodied poor, and gi'ievously increasing the national
taxation, that necessitated the onerous and harassing fiscal system, under which eight
and-twenty million sterling were annually raised to pay the interest of a debt of eight
hundred million sterling, contracted mainly during the late war with France, in a depre-
ciated paper-money, and which it was decreed in 1819, should be paid in gold at the rate
of ,£3 17s. lO^d. per oz., although it was then supposed there was not that amount of
the precious metal on or beneath the surface of the globe. This arbitrary enactment
benefited creditors, both public and private, at the expense of debtors. Thus loans,
mortgages, or other pecuniary liabilities, contracted in paper notes, under every variety of
depressing circumstances, were suddenly fixed like a millstone to the necks of the
unfortunate borrowers, including of course the great bulk of the nation, whose burdens
were doubled while their means were halved.
These social evils were aggravated by a sudden and total alteration in the commercial
policy of the empire, by the free admission of foreign commodities to compete with
home productions, although the circulating medium which regulated the demand as well
as controlled the supplying power of the domestic manufacturer, was fettered by the
restrictive bullion law of 1819, silver being still merely a legal tender to the amount
of 40*., bank notes issuable only in proportion to the quantity of the precious metal in
the coffers of the several banks, to which another restrictive law of 1 844 virtually granted
a monopoly of paper issues throughout the United Kingdom. The long continuance of
such an incongruous combination was impossible, the more so as the United States,
France, Germany, and other countries, declined to follow our example, and reduce their
protective or high revenue tariffs; either the free trade measures, or the bullion laws of
1819, and the banking regulations of 1841, must have been repealed. Unless the declared
standard of value (gold) could be obtained in hitherto unheard-of quantities, it was
utterly impossible for Great Britain to compete with the comparatively untaxed nations of
the world; unless her landed proprietory received a fair rental by means of moderate
agricultural profits, the basis on which her financial system and political constitution
were formed must be changed; high taxation and low wages could not long co-exist;
a scarcity of money was incompatible with remunerative employment, and could not
but largely increase the growing difiiculties attendant on the maintenance of public and
private credit.
PREFACE. xi
The crisis was of unparalleled magnitude, and well calculated to alarm even the leaders
of the Free Trade party in and out of Parliament, while it justified the forebodings of their
opponents, who pronounced the change too rapid and sweeping for an old established
commercial community, and considered that the advantage of untaxed imports, ought as a
preliminary measure, to have been first extended exclusively to British Colonies; but
despondency gave way to hope, the fears of those who predicted danger to the state were
allayed, and a bright gleam of joy spread over the land on learning — first, the wonderful
discovery of gold in California, and next that the slopes of the Blue Mountain range, and
the ravines of the Australian Cordillera, surpassed, in auriferous deposits, the valley of the
Sacramento, and the forks of the Sierra Nevada. It was seen, as if by magic, that the
country for hundreds of miles was thickly strewn with gold, that the glittering ore was even
scattered in masses, some of one hundred-weight, over the sheep downs, and that the very
roads had been made, and the parish bridges built with stones in which the much-coveted
metal was largely and visibly imbedded. Tens of thousands hastened to the land of
promise ; gold to the value of several million sterling has been collected during the past
year; relief to some extent has already been afforded to the trading classes in the
mother-country, and Australia is now basking in the sunshine of prosperity. Can a
revelation so astounding as this be deemed accidental ? or are there in moral, any more
than in material existence, effects without definite causes? To minds accustomed to
acknowledge and trace the workings of a special Providence, the progress of our Australian
Colonies, from their very commencement up to this great epoch in the history of the whole
civilized world, must ever furnish a most interesting field for thought and investigation ;
nor will those who can duly appreciate the immense benefit which England is in various
ways now receiving from Australia, venture to disregard or question the grave
responsibility connected therewith. The gold discovery, viewed apart from its remarkable
effect on the nation which it more immediately concerns, is in itself a marvellous thing ;
and, probably, could the daring adventurers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, who
ploughed unknown seas ; or the alchemists, who spent laborious and ascetic lives, in
searching for nature's hidden treasures, or seeking by half-chemical, half-mystical, but
all delusive schemes, to obtain abundant wealth for themselves or their patrons, be
empowered to revisit their former abode, nothing would more excite their wonder than the
fact, that the precious metal for which they had so yearned and striven, was now daily and
hourly gathered in larger or smaller quantities, by men, women, and children ; the
pursuit being, however, attended even to the present moment with a degree of
uncertainty which often sets skill and industry at defiance, and still renders gold-seeking
somewhat of a lottery; if indeed that word can be justly applied to any system in which
gains, whether great or small, are procured by honest labour, and where no man is
"lucky" at the expense of another.
Besides its uncertainty, a yet more peculiar characteristic remains as marked as ever,
and has tended, in the minds of the more tJioughtful and religious portion of the com-
munity, to lessen the satisfaction with which the announcement of the recent discoveries
has been received. Neither Christians nor moralists can forget that in all ages and
in every country, the arch enemy of mankind has found the love of money the most
potent element of seduction, and by its influence has induced millions to barter peace
here and happiness hereafter, in its acquirement ; their eager cravings being first inflamed
xu PREFACE.
by fallacious expectations of the power, influence, or luxuries, obtainable through its
means, and often ending in that most strange infatuation, a desire for the ore itself, not
as a means but as an end. The multitudes of both black and white victims whose lives
have been worked out in gloomy mines, to supply food for the insatiable avarice of a
comparatively few mighty tyrants, have associated in the minds of many good men the
idea of gold with that of blood and covetousness j but this connexion is now scarcely
reasonable, since it has pleased the Almighty disposer of events to reveal its extensive
distribution under circumstances which permit of its being reaped abundantly, only by
free and willing labourers. The treasure thus wonderfully provided at the proper
moment to meet the exigencies of the present age, is, like every other power, fraught with
blessing in its use, and with a curse if abused. If well directed, this flow of gold may
circulate as it were through the veins of the British empire, remedy the drain occasioned
by costly wars, strengthen the enterprise of the people, and produce a sound financial con-
dition j but it is unhappily possible that these new and unlooked-for resources may be crimi-
nally la\ished in the very same way by which we had before become fettered and weakened.
That the gold so much needed by Britain and her colonies, and the life and energy more
needed still, should be squandered in attempting the expatriation or extermination of the
Kafirs, or in aggressive Indian wars, when nothing but judicious government and a defensive
instead of offensive system is really required for the maintenance of peace, is nothing less
than a provoking of Providence, which perhaps would have long since brought down a
fearful doom, but for the utter ignorance of the true state of the case which prevails among
the mass of the people, the difficulties which surround their rulers, and the hearty efforts
m.ade in the right path, whenever that path is clearly recognised.
To return from this digression, — our imperfect knowledge respecting the extensive dis-
tribution of gold, and its probable consequences, leaves wide room for conjecture. Whether
the precious metal may not yet be discovered in large masses, either in mountain crevices,
or deeply imbedded in the bowels of the earth ? — what result its obtainment in abundance
similar to that of copper ore, would have upon the value of property? — whether the
National Debt, contracted in depreciated paper, would then be paid off in depreciated
gold ? — whether European nations may not eventually be obliged to adopt another monetary
standard, or abandoning coin, resort to the system practised by the Chinese since the days
of Confucius, of making lumps or bars of the precious metals, of varying size but stated
fineness, the medium of exchange ; or as in Russia, giving to platina the place so long
filled by the " yellow dust?'^ — all these are at present mere speculative inquiries, but no
man dares venture to predict how long they may remain so. Any immediate superfluity
appears, however, highly improbable ; for when we consider the intimate connexion between
a restricted currency and a suffering population, and recollect the millions of European
labourers half-fed, badly clothed, and worse lodged, and the immense tracts of land
requiring tillage and drainage, the canals, railroads, and other public works, that want of
funds, not labour, prevents from being undertaken; — there would seem little reason
to fear that though the annual aggi'egate yield of gold from both Australia and California,
estimated at twenty to thirty million, should even be increased, any material alterations
would be thereby necessitated in the fiscal systems of European nations by the augmenting
money value of private property, for the next ten years at least.
The present is a critical period, — that ever must be so which confers on a nation or
PREFACE. xiii
an individual an object coveted with ardent but almost hopeless desire. The boon has
been bestowed in so wonderful a manner, that it must of necessity be received in the
first instance chiefly by the poorest class, though eventually its influence will become
general. It is unquestionably a mighty power for good or for evil ; but it would seem to
carry with it now, in its very difi'usion, a moral not to be mistaken or overlooked ; teaching
that, whether trodden ignorantly under foot, or lying hidden and hoarded in the coff'ers of
the miser, the purest gold is worthless as the veriest dross. Rightly employed, its useful-
ness, though simply as an admirable and (if sufficient in quantity) almost unexceptionable
representative of value is incalculable : for what printing is to letters, — the compass to
navigation, — steam to locomotion, — electricity to the spread of intelligence, — an efficient
circulating medium is to commerce and colonization.
For five-and-twenty years I have feebly but unceasingly advocated the still unappre-
ciated importance of our Colonies, and preached colonization as the safety-valve of the
British Empire. I have lived long enough to see views and suggestions once deemed
theoretical, carried into successful operation; and ideas, then termed wild fancies, de-
veloped into sober realities. Formerly, indeed, the signs of the times were less clearly
manifested than at present ; but their character was essentially the same. There was then,
as now, an increasingly dense population in England and Ireland, comprising an aristo-
cratic class, sometimes, though by no means invariably wealthy, but whose parks, pleasure-
grounds, and preserves, frequently enclose an amount of fallow-land which can ill be
spared from the agricultural requirements of the country ; a millionaire class, composed of
persons who have attained their position by fortunate speculation ; a middle class, con-
taining the comparatively few who have inherited a degree of affluence, or at least an easy
competence, or earned such by the judicious and successful application of earlier years ;
and the many, who, whether their positions be fixed in the counting-house of the merchant
or banker, or behind the tradesman's counter, are struggling with difficulties known only
to themselves; but besides these, remains a class far larger than all the foregoing put
together — constituting the base of the social pyramid — comprising, in fact, the great mass
of the people — living from hand to mouth, dependent on the scanty and precarious wages
derived from daily toil, and without a prospect for old age, or in the event of sickness but
eleemosynary aid in some form, probably that of the parish poor-house or a public hospital.
That there are these institutions for the succour of the helpless is indeed the glory of
England ; but that they should be so extensively needed is a heavy misfortune, occasioned,
or at least aggravated by the superabundant population which, joined to a restricted
currency, like an incubus, weighs down the energies of the nation, and has made human
labour obtainable for the cost of the lowest elements of mere animal existence.
Such a state of things is inevitably fraught with danger to the established order of
society, even under the most just and liberal constitution, and the spread of knowledge
among the lower classes rather increases than lessens the danger. Education in its true
sense, that is, the inculcation of sound practical principles, is a priceless boon which can
never produce any save beneficial results; but mere instruction in reading and writing,
or in the higher branches of study, whether conferred upon the child of royalty or of the
most abject poverty, is in itself simply a means which may be used either for a good or a
bad end. Heavy indeed is the responsibility of those who cultivate the intellect, whether
of young or old, without striving to direct the affections also. But even when this joint-
XIV
PREFACE.
effort is conscientiously made^ it must; we know, and alas ! often does fail ; and certain
it is tliat worldly teaching takes root readily in the soil where the good seed perishes.
The probable eff'ect of a class numerically superior, becoming imbued with a sense of
their actual condition,, cannot but be alarming, unless they were at the same time
sedulously trained in those Christian precepts which, if followed out, must equally prevent
external wars or internal revolutions. From this danger a way of escape is open, and
hundreds of thousands, drawn by an unlooked-for attraction, instead of struggling for a
hard-earned pittance in the ci'owded labour-market (whether physical or intellectual) of
the United Kingdom, are acquiring an improving livelihood among their own countrymen,
in a wider and more advantageous sphere of action, distant it is true from the spot on
which they were born, but yearly brought nearer to England by rapid and frequent com-
munication.
Upwards of half a million of the British race are now located in Australia : they
possess in abundance all the necessaries, most of the comforts, and many of the luxuries
of life. The four colonies as yet only cover a limited portion of the great Island-
Continent, but they are so richly gifted with all the requisites for the support of a large
population, that it may, without exaggeration, be asserted that they could beneficially
receive annually, for the next twenty years, at least one hundred thousand of the popula-
tion of the British Isles.
Abundant labour would, without doubt, have a most beneficial effect upon Australia,
its millions of acres of rich arable land might then be tilled ; its vast and ever-verdant
pastures covered with myriads of sheep and horned cattle, adequate to the supply of
Europe, with whatever may be in demand of wool, hides, and animal food ; its apparently
inexhaustible gold, copper, and other mines extensively worked, and the mystery of its
still unknown interior fully revealed.
With regard, however, to the parent state, a fear is expressed that injury may accrue
from an increasing rate of emigration, and that, to use a popular phrase, " the steam is
being let off too fast ;" the facts stated in the following tables afford, perhaps, the most
satisfactory reply that can be ofifered to these natural apprehensions : —
Emigration from the United Kingdom, since 1815.
Year.
No.
Year.
No.
Year.
No.
Year.
No.
Year.
No.
Year
No.
Year.
No.
Year.
No.
181-5
1816
1817
1818
1819
2,081
12,510
20,634
27,787
34,787
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
25,729
18,297
20,429
16,550
14,025
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
14,891
20,900
28,003
26,092
31,198
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
56,907
83,160
103,140
62,527
76,222
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
44,478 1840
75,417 1841
72,034 1842
90,743
118,592
128,341
57,212
70,686
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
93,501
129,851
258,270
248,099
299,498
1850
1851
1852
Total .
280,849
335.966
368,764
62,207
1844
3,463,292
Note. — During this period of thirty-eight years the total number of emigrants has been 3,463,292, exclusive of 2,986
who proceeded to Australia between the years 1821 and 1825, not recorded in the Custom House returns. The annual
average for the entire period was 91,217. Of the whole emigrants 2,064,574 went to the United States, 1,036,717 to British
North America, 319,365 to Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand, and 51,921 to various other places.
Progressive increase of Population during the satne period.
Divisions.
1811.
1821.
1831.
1841.
1851.
England
AVales
Scotland
Ireland
9,538,827
611,788
1,805,688
5,937,856
11,261,437
717,438
2,093,456
6,801,827
13,091,005
806,182
2,365,114
7,767,401
14,995,138
911,603
2,620,184
8,175,124
16,918,513
999,198
2,888,742
6,515,794
Total ....
17,894,159
20,784,158
24,029,702
26,782,149
27,322,247
PREFACE.
XV
la 1811 the population of the United Kingdom was (allowing for an imperfect
census of Ireland) about 18,000,000; at present it may be stated, in round numbers, at
about 27,500,000, showing a difference, in forty years, of 9,500,000 ; if to this be added
the number who have emigrated during this period, say 3,500,000, we have an aggregate
increase of 13,000,000, which, for the entire forty years, would give a rate of 325,000
per annum.
The increase at present may be taken at 1| per cent, per annum, which would give a
yearly augmentation of about 400,000 ; supposing therefore the whole of this number
emigrated, there would still be a population too dense for these islands, unless there were
a considerable expansion of the currency and a very large reduction of taxation.
Density of Population to the Square 3Iile.
Details.
England.
50,387
Wales.
Ireland.
Scotland.
Total.
Area in squai-e miles
7,425
32,512
28,896
119,219
Population in June, 1851 . . .
16,918,513
999,198
6,515,794
2,888,742
27,322,247
Mouths to each square mile . .
336
134
200
100
229
Arable land in square miles . .
17,411
8,420
3,896
29,727
Mouths to arable surface . . .
971
773
741
919
This density of inhabitants, in proportion to the means of raising food, is unequalled
by a similar population and territory in any other part of the globe. China, on an area
of 1,297,999 square miles, has a population of 367,632,907, or 283 mouths to each
square mile. Even on the delta and banks of its great rivers, where the whole soil is a rich
alluvium, yielding at least two crops of food a-year, the density ranges only from 500 to
700 mouths to each square mile. But if the United Kingdom be compared with
several other European countries, the density of our island territory will be more
manifest : in round numbers, and according to the best approximative estimates oi
present population, the number of mouths to each square mile are, in Belgium, 397
(where, of 12,569 square miles of area, 10,506 square miles is arable surface) ; Holland
Proper, 245 (where the whole country is cultivated like a garden); Saxony, 295; Northern
Italy, 200, Southern Italy, 180; France, 186 f Switzerland, 170; Bavaria, 158; Prussia, 156;
Hungary Proper, 136; Hanover, 135; Portugal, 130; Spain, 88; Denmark, 70; Wal-
lachia, Moldavia, and Servia, 69; Turkey Proper, 56; Greece, 55 ; Russia in Europe, 30;
Sweden, 20; Norway, 13. Estimating the entire area of Europe at 3,500,000 square
miles, and the present population at 350,000,000, there are 100 mouths to each square mile
of surface. The area of Australia is about 2,700,000 square miles, on which there are
about half a million Europeans, or European descended inhabitants. Supposing that only
one-half the superficies be capable of sustaining human life, there is room on that great
island for about one hundred million inhabitants, at the rate of 74 to each of the
1,350,000 square miles of available area.
But notwithstanding the large emigration that has taken place from the United
Kingdom, amounting, between January 1841, and December 1852, to 2,389,630; there
is as yet little sensible diminution in the pauperism of England. By an official return
laid before the House of Commons by the Poor Law Commissioners, 17th February,
1853 (No. 135), it appears that there were, in 608 Unions, in January last, 799,443
paupers receiving relief in England and Wales ; and estimating the proportionate number
also receiving relief, not included in the above, but in separate parishes, under local and
XVl
PREFACE.
"Gilbert" Acts, &c., at 88,701, the total number of paupers is 888,141; or according
to the census of 1851, one in every 20 inhabitants. Of the total number relieved, no
less than 126,220 were able-bodied paupers. In Ireland the number receiving relief on
the 1st January, 1853, was, 141,822, or 1 in 46 of the population; the number relieved
in Scotland is not immediately ascertainable; it may be estimated at 1 in 50 = 57,774:
showing a grand total of 1,087,737 paupers supported by local taxation.
The sums expeaded for this purpose, in England and Wales, from 1813 to 1853,
amounted to £231,789,085. During the year 1852 the parochial rates exceeded £7,000,000.
The levies raised for the relief of pauperism of all descriptions in Ireland are about
£1,000,000 per annum. For Scotland there are no definite accounts ; the assessments
may be taken at half a million ; giving a total of £8,500,000 ; if to this sum be added the
moderate estimate of £2,500,000 raised by voluntary subscriptions for the relief of indigent
and suffering humanity, we have an aggregate annual expenditure of £11,000,000 sterling
occasioned by pauperism. In a distinct chapter on emigration the subject will be more fully
discussed, but enough has perhaps been stated to show that no alarm need be felt at the
present rate of departure from these sea-girt islands to other and more thinly peopled
parts of the British empire. As water will find its level, so population will sooner or
later burst through any barriers which impede its progress, much more those which restrict
the means of obtaining food. It is the province of all true statesmen to endeavour to
direct the stream of life into channels where, instead of threatening to overflow its
natural banks and produce devastation and disorder, it will contribute to the general
good, and strengthen the stability of a monarchy whose citizens enjoy an unequalled
portion of substantial freedom, and a prosperity which, however comparatively great,
is still but partially developed.
In the present volume the reader will find all the details connected with the
wonderful discovery of gold in Australia, collected from governmental and private sources
up to the present period, especially as regards the geological and natural features of
the country, the progressive increase and spread of the inhabitants, the augmented com-
merce and revenue, — in a word, the "diggings," and their results.
AUSTRAL-ASIA.
BOOK L— AUSTRALIA, OR NEW HOLLAND.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY, MARITIME SURVEYS, COAST LINE, INTERIOR EXPLORATION, WEN^DS,
CLIMATE, AND GEOLOGY.
The Britisli possessions iu Austral-Asia are
Australia, or New Holland (which contains
the several colonies of New South Wales,
Port Phillip or Victoria, South Australia, and
Western Australia, or Swan River), Van Die-
men's island, New Zealand, the Chatham,
Auckland, and other lesser islands — the
whole comprising a territorial area in the
Southern hemisphere nearly as large as
Europe.
These extensive regions form an important
and most interesting portion of our Colonial
Empire, whether viewed in relation to their
origin or progress, to their existing or pros-
pective state.
In a favourable position, situated midway
between America and Africa, and at the ex-
tremity of Asia, they are valuable in a poli-
tical sense for the increasing capabilities they
afford towards the maintenance of British
power in the East — and in a commercial
sense from their contiguity to the richest and
most densely peopled portion of the globe :
possessing in themselves (apart from these
considerations) a fertile soil and a salubrious
clime, they are well adapted for the dwelling
of milHons of the Anglo-Saxon race, — and
even in this early stage of their existence,
with many of their resources yet unde-
veloped, they are outlying farms, ah'cady
instrumental in supplying England with
augmenting quantities of grain, meat, wool,
tallow, flax, timber, and other raw products,
in exchange for her manufactures.
The insulated continent of Australia, re-
markable for its great extent, singular con-
formation, and recent discovery, first claims
attention. Less than a century ago the
mere coast line of this "great south land"
was an unsolved geographical problem, as its
interior is at the present moment; La the
DIV. I.
eyes of the learned its very existence was a
phenomenon, and some idea may be formed
of the strange surmises entertained on the
subject, from the wild hypothesis of Blu-
menbach, that Australia must originally
have been a comet or planetaiy body, which
being drawn within the sphere of attraction,
fell upon this globe. Even those skilful
navigators, and scientific explorers, who have
surveyed its coast-line, and, to a limited
extent, penetrated the interior, appear unable
to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion con-
cerning the operating cause, or the probable
epoch of the formation of this vast country —
whether it has been in a comparatively
modern age left dry by the receding waters
of the ocean, or extruded from the bowels of
the earth by subterranean fires.
But the interest excited by this question
throughout Em'ope, or by the singular ani-
mal and vegetable products of a laud of con-
trarieties, merges into insignificance com-
pared with that created by the extraordinary
progress of British colonization at a distance
of 15,000 miles from the parent state. The
earliest settlement is within the recollection
of the present generation. Conceived in a
benevolent spirit, it was commenced in 1787
by the despatch to Botany Bay of a fleet
laden with the refuse of om* gaols and peni-
tentiaries. For several years the convicts
were repeatedly on the eve of perishing by
famine, but stimulated by the hope of re-
gaining their forfeited freedom, directed by
the intelligence of their superintendents, and
governed by a systematic and humane pohcy,
these outcasts hewed down the forests, sub-
dued the stubborn soil, and earned for
themselves a home where "their sins were
covered and their iniquity remembered no
more."
18 SITUATION AND AREA OF AUSTRALIA, OR NEW HOLLAND.
These pioneers in tlie ^\•ilderness prepared
tlie way, and smoothed the difficulties for
their fellow-countrymen whom no crime had
expatriated, but who sought at the antipodes
the means of obtaining an honourable liveli-
hood under the protection of the flag of their
country, in the full enjoyment of the lan-
guage/laws, and customs of their fatherland.
The result of their joint labours is now mani-
fest in the prosperous colony of New South
Wales — the proudest monument of British
cirilization in the nineteenth century.
This success encouraged the settlement
at Hobart Town, Van Dieraen's Island, in
1801-2; at Swan River, Western Austra-
lia, in 1829-30 ; at Adelaide, South Austra-
lia, in 1835-6 ; at ISIelbourne, Port Phillip,
in 1836; and at Auckland and Welling-
ton, New Zealand, in 1840.
The progress of these Austral- Asian set-
tlements is without a parallel in history, and
their condition demands minute and impar-
tial investigation on behalf of the owners of
property in those colonies, and of the yet
more numerous class of intending emigrants
to whom eveiy detail must be important, as
a means of enabling them to decide on the
locality best calculated to suit their peculiar
cii-cumstances, habits, and inclinations.
Having no theory to uphold — no piivate
views to promote — no particular colony to
serve, I shaU endeavour in this, as in other
portions of my work, to lay before the' public
the fullest amount of information contained
in the official documents to which her
Majesty's government has granted me access;
and, gvdded by the knowledge personally ac-
quired in Australia, collate from the varied,
heterogeneous, and scattered materials fur-
nished by the most trustworthy authorities,
every useful or interesting fact which may
contribute to the general good, and illustrate
the power and resoui'ces of the British em-
pire in this portion of the globe.
Australia, or New Holland, the largest
island in the world, lies between the parallels
of 10° 45' and 38° 45' S., and the meridians
of 112° 20' and 153° 30' E. of GreeuTvich. It
is separated on the north from the islands
of New Guinea and the Lousiade by Torres
Strait, and from Timor and other islands in
the Easstern Archipelago by the Arafui-a
sea; on the south, from Van Diemen's
Island, or Tasmania, by Bass' Strait : its
eastern and southern shores are washed by
the Pacific, its western and north-western
by the Indian Ocean. The latitudinal dif-
ference between Cape York and Wilson's
Promontory, the northern and southern
extremities, is twenty-eight degrees, equal to
1,680 geographical miles ; the greatest dis-
tance from east to west is 2,227 geographical
miles. The area is estimated at 2,690,810
square miles, and the coast line at nearly
8,000 nautical miles.
The distances and bearings of the several
points around the coast are stated to be as
follows : —
AVilson's Promontory to Cape Howe, N.E.
Cape Howe to Breaksea Spit, N. a little E.
Breaksea Spit to Cape York, N.W. . . .
Cape York to Cape Van Diemen, W. . .
Cape Van Diemen to North-West Cape, S.W,
Noith-AVest Cape to Cape Leeuwin, S.
Cape Leeuwin to Great Australian Bight, E
a little N
Great Australian Bight to "Wilson's Promon
tory, S.E /
Circumference in round numbers .... 7,'?60
The proportion which Australia bears to
the other divisions of the globe has been
thus calculated by the distinguished French
na\'igator, Du Freycinet :—
Miles.
250
950
1,150
900
1,300
900
1,200
1,100
Divisions.
Asia . .
America .
Africa
Eiu'ope .
Australia
French Leagues.
2,200,000
2,100.000
1,560,000
501,875
384,375
Proportion.
17
17
12
4
3
Viewing Van Diemen's Island as a por-
tion or prolongation of Australia, we may
consider it as forming one of the marked tri-
podal capes or promontories which stretch
from Asia, Afiica, and America, towards the
Antarctic Circle.
Discovery. — To what European or Asiatic
nation the existence of Australia was first
known, and when or by whom it was dis-
covered, is a matter of great uncertainty,
from the vague and often inconsistent state-
ments by which the claims of various navi-
gators are supported. Although we have no
positive eridence, there appears much pro-
bability that the Chinese were aware of the
existence of " a great south, land." Abun-
dant records remain to prove, that fiom a
very early period to the thirteenth century,
they were a thri^-ing and enterprising people,
engaged in an extensive maritime trade.
M. de Guignes says, " Nous trouvons dans
les annales Cliinoises des VII. et VIII.
siecles, une route par mer depuis la Chine
jusqu'a rembouchure de I'Euphrate." The
Arabian traveller, Ebn Wuahab, (a.d. 877,)
points out tlie route pursued at that time, in
the voyage from Bussora to Canton; and
Edrisi, writing in 1156, states, that Muscat,
on the coast of Arabia, was annually fre-
quented by ships from China. They had
also, together with the Hindoos, constant
commercial intercourse with Java and the
Eastern Ai'chipelago. It may, moreover, be
worth noting in this place, that the nutri-
tious trepang, or sea-slug, (beche de mer,)
which has for ages been a favouiite luxui'y
with the Chinese, is found in great abim-
dance on the northern shores of New Hol-
land, which are, even to the present time,
annually frequented by a fleet of fishing
prows, from being the chief soiu'ce from
whence this singular edible is obtained. It
may be urged, that this fact renders it the
more unlikely that the Chinese were ac-
quainted mth the island, since, as a fishing-
station of any value, clear records concerning
it would be extant ; but, on the other hand,
we must not only remember the very slight
knowledge we possess of the annals and
charts of the Chinese, but also the serious
injury, and indeed the almost .total desiruc-
tion of their maritime traffic by the piratical
depredations of the Portuguese, Spaniards,
and Dutch, who, in many instances, buried
in oblivion important geographical informa-
tion from the most selfish motives. On the
island of Timor, distant only 250 miles from
the coast of Australia, there ai'c many Chi-
nese, but how long they have been estab-
lished there we have no means of ascer-
taining.
Among European nations, the earliest
claim to the discovery of Terra Austral is
made by the French, whose pretensions rest
upon the assertion of de Brosses and the
Abbe Prevost, that Paulrnier de GonneAolle,
a French captain, who sailed from Honfleur
in 1503, lost his reckoning, and was drifted
into an unknown sea, from which he escaped
by observing the flights of birds towards the
south, and following them. Gonneville made
the land, on which he lived for six months,
refitting his vessel, and li^dng on friendly
terms with the natives, whom he represents
as having made some advances in civilization.
These could not have been the Australian
savages ; they may have been the people of
New Zealand or of Madagascar. The dis-
tinguished hydrographer, Flinders, one of
the best authorities on the subject, con-
siders this claim unfounded, and adds, that
the proofs adduced in its support them-
selves demonstrate, that it was not any part
of Australia, but Madagascar that Gonne-
ville discovered, and from whence he brought
a native, called Prince Escomerie, to Nor-
mandy. The discovery of a maritime route
to the East Indies, via the Cape of Good
Hope, by Vasco de Gama, under the flag oi
Portugal, in 1498, and of a passage to Asia,
through the straits which separate Cape
Horn from Patagonia, by INIagellan, or
Magalhaens, under the flag of Spain, 27th
November, 1520, led to an extended ac-
quaintance with the Eastern seas ; and as it
is certain that, dming the earher half of
the sixteenth century, the Spanish and Por-
tuguese navigators pushed their researches
into the South Pacific, it is probable that
the claim made by them to the discovery of
at least the northern coast of Australia, is
not wholly unfounded, though, if made, it
was unattended by any practical result.
In 1526, Don Jorge de Menezes, who was
appointed to the government of the Moluccas,
sailed from Malacca, and spent some months
in a port supposed to be in Papua or New
Guinea, In the same year, Alvarez de
Saavedra sailed from a port in Mexico in
search of gold, and discovered Papua, and
some of the adjacent islands.
In 1543, Ruy Lopez de VHlabolos ranged
the New Guinea and contiguous coasts.
In 1567, Alonzo de Mendana sailed from
Lima, and discovered the thirty -three islets,
which he named Solomon^s Islands, " to the
end that the Spaniards, supposing them to
be those islands from which Solomon fetched
gold to adorn the temple, might be the
more desirous to go and inhabit them.'^ In
his second voyage he could not find the
islands : he died seeking them, and was
succeeded by Quiros, who abandoned the
search when only forty leagues distant from
them.
In the British Museum there is a manu-
script book of charts, entitled an Hydro-
graphie, compiled by John Rotzin 1542, and
dedicated by him to Henry VIII. of Eng-
land. In one of them is rudely delineated
an ill-defined land, situated to the south of
Java, and termed Jave le Grand, but the
chart terminates abruptly, only a portion of
the north and north-west coast of this terri-
tory being laid down. There is also a large
manuscript chart on the ]\I creator plan in
the Museum, numbered in the catalogue
5,413, prepared for the dauphin of France,
which Mr. Holmes, who has charge of the
chart department, and has paid much atten-
tion to the subject, supposes to have been
constructed about the year 1536. In this
chart the coast line of the African and Ame-
rican continents; south of the equator, is
traced with some degree of accm-acy. This
document likewise contains part of a country
inscribed Jave le Grand, on whose shores
are depicted men and huts, and immediately
adjacent to Cape Horn, to the southwai'd,
is what appears to be part of a continent,
on which is marked La Terre Australie ; this
would lead us to suppose that the hydrogra-
pher, whoever he may have been, was im-
pressed with the belief, which then and long
afterwards prevailed, of the existence of a
great continent, running north and south
from 2)6° to 64° S. lat., its northern coasts
stretching along the South Pacific to an
immense distance, and extending at least
from the straits of Magellan to New Zealand.
Leaving the i-egion of conjecture, we know for
a certainty that on the 21st December, 1605,
Fernandez de Quiros sailed with three ves-
sels from Callao, in Peru, one of the objects
of his expedition being to search for the
Terra Austral, a continent supposed to oc-
cupy a considerable portion of that part of
the southern hemisphere lying westward of
America. Quiros, after discovering several
islands, came to a land which he named
Australia del Espiritu Santo, supposing it to
be a part of the great southern continent.
Luis Yaes de Torres, separated from Quiros,
coasted along the Louisiade Archipelago,
sighted the hills and islands of Cape York
in 11° S., and spent two months in sui'vey-
ing the intricate na\'igation of the strait by
which the Terra Austral is divided from New
Guinea. We know, however, little of his pro-
ceedings, or of those of Quii-os, as the ac-
counts were transmitted direct to the king of
Spain, who kept them from the public, and
the existence of the dangerous channel, now
called Torres Strait, was generally unknown,
until rediscovered and passed by captain
Cook in 1770. Fortunately for his reputa-
tion in after ages, a copy of a letter of
Torres to the king of Spain, dated Manilla,
7th July, 1607, was deposited in the archives
of the Spanish settlement at Manilla, where
it was found by Mr. Dalrymple (himself an
hydrographer), after its captui'e by the Bri-
tish troops in 1762. The Englishman, with
ti'ue generosity, gave the name of the en-
terprising Spaniard to the strait he had dis-
covered.
Torres describes the strait as being
filled by " an archipelago of islands without
number; the bank shoaler in the eleventh
degree of latitude ; the people black, corpu-
lent, naked, armed with lances, arrows, and
clubs of stone." This description of the peo-
ple refers to New Guinea rather than Austra-
lia, from the mention made of arrows. Torres
adds, "we caught in all this land twenty
persons of different nations ;" from which rt
would appear that Torres adopted the policy
of Columbus, Cabot, and other early navi-
gators, in seizing on the natives of new
found countries, to testify to theii' respective
governments the reality of their voyages.
On the 11th of November, 1605 (the same
year in which Quiros and Torres sailed from
Peru) the Dutch yacht, named Duyfhen, was
dispatched from J3antam, the chief seat of
government in the Eastern .Ajrchipelago, to
explore the island of New Guinea.
The Duyfhen sailed along what was thought
to be the west shore of that country, to 13° 45'
S. lat., but which was in reality the north
shore of Terra Austral, and then, being in
want of provisions, proceeded to Banda,
where she arrived in June, 1606, having un-
consciously visited the " Great South Land,"
of which, in 1623, the yachts. Per a and
Arnhem were sent in search from Amboyna.
Jans Carstens, the commander of the expe-
dition, with eight of his crew, were murdered
on the coast of New Guinea; but the sur-
vivors pursued their voyage, and discovered
" the great island of Arnhem and the Spult,
or Speilt." (What is meant by " the Spulf'
it is now difficult to understand, but in the
old charts a river is marked by that name,
which is probably here intended to signify
the land in its viciuity.) The Arnhem then
returned to Amboyna; the Pera proceeded
along the coast to Cape Keer Weer, {Turn-
again, supposed by some to be the west
coast of New Guinea, by others to be the
east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria,) where
the Duyfhen had previously been, and ex-
plored the coast as far as 17° S. lat. There
is, however, much discrepancy in the ac-
counts of this and other early voyages. In
the years 1616, 1618, 1619, land 1622, the
west coast was noted by several outward-
bound vessels, among others by the En-
draght ; and in a manuscript chart, by Eesel
Gerrits, dated 1627, the first discovery of
it is attributed to Dirk Hartog, commander
of the Endraght, bound to India (a.d. 1616),
who saw the coast in 26° 30' S. lat., and
sailed northward to 23°, giring the name
of Landt de Endraght to the land thus
surveyed. An important part of this dis-
covery was the roadstead, called by his
DISCOVERIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN COAST, 1618-1644.
21
name, at the entrance of a sound lying a
little S. of 25°, afterwards named Shark^s
Bay, by D ampler. Upon one of the islands
forming the roadstead, there was found, in
1697, and afterwards, in 1801, half buried
in the sand, with the rotten remnant of a
post attached to it, a tin platter, bearing an
inscription, of which the following (as nearly
as it could be deciphered) is a translation : —
'•Anno 1616, 25th October, arrived here the
ship Endraght, of Amsterdam, first merchant,
GiUes Miebais, of Luik, Dirk Hartog, of Am-
sterdam, captain. They sailed from hence
for Bantam, the 27th do.. A" 1616.'' The
names of the under merchant and chief
mate are illegible. In July, 1618, the Mau-
ritius, another outward bound Dutch ship
touched at Willem's River, near the North-
West Cape, and a year after captain Edel,
commanding a Dutch vessel, touched on the
coast, and gave his own name to the land
from 29° to 26° 30' S. lat. The gi'cat reef
lying oflFthis land, called Houtman's Ahrolhos,
was discovered at the same time.
The Leeuwin, also outward bound, fell in
with the coast as far as 35°, and sailed along
to the north, giving its name to the Cape,
in 34° 19' S. lat., 115° 6' E. long.*
In 1628, the Vianen, one of the seven
ships which returned to Europe under the
command of Carpenter, the Dutch governor-
general, from whom the deep gulf on the
north coast takes its name, reported having
seen the shore, and the circumstance is thus
stated in the Dutch records : " the coast was
seen again accidentally, and coasted 200
miles without gaining any knowledge of this
great country, only observing a foul and
barren shore, green fields, and very wild,
black, barbarous inhabitants.'' This part
was subsequently called De Witt's Land,
but by whom, does not appear. In Theve-
not's collection of charts, &c., there is an
account of the shipwreck of Francisco Pel-
sart, in the Batavia, on the 4th June, 1629,
on the Abrolhos. Pelsart proceeded along
the north-west coast in a small decked boat,
crossed thence to Batavia, and returned with
succours for his men ; too late, however, for
they had been murdered by the savages.
The south coast was accidentally discov-
ered in January, 1627, by the Dutch ship.
Guide Zeepaard, outward bound from IIol-
* The above statements are derived chiefly from
the instructions given to Tasman when sent from
Batavia on his second voyage of discovery, and signed
by the governor-general Antonio Van L)iemen, and
four members of the council of Batavia.
land. It was called Nuyts' Land, from
Pieter Nuyts, who is supposed to have com-
manded the Zeepaard, and is said to have
traced it for 1,000 miles from Cape Leeu-
win, and laid down a number of positions
with great accm'acy. The Dutch govern-
ment being anxious to ascertain how far this
great south land extended towards the ant-
artic circle, despatched Captain Abel Jans
Tasman from Batavia, with two vessels, on
the 14th August, 1642. Tasman, after
touching at the Mauritius, steered south
and east, and on the 24th November made
some high land in 40° S. lat., 163° 50' E.
of Teneriffe, which he named in honour ot
the governor- general, Antony Van Diemen's
Land, and sailed along, not supposing it to
be an island; he anchored in Storm Bay,
then pursuing an east and south course, he
discovered part of the west side of New Zea-
land, (of whose insularity he was also unaware,
and considering it to be a part of Terra Aus-
tralis, he named it Staten Land), the !?riendly
and Prince William Islands. In 1644, Tas-
man was sent by the Dutch East India
Company on a second voyage of discovery,
and directed, after passing the land of Arn-
hem, to " follow the coast further as it may
run westward or southward, endeavouring by
all means to proceed, that we may be sure
whether this land is divided from the Great
Known South Land or not." From this
expression, it is evident that the Dutch had
acquired a knowledge of some part of the
Terra Austral, to Avhich they about this time
gave the name of New Holland. Unfortu-
nately no account of this voyage ha§ ever
been published, except that contained in a
garbled extract from Tasman's journal by
Dirk Rembrantz, and translated in 1776, but
his track is supposed to be indicated by the
names given to difierent places, namely those
of Van Diemen (as in a former instance),
two of the council who signed his instruc-
tions, and of Maria, the daughter of the
governor-general, to whom he was attached.
It is very probable that the Dutch East
India Company did not consider that New
Holland was in any Avay useful from its pro-
ductions, and much feared the character
of its inhabitants, Jans Carstens, who com-
manded the Peru and Arnkem in 1623, says,
" in this discovery we found everywhere
shallow water and barren coasts, islands alto-
gether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor,
and brutal natives, and of very little use to
the Company."
Witseu, in his "Notes," aUudes to Tasman's
describing the people on different parts of
the coast as " bad and wicked/' " shooting
arrows," "throwing stones," " living very-
poorly," "feeding upon roots;" "there are
few vegetables, and the people use no
houses."
In 1663 Thevenot published his chart of
the west coast of the " Great South Land."
In 1688 Dampier, the most observant
navigator of his age^ visited the west coast
with the Buccaneers, and described it as low
and sandy, with scarcely any vegetation on
its shores. The Buccaneers careened and
refitted in about 16° S. lat.
In 1699 Dampier was expressly sent as
pilot in H.M.S. Roebuck, on a voyage of dis-
covery, and ^isited the west and north-west
coasts.
In Dampier's New Voyage round the
World published in 1703, a chart of the
world therein engraved only shews part of
the north-west and south coast of New Hol-
land, which is joined on the east to some
land stretching towards the equator, and join-
ing the islands of the Eastern Archipelago.
The most southern part of New Holland
marked, is in about 32° S. lat., and "Die-
men's Land" is placed ten degrees further
to the southward.
Dampier's track in 1699 was from Suma-
tra to the north-west coast of New Holland,
whence he proceeded to Timor in September
1699 ; in the chart of his voyage, he lays
do^vn the coast as far north as the gulf of
Carpentaria, traces part of the coast of New
Guinea, but leaves an unexplored tract be-
tween that island and Australia, nearly in
the position of Torres Straits ; in fact direct
north from the land we now call Cape York.
In recording his proceedings on the west
coast, he states, " I spent about five weeks
in ranging off and on the coast of New
Holland, a length of about 300 leagues."
He subsequently discovered New Britain.
1696. — William de Vlaming was sent in
search of a Dutch ship, lost in 1684-5; he
visited the west coast, found black swans
near Rottenest Island, and named the place
Swan River. He then sailed north as far as
21° 28'.
In 1710, captain Woodes Rogers was sent
to the South Seas, with two vessels ; Dam-
pier was pilot; they sailed through what
they termed New Guinea Straits.
1767. — Captain Carteret sailed through
the strait which separates New Britain from
New Ireland.
1721.— The Dutch East India Company
fitted out a squadron for discovery, under
captain Roggewein, who lost one of his
ships on the east confines of Australia.
Having landed in New Britain, he was at-
tacked by the natives, and returned without
accomplishing any satisfactory results.
The justly celebrated captain Cook, in
his exploring and scientific expedition with
H.M.S. Resolution and Adventure, on the
6th of October, 1769, discovered the east
side of New Zealand ; continued surveying
the coast until the 31st of INIarch, 1770,
when he proceeded to New Holland, and, to
use his own words, " sui'veyed the east coast
of that vast country which had not before
been visited, and passed between its northern
extremity and New Guinea;" thus demon-
strating beyond a doubt the insularity ot
New Holland.
The fii'st port in Australia which captain
Cook entered was Botany Bay, in April,
1770; thence he sailed to the northward,
and passed Port Jackson, which, from its
narrow entrance at the " heads," he sup-
posed to be merely a boat harbour, and gave
it the name of the sailor then on the look-
out at the mast-head. At Cape Tribulation
on the north-east coast of Australia, the ship
of captain Cook struck on a coral reef; he
refitted and repaii'ed her in the adjacent
Endeavour Bay, and then proceeded to solve
the doubt of New Holland being separated
from New Guinea and the adjacent lands.
Captain Marrion, a French officer, with
two ships, sldi'ted the coast in 1772, in search
of the supposed southern continent, and pro-
ceeded to New Zealand, (which had been
rediscovered by captain Cook,) where he
was murdered by the natives in the Bay of
Islands. In 1768 the French navigator,
De Bougainville, visited the Australian coast.
In 1791, the south coast was \T.sited by cap-
tain George Vancouver, on his way to the
north-west coast of America; he made the
land on the 26th September, at Cape Chat-
ham, in 35° 3' S. lat. and 116° 35' E. long.;
then sailed east along the coast till the 28th,
when he anchored in a sound, which he
named after George III. Bad weather pre-
vented his doing more than verifying a part
of the coast laid down in Nuyt's chart of
1627.
On the 9th March, 1773, captain Tobias
Furncaux, second in command in the ex-
pedition under captain Cook, in H.M.S.
Adventure, made the south-west cape of
Van Diemen's Island, and steered east, close
to tlie rocLs called Maatsuykefs by Tasman,
ENGLISH AND FRENCH SURVEYS OF AUSTRALIA— 1792.
23
afterwards anchoring in what he took to be
Storm Bay, (which he called Adventiu-e
Bay), so named by Tasman in 1642; not,
however, the Storm Bay laid down in the
present charts, but that now termed D'Entre-
casteaux^s channel, which runs inland for
ten leagues, and communicates with the
true Storm Bay of Tasman. Captain Fur-
neaux then sailed along the Van Diemen
coast to the northward, to discover whether
it was separated from New Holland, or was
a peninsula forming part of the main land ;
but he finally steered for New Zealand,
giving it as his opinion that " there was no
strait between Van Diemen^s Land and New
Holland, but only a very deep bay." Cap-
tain Cook, Avith H.M.S. Resolution and Dis-
covery made the south-west Cape, 24th Jan.
1777, and after steering eastward, anchored,
as Furneaux had done, in Adventure Bay on
the 26th j but captain Cook proceeded on
his voyage, still ignorant of the insularity of
Tasmania.
In 1792, Bruni D'Entrecasteaux, a French
rear-admiral, with two ships of war, La
Recherche and UEspei'ance, made the coast
of Van Diemen's Land, to obtain supplies of
wood and water ; and while intending to
enter the Storm Bay of Tasman, entered the
Adventure Bay of Furneaux, up which he
sailed thirty miles, and found it to be sepa-
rated by a small island from Storm Bay.
The island he named Bruny, and the channel
D' Entrecasteauw, and then sailed to the
eastward without ascertaining that Van Die-
men^s Land was insulated.*
Captain Bligh, in 1788, in the Bounty,
and in 1792 with the Providence and Assis-
tant, and captain John Hayes, of the Bombay
Marine, with the private ships Duke and
Duchess from India, in 1794, visited different
parts of the Australian coast, without adding
much to our geographical knowledge.
The survey of admiral D'Entrecasteaux
extended from Cape Leeuwin to 132° E. long,
in Australia, and comprised the southern
extremity of Van Diemen's island, including
the river Derwent and the channel which
bears the name of the accurate surveyor.
Captain Flinders states that " the charts of
the last sm'vey, particularly those relating
to the bays, ports, and arms of the sea of
the south-east of Van Diemen's Land, and
constructed in this expedition by M. Beau-
• The mistake of D'Entrecasteaux -was then a very
f>robable one, for notwithstanding our extended know-
edge of the coast, a similar error was committed during
th'' night by a vessel in which the author sailed some
temps Beaupre, and his assistants, appear
to combine scientific accuracy and minute-
ness of detail, with an uncommon degree of
neatness in the execution. They contain
some of the finest specimens of marine sur-
vepng perhaps ever made in a new country."
The able, but unfortunate French navi-
gator, La Perouse, visited the east coast of
Australia with the French ships of war, La
Boussole and UAstrolable; these vessels
were last seen by any Europeans in January,
1788. When captain Phillip, R.N., and the
fleet of conricts sent out to form the penal
settlement in New South Wales, were remo-
ving from Botany Bay to the more eligible
adjacent station of Port Jackson, La Perouse
was entering Botany Bay to refit. The Bri-
tish and French commanders exchanged the
civilities common to their gallant profession.
La Perouse perished shortly after on the
Vannicolo island : it is supposed that the
vessels were lost on a coral reef. After a
lapse of forty years, captain Peter Dillon, in
1826, discovered relics belonging to the
French ships, and placed beyond a doubt
the period and place of their loss.
After the formation of the British penal
settlement at Port Jackson (Sydney), in
1788, attention was directed to the eastern
and southern shores of Australia; and Mr.
Bass, sm-geon of H.M.S. Reliance, and lieu-
tenant (afterwards captain) Flinders in a
little boat called Tom Thumb, eight feet long,
aided only by a boy, commenced a sui-vey of
the coast. Mr. Bass was afterwards rein-
forced with a whale boat, six men, and six
weeks' provisions ; in this open boat, and in
boisterous weather, he explored the south-
east coast for 600 miles, entered what Fur-
neaux considered a " deep bay," and in 1798,
became satisfied that there was a strait sepa-
rating Van Diemen's Land from New Hol-
land. On his return to Sydney, governor
Hunter was induced to verify the results of
Mr. Bass's observations by sending lieu-
tenant Flinders and Mr. Bass in the colonial
schooner Norfolk, of twenty-five tons bur-
then; with this little vessel, they sailed
through the strait now called Bass's Strait,
and by circumnavigating Van Dieman's Land
demonstrated for the first time its insularity,
and completed the coast line of Australia.
The result of these remarkable labours of
Bass and Fhnders, was a survey of the coast
years since. Navigators should be cautious in ap-
proaching this part of the coast, as they are very
liable to be deceived by the headlands.
24.
BRITISH NAVAL SURVEYS— 1800— 1846.
line from Sydney to Western Port, of the
islands in Bass's Strait, of the bays and
coves of the river Derwent, and of Tasman's
Peninsula. Sir John Franklin, recently
lieutenant-governor of Van Diemen's Island,
whose presumed loss in the arctic regions
the nation now mourns, began his noble
career under Flinders. At his own cost. Sir
John erected, in 1841, a lofty stone obelisk
on Stamford hill, near Port Lincoln, South
Australia, to commemorate the great services
of "the illustrious navigator and his hon-
oured commander.^^ Flinders himself re-
corded a high eulogium on his "high-spirited
and able colleague," siu'geon Bass, who well
deserves " an honoui'able place in the list of
those whose ardour stands most conspicuous
for useful knowledge." In December, 1800,
captain Grant, in H.M. brig Lady Nelson,
passed tln-ough Bass's Straits, and explored
the coast from Port Western to 140|^° of E.
long. In 1802, lieutenant John Murray,
who succeeded captain Grant in the com-
mand of the Lady Nelson, discovered Port
Phillip ten weeks previous to the arrival of
captain Flinders in that bay.
The survey of captain Baudin of the
French navy in the Geographe, was contem-
poraneous with that of Flinders; it com-
prised the southern coast of Australia between
35° 40' and 37° 36' S. lat , and 138° 58' and
140° 10' E. long., a coast line of about 150
miles in length, devoid of rivers or inlets;
also the north-west coast, from Cape Leeuwin
to Rottenest Island, Swan River, and thence
partially to Cape Londonderry on the north
coast.
In April, 1802, Baudin and Flinders met
in the neighbourhood of Spencer's Gulf,
and although their respective countries were
engaged in fierce hostilities, the commanders
met on board the Geographe, and com-
municated freely to each other aU the infor-
mation that was likely to be useful. The
expedition of captain Flinders was thought
to be secm'ed against the chances of war
by a passport granting it protection, assist-
ance, and free ingress and egress to and
from the ports of the French repulilic ; but
when Flinders, driven by stress of weather
from the west coast of Australia, was obliged
to seek shelter at the Isle of France, or
Mauritius, then a French colony, he was
most unjustly and cruelly detained a pri-
soner for eight years, by the governor-
general De Caen, and his charts seized,
despite passports and remonstrances.
The gradual progress of discovery on the
Australian coast has now been chronologi-
cally detailed to the commencement of the
present century. The subsequent voyages
and discoveries of those skilful and enter-
prising British seamen, of Flinders (1801-2),
King (1818—20), Wickham and Stokes
(1837—43), of Blackwood (1842—46), of
Stanley, Bremner, Chambers, Heywood,
Hobson, and other naval officers, have fur-
nished valuable nautical surveys of the coast
line of this vast island, the whole of which
now appertains to the British empire.
The siu'veys of Flinders include the
south, west, and nprth-west coasts of Aus-
tralia to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and high
credit is due to this intrepid and persevering
surveyor; captain P. P. King's invaluable
labours include 2,700 miles of coast, princi-
pally on the north and east, and involved
40,000 miles of sailing. The interesting
examinations of captains Wickham and
Stokes commenced on the east coast, and
included the Gulf of Carpentaria, Torres
Straits, the north and north-west coast,
Dampier's Archipelago, Iloutman's Abrolhos,
the Swan River coast. Bass's Strait, and
Adelaide, South Australia. Captain Black-
wood's meritorious exertions Were chiefly
devoted to Torres Straits, the dangerous
reefs and islands in that route, and the
north-east coast of Australia.
Reserving for separate consideration the
aspect of the several colonies in Australia —
viz. : New South Wales on the east coast ;
Port Phillip, or Victotna, on the south-east,
adjacent to Van Diemen's Island; South
Australia, on the south coast, westward of
Port Philip ; and Western Australia, or Swan
River, on the western and south-western
shores, a few general remarks on the phy-
sical features of Australia may be useful.
Physical Features. — The outline of Aus-
tralia is singular : the parallelism of the
coast lines gives a geometrical form to the
island; the greatest vridth, from east to
west, is in the parallel of 25°; the greatest
length, from north to south, is from Cape
York to Wilson's Promontory. Nearly in
the same meridian^ viewing Van Diemen's
Island as a continuation of Australia, its
projection on the south, in a direct line
with the Carpentaria promontory on the
north, is remarkable. The deepest inden-
tations of the island are opposite each
other on the north and south coasts. The
east and west coasts have nearly the same
general configuration ; and at Sandy Cape,
on the east coast, and to the southward of
HIS (•.I{.\Cl.-.,fnfi^)mil?''()l- liKDKOK
/WPANT. i,aHr)oisr&;i9Kw Vcau<
HAKBOURS, ISLANDS, AND RI\TERS OF AUSTRALIA.
the same parallel, on the west coast, at
North-West Cape, there are two peculiar
projections of the land. The trend on the
shore from north to west is somewhat like
that from north to east; the indentations
between Coburg peninsula and Cape Lon-
donderry on the north-west, nearly corres-
pond with the expansions on the south-
east ; the trend of the coast from Kangaroo
Island towards Fowler^s Bay on the south,
is parallel with that of the opposite coast
li ae of the Gulf of Carpentaria : finally,
the great Australian Bight on the south
somewhat corresponds with the protrusion
of Arnhem/s land in Northern Australia.
The peculiar external form of Australia may
be, in some degree, owing to the diflferent
degrees of force to which the land is sub-
jected by the surrounding waters. On the
south, where the coast is not protected by
Van Diemen's Island, the tremendous efiiect
of the unbroken roll of the ocean from the
pole is manifested in the deep Bight. On
the north-west the full swell of the Indian
Ocean produces a corresponding slope of the
coast; on the north-east the Pacific flows
with majestic sweep from the American
continent; and on the north, the fluctu-
ating pressure caused by the monsoons is
broken by the islands of the Eastern Archi-
pelago.
The coast-line of Australia is marked by
deep gulfs, fine bays, and capacious havens.
On the north is the large gulf of Carpen-
taria, with York Haa'bour or Endeavour
Strait at the north-east limit, and MelviUe
Bay at the north-west entrance ; Van Die-
men's Gulf, Cambridge Gulf, Admiralty
Gulf, Brunswick Bay, Queen Charlotte's
Channel, Melville Island, Raffles Bay, and
Port Essington, afford many secure ports
on the north and north-west shores. On
the west there are Prince Regent's inlet,
Doubtful Bay, King's Sound, Buccaneer's,
and Dampier's Archipelagos, Exmouth Gulf,
Shark's Bay, Freycinet Harbour, and Swan
River. Port George the Fourth, Hanover
Bay, and Camden Sound, lying close to
each other, are noble havens, and have a
fine tract of country in their rear. On
the suitth, King George's Sound, Fowler's
Bay, Spencer's (200 miles deep) and St.
Vincent's Gulfs, Encounter Bay, Portland
Bay, Port Phillip, and Western Port. On
the east are Jervis Bay, Botany Bay, Port
Jackson, or Sydney, Newcastle, Port Ste-
phens, Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay, Hcr-
vey Bay, Port Cui-tis, Keppel Bay, Port
DIV. I.
Bowen, Princess Charlotte Bay, and nu-
merous secure roadsteads situated on the
north-east, between the Barrier reefs and
the coast.
Australia, like the other continents, has
an island of considerable magnitude attached
to it, namely, that of Van Diemen, or Tas-
mania, which lies at its southern extremity.
The other principal islands are jMclville and
Bathurst on the north. Kangaroo, near St.
Vincent's Gulf, and Groote, in the Gulf of
Carpentaria, Great Sandy Island on the
east, and exactly opposite it, on the west
coast. Dirk Hartog's Island. There are
several smaller islets and groups, viz. —
Prince of Wales' Island, off Cape York, the
Wellesley, Pellew, and others, in the Gulf of
Carpentaria ; Wessel, and English Company
Isles, near Melville Bay ; Buccaneer's Archi-
pelago of islets, south-west of Cape London-
derry, Dampier's Archipelago, Barrow, and
other islands north-east of the north-west
cape, off" De Witt's Land; Bernier and
Dorre, off" Shark's Bay ; Rottenest, &c. ; at
Swan River ; Recherche Archipelago, on the
south coast, between King George's Sound
and west of the great Australian Bight;
Nuyts' Archipelago ; Investigators' and Flin-
der's islands, west of Spencer's Gulf; King's,
Furneaux, and others in Bass's Straits, be-
tween Australia and Van Diemen's Island.
The south-east coast is deficient in islands,
and has few indentations like the north
or south coasts. From Wilson's promontory
to Moreton Bay there are no islands but
those of Stradbroke and Moreton, and the
Solitary Isles north of Port INIacquarie.
Howe's and Ball's Pyramid Islands, east of
Port Macquarie, are 400 miles from the
shore, and do not partake of the features of
Australia. They ai-e veiy remarkable, .and
rise in basaltic columns from the sea. Pro-
ceeding to the northward, along the east
coast, we find Great Sandy Island, the Capri-
corn group, (whei'e the coral islets com-
mence), including Bunker Islands, Keppel
Island, the Northumberland, Percj^, Hills-
borough, Palm, Lowe, and other minor
islands. The Capricorn group of islets, on
the noi'th-east coast, have the tropic of
Capricorn and the 152nd degree of E. long.
passing through them.
Coast Rivers. — In no other part of the
globe could a similar extent of coast line be
found wdth so few navigable rivers. The
Murray, in South Australia ; the Hunter and
Brisbane, in New South Wales ; the Atbert,
disemboguing into the Gulf of Carpentaria ;
36
MOUNTAINS AND COAST RANGE OF AUSTRALIA.
the Adelaide, into Van Dienien's Gulf; the
Victoria, into Cambridge Gidf; the Prince
Regent, Fitzroy, and Glenetg, on the north-
west coast; and the Swan, in Western
Austraha, are the only streams navigable
for ships for even a few miles fi'om the
ocean, -s-here their entrances are barred.
So far as the country is known one moun-
tain range bounds the coast from Bass's
Straits to York Peninsula, and is continued
in what Leichardt calls a "collar" round
the Gulf of Carpentaria; on the western
shore ranges run parallel with the coast, and
slope off towards the west and north. Pro-
bably the highest mountains will be found
at the Australian Alps, in the south-east,
and at Arnhem and Tasman land in the
north-west. The dip of the high land on
the east coast appears to be fi'om south to
north, viz-, from Mount Kosciusko, 6,500
feet high in the Australian Alps, in 36° 20'
S., to Mount Hinchinbrook, 3,500 feet, in
18° 22' S. ; Cape Direction, 1,250 feet, in
13° S.; and Pudding Pan Hill, only 384 feet
in 11° 19' S. From FoMler Bay, in the Aus-
tralian Bight, westward to King George's
Sound, there are low cliffs of a calcareous
marine formation, or sandy dunes, with occa-
sional points of granite; the general elevation
being from 300 to 500 feet, without a single
watercourse for 800 miles ; and according to
an intelligent wi-iter in the Sydney Herald,
the north-west coast between the parallels
of 16° and 21° is composed of low sandy
beaches, with no appearance of high land
behind them. With these two exceptions
the whole of Australia is surrounded by a
mountain belt, from 2,000 to 6,000 feet in
height, at a distance of 50 to 100 miles
from the coast, with collateral spiu's or but-
tresses. Fi'om the outer and most pre-
cipitous side of this girdle short rivers flow
to the sea coast; from the inner and less
precipitous face, which in several places
declines in successive terraces, different
rivers flow, it is supposed, towards some
great central basin, or are swallowed up in the
burning sands, or evaporated by the intense
heat of a tropical atmosphere, increased by
the distance of the central parts of Australia
from the sea, or possibly these inland streams
may be absorbed by immense marshes. But
all these suppositions woidd seem to indicate
that this vast island is of recent date com-
pared with other portions of our globe, and
that the interior is still little better than
a slightly elevated ocean bed, with a moun-
tain crust around it.
Coast Line of Unsettled Parts of Aus-
tralia.— The information obtainable on this
head is fragmentaiy and imperfect, but I
shall endeavour to frame a connected view,
so far as is known, of the physical features,
commencing with Cape Capricorn, on the
east coast, in 23° 30' 30'' S. lat. The most
remarkable features on the adjacent shore
are — Round Hill, 2,000 feet; Mount Larcom,
1,800 feet ; and Peaked Hill, which stand
out in bold relief against the pure blue of an
Australian sky ; they are fronted with groups
of coral islets connected with the Great Bar-
rier Reef* Cape Capricorn itself has a
hump resembling a haycock.
Southward of Port Bowen there are two
peaks with an elevation of about 2,000 feet,
which form the northern end of a high rocky
range. The country surrounding Port Bowen
is picturesque, many ranges of hills, both
peaked and roundbacked, rise near the coast,
and have an elevation in the interior of 2,000
to 3,000 feet.
In consequence of shoal bars there is not
an easy entrance for large vessels much fur-
ther than Entrance Island. The country,
when visited in Februaiy, 1843, appeared
dried up ; not a di'op of fresh water to be
found anywhere.f But this may not always
be the case. Dr. Leichardt, speaking of the
country contiguous to the north-east coast
in 1844, assigns reasons for supposing that
part of Australia to have been exceedingly
dry for a series of years.
About West Hill and Broad Sound the
coast of the main land is formed of a low
sandy shore, with a flat country of five or
six miles ^ade, backed by a bold range of
lofty flat-topped hills, wath here and there a
conical peak. West HiU rises directly from
the sea to the height of a thousand feet.
The seaward cliff of West Hill, and, in the
opinion of Mr. Jukes, the mass of the hill
itself, is composed of very fine grained trap
or basalt, with small crystals of feldspar only
\isible with a lens. The rock is split by I
innumerable joints and veins, crossing at all
angles into masses of different shapes.
The Northumberland Islands have an ele-
vation from 200 to 400 feet ; in one instance
of 720 feet. The crests of the western isles
are covered iivith pine trees. The Percy
Islands are also elevated, wooded, and com-
posed of a trap-like compound with an aspect
of serpentine.
* Stokes's Discoveries in H.M.S. B eagle, \mi—A^.
* Jukes's Voyage of H.M.S. F/i/, 1842—46.
ASPECT OF THE NORTH-EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA.
27
At Cape Palmerston there is a small head-
land of red quartzose rock, and adjacent
there is a cove five or six miles deep by three
wide. Near to the harbour are grassy slopes,
open woodland, and hills with jungle and
lofty trees.
The coast between Broad Sound, in
22° 15' S. lat., and Whitsunday Passage, in
20"^ 20' S. lat., differs in some respects from
any part of the coast seen by the officers of
H.M.S. Fly. A solid range of imiform hills,
at a distance of five to ten miles from the
coast, bounds a fine undulating ti'act of
conntry, well watered, covered with abun-
dant close grass, timbsr of large size and
various descriptions, and many small bays
and inlets.
Cape Hillsborough is a bold headland, 900
feet high, and very steep all round.
Cumberland Island is a singular mass of
rocks, and appears as if made up of angular
fragments of compact feldspar cemented
together.
At Po7't Molle, at the north-west end of
Whitsunday Passage, the shores rise in a
steep slope, and in some of the places adja-
cent to the strait, have an elevation of seve-
ral hundred feet, covered by magnificent
forests, the greater part of which are of the
pine species. This timber tree, which resem-
bles the Norfolk Island pine, is found along
the east coast from Port Bowen to Cape
Melville, but Whitsunday Passage seems to
be the favouiite locality.
Mount Dryander, on the promontory which
terminates Cape Gloucester, is more than
4,500 feet high. There are hills around to
the height of 700 to 1,000 feet.
Cape Upstart, so called by captain Cook,
consists of a huge mass of granite, about
2,000 feet high, rising abruptly from the
water on all sides, and connected with the
mainland by a mangrove swamp. It has a
singularly rugged and barren aspect, and
appears like a vast mass of ruins, — its crests
are covered by huge boulders, or blocks of
loose rock, with patches of scrubby vegeta-
tion. The cape is insulated by a small
creek winding round the southern foot of
the high land, and connecting the bays on
the east and west sides of Cape Upstart.
Immense beds of mangrove stretch round
the head of Upstart bay, and a wide flat
runs for some miles beyond them into the
country, o\ er which are seen some bold hills,
in separate gi'oups, rising like islands out of
the level land.
Captain Blackwood, R.N., crossed a very
pleasant grassy country, towards the hills iu
the north-west.
Mount Elliott, lying about forty-five miles
west and by north from Cape Upstaii;, is a
long level hill, peaked at its northern ex-
tremity.
Wickham River, north of Cape Upstart, is
approached through heavy breakers, and the
opening seen by H.M.S. Fly in 1844 was
about three miles wide, and had a depth
of three and a half fathoms, about 200 yards
from the north shore, whei'e the land was
an open forest conntry, with green grass and
scattered trees. The south shore seemed a
great mangrove swamp, with a spit of sand
running out to sea among the breakers. At
a distance of seven miles from the inside of
the breakers, the reach of the river curved
to the west, became shallower, leaving the
steep cliff and forest land of the north or left
bank, passing over flats of sand and pebbles;
beyond this the boat could not proceed.
From the top of the river cliffs, forest land
was seen stretching into the interior, the
trees close together, and the underwood
thick.
The land round Cape Bowling Green is
scarcely above the level of the sea, and is
probably the delta of a large river. Palm
islands are lofty, wooded, and have a pic-
turesque appearance, especially Magnetic
Island, so named by Cook. The mountain
range seen from Cape Bowling Green is at
least thirty miles in the rear.
Cape Cleveland is, like Cape Upstart,
abrupt and broken, but more woody, having
fine pines in many of its gullies. At this
point the cordillera of Eastern Australia
tower to a considerable elevation close to the
coast. From Cape Grafton to Cape Tribu-
lation precipitous hills, bordered by low land,
form the coast line ; the latter-named cape
consists of a lofty group with several peaks,
the highest of which, in the shape of a fin-
ger, is visible from the sea at a distance of
twenty leagues.
Gould Island Peak, in Rockingham Bay,
is nearly 1,400 feet above the sea ; about five
miles to the south-west of it is Mount Ilin-
chinbrook, 2,500 feet high. It is a broken
mass of hills, covered with ragged knolls,
and sharp inaccessible pinnacles, furrowed
by deep and precipitous ravines. On the
mainland is an unbroken range of high land,
none of less than 2,000 feet elevation,
stretching along the shore to the southward ,
and after sweeping round Rockingham bay
it rises and spreads to the northward into
28
NORTHERN POINT OF AUSTRALIA— CAPE YORK.
still loftier and more broken mountainous
elevations. The summit of this range, near
Rockingham bay, is very level, but there
are some projecting buttresses and ridges
on its seaward slope, which is everywhere
very steep, and apparently furrowed by many
gullies and water-courses.
Endeavour River, where captain Cook
careened in 1770, after grinding the bottom
of H.M.S. Resolution for twenty-three hom's
on Endeavour reef, has for its external aspect
bare and rocky hills of moderate height,
with theii' seaward slopes almost destitute of
vegetation. On the north shore is a line of
sand dunes beneath the higher hills ; on the
south shore is a hill of moderate elevation,
tolerably clothed with small eucalypti, and
sloping down to a gi'assy flat, fronted by
a line of mangroves. Beyond these the land
is low for some mUes, and then backed by
tabular flat-topped hills a few hundred feet
high, and of a difierent aspect to those
usually seen on the coast.
Cape Bedford is one of the most remark-
able features on this coast, being a bluff
detached piece of table land, surmounted
by a singular low line of cliffs, which forcibly
reminded captain Stokes of the lava-capped
hills on the river Santa Cruz, in East Pata-
gonia.
Cape Flattery is a conspicuous headland,
consisting of two peaks, with a slope between
them.
Lizard Island, in 14° 40' S. lat., has a
bold aspect of nearly 1,200 feet elevation,
composed entirely of granite, and nearly
destitute of wood; on the westward is a
grassy well watered plain, with some smaller
ridges. The appearance of the coast now
changes from moderately high conical-
shaped hills to table-land ranges of 500 to
600 feet, trending about south-west and by
west.
Cape Melville, which stands out like a
shoulder for more than forty miles beyond
the coast Line, is composed of piles of reddish
coloured stones, scattered about in the
utmost confusion, and in every possible
du'ection, over a high ridge. There are
several dangerous islands and rocks off this
headland.
Princess Charlotte Bay is large and free
from shoals; at the head of the bay is a
remarkable level-topped hill, conspicuous
from the low nature of the surrounding
country.
Claremont Islands are a low rocky group,
surrounded by coral reefs.
Cape Direction has a moderately increasing
height, compared with the coast immediately
to the southward. A round hill, in 13'"'' S.,
has an altitude of 1,250 feet.
Restoration Island [visited by captain Bligh
in the Bounty launch, in 1789,] in 12° 37' S.,
is a rocky lump, terminating in a granitic
peak, 360 feet high. It was so named by
Bligh, from his having seen it upon the
anniversary of the recal of Charles II. to
the throne of England.
Fair Cape, and thence to the northward,
presents a series of undulating hills from
500 to 700 feet in length. The monotonous
aspect is broken by Pudding-pan hill, so
named by Bligh from its resemblance to
a sailor's pudding-pan. It has a height
of 354 feet.
Cape York, the most northern point of
Australia, has a small rocky island not quite
300 feet high, steep, and nearly conical,
separated from the main land by a narrow
boat passage. Immediately south of Cape
York Island the land rises into a somewhat
sharply-peaked hiU, with an elevation of
420 feet. It is called Bremer Peak. To
the eastward is a shallow bay, with a flat
sandy beach, backed by a belt of jungle,
then a small woodland, and behind rocky
hiUs 300 feet in height, one ridge of which
comes down to the beach. Excellent fresh
water is everywhere procurable by digging,
and this position seems well adapted for
a British settlement, as it would, in fact,
form a "corner shop" for all vessels passing
to the eastward.
Endeavour Strait, between Cape York and
Cook's islet, is a safe harbour for shipping,
except in one or two places near the shore.
The west entrance is encumbered by large
sand banks, through which, however, there
is a safe passage, with never less than four
fathoms water. The islands which stretch
to the northward from Cape York, across
Torres Straits to New Guinea, are all rocky,
steep, many 500 feet high, and composed,
like the rocks of the adjacent main land, of
porphyry, sienite, and siliceous schist. Mr.
Jukes considers them merely the submarine
prolongation of the great mountain chain of
the east coast of Australia, and which passes
from New South Wales to the southward,
through Bass' Straits to Van Diemeu's Land.
The loftiest and most massive portion is
between Cape Upstart and Cape MelvUle,
whence it gradually decreases to Cape York,
where the hills are 500 to 600 feet high.
Possession Islands in the mouth of En-
BOOBY ISLAND, OR THE "POST-OFFICE."
29
deavour Strait, and the larger islands to the
northward, are all rocky and baiTen, with
here and there small fertile and cultivable
spots, and by no means deficient in beauty,
being of varied and undulating surface, with
lofty peaks and ridges, and sheltered valleys,
biit they seem to be mostly destitute of
water except in the rainy season ; their in-
habitants are few and scattered, and appear
to be peaceable and weU-disposed.
Booby Island, much frequented by boobies,
pigeons, and quails, called also the " Post
Office,^' forms the western limit of all the
dangerous part of Torres Straits in the ordi-
nary track of vessels, and for half the year it
is a constant place of resort for vessels pro-
ceeding to India and China from Australia.
It is a mere rock, about fifty feet high and a
quarter of a mile in diameter, the summit
consisting of bare porphyry,
A shed has been erected, beneath which is
a large chest containing a blank book with
pens and ink, a bag of beef and some biscuit
for any boat's crew escaping from a wreck.
Letters are left here by ships, and notices
are entered in the book announcing their
safe anival. (A similar practice prevails at
the Galipago Islands in the Pacific among
the whalers.) All the ships which have re-
corded their passage at the " Post Office'^
appear to have entered the Barrier Reef be-
tween the parallels of 11° 30' and 12° 10',
generally about 11° 50', reaching Sir Charles
Hardy's Island the same day. They all
note a strong northerly current outside the
reef, in some instances of nearly three miles
an hour. The time occupied in making the
passage from Sydney by the outer route was
from fourteen to twenty days, which was
shorter than the route between the reefs and
the main land, though attended with much
greater risks. In traversing the "inner
route," vessels are obliged to anchor every
night, which is a severe labour for the small
crew of a merchant ship.
The Barrier Reefs are a peculiar and im-
portant feature in the N. and N.E. coast of
Australia ; the great coral reefs form a vast
submarine buttress which skirt the shore,
and in the instance of the " Great Barrier
Reef" extend from Breaksea Spit in 24° 30'
S. lat. and 153° 20' E. long., to Bristow
Island on the coast of New Guinea, in 9° 15'
S. lat. and 143° 20' E. long., a distance in a
straight line of about 1,100 geographical, or
1,260 statute miles — the longest known coral
reef in the world. This reef stretches along
the Australian coast at a mean distance of
thirty miles from the land; the outer edge
being in some places not more than ten or
fifteen, in others 100 miles distant. Outside
the barrier there are numerous detached
reefs, of greater or less magnitude, extending
from Torres Strait to New Caledonia; but
the distance of these isolated reefs from the
Great Barrier, is from sixty to one hundred
miles. There are therefore two passages for
vessels saiUng from Sydney by the N.E.
route to Singapore, China or India, via
Torres straits — -first, the Inner passage,
about thirty miles wide, between the main
land and the Great Barrier; and second,
the Ottter, sLxty to one hundred miles
vride, between the Great Barrier and the
detached reefs and coral islets, which are so
numerous that Flinders gave to Torres
Straits the appellation of the coral sea. Mr.
Jukes, the naturalist, on boai'd H.M.S.
Fly, captain Blackwood, recently engaged in
laying down beacons, by which vessels pro-
ceeding to the eastward through Torres
Straits might be enabled safely to enter the
principal openings in the Great Barrier in
order to pass between Australia and New
Guinea, has given in an interesting " Narra-
tive of the surveying voyage of H.M.S. Fly,"
useful details respecting these reefs, on the
authority of Mr. Evans, master of H.M.S.
Fly. It appears that the Great Bamer reef
is composed of difierent formations of coral,
viz. : — the (1) linear, (2) detached, circular,
or oval groups. The linear rise from great
depths, have a breadth varying from a quar-
ter of a mile to a mile ; are in length from
three to fifteen miles; have on the outer
side an unfathomed depth, and on the inner,
soundings of from ten to twenty fathoms.
The detached reefs are generally circular or
oval, flat at the sui-face or near the level of
low water, the edge gradually rounded ofl^,
sloping down into deep water, sometimes
to 200 fathoms, and at Wreck Bay to 285
fathoms without soundings. The centre
consists generally of dead coral branches,
among dazzling white sand ; the living corals
are more to the edge of the reef. The line
of reefs runs N. and N. by E., whilst the
Australian coast trends to N.N.W. ; the
distance from the land is gradually increased,
and at Cape York in 11° 40' S. lat. the pas-
sage is eighty to ninety miles wide; it is,
however, supposed there are several inner
reefs, and as the coral polypi are continually
sending up new banks, this passage, even
with its smooth water, must always be haz-
ardous. On the authority of captain Flin-
30
THE GREAT BARRIER REEFS— CORAL BANKS.
ders, it is stated that tlie Great Barrier reef
towards the south, is ninety to one hundred
miles from the shore, with which it has no
cross communication. The breadth of the
reef towards the south is forty or fifty miles ;
it becomes naiTOwer towards the north. At
Cape Tribulation, in about 16° S. lat., the
Barrier Reef closes in with the shore. For
about 350 miles from the southern opening
oflP Breaksea Spit, there is no na\igable pas-
sage through the barrier that can be safely
trusted ; there are some crooked intricate
openings. The interior passage between the
reef and the land is remarkably clear from
dangers, except in the vicinity of the nume-
rous little islands with which it is dotted;
the depth of water at a distance from
these islands is very \iniform. When the
wind is from the east, the sea breaks upon
the outer margin of the reef with terrific
violence, but the inner waters are perfectly
tranquil.
Wreck Reef, upon which captain Flinders
was wi'ecked with H.M.S. Porpoise and Cato,
in .803, is 300 miles to the north-west of
Breaksea-spit, and it was then an incipient
island, in length 150 fathoms, by fifty in
breadth, with a general elevation of three
or four feet above ordinary high water. A
few diminutive salt-water plants resisted the
saline spray; the eggs of sea-fowl were
observed ; and probably now there are cocoa-
nut or other trees, whose nuts or roots have
been drifted there by the ocean.
On a reef may be seen coral growing
beneath the surface of the clear water, in
the shape of wheat sheaves, mushrooms, stag's
horns, cabbages, and a variety of other forms,
with vivid tints of every shade betwixt greeu,
purple, brown, and white; equalling, says
Flinders, in beauty, and excelling in gran-
deur the most favourite parterre of the
cmious florist.
The manner in which a coral reef is
formed is very singular. The animalcules
which produce the coral, commence with
singular instinct to make their structure per-
pendicular; when they cease to live, the
whole mass becomes agglutinated, and the
insterstices are gradually filled up by sand
and broken pieces of coral washed up from
the sea, until a mass of rock is formed.
Another race of animalcules then proceed
to build on this foundation. As each suc-
cessive generation perishes, another takes its
place, to increase the elevation of their
habitation, and the coral waD, where the
winds are pretty constant, first reaches the
surface of the ocean to windtvard : so that
the insect may have shelter to send off nume-
rous colonies to leemard, protected from the
wind and surf. Hence the greatest depth
of water and the highest part of a reef is
always to windward, and the wondrous
structiire thus raised has, on the one side, a
nearly perpendicular elevation of 200 to
300 fathoms. When the reef is raised
above high-water mark, the coral insect
ceases to exist. The different corals, in a
dead state, are converted into a solid mass
of a dull white colour; and some lumps,
called " negro heads,'' higher than the sur-
rounding mass, become blackened by the
weather. Sponges, sea-eggs (echince), enor-
mous cockles {chamagigas), and " cucum-
bers," (a large slug called holothuria, by the
French b^che de mer, by the Chinese trepang),
and other substances soon fill the crevices of
the reef : sand accumulates ; sea-birds make
the bank a place of incubation; soil is formed;
the seeds of shrubs and trees, which consti-
tute the food of some birds, are deposited on
the island, which soon becomes a mass of
living verdure.
The beacon erected by captain Blackwood,
of H.M.S. Fly, on Raines islet, as a mark
for the best passage through the outer line
of reefs, is a circular stone tower, forty feet
high, and thirty feet in diameter at the
base, where the walls are five feet thick.
Internally it is divided into three stories,
accessible by ladders. The roof is a dome-
shaped frame of wood, covered by painted
canvas. The summit is raised seventy feet
above low water-mark. There is a large tank
adjacent; and a garden has been planted
with cocoa-nuts, maize, pumpkins, &c.
Torres Strait is one mass of islands, reefs,
and shoals, with six to twelve fathoms water
at the narrowest part, and nowhere deep
water, so that with clear weather, and the
sun vertical or in the rear, a vessel may be
safely navigated. The beautiful light of the
tropics is increased by the reflection of the
nearly colourless bottom, covered with vaiious
molluscse, some perfectly transparent, others
of various hues. Fish of all sizes, shapes,
and colours are seen; the voracious shark
eagerly pursuing his prey, the turtle rolling
along in his un\^eldy shell, and sea-snakes
of large dimensions and of glowing lustre
may be traced in their rapid gliding move-
ments as clearly as if they were flying in the
air.
The Gulf of Carpentaria extends inland
600 miles, and has a breadth of 400 miles ;
VAN DIEMEN^S, FLINDERS, AND ALBERT RIVERS.
31
its coast line measures about 900 miles,
including the bays and windings. The
shores are almost invariably low, and the
water everywhere shallow towards the edge,
with a bottom of blue mud or sand. The
greatest depth of soundings in crossing the
southern part of the gulf from coast to coast,
is fifteen fathoms; fine, dark, sandy, mud
bottom. The lee shores are covered with
mangroves, behind which water is often seen.
Trees (palms of considerable height) are
fciind on some elevated places, but ban-en-
ness is the general character of the surface.
Flinders says that for the space of 600 miles,
between Endeavour Strait and a range of
hiUs on the main land, west of Wellesley
Island, at the bottom of the gulf, no portion
of the coast is higher than the mast-head of
a ship ; some part of Wellesley Island is more
elevated than that of the main, but the
highest does not rise 150 feet. The general
appearance of the head of the gulf is that of
a low mangrove shore, ten to thirty feet
high, over which the interior is not visible
from the offing. Nearly 200 miles of the,
south-eastern coast were minutely examined
by the surveying officers of H.M.S. Beagle ;
twenty-six inlets were discovered, of which
two proved to be rivers, whilst three more
were nearly as promising.
Van Diemen's River, on the south-east
coast of the gulf, is considered by Stokes to
be an inlet rather than a river, but its waters
appear to be less salt at low tide. The bar,
three-quarters of a mile off the mouth of the
inlet, has only two feet on it at low water,
but the first reaches of the inlet or river
have a depth of one and a half to three
fathoms, and a width of 200 to 300 yards ;
the stream then becomes much narrower,
and so tortuous, that its windings of twenty-
seven mdes only brought the explorers to
eight miles, in a 60° S.E. direction, from the
entrance ; then dividing, one branch trends
south, and the other east, each being about
fifteen yards ^ide and two feet deep; the
water was quite salt, and the mangroves
were growing on either side at the point
where the examination was abandoned. At
the mouth of the river the coast bears the
same low, sandy, or mangrove-clad appear-
ance noticeable in other portions of the
eastern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria ; the
highest elevation seen was six miles from the
entrance, where the banks attained an eleva-
tion of ten feet, the rise being marked by a
growth of eucalypti of tolerable size; else-
where the banks rose scarcely three feet
above high-water level, and were generally
fringed with mangroves, behind which, in
many instances, extensive clear flats were
obseiTed, reaching occasionally fi-om the sides
of the inlet toward the upper parts, and when
seen in June, they were the resort of large
flights of the bronze-winged pigeon.
Flinder's River, on the south shore of the
Gulf, was discovered and explored by cap-
tain Stokes, to the extent of thirty miles to
17° 51' S. lat., in a general S. by E. ^ E.
direction from the entrance. It separated
into two branches, one taking an easterly,
and the other a southerly direction. After
passing the sea-bank, the depth was one
fathom; further inland, the river expands
into a beautiful sheet of water, a quarter of
a mile in width, but only three feet in depth,
here and there diversified by low islets,
clad with emerald verdure, with, on the
other hand, green and grassy cliffs, sloping
almost imperceptibly to the stream; anon
the eastern bank becomes steep, overhanging
and clothed with a mass of luxuiiant creepers,
whilst the opposite side presents a low woody j
patch, partly immersed by the glassy, lake- i
like waters of the river. At the bifurcation |
of the stream, a rocky formation of a red
ferruginous character was observed. The
country appeared to abomid in rose-coloured
cockatoos, whistling ducks, and vampyres.
The Albert River, discovered by the sur-
veyors of H.M.S. Beagle, also disembogues
in the southern part of the Gulf, in 17°
35' 10" S. lat., and 7° 35' 50'' E. of Port
Essington. It has a bar with thirteen to
seventeen feet of water, and is navigable for
vessels of a draught suited to the bar for
thii'teen miles, and within five of where the
saltness of the stream ceases. The opening
of the river for three mUes is almost straight,
in a south by west direction, with a width of
200 yards, and a depth of two and-a-half to
five fathoms ; the banks fringed with man-
groves. Eight miles from the mouth are
two islands, and two others four miles fur-
ther up, where the breadth is nearly a mile,
and the depth two fathoms. The river winds
tortuously to the south and east, through
a rising country, with occasional grassy
plains, a soil of a light bro\^^^ colour, void of
sand, of considerable depth, and thickly
wooded. Further inland the country be-
comes perceptibly higher, — the scenery ex-
tremely picturesque, taU palm trees and
bamboos, fifty feet high, rise from the thick
foliage on the lower slope of the banks ; and
at Hope Reach, a magnificent sheet of water
32
PORT ESSINGTON— NORTH AUSTRALIA.
is bounded on either bank by extensive grassy
plains, dotted with 'woodland isles' springing
from a rich light- coloured mould. The river
now becomes a shallow, rapid stream, and in
17° 58' 30'' S. lat., 129° 25' E. long., the
country is most inviting ; the line of verdure
pointing to the south over the " Plains of
Promise."
Bountiful Islands form the eastern part of
the Wellesley group on the south-west coast
of the Carpentaria Gulf. They were so
named by Flinders on account of the plen-
tiful supply of turtle found there. He men-
tions having obtained from one turtle 1,940
eggs. Near the islands was noticed by
Stokes, a '"' shrubby, thick, compact sort of
sea-weed," also seen on the parts of the
north-west coast frequented by the turtle,
and which is probably their food. The
islands are one mile and-a-half from each
other ; the larger and more northerly is two
miles and-a-half long by three-quarters wide,
with cliffs on the south-east side of sand and
ironstone formation, the latter predomina-
ting.
Sweers Island, south of the Bountiful
Islands, bounded by low dark cliffs on the
north-east, is very woody, and was found
to be literally covered with locusts.
Bentinck Island has an extent of ten miles
either way, is slightly elevated, thickly
wooded, and abounds in several sorts of
winged game.
Point Inscription (so called from a tree
being found by Stokes, with a notice of
Flinders' visit in the Investigator forty years
previous cut thereon) is in 17° 6' 50'' and
7° 28' 30" E. of Port Essington.
The west shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria
is somewhat higher than the east shore, and
from Limmen's Bight to the latitude of
Groote Eyland, is lined by a range of low
liills. Proceeding to the northward the
coast becomes irregular and broken, con-
sisting chiefly of primitive rocks, the upper
part of the hills being composed of a reddish
sandstone. The general range of the coast,
from Limmen's Bight to Cape Arnhcm, is
from south-west to north-east ; and three
conspicuous islands at the north-west en-
trance of the Gulf of Carpentaria have the
same general direction. Low land extends
westward to Casthreagh Bay and Goulburn's
Island. The Liverpool River, on this part of
the coast, is four miles wide at its mouth,
with a tortuous and rather shallow stream,
which has been traced inland to about forty
miles from the coast, through a country
whose general elevation does not exceed
more than three feet above high-water mark ;
the banks low, muddy, and thickly wooded.
West of Goulburn Island the coast is more
broken and iiTcgular, but the elevation is
inconsiderable, Coburg Peninsula not being
more than 150 feet above the sea, and the
hills about 300 to 400 feet in the background
between the Liverpool and Alligator rivers.
Some of them are remarkable for their linear
and nearly horizontal outline, the tops re-
sembling that of a roof or a haycock, the
transverse section being angular, and the
horizontal top an edge. The Cobourg Pen-
insula projects N.N.W. from the main land
of Australia for a distance of fifty miles,
the greatest breadth being fifteen miles, and
the narrowest, five miles.
Port Essington, in 11° 6' S. lat., and
132° 12' E. long., is seven miles wide be-
tween Point Smith on the east side, and
Vashon head on the west. The port extends
about eighteen miles in a S.S.E. \ E. direc-
tion, vrith a depth of twelve to five fathoms.
'At the southern end it forms three spacious
and secure harbours, each of them extending
inwards three miles, with a depth of two
and five fathom soundings ; mud and sand.
The shores of Port Essington consist of
little bays and sandy beaches, alternating
with bold cliffs and steep clay -banks ; inland,
a continuous forest of trees, occasionally
relieved by undulating or round hills, with
an elevation of 100 to 200 feet above the
sea. At Port Essington, the sides of the
harbour are formed by several low rocky
headlands, and cliffs of red or white sand-
stone and ironstone, twenty to thirty feet
high : between the cliffs are shallow coves,
backed by mangrove swamps, and behind
a low country, with a sombre wood of low
eucalyptic trees. Victoria (a recently -formed
British station) consists of a few wooden
houses, on a flat piece of land forty or fifty
feet above the level of the sea, on the west
side of the harbour. The soil in and around
the settlement is poor, and except in the
swamps and lowest hollows, composed of
the detritus of sand and ironstone, without
any apparent mixture of vegetable soil.
Large tracts were seen with scarcely a blade
of grass, and little or no undergrowth, and
the forest, or " bush," looked like a badly-
kept gravel-walk, on which a few small trees
were growing. When visited by H.M.S.
Fly, in August, 1843, there was not grass
enough, within a mile of the settlement^
to feed a single cow. The heat at Port
ABANDONMENT OF PORT ESSINGTON IN 1850.
33
Essington is very great. In January, 1845,
the thermometer stood often as high as
96° at eight a.m., and 100° and upwards
at noon. For four years after the settle-
ment was established, captain M'Arthur,
and the marines stationed there found it
healthy; but the rainy season, ^yhieh com-
menced so early as October, 184-2, and
lasted to April, 1843, is supposed to have
caused great sickness, which has continued,
"vvith more or less severity, ever since; and
the detachment of fifty marines haA^e expe-
rienced considerable diminution of numbers,
and been several times relieved. It was
found to be impossible to keep a force fit for
active service: in January, 1850, there were
only two or three marines fit for duty. The
attempted formation of a settlement at Port
E'osington has been unsuccessful. Mr. Jukes,
who has visited many of the colonies, and
whose unprejudiced mind entitle his remarks
to considerable weight, visited Port Essing-
tou foui' times, at different periods of the
year, and thus strongly expresses his opinion,
which he supports by various arguments : —
" I believe it to be utterly worthless as a
colony, or as an agricultural or commercial
possession.''^ It is not adapted for a har-
boui' of refuge, as it is 600 miles from the
extreme limits of the sea, where wrecks are
most likely to occiu'; namely, the coral sea
and the eastern side of Torres Straits. Low
land and shoals, to the cast of the harbour,
render it difficult to find, and dangerous to
approach ; and the settlement of Victoria,
sixteen miles up the harboui", would, in
addition to the deviation from the ordinarj^
route of the fair or trade wind, ensure any
passing vessel a detention of at least two
days to look in there. Added to this, the
climate is decidedly unhealthy ; many valu-
able lives have been lost, and the govern-
ment have consequently resolved to mthdraw
che men and officers stationed at Port Es-
sington, which, in 1850 was done.
Raffles Bay, in 11" 12' S. lat., 132° 26'
E. long., thirteen miles cast of Port Essing-
ton, is of a circular form, with a diameter of
three miles, and shallow depth, varying from
three to four fathoms. The coast about
Port Raffles is exceedingly low, and has been
compared to the coast of Orissa in Bengal,
and also to that of Demerara ; there are few
patches of good soil, and it would seem ill
adapted for an agricultural or pastoral set-
tlement. The British colony, established
here in 1827, was abaudoned in 1829, on
account of its unheal thiness, the hostility of
DIV. I.
the natives, and the disappointment occa-
sioned by the Malays not coming on fishing
expeditions as was expected.
Melville Island, separated from the north
coast of Australia by Clarence Strait, which
is about fifteen miles wide, lies between the
parallels of 11° 8' and 11° 56' S. lat., and
the meridians of 130° 30' and 131° 34' E.
long., five degrees west of the Gulf of Car-
pentaria, and distant 330 miles from the
island of Timor in the Eastern Archipelago.
The extreme length from Cape Van Diemen
to Cape Keith is seventy-five miles; the
extreme breadth from Cape Radford on the
north to Cape Gambier on the south is thirty-
seven miles. The surface of the island is
low and gently undulating, averaging from
twenty to seventy feet above the sea, except
on the south coast, where some peaks have
an altitude of 250 feet. The north line of
coast is low, and lined with mangroves : the
east, west, and south sides more elevated,
sometimes forming abrupt cliffs or clay banks.
The interior consists of almost impenetrable
mangrove swamps and close forests, the
largest timber measuring sixty feet of stem,
with a diameter of three feet. The soil, so
far as ascertained, is poor. In 1821, a Bri-
tish settlement was formed on the island in
Apsley Strait, but it was abandoned in 1829.
Bathurst Island, separated from INIelville
Island by Apslc}^ Strait, is of a triangidar
shape, each side measimng about forty miles.
It is similar in appearance and production to
its neighboui'ing island. The approach to
Apsley Strait is intricate, beset with shoals,
and notwithstanding an excellent survey
made by major Campbell, of Her Majesty's
57th regiment, formerly commandant of
Mehdlle Island, too dangerous for general
navigation. Apsley Strait, and the creeks
and rivers on the north coast of Austraha,
abou.nd with alligators of fourteen to twenty
feet in length, and sea and land snakes ten
to twelve feet long.
Adelaide River, seventy miles from Port
Essington, faUs into Adanis Bay. Clarence
Strait has a depth of four fathoms where it
empties itself into the bay. Captains Wick-
harn and Stokes, 11. N., traced the river in a
southerly direction nearly eighty miles, and
found it navigable for fifty miles for a vessel
of 400 tons. The Avindings in some places
are in the shai)e of tlic letter S. At that
distance in 12° 57' S. lat., 131° 19' E. long.,
the stream became very narrow, and divided
into two branches, one proceeding in a
southerly and the other in an easterly direc-
tion. For tlm-ty miles of the upper course
of the Adelaide the water Tras fresh, and the
banks, except at the point of separation, not
more than five feet above the level of the
A mangi'ove swamp occupied the
nver.
country for fifteen miles towards the mouth,
but beyond there a fine praiiie was observed,
'ftith a soil of hght-colom-ed mould, dotted
here and there with " islands of timber,"
and on the banks a thick jvmgle of bamboo,
some of which attained the extraordinary
height of sixty to eighty feet.
Port Darwin, in 12° 27' 45'^ S. lat.,
r 19' 40'' E. of Port Essington, has an en-
trance between white chffy projections, three
iniles distant from each other ; although of
considerable size, it has much shoal water,
especially on the west side. The shore is
low and sandy, sprinkled with brush-wood,
and has singular-looking detached peaks in
the backgj'ound.
Point Pearce, Treachery Bay, Avhere cap-
tain Stokes was speared and nearly killed by
the natives, is in 14° 25' 50" N. lat., 2° 49'
W, of Port Essington. It has Avooded cliffs
of a reddish hue, from the quantity of iron
in the rocks.
The Victoria River, one of the largest
streams in Australia communicating with
the ocean, was discovered by captains Wick-
ham and Stokes, in September, 1839; and
explored, with great perseverance, by the
latter-named officer. The mouth of the river
is in 14° 20' S. lat., 129° 21' E. long.,
between Turtle and Pearce Points, in Queen's
Channel, which is there twenty-six miles
wide.* The river was traced to a distance
of 140 miles from the sea; for the first
thirty miles of the upAvard course its cha-
racter undergoes little change ; the left side
continues bold, Auth the exception of a fcAv
extensive flats sometimes overflowed, and
a remarkable rocky elevation aboiit twenty-
five miles from the mouth, to which the
name of the Fort Avas given, on account of
its bastion-hke appearance (subseqiiently
called Table Hill in the chart). The riglit
shore continues Ioav, studded Avith man-
groves, and subject to overfloAvs. At thirty-
five miles from the embouche, the scenery
entirely changes ; the river runs between a
precipitous rocky range of compact sand-
stone, rising to a height of 700 to 800 feet,
and is here sometimes two miles Avide, haAdng
in several places a depth of tAventy fathoms,
and rushing with a velocity of six miles an
• Discoveries in Australia; hy Captain Stokes,
K.N. ; vol. 2, p. 113.
hou3\ It continues a rapid stream through
tliis defile for about thirty miles, and is
subsequently found floAAing slowly across a
rich allu\-iul plain fifteen miles in width.
Beyond this plain the Victoria passes through
another but less elevated gorge, Adz., 400 to
500 feet, aaIiosc elevation increases as the
nA-er is ascended, and the Avidth, depth, and
velocity of the stream decreases. In pro-
portion as the high land or banks approached
the channel on one shore, in the same degree
it was found to recede from the opposite
side; and supposing the AA'hole valley to
haA^e been at one time filled Avith water,
the breadth above Reach Hopeless and at
INIount Regret must have been from three
to five miles. When captain Stokes reluc-
tantly quitted the ftu-tlier exploration for
Avant of provisions, and from the illness
of one of his men, with whom it was neces-
sary to retiu'n to H.M.S. Beagle, he could
perceiA'e, "far, far aAvay, the green and
glistening valleys through which it wan-
dered:" he felt assm-ed "of the constant
presence of a large body of Avatcr," and
couA-inced that the Victoria "aaiU aftord a
certain pathway far into the centre of Aus-
traha." The coast to the E.N.E. of the
mouth of the Victoria consists of vast ranges
strewn over with huge blocks of sandstone ;
chasms, raAdnes, and thirsty stone valleys
yaAvu on every side; and all aroimd is
broken, rugged, and arid, as if the curse of
sterility had fallen on the land, presenting
a strong contrast with the country seen up
the Victoria river.
Cambriclge Gulf, a swampy arm of the
sea, extends inland eighty miles in a south-
erly direction. In its vicinity, the general
flatness of the country to the northward
and castAvard, as far as Cape Wessil, a dis-
tance of 600 miles, ceases, and is succeeded
by irregular ranges of detached sandstone
hills, which rise abruptly fi'om extensive
plains of Ioav and IcacI land. From Cape
Londonderry to Cape Voltaire tlie country
is of moderate elevation, Avith mountains
in the back-ground. The coast has a direc-
tion from north-east to south-west, AAnth
numerous indentations, and the adjoining
sea is studded v,ith sandstone islands. York
Sound, a spacious bay, is bounded by pre-
cipitous rocks from 100 to 200 feet in heighth.
It receives tAvo rivers, so far as knoAvn, of
small dimensions. One of the largest inlets
on the north-west coast, termed. Prince
BegenVs River, is about thirty miles to the
south-west of York Sound. The course i'^
CIIARACTEIilSTICS OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA. 35
almost rectilinear for fifty itiiles in a south-
east direction; its rapid passage over stone
blocks has prevented its further exploration :
but at that distance fi-oin the sea it is 250
yards wide, with abrupt banks of reddish
sandstone, 200 to 400 feet high. St. George's
Basin, in Prince Regent's River, is a noble
sheet of water, ten or twelve miles across :
on its south side deep inlets run up into
a low marshy country leading to fertile dis-
tricts ; on the north Ijank lofty mountains,
crowned with castellated summits, rear theii-
sterile heads over the broad waters. Cap-
tain. Grey, in his very interesting Journals of
two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West
and West Australia, says, that the most
remarkable geographical feature in North-
West Australia is a high range of mountains,
iTimiing N.N.E. and S.S.W., (named by
him Stephen's range,) from which several
branches are thrown off: — 1st. One between
Roe's River on the north, and Prince Re-
gent's River on the south ; 2nd. Macdonald's
range, that throws off streams to Prince
Regent's River on the north, and to Glenelg
Ptiver on the south ; 3rd. Whateley's range,
which gives forth streams to Glenelg River
on the north, and to the low country, behind
Colliers Bay and Dampier's Land on the
south. These branch ranges, as well as the
primary one, are composed of ancient sand-
stone, deposited in nearly horizontal strata,
or of basaltic rocks, which arc only visible
in certain places, and are fally developed
in that part of Stephen's range which lies
behind Collier Bay, and in the low ground
near Glenelg River. The extent of Stc-
plien's range captain Grey was not able to
ascertain; but it contains within it the
sources of Roe's River, Prince Regent's, and
Glenelg livers, most probably the Fitzroy,
those that run into Cambridge Gulf, and
perhaps others tluit have their embouchures
between Cambridge and Admiralty Gvdfs.
Governor Grey does not consider this range
very elevated; he estimated the highest
parts of the table land of Macdonald's range
at 1,400 feet above the sea, and the altitude
of the farthest point reached of Stephen's
range at 2,500 to 3,000 feet. The rivers on
the north-west coast resemble those of the
south-east part of Australia. They rise at
no great distance from the sea; near their
sources are mountain torrents ; and, in the
low lands, streams, with slow currents, flow
through extensive and fertile valleys or
plains, subject to considerable inundations.
The valleys of the north-west coast are of
two descriptions — those which are almost
ravines, enclosed on cither side by inacces-
sible cHff's, or valleys of great width, bor-
dered by fertile and often extensive plains,
which occur where the basaltic rocks are
developed. One valley in which governor
Grey and his party encamped, had a main
width of only 147 feet; and, half a mile
from the sea, the rocky precipitous chfl's
rose 138 feet. The sandstone formation is
intersected, in all dii'cctions, by valleys of
this kind, which are seldom more than two
or three miles apart, while the top of the
range between them is a table land, di^dded
by lateral valleys, and gently rising towards
the interior. Seawards they all terminate
in salt-water creeks, ha\dng the same narrow,
rocky, and precipitous character. The richest
land is found upon the valleys of the second
class, where the streams flow through wide
plains, and have their margins thinly wooded.
Fine vegetable mou.ld was seen by captain
Grey, ten or twelve feet in thickness.
The Gascoyne River is apparently one im-
mense delta of alluvial soil covered with
gently sloping grassy elevations, which can
scarcely be called hills, and in the valleys
between them are many fresh water lagoons,
which i-est upon a clay soil. The coimtry is
lightly timbered, and well adapted for agri-
cultural or pastoral purposes, but especially
for the gi-o^i;h of cotton and sugar.
Fm'ther information relative to the north-
west coast is very imperfect.
The shore in the neighbourhood of Han-
over Bay is formed of enormous granite
Ijoidders, which render it hardly accessible
except at high water. A red sandstone plat-
form is abruptly intersected by singular look-
ing valleys ; the precipitous cliff's at fii-st ap-
proach each other, and then recede inland in
a southerly direction. It was from one of
these valleys that captain Grey met so many
obstacles in his attempt to penetrate the in-
terior. Hanover Bay is a fine harboiu', but
not so easy of access from seaward as the
contiguous haven of Port George the Fourth;
but both afford safe anchorage, abundance of
fresh water, plenty of fuel, and a fine beach
for the seine. Fish, however, are scarce on
the north-west coast. The numerous islands
and reefs which skirt the shore, greatly di-
minish the value of these fine harboiu's.
Red Is/and, a good guide to the entrance
to Hanover Bay or Port George the Fourth,
is small, rocky, of no great elevation, with
precipitous sides and a clump of trees in the
centre. The coast off" Entrance Island (Port
36
:montgomery islands and king's sound.
George the Foxu-tli; is arid and barren^ with
a hue of lofty chffs occasionally broken by
^andy beaches, and a back-ground of rocky
sandstone hills very thinly wooded. Gene-
rally spealdng, the north-west coast is Avell
watered, and although the country around
Hanover Bay is very rocky, it has some rich
and beautiful vallies.
Doubtful Bay, in 16° 4' S. lat., has a table
land, of sandstone formation, 900 feet above
the waters of the bay. The prospect fi'om
the summit is cheerless ; similar ranges of
less height meet the eye in every direction
branching towards the interior; those over-
looking the eastern shore of the bay are
from 600 to 700 feet high. Captain Stokes
doubts that any land, as estimated by captain
Grey, of two to three thousand feet high,
exists -u-ithin thfrty miles of the height on
which he stood. Captain King mentions
hills of from three to foiu* hundred feet high,
at a distance of fifteen miles. It is uncertain
whether this bay receives the waters of any
river. ]\Ir. Helpman, who explored the
south shore of the bay, ascended a high hill,
and " feasted his eyes on a most luxuriant
well Avatered country," bearing E.S.E, about
eight miles, lying at the eastern foot of a
remarkable peak, visible from Port George
the Fom-th, To the north-east are the
Macdonald range of hills, which are esti-
mated by captain Grey at 1,400 feet high ;
!Mr. Helpman, however, says they are " ap-
parently of no great elevation."' Part of this
rich land stretches to -udthin five miles of the
south-east part of Brecknock Harbour, Avhich
is six miles deep, extends gradually from a
width of one and three-quarter miles at the
enti'ance, to five at the head, and has a depth
of Avater varnng fr'om five to seven fathoms,
Avith a soft muddy bottom. Eocks of tran-
sition origin Avere met with in this neighbour-
hood, leading to the inference that the soil is
of better quality than that formed by the
decomposition of sandstone of recent forma-
tion. Captain Stokes found, on landing in
the neighbourhood at mid-day, "the air
quite perfumed Anth the fi-agrance of different
gums."
The Montgomei'y Islands (so called by cap-
tain King, after the zealous and enterprising
surgeon of his ship, Avho here recei\'ed a
spear wound from the natiA'cs, M^hich nearly
proA' ed fatal) consist of six small rocky islets,
resting on an extensive coral flat ; the eastern
and largest is seventy feet higli, in 15" 49'
S. lat. They form good landmarks for the
entrance to Collier's But/ (distant eighty
miles fi-om Port George the Fom-th), Avhich
is twenty miles Avide at the commencement,
and narrows to six near the head of the bay,
fifteen miles from Eagle Point in 16° 10' S.
lat. The eastern shore has a south and a
south by Avest direction, formed of shalloAV
bights, flanked by hills of moderate elevation.
The western shore runs in a north-west by
Avest direction, has a straight rocky coast,
over which a range of barren heights lise
abruptly.
King's Sound is a deep inlet on its eastern
shore ; the face of the countrA^ is intersected
by deep raAines, and covered AAith huge
blocks of coarse sandstone. From the top of
one of the highest hills, captain Stokes
reckoned more than eighty islands in this
portion of the adjacent archipelago. He
crossed two deep bays in the sound — the first
three and the second four and a half miles
Avide — both affording good anchorage, but
inaccessible from the barrier reefs and islets
across their mouths. These bays and the
ranges of adjoining hills trended E.S.E. At
a distance of seventeen miles in a N.N.E
direction from the ship in 16° 24' 30'' S. lat.,
captain Stokes found the same huge masses
of rock, and from the summit of one of them
obserA'cd yet more numerous islands on the
coast, which is indented AAath bays two to
fiA'e miles in AA^dth, containing long narroAv
islands invariably trending in an E.S.E. di-
rection. The bays generally siibsided in a
S.S.W. direction. The scenery at Point
Usborne, in King's Sound, is very Avnld ; on
the north side of the Sound, distant twenty-
one miles is Point Cunningham and Carlisle
Head, which appear hke two high square-
looking islands. The eastern shore of King's
Sound, at forty miles from Port Usborne in
a direct line, and seventy by the wind-
ing coiu'se of the main laud, forms eight
bays, varying in depth three to eight miles,
and in Avidth two to five : their general trend
is E.S.E. Many islets sku-t their sliores,
and almost more than can be counted fill
their moiiths.
The Fitzroy River, which disembogues
into King's Soimd, Avas traced by captains
Wickham and Stokes for ninety miles; in
their opinion, it oflers a means of access to
the interior, by which future explorers may
further improve our geographical knoAvledgc
of this part of Australia. The country near
the embouche of the river is one vast un-
broken level, covered Anth strong, wiry gi-ass,
and intersected by numerous water- courses.
The general dh'ection of tlie Fitzroy is south ;
THE FITZUOY RIVER AND BUCCANEER'S ARCHIPELAGO.
37
at a few miles from the coast the -width sud-
denly contracts from three miles to one ; the
banks low and covered with a coarse grass.
Firrther south low gi'assy islets extend across
the river, and leave only confined and shallow
channels. Passing these islets at a distance
of nearly thirty miles from the sea, the stream
again viddens to 400 or 500 yards, with a
depth of twelve feet at Ioav water. The
country then begins to improve ; the eastern
bank becomes thickly wooded, and subse-
quently the western is seen clothed with ver-
dure. The coui'se of the river now becomes
very tortuous ; sometimes in a S.W. by W.
direction, then to S.E., round to W.N.W. ;
next three reaches trending S.S.W., S.W.,
and S., fi"om a mile to half a mile in length,
the depth of the stream varying from one to
foivrteen feet ; width from three to five hun-
di'cd yards. In the deep reaches were the
decaying -uTCcks of large trees, indicating
great inmidations. The east bank has here
an elevation of twenty feet, is covered -with
long grass, and thickly wooded with a lux-
miant growth of the white eucalyptus. From
the total absence of every appearance of
animal life, an ah' of solemn tranquillity is
impressed upon the scene. Captain Stokes
climbed the highest tree on the eastern bank,
and the landscape presented to his view was
an almost uninterrupted level; open wood-
lands, Avith here and there grassy spots, were
its prevailing features. Proceeding fiu'ther,
the explorers entered a lake-lilce reach of the
river, trending south for a mile and a quarter,
the breadth about one hunch'cd yards, and
the depth in many places of twelve feet
(twice that usually found in some of the lower
reaches), and no ciu'rent. A coarse red-
grained sandstone, with fragments of quartz,
were found on the west bank for nearly a
quarter of a mile along the edge of the water ;
over many parts of it was a coating of a dark
and metallic appearance, about three inches
thick, and the sui'face in places presented a
glazed or smelted appearance. After passing
this canal, the Fitzroy di-vddes into two
branches, one having an E.S.E., and the
other S.S.E. dii-ection ; both are with diflti-
culty navngated by boats, and are deep
reaches connected by shallows, and subject
to inundations, dmnng wliich the water rises
to a height of twenty feet. The country on
the westward, as far as could be seen from a
high tree, is open, with clumps of small trees,
and green grassy patclics l)etween them.
In other directions it is densely wooded, and
on the eastward tiie trees are large. The ex-
ploration was given up in 17° 41' S. lat.,
121° 31' E. long., the river having been
traced twenty-two miles in a general S.S.W,
du'ccticn, and ninety miles from the coast
line. At this point, the channel of the
southerly branch was found to be wholly
choked with islets and sunken trees ; the
banks were twenty feet high, and coAcrcd
Avith gi'ass ; partially broken or washed down,
they disclosed to riew a ricli allurial soil,
nearly two feet deep. The trees seen were
chiefly two species of palm, three of the
eucalypti, stunted Banksia, acacia, and a sin-
gular tree with a rough bark like the elm,
and a deep dark gi-een foliage.
The Buccaneer's Archipelago consists of
many islets, skirting the coast between
Prince Regent's inlet and King's Somid.
The land in the interior is rugged and lofty,
and the shore much indented with several
fine harbom's. The outline of the coast
about Cape Leveque itself is low, waring,
and rounded, and the cliflTs, as is generally
the case on the north and north-west parts
of Australia, of a reddish hue; but on the
south of the high gromid at Cape Leveque,
the stoney chffs are succeeded by a long tract
which appears to consist of low sandy land,
fronted by extensive shoals.
Dumpier' s ArcJdpelago, and the adjacent
coast, is still but partially sui'veyed : the
shore is rugged and broken.
Depuch Island, on the north-west coast,
in 20° 37' S., 117^44' E., presents a singular
contrast with the low, flat shores of the main
land, from Avhich it is only a mile distant.
It is of a circular form, eight miles in cir-
cumference, and is composed of a vast pile of
large blocks of greenstone, heaped up in
iTigged and iiTCgular masses, to the height
of 514 feet. It has much the a])pearance
of basalt : here and there, near the summit,
are a few stunted green trees ; but, generally
speaking, the island is devoid of vegetation,
and very diff'ereut from the other low islands
of Forester's gi'oup, of which it is the chief.
From Cape Preston, in 21^ S. lat., to
Exmouth Gulf, the coast is low and sandy,
and does not exhibit any prominences. The
Avest coast of Exmoutli Gulf is formed by
a promontory of level land, terminating in
the North-west Cape: from thence to the
south-west, as far as Cape Cuvier, the general
height of the coast is 400 to 500 feet. No
mountains are visi])le from tlie coast-range.
Kok's Island, in tlic Geor/raphe Channel, is
very remarkable ; nearly a table land, about
a quarter of a mile in length, terminating in
38
PHOGRESS OF INLAND DISCOVERY— AUSTRALIA.
low cliffs at each extremity^ and on tlie
summit of this table land are several large
rocksj which look like the remains of pillars.
Bernicr island consists of sandy dimes, ar-
ranged in right Unes, lying south-east and
north-west — the dii'ection of the prevailing
winds. There are no trees or grass. Dorre
is similar to Bernier, only the siu'face is
higher.
Shark's Bay, and the continuous western
and southern shores of AustraHa, will be
described in the respective books of Western
and Southern Austraha.
I have now endeavom'ed to present a
connected "view of the tropical coast-line,
including the north-east, north, and north-
west shores of the island continent; a few
general observations on Geology and Climate
will follow an outline of the —
Progress of Ixland Discovery. — It
would far exceed the limits of the present
work to enter into a detail of the toilsome
and perilous explorations of the brave adven-
tru'ers, v,'ho, at the imminent hazard, and, in
too many instances, at the sacrifice of their
lives, have acquired the yet imperfect infor-
mation we possess concerning the interior of
this vast continent. It must therefore suffice
to enumerate the most important of these
expeditious; dwelling more especially on
those which have led to practical results.
From the very commencement of the settle-
ment at Port Jackson, strenuous endeavom-s
appear to have been made by the colonists to
penetrate beyond the mountain-belt, already
described as forming the leading featui-e in
the physical aspect of Austraha. The efforts
of ]\Iessrs. Bass, Caley, Barraliier, and others,
were totally ineffectual, and the formidable
barrier remained unpassed until the year
1813, when the country was \'isited by a
fearful di-ought ; the land from the sea-coast
to the base of the hiUs was burnt up ; the
secondary water-com'ses entuely failed, and
the cattle, hemmed in on all sides, died in
great numbers for want of pasturage. The
colonists were in despair, when three enter-
prising individuals, Messrs. Blaxland, Went-
worth, and Lawson, united in making one
more attempt to find a pass over the Blue
Mountain range. They ascended the moun-
tains near the Grose River (a tributary of
the Hawkesbury), and by keeping steadily in
vicAv the fall of the waters into the AVarra-
gumba, on the one side, and into the Grose,
on the other, which no previoiis explorer had
thought of doing, they maintained then' po-
sition on a main range, and notwithstanding
its intricate windings, eventually penetrated
to a distance of twenty-five geographical
miles, due west from the Nepean river to a
terminating point in those mountains, whence
the eyes of the enterprising adventurers were
gladdened by the prospect of a grassy and
well watered vale, extending apparently some
miles to the westward. On their return, Mr.
W. Evans, the assistant surveyor, was de-
spatched by the same route, and the Do\vns
of Bathm-st, the river Maequarie, and the
Lachlan were shortly afterwards discovei'ed.
In the following year a practicable hue oi
road was constructed, by convict labour, ovei'
precipitous ridges, some pai'ts of which rise
3,400 feet above the level of the sea. In the
winter of 1817, an expedition headed by cap-
tain Oxley, then surveyor-general, and inclu-
ding Allan Cunningham, v^as sent to trace
the Lachlan. Its long and tortuous course,
dm-ing which it was not found to receive a
single tributary, was followed through a flat
inhospitable country, beyond the westernmost
range of lulls, to an interior, a dead level,
forming a chain of plains, which appeared
alone bounded by the horizon, whose ample
siu'face bore evident proofs of being, in sea-
sons of continued rains, extensively inundated.
Over these AustraHan steppes Captain Oxley
made his way, notwithstanding the slimy
nature of their surface, and the distressed
state of his horses, for about 100 miles to the
westward of the last hill-lilce undulation of
that part of the interior, when his progress
was arrested, in 144° 30' E. long., by impas-
sable morasses, the river having divided itself
into several small channels, and its waters
having become perfectly stagnant and unfit
for use. In 1818, Captain Oxley started to
explore the Maequarie dowirwards from Wel-
lington YaUey, but his persevering research
was again attended with disappointment, the
river being traced to a low marshy interior,
where the coimtry became " perfectly level,^^
and the flooded river eluded furtlier piu'sint
by spreading its waters far and wide. Into
this expanse of shoal water captain Oxley
descended in a boat, amidst reeds of such
height, that having totally lost sight of land
and trees, he was compelled to return to his
party, Avhom he had left encamped on Mount
Harris, a detached hill on the river's bank,
elevated about 200 feet above the plain of
the neighbouring flats. It being at that
time perfectly impossible to penetrate the
aj^parently unbounded morass, captain Oxley,
unable to proceed in a westerly direction,
determined to prosecute his discoveries east-
EXPEDITION UNDER ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, 1828.
39
erly, in the parallel of 31° 15', in which
latitude his examination of the river had
terminated. In his progress easterly, Liver-
pool plains, and a hiBy, pictvu-esque, and well
watered cormtry, were discovered. The ex-
pedition reached the coast at Port Macquarie,
in 31° 30' S. lat., and proceeded thence along
the shore to Port Jackson. In the com^se of
his journeys in 1817-18, captain Oxley ad-
vanced upwards of 500 miles beyond the
Blue jNIountains, and experienced one of the
peculiar dangers attendant on Austrahan ex-
plorations, namely, the rapid rush of water
from the mountains after heavy rains. In
some instances the river column advances
with terrific fury, sweeping every thing before
it, and presenting the appalling prospect of a
moving cataract, with an elevation of twenty
to forty feet. Captain Oxley and his party
were nearly overtaken by one of these inun-
dations, but were providentially saved by
being in the "\icinity of a hill. Had he been
near the margm of a stream, or in one of the
vast savannahs, nothing could have presen-ed
the gallant officer and his companions from
destruction. — {Vide Allan Cunningham's
paper in the Geographical Society's Journal,
1832).
About this time (1819) the Mnrrumbidgee
was discovered, and minor excm-sions were
immediately undertaken ; but the fine open
coimtiy watered by that river, and novf
called Brisbane Dov/ns, was not known until
1823. Towards the close of the following
year, Messrs. Hume and Hovell, two enter-
prismg colonists, resolved itpon attempting
the exploration of the extensive and unknown
tract of country situated between the colo-
nized territory and Bass' Straits. They
started from a stock station near Lake
George, with the intention of pursuing a
direct course to the south-west, expectmg to
ai-rive at the coast near Western Point, but
a range of mountains, connected with those
of the Mnrrumbidgee, through which, with
bvu'dened cattle, they found it impossible
to penetrate, compelled them to follow an
entirely west course, until, haAdng passed
the meridian of 148°, they were enabled to
resume their original dh'ection. In 36° S.
lat.j the party discovered a fine stream,
flowing mth considerable rapidity among
the hills, which, from its depth and breadth,
they had difficulty in fording. To this river
they gave the name of Hume, but it was
subsequently called the Murray, by captain
Sturt, who explored its lower com-se. The
travellers pursued their way over an undu-
lating, grassy, and well-watered country,
and crossed two other streams, which they
named the Ovens and the Goulburn. At
length, having advanced nearly 400 miles be-
yond the remotest settlements, they emerged
upon a sandy beach of the sea shore, con-
sidered by Mr. Hume to be that of Western
Port, but which was, in reality, the nortli-
eastern side of Port Phillip — half a degree to
the Avestward of the point at which they
supposed themselves to have an-ivcd. In
returning home, Messrs. Hume and Hovell
travelled considerably to the westward of
their outwtjrd-bound track, and on a much
lower level, avoiding entirely the broken,
hilly country which had previously proved
so harassing to their cattle.
In 1827, an expedition was despatched
under Allan Cunningham, to explore the
country between Hunter's River, 32° S. lat.,
and Moreton Bay, in 27° S. lat. Crossing
the dividing range to the westward, he
skirted the eastern side of Liverpool Plains,
bisected (what were afterwards found to be)
the tributaries of the Darling, and disco-
vered the extensive and valuable tracts of
pastoral coiuitry now known as DarUng
Downs, Peel's, and Canning's Plains. In
the following year, ]\Ir. Cunningham suc-
ceeded in finding a practicable line of road
through the mountain chain between More-
ton Bay and Darhng Do^vns, which the
extent of intractable and difficult country
between those plains and the Hunter ren-
dered of great importance. Meanwhile, the
extreme di'ought which had now (1828) con-
tinued upwards of three years, induced the
local government to attempt again to ascer-
tain the state of the interior. An exploiing
party, including INIr. Hume, under the direc-
tion of captain Stiu't, (the present colonial
secretary of South Australia,) proceeded to
IMount Harris, on the INIacquai'ie. Upon
reaching the summit of that eminence, a
prospect presented itself which formed a
striking contrast to that beheld by captain
Oxley, from the same spot, ten years before —
the extensive morass into which the surveyor-
general had descended in a boat, being now
transformed into " a large and blasted plain,"
Inarched, by extreme heat, into deep and
dangerous clefts. About twenty-eight miles
below Mount Harris, the Macquarie was
found to terminate, having no longer a con-
tinuous bed, and the plains or steppes com-
mence; each of them liaving a lagoon-like
channel, surrounded by high reeds which, in
the rainy seasons, catch, and for a while
40
DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA FELIX, 1836.
detain tlie spreading waters, until a sliglit
declivity, gi^iiig them a fresh impetus, they
arrive at a second channel, and thence at
a third, until a considerable extent of country
is laid under water — a space, fifty miles in
length, and thirty miles in breadth, being
subject to be thus deluged. Captain Stiu-t
found another river (unfortvmately for the
explorers) of salt water, which he named the
Darhng, and whose course he traced for a
considerable distance. In this expedition
friendly and frequent intercourse Avas main-
tained Anth the natives, who were suffering
fearfully from a cutaneous disease, caused
by the badness of the water, and the inten-
sity of the heat, which seemed alike oppres-
sive to animal and vegetable life.
In 1829, captain Sturt proceeded from
Sydney to explore the ]MmTumbidgee, and
having traced it doAvn its right bank to
34° 25' S. lat., 143° 57' E. long., he there
launched a boat which he had conveyed over-
land, and another, which, by extraordinary
energy and perseverance, had been built on
the spot; fi'oni thence, advancing aboiit
twelve miles to the westward, he found the
morasses into Avhich the Laehlan had been
traced, drained through a " large ereek'^ into
the Miiri'umbidgee ; still pursuing a westerly
course, through a level and monotonous
country, a week's difficult and dangerous
navigation was richly rewarded by the dis-
covery of the junction of tlie diminished
waters of the MiuTumbidgee \dt\\. " a broad
and noble river,'" which he named the
LMiu'ray, and commenced exploring ; after
following it in a westerly dii'ection for about
a hundred miles, the expedition arrived at a
third confluence formed in 34° S. lat., 141°
E. long., by a river flo^dng from the north-
east, Avhich notwithstanding t]ie freshness of
its waters, captain Sturt considered could be
" no other than the Darling." Still pursuing
the course of the Murray, captain Start
passed another of its tributaries, which he
named the Lindesay, and describes as a con-
siderable stream, flowing in from the south-
cast. At length, after some intricate naAd-
gation, the forest-clad ridges which mark
the eastern shore of the Gulf of St, Vincent
became visible ; the river in 139° 46' E. long,
took a bend to the south, and Avas traced by
the party to its entrance iu the broad expanse
of Lake Alcxandrina or Victoria, Avhich they
traversed until stopped by the sand banks that
separate it from the sea at Encoiuiter Bay.
In ]83], a ncAV impetus Avas given to
intej'ual exploration by the plausible state-
ments of a bush-ranger named George Clarke,
sentenced to death for cattle-stealing, who,
haA-ing for a considerable time taken refiige
Avith the natives, had acquired a knowledge
of their language. He declared that he had
himself tAviee followed the cou^rse of a very
large river, from the Liverpool Plains to the
sea-coast ; and the acting governor, sir Pa-
trick Lindesay, was induced to despatch an
expedition under the surveyor-general of the
colony, then major, now lieutenant-colonel
Sii' T. L. IMitchell, to examine the country in
a northerly direction. The result of the
journey, although the conAact's report proved
untrue, Avas in other respects satisfactory.
Major Mitchell having discovered the Dar-
ling to be a fresh-water river in 29° S.
lat., where it receives the Nammoy, a fine
stream Avatering an open pastoral country,
but beyond this point, the mmxler of tAvo
men by the aborigines, and the failure of
provisions, prcA^ented the expedition from
exploring. In 1835, major T. L. Mitchell pro-
ceeded about 300 miles up the riA^er Darling,
in a direct line. He found the country in
general "imfit for any pm-pose,'' with the
exception of " a strip of land near the river ;"
to the westAvard it resembled a desert. On
the return of the expedition, by the di*ied
up channel of the Bogan, in whose ponds,
hoAvever, Avater Avas occasionally found, Mr.
Richard Cunningham, haAing diverged from
his companions, feU into the hands of the
natives, by Avliom he Avas barbarously mur-
dered. In 1836, Sir Thomas Mitchell, with
a Aaew of reaching the same point on the
Darling which he had quitted the prcAdous
year, followed (in order to avoid the hostile
tribes he had then encountered,) the empty
bed of the Laehlan to the jNIurrumbidgee,
and thence to the INim'ray, Avhieh he traced
to its junction Avitli the river rightly supposed
hy captain Stiu't to be the Darling, which
latter stream he examined sufficiently to iden-
tify. He then turned to the south, and
tracing the course of the JNIurray upwards,
discovered between it and the sea a fine,
open, uninhabited, and Avell-Avatered country,
averaging in extent 400 miles from east to
Avest, and 250 from north to south, which
he named Australia Felix, and in Avhicli the
flourishing colony of Port Phillip, or Vic-
toria, is noAV estabhshed. In 1837-8, lieu-
tenant Grey (now governor of New Zealand,)
and lieutenant Lushington undertook the
examination of the country about Piince
Regent's inlet, hoping to discoA^er, in the
vicinity of Dampier's Arcliipelago, some
river by means of which they might be
enabled to penetrate tlie interior. Their
expedition has been ah-cady adverted to in
the description of the coast Hne, beyond
which insurmoimtable obstacles prevented
their exploring for a greater distance than
sixty miles.
In 1840; useful surveys were made by
]Mr. Tyers between Port Phillip and the
river Glenelg^ and by ]\Ir. Dixon at ]Moreton
Bay; and^ in the same year, Gipp's Land
was discovered by the able geologist and
indefatigable explorer, count Strezelecki, to
whom we are indebted for a physical
description of New South Wales and Van
Diemen's Land, a work which, to quote the
Avords of the author, "compreheuds the
fruits of five years of continual labour, during
a torn- of 7,000 miles on foot."
In June, 1840, ]\Ir. Eyre, who had pre-
viously conducted several minor explorations,
was intrusted by the colonists with the
guidance of an expedition destined to attempt
afresh to penetrate the interior, the plan of
the intended journey being — first, to examine
Lake Torrens, and then to proceed, as far as
possible, in a northerly direction. Lake
Torrens was found by Mr. Eyre to be com-
pletely gii-ded by an outer ridge of sand,
covered ^vith salsolaceous plants, and with
sahne crasts, showing above the ground, at
intervals, " the dry bed of the lake, coated
completely over with a crust of salt, forming
one unbroken sheet of pm-e white, and glit-
tering brilliantly in the sun, but yielding to
the foot, the bed of the lake below the sur-
face being composed of a soft mud." The
progress of the party in the intended direc-
tion was aiTCsted, it being impossible either
to cross the lake, from its boggy nature,
or travel along its shores, fi'om "the total
absence of all fresh water, gTass, or wood,
whilst the very saline nature of the soil in
the surrounding country, made even the
rain-water salt, after lying an hour or two
upon the ground." Erom the depot near
Mount Arden, close under the hills Avhich
form the continuation of Elindcrs' range,
they therefore proceeded to their termination
in 29° 20' S. lat., and reached a low and
very level countrj^ consisting of large stony
plains, destitute of water, grass, or timber,
varied by many small, flat-topped elevations,
from 50 to 300 feet in height, composed
almost wholly of a chalk substance, coated
over on the upper siirfacc by stones, or a
sandy soil, and " presenting the appearance of
having fonned a table land that had been
DIV. I.
washed to pieces by the riolent action of
water, and of Avhich these fragments now
remain."
Forcing his way through this dreary
region, in three different directions, Mr.
E}Te ascertained that " the Avhole of the low
country round the termination of Flinders'
range Avas completely smTomidcd by Lake
Torrens, Avhich, commencing not far from
the head of Spencer's Gulf, takes a circuitous
com-se of fully 400 miles, of an apparent
breadth of from tAventy to thirty miles, fol-
loAving the sweep of Flinders' range, and
almost encirchng it in the form of a horse-
shoe." The extensive but disheartening pros-
pect from ]Moimt Serle first manifested to
the enterprising party the impassable barrier
by Avhicli they Avere hemmed in; but ]\Ir.
Eatc, considering this CAidence insufficient,
left his party, and proceeded, accompanied
by a native boy, for about ninety miles
farther, to a "W, haycock-like peak,"
rising "among broken fragments of table
lands," similar to those previously seen near
the lake to the north-west, which, naming
Mount Hopeless, he ascended, and found his
prcAious couA'iction entirely confirmed. He
then returned to Port Lincoln for supplies,
and, rejoining the party, (Avliom he sent
forAvard to Streaky Bay,) set out to foUow
the coast line in a Avesterly direction, hoping
to arrive at a practicable country to the
north. In this, hoAvever, he entirely failed,
although he succeeded in penetrating, accom-
panied b}^ a native boy and a man driAiug a
dray laden AA^th proAisions, AA-ithiu twelve
miles of the head of the Great Bight, through
low, flat lands, or a succession of sandy
ridges, densely covered AA^th a brush of
eucalj'ptus, mimosa, salt-Avater, tea-tree, and
other shrubs, Avitli, here and there, a few
isolated patches of open, grassy plains among
the scnib, but no siu'lace-Avater — not a water-
com-se or pool of any description. This
attempt cost the lives of the three best
di'aught horses of the expedition, from fatigue
and privation : but Mv. Eatc resolved to
make another, taking Avitli him only one
of the native boys. He thus describes the
sterile region they encountered : —
" Upon rounding the head of tlie bight, I met Avith
a few friendly natives, -who shewed mo Avhere both
Avater and grass A\ere to be procured, at the same time
assuring me that inland there was neither fresh or
salt Avater, hills, or timber, as lar as they had ever
been ; that there was no more (either fresh Avater or
grass) along the coast for ten of their days' journeys
(probably 100 miU-s) or where the first break takes
place in the long and continuouy line of cliffs Avhich
E
42 ACCOUNT OF THE INTERIOR GIVEN BY THE NATR^ES, 1844.
extend so far to the westward of the head of the
I Great Bight. Upon reaching these cliffs, I felt much
j disappointed, as I had long looked forward to some
considerable and important change in the character
' of the country. There ■was, however, nothing verj'
I remarkable in their appearance, nor did the features
I of the countiT around undergo any material change.
: The cliffs themselves struck me as merely exhibiting
the precipitous banks of an almost level country, of
j moderate elevation (300 or 400 feet), wliich thevio-
j lent lash of the -whole of the Southern Ocean -was
I always acting upon and undermining. Their rock
i formation consists of various strata, the upper crust
I or surface being an oolitic lime ; below tliis is an
I indented concrete mixttu'e of sand, soil, small pebbles,
: and shells :• beneath this appear immense masses of
j a coarse greyish limestone, of Avhich by far the greater
portion of the cliffs are composed ; and immediately
j below these again is a narrow stripe of a whitish or
I rather cream-colom-ed substance, lying in horizontal
j strata, but which the impracticable nature of the
: cliffs did not allow me to examine. After riding for
' forty-five miles along their summits, I was in no case
able to descend ; their- brinks were perfectly steep
and overhanging, and in many places enormous
I masses appeared severed by deep cracks fi-om the
j main land, and requiring but a touch to plunge them
! into the abyss below. As far as I have yet been
I along these, I have met with no indication of any
I portion of them being composed of chalk. Imme-
j diately along their summits, and for a few hundred
j yards back, very numerous pieces of pure flint are
lying loosely scattered upon the surface of the lime-
J stone. Back from the sea, as far as the eye could
I reach, the country Avas level and generally open, wi.ih
; some low inickly bushes and salsolaceous plants
i growing upon it ; here and there patches of the gum
scrub shewed themselves, among which a few small
: grassy openings were interspersed. The whole of
I this tract was thickly covered by small land shells,
I about the size of snail shells, and in some instances
resembling them in shape. There were no sudden
depressions or abrupt elevations anyAvhere; neither
hills, ti-ees, or water were to be observed, nor Avas
there the least indication of improvement or change
in the general character of this desolate and forbid-
ding region."'
Mr. Eyre novr reuouuccd all Lope of pene-
trating the interior, and breaking up his
party, resolved to proceed with one man
(who had acted as overseer) and the native
boys overland to King George's Sound, Avhich,
after extreme perils and fatigue, borne with
a cheerful endurance beyond all praise, he
succeeded in reaching, accompanied by one
only of the boys, the others haAing deserted
him, while the unfortunate overseer had
peiishcd by the hands of tlie natives.
Passing over the interesting excm-sions of
Mr. Frome to Lake Torrens, Messrs. Russell
riowTi the Condamine, and others, we anive at
the remarkable expedition conducted by cap-
tain Sturt, who left Adelaide in August, 1844,
and started up the Darhng Avith a view of
tracing the WiUiorara (Laidley's Ponds)
upwards. Instead of a moiuitain stream, the
Williorara proved to be a mere creek, con-
veying the backwaters of the Darhng to
Lakes Cawndilla and Minandichi, and his
hopes of gaining entrance to the noith-west
inteiior along its banks were completely
frustrated. The conduct of the natives a*t
this place was vei*y gratifying, and appears to
have been chiefly OAving to the favoui'able
impression made by Mv. Eyi-e during a pre-
vious jom-ney up the Darling. "To those
exertions," says captain Stm-t, " more than
to om- own pnidence, must we asciibe the
peaceful manner in which we have passed
through the tribes." The aborigines warned
captain Stm"t most emphatically against at-
tempting to cross the formidable ranges
bordering the interior ; telhng him that they
were covered with sharp pointed stones and
great rocks, by Avhich if they escaped being
crushed, and gained the low coimtry, they
there would all perish from the heat and the
want of water ; moreover, they would find no
wood to light a fire Avitli — no grass for the
cattle. This appalhng picture which (alloAV-
ing for theii- exaggerated mode of expression)
experience proA^ed to be in many respects
correct, did not deter the gallant band, and
haA-ing succeeded in discovering a practicable
pass, they descended into the steiile region,
beyond avhich the most strenuous and con-
tinuous efforts failed in enabling them to
penetrate. Speaking of the dreary heights
by which they were encircled, captain Stui't
says, "they seemed to extend in a N.N.W.
and S.S.E. direction, forming semicircles,
like bays, and haA^ug all the appearance of a
coast-line. Some prickly acacias in full
blossom, a tree resembhng a banksia, and a
ncAv polygonum, were foimd on the western
slope." The expedition encamped in a shel-
tered glen on the 27th January, 1845, in
29° 40' li" S. lat., 141° 30' E. long.,- and the
tents were not again strack until the 14t]i
of Jidy folloAA-ing. They were fortunate in
having here discovered an important creek,
whose plentifid supply of water alone enabled
them to remain so long in the heart of the
desert. The sufJerings endm-ed by the Avhole
party were excessive, and in July, Mr. Poole
(the second in command) sank imder them.
The cxcui'sions made by captain Sturt in all
dh-cctions, dming his protracted sojoixrn in
this " weaiy land," are too numerous to be
even briefly detailed, but tlie folloAving ex- j
tracts from his despatches may aflbrd the j
reader some idea of the dreary Anldcrness !
itself, and the perils and fatigue therein en- |
countered : — f
CAPTAIN STURT'S DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT STONY DESERT. 43
" We passed over a counti-y of alternate sand hill
and flats, until I struck upon a creek, beyond which
the country was more open, and more subject to
floods ; v.'e crossed over extensive plains, subject to
deep inundations, but soon again got on sandhills.
From them ire descended to a stony plain of bound-
less extent, on which the horses left no track, and
where no object was visible on the horizon from
which to take bearings. Crossing these, we de-
scended to flats, like a ploughed field, on which water
had subsided, stretching to the north-east and south-
west, farther than the range of vision, and without a
blade of A'egetation. From this v,-e again ascended
sand ridges, of most formidable description, and
found the country to the west so bad where we
attempted to penetrate in that direction, and surface
w^ater so scarce, that we were obliged to turn to the
north at fifty miles, with only two small puddles to
depend on. I struck a creek which I traced up
sixty miles, when I got on a country of salt forma-
tion, covered with samphii-e, and other salsolaceous
productions, with numbers of dry beds of lagoons,
all white as snow, with salt. Passing this, we once
more found ourselves among sand ridges, perfectly
insurmountable, so close that the base of one touched
the base of another — the whole country sand. The
sand hills were of a fiery red, and they ran for miles
and miles, in parallel rows, with points like the
vanishing points of an avenue. But there was neither
grass nor water to be found, and after trying all
points of the compass, I gave it up and returned to
the depot, after an absence of seven weeks, and a
ride of 924 mile?.
"The men were all knocked up, and the horses
perfectly leg-weary ; but I was dissatisfied with this
journey, and there was but little time for hesitation.
Therefore, after giving the animals six days' rest,
I left the camp, taking with me two men and nine
weeks' provisions, my objects being to try to enter
the tropics, to ascertain if there were any water
betweeji me and the north coast, or if the desert
extends to the very tropics. I v.ent due north, and
struck a most splendid creek at 123 miles from the
depot. Here I had a thunder-storm that lasted half
an hour, and left some surface water, dependent on
which, I crossed it, and ran out 170 miles without
finding a single channel for conveyance of water.
I dug five wells, but had little hope of benefiting
from them. I was at length brought up by a stony
desert, that stretched before us in absolute bound-
lessness. Where there were sand-hills in it before,
the sand-hills were now covered with stone, similar
to the plain itself. I was in the centre of a dark and
adamantine sea, without any object by v/hich to steer
my course. I was foriy-one miles advanced in this
gloomy region, and fifty-two from water. My horses
had already been one clay without water, and I could
not hope to reach the other water under a day and
a-half, including part of the night ; yet I hesitated to
turnback It Avas an irresistible influence that drove
nie back, certainly contrary to my own inclinations.
I was well-nigh too late. I lost three horses, but
that was of no consequence on such an occasion. I
got back to tlie creek, (Cooper's Creek) after havmg
reached latitude 2o' 45', and longitude 139' 13'.
" From the creek on Avhich I Avas, I had seen high
and broken ranges to the north-east, and I now
determined on examining them and the creek. I
therefore went up the latter 120 miles, but I found
that it was leading me away from the ranges, and I
ultimately got to its termination, or rather head, in
some extensive plains. The creek was as large as
tlie Darling, and was flanked by a box-tree forest, in
grassy land, to a considerable distance from its banks.
Here I fell in with a numerous population, passing
three or four small tribes every day; but the news of
our kind treatment of them had spread through the
country, and they evinced no alarm, but did all they
could to serve us. From this point I turned west-
ward, and taking up a branch creek, went towards
the ranges; but I got into a temble country, and
found that the cflTects of refraction had deceived nie
with regard to the ranges, and that they v.-ere
nothing but masses of sand or rock, 300 to 500 feet
liigh. I saw that I was getting near the scene of
the greatest turmoil, where the water passed over
this ch-eary waste, and left the shivered fragments
of mountains behind it. Here, again, water and
grass failed me, and I M-as forced to abandon this
trying task, being unable to contend against the
season and country. I had done all that I could do,
and had run the risk of being altogether cut ofi";
indeed, so near was it, that I drained the last di-op of
mud — for it was not water — out of a pool that four
weeks before was 150 yards broad, and 200 to 300
long. I lost two horses, and regretted them very
much. I reached the depot, at length, having ridden
843 miles in five M'eeks, less three days.
" I had been exposed for twelve Aveeks to an exces-
sive heat, had had insufficient food, had dnmk loath-
some water, and at length my iron constitution,
under disappointment, anxiety, and weakness, gave
Avay The day I made the camp, I was eighteen
hours on horseback; and when I dismounted, the
spasmodic action of the muscles of my thighs was so
violent as almost to throw me forward. I had, in
truth, ridden all day in great pain. The next day,
the scurvy, latent in me for eleven months, seized
me. The muscles of my thighs contracted, and I
was laid prostrate."
The expedition on their return were joined
l)y a rehef party at the junction of the Wil-
liorara^ and reached Adelaide on the 19th of
January, 1846. In a brief summary of the
infoimation he had obtained, captain Sturt
says : —
" The principal features of the interior are the
sandy ridges or dunes, by which it is traversed from
south to north, and the Great Stony Desert. That
the whole region traversed was once submerged,
there cannot, I tliink, be a doubt. Its salsolaceous
productions, its sea-level, its Avant of trees of any size
or groMth, excepting on the banks of the creeks,
sufljciently attest this ; but whether the sandy ridges
were thrown up simultaneously, or were successively
formed by the joint effect of winds and a gradually
retiring sea, or of winds alone, it is i;npossible to say.
When I first crossed the Stony Desert, it appeared to
me to have been the bed of a former current; and I
felt satisfied that that conclusion was just when I
crossed it at another point more than a degree from
the fii'st, and noticed the strong proof it exhibited of
Avaters having at one time or other sAvept over it with
irresistible fury. MHiether the Stony Desert con-
tinues to any distance I cannot say, but my opinion
is that it does, and that, as the loAvest part of the
interior, it receives all the Avaters falling inwards from
the coast. "VVTiether those Avaters are gradually lost
by evaporation, or that they are carried to some still
undiscovered sea, remains to be proved ; but as it is
44 DR. LEICHARDT'S JOURNEY TO PORT ESSINGTON, 1844-45.
difficult for others to elucidate tliese things, I liave
thought myself called upon to throw eA ery light I
can on the probable character of the interior. All I
can say is, that after having traversed a desert for
400 niiles and failed to reach its northern limit,
and after having found that it continued unaltered
for four degrees of longitude, I cannot hope that it
speedily closes in, either to the east or -west."
With regard to tlie sandy dimes, lie
adds : —
" "When we first observed them, their general
direction was N.E. by N.. but they gradually came
round to, and settled at, eighteen degrees to the W.
of X., or nearly N.N.W., and preserved that bearing
with undoviating regularity for more than 300 miles.
Tliey occasionally ran for ninety miles without any
break in them, and occurred in lines rising parallel
to each other, at greater or less distances apart, and
Were divided by long flats."
During the weary months spent by captain
Stm't and his brave party in this stony
prison, an exploration of a very different
character, and attended by very different re-
sults, was made by Dr. Leiehardt, an intel-
ligent and enterprising German, who, accom-
panied by seven persons, quitted Jimba, the
farthest station on the Darling Downs, on
the 1st of October, 1841, and after a toilsome
and perilous jom-ney of 1,800 miles^ distance,
duiing which above 3,000 miles were tra-
versed in fourteen months, arrived at Port
Essington with his party, excepting only the
unfortunate j\lr. Gilbert, who was killed by
the natives when the expedition had nearly
reached the north coast. The party followed
the range of mountains which run nearly
paraUel to the east coast, until they reached
the Gulf of Carpentaria, thence followed the
coast to the westward, quitted it where it
tui'ns to the northward, and proceeded direct
across the country. For the greater part of
the journey they Hved on dried beef, and
such game as the country afforded : their
sufferings and endurance were very great.
In a series of lectm'cs delivered by Dr.
Leiehardt in Sydney, he stated that in de-
scribing the country, according to its con-
formation and sm-face, the nature of its soil
j and vegetation, its supply of water, and its
meteorological relations, the whole line of
I route might be divided very naturally into
eight sections, each bearing a peculiar cha-
' racter. By this division it may ])e Avell to
abide in the follo^ring account of the country.
The first section comprises the country
between Darling Do^vns and Peak Range,
with the Dawson and the Mackenzie, and is
principally composed of sandstone, broken in
several localities by basalt (whinstone) which
fonns either peaJts, as Mount Aldis and
Mount Nicholson, or the spine of large
ranges, as Expedition Range. The sand-
stone ranges are remarkable for thpir nume-
rous and steep gullies, and for their scrubby
vegetation. Dr. Leiehardt found the country,
with a few exceptions, Avell watered, and
almost daily thunder storms cooled the air
dm'ing the months of October, November,
December, and January. Not only the liigh
level land west of Darling Downs, which
sloped almost imperceptibly to the south-
west, but the valleys of the rivers and the
sides of the momitains are covered with
extensive scrub, principally composed of a
species of acacia, which has reeeiA^ed the
name of bricklow (brigalow) from the squat-
ters between the Severn and the Condamine.
This shrub, or smaU tree, has a foHage of
greyish-green colom', and grows so close, that
it is impossible, or only ^nt]\ extreme diffi-
culty, that a man on horseback can make his
way through it. Along the hills which bound
Palm-tree Creek and the Dawson at their
junction, this scrub surrounds the Downs,
which are frequently several miles in extent,
and are rendered extremely pictiu-esque by
small copses of bricklow, fusanas, and bau-
hinia scattered over them, and often clustered
round stately bottle-trees, the shady retreat
of kangaroos and wallobis. These downs
and plains are covered by various grasses and
herbs; but the great pre^^alence of vervain
induced Dr. Leiehardt to name them the Ver-
vain Plains. Looking from an eminence at
the north-west side of Expedition Range, Dr.
Leiehardt describes the disheartening pros-
pect of a vaUey nearly boundless to the eye,
filled by an "almost uninterrupted sea of
scrub,^' but the upper part of the Dawson —
Palm-tree Creek, with its swampy lakes, its
fine flats and noble palm-trees ; part of Rob-
inson's Creek, the Creek of Ruined Castles,
and the comitry south-east of Expedition
Range, he speaks of as so many places of
rest and enjojonent, where the drooping
hopes of the party brightened, and their
energies re^dved. The banks of the Mac-
kenzie, so far as they were traversed during
this expedition, partook of the scrubby cha-
racter of the country, but Dr. Leiehardt saw
reason to believe that the scrub ceased a
little lower down, while its large supply of
water led him to suppose it formed a con-
siderable stream towai-ds the sea-coast. The
natives, when questioned concerning the
coiu'se of the river, pointed to the north-east,
and it probably disembogues at Broad Sound,
in lat. 21° 30'. The eountrv south-east of
PEAK RANGE AND THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA.
45
Expedition Range, between Zamia Creek and
Erythrina Creek, was found to be for a con-
siderable distance to the eastward flat and
openly timbered; affording good pasturage
and tolerably w^ell pro^dded with water at the
foot of the range. Its latitude was 2i° 50',
but the course of its waters appeared to be
directed either to Port Curtis or to Keppel
Bay. Should a practicable communication
with the sea-coast be discovered, there is
little doubt of this district becoming valuable
for pastoral pm^poses, and that even the good
country of Castle Creek, Robinson's Creek,
and Palm-tree Creek, will be accessible from
this side.
The second section, comprising Peak Range,
the Isaacks, and the Upper Suttor, presents
a very different character from that just
described. A long range of noble peaks,
composed of dolomite, extends far to the
W.N.W., and offers to the west and south-
west a wide view over basaltic plains and
open downs, alternating with low and openly-
wooded ridges. To the eastward of those
peaks, basaltic ridges, with gently undulating
outlines, narrow plains, and abrupt sand-
stone ranges, form numerous valleys, along
which creeks descend to the eastward, winding
in their lower course through an immense
level country, and joining the Isaacks, wdiich
comes from the north-west, and forms the
chief outlet of the Avaters to the sea. An
open forest covers the whole district, with
the exception of some narrow belts of scrub
along the Isaacks, and on the sandstone
ranges ; and the most luxuriant grass clothes
not only the black soil of the basaltic plains,
but the stiff flats and the sandy bergs along
the creeks and river. The supply of water
was found to be so little in proportion to the
number or size of the channels, that on the
magnificent downs of Peak Range, Dr. Lei-
chardt and Mr. Calvert nearly perished for
want of water. It was here, also, that they
felt, for the last time, a hot wind from the
west and south-west, coming from the yet
unpenetrated interior. Water-holes existed,
however, in the upper part of the eastern
creeks, and swampy lagoons seemed to be-
come numerous down the Isaacks, which
is supposed to join the sea in Broad Sound,
?iear the Mackenzie. The Upper Suttor
partakes of the character of the Isaacks,
from the head of which it is far more
accessible than from its own lower course.
Numerous flocks of emus roam over the
beautiful country at the head of the Isaacks
and the Suttor, and the immense tract
which spi-eads out round the foot of Coxen'a
Peak.
The third section, comprising the Lower
Suttor, the Burdekin, and the country be-
tween the Burdekin and the Lynd, is charac-
terised by its supply of running water, its
primitive rocks, its limestone, its numerous
ranges, and fine, open, well-gi'assed forest.
Dr. Leichardt says, that several (compara-
tively) large tributaries, as the Cape, the
Clarke, the Perry, di-ain, in all probability,
extensive tracts of available countiy, while
the elevation on the upper course of the Bm--
dekin, renders the chmate cooler than might
be expected from the latitude. The basaltic
table-land is exceedingly rich and beautiful.
The open forest of narrow-leaved iron l^ark
and box, on a sound and rather stony
gi'ound, alternates -with plains of various ex-
tent, abundantly grassed, and watered by
numerous brooks and springs. Large #* and
deep lagoons lie scattered over the valley, or
parallel to the river, whose coui'se runs
strongly over its sandy, pebbly, or rocky bed.
But the approach to this interesting country
is intercepted by a very mountainous region,
and by deep creeks, over which more practi-
cable roads will no doubt be found in the pro-
gi'ess of colonisation. The basalt appears
to have been broken by a still more recent
eruption of lava, which expanding partly over
it, has formed as wild and irregular fields of
rock as ever covered the slopes of a volcano.
From the ridges and mountains which rose
above the table land, the waters descend not
onl}^ to the valley of the Bm'dekin in a south-
east direction, but also to the north-east and
to the westward. The country along the
creeks is open and flat, so long as they pass
over the table land ; but when they descend
their channels deepen, their banks become
sun'ounded wdth steep ranges, and their beds
are either formed by solid rock or covered
with loose shingle and boulders, wdiich render
it impossible to travel Avithin or along them.
TJie fourth section embraces the Lynd, the
Mitchell, and the east coast of the Gulf of
Carpentaria. The fall towards the level
country, which forms a broad belt round the
Gidf, is much more rapid than the ascent
from the east coast ; and the course of the
Upper Lynd is much more mountoinous and
Avild than that of the Upper Bm'dekin. The
same succession of rocks, granite, talchiste,
porphyry, and sandstone, are observable in
descending to the Gulf, as at the east coast
in ascending the table-land, but limestone
was not met with ^by Dr. Leichardt) on the
46
PLAINS OF PKOMISE AND ARNHEM'S LAND.
west side of York peninsula, tliougli it ap-
peared extensively developed on the Burdekin.
Basalt Las broken through the various rocks,
but the level countiy is fonned of a clayey
ironstone, intermixed vritli grains of quartz,
■R-hich extends all round the Gulf to Port
Essington, and may be considered of neTrer
formation. The Lynd was found to be
joined by several running creeks, and well
supphed -with water dmiug its whole course.
The country was openly timbered and well
grassed ; and at the lower part of the Lynd
and parallel to the INlitchell, veiy large and
deep ponds were discovered, around which
the pasture was particularly rich. The
rivers within the tropics are almost all
remarkable for the immense width of their
beds, which are filled with sand, with the
exception of those spots on which the naked
rock crops out, and are often over-grown
with small trees, whose number and size
depend upon the frequency and strength of
those volumes of water which occasionally
sweep down. Tliat of the L'^pper Lynd, for
instance, was fouu d to be covered with trees,
whilst the bed of the Mitchell was entu'ely
free from them, and water-marks were ob-
seiTed above the level of the bed — showing
that a large body of water floAvs down to the
sea in, perhaps, unusually rainy seasons.
Large tracts of country on the east coast
of the gulf arc covered with box (a species
of eucalyptus), and with a small tea-tree
with broad lanceolate leaves. The finest and
most available land lies along the creeks and
rivers; the soil is there much lighter, and
the blood-wood, the leguminous iron-bark,
and the pandanus, grow well on it, forming
an open forest. All the rivers of Australia
have lines of holes and hollows parallel to
them, which are generally filled by high
floods, and keep the water much longer than
the rivers themselves. Lagoons of this de-
scription are numerous along the Staaten,
the Van Diemen, the Gilbert, and the Caron,
and appear to be constantly resorted to by
the natives. To the north of the Staaten,
towards the sea- coast, there is a succession
of plains, but the grass is generally stiff and
M-iry. If we compare the course of the
rivers on the east coast of the Gulf of Car-
pentaria, it will be considered remarkable
that the Lynd, which rises in the latitude of
the head of tlie gulf from the table land of
the York Peninsula, should go to the N.N.W.
and belong to a system of waters which joins
the sea in 15° S. lat., instead of taking a
direct course to the west, aud disemboguing
in or near the head of the gulf. A number
of coast rivers, of probably very short
coui'ses, the Nassau, the Staaten, the Y'an
Diemen, Gilbert, and Caron, take their origin
from the moderately elevated country which
bounds the valley of the Lynd and Mitchell
to the westward.
The fifth section comprises tlie Plains of
Promise, so called by captain Stokes, which
extend from the Flinders to the Nicholson,
and are drained by the tributaries of three
large salt-water rivers or creeks, the most
westerly of which is the Albert of Stokes,
and the IMaet Suyker of the Dutch navi-
gators. These plains Dr. Leichardt found
covered \\ith various tender gTasses and herbs,
interspersed with a few straggling trees.
The narrow valleys of the creeks were filled
with open scrub, formed by a small tree,
whose fresh-cut wood has the odour of rasp-
berry jam.
The sixth section of Dr. Leichardt's journey
between the Nicholson and the Roper, is
remarkable for the number of lai'ge, salt-
water riA'ers, the density of its tea-tree
scrubs, and the extent of its stringy-bark
forests. Here, again, are liills and ranges,
while pebbles of granite and porphpy indi-
cate that the great arc of liigh land which
sweeps round the head of the Gulf of Car-
pentaria approaches the sea-coast. The Van
Alphen, the Abel Tasman, the Robinson,
the ]Macarthui', and the Limnen Bight River,
form broad channels of water, and occa-
sionally afford magnificent prospects, espe-
cially cheering to eyes wearied by the
monotony of the dense scrub.
The seventh section lies between the Roper
and the high land of Arnhem^s peninsula.
The Roper is a large fresh-Avater river, fed
by a great number of running creeks and
brooks, all closely fringed by belts of pan-
danus. Almost the whole country along the
river is open, well gi'assed, and availalile for
depastui'ing purposes. At its upper coui'se
fine plains, bound by sandstone ridges, and
diversified by pandanus creeks, form an
extremely pleasing landscape. The higli
land is covered vath an open, stringy-bark
forest on a sandy soil; but its level is fre-
quently interrupted by steep rocky sandstone
hills and ridges, at the foot of which tea-tree
swamps, Avitli a peaty soil, form frequently
the head of creeks. The fall of the high
land of York peninsula is more sudden to
the westward; the same is the case, in a
still higher degree, in Arnhem's Land; for
there is not only a very rapid faD in the
A FLOOD ON THE MACQUARIE, 1846.
47
creeks, but tliere are precipices from 500 to
800 feet high, bordering the vfilley of the
South Alligator Kiver, over which numerous
cascades laish dovai to join their waters with
those of that river. It is remarkable, that
the only slope vrhich allowed the explorers
to descend into the valley Avas formed of
granite, whereas the whole of Arnhem's
Land, and the ranges of the Roper, are
composed of sandstone, which, near the divi-
sions of the vy'aters of the Gulf of Cai"pen~
taria and the north-west coast, has been
broken through by basalt.
The eighth, and last sectmi comprises the
two Alligator rivers, and the Cobui'g penin-
sula. Its leading featiues are large swampy
lagoons, extensive plains at the lower part of
their course, densely- wooded ii'onstone ridges,
and a great number of creeks in the Coburg
peninsula, -with limited fiats of bglit alluvial
soil, richly clothed -with herbs and grasses
during and immediatel)'^ after the rainy
season. These creeks generally enlarge into
swamps, called " Mariars" by the natives,
before they are lost in the mangrove thicket
which covers their junction with the sea.
Concerning the capabilities of the country
whose leading features have been above
described. Dr. Leichardt thus expresses him-
self:—
" To the question of how far this country is avail-
able for colonization, I would reply — the .greatest
part is fit for pastoral purposes, excepting only the
scrubs of the east coast of Australia, the mountain
gorges of the Upper Lynd, and the tea-tree scrubs of
the Avest coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. But even
here broad belts of fine country extend along both
sides of the larger rivers, and will very probably be
found quite as good as the country of tlie E,opcr.
Hoi'ses and cattle will do well over the whole extent,
particularly at Expedition Range, along the Isaacks,
the Burdekin, the east coast of the gulf, and on the
plains at its licad. The rapid increase of the buffaloes
on the Coburg peninsula, and the excellent condition
of the herd of cattle which they keep at Port Essing-
ton, show that the north-west coast of Australia is no
less favourable for the development of animal life.
The elevation of Peak Range, and of the table land
of the Burdekin, leads me to believe that these
regions are fit for sheep. I am not sufficiently ac-
quainted with the cultivation of tropical plants to
give a decided opinion, but there is such a variety of
soil, of aspect, and of elevation, that I feel convinced
tropical plants will grow freely where sufficient mois-
ture exists. The cotton, the indigo, the cocoa-nut,
the banana, the arrow-root, the sweet potato, the
bread-fruit tree, the jack-fruit, the soursop, tlie pine-
apple, the mango, and mangostine grow well in Port
Essington ; and captain Macarthur assured me that,
according to the statement of the Malays, who had
examined the swamps west of the settlement, they
would do excellently for growing rice. The large
plains of the Alligator rivers would suit equally well,
and to an almost unlimited extent,"
A third very important exploration was
undertaken during the absence of captain
Sturt and Dr. Leichardt. The surveyor-
general, Sir T. L. Mitchell (whose former
journeys have been briefly noticed), started
from Sydney with a well-equipped expedition,
in December 1845, one chief object being
" the discovery of a good practical line of
road to the nearest part of the Indian Ocean
to the westward of Torres Straits, towai'd
the Gulf of Carpentaria.^'' The season was
unpropitious by reason of great drought, and
the intended route by the Bogan Avas found
to be impracticable, from the scarcity of
water in its channel. The intense heat
killed all the Kangaroo dogs, most of the
party Avere afHicted with ophthalmia, and the
draught oxen were so much distressed that
some of them dropped dead on the journey.
A fortnight's halt Avas made at the ponds of
Cannonba, between the Bogan and the j\lac-
quarie, during which time some refreshing-
rain fell, and from thence the expedition
journeyed along the left bank of the ]Mac-
quarie, and skirting the western limits of
the marshes, proceeded to its junction Avith
the Darling in 147° 33' E. long., 30° 6' 11"
3. lat. While tracing the attenuated chan-
nel of the Macquarie among the reeds, Avhere
Avater, though scarce, Avas still to be found in
ponds. Sir Thomas was startled by the re-
port that " a flood was coming doAvn from
the Turon mountains, but that it travelled
sloAvly and Avould not arrive until the follow-
ing evening." At the time stated, a mur-
mtu'ing sound, like that of a distant Avater-
fall, was heard, mingled Avith occasional
cracks, as of breaking timber; very gra-
dually the noise increased, until at length
the flood burst into sight, glittering in the
moonlight, and filling the dark and dry bed
of the river with Avater brought a distance of
400 miles. Sir Thomas, after a graphic
description of this singidar spectacle, adds —
" We thought then that there Avas an end
of all our ti'oubles, but in a few days after,
in the same channel, Ave were just as badly
off for Avater; that Avater had gone to fill
thousands of lagoons, and never reached the
channel of that river to Avhicli it was a mere
tributary.'' Crossing the Darling, the party
succeeded in reaching the swamp in Avhich
the Narran terminates ; tracing that stream
upwards (or north Avards) to its junction Arith
the Balonne, in 118°.25'E. long., theyfoimd
it full of Avatcr and increasing in size and
importance as it was ascended, Avith grass of
the very best description on its hank s. Pani-
48
EXPEDITION UNDER SIR TPIOMAS MITCHELL, 1846,
cum Iffivinode (I^arley grass), the seeds of
^vhicli, bruised bet^veen stones and baked
into cakes, constitutes the chief food of the
natives; and Anthistirium Aiistralis (Kan-
garoo grass) grew on the plains in the open
forests.
The banks of tiie Balonnc minor seemed
thickly peopled with friendly natives, who
assisted the party in finding a way for the
carts among the numerous lagoons, and
guided them across the Culgoa. ' ' From
thence," says sir Thomas —
" I travelled to the upper Balonne, Mith the inten-
tion of proceeding northAvard along its right bank.
That great river is there at its maximum, and is only
inferior to the Murray in breadth and depth. Lower
down it separates into various channels — the first
branch being the Culgoa, falling into the Darling,
about thirty miles above Fort Bourke — the remainder,
or minor Balonne, again spreads its waters into the
Narran, the Bokhara, the Ballandoola, and the Biree ;
the latter three, I believe, again unite, and fall into
the ]^arling forty or fifty miles above Fort Bourke.
Tracing the Balonne upwards, I found the country on
its banks well covered with good grass, and we
encountered only a small proportion of scrub. Some
of the reaches were so broad, deep, and extensive,
that I could not suppose this river contained only the
waters of the Coudamine, and I therefore expected
to meet Avith some tributary from the north-Avest.
On arriving at a natural bridge of rock, in 148' 46' 45
E., 28' 2' S., I selected a position commanding access
to the other bank, and formed there a depot, Avith a
small party, examined the country to the north-
west. 1 first made a reconnoissance north-Avest by
compass, and found in that direction, at the end of
thirty miles, a poor, sandy, unpromising country."
Returning to the depot camp, Sir Thomas
proceeded ixp the river, and followed the
Cogoon, a small tributary from the north-
west, through a beautiful country, until it
led him among some hills, from whence he
was enabled to form more extensive and
accm-ate survevs. From IMount Abundance,
a double-topped hill, in 14-8° 40' E. long.,
26° 39' 30'^ S. lat., so named from the abun-
dance of good pasturage around it, Sir
Thomas looked on the finest country he had
ever beheld in a primaeval state. A cham-
pagne region, spotted -with Avood, stretching
as far as the eye or even the telescope could
reach, intersected by nver lines from tlie
north. A noble mountain mass arose in the
midst, sufficiently elongated in a south-west
and north-east direction to deserve the name
of a range in about 142° 2' E. long., 26° 23' 32"
S. lat. To the mountains were giA-en the
name of the Grafton Range, and to the sur-
rounding country that of Fitzroy Downs.
The sources of the Cogoon were' found to
arise between the three isolated mountains
of Abundance, Bindyeg(\ and Bindango, the
latter being connected by a low neck of
grassy doAvns, \rith small knolls of trap-
rock, to one of the masses of coast range
in Avhich the Balonne appeared to have
its source. Northward from Bindango,
other waters fall to the north-west, and in
the remote distance one gap Avas percciA^d
in a tabular sort of rocky countrA^, through
AA-hich it Avas hoped the Avater coui'se Avould
lead; but in folloAAing it doAvn, this promising
little river (the "Amby" of the natives)
turned to the soutliAvard of west. The gap,
hoAvever, formed a convenient pass, and Avas
moreover a A'ery remarkable opening, con-
taining several conical hills, on Avhich many
strange shrubs Avere groAA-ing; one of the
hills Avas composed of basalt.
The country through Avhich the opening led
consisted in general of sandstone ; southward
and back from the pass much good open
forest land appeared around. In the country
beyond, some smoke which arose in the
woods excited the hopes of the surA^eyor-
general, and following in the direction thus
indicated, he came "upon a m^er fully as
large as the Darling," called by the natives
the "]\Iaranoa." To the westward and
northward of the sandstone ranges, lay a
well-diAcrsified country, AA'ith abundance of
grass, some water, and finely-shaped hills,
in groups, and also detached cones. But
the riA'er leaAdng that loAver country, forced
its way among rocky cliffs, where its course
Avas traceable by the open ground along its
banks, to be steadily south-west, receiving,
of coiu'se, the river "Amby," which had
turned also in the same direction. Sir
Thomas traced the ]Maranoa upwards, and
found that tAvo tributaries joined it from the
west, but they arose in subordinate sandstone
ridges, and contained little water, while the
main channel was dry and full of sand,
Avater being less easily found there than in
the sandstone gullies by Avhich it was there
enclosed. From Mount Oavcu (a cone in
the range before mentioned,) the main chan-
nel of the Maranoa is A'isiljle coming through
this range from mountains beyond it. Of
these mountains the most lofty part, being
remarkable for its extreme flatness, was
named Buckland's Table Land. The ac-
count given by Sir Thomas in his despatches,
of the discovery of valuable land made at
this period of the expedition, is very interest-
" Continuing my ride to the north-Avest," he says,
" I again found a chain of volcanic summits connectud
witii a mass of tabic land Avhich I named (finding
DISCOVERY OF THE HIVER VICTORIA IN 1846.
49
none of the Aborigines there,) Hope's Table Land.
Between it and the still higher range towards the
coast lay a very broken sandstone country, M'hich was
difficult to pass through with carts ; but when I had
at length discovered, beyond Hope's Table Land, the
head of another promismg river falling to the north-
west, we soon found a way, through which my inde-
fatigable party led the carts and bullock-team without
the least damage. Mount P. P. King, a pointed vol-
canic cone, in long. 147^ 37' 40' E., lat. 25' 9' 10' S.,
is near the head of that river, which we followed
down until it turned, as all the others had done, to the
south-west, and I was again obliged to halt, and take
a long ride to the northward, where another chain of
summits extended westward nearly under the 25th
parallel of latitude. Beyond that range, whose sum-
mits are all of traj] rock, I found deep sandstone
gullie.5 ; and in following down one of these, I reached
an ext9nsive grassy valley, which terminated on a
reedy lake in a more open country. The lake was
supplied by springs arising in a swamp at the gorge
of the valley which supported a flowing stream of the
purest .vater. This stream spread into the extensive
lake, and, to my surprise, was absorbed by it, at least
so as to escape through some subterraneous outlet, for
the channel of the river in which the lake terminated
was dry The country is adorned by hills of the most
romantic form, presenting ontlines which surpass in
pictures ^ue beauty the fairest creations of the painter.
Several pjTamids mark the spot where the springs
were first discovered. Lower dov,n appear, over the
woods, isolated rocks, resembling ruined castles, tem-
ples, and Gothic cathedrals. Others have apertures
through them, and the trees being also very varied
and graceful in form, and rich in colour, contribute so
mucli to the beauty of the scenery that I have been
induced to distinguish the river and lake by the name
of a painter. Returning to the party, we soon brought
the carts and di-ay down the sandstone cliffs to the
banks of the Salvator, and pursued that river down-
wards until I discovei'ed, which was soon obvious, that
its course turned to the eastward of north, conse-
quently that we were upon a river ftilling to the eastern
coast. We lost two days in vainly endeavoui'ing to
pass to the westward through dense brigalow scrub,
but on a ride which I next took north-westward, I
was more successful, for, after forcing my way through
ten miles of scrub, I came to what seemed, to me the
finest region on earth: piains and downs of rich black
mould, on which grew in profusion the Pauicum
Icecinode grass, and which was finely interspersed with
lines of wood which grew in the hollows, and marked
the courses of streams ; columns of smoke showed
that the country was too good to be left uninhabited;
and, in fact, on approaching the nearest river channel,
I found it full of water. This river I named the
Claude, in honour of the painter of quiet pastoral
scenery, and to the downs and plains, so favourable
to flocks and herds, I gave the name of the Mantuan
Downs and Plains. I returned to the party on the
Salvator, crossed that river with it in lat. 24'3r 47' S.,
and conducted it, cutting our way through ten miles
of scrub, to the banks of the Claude. These two
rivers join at a considerable distance lower down, and
form the Nogoa — a river which, according to the
natives, pursues a north-east course to the sea, and
therefore, probably, has its estuary on the shores or
in the vicinity of Broad Sound. AVe were obliged
to make a bridge for the passage of our carts across
the Claude, and then we crossed a plain, where grass
grew almost as thickly as in Australia Felix ; then
DIV. I.
another stream, also full of water, was crossed, and
we ascended undulating downs on Avhich fragments of
fossil wood Avere abundant, in a very rich soil. Be-
yond these (the ^Mantuan Doaatis) a range of broken
summits appeared, which we found to be the upper
part of a very difficult sandstone country, wherein the
beds of the gullies were at a much lower level than
the downs and plains."
Westward of these tlie countiy was quite
impervious, the party therefore descended by
an open gently decHning valley to the head of
a creek, falling north-west, but Balmy Creek
(so called from the fragi'ant shrubs growing
there) soon led them to the heart of the
sandstone gullies, and they were glad to find
a favourable outlet to the open country by a
pass, in the gorge of which stood a rock so
much resembhng a tower, that it was difficult
to believe it the work of nature. The glen
thus entered (Glen TuiTet) was very exten-
sive, contained abundance of good grass, and
was bounded on the east and west by very
broken-topped ranges ; to the northward the
\dew was over a more distant country.
Ascending the most northerly summit of the
range on the west, which he named ]Mount
Mudge, the surveyor-general perceived that
the course of the river Belyando, which they
had followed for a considerable distance in
the hope of its leading to the Gulf of Carpen-
taria, turned at length from the north-west,
to the north and north-east, and was, in fact,
the river noted by Dr. Leichardt as joining
the Suttor in 21° 6' S. lat. ; the party were,
therefore, compelled to retrace their steps to
their first camp on the Belyando, in 147° ] 7'
E. long , 24° S. lat. From three remarkable
points of the range just behind, Sii' Thomas
resolved on renewing his search for a river
running in the desired direction. These
three volcanic cones, called Mounts Pluto,
Hutton, and Playfau", form an obtuse angled
triangle. Crossing a range of clay ironstone,
covered with dense scrub, which extends
northwards from Mount Playfair, he disco-
vered the sources of the Warrego, a river
flowing south-west, and on the western side
followed down the head of another river,
falling north-west, which he called the Nive,
but which subsequently took a southerly and
at length even an easterly direction. Re-
tiu'uing disappointed, but not disheartened.
Sir Thomas hastened to a gap he had noticed
in a westernly ridge, connected with that to
the northward, and ascending a naked rock
to the west side of it, beheld in the midst of
open plains a line of trees marking the line
of a river in a north-west direction, as far as
the eye could reach. For ten successive days
F
50
THE VICTORIA TRACED BY MR. KENNEDY.
tlie delighted explorer pursued, on horseback,
the course of the riAcr, Avhich he named the
Victoria, in honoiu' of ovu' gracious sovereign,
and found it, in some places, forming broad
and important reaches, in others spreading
into foiu' or five branches, some of them
several miles apart ; the whole countiy being
better watered than " any other portion of
Australia" he had pre^■iously beheld, by
numerous tributaries arising in the downs.
" The soil," says Sir Thomas, " consists of rich clay>
and the hollows give birth to water-courses, in most
of which Avater was abundant. I found, at length,
that I might travel in any direction and find water at
hand, without having to seek the river, except when
I wished to ascertain its general course and observe
its character. The grass consists of panicum and
several new sorts, one of which springs green from
the old stem. The plains were verdant ; indeed the
luxuriant pasturage surpassed in quality, as it did in
extent, anything of the kind I had ever seen. The
myall tree and salt bush (Acacia i)endula, and sahalcs)
are also there. New birds and new plants marked
this out as an essentially different region from any I
had previously explored. That the river is the most
important of Australia, increasing as it does by suc-
cessive tributaries, and not a mere product of distant
ranges, admits of no dispute ; and the downs and
plains of Central Australia, through which it flows,
seem sufficient to supjily the tvhole tvorld with animal
food. The natives are few and inoffensive."
He adds —
" I crossed the river at the lowest point I reached,
in a great southern bend, in 144^ 34' E. long., 24' 14'
S. lat., and from rising ground beyond the left bank, I
could trace its downward course far to the northward.
I saw no callitris (pine of the colonists) in all that
country, but a range, showing sandstone cliffs, ap-
peared to the southward, in about 145' E. long.,
24' 30' S. lat. The country to the northward of the
river is, upon the whole,' the best; yet, in riding
ninety miles due east from where I crossed the south-
ern bend, I found plenty of water and excellent grass ;
a red gravel there approaches the river, throwing it
off to the northward. Ranges extending N.X.W.
were occasionally visible from the country to the
northward."
The diminution of supplies compelled the
sm^eyor-general to retiu'n to the camp on
the Maranoa river, -where the remainder of
his party had been stationed for eighteen
■weeks, and from thence the expedition re-
turned to Sydney, consuming the last of
their provisions on the day of their arrival.
The fertile and available country thus dis-
covered is roughly estimated by Sir Thomas
Mitchell at 160,000 square miles, the soil on
the banks of the ^'ictoria being a rich black
motdd, producing spontaneously all the best
grasses known in New South' Wales, and
five new kinds of excellent quality. The
climate was salubrious, for it is one of the
strange contrarieties partly accounted for by
the gradual rising of the land, that in pro- '
ceeding towards the tropics the air becomes
cooler. The coast range breaks off in the
parallel of 25° at the lofty plateau of Buck-
land's Table Land, and Sir Thomas iNIitchell
considers easy access with this fine country
might be found from the good harbour of
Port Bowen, which has been skilfully sur-
veyed by Captain Blackwood, 11. N. The
distance between Port Bowen and the head
of the Salvator is 220 miles.
On the retiuTi of the expedition to Sydney,
the local government despatched assistant-
surveyor Kennedy to follow up the disco-
veries of the surveyor- general, and follow
the supposed course of the Victoria River to
the Gulf of Carpentaria. After an arduous
jotirney, Mr. Kennedy traced the Victoria
flowing to the westward and then to the
southward, for more than one hundred miles,
until a total failui'e of Avaler and vegetation
compelled him to abandon further research
in 26° 15' 9" S. lat., 142° 20' E. long. His
observations led him to believe the Victoria
identical with " Cooper's Creek," traced by
captain Stui't to 27° 56' S. lat., 142° E. long.,
and then coming from the north-east. In
25° 9' 30" S. lat., and about 143° 16' E. long.,
Mr. Kennedy found a considerable river
joining the Victoria from the north-east,
which he named Thompson's River. It is
possible that Mr. Kennedy may have erred
in taking a wrong branch or tributary of
the Victoria for the main stream, and thus
been led too far away to the westward and
southward, imtil he reached the margin of
Stui't's desert. Returning to the colony,
he passed through a fine country between
the parallels of 25° 55' and 28° 15', and the
meridians of 145° 28' and 146° 44', watered
by the Warrego River, Avhich he describes as
containing "deep reaches of water, occurring
at short distances, and increasing in proxi-
mity as he advanced. This inexhaustible
supply of water is bounded by open forests
for the fii'«t forty miles, and ft'om thence by
extensive plains thickly covered with the
most luxuriant pasture, and broken here and
there by clumps of acacia pendula. I have
never seen in the colony any country which
surpasses it, and but very little to equal it,
either as being adapted for the depasturing
of cattle, or any kind of stock." He fol-
lowed the "Warrego to about 28° 25' S. lat.,
140° 28' E. long. It there divided into two
equal channels, which shortly reunite, but
only to form the insignificant diy bed of a
water-course; the country on either side
being flat, and subject to inundation, void
of grass, but thickly covered by a species of
small grass and acacia. Mr. Kennedy here
left the Warrego, being unable to procure
"water in either channel of the river, even by
sinking wells, " once more disgusted and
disappointed," he emphatically states, " as
all travellers will ever be who put thcLr trust
in the interior rivers of Australia."
Mr. Kennedy was subsequently despatched
by the local government on another explo-
ratory journey — but has never returned to
the colony, and is supposed to have perished
in an encounter with the natives.
Another exploration was undertaken,
of which an account will be given in
the Supplement. On the return of Dr.
Leichardt from Port Essington, the colonists
of New South Wales raised by subscription
about two thousand pounds in token of their
grateful sense of his important discoveries ;
partly with this fund, and partly by the aid
of other contributions, the enterprising tra-
veller fitted out another expedition, and,
accompanied by eight persons, started from
Moreton Bay in March, 1848, intending to
attempt to reach Swan River by crossing the
continent from east to west. The journey
he supposed would occvipy two years, and
probably necessitate the traversing of more
than 5,000 miles. Should Dr. Leichardt
succeed in his meritorious attempt, the mys-
terious interior of Australia will at length
be penetrated, and the question solved on
which two leading authorities so widely
diflFer — Mr. Eyi-e haAing steadfastly adhered
to the belief that no inland sea exists ; and
captain Sturt still giving it as his opinion
that more than one will eventually be dis-
covered. [See Supplement.]
The foregoing brief account of a few of
the most remarkable explorations in Aus-
tralia, will, it is hoped, convey to the mind
of the general reader, some idea of the vast
and varied regions so newly trodden by the
foot of civilised man. In each Australian
colony, a spirit of enterprise and honourable
emulation has been manifested and sustained
by the colonists, which is abundantly attested
by the large amount of territory, not only
examined, but absolutely occupied, in the
teeth of difficulties which appeared well-nigh
insurmountable. I do not attempt to enume-
rate the long list of Australian explorers whose
strenuous exertions have been productive of
permanent benefit to their countrymen, and
reflected honour on the land of their birth,
for in doing so I might possibly omit many
well deserving most honourable mention, })ut
I cannot close this section without paying a
tribute of esteem to the gallant officers of
the army and navy, who turning, as it were,
" their swords into pruning hooks," have yet
encountered dangers quite equalling those
of the battle-field, and won unfading laurels.
The melancholy fate of three individuals is
too intimately connected with this subject to
be passed over in silence; namely, that of
captain Barker, who was speared by the
natives while engaged in the cause of geo-
graphical research on the south coast ; of
Mr, Darke, who fell by the hands of the
aborigines, in 1844; and lastly of a pro-
mising youth, the son of Sir Thomas Mitchell,
who perished for want of medical aid, while
surveying in winter the Australian Alps.
Tides. — The tidal wave strikes the whole
coast of Australia, from Sydney to Torres
Strait, nearly at the same time, viz., at eight
o'clock at the full and change of moon. At
Cape Palmerston, the rise is from twenty-four
to thirty feet, while at Port Bow en to the south,
and at Port Molle to the north, the rise is
only sixteen feet. At Port Bowen the flood
tide comes from the south, while at Broad
Sound and to the north, it comes from the
north. On the north-west coast of Australia,
about Cambridge Gulf and Buccaneer's Archi-
pelago, there is also a limited space where
the rise and fall of tide is greater than on the
adjacent coasts. At Rockingham Bay, En-
deavour River, and about Palm Island, there
is no tide at aU. At Hanover Bay, on the
west coast, the highest tides occiu* on the
fourth day of the full or change of the moon,
when they attain a maximum height of
twenty-five feet, while during the neaps, the
difference between high and low water does
not sometimes exceed twenty-four inches.
Captain Stokes says that the tides in the
head of the Gulf of Cai'pentaria appear to be
a compound of many others, obliterating the
common daily diff'erence, and producing only
one tide in twenty-fom- hours. The direction
of the flood stream commences at S.S.E.,
changing gi'adually to S.S.W. as it termi-
nates ; that of the ebb changes from N.W.
to N.N.E. The strength of each is from a
quarter to one knot ; rise at springs, nine to
twelve feet ; at neaps, three to eight feet.
At the entrance of Van Diemen's Inlet, in
the Gulf of Carpeu^aria, it is high water at
the full and change of the moon at a quarter
to seven, but in the upper part the tides arc
three hours and a quarter later. The length
of both flood and ebb is twelve hours, and
ry').
PREVAILING WINDS AND MONSOONS IN AUSTRALIA.
tlie direction of the flood being from tlie
northward, folloTving the eastern shore of the
gulf. There are cui'rents from Breaksea
Spit to Torres Straits ; from thence it sets
to the north-west, but after passing the
strait it is affected by the monsoons.
Winds. — In the tropics the real motion of
the earth in an opposite direction to the ap-
parent motion of the vertical sun westward,
produces a westerly motion both in the tides
of the sea and in the atmosphere ; hence the
origin of the "trade winds," wliich extend
beyond the tropics into both hemispheres,
and shift northerly and southerly with the
declination of the sun. Tliese winds tend
more to the southward as the latitude in-
creases, and extend farthest into each hemi-
sphere during its summer. A great portion
of the southern hemisphere being sea, the
extra-tropical "oind is much more regular
than in the northern, but in both the pre-
vailing wind blows in an opposite direction
to the trade ; hence on the south and west
coasts of New Holland, the south-west wind
is the most constant, and it produces an
easterly current in the ocean which is felt
along the south shore. "^
The arid and heated sm'face which appears
to form the interior of Australia, attracts the
wind from the north coast, and it blows to
the south and east in hot and violent gusts,
the thermometer reacliing frequently 120°
Fahr. I have myself marked the thermometer
at 110° Fahr. on Christmas eve in New South
Wales. In the winter season, when the land
begins to cool, west winds prevail on the
south coast. There is no periodical recur-
rence of dry and rainy seasons between Cape
Howe and the tropic of Capricorn, where the
variations incident to the torrid zone com-
mence. The south-east trade wind is tole-
rably regular for thi-ee-foiu'ths of the year,
and the sea and land breezes steady. Fi'om
Ton-es Strait to Cape Van Diem en, the mon-
soons are felt in the open channel ; the south-
east wind blows from ]\Iarch or April to
November; weather generally fine during
the remainder of the year, when the sun is
nearly vertical. The north-west monsoon is
accompanied by heat, thunder, lightning,
and heaAy rains. The great size and peculiar
configuration of the Gulf of Carpentaria has
considerable influence ; the south-east mon-
soon, Avhich is a sea wind, brings the rainy
season; the north-west, which is a land wind,
brings dry weather.
The north-west coast lying between the
• Picture of A ustralia.
tropics and the east trade Avind, and trending
to the southward, has not so much of a
tropical character, and the east monsoon
which begins in April, and blows in gusts,
seldom lasts longer than the end of June.
Tlie monsoon in summer (December and
January), blows from the west, varying a
point or two to the north or to the south.
In February the west wind dies away; the
weather becomes variable, with squalls and
heaAy rain. CuiTcnts follow the wind on
the west coast ; the general winds are from
between the north-west and south, but
generally toward the west, and near Cape
Leeuwin chiefly fi'om the south-west — in
summer, often fi'om the north-west during
the night. The ocean current divides into
two parts at Cape Leeuwin ; one sets east
along the south coast, the other north along
the west coast.
On the south coast the wind is from the
west durrug the greater part of the year, and
easterly only during the latter end of summer
in January, Februaiy, and March ; it is then
felt most at projections of the coast, viz.,
near Wilson's Promontoiy and Kmg George's
Sound.
The land -wind on the north-west coast
has the same dry and parching character as
in New South Wales ; when Captain King
roimded the North-west Cape in February,
and got under the lee of the land, the air
which had previously been of a pleasant
temperature, became so hot as to produce a
scorching sensation. Towards the middle of
the north-west coast, he found the tempei'a-
ture at noon in the shade 120° Fahr., and on
land ten degrees higher. The north-west
and north coasts partake of the unhealthi-
ness of a tropical region, the atmosphere being
infected by vegetable miasma. The inter-
tropical parts of the east coast, possessing
high and diversified land, not so subject
to be flooded, and with regular monsoons,
appears more salubrious. The general direc-
tion of the winds on the west and south-west,
south and south-east coasts being from the
sea, the temperature in summer is delightful.
On the Blue Mountains in New South Wales,
and on the Australian Alps in Port Phillip,
snow falls in winter, and it freezes there for
several months, generally in Jtme, July, and
August. Hail falls in large, ii-regulai' masses
during the summer.
Climate. — Excepting on the marshy shores
of the north-west coasts of Australia, the cli'
mate of the whole tcnitory is remarkably
salubrious; this is proved by the good health
GEOLOGY OF AUSTRALIA. DILUVIAN AND VOLCANIC AGENCY. 53
of the Europeans engaged in exploring expe-
ditions even -vritliin the tropics, where they
have been most laboriously employed for
months, exposed to a burning sun by day,
without any shelter by night but that of a
tree or ledge of rock, and with veiy imper-
fect and scanty nutriment. Yet among
many hundreds thus occupied, there is in the
long Hst of sufferings from various causes no
record of any one dying fi'om fever or other
palludial influences. ^Iien Dr. Leichardt
proceeded on his perilous joiu-ney to the
north-west, he found the land become more
elevated and the climate cooler. He remarks,
" The bracing natui'c of the south breeze at
night had a very beneficial influence on our
constitutions, and the regular interchange
of land and sea breeze contributes every-
where to render a climate healthy." Cap-
tains Grey and Lushington on the north-
west coast, after twelv^e weeks' toilsome ex-
ploration, did not suffer from climate disease.
Neither did captain Stokes and his gallant
companions experience illness during their
surveys of the Victoria, Albert, Adelaide,
and other rivers in tropical Australia,
although absent for weeks among mangi'ove
shores, which I know from dear-bought ex-
perience to have been so destructive to the
health of those engaged in our boat river
surveys in Africa, where not unfrequently
the entire crew of a weli-tilled pinnace have
perished from exposure to river exhalations
during a single night.
Geology. — Facts on this interesting and
important section are necessarily scanty, and
insufficient to afford the materials for a
general description. Mr. Jukes says, that
the mountain chain on the east coast has
an axis of gi'anite, with occasional large
masses of gi'eenstone, basalt, and other
igneous rocks. It is flanked on both sides
by thick beds of palseozoic formations, chiefly
sandstone, but also containing limestone and
coal. In the north portions of the chain.
Dr. Leichardt found the same formations,
and especially trap and granite, near the
Burdekin River. At Port Phillip there are
similar igneous rocks, and on the coast
tertiary formations resting on the edges of
upturned palaeozoic beds. In Western Aus-
traha, the Darling range consists of granite
below, covered by metamorphic rocks, and
between it and the sea is a plain, composed
of tertiary beds. In Northern Australia, there
is a gi'cat sandstone plateau, rising to 1,800
feet above the sea, and probably of palaeozoic
age; whilst on the immediate shore, and
round the Gulf of Carpentaria, are beds
supposed to belong to the tertiary period.
Captain Stiu't found similar substrata in
the central desert. It is probable these
tertiary rocks are continuous throughout the
centre of the island ; and during the tertiary
period, all this portion of the country was
submerged, whilst the high lands on the
coast rose like gi'oups of islands from the
shallow sea. Captain Sturt supposes Aus-
tralia to have been formerly an archipelago
of islands; and ]\Ir. Gould is of opinion,
that at some remote period it must have
been divided into at least two portions,
since, with few exceptions, he found the
species of bii'ds inhabiting the same lati-
tudes of its east and west dirisions, differing
from, but representing each other.
This immense island appears of diluvian
rather than volcanic origin, but different
causes may have operated conjointly in its
formation; after haring been left partially
diy by the receding of the mighty deep from
the north to the south pole, some powerful
submarine action, (as in the case of Chih, and
other parts of America,) may have raised the
crust of our globe, in this spot, above the
ocean level, either at one shock, or by a
series of successive shocks. But one com-
paratively recent active volcano is known,
riz. — Mount Wingen (see New South Wales
Book) ; but vast quantities of marine shells
have been found, at various degi'ces of eleva-
tion above the sea, in some places imbedded
in sandstone. On the east coast of Australia,
this sandstone strata lies in beds, one on the
top of another, in the most regular manner,
their original relative situation evidently
having never undergone any change. INIr.
Berry, who devoted considerable attention
to the subject, while admitting that the beds
are not invariably strictly horizontal, con-
tends that this may arise from a gentle
yielding of the substrata. Some of these
beds, though perfectly horizontal and of
regular thickness, consist of thin ^aminae,
which incline at a considerable angle to the
north-east. Tliis sandstone is principally
siliceous; sometimes, indeed, it is argilla-
ceous, and in this state it is generally found
over coal, in which situation it is soft and
very decomposable. Among tlie coal mea-
sures, thin beds of what may be called cal-
careous sandstone are occasionally met with.
In fact, according to !Mr. Bcrrj', the moun-
tain ranges on the cast coast of Australia,
from Bass' Straits to 19° S. lat., consist,
with few exceptions, of vast conglomerations
54
STALACTITE CAVERNS IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
of sandstone; and he assei-ts, that there is
no granite to be found in masses near the
coast for an extent of 1,200 geographical
miles. At the 19th parallel, a chain of
lofty gi-anitic or primitive mountains appears,
of various elevation, forming tlie baixier
towards the ocean for about 300 geographical
miles, i. e to the parallel of 14" S. lat. Here
the sandstone again predominates, the land
gradually dipping till it loses itself in the
sea to the north, whence coral reefs extend as
far as the eye can reach. Dr. Fitton, in his
analysis of captain King's valuable smney,
says, that between the parallels of 28° and
12° or 13°, on the east coast, granite is
found; at Capes Cleveland and Grafton,
Endeavour Iliver, Lizard Island, and at
Clai'k's Island, on the north-west of the
rocky mass which forms Cape Melville;
while rocks of the trap fonnation have been
noticed, in three detached points, among the
islands off the shore; in the Percy Isles,
about 21° 40' S. lat., Simday Island, north
of Cape Grenville about 12°, and in Good's
Island, on the north-west of Cape York, in
10° 34' S. lat.
Along the north and west shores, the
prevailing stratum is a reddish sandstone,
agreeing so much in character with that of
the west of England and AYales, that speci-
mens from the two countries can scarcely be
distinguished fi"om each other. An arena-
ceous cement in the calcareous breccia of
the west coast, is precisely the same with
that found in Sicily; and the jasper, calce-
dony, and green quartz approaching to helio-
trope, found at the entrance of Piince
Regent's River, resemble those of the TjtoI,
both in their characters and formation. No
limestone occurs among the specimens from
the north and western shores; but it is
remarkable, that recent calcareous breccia
was found by commodore Baudin to exist
tlu'oughout a span of no less than twenty-five
degrees of latitude, and an equal extent
of longitude, on the south-western and north-
western coasts, and, according to INIr. Browne's
specimens, on the shores of the Gulf of
Carpentaria also.
This breccia would appear to be a very
recent limestone full of marine shells, similar
to that wliich exists on the shores of the
INIediterranean and the West Indies. It
would be an interesting geological fact, were
it ascertained that a distinct hne can really
be drawn between those concretions of mo-
dem formation, which occur on the sea
shore, and other calcareous fonnations very
nearly resembling them, both in the fossils
they contain, and in the character of the
cementing substances, that are found in
several countries, at considerable heights
above the sea. An illustration of this re-
mark, indicating likewise the strata of the
transalpine countiy of New South Wales,
occurs at the limestone caves at Wellingtou
Valley, 170 miles west of Newcastle, and
2,000 feet above the sea. Sii' Thomas
IMitchell, the siu'veyor-general of New Soiith
Wales, who discovered the cave in Wel-
lington VaUey, sent the follo-\ring interesting
accoimt of it to the Geological Society,
which that learned body has, with its usual
liberaUty, permitted me to embody in these
pages : —
" The rock, through which the valley has been
excavated, is limestone, much resembling in external
characters that of the carboniferous series of Europe.
This appears on both sides of the valley, above the
alluvial deposits in the bottom, and extends on the
east to the height of about 100 feet above the stream.
On the west of the valley, hills of greater height run
parallel to the limestone, consisting of a red sand-
stone and conglomerate ; and a range of heights on
the east of it is composed of trap rocks. The basis
of a tract, still further eastward, which divides the
waters of the interior from that which sends its
streams to the sea, is granite. The rugged surface of
the limestone tract, in several parts of which the bare
rocks are exposed, appears to abound in cavities, the
orifices of caves and fissures ; two of which, the more
immediate subject of this communication, are about
eighty feet above the stream of the Bell, on its
eastei-n side ; the first being a cave about 300 feet in
extent ; the second apparently a wide fissure in the
limestone, partially filled up. The cave agrees in
structure with many of those well known from the
descriptions of Dr. Buckland and other writers :
it descends, at first, with a moderate inclination ; and
about 125 feet from the mouth, the floor is thickly
covered with a fine dry reddish dust, in which a few
fragments of bones, apparently of kangaroos, occur.
The cavern, in diff'erent places, afi'ords beautiful stalac-
tites and stalagmitic incrustrations. Irregular cavi-
ties in the roof seem to lead towards the surface Ox
the hill ; and at the remotest part, the floor is covered
with a heap of dry white dust, so loose and light,
that one of the exploring party sunk into it up to the
waist. This dust, when chemically examined by Dr.
Turner, was found to consist principally of carbonate
of lime, with some phosphate of lime and animal
matter. In fine, the cave appeared to terminate in a
fissure nearly vertical, with water at its bottom, about
thirty feet below the lowest part of the cavern, and
nearly on a level with the waters of the river Bell.
This fissure also extends u])wards towards the surface
" About eighty feet to the west of the cave above
described, is the mouth of another cavity of a different
description, first examined by Mr. Kankin. At this
place, the surface itself consists of a breccia, full of
fragments of bones ; and a similar compound, con-
fusedly mixed with large rude blocks of limestone,
forms the sides of the cavity, which is a nearly ver-
tical, wide, and irregular sort of well, accessible only
by the aid of ladders and ropes. This brecH;ia con-
VARIOUS ROCK FORMATIONS IN AUSTRALIA.
55
sists of an earthy red calcareous stone, having small
fragments of the grey limestone of the valley dis-
persed through it, and in some parts, possesses con-
siderable hardness. Near the lower part of the fissure
(the whole extent of Avhich was not explored,) were
three layers of stalagmitic concretion, about two
inches in thickness and three inches apart, the spaces
being occupied with a red ochreous matter, with
bones in abundance, imbedded both in stalagmite,
and between the layers of it.
" The bones found in the fissure just described, of
which specimens have been sent to England, belong,
with only two exceptions, to animals at present known
to exist ia the adjacent country; and their dimen-
sions also are very nearly the same with those of the
existing quadrupeds. The species, from the report
of Mr. Cliff", to whose examination the bones were
submitted, appear to be as follow : — kangaroo, wom-
bat, dasyurus, koala, phalangista — the most abundant
being those of the kangaroo. Along with the re-
mains just mentioned were found two bones, not
agreeing with those of any of the animals at present
known to exist in New South Wales. The first and
larger is supposed to belong to the elephant : the
second bone is also obscure and imperfect, but seems
to be a part of one of the superior maxillary bones of
an animal resembling the Dugong ; it contains a
portion of a straight tusk, pointing directly forward."
A pit was dug, by sir T. Mitchell's direc-
tioiij in the sui'face of the ground, about
twenty-five feet from the mouth of the
fissure, at a place where no rocks projected;
and the hill was there found to be composed
of a hard and compact breccia, such as that
before described, and likemse abounding in
organic remains. Other caverns, containing
a similar breccia, occm* in the hmestone on
the north bank of the Macquarie, eight miles
north-east of those at Wellington ; and about
fifty miles to the south-east at Bm'ce, are
several caves like the first described above,
which commimicate with fissui'es partially
occupied with breccia containing bones. At
Molong, tliirty-six miles to the east of Wel-
lington, a small quantity of concreted matter
has been found, containing numerous bones,
of which no specimens have been sent to
Europe; but, from their size, they would
appear to have belonged to species of ani-
mals or birds larger than those which are
at present known in the country.
The specimens of rocks collected by cap-
tain King and Mr. Browne at different parts
of the Australian coast line have been locally
classified as follows : —
Granite. — Cape Cleveland; Cape Grafton;
Endeavour River; Lizard Island; Round
HiU, near Cape Grindall; Mount Caledon;
Island, near Cape Arnhem; Melville Bay;
Bald-Head, King George's Sound.
Various Slaty Rocks. — Mica Slate, Malli-
son's Island. Talc Slate, Eudeavoui- River.
Slaty Clay Inglis^s Island, Crack Island,
Percy Island. Horneblende Rock, Pobassoo's
Island, Half-way Bay, Prince Regent's River.
Granular Quartz, Endeavour River, Mon-
tagu Sound, north-west coast. Epidote,
Cape Clinton, Port Warrender, Careening
Bay. Quarizose Conglomerates and Ancient
Sandstones, Rod's Bay, Islands of the north
and north-west coasts, Cambridge Gulf, York
Sound, Prince Regent's River. Pipe Clay,
Melville Bay, Goulbom'n Island, Leth-
bridge Bay.
Rocks of the Trap Formation. — Serpentine,
Port Macquarie, Percy Isles. Sienite, Rod's
Bay. Porphyry, Cape Cleveland. Porphy-
ritic Conglomerate, Cape Clinton, Percy Isles,
Good's Island. Compact Felspar, Percy
Isle, Repulse Bay, Sunday Island. Green-
stone, Vansittart Bay, Bat Island, Careening
Bay, Main's Isle. Clinkstone, Morgan's
Island, Pobassoo's Island. Amygdaloid, loith
Chalcedony, Port Warrender, Half-way Bay,
Bat Island, Main's Island. Wacke, Bat
Island, Recent Calcareous Breccia, Sweer's
Island, north coast; Dirk Hartog's and Rotte-
nest Island, &c., west coast ; King George's
Sound, south coast. Limestone, resembling,
in the character of its organic remairis,
Mountain Limestone of England, Interior of
Australia, near the east coast.
The Coal Formation, as yet discovered,
applicable for domestic or steam purposes, is
confined cliiefly to the east coast of Australia.
Not the least remarkable circumstance
connected with Australia is the contrast its
geological features present, when compared
with the apparently volcanic islands in the
adjacent Coral and Arafura seas. The line
of islands between Cape York and Mount
Cornwallis are all granite, or old metamor-
phic rocks, and those lying between that line
and the volcanic islands of Erroob and
Murray group, are all flat coral islands.
On the north-west coast of Australia the
predominant geological feature is red sand-
stone, while at the island of Timor the
little rocky headlands on the coast expose
beds of coral and limestone, full of corals and
shells apparently of recent formation. This
limestone appears to constitute the whole
surface of the island, spreading over all the
adjacent high lands, at an elevation of 2,000
feet, giving them rather a smooth and level
outline.
The rocky islands in the central north
and south bend of Torres Strait are, in
some instances, inhabited, but only those
within thirty or more miles from the coast
have cocoa-nut trees on them.
Diversity of sui^face and aspect produces,
in Australia, diversity in appearance. Forest
timber, brushwood, and grasses are not
divided into zones, as in other countries,
according to their elevation; the natui'e of
the soil and the proximity of water seems to
determine the class of productions, irrespec-
tive of latitude or altitude. In many places,
the whole face of the country has the ap-
pearance of a landscape garden — a grove
here, a lawn there — beyond a shrubbery, or
clump of trees, and frequently a natm-al
wall of a light-coloured stone, scarcely to be
detected from good masonry, and appearing
thi'ough the foliage like the enclosui'e of
a parterre. The interior explorers found
these apparent "pleasure grounds''' of various
sizes, suited to the humble cottage or the
princely mansion. Even in my own limited
experience of these strange regions, I have
felt it difficult to realize the fact, that so far
fi'om having been adorned by the hand of
civilized man, they were untrodden, save
by the foot of the wandering savage.
The geology and natui'al vegetation of
AustraHa, like those of other countries,
appear to be intimately connected. In the
districts with which we are best acquainted,
the rock which forms the basis of the
country, may be known from the kind of
tree or herbage that flouiishes on the soil
above. For instance, the eucalyptus pulv.,
a dwai-fish tree, with glaucus-coloiu'ed leaves,
gi'owing mostly in scrub, indicates the sand-
stone formation; Avhile those open, grassy, and
park-like tracts, affording good pasturage,
and thinly interspersed with the eucalyptus
mannifera, characterize the secondary ranges
of gi'anite and porphyry : the limestone for-
mation has on its superincumbent soil trees
of lofty growth and vast size, while large
umbrageous shrubs, the cupressus callitris
and casuarma, occupy sandy ridges. From
many facts adduced by the observant cap-
tain Stui't, it may be infen-ed that the trees
are gregarious, and that the strong line that
occasionally separates -different species, and
the sudden manner in which several species
are lost at one point, to reappear at another
more distant, may be ascribed to the geo-
logical strata of the country. It is, however,
impossible to determine accm-ately the extent
to which the peciiliar geological structure of
Austraha influences the character of its pro-
ductions : but it is a singular fact, that the
vegetation of the north, or tropical coasts,
differs totally from that of the adjacent
islands. Cocoa-nut trees are nowhere to be
found in Australia, while at ]\IuiTay's island,
within the great Barrier reef, which is about
700 feet high at its most elevated part, with
steep broken ground, the whole of its lower
portion, and even a considerable part of the
hills, are covered with groves of cocoa-nut
trees. Jlr. Jukes remarks, that at the islaiid
of Timor, where the difference of latitude is
not more than forty miles from Port Essing-
ton, in North Austraha, and the actual dis-
tance not 250 miles, the difference in the
appearance of the vegetation is as great
as one would expect between two countries
hing under different zones. The gum trees
(eucalypti) wliich Hne the shores of Australia,
to 11° N. lat., are not found in New Guinea,
or in the islands of the Eastern Ai'chipelagc.
Taking Endeavour Strait, Cape York, and
INIount Adolphus as a base, all the islands
which stretch across the Strait to the north-
ward of them, have one common character.
They are all steep and rocky, many of them
400 to 500 feet high. The rocks of the
main land of the adjacent islands are all
porphyritic ; and ISIr. Jukes considers these
islands as, in fact, merely the submarine
prolongation of the great mountain chain of
the eastern coast of Australia, and remarks,
that in Tori'es Strait the line of demarcation
is almost equally strong and precise between
two groups of vegetation and two groups of
the lower order of animals, as between two
varieties of the human race. A sombre
vegetation spreads all over Cape York and
the immediately adjacent islands, of which
wide forests of large but ragged-stemmed
gum-trees, with almost leafless branches, are
the chief characteristic.
Here and there, says Mr. Jukes, speak-
ing of the north coast, are gullies "with
more umbrageous foliage, and some palms,
but the mass of the woods are arid, hot, and
dusty, the leaves not only small but dry and
brittle, and the marks of frequent fires every-
where apparent in calcined rocks, blackened
stems and fallen trunks. The contrast with
this northern coast of Australia and the
islands on the northern side of Torres
Straits, is certainly very great ; there, not a
gum tree is to be seen ; the woods are close,
lofty, and afford deep and refreshing shade,
often matted into impenetrable thickets by
creepers and undergrowth, but adorned with
varied foliage, Avith the cocoa-nut, the plan-
tain, and other trees and shrubs useful to
man. On the New Guinea coast, the vege-
tation is extraordinarily luxuriant, even for
the tropics. There is also a difference in
CHARACTER AND CLIMATE OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA.
57
tlie shells and echinodermata, collected about
Cape York and those obtained near Erroob
or Darnley Island on the coast opposite to
North Australia. In the mineral, the vege-
table, and the animal kingdoms, and even in
the human race (as will be shown in a subse-
quent chapter), the territories on each side
of the narrow strait of Torres, present totally
diflFerent aspects, which can scarcely be as-
signed to distinct geological formations ; but
it must be admitted that the sandstone strata
which constitutes such a large portion of
northern and north-western Australia, must
have considerable influence in giving the
peculiar dryness perceptible in Australia,
where, as has been truly observed, every
thing absorbs heat freely, and radiates it
into the surrounding atmosphere; the sea
air, instead of being cooled and precipitated
in refreshing moisture, has its temperatui'e
raised, and becomes an absorbent of any
moistiu'e on the sui'face, for the open and
scattered woodlands, with their small, thinly
disseminated leaves, instead of protecting
the soil from the parching effects of a vertical
sun, become conductors of heat, and are
ever ready to catch fire from the slightest
spark. Captain Sturt experienced, in No-
vember, 1845, a severe gale of hot mnd, in
the parallel of 27°, and about the meridian
of 140°. The withering effects of this gale,
which was from the north-east, were terrific.
Everything, animate and inanimate, gave
way before it; the bii'ds were mute, the
leaves fell from the trees like a snow shower ;
the horses stood mth their backs to the
wind, and their noses to the ground, without
the muscular strength to raise their heads.
A thermometer graduated to 127°, after
rising to 125° burst the bulb, by the ex-
pansion of the mercuiy. The air during
the summer, in this region, had a temper-
ature from 110° to 123° Fah. ; the wind
blowing hea^-ily from N.E. to E.S.E., fiUed
the air with impalpable red dust ; the ground
was so heated, that matches falling on it
ignited, and rockets, on being lit, exploded
at once Anthout rising from the ground.
The atmosphere, on some occasions, was so
rarified, that captain Sturt and his party
'' felt a difficulty in breathing, and a buzzing
sensation on the crown of the head, as if a
hot iron had been there." On two occa-
sions the thermometer was noticed to exceed
the range of 130° Fah. in the shade, " the
solar intensity, at the same time, being
nearly 160°." At the depot of captain
Stiu't, in lat. 29° 40', from December, 1844,
to the end of April, 1845, the prevailing
winds were from E.N.E. to E.S.E. ; after
that month they were variable, but west
winds predominated. The south wind was
always cold, and invariably indicated by a
rise of the barometer, which did not ascend
above 30-260, or fall beloAV 29-540: rain
usually commenced in the north-east quarter,
and gradually went round to the north-west.
The sky, generally speaking, was -without
a speck, and the damzling brightness of the
moon was most distressing ; it was impossible
to shut out its light ; and its irritating effects
were very remarkable. At the depot, the
fleece of the sheep taken by the explorers
into the interior ceased to grow, as did also
the hau' and nails of captain Sturt and his
party. These facts, and the scanty vege-
tation, indicate the excessive diyness of
this portion of central Australia, arising not
only from the solar rays, but also by the
terrestrial emission of heat from proximate
volcanic fires. It is probable, also, that very
little rain reaches the centre of Australia;
on the north coast the rainy monsoons are
gi'eatly mitigated by the mountainous islands
of the Eastern archipelago ; on the north-
east coast the lofty coast ridge of four to five
thousand feet elevation intercepts the showers
from the Southern Ocean; the Australian
Alps, in the south-east, are the means ot
diffusing a large quantity of moisture over
the adjacent region, but the comparatively
lower elevation of the coast range of Wes-
tern Australia permits a greater diffusion of
rain and dew towards the interior. The
pra^umed absence of any large mountains in
the centre of Australia, the great distance of
that centre from the ocean, the sandy forma-
tion of the country, and the saline qualities
of the soil, all contribute to the belief that
the interior of this insulated continent will not
eventually be found available for the support
of cirilised man. But making large allow-
ances for the barren central region, and for
the sandstone wastes in other places, there
probabl 7 is not less than two million square
miles capable of yielding in abundance the
productions of the temperate and of the
ton-id zones, and where hoi-ned cattle and
sheep may be multiplied to an extent that
would furnish all the inhabitants of Europe
with animal food. [Further details, and the
gold discoveries, given in the Supplement.]
DIV. I.
BOOK II.— NEW SOUTH WALES.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF TRANSPORTATION— EARLY SETTLEMENT AND HISTORY— CONVICT DISCI-
PLINE, ANT) RELIGIOUS REFORMATION- GRANT AND SALE OF CROWN LANDS-
EFFECTS OF HIGH PRICES OF LAND— LIST OF GOVERNORS.
The original settlement and early history of
New South Wales, occupies one of the most
interesting pages in the annals of British
colonization. The formation of a con\'ict
settlement at the Antipodes, must have been
a startling proposition, and the motives
which actuated the government of the day
in taking so bold a step, in a matter in
which their conduct was natui'ally watched
by the public with jealous scrutiny, can
scarcely be rightly understood without some
knowledge of the system of transportation
previously pursued.
The causes Avhich first necessitated the
adoption of this punishment in England, in
its primary form of simple banishment, may
perhaps be traced to the immense increase
of pauperism Avhich followed the confisca-
tion of church property and the extinction
of monastic institutions in. the reign of
Henry VIII., and tlie absence of any efii-
cient measures for the relief of the poor,
or for the suppression of crime, which
augmented so fearfully as to threaten the
destruction of the very frame-work of
society. An act of parliament in. this reign,
asserts that there were then no less than
60,000 prisoners (or about one out of every
fifteen of all the males arrived at manhood)
confined in the different gaols of England,
and Hume appears disposed to believe that
72,000 of King Henry^s subjects suffered
death during the thirty-seven years of his
sovereignty. In the reigns of his succes-
sors, Edward VI., INIary, and EHzabeth,
vanous expedients were resorted to by the
legislature, to check the growing progress of
poverty and crime, one of which was an
enactment for the raising of poor rates, (.5
Eliz. c. 3), afterwards more fully carried
out in a subsequent act (43 Eliz. c. 2.), and
another very important measm'c was the
first decree by which banishment from the
kingdom was ordained as the punishment
of rogues and vagabonds. In this act.
passed in the 39th year of the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, the place of exile is not
named.
In 1619, during the reign of James I.,
the practice of transporting convicts to
America commenced, criminals being also
in many instances allowed to transport them-
selves. An act of parliament (18 Charles
II. c. 3.), empowered the judges to exile for
life ^' the moss troopers of Cumberland and
Northumbei'land" to any of His Majesty's
possessions in America.
In 1717 an act of parliament was passed,
(4 Geo. II. c. 11.), which recited the ineffi-
ciency of the general punishments then in
use, and stated that, " in many of His Ma-
jesty's colonies and plantations in America,
there was a great want of servants, who, by
their labour and industry might be the
means of improving and making the said
colonies and plantations more useful to this
nation." Under this act the prerogative
of the crown to pardon was restricted by
requiring as a condition, that before a con-
tact who had once been assigned to a plan-
ter could avail himself of it, he should
make compensation to his master for the
loss of his ser^dces.
By virtue of this enactment, a shameful
course of conduct was adopted in the dis-
posal of the wretched prisoners, who were
in fact sold into slavery at the average rate
of twenty pounds per head ; the numbers
transported being about 2,000 per annum.
The sepai'ation of the United States from
England, put an end to this system, and
the prisons becoming crowded, various expe-
dients were suggested and resorted to for
the relief of the country; among others that
of conveying convicts to the west coast of
Africa, there, according to the cither igno-
rant or wantonly cruel proposition of some
persons, to be tm-ned loose among the un-
happy negroes; the building of large peni-
tentiaries was also strongly advocated; but
both these plans were abandoned, the one
on account of the unhealthiness of the
climate, the other by reason of the expense
attending it, and its inefficiency in reclaim-
ing offenders, to whose condition, Howard,
and other christian philanthropists had
strongly directed the attention of the
nation.
At this critical juncture of affairs, the
favourable description given by captain Cook
of that part of New Holland which he had
discovered and named New South Wales,
determined the government to attempt the
formation of a penal settlement at Botany
B^y (so called by Sir Joseph Banks when
there), as a means of attaining the following
desirable ends: — 1st. To rid the mother
country of the yearly increasing number of
prisoners who were accumulating in the
gaols ; 2nd. To afford a proper place for the
safe custody and punishment of the crimi-
nals, as well as for their progressive and
ultimate reformation; and, 3rd. To form a
free colony out of the materials which the
reformed prisoners would supply, in addition
to families of free emigrants who might
settle in the country from time to time.
In the twenty-fourth year of the reign of
George III., an act of parliament was passed,
which empowered his Majesty in Council to
appoint to what place beyond the seas,
either within or without his Majesty^s domin-
ions, offenders should be transported; and
by two orders in Council, dated 6th De-
cember, 1786, the eastern coast of Australia,
and the adjacent islands, were fixed upon as
the places of banishment.
The small fleet destined for the convey-
ance of the exiles, consisting of the Sirius
(a frigate), the Supply (an armed tender),
three store ships, and six transports, assem-
bled at the Isle of Wight, having on board
565 male, and 192 female convicts, with a
guard, consisting of a major-commandant,
three captains, twelve subalterns, twenty-
four non-commissioned officers, and 168
privates, all of the royal marines, together
with forty of the marines' wives and their
children, and provisions and stores for two
years. Captain Arthur Phillip, R.N., an
expeinenced officer, was appointed governor
of the projected colony, and commander of
the expedition, wliich left the shores of
England on the 13th of May, 1787, touched
for supplies and stock at Teucriffe, liio dv.
Janeiro, and the C'lipe of (lood Hope, and
arrived, in safety, at Jiotany Bay, in January,
1788, after a voyage of upwards of eight
months, of which, however, four weeks were
spent at the Cape of Good Hope.
On landing, governor Phillip was received
by an armed body of the natives, but on
seeing him approach, alone and witliout any
weapon, they returned his confidence by
laying down their own, and receiving him in
a very friendly manner. On proceeding to
examine the bay, he soon found, that thougli
extensive, it was ill-adapted for the foun-
dation of a large settlement, being open to
the full sweep of the easterly winds, which
rolled a tremendous sea on the beach, and
the greater portion of the land, moreover,
though delightful for botanizing, was found
to be little better than a series of swamps
and sterile sand, very badly supplied with
water. Little suspecting the close vicinity
of one of the finest harbours in the world,
captain Phillip resolved to examine what
captain Cook had termed Broken Bay, where
the Hawkesbury disembogues; but, on his
way thither, he stopped to investigate an
inlet, marked in the chart as a boat harboui',
to which (appearing of little importance)
captain Cook had given the name of Port
Jackson, from the seaman on the look-out,
by whom it was descried. On passing the
lofty headlands which form the entrance
of this " boat harbour," the astonishment of
the governor may be conceived, when he
found himself in a haven in which the
whole of the British navy might securely
ride at anchor, navigable for vessels of any
burthen fifteen miles from its mouth, in-
dented with numerous coves, and sheltered
from every wind. Thither the fleet was
immediately removed ; and, on the 26th of
January, 1788, the British flag was hoisted
on the shores of Sydney cove, then thinly
wooded, and abounding in kangaroos. The
silence and solitude of the forest were soon
broken by the resounding stroke of the
woodman's axe ; the ground was cleared,
tents pitched, the live stock (consisting ol
one bull, four cows, one bull-calf, one stal-
lion, three mares, and three colts) landed,
stores deposited, and the little colony (num-
bering 1,030 souls) established. Farms were
laid out at Rose Hill (Parramatta) and other
places ; every encouragement was given to
raise the means of sustenance from the soil,
aiul a few convicts were emancipated, and
obtained grants of lands as settlers. The
governor having also received orders to form
a settkMnent at Norfolk Island, with a view
to the cultivation of the flax plant, which
captain (/ook had found growing there most
GO
FOUNDATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES COLONY— 1788— 1790.
luxuriantly, the Supply sailed for that place
in February, (1788) with lieutenant King as
superintendent, accompanied by one sui'geon,
one petty officer, two private soldiers, two
persons supposed to have some knowledge
of flax dressing, and nine male and six
female convicts Avith tents, implements for
husbandly, tools for dressing flax, and pro-
visions for six months. The Supply on its
return to Port Jackson, (haAong been absent
five weeks and two days) reported the ex-
treme difficulty found in landing on Norfolk
Island, and the unfortunate loss of five lives
thereby, but brought most favourable ac-
counts of the richness of the soil and salu-
brity of the climate. IMeanwhile gi'eat and
increasing difficulties were experienced by
the infant colony at Sydney Cove, the scurvy
broke out among the con\dcts, and resisted
every attempt made to check its progress by
medicine, while the eril tendencies of theii'
minds, repressed in some degree dming the
voyage, and their rooted habits of idleness,
became daily more manifest.
Among the numerous disappointments
which the governor, notwithstanding the
most strenuous exertions was doomed to ex-
perience, not the least was the fnistration
of his hopes of maintaining a friendly inter-
coiu-se with the natives. M. de la Perouse,
(see p. 367) while he remained in Botany
Bay, had some quaiTcl vritli the natives, in
which he was iinfortunately obliged to use
his fire arms, and this aftair, together with
the ill behaviour of some of the c nvicts,
who, in spite of all prohibitions had wan-
dered among them, produced a shyness on
the part of the aborigines which resulted
in open enmity. The soil around Sydney
Cove was found to be extremely sterile, so
that the possibility of immediately raising
sufficient grain for the settlement was out
of the question, the cattle were lost through
the neglect of the person in charge; while
the conduct of the prisoners was too often
very detrimental to the public weal, theft
being general, and desertion into the woods
not unfrequent. At one time forty persons
were absent from the settlement on their
road to China! These travellers consisted
principally of Irish con\acts, who being pos-
sessed with the idea that China was not
far distant to the northward, were always
making up parties for the purpose of de-
camping thither. Most of the wanderers
perished of hunger, or were speared, and
probably eaten by the natives. An anecdote
is told of one who, after traversing the
woods near Sydney for several weeks, en-
deavouiing to find the road to China, had
not only lost liis way, but, as is often the
case when the traveller is bewildered in a
forest, lost also his senses. As good luck
would have it, Pat, almost famishing, reached
what he thought a Chinese tOAvn; instinct
drew him towards one bark hut in particular,
which he cautiously approached, and was
most agreeably astonished to find his wife,
whom he joyously hailed with, " Oh ! Judy
dear, how did you find your way to China ?"
The number of natives who then resorted to
the shores of Port Jackson to fish or hunt
was considerable, and hostilities soon coja-
menced between them and the new comers,
in the course of Avhich many cruelties on
both sides were committed.
The Sirius, which had been despatched to
the Cape of Good Hope for flour, returned
in INIay, 1789, and although the supply she
brought was not very large, as the ordinary
rations of four months would exhaust it, yet
it seemed to gladden every heart, and re-
move for a time the despondency which was
rapidly gaining ground.
On the 4th of June, 1789, the second
anniversaiy of his Majesty's birthday com-
memorated in this country, the governor
endeavoured, as he had done on the previous
occasion, to foster a loyal spirit by making
it a day of rejoicing, and the conWcts were
permitted to perform Farquhar's comedy,
" the Recruiting Officer ;" the prologue
spoken on the occasion contained a pertinent
allusion to their own position in the words,
" True patriots we, for be it understood,
We left our country for our countrj''s goocL"
In spite, however, of every eff'ort to dis-
guise or meet them, difficulties increased
at Sydney, and the accounts from Norfolk
Island continuing favourable, it was thought
adAisable to divide the colony. In Febru-
ary, 1790, a large body of convicts (above
200) together mth two companies of marines,
were ordered thither, on board the Sirius
and the Supply. A serious evil, the in-
jurious consequences of which were long felt
in the colony, attended this measure. It
being found that stock was improvidently
killed, an order was given to prevent the
fui'ther destruction of an article so essential
in the present state of aftab-s, (the govern-
ment rations having been thrice reduced
since the beginning of November) untd
some necessary regulations could be pub-
lished ; but the officers and people who were
about to embark were not included in this
prohibition. The mention of future neces-
sary regulations, gave rise to an opinion
among the convicts that on the departure of
the ships, all the live stock in the colony
would be called in, or that the owners would
be deprived of the benefits which might
result from its possession, and, under the
pretence of its belonging to those who were
exempted by the late order, nearly all the
stock in the settlement was destroyed in the
course of a few nights.
Another heavy disaster resulted from this
unfortunate expedition, for the Sirius, which
en its return was immediately to have pro-
ceeded to China for supplies, was lost with
all the provisions which had been sent with
the convicts, upon a reef at Norfolk Island ;
her officers, crew, and convicts were however
all saved, having been dragged on shore,
through the sm-f, on a grating. Owing to
the increase of population without any cor-
responding augmentation of provisions, the
inhabitants of Norfolk Island were on the
eve of perishing, but for the unexpected
relief afforded by a flight of aquatic birds
which alighted on the island, to lay their eggs.
Owing to the length of their pinions, these
birds take wing with difficulty ; and their
numbers were so great, that for two months
the settlers caught at least from 2,000 to
3,000 every night, and also procured an incal-
culable quantity of eggs ; thus these " birds
of Providence " saved the lives of the people.
To return to the principal settlement. The
long-looked for ships from England did not
arrive, and the necessity for procuiing succour
becoming daily more urgent, on the 17th of
April, 1790, the Supply was sent to seek
relief from Batavia. On the 20th of April
the miserable ration issued from the public
store to each man for seven days, was —
flour, 2^ lbs. ; rice, 2 lbs. ; pork, 2 lbs. ; and
of this sadly insufficient ration, the pork, from
the length of time that it had been in store,
had shrunk away to nearly nothing. The
manly and unselfish conduct of the governor
had been throughout remarkable, but it was
especially manifested during this season of
severe trial ; he gave up three hundred weight
of flour which was his private property,
declaring, that although it was not in his
power to remove the want felt by the con-
victs, they might at least know that it was
equally experienced even at the government
house; and to this resolution he rigidly
adhered. Every exertion was made to pro-
cure food by hunting and fishing ; but, from
the former pursuit, little benefit resulted,
only three small kangaroos being brought in
at the end of a month by the persons em-
ployed to shoot for the settlement ; and the
food obtained from the latter was not often
more than equal to suppljang the people
employed in the boats mth one pound of
fish per man, wliich was allowed them in
addition to their ration. Even this scanty
resource seemed Hkely to fail them in their
greatest need; for on the first and second
days of June, (their seasons, be it recol-
lected, being exactly opposite to otirs,) the
stormy weather prevented fishing, and threat-
ened to continue throughout the thii'd day.
The wretched people seemed destined to
diink to the dregs the bitter cup of hope
deferred.
They had long, and, as the event proved,
rightly conjectured, that the non-arrival of
suppHes could not be owing to the wilful
neglect of the home government, but must
be consequent upon some unforeseen delay
or fatal accident. Then* worst fears received
a speedy confirmation. On the afternoon of
the 3rd of June, the iong-looked-for signal
was made for a ship at the South Head,
which proved to be the Lady Juliana tran-
sport from Plymouth, not bearing the much-
desired cargo of provisions, but laden, in its
place, with 220 female convicts, and bringing
to the unfortunate colonists intelligence of
the loss of the store ship sent by government
for their assistance. The Guardian, a forty-
four gun ship, commanded by lieutenant
Riou, had sailed from England in September,
1789, richly freighted with two years^ pro-
visions for the settlement, and an immense
variety of all manner of stores. She had
reached the Cape of Good Hope in safety,
had there taken on board a quantity of stock
for the settlement, and completed a garden,
which had been prepared under the imme-
diate inspection of Sir Joseph Banks, and
contained 150 of the finest fruit trees.
Leaving the Cape, the Guardian proceeded
on her way ; but on the 23rd of December
she struck upon an iceberg in 45° 54' S. lat,,
41° 30' E, long,, and thereby received so
much injury, that heutenant Riou, to save
her from instantly sinking, was compelled to
throw overboard the greatest part of her
valuable cargo. The stock was killed, the
garden destroyed, and most of the passen-
gers and crew left her, in five boats, four of
which were never afterwards heard of; the
fifth, with much difficulty, reached the Mau-
ritius. Lieutenant Riou remained behind,
resolved to sink with liis vessel ; but it was
othei-wise ordained; and his life, preserved
for a time, was eventually sacrificed for liis
country at Copenliagen, and the Guardian,
with the loss of masts and rudder, after
having been tossed about for several days, at
the mercy of every gale, was fallen in with
by a French frigate, near tlie Cape of Good
Hope, and towed into Table Bay, where
such of her stores as yet remained were
landed.
In addition to the above disastrous tidings,
the disappointed colonists were informed that
1,000 convicts might be shortly expected,
and little benefit even of a temporary nature
was consequent upon the arrival of the Juliana,
the supply of provisions on board her being
so inconsiderable as to justify only the addi-
tion of one pound and a half of floiir being
made to the weekly ration. A deep gloom,
enhanced by the frustration of their hopes,
when they were apparently on the eve of
realization, overspread every comitenance;
Ijut efl'ectual rehef was near at hand, on the
20th of the same month the Justinia arrived
from England with a large cargo of provisions
and stores. A few days after three trans-
ports, laden with the convicts whose coming
had been announced by the Juliana, reached
Port Jackson ; 274 of these unhappy people
had perished during the voyage, and disease
was so rife among them that, according to
lieutenant-colonel Collins, several of them
died in the boats as they were being rowed
to shore, or on the wharf as they were lifted
out of the boats ; both the living and the
dead exhibited more hori'id spectacles than
had ever been mtnessed in that country.
Apart from the distressing state of the crimi-
nals themselves, the arrival of the transports
was in other respects beneficial; for in
addition to the provisions brought by them
from England, were 400 tierces of beef, and
200 tierces of pork, saved from the Guardian,
and put on board at the Cape of Good Hope,
and all anxiety respecting the stores was
subsequently set at rest by the adoption of
a more regular system in the forwarding of
supplies. The aspect of aflFairs began to
brighten, the hues for a regular town were
laid out, various public buildings com-
menced, and the non-commissioned officers
and privates of the marines were encour-
aged ill Ijccoming settlers by grants of land.
In September, 1791, H.M.S. Goryon nrviwA
at Sy<biey, convoying ten vessels, which
formed what is termed t1ie second fleet, the
whole containing 1,095 male and 168
female convicts ; upwards of 200 having died
during the voyage. In the December of the
following year, governor Phillip, whose health
was seriously impau-ed, left the colony which
for nearly five years he had superintended
with untiring zeal. To the firm but merci-
fid. and just policy which he consistently
maintained, notwithstanding the varied diffi-
culties of a most arduous position, may be
attributed, under Providence, the successful
issue of the infant settlement from the trials
which so frequently threatened its destruc-
tion.
After the departure of governor Phillip,
captain Grose administered the affairs of the
colony, as lieutenant-governor, until the
arrival of the new governor-general^ captain
Hunter, in September, 1795, who, it will be
remembered, had previously commanded the
Sirius frigate, when the settlement was first
formed. Governor Hunter appears to have
been an honest straight-forward sailor; his
administration lasted five years, during which
period the colony made considerable progress.
Settlers occasionally arrived from England,
and the accession of a regiment called the
" New South Wales Corps" (afterwards the
102nd of the linej was beneficial in many
respects.
The officers of tliis corps were much blamed
by a portion of the population for engaging
in mercantile pursmts instead of confining
themselves strictly to the duties of their
profession. In this censure Dr. Lang unites,
but he appears to overlook the peculiar cir-
cumstances in which these gentlemen were
placed, having nothing but their pay and
convict rations to rely on for the support of
themselves and their families. The price of
provisions was at that period very high,
wheat being 125. a bushel, mutton 2s. a
pound; a cow fetching J;80, and so on in
proportion. (See Collin's Account of New
South Wales, p. 333.) This state of things
compelled them to import their OAvn supplies,
and rear their own stock, and it was fort\i-
nate for the colony that they were enabled to
do so. The total number of inhabitants,
free and bond, was, on captain Hunter's
departiire in September, 1800, about 8,000;
of these about 2,500 were stationed at
Sydney, and the remainder at the agricul-
tural establishments at Parramatta, Prospect,
Toongabbee, and Castlehill. Captain King,
R.N., who as lieutenant of the Sirius, had
effected the settlement on Norfolk Island,
was appointed to succeed Captain Hunter:
his administration lasted for six years, and
was distinguished by what is termed the
DEPOSITION OF GOVERNOR BLIGH, 1808.
C3
" Irish rebellion." Several hundred con-
victs, attached to the establishment at Castle-
hill, twenty miles from Sydney, struck for
their liberty ; but being armed only with
pikes, were, after a very brief contest, dis-
comfited by the military at Vinegar Hill, a
few miles from Parramatta, on the Hawkes-
bury road ; a few were shot by the troops,
some of the leaders taken and hanged imme-
diately, and tlie rest returned quietly to their
labour. This is the only instance of an
insm-rection of the convict population since
the foundation of the settlement.
Governor King met with much opposition,
and though zealous and conscientious, does
not seem to have been adequate to the mag-
nitude of his trust. A circumstance is said
to have occurred during his tenure of office
very characteristic of the then predominating
genius of Botany Bay. Charges of a serious
nature having been preferred against a gen-
tleman in the colony, despatches relating
thereto were prepared, to be forwarded to
the secretary of state in England, but, the
officer who had charge of them imprudently
mentioned their contents, and the box when
opened in due form in Downing-street, was
found to contain only a bundle of newspapers,
the criminating despatches having been
adroitly abstracted from it before leaving
Sydney. Captain Bligh, whose name is
handed down with infamy to posterity, by
reason of his tyrannical treatment of Chris-
tian and his comrades in H.M.S. Bounty,
when sent to convey the bread fruit tree
from the .South Sea islands to the West
Indies, was appointed to succeed captain
King. The selection was singularly ill-
judged, for a man who, notwithstanding his
undoubted skill as a mariner, had shown
himself incapable of governing a small ship's
company, was clearly unfit to be trusted with
arbitrary power in New South Wales, Cap-
tain Bligh's conduct there was only too
much in accordance with his previous life.
The former results of his tyrannical proceed-
ings, appear to have utterly failed in teaching
him either the duty or expediency of pursuing
a different course of policy, for on entering his
new position he behaved towards the whole
population as if it had been entirely composed
of criminals with abject minds; treated the
officers of the New South Wales corps and tlie
most respectable settlers with marked con-
tempt, and was the first to trample under foot
the rights which it was his especial duty to
uphold. One individual in particular expe-
rienced from the governor an ujjwarrailtablc
series of persecutions. This gentleman, Mr.
John M'Arthur, had obtained the name of
the " Father of the Colony," and well did
he deserve the appellation for the untiring
zeal with which he strove to augment the
resoiu'ces, and raise the position of the land
he had chosen for his home, stimulating the
dormant energies of those about hini by his
own example, and aiding the poor by wealth
honourably acquired clming a long and extra-
ordinarily active life. The oppressive and
unjust sway of governor Bligh was endured
by the colonists for eighteen months, but at
length it became intolerable, and on the
26th of January, 1808, they rose with one
accord, and, as with a single voice, having
declared his deposition, vested the supreme
authority in the hands of Heutenant-colonel
Johnstone, the senior officer in command of
the troops. The arrest of the governor
having been resolved upon, the soldiers
marched up to the Government House, with
their officers at their head, to arrest the
governor, who after a long search was dis-
covered concealed under a servant's bed, in
an upper chamber, covered with flue, and
trembling with apprehension. Like most
tyrants he was entirely devoid of moral
courage, and it was a considerable time
before he could be convinced that his life
was in safety from the vengeance of the
populace. Both his person and property
were, however, carefully guarded, and after
some time he embarked for England ou
board the Porpoise sloop of war.
From this period naval officers were no
longer selected as governors. Lieutenant-
colonel (afterwards major-general) Lachlan
Macquarie was next appointed. The New
South Wales regiment was ordered to Eng-
land, and the regular troops of the lino
placed on the "roster" for service in the
colony. During governor Macquarie's ad-
ministration of twelve years, the settlement
made great progress; the population was
increased by numerous convicts and some
emigrants, and by the aid of a carte blanche
on the British treasury, many public buildiugs
were erected — roads constructed — the fine
Bathurst country over the Blue Mountains
explored, and several government farms estab-
lished. The convict population received
great encouragement from general Mac-
quarie; his maxim being to endeavour to
induce every convict to consider his Euro-
pean life as a past existence, and his Austra-
lian one an entirely new, in which career lie
would find honesty to be the best policy,
61 LINE OF POLICY PURSUED BY GOVERNOR MACQUARIE.
and good conduct ensure its reward. This
•was his gi-and principle of government ; but,
Hke most men, strongly imhued with a
favomite vievr, it sometimes led him too far.
The emancipated convicts received from him
an undue share of patronage — some he made
magistrates, gave others colonial situations,
and distributed among them large quantities
of land. Truly philanthropic as Avere the
motives which dictated his conduct, there
yet appears reason to regret that governor
Macquarie did not exercise more discrimi-
nation in his choice of individuals deserAdng
of encouragement, and greater consideration
for the feelings or prejudices of the free
settlers, from whom he could not reasonably
expect an entu*e appreciation of his otvti
views ; and from hence is said to have arisen
the formation of two parties in the colony —
the exclusionists and the emmicipists, (or
freed couricts,) who continued for many
years engaged in active opposition to each
other.
Major-general Sir Thomas Brisbane, who
succeeded governor Macquarie in 1821, was
an amiable and scientific man, but deficient
in energy of character; his successor, lieu-
tenant-general Sir Ralph Darling, possessed
considerable abihty, and strongly desired to
benefit the colony ; but his long employment
at the " Horse-Guards," (a school well fitted
for the inculcation of mihtary disciphne, but
ill- calculated to prepare the mind to grapple
successfully "svitli the heterogeneous elements
of which the society of New South Wales
was composed,) and his previous government
of a slave colony (the Mauritius), did not
tend to qualify him for the exercise of the
pecuhar authority then vested in the gover-
nors of this semi-penal settlement. Inti-
mate and personal knowledge of general
Darhng, both in his pubhc and private caj)a-
city, seems to entitle me to bear testimony
to his administrative abihties — to his re-
markable aptitude for the despatch of pviblic
business, and high integrity of character.
When officially employed in the colonial
secretary's office at Sydney, and confiden-
tially entrusted by the excellent secretary
of the colony, the honourable Alexander
M'Leay, with the drafting of the governor's
despatches and letters, I had frequent oppor-
tiuiities of scrutinizing the motives which
actuated the conduct of the governor, then
violently attacked and maligned. From the
example of lady Darling great benefit re-
sulted. In conjunction with the governor
and her family, she attended divine service
twice on every sabbath — that sacred day
being, for the first time in the annals of the
colony, duly observedat the government house;
and in the charitable institutions which she
set on foot, as well as the influence she
exercised on the social habits and domestic
peace of the colony, were forcibly illustrated
how much both the present and prospective
happiness of a community may be promoted
by the righteous conduct of those set in
high places.
The administration of the subsequent
governors — major-general Sir R. Bourke, Su
George Gipps, and Sir Charles Augustus
Fitzroy, does not require any particular
mention. As is the case in all colonies,
during the period of their passing from indi-
vidual to constitutional rule, their governors
had many difficulties to contend with, which,
however, have been surmounted with re-
markable success. The first step of a Legis-
lative Council, partly nominated by the
crown, and partly elective, was taken in the
year 1840. That meastu^e proved eminently
successful, and has prepared the colonists
for a constitution and responsible govern-
ment, which has been granted by the crown
and imperial legislature.
The colony has passed through periods
of alternate prosperity and depression, in
some instances arising from long-continued
droughts, and in others from the too great
speculation, consequent on the rapid acqui-
sition of wealth. During a recent season of
distress, sheep, the staple property of the
colonists, were reduced to the price of two
shillings and sixpence each, and every other
commodity, or representative of value, was
proportionably depreciated. Large quan-
tities of sheep and horned cattle were boiled
down merely for the sake of the tallow thus
produced, and a new and lucrative article of
export was thus created.
The colonists are now slowly recovering
from four years of continued adversity ; and,
grown wiser by experience, they will not, it
is to be hoped, again rush into foolish specu-
lations, or engage in ruinous projects; at
least, for some years to come, their enter-
prise and exertions are most likely to be
characterized by prudence. But whether
suffering from unpropitious seasons, or from
the consequences of their own imprudence ;
or elated by riches and rapid progress, the
colonists of New South Wales have, from
the first, crinced a loyal attachment to the
parent state — an ardent desire to participate
in its glories, and an anxious wish to be
TRANSPORTATION, CONVICT DISCIPLINE, AND REFORMATION. 65
deemed worthy of the possession of those
free and christian privileges which it is in
the power of the crown and legislature of
Britain to grant. [See Supplement.]
Transportation, Convict Discipline,
Religious Instruction, and Reformation
OF Crime. — This highly important subject,
both in a political and Christian aspect,
necessarily claims consideration in a work
treating of a settlement once solely penal —
but now totally devoid of a convict popula-
tion ; and the leading facts connected there-
with, deserve record not only as composing
a portion of the history of the past, fraught
with warnings of the most serious nature,
but also as affording incontrovertible exddence
that England, notwithstanding her short-
comings as a Christian nation, has yet (at
least in some degree) awakened to a sense of
her responsibility as such. To be convinced
of this, it needs but to look back upon her
general conduct at the close of the last and
the early part of the present century, i,vith
regard to the subject now under review, and
compare it with the different line of policy
now pursued.
In 1787, England, her statesmen, her
philanthropists, and public opinion, through
its organ the press, while evincing consid-
erable soHcitude for their temporal Avelfare,
utterly disregarded the spuitual wants of the
expatriated criminals sent to found a penal
settlement at the antipodes, and also of
those employed to guard and govern the
eiTing wanderers.
The P..ev. Samuel Marsden, the much
esteemed chaplain of New South Wales fi*om
1794 to the period of his death in 1838, in
whose domestic circle I had the pri\alege of
witnessing the practice as well as hearing the
inculcation of the precepts of the Gospel,
thus records this astounding fact ; I say as-
tounding in reference to the con\ictions and
actions of the British nation, — of its states-
men, legislators, press, and public opinion,
at the present day. The reverend gentleman
states that " when the fleet was on the point
of saihng with the first conricts for New
South Wales in the year 1787, no clergyman
had been thought of, and that a fiiend of his
own, a pious man of some influence, anxious
for the spiritual welfare of the contacts, made
a strong appeal to those in authority upon
the subject, and through the interest of the
late bishop Porteous with Sir Joseph Banks
the Rev. Richard Johnston was appointed
chaplain." Judge Burton, in his excellent
DIV. 1.
work on the fitate of Religion and Education
in New South Wales, published in 1840,
when narrating this cu'cumstance, states that
" an oversight equally remarkable took place
upon the recent expedition to Port Essing-
ton, (for the foundation of a new colony on
the noi'th-west coast of Australia) under the
command of Sii* Gordon Bremer, in H.JNI.S.
Alligator, accompanied by the Britomart
brig, lieutenant Stanley commander, (son of
the late bishop of Norwich) Avhich sailed
fi'om England mth five hundred souls, U7ipro-
vided Avith any minister of religion. There
was no clergyman at the disposal of the
bishop of Australia when the expedition
reached Sydney on its way to the place of
intended settlement, but his lordsliip fur-
nished it Avith such means as were in his
power, he caused a temporary church to be
constructed, and bibles, prayer-books, and
other religious pubHcations to be supplied to
Sir Gordon Bremer." No Christian Avdl be
surprised to learn that misfortune, sickness,
and death have been rife at Port Essington,
and that now, in February, 1850, a British
ship of war is on its way from Singapore to
couA'cy the ill-fated surAivors aAvay from a
settlement in whose formation the ordi-
nances of religion were entirely unprovided
for and disregarded.
To return to New South Wales. It is
true that one minister of religion did accom-
pany the fleet of 1787, and well he per-
formed the duties to the extent of his
strength ; he Adsited the sick and the con-
Aicts in theii' several abodes, and administered
to them consolation and instruction. But
his labours were far from being satisfactory
to himself, or as useful as he Avished them to
his flock ; while barracks, and other substan-
tial structures were built for the use of man,
no temple was reared for the Avorship of
the living God. For nearly seven years
diAine serAdce Avas celebrated in the open air,
subject to all the inconveniences and in-
terruptions arising fi'om a changeable ch-
mate. At length the reverend gentleman
caused a temporary place of worship to be
constructed at his oaati expense, which was
opened for public worship on the 25th of
August, 1795 ; but the attendance was small,
and up to the year 1800, when governor
Hunter quitted the colony, there were few
Avho CAdnced any religious feeling. [Evidence
before the House of Commons in 1812.]
On the return of the Rev. Mr. Johnston to
England in 1800, the spiritual guidance of
the colony, with its annually increasing num-
H
66 EARLY NEGLECT OF THE ORDINANCES OF RELIGION, 1803—1817.
ber of conv-icts, was confided to one chap-
lain (the Rev. Samuel Marsden) for seven
years. In 1803, when the population
amounted to 7,097 men, women, and chil-
dren, it was found that there were a large
number of Roman catholics without any
pastor. To remedy this serious evil, a con-
vict named James Dixon, who, it was alleged,
had formerly been in priest's orders, received
a conditional emancipation, with permission
to exercise clerical functions.
In 1807, the Rev, S. Marsden proceeded
to England to endeavour to procui*e assis-
tance for the ministry of the established
church, and to advocate a Christian mission
to New Zealand. The Rev. Mr. Fulton
temporarily officiated duiing his absence.
In 1808, the Rev. Mr. Cowper arrived; in
1809, the Rev. Mr. Cartwright; and in
1810, Mr. Marsden retm-ned, but the la-
bour of these four chaplains was still very
severe in. visiting the widely spread dis-
tricts..
In 1817, when the population amounted
to 17,214 souls, of whom 6,777 were con-
victs, dispersed over a large territory, there
were but five chaplains. At this time only
one church had been built at Sydney, and
one at Paramatta; but so few persons
attended divine ser\ice, that one of the early
governors was informed of the fact, and
being induced himself to attend the Sabbath
worship, annoimced that "he expected his
example would be followed by the people."
With reference to the Roman catholic chm-ch,
how long it was left under the superinten-
dence of an emancipated convict, is not exactly
known: in 1818, the Rev. Mr. Flynn was
appointed archpriest at Sydney, with power
to confirm ; but on his arrival at New South
Wales he was rejected by the local govern-
ment, and sent home on the ground of his
having come out unsanctioned by the civil
authorities. Mr. Flynn left behind him in
the house of a Roman catholic at Sydney a
" consecrated wafer," the symbol of the
Eucharist, and the sole spiritual consolation
which the Roman catholics possessed luitil
the year 1820, was the assembling round the
"])rcad of life" to ofter up their prayers; at
length they were gratified by the arrival of the
Rev. Mr. Therry, who for six years was the
only Roman catholic priest for New South
Wales and Van Diemen's island.
The Presbyterian church was equally
neglected. Until 1826 no minister of this
persuasion was appointed to a chaplaincy in
the colony, although a Presbyterian church
had been erected on the banks of the
Hawkesbury, in 1809, in which a Scotch
settler officiated as cathechist. To the
meritorious and long- continued exei'tions of
the Rev. Dr. Lang, the Presbyterians were,
in 1824-5, indebted for some attention to
their urgent wants.
In 1833 the population consisted of 60,794
souls, of whom 16,151 were convicts; the.
Protestants numbered 43,095, and the Roman
catholics 17,238. The Church of England
establishment then consisted of an arch-
deacon and fifteen chaplains, and within
forty miles of Sydney there were seven stone
or brick chm'ches, two others in more remote
parts of the colony, and several less perma-
nent buildings. The Roman cathohcs had
three clergymen, and the Presbyterians two.
But so far was spiritual instruction from
being deemed a necessity, for which it was
the positive duty of government to provide,
that Norfolk Island, with several hundred
convicts, had no chaplain ; and in Port Ste-
phens, with a large body of convicts, and 100
free settlers, there was only an Irish convict
schoolmaster. Under such circumstances it
cannot be matter of surprise that crime
rapidly increased in the colony; that the
free emigrant population took alarm when
they found, year after year, the convicts
largely increased by augmenting deporta-
tions from England until their numbers
equalled those of the emigrant class. The
attention of the imperial parliament was
called to the subject ; it was said that trans-
portation had failed, both as a punishment
deterring from crime in England, and as a
means of reformation in Australia, whereas
it was the neglect of religious instruction,
the total watit of spiritual aid, the assign-
ment of convicts to settlers who were them-
selves but recently emancipated, and who
dunng their bondage had never heard the
words of religion : it was these, and other
radical defects, which had perverted the
beneficial effects that might and probably
would have arisen from a judicious system
consistently carried out. The matter was
first brought under public consideration by
Mr. Justice Burton, one of the judges of tlie
supreme coiu't of New South Wales, in a
charge which he delivered to the jury on the
18th November, 1835, a charge which at
first exposed this eminent and pious judge
to great and unmerited reprobation, but
which under Providence eventually worked
great good.
The following is an abstract of the facts
CRIME AND ITS CAUSES IN NEW SOUTH WALES, 1834-35. 67
stated in this remarkable document, which
soon attracted the attention of the govern-
ment in England, as well as that of the
Australian pubUc. It was therein stated
that —
"In 1833, there had been 135 capital convictions;
on sixty-nine sentence of death had been passed;
forty-five of those capital convictions, and fifteen of
these sentences of death had taken place upon his
(judge Burton's) judicial responsibility.
"In 1834, 148 capital convictions, in eighty-three
of which sentence of death had been passed, foi'ty-
eight of -which convictions and thirty-six of wliich
sentences had been before himself.
"In 1835, 116 capital convictions, and seventy-one
sentences to suflfer death, fifty-six of which convic-
tions had taken place before him, and twenty-eight of
which sentences he had passed. In addition to which
sentences there are thirty-three prisoners who have
been capitally convicted, waiting for sentence. Whe-
ther death might be recorded or passed upon them,
the number of capital convictions was a feature
sufficiently striking in the administration of justice in
this colony ; for it was to be remarked, that capital
punishment had been taken away fi'oni several
ofi"ences, such as forgery, cattle-stealing, stealing in a
dwelling-house above the value of £5 (those fruitful
sources of capital convictions in former times), ever
since the 1st of August, 1833, so that those which
had taken place since that time were all for crimes of
■violence, murder, rape, robbery, burglary, maliciously
stabbing, shooting, and wounding, and offences of
similar character.
"The calendar of the present sessions (1835) pre-
sented the following facts : — There had been con-
victed of murder, 2; stabbing with intent, &c., shooting
at with intent to kill, cutting and maiming, assault
with intent to do bodily harm, 6 ; manslaughter, 2 ;
arson, 1 ; piracy and burglary, 8 ; housebreaking, 10 ;
highway robbery, 7; receiving, 1 ; forgery, 2 ; larceny
on the high seas, 1 ; larceny, 4 ; cattle-stealing, 1 ;
piracy only, 1 ; robbery, 8 — total, 54.
"Prisoners in gaol on the 18th of November, 1385,
who had been in custody previous to the 2nd of
November, 1835, viz. — For trial on the 18th, 7;
quarter sessions, 6th December, 39; stand for next
criminal session, 13 ; for discharge, 3 ; consideration,
19 — total, 81. Tried on the 18th, 7 ; convicted,
cattle stealing, 2 ; robbery and receiving, death re-
corded, 4 ; acquitted, 1 — total, 7.
" The pictui-e presented was one of the most painful
description : it would appear, to one M'ho could look
doMTi upon the community, as if the main business of
all were the commission of crime and the punishment of
it ; as if the whole colony were continually in motion
towards the several courts of jastice, and the most
painful reflection of all must be, that so many capital
sentences and the execution of them have not had
the e9"ect of preventing crime by way of example.
"In liis (judge Burton's) opinion, one grand cause
of such a state of things was, an overwhelming
defect of religious principle in this community ; a
principle which he considered as the polar star to
guide a man in all his conduct, and without which
none other would prevent him from crime. But that
he might not be said to make so grave a charge upon
light foundations, he would instance the crimes of
violence, the murders, the manslaughters in drunken
revels, the perjuries, the false witnesses from motives
of revenge or reward, which in the proceedings before
him had been brought to light. Many instances
upon his notes of evidence in cases tried before him,
had brought him to the conclusion that there is an
overwhelming defect of religious principle in this
colony.
" He could not but acknowledge there was a defi-
ciency of religious instruction in the colony. There
was not that number of religious teachers its extent
and population required. He did not intend to im-
pute blame to any one individually. But when he
imputed a want of religious principle, he looked
around to see whether there was an adequacy of
religious instruction in order to point their attention
to this circumstance ; so that if they found a defi-
ciency, they might call upon the proper authorities to
make such an addition as necessity required. There
were at present only thirty such persons for the whole
of this scattered population, independent of a few
whom the charity of societies in England had sup-
plied— a number too scanty to admit of any being
spared for the penal settlements. It had been his
lot to visit one of those penal settlements. To see
them herding together without any chance of im-
provement, without any religious instruction, was
painful in the extreme. One man particularly had
observed, in a manner which drew tears from his
eyes and Avrung his heart M-hen he was placed before
him for sentence, ' Let a man be what he will when
he comes here, he is soon as bad as the rest ; a man's
heart is taken from him, and there is given to him
the heart of a beast.' He did not impute blame
to any one, and he trusted no such motives would be
ascribed to him ; but in a question of such vital im-
portance, which involved not only the present but the
ultimate welfare and security of the colony, all were
interested; and it was the duty of every one to
do what he could to ameliorate, if possible, its present
condition. He only stated the fact, and lamented it.
" He felt, however, bound to say, that masters
of convicts were not sufficiently attentive to the
morals of their men; defective as our means of reli-
gious instruction might be, it had been proved before
him, that highly respectable persons, residing near to
a church in the same town, and within a few miles,
not only neglected to oblige them to attend the
church, but actually suffered them to spend the Lord's
day amidst scenes of drunkenness and debauchery.
Nor was that all. It had been fuither proved that
the Lord's day, by some masters, was made a day of
labour, and that some other day was allowed to them
as an equivalent. But what equivalent, he M^ould
ask, could a master give for the loss of that moral
instruction which the security of society required?
There were, doubtless, many who, being under the
necessity of attending a distant service, could not
take their servants ; but he would ask Avhether, in
such situations, they did all which they could ? He
would ask, what was the example Mhich had been set
by them ? What instruction did they give them ?
It was in every man's power to set an example of
moral conduct, and observance of the Lord's day, in
his own person, and to gather his family and servants
together for divine Avorship, whether a church was
near or distant. And he would farther beg to im-
press upon their minds, that they were not in a
situation to blame others for want of moral instruc-
tion so long as they did not avail themselves of such
means as were already within their power. He was
sorry to say, that many of the worst crimes Avhich
had been brought under his notice were committed
on the Lord's day, and he was led to apprehend, that
there was a very general disregard and desecration
of it. There were other causes which led, in his
opinion, to crime in this country. With respect
to them there might be a diflerence of opinion ; he
could only say that he had formed his own ; and
as he was prepared to give it to the governor, he
should be wanting in candour if he did not state
it to them.
" He had been induced, by what had been proved
before him in that court, gravely to consider the
question of convicts working in gangs out of irons,
and felt convinced it was one of the most fruitful
sources of crime to be found in the colony. He had
before him a return, from which it appeared that the
number . of convicts at this time employed upon
the roads is 2,240, of whom 1,104 are out of irons !
and (he continued) when they, the jury, considered
who these latter men were, and what they had been —
placed under the guardianship of a convict overseer;
that they left their huts in any number, armed or
unarmed as they pleased — in short, fi-om the evi-
dence he had upon his notes respecting the conduct
of the road parties of the colony, it would appear
that those establishments were like bee-hives, the
inhabitants busily pouring in and out, but with this
difference — the one works by day, the other by night ;
the one goes forth to industry, the other to plunder.
To the carelessness or worse conduct of overseers, he
did attribute a vast proportion of the burglaries and
robberies that were committed in the country dis-
ti-icts. It had been proved in a recent case, (he
spoke from his notes), that a party of these men had
committed a robbery, under such circumstances of
aggi-avation, that sentence of death had been passed
upon four of them. He must, however, say, that the
settlers were themselves to blame for many of the
crimes committed by convicts belonging to road
parties. They too frequently appear to have em-
ployed these men in their leism-e or working hours,
or on a Sunday, paying them for their labour in
money, which was spent in di-ink, and so prepared
them for the commission of crimes.
" He must press upon their attention, considering
the nature of the population of this colony — the fact
that men are passing daily from one class to another —
what must be the effect upon those institutions, and
of men passing from one class to another without
moral improvement ? To himself it appeared, that it
must be the total corruption of them all. In that
point of view alone the subject was well worthy their
grave attention. Free institutions could only be
appreciated and enjoyed by the virtuous; coercion
was for the depraved; and a vicious people have
never continued to be free. He stated, that he felt
he need do no more to impress upon all their minds
the necessity there was for exercising all their influ-
ence to procure the moral improvement of those
persons who are committed to then- trust, and their
utmost vigilance and superintendence over them to
restrain them from crime, than draw their attention
to the comparative numbers of the free and convicts
in this colony, and to the fact, that the tide of convict
population still sets strongly here, Mhilst that of free
emigration appears feebly to reach our shores. He
stated, that it appears from the census taken in Sep-
tember, 1833, published in the next government
Gazette after the 31st December, 1833, that it was
there estimated that there were in this colony — free
males, above twelve years of age, 17,578; convict
males, 21 845: and that he had been informed, that
the number of free emigrants since ai-rived, up to
November, 1835, has been 2,800, of whom 900 are
men, the rest being women and children ; and that
the number of convicts arrived since the same time
has been 8,163, of whom 7,357 are males. He trusted
they would take with them to their homes the facts
he had stated, and the opinions he had expressed,
and communicate them to their neighbours, so that
each might judge for himself as to the justness of his
views. The facts themselves he had drawn from
what had come before him in evidence, and as such
he put them. He sincerely hoped they would have
proper weight upon the minds of every one to whom
they were stated ; and that as he had taken this
opportunity of Inquiring, on his part, what he had
done during the last three years, each one of them
would also consider what he had been doing during
the same period."
But not only did tlie judge on tlie bench
warn hisMajesty's government of the spiritual
destitution of the colony, the archdeacon
(Broughton) of New South Wales proceeded
to England in 1834 for a similar purpose; in
February, 1835, this exemplary divine made a
statement to the Christian Knowledge Society
and to the Society for the Propagation of Chris-
tian Knoivledge, when £3,000 was immedi-
ately placed at his disposal by the first-named
society, and j6 1,000 by the latter. New
South Wales was erected into a diocese, but
bishop Broughton had the mortification of
retiu'uing to the colony unaccompanied by a
single clergyman, " owing to the refusal of
his Majesty^ s government to sanction any
allowance towards the expense of the passage,
or residence, or means of support of any
additional clergymen." This determination
apparently arose, according to the first report
of the Austrahan Diocesan Committee, from
a prevailing impression that the inhabitants
of the colony were opposed or at least indif-
ferent to an extension of the ordinances of
the chm'ch of England, whereas the reverse
was the case. Although in some places the
rites of rehgion were only performed monthly,
in others half-yearly, and notA^dthstanding
that the popxdation had doubled between
1829 and 1837, and become much more
widely scattered over the country, only twc
additional clergj-men had been appointed
from England.
Public opinion was now, however, strongly
directed to the question of secondary punish-
ments ; the inefficiency of transportation, as
a preventive of crime, was powerfully urged
by the archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Whately)
and other eminent persons, and a very un-
favourable feehng was created against New
South Wales, both as a penal settlement and
as a colony to which respectable emigrants
might resort. In the years 1837 and 1838
a select committee of the House of Commons
CONVICT SYSTEM, NEW SOUTH WALES, IN 1838.
69
was therefore appointed to consifler on this
highly important subject, and although the
e^ddence was to a great extent partial, yet
many valuable facts were adduced desex'viug
of record in a work of this nature.
From the report of the transportation com-
mittee of the House of Commons in 1838,
it appears that " 75,200 convicts have been
transported to New South Wales since its
settlement in 1787 : — on the average of the
last five years, 3,544 offenders have been
annually sent there ; and the whole convict
population of the colony in 1836 amounted
to 25,254 men and 2,577 women, in all
27,831. To Van Diemen's Island 27,759
convicts have been sent since the year 1817;
the number annually transported there, on
the average of the last five years, is 2,078 ;
and the convict population in 1835 was
14,914 men and 2,054 women. At Norfolk
Island the number of contacts, most of whom
had been retransported for oftences com-
mitted in New South Wales, was in 1837
above 1,200."
The plan formerly adopted in reference to
Australian con\icts is thus described by the
transportation committee of 1838 : —
" After sentence of transportation has been passed,
convicts are sent to the hulks or gaols, where they
remain till the period of their departure arrives. On
board convict vessels the convicts are under the sole
control of the surgeon-superintendent, who is fur-
nished with instructions, as to his conduct, from the
Admiralty. The precautions which have been taken
against disease, and the better discipline now pre-
served in these ships, have applied an effectual remedy
to the physical evils of the long voyage to Australia,
and prevented the mortality amongst the prisoners,
which prevailed to a fearful extent during the earlier
periods of transportation. Little diminution, how-
ever, has taken place in those moral evils, which seem
to be the necessary consequences of the close contact
and communication between so many criminals, both
during the period of confinement previous to embarka-
tion, and during the weariness of a long voyage.
" As soon as a convict vessel reaches its place of des-
tination, a report is made by the surgeon-superinten-
dent to the governor. A day is then appointed for the
colonial secretary, or for his deputy, to go on board, to
muster the convidts, and to hear their complaints if they
have any to make. The male convicts are, subsequently,
removed to the convict barracks ; the females to the
f)enitentiaries. In New South Wales, however, regu-
ations have lately been established, by which, inmost
cases, female convicts are enabled to proceed at once
from the ship to private service. It is the duty of an
officer, called the principal superintendent of convicts,
to classify the newly-arrived convicts ; the greater
portion of whom are distributed amongst the settlers
as assigned servants ; the remainder are either re-
tained in the employment of the government, or some
few of them are sent to the penal settlements.
" In 1836 the number of assigned convicts in Van
Diemen's Land was 6,475 ; in New South Wales in
1835 the number was 20,207. In the earlier periods
of the colony of New South Wales the supply of
convicts so much exceeded the demand for their ser-
vices by the settlers, that the government used to
grant certain indulgences to those settlers who were
willing to maintain convicts. More recently, the de-
mand has exceeded the supply ; the obtaining convict
labourers has become, therefore, to a certain degree
a matter of favour, which has given rise to complaints
of abuse in the distribution, especially of the more
valuable convicts. All a])plications for convicts are
now made to an officer, called the commissioner for
the assignment of convict servants, who is guided in
his distribution of them by certain government regu-
lations. Settlers, to whom convicts are assigned, are
bound to send for them within a certain period of
time, and to pay the sum of £1 a head for the cloth-
ing and bedding of each assigned convict. An as-
signed convict is entitled to a fixed amount of food
and clothing, consisting, in NeAV South Wales, of
12 lbs. of wheat, or of an equivalent in flour and
maize meal, 7 lbs. of mutton or beef, or 4ilbs. of salt
pork, 2 oz. of salt, and 2 oz. of soap weekly; two
frocks or jackets, three shirts, two pair of trousers,
three pair of shoes, and a hat or a cap, annually.
Each man is likewise supplied with one good blanket,
and a palliasse or wool mattress, which are considered
the property of the master. Any articles, which the
master may supply beyond these, are voluntary indul-
gences. The allowance in Van Diemen's Land differs
in some pai'ticulars, and on the whole is more liberal.
" Male assigned convicts may be classed under the
various heads of field laboui'ers, domestic servants,
and mechanics : the services of the last class being of
more value than those of the two foi'mer, are esti-
mated in assignment as equal to those of two or more
field labourers. In the assignment of convicts scarcely
any distinction is made either on account of the period
of the sentence, or on account of the age, the cha-
racter, or the nature of the offence of the convict.
The previous occupation of a convict in this country
mainly determines his condition in the penal colonies.
For instance, domestic servants, transported for any
offence, are assigned as domestic servants in Austra-
lia : for the greater portion of such servants in those
colonies, even in the establishments of the wealthiest
classes, have hitherto been transported felons. They
are well fed, well clothed, and receive wages fi'om
£10 to £15 a year, and are as well treated in respec-
table families, as similar descriptions of servants are
in this country. In many instances, mastei's have
even carried to an illegal extent their indulgences to
their convict servants.
" Convicts who are mechanics are as well, if not bet
ter, ti'eated than those who are domestic servants ;
for as every kind of skilled labour is very scarce in
New South Wales, a convict who has been a black-
smith, carpenter, mason, cooper, wheelwi'ight, or gar-
dener, is a most valuable servant, worth three or four
ordinary convicts ; he is eagerly sought after, and
great interest is made to obtain him. As a mechanic
can scarcely be compelled by punishment to exert his
skill, it is for the interest of the master to conciliate
his convict mechanic in order to induce him to work
well ; in too many cases this is effected by granting
to the skilled convict various indulgences ; by paying
him wages ; by allotting to him task-work, and by
permitting him, after the performance of the task, to
work on his own account ; and, lastly, by conniving
at, or overlooking, disorderly conduct ; for the most
skilful mechanics arc generally the worst behaved,
and most drunken.
70 TICKETS OF LEA\^ AND CONDITIONAL PARDONS, N.S.W.
" The condition, however, of by far the most numer-
ous class of convicts, those who are employed as
shepherds or neatherds (of whom in 1837 there were
above 8,000 in New South "Wales), and in agriculture
generally, is undoubtedly inferior to that of a convict
who is either a domestic servant or a mechanic ; they
are, however, according to most of the witnesses,
better fed than the generality of agricultural labourers
in this country ; most masters either pay them wages
in money, or give them, instead of money, tea, sugar,
tobacco, spii'its, and other trifling indulgences.
" On the whole, therefore, your committee may
assert that, in the families of well-conducted and re-
spectable settlers, the condition of assigned convicts
is much the same as the condition of similar descrip-
tions of servants in this country ; but this is by no
means the case in the establishments of all settlers. As
the lot of a slave depends upon the chai'acter of his mas-
ter, so the condition of a convict depends upon the tem-
per and disposition of the settler to whom he is assigned."
Tlie act 5 Geo. lY., c. 81, gave the
governor of a penal colony a property in the
services of a transported offender for the
period of his sentence, and authorized him
to assign over such offender to any other
person. There was a further power given to
the governor by the act 30 Geo. III., c. 47,
who, in the name of his jNIajesty, was autho-
rized to remit absolutely or conditionally,
the whole of the sentences of convicts ; and
the 9 Geo. IV., c. 83, empowered the
governor to grant a temporary or partial
remission of sentence ; this power was limited
by acts 2 & 3 Wm. IV., c. 62.
By the system in force in New South Wales
" tickets of leave," which enabled a conAict
to live free, and work on his own account,
within a prescribed district, (binding him to
appear on Sundays before a magistrate), were
granted to a seven-year convict, at the expi-
ration of four years; for fourteen years at
the end of six years ; and for life at'the end
of eight years, unless his conduct during
these periods had been very bad. These
tickets of leave were liable to be cancelled,
if the holder committed any offence for
which he was punishable by a magistrate ;
and the effects of the system are thus re-
corded in the report of the committee of the
House of Commons in 1838, p. x%ai. : —
" This indulgence on the whole has a very useful
effect, as it holds out hope to a convict if he behave
well, and is liable to be reassumed in case of miscon-
duct. Ticket-of-leave men find no difficulty in ob-
taining work at high wages ; and having acquired
experience in the colony, they are frequently preferred
to lately-arrived emigrants. Theyfil) many situations
of trust in both colonies; such, for instance, as con-
stables in the police, overseers of road-parties and
chain-gangs ; the better educated have been employed
as superintendents of estates, as clerks to bankers, to
law7ers and to shopkeepers, and even as tutors in
private families ; some have married free women, are
in prosperous circumstances, and have even become
wealthy ; and the real editor of one of the leading
jom-nals in the colony of New South Wales was a
ticket-of-leave convict."
Many of the " ticket-of-leave " men, or
those who obtained conditional or local par-
dons for long-continued good conduct, or for
useful serdces, acquired large fortunes ; one,
named Sam Terry, possessed, it is said, an
income of £40,000 a year; I rode over a
large estate belonging to him on the beauti-
fial banks of the Nepean river, the greater
part of which was under cultivation, growing
wheat, barley, oats, maize, clover, peas,
beans, and other valuable products : it had
also extensive herds of fine cattle and flocks
of sheep : but the habitation of the ov\Tier
of this vast property- — -n-ith wealth then esti-
mated at a quarter of a million sterling —
was mean in the extreme. He could not, I
believe, either read or wTite, but he had
nevertheless a quickness of apprehension and
a readiness in detecting errors in the accounts
of liis overseers which was so remarkable,
that, as was said of Hyder Ali (the father of
Tippoo Sultan) who also could neither read
nor wiite, no man attempted to deceive him.
This and other instances becoming known,
transportation to " Botany Bay" was deemed
a veiy trifling punishment. The evidence laid
before the House of Commons in 1837-8
proved the reverse, and the committee thus
condense that evidence ; —
" Your committee consider, that in the preceding
pages they have fully established the fact, that trans-
portation is not a simple punishment, but rather a
series of punishments, embracing every degree of
human suffering, from the lowest, consisting of a
slight restraint upon the freedom of action, to the
highest, consisting of long and tedious torture ; and
that the average amount of pain inflicted upon
offenders, in consequence of a sentence of transpor-
tation, is verj- considerable. The most important
question, however, as to the efficacy of transportation
as a punishment, is not with regard to the actual
amount of pain inflicted, but the amount which
those who are likely to commit crime, believe to be
inflicted. It is proved, beyond a doubt, by the testi-
mony of CA-ery witness best acquainted with the
actual condition of convicts, and likewise by nume-
rous facts stated in the evidence, that most persons in
this country, whether belonging to the criminal popu-
lation, or connected with the administration of jus-
tice, are ignorant of the real amount of suffering
inflicted upon a transported felon, and underrate the
severity of the punishment of transportation Nor is
this to be wondered at, when it is considered, that
the penal colonies are 16,000 miles distant, and that
the ignorant mass of the criminal population of this
country are often misled by their evil passions to
underrate the consequences of their evil deeds. On
their arrival at the antipodes, they discover that they
have been grievously deceived by the accounts trans-
mitted to them, and that their condition is a far more
painful one tlian they expected. For those convict i
TERRIFIC FLAGELLATIONS OF CONVICTS, 1822— '26.
71
who write to their friends an account of their own
fate, are generally persons who have been fortunate
in the lottery of punishment, and truly describe their
lot in flattering terms ; those, on the other hand, who
really experience the evils of transportation, and are
naunted with ' a continual sense of degi'adation,' are
seldom inclined to narrate their sufferings except
when they have powerful friends from whom they
may expect assistance. Numerous instances, like-
wise, were mentioned of convicts, who, degraded and
demoralized by their punishment, have, from feelings
of anger and revenge, indulged in the malicious
satisfaction of denying the efficacy of the law, and of
braving those who had brought them to condemna-
tion, by describing as pleasures the tortures they
were enduring ; by affecting indifference for a punish-
ment, which other criminals were actually committing
murder and seeking death in order to avoid. Thus
it is proved by the most irrefragable testimony, that
both those who are prosperous and those who are
miserable, the drawers of prizes and the drawers of
blanks in this strange lottery, influenced perhaps by
that desire, common to human nature, of having
companions and partakers whether of misery or of
happiness, concur in tempting their friends in this
country, by the most alluring descriptions, to come
out and join them ; thereby tending to diminish the
little apprehension, if any, which is entertained by
the lower orders for the punishment of transportation.
" Transportation, though chiefly dreaded as exile,
undoubtedly is much more than exile ; it is slavery as
well ; and the condition of the convict slave is fre-
quently a very miserable one ; but that condition is
unknown, and cannot be made known : for the phy-
sical condition of a convict is generally better than
that of an agricultural labourer; the former is, in
most cases, better fed and better clothed than the
latter; it is the restraint on freedom of action, the
degradation of slavery, and the other moral evils,
which chiefly constitute the pains of transportation,
and of which no description can convey an adequate
idea to that class in whom transportation ought to
inspire terror."
A magistrate, generally himself a master
of convicts, was authorized to inflict fifty
lashes on a convict for " drunkenness, disobe-
dience of orders, neglect of work, absconding,
abusive language to his master or overseer,
or any other disorderly or dishonest conduct.''
For these offences the convict might like-
wise be punished by imprisonment, solitary
confinement, and labour in irons on the
roads. In 1835, the number of convicts in
the colony did not exceed 28,000 ; the num-
ber of summary convictions for the year
was 22,000 ; in one month, in 1833, the
con^dcts flogged nvtmbered 247, and the
lashes administered were 9,874, which woidd
give, for the year, 2,964 floggings, and
108,000 lashes inflicted. The report of 1838
is filled with horrible details of crimes and
punishments, equally at variance with the
general character of Englishmen.
The fearful extent to which corporal
punishment was carried is shewn in the
following numerical return of flagellations
at INIacquarie Harbour, for the years 1822,
'23, '24, '25, and '26 :—
lu the
Years
1822
1823
1824
1825
182G
Total
Number of
Prisoners
sentenced.
169
229
153
112
172
835
Total
Lashes
sentenced.
7,000
9,925
6,850
5,211
7,324
36,310
Lashes
remitted.
863
825
141
494
1,263
3,586
Total
Lashes
inflicted.
6,137
9,100
6,709
4,716
6,061
.32,723
Note. — Settlement formed 3rd January, 1822, 70 male
prisoners ; 31st December, 1822, 181 prisoners at the settle-
ment.— 31st December, 1823, 228 prisoners at the settlement.
— 31st December, 1824, 262 prisoners at the settlement. —
31st December, 1825, 259 prisoners at the settlement. — 31st
December, 1826, 295 prisoners at the settlement.
Thirty-two thousand, seven hundred and
twenty-three lashes inflicted in five years !
On an average, nearly forty lashes to each
of the prisoners; and, be it remembered,
with a " cat-o'-nine-tails," with nine knots
on each tail, and of a heavier weight than
any " cat" used in the army or navy.
The extreme severities exercised at Nor-
folk Island — the penal dependency of New
South Wales, were fearful, and the trans-
portation committee of 1837-38, reported
the evil effects of such a system in language
which cannot be transferred to these pages.
The committee add, that at the penal settle-
ments of Van Diemen's Island, the severity
of the system pursued is as great, if not
greater, than that at Norfolk Island, and
the culprits equally reckless, if not even
more so — committing murder (to use the
words of sir George Arthur), "in order to
enjoy the excitement of being sent up to
Hobart Town for trial, though aware that,
in the ordinary course, they must be exe-
cuted within a fortnight after arrival." At
one of these settlements, named Macquarie
Harbour, (now abandoned) 116 convicts
absconded, between 3rd January, 1822, and
16th May, 1827 ; of these, seventy-six are
supposed to have perished in the Avoods :
one was hanged for miu-dering and eating
his companion ; two were shot by the mili-
tary; eight are known to have been mur-
dered, and six eaten by their companions;
twenty-four escaped to the settled districts,
thirteen of whom were hanged for bush-
ranging, and two for murder — total, 101 out
of 116.
Perhaps no better illustration could be
given of the manner in which the local
government of New South Wales viewed the
sabbath, more than half a centuiy after the
72
TREATMENT OF CONVICTS ON THE SABBATH IN N. S.W.
foundation of tlie colony, than is contained
in the e^adence before the House of Com-
mons' committee of February, 1838, of the
very reverend WilHam UUathorne, (p. 21),
who says —
" I visited a chain-gang, near Paramatta, o)i a
Sunday, for the purpose of administering religious
consolation, and vhen I came to the gang I found a
series of boxes, and when the men were turned out,
I was astonished to find the numbers that were turned
out of each of those boxes ; I could not have sup-
posed that those boxes could have held such a
number. / found that they were locked iq? there
during the ivhole of the Sunday; likewise during the
whole of the time from sunset to sunrise. On looking
into those boxes, I found that there was a ledge on
each side, and that the men were piled upon the
ledges, and others below on the floor ; and I believe
from the bringing together of such numbers of men,
heated as they are and excited, the consequences are
of a very immoral kind. As I left the colony, I put
a question to a clergyman, who has had much expe-
rience there, as to the si)ace allowed to each convict
in those boxes ; the answer given was, that the ave-
rage was about eighteen inches each man, but that
they varied considerably. Eighteen inches square ? —
Yes; there are two shelves, so that some are piled
above, and some below. He stated to me at the
same time, that in the hulks he believed it was not
more than sixteen inches, and that they Avere so
closely piled, some ten or fourteen being put in a
small cell, that they had not room to lie on their
backs, and were obliged to lie sidewise. You have
stated to the committee the condition of the male
convicts ; what is the condition and conduct of the
female convicts ? — The conduct of the females is very
bad indeed; indeed they are, I should say, more
irreformable than the male convicts; when a woman
is bad, she is generally very bad."
By this herding together of criminals, the
best were brought down to a level with the
worst in disposition and corruption, and the
finishing stroke was thereby given to the ter-
rible system of severity only too frequently
practised. Local magistratesbeing empowered
to scourge the criminals at wiU ; a look, a
word, caused the scourge to be immediately
administered to the unhappy offender — who
sought his revenge in the murder of his
master or the overseer — in the burning of
his house and farm-stacks, and in the poison-
ing of the cattle ; or the delinquent fled to
the wild districts, became a bushranger,
and was soon captured, and executed on the
scaffold.
I saw and conversed with ten criminals in
their condemned cells, on the eve of their
execution. They had never heard the word
of God preached since the period of their
childhood, some not even then; they had
never entered a church or chapel in the
colony, or attended a sabbath service ; and
they had fled to the bush because their backs
had been repeatedly bared to the bone by
constant scourgings. Having witnessed,
while serving in the army and in the na\y,
the disastrous effects of subjecting men to
the degrading torture inflicted on brutes, I
bear my humble testimony in support of the
evidence adduced before the transportation
committee, that this species of punishment
has had a most disastrous effect.
One passage in the parUamentary evidence
deserves record on this important subject :
the witness (who had great experience on
the subject) was asked the relative value of
the mild or the coercive system. He replied,
" I believe that a system of coercion will never
reform men ; it may restrain them, from fear, so long
as the coercion is suspended immediately over them,
but I do not think that it can be at all productive of
reform ; I always find that where there is severe coer-
cion the pride of man rises up against that coercion,
and that he hardens himself, and that it is generally
his boast among those with whom he is associated,
that he can endure as long as his master can inflict.
I do not think that the result of a severer system of
coercion has been followed by a greater amount of
reformation ; and I think if the number of prisoners
at present in Van Diemen's Land undergoing punish-
ment for new crimes in that country be inquired into,
it will be found that the result has not been to reform
men. I find that in the year 1835 the number of
male convicts in Van Diemen's Land was 15,724 ; of
this number I found that 3,947 were undergoing
punishment at that time for new crimes in the colony,
that is to say, about one-fourth ; whilst I find at the
same period that 2,462 enjoyed the indulgence of
tickets of leave; they are somewhat less than one-
sixth. Of females, I find, in 1835, that there were
2,195, and of those 408 were in the house of correc-
tion, that is to say, one-fifth; and that only 192, or
one-tenth, had the indulgence of tickets of leave. I
think, when it is considered how long that system has
been in operation, if the result had been to reform,
the first efi'ects which would naturally result, viz. the
greater number that would be under punishment,
ought to have passed away, and that there ought to
have been found very few comparatively under punish-
ment ; but if the number under punishment in Van
Diemen's Lnnd is compared to the number under
punishment in New South Wales, I believe it will be
found that the relative punishment is much greater
in Van Diemen's Land than in New South Wales. It
might be said that the greater number under punish-
ment is only in consequence of the system that a
greater number of criminals are brought to punish-
ment, and a smaller number escape ; this certainly
would be the case in the beginning of the system, but
after the system had wrought for same years, if it had
created reformation, there ought to have been a much
less number under punishment. I would remark,
likewise, with respect to the system of severity, that
it tends in another way to induce bad conduct ; when
a prisoner finds himself so severely treated by his
master, he will always be apt to imagine that in ano-
ther situation he will be much less severely treated ;
he will consequently be induced to behave particu-
larly ill, in order to be returned to the government.
1 believe it has been stated in the instructions to
overseers of chain-gangs in Van Diemen's Land, that
PROVISION FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF EDUCATION IN N. S. W.
the prisoners are to be considered by them as under
a soft of niental delirium ; that they see all things
through a false medium ; in such a case, I should
suppose that the prisoners who are under a severe
system of coercion, would imagine that their condi-
tion could not possibly be worse, and the consequence
V ould be that they would be induced to behave very
ill, for the purpose of being removed from the service
of their masters. I believe it has been found by
experience that severe coercion has been produc-
tive of crimes of great magnitude ; the quantity of
bushrangers in Van Diemen's Land was at one time
very great, and the number of executions was at one
time extraordinarily great ; and I found crimes exist-
ing in Van Diemen's Land resulting indirectly from
that severe system, of which I have known no cases
in New South Wales ; there have been cases w^here
prisoners have been so coerced in Van Diemen's Land
that they have been determined at any cost whatever
to release themselves from it ; they have broken from
their confinement, and after plundering the cottages
and making to the woods, finding that they could not
dare to appear again, they have had recourse to can-
nibalism for subsistence. I remember one particular
case, which produced a great impression, when that
coercive system was at its height at Macquarie Har-
bour, eleven men broke away, and finding that the
police were in chase after them, they retired into the
bush."
To the credit of the colonists, be it said,
that they lost no time in earnestly appeal-
ing to the imperial government, as soon as
the urgency of the matter was comprehended.
A petition was transmitted to the House of
Commons, in 1836, from six members of the
Legislative Council, fifty-seven justices of the
peace, four clergymen, five solicitors, 355 land-
holders, merchants, and other colonists, in
which the petitioners stated, that although
the colony presented an aspect of extra-
ordinary and unexampled prosperity, the
best interests of the community were threat-
ened with serious danger, by the fearful
increase of crime which had, of late years,
taken place in the colony. The petitioners
considered that the existing colonial law for
the regulation of juiies, by admitting per-
sons to sit as jurors who had undergone
punishment for crime, and were of bad
repiite, did not guard the administration of
justice from sinister and contaminating influ-
ence, and that its natui-al eftect was to
encourage crime. New South Wales had
not then an elective House of Assembly,
and its Legislative Council, until 1812, was
whoUy nominated by the Crown ; the colo-
nists, therefore, were almost entirely de-
pendent on the authorities in England for the
regulation of their internal afi'airs, and con-
sequently various other local grievances were
laid before the House of Commons in their
petition; themselves, however, taking the
initiative in suppl}dng their spiritual wants.
DIV. I.
In 1836, an act was unanimously passed
by the Legislative Council of New South
Wales, to promote the building of churches
and chapels, and to provide for the mainte-
nance of rehgion in the colony; and, in
the language of the governor. Sir Richard
Bourke, to Lord Glenelg, his Majest/s
secretary for the colonies, 14th September,
1836, "the measure met with the sincere
and grateful acquiescence of all classes of
the community/' By this act, whenever
a sum of not less than £300 was raised by
private contribution, and applied towards
the building of a church or chapel, and a
dwelhng for the minister attached, the
governor and council were authorized to
issue a sum equal to that subscribed toward,
the chui-ch or chapel, and the building for
the resident minister. The governor and
council were also empowered to grant unto
duly appointed ministers, salaries varying
from £100 per annum for 100 adults, to
£150 and £200 per annum for a resident
population of 150 or 200 adults. There are
other favourable prorisions in the enactment
which was apphcable to the church of Eng-
land, church of Scotland, and church of
Rome. The colonists also prorided for the
passage, from the United Kingdom to Aus-
traha, of ministers of the gospel of the three
denominations named, at the rate of £100
for single men, and £150 for those who
were married, and twelve clergymen of the
established church were immediately sent to
New South Wales, under the recommenda-
tion of the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel; twelve presb}i:erian ministers,
under the recommendation of the General
Assembly of the chm-ch of Scotland, and of
the Synod of Ulster ; and seven ministers of
the church of Rome, recommended by the
authorities of their chui'ch, were also sent
out by government in 1837, conformable to
the local enactment in New South Wales in
1836. Three German missionaries of the
Lutheran church were also, in 1837, sent to
New South Wales, at the expense of the
colonists, who were to be employed in a
mission for the religious instruction of the
aborigines.
In order to carry out a general system of
gratuitous education for the poorer classes
of the community, the colonists, in June,
1837, defrayed the expenses of obtaining
from England well-quahfied and respectable
schoolmasters and mistresses, to whom an
allowance of £100 to £150 was granted;
and a salary of £150 a-year for a master,
I
74 DECLARATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF N. S. W.— 1830.
j£lOO for his -svife, and a smaU dwelling-
house was allowed. Under these provisions,
his Majesty's government sent out, in 1837,
sixteen teachers, carefully selected by the
" Glasgow Educational Society." Six male,
and four female teachers were sent by her
INIajestj^s government, for the education of
poor Roman catholics, under the recom-
mendation of the Rev. W. Ullathorne ; and,
from time to time, many ministers of the
gospel and teachers have proceeded to New
South Wales, whose expenses have been
defrayed fi'om the local revenue.
In July, 1838, the evidence delivered
before the transportation committee of the
House of Commons, during the session of
1837, reached New South Wales, and pro-
duced "very considerable sensation;" and a
petition, signed by " sixty-seven magistrates,
and above 500 indi\'iduals of great respec-
tability," was immediately presented to the
governor, praying the appointment of a
committee of the Legislative Council, to
inquire into the working of the system of
transportation and assigument, with a view
to counteract, as far as possible, the evil
impressions which might have been produced
in England in respect to the social and
moral condition of the colony. The Legis-
lative Council, after protracted debates, nega-
tived the prayer of the petition, from an
apprehension that such an enquiry would
tend to revive animosities in the colony
which had happily, in a great degree, sub-
sided ; but the Council expressed its opinions
by a series of resokitions, to be laid before
both houses of the Imperial Legislatui'e; and
for this purpose they were transmitted, with
the entire approbation of the governor, to
her jNIajesty's secretary of state in the colo-
nial department. It is an act of simple
justice to place on record a declaration so
highly creditable to the colony.
" Resolved — That in the opinion of this council, the
numerous free emigrants of character and capital, in-
cluding many officers of the army and navj, and East
India Company's service, who have settled in the colony
vith their families, together with a rising generation
of native-born subjects, constitute a body of colonists,
who, in the exercise of the social and moral rekitions
of life, are not inferior to the inhabitants of any other
dependency of the British croicn, and are sufficient to
impress a character of respectability upon the colony
at large.
" 0. Resolved — That the rapid and increasing ad-
vance of this colony, in the short space of fifty years
from its first establishm.ent, in rural, commercial, and
financial prosperity, proves indisputably the activity,
the enterprise, and industry of the colonists, and is
wholly incompatible with the state of society repre-
bf,nted to exist here.
" 6. Resolved — That the strong desire manifested
by the colonists generally to obtain moral and reli-
gious instruction, and the liberal contributions which
have been made from private funds towards this
most essential object, abundantly testify that the
advancement of virtue and religion amongst them
is regarded with becoming solicitude.
" 7. Resolved — That if transportation and assign-
ment have hitherto failed to produce all the good
efi"ects anticipated by their projectors, such failure
may be traced to circumstances, many of which are
no longer in existence, whilst others are in rapid pro-
gress of amendment. Amongst the most prominent
causes of failm^e may be adduced the absence, at the
first estahlishment of the colony, of adequate religious
and moral instructioti, and the want of proper means
of classification in the several gaols throughout the
colony, as well as of a sufficient number of free emi-
grants properly qualified to become the assignees of
convicts, and to be entrusted with their management
and control.
" 8. Resolved — That the great extension which has
latterly been afforded of moral and religious instritc-
tion, the classification which may in future be made
in the numerous gaols now in jirogress of erection,
upon the most approved principles of inspection and
separation, the more effectual punishment and classi-
fication of offenders in ironed gangs, according to
their improved system of management, the numerous
free emigrants now eligible as the assignees of con-
victs, and the accumulated experience of half a cen-
tury, foj'm a combination of circumstances which
renders the colony better adapted, at the present,
than at any former period, to carry into efi'ect the
praiseworthy intentions of the first founders of the
system of transportation and assignment, which had
no less for its object reformation of character, than a
just infliction of punishment.
" 9. Resolved — That in the opinion of this council,
no system of penal discipline or secondary punish-
ment Avill be found at once so cheap, so effective, ana
so reformatory, as that of well-regulated assignment,
the good conduct of the convict, and his continuance
at labour being so obviously the interest of the
assignee, whilst the partial solitude and privations
incidental to a pastoral or agricultural life in the
remote districts of the colony, (which may be made
the universal employment of convicts), by effectually
breaking a connexion with companions and habits of
vice, is better calculated than any other system to
produce moral reformation, ivhen accompanied hy
adequate religious instruction.
" 10. Resolved — That in the opinion of this council,
man}' men who, previously to their conviction, had
been brought up in habits of idleness and vice, have
acquired, by means of assignment, not only habits of
industry and labour, but the knowledge of a remune-
rative employment, which, on becoming free, forms a
strong inducement to continue in an honest course of
life."
The details respecting the ecclesiastical
establishment, schools, and state of crime,
which wdU be found in a subsequent chapter,
prove the correctness of the assertions con-
tained in the above resolutions of the Legis-
lative Council. New South Wales is now as
little tainted with vice or crime as any other
colony of the British crown.
At the commencement of 1839, the clergy-
GRANT AND SALE OF CROWN LANDS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 75
men doing parochial duty in the colony under
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Australia
(who was nominated in 1835) amounted to
thirty-three. The number of Presbyterian
clergymen was twenty-three ; and of Roman
catholic clergymen (including a bishop, nomi-
nated in 1835) borne upon the ecclesiastical
establishment, was twenty. The number of
missionaries attached to the Wesleyan mis-
sion was six ; of baptist pastors five ; and there
was besides one " independent" minister.
There were also several missionaries specially
employed among the Aborigines. This affords
a gratifying contrast to the state of the colony
a few years previous. The result of these meri-
torious exertions on the part of the colonists^
who bore the whole of the expense, was a
rapid diminution of crime, and a marked
improvement in the religious demeanour and
social condition of the whole population.
In 1840, an order in Council was issued
respecting the transportation of convicts,
which recorded that by an act passed in the
fifth year of the reign of king George the
Fourth, his Majesty was empowered, by and
■with the advice of his privy council, from
time to time to appoint any place beyond the
seas, either within or without his Majesty's
dominions, to which felons under sentence of
transportation should be conveyed. In pur-
suance of the powers of this act, " New
South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and all
islands adjacent thereto," were, on the 23rd
June, 1824, appointed to be the places to
which felons and others under sentence of
transportation were to be conveyed. By the
above-named order in Council, it was decreed
that from and after the 1st August, 1840,
" Van Diemen's Land, Norfolk Island, and
the islands adjacent to, and comprised within,
the government of Van Diemen's Land,"
should in future be the places to which felons
and other offenders in the United Kingdom
be conveyed, under sentence or order of trans-
portation. From that date transportation
to New South Wales ceased.
In August, 1838, the select committee of
the House of Commons on transpoi'tation,
recommended that " transportation to New
South Wales, and to the settled districts of
Van Diemen's island, should be discon-
tinued as soon as practicable." The early
adoption of this recommendation became
essential to the well-being of the colony,
from the large and increasing influx of
convicts compared with the free immigrants.
It will be seen by the accompanying table,
that during the ten years ending 1834, the
number of convicts transported to New South
Wales was 28,983, while the emigrants from
this country were only 7,585.
Comparative Statement of the Number of Convicti
arrived in Netv South Wales from 1825 to 1834,
and of Free Emigrants from 1829 to 1834.
Year.
English.
I'rish.
Tot.
Free Emigrants.
Male.
Fern
Male.
Fern.
Male-
Fcm.
Ohil
Total
1825
764
140
901
Ill
1916
1826
679
1036
100
1815
_.
1827
1239
342
846
160
2587
1828
1589
179
752
192
2712
—
1829
2008
319
1163
174
3664
306
113
U'
564
1830
20WJ
128
685
316
3225
166
70
73
309
1831
1437
206
692
298
2633
185
98
174
457
1832
181C
248
928
133
3119
819
706
481
200r)
1833
271^
377
7.94
261
4151
838
1146
701
2885
1834
1923
284
781
173
3161
571
596
397
1564
Total
16264
2223
8578
1918
28983
2885
2729
1971
7585
The Grant and Sale of Crown Lands
is intimately connected Avith the past and
present state of New South Wales, and the
subject has occupied the attention of states-
men in England for twenty years, not
merely as regards the amount of local
revenue derivable from the sale of those
lands, but as a means for the proportionate
adjustment of land, labour, and capital, which,
wisely used, may enable the government
efficiently to promote emigration from the
United Kingdom to those colonies in the
temperate zone where British subjects can
labour as at home, and obtain for that
labour a more ample reward than could
reasonably be expected in the crowded con-
dition of the labour market in England. It
m?^y be necessaiy to premise, that there is
little difference of opinion as to the injurious
effects of granting large blocks of land to
a few individuals ; most persons agree in the
advisability of the crown lands being sold
in small sections, and put up for auction at
a fixed minimum price. The collision of
opinion has reference chiefi}^ to w^hat that
fixed minimum price shoidd be in the several
colonies, or in the same colony in different
stages of its progress.
In the History of the Colonies (vol. iv.),
published in 1835, and in the Colonial Ma-
gazine, I stated my regret at being unable
to agree with the founders of the colony of
South Australia, in then' resolve to obtain
the assent of her Majesty's government to
fix a minimum price of VZs. per acre on all
public lands oflered for sale by auction ; and,
among other grounds, I differed with them,
1st. — " By reason of the nature of the soil
in Australia, it being extremely difficidt to
find good land in large continuous tracts;
a rich fertile Ijlack mould of a few hundred
7G GRANTS TO CIVIL AND MILITARY OFFICERS, IMMIGRANTS, &c.
acres will sometimes be found suddenly in-
terrupted by several thousand acres of a
sandy scrubby ridge, far worse than Hamp-
stead Heath." 2nd. — " A farmer could not
afford 125. per acre for the purchase of land,
when 300 sheep would require upwards of
1,000 acres for pasturage." 3rd. — " The
principle of concentration which it was sought
to establish, by causing all land taken up to
be cultivated, might be established, if the
whole of Australia were like the fertile deltas
of the Ganges or Nile ; but that such was
not the case, and Australia was better
adapted for a pastoral than an agricultural
country." 4th. — " Too high a price for land
would check emigration." 5th. — " That the
settlers would, of necessity, spread them-
selves over the distant unoccupied lands with
their flocks and herds — no government could
control their proceedings — and an excessive
dispersion of population, instead of concen-
tration, would be the result." How far this
opinion has been verified, will be seen from
the following abstract of the proceedings con-
nected with the "land question" in New South
Wales since the foundation of that settlement.
In 1790 (13th Februarj"), captain Phillip,
then governor of New South Wales, in a
letter to lord Sydney, recommended that
grants of land, consisting of 500 to 1,000
acres, should be given to such settlers as his
Majesty's government might send out to the
colony; and, as the labour of cleai'ing the
ground of timber was very great, that each
settler should have the ser\aces of twenty
con\'icts allowed him, who should be sup-
ported for two years from the public stores.
The inducements held out to officers and
soldiers to become settlers, by grants of land,
was strongly seconded by eveiy possible en-
couragement to turn farmers, in order to
render the settlement independent of any
foreign aid for the supply of the necessaries
of life. For this end land was freely granted,
though not in large sections, to all classes, free
or bond, in or out of the pubhc service, who
appeared capable of cultivating it ; and con-
victs who thus exrted themselves received
their freedom and a farm, as their reward.
The civil and miUtary officers obtained
large tracts ; but in 1818 an order was issued
to the governor of New South Wales to dis-
continue t])c practice of giving land to pubhc
officers whilst in the service ; this regulation
was afterwards relaxed, and public officers
were placed on the same footing as settlers,
in this respect, which appears to have been
strongly advisable, otherwise, the greater
part of the landed property of the colony
woxdd have been vested in the hands of
emancipated convicts and their descendants,
to the exclusion of the educated and higher
classes of colonial society. Most of the civil
and mihtary officers invested their savings
in land ; many retired from the sendee ot
the crown, and became extensive farmers
and graziers, and some of the finest estates
in New South Wales, which, both in the
style of the mansions and the improvement
of the land, would be an honour to any
county in England, belong to the famihes o(
the ci\nl, military, and naval officers who, in
the early and suffering days of the colony,
made it their home.
Up to the year 1823, the governor of
New South Wales and Van Diemen's Island
had the power of granting land to free
settlers, and (as a reward to good behaviour)
to con\acts. "When a convict was pardoned,
the governor gave, to each male, a grant of
twenty acres ; if married, twenty more ; and
to each child in the settlement, ten acres,
free fi'om all charge for ten years; after
which, a quit-rent of sixpence for thirty
acres was le%aed. To each free settler the
governor could make grants of land to the
same extent as to con-\dcts, and grant them
100 acres additional. The governor might
make larger grants to both convicts and free
settlers ; but, for such grants, it was neces-
sary to obtain the special approval of the
secretary of state. Not unfrequently, also,
rations were allowed, from the public stores,
to free settlers as well as to the emancipists,
until they could raise sufficient food from
the soil. The power vested in the governor
was extensively exercised. Up to the year
1810, the successive governors of New South
Wales had given to individuals, principally
to settlers who had been convicts, 177,500
acres, in grants seldom exceeding 100 acres ;
and it must be acknowledged, that the
colony was largely indebted to this class for
the production of an annually-increasing
quantity of food, which rendered the inha-
bitants independent of foreign supplies. I
visited many of the small farmers in the dis-
tricts between the Hawkesbury river and
Sydney, who had been pardoned by the
several governors of New South Wales, or
who, on completing their allotted period of
servitude, had received free gi'ants of land
under 100 acres. In almost every instance
I found industry, frugaUty, and order ; in
many, a deep regret for the sins of their
youth, and an earnest desire that their chil-
dren should be trained in the path of reli-
gion. The forest was being gradually cleared
around the log-huts; in various places the
comfortable brick tenement had been raised,
and the neat garden paled, while the full
haggard and the lowing kine gave indica-
tions of a comfortable homestead. The free
grant of these small tracts of land has been
the means, under Providence, of perma-
nently reclaiming many a sinner from the
errors of his ways : a piece of land — although
covered with a dense forest — which he could
call his own, converted him from an avowed
enemy of society, into one of its most stre-
nuous defenders; he found, by experience,
that honesty was the best policy; and his
children learnt, from the lips of their parents,
to revere the laws and institutions of the
country whose wise and merciful policy pro-
duced such beneficial results.
There can be no doubt that land was too
freely granted in New South Wales. Up to
the year 1823, persons emigrating fi-om
England took with them letters from the
secretary of state to the governor, directing
laud to be granted to the intending settler
according to his means. Governor Mac-
quarie fixed 2,000 acres as the maximum
of grants, unless the secretary of state di-
rected a larger quantity to be given. A
number of grants were made of 10,000 to
20,000 acres. Mr. Potter Macqueen, then
M.'P., received a grant of 10,000 acres, and
a reserve of 10,000; Mr. Hart Davis, then
M.P., and Mr. H. Davis, jun., 15,000 each ;
Sir Thomas Brisbane, the marquis of Sligo,
and Mr. J. Browne, 10,000 acres each,
with reserves of 10,000 more each. (See
Parliamentary Committee evidence, 11th
July, 1836.) No condition of residence vms
attached to these (/rants.
In 1824- (1st October), an association,
termed the Australian Agricultural Company,
received a free grant of one million acres, on
the following conditions : — After five years,
a quit-rent of 1^ per cent, on the land, to
be valued at 1*. 6d. per aci'e — payments
every five years ; power to redeem, on pay-
ment of twenty times the value of the quit-
rent to be redeemed ; to employ a number
of convicts equal to the number of free
labourers ; one free superintendent to every
fifty convicts ; no land to be alienated for
five years ; quit-rent to be redeemed by the
employment of a certain number of convicts ;
and the whole amount of quit-rent to be
redeemed, if, within twenty years from the
date of grant, it shall appear that the com-
pany have relieved the treasury from a
charge equal to £100,000, to be calculated
at the rate of £20 for each convict supported
during a year.
From 1810 to 1822, during the adminis-
tration of governor Macquarie, 400,000
acres were granted to free settlers and eman-
cipists. From 1822 to 1831, when the plan
of public sale was systematically introduced,
the number of acres granted was about
3.386,250. Up to the 31st December, 1834,
the total number granted in the colony was
4,163,353 acres. The conditions attached
to these grants were variovis. According to
the evidence of Mr. H. S. Kelsey, of the
colonial office, before the House of Com-
mons' committee of 1836, lands granted pre-
vious to November, 1823, were liable, at
the end of ten years, to a quit-rent of 2s
for every 100 acres between November,
1823, and May, 1825 ; at the end of five
years to a quit-rent of 15^. for every 100
acres; and also, during the latter period,
lands sold were liable to a quit-rent of 2s.
for every 100 acres; lands granted since
May, 1825, were liable, at the end of seven
years, to a quit-rent of 16s. 8d. per 100 acres.
Very little attention, however, was paid to
the collection of the quit-rents. When in
the colonial secretary's office in New South
Wales, I strongly urged the yearly collec-
tion of these accumulating sums. In 1832,
the amount due for quit-rents was estimated
at £16,552 ; in 1846, at £69,000. In some
cases, twenty-five years' quit-rent were due ;
in others, the arrears amounted to more
than the value of the land.
In 1824 regulations for gi-ants of land in
New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land
were issued by her Majesty's government,
which announced that New South Wales
and Van Diemen's Island were to be divided
into counties, hundi'eds, and parishes, each
parish to comprise an area of about twenty-
five miles. A valuation to be made of all
the lands in the colony, and an average
price to be struck for each parish. All lands
in the colony not hitherto granted to be p t
up for sale at a price to be fixed by the said
commissioners ; the largest quantity to be
sold to one individual, 9,600 acres ; the lots
to be put up for sale in quantities of three
square miles — 1,920 acres. Any purchaser
who, within ten years after his purchase,
should, by the employment and maintenance
of convicts, have relieved the pid)lie from
a charge equal to ten times the amount of
the purchase money, would have the pur-
chase money returned, but without interest.
The saving to the pubhc on each convict was
estimated as equivalent to £16 per annum.
No grants to be made without purchase,
unless the governor were satisfied that the
grantee h d both the power and the inten-
tion of expending in the cultivation of the
land a capital equal to half the estimated
value of it, within seven years. The largest
grant, without purchase, to be 2,560 acres ;
the smallest, 320 acres. A quit-rent of five
per cent, per acre upon the estimated value
to be fixed upon the land granted without
purchase. A nominal quit-rent of a pepper-
corn to be made for lands purchased in fee-
simple. Quit-rents not to be payable on
grants for seven years ; and in the redemp-
tion of the quit-rent at twenty years' pur-
chase, the grantee to have credit for one-
fifth part of the sum he might have saved to
his Majesty's government, by the employ-
ment and maintenance of convicts.
In Apiil, 1827, further instructions were
issued from the oflfice of the secretary of
state for the colonies, in Downing Street,
respecting the terms upon which land would
be granted in New South Wales and Van
Diemen's Island. Those terms corresponded
with the foregoing, and it was stated, that
persons who had obtained leave to become
purchasers were to send in sealed tenders
for the land advertised to be sold, and the
highest bidder, if approved by the governor,
to become the proprietor. One-fourth of
the value of the land, estimated at the time
of the gi'ant, to be expended in the cultiva-
tion and improvement of the land, vrithin
seven years, under penalty of forfeiture.
The amount of capital which was to be a
criterion of the quantity of land to be granted,-
was £500 for a square mile — 640 acres.
In 1828, Mr. Huskisson, then secretary
of state for the colonies, laid before the Duke
of Wellington, then first lord of the treasury,
a proposition for the establishment of a
metropolitan Colonial Land Board; the Duke
assented, on condition that the board did
not involve the revenues of the Bntish ex-
chequer in additional expense; to which
Mr. Huskisson replied, that it would, on the
contrary, create an additional source of re-
venue. Mr. Huskisson evidently had in
view the system which had been for some
years successfully adopted in the United
States, of scUing the public lands at a mode-
rate fixed price per acre ; formerly, the Ame-
rican government put up their land at two
dollars per acre; in 1820 the upset price
was fixed at one doUar and twenty-five cents
per acre ; it is now, I believe, only one doUar,
equal to fifty pence, per acre. The late Sir
Wilmot Horton looked to the sale of the
crovni lands in the colonies as a means of
raising a fund to promote emigration.
In 1831 instructions were issued under
the royal sign manual (see p. 3, sess. paper of
1831, No. 328), directing, that for the future,
land should be put up for auction at a mini-
mum upset price of 5s. per acre. These
regulations came into operation in the middle
of the year 1831. Under them, the system
of reserving land for ecclesiastical purposes
was abolished, and the church and school
corporation of New South Wales (which, in
1829, received 419,199 acres,) was dissolved.
Simultaneously with the raising the price of
land to 5s. per acre, all unoccupied lands
within the prescribed limits were authorized
to be let on lease, in conformity with the
following instructions : —
" All crown lands within the prescribed limits will,
if applied for, be let by auction, in lots of one square
mile, or 640 acres each, as nearly as practicable.
Persons desirous of renting such lands, will address
themselves to the surveyor-general, taking care to
describe accuiately the situation of each section
applied for. The lands so applied for will be adver
tised for one month, and the lease of each lot for
one year will then be put up to public auction. No
lot consisting of less than one square mile, or 640
acres. Mill be let, except in special cases, which may
render expedient a departure from this rule. Each
lot will be put up at a rent of 20s. a-year, and the
highest bidding (not less than that sum) will be
accepted. It is to be distinctly understood that the
lands so let will be open for purchase ; and in the
event of their being sold, must be surrendered by
the lessee upon one month's notice."
It was proposed during this year, by lord
Howick (now earl Grey), then under secre-
tary of state for the colonies, to apply the
net revenue arising from the sale of lands
in New South Wales in encom'aging female
emigration; and during the years 1832 — 35
there were sent to New South Wales and
Van Diemen's Island 2,972 female emi-
grants, at a cost of £42,070.
Dm-ing the years 1832, '3, '4, and .'5, the
colonies began to form a prominent subject
of public discussion; political agitation in
England, distress in Ireland, and the rapid
increase of population, had turned the atten-
tion of tliinking men to providing a perma-
nent safety valve for the state by a system of
continuous emigration from the United
Kingdom.
In 1836 (10th June), a select committee
of the House of Commons was appointed to
enquire into the method of disposing of
waste lands in the colonics ; but it is appa-
rent from the list of the committee, and the
well known opinions of the witnesses ex-
amined, that the evidence to be ehcited was
such as would be calculated to support a
foregone conclusion. None of the members
of the committee, except Mr. Roebuck, had
ever been in any colony ; the principal wit-
nesses were Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield,
and colonel Torrens, who were then engaged
in the laudable effort to found the colony of
South Australia on self-supporting principles,
but who I think erroneously endeavom-ed to
support their policy by fixing a high price on
land ; the sums thus received to be employed
in conveying labour to the colony. None of
the T^dtnesses examined had ever been in
Australia ; two (captain Wood and Mr.
Bryan) had been in Van Diemen's island,
— one (Mr. George Stephenson) had been
in the United States, and one (Mr. Burnly)
in Trinidad. In the report of the committee
(dated 10th August, 1836) it is stated, that
since the year 1795 the sales of waste lands
in the United States had produced the sixm
of £12,439,049, and that all land is offered
for sale by auction at an upset price fixed by
the legislature; the committee, however,
omitted to state in their report that the price
seldom exceeded 5^. per acre. They recom-
mended that the principle introduced by the
Earl of Ripon's regulations of 1831, namely,
that land should be disposed of by auction at
a minimum upset price — shoiJd be affirmed
by an act of the Legislature, in order to give
this principle a character of permanency and
stability which it did not then possess. But
the committee abstained from stating what
that minimum price should be, as it must
vary according to the circumstances of each
colony, and " can only be determined in any
one by the test of experience."
Mr. E. G. Wakefield proposed before this
parliamentary committee that a " sufficient
price" should be fixed on the colonial lands,
but he decUned stating what that sufficient
price ought to be. Colonel Torrens, w^ho, as
chief commissioner of the South Australian
association, has carried out some of Mr.
Wakefield's views, gave his opinion of the
" sufficient price" as at least 405. an acre..
Mr. G. P. Scrope, M.P., in his valuable
evidence before the committee (7th July,
1836), stated that supposing the theory
of Mr. E. G. Wakefield to be correct, the
practical adoption of the theory would be
checked at a very early point for the follow-
ing reasons : — 1st, Emigration would be
checked to New South Wales by demanding
a price for land much exceeding the terms
on which land of equal fertility could be
obtained in the United States. 2nd, That
" a high price would prevent the colonists
obtaining land : they would be driven to
settle as squatters, and appropriate to them-
selves the occupation or use for a certain
period of the land denied them to purchase,
except at an extravagant rate." The argu-
ments of Mr. Sci'ope, and the facts by whicli
they were supported, successfully combated
the vague theories put forth by Mr. Wakefi eld
and colonel Torrens. He (Mr, Scrope) en-
treated the committee to eschew Mr. Wake-
field's " leading principle" of colonization as
founded on a fallacy, and dangerous, if at-
tempted to be carried into operation, to the
very objects in view: he therefore urged them
to " adhere in the question of price to the
safe and successful example of the United
States ;" — adding, that he wished to see all
the crown lands disposed of after the Ameri-
can system, at not less than a certain mini-
mum price, and the entire proceeds of those
sales to be appropriated to an immigration
fund, to defray the gratuitous introduction
of labourers from the mother country.
In 1836 (12th October), after the com-
mittee of the House of Commons had closed
its labours, colonel Torrens, as chairman of
the South Australian commissioners, ad-
dressed a letter to Lord Glenelg, his Majes-
ty's secretary of state for the colonies, object-
ing to the price of 5s., or any lesser sum,
per acre for land in New South Wales and
Port Phillip, while 125. was the minimum
price in South Australia, and urging that
the labourers sent to South Austraha would
quit that colony for New South Wales if
such an inequality in the price of land con-
tinued to exist in two adjoining colonies.
Mr. (now Sir James) Stephen in an able reply
to colonel Torrens, dated 27th October, 1836,
stated on behalf of Lord Glenelg, that the
persons who had embarked their property in
South Australia knew perfectly well that vis.
per acre was the upset price in the imme-
diately adjacent colonies; that on these
terms (comparatively so low) the inducements
to occupy large portions of land without
licence had been found irresistible ; that the
" responsibility of the colonists rested witli
themselves, who must have been prepared
for the competition of unauthorized occu-
pants of the soil on the surface of that vast
continent, and tiiat it was a danger not con-
cealed from the colonists at the veiy outset
80
DISADVANTAGES OF TOO HIGH A PRICE FOR LAND.
of their enterprize." It is evident from this
letter that Mr. Stephen foresaw the injurious
effects attendant on an endeavour to fix a
high price for land in New South Wales.
He stated that —
" For some years past his Majesty's government
have steadfastly enforced the rule, M'hich forbids the
alienation of wild lands in New Holland except by
sales at a public auction at a iixed minimum price ;
but they have always perceived that circumstances
beyond their control would fix that minimum at a
lower point than that which would be selected, if the
discretion of the government in this matter were
absolutely free and unfettered. In the remoter part
of tht vast regions comprised within the range of the
Australian colonies, the power of the law is unavoid-
ably feeble when opposed by the predominant inclina-
tions of any large body of the people ; in such a
country unpopular regulations, unless supported by a
force either of police or soldiery, irresistible and
overwhelming, must become little more than a dead
letter.
" Thus, in New South Wales, the squatters (to
employ the significant local term) find in the high
upset price of land some of those advantages which a
smuggler in other countries derives from a high rate of
duty ; their proceedings, instead of being condemned
and opposed, are countenanced and supported by the
society to which they belong, consequently an ex-
tensive territory, at a distance from the seat ©f govern-
ment, has been occupied by unauthorised settlers of
all classes, by the wealthy not less than by the poor;
and, in this systematic violation of the law, each class
finds support and encouragement in the example and
common interest of its various members. With the
most earnest desire to repress the growing evil, the
local authorities have experienced the impossibility of
making an effectual resistance to the general will."
Lord Glenelg, therefore, through the
under secretary of state, Mr. Stephen, ex-
pressed his determination of not attempting
to raise the price of land in New South
Wales to the rate at which theorists wished
it to be fixed at in South Australia ; and
stated that " even the fixed price of 5*. had
afiForded an irresistible temptation at Port
Phillip to the unauthorised occupation of the
soil ; the governor (Sir- R. Bourke) was con-
sequently authorised to relax the rule of
price at Port Phillip if he should find it indis-
pensable to check the evil of the unlicensed
occupation of the newly explored territory."
In 1837 (15th February ) Lord Glenelg sent
to Sii" R. Bourke, then governor of New
South Wales, the correspondence with
colonel ToiTcns, and required a report how
far the discretion of the local government
had been exercised in fixing a higher rate
than 55. per acre as the upset price of lands
supposed to be of peculiar value. Sir R.
Boui-ke informed the secretary of state that
in the first place the competition for land in
the neighboiu-hood of Melbourne and Wil-
liams' Town, Port Phillip, had caused the
waste lands to be sold at a price which would
prevent any further cause for alarm in the
South Australian commissioners. With
regard to New South Wales, the government
rightly considered that competition at public
sale would always determine the real value
of any allotments, and that the competition
which was rapidly increasing wotild become
more active as the colony advanced in wealth
and population.
In support of his opinion the governor
adduced the following table, showing the
average price of crown lands sold in the
colony of New South Wales, for the five
years ending the 31st December, 1836: —
Year
Town Allotments,
Other Land,
per P
erch.
per Acre.
*.
d.
s. d.
1S32
2
10
6 0
1833
2
4
9 6
1834
6
2
6 8
1835
5
2
5 10
1836
4
2
6 2
The opinions of Sir Richard Bourke on
this highly important subject, not only in
reference to New South Wales, but to all
colonies with waste lands, so clearly indicate
the evils which have since ensued from a
disregard of those arguments, urged with all
the weight of local experience, and enforced
by sound reasoning, that I am induced to
give them at full length. In testimony of
their practical value, Mr. Justice Therry,
who had been nineteen years in New South
Wales, stated in his evidence before the
House of Lords, 9th June, 1848, that gover-
nor Sir Richard Bourke, in the despatch of
1837, " anticipated the evils which have
since resulted, and which would have been
averted if the course he recommended had
been abided by."
The governor thus reasoned : —
" If it be objected that such an efiiective competition
as I have described, arising from increased popula-
tion and wealth, in itself indicates the propriety of
raising the minimum price of 1837 over that of 1831,
I would observe, that the crown lands now in the
market form only a surplus ; in many instances they
may be justly called a refuse, consisting of lands
which in past years were not saleable at any price,
and were not sought after even as free grants. As
improvement and population penetrate through the
colony, such lands begin to acquire a value, and there
is a stage in this process in which they are saleable at
the present minimum price of 5s. Ey declining in
future to dispose of them at this rate, it by no means
follows that they will be sold at a higher. The result
may be to retain them for an indefinite time unsold.
Such a result, as yotir lordship appears fuUv aware
PRICES OF TOWN AND COUNTRY LANDS, 1838—40.
81
Is the more likely, or rather certain, in consequence
of the alternative at the settler's command of wan-
dering without authority or restraint with his flocks
and herds over the vast tracts of the interior. A
facility in acquiring the actual property of land at a
low price is the safest check to this practice, and it
may here be observed, that the unauthorised occupiers
of remote crown lands do not wholly consist of small
flock-owners of slender means, but of the agents and
shepherds of the wealthiest colonists residing within
the limits of location, who are continually balancing
between the opj)osite motives presented by the cheap-
ness of unauthorised occupation on the one hand, and
the desire of adding to their permanent property in
land on the other. The extent of their purchases at
the government sales corresponds with the prevalence
of the latter motive, and it is easy to see that its in-
fluence must be weakened in proportion to the aug-
mentation of the upset price.
" But though I am convinced that in almost every
case tlie present value of land is obtained by means
of the competition excited by public sales, yet it is
possible that an augmentation of the minimum price
would have the injui'ious eff'ect of checking the immi-
gration of persons possessed of small capital desirous
of establishing themselves upon land of their own.
There are very few new comers who possess sufl[icient
means to purchase, at a price much above 5s., the
large tract of land which in this country is absolutely
necessary for even the commencement of an ordinary
grazing establishment. Again, the inducements
off'ered to retired oSicers to settle in the colony, by
obtaining land at the minimum price, would be much
diminished if that price were raised. These officers,
both as regards numbers and character, are no small
acquisition to the rural population of the colony.
" Apprehending, therefore, that to raise the upset
price of crown lands would introduce much of the
mischief I have represented ; believing also that the
influence of competition is becoming daily a more
certain safeguard against the sale of any land below
its just value ; considering further the general impolicy
of meddling without imperative necessity with any
established system afl'ecting so nearly the foundations
of property, especially with one which has been found
hitherto to operate so advantageously, I arn unable to
recommend any change in the minimum price at
which crown lands are, under the present regulations,
off'ered to sale by public auction in New South Wales."
In 1840 Lord John Russell, then her Ma-
jesty's secretary of state for the colonies, sent
a despatch to Sir George Gipps, governor of
New South Wales, containing instructions,
dated 23rd May, 1840, under the royal sign
manual, respecting the settlement and aliena-
tion of waste lands in the colony. New South
Wales was to be divided into three districts,
northern, middle, and southern. In the
middle district, the minimum upset price
of land at public auction to be 125. per
acre ; in the southern or Port Phillip district,
all lands, in future, to be " open to sale at
one uniform price" of 205. per acre, subject
to a few qualifications. Lord J. Russetl
stated, that £1 an acre appeared a reason-
able price, adverting to the proceeds of sales
hitherto ; that it appeared to answer well in
the neighbouring colony of South Australia,
and that it would probably be ad^dsable to
ofler lots for sale in sections of 160 or 80
acres ; town lots to be at the rate of j^lOO
per acre.
In 1840 (10th December), Sir George
Gipps, then governor of New South Wales,
forwarded to Lord John RusseU a " Memo-
randum on the Disposal of Lands in the
Australian colonies,^' in which he assumed
that 5s. per acre was decidedly too low, as a
minimum price, although he acknowledged
that the land seldom produced at auction
more, and that there was a glut of land in
the market at that rate. The go^'ernor
stated that in 1839 the minimum price was
raised to 12s. per acre, and he gave the general
results as follows : —
Years.
Countrj' Lands.
Town AUotments.
Coiuitry Lands and Town
Allotments.
Acres.
Price
per Acre.
Sum.
Acres.
Price
per Acre.
Sum.
Acres.
Price
per Acre.
Sum.
£. s. d.
£.
A. R. p.
£. s. d.
£.
£. s. d.
£.
Old Parts 1
1838
278,323
0 5 4|
75,159
185 3 26
17 7 4
3,228
278,509
0 5 7i
78,387
of the I
1839
198,198
0 8 If
80,836
231 0 22
29 0 Hi
6,714
198,429
0 8 9f
87,550
Caiony. j
1840
94,878
0 13 \\
62,360
513 1 25
69 3 7f
35,518
95,391
1 0 6i
97,878
■
1837
—
—
—
87 3 20
81 5 81
7,142
88
81 5 8
7,142
Port
1838
38,653
0 13 3
25,587
41 1 12
213 11 1\
8,826
38,694
0 17 9i
34,414
PhUlip. }
1839
38,283
1 10 11
61,102
65 1 8
137 19 0
9,008
38.348
1 16 6|
70,110
1
J
1840
82,729 j 1 12 11
136,367
169 2 16
487 16 2
82,732
82,899
2 12 10
219,100
A great stimulus to the purchase of land
was given in 1839-40, and '41, throughout
Australia generally, but more especially at
Port Phillip ; it is not, therfore, surprising,
that large sums Avere realized, both for town
and country sections. In New South Wales,
however, this was not the case, for the
DIV. I.
quantity of country land sold greatly dimin-
ished, thus— 1838, acres 278,323, at 5^. 4f c^.
per acre = £75,159; 1840, acres 84,878, at
13*. 1|^. per acre = j£62,360. It was erron-
eously supposed, that because land sold at
125., and, subsequently, at 205. an acre, in
South Australia, therefore the same price
82
SIR GEORGE GIPPS 0>: A HIGH UPSET PRICE OF LAND.
could be realized in New Soutli Wales ; but
it was forgotten, that independent of delusion
at home, and peculiar circumstances, that a
system of special siu'veys was introduced in
South Australia, whereby any person bind-
ing himself to take 4,000 acres, might require
a survey of 15,000, and out of this he might
select his portion in lots of not less than
eighty acres ; so that with such a pri^dlege,
he selected all the good and left the bad
land. He might also make his selection of
a narrow strip Avith water frontage, thus
rendering the back land unavailable for any
one else. A gambling system was also
introduced, by giving to the purchasers of
a certain number of acres, gratuitously, or
almost gratuitously, a lottery or raffle ticket
for a town or building allotment, which, in
some places, was veiy valuable. INIany per-
sons, in England, who bought land in Soutli
Australia during the period of the " land
mania," have never, to this day, received
one shilling in return for their outlay. The
memorandum of Sir George Gipps is well
nigh unintelligible ; he condemns the system
adopted in South Australia, as a gambling
speculation, depending on a throw of dice ;
he considers, that " Australia is a pastoral
country, and must remain such, for ages \"
that " scarcely one hundredth part of the
land sold by the government in Australia, is
ever purchased for the purpose of being
cultivated j" and that " the entei'priziug
colonists who first drove sheep and cattle
from New South Wales to South Australia,
rescued that colony from ruin;" and yet,
after an entire condemnation of the fallacies
which were sedulously propagated respecting
the " new principle," and the " sufficient
pn'ce" at South Australia, Sir George Gipps
appears to recommend to her Majesty^s
ministers, in England, the raising of the
price of land in New South Wales, as a raw
material, above 5^. per acre.
In this memorandum the governor of New
South Wales thus correctly described the
character of the squatters, and the extent
to which squatting was then carried on : —
" A very large proportion of the land which is to
form the new district of Port Phillip, is already in
the licensed occupation of the squatters of New South
Wales, a class of persons whom it would be wrong
to confound with those who bear the same name in
America, and who are generally persons of mean
repute and of small means, who have taken un-
authorised possession of patches of land. Amongst
the squatters of New South Wales are the wealthiest
of the land, occupying, with the permission of
government, thousands and tens of thousands of
acres. Young men of good family and connexions
in England, officers of the army and navy, graduates
of Oxford and Cambridge, are also in no small num-
ber amongst them.
" At the end of 1839, the cattle depastured beyond
the boundaries was returned as follows, though
probably the real quantity was much greater : sheep,
1,334,593; horned cattle, 371,699; horses, 7,088.
The number of acres in cultivation was also returned
as 7,287."
In 1841 (17th Jidy), the Colonial Land
and Emigration Commissioners (T. F. Elliott,
esq. and the honourable E. E. ViUiers,)
addi'essed a valuable letter to James Ste-
phen, esq., under-secretary for the colonies,
in which they stated that they could not
agree in the recommendation of the South
Australian committee, that the upset price
of land should be at once raised in South
Australia and the other Australian colonies.
The commissioners observe, that while they
deem the price of land should be progi'es-
sively increased, until the object of estab-
lishing a due proportion between the supply
and demand for labour, and betAveen the
population and the extent of territory occu-
pied by it, shall have been accomplished;
yet, that the extent to which the price of
land can be raised, has limits beyond which
no authority will avail; and, that just as
the smuggler places a limit beyond which
the duties of customs cannot be increased,
so the squatter would defeat an indefinite
increase of the price of land ; for, as soon
as the consideration demanded by govern-
ment for gi'antiug a title became extrava-
gant, persons would prefer the cotirse of
taking land without a title, and bearing the
risk.
In the annexed paragraph, the commis-
sioners clearly foretold the disadvantageous
results attending an increase of price above
the 125. then prevailing in New South
Wales :—
" It appears to us, that as to the possible effect of a
low price in withdrawing persons from labouring for
hire in the colony, there may be some misapprehen-
sion as to the state of facts. In North America,
where lots were of small size, and their value was to
be realised by force of human labour only, it is not
questioned tliat too great a facility of acquiring land
withdrew large numbers from the class of labourers.
But in the Australian colonies, where land requires
to be in large quantities, for the principal use to
which it is turned, and where also the pi-ofit to be
derived from it depends not upon mere human toil,
but upon the acquisition and rearing of stock, re-
quiring a considerable further outlay of capita^, it
may well be doubted whether the same effect is to be
apprehended. We certainly do not remember to
have seen it mentioned in any official accounts from
these colonies, that land has been acquired by per-
sons in the condition and with the means of labourers :
and Sir George Gipps, in the memorandum which
EMIGRATION COMMISSIONERS ON A HIGH PRICE OF LAND.
83
forms one of the papers now under consideration,
mentions, that it is ' rarely advantageous in any part
of Australia for a newly-arrived emigrant to become
a proprietor of land, unless his capital is considerable.'
This would seem to imply that the temptation held
out by land to people of small means is not very con-
siderable. The truth, perhaps, is, that various other
causes, besides the price of land, must (govern the usual
rate of ivayes. It is, we believe, generally under-
stood, that where the capital which can be profitably
used in employing labour is very large, in proportion
to the number of labourers that can be obtained,
wages will be high ; and this will continue equally
true, whatever might be the existing land regulations.
We fear, therefore, that if we were to undertake pro-
gressively to increase the price of land until labour
should be abundant, and employment as much divided
as in old countries, xve might jJossibly extinguish the
land sales before we should have reduced wages ;
that we might seriously diminish the resources for
nroducing the great staple of the Australian settlements,
and perhaps have engendered an extensive system- of
unauthorized squatting. We feel the force of this
apprehension the more, when we advert to the
opinion of the committee, that after once a minimum
price has been declared, it ought not to admit of
being lowered, except by an act of the British Par-
liament."
In 1842, the system of sale by auction
was resumed throughout the colony, at a
minimum upset price of 125. per acre for
country lands, with liberty to select portions
not bid for at the upset price.
In a speech delivered in Council by Sir
George Gipps, the governor of New South
Wales, on 9th September, 1842, he used
these remarkable expressions : — " I do not
advocate the putting the squatter on a par
with the purchaser of crown land; to do
this, would be effectually to nullify all the
regulations which have been introduced for
the disposal or sale of land, since land began
to be of any value in the colony. * -h- -k-
So obviously does the squatting system act
to prevent the sale of crown lands, that the
late secretary of state, in a despatch which
has been laid before the Council (dated
20th June, 1840), pointed out the propriety
of raising the price of a licence to depasture
stock beyond the boundaries, to five or six
times its present limit." It must, however,
be admitted, that when the government
adopted the theory of raising the price of
land beyond its real value, the colony would,
to a great extent, have been ruined, but for
the squatters, whose exertions have increased
the quantity of stock, and greatly multiplied
the exportable produce of the settlement.
In 1843, the minimum price was raised to
twenty shillings per acre, by an act of the
Imperial Parliament, (5 and 6 Vict., cap. 36,)
with liberty to select, at the upset price,
country portions put up to auction and not
bid for, or on which the deposit had been
forfeited. The land was offered for sale, in
quantities of not less than a section, or one
square mile = 640 acres. In 1843, a select
committee of the Legislative Council of New
South Wales was appointed, to enquire into
and report upon the upset price of land.
In the same year, and in 1845, "immigra-
tion reports" were laid before the Council.
In the resolutions and petitions of the
Council, founded on these several reports,
urgent protests were made against the con-
tinuance of a policy which had been pro-
ductive of the disastrous results of anni-
hilating the land fund, and simultaneously
depriving the colony of capital and labour,
by which a series of social revolutions, and
an unparalleled depreciation in the value of
property were, in a great measure, to be
attributed. It was stated, in this year, that
about 5,000,000 acres had then been alien-
ated from the crown in New South Wales;
of these, about 3,500,000 acres had been
granted, and about 1,000,000 acres had been
sold, at a price of about 5^. per acre.
By an order of her Majesty in Council,
dated London, 9th ^March, 1847, the lands of
New South Wales were divided into three
classes, according to their situation, to be
denominated respectively — (1.) the settled;
(2.) the intermediate ; and (3.) the unsettled
districts. The first comprised the settled
and proclaimed counties of 1st January,
1838, and the counties of Macquarie and
Stanley; also lands within three miles dis-
tance from any part of the sea coast, or two
miles from certain parts of the rivers Glc-
nelg, Clarence, and Richmond, or ten miles
from the towns or townships of Portland,
Alberton, Eden, Bathurst, Wellington, Mac-
quarie, Ipswich, and a town at the head of
the na^dgation of the Clarence river. The
second comprehended the counties to be
proclaimed on or before 31st December,
18i8; and the third, all the other lands in
the territory of New South Wales. [In
this enumeration, the references to Mel-
bourne and the Port Phillip districts have
been omitted, as this portion of Australia is
to be formed into a distinct colony.]
Under this order, the governor is em-
powered to gi-ant leases or runs of land in
the unsettled districts, for any term not
exceeding fourteen years' duration, for pas-
toral pm-poses, with permission for the lessee
to cultivate so much of the land in the said
run as may be necessary to provide grain,
hay, vegetables or fruit, to the amount
required for the use of the family and estab-
lishment of the lessee, but not for sale or
barter. The rent to be proportioned to the
number of sheep or cattle which the run
may be enabled to support; each run to
be capable of carrying at- least 4,000 sheep,
or an equivalent number of cattle, and not
in any case to be let at a lower rent than
£10 per annum, to which £2 10s. per
annum shall be added for every additional
],000 sheep, or equivalent number of cattle,
which the run may be capable of carrying.
A commissioner of crown lauds to estimate
the capabilities of the run. Dm-ing the
continuance of the lease, no person but the
lessee to be suffered to purchase any of the
run ; but he to be allowed to buy the whole,
or portions of not less than 160 acres, at
a price of not less than 205. per acre. On
the intennediate lands the governor may
grant leases as above for not more than
eight years ; but at the end of each succes-
sive year of the lease, these runs may be
offered for pubHc purchase, subject to sixty
days^ notice to the lessee. In the settled
districts the governor may issue grants or
depasturing leases for one year, without
interference as to time of disposal of said
lands by sale or lease.
In 1847 (11th September), a select com-
mittee of the Legislative Council of New
South Wales on immigi'ation, stated, that
" the land fund — the source fi'om whence
any amount of expenditure incuiTcd in im-
migi'ation might have been defrayed, has
been annihilated, in consequence of the
determination to carry out the system of
Mr. E. G. Wakefield ; and the remonstrances
of the colony against this ruinous system
Prices of Crotcn Lands and Quantities
have been unheeded or misiinderstood.'*
The committee state, that —
" For a series of yeai's the growth of the colony
•was uniform, progressive, and uninterrupted. From
1833 to 1840, the sum realized by the sale of the
waste lands was upwards of £1,000,000, and by the
expenditure of this amount 80,000 souls were intro-
duced. Under this system, the population became
more than doubled in a period of eight years. In
1839, it was the policy of the imperial government to
raise the upset mmimum price of land from os. to 12s.,
and subsequently to £1 an acre. This act may be
regarded as one chief cause of the disasters with
which the colony has since been visited, and of its
present depressed condition. From £300,000 a-year
the land revenue fell to £8,000, and immigration
ceased ; the sources from whence it had been de^
frayed, having been thus suddenly arrested."
In 1847 (23rd July), a select committee,
coiisisting of ten members of the Legislative
Council of New South Wales, was appointed
to inquire into and report upon what ought
to be the minimum upset price or prices of
land in the various counties and districts of
New South Wales. On 27th September,
1847, the committee made a report, of which
the following is an abstract. All the wit-
nesses examined, whether favourable or un-
faA'ourable to the maintenance of a high
minimum price, agreed that 205. does not
in any degree represent the exchangeable
value of an acre of land in New South Wales;
and that, therefore, the declaration of the
Imperial Parliament, that land shall not be
sold till it realises £1 per acre, is a declara-
tion that land shall not be sold until it
reahse more than it is worth ; or, in other
words, that except in particular instances,
land shall not be sold at all. In confir-
mation of this statement, the following table
is adduced : —
Sold from 1837 to 1846, both inclusive.
OS. per acre,
Country.
12s. per acre,
Country.
20«.per acre,
Country.
Upwards of 205. per acre.
Special
Surveys,
in Acres.
Total Acres
Sold.
Total
Amount for
Lands sold.
Town.
Country.
1837
368,483
212
368,695
£121,962
1838
315,059
, —
—
228
30
—
315,318
128,865
1839
249,896
30,218
2,664
2,785
351
—
285,915
166,713
1840
68,873
111,720
2,058
5,525
1,291
—
189,468
324,072
1841
—
16,430
3,310
248
153
66,199
86,341
92,636
1842
—
4,898
1,340
170
471
15,023
21,903
18,312
1843
—
616
3,205
157
717
121
4,817
12,205
1844
—
—
3,822
245
190
—
4,259
9.174
1845
127
4,440
1,754
945
—
7,267
18,025
1846
—
103
2,641
282
3,791
—
7,018
27,700
18471
1848
1849 [■
1,S50
.
. . No
detailed
returns.
.
.
•
Total .
1,002,440
163,985
23,683
11,611
7 942
81,343
1,291,006
£919,669
Aote. — floods aud Perches, and Shillings and Pence are excluded
REPORT OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF N. S. WALES IN 1847.
85
From the foregoing table the committee
adduced the facts —
" That the sum realised by sales of land in 1846 is
less by £3,000 than one-fourth of the sum realised
from the same source in 1837. It will also be ob-
served, that in the five years which have elapsed since
the raising of the minimum price to £1 an acre, the
whole sum realised by land sales is not quite £80,000,
or two-thirds of the sum realised in the single average
year 1837 ; and the whole number of acres sold about
45,000, or less than one- eighth of the number sold in
1837. The result is more strange, when it is ob-
served, that in 1837 the population of the colony
amounted to 85,000 persons, while, in 1846, the
population amounted to upwards to 196,000. Thus
by unwise legislation has the permanent settlement
been retarded in proportion as the demand for it has
increased ; and thus is the fallacy, that land can be
made saleable at this price by the introduction of
population, practically refuted. But it has been said
by Sir George Gipps, that it is to the insolvency,
which was unfortunately so general a few years ago,
and not to the high minimum price, that the cessa-
tion of land sales is to be attributed. If so, Ave may
expect to find the same paralysing influence extended
to all markets as well as the land market. The com-
parison of 1837 with 1846 will completely show the
fallacy of this suggestion. In 1837 the value of ex-
ports from the colony was £760,000. In 1846 the
value was £1,481,000, or nearly double. In 1837
the ships entered inwards were 400, of the burden of
80,000 tons. In 1846 the ships entered inwards were
767, of the burden of 141,000 tons. In 1837 the
proceeds of sales by auction were £321,000; in 1846,
£414,000. In 1837 the coin in the treasurv, military
chest, and banks, was £427,000 ; in 1846, £827,000.
Thus, while cur exports, our shipping, our circulating
medium, and our population have doubled; while the
proceeds of sales by auction have increased one-
fourth, the proceeds of sales of land have decreased
by more than three-fourths."
The inference dedaced fi-om these facts by
the committee is that while —
" The producer of colonial exports is content to
sell his commodity at the price which it will bring,
the shipowner looks only for the current rate of
freight ; the importation of capital is regulated by
the rate of exchange ; but the government, the great
proprietor of land, refuses to regulate its dealings by
these principles, repudiates the doctrine of supply and
demand, and insists upon holding this commodity, of
which it has practically the monopoly, till it realise a
price, of obtaining which no practical man can see
the probability or even the possibility. Thus, while
every other branch of industry is carried on with the
greatest activity and success, the settlement of the
countrj, to which they ought all to be considered as
subsidiary, stands still, and the mind is astonished by
the anomalous spectacle of a colony active, enter-
prising, and energetic in all things, except the one
alone for which it was founded — colonization.
" It seems impossible to reconcile this system not
only to any views of sound policy but to any policy
at all. If the government regard these lands as a
mere vehicle of revenue, as the means of raising the
largest possible sum, narrow and unstatesman-like as
such a view may be, this is not the way to carry it
out. The figures above quoted show that the price is
so exorbitant, that every other element of wealth in
the country may double and leave it still a virtual
prohibition. How often this multiplj-ing process is
to be repeated before the pressure of population and
the increase of wealth will render these lands saleable
at £1 an acre it is impossible to say ; but to judge
by the moor lands of England, and the bogs of Ire-
land, the period is yet extremely remote. It must
also be remembered, that even if the government
should succeed in selling land at £1 an acre twenty
years hence, for which now only 5s. could be obtained,
the government, allowing for compound interest at
the rate of interest which money now commands in
the colony, is considerably a loser ; add to this, that
by destroying the land fund, the government is not
merely foregoing a revenue which would be cheerfully
paid and easily collected, but it is destroying future
revenue by arresting the influx of that labour from
which land derives so much of its value. It is not
rnerely refusing to sell a commodity, but it is depre-
ciating that commodity for ever. The supply of land
which may become saleable by the government is,
for all practical purposes, infinite. What quantity
will become saleable, depends upon the increase of
population. Government, therefore, as a mere dealer
in land, has a direct interest in selling so much of it
as will keep the tide of population continually flowing
towards its yet unsold possessions.
" It is also the interest of government to attract
capital. In this also it has signally overreached itself.
The principle of a uniform fixed price contains in it
this objection, that that price must be tolerably high,
since upon it alone the government relies to protect
its interests, but it has the countervailing advantages
of certainty of amount and facility of operation. The
principle of sale by auction has not these advantages,
but it oflfers to the capitalist the attraction of referring
not to any arbitrary standard, but to fair competition
to fix the value. The government has rejected all
that is attractive in each of these systems, and retained
only what is repulsive. Enough of the fixed price is
retained to make the purchaser sure that he will not
get the land cheap ; enough of the principle of com-
petition to make him uncertain whether he shall get
it at all.
" The facilities of steam and railway communica-
tion are gradually drawing mankind together, and
countries possessing wild lands for sale, are beginning
to enter into competition with each other. It is
becoming daily more impossible to regard this as an
isolated question. In determining the price of land,
the competition of other countries ought not to be
left out of sight. At the Cape of Good Hope land
can be obtained for one-tenth, in Canada for one-
fourth, and, as it appears recently, in the United
States, for one-fortieth of the sum demanded for a
like quantity here. In utter defiance of the prin-
ciples of political economy, it is expected that persons
will give for our poor and inaccessible land four, five,
ten, or forty times the price at which nearer and more
accessible land may be obtained. It is assumed that
one acre of land in Australia equals in value four in
Canada, five in the United States, ten at the Cape of
Good Hope, and forty in the territory recently ceded
to the United States by the Chacktaw Indians. Your
committee apprehend, that as regards the greater
part of the lands of this colony, it is perfectly imma-
terial whether the minimum price fixed be £1 or £20
an acre. The former price is shown, by reason and
experience, to be utterly unattainable, and the latter
is no more.
" Your committee would wish to be understood as
86 TOO HIGH A PRICE HAS CHECKED EMIGRATION TO N. S. WALES.
by no means undervaluing the great advantages
derived by the colony from pastoral pursuits, but
they are desirous of expressing their opinion that
the home government, by prohibiting the sale of
land, has given an undue stimulus to those pursuits,
and undue discouragement to agriculture and settled
indusTi-y. The prohibition of the purchase of land
has aggravated that tendency to dispersion which it
was designed to counteract. The true policy, in the
opinion of your committee, is neither to stimulate nor
check this tendency to dispersion, which is the
natural precursor of that state of society in which the
tendency to concentration arises. Unhappily, the
government has not observed this rule. In its anxiety
to concentrate the population, it has placed a price
on land which rendered it impossible for those who
occupied it to occupy as purchasers. The occupation
has been conceded, the proprietorship has been with-
held, and thus has the industry of the colony been
forced into the channel most consistent with occu-
pation without title, and the policy which ambitiously
aimed at forcing the colonists prematurely to become
villagers and agriculturists, has resulted in compelling
them to become shepherds and herdsmen. Had the
prohibitory price thus imposed been the result of
a sincere though mistaken conviction, your committee,
while deprecating its impolicy, could not have mur-
mured at its injustice. But it is now notorious in
the colony, and can be proved by unquestionable
evidence, that it was not M'ith a view to the welfare
of New South Wales, but of South Australia, that
this obnoxious law was passed. Colonel Torrens and
his brother commissioners, the founders of the South
Australian colony, felt that it would be impossible to
obtain £1 an acre for land there, while land of the
same quality could be obtained at 5s. an acre here.
They felt that whatever were the merits of their
scheme, it would not bear the test of the free-trade
principle of competition, and they sacrificed, without
remorse or hesitation, the present and actual interests
of the older colony, to the future, and, as it has
turned out, visionary prospects of the younger. Thus
it happens, that 200,000 persons are impoverished,
that their interests may not stand in the way of the
imaginary interests of 25,000 ; and while colony after
colony has been emancipated from the £1 an acre
system. New South Wales has been unable to obtain
her deliverance, precisely because, to her, that deliver-
ance would be most valuable. Van Diemen's Land
is of too small extent — New Zealand is too distant —
to impair, by their competition, the working of the
£1 an acre system in South Australia. If the land
of New South Wales were rich, the continuance of
the price would be a matter of indifference ; if the
land were small in quantity, the reduction of the
price would be unimportant ; it is the great quantity
and poor quality of the land — the very causes which
render the high price ruinous to New South Wales — ■
that constitute its principal attractions in the eyes of
the South Australian commissioners."
From a return made to p;overnmciit, up
to June 30th, 1836, it appears that the land
comprised within the then nineteen counties
of the colony, was tipwards of 25,000,000
acres, of which only about 5,000,000 acres
had been alienated ; showing that there was,
consequently, abundance still left within the
settled districts for cultivation, if required.
The best lands had been selected by those
who received grants, the next best put up
to sale by government at 5s. an acre ; after
selections had been made for several years
at this price, the third best were offei'ed at
12*. an acre; and, finally, the refuse or
remainder of these grants and sales was put
up for sale by auction at 20^. per acre.
(Evidence before Legislative Council, 14th
August, 1847.)
After these forcible arguments, the Legis-
lative Council committee proceed to show,
with a warmth which is, perhaps, only too
excusable, that it would have been happy
for the colony, if the ruin of her land fund
— the dispersion of her people — the stoppage
of immigration — and the dissemination of a
jtist spirit of discontent, had been the only
results of this high minimum price. A
party arose in the colony, a class termed
" squatters," who, forbidden by the policy
of the government to buy land, were forced
to occupy it, and did so, under the authority
of the government, on a lease of Id. per
acre, until the lands thus occupied were
purchased at £1 per acre. Hence, the
squatters — men of intelligence, education,
property, and good family in England, who
had made New South Wales their home —
began to feel that they had a vested interest
in maintaining the prohibitory price, as a
guarantee that their occupation would not
be disturbed ; the result is, that " the land
possessions of the British crown in New
South Wales have been in a manner alien-
ated.'' The settlers object to the land-
orders which authorise leasing at Id. per
acre, because they confiscate the lands of
the colony ; the squatters approve of them,
because they see no limit to the term of
their occupation ; under them, temporary
occupation is consequently equivalent to per-
manent alienation — thus the system has led
to grants of land on the most lavish and
extravagant scale. By the process now
in operation, it is alleged that all the de-
sirable land within the nineteen counties,
and beyond the settled districts, viz., about
1,800,000 aci'cs, have been, in reahty,
bestowed on about 1,800 persons, at the rate
of 100,000 acres per head, in a country where
there is one inhabitant to every 100,000
acres, and has coupled with this premature
appropriation, a regulation prohibiting agri-
culture. Thus, it is asserted, dispersion is
enforced ; co-operation, the division ot
labour, religious and secular instruction, are
all out of the question; landed property is
accumulated in the hands of a few to the
REGULATION FOR THE ACCUMULATION OF CROWN LAND. 87
exclusion of tlie many ; and the high mini-
mum price of land (20*. per acre) has
operated as a bar to the natural and secure
investment in the soil of the sm-plus capital
of the colony, hazardous speculation has been
consequently encouraged, and capital forced
into other and less legitimate channels. The
opponents of the high minimum price of
land do not deny the benefits arising from
the sale of waste lands ; or that a sum of
nearly £1,000,000 was raised by such sale
in New South Wales, in ten years, whereby
50,000 immigi'ants have been introduced
into the colony ; but they contend, that
of the gi'oss proceeds of the land sales
(£920,000), £835,000 were received during
the first five years of the period, when the
price of land was under 205. an acre, and
but £85,000 diu'ing the second period of
five years, when the minimum price was
20s. an acre ; thus, if the sum raised from
land has been the means of introducing
50,000 immigrants, 46,000 have been in-
troduced by land put up under 20^. an
acre, and 4,000, only, by land put up at
205. an acre. In other words, had the price
remained unaltered, the colonists might have
raised £2,000,000, instead of £1,000,000,
and introduced 100,000 immigrants instead
of 50,000. It is in evidence, that no land
has been purchased for grazing purposes at
205. an acre ; according to some witnesses,
105. per acre would be a fair price for arable,
and 55. per acre for grazing land. Accord-
ing to Mr. De Salis, 25. 6d., and a rent
equivalent to four per cent, would be a pro-
per valuation. Mr. Ogilvy thinks l5. an
acre sufficient. There is much land on
which a rabbit could not feed, and 35. an
acre would be gladly received for 10,000
acres in the county of Macquarie. Many
large tracts of a deep dark rich soil are
covered with dense forests, which are not
likely to be cleared for years to come.
Mr. Justice Therry, in his evidence before
the House of Lords {9th June, 1848), being
asked to what he attributed the considerable
falling ofi" in the land sales of New South
Wales, of late years, answered —
" Principally I should attribute it to the minimum
price of land being £1 an acre, and to the great
extent to which, in consequence of this price, the
squatting system has extended, as well as to the great
facility afforded for the occupation of land without
purchase ; that naturally prevents the sale of land.
If a person can occupy and use land without buying
it, and buying too at a price beyond its value, it is
plain he will not purchase it."
The witness proceeded to say, that so far
fi'om 205. upset price for land having a ten-
dency to secure the concentration of the
population, as was aUege-d would be the
case, it had quite the contrary effect, and
had promoted dispersion, by a system which
operates as a prohibition upon the sale of
land. This experienced judge fully corro-
borated the statements of the Legislative
Council Committee, and asserted, that " the
squatters have an occupation which they
consider as almost equivalent to the pro-
prietorship of the soil : for all practical pur-
poses, they have an ownership of the land
almost as if they had purchased it." Four
acres to one sheep, would entitle the squatter,
having the smallest required number of
sheep (4,000), to 16,000 acres of land; and
it must be evident he could not aff"ord to
pay 205. an acre, or £16,000, for mere pas-
toral purposes.
In 1848 (29th March), the governor
issued regulations for the occupation of
crown lands within the settled districts; viz. —
First. That holders of purchased lands within
those districts may depasture stock on vacant
crown lands immediately contiguous to their
respective properties, but that they shall
only possess a commonage right, to be en-
joyed alike by all the holders of adjacent
purchased lands, and may not erect any hut
or building, or clear, enclose, or cultivate
any portion thereof. Second. That sections
of not less than 640 acres will be let, with
exclusive right, for one year, at a rent of not
less than IO5. per section, for pastoral pur-
poses only. Leases not assignable, or lands
to be sublet. Wood, excepting cedar, may
be cut for fencing stock-yards, for fire-bote,
or domestic uses. Lands open to purchase
under the ordinary regulations : lessee to
receive a notice of one month. The secre-
taiy of state for the colonies has authorized
the local government of New South Wales
to raise a loan of £100,000 for emigration
purposes, on the security of the land reve-
nues of the colony, but decHned to alter the
upset price of 205. per acre for land. It is
rightly deemed that any alteration in price
ought to apply to all the southern colonies ;
and her Majesty's government propose to
leave the settlement of this question to the
United Assembly of all the Australasian
colonies. It wiD, however, be a very difficult
matter, owing to the interests which have
grown up under the present system.
The quantity of land sold, and the pro-
ceeds thence derived, in New South Wales
and Port Phillip, and the amount derived
88 LAND SOLD AND MONIES RECEIVED IN N. S. WALES SINCE 1831.
from squatting
since 1831 :—
licences, are thus shown
Year.
Number of
Purchase
Squatting
Acres Sold.
Money.
Licences.
£
£
1831
2,597
—
1832
20,860
12,509
. —
1833
29,001
24,956
—
1834
91,399
41.484
—
1835
271,947
87,097
—
1836
389,546
123,049
3,680
1837
370,376
117,583
4,780
1838
316,160
115,825
6,280
1839
272,620
166,578
11,675
1840
189,787
317,251
13,300
1841
85,776
93,387
15,701
1842
10,673
19,444
16,255
1843
5,227
11,664
19,823
1844
4,260
9,016
32,031
1845
7,747
22,821
38,943
1846
7,683
30,183
42,749
1847
28,726
76,962
43,075
1848
21,480
41,919
46,903
1849)
1850)
No returns.
In 1848 the whole quantity of land sold
in the New South Wales district was only
3,472 acres, and the sale proceeds £7,384;
in the Port Phillip district, 18,007 acres,
proceeds, £24,030. The revenue derived
from squatting licences, in 1848, was — within
the settled districts, New South Wales,
£1,116; Port Phillip, £383 = £1,549;
without the settled districts, New South
Wales, £26,490; Port Phillip, £18,863 =
£45,353.
The subjoined table shows by whom, and
the period, the government of the colony
was respectively administered since its foun-
dation on the 26th January, 1788 : —
Captain Arthur Phillip, R N. .
Captain Francis Gross (Lt.-Gov.)
Captain Paterson, New Southi
Wales Corps (Lieut.-Gov.) J
Captain Hunter, R.N
Captain P. G. King, R.N. . .
Captain W. Bligh, R.N. . . .
Major-gen. Lachlan Macquarie .
Major-gen.SirT.Brisbane,K.C.B.
Colonel Stuart, 3rd Reg., or\
Buffs (Lieut.-Gov.) . . /
Lieutenant-gen. Ralph Darling
Colonel Lindesay.C.B. (Lt.-Gov.)
Major gen.Sir R. Bourke, K.C.B.
Lieutenant-col. Kennett Snod-
grass (Lieut.-Gov.) . . .
Sir George Gipps . . .
Sir M. C. O'ConneU. . . .
Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy
From
Jan. 26,
Dec. 11,
1788
1792
Dec. 15, 1794
Aiig. 7,
Sept. 28,
Aug. 13,
Jan. 1,
Dec. 1,
1795
1800
1806
1810
1821
Dec. 1,1825
Dec. 19,
Oct. 22,
Dec. 3,
Dec 6,
Feb. 24,
July 11,
Aug. 3,
1825
1831
1831
1837
1838
1846
1846
To
Dec. 10, 1792
Dec. 14, 1794
Aug. 6, 1795
Sept. 27, 1800
Aug. 12, 1806
Jan. 26, 1808
Dec. 1, 1821
Nov. 30, 1825
Dec. 18, 1825
Oct. 21,1831
Dec. 2, 1831
Dec. 5, 1837
Feb. 23, 1838
July 10, 1846
Aug. 2,1846
Note. — Captain Bligh was suspended as Governor on the
26th January, 1808, and from that period to the 28th Decem-
ber, 1809, the government was successively administered bv
lieutenant-colonel G . Johnstone, lieutenant-colonel Foveaux,
and colonel W. Paterson, all of the New South "Wales Corps,
afterwards 102nd Regiment
[Further details on the land saics given in tne Supplement.]
CHAPTER XL
TOPOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL ASPECT, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, AND HARBOURS, COUNTIES
GEOLOGY, SOIL, MINERALOGY, CLIMATE, AND DISEASES.
New South Wales (so called l)y captain
Cook, from its fancied resemblance to the
South Wales of England,) occupies the
eastern portion of the Austrahan continent ;
its northern and western Hmits are not yet
definitely assigned ; on the east it is bounded
by the South Pacific Ocean, and on the
south, by the province of Port PhilHp or
Victoria. For the reason just mentioned,
it is at present impossible to state its area.
Physical Aspect, Mountains and Rivers. —
The general featm^es of the surveyed dis-
tricts are alternate hills and valleys, moun-
tains and plains. The " momitain belt" of
Australia, already referred to (p. 370), is
known in diflercnt parts of the province
under distinct denominations, viz., as the
Blue Mountains, in the vicinity of Sydney ;
Liverpool Range, in its northerly, and the
Australian Alps, in its southerly extension.
This lofty ridge, which runs nearly parallel
to the coast, at a distance of thirty to fifty
miles, separates the waters that flow towards
the sea from those that have an inland
course ; its mean altitude is estimated, by
Count Strzelecki, at 3,500 feet above the
sea. The same accurate observer states the
average fall of the coast or easterly rivers at
forty-eight feet in every mile ; the average
slope produced by the transversal spui-s
being ninety-six feet ; and the average fall
of the westerly waters, at nine feet in every
mile ; that of the country wdthin seventy-
two miles from the crest of the dividing
range being twenty feet. The intervening
space between the mountains and the sea ia
occupied by a gently undulating surface,
intersected by water-courses ; in some places
well wooded, in others covered A^ith dense
scrub, and gradually rising to the westward
in groups of isolated hills, or small and
broken ranges, branching out from the ridge
of high land, which, winding from north-
east to south-west, forms a continuous and
clearly defined line Adsible against the horizon
as far as the eye can reach. In 30° S. lat.
this chain divides the soiu'ces of the river
Peel, running to the westward, from those
of the Hastiags, flowing north-east, towards
Port Macquarie; fai'ther to the south, one
of its eastern spurs separates the river Man-
ning from the river Hunter, after which,
assuming a westerly direction, it divides in
its windings the tributaries of the Hunter
from those of the Peel. This portion of the
chain, distinguished by the name of Liver-
pool range, is crowned by several peaks of
greenstone, whose bare and unshapen tops
attain an elevation of 4,700 feet. From
two of these, Mount Oxley and Mount
M ^Arthur, the view is extensive and very
pleasing; to the westward of them, at the
point were it di\ides the river Goulbourn
from the Talbrager, the chain turns sud-
denly to the south-east, but resumes its
south-westerly direction at a locality ren-
dered remarkable by the peaks of Coricudgy
and Pay an, and the sources of the Colo and
Cudgegong. At CullenbuUen the chain is
granitic, and throws off a remarkable ba-
saltic spur to the eastward, whose numerous
and intricate ramifications render the Blue
Mountains so difficult to explore, and even
to approach. Mounts Adine, Clarence, King
George, and Tomah, crown the northern
and loftier branch ; mounts Hay and King's
table land, the southern. " Between these
ranges," says Count Strzelecki, '' lie yawn-
ing chasms, deep winding gorges and fright-
ful precipices. Narrow, gloomy, and pro-
found, these stupendous rents in the bosom
of the earth are inclosed between gigantic
walls of sandstone rock — sometimes receding
from, and sometimes frightfully overhanging
the dark bed of the ravine, and its black
silent eddies, or its foaming torrents of
water." " Everywhere," he adds, " the
deep recess is full of danger, and the issue
almost impracticable. At the foot of Mount
Hay, the river Grose flows through a sand-
stone ravine, the perpendicular depth of
which is 1,500 feet." To return to the
main range — at the part from whence this
spur branches out, it is composed of sienite
DIV. I.
and granite; thence extending for a few
miles to the south-west, it gives rise to
Cox's river, and forms the Walerawang and
Chvyd valleys ; it then takes a south-east
direction, and is known by the name of the
Honeysuckle range; the mean elevation of
its crest is 4,050 feet ; twenty-five miles
beyond, bending again to the south-west,
it rises to 4,500 feet, its character alters,
and the eye rests on naked sienitic peaks,
instead of richly wooded greenstone sum-
mits. A spur shoots off to the northward,
which, in its windings, separates the river
Macquarie from the Abercrombie, while the
chain itself becomes lower, less precipitous,
and more wooded. At Mount Fitton, about
the source of the Wollondilly, and at the
head of Lake George, this character again
somewhat alters. At the last named locality,
a westerly spur, composed alternately of ser-
pentine and porphyries, divides the tribu-
taries of the Murrumbidgee from those of
the Lachlan, winding its way through a very
broken country. Further on, beyond Lake
Bathurst, another branch stretches to the
north-east, but the chain continues its
southerly coui'se for about sixty miles ; then
changing again to south-west, it assumes
a bolder aspect, its greenstone and sienitic
crest at times resembUng Alpine table-land ;
and others, rising in clearly defined and denti-
form summits, capped here and there by
snow, even in the midst of summer. The
remarkable spurs which shoot out from both
sides of the ridge at this point, are distin-
guished by the same marked features ; that
which, passing to the eastward, flanks the
river Shoalhaven from its source to its
mouth, renders the whole track over which
it passes broken and intincate; and that,
which running in an easterly du'ection, winds
between the rivers Murrumbidgee, Coodra-
bidgee, and the Doomut, is of very striking
formation, its lofty ridges enclosing the
channels of the rivers just mentioned, whose
soiu'ces are marked by a cluster of broken
peaks. We now arrive at that portion of
the range denominated the Australian Alps,
of which, however, only one remarkable
eminence is included in the limits of New
South Wales, that one named Mount Kosci-
uszko by its explorer. Count Strzelecki, is
described by him as one of those few eleva-
tions, the ascent of which, far from disap-
pointing, presents the traveller with all that
can remmierate fatigue. Its altitude of
6,500 feet, raises it above the adjacent
mountains, and the view from its summit
90
MOUNT WINGEN, OR " THE BURNING MOUNTAIN."
embraces 7,000 square miles. Beneath the
feet, looking from the very verge of the cone
downwards almost perpendicularly, the eye
plunges into a fearful gorge 3,000 feet deep,
in the bed of which the sources of the Mui'-
ray gather their contents, and roll their
united waters to the west.
No known volcanic mountain exists in
New South Wales, \inless we reckon as such
an eminence named Mount Wingen, situ-
ated near the soui'ces of Hunter's River,
where the process of combustion was, in
1818, discovered to be going on. Two visits
were made to it in 1830 and 1831, by the
Rev. C. P. N. Wilton (then chaplain at
Newcastle), who pubhshed, in the Australian
Almanac for 1832, the interesting account
of which the following is an abstract : —
" INIount Wingen is situated on the south-
eastern side of the di^ading range which
separates the lands of Hunter's River from
Liverpool Plains, in 31° 54' S. lat., 150° 56'
E. long. ; and the elevation of the portion of
it under the process of combustion cannot
be less than from 1,400 to 1,500 feet from
the level of the sea. At the period of my
first visit, in the beginning of last year, this
comprehended parts of two dechvities of one
and the same mountain, composed of com-
pact sandstone rock. The progress of the
fire had pre^dously been down the northern
and highest elevation, and it was then
ascending with great fury the opposite and
southern eminence. From the circumstance
of its being thus in a hollow between two
ridges of the same mountain, a former visitor
was probably induced to give the clefts in
the mountain the appellation of a crater;
but, the fact is, the rock, as the subter-
raneous fire increases, is rent into several
concave chasms of various widths, of which
I had an opportunity of particularly examin-
ing the widest. The rock, a solid mass of
sandstone, was torn asunder about two feet
in width, leaving its upper and southerly
side exposed to view, the part so torn
asunder ha\ing slipt down, as it were, and
sunk into a hollow, thus forming the concave
surface of the heated rock. On looking
down this chasm to the depth of about
fifteen feet, the sides of the rock were per-
ceived to be of a wliite heat, like that of a
lime-kiln, while sulphureous and steamy
vapours arose from the aperture, amidst
souuds which issued from a depth below,
like blasts from the forge of Vulcan him-
self. I stood on that portion of the rock
which had been cleft from the part above.
and on hurling stones down into the chasm,
the noise they made in the fall seemed to die
away in a vast abyss beneath my feet. The
area of the mountain, over which the fire
was raging, was about an acre and-a-half
in extent. Tliere were throughout it several
chasms varying in width, from which are
constantly emitted sulphureous columns of
smoke, accompanied by brilliant flame, the
margins of these being beautified with
efflorescent crystals of sulphur, varying in
coloui* from the deepest red orange, occa-
sioned by ferruginous mixtm-e, to the palest
straw colour, where alum predominated. A
black, tarry, and lustrous substance — a sort
of bitumen — abounded on the edges of
several of the clefts. Specimens of this
were with difficulty obtained, from the in-
tense heat under foot, and the suffocating
quality of the vapours emitted from the
chasms. No lava or trachyte of any des-
cription was to be met with, nor was there
any appearance of coal, although abounding
in the vicinity. The mountain has evidently
been on fire for a great length of time,
several acres above the part now under com-
bustion, on which trees are standing of a
great age, having, as it were, been steamed,
and many of the stones upon it bearing the
appearance of vitrification. The fire is still
raging, and will probably continue to do so
with increasing fury. Materials from be-
neath from time to time become ignited,
whether by electricity, or other unknown
cause, and the expansive power of the heat
and steam, shiver and split into huge masses
the solid rock of sandstone, and thus form
continued chasms. The sulphureous and
aluminous products of the mountain have
been successfully applied in the cure of the
scab in sheep."
About four miles along the shore from
Newcastle, towards Red-head, the chff Avas
also observed, in 1828, to be on fire, evolving
sulphureous vapours ; and a beautifully crys-
tallized mineral, whicli appeared, on ex-
amination, to be muriate of am.monia inter-
mingled with sulphur, was collected from
the margin of the crevices. This fire, how-
ever, in 1830, became extinct ; — unlike that
on Mount Wingen, of his second visit to
which INlr. Wilton thus speaks : —
" The fire, since the period of my former
Ansit, had, I found, been by no means in-
active, having extended over a surface
exceeding two acres, and was now raging
with increased fury up the eminence to the
S. and S.S.W., and also on the hitherto
PETRIFACTIONS IN THE CLIFFS NEAR NEWCASTLE.
91
extinct portion of the mountain — the nor-
thern elevation. There were still most splen-
did crystals of sulphur on the margins of
the more extended cre\'iccs, Avhere the fire
was burning with a white heat, and of am-
monia on those of the less, from both of
which suffocating fumes were incessantly
evohing. The fire continued roaring be-
neath, and stones thrown down into the
chasms resounded to a great depth in an
interior abyss. The scene of disruption,
the rocks of solid sandstone cleft asunder,
the innumerable fractui'es made on the sur-
face, the faUing in of the strata, the half-
consumed prostrate trunks of trees, and
others only awaiting the slip of the rock
beneath them to faU in their turn, the per-
nicious vapours arising around, amidst the
roaring of the internal fires, and the white
and red heat of the burning cre\ices, pre-
sent an appearance on which the beholder
cannot fail to gaze with Avonder, and, at the
same time, to lament his inability to account
with any degree of certainty for the fii'st
natural cause of the spectacle before him.
" At a little distance from the burning
portions of Wingen, I picked up several
amorphous specimens of cornelian, white,
pinkish and blue ; angular fragments of
ribbon and fortification agates, and balls of
agate, some of them filled Avith crystals,
varying fi'om the size of a pea to that of a
hen's egg, and others of a blueish-white and
clouded colour, having spots of white dis-
persed throughout them, which, if cut and
polished, would present a very beautiful
variety of this mineral. Mount Agate, also
in the neighbourhood of Wingen, presented
me with some fine specimens as well of
agate (fortification and ribbon occui'ring in
the same specimen,) as fragments of white
and blueish cornelian ; and had not the grass
upon the mountain been so long and thick
as it proved to be, I should, doubtless, have
collected much finer.
" Several of the agates collected from
Mount Wingen, upon examination, were
found to have their surfaces crusted over
with iron ; some of those from Mount Agate
with native copper ; while others, from the
same locality, presented a most beautiful
auriferous appearance. On Mount Wingen
we found, within but a few yards of that
portion of it which is now under combustion,
the cast of a bivalvular fossil shell in sand-
stone, a species of terebratula ; other similar
specimens have been met with on another
part of the mountain. Only two specimens
of organic remains, of the nature of petrified
bone, have hitherto been discovered in the
neighbom-hood of Mount Agate ; viz. the
sacrum of some large animal, on the Holds-
worthy downs, and the second cervical ver-
tebra of another, about ten miles west from
jNIerton ; but, in neither instance was the
petrifaction imbedded in the subjacent strata,
but merely lying on the surface of the soil;
and, therefore, most probably, contemporary
with the petrified wood, which is found
scattered very abundantly over this tract of
country. Near the chain of the Kingdon
Ponds, forming one of the sources of the
Hunter, and rising in the di\'iding range a
few miles N. by W. from Mount Wingen,
are stumps of trees standing upright in the
ground, apparently petrified on the spot where
they formerly grew. In some places the wood
is strongly impregnated Avith iron. About
three miles along the coast south of New-
castle, in an upright position, at high-water
mark, under the chff, and beneath a bed
of coal, was also lately found the butt of a
petrified tree, which, on being broken, pre-
sented a fine b'ack appearance, as passing
into the state of jet ; and on the top of the
cliff at Newcastle on which the telegraph
stands, imbedded at about a foot beneath
the surface, lying in a horizontal position,
and nearly at right angles to the strata of
the cliff, the trunk of another, finely grained
and white — both specimens being traversed
by thin veins of chalcedony. The coal
which is exposed to view on the face of the
cliffs, is of the independent formation, and
appears to run generally in three parallel
horizontal beds; but in some places with a
vai'ying dip. It alternates, in one part of
the cliff, with slaty clay, sandstone, and
shale, with impressions of leaves ; at another,
A\dth mUl-stone grit and a hard chertzy rock
Nodules of clay ironstone, and trunks and
stems of arundinaceous plants in ironstone,
are seen in abundance on the alternating
strata of the cliff; and in one place a nar-
row bed of ironstone, bearing impressions
of leaves, is remarkable ; while thin laminai
of the same mineral, the sui'face of which
is traversed by square and variously-shaped
sections, are seen on several parts of the
shore, both in the face of the cliff parallel
with the beds of coal, and extending into the
sea, forming the strand at low water."
The following table (derived from Count
Strzelecki's valuable work), shows the alti-
tudes, in English feet, above the level of the
sea, of the most remarkable moimtains,
92 HEIGHTS OF MOUNTAINS, &c., NEW SOUTH WALES & P. PHILLIP.
lakes, watercourses, plains, and stations in
New South Wales and Port Phillip or
Victoria, as determined by the barometer;
those included in Port Phillip being given
here with the idea of affording a more
just view of the relative elevation of the
most remarkable positions in each pro-
\'ince : —
Name of Heights
Peel Plains, New England
Mount Mitchell
Mount Lindesay r
Mount Sturt .... . . . . ...
Eiver Condamiue, 28° 10' S. lat , 151° 40' E. long. .
Eocky Creek
Brushy Valley, 28° 20' S. lat., 151° 20' E. long. . .
Apple Tree Flat
DumaresqKiver, 28° 65' S. lat., 150° 40' E. long. .
Glen River, 29° S lat., 151° 35' E. long ....
Gwj'dir River, 29° 35' S. lat., 150" 25' E. long. . .
Mount Hundawar, or Harkwick, 30" 15' S. lat., 150°")
25' E. long ;
Barrow Vallev, 30" 40' S. lat., 150° 20' E. long. . .
Wallambora Ford, 30° 40' S. lat., 150° 25' E, long. .
Mount Bathurst, 31° 5' S. lat., 151° 50' E. long.
Glen Apsley River, 31° 5' S. lat., 152° E. long. . .
Bathurst Cataract, New England .
Beckett's Cataract „
Mount Sea View „ "
Macquarie Cataract, 31° 55' S. lat , 148° 10' E. long.
Summit of Lapstone Hill, Cook County ....
Springwood, depot, Cook County
Station on the Mount Road, Blue Mountains . . .
Caley's Repulse, Cook County, Blue Mountains . .
Twenty-four Miles Hollow, Cook Co., Blue Mountains
King's Table Land, Cook County, Blue Mountains .
Stone Quarry, one mile beyond King's Table . . .
Weather Board Hut
Mount Hay ....
Mount Tomah
Foot of Mount Victoria, Flagan's House ....
Mount George . ....
Bridge over Butler's Rivulet, Vale of Clywd . . ,
Mount Vork, Vale of Clywd, Blue Mountains . .
Foot of Mount York, Collet's Farm
Mount Adine
Ford at Cox's River, Vale of Clywd
Fish River, on the road to Bathurst ...
Military Station, Blue Mountains
Badger Brush Ridge ....
Police Station, Dividing Rang-e Bathurst ....
Cox's River, before reaching Blaxland's ....
Mount Blaxland [the highest summit] ...
Jock's Bridge
Hill beyond Jock's Bridge
Bathurst Town
Summer Hill, Frederick Valley
Boree Plains
Mount Canoblas, "Wellington County ....
Macquarie River, at Wellington
Captain Ryan's, Boree Station
Molongorang (Mr. Passmore's)
Heiegal (Mr. Maxwell's Station) . . ....
Feet.
1,800
4,120
5,700
3,735
1,402
1,717
1,504
1,091
840
1,049
895
2,545
808
1,016
4,000
1,000
235
150
6,000
680
747
1,147
1,707
1,868
2,738
2,790
2,882
2,844
2,425
3,240
2,607
3,620
2,188
3,440
2,18C
3,736
2,052
3,220
3,010
3,290
2,910
2,266
3,256
2,921
3,496
2,310
3,010
1,560
4.610
1,439
1,992
2,062
1,616
Name of Heights.
Guantewang, north-east of Wellington Vale
Camden, estate of James M' Arthur, Esq.
Mount Prudhoe, summit above the road
Stone Quarry Creek, below the bridge ...
Crisp's Inn, Myrtle Creek, Camden County .
Bed of Myrtle Creek
Bargo River, Ford
Lapton's Inn
Little Forest Hill
Cutter's Inn, Camden County . . . .
Mittagong Range [summit]
Cordeaux Farm
Cockatoo Hill ....
Berrima Inn
Bed of Wingecarrabee River . .
Bed of Black Bob's Creek, under the bridge . . .
The Kentish Arms Inn, three miles beyond Mid-"1
way Rivtdet /
Bed of Midway Rivulet, Camden County ....
Summit of Stony Hill
Wombat Brush, terrace above Paddy's River . . .
Ford of Paddy's River, Camden County ....
Arthursleigh, estate of H. M' Arthur, Esq., Argyle Cc.
Norwood, Argyle County
Rosseville House ....
Breadalbane Plains ...
Summit of Hill, south of Wallagoray . . .
Tarrago Ponds, Argyle County
Gidleigh, estate of Captain P. P.King
Sugar Loaf, or Squall Hill, near Gidleigh ....
Big Creek, near the Gap through the Black Range
Head of Big Creek and Stony Creek
Summit of Prospect Hill
Last Hill
WollondiUy River, below Rosseville
„ at the Junction of Paddy's River
„ at the Ford of Arthursleigh . .
„ at Detley Crossing Place . . .
Yass River Rivulet
Nackie Nackie Hill
Mount Kosciuszko, Australian Alps ... . .
Mount Dargal „
Mount Pinnabar „ ......
Cowrang Creek „ . . ...
Dividing Range in the Omeo County
Source of the Mitta-Mitta River
Lake Omeo ....
Second branch of Mitta-Mitta River ....
The average height of the flats in Gipps' Land . •
Range between Gipps' Land and Port Western . .
Mount Wilson, Wilson's Promontory
Dutzon, a sheep station of P.King, Esq., lat. 35° 27',)
long. 147° 53' J
Ellerslie, sheep station
Feet.
1,410
248
1,0C6
482
783
643
771
1,206
1,923
1,967
2,454
2,222
2,356
2,096
2,058
2,051
2,028
2,003
2,400
2,128
1.856
1,977
2,116
2,057
2,278
2,606
2,264
2,358
3,288
2,979
3,136
3,275
3,176
1,971
1,840
1,830
1,752
1,311
2,242
6,500
5,490
4,100
1,.350
3,800
1,850
3,100
1,900
210
2,510
2,350
1,844
1,266
KivERs, Creeks, and Harbours. — The
rivers of Australia, not even excepting the
Murray, bear a very much smaller proportion
to the size of that continent, and occupy a
far less prominent geographical position than
do those of any other country of similar
extent, and they afford very limited commu-
nication between the coast and the interior.
Of them, therefore, and for somewhat similar
reasons of the creeks, lakes, and lagoons of
New South Wales, a brief notice may suffice,
especially as many of them have been already
alluded to in the section on inland explora-
tion; but this notice it may be well to preface
with the warning given by captain Sturt to
those of his readers not conversant with the
peculiarities of Australian watercourses. "A
creek," he says, " is not always an arm of
the sea. The same term is used to designate
a watercourse, whether large or small, in
which the winter torrents may or may not
have left a chain of ponds. Such a water-
course could hardly be called a river, since it
only flows during heavy rains, after which it
entirely depends on the character of the
soil through which it runs, whether any
water remains in it or not." " A lagoon is
a shallow lake, it generaUy constitutes the
BJYERS— THE HAWKESBURY AND THE HUNTER.
93
back water of some rher, and is speedily
dried up."
The number of constantly flowing streams
in New South Wales is A'ery limited, but an
all-wise Providence has in a most remarkable
manner provided a remedy for this deficiency
by the peculiar construction of the channels
of the greater part of the rivers, which form
a succession of deep reservoirs, being in fact
a connected series of ponds or water-holes.
This wonderful provision for the exigencies
of animal existence is rendered the more
striking by the character of the Australian
aborigines, whose want of constructive ability
manifested in so many respects, clearly indi-
cates their incapacity of discovering a means
by which the superabundance of one season
might be made to supply the insufficiency of
another.
The first stream of importance explored by
the early settlers at Sydney Cove, and which,
until the discovery of the Mvirray, was the
broadest fresh water stream knoAvn in Aus-
tralia, was named by governor Phillip the
Hawkesbury. Its course, when traced inland
from Broken Bay, whei'e it disembogues,
becomes extremely tortuous, the distance of
Windsor (a town built upon it,) being not
more than thii'ty-five miles from the sea in
a airect line, but by the windings of the
river, 140 miles; the rise of tide is about
four feet, and the water fresh forty miles
below Windsor, at which place it is of con-
siderable size, and navigable for vessels of
100 tons for four miles above the town. A
little higher up it is joined by a mountain
stream called the Grose, which issues from
a remarkable cleft in the Blue jNIountains,
in the vicinity of the pretty town of Rich-
jaond, about forty miles from Sydney. The
Hawkesbury, while flowing along the base of
these mountains, is fed by numerous tribu-
tary torrents descending from narrow gorges,
which after heavy rains cause it frequently
to overflow its banks as it approaches the
sea ; in one instance it rose, near the town
of Windsor, ninety-three feet above its ordi-
nary level.* Broken Bay extends inland to
a considerable distance, and is divided into
nianv creeks and inlets, forming excellent
havens, two of which, according to Phillip,
are capable of containing the whole British
navy. The Hawkesbury, previous to its
receiving the Grose, is called the Nepean,
or rather it is a continuation of that river,
which, rising in Camden country, forms the
boundary for a while between that county
• AVentworth's Statistical Account of N. S. Wales.
and Cumberland, and subsequently between
the counties of Cumberland and Cook. The
scenery along the Nepean is magnificent;
immediately beside it the Blue IMountains
rise in frowning majesty, to a perpendicular
height of nearly 3,000 feet, while along the
fertile borders of the stream are fields of
wheat, barley, maize, bran, peas, clover,
&c., to the extent of several thousand acres.
The point at which I first saw the Nepean
river, was at the estate of ]\Ir. S.Teriy, the
wealthy emancipist preriously mentioned.
As far as the eye could reach, nothing could
be seen but the yellow waring corn, save
when the view was bounded by the gigantic
buttresses of the mountain barrier. I never
beheld a finer farm in Europe than Mr.
Terry's; and while enjoying the cheerful
scene, I could not but feel proud of belong-
ing to a nation, who through her outcast
and erring children had extracted from the
stubborn soil of a distant land such admirable
results. The jNIacdonald and the Colo are
the chief tributaries of the Hawkesbury, and
the Warragamba of the Nepean. The War-
ragamba (a continuation of the Wollondilly)
receives the Cox twenty miles to the south-
Avard of Emu Plains. The Cox pursues its
coui'se through a wild region, and in parts
could be traced only by scrambling on foot,
or by following out the several extremities
of the mountain ranges which overhang its
rocky channel.
Hunter River disembogues in the sea at
the harbour of Newcastle, Port Hunter, a
safe haven, sufficiently capacious for vessels
of 300 tons burthen; fifty-nine miles N.
22° E., from the entrance of Port Jackson.
The Hunter, formerly called the Coal River,
is formed by several streams flowing from
the Blue jNIountains, and is narigable for
fifty miles from Newcastle, by small craft of
thirty to forty tons bui*then. Beyond this
distance there are several shallows, which
only admit the passage of boats over them.
There are three branches to the Hunter,
called the Upper, the Lower, and the ^liddle ;
the two former are navigable for boats for
about 120 miles, and the latter for upwards
of 200 miles, but the branches are all liable
to sudden and terrific inundations, OAring to
the rapid descent of torrents fi'om the Blue
Mountains. In consequence of the fertility
of the soil along the Hunter, and the extent
of water communication which exists, this
district is one of the finest in the colony.
A large number of respectable farms skirt
the banks of the ri\er and the country
94. PORT STEPHENS— MANNING, HASTINGS, AND MACLEAY RIVERS.
wears an aspect resembling the rich pastoral
sceneiy of Devonshire. The valley of the
Wollombi extends in a northerly direction
towai'ds Hunter's River, for about thirty
miles. It is bounded on either side by
mountain ranges, covered with timber to
theii' summits. Numerous valleys, or, as
the settlers call them, arms, branch off on
either side ; some stretching twenty or thirty
miles among the mountains, all abounding
in excellent pasture, and affording suste-
nance to numerous flocks of sheep, and
herds of cattle that depasture amidst this
%vild and beautiful sceneiy.
Port Stephens, situated about 100 miles
fi'om Jackson, is a fine harbour ; the narrow
entrance between rocky headlands, opens
into an expanse about two miles in length ;
then narrowing, forms a channel, which
admits vessels of considerable burthen, to a
second bay perfectly land-locked. The little
river Karuah, which falls into it, affords a
means of communication some distance into
the interior ; it is said to be ua%dgable as far
a^i Booral, which is twenty miles from Port
Stephens. The Myall, a still smaller stream,
which has its embouche in Port Stephens,
opens into some extensive lakes, situate along
the coast, separated only by a narrow strip
of land from the ocean.
Manning River forms the northern boun-
dary of Gloucester county; it disembogues
into the ocean by two mouths, called Far-
q\ihar and Hamngton inlets, w^hich are
divided by a singularly-shaped island, named
Mitchell Island : neither of them aflFord
more than a harbour for boats, for which,
indeed, the narigation of the Manning is
alone adapted. It flows from the eastern
side of Liverpool range : its banks have good
soil and fine scenery.
Hastings River, after a course of about
100 miles, joins the sea at Port Macquarie,
about 220 miles to the north-east of Port
Jackson, in 31" 25' 45" S. lat., 152° 53' 54"
E. long. Port Macquarie is a bar harbour,
Avith at least nine feet low water spring
tides. The bar (composed of soft sand)
extends for 200 yards; beyond this, the
M^ater immediately deepens to two and three
fathoms ; within the port, the soundings are
five and six fathoms, which depth continues
for nearly ten miles, when shoals confiae the
narigation to crafts drawing six or eight feet.
That depth continues for eight miles, where
the rapids commence. The source of the
Hastings has been already mentioned (p. 433),
on the authority of count Strzelccki; ac-
cording to Mr. Hodgkinson, it rises (in ^\°
50' S. lat., 151° 50' E. long.), "at Mount
Warragembi, one of the summits on the
range which divides the basin of the Man-
ning River from that of the M'Leay. This
range branches out at Mount Warragembi,
so as to form the basin of the Hastings
River, which consequently does not lise in
the great main chain of mountains dividing
the eastern and western waters, as some
authors have averred.^' Mr. Hodgkinsoai,
in the interesting work from which the
above observation is taken — Australia, from
Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay — notices an
error with regard to the Hastings river,
made by me in a pre\'ious Avork, for which I
cannot, at this lapse of time, at all account.
He makes due and kindly allowance for
errors " almost unavoidable in writing a
work of such magnitude as Mr. Montgomery
Martin's History of all the British Colonies;"
but he is, perhaps, scarcely aware of the
difficulty which existed at the period at which
it was written (1834-5), of obtaining accu-
rate and sufficient data concerning many of
our vast possessions, and especially Australia.
The country bordering on the Hastings
undulates pleasingly in hills and dales lightly
clothed with good timber ; to the north-east
the river opens into reaches of great width
and beauty. The Maria river, which empties
itself into the Hastings at John's Plains, is
navigable, according to Dr. Lang, for " forty
miles ft'om its mouth ; " but he must mean
only for small craft. The Wilson river,
another tributary of the Hastings, is navi-
gable for about twenty miles; the alluvial
soil on its banks is of excellent quahty, as
CAdnced in the produce of a series of farms
extending for twelve or fifteen miles in a
continuous chain. A few miles to the south-
east of Port Macquarie are some extensive
lakes, which communicate with the ocean.
The MacLeay River falls into the sea at
Trial Bay, in 34° 40' S. lat. Trial Bay is
a good roadstead, being completely protected
from all winds but those between north and
east, from which quarters the winds are
seldom strong. The entrance to the river
is obstructed by a bar having about eleven
feet of water on it ; it is described by cap-
tain King as being navigable for vessels of
300 tons to fifty-seven miles above its mouth;
but Mr. Hodgkinson, when recently sur-
veying it, found it only navigable for thirty-
foui- miles, and so far only for vessels not ex-
ceeding sixty or seventy tons burden. The
Apsley joins the MacLeay from the south-
NAMBUCCA, COOHALLI, BELLENGEN, AND CLARENCE RIVERS. 95
west; above this junction the scenery is
described* as assuming a grand alpine cha-
racter, both rivers hurrying along rapidly
descending beds, through narrow glens of
frowning precipices, 3,000 feet in height,
whilst the surrounding mountains frequently
attain an elevation of 6,000 feet above the
level of the sea. Tremendous cataracts are
of continual occurrence; at one of them
the whole river has a perpendicular fall of
250 feet, and after raging in a furious
torrent, half foam and vapour, along a
steep inchned plane, it again dashes down
another pei-pendicular fall of 100 feet; the
total descent of its waters in this short dis-
tance being probably little under 500 feet.
After tracing the ^lacLeay upwards, through
this rugged country, its bed rising rapidly
to a very considerable elevation above the
sea, we at length emerge on a gently rising
table land. From this point to its sources,
the MacLeay river changes its character,
and assumes similar features to the New
England streams, flowing west to join the
Peel river, smaller trees sparingly scattered
over pastui'age of quite different aspect to
that bordering the lower MacLeay, being
here observable.
The Nambucca River, whose mouth is about
eleven miles to the north of the MacLeay,
has its entrance obstnicted by a rocky im-
passable bar; it is formed by several moun-
tain streams rising in bushy gullies, and its
banks consist of mangroves, tea-tree swamps,
dense forest and cedar brushes. " The nettle-
tree/' (says Mr. Hodgkinson,) " attains a
very large size at the MacLeay and Nam-
bucca rivers, being often six feet in diameter,
and of a corresponding height; its wood is
very soft and spongy, and its leaves, which
are of great size, resemble in shape those of
the mulberry, and, at the same time, possess
the bright green velvet appearance of the
geranium leaf. The slightest touch of one
of these leaves occasions a most acute sting-
ing pain; but horses suffer infinitely worse
than men, from contact with the leaves of
the nettle-tree, as their skin rises in large
blisters, and great temporary constitutional
derangement seems to take place."
The Coohalli, a small stream which filters
through a sandbaiik to the sea, about six
miles north of the embouchure of the Nam-
bucca, is deserving of mention, from its
being noted by Mr. Hodgkinson as the
furthest point south, and, consequently, the
* Hodgkinson's Australia from Porl Macquaric to
Morrton Bay.
nearest point to Sydney, at which he found
the magnificent variety of pine generally
known as the " Moreton Bay pine." " These
trees," he says, " occur here all of a sudden,
in considerable numbers, and of great size
and altitude, although I have not detected
one single individual pine in any of the
bi-ushes of the Nambucca, MacLeay, Hast-
ings, or Manning rivers, or, indeed, any-
where south of this point."
BelJengen River was discovered by a party
of savryers, in 1841. It is a fresh-water
stream, about the size of the Hastings ; but,
notwithstanding the luxuriant vegetation on
its banks, is rendered unavailable for grazing
purposes by the precipitous heights which
hem in and contract its bed. The sawyers,
however, must have considered their dis-
covery a veiy fortunate one, for Mr. Hodg-
kinson, who explored it in 1842, speaks very
highly of the quality of the timber growing
on its banks, and those of its tributary, the
Odalberree, the trunks of the cedar and
rosewood trees being often six feet in dia-
meter and ninety feet high, before they
throw out a single branch.
Clarence River disembogues in Shoal Bay,
in 29° 30', where its entrance is obstnicted
by a bar ha\ing about eleven feet of water
on it. The Clarence is remarkable for its
great breadth and large volume of water
(compared with other rivers of Australia),
and considering the shortness of its course.
Its reaches are said to be longer and wider
than those of any stream on the coast of
Australia, and navigable for large steamers
to a considerable distance up the river; the
Clarence being narigable, for some craft,
for nearly ninety miles. A few miles above
its mouth is an island, containing an area
of above 1,500 acres, and many smaller ones
occur higher up the river. The country on
its banks available for grazing purposes
being of considerable extent and excellent
quality, a great number of squatters have
formed stations upon it. The Clarence rises
in the diriding range, and receives several
large tributaries, one of which, the Ora-Ora,
rises in the lofty mountains which divide
the basin of the Clarence from the Bel-
lengen.
Richmond River (still tracing the coast in
a northerly direction,) falls into the sea near
Lennox Head, in 28° 55' S. lat. The bar
at its mouth has from eiglit to ten feet of
water upon it, above which the river is
narigable for small craft for about thii*ty
miles. Its sources are not yet ascertained.
96 TWEED AND BRISBANE RIVERS, MORETON AND WIDE BAYS.
but its main stream appears to rise in tlie
dividing range, near Wilson's Peak and
Coke's Head. There is much good available
land on its banks, and some fine cedar.
Tweed River, or, rather, creek, for it is
but a large salt-water inlet, yet its exten-
sive reaches are navigable for large boats to
a distance of upwards of forty miles from
its bar, which has been crossed by a schooner
of sixty tons burden.
Brisbane River. — Proceeding along the
coast, we arrive at Moreton Bay, which is
sheltered by two narrow islands of from
fifteen to twenty miles in length, called
JMoreton, and Stradbroke Island. The bay
is said to be sixty miles in extent ; it receives
several streams, the most important of which
are the Logan, the Brisbane, and the Pumice-
stone river. The Brisbane disembogues in
27° r S. lat., 153° 26' E. long. The bar at
its mouth has eighteen feet of water on it.
This river was discovered, in 1823, by cap-
tain Oxley, who, in his official despatch,
makes the following remarks concerning
it:—
""WTien examining Moreton Bay, Ave had the
satisfaction to find the tide sweeping up a con-
siderable inlet, between the first mangrove island and
the main land. The muddiness and taste of the
water, together with the abundance of fresh-water
molluscse, assured us we were entering a large river ;
and a few hours ended our anxiety on this point by
the water becoming perfectly fresh, while no diminu-
tion had taken place in the size of the river after
passing what I called Sea Reach. At sunset we had
proceeded about twenty miles up the river. The
scenery was peculiarly beautiful ; the country along
the banks alternately hilly and level, but not flooded ;
the soil of the finest description of brushwood land,
on which grew timber of great magnitude, and of
various species, some of which were quite unknown to
us. Among others, a magnificent species of pine
was in great abundance. The timber on the hills
was also good ; and to the south-cast, a little distance
from the river, were several large brushes or forests
of the ciipressus Australis, of very large size. Up to
this point the river was navigable for vessels not
drawing more than sixteen feet water. The tide rose
about five feet, being the same as at the entrance.
We proceeded about thirty miles further, no diminu-
tion having taken place either in the breadth or
depth of the river, excepting in one place for the
extent of thirty yards, where a ridge of detached
rocks extended across the river, not having more
than twelve feet upon them at high water. From
this point to Termination Hill the river continued of
nearly uniform size. The tide ascends dally fifty
miles from the mouth of the Brisbane, flowing also
up the Bremer, the depth of whose channel it aug-
ments by eight or more feet. The country on either
side is of very superior description, and equally well
adapted for cultivation or grazing, the timber being
abundant, and fit for all the purposes of domestic
use or exportation. The pine trees, should they
prove of good quality, are of a scantling suflRcient for
the largest ships : some measured upwards of thirty
inches in diameter, and from fifty to eighty feet
without a branch."
Subsequent examination has verified, to
the fullest degree, this favourable account ',
and the capabilities of the valuable and beau-
tiful tract of country, traversed by the Bris-
bane and its tributaries, even sui'pass his
expectations in their capacity of supporting
a numerous population, and of producing, in
abundance, the tropical products of sugar,
cotton, coffee, silk, tobacco, &c. In a sub-
sequent part of his despatch, captain Oxley
thus expresses himself concerning the source
of the new-found stream : — " A consideration
of all the circumstances connected with the
appearance of the river, justifies me in
entertaining a strong belief that the sources
of this river will not be found in a moun-
tainous countiy. INIost probably it issues
fi'om some large collection of interior waters,
the reservoir of those streams crossed by me
during an expedition of discoveiy in 1818/^
(see p. 383), "and which had a northerly
course. ^Tiatever may be its origin, it is
by far the largest ft-esh-water river on the
east coast of New South Wales." Captain
Oxley' s surmise concerning the sources of
the Brisbane, and the length of its course,
have been disproved by more recent surveys,
the Brisbane having been ascertained to take
its rise in the dividing range, opposite to and
in a straight line only sixty miles from
Moreton Bay. The width of its basin, its
tortuous course, and numerous tributaries,
however, soon render it an important stream.
It is joined on the south side by the Bremer
river rising near Mount Frazer, on whose
banks coal and limestone are foiind in large
quantities.
Wide Bay is a good port, having in its
entrance a channel of not less than three
fathoms deep : it communicates with Hervey
Bay, thus completing the insulation of Great
Sandy, or Erazer's Island, whose north-
eastern extremity was named by captain
Cook, Sandy Cape. Mr. R. S. Russell, who
visited the bay in 1842, thus describes it : —
" Frazer's Island, which forms Wide Bay,
or, more properly speaking, 'Sound,' for it
is twenty-five miles long, runs nearly parallel
to the main, trending more easterly towards
the northern extremity, thereby leaving a
wide open entrance. At the southern ex-
tremity the island is not more than three-
quarters of a mile from the main. A spit ot
sand comes out both from the island and
from the main : but by not attempting to
HERYEY AND BUSTARD BAYS, BOYNE RIVER AND PORT CURTIS. 97
run in lantil the round mountain, called
Boppol, is well open between the two shores,
the channel is clear and good ^Y\t\\ at least
six fathoms water." Mr. Russell, in his
account of this excursion, subsequently states
that he found in the southerly part of the
bay, to which his exploration was confined,
innumerable shoals and islets; one large
navigable river, called by the natives Mono-
bocola, without a bar, but having at its
mouth sand-bauks dry at low water, which
leave only a narrow channel between them.
The tide flows about thirty miles up, and the
river is naAdgable for that distance for vessels
di'awing eight feet; after losing the tide it
soon becomes small, but can be ascended by
boats for about twenty miles further. The
banks are low, but generally well timbered
with large trees, and ducks and black swans
abound . To the country near the head of the
boat navigation of this stream the natives
resort in large numbers, to feed on the fruit
of the Banya-Buuya tree, a species of pine,
groAving, according to iSIr. Russell, as straight
as an arrow to the height of from 100 to 300
feet. It bears a large cone full of nuts,
which are excellent Avhen roasted, but taste,
when raw, like the horse-chestnut."'^""
Hervey Bay is fift}' miles wide, at its
mouth, and extends inland, in a southerly
direction, for al)out the same distance.
Bustard Bay, in 24° 4' S. lat. and 208° 18'
E. long., was so named by captain Cook, in
honour of a bird of the bustard species,
about the size of a turkey, caught here,
which he speaks of as the best bird he had
eaten since he left England.
Boyne River, or rather, the upper portion
of that stream, was discovered by Mr. R. S.
Russell, in his second exploring expedition
of 184'2, but only partially explored. The
* Amonf]; a native tribe on this river, Mr. Russell
found a wliite man, a convict named Davis, mIio had
absconded from the penal settlement fourteen jears
before, and had never since been heard of. He had
been transported when only eleven years of age, and
had run away two years after ; he appeared at first to
have almost entirely forgotten his own language, but
Boon recovering his knowledge of it, he was persuaded
to return to Moreton Bay. The natives shewed great
sorrow at parting from him, and followed him a long
way down the banks of the river with loud lamenta-
tions. The statement made by Davis concerning the
aborigines was to the following effect:— That they
supposed all their own men who had died or l)een
killed in battle to become white men, because, l)efore
eating them (for they are cannibals) they draw the
skin off. and wash the flesh before cutting it up.
■\Vhcn flayed in tliis way the flesh of a black man_ is
perfectly white. They believe he becomes a white
ghost in another country bevond the sea. Accord-
DIV. I.
bed of the river, near its som'cc, lies in a
valley of the dividing range, apparently
elevated about 1,500 feet above the level of
the sea, receiving small tributaries from the
higher country, both east and west. The
bed here was sandy, with much of the tea-
tree growing in and about it ; higli reeds
grew also along the edges of the reaches
Avhich, thirty or forty miles farther (tracing
the river from its source), increase greatly
in length, while many streams, both from
the east and west, empty themselves into
the main channel, the land becoming more
moimtainous, and the valleys more fertile; a
considerable tributary, called the Stuart,
flows in from the eastward. The IJoyne,
though after the confluence of the Stuart
it contains a volume of water very unusual
in Australian streams, cannot, it is feared,
be used for internal communication, as it
flows, in many parts, rapidly over rocky beds.
The river was traced by its discoverers for
about 300 miles, or to about 24° 15' S.
lat. ; when they tm'ned back, it was flow-
ing considerably to the eastward of north,
and they were, apparently, not far from
the sea.
Port Curtis, into which a river called the
Boyne, and considered by ISIr. Russell iden-
tical with that above described, disembogues,
is in 23° 51' 45" S. lat., and 151° 24' E.
long, (ten degrees east of Sydney) ; it is
reported to be an excellent harbour, which,
through the passage of entrance recently
discovered by captain Stanley, is of very
easy access for shipping of any burthen.
The coast line from this point has been
described in a previous section; we there-
fore return to Broken Bay, premising, how-
ever, that the rivers of New South Wales,
south of Sydney, are generally inferior to
ingly, when they first heard of whites, they supposed
theni to be the ghosts of their own dead come back ;
and if any one traced a fancied resemblance in a white
man to a deceased relation or friend, he took him
under his protection, in the full persuasion that it
was his son, brother, or whoever it might be, returned
to him. In such a case a white man has nothing to
fear from the tribe to which his patron belongs
They will kill a fat Avhite man sometimes, to eat, if
he is not owned by any of the tribe as some ghost of
a returned relation, but they will not skin liim as
they suppose him to have been already skinned when
eaten as a black. In cutting a man up they open his
back, and having extracted the bones from the legs
and arms, thase are eaten by the men as being the
tit bits. They then cut the head open and pick it ;
the viscera and heart are given to their gins (wives),
whom they use v.orse than dog;?. — See Journal o/
Royal Geo(/raphicul Society, vol. xv. [A description
of the aborigines is given in the Supplement.]
M
98 PARAMATTA, GEORGE, AND SHOALHAVEN RIVERS— J ER VIS BAY.
those on the north, in both length of course
and vohime of water ; and, therefore, few of
them need any especial notice, their names
and situations* being sufficiently delineated
on the map.
Paramatta River is httle more than an
extension of Port Jackson, but very useful
as affording the means of water commmii-
cation between Sydney and Paramatta, being
navigable for that distance (eighteen miles)
by second-class steam-boats and small craft.
Port Jackson has been already mentioned,
and also Botany Bay; the north point of
entrance to the latter is formed by Cape
Banks, and the south by Cape Solander, in
34^ 0' 45'' S. lat., ISP' 15' 50" E. long.
A plate fixed in the rock of this latter cape,
records the first visit of captain Cook.
George River disembogues in Botany Bay,
after collecting chiefly all the waters to the
eastward, between the Ilawkesbury and the
sea. Small vessels ascend the river as far as
Liverpool, which, following the mndings of
the stream, is about twenty-foui' miles from
Botany Bay, though, in a direct line, only
half that distance; the water near Liver-
pool is stated by Mr. Wentworth to be occa-
sionally brackish, during the long summer
di'oughts.
Port Hacking, as far as I am aAvare, has
not been specially surveyed ; we gather from
Flinders' brief account, that it has three-
and-a-half fathoms in the entrance ; that it
divides into three branches, and carries from
three to five fathoms water in the middle
one, at the distance of two miles from the sea.
Red Point, further to the southward, in
34° 29' S. lat., is a remarkable headland
situated on the north-east side of the penin-
sula which incloses Lake Illawarra on the
north. It acquired its name from the dull
red colour of its cliffs ; on it are four hillocks,
which present the form of a double side-
saddle; it may also be recognised by a
strangely shaped hill, about eight miles from
it, named Hat hill, by captain Cook. There
are two rocky islands off the point, and at
a short distance to the northward, another
group, called Martin's Isles. Illawarra lake
is a large salt-water lake communicating
with the sea.
Point Bass is the next marked feature on
the coast, to the south of which Shoalhaven
River falls into the sea, between the counties
of Camden and St. Vincent. This stream is
navigable for about twenty miles, for vessels
of seventy or eighty tons burthen.* Its
• "VVentw'orth's New South Wales.
channel is a ravine, about 1,500 feet below
the ordinary level of the country between it
and the WoUondilly. A singular grandeur
is imparted to the scenery of the Shoal-
haven, by precipices, consisting, at one part,
of limestone of a dark grey colour, and con-
taining very imperfect fragments of shells
— and at another, of granite.
Among the peculiar features of these lofty
river banks are many remarkable hollows,
called " hoppers," by the country people,
from the water sinking into them, as grain
subsides in the hopper of a mill. The
country on the upper part of the Shoal-
haven river comprises much good laud ; the
river flows there nearly on a level with the
surface, and resembles an English stream ;
the temperature, at the elevation of about
2,000 feet above the sea, being also so low,
in summer, that potatoes and gooseberries,
for both of which the climate of Sydney is
too hot, grow there luxuriantly. f
About two miles from the mouth of this
river is a small port, called by the same
name (Shoalhaven), which it well merits,
the entrance being choked with sandj
and the interior with banks of mud,
leaving, however, a sufficient channel for
boats.
Jervis Bay extends about three leagues
from north to south, and nearly two in
breadth. Its east side is sheltered by a
peninsula, the bight behind which (named
Crookhaven) is separated from the bay by
an isthmus of not more than 400 yards wide.
The north point of the entrance to Hervey
Bay, called Point Perpendicular, is (accord-
ing to lieutenant Jeffreys) in 35° 6' 28"
S. lat. ; the south point is formed by a small
low island l}dng contiguous to Cape George,
between which there is a passage, though a
very bad one. The entrance is aljout a
mile-and-a-half, or two miles wide, with a
depth of fifteen to twenty fathoms, and,
within, the soundings are regular, from four-
teen to ten fathoms, decreasing to eight and
seven fathoms near the shore on either side.
There is sufficient room for ships of any
size to work in or out ; but there are dan-
gers difficult to guard against. A sunken
rock lies about one and one-third mile
within the north point of the entrance, and
a mile distant from the shore ; and (judging
from the plan of Mr. Wcatherall, published
by the Hydrographical Office, Admiralty,)
reefs seem to extend from almost all the
points in the bay. The best and most cou-
t Mitcht'U's Hxpedilioiis into Australia,
CLYDE RIVER,, BARMOUTH HARBOUR, AND CAPE HOWE.
99
venient anchorage is from six to ten fathoms,
under Bowen's Island.
Cape George, in 35° 10' S. lat., lies to the
southward of Jervis Bay; the next inlet is
Sussex Haven, by which a lake with broken
shores, called St. George's Basin, commu-
nicates \\\i\\ the sea. Still proceeding south,
the next land-marks are the Pigeon-house,
a peaked hill so called by captain Cook, from
its resembling a square dove-house -with a
dome at the top, in 35° 20' 30" S. lat., and
the perpendicular cliffs of Point Upright, in
30° 35' S. lat.
Clyde River, which is described as a fine,
clear, and capacious river, with nine feet
water on the bar, and deepening within to
six fathoms, empties itself into Bateman's
Bay. Lieutenant Johnson carried a depth
of seven to four fathoms upwards of twenty
miles within the bay. The bay is about six
miles wide, and contains several little islands,
behind which small vessels fi'equenth^ take
anchor.
Moriiya River falls into the sea at Muruya
or BrouU Bay, to the south-east of which is
Cape Dromedary, a projecting headland,
with a double mountain over it of consid-
erable elevation, which, it is said, may be
seen at the distance of twenty leagues.
The Cape is in 36° 18' S. lat., and about
six miles to the eastward of it lies Mon-
tague Island, of nearly two miles in length
from north to south, Avith a depth of twelve
fathoms near its west side, where ships may
anchor, but on a rocky bottom. There are
some rocks near the south-west end of the
island. All the coast between this promon-
tory and Cape Howe may be safely ap-
proached, to a reasonable distance, as
soundings extend to the distance of three
or four leagues.
Barmouth Harbour is thus mentioned by
captain Flinders : — " A strong wind, which
burst from the south, obliged Mr. Bass (in a
whale boat), to run for a gap in the land,
which had just before been noticed. Here,
on a little beach, at the mouth of an inlet,
across which the sea was breaking, the boat
was hauled up for the night. Next morning,
the inlet being free from breakers, he
entered the prettiest little model of a har-
bour he had ever seen. Unfortmiately, it is
but a model ; for although the shelter within
be complete for small craft, yet the depth
over the bar is too small even for boats,
except at high water, when there is eight or
nine feet."' The intermediate land between
Barmouth Harbour and Twofold Bay, a
distance of about seven leagues, is of mode-
rate elevation, bending a little to the east-
ward, Avith three islands contiguous to it.
" Twofold Bay," says captain Flinders,
"is not of itself worthy of any particular
interest, but as nothing larger than boats
can find shelter in any other part of this
coast, from Corner Inlet, or from Fm'naux's
Isles to Jervis Bay, it thereby becomes im-
portant to whalers and other ships passing
along this coast." The shores of the bay
are of moderate elevation, and consist of
steep heads, rocky points, and sandy beaches.
Snug Cove is situated in the north-west
angle of the bay in 37° 4' S. lat., 150° 3'
E. long. " Wood, in abundance," says
Flinders, " can be procured on every side of
the bay; but there are only two places where
fresh water was found, and that not very
good. One of these was a swampy pond
upon the low neck near Snug Cove, where
casks might be filled Avithout much difficulty;
the other is near the inferior anchorage on
the south side of the bay." To the south-
west of TAvofold Bay lies Green Cape, which
is smooth and sloping, with a deep bight or
bay to the southward ; the coast from thence
to Cape HoAve is bold and mostly rocky.
Cajje Howe, the south-east point of Aus-
tralia, and the southern limit of the coast-
hne of NcAv South Wales, is a low point of
rocks and sand, with a small island close to
it. It may be easily recognized by the
trending of the coast, which is nearly west
on one side and north on the other, and also
by some round hills in the vicinity.
The westerly or inland rivers of Ncav South
Wales, occupied a considerable portion of the
section on internal exploration. W^e have
already seen that after the successfid enter-
prize of Messrs. Blaxland, W^entworth, and
LaAvson had found a pass over the Blue
INIountains, scA'cral streams were discovered
floAving in a Avesterly direction, of Avhich two
of the most considerable, the Lachlan and
Macquarie, were traced in their diff"erent
courses, by captain Oxlcy, to their apparent
termination in reedy and impassable mo-
rasses (page 382,) in which, however, they
are not finally lost, it having been subse-
quently ascertained that the waters of the
marshes in which the Lachlan is for a time
lost, reunite in one channel and flow into the
Murrumbidgee, while those of the Macquarie
are drained in a similar manner into the
Darling. Lachlan River has its origin in
the mountains bordering Argyie county,
one of its most easterly sources being Derin-
100 INLAND OR WESTERLY RIVERS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
giiUen ponds, ^\hich arise in the soutliern of
the three open fiats of grassy land called
Bredalbane Plains; thence it runs in a north-
•westeilv direction, receiving in 33° 5' 20"
S. lat., 147° 13' 10'' E. long., a tributary from
the north-east, called Goobang Creek, which
has its sources in the ra^dnes between Har-
vey's and Croker's ranges."^ The Lachlan,
after the junction of the Goobang, changes
its direction from north-west to south-west,
and a creek called by the natives " Cudjal-
lagong" leaves the river and conveys its
waters almost straight back from their course
to supply Regent's Lake, which, when dis-
covered by Oxley, in 1817, was described by
him as a " noble lake ;" but when Adsited by
Mitchell, in 1836, appeared for the most part
a plain covered with luxuriant grass, with
some water lodged on the most eastern part,
but in no place more than a foot deep. In-
numerable ducks had taken refuge there, and
also a great nvimber of black swans and peli-
cans, all standing high upon their legs, above
the shallow Avater. Unlike the water of
Lake George, which is brackish, that of
Regent's Lake was perfectly sweet even in
its shallow state. It abounds with large
fi'esh-water mussel ; on its northern margin,
and a good way within the line of the water,
stood dead trees of a full-grown size, appa-
rently killed by too much water, too plainly
shewing, like the trees similarly situated in
Lake George and Lake Bathurst, to what
long periods the extremes of drought and
moisture may extend in this singular country.
That the lake is sometimes a splendid sheet
of water was obvious enough in the line of
beach along the shores. At two different
places the banks are so low that in high
floods the water must flow over from the
lake, and probably thus supplies Campbell's
Lake, and another to the northward of
Regent's Lake, named "Goorongully." Fol-
lowing the course of the Lachlan from Cud-
jallagong creek, we arrive at the farthest
spot to which Oxley traced it, (according to
Mitchell in 33° 41' 10" S. lat., 115" 9' E.
long. ;) but instead of terminating there, its
banks at fifty miles below this spot are
backed on both sides by rising ground until
it turns finally southward towards the Mur-
rumbidgee, which it joins in 34° 25' S. lat.,
and 144° 3' E. long. Sir Thomas Mitchell
makes the following observations on the oc-
* It is rather remarkable that captain Oxley, when
exploring the Lachlan, should have omitted to survey
thai portion of it where it is joined bv the Gooban<^;
especially as, according to bir F. L.' Mitchell, it is
casion of his exploring this river in 1836 ; —
" I beheld in the Lachlan all the features of
the Darling, but on a somewhat smaller
scale. The same sort of large gum trees,
steep, soft, muddy banks ; a margin and an
outer bank. But its waters were gone, with
the exception of a few small ponds, which
still remained in the deepest parts of its bed.
Such was now the state of that river down
which my predecessor's boats had floated,
I had, during the last winter, drawn my
whale-boats 1,600 miles over land, Avithout
finding a river where I could use them ;
Avhereas Mr. Oxley had twice retired by
nearly the same routes, and in the same
season of the year, from supposed inland
seas ! '^ The Lachlan, therefore, although
occasionally in flood, cannot be depended
upon as a na^dgable river.
Murrunibidgee River rises in the western
ridge of mountains situated to the south-
ward of the parallel of 35°, and under the
meridian of 149°, at a distance of about
eighty miles from the sea, and after re-
ceiving Yass river, the Coodrabidgee, the
Titmut, or Doomot, and some other minor
streams, which fall into it at an early stage
of its progress, pursues a long and tortuous
course for upwards of 300 statute miles,
without deriving the slightest increase from
the country it waters. As its course extends
to the westward of the meridian 147°, the
river falls on a low level; the hills of sand-
stone rock, which give a picturesque appear-
ance to the lands on its banks, higher up the
stream, disappear, and flats of alluvial de-
posit occupy their place. From the account
of Sturt in 1829-30, and of Mitchell in
1836, we gather that the Mtirrumbidgee is,
to a certain extent, for a very considerable
distance, a navigable river. The former
authority, speaking of it at the end of the
year 1829, describes it, not far from the
junction of the Ttimut, as " a stream whose
current it would have been difficult to breast,
and whose Avaters, foaming among rocks or
circling in eddies, gave early promise of
a reckless course. It must have been some-
Avhat beloAV its ordinary Ica'cI, and averaged
a breadth of about eighty feet." LoAver
down it " expanded into a fretful rapid, but
it Avas sufiiciently shallow to admit of taking
the drays over, Avithout the trouble of un-
loading them." Still lower, it increased in
the floods of this stream which inundate the country
below Mount Cunningham, and were the sole cause
of the swampy appearance which captain Oxley ob-
served to the Avestward
THE DARLING RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, N. S. WALES. 101
size, but preserved the characteristics of a
mountain stream, having alternate rapids
and deep pools, being in many places en-
cumbered with fallen timber, and generally
running over a shingly bed. " Below Ponte-
badgery it expands. Further on, it had been
swollen considerably by rains, and rolled
along at the rate of three miles an hour,
preseindng a medium width of 150 feet."
Captain Sturt subsequently says — "During
the night it fell considerably, but it still
poured along a vast body of water, pos-
sessing a strong current. It kept a very
uniform breadth of from 150 to 170 feet,
and a depth of from foui- to twenty feet.
Its channel, though occasionally much en-
cumbered with fallen timber, was large
enough to contain tAvice the volume of water
then in it." The em'rent was so strong, as
to carry the " swimmers" out of their straight
course. In January, 1830, captain Sturt
embarked in his boats, about fifteen miles
above the junction with the Lachlan. He
proceeded from twenty-eight to thirty miles
by the river's windings, but a little beyond
this, one of the boats struck on a log, and
Avent down in twelve feet water. Larger
boats could have navigated the stream, Avhich
was deep and strong. The channel, however,
contracted lower down, and became filled
with immense trees, swept there by floods.
The whale-boat again struck on a log ; and,
not long after, upon a line of sunken rocks
of ironstone. In longitude 143°, a running
stream, the first for 340 miles, joined the
river, which, shortly after, had a breadth of
200 feet, Avith an average depth of from
twelve to twenty feet ; but several rapids
occurred, down which the boats were hurried
with great velocity. The channel, after
this, contracted, and became blocked up
with large trees, which, with an increasing
current, rendered the navigation perplexing
and dangerous. The trees were so nume-
rous, that the passage coidd hardly be
effected. The voyagers were carried, at a
fearful rate, amongst these trees by a tor-
tuous current, till they v.crc hurried into a
broad and noble river — this was the Murray.
The breadth of the Murrumbidgee, at the
junction of the two streams, is only fifty feet.
Sir Thomas Mitchell describes the Mur-
rumbidgee as "an important river," and
speaks of its full stream, its water-worn and
lightly timbered banks, and the firm and
accessible natui'c of its gvillies, as quite the
reverse of the interior rivers in general,
especially the Darling ; and states that above
its junction with the Murray, at Weyeba
(in 34° 21' 34" S. lat., 143° 56'*'2r E. long.,)
it Avas fifty yards wide, with banks eleven
feet high; while the noble ]\Im-ray (whose
description forms a portion of the topography
of South Australia, its embouehe being in
that province) below the junction was a mag-
nificent stream 165 feet broad, with banks
twenty-five feet high. The Sydney Herald,
in an able article, entitled, " Are the interior
waters of Australia navigable?" has the fol-
lowing remarks concerning the two rivers
we have ju.st examined: — "The Lachlan is
clearly not navigable; the Murrumbidgee,
nearly up to the mountains, is ; but there are
considerable dangers from snags, and occa-
sional rapids and shoals. But, perhaps, ves-
sels purposely constructed of small draught,
and carefully manned, might be employed,
except in seasons of extreme drought. And
if so, this river alone, off'ers full 400 miles of
tortuous navigation, extending through at
least 300 miles of direct distance." Much
of tlie land traversed by the INIurrumbidgee
is of excellent quality, and adapted for the
support of civilized man; its spontaneous
productions long formed the chief food of its
native inhabitants, and notwithstanding the
great floods to which this river is subject,
and the serious injmy thereby inflicted on
the commencing to-OTiships laid out on its
banks, the locality is a favourite one, and is
being rapidly occupied, especially by squatters.
Darlhiy River, whose basin receives so
large a portion of the western waters of
New South Wales, is imfortunately not
navdgable for commercial purposes. Its
tributaries, the Karaula or Dumaresq,
the Nammoy, and Gwydir or Kindur, are
beautiful mountain streams which rise in the
hilly country behind Moreton Bay, in 27°
S. lat., 152° E. long. Above the junction of
the Gwydir, which is in 29° 30' 27" S. lat.,
148° 13' 20'' E. long., the Darling is a nobie
piece of water, and is thus mentioned by Sir
T. L. Mitchell, in February, 1832:— "I now
overlooked, from a bank seventy feet high,
a river as wide as the Thames at Putney, on
which the goodly waters, perfectly free from
fallen timber, danced in full liberty ; a sin-
gular-looking diving bird, carrying only its
head above water, gave a novel appearance
to this copious reservoir, and there was a
rich alluvial flat on the opposite bank."
This breadth and magnitude did not how-
ever continue ; a rocky dyke traversed the
river, and occasioned a slight fall, after
which the Darling lost the imposing appear-
102 THE MACQUARIE, BALONNE, AND CONDAMINE RIVERS.
ance it had worn for a brief period, and
though soon joined by the meandering
Gwydir, did not resume it. The steep banks
of this latter stream are lined by eucalypti
(blue gum trees) of enormous size, in whose
thick foliage Trhite cockatoos abomid ; many
dead trees encumber the channel. The
average breadth of the water (in 183.2) was
forty-five yards ; the breadth from bank to
bank, seventy-five yards; the perpendicular
height of these banks above the water, twenty-
seven feet.
The Nammoy joins the Darling below the
junction of the Gwydir. In its channel all
the waters of the Peel, INIulnerindie, and
Conadilly unite. " This stream," says Sir
Thomas IMitchell, " having received the Co-
nadilly from the left bank, had here an im-
portant appearance ; the breadth of the water
was 100 feet, its mean depth nearly eleven
feet niae inches, and the height of the banks
above the water, thiriy-seven feet." The
course of the IMidnerindie, from the junction
of the Peel to that of the Conadilly, is some-
what to the southward of we-st. Below the
junction of the Conadilly, the well-known
native name is the Nammoy, which pm-sues
a south-west com-se. The Castlereagh, known
to the natives as the Barron, joins the Dar-
ling about fifty miles beyond the junction of
the Nammoy ; and below this, on the same
side, the attenuated channel of the INIacqua-
rie, which was found in 1846 (a season of
extreme drouqht) to be continuous in muddy
ponds througlrout the marshes, unites with
that of the Darling (see p. 391).
Macqnarie River is formed by the junction
of the Fish and Campbell rivers, which issue
from the Blue jNIountains, and unite at the
point of division between the counties of
Bathm'st, Westmoreland, and Roxburgh.
The Macquarie takes a winding coui'se
through the plains to the north-west; in
some places it is deep, broad, and navigable
for large boats ; in others rapid and ob-
structed by falls. In about 33° 30' S. lat.
it is still from twenty to sixty yards wide,
and twenty feet deep, with a cm-rent of about
a mile and-a-half an hour. The low land in
which this river was lost by Oxley, has
been already described (pp. 382 — 391). Ac-
cording to oMitchell, the surplus waters of
the jNlacquarie are conveyed to the Darling
by Duck Creek, a channel altogether to the
westward of these marshes. The River Bell
or Molong is one of the tributaries of the
Macquarie, near Wellington Valley, about
170 miles west of Nevcastlc ; another, named
the Cudgugeeng, is distant about fifty miles
from Bathurst. Below the junction of the
Macquarie with the Darling, and on its
opposite bank, the Cidg^a joins the latter
river. The Culgoa is a branch of the
Balonne (p. 392), and is chiefly characterized
by the luxuriant grass on its banks, the
mimosa near the bed of the cun-ent, and
much sand. The Balonne, with which we
are newly and imperfectly acquainted, is
divided by the Culgoa into Upper and
Lower. According to Sir Thomas Mitchell,
the Upper Balonne, with majestic trees, and
banks grassed to the water's edge, has some
noble reaches, one of which, in 28° 13' 31"
S. lat., contains a large body of permanent
water. Several spacious lagoons are supplied
by floods in the Balonne. One of these,
named by ^Mitchell, Lake Parachute, is de-
scribed by him as an "immense sheet of
water, with islands in it; and ducks, peli-
cans, &c. in abimdance." In 27° 56' 12" S.
lat., little water was found in the bed of the
river, but long islands of sand, and water-
worn banks, with sloping grassy bergs behind;
for the next few miles, in a north-westerly
direction, the scenery was wild and grand ;
masses of rock, lofty trees, shining sands,
and patches of water, indiscriminately
mingled, afl'orded eridence of the powerful
ciu-rent that sometimes moved there and
overwhelmed all. The Condamine is one of
the principal heads of the Balonne. jNIitchell,
in relating his expedition of 1846, says, " I
did not ascertain satisfactorily the point of
jimction of the Condamine with the Balonne,
as what I saw in 148° 55' E. long., 27° 47' 57"
S. lat., might have been only an ana-branch.
The chief som'ce of the Condamine is a
stream which rises in the diriding range,
about ten miles south of Cunningham Gap ;
after an irregular com'se, dm'ing which (we
leaiTi from the Hon. W. Wrottesley) it is
joined by several tributaries — the principal
one from Herries' Range — it empties itself
into a lagoon having no apparent outlet, and
which lies in a dh-ect distance of about sixty
miles from its head. He states that " as far
as he knows the river, it is a chain of ponds
and reaches, through wliich there is a per-
ceptible current; the ponds are separated
from each other by necks of land ranging
from a few yards to miles in length, and
beneath which the water forces its way.
The reaches are generally deep, with high
reeds fringing the edges of their banks.
The waters of the Condamine are clear and
pm'c to the taste ; but more to the south-
vv^ard the Avestern rivers are often brackish.
In 1841, the Messrs. Russell set out on an
exploratory expedition, determined if pos-
sible to trace the reappearance of the Con-
damine, after losing itself in the lagoon,
being persuaded that as the latter had no
visible outlet for the Avaters it received, they
must escape by some subterraneous channel,
aud might somewhere be found to reappear
upon the surface ; having therefore followed
the lagoon, which is seven miles in length,
to its furthest extremity, they shaped their
course from thence in a direction, as nearly as
they could judge, the same as the river had
held before it fell into the lagoon. At the
end of one day^s journey they came upon a
small gnlly, which Avidened untill it broke
into a deep, rocky river-bed, on both banks
of which was a fine, open grazing country ;
tliat on the west side being undulating
though not hilly, that on the east, flat and
rich. " This river,^' says Mr. Russell, " is
a very fine one for this country, its direction
is first north-west and then more northerly,
of com'se not running except in floods, but
having beautiful long reaches, with deep
water, and fine large lagoons branching out
of it. There is plenty of the best kind of
timber ; iron-bark, blood- wood, pine, swamp-
oak, and stringy-bark.^' ThcNarran, a branch
of the Minor Balonne, (see pp. 391, 392,)
terminates in a swamp. The banks of the
NaiTan are distinguished by a belt of the
yoJygonmn junceum, about 400 or 500 yards
wide, growing between the immediate margin
and the grassy plains. Here, as on the
banlcs of the Darling, heaps-of the red-stalked
coral-like plant are found. The seed there-
from is black and small, resembling fine
gunpowder when shaken out, but sweet and
pleasant to the taste, possessing a nutty
flavour; it is collected by the natives, and
made into a paste. Sir T. L. Mitchell,
speaking of this river, says —
" The Narran seems a wonderful provision of
nature for the supply and retention of water in a dry
and parched country. The division of the main river
into others ah'eady mentioned is no less so — irrigating
thus from one principal channel, extensive regions of
rich earth beyond the Darling, while the surplus, or
overflow, instead of passing, as in common cases to
the sea, is received in the deep channel of the Narran,
and thereby conducted to that extensive reservoir
where, on rock or stiff clay, and under ever-verdant
polygonum, it furnishes an inexhaustibl'e supply for
the support of animal life."
This tendency to form ana-branclics
{i.e. sucli as after separation unite) and a net-
Avork of streams, so strikingly pointed out by
Sir Thomas in the present instance, and in
that of the Macquarie and the Balonne, is
to a greater or less extent remarkable in the
majority of the rivers of Ncav South Wales,
whose courses it is consequently very diffi-
cult to understand without constant refer-
ence to the map, so closely connected are
they Avith one another.
Marmioa River joins the Upper Balonne ;
but of this stream, as also of the Cogoon,
Amby, Belyando, and others discovered by
the indefatigable Sir Thomas Mitchell, in
1846, and of the Dawson, Mackenzie, Suttor,
Burdekin, Lynd, and others, discovered about
the same time by his distinguished contem-
porary. Dr. Leichardt, mention has already
been made in the section on internal explo-
ration. We are so imperfectly acquainted
Avith their courses, that it is not possible
to give a clear description of them ; and
for general oljservations or fi-agmentary de-
tail but little space can now be spared.
From Mitchell we learn that the bed and
banks of the Maranoa are of uniform extent
throughout ; aA^eraging in width about 100
feet ; in height of banks, from thirty to fifty
feet. The coui-se Avas straight ; and it
seemed as if a few dams might have sufficed
to render it navigable, or at least to have
retained a vast supply of Avater ; for although
the bed was sandy, the bottom was rocky,
and the banks consisted of stifl:' clay. These
being covered with rich grass, and consisting
of good soil, Avater alone Avas Avanting to
make the Avhole valuable. The Belyando,
according to the same authority, maintains
a peculiar character throughout its course,
Avith great uniformity, even after receiving
tributaries apparently larger than itself. All
these lapse into the same concatenated line
of ponds ; at one place spreading amidst
brigaloAV scrub, at another forming one Avell-
defined deep channel. For the formation
of ponds and the retention of Avater, in so
dry a climate, we see here something be-
tween the ordinary character of rivers, and
artificial Avorks, Avhicli man must construct
Avhen population spreads into these regions.
The fallen timber of the brigaloAV decays
very sloAvly, and is not liable to be burnt,
like most other dead Avood in open forests,
becatisc no grass grows among it. The
accumulations of dead logs become clogged
Avith river rack and the deposit of floods ;
to which floods these heaps present obstruc-
tions, forcing the waters into ncAV channels,
and in their progress scooping out new
ponds, and cora])leting the embankment of
dead logs; Avhich thus form natural dams
104 THE BOGAN, AND THE DARLING NEAR FORT BOURKE.
and reservoirs^ to hold, under the shade of
the brigalow trees, more water for a longer
time than any single river-channel could
retain, however sluggish its course. Thus it
was that, during a season of unusual di'ought,
abuiuhmcc of water was found in this river's
coiu'se, across nearly threc-and-a-half de-
grees of latitude. From the above observa-
tions, it is evident that the Belyando is a
striking example of the general construction
of Australian rivers, as noted at the com-
mencement of this section.
To return to the Darling — after receiving
the Culgoa it is joined by the Bogun, on the
opposite bank. The chief sources of the
Bogan arise in Hervey's range, and also in
that much less elevated country situated
between the Ijaehlan and the Maequarie.
The lower part of this river Avas called
" Allan's Water," by Oxley ; and another
portion received the name of " New Year's
Creek," from ]\Ir. Hume. Since then it
has been sur^ eyed by IMitchell, nearly from
its som'ces to its junction with the Darling ;
and is considered, by him, as belonging to
the basin of the INIacquarie, although it
never joins that river, but merely skirts
the plains Avhich may be supposed to form
its original bed. Throughout its whole
course of 250 miles, the left bank of the
Bogan is close to low hills, while the right
adjoins the plains of the INIacquarie, until it
finally takes q. remai'kable tm'D westward
towards the Darling. A striking uniformity
is manifested in this little river, no change
being observable throughout its whole com-se
in the character of its tianks, or the breadth
of its bed, neither are the ponds near its
som'ce less numerous, or of less magnitude,
than those near its junction with the prin-
cipal stream. There are few or no pebbles
in its bed, and no reeds grow upon the
banks, which are generally sloping and of
naked earth, marked with lines of flood.
Mr. Dixon estimates the velocity of the
current at foui* miles per hour, where its
course is most Avesterly, (the average rate of
the larger rivers of Australia being, accord-
ing to Mitchell, two miles an hour.) It has
often second banks; and, like the Darling,
a belt of dwarf eucalypti, box, or rough
gum, encloses the more stately flooded gum-
trees, Avith the shining white bark, which
grow on the immediate bank of the river.
It has extensive plains along the banks, the
soil of which is not only much firmer, but
also clothed Avith grass, and fringed with
trees and bushes of a finer variety than those
on the Darling. Yet, in the grasses there is
not the Avondei-ful variety remarkable on the
banks of that river. "Of twenty-six dif-
ferent kinds," says Sir T. Mitchell, "ga-
thered by mxC on the Darling, I found only
four of the same sorts growing on the
Bogan, and not more than four other varie-
ties throughout the Avhole course. It ap-
peared that where laud was best and most
abundant, the grass consisted of one or two
kinds only ; and, on the contrary, that where
the sm'face was nearly bare, the greatest
varieties of grasses appeared, as if all strug-
gling for existence.' ' It was hoped that the
Bogan would afford the means of access to
the Darling at all times, by insuring the
traveller on its banks against the chief im-
pediments to travelling in Australia, namely
— the want of water in periods of drought,
and the results of its superabundance dui'ing
seasons of rain ; for water, it was considered,
would always be found in its channel, at
least in ponds, Avhile no floods could reach
the rising groiinds over the left bank of the
river. This expectation of the constant
supply of Avatcr retained in the Bogan has
not been realized : for Sir Thomas Mit-
chell, in December 1845, Avas compelled to
abandon his intended route by this riA^er,
from the scarcity of this first necessity of
life. About twelve miles beloAV the junction
of the Bogan Avith the Darling, in 145° 53'
\2" E. long., 30° r 4" S. lat., a stockade or
block-house Avas erected by Sir Thomas L.
Mitchell, in 1835, on a spot Avliich he named
Fort Bourke, and describes as " surpassing
anything he had expected to find on the
Darling." It consisted of the highest gi'ound
rising gradually fi'om the loAver levels, by
Avhich the river is approached from the
Bogan, to an elevated and extensive plateau,
overlooking a reach of the river, a mile and-
a-half in length, the hill being situated
near a sharp turn at the loAver end of the
reach. At this turn a small Avater-course
enters, which surrounds Fort Bourke on all
sides, save that of the river ; it encloses
about IGO acres, containing abmidance of
grass. The plateau consists of rich loam;
and, when first visited, was tliinly AA'ooded.
Upon it Avere found various burying-places
of the natives, Avho always choose the highest
parts of that loAV country for the purpose of
interment.* On the 1st June, 1835, the
surA'eyor-general (Sir T. L. IMitchell), em-
barked in his whale-boats on the Darling at
Fort Bourke : and the folloAving extracts
* MitchoU's Erpcdi.tio)is into Australia.
INUTILITY OF THE DARLING AS A NAVIGABLE RIVER.
105
from liis journal sbo^v how little reasonable
liope can he entertained of ever rendering
the Darling nsefiil as a navigable river : —
"We proceeded well enough some way down
the river^ but at length a shallow reach first
occasioned much delay, and afterwards rocks
so dammed np the channel, that it was neces-
sary to unload and draw the boats over
them. Our progress was thus extremely
sloAV, not-withstanding the activity and exer-
tions of the men, v.iio were constantly in
the water, although a bitter cold wind blew
all day. By sunset "we had got over a bad
place, where there was a considerable fall,
when, on looking round the point, we found
that the bed of the river was full of rocks
to the extent of nearly a mile." (Sir Tho-
mas explains elsewhere, that what he here
terms rocks is but the ferruginous clay which
fills the lowest part of the basin of this
river.) " These unexpected impediments to
our progress down the river determined me
to retm'n to the depot with the boats, and
afterv'-ards to explore its course on horse-
back.^' On June 4th, he tells us, "a rocky
dyke crossed the stream in a N.N.W. dii'cc-
tiou. This must," he adds, " have been
another of the many impediments to our
boat navigation had wc proceeded by water,
and from the general appearance of the
river, I Avas satisfied that a passage with
boats could not have been attempted in its
present state, Avith any prospect of getting
soon doMTi." On Jujie 10th he reached
Sturt's furthest, bslow which the river
formed a cataract of about two feet. On
1 7th June he found deep water; but, on
the 19th, the river was so shallow that it
seemed almost possible to step across it, and
no deep reaches appeared in its bed. This
was nearly 120 miles below Fort Bourke.
On 24th June, there w'as a fall of about
four feet. On 2Gtli June, he forded the
Darling : 200 miles from Fort Boui'ke the
river had the same character as about that
locality — a slow current, and an equal
volume of water. Below this, on a ride
of twenty-three miles, the channel became
very contracted, and containing many dead
trees, had altogether a diminished appear-
ance. On the 8th July, the country was
such as to remind him of the deserts in
Asia or Africa. On the 11th July, he
says, " I had traced its coiu'se upwards of
300 miles, through a country which did not
supply a single stream, all the torrents which
might descend from the sharp and naked
hills being absorbed by the thirsty earth.
DIV. I.
Over the w'holc of this extensive region
there grew but little grass, and few trees
available for any useful purpose, except
varieties of acacia, a tree so peculiar to
these desert interior regions, and which
there seemed to be nomished only by the
dews of night." And respecting this country,
he adds, "We saw neither kangaroos nor
emus, a sufficient proof of the barrenness of
the adjacent country." The furthest point
reached was near that now called Laidley's
Ponds. Of this whole extent. Sir Thomas
says elsewhere — " The average breadth of
the river at the surface of the water, when
low, is about fifty yards, but oftener less
than this, and seldom more. I cannot
think that the velocity of the floods in the
river ever exceeds one mile per hour, but
that it is, in general, much less. At this
time the water actually floAAing, as seen at
one or two shallow places, did not exceed, in
quantity, that which woiild be necessary to
turn a mill."
The more recent accounts of captain Sturt
accord only too entirely with the unfavour-
able remarks above quoted. In October,
1844, in his desert expedition (p. 387), he
made the Darling about fifteen miles above
its junction with the 3,Iurray, and found it
Avith scarcely any water in its bed. The
river, says captain Sturt, must have been in
the state in Avhich we found it for a great
length of time, and I am led to infer, from
the very grassy nature of its bed, that it
seldom contains water to any depth, or length
of time, since in such case the gi-ass would
be killed. Its flats are backed by lagoons,
but they had long been dry, and the trees
gi'OAving round them were either dead or
dying. During a single night the Darling
■was converted, from an almost dry channel,
into a foaming and impetuous stream, sweep-
ing everything away on its tiu'bid Avaters at
the rate of three or foiu- miles an hour, and
in four days it overfioAved its banks. On the
return of the expedition homcAvards in the
following year, some two months later in the
season, there had been no recurrence of the
flood of the prcAious year, but the Darling
Avas at a still loAvcr ebb than before, and
every lagoon and creek in its vicinity had
long been exhausted and Avaterless. The
Avatcr is described by JMitchell as being in
all parts as transparent as that of the purest
spring Avell, entirely losing all brackish taste
bcloAV an extreme point of Dunlop's Range,
Avherc a hill consisting of a very hard breccia
closes on the river so as to separate the plains
N
106 THE WILLIORARA— GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE DARLING.
above it from those lower clo^v^^, The taste '
of the water was found to be worst where the
liver is nearest to D'Urban's Group — above
that, at the junction of the Bogan, and for
seventeen miles from thence downwards, it
was excellent.
The Williorara, or LaidJeifs Ponds was
supposed to be a mountain stream flowing in
a south-westerly du'ection into the Darling,
which it joins in about 142° 26' E. long.
32° 26' S. lat. By it captain Sturt hoped to
penetrate the noilhern interior, but on ex-
amination it proved to be merely a channel
of communication between two lakes that
were on either side of it, called iVIinandichi
and Cawndilla, to which it conveyed the
surplus water of the Darling during the
floods. It was about fifty yards broad, with
low muddy banks, and its course of about
nine or ten miles was exceedingly tortuous,
but almost due west. Cawndilla lake is
merely a shallow basin of considerable extent,
filled by the river floods, and retaining them
for a short time only. Immense quantities
of fish, hoAvever, pass into these temporaiy
resen'oii's, and the floods are consequently
looked for by the natives with anxious ex-
pectation. Sir Thomas ^Mitchell y/hen con-
cluding his account of the Darling, in 1835,
makes the following remarks, which illustrate
some of the characteristics of this singular
river too clearly to be omitted here, although
in perusing them the reader must bear in
mind that the river was visited by the sm*-
veyor-geueral dming a favourable season,
and therefore bore a very different aspect to
that under which it has been seen by subse-
quent travellers : —
" From the sparkling transparency of this water,
its undiminshed current sustained without receiving
any tributary throughout a course of 660 miles, and
especially from its being salt in some places and fresh
at others, it seems probable that the current, when
in that reduced state, is chiefly supported by springs.
It would appear that the saltness occurs Avhen the
springs also fail, and may be attributed to the same
causes, whatever they are, by which all known ■waters
unconnected with springs or streams are said to
become salt. The bed of the river is at an average
depth of about sixty feet below the common surface
of the country. To this depth the soil generally
consists of clay, in which calcareous concretions and
selenites occur abundantly ; at other parts the clay
impregnated with iron forms a soft kind of rock in
the bed, or banks of the river. There are no traces
of water-coui'ses on these level plains, such as might
be expected to fall from the hills behind. The hills,
nevertheless, contain some hollows and gullies which
must, in wet seasons, conduct water to the plains ;
the distance of such heights from the river being
seldom less than twelve miles, and it would appear
that the intervening country is of such an absorbent
nature, and so extensive, that any torrents from the
higher country ai-e imbibed by the soft earth, for the
hollow parts are seared with deep broad cracks,
which in wet seasons must take up and retain much
water, until it is either evaporatecl, or sinks to lower
levels. The water may thus be absorbed and retained
for a considerable time, and escape by slow drainage
into the river, especially where the lower paits of such
plains are shut in by hills approaching the channel.
Thus, where the extremity of Dunlop's range shot
forward into the wide level margin, we found that
the water had lost all taste of salt, a circumstance
most easily accounted for, by supposing that springs
being more abundant there, from the near- vicinity
of the hills, had diluted the water which we had
found salt higher up.
" The marks of high floods were apparent on the
surface, to a distance frequently of as much as two
miles from the ordinary channel. Within such a
space the waters appear to overflow, and then to lodge
in hollows (covered with 2>oli/go?}mn jiinceum), and
which Avere then full of yawning cracks. Such
parts of the surface would naturally become fii-st
saturated in times of flood, and be the last to part
with moisture in seasons of drought. I observed
that there was less of that kind of low ground where
the water was saltest, which was to the westward of
D'Urban's group.
" The basin of the Darling, which may be con-
sidered to extend to the coast ranges on the east,
appears to be very limited on the opposite or western
side, a desert country from which it did not receive,
as fai" as I could discover, a single tributary of any
importance. A succession of low ridges seemed
there to mark the extent of its basin, nor did I per-
ceive in the country beyond, any ranges of a more
decidedly fluviatile character.
" Some of the hollows behind the immediate banks
on both sides contained lagoons ; in some of these,
reeds had at length taken the place of water; in
others, the first coating of vegetation which the
alluvium receives on exposure to the sun, consisted
of fragrant herbs, and amongst them Me found the
scented ti-efoil (trigonella suavissima), which proved
an excellent anti-scorbutic vegetable Avhen boiled.
The surface of the earth near the river is unlike
any part of the earth's face that I have elsewhere
seen. It is as clear of vegetation as a fallow-field,
but with greater inequality of surface, and fuU of
holes. The soil is just tenacious enough to open
into cracks, for the surface becomes so soft and loose
that the few weeds that may have sprung up previous
to desiccation seldom remain where they grow, being
blown out by the slightest 'wind. Over such ground
it was fatiguing labour- to walk, the foot at each
step sinking in to the ancle, and care being neces-
sary to avoid holes always ready to receive the whole
leg, or sometimes a man's whole body. The labour
which this kind of gi'ound cost the poor bullocks,
drawing heavy carts, reduced them to such a state
of weakness, tliat six never returned from the Dar-
ling." " Of the hills in general it may be observed,
that those on the left bank are most elevated at the
higher parts of the river, whereas those on the right
bank rise into greatest height towards the lower
parts of the liver, as far as explored by us. The
plains extend on each side of the channel to a dis-
tance of six or seven miles, and are in general cleai
of timber. That deep and extensive bed of clay,
so uniformly filling the basin of this river, has every
appearance of mud deposited. Behind them the
country is sparingly wooded, except by the stunted
bush ('})i!/opontm montanum), which forms a thick
scrub, especially on the side of the low hills. On
the river bank, trees peculiar to it grow to so large
a size, that its course may be easily distinguished at
great distances, and thus these facilitated our survey
in a very gi-eat degree. These gigantic ti-ees consist
of that species of eucalyptus called blue gum in the
colony. Its searching roots seem to luxuriate in the
banks of streams, lakes, or ponds, where it is so con-
stant to moisture, that the thirsty traveller soon
learns to recognise its shining trunk and white gnarled
arms, as the surest guides to water. The alluvial
portion of the margin of the Darling is narrow, and
in most places overgrown with the dwarf box, which
is another species of eucalyptus. In this alluvial
part there are hollow ])laces as already observed,
covered with the polygonum jimceum, which is an
unsightly leafless bush or bramble. Grass is only
to be found on the banks of the river, for, strictly
speaking, the margin only can be considered alluvial,
for this being irrigated and enriched by the floods,
is everywhere productive of grass, which grows there
abundantly, even where none appears in the back
country.
" In the back-ground beyond the plains, some
casuarina; and eucalypti are occasionally seen in the
scrubs wliich grow on the red sand, and an acacia
(having a white stem, the bark being much spotted)
there grows to a considerable size, and produces
much gum. Indeed, gum acacia abounds in these
scrubs, and when the country is more accessible, may
become an article of commerce.
" The plants, though in general different from those
nearer the colony, Avere few, but curious. Of grasses
I gathered seeds of twenty-five difi'erent kinds, six
of these growing only on the alluvial bank of the
Darling. Among these were a ^wa, and the chloris
trioicata, and sfqja setacea of Mr. Brown. The coun-
try was, nevertheless, almost bare, and the roots,
stems, and seeds, the products of a former season, were
blown about on the soft face of the parched and
naked earth, where the last spring seemed indeed to
have produced, no vegetation, excepting a thin crop
of an umbelliferous weed.
" The natives of the Darling live chiefly on the
fish of the river, and are expert swimmers and divers.
They can swim and turn with great velocity under
water, where they can both see and spear the largest
fish, sometimes remaining under water for this pur-
pose a considerable time. In very cold weather,
however, they float on the surface in pieces of bark ;
and thus also they can spear the fish, having a small
fire beside them in their bark canoe. They also feed
on birds, and especially on ducks, which they ensnare
with nets, Avith which a tribe is always provided.
These nets are very well made, much resembling our
own, and of a similar material, the wild flax, Avhich
grows near the river in tufts, and thus very con-
venient to pull. These are easily gathered by the
• When writing of the expedition conducted by
this brave but unfortunate gentleman (p. 395), I
mentioned that he was supposed to have perished
in an encounter with the natives. He was sent to
survey the country lying between Rockingham Bay
and Cape York, l)ut the stock of provisions being
well nigh exhausted, Mr. Kennedy divided his party,
and proceeded towards Cape York, in the hope of
procuring the supplies which had been forwarded
from Sydney by water. Of the nine men left
behind, seven perished of ague, produced by over-
gins, who indeed manage the whole process of net-
making. They give each tuft (after gathering it) a
twist, also biting it a little, and in that state their
flax is laid about on the roofs of their huts until drj'.
Fishing-nets are made of various similar materials,
being often very large, and attached to some I have
seen half-inch cordage, which might have been mis-
taken for the production of a rope-walk. But the
largest of their nets are those set across the Darling
for the purpose of catching the ducks as they ily
along the river in considerable flocks. These nets
are strong, with Avide meshes, and they are hung up
on a lofty pole erected for the purpose on one side,
usually opposite to some large tree on the other,
being easily suspended upon these supports, as occa-
sion requires ; such poles are permanently fixed, sup-
ported by substantial props, and it Avas doubtless
one of this description that captain Sturt sup-
posed to have been erected to propitiate some
deity.
" The native knows avcII ' the alleys green' through
Avhich at twilight the thirsty pigeons and parrots rush
tOAvards the Avater, and there Avith a smaller net hung
up, he sits doAvn and makes a fire ready to roast the
birds Avhich may fall into his snare."
The ana-branchy or ancient channel of
the Darling, is described by Eyre, who dis-
covered it, as running through the scrub
half-way between Lake Victoria and the
main stream, Avith a course of fully sixty
miles, nearly parallel to the latter. This
singular watercom'se forms, in times of flood,
another connecting channel between the
Darling and the Murray, leaving an im-
mense desert island of low or scrubby
lands between it and the Darling. At such
times it has a strong current running up-
wards, caused by the back-waters of the
Murray. According to captain Sturt, it
has a broad channel and long reaches, but
is wholly wanting in pasture, or timber of
any size. The plains of the interior formed
the banks, and nothing but salsolacse grew
on them. No Avater, he says, ever flows
down the ana-branch into the north.
Victoria River, the Warrego, and other
streams discovered in 1846, by Sir Thomas
Mitchell, and subsequently visited by his
able assistant, Mr. Kennedy,^ have been
already referred to (pp. 393, 394) ; nor is
there, as far as I am aAvare, sufficient infor-
mation possessed concerning these streams
to furnish a more detailed description.
fatigue and food both insufficient and uuAvholesome,
for they were compelled to cat the flesh of the
wretched horses dried in the sun ; and the last sur-
vivors (one of Avhom Avas Mr. Carron, attached as
botanist to the expedition), Avere too Aveak to bury
their deceased comrades. The fate of those Avho
accompanied Mr. Kennedy Avas equally melancholy ;
one of them, named Costigan, accidentally shot him-
self, and Mr. Kennedy leaving him in the care of
tAVO others, pursued his way, in the hope of obtaining
speedy succour accompanied only by his faithful
Counties. — New South Wales, according
to the ''Bkie Book" of 184-0, contains twenty-
two counties, whose area, popuhition, num-
ber of acres under cultivation, and produce,
will be given in a subsequent chapter. To
this numl)er several others have been, or
are on the point of being, added. These
divisions are so little dwelt upon, and indeed
so rarely alluded to, by tlie ^vriters on the
topography of New South Wales (Mitchell
alone excepted) , tliat I have found it difficult,
after a careful examination of the writings
of Oxley, Lang, Braim, and others, of the
excellent local journals, and of the colo-
nial and geographical magazines published
in England, assisted by the information ac-
quired by personal observation, to furnish
anything approaching a clear or detailed
description of the counties. Dr. Lang, in
his valuable work on New South Wales, re-
marks, " that, except in government deeds
or legal documents, the grand natural divi-
sions of the country are the only ones known
attendant, an aboriginal namedJackeyJackey, through
a country swarming with hostile natives. These sa-
vages, according to Jackey's statement, came stealthily
behind, and hiding in the scrub, threw large jagged
wooden spears at them, by which both they and the
horses were wounded. Kennedy fell to rise no more,
his last injunction to his weeping follower being, to
endeavour to preserve his papers and to convey them
to the governor. The poor boy, following the direc-
tions of his unhapjiy master, succeeded in reach-
ing Port Albany, and informing the captain of the
schooner lying there with supplies, of the sad results
of the expedition. Captain l)obson hastened to Shel-
burne Bay, but arrived there, as before stated, in time
to save two only of the ill-fated band. Jackey
Jackey's account of the death of poor Kennedy is
so simple and pathetic, that I cannot resist quoting
it here : —
" I asked him, ' Mr. Kennedy, are you going to
leave me?' and he said, 'Yes my boy, I am going
to leave you ;' he said, ' I am very bad, Jackey ; you
take the books, Jackey, to the captain ; but not the
big ones, the governor will give anything for them.'
I then tied up the pajjcrs ; he then said, ' Jackey,
give me paper, and I will write.' I gave him paper
and pencil, and he tried to Avrite ; and he then fell
back and died, and I caught him as he fell back and
held him, and I then turned round myself and cried ;
I was crying a good while, unti' I got well ; that was
about an hour, and then I buried him ; I digged up
the ground with a tomahawk, and covered him over
with logs, then grass, and my shirt and trousers ;
that night 1 loft him near dark. I would go through
the scrub, and the blacks threv/ spears at me, a good
many, and I went back again into the scrub ; then
I went down the creek M'hich runs into Escape lliver,
and I Avalked along the water in the creek very easy,
with my head only above water, to avoid the blacks
and get out of their way ; in this way I went half-
a-miie ; then I got out of the creek and got clear
of them, and walked on all night nearly, and slept in
the bush without a fii-e I went on next morning,
or recognised by the colonists, who accord-
ingly speak only of the districts of the
Hawkesbury, of Hunter's River, of Bathurst,
of Illawarra, of Argyle, and of Port Mac-
quarie. For the colonial readers, therefore;
of the present day, wlio have not yet arrived
at the feeling of countyship (if it may be so
termed) manifested in the mother country,
a separate delineation of the counties may
not be necessary; but the want of it would,
I think, be felt by readers in the United
Kingdom , and it is to them more espe-
cially that I v.'ould fain render famiUar the
state of this and every other British colony,
sure that (under ProAddence) much benefit
would thereby result. The following is a
brief account of the oldest established coun-
ties. The first in point of settlement —
Cumbei'land county, has a coast line,
stretching southward, of about fifty-six miles,
and an extreme breadth, frotn the sea to
the base of the Blue Mountains, of forty-six
miles.
and felt very bad, and I spelled for two days ; I lived
upon nothing but salt-water Next day I went on and
camped one mile away from where 1 left, and ate
one of the pandanos ; on next morning I went on
two miles, and sat down there, and I wanted to spell
a little there, and go on ; but when I tried to get
up, 1 could not, but fell down again bery tired an 1
cramped, and I spelled here two days ; then I went
on again one mile, and got nothing to eat but one
nondo ; and I went on that day and camped, and on
again next morning, about half a mile, and sat down
where there was good water, and remained all day.
On the following morning I went a good way, went
round a great swamp and mangroves, and got a good
way by sundown. The next morning I went and
saw a very large track of black fellows. I went
clear of the track and of swamp or sandy ground
then I came to a very large river and a large lagoon
plenty of alligators in the lagoon, about ten miles
from Port Albany. I now got into the ridges by
sundown, and went up a tree and saw Albany Island.
Then next morning at four o'clock, I went on as
hard as I could go, all the way down, over fine clear
ground, fine iron bark timber and plenty of good
grass; I went on round the point (this was towards
Cape York, north of Albany Island) and went on
and followed a creek down, and went on toj) of the
hill and I saw Cape York ; I knew it was Cape York,
because the sand did not go on farther; I sat down
then a good while ; I said to myself, this is Port
Albany, I believe inside, somewhere. Mr. Kennedy
always told me that the shij) was inside, close up
to the main land ; I went on a little way and saw
the ship and boat. I met close up here two black
gins and a good many piccaninies ; one said to me,
' powad, powad,' then I asked her for eggs — she gave
me tiu'tles' eggs, and I gave her a burning-glass ;
she pointed at the ship, which I had seen before ; I
was very frightened of seeing tlie black men all along
here, and when I was on the rock, cooeying, and
murry murry (very, very) glad when the boat came
to me."
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NEW SOUTH WALES— SYDNEY.
109
The Hawkesbury and Ncpean rivers form
seven-eighths of the iiiUmd boundary of this
county, which, not-nathstauding its inferiority
in size and the general character of its soil,
is the most important and the most densely
populated of them all, Sydney, the capital
of the colony, being situated in it, and also
the towns of Paramatta, Liverpool, Windsor,
Richmond, and Campbell-town.
The maritime boundary is generally bold
and deeply indented. For the distance of
five or six miles from the sea, the country
wears a bleak and barren aspect, consisting
of ridges of stratified sandstone ; the soil
poor, in some places swampy, and clothed
with a few stunted eucalypti and dwarf un-
derwood.
Beyond this coast-girdle the aspect begins
to improve ; an undulating country extends
for ten miles ; and where the hand of ci%dl-
ization has not been in active operation,
a stately forest of eucalypti, varied with a
species of casaurina, appears, diversified here
and there Avitli farms and tenements, and
intersected by broad and excellent turnpike
roads ; but the soil in this belt is still poor
on the surface, as it rests on a sandstone
formation. At the distance of twenty to
tsventy-five miles, the forest is lofty, but not
dense ; there is little or no underwood, and
the average number of trees to the acre does
not exceed fifty; while a charming variety
of hill and dale, clothed with luxuriant
herbage, is covered with bleating flocks and
lowing herds, among which may be seen,
at intervals, the spacious mansion or snug-
farm-house of ci^dlized man. Throughout
the whole of the county, from the sea- coast
to the base of the Blue Mountains, the
land can scarcely be considered elevated, but
is a continued series of undulations, until
it approaches the Nepean and Hawkesbury
rivers, which are bordered by extensive
plains of extraordinary fertility. Formerly,
one immense tract of forest land, covered
with very heavy timber, extended with little
interruption from belov^^ Windsor to Appin,
a distance of fifty miles; of which a large
portion is now cleared and under cultiva-
tion. The rocks in this tract are either
* Account of New South Wales, by James Atkin-
son, Esq.
+ The lighthouse is in 33' 51' 40" S. lat., VoV 16' 50"
E. long. ; the tower is admirably built ; the height o
the light (a revolving one) from the base being 76
feet, and above the sea 277 feet, — total 353. The
inner S. head bears from the lighthouse N. by W.
f AV. distant a mile and-a-quarter. The outer "N. head
bears from it N. bv E. two miles. The inner S. and
common or calcareous sandstone, ironstone,
and in some few places whinstone : these
form soils of various degrees of goodness,
the whinstone generally the best. In some
places small pebbles of ironstone, not larger
than peas, may be found scattered over the
surface. Tliis, wherever it occurs, is a sure
sign of a poor hungry soil.'^"
Prospect Hill, the most conspicuous emi-
nence in Cumberland, is situated near the
centre of that county. It is cultivated
nearly to the summit, and the rich red soil
on the trap rock is remarkably productive.
The land, on approaching Port Jackson
from the southward, appears low, compared
with the coast of the Illawarra district : the
cliff's near Port Jackson are about 200 feet
in height ; and in general effect and outline,
though darker colom'ed, not unlike the far-
famed Dover cliffs of Albion.
Suddenly an abrupt breach is seen in
this sea-wall, against Avhich the vast volume
of water in the Southern Pacific is rolled
with incessant swell ; but the moment the
tempest-tossed mariner has fairly passed
through this singular cleft or fissm'c, the
waters are as tranquil as a mill-pond. On
the south head of the entrance of Port
Jackson an excellent lighthousef was erected
by governor Macquarie, which captain Stokes
says he saw, in H.M.S. Beagle, at a distance
of thirty miles, from a height of fifty feet,
during the period of a clear atmosphere.
The capital of New South Wales, named
in honom- of Viscomit Sydney, his Majesty's
secretary of state for the colonies in 1788,
is situated in 35° 52' S. lat., 151° 17' E. long.
For nearly a quarter of a century after its
original establishment on the shores of
Sydney Cove (Port Jackson), the now im-
portant city was little more than an insig-
nificant village of bark huts and wooden
skillings, scattered here and there among
fields and gardens. Soon after the arrival
of governor Macquarie, a survey was made
of the whole locality, and the future town
marked out on a regular plan.
Sydney is built partly on a small promon-
tory, and partly in a narrow ravine or valley.
outer N. heads lie N.E. ^ E. and S.W. j, of each
other distant a mile and one-tenth. The liglit can be
seen from S. by I''^. to N. by E., and from a ship's
deck, on a clear night, eight to ten leagues, appearing
like a luminous star. Bearings magnetic, distances
nautical — variations 9 degrees E.
N.B. — The N. end of the " Sow and Pigs" rocks,
near which there is" a light, bears from tlie inner S.
head S. W. bv W. half a mile.
110 THE CITY OF SYDNEY—GO^TERNMENT HOUSE AND STREETS.
The formation on which it stands is a free-
stone rock, which passes inland for about
two miles, in undulating and nearly parallel
ridges, in a direction almost due south of
that portion of Port Jackson generally known
as the Stream, or Middle Harbour, which,
with Sydney Cove and Darling Harbour,
encloses gi'cater part of the city on three
sides. The ridges decline as they recede
from the Middle Harbom', until they tenni-
nate in an almost level plain, bounded on
the south by a transverse range of elevated
rock, known as the Svmy hills, which com-
prise the southern subui'bs.*
The views from the higher part of the
capital are bold, varied, and many of them
very picturesque; the magnificent harbour
of Port Jackson, like a lake studded with
islets, indented with coves of singular beaiity,
whose tranquil recesses afford a secure haven
to hundreds of vessels, is ever an attractive
object; while inland, the diversity of hill
and dale, of rock and woodland, of grassy
slopes and brilliant parterres, interspersed
with princely mansions, cottage ornees, and
substantial homesteads, combine in forming
many charming prospects.
The position of Sydney admirably adapts
it for the centre of a commercial empire.
Its haven, which is about fifteen miles Ions',
and, m some places, three miles broad, is
completely land-locked. Along the water-
side, except that portion occupied by the
demesne contiguous to government house,
there are wharfs, stores, ship-yards, mills,
various manufactories, distilleries, steam
engines, breweries, &c. ; behind these, in
irregular succession, rise the numerous pub-
lic and private buildings of the Australian
metropolis. In several parts, ships come
close alongside the wharfs, and their cargoes
are hoisted direct from the hold into the
warehouses. The streets are laid out gene-
rally at right angles; thirty-four of them
* By an act for regulating the police in the to-n-n
and port of Sydney, and for removing and preventing
nuisances and obstructions therein, which came into
operation 30th September, 1833, the boundaries of
the town of Sydney, port of Sydney, Sydney Cove,
and Darling Harbour, were thus fixed : —
Toivn of St/dnci/. — Bounded on the nortli by the
•waters of Port Jackson, from a land-mark at the
head of Blackwattle Bay to Ruslicutter's Bay; on
the east by the stream entering llushcutter's Bay, to
a bridge on the South Head Road, at the north-west
corner of Sydney Common ; and by the western
boundary of that common to a road extending west-
ward to the back of Cleveland House ; on the south
by that road and its western fence, prolonged to a
land-mark on the road to Cook's liiver ; on the west
by the western side of the road to Cook's River, and
have each a carriage-way of not less than
thii'ty-six feet, (several have from forty to
sixty feet), and a foot-way of not less than
twelve feet. Their length varies from one
to three miles ; they are well paved or mac-
adamized, regularly cleaned, watered, and
lit with gas. George-street and Pitt-street
have continuous ranges of handsome cut
stone or brick edifices, with shops that would
do no discredit to Regent or Oxford-street,
London. Indeed, the modem structures
generally, may, in several respects, fairly
rie with those of an Eiu'opean capital ; and
many of the older houses, though con-
structed with little pretensions to taste, were
yet (owing to the abundance of good brick
earth, and excellent building stone, so easily
obtainable,) strongly and usefully built ; and,
with their neat gardens iu front, present a
cheerful appearance.
The recently-erected government-house,
which stands in a conspicuous position, over-
looking Sydney Cove, is a very handsome
structure, built of white freestone, in the
Elizabethean style of architectui-e. Its
foundations are laid in the solid rock, out of
which the basement and cellars are quarried ;
and the whole tower, at the north end,
seventy feet high, and twenty feet square,
with a flag-staff, thii'ty feet high, forms a
striking feature from the harbour, of which
the house commands a fine view. The
building is 170 feet long, and 40 1 high;
the ball-room, 50 feet by 28 feet ; drawing-
room, 40 by 28; ante-room, 15 by 28;
dining-room, 45 by 26. All the rooms are
26 feet high, and finished in superb style;
the staircases are of carved cedar, and the
chimney-pieces of fine colonial marble.
The cost to the colonists has, I beheve,
been between £50,000 and £60,000. The
contrast is very great between this princely
mansion and the canvass house of the first
governor of New South Wales, or with the
that line prolonged to the land-mark at the head of
the Blackwattle Bay.
Port of Siidncy. — The channel extending westward
from the heads of Port Jackson to Long Nose Point,
including Sydney Cove, Darling Harbour, and ex-
tending one mile up Middle Harbour, and the various
other bays or inlets on each shore thereof.
Sydney Cove. — The waters included within a line
extending from Dawes' Point to the north-west
bastion of Fort j\Iacquai-ie, and the shores to the
southward of this line.
Darliny Harbour. — The waters included within a
line extending from Dawes' Point to the soutli-east
point of the shore nearest to and opposite to Goat
Island; the shores of tliis harbour on the side of the
town, and those opposite t*" them.
CHURCHES IN SYDNEY. PIETY OF GEORGE THE THIRD.
Ill
wretched wooden tenements in nse for
several years.
There are numerous temples dedicated to
the worship of God ; among which are^ five
large and commodious Episcopalian churches,
besides a missionary Congregational churcli ;
three Presbyterian chm'ches ; two Roman
catholic — St. Mary's cathedral and St. Pa-
trick's chui'ch, both spacious edifices, highly
ornamented ; five or six Wesleyan chapels ;
a Baptist chapel ; one Australian Methodist
chapel; a Friends' meeting-house; and a
Jewish synagogue.
St. Andrew's Cathedral was constructed
as the Episcopal chui'ch of Australia, on the
creation of a diocese in communion with the
churcli of England ; the foundation stone
was laid in May, 1839, under the auspices
of the first bishop of Australia. This hand-
some edifice is 720 feet from east to west,
including the tower, whose pinnacles have
an elevation of 120 feet. The height of the
body of the chui'ch is seventy feet. It will
contain a congregation of about 2,000. The
expense of its erection is estimated at
^£50,000, towards which the inhabitants
contri1)uted largelv ; one family alone, that
of Robert Campbell, M.C., subscribed £500.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral is the
largest and most expensive sacred edifice in
the colony ; it was commenced in 1820, and
it is not yet completely finished. Built of
freestone, in the form of a cross, it is an
excellent specimen of Gothic architectm'e,
and being situated in a commanding posi-
tion in Hyde-park, is now an ornament to
the city.
;S/. Phillip's Church has a peculiar interest
attached to it, as being the oldest place of
worship in the colony. Commenced in July,
1793, it was several years before it was fitted
for the celebration of divine service. George
the Third regarded its erection with deep
* The deep interest taken by the '• good old king "
ia the establishment of the first Christian church
erected at the antipodes, ^vhere there are now five
Protestant dioceses, viz., Australia (Sydney), erected
in 1836; New Zealand, 1841 ; Tasmania (Van Die-
men's Land), 1812; Melbourne (Port Phillip), 1847 ;
and Newcastle (New South "Wales), 1847 — was in
unison with his well-known piety of character ; a
piety in the exercise of which he continued to mani-
fest the reasoning power, in other respects entirely
dethroned. During the awful lunacy with which the
mind of George the Third was afflicted, his spirit
remained unclouded in its devotion, and during his
wonted hours of prayer, his Majesty's supplications
were daily uttered to the Almighty disposer of events
• — that the Lord of Heaven and Earth Avould bestow
especial care and favour on the nation, deprived by
His will of the sujierintendence of their lawful sove-
interest; and not content with expressing
his satisfaction that such a building was in
progress, his Majesty forwarded to the
colony (from his private purse) a costly
communion service of plate, which arrived
safely in October, ] 803, and is still used in
this church. The earnest solicitude evinced
by the king expedited the building, which
was consecrated on Christmas Day, 1810.
It is a plain, useful structure, with a round
tower which commands an extensive pros-
pect.*
St. Andrew's Kirk, a handsome Gothic
church, was commenced in November, 1833,
and finished in September, 1835. The walls
arc elevated, and include a spacious area,
there being a projecting entrance in front,
leading to the gallery. Bet^veen the main
windows there are square buttresses, and
two circular turrets surmounted by pointed
spu'es. The interior is admirably fitted up ;
the groined arches of the ceiling rest upon
six fluted colmnns with ornamented capitals;
the cedar pannels and Gothic framing are par-
ticularly handsome. The government gave
the site for the building, but the cost of the
kirk was chiefly defrayed by subscriptions
from members of the established church of
Scotland.
St. James' Church occupies a commanding
site at the north end of Hyde Park. The
foundation was laid in October, 1819, by
governor ISIacquarie, and it was completed
about the end of 1822. It is in the Grecian
style of architecture, with a lofty spire and
belfry, and is constructed of bricks, strength-
ened by large and handsome pilasters of free-
stone. There is a superior organ at the
end of the church, and tiie pulpit is of ex-
cellent workmanship.
The Scots' Kirk is a substantial plam.
building, and the other temples of worship
arc well constructed. As population in-
reign, and that He woidd be to the people of these
realms their temporal as well as spiritual King,
directing ai'ight the counsels of those to whom the
supreme power was delegated. The transmission of
a communion service to St. Phillip's church at Sydney,
is in perfect accordance ■\\ith the deep reverence oi
his Majesty for that hoh and indispensible ordinance.
It is not generally known that some time before the
demise of George the Third, his ^lajesty expressed an
earnest desire to receive the Sacrament. The clergy
and the medical attendants on his Majesty did not
think it advisable to grant the request, whereupon
the king solemnly administered the bread and wine
to himself, with a fervent prayer that if in this he
committed the sin of presumption, he might be for-
given— no other means being left for his obedience to
the divine command, or the satisfaction of his deep
yearning for the comfort of the Holy Sacrament.
112
COLLEGES. THEATRES, AND BUILDINGS IN SYDNEY.
creases, new chui-ches and eha^pels are built,
and Sydney is, on the avIioIc, better pro-
-N-ided with the means of enjoying public i
worship, than many districts of London —
■where, it wiU be remembered, there was re-
cently one parisli with 20,000 inliabitants,
and only one church. !
The Sijdneij College owes its existence '
chiefly to a private indi\ddual, Dr. Bland,
who was originally a surgeon in the royal ■
nav}^, but was transported along with a |
lieutenant of the ship in Avhich he served, |
for being engaged in a fatal duel with !
another officer of the ship. Dr. Bland has ;
long been known as the good Samaritan of
I Australia ; possessed of great skill in his j
I profession, of high general attainments, a [
gentleman by bii'th, education, and feeling, }
he acquired the esteem of general and lady
I Darling, and of all classes in the colony.
Wealth was poured freely into his hands by
the affluent, and its recipient as quickly
pa?s?d it away to the poor; not satisfied merely
with contributing both by his skill and pecu-
niary charity, to alleviate the physical suf-
fering of his fellow-creatures, Dr. Bland
took the lead in the formation of a gram-
mar-school in 1825; in 1828-9 the worthy
doctor made a successful effort to enlarge
and improve the institution ; in 1830 the
grammar-school expanded into Sydney Col-
lege, with a fund of j£10,000, subscribed in
200 shares of £50, each share entitling the
holder in perpetuity to the nomination of
one student at the college. The Old and
New Testament are read without note or
comment ; no religious book is used without
the authority of the president, and a com-
mittee of fifteen members, elected annually
by the aggregate body of trustees. The
building is commodious, and the course of
education in classics, mathematics, and na-
tural philosophy, good.
The Australian College was instituted 31st
December, 1831; it combines a series of
schools for the education of youth in the
elementary branches of education, and gra-
dually extends to the higher coiu'se of in-
struction. The buildings are in chaste style,
large, and capable of containing more than
100 boarders; like the Sydney College, it
is not confined to any particular religious
denomination. A chapter in the Bible is
read by each teacher every morning in the
presence of all the pupils attending his
class.
There is a Normal institution for secular
education alone, and many excellent semi-
naries for both sexes. The sunday schools
are well attended. [See Supplement.]
Among the other public structures in Syd-
ney, is the Theatre Royal, which cost j€1 0,000
in building; the colonists truly aver, that it
" would be an ornament to the Great Baby-
lon." The architectural description given
of it, is as follows : —
" In front of the theatre there are two splendid
shops, between which there is a spacious entrance to
the lower and upper boxes, enclosed by a pair of
massive iron gates. The saloon leading to the two
tiers of boxes, is divided for an entrance for each
portion of the visitors. Tlie interior of the house
is arranged into two circles of boxes, Avith several
private and family boxes; an extensive pit, with
raised seats, and a spacious gallery. To the lower
circle of boxes is attached an elegant dress saloon,
40 feet by 20. The size of the t'licatre is 100 feet
by 53; the stage, 52 feet by 47; the opening of the
proscenium, 8 feet; distance from front to front cf
the boxes, 27 feet; also, a commodious orchestra,
with the necessary green and dressing-rooms; the
height of the building is 50 feet. The whole is fitted
up in the modern style, with a handsome gla'ss chan-
delier in the centre of the roof, and the building is so
arranged, that in case of fire, all jiarts of the house
have communications for escape.'"
The theatre Avas erected by ]Mr. Barnett
Le\T. In the early daj^s of the colony,
the " legitimate drama" Avas performed in
the gaol of Sydney. The public Banks are
all substantial, and, in some instances, orna-
mented buildings; the Head Police Office,
BcncA^olent Asylum, Prisoners' Barracks,
Post OffxCe, deserA'e a record for their suit-
ableness to the purposes for Avhich they were
constructed. The Soldiers' Barracks are large
and plain. Indeed, the number of good
mechanics among the convicts, and the vigi-
lant superintendence of engineer officers,
have materially contributed to secm'c for
Sydney a very superior order of public
edifices. A handsome range of stone build-
ings, with a noble colonnade forming a ve-
! randah and balcony, contains the Legislative
\ and Executive Cotmcil Chambers, and two
I spacious Hospitals. The Court House is
I built on an eminence in that portion of the
! suburbs termed the Surry hills, and adjoin-
i ing it is the New Gaol, an excellent building
well arranged for the classification and sepa-
ration of prisoners. The gaol covers a con-
siderable area of ground, it is erected on a
hill, built of freestone, and sun'ounded by a
massive wall thirty feet high. The Custom
House and the Public Library are designed
upon an equally extensive and substantial
scale. The Public Markets are held in a
double range of narroAV l)uildings about 200
feet in length, floored with freestone, the roofs
FORTS IN PORT JACKSON AND SYDNEY COVE.
113
being supported by stone piers. A fountain
of water in the centre of the amphitheatre
tends to preserA'e cleanliness; at seven in
the morning the ringing of a great bell an-
nounces the opening of the market, and
throughout the day a -vdgilant pohce pre-
serves order. The position of the market-
place, in the centre of the city,* its commo-
dious construction, and the peaceable man-
ner in which business is carried on, enhance
the effect produced on the eye of a stranger
by the abimdance, excellence, and cheapness
of its varied supphes, and combine to form
a scene which, could it be viewed by our
over-wx)rked and under-fed operatives, would
preach more eff'ectively in the cause of
emigration to a British colony, than other
arguments, though eloquent and sincere,
and teach a new lesson to many of our poli-
tical economists.
There are several small forts, but, as ex-
plained under the head of military defences,
there is no protection where most needful —
at the Heads of Port Jackson. The de-
fences of the harbour are shewn in an official
statement.
Fort Macquarie is situated at the extreme
point of the eastern entrance to Sydney
Cove, the access to Avhich it directly com-
mands. It is a permanent work of masonry
— a square of 30 feet face, ha\'ing a small
circular bastion at each angle affording space
for one traversing gun. Three faces of the
square are open to the sea, one of which is
pierced for three guns. Ten twenty-four
pounders are mounted. The terreplein is
tAventy-two feet above the level of the sea. In
the centre of the land face is a two-storied
tower, with a magazine in the basement
calculated to hold 350 baiTcls of gunpow-
der. The tower is intended to cover a small
detachment of soldiers, with the necessary
stores for the battery. The land communi-
cation is by a permanent bridge over a dry
rock. This work will take in reverse any
work erected on Pinchgut Island, from
which it is distant 1,062 yards. A non-
commissioned officer and twelve men are at
present quartered in the tower ; not more
than six men in addition could be put under
cover.
Fort Phillip is situated on the highest
ground within the northern portion of the
city; it appears to have been the intention
• No beast can be killed in Sydney without inspec-
tion and certificate from an inspector appointed by the
government, and for the inspection a fee of threepence
is paid. All slaughter-houses are licensed. i
DIV. I.
to construct a pentagon at this point, the
sides measuring 100 feet. The work was
commenced in 1804, and partly carried up
to the height of eighteen feet, sLx inches;
nothing further was done, the plan of the
work, it is presumed, being found defective.
The situation is highly favom-able for a work
of defence (a citadel), at an elevation of
157 feet above the sea; it commands a great
part of the city of Sydney, the anchorage,
and the access to Sydney Cove and Darhng
Harbour. It also takes in reverse Dawes'
Battery, at the distance of 715 yards; Fort
jNIacquarie, at 1,062 yards ; and Pinchgut
Island, at 2,124 yards. Six six-pounder guns
are placed on one of the faces of the old
work, for the purpose of a saluting battery.
There is a permanent magazine at this point
for 200 barrels of gunpowder; but no ac-
commodation for troops.
Dawes' Battery is situated on the point
forming the western extremity of Sydney
Cove, which it separates from Darling Har-
bour. The work consists of an open barbette
battery, capable of mounting six twenty-four
pounders. It immediately commands Fort
INIacquarie, at a distance of 728 yards, and
also commands the approach to, and anchor-
age in, the Cove. The platform of the bat-
tery is at an elevation of seventy feet above
the sea, to which the glacis extends. There
is no accommodation for troops.
Bradley's Head is a commanding point on
the right approach to the city of Sydney by
sea, distant about 4,596 yards. The bat-
tery, when completed, will mount seven
twenty-four pounders. The site is impor-
tant, commanding, as it does, the ship-chan-
nel, at 1,000 yards. Ships forcing this
passage would immediately come under
fire from a work at Pinchgut Island, dis-
tant 2,834 yards. This work was suspended
in 1842, by order of the inspector-general
of fortifications. There is no accommoda-
tion for troops.
Pinchgut Island is situated nearly mid-
channel, on the approach to the city of
Sydney, 1,062 yards from Fort ]Macquarie.
A work on this point was put in progress
in 1841, but suspended soon after, by orders
from England. The work woidd intersect
the fire from Bradley's Head, on the ap-
proach up the harbour, and would be sup-
ported by Fort Macquarie and Dawes' Bat-
tery. Vessels must pass within point-blank
range of this spot.
Goat Island Magazine, at the entrance ol
Paramatta river, is the principal depot for
o
114
HYDE PARK— SYDNEY— PUBLIC GARDENS.
gunpowder; there is a bomb-proof maga-
zine capable of containing 3,000 barrels of
gunpowder. There is barrack accommoda-
tion for a non-commissioned officer and a
guard of twelve men, for the protection of
the magazine.
The number and calibre of the guns in
these forts is — mounted, 24; dismounted,
13; unserviceable, 15. Of the mounted, 16
are twenty-four pounders, 1 twelve-pounder,
1 nine-pounder, and 6 sixteen -pounders. Of
the dismounted, 2 are twenty-four poxmders,
4 are twelve-pounders, 2 are six-pounders.
Building land in Sydney is let at a very
high rate; in George-street (the Regent-
street of New South Wales) it has been sold
at £20,000 per acre, and some ground at
the rate of =€50 per foot. Large sums hav^e
been expended on shops, stores, and ware-
rooms ; one auctioneer spent £5,000 in the
enlargement of his premises. Hotels and
inns are nu^merous ; some on a large scale,
which, in luxui'ious appointments and high
charges, may \ie with the first-rate hotels in
the parent state. The Royal Hotel has, it is
said, already cost €30,000, and Avill require
a like sum for its completion. The ball-
room and the coffee-room are of noble
dimensions ; the private apartments spacious
and superbly fiu-nished, and the dormitories
" scarcely to be counted."
The colonists are not sparing in efforts
to improve and adorn the metropolis. There
is a circular quay at Sydney Cove, on which
there has been expended up to December,
1848, €27,709. The building for the colonial
museum at Sydney has already cost in its con-
struction about €6,000. On the new govern-
ment-house, the residence of the represent-
ative of the queen, no less than £50,000 of the
taxes raised from the colonists have been ex-
pended on the structui'c, althoiigh the origi-
nal estimate was not more than €25,000.
The new prison at Darlinghurst cost the
colony up to December, 1848, fully €51,000.
A general cemetery, termed the Necropolis,
has been aided with .€5,000 of the colonial
revenues. New barracks have been built for
the use of her Majesty's troops, and £60,000
have been appropriated for the purpose.
More than €1,000 have been employed in
making a dry dock at Cockatoo Island.
Hyde Park, a piece of land about two
miles in circumference, has been judiciously
reserved as a pleasure-ground for the citi-
zens, and from its elevated and agreeable
position will, when planted, surpass in beauty
any of the parks attached to European capi-
tals, except Hyde Park, London, Phoenix
Park, Dublin, and the Prater of Vienna.
The Sydney gardens justly rank among the
chief attractions of the city, and are situated
on a slight elevation which rises gradually
from a picturesque and secluded cove on the
eastern side of the capital, and are distant
about five minutes' walk from the new gov-
ernment-house. The site, plan, and arrange-
ment of these gardens are aU good. A stone
wall, twenty feet high, which runs east and
west, diATides them into two portions. That
on the south and land side is elevated, and
devoted chiefly to botanical purposes : a
magnificent pine of that most magnificent
species, well named the auracaria excelsa,
planted more than thirty years ago, first
attracts the eye, while all around coral trees,
with their rich scarlet flowers; bread-fruit
trees from the Sandwich Islands; pome-
granates ; acacias, covered with beautiful
parasites; bananas, Banksia, many descrip-
tions of palms, and an infinite variety of other
tropical trees are to be seen fiom-ishing lux-
uriantly in the same ground with the oak,
ash, and other English trees and plants.
The northern or sea-coast garden extends
for nearly a mile along the shore, and is laid
out- in winding walks, arbours, shrubberies,
green slopes, and grassy terraces, elevated a
few feet above the murmuring ripple of the
glassy wave. In the centre of the garden is
a pond surrounded by weeping willows of
immense size, and in the centre stands a
plain granite obelisk, dedicated to the
memory of Allan Cunningham, the celebrated
Australian botanist and traveller, whose in-
defatigable exertions and correct taste con-
tributed materially to the formation of these
gardens.* The government demesne, close
to the gardens, is a well shaded and pleasing
drive; and during the week-days the per-
formances of one of the bands belonging to
the regiment stationed at Sydney, adds to
the pleasure of the gardens, which however
seldom present so animated a scene as on
Sundays, when thronged by aU classes of
the citizens.
Sydney is supplied with water, partly by
wells sunk fifteen to thirty feet below the
surface, and partly by a tunnel or subter-
raneous aqueduct, about two miles and-a-
quarter long, which conveys water from the
Lachlan swamp to the south-east end of the
city. Eour-fifths of the tunnel, the whole of
which averages five feet in width, and the
* Sketch of New South Wales, by J. O. Balfour,
Esq., 1845.
MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF SYDNEY— CENSUS, 1846— '51. 115
same in height, is excavated in the solid
rock, and the remainder is formed through
sand, with chiselled masonry without cement.
There are three oflcuts, one forty-five feet in
length, another eighty feet, and a third
284 feet, all of the same depth and width
as the main tunnel ; the entire mass of
excavation throughout the work amounted
to 255,930 cubic feet. Springs (met with
in the progi'css of the work) furnish addi-
tional supplies to the aqueduct. The tunnel
was commenced in September, 1827, and
the expenditure on it up to the 30th of June,
1837, was ■£22,9'71. It furnishes water for
about 30,000 of the citizens.
Sydney was incoi-porated in 1842, and
the charter of incorporation entitles the
citizens, holding tenancies of £2o per aun.,
to the control over all local affairs, excepting
the police, the management of which still
remains vested in the executive government.
The corporation of the city, under the
authority of an act of the colonial legisla-
tui'e, 6 Vict., No. 3, section 67, le\'y a rate,
by assessment, on the inhabitants of the
city ; and under the 70th section of the Act
of Incorporation, a police rate is raised by
assessment. There are other som'ces of
income for the corporation, viz. — a water
rate for water laid on to houses ; lighting
rate ; rent of three fountains in the city ;
markets, fines, fees, and licences. The
revenue raised, under several heads, was —
Items of Revenue.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
City rate assessed
Police fund
£2,621
3,115
£2,086
2,225
1,086
5
14
1,199
£5,461
2,488
1,323
1,331
804
£6,037
Markets, dues, and rents . .
Fees and fines
Licences, &c.
In aid of city fund ....
Water rate and licence . . .
Lighting rate
2,344
862
12
129
2,600
1,873
1,863
216
Total
10,191
6,618
11,409
12,591
* In compliance with the wishes of correspondents
that this work should be a reference for mercantile
men as to the commission, agency, and other charges
in our several colonies, I give the following data
relative to New South Wales ; but at the completion
of the whole work there will be given with the last
volume a statement of the rates of interest of money,
commission and agency charges, rates of insurance,
tariff of customs, &c., in the several dependencies of
the British crown.
General rates of agency, commission, and ware-
house rent, agreed on at a meeting of the New South
Wales chamber of commerce : —
Commission per cent. — On all sales or purchases of ships
and other vessels, houses or lands, where no advance on
them has been made, 2j ; on all other sales, purcha.ses, or
shipments, 5; on goods consigned, and afterwards with-
drawn, or sent to public auction, if no advance on them has
The mayor of Sydney has an annual
salary of £800 ; and eleven other different
officers of the corporation have salaries
amounting, in the aggregate, to about
£2,200. The repairing of the streets of
the city costs about ^8,000 a-year; the
water-pipes and repairs of fountains. £2,200 ;
the lighting, £700. The police of the
capital, and of the colony generally, are
paid out of the general revenues : the cost
for 1848, was — city poHce, on land, £7,464;
M-ater ditto, £1,432; these charges are
irrespective of the police in the interior,
which cost, during the year 1848, within
the settled districts, £21,229; mounted
poHce, £9,177 ; native ditto, £227 ; showing
a total annual charge for police in New
South Wales of £39,529.
The census of March, 1846, gave the
census of the city — males, 20,810 ; females,
17,548 = 38,358. The suburbs, at the same
period, stood thus — Balmain, males, 682;
females, 655 : Camperdown, males, 125 ;
females, 176: Canterbury, males, 128; fe-
males, 64: Chippendale, males, 219; females,
197: the Glebe, males, 538; females, 522-
Newtown, males, 631; females, 584: O'Con
nelltOAvn, males, 25 ; females, 15 : Padding-
ton, males, 422; females, 404: Redferu,
males, 437 ; females, 428 : St. Leonard's,
males, 223; females, 189: Surry hills,
males, 121 ; females, 86. Total in the
suburbs, males, 3,546 ; females, 3,286 =
6,832. Then, in March, 1851, the city and
its environs contained 53,924 English, or
English-descended inhabitants. It now
[March, 1853] contains, probably, about
70,000 of the Anglo-Saxon race. [See Supp*.]
Sydney has a Chamber of Commerce,
which is composed of the merchants, ship-
OAvners, and others interested in the trade of
the colony.* An Australian Club was insti-
tuted in the year 1838, and numbers about
been made, 2\ ; on giving orders for the provision of goods,
2|; on guaranteeing sales, bills, bonds, or other engage-
ments, 2^; on the management of estates for others, 6;
on procuring freight or charter on passage money, and on
freight collected, 5 ; on insurances effected, i ; on settling
losses, partial or general, 1 ; on effecting remittances, or pur-
chasing, selling, or negotiating bills of exchange, 1 ; on the
recovery of money, 24 ; if by law or arbitration, 5; on col-
lecting ho\ise rent, 5 ; on attending the delivery on contract
goods, 2 ; on becoming security for contracts, 5 ; on ships'
disbursements, 5 ; on obtaining money on respondentia, 2 ;
on letters of credit granted, 2t ; on purchasing, selling, re-
ceiving from any of the public offices, lodging in ditto,
delivering up, or exchanging government ])aper, or other
public securities, h ; on all items, on the debit or credit side
of an account on which a commission of 5 per cent, has not
been previouslj' charged in the same account, including
government paper, 1 ; on entering and clearing ships at the
custom house, each 1 guinea.
Warehouse rent. — On all measurement goods. Is. per ton
of 40 cubic feet per week ; on liquids, Is. Id. per tun of 253
116
MAIL COACHES— STEAM BOATS— OMNIBI OF SYDNEY.
300 members. The club-house, which has
cost nearly £10,000, contains good accom-
modation ; the entrance fee is £30 ; the
annual subscription, £7 lOs. The society
met w-ith at the Australian Club is, in point
of good breeding and general intelligence,
quite on a par with the generality of London
clubs, and the rules by which it is governed
equally stringent, not to say exclusive.
There is, indeed, excellent society in Sydney
for the most punctilious gentleman ; he may
choose his acquaintance from the thirty-six
members of the Legislative Council, the
bishop, archdeacon, and other clergy; the
three judges ; law officers of the crown ;
the officers of the troops stationed in the
colony; the members of the government;
the magistracy; numerous members of the
medical and legal professions; and landed
propiietors, and mercantile men of aU grades.
At the balls and assemblies in the capital,
the beauty and elegance of the Australian
belles is a theme of general admii'ation ;
and many a born Englishwoman finds herself
eclipsed by the fair face, fine form, and
witching graces of the "currency lasses."*
Sydney has its omnibi as well as London ;
they ply constantly between Paddington, on
the South Head road, and the Star hotel,
George-street, and between other parts of the
city; hackney-carriages and cabs are also
numerous.
There are several well-appointed four-
horse coaches, such as could not now be
found in England, plying between Sydney
and Paramatta, Windsor, Richmond, Liver-
pool, and other to\vTis in the interior. There
is also a regular stage conveyance to Mel-
bourne, Port Phillip. The several mail-
coaches for the western and southern dis-
tricts leave the post-office, Sydney, every
afternoon (Sundays excepted), at five o'clock.
The Age, Australian, and Water-witch four-
horse coaches leave Sydney daily (Sundays
excepted), for Windsor and Paramatta.
Fast and commodious steam-boats ply
dail)^, morning and evening, between Sydney
and Paramatta; and there is constant steam
communication with Hunter's lliver, Port
Stephens, Port Macquarie, and also with
gallons (old measure), per week; on sugar, rice, salt, and
similar articles, 6d. per ton per week; on grain, 4d. per
bushel for first month, and one half-penny per bushel, per
week afterwards ; on iron, lead, &c , 4d. per ton per week.
The followin<^ are the premiums charged by the
Australian Marine Assurance Company for insuring
Vessels and merchandize : —
Per cent. — Sperm fishery, for twelve months, 8 to 10
^ineas; ditto, for the voyage, 8 to 14 guineas; Hobart
Town, to or from, 1 guinea; Launceston, ditto, \\; New
Melbourne, Port Phillip, Boydtown, and
other rising places south of Port Jackson.
Some of the recorded statistics of Sydney
indicate the state of the city. Thus, in
1844, there were "eighty-six licensed stage-
coaches plying in Sydney; 186 licensed
draymen ; and twenty-four licensed porters.
The total number of licensed slaughter-
houses for the year was fourteen : there are
about 130 licensed watermen plying within
the boundaries of Sydney. The total num-
ber of dogs registered in Sydney is only
1,766 : there is reason to believe, that the
number prowling about the streets, without
any ostensible owner, is upwards of 3,000."'
It is fortunate that hydrophobia is unknown
in Australia.
The Sydney post-office has been, for the
last quarter of a century, under the manage-
ment of an able and zealous postmaster-
general, James Raymond, Esq., who has
carried into effect numerous improvements.
The metropolis holds communication with
four districts in the colony — the western,
southern, northern, and coast districts. The
ivestern, in 1848, contained fourteen district
post-offices, the most distant (Wellington)
being 230 miles; and the second nearest
(Paramatta) fifteen miles; the letter-charge
to the latter is fourpence; to the former,
tenpence. At Paramatta the delivery is
twice daily ; at six other places, daily : and,
at the others, twice or tlu'ice a-week. In
the southern district there are thirty-five
district post-offices ; the nearest (Liverpool)
is twenty miles, and the most distant (Bel-
fast) 817 miles; the despatches are five
daily, and the remainder twice and thrice
a-week. The northern district has twenty-
four post-offices, to each of which there is a
daily, bi, or tri-weekly despatch. The coast
stations have their post-office deliveries and
despatches regulated by the steam-packets
plying between them and Sydney. The
number of letters despatched from Sydney
post-office, in 1843, was 822,733; and the
number of newspapers was 905,709. Com-
pared with 1837, the number of letters had
increased two-and-a-lialf-fold; and the news-
papers three-and-a-half-fold. The post-office
Zealand and South Sea Islands, per month, 1 ; Manilla and
China, to, 2j, from, 3; Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, to or
from, not including risk through Torres' Sraits, 3 ; Mauritius,
ditto, ditto, 2 to 4; Cape of Good Hope, ditto, ditto, 2| ;
United Kingdom, ditto, exclusive of war risk, 2^ to 3J ; Rio
de Janeiro and Bahia, ditto, ditto, 2|.
* For some years there were two denominations in
the circulating medium, sterling and colonial cur-
rency ; the European born obtained the name of
sterling, and the colonial that of currency.
WOODEN RAILROADS FOR NEW SOUTH WALES.
117
collections^ at present, amount to about
£15,000 a-year.
The distances, in English miles, of the dif-
ferent post towns in the colony, in 1848,
from Sydney, are thus stated : —
Western District — Hyde, 8; Paramatta,
15; St. Mar}^ 29; Penrith, 33; Windsor,
34 ; Richmond, 39 ; Hartley, 78 ; Bathurst,
113; O'Connell, 125; Carwar, 144; IMudgee,
150; Molong, 163; Canowindra, 176; Wel-
lington, 230.
Southern District — Livei-pool, 20; Cam-
den, 33; Appin, 43; Picton, 46; Wol-
lougong, 64; Dupto, 72; Berrima, 81;
Kiama, 88 ; Shoalhaven, 103 ; Marulan,
108; Bimgonia, 117; Huskisson, 121;
Goulbum, 125; Gunning, 152; Bungendore,
161; UUadulla, 163; Braidwood, 164; Yass,
117; Queanbeyan, 182; Broulee, 209; Gun-
dagai, 244; Ovens, 429; Seymoui-, 528;
Kilmour, 549 ; Melbom-ne, 587 ; Ballan, 637 ;
Geelong, 641 ; Grange, 773 ; Belfast, 817.
Northern District — Patterson, 10; Car-
rington, 16; Clarencetown, by water, 24;
Gresford, by water, 25 ; Wollombi, by water,
27 ; Singleton, by water, 31 ; Dungog, by
water, 45 ; JeiTy's Planes, by water, 46 ;
!Muswellbrook, by water, 59 ; IMerton, by
water, 66 ; Scone, by water, 75 ; INIurrurundi,
by water, 99; Cassilis, by water, 125; Arma-
dale, by water, 150; Tamworth, by water,
154. The distance of the other post towns
by water to the north and south of Sydney,
is not laid down. Since 1848 several other
post towns have been added to the above list.
There are no railroads as yet in New
South Wales, but it is probable that ere long
tram roads at least will be made. The iron
and other hard woods of Australia would
serve in the first instance instead of iron
rails ; by this means roads might be made
round the head of Botany Ba}^, through
the valleys to the southward, through the
rich Maneroo country, and towards Illa-
warra. Another trunk line woidd lead to
the north-western regions. Sooner or later
New South Wales, Port PhilHp, South Aus-
tralia, and subsequently Western Australia,
will be connected by railroads, for the colo-
nists have plenty of iron, coal, and wood, for
their construction, and the want of na\i-
gable rivers will necessitate the adoption of
this mode of locomotion. INIr. Woore has
set forth a project for a railway to connect
Windsor, Penrith, Ellerslie, Vermont, the
Oaks, Bong-Bong, and Goulburn with Syd-
ney. The main Une from Sydney to Goul-
burn, is 122 miles ; the Windsor branch ,13^
miles; Ellerslie branch, 10| miles; Penrith
branch, 8^ miles = 154^ mdes.
Whereas the distances from Sydney by
the present lines of road are — to Paramatta,
14; Windsor, 39; Penrith, 33; Goulburn,
125; Bong Bong, 80; Camden, 39. Of
these 154^ miles of railway, fifty-four miles
run through government land, and 102^
miles tlirough private property. Twenty
miles is already cleared of timber, and 134^
miles to be cleared. Supposing the line to
be three chains wide, or 198 feet, and 154^
miles long, it would contain 3,708 acres,
2,460 of which would be through private
property, and 1,248 acres through govern-
ment property. In the course of the hne,
with the exception of the Windsor branch,
there are, besides the formation of the road,
eight deep cuttings, and seven side cut-
tings. The erections are, five termini, seven
stations, two brick or stone viaducts, ten
second-class wooden %iaducts, eight first-
class bridges, twenty-three second-class
bridges, eighty-three third-class bridges,
seventy-four culverts, and about eight ac-
commodation bridges.
By means of wooden instead of iron rails,
the wheels of the locomotives "bite" closer,
and steeper gradients may be ascended. The
estimated cost of this Hne, with wooden rails,
is £419,403, or only ^82,714 per mile. Of
this sum 275,000 sleepers, nine feet long,
(rough square,) being for two lines on 154^
miles, each six feet from centre to centre,
five shillings each, cost £68,000; making
154 miles of road cost £300 per mile =
£46,200; eight cuttings, £16,000; seven-
side ditto, £10,500; building bridges, cul-
verts, stations, termini, draining, &c., about
£120,000; laving sleepers and rails, £200
per mile, £30'',900 ; 3,270,000 feet of scant-
ling, 8 X 4, at twelve shilHngs per 100 =
£19,620 ; locomotives, can'iages, turn-tables,
&c., £50,000. These details give some idea
of the diff'erence of cost between a railway
in the United Kingdom and one in Austra-
lia. At Sydney excellent steam-engines are
made ; the carriages and everything required
would be prepared in the colony.
Having, in the previous pages, carefully
gathered together — even at the risk of offer-
ing what some may consider dry detail — the
materials from which my readers may, I trust,
be enabled to form a correct idea of this fair
and youthfid city, I may conclude with a
few general remarks. ]\iy own feelings, on
first landing, from the east coast of Africaj
118
AUTHORITIES ON THE STATE OF SYDNEY.
were those of mingled delight and astonish-
ment. I was not prepared to find, at the
antipodes, a city so home-like, so thoroughly
English in its character; nor could I have
beheved it possible that a colony of such
comparatively recent establishment, founded
too under very peculiar circumstances, could
have acquired a degree of order, comfort,
cleanliness, and security, not inferior to that
which distinguishes some of the best and
oldest cities of the mother country. Lest,
however, it should be supposed that a bias
in favour of this colony, or of the British
colonies generally, influences (even uncon-
sciously) my pen, in writing of them, I prefer
quoting, as far as practicable, the statements
of other writers, and citing the impressions
produced on the minds of other travellers,
instead of merely ofiering my own opinions.
Count Strzelecki, wi-iting in 1839, says : —
" Since my arrival in Sydney, I cannot help
asking myself — Am I really in the capital
of that ' Botany Bay,^ which has been repre-
sented as 'the community of felons^ — 'the
most demoralized colony known^ ? &c. &c.
Let the authors of these and other epithets
contained in the works they wrote on New
South Wales congratulate themselves ! My
mystification was complete. The evening
I effected my disembarkation in Sydney, I
did it with all imaginary precautions, leaving
my watch and purse behind me, and arming
myself with a stick. I found, however, in
the streets of Sydney, a decency and a quiet
which I had never witnessed in any other
of the ports of the United Kingdom. No
di'unkenness, no sailors' quarrels, &c., &c.
Since then, how many nights like the first
did I not witness, in which the silence, the
feeling of perfect security, and the delicious
freshness of the air, mingled with nothing
that could break the charm of a solitary
walk!'^
Captain Stokes, ll.N., of H.M.S. Beagle,
who visited Sydney in 1840-1, says he was
much struck with the strange contrast its
extensive and at the same time youthful
appearance presented, compared with the
decrepid and decaying aspect of the cities
in South America, which he had recently
quitted, and which were founded two cen-
turies ago, by a nation at that time almost
supreme in Europe, iipon the shores of a
fertile continent. In Sydney he beheld with
wonder what scarce half a century had
sufficed to effect ; for, " where, almost within
the memory of man, the savage ranged the
desert wastes and trackless forests, a noble
city has sprung, as though by magic, from
the ground, which will ever serve both as
a monument of English enterprise and as a
beacon from whence the light of Christian
civilization shall spread through the dark
and gloomy recesses of ignorance and
guilt.''— (Vol. i. pp. 244-5.)
Mr. C. I. Baker, who recently \isited
Australia, describes very naturally the im-
pression made upon strangers from the
United Kingdom ])y the Australian metro-
polis. " Sydney is certainly an extraor-
dinaiy place ; and if the colony continues
to progress as it has done during the last
twenty or thirty years, it will, ere another
generation have passed away, be one of the
first cities in the world. A new-comer rubs
his eyes, and repeatedly questions whether
his long voyage has not been a dream, and
he himself still in the mother country : the
streets, the houses, the shops and other
buildings, the carriages, including stage
coaches, flys, and cabs, are all constructed
as in England ; the bustling busy popula-
tion are all English or thoroughly Anglified ;
so also are the various customs of life, the
goods displayed in the shops, the furniture,
the grates with their coal fires, the style
of living and mode of cooking, the wine,
beer, &c. ; — in short, from first to last, you
have England, and England only." "^
In another place, Mr. Baker bears the
following testimony to the character of the
people. It is after adverting to there being
one, or sometimes two of her Majesty's regi-
ments stationed at Sydney, and a great
many sailors from all parts of the world
frequenting the port, he adds — " Yet it is
one of the most orderly towns a traveller
can visit. I witnessed neither the brawl nor
drunkenness, nor the shameless prostitution
which so often shock and offend in our own
streets ; whilst the only beggars I met with
were two blind men. Another proof of the
prevalent order of the town is the general
decorum observed on the sabbath. On the
whole, great credit is due to the authorities
for their excellent government of a popu-
lation, amongst whom might be expected
much disorder and unseemly immorality." —
(pp. 132, 133.)
No government could, however, preserve
the order and decency so manifest in Syd-
ney, unless seconded by a strong sense of
propriety in the inhabitants themselves,
who attach great importance to the obtain-
ment and maintenance of a good character
• Sydney and Melbourne. 1 vol. 1846.
PARAMATTA, THE SECOND TOWN IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 119
and a fair farae;^ and Mr. Baker speaks
of having been struck by " the superior
breeding, education, and intelligence of many
of the settlers not locating in fellowship in
any particular neighbourhood, but amply
scattered throughout the colony — men, more-
over, of unblemished character, active in
mind and body, and of agreeable and open
manners."
Paramatta, the second town in the
county of Cumberland, was established, as
we have already seen (p. 403), in the very
early days of the colony. For a consider-
able time it was merely an encampment, or
succession of huts, and the older settlers con-
tinued to speak of it as the camp, long after
it had grown to be a \illage, and even a
town. The name of Rose Hill, given by
its first Eiu'opean inhabitants, has been
happily superseded by the native designa-
tion of the river on which it is situated.
The river is, however, chiefly a continuation
of Port Jackson, its waters being salt until
just beyond Paramatta bridge, where a dam
thrown across by governor Macquarie, checks
the further advance of the tide. The com-
missariat store, a large brick building, occu-
pies a position at the extremity of the town,
close to the beach, permiting boats to go
alongside and haA'C then* cargoes hoisted up
into its capacious granaries ; while beyond
this is a water-mill — a dam being here car-
ried across, to keep up the necessary supply
to work it.
The town extends over a considerable ex-
tent of gi'ound, and is built along a small
fresh-water stream, which falls into Par-
amatta river. The streets are regularly laid
* The diminution of crime of late years in Sydney,
and throughout the whole territory of New South
Wales, is very remarkable, and will be found detailed
under the section on Crime, but it may be useful to
give here a statement of the number of felonies in
the cx)lony for ten years — showing their number in
proportion to the population, and to each 10,000
inhabitants ; thus : —
Years.
One in each
To each
10,000 Inhabitants.
1839
148
67
1840
196
51
1841
208
48
1842
276
36
1843
294
34
1844
327
31
184,5
362
27
1846
358
28
1847
449
22
1848
481
21
This shews an actual decrease of more than forty
j)er cent., and a relative decrease of crime of more
than sixty-eight per cent, in ten years.
out — the principal of them, George Street,
is about a mile in length ; the houses, which
are generally detached from each other, and
partly sm'rounded with gardens, are mostly
built of brick or white freestone — the latter
being very abundant, and, from its excellent
quality, m.uch used for grindstones. The
public buildings are substantial and well con-
structed. The government-house is agree-
ably situated on an eminence, in a somewhat
extensive demesne, amid carefully tended
gardens; Sir Thomas Brisbane, who made
it his chief residence during his administra-
tion, erected an observatory, which he placed
under the superintendence of a skilful astro-
nomer, named Dunlop. There is an ex-
cellent institution for orphans, situate on
the banks of the river. In the vicinity of
Paramatta is a Con\ict Lunatic Asylum,
which contained on 31st December, 1848,
eighty-eight male, and ten female invahds;
104 male, and twenty -four female lunatics;
to these are attached, as servants, ten male
and one female con\dct. The town lies in
a sheltered valley, and its climate, dming
the winter months, is delightful ; but in the
summer the heat is sometimes intense, the
diflerence of temperatui'e between it and
Sydney being generally as much as from six
to ten degrees.
Paramatta is a corporate town, having a
municipal district council; the annual in-
come is about ,€1,200, consisting chiefly of
tolls. The cloth manufactured here has
obtained a high character, not only in the
colony, but also in the mother country ; and
a soft woollen fabric called " Paramatta,"
has become equally celebrated, being (I am
told) now deemed by the ladies as indispen-
sable an article in their mom'ning attire, as
bombazeen was, in that of their grand-
mothers. Several other manufactoi'ies have
been recently established in the neighbour-
hood. A recent wi'iter says, that " a silk
institution has been formed there, under able
management, and mulberry planting on a
large scale has been commenced ;"t ^iid iri
the same work it is elsewhere stated, that
extensive works for the smelting of copper
ore are in operation at Lane Cove, on the
Paramatta river. There are large salt works
on the banks of the Paramatta river.
Paramatta, being the high road to Windsoi
and the northern districts, has numerous and
commodious inns. It is much frequented
by visitors from Sydney. The country in
f New South Wales, by a resident of twelve years'
experience. 1849.
]20
LIVERPOOL, RICHMOND, WILBERFORCE, &c.
its immediate vicinity is very pleasing,
extensive orangeries thrive luxuriantly, and
in many places the land is well cultivated.
The distance between Sydney and Para-
matta is about eighteen miles by water, and
fifteen by land. Steam-boats run morning
and evening between the two towns, and
carry a great number of passengers. The
trip by water is a delightful one ; for, after
leaving Sydney, a considerable portion of
the interior of Port Jackson is traversed
before entering the river, which forms some
reaches, whose beauty must be acknow-
ledged even by those who have but just
before gazed upon the " harbour of an hun-
dred coves.''^ By land it is much less agree-
able, the soil being generally of inferior
quality, and the scenery very monotonous,
notwithstanding the various dwellings, from
the mansion and its spacious pleasure-
grounds, to the cottage -with its neat garden,
and the only too numerous public-houses,
which at intervals, on either side, indicate
the vicinity of a thriving town. The old-
established family of Blaxland have a fine
estate on the road between Paramatta and
Sydney; and the large mansion and ex-
cellent farm of the late D'Arcy Wentworth
is on the same line. Farms are also being
formed along the Paramatta stream ; and a
\illage is springing up on a pretty turn of
the river called Kissing Point.
From the portion of Paramatta situated
beyond the river, a good road runs for some
distance along the right bank of the stream,
in a north-west direction, which leads to
Windsor, the distance being about twenty
miles. This town, formerly called the Green
Hills, at present containing about 2,000 in-
habitants, is situate near the confluence of
the South Creek with the Hawkesbury,
which at this point is 140 miles distant from
the sea, and narigable for vessels of 100
tons burthen, four miles above Windsor.
The tov/n is very pleasantly situated, being
built on a hill elevated 100 feet above the
level of the Hawkesbury, and commanding
a beautiful view of the surrounding cotmtry;
its population and buildings are similar to
those of Paramatta. The inns, as is the
case, indeed, throughout the colony, are
large and excellent; stage-coaches ply every
day to and from Sydney via Paramatta, and
steam-boats thrice a week, the distance be-
tween Broken Bay, where the Hawkesbmy
disembogues into the sea, and the north
head of Port Jackson, being about fourteen
miles. The land in the vicinity of Windsor
is extremely rich, and being in the posses-
sion of numerous small farmers, is carefully
tiUed, so that frequent farm-yards and ex-
tensive fields of gi-ain, with herds of kine,
add to the natural beauty of a very pictu-
resque country. In some parts the broad
and placid waters of the Hawkesbury are
overhung by cliffs 600 feet in height, and
the numerous vessels and boats on this noble
stream form another attractive feature, and
render it a favom-ite resort.
The town of Wilberforce lies on the oppo-
site side of the Hawkesbury, obliquely to
the right ; and obliquely to the left is —
Richmond, a rising inland town, distant
from Sydney thirty-nine miles.
Liverpool is situate on the banks of the
George River, which disembogues in Botany
Bay. INIany persons, long accustomed to
the term of " Botany Bay,^^ believe that the
colony is founded on the shores of this ex-
tensive inlet of the ocean. I have already
stated, that such was the original intention,
but it was never carried into effect ; and the
shores around Botany Bay are nearly as wild,
as bleak, as barren, and almost as unin-
habited, as when they were first visited by
captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks. Botany
Bay is about fourteen miles to the south-
ward of the Heads, as the entrance of Port
Jackson is called ; it is wide, open and un-
sheltered for vessels. I risited it, not liking
to leave the country without having seen
this famous spot. The only advantage
derived from my journey, was the oppor-
tunity of contrasting the dreary desolation
around its shores, with the busy hum of
human industry at the contiguous harbour
of Port Jackson, and of being reminded that
about half a century ago, there was no dif-
ference in the wild waste of nature at either
place. The country is flat around, but
cleared and cultivated, though the soil is
poor; the public buildings are the same as
in the towns previously described, with the
addition of a Male Orphan School. The
Church is a good structure, but insufficient
for the wants of the town. The Hospital
is a handsome building, well adapted for the
benevolent purpose of contributing to the
relief of the population for miles around.
Three miles beyond Liverpool is Lansdowne
bridge, which is built of stone (by conrict
labour) ; the arch being of 110 feet span.
There are stage-coaches daily between Liver-
pool and Sydney. It now contains about
5,000 inhabitants, and is yearly increasing
in size and opulence.
COUNTY OF CAMDEN, NEW SOUTH WALES.
121
A new to-vm called Canterbury has been
commenced, six miles from Sydney, -nbere
extensive works have been constructed for
refining sugar. ''
Other towns and ^illages [see census in
Supplement], viz. ; — Campbelltown, Appin,
Venrith, Pitt -town, Petersham, Narellan,
&c., are arising in different directions ;
each with its chvirch, gaol, court-house,
market, mill, and numerous spirit and gene-
ral stores ; and as population increases, they
will augment in number and in extent. The
post-roads throughout the county of Cum-
berland are numerous, regularly cut and
levelled, well made, and kept in good mac-
adamized order, by means of the tolls from
turnpikes erected near the entrance of
each town. The great thoroughfares have
four railed fences at each side of the road,
and mQe-stones throughout. There are
many cross-roads, some still in the original
hush state, and known only by notched trees
and a cart-rut.
Previous to quitting the county of Cum-
berland, it may be mentioned, that the road
through the northern part, towards Wise-
man's Ferry, to the Blue Mountains, has
been made by following one continuous ridge
of sandstone; but the western route, by Par-
amatta, is free from precipitous ravines, and
the undulations sufficiently moderate, to
admit the passage of a straight road; the
soil also is good, consisting chiefly of decom-
posed trap, and producing crops as abun-
dantly now, as when it was first tilled, forty
years ago. In the neighbourhood are the
hospitable mansions of the Lawsons, Leth-
bridges,* and other much respected settlers,
who, in the early days of the colony, emi-
grated to New South Wales, and have con-
tributed materially to the improvement of
the land of their adoption.
Camden County is di\'ided from the
county of Cumberland by a line bearing
W. 20° W. from Bulli, on the sea-coast, to
the head of the Cataract river, thence by
that river and the Nepean to its junction
with the WoDondilly, there called tlie War-
ragamba ; on the west by the river Wollon-
dilly to the junction of Uringalla creek,
and by the Uringalla and Barber's c reek to
the Shoalhaven river ; on the south by the
Shoalhaven river, which separates it from
the county of St. Vincent ; and on the east
by the ocean. The extreme length of Cam-
den county is about sixty-six miles, and the
extreme breadth fifty-five miles. Its surface
b, in general, a continued succession of hill
DIV. I,
and dale, the former sometimes rising into
mountains, whose steep sides are clothed
with varieties of lofty timber. There is
some sceneiy in this county of a peculiarly
wild and gloomy character. A remarkable
range, consisting chiefly of trap rock, tra-
verses the whole county, between the Wollon-
dilly and the sea, in a south-east direction,
extending from Bulli to a small boat har-
bour named Kiama; the highest part is
known as the Mittagong range. Although
so much of this county is m.ountainous, and
a large portion of its area consists of ferru-
ginous sandstone, it yet contains an unusual
proportion of excellent grazing land, and
also much good wheat land, especially towards
the side of the Shoalhaven river. The
Razor-back range is another remarkable
feature in this part of the country. It is
isolated, extending aoout eight miles, in a
general direction, between W.N.W. and
E.S.E., being very level on some parts of
the summit, and so very narrow in others,
while the sides are also so steep, that the
name it has obtained is descriptive enough.
Around this trap range lies the fertile dis-
trict of the Cow Pastures, which are said to
comprise about 60,000 acres, the greatest
part consisting of a light, sandy loam, resting
on a substratum of clay. These pastures
extend noi'thward from the river Bargo to
the junction of the Warragamba and Ne-
pean rivers ; they obtained their name from
the large number of cattle found there,
which had for their original stock three run-
aways, belonging to the herd landed from
H.M.S. Sirius, soon after the founding of
the colony. Barragorang, in this county, is
a long narrow valley, hemmed in between
a continuous ridge and the Blue ISIoun-
tains, with only one pass into it, and that a
very precipitous one. It runs north and
south along the banks of the Warragamba,
and consists of a stripe of rich soil, matted
with the finest native herbage, and most
picturesquely variegated with rocky and pre-
cipitous mountains, frowningly impending
on either side, their rugged declirities occa-
sionally adorned with Avaring shrubs and
verdant heaths. But the most interesting
portion of Camden county is the Ulawarra,
a narrow stripe of arable land, situated be-
tween the ocean and the eastern base of a
lofty ridge of trap rock, running parallel to
the coast, and connected with ^littagong
range. The average br-cadth of this belt of
land is from four to six miles, and its length
about sixty. This singular region is termed
p
122
SCENERY AT ILLAWARRA, OR FIVE ISLANDS.
by the colonists the garden of New South
Wales; Mitchell, Lang, Cunningham, Stokes^
and other writers, speak in the most en-
thusiastic terms of its surpassing beauty.
The charms peculiar to mountain scenery
of the wildest and most romantic order,
and those also which characterize more
particularly the shores of a mighty ocean,
are each enhanced by the rich luxu-
riance of tropical vegetation, while birds of
exquisite form and brilliant plumage take
their flight through the clear, exhilarating
"Austi^lian" air. The stately palms, the
graceful tree-ferns, and the lofty cedars,
entwined to their very summits by parasi-
tical plants of various kinds, which, stretch-
ing from tree to tree, form a sort of
embowered roof, afford a perfect refuge from
the sun's too fervid rays, and overshadoAV a
rich and varied undergrowth of wild %'ines
and matted creepers. No pestilential va-
pom*, no deadly miasm lies in tvait to poison,
with insidious influence, the unwary loiterer.
In Eastern Africa (at Zanzibar), Madagascar,
and Java, I have looked upon regions (in
many respects resembling this) which seemed,
at first sight, to realize the idea of Eden ;
but painful experience soon teaches a Euro-
pean, that to him these fair scenes are
fraught with disease and death; and the
contemplation of them inspired me with
much the same feeling with which a man
would regard the mask, whose painted
beauty served as a temporary cover to loath-
some deformity.
It is difficult to account for the tropical
character and extraordinarily luxuriant vege-
tation of Illawarra. It may be in some
degree attributable to the shelter afibrded
by the adjacent mountains from .the cold
winter wmds, the nourishment obtained
from the streams which flow from those
heights, and the moist breezes of the sea;
but I am inclined to think with Dr. Lang,
that the chief cause may be traced in the
soil, which exhibits maay indications of a
volcanic origin. In some parts of the dis-
trict of Illawarra, or Five Islands, (as it is
sometimes called, from some rocky islets
"which lie near the coast,) there are grassy
meadows, of fifty to a hundred acres in
extent, quite destitute of timber, and sur-
rounded with a border of the lofty fan-palm,
or cabbage-tree. Dr. Lang states, that
several extensive tracts are in the hands of
non-resident proprietors, a circumstance
(he adds) always to be regretted wherever
it occui's in the colony; but its resident
inhabitants consist chiefly of small settlers,
who cultivate grain, potatoes, pumpkins,
&c., for the Sydney market, their produce
being conveyed to the capital by water, in
small coasting vessels. The cedar-tree, both
white and red, abounds in the mountains
of this district and in the deep gulleys ; and
the cutting and conveying to Sydney affords
employment to a considerable population,
somewhat similar, both in habit and cha-
racter, to the lumberers of Canada, The
cedar of New South Wales is used all over
the colony for all sorts of cabinet and joinery
work ; it is somewhat similar, in appearance,
to Honduras mahogany, and the choicer
specimens take a fine polish. Its price de-
pends on the number of buildings going on
in the colony at any particular time ; but it
is generally sold at twopence to threepence
per superficial foot of one inch in thickness.
IllaAvarra is rendered very difficult of access
by the numerous ravines in the range which
forms its western boundary, to whose summit,
on the interior side, sandstone extends.
Half-way down Illawarra mountain (the
height of which is estimated by Dr, Lang at
from 1,500 to 2,000 feet high, and whose
descent to the beautiful Illawarra country
is the most precipitous and rugged bridle
road, used in the colony for a road), is a sin-
gular place of refuge, so capacious as to have
received three horses and their riders, formed
by a dead tree of immense size, the interior
of which has been consumed by fire, although
it is still about 100 feet in height.* About
nine miles from the foot of the mountain
is the thriving little village of Wollon-
gong, situated on a small harbour on the
coast.
Berrima, the county town of Camden, is
eighty miles from Sydney, and is situated
in a hollow, on the Berrima river. It is
2,096 feet above the level of the sea, and
the climate is sensibly different from that
of the low country towards the coast. The
gooseberry and cui-rant thrive and attain a
good size and flavour on this table-land •
while the potato and the apple acquire an
European character; but the maize and the
orange, which succeed well below, refuse to
grow in this higher region. The children also,
at Berrima, have fine ruddy faces, as at home;
unlike the pale faces of Sydney and the
lower country generally, (Laxig'sFhiUipsland,
p. 238.)
The country immediately round Berrima
is of but indifferent quality, though at the
• Lang's New South Wales,
COUNTY OF ARGYLE, NEW SOUTH WALES.
123
distance of a few miles it becomes of a much
better description ; one chief inducement in
the choice of this locaUty hanng been its
abundant supply of good water, materials
for building, and the vicinity of a small
agricultural population. The church, court-
house, and gaol are handsome buildings ;
and at the entrance of the township is a
substantial bridge of stone-Avork.
Camden, the estate of the Messrs. Mac-
arthvir, is a remarkable place ; it extends for
many miles along the bank of the Cow-
pasture river (on the Camden side), and
exhibits striking proofs of the enterpnsing
spirit of its proprietors. The best kinds
of grape, from the Rhine, ]Madeira, and
other ^ine-growing countries, have been im-
ported by these gentlemen, who have also
brought out several German families, at
their own cost, for the purpose of intro-
ducing the best mode of cultivating the grape
and preparing wine.* These laudable efforts
appear likely to prove very successful ; and
the Messrs. Macarthur will rank, as pro-
moters of production and manufacture in
their native land, second only to their wor-
thy father. Their farming is pm-sued on
an excellent system, and is very productive.
Silos, or subteiTanean granaries, have been
constinicted at Camden ; and jSIr. Atkinson
mentions one (filled ^vith maize and millet)
being opened there, after the expiration of
six months, and a great part of the grain
taken out, which proved to be in a state of
perfect preservation, and the straw lining
quite sound and dry, except a little near to
the under sui'face of the brick arch.f
Toivns not before mentioned. — Wilson,
Picton, Kiama, and Murrionbah. Rivers. —
Wingecarribee, a fine freshwater stream,
rising in a swamp of that name, and flowing
through Berrima, which empties itself into
the WoUondilly; the Nattai, which flows
into the Wollondilly at Barragorang ; the
Kangaroo, Avon, Cataract, Bargo, and
• The first cultivators of the vineyard of the
Messrs. Macarthur were some piratical Greeks, sent
out as convicts, who, at the expiration of their sen-
tences, returned to their own country.
t The construction of silos in those countries {i. e.,
Hungary, Poland, &c.) where they are in common
use, is exceedingly simple. An elevated site is fixed
upon (if possible, the pinnacle of a small mount), so
that there can be no drainage of water into the gra-
nary from higher ground in its vicinity. A pit is
there sunk, resembling an inverted lime-kiln ; the
depth and dimensions of this pit must depend upon
the quantity it is required to contain, which may be
200 or 2,000 bushels. (See Aikinson'a Account of Agri-
culture and Grazing in New South Wales, p. 70.)
Minumurra. Creeks. — Myrtle, Werriberri,
Wollondoola, Black Bob, Yarringal, Bro-
ger's, Broughton's, Mullet, and Wattle.
Eminences. — Jellorr, Bonnum Peak, Keera
Bonnum, Keera, Bullio, Kembla, Nundialla,
and Pianeng, several of which command
extensive and magnificent prospects.
Argyle County is bounded on the north
by the river Guinecor, from its junction with
the Wollondilly, to its source near the Burra
Burra lagoon on the dividing range; on
the west, by the diAiding range from Burra
Burra, by Cullarin to Lake George, including
the three Breadalbane Plains ; on the south
by the northern margin of Lake George to
Kenny's Station ; from Lake George to the
Alianoyonyiga mountain, by a small gul-
ley, descending to the lake ; from Alianoy-
onyiga, by the ridge extending south-east,
to the hill of WoUowolar; and from Wol-
lowolar by the Boro creek, to the Shoal-
haven river, to the junction of the riAnlet
from Barber's creek; by the rivulet, fi'om
Barber's creek to its source ; across a nar-
row neck of land to the head of the Urin-
galla creek ; by the Uringalla creek to its
junction with the AYollondilly river; and
by the Wollondilly to the junction of the
Guinecor above-mentioned; the nearest point
to the sea being distant about twenty-five
miles. Argyle is about sixty miles in length,
its average being from twenty-five to thirty
miles. The sui-face is generally xmdulating,
consisting of tolerably high and extensive
ridges, ramifying in various directions, with
swelling hills and irregitlar plains and vallies
between them, watered by the Wollondilly
and other branches of the Hawkesbury and
Shoalhaven rivers, besides a number of small
rivulets and ponds containing water all the
year round.
Argyle contains large tracts of open forest,
where the basis of the soil is granite, and
the country, though pleasing to the eye,
from its park-like appearance, is poor, and
seldom adapted for cultivation ; but the soil
is light, dry, and extremely well-suited for
sheep-grazing, the surface being covered
with a thin but very nutritive herbage. In
other parts, however, whinstone predomi-
nates, and the land is of the best quality,
being equally well fitted for either pastoral
or agricultural purposes. Sir Thomas Mit-
chell speaks of the anthistiria or oat-grass,
which grows in these tracts, as the best of
any Australian grass for cattle, and one of
the surest indications of a good soil and dry
situation. Argyle is rich in minerals; cop-
124 GOULBOURN, IN ARGYLE COUNTY, AND LAKE BATHURST.
per of the best ore is found near Arthurs-
leigli, and other places. A description of
marble is found there, which is said to re-
semble the famous Giallo Antico, of Italy.
Near the WoUondilly, a few miks from
Towrang, is a quarry of crystalline varie-
gated marble, which has of late years been
wrought to a considerable extent ibr chim-
ney-pieces, tables, and other ornamental
purposes.
Goidbourn, or Midwarree, the county town
of Argyle, distant 120 miles from Sydney,
is situated in a fine tract of country, fifteen
miles in length, with an average breadth of
eight miles, called Goulbourn Plains, and is
in the centre of an extensive pastoral and
agricultural district. Dr. Lang deems it,
beyond comparison, the finest town in the
interior of New South Wales, and says that
the buildings generally are of a much more
Kubstantial character, as well as of a much
finer appearance, than those of most inland
colonial towns. It is a busy and thriving
place, and annually increasing in prospe-
rity; the proposed communication by a
railway with Sydney, if cai'ried into effect,
will add to the importance of the place.
There is an extensive flour-mill, with a four-
teen horse power steam-engine ; a brewery,
also carrying a steam-engine ; and the inns
are stated to be " quite splendid for the in-
terior of a colony." The amount of busi-
ness done in these establishments is indi-
cated by the fact, that Mr. Bradley, their
proprietor, pays £700 a year for carriage
between Goulbourn and Sydney. The mem-
bers of the church of England, Presbyterian,
and Roman Catholic persuasions have each
a neat temple devoted to their respective
forms of worship. The Goulbourn, or
Mulwarree Plains are supposed to have
been, at no very distant period of time,
the bed of a lalce; the stones which are
collected in particular spots, or which are
dug up from excavations made to a great
depth, consist of quartz, pebbles, rolled
stones, and shingle, as if from the bed of a
beach; the ridges at either side are like
headlands. The Goulbourn Plains form part
of a series of alluvial tracts which traverse
the eastern part of the colony, and have an
average elevation of about 2,000 feet above
the level of the sea ; the Goulbourn and
Brcadalbane Plains are in the south ; the Ba-
thurst, iu the west; and the Darling Downs,
which have a length of 120 miles, with a
breadth of thirty to forty miles, are in the
north.
The Breadalbane Plains are separated
from those of Goulboiirn by a ridge of forest
land about eight miles across The plains
are situated on the high dividing ground,
or waters hid between the waters falling
eastward and westward. They have, pro-
bably, once been lagoons, of which there are
several in the vicinity, viz. — Tarrago, Mut-
mutbelly, and Wallagorang; the latter is
supposed to be the residuum of a lake which
probably once covered the Breadalbane plains.
In several parts there are what the Ameri-
cans aptly, but not elegantly, terra " salt-
licks," on which the cattle depasture with
great avidity, and with much benefit. There
is a fine tract of pastoral country around
these plains, at an elevation of 2,278 feet
above the level of the sea. The pasturage has
a rich velvet-like appearance. The three open
fiats or plains are circumscribed by some
low hills ; they extend for about twelve miles
in the direction of the Sydney road, and
have an average breadth of two miles.
Lake Bathurst, in this county, about 130
miles south-west of Sydney, and sixty miles
inland, from Jervis Bay, is from three to
five miles in diameter, and varies in size ac-
cording to the quantity of water it receives
from the torrents on the north-west and
south-west — of which it forms the reservoir.
The waters are pure — the depth I have not
been able to ascertain. Mr. Peter Cunning-
ham speaks of an animal resembling a seal,
having been seen in this lake, apparently
three feet long, and every now and then
appearing above water to " blow." The
aborigines call it "Devil-devil," and con-
sider it an evil spirit.
Marulan, the second town in the county,
is situated at the junction of the roads lead-
ing to Goulbourn and Bungonia, which latter
town stands on a creek of the same name.
Rivers. — Wollondilly,Cookbundoon, Shoal-
haven, and Guinecor. Creeks. — Windellama,
Curran, Bangalore, Lerida, Crisps, Mul-
warree Ponds, Woorondooronbidge, Kerro-
wong, Myrtle, and Uringalla. Eminences. —
Wayo, Mount Fitton, Towrang, Marulan,
Mount Macalister, and Mount Hobbes.
St. Vincent County extends along the sea-
shore to the southward of Camden county,
and includes the harbours of Shoalhaven,
Jervis bay, and Bateman bay, already de-
scribed, and is the general coast line of the
colony. It is bounded on the north and west,
by the Shoalhaven river ; and on the south,
by Moodong creek, Deua river, and Moruya
river. Its length is about eighty-four miles.
AUCKLAND COUNTY AND BOYDTOWN.
125
and its breadth about forty miles. The
greater, and especially the northern portion
of this county, is very wild and mountain-
ous ; and will probably afford a rich field for
geological and mineraiogical research.* The
southern portion affords the most soil avail-
able for cultivation or pasture ; although,
on Bateman bay, which is its limit on the
south, much good soil cannot be expected,
as Snapper Island, at the entrance, consists
of grey compact quartz only, with white
veins of crystalline quartz. On the upper
part of the Shoalhaven river, there are
many plains admirably adapted for agricul-
tural purposes, the river there resembling
an English stream, and flowing nearly on a
level ^nth the surface. The county is well
watered by several small streams, of which
the most considerable, called the Clyde, runs
nearly parallel to the sea for a considerable
distance.
Towns. — Braidwood is the chief; the
others are Huskisson, Ulladulla, Broulee,
Marlow, Namga, Tianjara, and Fara-
ham. Rivers. — Shoalhaven, Macleay, Clyde,
Deuca, Mongarloo, ]\Ioruya, and Crook-
haven. Creeks. — Wandagandria, Jervis, Yer-
rimong, Pigeon-house, Endrick, Jembaic .ra-
bene, Congola, and Groobyar. Eminences. —
Pigeon-house, Currockbilly, Budawang,\Vom-
balloway, and Jillamatong.
South and south-west of St. Vincent
county there has been recently marked out
the counties of Daropier, Beresford, Auck-
land, Wcllesley, Wallace, Cowley, and Buc-
cleuch ; but of the boundaries and charac-
teristics of these counties we have as yet
little precise information, excepting Auck-
land, which is described by Mr. Wellsf as
comprehending that portion of New South
Wales, bounded by a line running from
Cape HoAve along the boundary of the dis-
trict of Port Phillip, to the point where the
said boundary crosses the 149th degree of
E. long. ; thence due north along the said
149th degree of E. long, to the lat. of 36°
40' S. ; thence due east to the sea, and
thence south along the sea coast to Cape
HoAve. It is about sixty miles in length,
ai.d forty in breadth. It contains the secure
• My own opinion is, that gold will eventually be
found there. [For recent cold discoveries, see Suppt.]
t Geoffrnpliical Dictionary or Gazetteer of the Aus-
tralian Colonies. By W. H. AVells. Sydney, 1848.
This useful work, which I have but just procured,
appears an admirable compilation of facts, collected
with great care, and which, judging from the difficulty
I have experienced in obtaining correct local infor-
mation, must have been greatly needed.
haven of Twofold bay, on the south shore
of which is situated the rising settlement of
Boydtown. This thriving township owes
its establishment chiefly to Mr. Benjamin
Boyd, one of the most enterprising colonists
in Australia, who, with his brother, Mark
Boyd, of London, has very materially con-
tributed to advance the interests of the
colony, and to popixlarize New South Wales
in England. There are two townships,
named East Boyd and Eden, separated from
each other by the river Kiah or Towamba.
Point Brierly, about one mile from each
township, is in 37° 6' 40" S., 149° 57' 42"
east of Greenwich. Twofold bay is the
chief port of outlet for the south-east dis
tricts of New South Wales, and is the key
to the extensive Maneroo country, now
divided into the several counties above
named. Lieutenant Woore, R.N., who
made the survey for the Admiralty chart,
says that South bay, or that on the shores of
which East Boyd stands, has a decided
superiority over any other anchorage in Two-
fold bay, arising from the prevailing and
strong Avinds blowing fiom the southAvard.
It is more extensive than North bay, where
Eden is, and possesses abundance of fresh
water, Avhich gives it a further advantage.
Boydtown, under the zealous exertions of
its founder, already contains a neat Gothic
church, the spire of which is visible twenty
miles at sea, a handsome hotel, in the
Elizabethean style, ranges of commodious
brick stores, well-built houses, and neat
verandah cottages; a jetty of several hun-
dred feet in length, and a heaving-doAvn
hulk. There is an excellent whaling station,
also extensive boiling-down and salt-provision
establishments, &c. A light-house, now
erecting on the South head, at the entrance
of the bay, consists of a tower seventy-six
feet in height, Avith a diameter of tAventy*
tAvo feet. It is being built of Avhite Sydney
sandstone, in solid blocks of nearly half a
ton each, and, independent of its light, will
prove an excellent land-mark for the shipping
which frequently take shelter in the bay,
where they can procure, at East Boyd,
abundance of provisions, fuel, and Avater,
The produce exported already amounts, in
value, to nearly ^6100,000 a-year. Mr. Ben
jamin Boyd has, after considerable labour,
and at his own cost, constructed a road of
forty-five miles, to convey the produce to
BoydtoAvn, from the famous squatting dis-
trict known as the Maneroo plains, or
Brisbane downs. The fine sheep-walks of
126 MURRAY AND KING COUNTIES, NEW SOUTH WALES.
Maneroo, which occupy a square of about
100 miles in extent, and are from 2,000
to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, on
the right bank of the river Murrumbidgee,
lie to the eastward of the meridian of 149°,
and extend upwards of forty miles to the
southward of the parallel of 36° 15', which
appears to be the parallel of their northern
skirts. They are bounded on the east by
the coast-range of hills, which give an inte-
rior or westerly direction to the streams
by which these downs are permanently
watered ; and on the west by the Australian
Alps, known here as the Warragong chain.
Toivns in Auckland county. — Boyd, Eden,
Parabula. Rivers. — Towamba or Kiah,
the Towaca, Merumbal, Bega, Bomballa, and
Bemboka. Eminences. — The Wanderer's
range, and Mount Imlay, so named, after
Dr. Imlay, who first explored the adjacent
country. This eminence is an excellent
landmark, being about 3,000 feet above the
level of the sea. These natural savannahs
consist of a series of undulations of hill and
dale, lightly timbered, with a rich soil, and
well watered by the Deuna, Shoalhaven,
Queanbeyan, Mui'ray, Murrumbidgee, and
Mitta-Mitta rivers, are a very favoui'ite
residence for squatters, and are capable of
yielding support to many thousand inha-
bitants.
Murray County is bounded on the north-
east by the Boro creek, from its junction
with the Shoalhaven river to its source in
the hill of WoUowalar ; by the range thence
to the Aliano-yonyiga mountain, between
Lake George and Lake Bathurst, and by a
Avatercourse descending from that mountain
to Lake Geoige, by the northern shore of
Lake George to the hill on the dividing
range, by the range in the west overlooking
its northern extremity, and thence by Gan-
daroo creek and Yass river to the Murrum-
bidgee ; on the west, by the Murrumbidgee
river to the junction of Miccaligo creek ; on
the south, by that creek to the Twins or
Tindery Pics, passing between them to the
source of Tindery creek, and by that creek
to Queanbeyan river, by that river to the
creek entering it from the hill called Tu-
manwong, and by a line from the source
of Jerrabatgulla, in that mountain, to the
junction of Currabeene creek with the Shoal-
haven river, and on the east, by Shoalhaven
river to the junction of Boro creek.
The length of this county is about seventy-
eight miles ; its breadth about forty-four
miles. It contains several extensive tracts
of remarkable fertility, instances of which
have been quoted in the description of the
general character of the soil of New South
Wales ; and the oat-grass, before mentioned
as growing spontaneously in Argyle, is also
found here. A ridge of high land runs
north and south through the eastern portion,
in a somewhat parallel direction with the
Shoalhaven river, which divides the county
of Murray from that of St. Vincent. The
most remarkable feature in this coimty is
liake George, which is stated by Sir Thomas
Mitchell to have been in 1828 a sheet of
water seventeen miles in length, and seven
in breadth, the water being slightly brackish,
but very good for use. The lake was then
surrounded by dead trees (eucalypti) of
about two feet in diameter, which also ex-
tended into it until wholly covered by water.
It contained no fish; and an old native
female said she remembered when the whole
was a forest, a statement supported pro tanto
by the dead trees in its bed. In 1836,
Sir Thomas found the whole expanse co-
vered with grass, and not unlike Breadal-
bane Plains. The site of Lake George, as
also that of Lake Bathurst, in the adjoin-
ing county, is now under cultivation. The
southern side of this ci-devant lake presents
one continuous low ridge, separating its
former bed from the head of the Yass river.
According to Count Strzelecki, fragments
of trees imperfectly fossilized have been
discovered iti this vicinity.
Toivns. — Queanbeyan, situated on the
Queanbeyan river; Bungendore, Yass, and
Larbert. Rivers. — Yass, Jingery, and Mo-
longo. Creeks. — Morumbateman, Gundaroo,
Jerrabombera, Jinglemony, Croonmier, Mod-
bury, Torallo, Majura, and Batmaroo.
Elevations. — Mount Ainslie, Bywong, Gou-
rock Pic, the Twins, Cockatoo Hill, Balcombe
Hill, and One Tree Hill.
King County is bounded on the east
by the dividing range forming the western
boundary of the county of Argyle from the
head of the Crookwell* river, in 34° 30'' S.
lat., to the head of the Gundaroo creek, near
Lake George ; on the south by Gundaroo
creek and the river Yass to the junction of
Derringullen creek near Bowning hill ; on
the west by the range of Bowning hill to
the head of Boorawa river, and by that river
to its junction with the Lachlan; on the
north-east by the rivers Lachlan and the
Crookwell to its source, as before mentioned.
Its length is seventy-six miles, its breadth
forty-three miles. The Cullarin range runs
from north to south, dividing this county
from that of Argyle. The county town, at
present represented by the thriving little
village of Gunning, is situated in a fine flat
of considerable extent, very suitable for
growing wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and
fruit of the British varieties. It is sur-
rounded by a fine tract of grazing country.
Gunning is 152 miles from Sydney, and
nearly midway between Goulbourn and Yass,
being distant from each about twenty-eight
miles. The latter town, though of no great
extent, (containing about sixty houses,) com-
prises a portion of two counties, being built
on each side of the river Yass, which sepa-
rates the county of King from that of Argyle.
Yass plains or downs are also divided by
this stream, whose bed (according to Dr.
Lang) is 1,311 feet above the level of the
sea. These tracts consist of fine grassy
hills, thinly covered with wood, and fertile
vales clear of timber. Mr. James says,
" there appears no limit to the rich feed for
sheep." The country is covered with flocks
and herds. Proceeding from Gunning to-
wards Yass plains there is a rapid descent
from the higher level of the surrounding
country. Dr. Lang estimates this descent
at 800 to 1,000 feet. Near Yass, on the
Sydney side of the river, is situated the well-
built cottages and extensive gardens of
Henry and Cornelius O'Brien, and of
Hamilton Hume, J.P. Mr. H. O'Brien's
grounds are very tastefully laid out. His
numerous flocks and herds roam over an
" hundi'ed grassy hills," the progeny of a
few sheep and cattle with which he sat him-
self down in the wilderness about twenty
years ago. Civilization has now reached
and surrounded him. Like the Antediluvian
patriarch Jabel, Mr. O'Brien is considered
" the father of such as dwell in tents," alias
bark huts, and of such as have cattle and
sheep beyond the boundaries of the colony,
i.e. squatters. As stated under the head
of commerce, Mr. O'Brien, finding the value
of his stock wofully reduced by the panic in
1843, commenced the "boiling down" sys-
tem, and converted his unsaleable live stock
into the valuable export of tallow for the
English markets.
Rivers. — Yass, Narrawa, Lachlan, Boor-
owa, Weeho, and Crookwell. Creeks. —
Hovell's, Cullaba, Broman, Pudman, Derr-
ingullen,Bango, Gundaroo, Jarrawa, Dimond,
Lambton, and Cartwright. Eminences. —
Mount Darling, Mundoonen, Chaton, Dixon,
and Narrawa.
Georgiana County is bounded on the
east by the dividing range extending from
the head of the Crookwell in 34° 30' S. lat.,
by Burra-Burra lake and Mount Werong,
to the head of Campbell's river; on the
north by Campbell's river to Pepper creek ;
on the west by Pepper creek and the range
extending from its head toward the source
of Rocky Bridge creek, and by that creek
and the Abercrombie to the river Lachlan;
on the south by the Lachlan and the Crook-
well to its source as aforesaid. The length
of this county is about fifty miles, and its
breadth forty. The surface is irregular and
varied, and in general well adapted for
grazing, but only occasional patches on the
banks of rivers and streams afford much
promise of successful agriculture.
Towns. — Not any. The chief place is
Bingham. Rivers. — The Abercrombie which
rises in a mountain about three miles east of
Mount Murrum, and after a course of about
ninety miles, falls into the Lachlan ; the
Campbell, Isabella, Crookwell, and Bolong.
Creeks. — Bocky Bridge, Tuena, Kangaroo,
Glengarry, Midgowrie, Julong, Kangaloolah,
Phils, Copperhaunia, Muligonnia, Carrawa,
and Peppers. Eminences. — Werong and
Mount Lawson.
Westmoreland County is bounded on
the north-east by Cox's river from its junc-
tion with the Wollondilly to the small creek
entering the Cox from the west, one mile
south of the new road to Bathurst ; on the
north by that creek and one descending to
Solitary creek, near its junction with Anto-
nio's creek, and thence by the Fish river to
Campbell's river ; on the west by Campbell's
river to its source in the dividing range,
and by the dividing range of Burra Burra
lagoon; on the south by the river Guine-
cor from Burra-Burra lagoon, to its junc-
tion with the Wollondilly ; on the east
by the Wollondilly to the junction of
Cox's river above-mentioned. Length,
sixty-four miles ; breadth, thirty-two miles.
Westmoreland is the most mountainous of
the counties of New South Wales, and
although the elevations are not of great
height, seldom exceeding three to four thou-
sand feet, they are numerous and generally
barren. One portion of the Blue Moun-
tains, two miles to the north of Swashfield,
is 4,000 feet above the sea. The head of
the Fish river four miles E.S.E. from
Mobrin, is 3,472 feet; Mobrin is 3,275 feet;
a hill near Bunbingle's creek is 3,554 feet ;
and one in Snake's valley is 3,576 feet
128
BATHURST COLONY AND TOWN— TABLE LAND.
Mounts CoUong and Murrum are remark-
able peaks. There are, however, some fertile
spots and excellent grazing districts in
Westmoreland. The Emu valley, ninety-
nine miles from Sydney on the road to
Bathurst, is an extensive morass. O'Con-
nell town, near the Fish river, on the bor-
ders of Westmoreland and Roxburgh, in
O'Connell plains, 115 miles from Sydney, is
the chief station in the colony.
Rivers. — Cox, Campbell, WoUondilly, Fish,
Kowmung, and Guinecor. Creeks. — Jouri-
land, Tonatti, Lacy, Antonio's, Lowther,
King, Wiseman, Native-dog, Fish river, and
Stony.
Bathurst County is bounded on the
north-east by the Campbell river, from
Pepper creek, and by the Macquarie river
to the junction of Lewis's ponds; on the
west, by Lewis's ponds creek to Blackman's
swamp, and thence to the Canobolas moun-
tains; thence by the Panuara range, and
rivulet of the same name, to the Belubula
sts-eam, and by that stream to its junction
with the Lachlan river; on the south, by
the Lachlan river to the Abercrombie and
the junction of the Rockybridge creek, also
by that creek and the range to the head
of the Pepper creek, and by the creek to
the river Campbell, as first mentioned. The
county is in length sixty-five miles, in breadth
forty miles. This transalpine country was
considered inaccessible until 1813. It con-
sists in general of broken table land, in some
places forming extensive downs, without a
tree, such as Bathurst plains, which include
50,000 acres, and are about nineteen miles
in length, and of a breadth varying from
four to eight miles, undulating, and with
the Macquarie river meandering throughout
their greater length, occasionally ornamented
with fringes of swamp oak. These plains
are 2,100 feet above the level of the sea;
they are not unlike the Brighton do^vns,
but with this remarkable peculiarity, that
on the summits of some of the elevations, or
knolls, are found dangerous quagmires, or
bogs, resembling sometimes the dry bed of
a pond, but at other times concealed by rich
verdure. " Fairy rings" are frequent, and
on most of them grow fungi of a large size.
With the exception of small portions of
land in particular localities, allotted to vete-
ran soldiers and emancipists, the county is
parcelled out into large farms of 2,000 acres
each ; the proprietors being free emigrants
of a very superior class. Bathurst county
is one of the most flourishing districts in
the colony ; its society excellent ; its re-
sources, as a fine-wooUed sheep farming
district, considerable ; and so salubrious is
the climate that the first natural death did
not occur until 1826, twelve years after its
settlement. Bathurst town, on the banks
of the Macquarie river, is in 33° 24' 80" S.
lat., and 149° 29' 30" E. long., twenty-seven
miles and a half north of Government-house,
Sydney, and ninety-four and a half W.,
bearing W. 18° 20' N., eighty-three geogra-
graphical or ninety-five and a half statute
miles, and by the road distant 121 miles.
The town is flourishing, and has its literary
institution, &c.
This county in particular presents remark-
able instances of a singular phenomenon
observable in various parts of Australia,
namely, what would be viewed in a long
civilized country as the most striking evi-
dences of former cultivation, the land being
laid out in ridges apparently marked by the
plough, and Avith a regularity of intervals
which would secure a prize from a Scottish
agricultural society. These plough ridges
occur always on gentle declivities, where
there is a tenacious subsoil with loose super-
strata, and are doubtless produced by the
action of water ; as there are found, even
on the tops of mountain ridges, extensive
beds of water-sand and water-gravel, mixed
Avith fragments of shells, presenting the iden-
tical appearances observed on the banks of
rivers, or upon sea-beaches ; but still the
regularity of the distances in the plough
ridges is unaccountable.
[The gold discoveries made here since this
was written are described in Supplement.]
Mr. W. H. Wells, the able compiler of
the Geographical Gazetteer of the Australian
Colonies, describes a "magnificent" natural
tunnel or archway, discovered by Mr. David-
son not long since, forty-five miles west of
Bathurst town, on the Grove creek, about
four miles above the confluence of that
stream with the Abercrombie, and seven
miles from Mulgunia. The tunnel is, in
length, about 300 paces ; the north entrance
is seventy feet broad and fifty feet high ;
towards the centre the breadth increases to
ninety feet, and the elevation to 100 feet;
at the southern extremity it is about 100
feet broad, and seventy to eighty feet high ;
the whole direction not exactly straight.
The roof is thickly covered with stalactites
of diff'erent colours, some hanging down to
a length of twenty feet. The sides of the
tunnel, especially on the left hand, have the
^YELLINGTON AND ROXBUllGH COUNTIES, NEW SOUTH WALES. 129
appearance of galleries raised one over the
other, supported by apparent carved work
and ornamental pillars, the whole adorned
by splendid stalagmites of various forms.
Other caverns of great extent, but not yet
fully explored, branch out of the main
tunnel; one of them contains two massive
stalagmites, resembling a pulpit and a tomb.
The descent to the tmanel is through a very
narrow defile, through which a creek flows
direct through the main chamber of the
cave.
Towns. — Bathurst, before mentioned, and
Carcoar, 14-i miles from Sydney, on the
Belubulu river. Rivers. — INIacquarie, Camp-
bell, Belubulu, Abcrcrombie, and Lachlan.
Creeks. — E-ockybridge, Frederick's valley.
Emu swamp. Peppers, Queen, and Princess
Charlotte's vale; Foster ditto. Swallow,
Coombul, Coombing, Lewis ponds, Cadian-
gullong, Mui-amer, INEundoraman ponds,
Milburn, Grubbenburn, jNIuringulla, Lime-
stone Wangola, and Panuara. Plains. —
Bathurst, Warwick, King's, Dunn's, and
Pretty plains. Eminences. — Canobolas, and
the Three Brothers.
Wellington County, north-west of Ba-
thurst, is bounded on the north-east by the
river Cudgegong ; on the north-west by that
river and the Macquarie, to the junction of
the river Bell, near Wellington valley; on the
west by the rivers Bell, ]Molong, and Bore-
nore creek, to the Canobolas mountains ; on
the east by this range, and thence to Black-
man's swamp, and by Lewis ponds, the
Macquarie, Turon river, Cunningham's creek,
and Cudgegong creek, under Bocobel, to
the Cudgegong river. It is, in length,
seventy-two miles, and in breadth forty-two
miles. This county is famed for a beautiful
and fertile valley, (Wellington valley), situ-
ated at the junction of the Bell and INIac-
quarie rivers, distant 238 miles from Sydney,
and 117 from Bathurst. The scenery is
very charming, and the soil richly produc-
tive. In this county, as stated at pages
398-9, Sir T. Mitchell discovered some re-
markable caves in the side of a low hill,
sixty-five feet above the adjacent alkmal
flat of WelHngton valley. The entrance
consists of two crevices, between large
blocks of limestone, in one side of a hollow
about twelve feet deep, and which has evi-
dently been widened by water. One of the
caves, at 180 feet from its mouth, has a
height of sLxty feet, and a breadth of tAventy-
five feet : the floor consists of reddish earth.
A gigantic stalactite, at the lower end of tlie
DIV. I.
cavern, gives somewhat the appearance of
a vast Hindoo idol. Some of the caves
have not been fully explored. The osseous
remains found in these caves are very re-
markable ; some of the fossilized bones are
supposed, by Professor Owen, to have be-
longed to a very large species of the kan-
garoo tribe, which is now extinct. !Mudgee,
the chief town of the county, is pleasingly
situated on the Cudgegong river. Another
township, called Neurea, has been laid out.
Rivers. — The Macquarie, (which runs
through the county), the Cudgegong, Bell,
]\Iolong, and Turon. Creeks. — Cunning-
ham, INIeroo, Pyramul, Nubrygin, jNPDonald,
Piambong, Merrenda, and Warradugga.
Eminences. — Two ridges of mountains run
from east to west, of which the most promi-
nent elevations are Corcalgong, Bocobel,
Boiga, and Yammin.
Roxburgh County, north of Bathurst and
Westmoreland counties, is bounded on the
north by the Cudgegong river from the
]Mount Durambang, by Canguddy creek, to
the junction of Cudgegong creek, on the
east of ]\Iount Bocobel ; on the west by that
creek, by Cunningham's creek, and by the
Turon river to the ]\Iacquarie river, which
latter, along with the Fish river, to the
junction of Solitary creek, forms the southern
boundary ; on the east by Solitary creek to
Honeysuckle hill, and thence by the dividing
range' to the head of Cook's creek, and by
the creek and the Cudgegong river and
Umbiella creek, to Mount Durambang.
Length, fifty miles; breadth, forty miles.
The county is very hilly, but has rich pas-
turage, some fertile spots, and is well
watered. Chief town — Kelso, on the ]\L:c-
quarie river, 11.2 miles from Sydney.
Rivers. — Macquarie, Cudgegong, Fish,
Turon, and Capertee. Creeks. — Warra-
gunnie, Tabraboucha, Umbiella, Cook's,
Coolamigel, Roundswamp, Antonios, SoU-
tary, Jabez-Jabeck, Winbm-dale, Cunning-
ham's, and jNIallamurra. Eminences. —
Tavan Pic, which is visible from the Wol-
lombi hills, in Northumberland, distant
forty miles, and also from the Honeysuckle
hill, on the Bathurst road, forty miles dis-
tant : hence this elevation became a well-
known ijoint in the trigonometrical survey
by Sir Thomas I^Iitcheli; of the settled dis-
tricts in New South Wales. The other
eminences arc Mounts Rankin, Ovens, Clan-
didla, or Marsden.
Cook County, adjoining Cumberland,
is bounded on the north-cast by the Colo
Q
130
COOK COUNTY— MOUNT YORK— VICTORIA MOUNT.
river, wliicli is also called the second or
lower brancli of the Hawkesbury ; on the
north by the rocky di^iding range, extending
east and west, between tlie rivers Hunter
and Hawkesbury, and forming the south
boundary of the county of Hunter; on the
west by the range dividing the waters to
Honeysuckle hill ; and hence to where the
Mount Blaxland road crosses Cox's river;
on the south-west by Cox's river; on the
east by the Warragamba, . Nepean, and
Hawkesbuiy, to the junction of the lower
branch, as above mentioned ; it is in length
sixty miles, and in breadth forty-four miles.
A great part of Cook county is occupied
by the Blue Mountain range, across which
the fine road from Sydney to Bathvu-st lies.
Table land, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high,
abounding in picturesque scenery, occupies
a considerable portion of the county. Emu
plains, and several fertile valleys, compen-
sate, in some measiu-e, for the large quantity
of rocky soil in this county. At King's
table land [2,727 feet above the sea) the
view is magnificent ; for eighteen miles fi'om
the commencement of the ascent of the
Blue mountains at Emu plains, the slope is
gradual; from thence to the twenty-sixth
mile is a succession of steep and rugged
hiUs, some almost so abrapt as to deny a
passage across them to King's Table Land,
on the south-west of which the momitain
terminates in lofty precipices, at whose base
is seen the beautiful Prince Regent's glen,
about twentv-four miles in length. From
Mount York "(3,292 feet high) the view is mag-
nificent— mountains rising beyond moun-
tains, clothed with impenetrable forests, with
stupendous masses of rock, forming but-
tresses, in the foreground. The Vale of
Clywd, so called from its resemblance to a
vale of the same name in North Wales,
Britain, is 2,496 feet above the sea, and
runs along the foot of jNIount York, 796 feet
below the summit of the mountain, extend-
ing six miles in a westerly direction. The
soil is rich, and the scenery very beautiful.
In the valley, near the inn called the Wea-
ther-boarded Hut, on the road to Bathurst,
there is a line of perpendicular cliffs, of
immense height, Avhich has a small cataract
termed the Falls. At the point where the
rivulet leaps over the precipice, the cliffs
recede considerably, forming, according to
Lang, two bold headlands of fearful eleva-
tion, and enclosing a basin of prodigious
depth, in which the tops of lofty trees are
seen several hundred feet below the preci-
pice. When the rivulet is flooded, the
scene is magnificent; in other seasons, the
waters are separated into distinct atoms,
and are precipitated to the bottom hke innu-
merable particles of frozen snow. The great
western road from Sydney to Bathm-st, over
Mount Victoria, was originally very imper-
fect and steep. According to the design of
the sui'veyor-general, Mitchell, in 1827-8,
recommended by a road commission in
1829, a new line over the Blue mountains
was commenced in 1830, and three gangs
of convicts, consisting of 250 prisoners,
under colonial or secondary sentences, with
ankle fetters of seven to ten pounds each,
were located near the intended road, in
a stockade prepared for the pui'pose, with
huts around for a gu.ard of soldiers. The
dense forest that covered the projected road
was first cleared and burned, chasms were
filled by immense masses of blasted rock;
and walls of extraordinary thickness, and of
a height of fifty to eighty feet, connected
one precipice with another, and preserved a
continuous or gradual scale of decli%dty ; a
defile was cut through the solid rock, of
twenty to thii'ty feet deep; and finally, in
1832, the Victoria Pass was opened to the
public, in due form, by the governor. Sir R.
Boui'ke.
Towns. — Hartley, seventy-eight miles from
Sydney, the chief town, is built on the west
bank of the river Lett ; the other towns are
Emu, Wilberforce, Bowenfels, Rydal, and
Colo. Emu township, thirty-five miles ii'oni
Sydney, is laid out on the rising ground of
Emu plains, behind the government farm,
on the banks of the Nepean. The seat of
Edenylassie, (called by Sir Francis Forbes,
the late chief justice of New South Wales,
after the family seat in Aberdeenshire, North
Britain, of the lamented Sir Charles Forbes,
Bart.,) is about two miles up the river, on a
fine reach, capable, says ]\Ir. Wells, of
'^ floating a dozen men-of-war." Rivers. —
Grose, Colo, Cox, Nepean, Hawkesbury,
Lett, and Warragamba, Creeks. — Wheeny,
Mcroo, Billong, CuiTcncj'^, Wolhnganby,
Bowen, Wolgan, Farmer, and Cook. Emi-
nences.— the Blue mountains, Floneysuckle
hill, ^lounts Walker, Clarence, Victoria,
Tomah, King George, and Hay.
Northumberland County, which inter-
venes between Hunter county and the sea,
is one of the finest in the colony; it is
bounded on the north by the river Hunter,
and on the south by the Hawkesbury, to
the sea-coast, Avhich fonns the eastern
NEWCASTLE, MAITLAND, AND MORPETH TOWNS.
131
boundary; and on the west by Wollombi
brook, the junction of Parson's creeks by
that creek to its head in the range di\adiug
the waters of the Hawkesbury from those of
the Hunter, by Waning creek, to its junc-
tion with the jNlacdonakl river, or lower
brancli of the Hawkesbury, and by the said
iower branch to its junction with that river.
The length is sixty-one miles, breadtli fifty.
There are some fine elevations, commanding-
extensive prospects; but the general aspect
is a series of undulations and elevated plains,
intersected by numerous creeks, streams,
and rivulets. The river Hunter aftbrds a
means of water communication throughout
its northern boundary, and along its alluvial
banks, some of the most flourishing farms
and estates in the colony are situate. Yar-
ramalong is a beautiful vale, distant twenty
miles from Brisbane water, and watered by
the Jilliby-Jiliiby creek. Lake Macquarie,
or Awaba, twelve miles south of Newcastle,
is the largest lake in New South Wales, and
famed for the beauty of the sui'rounding
scenery. The entrance is at the head of
"Reid's Mistake," distant 105 miles from
Sydney. Newcastle (native name Mulu-
binha), in 32^ 55' 50'^ S., about eighty miles
from Port Jackson, is the maritime town of
the county, and fast rising into eminence,
not less by reason of its position at the com-
mencement of the navigation of the Hunter,
than from the locality of the coal mines, now
actively worked by the AustraHan Agricultural
company, ivlaitland, on the Hunter river,
at its junction with Wallis creek, 127 miles
from Sydney, and twenty-five miles from
Newcastle, is the seat of the county execu-
tive, and a neat and flourishing settlement.
The town is divided into East and West Mait-
land, built on each side of WalUs creek.
There is a spacious coiu't-house, a large
gaol, several chui'ch of England, Presby-
terian, Wesleyan, and Roman cathohc tem-
ples of worship. The Roman catholic chapel
is a handsome structure. East jMaitland is
better supplied with water than West Mait-
land. Coal, of excellent quality, is worked
on both sides of Wallis creek, and delivered
to the consumer at six shillings per ton.
Moiyeth, originally called the Green hills,
is a rising town, pictui'csquely situated at
the head of the navigable part of the Hunter
river, twenty-nine miles by water from New-
castle. It contained, in 1848, a church and
parsonage, a Wesleyan chapel, a ladies'
school, and two day schools; five inns, a
steam floiu'-mill, soap and candle manufac-
tory, some excellent shops, thirty-seven
stone and brick buildings, and 117 wooden
tenements. The extensive wharf and stores
of the Hunter River Steam Navigation Com-
pany are at ]\Iorpeth, and throughout the
greater part of the year there is a daily
steam-packet communication with Sydney,
with which also there is a considerable trade
in saibng vessels. About two acres on the
bank of the Hunter river are used as a
government wharf. Good coal is found in
the vicinity. Morpeth, like Boyd, and
other towns in New South Wales, is built
on land belonging to private individuals,
who natiu'ally seek to improve the value of
their property by promoting the formation
of towns in eligible places.
The extraordinary progress of the colony
of New South Wales is evidenced ki the
manufacturing industry evinced in many of
the towns. In Maitlaud, for instance, we
are told, that —
" Porter and ale of excellent quality are now
brewed there. The In-av/ang pottery is so good, that
the demand greatly exceeds what can be produced,
from the paucity of good workmen. Tweed is im-
proved so much, that it sells in Sydney to such an
extent that the district market is often vciy inade-
quately supplied, though two establishments are in
active operation. The tobacco manufactured in Mait-
land and the district is nearly all sold in Sydney, and
the demand for it is gradually increasing. The grov.'lii
of the vine is greatly extending, though but little
wine has been yet brought into market ; manifest
improvement is however visible in what is brought
forward. Leather and soap are produced to a gi-eat
extent, and of excellent quality. Iron, salt, and a
variety of other articles, are rapidly improving."
The Maitland Mercury, published bi-
weekly, is an excellent provincial newspaper.
Toivns. — Newcastle, Maitland, Siagleton,
?.Iorpeth, Wollombi, Hexham, East and
West Gosford, and St. Albau's. Lakes. —
Macquarie, Brisbane Water, Tuggerah Beach,
and Wamberall.
Hunter County, north of Cook coimty,
and separated from the sea by Northumber-
land countv'^, is bounded on the north by the
river Hunter, and also by the Goulboiu'n to
the junction of Widdin creek ; on the west,
by Widdin creek to the Coricudgy moun-
tain, by the range thence to the Durambang
hill ; on the south, by the Colo river to the
Hawkesbuiy river ; on the east, by the
Hawkesbury to the north of the INIacdonald
river, or lower branch ; and on the north-
east, by the INIacdonald river to the junction
of Wareng creek, and by AVareng and Par-
son's creeks, and the Wollombi creek, to
its junction with the Hunter river. Length,
132
HUNTER, PHILLIP, BLIGH, AND BRISBANE COUNTIES.
from north to south, seventy-one miles ;
breadth, cast to -u-est, forty-seven miles.
The aspect is mountainous, and occasion-
ally very wild. The chief town, called after
the plains in which it is situated, Jerry^s, is on
the Hunter river, 122 miles from Sydney.
Rivers. — Hunter, Goulbourn, !Macdonald,
"Wollombi, and Colo. Creeks. — Webb's,
Parson's, WoUum, Putty, Widdin, James,
King, Greig, and Doyle. Eminences. — Nullo,
Coricudgy, jNIonundilla, and Wambo.
Phillip County is bounded on the nortli
by the river Goulbourn, from its source, near
the head of AVialdi'ar creek, to the junction
of Widdin creek ; on the north-west, by
the Cudgegong river, from its soiu^ce, at
Mount Durambang, to Wialdrar creek. Its
length is fifty-three miles, and its breadth
fortj'-one miles. Rytstone is the chief place.
iJirers.— Goulbourn, and the Cudgegong.
Creeks. — Widdin, Cooyal, Pipeclay, Lavrson,
Moorlarben, Wilpingong, Bylong, Barrigan,
and Wollar. Eminences. — Pomary, Runker's
Peak, Cox's Crown, and INIount Penny ; but
these are only hills of inconsiderable height.
Bligh County, bounded on the north by
the Liverpool range from Mount INIac Arthur
to the head of Coolaburragundy river, by
this and the Talbragar river to the junction
of a small creek two miles east of Balara ;
on the west by a connected ridge extending
from the head of the creek aforesaid to a
hill five miles north of the junction of the
Bell with the Macquarie river, and thence
by a line south to the Macquarie ; on the
south-west by the Macquarie to the junction
of the Cudgegong river, and on the south-
east by the Cudgegong river; and Wial-
drar creek, to the soiu'ce of the latter in the
dividing range at the head of the Goulbourn
river, thence by the Goulbonrn and Krui river
to ]\Iount Mac Arthiu' or Liverpool range.
Length, about eighty miles; breadth, forty
miles. There are several rich plains, viz.,
Hari'ison's, Krui, Nandoura, and Welling-
ton valley; the most prominent mountains
are ]\Iooa, East Bluff, Pandora's Pass, and
Gobalion. Ailsa, on the Krui river, is the
county town; the others are Dalkeith and
Montefiores.
Rivers. — Macquarie, Goulbourn, Talbragar,
Erskine, Krui, and Cudgegong. Creeks. —
Coolaburragundy, Teeree, Fom- Mile, Cook-
abulgo, Munmurra, Peters, Derrinderry,
Stony, Krui, ISIoons, and Wildra.
Brisbane County is bounded on the
north-east by Hunter river, from its source
in hit. 31° 46', to the Goulbourn river, and
thence to the Krui river ; on the west by the
Krui river to its som'ce at IMount Mac
Arthur or Moan in the Liverpool range ; on
the north-west by the Tinagroo and Temi
mountains to the head of the Hunter river.
Length, ninety miles ; breadth, forty miles.
The aspect of the county consists of several
ranges of table-land, with occasional plains
and peaks; one, Mount Wingen, or the
Burning INIountain, in 31° 54' S. lat, and
150° 56' E. long., described in the Geological
section, has an elevation of 1,500 feet above
the sea.
Towns. — INIurrurundi, chief, on Page's
river; Haydonton, Scone, jNIerriwa, Cassilis,
Invermein, and St. Aubin's. Rivers. —
Goulbourn, Hunter, Page, Isis, Krui, and
Werrenul. Creeks. — Krui, Moon, Coul-
son's. Bow, Gummum, Hall, Giant, Way-
bong, Dartbrook, and Kingdon. Plains. —
Bow, Krui, Gummum or Gammon Plains,
150 miles from Sydney. Eminences. —
?kIount Tinagroo, Tereil, Mm'ulla, Oxley's
peak, and Tomarra.
Durham County is bounded on the east
by the Williams river to its source, and
thence by the Mount Royal range to the
head of one of the branches of the Hunter
river in lat. 31° 46'; and by that river on
the west and south to the junction of
William's river above-mentioned. Length,
sixty miles; breadth, fifty miles. Fertile
and well watered. The fine district of
Patrick's plains includes the middle portion
of Durham county, the north-east portion
of Hunter county, and the north-west por-
tion of Northumberland county. Paterson,
the county town, is situated on the river of
the same name, distant 130 miles from
Sydney, Other towns — Muswellbrook, Sea-
ham, Clarencetown, Dungog, Hinton, Gi'es-
ford, ]Merton, and Cambei'well.
Rivers. — Hunter, Williams, Patterson,
Allyn, and Bouchell. Creeks. — Stewai'ts-
brook, Sandy, Muswell, Saltwater, Fay, Fall,
Carrow, West, Glendon, ISIyall, and Lamb-
valley. Eminences. — Mounts Royal, WoUen,
M^Arthur, Diying, and Tangorin.
Dungog, one of the towns or villages m
Durham county, is noted for its position and
prosperity. It is situated on the banks of
AYilliam's river, a considerable way below
the Chichester river, both of which streams
are famed for their clearness and purity. The
■\illagc covers a succession of ridges which
are said to " fall into one another like the
fingers of clasped hands." These ridges are
thinly wooded, and government has preserved
DURHAM AND GLOUCESTER COUNTIES.
133
ample space for promeuade and circular
pleasure-grounds near the beautiful reaches
and bends of the river. There is a churchy
two schools, two large inns, a steam flour-
mill, court-house, horse-barrack, horse-break-
ing and training stables, boiling-down estab-
lishments, several good dwelling-houses and
neat farms in the vicinity ; a cheerful peal
of church bells, and a band of rustic mu-
sicians. "From one end of the town,"
says jMr. Wells, "to the other, the voice of
children and the hmn of industry fall upon
the ear." The country around is wildly
picturesque.
Gloucester County, boimded on the west
by the Hunter river, on the south-west by
William's river to its source, and thence by
the Mount Royal range bounding the county
of Durham to the principal source of the
Manning river ; oil the north by the INIan-
ning river to Farquhar inlet, south-east by
the sea-coast. Length, eighty miles; breadth,
sixty-five miles. The northern parts of the
county are mountainous, but there is much
good land both for grazing and agricultural
purposes. At the entrance of Port Hunter
or Newcastle bay, there is a small but rather
lofty island, called Nobby's Island, some-
what resembling the Craig of Ailsa, or the
Bass Rock on the coasts of Scotland, appa-
rently composed of indurated clay support-
ing a stratum of sandstone, over which there
is a stratum of coal, the clay appearing to
rest on a substratum of silicious substance.
The indurated clay consists of thin lamina?,
into which it may be easily separated with a
knife, and which present innumerable im-
pressions of vegetables. Dr. Lang says —
" I have seen such impressions in specimens
of the clay obtained at a height of fifty to a
hundred feet above the level of the sea. It
appears indeed to consist of nothing else but
masses of vegetable matter, which, at some
former period in the history of the earth,
must have floated in a solution of clay.
Nobby's island has evidently been originally
joined to the mainland ; the intervening
channel to the southward being still narrow,
shallow, and rocky, and the successive strata
of which it is composed corresponding with
those of the main."
The features of the coast about Port Ste-
phens are difl'erent from those seen to the
southward. A number of conical hills, four
to six hundred feet high, are visible; two of
them — Wacaba and Tom are, constitute the
entrance points of Port Stephens — which is
a large estuary, fifteen miles in length, and
contracted near the centre to the breadth of
a mile, and subsequently further lessened by
a woody islet. Nearly two miles within the
estuary, on the west shore of the harbour,
is the town of Carrington, belonging to the
Australian Agricultural Company ; and half-
a-mile to the westward is Taklu, the charm-
ing residence of the superintendent, situ-
ated on the crest of a green grassy slope,
over which are scattered numerous small
bushy lemon-trees, the deep A'erdure of their
foliage interspersed with golden fruit, con-
trasting with the liglit-green carpet from
which they sprang. "i^
The estate of the Australian Agricultural
Company in New South Wales, comprises
an area of upwards of a million of acres, and
consists of three separate extensive tracts,
situated about 100 miles north of Sydney,
between the 32nd and 33rd parallels of south
latitude, approached by the fine harboui' of
Port Stephens, which forms its southern
boundary. The southernmost of these tracts
is designated the Port Stephens grant ;
north-west of Port Stephens is the Liver-
pool Plains grant; and the north-east of
Liverpool plains is the PeeFs River grant.
The Port Stephen's gi'ant is estimated to
contain 461,640 acres, and to extend between
twenty and thirty miles inland from the sea
coast ; bounded on the north by the " ]\Ian-
ning," a river of comparative magnitude,
commencing a little above the head of the
navigation, and extending inward or west-
ward twenty miles ; on the west by a line
south, separating the company's lands from
those reserved by the crown for ecclesiastical
and educational purposes; on the east by a
parallel line separating the same from the
crown lands ; and on the south by the
Karuah river and Port Stephens, a harbour
second only to that of Sydney or Port Jack-
son on the eastern coast of New Holland.
The general appearance of the land is hilly,
Avith well-watered valleys, of good soil and
pasture, and with abundance of the best de-
scription of timber, for building, fencing, and
rural purposes generally. The character of
the soils necessarily varies with the formation,
but they are all capable of growing grain,
(maize and millet luxuriantly,) tobacco and
cotton, the vine, olive, orange, and citron,
and almost eveiy variety of fruits, even to
the banana, which flourishes in sheltered
situations, and within the inlluence of the
sea air. The valleys, though narrow, aftbrd
sufficient scope of rich alluAial soil on the
• Stokes'.o Voyage in JLM.S. Beagle.
134 AUSTRALIAN AGEICULTURAL COMPANY— PORT STEPHENS.
banks of tlie streams for all the purposes
of agricultvu-e ; tlie receding and higher
lands being well calculated for arboriculture
and vineyards; whilst the loftier ranges
are clothed "uath a short, sweet, and nour-
ishing grasSj for the pasturage of sheep or
cattle — and it is remarkable that the wool
produced from the Company's sheep depas-
tured on those hills near the coast, has
invariably, fi'om its fineness of texture,
reaHsed nearly sixpence per pound more
than that produced from a similar breed of
sheep fed in the interior, where the grass
is more rank. A considerable portion of
the lands in this county belonging to the
Australian Agricultiu'al Company is of ex-
cellent quahty, and has been rendered veiy
valuable by the well-directed labour and
capital bestowed upon it. Count Strzelecki
thus expresses himself concerning the agri-
cultm-al capabilities of this part of New South
Wales and the progress of cultivation : —
" That portion of the country ^vhich, from its sys-
tem of working, and range of tillable land, deserves
to be included within the agricultural district, is con-
fined to the valley of the Karua, which is; limited in
the extent of its cultivated, but not of its cultivable
land, and of which the best tracts are in the posses-
sion of the Australian Agricultural Company ; to the
valley of the Hunter, composed of the coniiu£nt val-
leys of the Goulbourn, Pages, Patterson, and Williams
rivers, &c. ; the valley of the Parramatta. * * *
In these localities, a good many farms are in a very
forward state; many exhibit remarkable improve-
ments, and some display only partial attempts, all of
which are, however, in the right direction. The farms
of the Australian Agricultural Company at Stroud
and Booral, the most northern farms of the colony,
may be regarded as tlie first in the rank of improve-
ments. The farm buildings are of the best construc-
tion; the tilled lands are almost entirely clear of
timber and stumps, well fenced in, well ploughed and
worked, and presenting, on the whole, gratifying
proofs of well-bestowed capital and labour.
'* The orchards and vineyards of the company at
Tahlee (Port Stephens), which produce the choicest
grapes, oranges, and lemons, are not less worthy of
notice. It is this orchard which shews most forcibly
the extensive range which the beautiful climate of
New South Wales embraces in isothermal lines ; as
there the English oak is seen flourishing by the side
of the banana, Avliich is again surrounded by vines,
lemon and orange trees of luxurious growth. To the
southward of Port Stephens are a series of thriving
farms, spreading along the Goulbourn, Pages, Hunter,
Patterson, and Williams rivers, which comprise an
agricultural district of 2,000 square miles in extent.
The excellent harbour of Newcastle (in Northumber-
land county), good water and tolerable roads, a coal
mine, a soil well adapted for wheat, barley, turnips ;
the vine and European fruits, and a situation the
most favourable to the application of irrigation, ren-
der this district one of the richest and most important
in the colony."
The httle river Kamah, flowing into the
north-west corner of Port Stephens, is
na^'igable for twelve miles, to a place called
Booral, where all goods are landed for the
Company's stations up the country. Mr.
Ebsworth, the treasurer, resides there in a
charming cottage almost covered with roses
and honeysuckle, and commanding two pic-
turesque reaches of the Karuah. To this
gentleman, and to his cousin, IMr. Henry
Ebsworth, many years the faithful secre-
tary of the AustraUan Agricultural Com-
pany, great credit is due for the careful
superintendence evidenced in the j)ractical
working of the judicious and equitable sys-
tem adopted by this association. Near the
town of Gloucester in this county, is an
abrupt range of densely wooded hills, called
the " Bucket:?," which rise to a height of
about 1,200 feet above the plain, their sum-
mits crowned by precipitous masses of naked
rock of fantastic contour, not unlike the
castled crags of the Rhme. The situation
of Gloucester \illage is very picturesque ; it
is a large cattle farm belonging to the Aus-
tralian Agricultural Company. The "village
of Stroud, not far distant, is a horse-station
of the company : its English character is ex-
emplified by the neat little gardens belonging
to the mechanics in the service of the Aus-
tralian AgTicviltural Company, and by the
cottages covered with roses and honey-
suckle. [Further details in Supp^]
On the crest of a range of hills in this
county, overlooking some wooded lands be-
longing to the church of England, a singular
natural phenomenon has been lately disco-
vered : the front of the line of hills " strik-
ingly resembles the ruins of a fortress : the
masses of rent rock are dotted with vast
balls, half fixed, and of the exact size of
cannon balls : they are easily displaced,
lea\dng a socket, as if they had originally
been plunged there by artillery. The balls
are very hea^y, of a spaa'kling granite, sur-
rounded in the centre by a white flimsy
circle, which it was found impossible to
chip." ^ Specimens of these balls have been
sent to the British Mitseum and to the Geo-
logical Society of Loudon.
Toivns. — Raymond Terrace (the chief);
Carrington, on Port Stephen's harboui* ; and
Stroud, on the Karuah river. Rivers. —
Manning, Williams, Chichester, Gloucester,
Barrington, and Karuah. Creeks. — Tilli-
gerry. Serpent, Limeburners, Onall, Pipe-
clay, and M'Arthur's. Eminences. — Mounts
Tallowah and Kanghat.
* Geograpliical Gazetteer, by W. H. Wells, Esq.,
p. 184. Sydney, 1848.
MACQUAETE COUNTY AND PORT ]MACQUARIE.
13c
Macquarie County is bounded on the
south by Manning river^ from Farquhar^s
inlet to its confluence with the Barnard
river ; on the west by a line fi'om the said
confluence to i\Iount Sea- view, and thence
by a line to Kippara, a pass in the range
dividing the waters of the jM'Leay river
from the waters of the Wilson river ; on the
north by that range to the source of the
south branch of the IMaria river, and thence
by that stream to the flrst section line in
the parish of Kalateenee, west of the east
boundary of that parish, thence by that
section line to the JNI'Leay river; on the
north-westj by the M'Leay river to its
mouth, inclusive of the islands ; and on tlie
east, by the sea coast, which is pictiu'csquely
marked by Crescent head, Point Plomer,
Tacking point, Indian and Crowdy heads.
The general features of the county are hill
and dale, with open forest or grass land,
lightly covered with good timber, and free
from invmdations. Captain King, speaking
of this county and the adjacent districts,
says, " there are here twelve million acres,
in which it is difficult to find a bad tract,
and they are in general watered with clear
small streams." There are several elevated
mountains in the county, viz. — the Three
Brothers, Cairncross, Comboyne, Cocorae-
rico or Mount Sea-view, Kippara, Colapo-
tamba, and the Brokenbago range, which
latter divides the basin of the Hastings from
that of the Manning river, and is covered
all over with a dense forest. On the highest
summit of this range, a tall pinnacle of
naked rock shoots up perpendicularly above
the trees like a church steeple. In some
parts of the cou.nty, for instance, to the north
of the river IVIanning, there are extensive
plains ; those called the " Jamaica plains,"
have an intensely green verdure, as con-
trasted with the more yellow tinted green
of the grassy forest hills. Some large flats
are covered with high grass, and timbered
by large blue gum and " tea trees," standing
widely apart from each other. At the
junction of the ^Manning with the Glouces-
ter river, the scenery consists of ranges of
hills either very Hghtly wooded and gj-assy,
or else covered over with brush timber and
entangled vegetation. Most of the park-
like hills have rounded conical summits;
one heaAdly wooded range on the south bank
of the I'iver is crowned by huge masses of rock
overgrown with creepers, which resemble
the ivy-clothed battlements of some ancient
fortress. Between the Wilson and the
Hastings river, is a very thickly wooded
undulating country, tolerably grassy, and
intersected by moist tea-tree flats and sedgy
hollows. The country at the junction of
the Hastings with the ]\Iaria river, has a
fine appearance, as the reaches of the Has-
tings are of great length, and have an uni-
form breadth of about a quarter of a mile.
The handsome rilla of Dr. Carlisle is on
the right bank, and on the left, a pretty
cottage with a flourishing garden of vines
and fruit trees. The Three Brothers rise
majestically near Indian head, their lofty
summits overtop all the woody heights by
which they are encircled, and command an
extensive inland, as well as a broad sea
view.
Port Macquarie (278 miles from Sydney,
lat. 31° 25' 45" S.), the county town and
the most important north of ISIaitland, is
situated within the harbour on the south
side of the Hastings river, and divided into
East and West Macquarie, by Coolenbang
creek. It is a harbour into which vessels
drawing more than nine feet of water can-
not safely enter ; but there is good ancho-
rage outside, and the shore is not dangerous.
The town is well built, on a gentle rise ;
the houses generally of brick, surrounded
l)y neat verandahs and trellice work ; the
streets broad, straight, coated with dark red
gravel, and levelled like garden walks. A
tall square church tower is conspicuously
prominent in the highest part of the to-wn.
A group of magnificent trees encircles Port
Macquarie, and extends along the banks of the
river; to the west and north-west is a wide ex-
tent of forest country, and among the moun-
tain ranges may be traced the windings of the
valley throiigh which the Wilson river flows.
Mount Caoulapatamba is sufficiently near
to render visible every tree on its grassy
declivities, whilst the distant ranges at the
INI'Leay river, and the huge frowning moun-
tain at the back of Cogo, are half dissolved
in blue ether. The beauty and fertility of
the land in this vicinity has been noted
by several writers, especially the luxuriant
vegetation of the coast, when approach-
ing Port Macquarie; dense thickets of
cabbage palms and myrtle trees extend
down the gently sloping declivities, even
within reach of the ocean spray, and eveiy
unwooded patch is covered with grass. The
lofty forest, too, rises luxuriantly close to
the sea, and the tints of the rocks, the
foliage, the verdure, are all of a warm mel-
low hue.
136 NUMEROUS AND FERTILE FARMS IN MACQUARIE COUNTY.
The other towns are Hay, Ballengarra,
and ]Maria-Ville. Kempsey village, at the
termination of the north boundary of Mac-
auarie county, twenty-eight miles fz'om the
mouth of ]Ni'Leay river, has several good
brick-built cottages, an inn, store, &c. A
fine garden here, belonging to ]\Ir. Sullivan,
has fruit trees of all descriptions in gi'eater
luxuriance than is to be seen in any other
part of the colony. The land in this neigh-
bourhood yields good crops of wheat in dry
seasons, and maize at the rate of 75 to 100
bushels per acre. One farm, belonging
partly to Mr. Hodgkinson, which had been
under the plough for six years, yielded two
crops annually — maize, followed by either
wheat, potatoes, sugar-loaf cabbages, or
Swede turnips. The crops of cabbages and
turnips cultivated for the pigs, were tw^ce
as abundant as good crops in England.
Potatoes were large, but had an earthy
flavour.
The principal agricultural farms in the
county of jNIacquarie, are situated on the
banks of the Wilson river — a tributary of the
Hastings, and a never-failing stream flowing
through a narrow valley ; — they now form
a continuous chain for about fifteen miles,
and a very good road connects the whole of
them with the town of Ballengarra, where
the "Wilson river becomes navigable for boats
about twenty miles distant, by water, from
the town of Port Macquarie. These farms
are all composed of alluvial soil of excellent
quality.*
On the banks of the ^SI'Leay river, on
the northern frontier of jNIacquarie county,
the alluvial brushes which prevail on the
lower part of the stream, are superseded
where the stream ceases to feel the influence
of the tide, by park-like forest ground, ver-
dant rocky eminences, and luxuriant grassy
flats of the greatest richness, lightly tim-
bered Avith apple-trees (so called by the colo-
nists, from the resemblance of the foliage to
the English fruit-tree of that name ; the tree
is the angophora lanccolata) , whose gnarled
branches and light green foliage, render it
the most picturesque forest ti'ee in Australia.
Several small trilDutary streams join the
upper course of the INI'Lcay; from the
South Dongai creek, whose narrow valley
consists of a border of alluvial flats covered
with broad-bladed grass growing breast high,
* Hodgkinson's Australia from Port 3Incquarte to
Moreton Bay; to ^vhich work I am indebted for much
i-pcent information concerning the topography of this
portion of the country.
and with a few large blue gum trees scat-
tered so far apart as to offer no impediment to
immediate tillage, which is carried on here by
the squatters. Dongai ereek is hemmed in
on both sides by fertile ranges weU clothed
with grass, and lightly wooded ; the sceneiy
is described as very pleasing ; the ranges
rise in smooth round cones, and their sloping
sides, covered with bright green verdui'e,
contrast strongly with the dark glistening
green of the brush vegetation, which occa-
sionally invades some of the hills. The
stream itself, says INIr. Hodgkinson, is of
crystal brightness ; it rushes rapidly through
the glen, over a bed of large pebbles, and
frequently forms diminutive cascades ; " this,
with the magnificent trees and beautiful
flowering creepers, forming natural arches,
with a glimpse of distant hills softened and
blended with the deep azure of an Austra-
lian sky, cannot fail of affording gratifica-
tion to any one who can admire nature un-
adorned by art."
Rivers. — Hastings, Wilson, Maria, Man-
ning, Brumo, EUenborough, and Forbes.
Creeks. — Tymbank, Piper's, Limeburner's,
Pappinburra, Limestone, Koolobungan, Kin-
dee, and Cathie. Lakes. — ^lany, but of
small extent ; principal — the Inncs, Queen's,
Watson, and Taylor.
The climate of this dirisiou of New South
Wales is said to be more agreeable than
that of Sydney; the mountains approach
nearer to the coast, collect the vapours from
the sea, and cause more frequent rains ; in
summer, especially, the heat is mitigated by
many heavy thunder showers. It is almost
entirely exempt from the hot ■srinds, which
arc frequent during the summer months, in.
the more southern parts of the colony; more-
over, the north-eastern part of New South
Wales, between the great main range dividing
the eastern and western waters and the ocean,
has never experienced the long droughts
which appear to occiu' septeunially in the
central and western districts. The greatest
drought experienced in the Port !Macquaiie
neighbourhood, was in 1841-2, when the
natural grasses were quite desiccated, and
the whole country continually in flames, the
only young grass for the cattle and the sheep
being in the flats; but the water-courses
were as full of water as ever ; and the wheat
crops — which had failed near Sydney —
yielded abundantly on the alluvial farms on
the banks of Wilson's river — in some places
averaging forty bushels of sixty-five pounds
each, to the acre.
FINE COUNTRY ON THE NAMBUCCA AND BELLENGEN RIVERS. 137
From iNIoretou Bay to the IManuing river,
the southern boundary of the county of
Macquarie, a distance of about 270 iniies
along the coast, there are nine rivers, viz, —
the Brisbane, Tweed, Richmond, Clarence,
Bellengen, M'Leay, Hastings, Camden Haven
creek, and the jNIanning. Dr. Lang, speak-
ing of this region, which he terms Cooks-
land, says, " I can fearlessly challenge any
Eiu'opean geographer to point to any tract
of country of equal extent, and vrithin the
same parallels of latitude, in either hemi-
sphere, on the coast of which there is a
greater number, either of streams of water,
or of rivers available for inland navigation."
Several other counties have -recently been
proclaimed (see map of New South Wales),
to the northward and eastward of ]Macquarie
county [which 1 hope to notice in Supple-
meuL], some description of the rivers flowing
through this tract of country, Adz. — the
ISl'^Leay, Nambucca, Beilengen, Clarence,
and Richmond rivers, will be found at p.
489, The country at the base of the main
range dividing the basin of the M^Lea}^ river
from that of the Nambucca, is generally
grassy forest land, thickly timbered with
gigantic black butt gum trees and other
eucalypti, abundantly watered with numerous
permanent chains of water-holes and gra-
velly water-courses in brushy hollows. From
tlie summit of an elevated range extending
to the westward, through Dudley county, in
an undulating outline of conical summits,
a magnificent and extensive view is aflbrded ;
to the westward, amidst a confused mass of
mountains rising beyond mountains, covered
Avith forest, the eye can trace the deep,
narrow, brushy valleys of the streams form-
ing the Nambucca, curling into the deep
mountain recesses. In the north-Avest direc-
tion, tier beyond tier rose in serrated ridges
of steep, higli conical summits, the \ieyv
bounded by the dim blue ovitline of a level
crested range of considerable altitude. To
the east the eye embraces the dense forests
and swamps on the Nambucca river — the
silvery stream of its tranquil reaches, and
the bine surface of the Pacific, twenty-five
miles distant. Towards the foot of these
different ranges are grassy slopes — in some
places, dwarf palms and ferns have usurped
the place of grass — in others, magnificent
cedar groves — and on the banks of creeks,
enormous wild fig-trees.
A range of mountains characterized by a
chain of conical summits, Avith an average
height of 2,500 feet above t'lic sea, di\ides the
DIA'. I.
Beilengen river from its tributary Odalberrce,
This range is composed of soft micaceous
talc, coated with a deep soil, and covered on
the summit and steep slopes, Avitli luxuriant
grass. For tAventy miles the summit of this
razor-back ridge was found too difficidt for
riding, the undulations being so steep and
frequent. From the top was seen the nar-
roAv glen of the Beilengen river/ immediately
opposite to v.'hich, on the north side of the
river, rises a gigantic range of about 5,000
feet high, Avith perpendicular buttresses of
3,000 feet elevation. The outline of this
range is a level table land, broken near the
coast into undulations, Avith steep conical
su^mmits, A beautiful grassy forest imme-
diately OA'erlooks the Beilengen river, where
there is much alhmal land, Avith brush, cedar
plains, and forest flats. The richness of the
soil may be judged of by the great size of
the cedar and roscAvood trees on its banks.
The casuarina also grows to such an un-
common height, and the foliage assumes
such an unusual form, that it might be
mistaken for a species of pine. On the
small clear plains a coarse-bladed grass
groAvs more than two feet high, and appears
like small Avheat fields; the grassy flats are
principally wooded by that species of eucii-
lypti called forest mahogany. ]Mr. Hodg-
kinson Avas unable to explore much of the
countiy near tlve Beilengen river, as in a
straight line of ten miles, he had to cross
and recross the stream (little inferior in size
to the Hastings river), no less than twelve
times, on account of the steep, inaccessible
forest banks, Avhich formed tangents to the
convex lands on either side. He was un-
able, for Avant of proAdsions, to explore the
upper course of this "romantic riA'er," which
possibly may be found more available for
the settler than its explorer supposed.
The Beilengen river is separated from the
Clarence riAcr by a bold range of abrupt
lofty mountains heavily wooded to the
summits, and of a "beautiful colour;" the
country between the two riAcrs consists of
verdant plains, grassy forests, steep, brushy
ranges, and some rocky water-courses. The
Beilengen range of mountains comes near to
the sea coast, where it is 1,500 feet high —
at eight or nine miles inland, upAvards of
3,000 feet, and gradually increasing in alti-
tude as it recedes from the ocean. This
range appears to be the highest and least
broken lateral oflshoot from the great main
chain Avhich runs parallel to the Pacific, and
it coincides Avith the NundcAvur lateral range
138 DUDLEY, RICHMOND AND STANLEY COUNTIES— GAP.
of Sir T. jMitcliell, -wliich is given off on the
interior or western side of the chain. Near
the mouth of the Bcllengen river a low range
of hills extends along the coast,, past the SoH-
tary Islands ; the country between these hills
and the sea appears to be grassy forest land.
To the northward of Dudley coimty,
through which the Nanibucca and Belleugen
rivers flow, are the counties of Clarence
and Raleigh, divided by the Clarence
river. The country available for gi-azing
on the banks of the Clarence is much
more extensive thain that on the M'Leay
river,, as the mountains do not attain
any great elevation near . the coast, and
the country is generally level, not only on
the banks of the Clai-ence, but also near
its tributaries. There are, consequently,
numerous settlers and " squatters,^' with
their flocks and herds, in this neighboui'-
hood. AVool-drays can descend with com-
parative ease from the rich district on the
table land opposite the soui'ces of the Cla-
rence river, to its navigable estuary. The
brushes near the mouth of the river are
interspersed with the beautiful variety of
timber known as the " ^loreton Bay pine."
Richmond County is watered by the
Richmond river, which at its mouth has
scenery resembling that at the embouehe of
the !M'Leay river, namely, mangrove scrubs,
tea tree, and swamp oak thickets, Avhich
cover the low flats near the mouth of the
river; higher up the stream the alluvial
land is diversified by brush abounding in
cedar and pine, clumps of bangolo palms,
reedy swamps, small rich plains, and highly
wooded forest flats of great richness. The
rest of the county, so far as is known, con-
sists of very thickly timbered forest land of
the greatest fertility. Mr. Hodgkinson
thinks there are few rivers in New South
Wales where so much good available land
exists unbroken by densely wooded ranges
and ravine. Of the next northern county,
the Rous, watered by the Tweed, we know
little more than that the hills are thickly
wooded.
Stanley County comprehends that part of
New South Wales, lying between the paral-
lels of 27° and 28° S. lat., bounded on the
east by the Pacific, and on the west by the
coast range of mountains which forms the
dividing shed of the waters which flow
towards the ocean, fi'om those which flow
into the interior towards the Darling river.
Length, from north to south, sixty miles;
breadth, sixty. The general aspect consists
of mountains and plains ; the latter are
very rich, and include Normanby, Laidley,
Innes, and Letitia plains.
In lat. 28° 2' 40" S., long. 152° 24' 20'" E.
fifty-foui' miles south-west from Brisbane
town, and sixty-four miles in a direct distance
from Point Danger on the sea-coast, there is
a remarkable gap in the great dividing
mountain range, which was discovered by
J.Ir. Cunningham in 1827, and subsequently
explored in 1828, during an expedition which
he made from the Limestone hills (now
called Ipswich), on the Bremer river, for
this very purpose. This important passage
from the coast, through a formidable momi-
tain barrier, commences near a valley, from
Vv'hence there is an ascent through a low
forest lidge at south, bending S.S.W. and
S.W. through the first mile and-a-half.
The acclinty is veiy gradual, and in another
half mile the ridge takes a decided bend to
the westward, its surface becomes wide, and
presents an open patch of forest ground,
timbered chiefly v."ith oak aud apple-trees.
The ridge again narrows, but the decli\ity is
progressively easy ; patches of brush clothe
its sides, as also the gullies falling fi'om it,
lea\ing the back-grouiid clear of wood, open,
and gi'assy. At about two-and-a-half miles
the ridge bends to the north of west, and
immediately the summit of the pass appears,
bounded on each side by stupendous heads,
towering to the height of 2,000 feet, named
^lounts ]\Iitchell and Cordeaux. Here the
ascent becomes steep for 400 yards, and
a level surface is reached at the top of the
pass or gap, clothed with a thick bru.sh of
plants common to the Brisbane river. From
this point the waters may be seen falling
westerly to INIiUer's valley beneath. The
country contiguous to the eastern enti'ance of
this important means of intercourse between
the lower coast line and the upper table
land of Darling and Canning downs, and
Peel plains, is very beautiful. Mr. Cun-
ningham passed a tract between the gap and
Ipswich, apparently part of the 50,000 acres
comprising Normanby plains, of which he
says — " Nothing can possibly exceed the
richness and mellowness of its fine black
soil ; and certainly there is not, in any ex-
plored part of New South Wales, a more
beautiful subject for the pencil of the artist
than the landscape presented to the traveller
from the centre of Bainbrigge's plains, to
which no description of mine can possibly
do justice." Bremer river, on which Ips-
wich is built, at ten miles from its mouth
has a tortuous course and a uniformity of
breadtii of thirty to thirty-five yards. Be-
yond Ipswich the river forms a fine natural
basin of 100 yards wide ; ledges of rocks fill
the bed of the river, and separate the tidal
salt water from the descending fresh moun-
tain stream. At a fcAV miles from the en-
trance of the gap, the rich flats and allu^aal
grounds are adorned with blooming vetch,
called by botanists swainsonia, and with the
lotus Australis, or "bird's-eye" trefoil, as
also v.ith a geranium and a scnecio, frequently
seen in Bathurst county. The grasses are
chiefly those of the more southern districts
of the colony. The "coral tree," with its
splendid scarlet flov>-ers, here grows to a
height of thirty-five feet, with a smooth
trunk, but thorny l)ranches.
Brisbane, the county towi], or the settle-
ment, as it is still commonly called, is situated
on an elevated ridge of considerable extent,
on the north or left bank of Brisbane river,
about twenty-five miles from its mouth.
This town was founded as a penal settle-
ment, and many substantial buildings were
erected by con^ict labour, which, when the
district was thrown open for free settlers
in 1843, would, it was supposed, form the
nucleus for a large population. These rea-
sonable hopes were, however, frustrated by
the pursuance of the same mistaken policy
which, in so many other instances, has re-
tarded the progress of the colony, a8lOO an
acre being fixed as the minimum price of
building allotments in the town of Brisbane.
On the other side of the river, wliich is here
nearly a quarter of a mile in breadth, build-
ing allotments were sold at a somewhat
lower minimum price, and hence arose
another small to^vn, called South Brisbane,
in contradistinction to the older settlement.
A third town was established, by private
speculation, at Kangaroo Point, a peninsula
formed by a sharp bend of the river, situated
exactly opposite to Brisbane town. This
tract being regarded merely as country land,
was disposable at the government land sales,
at a minimum price of not less than a pound
an acre, at little more than which it was
pm-chased by Mr. (now Sir Evan) ]\Iac-
kenzie, and subdivided into building allot-
ments, for those who wished to have a fixed
place of residence in the neighbom-hood ;
but could not afi"ord, or did not choose to
pay, jglOO an acre for a building allotment
on the other side of the river.* The popu-
lation, Avhich, united, might have formed one
♦ Cooksland — Dr. Larg.
respectable and flourishing to^vn, is now
scattered among three insignificant places, a
consequence Avhich has been the direct
result of the system whose chief end was
professedly concentration. According to Dr.
Lang, there is much land of very inferior
quality near Brisbane town, on both sides of
the river, but particularly on the south side ;
the tract from Brisbane to Ipswich, or the
Limestone hills, situated at the head of the
navigation of the Bremer, a distance of
twenty-five miles by land, and fifty by the
two rivers, being absolutely sterile, with tlie
exception of a small plain of a few thousand
acres in extent, called Cowper's plains, about
ten miles from Brisbane. In another place,
however. Dr. Lang says, that for some dis-
tance above Brisbane the river is consider-
ably wider than at the settlement, and where
the banks are high and rocky, as is often the
case in the lower part of its course, there is
generally a considerable extent of level
alluvial land on the opposite side, consti-
tuting what are called the brushes, in which
the soil is of the richest description, and the
vegetation much m.ore varied and vigorous
than on the forest-] and, beyond the reach of
floods. These flats are found along the
whole course of the main river and its
various tributaries, and in the higher parts
of its course are both more frequent and
more extensive than in the lower. Ipswich,
or Limestone, is a rising town, well situated
at the head of the navigation of the Bremer
river, and on the direct route to the Darling
downs, by Cunningham's gap. From Ips-
wich the Bremer pm-sues a tortuous course,
between steep banks, for about tAvelve miles,
to the Brisbane river. A small steamer
now phes between the towns of Ipswich and
Brisbane. The Bremer is subject to floods,
and has been known to rise fifty-three feet
above its ordinary level ; but the Brisbane
being considerably wider, the water, in times
of inundation, escapes much more freely,
and the floods on that river are, conse-
quently, not nearly so high. Limestone
plains, in the immediate vicinity of Ipswich,
are a tract of land almost destitute of
timber, of the richest and most fertile black
mould. The distance to the foot of the
mountains is only thirty-eight miles, and
quite level throughout ; at eighteen miles
from IpsAvich there are other plains, similar
to those at Limestone, called Normanby
plains, containing an area of from 40,000 to
50,000 acres.
The whole country bounded by Moreton
bay — a distance of about fifty miles from
south to north — is well adapted for grazing
and agricultural farming; the soil around
the Glasshouses (peaked mountains, so called
by Captain Cook, when he discovered and
named the bay), is formed of decomposed
lava, and very fertile. The indigenous timber
is of great value — the auracaria Cunning-
hami or Moreton bay pine, and the aura-
caria Bidwellia or the Bunya-Bunya tree,
have been already mentioned. The mulberry
tree grows very luxuriantly. With regard
to the adaptation of this locality to the cul-
tivation of the vine, there appears much
difference of opinion; but the periodical
rains of January and February, coming as
they do, just at the season when the fruit
needs maturing by a hot sun, seems a great
obstacle. The climate and soil appear well
suited to the cultivation of the sugar-cane,
cotton, arrow-root, tobacco, indigo, and
other tropical products; and, according to
Dr. Lang, is also admirably adapted for
the production of every species of European
gi'ain, as well as of those peculiar to warmer
climates ; for as vegetation goes on without
interruption all the year round, the farmer
has only to select, for the growth of any
description of grain, the peculiar season that
will ensure the exact temperature required
to bring it to maturity ; the barley harvest,
being the hardiest grain, comes immediately
after the colonial winter, the wheat harvest
at the commencement of summer, and the
maize harvest so late as to give that inter-
tropical grain the full benefit of the heat of
summer. This latter crop is a never-failing
one at Moreton Bay, yielding, on alluvial
land, at the rate of eighty bushels an acre.
The English potato, and the Indian or
sweet potato, are both cultivated success-
fully*. The latter is very prolific, and is
grown near Brisbane to the weight of
eighteen, and even tAventy-three pounds
each. Coal is found in the neighbourhood
of the Brisbane; and the fisheries of the
extensive bay and coast may be made very
profitable. By recent accounts, it appears
that the colonists at Brisbane have com-
menced captiu'ing the Yungan, called also
* The summer heat of Moreton Bay will, I think,
prevent the extensive employment of European agri-
cultural labour at this station ; but under a well de-
vised system, and with due encouragement, a large
and valuable class of Chinese immigrants might be
Induced to settle at Moreton Bay, where they would
soon become successful cultivators of sugar, cotton,
mulberries for silk, tobacco, and other products suited
to the soil and climate. The Chinese are now
the dugong or sea-pig of Moreton bay, for
the purpose of extracting the oil from the
animal ; the oil procured iu this way is highly
spoken of, being remarkably pvire and clear;
about five gallons is obtained from each
animal. The blacks are very expert in har-
pooning these animals, and they are pas-
sionately fond of the flesh, preferring it to
any other kind of food.
The chief Eminences in Stanley county
are Mounts lii'isbane, Hallen, Forbes, Frazer,
Edwards, Sampson, Cross, Melbourne, and
Stephenson, Frenchplay peak, Tenthill, and
D'Aguilar's range. Rivers. — Brisbane, Bre-
mer, Stanley, Logan, Teviot, Lockyer, and
Pumicestone. Creeks. — Coyar, Graham,
Franklin, Yarril, and Downshire. Towns. —
Brisbane (chief), on the Brisbane river; and
Ipswich, on the Bremer river. Harbour. —
The fine haven of Moreton bay ; the adja-
cent islands of Moreton, Stradbroke, and
Peel, belong to Stanley county.
Of the three islands which run nearly
parallel to the coast, and form the haven
termed Moreton's bay, Stradbroke, the most
southern island, is thirty miles in length,
and five in breadth ; at its southern extre-
mity is a sand-spit, parallel to the main land
for twelve miles. North of Stradbroke is
Moreton island, with a navigable channel
between the two of a mile in width. More-
ton island runs north for about twenty
miles, with a breadth of three miles. The
third or most northern is Bribie's island,
termed Yareen by the natives ; it is seven-
teen miles long, by two to three broad.
There is a channel of eight miles wide, with
five to six fathoms water, between Moreton
and Bribie islands. These three islands are
stated by Dr. Lang to be hopelessly sterile to
seaward. Moreton bay, throughout its whole
extent of sixty miles long by twenty miles
wide, is *tudded with islands of various sizes,
and at its southern extremity it gradually
narrows to the appearance of a mere river.
Cavendish County, situated to the north-
west of Stanley county, is divided on the
south from Churchill county by Lockyer's
creek, which is suiTounded by extensive
plains. Dr. Leichardt says : "I have seen
purchasing land at Sincapore, and cultivating it with
their usual skill ; thousands would emigrate from
Amoy, if the local government of Australia gave them
due encouragement. The table land above Moreton
bay may probably be more adapted for European out-
door labour, but I certainly doubt the eligibility of
Stanley county as a residence for the distressed needle-
women of London. [In the Supplement the loca-
. tion of Chinese in Australia will be noticed.]
COMMISSIONERS' DISTRICTS OR SQUATTING STATIONS.
141
some forty miles more of the district, and
the more I see, the more I feel convinced
that it is eminently fit for small settlers/'
Ridges of smaU elevation in this county,
contain small concretions of carbonate of
lime, which are equally found on Darling
downs and on Liverpool plains, indicating
a fertile country. Besides this description
of soil, there are many flats between the
primitive mountain ranges and the ridges
where a bed of clay hes generally one-and-
a-half to three feet below the sirrface. The
forest ground resembles, at present, one
uninterrupted oat or rye-field in harvest.
Antistheria Australis, which grows from three
to four feet high, is the predominant grass,
and is bm'ut off from time to time, the ashes
form a good maniu'e by which the soil is
enriched, the tuft enlarged, and a younger
and more nutritious grass formed.
Commissioners' Districts, or Squatting
Stations. — In-espective of the foregoing
counties of New South Wales, there is a
large extent of the colony dirided into what
are ofiicially termed commissioners' districts,
or " squatting stations," where the owners
of sheep, cattle, and horses are authorized,
by licences from the colonial government,
to depasture theii* flocks and herds over
certain tracts. From time to time these
squatting stations are being converted into
counties, as population increases and land is
in demand for purchase. In the year 1848,
the squatting stations in the Sydney portion
of New South AVales were —
Districts.
Bllgh . . .
Clarence River
Darling Downs
Lachlan . .
Liverpool Plains
M'Leay River
^laneroo . .
jNIurrumbidgee
New England.
Wellington
Chief Places.
Dubbo.
Grafton.
"Warwick.
Gundegai.
Tarn worth.
Kempsey.
Cressbrook.
Deniliquin.
Armidale.
Molons:.
To begin with the southern districts of
the colony. The Maneroo has been de-
scribed in Auckland county.
The Murrumbidyee squatting district is
situated between the left Ijank of the Mm--
rumbidgee river on the north, and the right
bank of the ^Murray river on the south ; on
the east it is conterminous with the Ma-
neroo district. It is one of the largest and
finest tracts in New South AVales; has
extensive plains and swelling uplands, thinly
wooded, which increase in elevation towards
the ATistralian Alps. The most prominent
eminences are — Mounts Trafalgar, Battery,
Friday, Aikin, ]Mingeroo, Majonbury, Janil,
Talbingo, Kengal, and the Snowy Moun-
tains, where the Mtu-riunbidgee and Murray
rivers have their soiu'ce. The district is
well watered by two of the largest rivers in
New SouthWales, and also by the Doomut or
Tumutj Bm-nett's, and the Coodi-abidgee ; by
the creeks Tingella, Yewen-Yewen, Nackie-
Nackie, Aidelong, &c. Hamilton plains, on
the south bank of the jNIuiTumbidgee and
Camden forest, watered by TingeUa creek,
are extensive and valuable tracts. Albuiy,
advantageously placed on the ]\Iurray river,
is the post town of the district. It is in the
high road from Sydney to INIelbourne,
through Goulbom'u, Yass, and Gundegai.
This last-named town, 250 miles from
Sydney, is situated on oiae of the flats of the
jNImTumbidgee, which is here as broad as
the river Clyde at Glasgow; but, like all
Australian rivers, subject to expansion from
floods. On one occasion, in October, 1844,
the Murrumbidgee rose more than forty
feet above its ordinary' level, and covered the
parlour of the inn at Gundegai to the depth
of foiu' feet. The MuiTumbidgee is here
friaged with swamp oaks, which are not
found on any river farther south. The
banks and districts for many miles above
Gundegai are occupied as gi'azing stations,
and at intervals by small farmers.
Lachlan squatting district is situated be-
tween the right bank of the JNIiu'iaimbidgee
river, and the left bank of the Lachlan river.
This large dirision of the colony consists
chiefly of a series of undulations, \dt\\ exten
sive plateaux, such as the Emyalean (between
Mount Brogden and Jones hills), and INIoUe
plains, on the south bank of the Lachlan.
There are several lakes ; the principal are —
Qua^Aingame, near the confluence of the
Lachlan and ^lurrumbidgee rivers; Camp-
bell's, Goorungutty, and Cudjallogong, or
Regent's lake. The chief eminences are — •
Taylor's, Peel's, ]Macquarie's (or Coccaparra),
Yerraraser, Goulbomn's ranges, ^Mounts
Stewart, Gill, Watts, jNIyaroug, Berabidgal,
Matta, or Mannar (hill), Maude, Garrow,
!Mep'ick, Balloon, jMoriatta, Portesse, and
Byng. The rivers are the Lachlan, Mur-
nimbidgee, Yass, and Boorowa.
Sir T. Mitchell, speaking of the country
near Jugion creek, on the right bank of the
^MiuTiunbidgee, on the road which leads
towards Sydney, says — " The scenery at
142 MURRUMBIDGEE AND LACHLAN SQUATTING DISTRICTS.
various points of the river seen this day was
very beautiful ; its chief features consisting
of noble pieces of water, umbrageous woocis,
flowering meadows, enlivened ])y those objects
so essential to the harmony of landscape —
cattle of every hue. Each meadow Avas
already covered with the lowing herds, for
which it seemed to be prepared." The
traces of the industry of man are obvious in
fences and substantial wooden houses, Avith
their smoking chimneys, built in the most
inviting parts of each cattle run. This
region is thinly wooded with the gigantic
Yarra eucalyptus, and it is one of the finest
pastoral districts in the colony. Nothing
definite is known of the Lower Darling Eiver
district, but the country appears to deterio-
rate the farther it is explored westward of
the great coast range. On that portion of
the Lower DarHng which is bounded by the
Lachlan river, there is good pasturage and
several stock stations.
WeUinyton district. — Adjacent to the
counties of Wellington and Bathurst, and
between the Lachlan and the Macquarie
rivers, is a very fertile tract. The plains
Wellington, Cannil, Baird, and Gullerong
afford sweet pasturage. The eminences are
Harvey^s, Croker^s, and New Year ranges.
Mounts Coulambals, Laidley, Bugamel, Mar-
ga-Nangar, Amyot or Camerberdong, Mel-
ville, Allan or Wolga, Picor Taiga, Hurds,
Paccalang, Gundobillong, and Warranary.
Rivers Laclilan, Macquarie, Byrnes, Kalin-
galungaguy, Yamerunna, Belabula, Bell,
MoUe, Mary, Elizabeth, Bogan or New Year
creek, and several other creeks.
Bliffh squatting district is bounded on one
side by the Macquarie river, and on the
north by the Liverpool range, as it extends
to Warrabungle range. The pasturage is
excellent, and it is well watered. The chief
eminences iire~Mo\\.ni Harris and Warrabungle
or Arbuthnot's range, which comprises Load-
stone hill. Mount Harrison, and Vernon's
Peak.
Liverpool Plains squatting district (native
name Corhorn Comleroy) is bounded on the
south by the Liverpool or great dividing
coast range, on the east by the western ex-
tremity of the same great di^dding range;
on the north and west the boundaries are
indefinite. This is the finest pastoral dis-
trict in New South Wales ; situated between
two parallel mountain ranges, it is traversed
at irregular intervals by narrow belts of
forest which divide the plains into a series
of natural parallelograms, and excellently
watered by the numerous rivers and creeks
which run eastward and westward, and are
the source of nearly all the streams to the
northward of Sydney. The chief eminencesare
the Warrabungle, or the Arbuthnot range,
which divide the Liverpool plains from Bligli
district; the Great Liverpool range, the
Green mountains, Vansittart hills, Pandora's
Pass, East Bluff", Mooan, Mac Arthvir, Tereil,
Murulla, Temi, Spear range, Breeci, Din-
bundie, Forbes, Turiel, Shirley, Nundawar
or Hardback's range. Mount RiddeU, Albuera,
Drummond range, Frazer, Lindesay, Pui'ren
Virden, Bullinbulla, and Gulligal. The
principal river's are the Peel, Cockburn,
Bireboola, Mooriloo, Boweu, Yorke, Turra-
beile, Parry, Nammoy, Goonore, Gaora, Co-
radilla, Mulnuerindie, Maules, Coagi, Buddie,
Horton, Kareen, Bombelli, Gwydir, and
Darling. The creeks are those of Car-
ringoha, Purreonville, Weeves, Ogunbill,
Moonbi, Calingorady, Moowar creeks; and
the Lobster, Meadow, Welcome, Rocket,
Bombelli, Limejuice, Pelican, and Roderigo
ponds.
The Australian Agricultural Company
hold within the boundaries of this district
562,898 acres out of their grant of 1,000,000
acres, the remainder, consisting of 437,109
acres, are, as previously stated, in Glou-
cester county.
The Peel river portion of the Au.stralian
Agricultural Company's lands, consisting of
313,298 acres, commences at the source of
the Peel river, immediately under the great
range, and is bounded on the east and north
by that river, and on the west and south by
marked lines to include the above area. These
lands, from their elevation above the sea, and
being beyond the genial effects of the sea
breeze, arc subjected to greater extremes of
both cold and heat than the Port Stephen's
grant, and are occasionally lialjle to frosts,
but the soils in the valleys are rich and fer-
tile in the extreme, and although crops of
maize and tobacco cannot be depended upon,
wheat and potatoes may, it is considered,
be grown to any extent.
The hills are everywhere richly covered
with a tall luxuriant grass, but comparatively
bare of timber, not affording in this respect
the same faciUties as the land at Port Ste-
phens. The Peel river forms, for some
miles, the northern and eastern boundary of
this portion of the company's possession, and
streams of minor imj)ortance run through
other parts of them. [See Supplement.]
The remaining grant of the Company, a
M'LEAY AND NEW ENGLAND SQUATTING DISTBICTS.
143
parallelogram of 249,600 acres, is not more
than fifteen miles from the ^yestern boundary
of the Peel's river grant, and embraces the
greater portion of the flats or levels which
were originally a fresh-water lake, since
filled in by the washings from the surround-
ing hills, and consequently containing the
richest allu^dal soils of very considerable
depth; the pastu.rage on the plains is
decidedly herbaceous, on which stock of
every description thi'ive remarkably well :
the hills are coated with the same character
of grass as that on the hills of the Peel's
River tract, differing only fi'om the grass on
the eastern side of the Barrier range, inas-
much as it is more rank in growth, and more
fattening in quality. The numerous streams
that intersect and are comprised mthin the
boundary lines of this portion, on reaching
the plains become absorbed in the soils, so
tliat they are somewhat deficient in surface
water, Avhicli is nevertheless always attain-
able with ease and certainty at five-and-
twenty feet below the surface ; and Artesian
Y/ells might be here introduced with incal-
culable advantage.
On all the lands of the company large
sums of money have been expended by the
company in making roads and bridges, and
in the erection of houses and buildings.
The company has also large flocks of
sheep — herds of cattle and horses, depas-
turing on their several locations, the breeds
of ivhich are of the purest and most valued
kinds, sent originally from this country,
France, and Germany, at very great expense,
and selected with considerable care and
judgment. [Eecent proceedings in Suppt]
M'Leay squatting district is divided by the
!Macquarie river on the south from Mac-
quarie county; on the west it is bounded
by New England district ; on the north by
Clarence River district ; on the east by the
I ocean. There is a large extent of available
\ land along the banks of the M'Leay river,
\ on whose banks, as before stated, Kempsey,
the post-town, is situated. The soft slaty
ranges, more than usually disintegrated and
decomposed, are very general in the basin
of the M'Leay river, and being converted
into a rich loose soil, have a comparatively
better grassy covering than the other for-
mations; they are not, in general, thickly
wooded, and, it is supposed, would be pre-
eminently favoiirable for the growth of the
vine, which seems to dehght in earth mixed
with, or formed from decomposed black clay
slate, as is observable on the mountains near
the Rhine, and at Constantia, Cape of Good
Hope. At Dongai creek, near the M'Leay
river, there are several-" limestone caves full
of stalactites, of singular confoinnation. Pro-
ceeding from Dongai creek, up the banks
of the JNI'Leay river, there are a great num-
ber of squatting stations belonging mostly
to retired officers. The country they occupy
is abundantly watered, independently of the
river, by numerous permanent chains of
ponds and water-courses. The gi'ass is
good, but the country, especially on the
north bank, soon becomes elevated, the
ranges rising one beyond the other, in end-
less succession, covered with dense brushy
forest, and intersected by ravines and water-
gullies. There are scattered sheep stations
on the Upper TvI'Lcay and Apsley river ; but
the rugged mountainous country intervening
between them and the Lower IM'Leay, pre-
vents all communication between the settlers
on either side. Mr. Ralfe, the government
surveyor, has discovered a passage over the
mountains (some of which are 6,000 feet
above the sea) from the table-land of New
England, and a road has now been con-
structed to Port Macquarie, for wool-drays,
so that the staple produce is conveyed in the
weekly steamers to Sydney. The Solitaiy
Islands are off the sea-coast.
Rivers. — M'Leay, Nambucca, and Bel-
lengen.
New England squatting district, bounded
on the east by a Hne from the confluence
of the Barnard and INIanning rivers to the
top of Mount Seaview, thence by a Hne to
the top of Win'ikimbie mountain, and thence
by a line north by compass from Wirri-
kimbie, dividing the district from Macquarie
county, and from the JNPLeay and Clarence
River districts ; on the north, by a line due
west, so as to intersect the top of Mount
Gu-ard, near the head of the north branch
of the Clarence river, and dividing this from
the Darling Downs district ; on the west by
the western extremity of the great dividing
range, so as to include the table land ; and
on the south by the jNIanning river, which
forms the north boundary of Gloucester
county. This elevated district is one of the
best sheep pastures in Australia. ]\Ir. Pat-
tison remarks, in his work on New South
Wales, that nothing Avill astonish the tra-
veller in the bush more than the rapidity
\rith which villages and settlements spring
into existence; a court-house, irtn, and store,
are the first attempts in a bush township. In
the centre of this squatting district is Arma-
144
CLARENCE RIVER DISTRICT— FINE COUNTRY.
dale, which, in 184-2, had solely a police-
station; in 1848-9, it had two places of
worship, five inns, a steam-mill, stores,
tradesmen of aU kinds, and was a thriving
town, with a weekly post to Sydney.
Eminences. — Ben Lomond, ]Mitchell, Gal-
Hgal, Bullimbulla, Basaltic rock, Wirrikim-
bie. Mount Seaview, Sugarloaf or Chandler's
peak, and the Blue mountains.
Rivers. — Barnard, Apsley, Hastings,
M'Leay, Croker, Clarence, Severn, Burrell,
Anderson, Dumaresque, Boyd, Mitchell,
Man's, and various creeks and ponds.
Clarence River squatting district is bounded
on the south by the ranges which form the
basin of the Clarence river, on the south
side of that ri\'er ; on the west by the New
England district ; on the north by the
ranges forming the basin of the Brisbane,
and the Logan on the south side of these
rivers; and on the east by the sea-coast.
I do not know tlie area of this district,
Avbich is moimtainous. The principal emi-
nences ai-e, INIounts Lindsay (5,700 feet).
Warning (3,300 feet), Hughes, "Wohman,
Coke, King William, Ballow, and Barney.
It is watered by the Boyd, Clarence, Tweed,
Richmond, Brunswick, Logan, Teviot, and
Albert rivers ; and by Urara, ^Myrtle, Load-
stone, Deep, Reynolds, and Yarril creeks.
The follo-ning is an extract from a report
of Mr. Commissioner Fry, commissioner of
crown lands in the Clai'encc district, and a
magistrate of the ten-itorv, drawn up in
June, 1846 :—
" The plains on the banks of the Clarence river are
of various sizes, many of them extending along the
river for miles, the soil being a deep dark alluvial
deposit on a substi'atum of clay, covered at top by a
layer of vegetable decomposition, the accumulation
of ages, and so thinly timbered that isolated acres
may be found unincumbered by a single tree. The
astonishing vegetation with -which they are clothed
is almost inconceivable, such indeed as I have never
witnessed elsewhere save on the equally favoured
regions of tiie Richmond, a river forty miles to the
northward of the Clarence. It is impossible to
imagine a country more worthy of having bestowed
upon it the labour of the husbandman, or one more
likely to remunerate him for his toil than the locali-
ties to ^^hich I refer, as they are remarkable, not
alone for the excellence of the land, but for being
placed under a climate than which none can be more
conducive to the process of vegetation. An almost
complete realization of Fenelon's conception with
reference to Calypso's isle is exhil)ited in the climate
of the Clarence, as, without any degree of hyperbole,
a perpetual sprinj; may be said to prevail during the
entire year, for so mild are the seasons that vegeta-
tion remains unchecked even in the midst of the so-
called winter. Kain is abundant, so much so as to
pive rise to the opinion that the district is unsuited
for pastoral purposes, at least so far as sheep arfi
concei-ned. Frost is very unfrcquent, and never
intense, as may be inferred from its geographical
position. The heat in summer is considerable, but
an excess of two or thi-ee days is almost invariably
succeeded by thunder showers which for a time ren-
der cool and invigorating the air, occasionally causing
an extraordinary rapid change of temperature, the
thermometer having been frequently known to vary
no less than forty degrees in the space of twelve
hours. This sudden caprice of temperature is how-
ever not in the least creative of unhealthiness ; on
the contrary, I am satisfied there is no part of New
South Wales, however justly it may be famed for the
salubrity of its climate, Avhicli is more conducive to
the health of the human body than the district of the
Clarence river ; indeed most others must be confessed
to yield to it in tliis respect, inasmuch as the never-
fading mantle of green in which it is perpetually
clothed, shields its inhabitants from the opthalmic
diseases so prevalent in other parts of the colony.
Were it necessary to adduce any corroboration of
this truth, I need only refer to the unsuccessful effort
of a medical practitioner to establish himself in the
district, who, though eminent both for professional
talent and amenity of manner, was obliged to abandon
the undertaking, after a fruitless attempt protracted
for upwards of two years, his failure solely arising
from the almost entire absence of disease, as it cannot
be imagined that a population amounting to nearly
1,100 souls, and possessed of 150,000 sheep and
30,000 cattle, would be unable sufficiently to remu-
nerate him were his services required. On the whole,
a four years' residence in the district has confirmed
me in the opinion, that no country ever came from
the hands of its Creator more eminently qualified to
be the abode of a thriving and numerous population,
than the one of which I have been speaking ; and in
forming this estimate I have been uninfluenced either
by prejudice or by interest, being no way concerned
with it save in that arising from my official capacity."
From the thirtieth degree of latitude, there
are tidal rivers along the coast to the north-
ward, every forty miles; all perennial streams.
Canning Downs, to the westward of Churcli-
hill and Buller counties, are several miles
in length, and two to three miles in breadth ;
on each side of the plains there are ranges
of middling height — now a chain of cones,
now flat-topped mountains, covered with
brush, then long-backed hills sharply cut at
their ends. The soil of the downs is black,
and yet mild, with many white concretions
of carbonate of lime ; the vegetation is quite
diflerent from that of the forest ground on
the other side of the coast range, and the
grasses are more various, but they do not
here exclusively occupy the ground; they
grow, says Leicliardt, more sociably in small
commmiities together, separated by suc-
ciUent herbs, particulai'ly composites; the
creeks are deeply cut, with steep banks
covered with reeds. This celebrated explorer
of the resoiu'ces of New South T\'ales, says :
that the finest mountain country he has
seen in the colonv, is the eastern side of
DISCOVERY OF DARLINCx DOWNS BY A. CUNNINGHAM, IN 1S.27. 145
the "gap," through which the road passes
from the Brisbane to the southern parts of
Canning downs. Sunny ranges covered with
fine grass and open forest, ascend pretty
rapidly to the pass. The coast range forms
an amphitheatre of dark, steep mountains ;
a waterfall rushes over a precipice 300 feet
high, iuto a rocky valley, which one might
take for the crater of an extinct volcano,
if the surrounding rocks warranted such a
supposition. Bold isolated mountains ap-
pear in the distance, in their vaiious tints of
blue, during sunset " dimming through a
purple mist." Both sides of the mountain
have some brushes, particularly the western
slope, in which many of the trees of the
Bunya brushes reappear. This is the most
western point in which that beautiful palm,
the aracauria Cunninghamia, has been found;
the Seaforthia palm is frequent and high.
The rosewood acacia is abundant; it has
a very agreable violet scent. The " bottle
tree," which is found in various parts of
tropical Australia, is seen here ; it swells
slightly four to five feet high, then tapers
rapidly to a small diameter, the whole height
about forty feet ; foliage thin, crown scanty,
leaves lanceolate, and of a greyish green.
The Canning and Peel downs, which by
some are considered as part of the Darling
downs, extend northward to lat. 26° 50', six
miles beyond Jimba creek. Their length is
estimated thirty to forty miles ; they slope
gradually from the great eastern range down
to the Condaraine.
Darling Downs are in length about 120
miles, from north to south, with an average
breadth of fifty miles, bounded on the
south by a line extending due west, so
as to intersect the top of IVIount Gerard,
which is near the head of the north branch
of the Clarence river, and ma; king this
from the New England district, on the east
by the range dividing the east and west
waters, separating this from the Clarence
River district and from Stanley county ; on
the north and west the boundaries are unde-
fined. The plains of this extensive district
are the Darling downs, Canning downs,
Cecil, Peel, and Waterloo plains. The chief
eminences are Mount Parker, M'Leay, and
Herries' ranges, mounts Sturt, INIitchell,
Logan, and Hay peak. It is well watered
by the Condamine, Glen, Dumaresque, Boyne,
Macintyre, Myall, and other streams.
The Darling downs were discovered by
the late Allan Cunningham, in 1827, during
the course of an expedition suggested by
DIV. I,
then surveyor-general Oxley. Cunningham
left the Upper Hunter's river on 30tli April,
1827, \nt\i six servants and eleven horses,
and previous to his departure, expressed to
me his conviction, that the discovery of a
valuable country would be the reward of his
laboxirs. He crossed the dividing range at
an elevation of 3,080 feet above the sea,
skirted the Liverpool plains at an elevation
of 840 feet, through a forest country; and
about forty miles to the northward of 31° 2'
S. lat., 150° 30' E., found that the country
had gradually risen to 1,900 feet. Aftei
crossing the parallel of 30°, and passing a
poor region, the adventurous explorer de-
scended to " a beautiful and well- watered
valley, affording abundance of pasturage."
This valley terminated sixteen miles farther
north, on a stream (the Gwydir) flowing
north-west, in 29° 51' lat., 911 feet above
the sea. Proceeding northward through a
comparatively inferior tract, he came in lat.
29, long. 150° 40' on a river running Avesterly,
eighty yards wide, and very deep, 840 feet
above the sea, and 170 miles from the coast.
Here the land was good. A country, then
arid, on account of the existing di-ought, was
next explored in a north-easterly direction
for eighty miles, and eventually led to a
clear, pastoral region, which has since proved
so valuable. Deep ponds, nourished by the
neighbouring streams immediately to the
eastward, extend along its central lower flats,
which being permanently watered furnish an
almost inexhaustible range of cattle pastui'e at
all seasons. From these central grounds rise
downs of a rich, black, dry soil, and of a
very ample surface ; they furnish abundance
of grass, are conveniently watered, and, being
above the reach of the floods which take
place on the flats during seasons of rain,
are well adapted for sheep stations. Some
hills are connected laterally with the bold
outline of the stupendous-looking coast-line
range ; they are clothed from head to foot
with dense underwood. The greater part
of the downs is composed of hill and dale,
woodland and plain, forming a most beau-
tifully diversified landscape.
There is communication with the sea-coast
from this table land by Cunningham's gap,
through Stanley county, to Moreton bay.
The mean elevation of the Darling downs is
1,800 to 2,000 feet above the sea; but
Mount Mitchell, the highest peak of the
adjacent range, is 4,100 feet above the sea.
From the Condamine river the country rises
very gently — almost imperceptibly, till the
146
THE DARLING DOWNS AND N.E. PASTORAL REGIONS.
road passes between two hills or ranges,
where basaltic rock appears, and very exten-
sive shallow valleys or plains, generally in-
tersected by a creek overgrown with reeds
and high grass. Here and there the grass
tree is seen, either single or in groups and
groves, one foot or more in diameter, and
eight to ten feet high. The ranges which
border the plains are covered with box-wood ;
j with a gum-ti^ee, called the Moreton Bay
ash; and with other trees; but all very
scattered. The forest becomes denser on
approaching the eastern slopes. Dr. Lei-
chardt thinks there is no equal to the Dar-
ling downs for sheep rearing, the mutton
being fat and tender, and the wool excellent.
One shepherd can here look after two to
three thousand sheep ; whereas, in other
districts, three or four shepherds would be
requisite for the care of a similar number.
They are traversed, at moderate distances
from each other, by streams or creeks, rising
in the lofty coast range, and running west-
ward to the Condamine river. The usual
extent of a sheep run or station is twenty
miles in length, by six miles in breadth, or
three miles on each side of one of these
creeks; one station, therefore, contains 120
square miles = 76,800 acres. Dr. Lang
aays, that on the east side of the range
towards the coast, the sheep and cattle sta-
tions are not unfrequently of this extent.
Large plains stretch along the Condamine
river, some fifty miles long by twenty-five
miles broad — true savannahs, in the centre
of which may be seen the sharp line of the
horizon, as ou the ocean. North-west of
the Condamine, on the Cogoon river, are the
valuable Fitzroy downs, with " mount Abun-
dance;" and still further north there is an
immense extent of pastoral country, dis-
covered by Mitchell, which he states to be
of greater extent than the whole of the
present squatting districts; and that after
his exploring party crossed the Darling river,
they never suffered from heat, and had no
want of water. There is excellent pasturage
in the tracts watered by the Cogoon, Ma-
ranoa, Claude, Belyando, Warrego, Nogoa,
and other rivers, which flow from the south
side of the Plutonic cones — Pluto, Hutton,
and Playfair ; but the country on the Vic-
toria river is better watered than any other
part of Australia seen by Sir Thomas
Mitchell. The soil is of rich clay, and
covered with luxuriant pasturage. To the
north-east, after passing the great plains of
the Condamine, Leichai'dt entered on a
country which was alternately covered with
fine open forest land, well grassed, and fit
for cattle and horse breeding, and with long
stretches of almost impassable brigalow
scrub. Along the Dawson river or creek,
in 26° S. lat., fine flats extend along its
banks and open ridges, with sound ground
some miles oS" the river. At Palm-tree
creek, in 25° 34' S. lat., there are rich flats,
fine ridges, and a plentiful supply of water.
Following up this creek is a flat table land,
where the waters are turned to the south-
west. Proceeding towards Robinson's river
or creek, the whole country is openly tim-
bered, the ridges at the upper part of the
creek, in part, covered Avith sUvered-leaf iron
bark, and well adapted for sheep. Fine
flats extend along its bank, when first met
with, in 25° 28' S. lat. At Zamia creek, in
24° 54' S. lat., there is a plam country of very
great extent, almost imbounded by any rise
towards the north-east. The creek is ac-
companied by small flats and thick scrub;
but the flats extend more and more, and the
scrub recedes as it approaches the large
open country, which appears thinly timbered.
The reader may follow, with his eye, these
tracts of country, along the routes of
Mitchell and Leichardt, in the accompanying
map of New South Wales. A more de-
tailed account of the new regions they ex-
plored is given at pp. 388 to 393.
The country north of Stanley county,
not yet divided into counties, is marked by
a very high range of sienite, broken through
by basaltic rock, dividing Stanley county
from the Wide Bay district. To the north-
ward of the 27th parallel is the Bunya-
Bunya country, so called from a gigantic
tree of that name, with an umbrella-like
head, which overtowers all the trees of the
brush, and at certain seasons (about every
three years) supplies the aborigines with a
very palatable food, which they travel a
distance of two or three hundred miles,
periodically, to obtain. Some of these giants
of vegetation, which rise to 150 feet, a:s
straight as a gun barrel, have a circum-
ference of twenty feet, at six feet elevation
from the ground ; the cones, which are about
one foot long, and three-quarters in diameter,
somewhat like a pine-apple, contain forty to
fifty scales, beneath which a kernel is found,
which Leichardt says, is " delicious eating,"
and that it is difficult to cease eating them.
These trees, which look like " pillars of the
blue vault of heaven," extend over a brush
about fifty miles in length, by ten in breadth.
COUNTRY NORTH OF MOKETON BAY— N. S. WALES DIOCESES. 147
The " Glasshouses/' in this neighboiir-
hood, so named by captain Cook, rise out
of low ranges — some like needles, others
like castles — the highest (Biroa or Birwah)
is about 1,000 feet high, composed of rock
entirely different from the surrounding
mountains. Dr. Leichardt, who had seen
similar mountain features in the neighbom'-
hood of Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne,
considers these isolated cones to consist of
what geologists call rockdomite. The Biroa
is extremely steep, and its sides almost
naked rock ; but wherever a hollow or de-
pression has allowed the accumulation of
some soil and of nioistui'e, a rich vegetation
appears, single but full high bushes of a
broad-leaved boronia, a dendrobium with
red blossoms, and other flowers. Leichardt
thinks that the sea once heaved against
these mountains, which are sui'rounded by
sandstone ridges of a coarse grain. The
grass-tree fXanthorracece) grows in thousands
(except on Darling downs, or other places
possessing a very rich, black, mild soil con-
taining much carbonate of lime, and is
generally a sign of a poor or thin soil);
casuarina, the apple, and other trees, abound
in the district. The Boyne river, which
traverses the region east of Wide bay, was
discovered by Mr. Henry Stuart Russell.
He found, after leaving Jimba creek (see
map of New South Wales), that the whole
character of the country alters — instead of
the wide- spreading plains upon the Darling
downs, there is a fine undulating country
thickly timbered, and covered with the most
luxui'iant gi'ass; the ridges are chiefly gra-
nite. The bed of the Boyne river is 1,500
feet above the sea. On the first day's jour-
ney down the river, the explorers passed
over some lovely country ; nothing could be
more beautiful and luxuriant than the
valleys ; the foliage of all the trees, amongst
which is the conspicuous wide-spreading
" apple tree," appeared fresher and brighter
than any Mr. Russell had seen in any other
part of Australia. Droughts, they found,
were unknown ; the soil, dark and rich ; the
grass, chiefly oaten, which is the most fat-
tening ; the ridges high (always the sign of
good sheep-ground,) and well wooded, chiefly
with the broad-leaved iron bark. On the
second day's journey down the Boyne, many
streams joined it from the east and west ;
the land became more mountainous, and the
valleys richer and more fertile. The th rd
day the travellers stopped at Barrendowan,
" a beautiful spot," fifty miles in a direct
north Hne from Jimba. On the fourth day
they came upon a full flowing stream from
the eastward, which they called the Stuart.
The journey was continued during sixteen
days, for 300 miles along the banks of the
Boyne — though the distance from Jimba
was not supposed to be more than 150 miles.
^Yhere Mr. Russell's journey terminated,
the climate was too warm for the growth of
wool ; but the country was well adapted for
the cultivation of rice, sugar, and other tro-
pical products. On the upper part of the
river Mr. Russell says : " there is an ex-
panse of the finest country for sheep and
cattle, and also for the cultivation of Euro-
pean productions."
Irrespective of the arrangement of coun-
ties and districts, the colony is divided into
three dioceses, \iz„ Sydney, Newcastle, and
Melbourne ; the latter includes the whole of
the Victoria or Port Phillip district ; New-
castle comprises the seven northern counties
of New South Wales, viz., Northumberland,
Gloucester, Hunter, Durham, Brisbane,
Bligh, and PhiUip counties; the Sydney
diocese comprises all the remainder of the
territory not included in either of the two
before-mentioned dioceses. The Episcopa-
lian churches and chapels in New South
Wales, scattered throughout the colony, are
in number — of stone, 28; of brick, 30; of
wood, 12. The Roman catholic chapels —
of stone, 28 ; of brick, 10 ; of wood, 6. The
Presbyterians are divided into the presbytery
of Campbelltown (three chapels), of Mait-
land (five chapels), of Melbourne (five chapels),
of Sydney (five chapels and two temporary),
and of Windsor (three chapels) . The Wes-
leyan methodists have forty-two chapels
in the difterent counties of New South
Wales. [See Supplement for Missions.]
I have endeavoui'cd to delineate the lead-
ing featui-es of this noble colony, according
to its several divisions ; but as may natui'ally
be supposed, a region that extends for more
than one thousand miles along the shores
of the Pacific, viz., from Cape Howe to Her-
vey's bay, and upwards of five hundred miles
inland, i.e. from the ocean to the river Dar-
ling, and whose colonization is, comparatively
speaking, the work of yesterday, can yet
be but partially known. If we view New
South Wales as a region ten times the size
of England, with a climate unsurpassed for
salubrity, and peculiarly adapted for the
Anglo-Saxon race, with a table-land of
148 AREA, POPULATION, CULTIVATION, AND STOCK OF EACH COUNTY
nearly lialf-a-million square miles, supported
for a thousandmiles by gigantic mountain but-
tresses of four to six thousand feet high : this
table land for the most part throughout the
whole year covered with the most nutritious
herbage, admirably adapted for the food of
sheep and cattle, and intersected by a net-
work of streams ; the mountains clothed with
useful timber, the valleys, where cultivated,
yielding fifty to one hundred-fold of grain,
the coast line indented with secure havens, and
the ocean, the lakes, and the rivers teeming
with fish — some idea may be formed of the
importance of this valuable section of the
British empire.
The limited extent of which we have as
yet availed ourselves of the blessings thus
vouchsafed to England, will be best mani-
fested by shewing, in a tabular form, the
area of each county and district, the small
number of acres cultivated, the quantity
of live stock, and the number of acres to
each individual in each county and district.
It will be observed from the annexed table,
that in the counties there are from five hun-
dred to Jive thousand acres to each inhabitant ;
in the districts not yet formed into counties^
the range is from Jive thousand to ten thou-
sand acres for each European resident. The
total number of inhabitants on about
96,909,364 acres, is 154,515, which gives for
the portion of New South Wales included
in these details, 628 acres for each Anglo-
Saxon. [See Appendix A in Supplement.]
Counties and Districts
in New South Wales,
exclusive
of Port Phillip.
Counties : —
Argyle . .
Auckland
Bathurst . .
Bligh . . .
Brisbane . .
Camden . .
Cook . . .
Cumberland .
Durham . .
Georgiana .
Gloucester .
Hunter . .
King . . .
Macquarie .
Murray . .
Northumberland
Phillip . .
Roxburgh .
St. Vincent .
Stanley . .
Wellington .
Westmoreland
Commissioners' Dists,
Bligh . . .
Clarence River
Darling Downs
Lachlan . .
Liverpool Plains
M'Leay River
Maneroo . .
Moreton Bay
Murrumbidgee
New England
Wellington .
Other Districti
Gwydir . .
Lower Darling
Wide Bay .
Burnett . .
Maranoa . .
Total
English
acres, in each
about
1,248,600
1,536,000
1,190,400
1,070,120
1,150,160
1,140,320
1,065,600
914,800
1,354,^
1,231,360
1,375,200
1,315,840
1,159,840
1,408,000
1,458,080
1,498,880
1,035,520
972,160
1,704,884
2,000,000
1,059,840
1,018,880
5,000,000
3,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
10,000,000
2,000,000
2,000,000
2,000,000
12,000,000
5,000,000
10,000,000
Wliite
Popula-
tion in
1846.
5,000
1,000
4,391
598
1,4C6
8,323
3,598
73,538
7,554
953
2,399
1,190
1,665
1,973
2,721
13.335
641
2,353
2,102'
1,599
970
1,575
788
1,225
658
2,198
2,110
466
1,916
268
2,592
2,231
1.199
No. of
acres to
each
inhabi-
tant,
about
250
1,400
297
2,140
820
142
355
12
193
1,367
68
1,200
724
740
730
115
1,550
480
852
1,333
1.177
179
7,143
2,500
11,666
5,000
5,000
5,000
1,052
10,000
6,000
2,500
9.0901
Acres
culti-
vated,
1848.
4,927
4,656
403
732
12,071
7,508
34,311
18,437
2,086
4,031
2,555
1,598
1,200
3,632
15,816
722
2,570
3,689
42
693
1,787
305
331
180
2,046
440
1,969
58
2,950
1,400
194
Houses
each,
1846.
683
100
670
65
183
1,273
101
222
247
316
351
2,802
39
349
367
257
70
72
45
209
233
52
185
14
243
114
92
Number of Live Stock in 1848.
Horses.
3,652
3,614
1,015
1,795
5,490
2,112
13,294
7,014
2,928
1,180
1,416
1,319
872
4,340
5,827
1,033
2,420
2,329
446
681
2,040
1,313
1,405
1,200
4,386
3,946
884
5,446
1,127
4,586
3,582
1,683
Horned
Cattle.
96,909,364 154,515 — 133,369 9,254 97,400 1,366,164 6,530,542 65,216
22,831
18,339
6,551
10,153
33,953
8,929
29,710
36,977
24,517
21,176
6,776
16,200
14,544
28,288
34,563
6,030
18,250
20,724
3,947
11,548
13,277
52,940
48,847
40,600
130,594
130,081
17,128
106,530
19,412
132,301
79,820
69,385
Sheep.
2,060
118,097
480
21,062
51
36
372
6,409
62
5,639
260,708
266,369
119,352
132,319
38,657
13,104
11,265
122,588
198,325
3,593
11,239
106,986
14,300
328,972
21,806
89,800
188,900
62,504
23,829
77,693
46,994
193,221
116,767
553,000
355,600
341,465
250
353,252
290,962
704,165
822,603
277,025
109,347
39,621
20,787
204,734
8,500
Swine
1,285
1,021
63
949
6,156
4,283
13,728
8.085
936
2,662
1,735
708
698
1,339
10,653
163
630
3,118
145
256
924
867
60
791
706
603
145
1,200
1,000
232
50
25
Note. — "Where a dash ( — ) is inserted there are no returns.
By some it has been supposed that the
labour market of New South AVales was
overstocked, by the immigration of the last
ten years; but the foregoing exposition of
the state of each county indicates the re-
verse. According to an able and interesting
report from the emigration agent for New
South "Wales (F. L. S. Merewether, Esq.),
dated Sydney, 31st May, 1849, it appears
that the total number of assisted and un-
assisted immigrants into the Sydney and
Port Philhp districts of New South Wales,
during each of the ten years between the
1st of January, 1838, and 31st of December,
1 848, was only 75,252, about one third of
the number who proceed in one year from
the United Kingdom to the United States.
Of the 75,252 immigrants into New South
Wales during tliose ten years, 60,614 per-
sons were assisted by the income derived
from the sales of crown lands in the colony,
to the amount of nearly one million sterhng
(£975,433), or at the rate of upAvards ol
i£l6 per head. The details of this remark-
able fact are thus given in the official returns
laid before parliament 31st January, 1850 : —
Assisted Immigrants.
1 Unassisted Immigrants.
Number landed.
Total.
Cost of Conveyance.
Number Landed.
Gross
Total of
Immi-
grants.
Year.
Sydney
District.
Port Phillip
District.
Passage
paid out
of
Colonial
Funds.
Gratui-
ties to
Various
Officers.
Total.
Svdney
District.
Port PhilKp
District.
Total.
Above
14.
Under
14.
Above
14.
Under
14.
Above
14.
Under
14.
Above
14.
Under
14.
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
184-7
1848
3,601
5,675
4,066
9,297
3,818
1,790
351
3,127
2,501
2.177
1,153
2,891
1,253
936
146
1,249
479
1,298
6,153
1,304
909
1
2,533
85
123
1,762
448
4
504
976
6,102
8,416
6,637.
20,103:
6,823
11
4,139
498
7,885;
£124,512
133,847
100,641
313,490
97,568
18
60,821
6,897
81,248
£6,756
10,541
6,217
17,477
5,612
2,986
562
6,232
£131,269
144,388
106,858
330,968
103,180
18
63,808
7,159
87,480
1,202
1,632
1,143
1,454
1,165
822
417
333
327
412
547
126
351
163
286
369
145
68
128
75
103
104
95
413
449
490
115
60
78
67
230
494
65
130
191
140
49
13
59
3
71
74
1,328
2,133
1,849
2,380
2,164
1,131
548
698
472
816
1,219
7,430
10,549
8,486
22,483
8,987
1,142
4,687
1,096
472
816
9,104
Total .
31,725
12,303
12,684
3,902
60,614
£919,047
£56,386
£975,433
9,454
1,918 j 2,481
785
14,638
75,2.32
Note. — It is remarkable, all circumstances considered, with how few mischances this migration across 15,000 miles of
ocean has been carried on. One highly respectable shipping firm of London, Messrs. Marshall and Eddridge, have
despatched to Australia in the eighteen "months ending December, 1849, forty-three ships of 23,605 tons, containing 7,181
statute adults, without, I believe, a misfortune happening to any ship. The voyages have averaged 107 days to bydney
and the deaths have been only about \\ per cent , which shows a degree of care highly commendable in the agents. Ac-
cording to the official returns, it appears that the number of assisted emigrants who embarked from the United Kingdom
for New South "Wales, was 7,855, and that the number landed in the colony was 7,885, the increase by births having?
exceeded by 30 the decrease caused by deaths. Thirt}--two vessels were employed in the service, and the average contract
rate paid by the government for each statute adult, was about £12 lis. The passage money amounted altogether to
£83,094, of which sum £1,846 was contributed by immigrants themselves, leaving £81,248 to be charged on the colonial
immigration fund. Of the total 7,885 immigrants, 4,624 were from England, 1,483 from Scotland, and 1,778 from Ireland.
The proportion of males was 3,925, and of females 3,960. The number of these who could neither read nor write was
1,811, of whom 851 were under the age of four years. "With regard to the religious persuasions, the totals were — Church
of England, 3,801 ; Church of Scotland, 1,296; Wesleyans, 750; other Protestants, 711; Roman Catholics, 1,317 ; and
Jews, 10. [The immigration caused by the gold discoveries is shewn in the Supplement]
This important subject of emigi'ation,
however, must be reserved for a distinct
portion of this work. I shall therefore
merely observe, that the cry still, in New
South Wales, is for more labour; so far
from the labour market being overstocked
by the introduction of 75,000 persons in ten
years, the demand in the several counties
and squatting districts is extraordinary. In
May, 1849, on the Liverpool plains, and in
New England and other districts, instant
employment was given, at the following rates
of wages, with provisions and lodging: — To
shepherds, j615 to £28; hut-keepers, £18
to £22 j farm labourers, £17 to £30; bul-
lock drivers, £30; bricklaj-ers, masons, car-
penters, and wheelwrights, £35 to £50;
and overseers, £40 to £60 per annum; wo-
men servants, £15 to £25 a year; and these
rates with wheat at 45. to 5«. per bushel, and
meat at 2d. per lb.
The colonial government has established
depots for immigrants at Pai-amatta, Ba-
thurst, Goulbourn, jNIaitland, and jNIoreton
Bay; to any of which places immigrants
may be conveyed at the public expense im-
mediately on their arrival. At all the depots
the immigrants are provided A\'ith food and
lodging until they receive such offers of
employment as may be considered fair by
the officers appointed to the superintendence
of the depots. 1 cannot, therefore, better
150 PRODUCTS OF DIFFERENT DISTRICTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
conclude this description of the several
localities in New South Wales, than by
giving the following table, sliowing the
principal productions of each district, and
the demand for labour in them. This state-
ment is compiled from returns furnished
by the benches of magistrates in the dif-
erent parts of the colony, for the first
quarter of the year 1849; and, although
somewhat voluminous, it is too important
to intending emigrants, and too illus-
trative of the condition of the various
divisions of the territory, to be omitted, or
even curtailed : —
Districts.
Distances
from Sydney
in English
miles.
Principal Agricultural and
other Productions of
the District.
Demand for Labourers, and description of Labourers
required.
Sydney .
Western.
Paramatta . .
"Windsor
Penrith
Hartley
Bathurst .
Carcoar ....
Frederick's Tallcy
Molong . .
Binalong ....
Wellington . . .
Dubbo ....
Mudgee ....
Southern.
Liverpool . .
Campbelltown . .
Camden . . .
15
34
33
73
113
144
152
163
205
230
270
150
20
S3
39
The chief productions are
vegetables and fruits.
Hay, wheat, green barley,
and maize, grapes, oranges,
lemons, and vegetables.
Wheat, maize, potatoes, and
hay.
Wheat,barley, oats, maize, po-
tatoes, tobacco, hay ; grapes
for making wine are grown
to a considerable extent.
"Wheat, potatoes, and oats .
Wheat and barley
(Now Gold in abundance.)
"Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes,
hay.
Wheat, hay, corn, and pota-
toes. There has been an
abundant crop of wheat and
hay, but the potato and the
corn crops will be a fail-
ure, in consequence of the
drought.
Wheat, corn, hay, wool, meat,
and mineral productions.
Wheat, oats, barley, maize,
potatoes, hay.
Wheat, maize, and hay . .
There is little or no agri-
culture.
Wheat, maize, &c.
Picton
"Wheat, hay, and maize . .
Hay, wheat, corn, and butter
"Wheat, maize, hay, and dairy
produce. The culture of the
vine is also considerable,
and increasing yearly. \
good many horses are bred,
and some sheep.
Wheat, maize, rye, oats, bar-
ley, hay, butter, &c.
The supply of mechanics and tradesmen is now kept
up by the Colonial youths (sharp intelligent lads),
who, after having completed their various periods of
apprenticeship, enter the labour market, and are said
to be clever and expert workmen. Farm labourers
and female domestic servants are in request.
There is a great demand for all sorts of country
labour.
All descriptions of country labour are in request, and
a suihcient supply cannot be obtained.
Female domestic servants and general labourers may
readily obtain employment, at a fair rate of wages.
Since the harvest commenced there has been a great
scarcity of labour felt in this district, and farm
labourers can readily obtain employment, at good
wages, during the present season.
There is no particular scarcity of labour in the dis
trict, but shepherds and farm labourers are still in
demand.
There is still the same demand for servants of the fol-
lowing descriptions, viz. : — Shepherds, hutkeepers,
farm labourers, cooks, housemaids, and general house
servants. Single men and women, or married
couples without children, would obtain employment
readily.
Farm labourers, shepherds, hutkeepers, and domestic
servants, particularly female servants, are in request.
They are not to be hired at any wages.
Shepherds and hutkeepers are in request.
An additional supply of labourers of the following
descriptions is still wanting; Shepherds, watchmen
stockmen, miners, and house servants, male and
female.
Shepherds, watchmen for sheep, agricultural labourers,
blacksmiths, and house servants are in demand.
Shepherds, hutkeepers, house servants, and general
farm servants are in request.
The demand for labourers of the following descrip-
tions is still urgent, — cai-penters, stonemasons, stock-
men, hutkeepers, shepherds, sawyers, fencers, and
farm labourers.
She; herds, hutkeepers, and house servants are in
demand.
Female house servants are in great demand. They
are not procurable in the district.
Farm and domestic servants, male and female, are in
urgent demand.
This district is amply supplied with mechanics, but
there is a scarcity of the other kinds of labour.
Wages are decidedly on the rise. From the abun-
dance of fertile land, and the proximity to the Syd-
ney market, this district aflbrds an opening for the
comfortable settlement of a dense population. Dur-
ing the last five years the number of inhabitants has
doubled itself. There are al.so ample means for pub-
lic worship, religious instruction, and education.
All descriptions of country labourers are in request,
chiefly general farm servants, such as ploughmen,
labourers, gardeners, milkmen, mowers, and
thatcbers.
DEMAND FOR LABOUR IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS.
151
Districts.
Western.
WoUongong
Berrima . .
Kiama . . .
Bungonia
Marulan
Goulboum
Braidwood .
Shoalhaven .
Broulee
Cooma
Eden
Queanbeyaii
Yass . . .
Tumut
Gundagai
Distances
from Sydney
in English
miles.
Wagga V/agga
64
81
88
117
108
125
164
103
209
251
258
182
179
225
244
308
Albury
MotJameic
379
400
Principal Agricultural and
other Productions of
the District.
WTieat, maize, oats, barley,
potatoes, hay, and butter.
Wheat, oats, barley, pota-
toes, hay, and all descrip-
tions of English grain.
Wheat, maize, potatoes, oats,
barley, butter, cheese, honey,
beef, and pork.
Wheat, barley, maize, oats,
hay, potatoes, cheese, and
butter.
Wheat, barley, maize, oats,
hay, potatoes, cheese, and
butter.
Wheat, maize, barley, oats,
and potatoes.
All kinds of grain . . .
Wheatf maize, potatoes, and
dairy produce.
Wheat and potatoes, princi-
pally with maize, barley,
and oats.
Wheat, barley, potatoes, and
oaten hay. There is a good
supply of the above this
season, with the exception
of the potatoes.
Wool and tallow ; little or no
grain of any description ;
potatoes and hay are the
only articles of farm produce
raised.
Wheat, barley, maize, pota-
toes, and hay.
Wheat, maize, oats, barley,
hay, potatoes, fruits, and
vegetables
Wheat, oats, hay, maize, and
potatoes.
Wlieat, maize, potatoes, and
Wheat, oaten hay, maize, in
limited quantity ; potatoes
to a limited extent ; wool
and tailow. The soil, how-
ever, is capable of pro-
ducing, in luxuriance, every
description of crop by the
medium of ordinary indus-
try. Fiuits of all kinds
thrive well ; and the vine,
■which has been latterly in-
troduced, promises to rank
amongst our principal pro-
ducts.
Wheat, maize, barley, cats,
grass, and oaten hay, pota-
toes, &c.
Sheep, cattle, and wool. No
agricultural productions.
Demand for Labourers, and description of Labourers
required.
Steady, sober, and honest agricultural labourers and
milkmen are much wanted in this district ; also,
female servants. Agricultural labour only is in re-
quest.
Farm labourers and domestic servants are in request
Farm and house servants, and milkmen are in request
Labourers of the following description are in request :
— Cai-penters, wheelwrights, and blacksmiths ; shep-
herds, farm labourers, and house servants, especially *
females.
Carpenters, wheelwrights, stonecutters, •watchmen,
and cooks, shepherds, labourers, house servants, espe-
cially females, are in request.
Shepherds, farm and domestic servants, both male
and female, are in request.
All kinds of country labour are in request.
Labourers are very scarce and wages high in conse-
quence. Agricultural labourers and dairymen are
most in request.
Fann labourers and female servants of all work are
in request. It is impossible to procure female ser-
vants, in particular general house servants. There
are no farm labourers to be got. In harvest, or any
other hurried time, the small settlers are obliged to
assist each other.
Good house servants and shepherds are in demand,
and would readily find employment in this district.
I'he labour in request is chiefly that required for
pastoral and agricultural purposes.
Shepherds, stockmen, and hutkeepers, are in request.
Domestic servants of all descriptions are much re-
quired in this district.
Labourers and servants of every description are in
great request, and improvements are lying over for
want of them.
The operations of the settlers are completely paralysed
for want of labour Children from eight years of
age to sixteen are engaged at wages from £12 to £20
per annum. The labourers wanted are shepherds,
hutkeepers, farm and house servants, laundresses,
housemaids, and nursemaids.
Labour of every description is much wanted. Wages
are very little, if any, lower than last quarter. The
principal demand is for stockmen, shepherds, hut-
keepers, watchmen, acricidtural labourers, and
domestics. A few mechanics would meet with con-
stant employment.
The employers of labour in this district are all com-
plaining of the very high rate of wages, and improve-
ments of every kind are neglected in consequence
Were wages low and labour abundant, the settlers
here could give employment to at least 500 fresh
male labourers every year. There is now a demand
in the district for carpenters, smiths, wheelwrights,
sa\\-j-ers, brickmakers, shepherds, agricultural la-
bourers, and domestic servants, male and female.
Shepherds, watchmen, agricultural labourers, and
female domestic servants are in request.
There is an ample field for shepherds, hutkeepers, and
others who will make themselves useful about sheep-
stations. The most helpless will find employment
if he has only the use ot his limbs and legs. The
present demand is for shepherds, hutkeepers, and
bush carpenters.
152 WAGES FOR LABOUR, AND DEMAND FOR IT IN N. S. WALES.
Districts.
Northern.
Brisbane Water
Distances
from Sydney
in English
miles.
30
Macdonald River .
Wollombi . . .
Newcastle . . .
Raymond Terrace
Port Stephens
Dungog
Paterson
Maitland
Singleton
Muswellbrook
Merton . .
Scone .
Murrunindi
Cassilis
Wee Waa
Tamworth
Warialda .
Port Macquarie
M'Loay River
651
93/
70
85
91
150
131
110
124
15G1
170/
182
200
335
250
264
280
278
250
Principal Agricultural and
other Productions of
the District.
Demand for Labourers, and description of Labourers
required.
Maize, potatoes, onions ; also,
oranges, grapes, and other
fruit.
Wheat, maize, barley, and
potatoes.
Wheat, maize, potatoes, hay,
grapes, &c.
Maize, wheat, barley, oaten
hay, and lucerne, potatoes,
beef, pork, poultry, butter,
cheese, salt, cloth, leather,
fruit, and wine.
Wheat, maize, barley, oats,
potatoes.
Wheat, maize, potatoes, hay,
tobacco,cheese, butter, bacon,
hams, hides.
Wheat, maize, barley, millet,
potatoes, tobacco, cheese,
hay, fruit, and wine.
Wheat, maize, barley, oats,
potatoes, hay, tobacco, friiiis
of all kinds.
Wheat, maize, hay, tobacco,
and grapes.
Wheat, maize, and hay . |
It is not, generally speaking,
an agricultural district ,
there are several vineyards.
Wheat, maize, potatoes, and
wool.
Wool and hay ....
Wool and fat f<^ock . .
Wheat and maize . .
Wheat and maize, but in
quantities so very small as
to be of no importance.
Wheat, hay, maize, and pota-
toes.
Maize, wheat, a few potatoes,
and a small quantity of to-
bacco.
The demand for labour has been gradually increasing
since the commencement of 1845, and many people
would hire men if they could get them. The sum
given to a labouring man does not, by any means,
indicate the amount really paid by the employer for
efficient service. There is abundant employment in
the district for men who work by the job in the
bush, chiefly on their own account, as sawyers and
splitters, and who either sell their produce on the
spot, or send it to Sydney ; consequently, some of
the best workmen are at work on their own account,
and most of those employed on farms are in some
way inefficient, which increases their wages vir-
tually from 10 to 20 per cent, or more, by reason of
the labour performed by them being below the
average quantity or quality. The want of labour
and hioh wages still operate in limiting the culti-
vation of land. We think that vineyards (for which
the soil is, in many places, well adapted) would be
extended if labour was not so high.
There is a great demand for general agricultural
labourers in this district.
Male and female farm and domestic servants are in
great demand.
Agricultural labourers and female servants are in
request.
Shepherds, domestic servants, male and female.
Farm labourers, bullock drivers, stockmen, wheel-
wrights, splitters, and fencers are in request.
Agricultural labourers and house sei"vants are in
request.
A slight reduction has taken place since the arrival
of immigrants, but the demand for useful labourers
of the following descriptions is still urgent ; —
Males — labourers of all sorts, farm labourers, and
sherherds. Females — house-servants of all work,
cooks, and laundresses.
Agricultural, pastoral, and domestic servants are in
request.
Domestic servants are much wanted ; shepherds and
labourers are also in request.
The difficulty in obtaining labour is very great, and
the amount demanded, as wages, is ruinous to the
proprietors. The immigration of the past year has
not at all affected the price of labour in this dis-
trict. Shepherds and farm servants are most in
request.
All kinds of country labour are in request.
Sheiiherds and watchmen are principally in re-
quest.
Sliephcrds, hutkecpers, stockmen, and country me
chanics are in request.
The demand for labour in the district is on the
increase, and likely to continue so. The descrip-
tions required are shepherds, stockmen, hutkeepers,
farm labourers, and blacksmiths.
The recent immigration has not yet exercised any
perceptible influence on the rate of wages in this
district ; the demand for labour still exceeds the
supply to such an extent, as to occasion great loss
and inconvenience to employers. Shepherds, bul-
lock-drivers, house servants, and labourers of every
description are in request.
Farm labourers, shepherds, and house servants are
in request. Female servants are much wanted.
There is demand for labour in the district, to which
the supply is not equal, and a number of labourers
of the undermentioned descriptions would find im
mediate employment at remunerating rates —
stockmen, farm labourers, and bullock-drivers ;
and a few single females as general house ser-
vants.
GEOLOGY AND SOIL OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
153
Districts.
NORTHERX.
WftUingrove
Armidale .
Tenterfield
Tabulam
Grafton
Canning Downs
'Varwick
Drayton
Brisbane .
Ipswich ,
Distances
from Sydney
in English
miles.
330
Principal Agriculttiral and
other Productions of
the District.
"\^'heat, potatoes, and corn
334
"^Tieat, barley, oats, maize,
334
and potatoes
Wheat, maize, and potatoes,
for local consiimption ; also,
wool and tallow for expor-
tation.
380
280
Maize and potatoes .
Wool, tallow, maize ....
390
Maize, potatoes, wool, tallow.
406
Wool and tallow .
409
Maize . .
450
The vegetable productions are
chiefly maize, potatoes, and
garden stuff, a very little oats
for hav.
470
Wool and tallow .
Demand for Labourers, and description of Labourers
required.
Although wages are about £3 to £4 less, it can only
be effected by groat risk in the increase of numbers
of the flocks, occasional employment of blacks, and
thus standing out against the exorbitant wages
asked, waiting any opportunity to replace those
who will not take any reduction. The most urgent
demand is for shepherds.
Shepherds, watchmen, labourers, -and mechanics are
in request.
Shepherds are most wanted, but farm labourers and
mechanics are also in request.
Shepherds, hutkeepers, and stockmen are in request.
Great scarcity of shepherds, stockmen, farm labourers,
bullock-drivers, and house servants. Good house
servants are not to be obtained.
Many hundreds would find employment. Shepherds,
watchmen, joiners, carpenters, smiths, agricultural
labourers, and domestic servants of both sexes.
Shepherds, watchmen, fencers, carpenters, black-
smiths, wheelwrights, agricultural labourers, and
domestic servants, of both sexes, are in request.
Many hundi'eds would find employment.
The demand for labourers, shepherds, and domestic
servants is great, and large numbers would find
immediate employment.
Stockmen and shepherds are in request.
Stockmen, shepherds, bullock-drivers, and hutkeepers
are the descriptions of labourers in request.
Geology and Soil. — It would be unreason-
able to expect connected details concerning
the geological formation of a country so newly
discovered, and still so imperfectly known;
but the valuable labours of Count Strzeleqki,
Sir Thomas Mitchell, Messrs Berry, Jukes,
and others, have furnished much interesting
data, from which the followij:ig statements
are derived : — TJie line of coast thi'oughout
the territory of New South Wales, presents
in general an aspect of bold pei-pendicular
chffs of sandstone, lying in horizontal strata.
These cliffs are occasionally interrupted by
sandy beaches, behind which the country is
low, or undulating, the high land retiring to
a considerable distance. These spaces are
supposed by Mr. Berry to have formed, at no
verj' remote period, the entrances of bays
and aims of the sea ; indeed in many parts
they are still occupied by sandy beaches, ex-
tensive salt water lagoons, being separated
from the ocean only by a bank of sand,
through which the impetuous waves even
now occasionally force a passage ; as at
Keid's Mistake, at Lake IMacquarie, near
Newcastle, and at Lake Alexandrina, at En-
counter bay. As a general remark, the
country east of the Blue mountains, may be
said to be of a sandstone formation, and that
on the west granitic.
DIV. 1.
Count Strzelecki, assuming it would ap-
pear, that Austraha, or at least some portion
of it, was elevated by volcanic power, sup-
poses that the incandescent gTanitic matter
was the first to appear, after the breach of
the sub-marine crust; that it was on the
gi-anitic talus that quartz rock and sienite
forced their way to the siu'face, and that
upon the latter rocks serpentine, porphyry,
and greenstone made their appearance.
Thus about Bathui'st, on the Blue mountain
range, quartz rock overlaps granite, and on the
Honeysuckle range, poi'phyry overlaps sienite;
on ]\Ioimt Kosciuszko (in the south-west),
granite is seen forming a base 2,000 feet
above the sea, upon Avhich sienite and quartz
rock attain a farther elevation of 4,500 feet.
There is a want of uniformity in the inclina-
tion of the uplifted stratified crust; at
]\Iount Kosciuszko mica slate, and sihceous,
and argillaceous slates, are vertical, and
attain the heighth of 3,200 feet. At ]\Iane's
range, between the rivers MuiTay and Mui'-
rumbidgce, the upheaved strata are nearly
horizontal. The stratified rocks occupy a
small zone of New South Wales.
The count further observes that New South
Wales exhibits fcAv records of irruptive
igneous rocks, and preserves all its crystal-
line siliceous rocks, in addition to the sili-
T
cious sedimentary ones, which in the course of
ages have accumulated upon its surface. He
states that the stratified rocks from mica
slate upwards, reach only to the variegated
sandstone inclusively, which sandstone is in-
cumbent on the coal deposits ; and that the
thickness of these stratified rocks, does not
exceed 2,200 feet, of which sandstone consti-
tutes 1,400 feet. The area of the crystalline,
compared with that of the sedimentary rocks,
is estimated as tluree to one; but in Vau
Diemen's Island as seven to one.
This accurate observer states that in New
South Wales, the area of granite, protogene,
hyalomicte, quartz rock, sienite, siliceous
breccia, quartzose porphyry, siliceous slate,
sandstone, and conglomerate, all containing
above sixty per cent, of silica, is to the area
of eurite, felspathic porphyry, greenstone,
and basalt rocks, containing less than sixty
per cent., as four to one; but in Van Die-
men's Land, on the contrary, the area of the
first di^dsion is to that of the second as one
to three. Of the crystalline rocks, granite,
sienite, and quartz, predominate ; the greater
part of the coast range of mountains, and
the elevated terraces or steppes, westward
of those mountains, are composed of granite,
which is supposed to extend far into the in-
terior of Australia, in masses of mammillary,
tuberous, globular, or botryoidal forms. In
the country to the north-east of Wellington
Valley, these granitic masses present a
striking resemblance to those graphically
described by Baron Von Humboldt, in his
account of the Altai regions. Sir Thomas
Mitchell says that quartzose rock, exhibiting
a tendency to break into irregular polygons,
some of the faces being curved, is "most
extensively distributed in the interior of
New South Wales."
The sandstone strata extend from the sea
coast to the river Nepean, on the west.
Throughout this extent of country, the sand-
stone seems to spread like a level platform,
and although the surface rises in hills and
ridges, these seem to consist of a mass of
clay, the surface of which has been worn into
inequalities by the action of Avater. This cir-
cumstance, to some extent, accoimts for the
singular fact, that in New South Wales, the
tops of the hills, which retain most of the
original clay, are generally more fertile than
the valleys, unless the latter contain alluvial
deposits ; and it is probably owing to a
similar cause, that the valleys are cold and
bleak, while the tops of the hills are warm
and verdant. This clay is generally at the
surface red, and impregnated with iron; in
some places, however, it is white and sapo-
naceous, appearing under the form of pipe-
clay, containing frequently calcareous stones
resembling stalactites, evidently formed by
aqueous deposition ; at ' the depth of a few
feet, it generally assumes the appearance of
schistus, impregnated with sulphate of
alumina, and sulphate of iron. In the ra-
vines are found coal-field schistus, with
vegetable impressions ; and also argillaceous
iron ore.
Westward, or beyond the Nepean river,
the sandstone strata are forced upwards, and
extend from north to south, forming the
lofty ridge of the Blue mountains ; towards
the north these mountains are sterile and
rugged ; towards the south, however, the
sandstone is in many places covered or dis-
placed by whinstone, which sometimes as-
suines the form of common, at other times
of porphyritic trap. In the latter form it
is manifested through the well- watered and
fertile county of Argyle.
On advancing further to the south and
west, granite and limestone, both foliated
and granular, are abundant, pei"forated in
all directions with extensive subterraneous
caverns, exactly similar, both in character
and stalactite decoration, to those found
in I'Cgions of a similar formation in Europe
and in America. But both are frequently
met with in detached quantities in the
northern and eastern parts of the colony;
and a fine limestone formation occurs also to
the north-westward of Sydney, at the head of
William's river. In some parts of the terri-
tory (as in Argyle) the limestone passes into
a beautiful close-grained marble, as white as
that of Carrara ; at Shoalhaven it is jet black,
traversed by veins of white calcareous spar ;
between Wellington Valley and Boree there
are innumerable varieties of finely-variegated
marbles, all affording materials to numerous
skilful artizans. Granular limestone is ex-
tensively developed on the Upper and Lower
Hunter, between W^ellington and Mount
Canoblas ; between Cullen-bullen and Wol-
erowang ; on the Wollondilly, in Westmore-
land, and on the Shoalhaven river. Thei'e
arc varieties of different minerals found in
various places ; Hunter's river flows for a
considerable distance over rocks of jasper,
beautiful agates, opal, and chalcedony ; innu-
merable petrifactions are, moreover, found
on its banks.
Near the burning mountain of Wingen,
amorphous specimens of cornelian, white.
piukisli, aud blue, have been found ; also
angular fragments of ribbon and fortification
agates, and balls of agate, some of them
filled with crystals, varying from the size of
a pea to that of a hen's egg ; and others of a
blueish-white and clouded colour, having
spots of white dispersed throughout them.
Several of the agates collected from Mount
Wingen had their surfaces crested over with
iron ; some of those found at ]Mount Agate
were crested "wdth native copper, while others
from the same locality presented a most
beautiful auriferous appearance.
As it is desirable to throw every possible
light on the geology of this interesting coun-
try, I give the following observations made
by Mr. Allan Cunningham, concerning the
strata seen to the north aud east.
At the Wingen or burning mountain, the
summit of the south-eastern side of the
dividing range consists of greenstone slate,
and the base of a quaii;zose conglomerate :
the low hills, which form the eastern side of
Liverpool plains, consist of a similar con-
glomerate : while the hills to the north of
the plains are composed of a very finely-
gi'ained granite. Between the latitudes of 31°
and 30°, the countiy gradually ascends from
the level of the Liverpool plains, or 840
feet, to nearly 2,000 feet above the level
of the sea, and presents a broken iiTcgu-
lar surface, often traversed by low ridges of
clay slate. To the north of 30° lat. the base
of the ridges by which Stoddart's valley is
bounded, consists of serpentine, their flanks
and summit of hornstone, and the hills at the
head of the valley, of clay slate. In the bed
of Peel's river, which crosses the northern
extremity of the valley, a thin horizontal bed
of calcareous sandstone was noticed, between
strata of indm-ated clay or shale. The country
for fiftv miles to the north of Peel's river
a moderately undulating surface,
in some parts with fragments of
trap ; and the hills which bomid
the route on the westward, as far as the
parallel of 29° 10', consist of a reddish coarse-
grained sandstone, in nearly horizontal strata.
Beyond this point, towards the north-east,
and a little to the north of 29° S. lat., the
banks of Mogo creek were found to be com-
posed of a coarse friable sandstone. Pursu-
ing the same direction, the country for forty
miles presented a rugged surface, and the
prevailing rocks were sandstone and clay
slate ; but occasionally, the tops of the hills
formed low terraces, composed of a quartzose
conglomerate. In the bed of a creek in
exhibits
covered
cellular
28° 26' S. lat., and in the meridian of Para-
matta (151° E. long.), a hard slaty rock was
noticed; and the comitry beyond it was
found to be composed, where it could be ex-
amined in the diy water-eo\irses, of flinty-
slate. In 28° 13' S. lat., a fertile district
commences, extending for eighteen miles, or
to the foot of the dividing range, in the
parallel of 28°. At the base of these moun-
tains, were procured specimens of basalt con-
taining ohvine : at the height of 1,877 feet
above the level of the sea, the rock consisted
of amygdaloid; and the extreme summit,
4,100 feet above INloreton bay, of a brick-
red cellular trap, the cells having an elon-
gated form and parallel position.
In 29° S. lat., a deep gorge is composed of
clayslate, and traversed by a rapid stream,
in the bed of which were noticed large
boulders of the grey granite. Dming the
next forty miles, the only rocks noticed were
reddish granite, and fragments of basalt. In
29° 26' S. lat., large masses of a fine
quartzose conglomerate occm-red, and they
were afterwards found to be veiy generally
scattered over the adjacent country. The
boundary hills of Wilmot Valley are stated
to be a fine-grained gray granite ; aud those
which form the head of it, in 30° 11' S. lat.,
of brownish poi-phyrj^, containing grains of
quartz.
The geology of the comitry farther north,
is equally striking. The western shores of
Moreton bay, fi'om the entrance of Pumice-
stone river, to Red Cliff" point, are faced by
a reef of considerable breadth, which at low
water, is stated by Mr. Cunningham to ex-
hibit a ledge of chalcedony. Pumice-stone
has been found on different parts of the east
coast of Australia.
In tracing the Brisbane river, which falls
into Moreton bay, the first rock observed
was talc slate or chlorite ; and opposite the
settlement, sixteen miles from the mouth of
the river, is a quarry of pinkish claystone
poi'phyry, used for building. In the ravines
further up serpentine occurs, traversed by
veins of asbestos and magnetic iron. Sixty
miles from jNIoreton bay, ledges of horn
stone crop out in the bauks ; and in the
same part of the river, a considerable seam
of coal appears in its channel. A poi'tion of
the stem of a fossil plant, presenting " con-
centric fibrous bands, and a longitudinal
foliated structure at right angles to the
bands," was found in the vicinity of the
scam of coal. At " the Limestone station,"
on Brctner lliver, which falls into the Bris-
156 COUNT STRZELECKI ON NEW SOUTH WALES GEOLOGY.
bane, were prociu'ed a series of specimens,
which consisted of yello^^sh hornstone ; in-
durated white marl, resembling some of the
harder A^arieties of chalk, and containing im-
mense masses of black flint; blueish-grey
chalcedony passing into chert ; and a gritty
yellowish limestone. A bed of coal has like-
wise been noticed in the Bremer, and traced
from it to the Brisbane. To the south of
the limestone station is a remarkable hill,
consisting of trap, called Mount Forbes ; and
fifty miles to the south of the penal settle-
ment on the Brisbane, is the Birman range,
from which were obtained specimens of com-
pact quartz rock ; and from Mount Lindsay,
likewise south of the Brisbane, specimens of
granite.
The strata in the cliffs, containing the
Newcastle coal basin, are stated to be, —
coal (the lowest of the deposit) , three feet ;
greenish sandstone, fifty ; coal, three ; green-
ish sandstone with blue veins, twenty-five;
coal, five ; clay rock (greyish), and shale
(blueish), with various impressions, forty-
three; coal, five; cherts, gritstones, with
angular fragments of flint intermixed with
thin veins of coal, fourteen; coal three;
conglomerate (the uppermost of the deposit),
twenty-three ; total 20 i feet.
The osseous breccia found in the caves at
Wellington Valley, have been adverted to in
the general view of Australia, at pages 398-9.
Their structure appears to indicate that
New South Wales has passed through periods
of terrestrial revolution precisely similar to
those experienced in other parts of the
world. The bones found in the caves attest
the former existence of animals of whom
we have no other record, and also of several
similar in species to those now known, but
of gigantic size. Immense beds of sea-
shells are found at various elevations above
the sea ; in some places on the tops of
hills, in others imbedded in sandstone.
Close to the banks of Hunter's river, layers
of shells have been found of unexplored
depth, and have long been used by the
inhabitants in the manufactiu'e of lime.
Some of the valleys, such as Dart Brook and
Lake George, possess imperfectly fossilised
fragments of trees. Elevated beaches in
horizontal beds and at various heights are
disposed at -wide intervals along the coast.
At Lake King (Gipp's Land) they are seventy
feet above the sea, composed of an indurated
reddish clay and calcareous paste, containing
ostrea and anomia, and difterent from tlie
existing species, which latter are found on
the elevated beaches between Cape Liptrass
and Portland bay. Basalt and its varieties
occur at Port Stephens, the Upper and
Lower Hunter, and other places. The con-
clusions at which count Strzelecki arrived,
after a series of examinations of the coast
line of mountains in Eastern Australia, are
— that the cham was upheaved during four
distinct epochs, to a height varying from
1,000 to 6,500 feet above the sea level ; that
the upheaving force, arising from volcanic
action, was exerted with diflerent degrees of
intensity, as shown by the varying heights of
the peaks, but that it was uniform in direc-
tion, ranging from north-east to south-west ;
that the lithological character of this chain,
and of the spurs which belong to it, is chiefly
due to the presence of crystalline rocks,
and that the irruption of granite, sienite,
hyalomicte, and protogene, took place at
the beginning of the first epoch; that of
quartz and porphyries during the two first
epochs ; and that of basalt and its varieties
during the last two ; the irruption of green-
stone continuing during the whole four.
From this lithological character, and from
the geological phenomena found grouped
along its course, this mountain range may be
considered as the Australian eastern axis of
perturbation.
The Cnjstalline and Unstratified Rocks,
mentioned by Strzelecki, as belonging to the
first epoch, are gi-anite proper, porphyritic
granite, glandular granite, protogene, sienite,
hyalomicte, quartz rock, serpentine, and
eurite; the stratified or sedimentary rocks,
are mica slate or schist, silicious slate and
argillite. The descriptions by which these
several rocks may be known, are stated by
the distinguished geologist to whom I am so
largely indebted in this section.
Granite Proper. — Composed of equal pro-
portions of quartz, felspar, and mica ; struc-
ture granular, dissemination of ingredients
regular, colour reddish-grey. Glandular
granite, oval-shaped masses of granular
mica, tabular quartz, and tabular felspar,
irregularly interspersed through a quartzose
paste. Porphyritic granite, quartz, and mica,
with large oblong and irregular crystals of
felspar, confusedly imbedded in the masses.
Protogene, a confused crystallization of talc,
felspai', and quartz, marked by an unequal
distribution of ingredients, and by the
entire exclusion of mica. Colour greenish-
white, sorhetimes inclining to red. Hyalo-
micte, a homogeneous, milky, or smoky-look-
ing quartz rock, with an admixture of white
PRODUCTIVENESS OF AUSTRALIAN SOILS.
157
mica^ to the entire exclusion of felspar.
Sieinte, a granular and massy structure, in-
variably composed of a \itreous and trans-
lucent quartz, and of hornblende, which is
prismatic and of a dark blue green; at
times intersected by veins of sulphuret of
iron, by which the abeady beautiful appear-
ance of the rock becomes yet more resplen-
dent; the presence of sienite always indi-
cates the proximity of granite. Quartz, in
New South Wales, of a whitish or some-
what milky colour, sometimes found trans-
lucent and perfectly homogeneous. Eurite,
composed entirely of felspar, laminated or
grained ; colour, a pale yellowish-red, in-
ferior in hardness to quartz, adheres to the
tongue, and exhales an argillaceous odoui".
Serpentine, coloiu* s'ometimes em^ald, some-
times leek-green, but never uniform through-
out; externally it often shines with a resin-
ous lustre, at the edges it is translucent ;
solid, semi-hard and brittle, fracture earthy,
uneven, sometimes laminated, fragments
irregular and splinteiy, feels unctuous ; it is
traversed by short, curved, and narrow veins
of a white silky amianthus, the fibres of
which are perpendicular to the direction of
the vein.
Mica, or Slate Schist. — According to the
varying proportions and the diflFerence of
coloiu' of quai-tz and mica, which, combined,
form mica slate, the shades are green, white,
red, blue, brown, and yellow; structure
laminated. Siliceous slate, usually grey,
sometimes white, reddish, or yellowish, tra-
versed by numerous veins of quartz, looks
greasy, and is tough. Argillite, a gi'eyish-
black, wdth a bright silky lustre ; substance
opaque, with a smooth sm'face, structm'e
foliated ; adheres to the tongue, and yields
a strong argillaceous odour : fragments tabu-
lar, thin, shining, and friable.
Mount P. P. King, whose summit is 2,646
feet above the sea (seepage 393), is described
by Mitchell as having at its base, and on its
sides, in large masses, the very compact
felspathic rock which characterises the valley
of the Darling. This, he adds, has been
considered a very fine-grained sandstone;
but it is evidently an altered rock. Here, in
contact with trap, it possessed the same
tendency to break into irregular polygons,
some of the faces of which were curved ; one
mass ha\ang been so tossed up, that its lower
side lay uppermost, inchned at an angle
of about 60°. That this is a' hypogene
rock, sometimes in contact with granite
as weU as with trap, is evident at Oxlcy's
Table Land, and other places. [Further
geological explorations are given in Suppt]
Soils. — In N. S. Wales, as in other coun-
tries, the rock which forms the basis of the
soil may be known from the trees or her-
bage grooving thereon. Thus a dwarfish
eucalypti, with glaucus-looking leaves, grow-
ing mostly in scmb, indicates a sand-
stone formation, while open grassy park-hke
tracts thinly interspersed with lofty euca-
lypti, characterise the secondary ranges of
granite and porphyry. The limestone for-
mation has on its superincumbent soil trees
of lofty growth and large size. These
marked features will account for the idea
expressed by Captain Sturt, that the Aus-
tralian trees seemed gregarious. In general
the covering of sandstone is the common
Australian clay, but over whinstone it is in-
variably a light black mould.
Of the productiveness of the Australian
soils, there cannot be a doubt. Many farms
have been annually cropped for twenty years
without manui'ing; the eucalypti trees by
shedding their bark, annually furnish an
ample supply of alkalies to the soil, which
has a degree of softness, coherence, and
porosity, common to all virgin soils; a low
specific gravity, and a proportion of organic
to inorganic matter, amounting to a third,
and in some instances to a half of the whole
quantity. The numerous places where car-
bonic acid gas escapes through the fissm'es
of the earth in New South Wales, cause
many of the rivers, particularly near their
source, to be impregnated with this acid,
and they are also charged with mineral
salts. In frequent instances the waters oi
the colony pass through calcareous rocks,
and carry with them dissolved lime, they
are therefore very valuable for irrigation,
which may be most extensively and usefully
practised in Australia. Any one who has
risitcd jNIalta, and seen the rich crops pro-
duced on an apparent barren sandstone for-
mation, by irrigation, will recognise the
great benefit which New South Wales
would derive from pm'suing the same
com'se.
Mr. J. Pattison, a resident of twelve years*
experience in New South Wales, and the
author of a recent brochure on its resources
and capabilities, says the country is capable
of sustaining many millions of people by
its agricultural products ; for " there is abun-
dance of land of the richest description."
Speaking of the qualities of the soil, he
says : — " The produce, under a good sys-
15S QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVENESS OF SOILS IN N. S. WALES.
tern of husbandry, is enormous, and would
stagger the credibility of those who have
not been eye-witnesses. The late Dr. Wilson,
R.N., obtained, at his estate in the county
of Murray, eiyhhj-five bushels of wheat per
acre; and at Narren Gallen, near Yass, on
the estate of Cavan, I have seen 700 bushels
reaped from a field of fourteen acres, or
equal to fifty bushels per acre." *
Count Strzelecki, after a minute and care-
ful analysis of the soils of New South Whales
and Van Diemen's Land, extending over
forty soils in quality, furnishes the following
as the mean of his investigations : —
Quality of Soils
Physical character: —
Absorption of solar raj's . .
Emission of heat ....
Capacity for moisture . . .
Specific gravity
Chemical character : —
Soluble portions of 100 parts
Proximate constituents in 100
parts :
Vegetable and animal matter
Water
Silica
Alumina
Peroxide of iron
Carbonate of lime . . . .
Sulphate of lime
Potash and soda
Chlorides
Magnesia
Metallic sulphurets and oxides
Loss
Highest
productive
power.
-f-13.4
—2.5
+ 8.0
1.8
30.2;3
14.70
7.88
54.32
9.82
3.18
4.74
2.33
0.74
traces of
0.82
0.G3
0.84
Lowest
productive
power.
+ 14.21
—6.1
+ 3.6
2.04
8.53
5.50
3.71
69.99
10.02
4.48
4.12
0.08
0.56
traces of
0.87
0.67
The inferences which the analyser draws
from these facts are —
1. That both the fertile and the sterile
soils absorb on an average nearly the same
amount of solar heat; but the fertile soil
emits, through terrestrial radiation, an
amount of heat two-thirds less than that
yielded by the sterile soil.
2. The fertile soil absorbs more than
double the quantity of moisture absorbed by
the sterile soil.
3. The solubihty of both soils in hydro-
chloric acid is not equal; the fertile soil in
100 parts containing 80 parts of soluble, the
sterile soil but eight.
4. The fertile soil possesses nearly three
times as much of vegetable and animal mat-
ter as the sterile soil.
5. The mineral constituents of each kind
• New South Wales; its past, present, and future
Condition ; with Notes upon its Resources and Copa-
hiUties. London, published by Johnson and Hunter,
1849— p. 90.
of soil considered apart from the vegetable
matter, the hygrometric water, and the loss
in the analysis, and expressed in their atomic
weight, are in the —
Hiijh 2)roducfii-e Soils.
Mineral Constituents.
Silica ....
Alumina . .
Peroxide of iron .
Carbonate of lime
Sulphate of lime
Potash and Soda
Magnesia . . .
Metallic oxides .
Parts.
70.93 -
12.84
4.15
6.25
3.04 :
0.95
1.00
0.87
Atomic
weight.
Proportion
in Nos.
0.122
0.020
0.004
0.020
0.007
30
5
i
5
1
Loio productive Soils.
Mineral Constituents.
Silica ....
Alumina . . .
Peroxide of iron
Carbonate of lime
Sulphate of lime
Potash and soda
INIagncsia . . .
Metallic oxides .
Parts.
77.70 :
11.11:
4.94
4.57:
0.08
0.50
0.87
Atomic
weiffht.
0.132
0.017
0.005
0.014
Proportion
in Nos.
26
3
1
2
Thus it wiU be perceived that the fertile
soils differ from the sterile, not only in the
number of constituents, but in the propor-
tion in which they are found to be combined.
The productive quality of soils is influenced
by the amount of absorption and emission of
solar heat; when the proportion of absorp-
tion to emission is 5.76 : 1, it is highly favour-
able to agriculture ; whenever it is 2.35 : 1,
it is highly injurious. The extent of capacity
of absorbing moisture is of course an im-
portant element in the successful prosecution
of husbandry. The more or less soluble
constituents determines the productive power
of soils ; as respects Australia, those that have
thirty per cent, of soluble matter are best
adapted for the former; those which have
only eight are the least. The amount ot
vegetable matter in a soil appears to regulate
the proportionate power of absorbing and of
ertiitting heat, and of absorbing and of re-
taining atmospheric moisture. The impor-
tance of manuring, or, in other words, of
feeding soils with the vegetable and other
ingredients necessary for the food of plants,
is therefore obvious; and some Australian
cultivators now find their lands, after twenty
years^ successive cropping, without food or
rest, reduced to the exhausted condition of
an overworked animal, deprived of its suste-
nance and sleep.
The average production of wheat in Aus-
tralia, on good soils, is from twenty to thirty
bushels per acre, weighing from sixty to
sixty-five pounds the bushel ; in some dis-
tricts forty and even fifty bushels have been
obtained from an acre of land. Maize jdelds
forty to seventy bushels riett, according to
the quality of the soil, and the carefulness of
the culture. The potato gives two crops in
the year, and green peas are gathered in
winter as well as in summer.
jNIixeralogy. — New South Wales abounds
with mineralogical treasures; gold, copper,
and steel have been found — the first named
in abundance — see Supplement. Coal ex-
ists in several districts, bu.t especially in the
country south of Huntei''s river, which is
an extensive coal-field, and where, as previ-
ously stated, the sea clifi's present a most
interesting section of this stratum. The
seams of coal are distinctly visible on the
abrupt face of the cliffs, forming the south
headland of the harboui- ot Newcastle, and
may be traced for nine miles, when they
abruptly terminate, suddenly bending down-
wards, and sinking below the level of the
sea. From this place a long sandy beach
and low land extend to the entrance of Lake
Macquarie (Reid's ]\Iistake), the south head
of which rises into high cliff's, in which the
coal strata again present themselves. Be-
tween the coal beds are strata of sandstone,
and beds of clay slate, with vegetable im-
pressions— sometimes, but more rarely, in-
durated claystone. Embedded in these
strata, there is abundance of argillaceous
iron ore ; this is occasionally cellular and in
layers, but for the most part it appears in
the form of petrifactions of trees and
branches, irregularly dispersed. The coal
is decidedly of vegetable origin, the fibre of
the wood being often quite distinct, while
the vegetable impressions in the clay slate,
under and over the coal, are singularly beau-
tiful ; some of these subterraneous plants ap-
pear to have been in full flower, so that a
skilful botanist might ascertain even their
species; and Mr. Berry thought he could
distinctly ascertain the leaf of the lamia
spiralis.
About three miles along the south coast
of Newcastle, in an upright position at
high-water mark, under the cHff' and be-
neath a bed of coal, there was recently found
the butt of a petrified tree, which, on being
broken, presented a deep black appearance,
as if passing into jet ; and on the top of the
cliff" at Newcastle, embedded at about a foot
beneath the sm-facc, lying in a horizontal
position, and nearly at right angles to the
strata of the cliff", the trunk of another tree
was found, finely grained, both specimens
being traversed by thin veins of chalcedony.
In the alternating strata of the coal, which
runs generally in three parallel horizontal
beds, are found nodules of clay, ironstone,
and trunks and stems of arundinaceous
plants in ironstone ; in one place a narrow
bed of ironstone, bearing impressions of
leaves, is remarkable ; while thin laminae of
the same mineral, the sm'face of which is
traversed by square and variously shaped
sections of the same, are seen on several
parts of the shore, both in the face of the
cUff" parallel with the beds of coal, and ex-
tending into the sea, forming the strand at
low water. Nor are these indications con-
fined to the district of the sea-shore at New-
castle ; thin beds of coal and iron may be
seen along the banks of the Paramatta river,
and in other places. Coal abounds in the
vicinity of the burning ^Mount Wingen, and
near the Kingdon chain of ponds, also at
Moreton Bay.
The Newcastle (New South Wales) coal,
analysed by count Strzelecki, gave — (one
description) — charcoal, 62.8; bitumen, 25.2;
earthy matter, 25.2. One pound of coal
yielded one foot 1.806 cubic inches of illumi-
nating unpmified gas. The gaseous mixture
contained in 100 volumes, was — sulphuretted
hydi'ogen, 10; carbonic acid, 10; olefiant
gas, 17; carburetted hydrogen, 11; other
inflammable gas, 52. Every 100 parts in
weight, yielded — coke, 71.2; coal tar and
ammoniacal liquor, 15.6; ultimate elements,
deducting the earthy matter, carbon, 70.5 ;
hydi'ogen, 20.4; nitrogen, 9.1. This coal
bm-ns easily, with a reddish flame, swells and
agglutinates. It is of a black colom-, even
fracture, foliated stmcture, soft, and brittle ;
specific gravity, 1.31. The quality of this
coal is about equal to the Enghsh Newcastle
coal, it is now being extensively raised by the
Australian Agricultural Company, who have
a lease of the mines. A seam has been
recently found ten feet thick ; and there are,
probably, other large outcrops of coal in the
adjacent districts.
Copper ore of very rich quality, is found
in gi'eat abundance ; in the districts of Wel-
lington the beds of ore are supposed to
extend for miles in eveiy direction, and
according to the Huwkesburt/ Courier, "a
high hill in the neighbourhood presents indi-
cations of being a solid mass of metal." The
160
RECENT GOLD DISCOVERIES IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
Molong Mining Company are raising large
quantities of ore for shipment to England ;
there is a rich vein of copper near Bathurst.
Iron abounds in various parts of the
colony, and most of the smaller streams are
impregnated with iron. A few miles north
by west of ISIount Wingen, are stumps
of trees standing upright in the ground,
apparently petrified, and strongly impreg-
nated with iron.
It has been before stated, that in the
neighbourhood of Camden, a mine has been
opened where steel, according to Mr. Pat-
tison, "is dug from the earth with little
boring and of endless extent." He adds,
that he saw a very handsome knife, made
from the metal which had been worked with-
out any overground preparation, by a Sydney
cutler, as a present for the governor, Sir
Charles f itzroy ; the handle being of native
tortoisesheU, with a plate of native gold.
Gold undoubtedly exists in large quan-
tities. Sir Thomas Mitchell, during his visit
in 1847 to England, showed me beautiful
specimens of gold embedded in white quartz,
and stated that it was also obtainable in
grains or pieces of considerable extent. He
discovered the gold region while exploring
the interior, and observed, that he was
unwilling to notify the region, lest the colo-
nists shoxild leave their flocks and herds to
go in search of gold. Many years since, that
distinguished geologist. Sir Roderick Mur-
chison predicted that gold would be exten-
sively found in Australia, by reason of its
geological formation, and the latitudinal
direction of its mountain range ; for it is a
singular fact, that the gold districts yet dis-
covered are in mountains, with a latitudinal
rather than a meridianal direction ; to which
it may be added, that the perturbing subter-
ranean forces of the earth, as manifested in the
Rocky mountains, the Andes, the Himalaya,
or from Kamtskatka to Borneo, have a
general axis fi-om N. to S. [See Supp*]
Climate. — The seasons of New South
Wales are the opposite of those of England,
January being the middle of summer, and
July of winter. The summer extends from
the first of November to the first of March ;
the spring and autumn are brief, but well
defined ; the winter of a bracing coolness,
with occasional frosts at Sydney, and snow
in the interior. The spring months are
September, October, and November; the
fiummer, December, January, and February;
autumn, March, April, and May; winter,
June, July, and August. March, April, and
August are generally considered the rainy
months. The average temperature of spring
is 65° 5', of summer 72°, of autumn 66°, and
of winter 55°. The barometrical pressure is
about 29.94319 inches, and the average of
the thermometer 64° Ealir. In Sydney, the
thermometer is rarely below 40°; in Para-
matta, it is frequently down to 27° in winter;
and in my garden at Paramatta I have on a
winter morning eaten frozen milk beneath
an orange tree, from which I gathered the
ripe and ripening fruit. Indeed, there is
every variety of climate; by proceeding to
the Blue mountains a cold winter may be
enjoyed, or at Moreton Bay a warm one.
Of com'se, as the land rises above the level
of the ocean, a diflFerence of temperature is
felt; the vrinter at Bathurst, where the
luxuiy of snow is in its season enjoyed,
being much colder than on the sea shore.
Of the peculiarly salubrious climate of
Austraha I can gratefully bear record, hav-
ing proceeded to Van Diemen's Island and
New South Wales, from the east coast of
Africa, while suffering from a severe fever,
acquired while exploring the rivers and
country adjacent to Mozambique; and in a
few months the fever and its distressing con-
sequences entirely disappeared. The air is
remarkably elastic; old persons arriving in
the Australian colonies from Europe, find
much of the hilarity of youth restored to
them. Not more than five or six sick per-
sons will be found in a community of twelve
or fifteen hundi'cd ; at some of the military
stations seven years have elapsed without
the loss of a man ; several colonists are stated
to be upwards of 100 years of age ; I saw
one woman who was said to be 125 years of
age; and the singularly horny texture of her
skin seemed to confirm the almost incredible
statement, yet she went about her daily
work at a road-side inn. In New South
Wales, during summer, I frequently slept in
the open air, without the slightest injurious
consequences ; and during the expeditions of
Mitchell, Sturt, Leichardt, Eyre, and other
explorers, they lived for months without any
other canopy than the clear blue Australian
sky ; and notwithstanding scanty and innu-
tritions or saline food, they enjoyed wonder-
fully good health, such as they could not
probably have maintained under similar cir-
cumstances in any part of the v/orld. It is
said to be OAving to the fineness of the climate
that dogs do not go mad in Australia, that
horses are seldom or never known to kick,
that herds of wild cattle have a dcerree ot
THERMOMETER, BAROMETER, AND HYGROMETER AT N. S. WALES. 161
tameness unknown on the Pampas of South
America, and that the descendants of Euro-
peans are remarkable for an equanimity of
temper, which is probably partly attributable
to the salubrity of the climate.
The following table exhibits the range
of the barometer and thermometer for
each month in the year, the state of the
hygrometer, and the prevaihng winds, and
weather at Sydney : —
Barometer, 62 feet
abo-ve the sea.
Hygrometer.
Radiator.
Thermometer.
Winds.
Weather.
Months.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Max.
Min.
Max
Min
Max.
Med.
Min.
Days
Fine.
Days
Rain.
Stormy.
Cloudy.
Stormy
and
Cloudy
Jan. .
30.300
29.430
68
9
101
63
91
75i
60
S.S.E.
15
4
12
_
Feb. .
30.300
29.680
75
35
94
48
90
74
58
E.S.E.
20
4
5
—
—
March
30.490
29.580
74
10
83
42
83
7U
60
E.
19
10
2
—
— .
April .
30.458
27.772
78
40
87
53
83
70
57
W.
21
6
—
3
—
May .
30.442
29.602
79
26
66
35
73
6U
50
W.
23
3
—
5
— .
June .
30.350
29.290
78
25
67
32
62
52
42
S.W.
20
1
—
9
—
July .
30.315
29.840
76
27
59
26
60
54
48
s.w.
17
8
5
—
1
Aug. .
30.248
29.488
78
29
67
31
66
55
44
S.W.
14
9
7
—
1
Sept. .
30.380
29.520
79
18
83
34
67
49i
42
N.E.
20
—
8
—
2
Oct. .
30.200
29.300
80
20
86
42
82
69 i
57
N.E.
21
3
5
—
2
Nov. .
30.220
29.860
76
10
84
51
91
74
57
E.&W.
31
—
—
—
—
Dec. .
30.110
29.530
72
30
96
59
87
75
63
N.E.
20
—
10
—
1
Year.
30.490
29.290
80
9
101
26
91
—
28
—
241
48
54
17
7
According to a meteorological register
kept for five years, at the south head of Port
Jackson, a naked sandstone cliff, exposed
to high calorific eff'ects from solar radiation,
the extreme range of the barometer was
1.140 inch, and its mean range 1.0594 inch,
or, in round numbers, about one inch to one-
sixteenth. The same general law which
influences the barometer in Europe, operates
in AustraUa ; the mercury rises with the
polar and falls with the equatorial wind; i.e.,
in Europe a northerly wind would cause an
elevation of the barometer; in Australia a
southerly wind produces the same effect, in
both hemispheres an equatorial wind would
cause a fall.
The annual mean of the external shade of
the barometer at the same place, was —
For the year
April . .
October .
Summer .
Winter .
Difference
1840.
63.186
67.23
68.16
1841. 1842. 1843. 1844
64.656
67.66
62.76
62.72
61.46
63.47
68.390
57.055
62.73
63.62
61.07
67.987
57.473
— 11.335 10.514 10.486
61.49
60.31
61.12
66.731
56.245
Note. — April corresponds to mid-autumn in England,
October to mid-spring.
Annual Me'an Temperature at Port Jackson.
Years.
Summer.
Winter.
Difference.
1842
1843
1844
68.390
67.987
66.731
57.055
57.473
56.245
11.355
10.514
10.486
Sydney (Port Jackson) may be compared
with a port to the northward and another to
the southward, thus —
Thermometrical
Range.
Summer : —
Maximum
INIinimum .
Fluctuation
Mean . .
Winter : —
Maximum
Minimum .
Fluctuation
Mean . .
Annual Mean . .
Annual Fluctuation
Warmest Month .
Coldest Month . .
Port
Port
Macquarie,
Jackson,
Lat. 3r 25'.
Lat. 33' 51'.
88.3
81.9
61.8
59.0
26.5
29.9
75.0
73.9
75.3
73.3
46.8
45.3
28.5
28.0
61.0
59.3
68.0
66.6
27.5
28.2
Nov.
Nov.
August
July
Port
Phillip,
Lat. 38= 18',
90 6
48.8
41.8
69.4
69.8
36.9
32.9
53.3
61.3
37.3
Nov.
July
DIV. I.
The registers from which the above are
taken were kept for the three years ending
with 1842. It will be observed that the
highest annual fluctuation of the three sta-
tions is at Port Phillip, \dz., 37.3; but at
Quebec it is, 59; at St. Petersburgh, 57;
at New York, 55; Buda, 44; at Warsaw,
43.2; at Philadelpliia, 43.3; at Vienna, 43;
Copenhagen and Zui'ich, 38.9; Milan,
38.4.
In the southern hemisphere snow is per-
petual at 6,000 feet above the sea, in Europe
at 10,000 feet. This may be partly attri-
buted to the gi'cat extent of ocean in the
south, and the absence of any intervening
u
162
GREAT QUANTITY OF RAIN IN AUSTRALIA.
land between the south pole and Australia,
whereby there is at least a diflfereuce of five
degrees' of latitude in regard to temperature.
Considerable allowance must also be made
for the direction, intensity, and thermome-
trical condition of different currents of air.
Thus, in ascending INIount Kosciuszko, in
the Australian Alps, Count Strzelecki found
the stratum of air at 3,000 feet much colder
than that at the elevation of 6,500 feet. So
also at INIount Roa (Sandwich Islands) three
different cui'rents were noted ; one at Byi'on's
bay, light from the S.E., temperatiu'e 86°;
one at an elevation of 4,000 feet, strong
from the westward, temperature 55°; and
one at 6,000 feet, brisk N.W., temperature
67°. A hail storm on Ben Lomond in Van
Diemen^s Land was observed to originate in
a stratum of air far below the point of con-
gelation, and mo\'ing between an elevation
of 800 and 5,000 feet, i.e., between Ben
Lomond, in a temperature of 56°, and the
Vale of Avoca, 4,200 feet lower down in 80°.
This storm was succeeded by a polar wind.
At the Cordilleras in Chili snow has been
found melting at 15,000 feet elevation, while
it was unaltered at 10,000 feet. So also
rain sometimes falls in Australia when the
temperatui'e near the earth is below the
freezing point. My o^ti theory of these
phenomena is that heat is produced by the
electricity emanating from the sun, and the
magnetism contained in the earth being
brought into contact; the sun itself being
not a body of fire, but an evolver of the
electric flidd, which on being poui'ed perpen-
dicularly on the earth, elicits ten'cstrial
magnetism, and heat is the product. Hence,
at a certain distance from the earth, even
within the torrid zone, there is no calonc,
but a region of perpetual snow, as intensely
cold as at the arctic circle, where also the
rays of the sun fall only obliquely, and not
direct.
It is probably this constant evolvement of
heat from the surface of the earth, which
causes the unceasing oscillations of the at-
mospheric cuiTcnts, not only affected by the
increasing or decreasing dechnation of the
sun, but also by a different cause, i.e., an
upper current of cold air, descending to one
of warmer temperature nearer to the earth,
it displaces, and is in its turn displaced when
the oxygenized or electric matter "with which
it was chai'ged has been expended in the
support of animal and vegetable life.
Rain. — The quantity Avhich falls in Aus-
tralia is considerable; the following shows
the total quantities registered as fallen, with
the respective number of days, at South
Head, Port Jackson, 240 feet above the
mean tide level : —
Year.
1840 (9 months)
1841 . . . .
1842 . . . .
1843 . . . .
1844 . . . .
Total . .
Number of
Inches.
49.65
76.31
48.32
62.78
70.67
307.73
Number of
Days.
108
142
137
168
157
712
out of, and comprehending a period of four
years and nine months = 1,736 days.
Two extraordinary falls of rain have
occurred during this period, viz., one of
20.13 inches, on 29th April, 1841, during
heavy squalls from E.N.E. — E.S.E.; the
other, 20.41 inches, on 15th October, 1844,
wind between S.E. and S.W.
Strzelecki gives the annexed return for
New South Wales and Van Diemen's Island,
which includes 8,730 days of observation,
brought to the term of averages for every
season at each station : —
Station.
New South Wales :
Port Macquarie .
Port Jackson . .
Port Phillip . .
Van Diemen's Island
Woolnorth . .
Circular Head
Port Arthur . .
Sum-
mer.
"Winter
Annual
Quan-
tity.
37.58
25.10
62.68
24.42
28.00
52.42
13.25
17.47
30.72
19.68
29.07
43.75
11.31
24.11
35.42
16.94
17.75
44.69
Average
number
of inches.
48.60
41.28
Rain sometimes pours down in continuous
torrents in Australia; one fall, diu-ing
twenty-four hours, at Port Jackson, amounted
to twenty-five inches. Mitchell, Sturt, and
other explorers found marks of extraordi-
nary floods in the Nammoy and other rivers ;
ten to fifteen feet above the ordinary level
of a river is not an unusual height during
a season of rain. The above record of rain
annually falling, "will dissipate a prevailing
idea that but little moisture exists in Aus-
tralia; the average annual fall in London,
is 22.19 inches, in New South Wales, 48
inches; in Van Diemen's Island, 41 inches
per annum.
It must, however, be admitted, that with
a comparatively high temperature and thirsty
soil, Australia requires a far larger amount of
moisture than England, and that the effect is
more beneficial "with a smaller quantity, in tho
HOT AND COLD WINDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
163
latter-named country, than that derived
from a larger quantity in the former region.
At Port ]\Iacquarie, where the heat of sum-
mer is intense, more rain falls dui-ing that
season (thirty-seven inches), than in the
whole year at Port Phillip (thirty inches),
where the climate is less torrid, and the
land less exposed to the parching effects of
the hot winds. It may be, also, that there
is a greater amount of absorption of solar
rays, and radiation, or emission of heat, in
New South Wales — in some parts of Aus-
tralia— than in others ; for it is stated by
Strzelecki, that on some soils all the early
crops are invariably injured by the frost, while
on other soils such injury never takes place.
The prevailing directions of the winds at
Sydney are thus indicated : —
Wind's Direction.
North ....
North-north-east
North-east . .
East-north-east .
East ....
East-south-east .
South-east . .
South-south-east
South by East .
South ....
South by West .
South-south-west
South-west . .
West-south-west
West bv South .
West ! . . .
West by North .
West-north-west
North-west . .
North-north-Avest
North by West .
Morning.
4
12
4
1
9
8
1
29
3
8
109
42
4
118
2
6
4
1
Noon.
7
11
129
11
3
2
45
27
5
31
2
11
35
5
2
10
2
16
Eveninff.
23
11
109
5
8
5
70
13
4
15
4
8
45
3
1
3
19
5
2
During the summer months a regular sea
breeze sets in daily, and refreshes the in-
habitants along the coast. The direction,
humidity, and siccidity of the winds in
Australia, are, doubtless, influenced by the
general laws which govern the atmospheric
circulation ; but these laws are modified by
various local circumstances, such as the
extent and form of the island-continent,
and the vastness of the surrounding ocean.
Winds from the northerly and southerly
quarters are the most numerous ; in winter,
on an average of 100 winds, 60 proceed from
the southerly quarter, making the propor-
tion of the polar to the equatorial, as 3:1;
in summer, of 100 winds, 42 are from the
northerly quarter — polar to equatorial, I : 2.
These proportions vary at Port Phillip and
other stations owing, probably, to the posi-
tion and configuration of the land. At Port
Jackson the winter is marked by the preva-
lence of polar winds, and the summer by
that of equatorial ; at Port Phillip, the equa-
torial prevail in winter, and the polar in
summer ; and in Van Diemen's Island the
equatorial winds prevail during both summer
and winter.
The hot winds of Australia have engaged
the attention of geologists, as well as of
meteorologists ; they are supposed to origi-
nate in the central deserts. The intense
heat of these winds raises the thermometer,
in the shade, to 117°, or even 120°, Fahr. ;
the grass becomes dry, like hay ; the fig is
destroyed; the red and blue grape lose their
colour and watery elements; green leaves
lose their colour, turn yellow, and wither;
and the promising harvest of the agricul-
turalist is frequently ruined. Westward of
the Blue mountain range, the temperature
of a summer day is increased by this wind
40°; on the eastward of the range, from
25° to 30°. The effects of this wind on the
animal frame, are stated, on the authority
of captain Sturt. I have, however, myself,
ridden for the greater part of the day, in
New South Wales, during the prevalence of
these siroccos, and felt less fatigue than from
a slight exertion during the rainy season in
Bengal. In the latter instance, the atmo-
sphere was satiu'ated with moisture ; in the
former, the air was totally deprived of all
humidity. Count Strzelecki experienced
the hot Avind with great violence sixty miles
at sea, in the parallel of Sydney, and found
the sails of the ship covered with an impal-
pable sand, containing one-fourth of alumin-
ous and three-fourths of silicious and metallic
matter ; he also experienced it at the top of
Ben Lomond, at an elevation of 5,000 feet,
but did not feel it at 3,000 feet lower, to
the vrindward. It does not appear that this
current of heated air is confined to any par-
ticular altitude, but rushes from a lower to
a higher stratum of air, according to cir-
cumstances. Not unfrequently, during the
prevalence of this wind, the high clouds,
ciri'us, and strata, at once disappear, while
the lower remain unchanged ; I noticed, also,
that at night the air was filled with what is
termed " sheet lightning," which exhibited
sometimes the beautiful coruscations of the
aurora borealis.
The mean direction of this wind in New
South Wales is from the north-west, and its
velocity sometimes exceeds a regular gale;
occasionally it has a ricochet movement
164 COMPARISON OF AUSTRALIAN WITH EUROPEAN CLIMATES.
thus —
or appears produced by a rotation on a set of
horizontal axes, thus— CilOfiCtODfiQ
There are no noxious gases in these hot
winds, and they do not exercise any delete-
rious eflect on the health of man : they
bear some affinity to the hot winds expe-
rienced in the Mediten'anean, in Egypt,
Arabia, Persia, Bombay, and Mexico; but
whether these all belong to a common system
of atmospheric circulation, or are caused in
the several counti'ies by local circumstances,
it is not easy to decide authoritatively ; and
my own impression is, that the form, extent,
and latitude of the regions where they pre-
vail— the characteristics of the soil, and the
quantity and nature of the vegetation, all
exercise a powerful influence in the pro-
duction of hot winds duiing summer.
A good idea of the climate of Australia
may be formed from the following com-
parison : —
Station
Summer.
Port Macquarie, classed with
Port Jackson, ditto
Port Phillip, ditto
Florence, Naples
Avignon, Constantinople, Philadelphia, U.S.
Baden, jNIarseilles, and Bordeaux . . . .
Winter.
Funchal
Cairo
Palermo
Annual
Mean.
Tunis
Messina
Naples
Thermometrical
Fluctuation.
Dublin.
Paris.
Montpellier.
The summer represents that of western
Eiirope, between 41° and 55° N. lat ; the
winter, that part of the Mediterranean be-
tween the coasts of Spain, Italy, France,
and Algiers, extending to Tunis and Cairo.
It is probable that the extension of culti-
vation, the pernicious custom adopted by
Eiu'opeans, of bm'ning the surface of the
land, to obtain a new crop of grasses, and
the extensive forest conflagrations caused by
the carelessness of the aborigines in scat-
tering fire, or by the friction of dry trees,
have contributed to increase the mean annual
temperatui'c of Australia since its colo-
nization.
Rapid growth, and early development of
the intellectual as well as physical structure,
characterize human life in New South Wales,
especially among females. At fifteen, a girl
possesses all the charms, and many of the
graces, of womanhood; but it must be
admitted, that at the age of thirty, her
bloom has passed away, although the rigour
of existence is unimpaired. The springs of
life seem to attain a rejuvenescence in those
arriring fr'om Em'ope. Nmnerous instances
occur of persons arriving in the colony at
sixty, and upwards, who acquired new vigour,
and attained a hundred years of age.
Although we are stUl ignorant of the
almost recondite laws which govern the
increase or decrease of life, I cannot but
consider that the progressive augmentation
of female over male bii'ths, the lesser propor-
tion of female to male deaths, and the
annually decreasing mortality of both sexes,
as positive and conrincing proofs of the
adaptation of a climate for the dwelling-
place of man. On this subject various
data vrill be found in the chapter on popu-
lation. Between 1836 and 1846, the pro-
portion of females to males had more than
doubled. In the year 1844, the net increase
of female births over the year 1843, was
7.81 per cent. ; that of males, only 2.88 per
cent. This indicates a positive increase.
The comparative mortality is equally re-
markable. In 1844, the deaths of males,
in proportion to the whole male population,
was one in 78 ; oi females, only one in 89.24,
In proportion to the births of males, the
deaths of males was one in 3.62; whilst
those of females was only one in 5.2. In
1844, the deaths were in the ratio of 32 to
100 bii'ths: in 1844, 27 deaths to 100
births. The relative annual mortality in
New South Wales, from 1828 to 1840, one
in 55.15 : in 1841, one in 62.36 : in 1842,
one in 58.85 : in 1843, one in 73.19 : in
1844, one in 81.98. The average mortality
in England is about one in 53. According
to the official returns, the mortality of the
colony has undergone an actual and relative
decrease since 1842.
The proportions of the births to the
deaths is very remarkable ; there is not one
death to three births ; in England there are
two deaths to tkree births.
According to the registered returns,
which are not very perfect, the numbers of
births in New South Wales were in the
following proportions to the numbers of
deaths : —
1846 . . . 332)
1847 . . .331 >Births to 100 deaths.
1848 . . .3413
In England, the proportion of births to
deaths is not more than half of this.
HEALTH OP BRITISH TROOPS IN THE SEVERAL COLONIES. 165
The proportion of births and deaths
throughout the year, to the whole population
living at the end of it, was : —
In 1846, 36 births, 11 deaths)
1847, 43 „ 13 „ [To 1,000 living.
1848,40 „ 12 „ )
In England, the births have averaged 32,
and the deaths 22, to 1,000 hving.
The rate of mortality in 1848 was 1 in
85. In England it is 1 in 47; in Canada,
1 in 49 ; in the United States, 1 in 37.
Colonel Tulloch, who has registered many
valuable observations, connected with the
health and dui-ation of life at the dif-
ferent stations of the British army, informs
me that he considers the salubrity of Aus-
traha quite on a par with that of the United
Kingdom. For instance, the mortality of
troops serving in the various garrisons of
Great Britain and Ireland is about one-and-
a-half per cent annually ; and the casualties
of every denomination of a regiment of the
line, from the period of its embarkation from
England, and dui'ing the whole of its sei^vice
in the widely scattered posts of Australia,
Van Diemen's Island, and New Zealand, is
no more than one-and-a-half per cent. It
may on these grounds be said that the mor-
tahty is less in Austraha than in England.
I have been favoured by Colonel Tulloch
with the following comparative statements
of the mortality among the British troops
serving in different parts of the empii'e.
This table shews a great saving of life, dur-
ing the last ten years. Other cii'cumstances
as well as climate, have their influence on the
duration of the life of soldiers, such as the
locality of the barracks, the employment of
the troops, and the congregating of men in
large masses.
Average Mortality per thousand of JfJiite Troops
annually.
Colonies.
New South Wales
Windward and Leeward Islands
Jamaica
Gibraltar
Malta
Ionian Islands
Bermudas
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
Canada
Newfoundland
St. Helena
Cape of Good Hope ....
Mauritius
Ceylon
For 20 yrs.
ending in
1S36.
14
78A
121-nr
2lTTr
16i%
25iV
28,^
14fo
16.-13
14
34 /u
13t^
27A
69 T%
For 10 yrs.
ending in
1846.
11
68t'o
66 ro
lOA
14^0
15A
29tV
13
12/o
QiV
loro
13
24 ro
4lA
In the year 1849 the ratio of mortality
among the white troops in our different colo-
nies, was as follows : —
In Australia, 8 ; British Guiana, 14.2 ; Trinidad,
33; Tobago, 98.6; Grenada, 12.3; St. Vincent's, 6
Barbadoes, 128.8; St. Lucia, 17.4; Dominica, 40.4;
Antigua, 10.9 ; St. Kitt's, 19.4 ; Windward and Lee-
ward combined, 68.4 ; Jamaica, 48.3 ; Gibraltar, 8.4 ;
Maha, 30.1; Ionian Island-s, 23.1; Bermuda, 8.4;
Newfoundland, 10.3; Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick, 19.7 ; Canada, 15.6 ; St. Helena, 8.4 ; Cape of
Good Hope, 13.3 ; the Mauritius, 14.6; Ceylon, 21.5;
Madras, 22.4; Bengal, 61.3; Bombay, 26.6.
Comparing the foregoing mortality with
that of the troops in the United Kingdom,
the superiority of the Australian climate
will be manifest : —
Average Mortality ^ler thousand of Troops employed.
United Kingdom.
For 7 years
previous
to 1836.
For 10 yrs.
ending in
1846.
Household Cavalry ....
Dragoon Guards and Di'agoons
Foot Guards
Regiments of the Line . . .
147^
14-rV
2lA
18to
llro
13t^
20V^o
171%
The maladies to which flesh is heir assume a
milder type in Australia than in Europe ; and
it cannot be said that there are any endemic
complaints. The diseases most prevalent in
the six principal gaols of the colony in 1848,
were — those of the brain and nerves, 75 ;
circulatory organs, 20 ; respii'atory organs,
154; alimentary canal, 282 ; hepatic, 9 ; eyes,
63 ; skin, 35 ; cellular texture, 28 ; fevers,
10; rheumatic, 84; dropsy, 1 ; scorbutic, 31 ;
ulcers, 85 ; pregnancy and parturition, 6 ;
wounds and accidents, 36 ; hernia, 1 ; teeth,
11; vermin, 25; other diseases, 119; chil-
dren, 31. Total, 1,158. The deaths during
the year were — males, 13; females, 1.
Total, 14. I venture to say, that in none ot
the hospitals attached to any of the gaols or
poor-houses in England, would 1,158 cases
of disease similar to the above be treated so
successfully. No cases of Asiatic cholera
have occurred in Australia. Difterent forms
of mania have presented themselves within
the last few years, and the malady is in-
creasing in New South Wales.
It would be very desirable if the excellent
hospitals which exist at Sydney, Paramatta,
and other to^vns, would pubhsh periodical
statements of the number and description of
the different diseases treated, and of the
mortahty in each establishment. This would
form a striking corroborative proof of the
remarkable salubrity of the Australian
clime.
166
CHAPTER III.
POPULATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES— FREE AND BOND, PROGRESSIVE AUGMEX-
TATION SINCE 1788, STATE OF RELIGION, EDUCATION, AND CRIME.
Tnis territoiy, wlien first occupied by the
British, on the 26th January, 1788, was
thinly peopled by a dark-coloured race of
aboriginal tribes, -whose appearance, cha-
racter, manners, and customs will be de-
scribed in a subsequent portion of this work.
In the present chapter, therefore, attention
will be dii'ected to the numbers and con-
dition of the Anglo-Saxon Australians in
New South Wales.
The six transports which sailed from
England, 13th :May, 1787, for the foun-
dation of the colony of New South Wales,
contained the embryo from which the pre-
sent population of the province, aided by
immigration, has been formed. The trans-
port, Alexander, contained 210 men con-
victs; the Scarborough, 210 ditto; the
Friendship, 80 men, and 24 women, con-
victs; the Charlotte, 100 men, and 24
women, convicts; t\ie Prince of Wales, 100;
and the Lady Penrhyn, 102 women convicts.
Total, 608 male, and 250 female convicts.
Two convicts on board the Alexander re-
ceived a pardon before saihng. The grand
total which sailed was stated to be 828. A
guard of marines was placed on board of
each ship, and numbered, with officers, 212.
There were twenty-eight women — wives of
marines (who were to form the garrison of
the new colony), carrying with them seven-
teen children. Emigration from England
was studiously discouraged for several years ;
but owing to the number of con-sdcts sent
out, and the fineness of the climate, the
population rapidly increased. According to
a parUamentary return of 1812, the state of
the colony in 1810 was — (1). Civil depart-
ment, victualled, men, 37 ; women, 1 ; chil-
dren, 3 : (2) . jSIilitarv department, men,
1,416; women, 219; children, 414: (3). Free
persons, rictualled, men, 307; women, 183;
children, 198: (4). Prisoners, rictualled from
the pubUc stores, men, 1,132; women, 151 ;
children, 154 : — total number victualled
from public stores, 4,277 : (5) . People not
victualled from public stores, men, 1,906;
women, 1,644; children, 1,938: settlers no^
rictualled from public stores, men, 715;
women, 22. Total number of souls in the
settlement, 10,452.
The early censuses are said to be incom-
plete. The increase has been as follows : — •
Year.
Poptilation.
1 Year.
Population.
1788
1810
1821
1828
1,030
10,452
29,783
36,598
1833
1836
1841
1846
60,861
77,096
120,856
154,534
Adults.
"\^oo V
Children.
Tnt-il
Males.
Females.
1821
21,693
8,090\
29,783
1828
27,611
8,987 \
Not
36,598
1833
44,688
16,173/
separated.
60.861
1836
87,298
43,558;
130,856
1839
63,784
21,998
28,604
114,386
1840
70,021
25,476
33,966
129,463
1841
75.474
33,546
40,649
149,669
1842
76,528
35,762
47,599
159,889
1843
76,147
35,474
53,920
165,541
1844
74,912
36,170
62,295
173.377
1845
74,951
36,223
70,382
181,556
1846
82,847
42,287
71,570
196,704
1847
83.572
41,809
79,628
205,009
1848
86,302
44,562
89,610
220,474
The estimate to 31st December, 1848,
is 220,474. The number of inhabitants,
(including the Port Phillip district,) may
now be quoted, in round numbers, at a
quarter of a million.
In a return laid before the Legislative
Council of New South Wales by the able
colonial secretary, Mr. Deas Thompson, on
the 12th June, 1849, and by Mr. ^Mansfield's
analysis of the census of 1841, the increase
of the population, male and female, since
1821, is thus shewn: —
The progressive augmentation of the
female population will be perceived from the
foregoing table ; this did not arise solely from
female emigration, but from the large pro-
portion of female to male births — a propor-
tion which I observed in Austraha pervaded
the whole range of domestic animals. It seems
to be a law of population, that where there
is room in a new country, and the command
to " increase and multiply" is not perverted
by polygamy, there is always a larger pro-
portion of female than male births ; but in
an old established country, fully peopled, a
check is put to an injm'ious increase by a
CONVICTS SENT TO NEW SOUTH WALES FEOM 1787 TO 1813. 167
greater proportion of male than female births.
Under a system of slavery there is also a pre-
ponderance of male over female births ; from
which it naturally resiilts that a slave or bond
population, if unrecruited by fresh supplies,
would in process of time become extinct.
What proportion of the population of New
South Wales consisted of convicts and of
their descendants it is not possible to state.
The number of convicts annually sent from
Great Britain to New South Wales, from
1787 to 1843, Avas—
Years.
1787
1789
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1843
Total .
Males.
184
994
2,121
314
1
35
1
206
313
395
503
203
543
494
1
272
189
202
200
200
400
400
500
800
693
1,186
1,040
1,912
1,421
1,726
946
856
491
1,004
602
844
1,401
1,732
2,278
1,751
1,605
1,992
2,310
2,336
2,146
2,029
1,734
1,716
1,096
575
199
47,092
Females.
100
245
286
54
59
131
67
53
90
94
130
136
lis
34
113
175
62
120
99
167
119
232
101
101
101
128
148
121
171
67
119
81
59
88
260
298
220
337
250
206
420
144
298
259
140
344
143
213
Total.
284
1,239
2,407
368
1
94
132
206
380
395
53
593
297
673
630
119
306
302
377
262
820
499
567
619
1,032
794
1,287
1,141
2,040
1,569
1,847
1,117
913
610
1,085
661
932
1,661
2,030
2,498
2,088
1,855
2,198
2,730
2,480
2,444
2,088
1,874
2,060
1,239
788
199
It appears that during a period of forty-
eight years the number of couAicts sent to
New South Wales was, of males 43,506, of
females 6,791 : total 50,297. This is ex-
clusive of con\dcts sent to Van Diemen's
Island, to which separate transportation com-
menced in 1817, and from that year to 1837
the number of convicts sent to that island
was, males 24,785, females 2,974 : total
27,759; making a grand total deported to
Australasia during the period, of males
68,291, females 9,765 = 78,056.
Ti'ansportation to New South Wales, ex-
cept the deportation of a few exiles from
Penton^ille and other places, ceased in the
year 1839, and the total number of convicts
transported to that settlement may be stated
in round numbers at, males 52,000, females
8,706 = 60,706. The convict population is
thus stated since 1820 : —
Years.
1820
1833
1836
1841
1846
Males.
1S.067
21,845
25,254
23,844
9,653
Females.
2,189
2,698
2,577
3,133
902
Total.
20,256
24,543
27,831
26,977
10,555
The proportion of fi-ee to bond population,
of each sex and age, in the colony is thus
shewn in 1828 and 1833 :—
1828
1833
Free Males.
Above
12
Years
10621
17542
Under
12
Years
2835
5256
Total
134.56
22798
Ul-T
21845
Free Females
Above
12
Years.
4538
8522
Under
12
Years.
2936
4931
Total
7474
13453
o 5
"3 .a
1513
2698
in
In 1834 the number of " emancipists
the colony was about 16,000, and the re-
mainder of the free population was about
21,000.
The country to which the several convicts
belonged, is not stated for the entire period.
From 1828 to 1836, those from Great Brir
tain and Ireland were : —
Great Britain
Ireland . .
Males.
17,876
8,079
Females.
2,194
1,941
Total.
20,070
10,020
7,491
54,383
During the eight years ending 1836, the
number of persons free by servitude was,
males 7,788, females 1,363 = 9,151. Abso-
lutely pardoned, males 62, females 2 = 68.
Conditionally pardoned, males 543, female«
22 = 565.
The following abstracts of the population
on the 2nd March, 1846, in each of the
Counties and Commissioners' Districts com-
prised within the Sydney or Middle District,
shows the number of free and bond persons
of each sex, distinguishing those born in th
colony, or arrived free from other places, and
also the number of bond persons holding tic-
kets of leave, in government employment, and
in private assignment respectively : —
Males Free.
Males Bond.
Females Free
Females Bond.
Totals
Counties in New South Wales.
O OJ
'o 2
i
o
nt^
^
S' .
o 2
1
0
^ti
.1
{Census of 1851 given in
1
2 S
is
<
P-i
0
<
0
Supplement,
cfcl
o
O
852
fcD .
eS .
tJH
60 6
s °.
«* jj
w
Appendix A.]
1758
1— 1
pq
U
■3
0
OH-]
l-H
Ji
'a
s
Si
d
0
0
Argyle
Bathurst
412
2
15
1650
200
16
6
3039
1872
4911
1555
899
306
15
24
1418
148
18
2
6
2799
1592
4391
"Rlip-h
186
488
139
278
92
153
1
1
2
16
160
430
17
37
1
2
—
1
420
936
178
470
598
Brisbane
1406
Camden
3347
1125
448
10
22
3081
251
25
—
14
4952
3371
8323
Cook .......
1282
32348
570
5345
916
128
1180
409
137
1138
2
5
231
31
1316
30764
2869
142
1957
180
11
209
26
1
234
6
132
9
2122
40242
4470
1476
33296
3084
3598
73538
Durham
3112
7554
Georsfiana
325
239
60
—
13
285
31
—
—
—
637
316
953
Gloucester
1040
232
187
— .
33
864
37
4
—
2
1492
907
2399
Hunter
466
186
41
1
1
453
39
3
—
—
695
495
1190
572
535
372
217
119
219
294
4
62
524
580
71
53
1
10
—
2
3
1067
1327
598
646
1665
Macquarie
1973
Murray
Northumberland
992
513
289
1
8
814
89
14
—
1
1803
918
2721
5036
1720
597
338
59
5035
473
62
1
14
7750
5585
13335
Phillip
Roxburgh
St. Vincent
229
143
54
—
6
179
27
1
—
2
432
209
641
859
466
177
—
2
746
88
12
—
3
1504
849
2353
748
340
186
—
34
744
41
8
—
1
1308
794
2102
Wellington
315
288
100
—
8
225
27
7
—
—
711
259
970
Westmoreland
597
322
72
1
3
519
54
6
—
1
995
580
1575
Stanley (Moreton Bay) . . .
716
190
128
81
7
455
20
1
—
1
1122
477
1599
Auckland (Twofold Bay) . .
480
217
54
—
2
304
28
2
—
1
753
335
1088
Total . . .
56986
15569
5411
2022
588
53415
4010
439
238
205
80576
58307
138883
Commissioners' Districts beyond the
Blio-h
250
541
287
242
71
71
2
5
15
166
337
6
18
1
1
—
—
615
869
173
356
788
1225
Darling Downs
245
236
64
4
3
100
4
—
—
2
552
106
658
799
583
176
2
9
577
50
2
—
—
1569
629
2198
Liverpool Plains
670
813
261
6
28
296
32
3
—
1
1778
332
2110
144
99
71
6
20
111
12
1
—
2
340
126
466
Menaroo
757
447
104
7
6
554
32
4
—
5
1321
595
1916
87
95
39
— •
3
42
2
—
— •
—
224
44
268
Murrumbidgee
1003
648
160
1
8
717
52
2
—
1
1820
772
2592
707
691
339
4
15
428
44
3
—
—
1756
475
2231
Wellington
373
464
119
2
11
205
23
1
—
1
969
230
1199
Total . . .
5576
4605
1475
34
123
3533
275
18
—
12
11813
3838
15651
Total Population of the Middle"^
62562
20174
688C
20ofi
711
5694fi
4285
457
9,^H
^17
92389
69,145
154534
District j
1 1
It will be perceived from the foregoing, that
the free males born in the colony, or who have
arrived free, are nearly equal in number to
the same class of females — viz., 63,503 and
56,948 ; but that great disproportion of sex
exists between the emancipist class — viz.,
20,174 males to 4,285 females; also between
the bond — viz., 9,653 males, and 913 females.
The total males to females in the colony, in
1846, was 92,389 males to 63,145 females. This
diflFerence is every year diminishing: and the
laudable efforts of the Right. Hon. Sydney
Herbert to afford to distressed sempstresses,
and other impoverished women, a means oi
emigrating to Australia, must eventually
benefit the colony. Whatever doubts may
PROGRESS OF POPULATION BY COUNTIES, 1833—46.
169
be cast on tliis benevolent project, I bave no
fear tbat injury can accrue from the measui'c;
for it is well known, generally speaking, that
as men find in New South Wales " honesty
is the best policy," so also women, removed
from the snares of ^dce and temptations which
beset them at every step in England, find in
New South Wales, that " ^drtue is its o^Ti
reward ;" and there are many instances of
thorough reclamation of character in Austra-
lia of persons who, if they had remained at
home, would have trodden with fearful
rapidity the downward road to ruin.
The census of 1846, presents within the
limits of location, the following comparison
with those of 1841, 1836, and 1833:—
Counties.
1846.
1841.
1836.
1833.
Argvle
4911
3397
2417
2850
Bathurst . .
4391
2465
1729
3454
Bligh . , .
598
546
376
. .
Brisbane . .
1406
1560
1378
229
Camden .
8323
6286
3161
2648
Cook ....
3598
2892
2052
1465
Cumberland
73538
58108
39797
35844
Durham . .
7554
6238
3208
3303
Georgiana . .
953
749
0/0
Gloucester . .
2399
1424
854
583
Hunter . . .
1190
999
808
King . . .
1665
598
544
Macquarie . .
1973
2409
1300
744
Murray . . .
2721
2111
1728
510
Northumberland
13325
9975
5016
4606
Phillip . . .
641
453
247
Roxburgh . .
3353
1520
1980
St. Vincent . .
2120
1762
592
1 445
Wellington
970
510
530
\yestmoreland
1575
619
579
1903
Stanley (Moreton )
Bay, &c.) . . i
1599
2187
3858
1218
Auckland (Twofold
Bay) ... J
1088
Total . .
• •
139891
106808
I 72,729
59,802
The census of 2nd March, 1846, of the
Commissioners' Districts beyond the Limits of
location, presents the following comparison
with those of 1841, 1836, and 1833:—
Districts.
1846.
1841.
1836.
1833.
Bligh
788
Clarence River
1225
Darling Downs
658
Lachlan . .
2198
r/5
Livernool Plains
2110
'3
^
cu
M'Leay River .
466
o
o
Monaroo . .
1916
o
o
Moreton Bay .
268
^
"-A
o
Mumimbidgee
2592
!5
New England .
2231
Wellington
1199
Total ....
15651
9980
2968
—
The gross increase of population dming
the five years ending March, 1846, was,
males, 27,471 ; females, 31,282 = 58,753.
Increase per cent, during the same period,
males, 31.46; females, 71.84 = 44.89. Cen-
tesimal proportion of the sexes: — in 1846,
males, 60.53; females, 39.47 := 100; in
1841, males, 66.71; females, 33.29=100.
The inequahty of the sexes is imdergoing a
gradual correction. The proportion of females
to 100 males was— 1836, 30; in 1841, 50;
in 1842, 59 ; in 1843, 60 ; in 1844, 63.
The number of free immigrants who ar-
rived in New South Wales and Port Phillip
since the formation of the colony is not
ascertainable. Between 1828 and 1848, the
numbers are imperfectly stated thus : —
Years.
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
Mcu.
200
306
166
189
819
838
571
551
524
1,769
3,631
5,843
5,159
Women.
122
133
70
98
700
1,146
596
644
807
1,138
2,152
3,719
5,457
Children. Total
274
145
73
174
481
701
397
233
290
1,365
3,077
3,796
2,056
596
564
309
457
2,006
2,685
1,564
1,428
1,621
4,275
8,840
13,358
12,662
6,823
2,558
2,181
496
111
6.563
13,977
Between 1841 and 1847, viz., for seven
years the immigrants who arrived in New
South Wales, consisted of 9,210 EngHsh,
2,606 Scotch, and 20,896 Irish = 32,709.
No emigrants were sent out to New South
Wales, by her iSIajesty's Emigration Com-
missioners from 1844 to 1846.
The census of the proAdnce taken on 2nd
]March, 1846, affords satisfactory evidence of
the progress and position of the colonists,
and furnishes an excellent basis for the
statistical supplement which it is my inten-
tion to issue every seven years, in order that
the value of the original work may be pre-
served unimpaired. The following details,
when examined with the accompanying map,
will, doubtless, prove interesting in this
country to those who have friends and rela-
tives in the colony.
DIV. I.
170 POPULATION BY SEX AND AGE IN NEW SOUTH WALES— 1846.
Convicts free hy servitude, absolutely and conditionally pardoned, during 1847 and 1818.
Abso
utely pardoned.
Conditionally pardoned.
Free by serWtud-j.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Males.
Fema Ics.
Total.
Males.
588
275
Females.
Total.
1847
1848
2
6
0
1
2
7
1,020
2,226
33
66
1,053
2,292
215 "
77
803
352
Total. .
«
1
9
3,246
99
3,345
863
292
1155
On the 2nd IMarcli, 1846, tlie total bond,
or convict, population in the colony, was
10,565. During 1847 and 1848 there were
freed 4,509, or more than 2,250 per annum.
Allowing ?,000 for the number liberated
during ten months of 1846, the total libera-
tions to the end of 1848 would be about
6,500, which, at that period, would leave
4,000 still in bond — a number that would
be nearly obliterated in the years 1849 and
1850 — when the whole population of the
province would be free.
Number of Persons of each Sex and Age, in the Counties in the Sydney or Middle District, and i)i the
Commissioners^ Districts beyond the limits of Location, in 1846.
Males.
Females.
Totals.
Gene-
Counties.
Under
7 and
14 and
21 and
45 and
Under
7 and
14 and
21 and
45 and
Fe-
males.
ral
7
under
under
under
up-
7
under
under
under
up-
Males.
Tutal.
Years.
14.
21.
45.
wards.
Years.
14.
21.
45.
wards.
Argyle
621
251
159
1587
421
620
220
153
755
124
3039
1872
4911
Bathurst . .
480
224
142
1624
329
516
211
128
655
82
2799
1592
4391
Bligh . . .
59
22
9
295
35
54
23
13
81
7
420
178
598
Brisbane
169
46
30
595
96
175
49
27
203
16
936
470
1406
Camden . .
1088
585
356
2181
742
1103
506
312
1200
250
4952
3371
8323
Cook . . .
413
272
168
868
401
454
271
147
468
136
2122
1476
3598
Cumberland
8617
4744
3135
18096
5650
8599
4717
3975
13430
2575
40242
33296
73538
Durham . .
1045
472
307
2157
489
1124
417
223
1148
172
4470
3084
7554
Georgiana .
98
59
31
358
91
111
43
25
118
19
637
316
953
Gloucester .
324
169
118
744
137
300
140
94
315
58
1492
907
2399
Hunter . .
143
84
64
267
137
163
94
45
156
37
695
495
1190
King . . .
206
95
67
547
152
206
76
53
233
30
1067
598
1665
Macquarie .
197
84
58
700
288
229
87
52
243
15
1327
646
1973
Murray . .
337
132
112
985
237
286
134
63
376
59
1803
918
2721
North umberlan
1
1719
881
509
3726
915
1761
862
517
2113
332
7750
5585
13335
Phillip . .
71
28
15
265
53
77
22
17
87
6
432
209
641
Roxburgh .
294
127
72
789
222
262
119
93
319
56
1504
849
2353
St. Vincent .
226
116
78
695
193
259
114
67
293
61
1308
794
2102
Wellington .
91
26
17
469
108
86
26
18
111
18
711
259
970
AVestmoreland
199
112
58
511
115
200
87
35
219
39
995
580
1575
Stanley, ^loreton Bay
167
70
36
755
94
151
53
27
230
16
1122
477
1599
Auckland, Twofold Bay
143
49
34
446
81
97
43
18
130
47
753
335
1088
Total ....
16707
8648
5575
38660
10986
16833
8314
6102
22883
4175
80576
58307
138885
Commissiontrs' Districts,
beyond the Limits of
Location.
Bligh
58
23
14
458
64
63
25
6
71
8
615
173
788
Clarence River
118
47
34
598
72
114
40
29
167
6
869
356
1225
Darling Downs
32
8
19
436
57
38
6
13
44
5
552
106
658
Lachlan . . .
235
107
77
983
167
222
77
45
261
24
1569
629
2198
Liverpool Plains
117
55
77
1358
171
115
28
21
158
10
1778
332
2110
M'Leay River .
37
10
21
225
47
41
13
11
60
1
340
126
466
Menaroo . , .
222
82
93
765
159
202
78'
44
233
38
1321
595
1916
Moreton Bay .
11
2
6
191
14
17
1
1
25
—
224
44
268
Murrumbidgee
266
110
78
1175
181
250
90
69
335
28
1820
772
2592
New England .
163
86
70
1273
164
152
55
37
216
15
1756
475
2231
"Wellington . .
103
30
22
689
125
87
25
8
108
2
969
230
1199
Total ....
1370
560
511
8151
1221
1301
438
284
1G78
137
11813
3838
15651
Total Populati
Middle Dis
on
tii(
="/}
18077
1
9208
6086
46811
9572
18134
8752
6386
2456 :
4312
92389
62145
154534
MAKRIED AND SINGLE IN NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1846. in
Number of 3Iarried and Single Persons of each Sex in the Counties in the Sydtiej/ or Iliddle District, and
in the Commissioners' Districts bei/ond the limits of Location iti 1846 ; —
Counties.
Argyle
Bathurst
Bligh
Brisbane
Camden
Cook
Cumberland ....
Dui'ham
Georgiana
Gloucester
Hunter
King . _
Macquarie
Murray ......
Northumberland . .
Phillip
Roxburgh
St. Vincent
Wellington
AYestmoreland . . . .
Stanley (Moreton Bay) .
Auckland (Twofold Bay)
Total
Commissioners' Districts bej'ond the limits
of Location.
Bligh
Clarence River
Darling Downs
Lachlan .
Liverpool Plains
M'Leay River
Menaroo . . . ,
IMoreton Bay
!Murrumbidgee
New England
"Wellington
Males.
Married. Single
23,719
823
2,216
648
2,151
86
3.34
218
718
1,424
3,528
555
1,567
3,090
27,152
1,260
3,210
124
513
370
1,122
179
516
267
800
314
1,013
409
1,394
2,330
5,420
96
336
359
1,145
348
960
134
577
249
746
251
871
185
568
Females.
Married. Single
822
674
86
217
1,369
530
13,319
1,256
130
352
190
258
251
403
2,271
93
352
336
132
248
237
173
1,050
918
92
253
2,002
946
19,977
1,828
186
555
305
340
395
515
3,314
116
497
458
127
332
240
162
Totals.
Wales. Female
Total
l,f54
56,e57
84
531
188
681
68
484
309
1,260
184
1,594
67
273
250
1,071
21
203
334
1,486
226
1,530
123
846
9,959
To^^l Population of Middle District 25 573 66,816 25,484 36,661 92,389 62,145 154,534
23,699
34,608
169
55
292
170
61
259
23
342
223
113
1.785
95
187
51
337
162
65
336
21
4.30
252
117
2,053
3,039
2,799
420
936
4,952
2,122
40,242
4,470
637
1,492
695
1,067
1,327
1,803
7,750
432
1,504
1.308
711
995
1,122
753
80,576
615
869
552
1,569
1,778
340
1,321
224
1,820
1,756
969
11,813
1,872
1,592
178
470
3,371
1,476
33,296
3,084
316
907
495
598
646
918
5,585
209
849
794
259
580
477
335
General
Total
58,307
173
356
106
629
332
126
595
44
772
475
230
3,838
4,911
4,391
598
1,406
8,323
3,598
73,538
7,554
953
2,399
1,190
1,665
1,973
2,721
13,335
641
2,353
2,102
970
1,575
1,599
1,088
13S,
1,225
658
2,198
2,110
466
1916
268
2,592
2,231
1,199
15,651
Number of Married and Unmarried Persons in the Citi/ q
/■ Si/dnei/ and its Suharbs.
Males.
Females.
Totals.
General
Total.
Name of City
County in
which situated.
and Suburb.
Married.
Single.
Married.'
7,208
Single.
M;iles.
Females.
City of Sydney . . .
Cumberland . .
7,072
13,738
10,340
20,810
17,548
38,358
' Balmain* . . .
Ditto
247
435
255
400
682
655
1,337
(>^
Camperdown*
Ditto
50
75
52
64
125
116
241
o
Canterbury* .
Ditto
43
85
43
47
128
90
218
ai
Chippendale* . .
Ditto
85
134
88
109
219
197
416
•;3
Gleb ', the* . .
Ditto
210
323
212
310
5:13
522
1,055
o \
Newtown* .
Ditto
257
374
252
332
631
584
1,215
t»
O'Connell Town*.
Ditto
8
17
8
7
25
15
40
■a
Paddington* . .
Ditto
172
250
179
225
422
404
826
.£!
Redfern* . . .
Ditto
177
2(;o
183
245
437
428
865
CC
St. Leonard's*! .
Ditto
74
149
74
115
223
189
412
I Surry Hills* . .
Ditto
33
88
33
53
121
86
207
Tota
8,428
15,928
8,587
12,247
24,356
20,834
45,190
1
Note.— The mark (*) attached to the name ol' any suburb indicates that it is situated on private property. This mark (t>
includes the inhabitants of the Government Township of St. Leonard's, as well as the residents on the adjoining suburbs.
172 POPULATION OF EACH TOWN OR VILLAGE IN 1846.
jyumber of 3farried and Umnarried Persons
in the several Towns and Villages in Keio South Wales.
Males. 1
Females. |
Totals. 1
Name of Town
or Village.
County in
which situated.
General
Total.
Married.
Single.
Married.
Single.
Males.
Females.
Ailsa ....
Bligh ....
3
2
4
4
5
8
13
Albury ....
Unnamed . . .
11
32
11
11
43
22
65
Appin ....
Cumberland . .
20
47
19
39
67
58
125
Bathurst . . .
Bathurst . . .
303
800
320
460
1,103
780
1,883
Berrima . • .
Camden . . .
79
178
54
66
257
120
377
Boyd* ....
Auckland . . .
27
65
23
10
92
33
125
Braidwood . .
St. Vincent . .
40
79
40
47
119
87
206
Brisbane, North .
Stanley . . .
109
296
101
108
405
209
614
Brisbane, South .
Ditto . . .
70
139
67
70
209
137
346
Broulee. . . .
St. Vincent . .
3
6
3
10
9
13
22
Bungendore . .
Murray . . .
4
15
4
7
19
11
30
Bungonia . . .
Argyle ....
20
33
19
26
53
45
98
Camden* . . .
Camden . . .
40
100
40
62
140
102
242
Campbelltown .
Cumberland . .
91
204
89
157
295
246
641
Carcoar ....
Bathurst . . .
15
28
16
14
43
30
73
Clarence To-\vn .
Durham . . .
14
36
14
29
50
43
93
Dalkeith* . . .
Bligh ....
7
26
7
9
33
16
49
Dungog . . .
Durham . . .
22
47
21
34
69
55
124
Eden ....
Auckland . . .
10
30
10
13
40
23
63
Gosford . . .
Northumberland
10
25
11
7
35
18
53
Goulburn . . .
Argyle ....
218
468
220
265
686
485
1,171
Gundagai . . .
Unnamed . . .
16
39
15
17
55
32
87
Gunning . . .
King ....
20
40
20
15
60
35
95
Hartley. . . .
Cook ....
11
20
11
20
31
31
62
Haydontou* . .
Brisbane . . .
17
57
21
22
74
43
117
Ipswich ....
Stanley . . .
20
44
19
20
64
39
103
Kelso* ....
Roxburg . . .
85
173
85
121
258
206
464
Liverpool . . .
Cumberland . .
115
247
90
149
362
239
501
Macquarie . . .
Macquarie. . .
144
455
79
141
599
220
819
INIaitland, East .
Northumberland
152
337
150
271
489
421
910
Maitland, West* .
JJitto
433
917
442
617
1,350
1,059
2,409
MeiTiwa . . .
Brisbane . . .
5
24
8
5
29
13
42
Montefiores* . .
Bligh ....
25
47
28
29
72
57
129
Morpeth* . . .
Northumberland
120
214
125
176
334
301
635
Mudgee . . .
AVellington . .
22
68
22
19
90
41
131
Murrurundi .
Brisbane . . .
11
24
9
8
35
17
52
Muswellbrook
Durham . . .
42
81
40
45
123
85
208
Narellan . . .
Cumberland . .
4
4
2
8
6
14
Newcastle . . .
Northumberland
248
769
192
262
1,017
454
1,471
Nurea . . • .
Unnamed . . .
9
14
10
11
23
21
44
Parramatta . .
Cumberland . .
612
1,649
787
1,406
2,261
2,193
4,454
Paterson . . .
Durham . . .
23
51
23
44
74
67
141
Penrith* . . .
Cumberland . .
56
115
52
68
171
120
291
Petersham* . .
Ditto . .
23
43
22
34
66
56
122
Picton ....
Camden . . .
2-4
48
23
25
72
48
120
Pitt Town . . .
Cumberland . .
33
74
37
83
109
120
229
Queanbeyan . .
Murray .
40
88
35
45
128
80
208
Raymond Terrace
Gloucester . .
45
100
44
74
145
118
263
Richmond . . .
Cumberland . .
122
277
128
219
399
347
746
Scone ....
Brisbane . . .
22
47
21
27
69
48
117
Singleton*. . .
Northumberland
109
200
116
140
309
256
565
St. Alban's . .
Ditto
4
4
4
9
8
13
21
St. Aubin's* . .
Brisbane . . .
27
30
22
24
57
46
103
Stockton* . . .
Gloucester . .
18
48
18
28
66
46
112
"Windsor . . .
Cumberland . .
248
682
268
481
930
749
1,679
Wollombi . . .
Northumberland
16
25
15
20
41
235
76
Wollongong . .
Camden . . .
86
201
90
138
287
228
515
Yass
Murray end King
46
124
50
54
170
104
274
Total Population in Country Towns
4,^71
10,036
4,216
6,319
14,207
10,535
24,742
Add City of Sydney and Suburbs .
Total Urban Pop. in N. S. Wales .
S.x\6
15,928
8,587
12,247
24,356
20,834
45,190
12,599
25,964
12,803
18,566
38,503
31,369
69,932
^'bv'e.— This mark (*) attached to the name of any sul
1.
urb, to'wn,
or village, i
ndicates th
it it is situa
tedonpriva
te propertj
1
BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 173
Statement, shoivimj the Increase of the Population hy Births and Immigration respectively, in each year,
from 1839 to 1848.
Years.
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
Gross Increase.
Births.
2,270
2,836
3,304
4,233
5,204
6,333
7,182
7,946
8,522
7,061
8,881
8,746
Imnaiffration.
7,700
11,913
15,651
13,226
19,938
11,649
5,493
8,809
5,968
6,673
6,563
13,977
Total.
9,970
14,749
18,955
17,459
25,142
17,982
12,675
16,755
14,490
13,734
15,444
22,723
Gross Decrease.
Deaths. Departures.
1,799
2,104
2,481
2,382
2,894
2,717
2,293
2,122
2428
2,125
2,688
2,574
2,998
5,045
4,730
5,054
4,183
4,514
4,474
4,751
Net
Increase.
8,171
12,645
16,474
15,077
19,250
10,220
5,652
9,581
8,179
6,339
8,282
7,235
Population.
77,096
85,267
97,912
114,386
129,463
149,669
159,889
165,541
173,377
181,556
196,704
204,986
205,009
Marriages, Births, and Deaths, in New South Wale^
since 1832.
Years.
Marri-
ages.
Births.
Total.
Deaths.
Total.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
1832
619
655
699
1,254
650
275
880
1833
698
769
791
1,560
850
345
1,150
1834
750
927
930
1,857
827
337
1,164
1835
744
931
872
1,830
990
463
1,453
1836
774
1,047
1,073
2,120
1,131
497
1,628
1837
916
1,159
1,111
2,270
1,217
582
1,799
1838
970
1,450
1,386
2,836
1,392
712
2,144
1839
1,157
1,678
1,626
3,304
1,609
872
2,481
1840
1,631
2,119
2,114
4,233
1,517
865
2,382
1841
1,924
2,631
2,573
5,204
1,750
1,144
2,894
1842
2,564
3,160
3,173
6,333
1,753
964
2,717
1843
1,831
3,689
3,493
7,182
1,446
847
2,293
1844
1,813
3,999
3,947
7,946
1,362
760
2,122
1845
1,837
4,338
4,184
8,522
1,245
883
2,128
1846
1,796
3,529
3,532
7,061
1,321
804
2,125
1847
1,852
4,536
4,345
8,881
1,646
1,042
2,688
1848
1,801
4,484
4,262
8 746
1,584
990
2,574
1849
1850
10,011
Total .
23,677
41,101
81,139
22,290
12,382
34,622
By the joint census of 184G, the population
of N. S. Wales and of Port Phillip, was as
follows : [Census of 1851 in Supplement.]
Males.
Females.
Total.
Within limits of Location —
Middle District
Port Phillip District . . .
Beyond limits of Location —
Middle District
Port Phillip District . . .
Crews of colonial vessels . .
80,576
13,234
11,813
6,950
2,196
58,307
10,234
3,838
2,461
138,883
23,468
15,651
9,411
2,196
Total . . .
Population of 1841 . .
114,769
87,298
78,840
43,558
189,609
130,856
Increase . .
27,471
31,282
58,573
Centesimal increase during"!
the same period . . ./
Average annual centesimal in-)
crease for same period . ./
CenteMinal proportion of! 1846
the sexes ... . 1 1841
31.40
6.29
60.53
66.71
71.81
14.36
39.47
33.29
44.89
8.98
100
100
From the 1st January to 31st December,
1848, the two districts of New South Wales
and Port Phillip presented the following
results : —
Increase by —
Immigration
Births . .
Total increase
Decrease by —
Deaths
Departures
Total decrease
Summary —
Total increase . . .
Total decrease . . .
Net increase ....
Population, Dec. 31, 1847
Dec. 31, 1848
Male.
8,452
4,484
12,936
1,584
3,534
5,118
12,936
5,118
7,818
123,890
131,708
Female,
5,525
4,262
9,787
990
1,217
2,207
9,787
2,207
7,580
81,119
88,699
Total.
13,977
8,746
22,723
2,574
4,751
7,325
22,723
7,325
15,398
205,009
220,407
According to the census of 1846, the
classification of occupations showed — com-
merce, trade, and manufactures, 9,264;
agriculturists, 13,952 ; grazing shepherds,
13,565 ; stockmen, &c., 5,532 ; horticulture,
943; other labourers, 12,104; mechanics
and artizans, 10,769; domestic servants,
males, 4,181, females, 6,455; clerical pro-
fession, 185; legal, &c., 271; medical, 343;
other educated persons, 1,737 ; alms-people,
pensioners, paupers, &c., 1,687; all other
occupations, 7,816; residue of population,
98,602 = 187,413.
The places where born were thus noted : —
In the colony, males, 2 7,361; females, 27,492 :
174,
DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS— 1836 & 1846.
England, males, 33,756; females, 13,493:
Wales, males, 364; females, 177: Ireland,
males, 22,445 ; females, 15,976 : Scotland,
males, 6,409 ; females, 3,970 : other British
dominions, males, 1,153 ; females, 752 :
foreign countries, males, 901 ; females, 285.
The dwellings of the inhabitants were
thus classified in 1846 : — Houses of stone or
brick,9,955; wood,16,511; shingled, 17,012;
slated, 500. Total, 26,563. Inhabited, 24,848.
Of the latter, the county of Cumberland,
containing Sydney, has 12,939 houses.
Religion. — According to the census of
1836, there were — of Protestants, 77,096;
of Roman Catholics, 21,898; Jews, 477.
Judge Burton states, that in 1836, among
the convicts, 18,500 were Protestants, 9,000
Roman Catholics, and 331 Jews. In 1846,
the religious denominations of the inhabi-
tants of New South Wales, alone, was : —
Church of England, 79,801; Church of
Scotland, 16,053; AVesleyans, 6,338; other
Protestants, 3,681 ; Roman Catholics, 47, 187;
Jews, 969; Mahomedans and Pagans, 135;
other persons, 361. For the year ending
31st December, 1848, there were : —
Religious Denominations.
Births.
Marriages.
Deaths.
Church of England .
Church of Scotland .
Wesleyan INIethodists
Independents . . .
Baptists
Roman Catholics . .
Jews
3,790
930
483
85
32
3,387
39
720
504
77
27
5
462
6
1,405
225
81
29
8
812
14
Totals ....
8,746
1,801
2,574
Persons o
f each oft]
e under-mentioned Jte/it/ious Denominai
ions, on
2nd March, 1846.
Church
Church
We.sleyan
Other
Mahome-
Other
Coimties.
of
of
Method-
Protes-
Jews.
dans and
Persua-
Total
England.
Scotland.
622
ists.
tants.
Pagans.
sions.
Ai-gyle
2,334
64
26
1,797
59
2
7
4,911
Bathurst . .
2,013
466
38i»
40
1,464
23
4
1
4,391
Blio'h . . .
297
792
48
170
8
7
7
245
426
1
2
1
598
Brisbane . .
1,406
Camden . .
4,250
1,007
321
62
2,629
24
19
11
8,323
Cook . . .
2,074
272
183
10
1,036
21,216
12
6
5
3,598
73,538
Cumberland .
38,344
6,458
3,696
2,857
688
32
247
Durham . .
3,867
1,417
313
76
1,862
10
2
7
7,554
Georgiana
448
136
5
3
361
—
—
—
953
Gloucester
1,396
387
99
14
500
1
2
—
2,399
Hunter . .
783
64
40
1
299
2
—
1
1,190
Kino- . . .
821
89
10
14
730
1
.
1,665
1,973
Macquarie
1,136
222
43
27
519
20
3
3
Murray . .
1,290
328
4
26
1,043
24
4
2
2,721
North umberland
6,849
1,301
817
152
4,117
53
8
38
13,335
Phillip . . .
356
88
2
191
1
3
641
Roxburgh . .
1,231
311
64
28
717
1
1
2,353
St. Vincent .
943
377
5
6
766
3
1
1
2.102
Wellington .
590
61
9
4
305
—
—
1
970
AYestmoreland
619
144
136
3
672
1
—
1,575
Stanley, Moreton Bay
770
209
24
57
497
9
22
11
1,599
Aucland,TwofoldBaj
577
152
6
19
328
5
—
1
1,088
Total . . .
71,780
14,329
6,229
3,439
41,720
938
Ill
337
138,883
Commissioners' Dis-
tricts beyond the Limit.v
of Location.
Bligh
368
165
6
1
243
1
2
2
788
Clarence River . .
760
119
15
15
300
2
12
2
1,225
Darling Downs . .
341
128
—
2
178
1
6
2
658
Lachlan ....
956
190
14
21
1,010
6
1
2,198
Liverpool Plains
1,175
188
10
106
625
2
—
4
2,110
M'l-eay River . .
303
26
2
1
127
1
6
466
Monaroo ....
899
194
10
15
784
13
1
1,916
MoretonBay. . .
111
58
2
2
95
—
268
Murrumbidgee . .
1,401
218
29
46
893
3
2
2,592
New England . .
1,147
326
17
30
703
—
3
5
2,231
Wellington . . .
569
112
4
3
509
2
—
—
1,199
Total . . .
8.030
> 79,810
1,724
16,053
109
242
5,467
31
24
24
15,651
Total Pop. of New]
South AValcs. J
6,338
3,681
47,187
969
135
361
154,534
ECCLESIASTICAL AND EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS,
175
The ecclesiastical establisliment for 1848
was : Church of England — Diocese of Syd-
ney, forty-two rectors or miaisters, with
salaries averaging .£'200 per annum, and, in
almost every instaiice, a parsonage (or an
allowance of ,£50 a-year), and also a glebe
of forty acres.
Diocese of Newcastle. — Sixteen rectors or
ministers, with salaries and allowances as in
the Sydney diocese. There are two minis-
ters beyond the settled districts, with £200
a-year each.
Church of Scotland. — Seventeen ministers,
with salaries averaging £150 a-year each,
and, in several instances, a house and glebe.
Wesleyan. — Nine ministers, with each
i6150 or £;200 a-year, and a house. No
glebe.
Independent. — Five ministers; salary, .£170
to £250 ; in one instance a house and glebe.
Baptist. — One minister ; salary, £250.
Church of Rome. — Twenty-five ministers
of religion, with salaries averaging jS200
a-year, and, in some instances, a house, but
no glebes.
Jews. — One minister; salary, £100 per
annum.
There are now nine Episcopalian Lutheran
churches in and near Sycbiey, two Presby-
terian, one Free Church, one Wesleyan, one
Baptist, one CongTcgational, one Friends
(Quakers) , one Bethel Mariners, four Roman
Catholic chapels, and one Jewish synagogue.
There are ministers of the Established Church
at Paramatta, Hunter's hill. Prospect, Liver-
pool, Marsfield, Campbelltown, Narellan and
Cabramatta, Camden, Mulgoa, Windsor,
Richmond, Pitt Town and Wilberforce, Pen-
rith, Castlereagh, Berrima, Hawkesbuiy,
Goulbourn, Yass, Braidwood, Batluu'st, Illa-
warra, Newcastle, Maitland, Port Macqua-
rie, Wellington, Seaham, Marengo, New
I England, and sixteen other places.
i
I Exjjense of Ecclesiastical Estahlishment in 1848.
Denominations,
Church of England
Presbyterian . .
Wesleyan . . .
Roman Catholics .
Grand Total . .
Paid from
''uliinial 'J'reasury.
Salaries.
£
lo;20i
2,01 i
8*32
fi,G70
25,3.)2
Churches
etc.
£
3,726
400
3,^88
7,.514
Paid from
Miltary
Chest for
Convict
Service.
£
2.5
"eo
740
Total.
£
19,585
3,039
862
10,124
33,010
Education is in progress, and much needed.
According to the census of 18 KT, there were
then, under twenty-one years of age, who
could not read, males, 18,568; females,
18,035: read only, males, 5,480; females,
6,159: read and write, males, 9,323; fe-
males, 9,078. Above twenty- one years of
age, cannot read, males, 14,245 ; females,
7,160; read only, males, 7,150; females,
6,209; read and write, males, 37,623; fe-
males, 15,504.
Public or Free Schools in 1848.
Denomination.
Church of England—
* Orphan Schools . .
* Schools established "1
prior to 1837 . . ./
f Ditto accordino; to "1
regulation of 1S41 /
f Presbyterian . . . .
t Wesleyan
Roman Catholic—
* Orphan Institution .
* Schools prior to 1847
f According to regu-")
lation of Sept. 1841 /
Totals . .
Number
of
Schools.
2
32
35
43
16
1
11
21
Scholars.
Male. Female. Total
96
1,566
1,462
1,471
196
61
541
917
110
1,259
1,230
1,134
527
73
550
792
161 6,310 5,675 11,965
206
2,825
2,672
2,605
723
131
1,091
1,709
Note. — The Schools marked thus (*) ai-e supported by
Government, and those marked thus (f) by Government
and Voluntaiy Contributions.
There is a Sydney College with eighty
students ; a grammar school with forty-two
scholars, and a " King's school," Paramatta,
with thirty-six scholars. Of private schools,
there are in Sydney district 223, with 3,510
males and 3,208 female scholars = 6,718.
The total sums paid fi'om the Colonial
treasury in 1848, for education in New
South Wales (including the Port Phillip
district), was £13,540.
The Press. — About twelve newspapers and
periodicals. These publications are well
conducted, and exhibit a liberal spirit and
talent equal to the provincial press of any
portion of the United Kingdom. The Syd-
ney Herald, Chronicle, Colonist, and Gazette,
are published three times a- week ; the Mo-
nitor, six times a week; the Commercial
Journal, twice, and the government Gazette,
once a- week. There is an excellent sub-
scription library and reading-room, at Syd-
ney; an Australian museum and botanic
garden, a Floral and Horticultural Society,
and a Mechanics' School of Arts. There are
agricultural societies in different parts of
the colony; also reading-rooms and libra-
ries ; and in no part of the British Empu'e
is there a greater desire for the extension of
education, and the acquiring of useful in-
formation [Further details in Supplement.
176 CRIME IN NEW SOUTH WALES, AND EXECUTIONS, SINCE 1829.
Crime. — In the section on transportation
I have adverted to the fearful neglect of the
home and local government, from 1788 to
1836, of the spuitual wants of the many
thousand criminals deported during that
period from the United Kingdom to Aus-
traha. At New South Wales, at Van Die-
men's Land, and at Norfolk Island, crime
had reached its highest pitch about the years
1835-6. Extreme severity towards the
prisoners, a neglect of the ordinances of
reUgion, the flooding of the colony with
criminals, without a due admixture of a free
and untainted population, and the absence
of any other mode of punishment in New
South Wales for felons comicted there,
except by deporting them to an earthly pan-
demonium at Norfolk Island, had produced
a dreadful amount of sin in New South
Wales. The Rev. Mr. M'Encroe, who at-
tended seventy-four executions in New South
Wales in four years, stated, that the greater
number of the criminals, on their way to the
scaflFold, " thanked God that they were not
going to Norfolk Island." Several of the
prisoners there committed suicide, rather
than live among the demons in human
form by whom they were surrounded.
All this, however, distressing as it is, and
disgraceful, in the highest degree, to those
who, dii-ectly or indii'cctly, sanctioned the
continuance of such a barbarous system,
appears to me no just argument against
penal settlements, provided always they be
judiciously regulated. To condemn " trans-
portation'' as a secondary punishment, be-
cause of the neglect of the positive and
responsible duties of government towards
a penal colony for forty years, is unrea-
sonable; and if space be aiforded me, at
the close of this work, a chapter will be
devoted to the examination of this impor-
tant subject — important on many accounts —
fi'om the abolition of capital pmiishments
for every offence, except mru'der; and by
reason of the heavy expense attendant on
the maintenance of a large prison population
at home; the competition of their forced
labour with that of the free and struggling
citizens; the difficulty of accomplishing a
prison reformation; and the almost utter
impossibility of a man tainted with crime,
and known to have been in a prison, being
enabled to gain an honest livelihood in Eng-
land. For the present, my duty consists in
ascertaining the existing state of crime in
New South Wales, and how far it has di-
minished of late years. The folloA\ing state-
ment extends over a period of twenty years ;
at the commencement of the period, the
population was about 36,000 ; at its termi-
nation, about 200,000 :—
Numher of Convictioti,
' in the Supreme Court and Courts of Q
uarter Sessions, and the Xumher of Executions.
IThe continuation of this table since 1848 tvi
I be found in the Supplement.']
Year.
Supreme Court.
Quarter Sessions.
Criminals Executed.
Felonies.
Misdemeanors
Feloii:es.
Misdemeanors
Protestants.
Roman Catholics.
Total.
Free.
Bond.
Free.
Bond.
1829
244
29
—
—
4
24
6
18
52
1830
269
6
—
—
6
16
7
20
49
1831
205
29
—
—
3
10
3
16
32
1832
225
2
—
—
1
1
1
9
12
1833
219
11
—
—
1
9
6
15
31
1834
272
11
—
—
—
22
—
20
42
1835
256
1
—
—
2
15
4
18
39
1836
168
4
—
—
2
14
3
/
26
1837
177
12
—
—
1
4
0
2
12
1838
199
18
—
—
2
6
1
10
19
1839
159
12
609
132
3
8
—
11
22
1840
99
9
565
161
1
6
—
1
8
1841
159
20
468
106
2
8
3
2
15
1842
135
41
536
85
3
2
2
3
10
1843
146
34
418
48
1
3
—
2
6
1844
199
22
331
48
1
7
—
—
8
1845
198
15
303
51
—
1
2
—
3
1846
180
11
350
77
—
—
1
—
1
1847
176
10
281
61
—
—
3
1
4
1848
189
68
269
45
4
—
5
155
9
Total .
3 864
1
365
4,130
814
37
156
52
400
Note. — The Quarter Sessions returns from 1829 to 183S, both inclusive, not rendered, or inaccurate. — Of the criminals
executed, there were in the years 1830, one pagan ; 1834, two faith uncertain ; 183o, one pagan ; 1841, two aborigines ; 1842,
one Jew and two aborigines ; 1843, three aborigines ; 1847 three aborigines
OFFENCES IN NEW SOUTH WALES— DIMINUTION OF CRIME. 177
Notwithstanding the five-fold increase of
population, and the large mass of criminals
poured into the colony from 1829 to 1840,
the diminution of crime is very remarkable.
In 1839, the convicted felonies amounted
j to 768 ; ten years after, in 1848, they were
only 458. In 1829, capital punishment
was inflicted in fifty-two instances; twenty
years after (1848) there were only nine.
During the first ten years of the period
under re^dew, the number of executions
amounted to 276; during the ensuing ten
years, they were no more than ninety-seven.
There is a singular fact connected Avith this
record of capital punishments, which I have
carefully collated from the annual retui-ns
in the " Blue Books" transmitted by the
governor to her Majesty^ s secretaiy of state
for the colonies, and that is, the number of
protestants — compared with Roman catho-
lics— who have perished by the law for their
crimes, viz., 193 to 207 ; the proportion of
the free to the bond, was 89 to 311.
The oflenders convicted in the supreme coui*t
of New South Wales dming 1848, were —
Offences
[Sydney,
FEtOMES : —
Murder
Manslaughter . . . . .
Shooting at, &c
Robbery
„ with violence . .
Rape
Abduction
Burglary, &c
Housebreaking ....
Receiving stolen goods
Stealing in a dwelling-house
Larceny
Forgery and Uttering , .
Piracy
Horsestealing
Sheep-stealing . . , .
Cattle-stealing ....
Other Offences ....
Total Felonies ....
Misdemeanours : —
Assaults
Riot and Assault . . .
Subornation of Perjury
Bribery
Conspiracy
Fradulent Insolvency . .
Obtaining Money under"^
False Pretences . • J
Uttering Base Coin . . •
Neglect escajje ....
Total Misdemeanours .
Total Capital Convictions
DIV. T.
Circuit.
41
1
23
10
1
Mel-
bourne.
50
0
13
10
15
28
The executions for the undermentioned
offences dui-ing the year 1848, were —
Religion.
Murder.
Rape.
Protestants, free ....
Roman Catholics, free . .
2
1
2
Total ....
o
0
On comparing this return with the par-
hamentary paper. No. 410, laid before the
House of Commons 21st May, 1838, I find
that the criminal convictions before the
supreme coui't, dm-ing the year 1835,
amounted to 685, of whom 19 were for
mui'der; 17 for attempting ditto; 1 for
manslaughter; 13 for rape; 2 arson; 15 for-
gery ; 82 bushranging, highway robbery,
&c. ; 67 cattle, horse, and sheep-steahng;
15 burglaiy; 3 perjury; 347 larceny, re-
cei\'ing known stolen property, &c. ; and
87 for misdemeanovu's and assault. The total
numbers committed for trial during the year
1835, (the last year given in the return),
was 959 males, and 123 females, of whom
685 were couAdcted, 309 acquitted, 53 not
prosecuted, and 35 admitted to bail ; 86 re-
ceived sentence of death, 368 transportation,
and 16.2 were sent to hard labour, &c. A
comparison of this return with that of 1848,
must certainly be a matter of satisfaction to
the colonists of New South Wales.
The coniictions at the courts of Quarter
Sessions in Sydney, Paramatta, Goulboum,
Bathurst, and Maitland, during the veai'
1848, were—
Felonies. — Bm-glary, 4 ; housebreaking, 7 ;
stealing in a dwelling-house, 8; highway
robbery, 1 ; robbery, 10 ; ditto, ai-med, 1 ;
steaHng from the person, 26; assault with
intent to rob, 9; larceny, 156; receiving
stolen property, 3 ; embezzlement, 1 ; ab-
duction, 1 ; horse-stealing 7 ; cattle-stealing,
3 ; mahcious wounding cattle, 1 ; suffering to
escape, 1. Total^ 269: \\z. — Sydney, 150;
Paramatta, 44; Goulbourn, 10; Bathurst,
15 ; Maitland, 50.
Misdemeanours. — Assaults ■nith various in-
tents, 25 ; assault and false imprisonment, 1 ;
attempting to commit felony, 3; obtainrag
money or goods by false pretences, 5 ; utter-
ing counterfeit coin, 3 ; ha^'ing ditto in pos-
session, 1 ; attempting to dissuade a witness
from giving evidence, 1 ; keeping a common
gaming-house, 1 ; rescuing cattle, &c., 4 ;
being an incorrigible rogue, 1. Total, 45 :
viz. — Sydney, 28; Paramatta, 6; Goulboui'Uj
3 ; Bathurst, 1 ; Maitland, 7.
y
178
STATE OF THE PRISONS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
The returns for the Gaols and House of Correction, New South Wales, for the year
1848, are as follows : [For the year 1851, see Supplement.]
Total Admission?
Felons.
Misdemeanours.
Gaols.
of ^Vllites, in
Total.
1848.
Tried.
Untried.
Tried.
Unt
•ied.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
Sydney
1,217
348
1,565
Ill
13
16
2
50
33
18
4
Paramatta ....
162
96
258
22
4
5
5
11
7
1
2
Goulbourn ....
34
5
39
10
—
4
—
8
—
—
—
Bathurst
67
35
102
17
3
1
—
3
3
—
—
Newcastle
—
—
—
3
—
10
2
17
2
—
—
Port Phillip ....
—
—
—
39
1
4
1
45
11
—
—
Total ....
1,480
484
1,964
202
17
40
10
114
56
19
6
Note. — The return of felons is at Michaelmas, 1848. The admissions into Newcastle and Port Phillip gaols not stated.
The prisons are under the jui-isdiction
of the sheriff of the colony, and the superin-
tendence of a stipendiary visiting magistrate
and principal gaoler. Any of the magis-
trates may visit the gaol.
In the Sydney gaol there are 108 sleeping
cells, and twenty-two soUtary cells, none of
which are dark or below ground. The clas-
sification directed by the gaol regulations
has been observed. The chaplains of the
church of England and of the church of
Rome, appointed by the governor, perform
divine service twice on Sundays, and once
during the week. They also frequently visit
and instruct the prisoners. Bibles, and
other religious books are supplied. Dis-
senting ministers are admitted on the same
terms as the ministers of the church of Eng-
land and of Rome. Attached to the prison
are two hospitals — one for male, and the
other for female prisoners, who are under
the care of the surgeon of the prison. The
female prisoners are attended exclusively by
female oflEicers. The protestants and Roman
catholics are continually kept apart. There
is also a separation of hardened offenders
from those imprisoned for the first time;
also of the old from the young. The felon
prisoners are kept at hard work, such as
breaking or cutting stone. Whipping, or
solitary confinement, is resorted to for
breaches of gaol regulations : irons only in
cases of urgent and absolute necessity. The
other colonial gaols are similarly managed ;
and they will all bear a comparison with
those of the United Kingdom.
To a great extent the colony is now puri-
fied from crime ; and it appears by the docu-
ments laid before parliament, Jan. 31, 1850,
that the colonists have declared, in a petition
to the Queen, that " it is their duty and deter-
mination, by every legal and constitutional
means, to oppose the revival of transportation."
The civil causes tried in the supreme court
of New South Wales, during 1848, were —
Name.
Sydney . .
Circuit . .
Port Phillip
Total . .
Juries of Four.
Juries of Twelve.
De-
fended.
82
13
20
115
Unde-
fended.
20
2
7
29
Com-
mon.
Special.
7
1
12
20
Total.
Ill
16
41
168
There are just grounds for stating that
New South Wales is more free from crime
than could have possibly been expected by
the most ardent philanthropist. It can be
compared with several portions of the United
Kingdom. It may not be irrelevant to
quote in this place an unimpeachable testi-
mony in behalf of a large portion of the
present population of the colony, which re-
flects great credit upon them, and fully con-
firms the opinions which I expressed in my
History of the Colonies, in 1834-5.
Mr. T. H. Braim, formerly of St. John's
College, Cambridge, and now head principal
of Sydney College, N.S.W., inhis interesting
History of Neiv South Wales to 1844, thus
speaks of the Australian youth : —
" Descended, as many of them have been, from
parents whose names were stained by crimes against
their country and their God ; bi'ought up under a
fearfully imperfect mental training, a neglected moral
cultivation, and either an entire omission, or at the
best but an imperfect performance of the duties and
ordinances of religion, they have yet risen superior to
these disadvantages, have earned for themselves a
good name, have reared families in honour and re-
spectability, and are now themselves in the enjoy-
ment of general esteem and confidence, and their
children availing themselves of blessings placed
within their reach, which their fathers knew not, are
bearing upon them the buds of excellence."
Of the emancipists, he says : —
" They form no uninteresting part of the popula-
tion ; feeling Jhat they had a bad character to lose and
CHARACTER OF EMANCIPISTS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS. 179
a good one to gain, they liave in many instances set
themselves about the work of reformation; some of
them are reckoned among our most honourable trades-
men and merchants, among the most liberal sup-
porters, too, of the various benevolent institutions
which adorn our land (Australia). Some of these
institutions have been all but entirely founded, and
are now mainly supported by their means. In many
cases they have, by their industry and perseverance,
acquired considerable wealth ; and in most instances
the wealth thus obtained has been generously and
honourably devoted to the public benefit, the real
and substantial advancement of this land of their
expatriation. Nor do we know a more pleasing trait
in human character than that which is thus displayed ;
once degraded, they have paid to a violated law the
satisfaction it imperatively demanded ; but when the
debt was paid another obligation was felt to remain
behind. Society had lost that beneficial influence
which each member is called upon to exercise, and to
atone for this was now their honourable desire. In
the fair and honest pursuit of commerce, by untiring
industry, they acquired those means which enabled
them to gratify their wish — a competence — more,
a profession — rewarded their patient toil; and no'
sooner was this poured into their lap, than they gave
it back, spreading it through numerous channels,
through each of which, as it flowed, it left blessings
that even succeeding ages may enjoy. To say
nothing of many public buildings, which are the chief
architectural embellishments of our city, and which
have been the result of their enterprise and zeal, we
turn to some of those institutions of charity and
benevolence which own them as their earliest sun-
porters." — [Vol. ii., pp. 315-16.]
A people of whom thus much can be truly-
said, are they not qualified for the enjoy-
ment of free institutions ?
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES— STAPLE
PRODUCTS, AGRICULTURE, LIVE STOCK, WOOL, TALLOW— PRICES AND
WAGES— COMMERCE, IMPORTS AND EXPORTS— SHIPPING, &c.
At the period of the formation of New South
Wales, or during its early struggles, when
the colonists were again and again on the
eve of perishing of want, how strangely the
prophecy would have sounded in men's ears,
could it have been foretold, that in little
more than half a century, the colony would
not only produce a sufficient quantity of
animal and vegetable food for the support
of a quarter of a million Englishmen and
their descendants; but that Aitstralia should
have, in that short time, become the greatest
wool-exporting country in the world; her
salubrious climate, and the pasturage of her
virgin soil, rendering the increase of sheep
and cattle so rapid, as to induce their owners
to slaughter them in great numbers, merely
for the sake of the tallow thus obtained.
The present condition of New South Wales
is indeed surprising, and the statements
which mark the different epochs of her pro-
gress, well deserve attention in an historical
point of view; and scarcely less, from the
evidence they afford of the enei'gy and in-
dustry of the Anglo- Saxon race — an energy
to Avliich difficulty appears to lend fresh
vigour, and an industry as unflagging in its
appointed course as that of the earth round
the sun.
To me, who have had for years my mind
saturated — if I may be allowed the expres-
sion— with the one vast subject of the Bri-
tish colonial empire, the task of collecting
and compiling its astonishing records has
been truly a labour of love. I have studied
the history of each colony, and have found
in each a peculiar interest — an individuality,
as it were — that grows upon the mind which
views them as parts of a whole ; different
in their construction, but not incongruous ;
on the contrary, well calculated, by their
union, to strengthen each other. In this
light, which I sincerely believe to be the
true one, I would fain bring them before
my readers; and although deeply sensible of
the magnitude of the subject, and the diffi-
culty of the attempt, yet that appears to
me as the strongest possible reason for en-
deavouring to afford a correct idea of the
relative proportion of each possession, which
can scarcely be conveyed, except by a gene-
ral description of the whole. For instance,
if in teaching a child tlac geography of
England, we were to show him delineations
— however accui*ate — of a few of the coun-
ties, and barely mention the others, would
he not form a very inaccurate (if, indeed,
any clear notion at all) of the country, as a
whole: and so it is with our colonial empire.
This, however, is a digression ; to return
180
AGRICULTURAL STOCK OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 1780.
to Nc-w South Wales. The public stock
landed at Sydney Cove with the first British
settlers, in January, 1788 (see p. 403), con-
sisted of 1 bull, 4 cows, 1 bull calf, 1 stal-
lion, 3 mares, and 3 colts ; there were also
a few sheep. These were placed on a spot
at the head of Sydney Cove, which was
cleared for a farm, where the seeds, plants,
and fruit-trees, brought from England, Rio
de Janeiro, and the Cape of Good Hope,
were carefully tended, under the anxious
superintendance of the governor. In May,
1788, the governor directed every person in
the settlement to make a report of the live
stock in his possession, which the returns
stated at 1 stallion, 3 mares, 3 colts, 2 bulls,
5 cows, 29 sheep, 19 goats, 49 hogs, 25 pigs,
5 rabbits, 18 turkeys, 29 geese, 35 ducks,
142 fowls, and 87 chickens. Scarcely a
greater calamity could have befallen the
colonists, than the destruction, at this period,
by native dogs, of five ewes and a lamb.
Added to this, several sheep died, in con-
sequence of feeding on grass which the
newly cut trees had shaded previously from
the air and sun ; hence a general belief that
it would not be possible to rear this descrip-
tion of stock. In June, 1788, the settle-
ment sustained a severe loss, by the neglect
of a convict who had charge of the cattle —
two bulls and four cows strayed into the
w^oods near Sydney, and were not recovered
— the only remaining coiv became so danger-
i ously wild, that it was found necessary to
\ shoot her.
In 1790, the stock sent out by his Ma-
jesty's government in the Guardian, con-
sisting of 7 horses, 18 cows, 2 bulls, a num-
ber of sheep, goats, and 2 deer, were killed
when the ship struck on an iceberg near the
Cape of Good Hope (s(!e page 405.) In this
year the stock had been previously diminished
in a wanton manner (sec page 405.) In
session 1791 H.INI.S. Gorgon Qxv'weA., to the
great joy of the colonists, with 1 bull calf,
16 cows (3 bulls and 7 cows died on the
passage), 68 sheep, 11 hogs, 200 fruit trees,
and a quantity of garden seeds. At the
close of this year the public live stock in the
colony amounted to 3 stallions, 1 mare, 2
colts, 16 cows, 2 calves, 1 ram, 50 ewes, 6
lambs, 1 boar, 14 sows, and 22 pigs. The
ground in cultivation at the Rose Hill gov-
ernment farm (Paramatta) consisted of 300
acres in maize, 44 in wheat, 6 in barley, 1 in
oats, 2 in potatoes, 4 in vines, 86 in garden
ground, and 17 in cultivation by the New
South Wales corps.
In addition to these, there were 150 acres
cleared, to be sown with turnips; ninety
acres were in cultivation by settlers ; twenty-
eight by officers, civil and military, at and
about Sydney and at Paramatta; 140 acres
were enclosed, and the timber cleared for
cattle ; making a total of 920 acres of land
thinned, cleared, and cultivated. So dense,
however, was the forest around Sydney and
Paramatta, that any one straying a mile
from the huts was almost invariably lost ;
and in this way many convicts and soldiers
perished.
In June, 1792, the Atlantic storeship
brought from Calcutta two bulls, a cow,
twenty sheep, and twenty goats, of the
Bengal breed. In the October of the same
year, nearly five years after the estabhsh-
ment of the colony, the whole of the gi'ound
in cultivation, both on account of the crown
and of individuals, was — in wheat, 208| acres;
barley, 24j ; maize, 1,186| ; garden-ground,
121 J : total, l,640f acres. Ground cleared
of timber, 162^ acres. The quantity of land
which had passed to settlers, under the seal
of the colony, amounted to 3,470 acres, ot
which 470 were in cultivation, and the
timber cleared from 100 more, ready for the
sowing of grain. The stock belonging to
the public, kept at Paramatta, consisted of
3 bulls, 2 bull calves, 5 stallions, 6 mares,
105 sheep, and 43 hogs.
The governor gave to each married settler
one ewe for the purpose of breeding, and to
others he gave such female goats as could be
spared. Land was granted, conformably to
instructions from the secretary of state.
Non-commissioned officers and privates of
the marines, desirous of remaining in the
colony, in the proportion of 150 acres to a
married non-commissioned officer ; 130 acres
to a single ditto; 100 acres to a married
private ; and eighty acres to a single man ;
and, on receiving their discharge, clothing,
provisions for one year, seed, and agricul-
tiu'al implements were given to each settler.
Each male convict, emancipated or dis-
charged, received, if single, thii'ty acres ; if
married, thirty acres, and ten acres for each
child. The pohey of the government was,
to establish a chain of farms between Sydney
and Paramatta, fifteen miles distant, so that
the country might be opened; which was
subsequently cai-ried out by extending lines
of settlement to Windsor, on the Havvkes-
bury river, to Richmond, on the Nepean
River, and other places, where cultivable
land was found.
EARLY SCARCITY OF ANIMAL FOOD, 1788—1795.
181
In 1793, of the stock wliicli had been
landed in the colony, there remained but
three bulls, twenty-one cows, and seven
calves. Dui'ing the early stages of the set-
tlement, it was noticed as a singular fact
among the live stock, that the proportion
born of males to females was about three to
one. This, however, did not continue ; the
sexes soon became equalized, and then the
nirmber of female preponderated over the
male births.
In January, 1794, one small cow and a
Bengal steer, weight 372 pounds, (both pri-
vate property,) were killed for the use of
the troops, and sold to them at eighteen
pence per pound. This was but the third
time that the colonists had tasted fresh beef
since their arrival in 1788, viz. — once soon
after their landing, and a second time when
the lieutenant-governor and officers of the
settlement were feasted by the captain of a
Spanish ship. In jNIarch, 1794, only one
serving of salt meat remained in store, and
that was to be the food of half a week.
After that period, says Collins, "the pros-
pect was truly discouraging ; for mere bread
and water appeared to be the portion of by
far the greater part of the inhabitants of
these unfortunate settlements — of that part,
too, whose bodily labour must be called forth
to restore plenty, and attain such a state of
independence on the parent country, as
would render delay or accident, in the trans-
port of supplies, a matter of much less
moment to the colony than it had ever
hitherto been considered." Even a shark,
caught in the harbour, yielded food to
several ; the oil prociu-ed from the liver sold
at a shilling a quart; for but "very few
houses in the colony were fortunate enough
to enjoy the pleasant light of a candle."
The seed- wheat was untouched, and might
remain so for a fortnight; but all the ani-
mals, public and private, were threatened
with destruction, to supply food for 3,000
people. On 8th March, when the doors of
the provision store were closed, and the con-
victs had received the last allowance which
remained, a ship stood in for Port Jackson,
but a gale of wind split her topsail, and she
was driven to sea, to the dismay of the
almost famishing inhabitants : at night the
wind increased ; and, during the ensuing day,
nothing more was seen of the stranger. On
the evening of the 9th, another sail (a brig)
was in sight ; but a second night of sleepless
anxiety was passed, and the morning of the
10th dawned tempestuously : about three
o'clock, however, the wind changed, and the
ship William, from Cork, with a cargo of
beef and pork, and the Arthur, a small brig
from Bengal, anchored that night in Port
Jackson, and the 3,000 colonists were saved
from a fearful death.
The home government now became con-
scious of the precarious supply of food ob-
tainable for the conricts and settlers, and
several vessels were despatched in succession
to the colony, laden with all sorts of pro-
risions; the live stock, public and private,
was carefully preserved, and its numbers
now Avere — mares, 11; stallions, 9; male
asses, 4; female asses, 2; bulls, 15; cows, 25;
ewes, 316; rams and wethers, 210; female
goats, 352; male ditto, 170; hogs, several
hundred. On the 1st of July, 1795, the
colony was again reduced to straits ; the salt
proAisions were all expended but a few casks
reserved for the use of the troops, and on
Satiu'day the 11th, there was no more animal
food for the con^dcts ; a greyhound was killed
and its flesh sold for that of Kangaroo ; but
happily on the 26th of July, H.M.S. Provi-
dence, captain Broughton, arrived with sup-
plies from England, and was followed by
H.M.S. Reliance and Supply. On the 1st
of September, 1796, the live stock in posses-
sion of government, and of the ci^-il and
military officers of the settlement, consisted
of mares and horses, 57 ; cows and calves,
101; bulls and bull-calves, 74; oxen, 54;
sheep, 1531; goats, 1,427; hogs, 1869. The
cattle which had strayed from the settlement
in the year 1788, were known to be viild,
and to have largely increased in a fine dis-
trict now termed the Cow Pastures, to the
Avestward of the Nepean river. The number
of acres in cultivation were 5,419, and the
number of persons in the colony was 3,959.
It is unnecessary to folloAV up this narratiA'e
of the pastoral and agricultural state of New
South Wales; but it offers a striking con-
trast when compared with the two folloAnng
tables, sheAving the extent of cultivation in
the colony, and its progress for the past
twelve years; and the number of horses,
horned cattle, sheep, and SAviue in each
colony and district on the 1st January, 1849,
when it appears there were, in cultivation
Avith Avheat, 63,463 acres, yielding 638,072
bushels of grain; 26,103 acres in maize,
yielding 722,704 bushels; of oats, fifty-eight
bushels. Altogether, upAvards of 1,500,000
bushels, or nearly 200,000 quarters of grain
is raised, furnishing a quarter annually foi
each inhabitant.
LAND IN CULTIVATION AND PRODUCE N. S. WALES, 1837 to 1848.
There are no consecutive details concern-
ing the grant, sale, and cultivation of land
in tlie colony; some idea of the progi-ess
may be conveyed by the following general
statement : —
Year.
1810
1820
1825
1828
1833
1848
Granted.
Acres.
95,637
381,466
673,699
2,906,346
4,014,117
5,500,000
Cleared or
Pastured.
Acres.
81,937
349,195
127,878
231,578
Cultivated.
Acres.
13,700
32,271
45,514
71,523
1636,69
There is less than one acre under crop to
eacli mouth in the colony; but this yields
sufficient vegetable food ; for the total value
of grain, flour, rice, and potatoes imported
for use in 1848, was only about .£35,000.
The ^^commissioners' districts bevond the
settled districts,^' to which reference is made
in several tables, are those in which the
squatters are located. The temtory not
included in the several counties is divided
into districts, over each of which an officer
called a commissioner of crown lands is
appointed. He has under him a body of
mounted constables or police, and his duty
consists in preserving the peace of the dis-
trict; in preventing unauthorized persons
occupying the crown lands; in ascertaining
that the squatters do not interfere with each
other's lands ; in enforcing compliance with
the squatting regulations; and in making
periodical returns to the government at
Sydney. The terms on which the land is
let to squatters are stated at pages 4.27 and
431. This respectable and enterprizing class
of settlers now occupy many of the finest
districts in Australia, and possess consider-
able wealth.
TJie Quantity of Land in Cultivation, showing Crops and Produce (exclusive of Gardens and Orchards^,
in New South Wales, including the District of Port Phillip, from the year 1837 to 1848 inclusive.
Crops.
Year.
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
Wheat.
Acres.
59,975
48,060
48,401
74,133
58,605
65,188
78,083
81,903
87,894
88,910
81,044
87,219
Maize
Acres.
18,381
25.043
22,026
24.966
25,004
27,324
29.061
20,798
25,372
31,773
27,240
20,375
Barlej-.
Acres.
2,551
2,922
3,490
5,144
5,423
5,320
5,727
7,236
10,455
9,215
7,178
8,789
Oats.
Acres.
3,893
3,767
6,793
5,453
5,892
4,467
4,537
4,336
6,109
9,390
10,201
13,572
Rye.
Acres.
493
429
483
609
495
486
514
359
330
177
310
167
MiUet.
Acres.
80
39
46
115
47
99
42
43
36
82
83
14
Potatoes.
Acres.
1,165
1,788
1,115
2,594
4,027
5,174
5,872
6,783
5,101
5,537
5,550
5,774
Tobacco.
Acres.
533
925
424
381
380
224
655
871
483
228
67
201
Sown
Grasses,
Oats, and
Barley
for Hay.
Acres.
5,054
9,939
12,534
12,721
15,257
18,592
21,162
21,766
27,551
37,221
33,111
27,558
Total
Number
of
Acres in
Crop.
92,125
92,912
95,312
126,116
115,130
126,874
145,653
144,095
163,331
182,533
164,784
163,669
Year
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1812
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
Produce.
AMieat.
Bushels.
692.620
409,140
805,140
1,116,814
832,776
854,432
1,000,225
1,312,652
1,211,099
1,421,750
1,027,802
1,528,874
Maize.
Bushels.
632,155
556,268
525,507
777,947
503,803
590,134
719.358
575,913
499,122
870,400
725,704
262,340
Barley.
Bushels.
51,447
32,103
66,033
105,389
90,172
88,767
95,658
132,612
175,407
193,835
87,636
145,219
Oats.
Bushels.
17,119
13,416
27,788
66,020
62,704
84,321
92,268
70,620
88,193
216,783
221,731
116,643
Rye.
Millet.
Potatoes.
Tobacco.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Tons.
C\vts.
6,753
695
2,102
2,034
4,878
353
3,496
4,952
7,008
283
2,601
2,509
8,863
3,338
11,050
4,300
6,507
1,072
11,141
2,642
4,451
1,201
12,561
2,014
5,145
410
16,392
6,098
4,475
511
22,748
6,382
4,101
775
19,906
3,985
2,250
1,929
18,329
2,087
1,200
798
14,240
725
2,386
158
14,954
3,059
Hay.
Tons.
5,627
6,960
25,923
21,329
17,175
18,622
27,774
31,848
28.614
42,754
33,111
37,795
Note. — From 1837 to 1841 the Crops and Produce of Laud beyond the Boundaries of Location arc not included.
1
CULTIVATION AND SQUATTERS IN NEW SOUTH WALES, 1848
. 183
The following estimated quantity of land
In 1839-40, the squatting stations con-
in cultivation in New South Wales, exclusive
tained 6,666 males and 631 female Eai"opeans,
of gardens and orchards, on 31st December,
who had among them 7,088 horses.
371,699
1839, will aflbrd a comparison with the re-
horned cattle, and 1,331,593 sheep,
and the
turns for the year 18-18 : —
stations were thus distributed : —
Articles.
Under Crop.
Produce.
District.
Persons
occupying
Estimated Extent
of
Acres in
Cultiva-
Acres.
Bushels.
Tons.
Stitions.
Stations.
tion.
Wheat
48,401
805,140
.
22,026
525,507
66,033
Port Macquarie
New England .
21
137
87,760
358,400
561
Barley
3,490
53
560
333
Oats
6,793
27,788
Liverpool Plains
Bligh. . . .
111
1,157
5,696
740,480
3,655,440
344
ilye
483
7,008
.
53
201
Millet
46
283
Wellington . .
Lachlan . . .
77
1 265
809,600
2,683,520
571
Potatoes ....
1,115
2,60U
95
4,193
2,334
Tobacco ....
424
—
125i
Murrumbidgee.
134
3,137
2,007,680
l,720i
Sown Grasses (Hay)
12,534
—
25,923
Maneroo . . .
150
1,585
1,014,880
1,978
Quantity of Land in Cultivation in Neio South Wales in 1848, in Acres.
Counties.
(Sydney District.)
■\Vlieat.
Maize.
Barley.
Oats.
Rye.
Millet.
Pota-
toes.
Tobacco
Sown
Grasses.
Wheat,
&c., for
Hay.
Total 1
number of
Acres ia
Crop.
Arjryle
2,406
166
474
58
1
1
177
,
77
1,567
4,927
Bathurst . .
2,966
134
384
—
—
132
—
—
1,070
4,656
Bligh ....
215
49
4
8
—
—
—
— .
—
127
403
Brisbane . .
328
283
12
—
13
11
—
5
130
732
Camden . .
7,350
1,879
477
171
18
8
510
4
476
1,238
12,071
Cook . . .
3,620
2,732
246
158
3
—
169
3
—
577
7,508
Cumberland .
10,310
5,327
877
1,143
250
14
153
1
376
15,859
34,311
Durham . .
7,392
4,663
360
6
—
16
29
58
561
352
18,437
Georgiana . .
1,537
13
125
46
9
—
123
—
—
239
2,086
Gloucester
2,517
1,311
73
—
—
6
16
—
100
38
4,061
Hunte" . . .
1,079
1,429
5
13
—
—
2
—
5
22
2,555
King . . .
1,028
119
182
12
—
—
28
—
—
229
1,598
Macquarie
261
906
19
7
—
—
7
—
—
—
1,200
Murray . .
1,769
234
307
157
1
—
106
—
—
1,058
3,632
Northumberland
9,344
5,207
299
64
1
—
15
72
130
684
15,816
Phillip . . .
425
103
19
—
4
—
—
6
60
105
722
Roxburgh
1,600
60
250
—
10
—
—
150
—
500
2,570
St. Vincent
1,894
731
85
15
—
—
690
—
274
3,089
Stanley . .
—
35
—
— ■
—
—
—
7
—
—
42
Wellington .
307
83
16
6
—
13
9
—
259
693
Westmoreland
1,111
150
81
36
11
4
194
—
—
200
1,787
Total in Counties
Commissioner's Dis-
57.453
25,564
4,295
1,900
308
77
2,595
1,000
1,739
24,528
118,525
tricts, beyond the Limits
of Location.
-
Bligh
305
—
. .
—
—
—
—
305
Clarence River
298
6
27
—
—
—
331
Darling Downs
30
120
4
6
10
—
—
10
180
Gwyder . .
;
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Lachlan . .
1,297
34
25
25
2
— .
11
1
591
2,046
Liverpool Plains
— ■
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Lower Darling . .
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
— .
—
—
—
McLeay River . .
87
314
16
2
9
—
—
12
440
Manaroo .
1,258
104
70
50
—
113
—
—
374
1,969
Moreton Bay
22
36
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
58
Murrumbidgee
2,000
300
200
__
—
—
450
2,950
New England
830
230
120
90
—
5
40
—
- -
85
1,500
Wellington .
83
3
2
—
—
—
7
—
6
93
194
Total in Commis-)
sioners' Districts i
5,912
1,439
443
173
2
5
217
1
6
1,615
9,973
Note. — There are no returns for Gwydir, Liverpool Plains, or the Lower Darling.
1
184 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE OF NEW SOUTH WALES, IN 1848.
IXute. — Later statistical returns will be found in the Supplement.]
Counties.
(Sydney District.)
Wheat.
Maize.
Barley.
Oats.
Rye.
Millet.
Pota-
toes.
Tobacco
Sown
Grass
Hay.
Wheat,
&c., for
Hay.
Area in
Square
Miles.
bush 's.
20,297
49,488
3,120
4,038
11,077
34,509
57,430
75,654
23,493
34,268
7,350
9,682
3,437
23,196
83,199
5,040
25,000
30,241
4,738
16,510
bu-hels.
3,389
3,777
58
7,105
37,055
80,498
113,786
126,889
202
32,641
45,105
2,284
30,595
4,904
152,589
2,850
1,500
21,685
1.010
2.440
2,788
bushels.
5,441
6,490
16
80
7,864
2,405
4,682
3,202
1,707
1,497
100
2,078
650
3,935
4,624
60
4,000
944
80
8,146
bushels.
702
10
2,301
1,789
2,397
448
262
198
30
2,606
338
274
40
691
bushels.
6
171
60
68
179
102
50
300
167
bushels.
35
20
103
57
170
285
33
tons.
368
454
28
526
248
556
50
373
25
6
38
17
185
195
11
60
2,200
9
38
532
cwts.
80
23
9
606
3
tons.
66
15
754
386
878
105
3
773
50
14
tons.
682
1,590
104
113
698
402
4,256
127
225
12
14
215
626
729
44
1,000
270
177
178
1,951
1,860
1,683
2,344
2,188
1,652
1,445
2,187
1,924
2,930
2,056
1,781
2,000
2,248
2,342
1,618
1,519
2,667
1,656
1,592
Bathurst . .
Blio-h . . .
Brisbane . .
Camden . .
Cook . . .
Cumberland .
Durham . .
Georgiana
Gloucester
Hunter . .
Kins . . .
Maequarie
Murray . .
North umberlanc
Phillip . . .
Roxburgh . .
St. Vincent .
Stanley . .
Wellington .
Westmoreland
Total in Counties
594,767
673,780
50,731
12,136
1,103
703
6,219
720
3,044
11,472
39,586
Commissioners' ]
tricts beyond the L
of Location.
Bligh ...
Clarence River
Darling Downs
Gwydir . .
Lachlan . .
Liverpool Plains
Lower Darling
M'Leay River
Manaroo . .
Moreton Bay .
Murrumbidgee
New England
Wellington .
Dis-
imi
ts
7,265
400
400
14,838
1,575
12,550
440
24,000
20,750
1,097
10,139
4,800
517
10,245
3.220
6,500
7,500
5,750
60
998
352
360
3,000
2,850
30
310
400
1,500
17
75
138
12
7
13
169
420
7
5
4
8
463
26
2,561
562
90
51
c
O
Total in Commis-")
sioners' Districts/
83,305
48,924
7,790
2,210
17
75
766
5
4
3,761
Note. — There are no returns for Liverpool Plains, or the Lower Darling.
The information contained in these re-
turns is not supposed to be acciirate, and
must be viewed merely as an approxima-
tion to truth. It, however, conveys some
idea of the relative extent of cultivation
in each county and commissioners' district.
The commissioners' districts are those occu-
pied by squatters, to whom cultivation, except
for their own supply, is prohibited. The area
of all the above-named cotmtics is stated to be,
in square miles, 39,586, equal to 25,374,400
acres, of Avhich it will be seen, that no more
than 118,525 acres are under cultivation.
The " Commissioners' Districts," or the
squatting stations, are held for pastoral pur-
poses; the number of squatters, and the
area held by each, in 1849, throughout the
territory of New South Wales (including the
Sydney and Port Phillip Districts), was —
Persons holding licences — Sydney. 1,019; Port
Phillip, 666 = 1,685. Number of licenses held— Syd-
ney, 1,520 ; Port Phillip, 827 = 2,347. Acres of
land occupied— Sydney, 43,896,232; Port Phillip,
29,464,240 = 73,360,472 ; or in square miles, Sydney,
68,000; Port Phillip, 46,000 = 114,600 square miles
(the area of England is about 60,000 square miles).
Average quantity of land held by each individual in
Sydney, 67 square miles ; in Port Phillip, 69 ; in the
whole colony, 68. Two squatters hold more than
800,000 acres each ; two ditto, 600,000 each ; one
ditto, 450,000 ; two ditto, 400,000 ; four ditto, 350,000;
three ditto, 300,000 ; fourteen ditto, 250,000 ; four-
teen ditto, 200,000; thirty ditto, 150,000; seventy-
three ditto, 100,000 ; and tAvo hundred and ninety-
eight squatters hold more than 50,000 acres each.
LIVE STOCK IN EACH COUNTY AND DISTRICT,
185
According to a
return prep a
red at the office 1
of the colonial secretary of New South Wales, |
dated Sydney, 1st May, 1849
, the following
is a statement
of the number of horses,
homed cattle, pigs, and sheep.
in each county
and district in New South Wales, on 1st |
January, 1849 :—
-
Counties or Districts.
Horses.
Homed
Cattle.
Pigs.
Sheep.
Sydney District settled
Argyle ....
3,652
22,831
1,285
260,708
Bathurst ....
3,614
18,339
1,021
266,369
Bligh
1,015
6,551
63
119,352
Brisbane ....
1,795
10,153
949
132,319
Camden ....
5,490
33,953
6,156
38,657
Cook
2,112
8,929
4,283
13,104
Cumberland . .
13,294
29,710
13,728
11,265
Durham ....
7,014
36,977
8,085
122,588
Georgiana . . .
2,928
24,517
936
198,325
Gloucester . . .
1,180
21,176
2,662
3,593
Hunter ....
1,416
6,776
1,735
11,239
King . . . .
1,319
16,200
708
106,986
Macquarie . . .
872
14,544
698
14,300
]\luri-ay ....
4,340
28,288
1,339
328,972
Northumberland .
5,827
34,563
10,653
21,806
Phillip ....
1,033
6,030
163
89,800
Roxburgh . . .
2,420
18,250
630
188,900
St. Vincent . . .
2,329
20,724
3,118
62,504
Stanley ....
446
3,947
145
23,829
Wellington . . .
681
11,548
256
77,693
Westmoreland . .
2,040
13,277
924
46,994
Total
64,817
387,283
£9,537
2,139,243
Commissioners' Dis-
trict, beyond the
settled District.
Bligh
1,313
52,940
193,221
Clarence River . .
1,405
48,847
867
116,767
Darling Downs .
1,200
40,600
60
553,000
Gwyder ....
2,060
118,097
50
109,347
Lachlan ....
4,386
130,594
791
355,600
Liverpool Plains .
3,946
130,081
341,465
Lower Darling
480
21,062
25
39,621
McLeay River . .
884
17,128
706
250
Maneroo ....
5,446
106,530
603
353,252
Moreton Bay . .
1,127
19,412
145
290,962
Murnimbidgee . .
4,586
132,301
1,200
704,165
New England . .
3,582
79,820
1,000
822,603
Wellington . . .
1,683
69,385
232
277,025
Wide Bay . . .
61
36
20,787
Burnett ....
372
6,409
204,734
Maranoa ....
62
5,639
8,500
Total
32,583
978,881
5,679
4,391,299
Total in SydneyDis.
97,400
1,366,164
65,216
6,530,542
Port Phillip District,
within settled District
Bourke ....
2,000
30,500
2,550
137,600
Grant ....
627
8,056
535
267,300
Normanby . . .
888
15,698
247
179,975
Belfast
65
208
59
81
Alberton ....
612
16,638
368
26,007
Total
4,192
71,100
3,759
610,963
Commissioners' Dis-
tricts, beyond the
settled District.
Gipps' Land . .
1,070
37,985
500
193,961
Murray . .
3,483
84,942
521,997
Portland Bay . .
3,825
122,005
1,869,130
Western Port . .
3,233
54,158
1,100
1,196,698
Wimraera . . .
692
16,438
300
737,528
Total . . ,
12,303
315,588
1,900
4,519,314
TotalP.PhiUipDis.
16,495
386,688
5,659
5,130,277
General Total . .
113,895
1,752,852
70,875
11,660,819
DIY. I.
It will be observed in the foregoing table
that the number of sheep in the squatting
districts is twice the number that are in the
settled districts or counties. So also with
regard to horses and horned cattle. The
Murrumbidgee and the Darling Downs dis-
tricts appear to be the favomite sheep
pastures.
The progressive increase of live stock in
New South Wales is thus shewn : —
Years.
Horses.
Horned
Cattle.
Sheep.
Swine.
1788
1810
1820
1825
1828
1848
7
1,114
4,014
6,142
12,479
113,895
7
11,276
68,149
134,519
262,868
1,752,852
29
34,550
119,777
337,622
536,391
11,660,819
No
returns
70,875
Such a rapid augmentation in the number
of domesticated animals is unexampled in
the history of any country, and would have
been yet more remarkable, but for the ex-
tensive slaiightering of horned cattle and
sheep to obtain tallow. What the amount
may be at the next decimal period, it is
impossible to say; the extensive regions to
the northward recently found available for
pasturage, will give an additional stimulus
to the production of animal food and wool.
Live stock is becoming a staple export of
New South Wales ; horses are being largely
purchased by the East India Company as
remounts for their cavalry and horse artil-
lery; and when steam na\'igation is estab-
lished between India and Austraha, this ■\^ill
probably prove a very lucrative traffic, as
the horses of the southern colonies are well
suited to withstand the trying chmate of
India. The following shews the trade in
live stock for the last few years : —
Live Stock Imported.
Year.
Horses.
Horned
Cattle.
Sheep.
Sheep and
Hogs.
1837
92
97
55,208
307
1838
185
74
9,822
192
1839
652
135
17,567
359
1840
1,008
244
19.958
252
184]
875
156
530
50 Hogs
1842
113
89
638
65 Ditto
1843
31
28
609
4 Ditto
1844
52
21
307
—
1845
693
48
811
2
1846
055
29
1,228
—
1847
591
22
2,285
—
1848
255
26
1,363
—
]^^ote. — The Sheep have principally been imported from
Van Diemcn's Land to the District of Port Phillip. The
Horses have cliicfly come from South America.
Z
186 IMPORT AND EXPORT OF ANIMAL POOD, NEW SOUTH WALES.
Lice Stock Exjwrted from N. S. Wales and P. Phillip.
Year.
Horses.
Asses
and
Mules.
Homed
Cattle.
Sheep.
Hogs.
Value.
1843
248
2
1,852
77,116
_
£.
41.915
1844
489
3
3,329
53,318
—
40,394
1845
1,159
—
3,972
33,651
6
53,438
1846
1,021
—
6,052
37,848
4
52,942
1847
466
—
8,034
71,440
—
57,355
1848
1,182
—
16,904
895,211
85,184
The colonists have now turned their at-
tention to the curing of animal food, which
■wiU, doubtless, soon form a valuable item
in their staple products. I used, while in
China, some of the concentrated soup pre-
pared in New South Wales, and found it
excellent. Samples of the salted meats sent
to England have been pronounced equal to
the beef provided by the Cork contractors
for the navy ; the climate is sufficiently cold
to admit, during the season, of perfect
curing, and it is to be hoped that her Ma-
jesty's government -niU allow her Majesty's
ships on the East India station to be pro-
visioned from Australia.
The following table shows the quantity
and value of salt meat exported from, and
the value of salt meat imported into, the
colony in the under-mentioned years : —
Year.
Beef, Pork, and
Mutton.
1843 j
1844 {
1845 '
1846
1847
1848
Quantity.
2,867 casks
856^ tons
4,292 casks
294f tons
1,142 casks
425| tons
345 packages
4,400 lbs. of pre-
served meats
721 casks
1,126 tons
12 packages
of preserved meats
4,335 casks
866 tons
224 packages
of preserved meats
2,308 casks
616 tons
90 casks
of preserved meats
Mutton
and Bacon Hams.
Tongues.
Quantity.
224 lbs.
20
Quantity.
„, , / 110 cwt. -)
'^^^ I 150 in No. /
94 cwt.
11,422 in No.
39 cwt.
300 in No.
224 cwt.
145 cwt.
63 casks ■;
2,450 in No. )"
12 casks "1
300 in No. /
Value as entered in
Returns of Exports.
127
228
£13,924
18,730
12,163
15,664
24,278
19,477
Value as entered in
Returns of Imposts.
£19,286
3,355
5,200
7,197
3,917
3,229
The extensive herds of cattle will naturally
cause a large increase in the hide and leather
trade; the imports and exports of hides,
and of manufactured and unmanufactured
leather, is thus shown, fi'om 1843 to 1848 : —
Year.
Value Imported.
Value Exported.
1843
£36,185
£10,305
1844
19,844
22,285
1845
14,124
40,866
1846
15,230
28,999
1847
21,283
39,001
1848
24,358
25,939
The consumption of meat in AustraHa is
very gi'cat : it is eaten three times a day ;
two hardworking bushmen will consume
forty pounds in a week without difficulty;
on farms beef is generally used, at pastoral
stations, mutton ; or they are alternated ;
one week four or five sheep are killed, next
week a bullock. Both beef and mutton
yield to the palate a richer flavour than the
generality of meat in England. Poultry is
reared in considerable quantities for the
markets of Sydney ; and in the neighbour-
hood of the principal towns, Mr. Alexander
Harris says he has seen " a whole flock of
turkeys almost keeping themselves on the
wild gi'asshoppers and such vegetable matters
as they could pick up." Geese, ducks, and
barn-door fowl multiply with astonishing-
rapidity. Sydney has a population of about
50,000 inhabitants, and the following is a
statement of the live stock slaughtered in
the city during 1848 — viz., horned cattle,
30,613; sheep, 95,824; and pigs, 8,457.
Estimating the cattle at 830 lbs. each, the
sheep at 70, and the pigs at 100, the quan-
tity of meat would be 127,282,000 lbs., equal
to six pounds three quarters per day for each
mouth. There arc, however, large exporta
of meat.
IMPORT AND EXPORT OF GRAIN, NEW SOUTH WALES, 1838-48. 187
But it is not only in the article of animal
food that New South Wales is now inde-
pendent; the colony grows very nearly suffi-
cient corn and vegetables for its annual
wants. It -wdll be seen by the following,
that the value of vegetable food imported,
has been diminished from more than a
quarter of a million sterling to less than
fifty thousand pounds ; and, by the subse-
quent table, that the colony is now exporting
grain and flom*. What a contrast this pre-
sents to the statements of famine and im-
pending destruction which mark the early
history of the colony : —
Articles.
1838.
1839.
1840.
1841.
1842.
1843.
1S44.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
Impokts : —
Wheat . . bushels
Maize . . . „
Barley, Oats, and \
Peas . bushels /
Flour and Bread lbs.
Rice „
Potatoes . . tons
Value of Imports . £
79328
6040
58927
2478712
728346
1167
64313
171207
30862
64093
3579076
1414747
1189
285110
290843
19185
63363
7108663
0849896
1723
217063
239224
12773
41610
14929503
3603076
480
201632
163224
1120
37798
7247016
2260046
1401
113070
395374
583
61361
6941760
1678208
547
112387
265704
17
35194
f 4370240 )
(^& 250 casks
[of Biscuit J
260288
1085
65442
109355
46399
3327632
450040
430
39855
237717
536
46454
5367936
1283968
2663
63764
224720
37469
5335680
1044288
1227
52740
143235
49163
313174-1
932582
1617
41489
Exports :—
Wheat . bushels
Maize . . . „
Barley, Oats, and \
Peas . . bushels J
Flour and Bread lbs.
Potatoes
Value of Exports . £
-
-
-
-
-
273
4687
1870
3146192
47
13486
825
26184
1798
2028344
60
12232
1362
5334
292
2837632
50
13931
6252
1867
545
3491744
3
12258
8820
62262
4216
1786400
84
16944
485
27058
1300
650832
5
6639
Wool. — The origin, progress, and the pro-
duction of this valuable commodity deserve
especial notice, from the material share it
has had in the growing prosperity of Aus-
tralian commerce, and moreover for its bene-
ficial influence on the manufactures of the
mother country. There can scarcely be a
doubt, that the extensive growth of wool in
Australia, and the reduction of price in
German and Spanish wools, have had a most
important effect on the woollen manufactures
of England, and enabled her to maintain a
competition with foreign countries. The
manufacture of wool is the oldest known
branch of trade in England; it existed
during the period when the Romans were
encamped among the Britons ; and although
the trade was greatly fostered by Edward III.,
there are notices on the statute Ijook 100
years prior to that period, relative to " broad
cloths two yards Avithin the lists.'' For
several centuries, it was a favourite policy of
English monarchs and statesmen to encou-
rage the wool trade ; and to such an extent
was this feeling carried, that it was deemed
politic even to suppress the manufacture in
Ireland. At the end of the seventeenth
century, the value of the wool shorn in
England was estimated at £2,000,000. The
number of sheep and lambs in the United
Kingdom isnowestimated at about 40,000,000,
and the annual production of wool at about
120,000,000 lbs. This, however, is a very
vagTie estimate, which there are no agricul-
tural statistics in Britain to verify or dis-
prove. It was, however, admitted, in the
evidence before the House of Lords, in 1828,
that a great deterioration had taken place,
during the previous thirty years, in the
fineness of English wools; the efforts of
agriculturists having been directed to the
weight of the carcase and of the wool — tlie
lean Herefordshire sheep yielding li lbs.
of fine wool ; the fat Norfolk sheep yielding
3 lbs. of coarse wool. Hence it became
necessary to import largely Spanish and
Saxony wools, in order to maintain the
character of our cloths.
In 1829, the quantity of foreign wools
imported into the United Kingdom was
21,118,976 lbs.; of which 14,110,006 lbs.
came from Germany; 3,751,714 lbs. from
Spain; and 1,838,642 lbs., or about one-
ttvelfthjmrt fi-om all the Australian colonies.
In 1834, Germany sent us 22,634,615 lbs. ;
Spain, 2,343,915; Russia, 3,107,951; United
States, 2,048,309; Italy, 2,550,819; TripoU
and Barbary, 1,977,816 ; Turkey and Greece,
1,474,522; South America, 1,099,052; andour
Austrahan colonies, 3,558,091 lbs. The total
importations for the year were 45,647,870 ;
Australia did not therefore then contribute
one-tenth part of the foreign wool required.
In 1818, the total quantity of wool imported
into the United Kingdom was 69,343,477 lbs. ;
of this Germany furnished 14,428,723;
Spain only 106,638; Russia, 2,349,009;
Italy, 736,137; Tui-key, 690,300; Denmark,
188
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL WOOL IMPORTED, 1818—1848.
1,381,356, South America, 7,384,931; Britisli
India, 5,997,435; Cape of Good Hope,
3,497,250; and Australia, 30,034,567lbs., in
the following? proportions : — New South Wales
andPortPhiUip,23,091,4811bs.;VanDiemen's
Island, 4,955,968; South Australia, 2,762,672;
Western Australia, 129,295 ; and New Zea-
land, 95,151 lbs.; our colonies in the Southern
Pacific therefore contributed nearly one-half
of the whole wool imported in the year
1848; while Germany, on which the main re-
liance of our manufactures was placed, only
sent about 300,000 lbs. more than it had
done twenty years ago The proportions of
colonial to foreign w^ool imported for tw enty
years between 1826 and 1846, at intervals of
five years, is thus shewn; the two figures
represent so many milhon lbs. weight; by
colonial w^ool is understood all wool from
possessions of the British crown : —
Annual Averages
of Five Years.
Foreiarn
Wool.
1826—30
1831—35
1836—40
1841—45
1846
1848
25
34
44
36
34
40
Colonial
Wool.
4
10
22
30
29
Total
Importation.
27
38
54
58
64
69
In the preceding table, is added the year
1848, as a further comparison of the ratio oi
colonial and foreign wool importations : 1850
would be still better in behalf of our colonies ;
and let it be remembered that, in 1826, the
proportion of colonial to foreign wool was
only the 250th part of the annual imports.
The following table, prepared by the sta-
tistical department of the Board of Trade,
in March, 1846, shews the importations of
colonial wool compared with foreign wool,
year by year, fi-om 1818 to 1844; it will be
seen that while the quantity of foreign wool
has not been doubled in quantity, that of
colonial wool has risen from nothing to
22,600,000 lbs., or more than the foreign
importations in any of the six years ending
1824. It may also be noted that the admis-
sion of colonial w^ool, duty free, in 1825, had
a powerful influence in stimulating produc-
tion in the colonies; in one year (1826)
the importation increased nearly fourfold;
for seventeen years there was an annually
increased production in our maritime posses-
sions; and so much was this augmenting
supply required, that for eight-and-twenty
years the prices of English wools were main-
tained.
Importations of Foreign and Colonial Wool into the United Kingdom from 1818 to 1844, and prices of
English Wools.
Years.
Duty.
Foreign Wool.
Colonial Wool.
Total.
Price of
Southdown.
Price of
Kent Long.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs
per lb.
per lb.
1818
•|f/. per lb.
24,720,139
—
—
2s. Qd.
2s. Od.
1819
6(/. per lb.
16,094,999
—
—
1 7
1 3
1820
9,653,366
122,239
9,775,605
1 5
1 4
1821
»»
16,416,806
205,761
16,622.567
1 3
1 1
1822
1)
18,859,265
198,815
19,058,080
1 3
0 11
1823
r 060.1824:— -J
■j \d. per lb. of Is. value |-
tjrf. per lb. under Is. val. J
18,863,886
502,839
19,366,725
1 H
1 0
1824
22 147,540
416,945
22,564,485
1 2
1 1
1825
Colonial free
43,465.282
351,684
43,816,960
1 4
1 4
1826
>)
14,747,103
1,242,009
15,989,112
0 10
0 11
1827
28,552,742
562,599
29,115,341
0 9
0 lOi
1828
28,628,121
1,607,938
30,236,059
0 8
1 0
1829
>)
19,639.629
1,877,020
21,516,649
0 6
0 9
1830
30,303,173
2,002,141
32,305,314
0 10
0 lOi
1831
))
29,110,073
2,541,956
31,652,029
1 1
0 lOi
1832
ji
25,681,298
2,461,191
28,142,489
1 0
1 Oi
1833
»(
34,461,527
3,614,886
38,076,413
1 5
0 lOi
1834
»
42,684,932
3,770,300
46,455,232
1 7
1 7i
1835
)!
37,472,032
4,702,500
42,174,532
1 6
1 6
1836
,,
57,814,771
6,425,206
64,239,977
1 8
1 8i
1837
„
38,945,575
9,434,133
48,379,708
1 3
1 3
1838
1,
42,430,102
10,164,253
52,594,355
1 4
1 5
1839
>»
44,504,811
12,875,112
57,379,923
1 4
1 H
1840
>>
36,498,168
12,938,116
49,436,284
1 3
1 2i
1841
,,
39,672,153
16,498,821
56,170,974
1 0
0 11
1842
»
27,394,920
18,486,719
45,881,639
0 \n
0 10
1843
„
26,633,913
21,151,148
47,785,061
0 lU
0 11
1844
from June 6th, free
42,473,228
22,606,296
65,079,524
1 2
1 2
1845
»
1
.,
76,828,152
1 4
1 3
ORIGIN OF THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL TRADE.
189
Until tlie Australian colonists began to
send fine wools to England, the Germans
and Spaniards had almost a monopoly of
the supply, and their prices at one time
ranged from 10s. to 12^. per lb. ; now they
are not one-fifth of that sum. The prices
of Australian fine wools are about Is. to
1*. 6d. per lb.
The facts connected with the origin of
Australian Avool-growing wiU be interesting
to many. In 1793 the late John M'Arthur,
then captain in the corps serving in New
South Wales, assumed that the grasses and
climate of Australia were adapted for the
rearing of Merino sheep, and in 1797 he
obtained from captain Kent, R.N., three rams
and five ewes, of pure breed, which were sent
to the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch gov-
ernment, but not being valued by the settlers,
captain Kent brought them to New South
Whales. INIr. M'Arthur immediately began
to cross his coarse-fleeced sheep with the
Merino, and in ten years his flock, which
consisted originally of seventy common Ben-
gal sheep, was increased to 4,000, although
the wethers were slaughtered as they became
fit for food. In 1803 Mr. M^Ai-thui- returned
to England, exhibited samples of his wool to
a committee of manufacturers who happened
to be then in London, which samples were
much approved. On the 2Gth of July, 1803,
he addressed a letter to Lord Hobart, stating
at length the progress made in producing
wool of a " softness superior to many of the
wools of Spain, and certainly equal in every
valuable property to the very best procured
from thence.^'
On the 4th May, 1804, captain ISP Arthur
addressed a memorial on the subject to the
committee of the Privy Council for trade;
and on the 6th July, 1804, appeared before
that committee, and stated his plans for
rendering England independent of foreign
countries for a supply of the best wools.
The Privy Council encouraged the views of
the enterprising colonist, who stated that he
was ready to take the risk and expense on
himself. All he required was an allotment
of 10,000 acres of grazing land, and liberty
to select thirty convicts as shepherds. The
Privy Council finally, after hearing the evi-
dence of governor Hunter, and other con-
clusive testimony, recommended that a
reasonable grant of pasture land should be
made to captain M'Arthur, instead of to
a company, as proposed, and that the gover-
nor be instructed to feed the convicts on
mutton, instead of salt provisions; for the
lords of the committee were " led to imagine
and entertain hopes that wool of a fine
quality may be produced in this colony;
and that as wool of such fine quality is much
wanted and desired by the manufacturers of
cloth in England, it being mostly drawn, at
this time, from a country influenced, if not
dependent, on France, their lordships enter-
tain no doubt that it is well deserving the
attention of his Majesty ^s government, to
encourage the produce of fine wool in the
colony of New South Wales." King George
the Third, who, at that time, paid great
attention to agricultural and pastoral pur-
suits, entered into the patriotic views enter-
tained by his Majesty ^s council, and captain
]M ^Arthur obtained, from the Merino flock
of the king, several ewes and rams, with
which he returned, in 1806, on board a
vessel appropriately named the Argo, to
the land so fortunate in being adopted
by him for the scene of his meritorious
labours.
Such was the commencement of the
rapidly-increasing flocks of fine-woolled sheep
in Australasia, which now (1850), including
all the southern colonies, number at least
12,000,000, which contribute annually about
25,000,000 lbs. to the manufactui-ers of the
United Kingdom, and which, within the
next five years, will most probably not fur-
nish less than 50,000,000 lbs. yearly, whereby
our laboming population will be enabled to
exchange flimsy cotton garments for warm
woollen clothing, better suited to our cli-
mate.
That this is not an exaggeration will be
admitted, Vvhen we consider that New South
Wales possessed, in 1843 — sheep, 5,000,000;
1848 (January), 10,054,000. An increase
of cent, per cent, in four years — five million
in four years. The annual augmentation has
been about 1,250,000, notwithstanding the
prodigious number slaughtered for their
tallow, as will be presently shown. ]\Ir. Ar-
thur Hodgson states the number killed, in
1847, at 181,000; and that 70,000 were
exported to New Zealand and the islands of
the Pacific. It is reasonable to infer, that
the annual increase on eleven to twelve
million sheep in the next five years, will be
not less than 2,500,000 per annum, which
will raise the number of sheep to nearly
25,000,000 in the year 1855 : these flocks,
at only two pounds of wool per fleece, would
yield 50,000,000 lbs. weight of wool.
The followhig statement gives the quan-
tity of wool annually shipped from New
190 WOOL PRODUCED IN NEW SOUTH WALES, SINCE 1807.
South Wales, from 1807 to 1836, a period
of fivc-and-twenty years : —
Year.
lbs.
Year.
lbs.
Year.
lbs.
1807
245
1821
175,433
1829
1,005,333
1808
562
1822
172,880
1830
899,750
1811
167
1823
198,240
1831
1,401,284
1815
32,971
1824
275,560
1832
1,515,156
1816
73,171
1825
411,600
1833
1,734,203
1817
13,616
1826
552.960
1834
2,246.933
1818
86,525
1827
407,116
1835
3,893,927
1819
74,284
1828
834,343
1836
3,693,241
1820
99,415
This shows an augmentation from 245
to 3,693,241 lbs. In the annexed table the
return is continued, and the value is added,
proving, in twelve years, a quintuphng in quan-
tity, viz.— from 4,448,796 to 22,969,711 lbs.,
and a quadrupling in value : —
Year.
Quantity.
Value.
Year.
Quantity.
Value.
lbs.
lbs
1837
4,448,796
£332,166
1843
12,704,899
£685,647
1838
5,749,376
405,977
1844
13,542,173
645,344
1839
7,213.584
442,504
1845
17,364,734
1,009,242
1840
8,610,775
566,112
1846
16,479,520
1,019,985
1841
8,390,540
517,537
1847
22,379,722
1,272,118
1842
9,428,036
595,175
1848
22,969,711
1,240,144
Tallow promises to form nearly as valua-
ble an article of export aa wool; it is a
branch of traffic which originated in the
recent commercial depression of the colo-
nists in New South Wales. In 1840-1
there was considerable speculation in the
purchase of land by the colonists ; and the
money thus laid out -was transmitted to
England, for the conveyance of emigrants
to the colony. Had the land been bought
in the United Kingdom by capitalists here,
the colonists would have been benefited;
but the reverse was the case. Between
November, 1840, and November, 1841, the
local government withdrew about £260,000
from the colonial banks; and, in 1841, up-
wards of £300,000 Avas paid for immigra-
tion. The colony could have borne this
abstraction of capital, if it had been gradual ;
but the suddenness of the withdrawal of so
large a sum, necessarily brought on a mone-
tary crisis, which the want of foresight on
the part of the governor and authorities at
Sydney, and tbeir incapability of supplying
any remedy, rendered most distressing in
its conseqtiences.
In 1841-2 the colonial banks, partly in
self-defence, in the midst of a full swing of
pastoral activity and commercial enterprise,
suddenly reduced the amount of discounts ;
and, to use a familiar expression, bi'ought the
whole of the colonists " on their Launches.'^
In 1841, the advances of the banks, chiefly on
bills and promissory notes, was £2,582,203 ;
in 1813 this sum was reduced to £1,583,137,
and a large part of this consisted of " locks-
up," — or bills renewed fi-om time to time.
The importations from England had been
excessive; quantities of articles, sufficient
for two or three years' consumption, were
imported at once, and must be paid for;
the price of wool had been falling for several
years in England ; added to this, the govern-
ment raised the selling price of land, and,
nearly simultaneously, transportation ceased
— and with it, the annual supply of convict
labour, and the large governmental expen-
diture furnished by the British exchequer.
It was not surprising, therefore, that cash,
or a representative medium of exchange,
became exceedingly scarce in New South
Wales — and, as a necessary consequence, the
price of every commodity fell far below its
intrinsic value ; men were compelled to
make any sacrifice, to try and meet their
engagements — there was almost universal
bankruptcy — and the power of the monied
classes to ruin a nation or communit}^, when
that community is dependent for the daily
interchange of all its wants, on a very limited
amount of gold or silver coin, became fear-
fully apparent. Sheep, the staple of the
colony, fell from ten shillings to sixpence or
one shilling each; and, even at that price,
were only received in barter, or in payment
of debts ; everything else, but the few sove-
reigns in the colony, fell in like proportion.
So great was the distress, that most of the
mercantile houses and persons reputed of
great wealth, were declared insolvent : their
numbers stood thus in —
1842.
1843.
1844.
Total.
Sydney . .
Melbourne .
600
113
535
124
221
45
1,356
282
Total . .
713
659
266
1,638
According to an intelligcYit colonist, Mr.
Westgarth, the collective debts of these 1,638
insolvent estates amounted to no less than
three-and-a-half million sterling, and the
assets were merely nominal ; for, as he truly
observes, " many extensive merchants and
large proprietors beheld the ample substance
they were once possessed of, gradually dis-
appear with the reduced value of their land,
live stock, and other property." INIr. Braim
mentions, that at the period of depression, he
heard a rich man in Sydney state in a most
lugubrious tone, that he had been obliged
THE BOILING DOWN OF SHEEP AND CATTLE IN 1848.
191
to take, in payment of a debt, 10,000 sheep,
at jNIoreton Bay, at Is. eacli. So little did
he think of his bargain, that he put them in
flocks of from ten to fifteen hundred, and
removed the ewes, to prevent the increase,
and consequent addition to his expenses of
management. Many of the large flock
owners determined to slaughter theii' fat
sheep and horned cattle, and boil them
down, so as to obtain the largest quantity
of tallow from the carcase, which, as meat,
was valueless. The example was set by a
stock owner named O'Brien, who rightly
conceived, that the mere fat of the animals
would be more valuable in England, than
the entire animals were in New South Wales.
The mode of " boiling down" consists in
throwing the entire carcase, except the hind
legs, of the sheep or bullock, into a large
boiler or vat, and by the process of steam-
ing, the whole of the fatty parts are ex-
tracted and received into casks, ready for
shipment to England. The hind legs, which
contain but little fat, are sold, and the
price of good mutton is thus reduced to one
penny, or even a halfpenny per pound.
The extent to which the slaughtering
system has been carried, is shown in the
following statement of the quantity of taUow
and lard produced in New South Wales in
1848 :—
Number of Boiling-down Establishments, Cattle, Sheep,
^•c , slaughtered, and Talloic and Lard produced.
Sydney,
Sydney,
Port
Number of
witliin the
■without
Phillip
settled Dis.
settledDis.
District.
Establishments
41
14
7
Sheep . . .
141,573
24,128
120,691
Horned Cattle
27,682
5,415
5,545
Tallo%y, cwts. .
49,311
11,530
27,725
Hogs . . .
23
33
2
Lard, CAvts. .
875
990
200
Total.
62
286,392
38,642
88,567
58
2,065
The system has now been in operation for
six vears ; in 1843, there was produced
5,680 cwts. of tallow, value £9,639 ; in 1848,
98,213, value £140,579.
Year.
Quantity.
Value.
Cwt.
1843
5,680
£9,639
1844
56,609
83,511
1845
71,995
102,746
1846
20,357
28,107
1847
69,690
108,186
1848
98,213
140,579
Mr. Gideon S. Lang, in a work on " Land
and Labour in Australia," furnishes the
following estimate of the wool and tallow
which will be produced when one-thii-d of
the area of the district of Port Philip is occu- '
pied, and the stock of the middle district of
the colony has increased in the same propor- \
tion — sheep and cattle in the same ratio to
each other as at present : — j
Sheep
Cattle
Cast f5ve years old . .
Consumption, export, & dead
Melted
Tallow (20 lb. per sheep, i
186 lbs. per hd. of cattle j
Wool, 2| lbs. per sheep . .
Sydney.
8,631,250
2,125,300
2,151,310
774,907
1,377,373
33,493
23,735,937
Port Phniip.
5,000,000
500,000
1,100,000
562,200
537,800
8,900
13,750,000
Value of the above produce in Britain —
wool, 37,485,9371bs., at Is. 3f/. = £2,342,871;
tallow, 42,393 tons, at £40 per ton==
£1,695,720. Total— £4,038,591.
At no distant day, Austraha will render
us independent of Russia, for the supply of
tallow, as it has already done of Germany
or Spain, for the supply of wool.
Wine and Brandy. — The number of
acres planted with the vine, and the produce
thereof, on the 31st of March, 1849, was as
follows : — 1
Counties.
Acres.
Sydney District
Argyle .
Bathurst
Bligh .
Brisbane
Camden
Cook .
Cumberland
Dui'ham .
Georgiana
Gloucester
Hunter
King . _ .
Macquarie
INIurray
Northumberland
PhiUip .
Roxburgh
St. Vincent
Stanley
"Wellington
Westmoreland
Beyond settled Dis
Total in 1848
„ in 1844
Port Phillip Dis. :—
Bourke . .
Grant . . .
Normanby
Total
Gen. Total in 1848
/
4
3i
79
60
24
259
162
82
19i
6
22
6i
112'
li
25
2i
0|
11
887
508
Ot
48
3
108
995
Wine.
Gallons.
50
450
74
4,467
21,350
330
17,413
29,808
4,045
957
25
4,300
30
11,001
180
2,560
200
Brandy.
97,300
33,915
6,000
306
6,306
103,606
Gallons.
4
260
352
25
280
95
1,163
751
100
100
1,263
193 WINE AND OTHER VALUABLE PRODUCTIONS OF N. S. WALES.
A.istirvUa tptIII become an extensive wine
countiy ; the grape thrives in every locality,
although in some soils better than in others ;
and the wine made has not the earthy flavour
peculiar to some of the Cape of Good Hope
wines. The manufacture is yet in its infancy.
The Australian wines bear a strong re-
semblance to good Sauterne, Barsae, Hock,
Claret, &c. Lieutenant-colonel M'^Ai'thiu*
recently visited several of the wine districts
in Germany and France, selected expe-
rienced vine cultivators, and manufactui'ers
of wine and brandy, whom he has sent out
to the colony with their families ; and he
will thus have the honour of confei-ring on
the colony a benefit nearly equal to that
which his respected father conferred by the
introduction of fine-woolled sheep. Sir T. L.
Mitchell, the smweyor-general of New South
Wales, in 1847 visited Spain, and obtained
useful information on the mode of preparing
raisins, that he might be still more exten-
sively useful to the land of his adoption.
The olive and mulberry are peculiarly fitted
to the soil and cKmate of New South Wales ;
and olive oil and silk may, ere long, be
added to its list of products. Indigo grows
wild in several districts in New England,
where the soil and seasons are well adapted
for the growth of coffee, tea, cocoa, and sugar.
Cotton and tobacco ought also to become very
valuable articles of export. jNIoreton Bay, and
the regions to the northward, to wliich Dr.
Lang has di'awn public attention, will doubt-
less, in time, possess great plantations of cot-
ton, tobacco, rice, and other articles which we
now receive from the United States. Aus-
tralia can procm-e from India, from China,
and from the islands of the Eastern Archi-
pelago, any required quantity of fr'ce labour,
skilled in the cultivation of these great
staples of Eiu-opean consumption, at a price
of foui'pence or sixpence per day; and I
confidently look forward to the period when
the intercourse between England and Aus-
tralia wiU constitute one of the largest and
most lucrative portions of the traffic of the
British empire.
The extension of pasturage is furnishing
an increasing supply of dairy produce, which
will not only render the colonists inde-
pendent of foreign supplies, but also jielA
a surplus for export. The decreasing im-
ports and increasing exports of butter and
cheese are thus stated, from 18-13 to
1848 :—
Year.
Impor
ted.
Exported.
Quantity.
Value.
Quantity.
Value.
lbs.
lbs.
1843
248,170
£9.497
81,173
£3,488
1844
60,704
1,184
188,174
3,717
1845
22.216
579
172,368
4,313
1846
45,456
1,062
100,287
3,665
1847
10,164
413
253,880
5,977
1848
15,456
417
216,130
4,116
The cheese and butter made in New South
Wales are excellent; "jMrs. Rankin's cheese,"
prepared at Bathurst, would sell weU in Eng-
land; other ladies are now turning their
attention to a matter peculiarly within their
province, and the markets of India and China
will take off their hands whatever they can
prepare.
Timber has not hitherto fonned a large
article of export ; in the earlier condition
of the colony, cedar and blue gum were its
staple products ; but other and more valuable
items have usiu'ped their place. The coun-
try around IMoreton Bay must, however,
contain abundance of good furniture wood,
which is always in demand in England.
The following shows the imports and ex-
ports of timber for several years into
New South Wales. In the book on Western
Austraha the quality of the Australian
woods will be stated : —
Imports for the under-mentioned years.
Year
Deals.
Other Timber.
Sandal
wood.
Total
Sawn, &c.
"Wrought.
Shingles.
Laths.
Paling
Value.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
No.
No.
Tons.
1843
12,327
r 212,890 ft.
I 509 loads
1 82 packages
3,000
115,000
172,000
107
£10,156
1844
2,951
I 101,228 ft.
\ 108 loads
}54 do. /
414,000
3 loads
} -
500,000
90
4,195
1845
f 10,457
I 256 loads
604,524 ft.
541 loads
1 5 prs. sashes
2,118,685
254,500
128,630
415
10,541
1846
31,256
1,255,569 ft.
- {
1,485,000
15i loads
} 461,750
392,570
44
10,278
1847
1848
22,4i8
17,952
2,483,431 ft.
2,652,970 ft.
—
2,633,600
4,199,000
1,424,800
1,320,900
675.742
767,915
351
50
14,951
16,347
VARIOUS MANUFACTUKIES IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
193
Expo}
■ts.f
or the imchr-mentioned years
Year.
Quantity of Cedar.
Quantity of Blue Gum, Pint
other Timber.
, and No. of Treenails
and Spokes.
Value.
1828
847,805 superficial feet . .
215,541 superficial fee
t . . 65,837
£11,428
1829
940,486 . . ditto
008,647 . . ditto
. . 181,817
16,293
1830
368,830 .
ditto .
179,403 . . ditto .
. . 23,959
5,218
1831
580,393 .
ditto .
416,857 . . ditto
. . 24,316
8,401
1832
418,930 .
ditto .
233,653 . . ditto .
. . 186,831
6,132
1833
1,086,437 .
ditto .
147,170 . . ditto .
. . 328,503
13,153
1834
899,492 .
ditto .
30,065 . . ditto .
. . 212,467
7,941
1835
907,921 .
ditto .
145,628 . . ditto .
. . 178,969
10,489
1836
1,409,467 .
ditto
3,778 . , ditto ,
. . 35,094
14,385
1837
116,828 .
ditto
18,828 . . ditto
. . 62,989
14,463
1838
699,066 .
ditto
9,000 . . ditto
. . 73,450
6,382
1839
729,001 .
ditto .
■{
823 deals-)
15 logs / ■ ' '
. . 40,588
8,815
1840
1,250,786 .
ditto
151,500 superficial fee
>t . . 4,350
20,971
1841
513,139 .
ditto
1,000 . . ditto
. . 26,890
7,004
1842
522,882 .
ditto .
27,404 . . ditto
. . 55,644
5,800
1843
944,121 .
ditto
. A
10,020 . . ditto!
30 logs . . .J
. . 155,294
9,813
1844 1
1,222,533 .
214 piece
24 logs
ditto .
s . .
;
99,500 superficial feet
33 logs ....
} . . 105,428
8,825
1845
781,415 superficial feet
•\
r 73,300 feet . .1
241 logs, &c. 1 •
. . . 105,908
8,074
1846
956,515 . . ditto .
390,006 feet . . .
. . . 113,972
7,851
1847
953,995 . . ditto .
.
46,850 feet . . .
. . . 165,648
7,333
/
- . 22,150 feet . . .
• • •}
1848
863,507 . . ditto . . .\
20 pieces . .
. . .) 76,201
5,675
i
7,600 shingles and palings 3
Note. — 1844, Also a large quantity of Timber, the measurement of which was not stated when entered at Custom House.
The manufactories in. 1848 were
Manufactories, &c.
Sydney.
Grinding and dressing grain :-
Steam
AYater
Wind
Horse
Total
Distilleries
Rectifying and compoundinj
Breweries
Sugar refining ....
Soap
Tobacco and snufF . . .
Woollen cloth ....
Hat
Rope
Tanneries, &c
Salt
Starch
Blacking
Patent oatmeal and groats
Salting establishments
Meat preserving ditto . .
Potteries
Glass works
Smelting ditto, copper
Iron and brass founderies
Patent slip for ships . .
Steam vessels ....
Fire engines
DIV. II.
57
56
25
39
157
2
12
2
15
4
6
4
4
33
2
1
2
1
1
1
11
1
17
Port
Phillip.
18
Total.
65
43
26
38
175
2
2
21
2
18
4
6
4
4
40
2
1
2
1
2
3
7
1
1
13
1
17
3
At the woollen manufactories there were
made, in 1847, of cloth, 18,484 yards; of
tweeds, 156,604 yards; and blankets, 424.
The tweeds, an excellent fabric, command a
ready sale, and are now becoming an article
of export ; the manufacture will, doubtless,
be extended. The materials for making
soap abound; the thirteen soap manufac-
tories made, in 1848, 24,180 cwt. The
tobacco manufactured is about 1,000 cwt.
annually, and as the cHmate is well suited
for its culture, the preparation of the " weed"
will, doubtless, be improved. One sugar-
refining establishment, in 1848, turned out
26,000 cwt. of refined sugar. The pre-
ceding list of manufactories shows how greatly
the colonists desire to render themselves in-
dependent of supplies which increase their
imports, and for which they have not yet
adequate exports. In the article of black-
ing, alone, they say the value of imports
has been reduced by £10,000 annually ; it
will, however, be a soimdcr policy, to in-
crease the number and quantity of their
exports for the English market, by which
they will be enabled to procure manufac-
tured articles at a far cheaper rate than they
could be prepared in the colony.
The minerals will tdtimatcly be a source
2 a
194 MINERAL PRODUCTIONS— COAL, GOLD, &c, NEW SOUTH WALES.
of wealth. The coal mines in the eolony,
their produce in 1848, and the value of it,
was : —
1 '
Mines.
Coal.
Value.
Tons.
Aust. Agric. Co. Newcastle
34,381
£11,737
Ditto at Lake Macquarie .
1,700
510
Ditto at Biirwood . . .
1,738
608
Ditto at Maitlantl . . .
7,023
1,265
Ditto at Morpeth . . .
205
35
Ditto at Moreton Bay . .
Total
400
120
45,447
14,275
All but the first-named mine are in the
early stages of their working ; some only
commenced in 1848.
There are five copper mines commencing
work, viz. — at Bathurst, Yass, and Molong.
The Fitzroy iron mine at Berrima has had
its machinery put up and shaft sunk in
1848. The following remarks were written
and stereotyped in 1850, before the recent
extensive discoveries of gold — for which
see Supplement.^ If gold, as is expect-
ed, be found in large quantities, another
valuable article of export AviU be provided ;
for the precious metal will henceforth be-
come a merchantable commodity, and rank
among exchangeable products. Gold is a
raw product, and answers the same purpose
as wool, tallow, oil, timber, copper, ii'on, or
any other article, in enabhng its finders to
purchase such merchandize as they may
require. If, therefore, gold exists in Aus-
tralia, to an extent at least equal to that
found in California, there can be no reason
for preventing the colonists gathering it.
Every pound of gold raised in the mines or
valleys of the Australian Alps, will enable the
colonist to purchase a pound's worth of
English manufactures. The currency of the
United Kingdom is very far below the
amount required for a remunerating inter-
change of labour and goods. In England,
the wliole gold, silver, copper, and bank-note
currency, in actual circulation, is not .£3
sterling per head ; in Scotland, it is nearly
iE5 j in Ireland, it docs not amount to much
more than ten shillings for each inhabitant :
whereas a full currency ought, at the very
least, be equal to £\0 sterling per head,
otherwise the nation is exposed to the vicis-
situdes arising from the alternate states of a
deficiency or a plethora of money : panic
succeeds prosperity in a vicious circle, ren-
dering commerce a gambling game, and
enterprise a hazardous speculation. The
production of large quantities of gold in
Australia would, therefore, be a great gain
to the colonists, and a boon of incalculable
value to the people of England.
The important subject of emigration will
be fully discussed in the last volume of this
work, and a fair examination be made of the
relative advantages and prospects of the
several colonies for different classes of emi-
grants ; it will consequently be only desira-
ble to give here the annexed statement of
the average prices of food, and the general
wages of labour in New South Wales during
the year 1848, by which intending emigrants
of the poorer class can judge the cost of
living, and the means available for its sup-
port. It is calculated that New South Wales
could with ease aff'ord remunerative employ-
ment annually to 10,000 additional able-
bodied immigrant labourers for the next ten
years ; and there is no country better adapted
for a man whose power of manual labour is
his sole property, and who possesses the
indispensable requisites of honesty, sobriety,
and persevering industry : —
Average Prices of Produce during 1848 at Sydney .
— -Wheaten flour, 10s. to 125. per 100 lbs. ; wheat,
4.S. to 4s. 6f/. per bushel imperial ; wheaten bread,
2iJ. to -M. loaf of 2 lbs.; maize. Is. 5d. to Is. 10^^.
per bushel ; barley, 2s. C)d. to 3s. Qd. ; oats or rye,
3s. 6J. to 4s. Qd. ; potatoes, 3s. to 6s. per cwt. ; hay,
£4 to £6 per ton; straw, £2 5s. to £2 IOa'. ;
horned cattled, £2 5s. to £2 10s. per head ; horses,
£4 to £20 each ; sheep, 5s. to 75. 6f/. per head ;
goats, 5s. to 15s. each; swine, 7s. Q>d. to £2; milk,
6f/. per quart; butter, fresh, 6J. to Is. per lb. ; salt,
colonial, M. to \Qd. ; cheese, colonial, Ad. ; fresh beef,
\\d. to 2d. ; mutton, 'Id. ; fresh pork, 4 J. to 5d. ; rice,
2\d. ; coffee, M. ; tea. Is. Ad. ; moist sugar, 2|cZ. ;
salt. If/.; wine (Cape), 4s. per gallon ; brandy, 16s.;
rum, imported, 10s. ; beer, colonial. Is. Ad. ; tobacco,
imported, 3s. 2d. per lb. ; tobacco, colonial, 1 s. ^d.
Wages of Labour. — Domestic, male, £18 to £40
per annum; female, £12 to £25; jjredial, £18 to
£25 ; trades, £35 to £40.
Weights and Measures, as in England.
Fruits and Vegetables. — The fruits and
culinary vegetables of Australia are nume-
rous and of excellent quality. In a small
garden at Paramatta I had the apple, pear,
peach, nectarine, apricot, loquat, quince,
cherry, plum, melon, pine-apple, figs, citron,
orange, grape, mulbeiTy, walnut, gooseberry,
strawberry, raspberry, and currant, all in
full perfection. So abundant is the peach,
that, in many places, I have seen the far-
mers feeding their pigs with the windfalls
of their teeming orchards. My lamented
friend, the late Allen Cunningham, infornuid
me, that diu'ing his explorations in the
interior, he and his men were often refreshed
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
195
and nourished by finding peach-trees scat-
tered about in the forest, where they had
grown from stones planted by bush-rangers,
or from ha^dng been dropped by birds. In
gratefril recognition of the benefits thus
received, as a weary and fainting traveller,
Cunningham always carried about him a
bag of peach stones, which he planted on
eveiy occasion, in suitable places. The
small settlers make a cider and a brandy
from their peach fruit.
Among other fruit-trees, besides those
above-named, are the almond, Avhich flou-
rishes remarkably well ; banana, in the more
northern positions. The fig produces two
crops in the year, without any further
trouble than that of planting : the fruit is
of the finest flavour, abundant in quantity,
presses well, and will probably become a
valuable article of export. Grapes, of every
variety, are very plentiful, and are now
being dried as raisins, as well as extensively
manufactured into Avine, brandy, and vinegar.
The Cliinese fniit, termed loquats, are as
fine as any I ate in China. While on this
subject, I venture to recommend to the
colonists the introduction of the lichee, and
other excellent fruit, which I obtained at
Foochoofoo and at Shanghai. Our consuls
at those stations could readily procure the
young fruit-trees. Melons, water and
sweet, grow almost wild in New South
Wales. The farmers scatter a few seeds
among their corn, and they thrive so luxu-
riantly as to be scarcely an article of sale,
except in the towns. They sometimes attain
a size of twenty-four pounds weight. The
lemon flourishes as standards or as hedge-
rows. The orange arrives at a degree of
perfection greater than I have witnessed in
any other country excepting ISIalta. A
richer sight can hardly be conceived than
Mr. Suttor's orangerie near Paramatta. If
I remember rightly, I walked through one
grove of large orange trees, in full bearing,
which was more than a quarter of a mile in
length ; and I believe the respected pro-
prietor found it a very profitable article of
production. Mr. Mobbs also realized a
handsome fortune from his orangerie. The
mulberry thi'ives in every part of the colony ;
and its growth may be augmented to an
almost indefinable extent for the feeding of
silkworms; but I Avould recommend the
obtainment of a peculiar species of mulberiy
which grows near Nankin, and in the regions
bordering the great river Yangt-tse-kiang,
which is found by the experienced Chinese
to yield the finest silk. The neighbourhood
of Port Stephens and Port INIacquarie ought
to be among the most productive silk coun-
tries in the world; and to render them so
skilled, Chinese might be induced to settle
in the country, bringing with them the
mulberry and best silkworms. The olive
aff'ords great promise : wherever the vine
yields well, there the olive generally thrives.
I noticed how this valuable commercial
shrub flourished at Ithaca, Cephalouia, and
along the coast of the Morea, where the
soil and climate were very similar to those of
New South Wales. The walnut, filbert, and
chestnut are in perfection, especially the
filbert, which are of a size and fiavour unsur-
passed. All the culinary vegetables of
Europe are of large size and excellent
flavour. Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips,
onions, peas, beans, cabbages, spinach, arti-
choke, asparagus, celery, cucumbers, radishes,
seakale, yams, rhubarb, &c., would be highly
prized in Covent-garden market. The various
beautiful flowers which adorn the gardens of
England are extensively cultivated in New
South Wales, where they attain a magnitude
and beauty which add to their natural charms.
The saying, that the fruits of Australia are
without flavour, and the flowers devoid of
odour, refers to those of the country, and
not to the introductions from Europe. The
annual exliibitions of the " AustraUan Floral
and Horticultm'al Society,'^ at Sydney, faii'ly
rival those of Chiswick or Regent^ s-park ;
and the botanical gardens at Sydney, the
governor's gardens at Paramatta, those of
Mr. M'Artlmr, and other colonists, are
equal, in extent and variety, to many of the
best gardens in the United Kingdom. The
Englishman carries his love of fruits and
flowers to whatever country he makes his
home ; and, in Australia, he has fuU scope
for the gratification of his refined taste and
habits.
Maritime Commerce. — The trade of New
South Wales was for many years in a very
unsatisfactory state ; the imports were in
value about five times that of the exports,
and the balance of payments in exchange
was defrayed by bills on her majesty's trea-
sury in London to meet the convict cxpendi-
tm'e in the colony. There were then few
exportable articles, and it was feared that no
staple products available for transmission to
England could be created. By extraordi-
naiy energy these difficulties have been
surraoimted; there is now no convict ex-
penditure from the home exchequer, and an
196 VALUE OF TRADE OF NE^Y SOUTH WALES, SINCE 1828
examination of the annexed complete retui'ns I last twenty years will shew, that they are
of the value of imports and exports for the ' now balanced the one against the other.
Imports into New South Wales and Port Phillip. \_See Supplement for continuation of table. ^
Year.
From
From British
From South Sea
From
From United
From other
Total
Great Britain.
Colonies.
Islands.
Fisheries.
States.
Foreign States
1828
£399,892
£125,862
£44,246
£570,000
1829
423,463
135,486
—
42,055
—
—
601,004
1830
268,935
60,356
—
91,189
—
—
420,480
1831
241,989
68,804
—
179,359
—
—
490,152
1832
409,344
47,895
—
147,381
—
—
604,620
1833
434,220
61,662
—
218,090
—
—
713,972
1834
669,663
124,570
—
197,757
—
—
991,990
1835
707,183
144,824
£1,420
177,365
£13,902
£70,161
1,114,805
1836
794,422
220,254
1,972
135,730
22,739
62,289
1,237,406
1837
807,264
300,313
1,764
80,441
9,777
97,932
1,297,491
1838
1,102,127
309,918
5,548
71,506
8,066
82.112
1,579,277
1839
1,251,969
576,537
3,863
186,212
23,093
194,697
2,236,371
1840
2,200,305
431,146
1,348
104,895
24,164
252,331
3,014,189
1841
1,837,369
332,296
24,361
97,809
35,282
200,871
2,527,988
1842
854,774
298,201
10,020
64,999
20,117
206,948
1,455,059.
1843
1,034,942
227,029
22,387
42,579
12,041
211,566
1,550,544
1844
643,419
153,923
10,624
32,507
17,187
73,600
931,260
1845
777,112
237,759
40,048
43,503
7,416
128,016
1,233,854
1846
1,119,301
262,943
21,799
56,461
4,459
165,559
1,630,522
1847
1,347,241
388,724
6,919
41,557
1,550
196,032
1,982,023
1848
1,084,054
263,787
2,642
73,715
2,065
130,287
1,556,550
1849
Expo
rtsfrom New
South Wales and Port Phil!)
>. [See Supplement.}
Year.
To
To British
To South Sea
To
To United
To other
Total
Great Britain.
Colonies.
Islands.
Fisheries.
States.
Foreign States.
1828
£SLf.08
£4,845
£6,708
£90,050
1829
146,283
12,692
__
15,821
—
—
161,716
1830
120,559
15,597
—
—
—
—
141,461
1831
211,138
60,354
—
16,949
—
324,168
1832
252,106
63,934
—
19,545
—
—
384,344
1833
269,508
67,344
—
—
—
—
394,801
1834
400,738
128,211
—
28,729
—
—
587,640
1835
496,345
83,108
£2,696
39,882
£18,594
£3,011
682,193
1836
513,976
136,596
9,628
30,180
13,697
2,625
748,624
1837
518,951
157,975
485
54,434
10,617
17,592
760,854
1838
583,154
160,640
7,137
33,988
11,324
6,525
802,768
1839
597,100
289,857
1,347
34,729
18,568
7,175
948,776
1840
792,494
520,210
6,621
27,864
27,885
24,618
1,399,692
1841
706,336
238,948
13,144
18,417
4,837
41,715
1,023,397
1842
685,705
298,023
3,005
22,862
17,101
40,715
1,067,411
1843
825,885
285,756
17,934
18,827
—
23,918
1,172,320
1844
854,903
236,352
14,106
11,623
11,131
1,128,115
1845
1,254,881
276,788
17,656
1,593
—
5,068
1,555,986
1846
1,130,179
328,922
13,441
590
—
8,407
1,481,539
1847
1,503,091
335,137
14,231
—
—
17,587
1,870,046
1848
1,483,224
335,887
6,944
—
—
4,313
1,830,368
1849
The lelative proportion of the shipping
engaged in the trade of Sydney, New South
Wales, and of ^Melbourne, Port Phillip, is
thus shown by the tonnage entering inwards
from Great Britain, the British colonies, and
elsewhere, in 1848 : —
From
From British Colonies.
From-
South Sea
Islands.
F
rom
From
From
other
Total.
Great Britain.
New Zealand.
Elsewhere
Fisheries.
United States.
States.
Sydney . .
Port Phillip
No.
71
48
Tons.
34,309
23,29.1
No.
106
10
Tons.
23,877
■ 956
No.
233
406
Tons.
45,173
42,349
No.
23
Tons.
2,695
No.
63
Tons.
17,473
No.
1
Tons
406
No.
30
5
Tons.
7,753
1,018
No.
527
469
Tons.
131,686
67,618
Total .
119
07,604
116
24,883
639
87,522
23
2,G9.j
63
17,473
1
40G
35
8,771
996
199,304
CUSTOM DUTIES, WHABFAGE RATES, S:c., LEVIED.
19"
The number and tonnage of vessels which entered inwards in the colony of New South
Wales (including the district of Port Phillip), from the year 1837 to 1848, inclusive, was —
Year.
Fi
om
From British Colonies.
From
From
Fisheries.
From
United
States.
From other
Forei^
States.
Great Britain.
New Zealand.
El. e where.
South Sea
Islands.
Total.
No.
Tons.
Xo.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
1837
56
21,816
36
5,480
233
33,751
0
581
48
13,004
5
1,220
17
4,262
400
80,114
1838
102
41,848
38
4,291
241
34,469
6
616
31
7,928
1
274
9
2,351
428
91,777
1839
137
58,123
51
8,368
290
45,928
7
836
36
9,321
4
1,177
38
11,721
563
135,474
1840
190
80,806
68
13,123
347
53,625
6
750
27
8,087
8
2,520
63
20,047
709
178,968
1841
251
106,332
48
7,601
322
43,922
3
358
23
6,163
13
4,754
54
14,648
714
183,778
1842
137
55,144
81
14,085
282
42,365
19
2,902
20
5,806
7
2,762
82
20,857
628
143,921
1843
87
35,914
43
6,229
325
43,934
25
4,194
30
7,967
5
1,116
43
11,510
558
110,864
1844
78
34,765
54
7,1S9
226
31,195
13
1,831
27
7,888
3
1,005
16
3,666
417
87 ,.539
1845
80
29,954
02
6,237
364
47,532
24
2,612
37
11,900
1
243
29
6,874
597
105,352
1846
84
36,761
6^
10,865
475
57,485
27
3,005
79
24,375
1
370
36
8,606
767
141,467
1347
88
37,941
■ 5
10,516
565
69,614
25
2,443
78
22,558
1
160
46
11,672
878
154,904
199,304
1848
119
57,604
116
24,833
639
87,522
23
2,695
63
17,473
1
406
35
8,771
996
Duties le\ded under the authority of Acts
of Parliament — (1.) Upon all spmts made or
distilled in the colony, 35. 6d. per gallon ;
(2.) Upon all rum or whisky imported, 3s. 6d.
per gallon; (3.) Upon all other spirits and
liqueres whatsoever imported, 6s. per gallon ;
(4.) Wine imported, fifteen per cent, addi-
tional value ; (5.) Tea, sugar, flour, meal,
wheat, rice, and other grain and pulse
imported, os. per cent, additional value ;
(6.) Tobacco unmanufactured, Is. Gd. per lb. ;
(7.) Tobacco manufactured, 2^. 6d. per lb. ;
(8.) All other goods, wares, and merchandize,
not being the produce or manufacture of the
United Kingdom, imported into the colony,
ten per cent, additional value. Wine im-
ported for the use of military and naval r.iffi-
cers on full pay, free of duty.
There are also wharfage rates le\'ied at
public and private sufferance wharfs, and
on all descriptions of goods imported : for
instance, at public wharfs, on beer, per hhd.
6d.; on wine or spirits. Is. per leaguer;
on sugar, Is. 4d. per hhd. ; on unenumerated
goods, 2s. 4d. per ton. There is also a rate
le\'ied of one halfpenny per ton per diem on
vessels unloading or refitting, beyond a cer-
tain number of days; for instance, thirty-five
days are allowed free for a ship of 500 tons.
Custom House Cliarges.
Description.
CustomHouse
Charges.
Light
House
Dues.
For the entry inwards or clearance,
outwards of ships or vessels (ves-
sels under 50 tons registered in |
Sydney excepted) ; for any steam v.
vessels in the coasting ti-ade from
one port to another of New South
Wales -*
For every other vessel so emptied '
above 50 and not exceed. 100 tons i
For every other vessel so emptied |
above 100 tons )
i'or every other ship or vessel . .
Entry.
\s.2,d.
2 6
7 6
15 0
Clear.
\S.\)<1.
2 6
7 6
15 0
Per ton.
Os 01 rf.
2 0
0 2
0 2
A Tonnage Duty is leried of ?>d. per ton on
all vessels above fifty tons entering any port
in the colony, unless the same shall have
been paid at any other port of the colony
within the previous four months. Coasting
vessels pay only once a-year.
Harbour Dues, varpng from 5s. on vessels
under fifty tons, to 30s. on vessels of 500
tons and upwards, are IcA'ied on entry of
harbour, or on shifting anchorage, not for
the purpose of leaving port. Coasting vessels
from one port of the colony to another
exempted.
The value of the trade in articles of British
and British colonial produce and manufac-
ture, is shewn in a return only complete for
the last five years. It includes, as does the
previous and subsequent statements, Port
Phillip, which is given separate in Suppt.
Imjjorts.
Year.
United
Kingdom.
British
Dominions.
Foreign
States.
Total.
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
£629,510
786,514
1,111,238
1,269,183
1,029,926
£154,572
156,491
88,638
95,118
114,900
£147,178
290.849
430,646
617,722
411,724
£931,260
1,233,854
1,630.522
1,982,023
1,556,.550
^Exports.
Year
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
New South
United
British
Foreign
"Wales.
Kingdom.
Dominions.
States.
£864,709
£119,197
£64,266
£79,943
1,269,062
100,901
110,160
75,863
1,201,433
120,424
80,499
79,183
1,649,031
136,385
15,865
68,765
1,621,509
127,368
22,220
59,271
It appears from the foregoing that imports
from the United Kingdom of British produce
and manufacture in 1818 Avere, in value, up-
wards of £1,000,000 sterling, or more than
c£." per head of the population. The im-
p<, ts into the United States of British goods
do ..lot amount to ten shillings per head.
Total.
£1,128.115
1,555,986
1,481,539
1,870,046
1,830,368
198 ARTICLES OF IMPORT INTO N. S. WALES, 1835—1840—1848.
The increase of the imports of New South
Wales between 1835 and 1840 was very re-
markable ; a few items will shew the progress
of the colony in five years : —
Agricultural implements, in 1835, nil; in 1840,
£4,565 ; apparel and slops, £58,658 and £144,890 ;
bacon and hams, 44,373 and 675,785 lbs. ; beef and
pork, 2,544 and 19,766 barrels ; beer and ale, 421,697
and 1,292,701 gallons; books, £4,699 and £12,791;
butter, 74,090 and 338,775 lbs. ; cabinet and uphol-
stery Avare, £4,026 and £16,186 ; coffee, 183,803 and
469,457 lbs. ; copper (sheet and old), 41,581 and
358,788 lbs. ; cordage, 3,642 and 10,103 cwts. ; corn
and wheat, 101,283 and 224,021 bushels; other grain,
21,161 and 76,276 bushels ; wheat and flour, 3,672 and
21,882 bushels; cotton manufactures, £61,196 and
£142,150 (in 1839, £230,775) ; earthenware, £6,820
and £20,179 ; fruit, of all sorts, £2,597 and £16,356;
glass manufactures, £36,822 and £63,425; haber-
dashery, £22,510 and 66,713 ; hardware and cutlery,
£18,253 and £79,970; hats, £12,777 and £23,245;
hops, 10,332 and 126,696 lbs. ; unwrought iron,
2,758,560 and 8,593,618 lbs.; wrought iron, £20,235
and 67,943 ; lead and shot, 315,590 and 1,104,609 lbs.;
leather manufactures, £7,216 and £32,593 ; linen
manufactures, £29,454 and £66,955 ; machinery, nil
and £8,493 ; medicines, £708 and £17,230; cocoa-nut
oil, nil and 14,606 gallons ; painters' colours, £7,223
and £15,545 ; pickles and sauces, £7,223 and£15,545;
rice, 859,060 and 7,517,716 lbs. ; saddlery, £5,314 and
£22,417; salt, 76,278 and 154,322 bushels; silk manu-
factures, £21,927 and £44,590; soap, 399,754 and
2,656,780 lbs.; spirits of all sorts, 327,990 and 627,476
gallons; stationery, £11,755 and £36,744; raw sugar,
5,176,730 and 11,269,856 lbs. ; refined sugar. 411,391
and 1,039,078 lbs.; tea, 1,311,-357 and 1,189,100 lbs.;
tobacco, £13,194 and £78,340; wine, of all sorts,
313,427 and 494,285 gallons ; woollen manufactures,
£33,348 and £111,979. Aggregate value of imports,
£976,091 and £2,548,775 ; aggregate value of exports,
£675,226 and £1,289,036. Sheep's wool, 3,908,177
and 9;541,474 lbs.; tallow, 12,026 and 48,874 lbs.;
number of sheep and swine, 2,154 and 24,153; num-
ber of neat cattle, 225 and 3,365.
Although the aggregate value of the im-
ports exceeded that of the exports, yet there
was a large increase not only of the staple
products of the colony, but also of many
imported articles, which passed through New
South Wales as a depot in transitu to other
surrounding countries. I do not know a
similar rapid increase of commercial pros-
perity in any other country, and but for the
injurious imperial legislation and orders from
England, this wonderful prosperity would
most probably have remained unchecked, and
England woiild have participated in the wel-
fare of its distant dependency.
The return of articles imported into the
Sydney district alone (exclusive of Port
Phillip) during the year 1817, gives the
estimated value in the colony at £1,544,327,
and for 1848 j81, 182,874, An enumeration
of some of the principal articles imported
from Great Britain dui'ing the year 1848
will give a good idea of the importance of a
colonial trade to England; how it enters
into various branches of manufactures, and
how the consumption of goods made at home
fosters and promotes a taste, which must
increase, and which materially tends to
create a preference for Engligh over foreign
goods. Dm-ing the year 1848, 117 distinct
articles were imported into Sydney from
Great Britain ; I select fr^om the list before
me a few of the leading articles, shewing the
quantities imported. Excepting sugar,
9,988 tons, and tea 2,108,916 lbs. (value
£71,353 and £26,142,) nearly every other
article was from the United Kingdom.
Quantity and Value of some of the Articles of
British Produce imported into the Sydney District
during the year 1848. — Alkali (soda), 3,325 cwt.,
£2,188; apparel and slops, 1,507 bales, £55,510;
ammunition — gunpowder, 34,466 lbs., £1,295; shot,
964 cwt., £1,009 ; bags and sacks, 376 bales, £4,205 ;
beer and ale, 475,433 gallons, £54,804 ; blacking, 331
casks, £892 ; blankets and counterpanes, 150 bales,
£5,661 ; brushwai'e, 141 packages, £2,312 ; canvas,
466 bales, £7,867; carpeting, 118, £2,648; car-
riages and carriage materials, 67 packages, £1,652;
painters' colours, 4,001 kegs, £4,883 ; copper, 2,341
cwts., £10,058 ; cordage and rope, 3,835, £3,674 ;
corks and bungs, 271 bales, £1,305; cottons, 1,696,
£64,919; drugs and medicines, 1,369 cases, £9,594;
earthenware and china, 1,090 crates, £10,284; salt
fish, 833 barrels, £1,632; furniture, 928 packages,
£3,258 ; glass and glassware, 3,685, £8,502 ; grindery,
86 casks, £1,566 ; haberdashery, 1,527 cases, £73,597 ;
hardware and ironmongery, 7,800 packages, £65,029;
hats, caps, and bonnets, 365 cases, £6,730 ; hops, 925
pockets, £3,703 ; horse hair, 56 casks, £1,248 ; hosiery
and gloves, 262 cases, £11,829; musical instruments,
101 cases, £3,708; iron and steel, 2,451 tons, £22,533
jewellery, 32 cases, £2,529; lead, 165 tons, £3,022;
unmanufactured leather, 32 cases, £1,230; boots and
shoes, 624 trunks, £13,529 ; linens, 1,567 cases, £50,272 ;
lucifer matches, 99 cases, £975 ; machinery, 99 jmck-
ages, £1,484; malt, 3,511 casks, £2,245; millinery, 93
cases, £3,833 ; iron nails, 2,253 kegs, £3,188 ; copper
nails, 652, £1,821 ; oil cloth, 20 cases, £257 ; oilman's
stores, 9,644 packages, £28,927 ; perfumery, 100 cases,
£1,291 ; tobacco pipes, 2,408 boxes, £2,454 ; pictures
and paintings, 41 cases, £1,256; pitch, tar, and resin,
1,957 barrels, £878; plate and plated ware, 28 cases,
£1,284; saddlery and harness, 197 cases, £6,368;
salt, 3,715 tons, £9,403; ship chandlery, 68 packages,
£666; shooks and staves, 13,404 bundles, £133;
silks, 131 cases, £12,348; number of slates, 41,000,
£170; spirits— brandy, 118,819 gallons, £28,316;
rum, 223,706, £26,406; gin, 42,669, £8,954; whisky.
9,480, £2,425; liqueures, 1,212, £403; starch and
blue, 499 cases, £1,176; stationery and books, 1,891
cases, &c., £33,156; tin and tinware, 1,296 boxes,
£2,456 ; tobacco, cigars, and snuff, 572,406 lbs.,
£10,968; toys and turnery, 243 cases, £3,315; tur-
pentine and varnish, 2,406 gallons, £371 ; twine and
thread, 98 packages, £1,542; umbrellas and parasols,
22 cases, £1,203; vinegar, 21,946 gallons, £1,368;
watches and clocks, 81 cases, £415; wine, 302,741
gallons, £37,918; Moollens, 1,508 bales, &c., £57,365;
woolpacks and bagging, 471 bales, £8,350; zinc, 910
cwts., £228. [For present imports, see Supplement.]
WHALE FISHERY ADJACENT TO NEW SOUTH WALES.
199
The principal exports for 1848, from Syd-
ney alone, were — wool 12,445,048 lbs., value
^£683,628; woollen manufactures (Tweeds),
59 packages, value £1,468; tallow, 3,565
tons, £102,611; horses, 1,181, £14,137;
horned cattle, 10,208, £16,457; sheep,
25,331, £8,737 (about 6s. lOd. per sheep) ;
sperm oil, 1,186 tuns, £64,230; black whale
oil, 196 tuns, £3,177; whalebone, 11 tons
2 cwt., £1,385 ; skins of neat cattle, 1,308
tons, £17,498; soap, 121 tons, £2,716; cedar,
863,307 feet, £5,133; leather, unmanufac-
tured, 108 tons, £5,702; maize, 27,058
bushels, £3,063; butter and cheese, 81 tons
9 cwt., £2,836 ; tallow candles, 69,804 lbs.,
£1,117; coals and coke, 6,266 tons, £2,980;
carts and waggons, 244, £2,010. Of the total
exports nearly 1,000,000 sterling (£963,590)
consist solely of the produce of the colony :
out of £1,155,009, total exports, the amount
sent to Great Britain was £901,869, to
New Zealand £163,938, and to other Bri-
tish possessions £78,210.
There are other ports in the Sydney dis-
trict which are now commencing a direct
trade with England and other places. The
exports from the port of Newcastle in 1847
were valued at £14,112, and included 2,450
tons of coals, value £884, or 7^. 2d. per ton;
3,484 sheep, 379 horned cattle, 58 horses,
2,000 lbs. of flour, 102 bushels of barley,
2,748 lbs. of maize, ten and a half tons of
hay, and other articles were all sent to New
Zealand. To England were sent from this
new port in the same year — wool 169,611 lbs.,
value £9,435 ; tallow, 30,4281bs., value £600;
The trade of Melbourne will be given when
describing Port Phillip.
The ports of Australia, Van Diemen's
Island, and New Zealand, are favourably
situated for carrying on the whale fishery
in the southern hemisphere. Since 1845
whalers have been exempted from port
charges in Sydney harbour, and the following
is a return of the ships and vessels engaged
in the fisheries that have visited Port Jack-
son during the last five years ; distinguishing
those that are colonial, British, or foreign,
with the tonnage of each description, and the
estimated value of the cargoes disposed of by
the last-mentioned class for payment for
repairs, refitting, and refreshment : —
Colonial Vessels.
British Vessels.
Foreign
Vessels.
Descript
on and Value of Cargo
of by Foreign Ships.
disposed
Year
Number.
T )iin:ige.
Number.
Tonnage.
Number.
Tonnage.
Sperm Oil.
Tuns.
Black Oil.
Whalebone.
Value.
Tuns.
Cwt.
1844
13
3.052
3
1,219
12
3,617
122
152
33
£4,993
1845
15
3.444
7
2,685
15
5,345
37
122
147
4,269
1846
16
3,894
9
2,287
55
18,147
203
30
129
6.981
1847
23 •
5,345
4
1,137
43
13,866
368
192
673
15,804
1848
26
613
1
267
37
11,203
158
8|
5
4,840
The whale and seal fisheries of New South
Wales have of late years diminished ; the
whale is very migratory, and seems to have
endeavoured to elude his persevering pursuers
by taking refuge in the Northern Pacific,
where, for the last few years, the fish have
been fomid in great numbers on the coasts
of Japan and near Saghalien. The value of
the New South Wales fisheries is thus shewn
for eighteen years :
Year.
Sperm Whale.
Black Whale.
W^halebone.
Seal Skins.
Value.
Tuns.
Tuns.
Tons.
Cwt.
Quantity.
1828
348
50
—
—
7,647 in number
—
1829
885
—
12,350
£94,101
1830
1,282
518
—
—
5,460 „
115,780
1831
1833
1,914
3,183
1,004
420
—
—
4,972
2,465
169,278
18.36
1,700
1,178
—
386
126,085
1837
2,559
1,505
77
. —
107
183,122
1838
1,891
3,055
174
—
3 cases . . .
197,644
1839
1,578
1,229
134
14
7 „ ...
172,315
1840
1,854
4,297
250
—
474 in number
224,144
1841
1,545
1,018
84
13
41
127,470
1842
957
1,171
60
5
162
77,012
1843
1,115
190
22
8
155 ,.
72,989
1844
810
526
15
18
3 bales . . .
57,493
1845
1,352
571
21
13
2 casks, 10 Skins
90,804
1846
1,064
344
17
9
—
70,126
1847
1,214
331
8
n
—
80,528
1848
1,186
196
11
2
4 cases . . .
68,969
.
200
SHIPPING OF NEW SOUTH WALES. SINCE 1828.
The number of ships engaged in the whale
fishery in 1848, in connection with New
South Wales, was 64; viz., 37 foreign; 3
British ; 24 colonial : and the produce —
sperm oil, 1,274 tuns, value £67,005 ; black
oil, 389 tuns, £9,180; whalebone, 306
tons, £1,472. Total value — £77,652.
At Port Phillip there were four boats
engaged, which collected 15| tuns of oil,
value £235 ; whalebone, 6 tons 6 cwt.
The increase of the shipping entering the
ports of New South Wales has been very
great since 1828 : —
Year.
Number.
Tons.
1828
137
32,559
1829
158
37,342
1830
157
31,225
1831
155
34,000
1832
189
36,020
1833
210
50,144
1834
245
58,532
18i;5
260
63,019
18;! 6
269
65,415
1837
400
80,114
1838
428
91,777
1839
560
135,474
1840
709
178,958
1841
714
183,778
1842
628
143,921
1843
558
110,864
1844
417
87,539
1845
597
105,352
1846
767
141,467
1847
878
154,904
1848
996
199,304
In twenty years the number of ships in-
creased seven-fold, and the tonnage six-fold.
Since 1848 the shipping and trade of the
colony have been very largely augnw^nted.
[The returns since 1848 will
The number and tonnage of vessels built
and registered in the colony have been : —
Year.
Vessels Built.
Vessels Registered.
Number.
Tons.
Number.
Tons.
1834
9
376
19
1,852
1835
7
303
21
2,267
1836
9
301
39
4,560
1837
17
760
36
3,602
1838
20
803
41
6,329
1839
12
773
79
10,862
1840
18
1,207
98
12,426
1841
35
2,074
liu
11,250
1842
26
1,357
89
9,948
1843
47
1,433
92
7,022
1844
18
519
87
8,087
1845
18
1,042
98
9,376
1846
28
1,032
83
4,895
1847
36
2,284
104
9,428
1848
28
1,501
103
7,584
The numbers respectively built and regis-
tered during 1848 in the
Sydney and Port
Phillip districts, were —
District."
Sbips Built.
Registered.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
Men.
Sydney . . .
26
1,281
87
6,618
336
Port Phillip „
2
280
16
966
80
Total .
28
1,561
103
7,584
416
I have now recounted the rise and pro-
gress up to the year 1848, of the trade
and staple products of New South Wales;
that trade is again in a healthy state, and from
the large quantity of shipping to which it
gives employment, in voyages occupying
nearly a year, out and home, a skilful and
hardy race of seamen are trained, well adapted
for service on any emergencv necessary for
the national defences,
be found in the Supplement.]
CHAPTER V.
GOVERNMENT OF NEW SOUTH WALES— PROGRESSIVE GRANT OF FREE INSTITUTIONS
—EXAMINATION OF PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION— AND LAWS JN FORCE
IN THE COLONY.
The government of New South Wales was
founded by an order in council, dated
6th December, 1786. By that order, and
by the king's warrant, dated 3rd April, 1787,
for issuing letters patent, to appoint a vice-
admiral, and a judge of the vice- admiralty
court for the new settlement, its limits were
declared to extend "from the Northern
Capn, or extremity of the coast called Cape
York, in the latitude of 10°37'S., to the South
Cape; the southern extremity of the coast,
in the latitude of 43° 39' S., and inland to the
westward, as far as 135° E. long., including
all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean
within the latitudes aforesaid.'' Norfolk
Island was included within the limits of the
boundary marked out by the order in council.
It Avas not then known that Van Diemen's
FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN NEW SOUTH WALES, 1787—1823. 201
Land was an island ; and it continued sub-
ject to New South Wales until an ordei' in
council, dated 14tli June, 1825, declared
Van Diemen's Land independent of New
South Wales, by which Bass' Straits became
the southern limit of the colony.
By the commission issued to captain
Phillip, the first gOA'crnor appointed by the
crown in 1787, full power was given him to
pardon all malefactors sentenced to death
by the court of criminal jurisdiction, which
consisted of a judge- advocate, (captain Col-
lins), and sia^ officers of the sea and land
service, acting under a precept issued by the
governor. No offender could suffer death
unless five members of the court agreed in
the award. The governor was fully em-
powered to make laws for the good govern-
ment of the colony. The act 27 Geo. III.,
c. 2, only authorized his Majesty to establish
a court of criminal jurisdiction ; but, by an
order in council, a civil court was formed,
consisting of the judge-advocate, and two
inhabitants appointed by the governor, who
were to hear and determine, in a summaiy
way, all pleas of lands, houses, debts, con-
tracts, and all personal pleas whatsoever.*
This civil court could examine witnesses on
oath, issue executions under the hand of the
'udge-advocate, and grant probates of wills
md administration of the personal estates of
mtestates dying within the colony. An
appeal lay from this court to the governor,
and from him to the Privy Council if the thing
in demand exceeded the value of .£500.
For several years, the administration of
government and of justice was despotic and
imperfect. Shortly after the foundation of
the settlement, several convicts stated that
the period of their sentence to transportation
had been completed, but it was found im-
possible to ascertain if their statements were
true, as the important documents concerning
the crimes and sentences of the prisoners
had never been sent from England. So
Uttle were even the formalities of jurispru-
dence preserved, that the judge, after hearing
the evidence against a criminal, used to
retire with the military jury to deliberate
upon the verdict in an adjoining room. It
was only on the suggestion of INIr. Bigge,
when commissioner of inquiry, that judge-
advocate Wylde charged the members of
the coxu't in the presence of the prisoner.
The first governors paid little attention to
the law coiu% whose chief, in return, was
tot veiy particular in registering the various
• See Clarke on Colonial Law. London : 1S34.
DTV. II.
orders and proclamations issued, from timo
to time, by the governors, or very strenuous
in requiring them to be obeyed. Governor
Bligh not unfrequently took the adminis-
tration of the criminal law into his own
hands, and punished whom he chose.
Governor Macquarie, of whom INIr. Went-
worth thus speaks — " never was there a more
humane and upright man" — also caused
" three freemen, two convicts, and two
Avomen" to be seized for trespassing on a
particular spot : he ordered, without any
hearing, both fi-eemen and con^dcts to be
flogged with twenty-five to thirty lashes
each, and the women to be imprisoned for
forty-eight hours. These and other proceed-
ings led to an investigation of the state of
the colony under the authority of a royal
commission, and the exertions of Mr. Went-
worth, a lawyer of much popularity at Sydney,
and author of an interesting work on N.S.
Wales and Van Diemen's Land in 1819,
prepared the way for a change in the ad-
ministration of the government and of justice.
On the 13th of October, 1823, his ^Majesty,
under the authoi'ity of an act of paiiiament
(4 Geo. IV. c. 96), issued letters patent
constituting a supreme court with cogni-
zance of all pleas, civil, criminal, or mixed,
and jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever in
New South Wales and its dependencies,
after the manner of his ^Majesty's courts of
King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exche-
quer at Westminster.
In 1823-4, the first step in the progress
of free institutions was made (under the
provisions of the act 4 Geo. IV., c. 96), by
appointing a council to aid the governor;
this council was formed of the officer in
command of the troops, the archdeacon, the
colonial secretary, the treasurer, and attor-
ney-general.
In 1823, an act of Parliament (the 9 Geo.
IV., c. 83, s. 20) declared it to be inexpe-
dient to call a Legislative Assembly for the
colony, and in lieu of one, provided that it
should be lawful for his Majesty under the
sign manual to constitute and appoint a
council of such persons resident in the
colony not exceeding fifteen, nor icss than
ten, as his ^Majesty might be pleased to nomi-
nate and appoint.
Under the authority of this act of the
Imperial Legislature, tlie governor, a\ ith the
conciu-rence of at least two-thirds of the
members, might make laws for the colony,
if not repugnant to the act 9 Geo. IV. c. 83,
or to the charter, or letters patent, or orders
2 B
202 CONSTITUTION ADOPTED FOR NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1842.
in council, or to the laws of England. The
governor to have the initiative in the intro-
duction of all laws to be submitted to dis-
cussion in the council, provided he gave
eight clear days' notice in the public journals,
or by public advertisement (should there be
no jonrnals), of the general objects of the
act proposed to be brought under considera-
tion, unless in case of emergency, when such
notice might be dispensed with.
Any member of the council might request
the governor to introduce a bill for the con-
sideration of the council. If the governor
declined, he was bound to lay his reasons in
writing, together with a copy of the bill,
before the council, and any member, disap-
proving of such refusal, might enter upon
the minutes the grounds of his disapproba-
tion. If a majority of the members dissented
from any bill, and entered the grounds of
their dissent on the minutes of council, the
bill could not become law. Every bill
passed by the council was to be transmitted
within seven days to the supreme court, to be
enrolled, and after fourteen days from the
date of such enrolment, it came into opera-
tion. If the judges represented that such
bill was repugnant to statutes or other public
deeds before cited, it was again brought
under the consideration of the council, and
if again passed, proceeded into operation,
until the pleasure of his Majesty were
known, to whom were to be transmitted the
opinions of the judges, &c. The votes and
proceedings of the Legislative Council were
to be officially published in the newspapers.
The governor and council had the power of
imposing taxes for local purposes. By 3
Geo. IV., c. 96, continued by 9 Geo. IV.,
c. 83, s. 26, the governor was authorized to
impose, on importation into the colony,
duties not exceeding 10^. a gallon on British
or West India spirits, and 15^. on all other
spirits : not exceeding 4s. per lb. on tobacco,
nor 15*. per cent, upon goods, wares, &c.,
not being the growth, produce, or manufac-
ture of the United Kingdom ; and, by 9 Geo.
IV., c. 83, s. 26, the governor was also
empowered to levy a duty upon colonial
spirits, not exceeding that levied on imported
spirits.
In 1842, (30th July), under the act 5 & 6
Victoria, c. 76, a Legislative Council of
thirty-six members Avas created, of whom
onc-thii'd was nominated by the crown, and
two-thirds elected by the colonists, on whom
an elective franchise was conferred, namely,
an estate of freehold in possession in lands
or tenements, situate within the district for
which such franchise is to be exercised, of
the clear value of £200 sterling at the least,
above all charges and incumbrances in any
way affecting the same, or a householder
within such district, occupying a dwelHng-
house of the clear annual value of .£20 ster-
ling money at the least. No person was
thus qualified to vote unless he had arrived
at the full age of twenty-one years, a natural
born or naturahzed subject of the queen ;
and if he had been attainted or convicted of
treason, felony, or infamous offence, within
her Majesty's dominions, unless he had
received a free pardon, or one conditional on
not leaving the colony, or had undergone
the sentence or punishment to which he
had been adjudged for such offence.
Voters to be qualified must have been in
possession of estate, or occupancy of house,
at least six calendar months before the date
of writ for election, and have paid up all
rates and taxes payable by him as owner, in
respect of such estate or house, which shall
have become payable during three calendar
months next before election or registration.
The qualification of elective members of
council was fixed at a legal and equitable
seisui'e of an estate of freehold, for his own
use and benefit, in lands and tenements in
New South Wales, of the vearly value of
£100 sterling, or of the value of £2,000
sterling, above all charges and incumbrances
affecting the same. Under this act, the
legislature then in operation was authorized
to make all necessary provisions for dividing
the colony into convenient electoral districts ;
for issuing, executing, and returning the
necessary writs for such elections ; for deter-
mining the validity of disputed returns, and
other such matters : but it was provided,
that the district of Port Phillip should be
formed by a straight line drawn from Cape
Howe to the nearest source of the river
Murray, and thence along the course of that
river to the eastern boundary of the pro-
vince of South Australia. This district ol
Port Phillip was to retui'n at least five mem-
bers ; the town of Melbourne, in Port Phillip,
one ; and Sydney, New South Wales, two
members. The Legislative Council, when
constituted, had power given them to in-
crease the immber of the members of their
body, and to alter the districts and electoral
divisions, provided the proportion of one-third
members of the council, to be nominated
by her Majesty, be preserved. Not more
than half the number of non-elective mem-
bers of the Legislative Council, appointed by
1 the crown, were to hold any office of emolu-
I ment under the croAvn in New South Wales.
The non-elective members to hold their seats
for five years from the date of appointment,
or until the council, be dissolved. Non-
: attendance for two successive sessions, bank-
j ruptcy, insolvency, being a public defaulter,
con%iction of treason or felony, becoming
a subject or citizen of any foreign power or
powers, or being non compos mentis (of un-
I sound mind), would be causes for declaring a
i seat in the Legislative Council vacant. The
i governor and Legislative Council were, by
1 this act, authorized to make laws for the
I peace, welfare, and good government of the
colony, provided such enactments were not
repugnant to the laws of England, and did
not interfere in any manner with the sale or
other appropriation of the lands belonging to
the cro^Ti in the said colony, or with the
revenues thence arising. The governor might
propose laws to the council ; or amend the
bills passed by the council, when presented
to him for her Majesty's assent; and the
council might, in hke manner, return any bill
in which the governor shall have made any
amendments, with a message, signifying
those of the amendments to which they
agreed, and those to which they disagreed ;
and thereupon the bill was to be taken
and presented for her Majesty's assent,
with the amendments so agreed to. Ine
governor might, in her Majesty's name, give
an assent to bills passed by the council, or
he might withhold it, reserving such bill for
the signification of her Majesty's pleasure
thereon; and all bills affecting the salaries
of the governor, superintendent of Port
Phillip, or the judges, or bills altering or
affecting the duties of customs upon any
goods, wares, or merchandise, or altering
the constitution of the Legislative Council,
shall, in any case, be so reserved, except
temporary bills, which may be assented to
by the governor, by reason of some pubhc
and pressing emergency. All bills assented
to by the governor, to be transmitted to one
of her Majesty's secretaries of state; and
the queen may, by her Majesty's order in
council, within any time during two years
after the receipt of the said bill, declare her
disallowance of it. The taxes, duties, rates,
and imposts levied in the colony, were de-
clared to be appropriated to the public ser-
vice within the colony, by ordinances to be
enacted by the governor, with the advice
and consent of the Legislative Council, nro-
vided the governor should have first recom-
mended to the council to make provision fo'*
such public ser\dce, towards which such
money is appropriated, and subject to the
fixed annual payment of the suras mentioned
in the following schedule : —
Governor £5,000
Superintendent at Port Pliillip .... 1,500
Chief Justice 2,000
Three Puisne Judges 4,500
Salaries of the Attorney and Solicitor-Gene- "1
ral, Crown Solicitors, and contingent and I p^ „^^
miscellaneous expenses of administration f '
of justice throughout the colony . . .J
Colonial Secretary and his department . . 7,000
Colonial Treasurer and his department . . 5,000
Auditor-General and his department . . 3,000
Salary of Clerk, and miscellaneous expenses! j^^^.
of Executive Council J
Pensions 3,000
Public Worship 30,000
These sums might be varied, or altered,
and any sa\dng accruing thereby, might be
appropriated to such purposes connected
with the administration of the government
of the colony as to his Majesty might seem fit.
By clause XLI. of this act, provision
was made for the local goverment of different
parts of the colony, by empowering the gov-
ernor to issue letters patent under the great
seal of the colony of New South Wales, to
incorporate the inhabitants of every county
within the colony, or of such parts of coun-
ties or other divisions as to him shall seem
fit, to form districts for the purposes of this
act ; to constitute in each district of not less
than 7,000 souls, an elective council of not
more than nine members ; if the district
have 7,000 to 10,000 souls not more than
twelve councillors, and so on in proportion
to the number of souls, the maximum being
twenty-one councillors to 20,000 souls. The
district councillors to be persons qualified to
be elected as members of the Legislative
Council; and the district electors to be per-
sons quahfied to vote in the election of mem-
bers of the Legislative Council in the dis-
trict in which the election is made. If dis-
trict councillors were not elected by the
people, the governor might appoint them.
No district councillor to continue in office
more than three years, unless re-elected ; or
to hold any lucrative office vuider such dis-
trict council, or to enter into any contract,
or have pecuniary dealings with such district
council, under certain penalties. The district
council to be presided over by a warden,
appointed and removable by her Majesty or
by the governor ; a competent district sur-
veyor to be appointed, and to be removable by
204;
DISTRICT COUNCILS— DIVISIONS OF EACH IN 1844.
council, subject to approval of governor;
the said sm-veyor to superintend the con-
sti-uction of roads, pubhc works, &c. The
district councils to raise, assess, levy, and
appropriate money in their respective dis-
tricts for making roads, streets, bridges,
consti'ucting or repairing pubhc buildings,
establishing and supporting schools, de-
fraying the expenses of, or connected with,
the administration of justice and police
within the district ; and to direct and control
other matters which may be specially sub-
jected to the control of the said district
councils, by any law of the governor and
Legislative Council of the colony. No fine
or penalty to be imposed by the district
councils exceeding £\0 sterling. No tax to
be le\ied on property belonging to the crown;
and copies of all bye-laws to be laid before
the governor for his assent, and might be
disallowed by him within two calendar
months after the receipt of said copies. By
clause 47 of this act, 5 & 6 Victoria,
it was enacted that one-half of the expense
of the pohce establishment of the colony
(exclusive of the con\dct establishment)
should be defrayed out of the general
revenue arising from taxes, duties, rates,
and imposts levied within the colony, and
the other half to be defrayed by assessment
iipon the several districts of the colony, in
such proportion as should be, from time to
time, fixed by the governor and Legislative
Council. The amount so fixed to be paid
by the treasurers of the several district
councils according to the warrants of the
governor, to whomsoever he may appoint ;
and if the treasurers had not sufficient
money in hand, the district council must
levy a fau' and equal rate upon all property
within the district ; and if this be not done,
a power of distress and sale might be issued
by the governor on the goods of the district
treasurer, members of the said district
council, or inhabitants of the district.
The foregoing are the leading points in
the act 5 & 6 Vict., c. 76. Under it
the Legislative Council was established,
and now holds its annual sittings ; and
Sydney and INIelbourne were created corpo-
rations by charter : they have each a mayor
and court of aldermen, who have exercised
beneficially the duties entrusted to them,
and contributed to the welfare of the inhab-
itants of each city. Soon after the act
5 & 6 Vict, came into operation, the then
governor, Sir G. Gipps, proceeded to issue
charters for the estabhshment of twenty-
nine disti'ict councils, choosing for the boun-
daries the police dirisions rather than those
of the counties ; over each district council a
warden was appointed, and district coun-
cillors were selected from the most influ-
ential and respectable persons resident in
each district. The following is a return,
issued from the siu'veyor-generars office,
dated July 31, 1844, showing the number
of acres contained in each district, for which
a district council is provided, and the extent
of the land ahenated by the crown, in each
respectively : —
District.
Alitvi-
ated.
New South Wales : —
^lacquarie ....
Raymond Terrace and"!
Dungog . . . /
Paterson
Maitland
Patrick's Plains . .
Merton and Muswell-'>
brook . . . . '
Scone and Murrurundi
Cassilis
Mudgee and "Wellington
WolombiandM'Donald
Newcastle ....
Brisbane "Water . .
Sydney
Paramatta ....
AVindsor
Penrith
Liverpool . . . .
Appin and Campbell- "i
town J
Camden, Narellan, andl
Picton . . . . /
Hartley
Bathurst and Carcor .
Yass
Goulbourn ....
Berrima
Illawarra
Bi-aidwood and Broulee
Queanbeyan ....
Port Phillip : — ■
Bourke
Grant
Acres.
116,672
331,159
168,283
145,318
251,784
149,818
237,885
283,051
244,787
97,173
35,868
57,054
58,102
87,169
92,059
129,191
64,008
51,361
129,386
80,647
715,236
146,387
590,714
90,169
137,917
262,060
403,201
156,640
59,854
Unalien-
ated.
Acres.
2,395,321
1,620,728
104,960
108,682
151,500
542,080
841,600
1,198,000
2,035,135
958,827
76,160
300,800
82,631
63,936
429,630
247,898
39,900
82,603
340,000
1,279,882
2,719,858
965,099
955,920
360,676
432.640
1,399,133
806,402
5,027,360
5,412,146
Total.
Acres.
2,512,000
1,951,887
273,243
254,000
403,284
691,898
1,079,485
1,4S 1,051
2,279,922
1,056.000
112,028
357,854
140,733
151,105
521,689
377,089
103,908
133,964
469,386
1,360,529
3,435,094
1,111,486
1,546,634
450,845
570,557
1,661,193
1,209,603
5,184,000
5,472,000
In October, 1843, the Legislative Council
passed a resolution, that it was highly inex-
pedient, even if possible, to cast any portion
of the police expenditure on the country
districts, and that this expenditm-e ought to
be defrayed, as hitherto, out of the general
revenue. The same course was adopted the
ensuing year ; and the governor found him-
self unable to carry out the intentions of
the act 5 & 6 Vict., by the miwillingness
of the colonists to become members of the
district councils. Mr. Deas Thompson, the
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE IN NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1844.
205
experienced secretary to the government of
New South Wales, in a useful analysis of
the proceedings relative to the district
councils, dated 27th March, 1847, says —
" It may not be altogether irrelevant now to inquire
how far the establishment of municipal institutions
in the country districts has been favourably received
by the inhabitants. If we may judge by the result of
the elections in the different districts, the possession
of this privilege is looked upon, at least in a great
many of them, with much indifference — an indif-
ference which appears to have annually increased
since their first establishment. The following sum-
mary, showing the number of members elected, and
nominated by the governor in default of election, to
fill the annual vacancies of one-third, under the
charter, will sufficiently illustrate the truth of this
conclusion : viz. —
1844 . . elected, 67 : nominated, 0 = 67.
1845 . . elected, 51 : nominated, 14 = 65.
1846 . . elected, 38 : nominated, 32 = 70.
" Thus, during the three years in question, there
were 156 persons elected, and forty-six nominated by
the governor. It is also undoubted, that of those
elected, a considerable proportion did not consist of
the persons most eligible for so important a trust, a
great disinclination being understood to prevail
amongst many highly respectable persons to accept the
office. It appears that (with the solitary exception of
the sum of £170, raised by the district council of
Grant) in none of the districts was any revenue what-
ever raised by assessment. In several, debts have been
incurred in payment of the salaries of the officers
appointed by the council ; but the refusal of the
I,egislative Council to grant the additional facilities
necessary to enable these bodies to levy the assess-
ments when made, and the strong opinions expressed
in debate of the risk which would attend their en-
forcement, seem to have entii'ely paralyzed the endea-
vours of the several district councils to exercise their
legitimate powers."
Paramatta was almost the only exception
to the total inactivity which characterized
the district councils. The Legislative Council
would lend no assistance to the executive
government in giving effect to this part of
the constitution of the colony; and, rea-
soning from a connected series of facts on
the subject, ISIr. Thompson thus recapitu-
lates the conclusions at which he arrived : —
" 1st. That district councils have, from the causes
mentioned, entirely failed to answer the object con-
templated in their establishment.
" 2nd. That there is at present only one in active
operation, and this one is sustained only by contri-
butions from the government, and not by assessment
raised under the powers granted to it under the act.
" 3rd. That these institutions, in their present
form, are not adapted to the state of society in this
colony.
" 4th. That so far as the Legislative Council or the
public at large is concerned, they are not regarded in
any favourable light.
" Such are the general conclusions at which I am
forced to arrive, from a full consideration of all the
circumstances I have detailed. I am by no means
prepared to say, however, that, with considerable
modification, they may not be adapted to the peculiar
circumstances of the colony; but this can only be
done by leaving all legislation on the subject to the
local legislature. No doubt, as has been experienced
in other colonies, there may be an indisposition on
the part of the Supreme Legislature to grant to any
other bodies concurrent powers of taxation ; but for
mere local purposes it is scarcely to be apprehended
that this Avould be refused, especially when it would
have the effect of relieving the general treasury from
heavy burdens, which it can ill afford to bear.
In the Port Phillip division of the colony
district councils were established in the
counties or districts of Bourke and Grant.
Mr. Latrobe, the superintendent of Port
Phillip, stated, in September, 1846, that
they had then been in existence four years ;
but it was not in his power " to point out a
single instance or particular, in either case,
in which the object of these establishments
had been attained. There has not (he says)
been one road made or repaired under their
charter; not one school established; not
one public building erected; and not one
farthing raised or appHed to the support of a
district police, or to the administration of
justice."
This summ.ary of the principal facts con-
nected with the district councils, will enable
the reader to understand better the neces-
sity of a new constitution for New South
Wales, and the basis on which it was subse-
quently proposed to found it. Previous to
proceeding chronologically with the legis-
lative history of the colony, it should be
remarked, that the Legislative Council of
twc-thirds elective, and one-third nominated
members, as provided by the act 5 & 6 Vict.,
had worked well, and passed several useful
colonial laws. The distribution of the elec-
tive franchise v/as (according to Mr. Braim),
in 1844, when the population was 130,856,
as follows : —
District.
Sydney ....
Cumberland, County
Camden ....
Northumberland .
Durham ....
Melbourne . . .
Eleven other Districts
Total . . . .
Number of
Electors.
2,823
1,344
386
369
345
691
5,858
2.619
8,477
Number of
Members
returned.
8
16
24
A committee of the Legislative Council in
New South Wales recommended that lease-
holders of and at a rental of £20 per an-
206 SEPARATION OF PORT PHILLIP FROM NEW SOUTH WALES.
uum, or squatters possessed of 200 cattle or
1,000 sheep, should have a vote. During
the last foui- years, the attention of her
Majesty's government has been specially
dii'ccted to a consideration of the govern-
mental state of the Australian colonies, and
to the granting of representative assemblies
to these settlements.
On the 31st July, 1847, Earl Grey, her
Majesty's secretary of state for the colonies,
addressed an able despatch to Sir Charles
Fitzroy, governor of New South Wales, in
which his lordship stated, that her Majesty's
government adopting, in general, the rea-
sonings of Sir G. Gipps (the late governor
of New South Wales), and of the majority
of the executive council, had submitted to
the queen their opinion, that Parliament
should be recommended to impart to her
Majesty the authority necessary for carrying
into eflect the separation of the Port Phillip
district from the rest of the colony of New
South Wales. Earl Grey, in expressing his
own conclusion for the separation of Port
Phillip from New South Wales, remarks,
that it rested mainly on the principle, that
all affairs of merely local concern should be
left to the regulation of the local authorities ;
and proceeds to state, that if local self-
government is necessary for the good of the
whole colony, it is not less necessary for
the good of the several districts of which it
is composed ; and his lordship adds —
" For this reason it was that Parliament provided
for the erection, throughout New South Wales, of
municipal corporations, which should, in various
respects, balance and keep in check the powers of the
Legislative Council. By this method it was sup-
posed that the more remote districts would be able to
exercise their fair share of power, and to enjoy their
proper influence in the general polity of the whole
province. But the result has disappointed this expec-
tation. The municipalities have only a nominal
existence. The Legislative Council has absorbed all
the other powers of the colonial state. The prin-
ciple of self-government in the districts the most
remote from Sydney is therefore acted upon almost
as imperfectly as if the conduct of local aifairs had
remained unaer the same management and insti-
tutions as those which the existing system super-
seded."
The secretary of state then announces the
intention of her Majesty's government to
propose to Parliament some changes in the
existing constitution of New South Wales,
consequent on the separation of the Port
Phillip district. In indicating the general
principles on which it was proposed to legis-
late. Earl Grey stated, that in revising the
constitution of New South Wales, her
Majesty's government was still favourable
to the creation of local authorities, such
as the district councils, especially with a
view to their "being made to bear to the
House of Assembly the relation of con-
stituents and representatives." The des-
patch however, on this point, is vague and
inconclusive. Earl Grey, indeed, expressed
his desire to be relieved of the responsibility
of proposing such a change, by obtaining
" the most complete local intelligence, sup-
ported by the most eminent local autho-
rities." In one paragraph in this despatch,
his lordship expresses a decided feeling in
favour of the establishment of two distinct
houses of legislation : —
" You are aware that, in the older British colonies,
the legislature, as in New South "Wales, is generally
composed partly of nominees of the crown, and partly
of the representatives of the people ; but there is
this important difference between the two systems —
that in the one case the legislature is divided into
two separate houses and chambers ; in the other, the
representatives of the people and the nominees of the
crown form a single body, under the title of the
Legislative Council. It does not appear to me that
the practical working of this last system would by
any means justify the conclusion, that it is an im-
provement upon that which it was formerly the prac-
tice to adopt ; on the contrary, / see many reasons
for belief, that the more ancient system, by which every
tiew law teas submitted to the sejxirate consideration
of two distinct houses, and required their joint consent
for its enactment, teas the best calculated to insure
judicious and j)rudent legislation."
Finally, the secretary of state concludes
with the following sentiment, worthy of his
lordship's high station : — "I need scarcely
add, that it will be a source of the highest
gratification to me, if, under the authority
of Pai'liament, the colonial governments of
Australia can be settled on a basis on which
the colonists may, under the blessing of
Divine Providence, themselves erect insti-
tutions worthy of the empire to which they
belong, and of the people from whom they
are descended."
On the receipt of this despatch, of July 31,
1847, in New South Wales, the governor.
Sir Charles Fitzroy, caused it to be printed
for general circulation; a storm of oppo-
sition was immediately created aga nst the
proposition of perpetuating the district
councils, and of delegating to them the
right of electing representatives to legislate
for the colony.
The colonists considered that it would be
utterly impossible ever to bring those coun-
cils into effective operation ; that the power
and authority with which they were invested
would centre in the governor ; that they
would be virtually deprived of the existing
OBJECTIONS TO CONSTITUTION PROPOSED IN 1847.
207
elective franchise ; that tliere were to be
two legislative houses — one appointed by
the crown, and dependent only on the go-
vernment— the other subservient only to
the district councils, by whom its members
would be elected — so that neither house
would be independent ; and that the making
their colony the subject of a theoretical ex-
periment in legislation was a measure of
which they could never admit the policy or
justice. But there was nothing in the des-
patch of Earl Grey, expi'essed or implied,
to justify the \iolent language used at some
of the public meetings in the colony ; and
from no previous colonial minister had the
colonists met with a larger concession to
liberal principles; the fault — if I may use
the term — lay in the indefinite wording of
the despatch, and the absence of any deter-
mined line of policy on the part of her
Majesty's government.
Among the documents emanating from
the colonists, on this occasion, was a peti-
tion from the magistrates, landholders, and
residents in the district of Picton, county
Camden (New South Wales), to the gover-
nor, Sir Charles Eitzroy, and forwarded by
his excellency to Earl Grey, March 27, 1848
(received August 7, 1848), which sets forth
the objections to the then proposed al-
teration in the constitution of New South
Wales : —
" Your petitioners have learned, with much regret
and dissatisfaction, that it is the intention of her
Majesty's government to alter the present constitution
of the colony, and substitute in its stead a form of
representation totally at variance with all their ideas
of liberty, and utterly repugnant to every British
colonist.
" Your petitioners would respectfully point to their
own district, in order to show that it will be impos-
sible to carry out such a scheme as is detailed in the
despatch of Earl Grey to your excellency. The
district contains an area of nearly 600 square miles,
and the population only numbers 1,200, according to
the last census ; while there is but one village in the
whole district, containing about 120 persons, and
distant only fifty miles from Sydney. By the last
electoral list there appears to be sixty-eight voters,
but the number would be considerably increased if
the franchise was extended to leaseholders.
" Your petitioners would also beg to remark, that
not only would it be impossible to establish district
councils in any shape, but at present there is even a
difficulty in finding properly-qualified persons to act
as local magistrates ; and your petitioners believe
that there are other districts similarly situated in the
colony.
" Your petitioners would particularly call the atten-
tion of your excellency to that part of the despatch
where it is admitted that ' the intention of Parlia-
ment to create local authorities (district councils) lias
hitherto been defeated;' but the fact of such a dan-
gerous and iniquitous power being given to any
government officer, as detailed in clause 49 of the
present Constitutional Act, (5 & 6 Vict., c. 76), is
quite sufficient of itself to account for that part of
the act not having been carried out.* And your
petitioners are convinced, that all future attempts of
this nature will, in like manner, be defeated."
The inhabitants of Windsor (New South
Wales), in a petition to the Queen, in 1848,
in common with all the other addresses to
the sovereign, express the following senti-
ments : —
" We, the undersigned inhabitants of the district
of Windsor, in the colony of New South Wales, beg,
in approaching your Majesty, to express our ardent
and devoted loyalty to your Majesty's person and
government, and our fervent desire that it may be
permitted to you, by Divine Providence, long to sway
the British scepti'e with much prosperity and glory."
After deprecating the changes proposed
in the constitution of New South Wales, as
intimated in the despatch of her Majesty's
secretary of state, under date July 31, 1847,
and addressed to the governor of the colony,
the petitioners thus proceed : —
" As natural born subjects of your Majesty, we
consider ourselves entitled to equal rights and privi-
leges with our fellow-subjects in the United King-
dom ; and we earnestly deprecate the changes alluded
to, as laj'ing the a.xe to the very root of those rights
and privileges, by depriving us of the most valuable
of them — the being present, by immediate represen-
tation, in the Assembly where are enacted the laws
by which we are governed. We are most desirous to
enjoy a constitution as nearly as may be alike to that
of the United Kingdom ; and Ave accordingly think it
due to the colonists, that no measure of magnitude
should be passed at home, afl'ecting the colony,
without their previous assent."
After a protracted debate on the subject
in the Legislative Coimcil of New South
Wales, in April, 1848, the Council recorded
no opinion ; but their views were adverse to
the proposed changes. One of the motions,
and the mode in which it was disposed, as
also a classification of the voters, explains in
some degree the state of parties in the colo-
nial Legislative Council.
Question proposed. — That this committee do agree
to the following resolution : — " That this Council is
dlsjwsecl to vieto favourably the proposition of separ-
utimj the deliberations of the nominees of the crown
from those of the representatives of the peopled — (Mr.
Cowper.)
Question put. — That the word " not" be inserted
before disposed, and the words " but that the cession
of the territorial revenue, or of the Schedules A, B,
and C, to the api)ropriation of this Council, would be
• The clause refers to the power of distress and
sale given to the governor over the goods of the dis-
trict treasurer, district councillors, or district electors,
in the evcr.t of the district not paying the amount
leviable by the governor for the police-rate in the
district.
iOS
N. S. WALES GOVERNOR IN FAVOUR OF TWO CHAMBERS.
fln amendment in the present constitution," after the
word people. — (Mr. Wentworth.) Committee divided :
Ayes, 10.
• Mr. Murray.
Mr. Wentworth
• Captain O'Connell.
• Mr. Bowman.
• Mr. Lord.
• Dr. Eland.
t The Collector of Customs
• Mr. Danger.
• Captain Dumaresq.
Mr. Robinson (Teller.)
Elected, 9 ; official, 1 ;
total, 10.
Original question put.
AyeSy 11.
t Attorney-general.
t Colonial Secretary,
t Colonial Treasurer.
• Mr. Lowe.
\ Mr. Berry.
• Mr. Macarthur.
X Mr. Darvall.
X Mr. Allen.
• Mr. Foster.
t Major-gen.Commanding
• Mr. Cowper (Teller.)
Elected, 4 ; official, 4 ;
nominees, 3; total, 11.
Noes, 11.
+ Major-gen.Commanding
t Colonial Secretary.
X Mr. Allen.
* Mr. Foster.
t Attorney-general.
* Mr. Lowe.
X Mr. Berry.
* Mr. Macarthur.
X Mr. Darvall.
* Mr. Cowper.
t Col. Treasurer (Teller)
Elected, 4 ; official, 4 ;
nominees, 3; total, 11.
Committee divided.
Koes, 10.
* Captain O'Connell.
* Mr. Bowman.
* Mr. "Wentworth.
* Mr. Dangar.
* J.Ir. Lord.
* Dr. Bland.
* Mr. Murray.
* Captain Dumaresq.
\ Collector of Customs.
* Mr. Robinson (Teller.)
Elected 9 ; official, 1 ;
total, 10.
Note. — Those marked thus * are elected ; thus f , official ;
and thus J, nominees.
The governor, in a despatch to her Ma-
jesty's secretary of state (dated 11th August,
1848, received, 19th January, 1849), con-
veying the details of the debate in the Legis-
lative Council, thus expresses his own opin-
ions in favour of two legislative chambers: —
" Your lordship will not fail also to observe that
the main point of difference which led to the result
was the question of the establishment of a Legisla-
tive Council distinct from a Representative Assembly,
and a perusal of the debates which took place on this
question will make your lordship acquainted with the
fact, that the opposition that was raised to the con-
stitution of these two legislative bodies was not
grounded upon any principle of government, but sim-
ply and avowedly upon the assertion that a Legislative
Council interposed between the executive government
and the Representative Assembly would render the
fonner more independent of the latter, and therefore
not so liable to be controlled by the fear of coming
into direct collision with it.
Having thus endeavoured to put your lordship in
possession of the proceedings of the Council as briefly
as was consistent with a clear explanation of them, it
only remains for me to addnuj oicn opuiion, wJiich j's,
I believe, confirmed by that of the 7nost experienced
and unprejudiced persons who have watched the work-
\ ing of the present constitution of this colony, that the
assimilatioyi of the constitution of this colony to that of
the older British colonies, tohere distinct legislative
bodies exist, wotdd be generally considered to be ex-
tremely advantageous to its interests, but that the in-
troduction of the double scheme of election, by mak-
ing the district councils the constituents of the House
of Assembly, v.ould be most unpalatable to the whole
community, and would excite throughout the colony
a resistance which would in all probability render it
inoperative, while it would not fail to create an ill-
feeling towards her ]Mi.jesty's government, which
would not easily be allayed."
The language used by Sir William Deni-
son, the governor of Van Diemen's Island,
in a letter to her Majesty's secretary of
state, dated loth August, 1848, and received
in London, 10th March, 1849, is very con-
clusive on the point expressed by the gover-
nor of New South Wales, and deserves
record ; but his expression as to the charac-
ter of the people, in making wealth their
sole consideration, is far too general and
unqualified a censiu'e on the colonists of
New South Wales ; yet, were it not so, they
would have some excuse, in the absence of
honorary distinctions — of prizes for emula-
tion— and other gratifications, apart from or
contrary to those of self-indulgence.
Sir William Denison, although writing
under the idea that an act providing for a
Representative Assembly in Van Diemen's
Island, might already have been passed by the
Imperial Parliament, nevertheless deemed
it his duty not to vrithhold any information
which might enable the secretary of state " to
form a judgment as to the nature of the
institution best adapted to secure the per-
manent welfare of these colonies."
His excellency thus proceeds : —
" Without, therefore, wishing or presuming to give
an opinion on the general question of the best form
of legislative body, I may say that, under the peculiar
circumstances of these colonies, I should most stren-
uously recommend the adoption of a second or upper
chamber.
" When we consider the elements of which society
here is composed, — when we see the low estimate that
is placed upon everything which can distinguish a
man from his fellows, with the sole exception of
wealth— when we see that even wealth does not lead
to distinction, or open the road to any other ambition
than that of excelling in habits of self-indulgence —
it can hardly be subject of surprise that so few are
found who rise above the general level, or that
those few owe more to the possession of a certain
oratorical facility than to their powers of mind or the
justness of the opinions which they advocate.
" The broad plain of equality, as in America, re-
ceives the whole of the community; and though
there are many who would gladly avail themselves of
any opportunity of raising themselves above the
general level, yet here, as in America, any attempt to
do so would be frustrated by the jealousy of the re-
mainder of the community.
" Yourlordbhip can hardly form an idea of the cha-
racter of the population of these colonies.
" It is usual to assume that colonies are off-shoots
from the parent stocK, containing in themselves the
germs of all the elements of which society in the
mother country is composed.
VAN DIEMEN^S LAND GOVERNOR IN FAVOR OF TWO CHAMBERS. 209
" This can only be said of any colony with many
reservations, but it cannot be said of these colonies
with any appearance of justice or truth.
" There is an essentially democratic spirit which
actuates the large mass of the commimitt/ ; and it is
with the view to check the develojmient of this spirit, of
preventing its coming into operation, that I tvould sug-
gest the formation of an upper chamber.
" The members of this, call it senate or what you
may, will be raised in some measure above the gene-
ral level of society — they will be rendered indepen-
dent of popular blame or approbation — but, being
also free from the suspicion of acting under the con-
trol of the governnient, they will conciliate popular
feeling between the executive and the legislature.
" I do not presume to enter into any detail of the
mode in which such an assembly should be consti-
tuted, further than to express an opinion that the
government should have as little as possible to do in
the nomination or selection of the members.
" There must, of course, be some ex-officio repre-
sentatives of the government in the house. The
bishops of the church of England and Rome might
sit as representatives of the ecclesiastical bodies ; but
as the object with which I advocate the establishment
of a second chamber, is more that of operating
morally upon the body of the community, than of
facilitating generally the operations of the executive
government, I should be loth to recommend the adop-
tion of a plan which might in any way neutralize the
beneficial action of such a body upon the mass of the
people.
" I also think that, in order to render the members
perfectly independent of either the government or
the people, they should be appointed or elected for
life.
" Trusting that your lordship will not be of opinion
that, in offering these suggestions, I have in any way
exceeded the limits imposed upon me by my position
in this colony."
On the 31st of July, 1848, her Majesty's
secretary of state, in a despatch to Sir
Charles Fitzroy, the governor of New South
Wales (which was written before the receipt
of the preceding letters from the governors
of New South Wales and Van Diemen's
Land, or of the petitions or the resolutions
of the Legislative Council of New South
Wales) , says : —
" I collect from the documents now before me, that
the objections most strongly felt throughout the
colony to the views propounded in my despatch, relate
to the project of making the district councils sei've as
constituent bodies to the legislature ; and, though in
a less degree, to the division of the legislature into
an assembly and a council, according to the ordinary
pattern of the governments of those colonies which
derive their free institutions from Great Britain."
It does not appear to me, from the docu-
ments laid before Parliament, that the colo-
nists did object generally to two houses of
legislature, according to the old established
form of colonial government (except in one
instance of comparatively trifling moment) ;
their objection lay to two houses — one
nominated by the crown or governor, and
Div. ir.
the other by district councils — because the
latter would also be under the influence of
the governor.
I cannot but imagine that Earl Grey, in
his sincere wish "not to impose upon the
inhabitants of the colony a form of govern-
ment not, in their judgment, suited to their
wants," did not think it necessary to advise
the carrying of his proposal into execution ;
and considered that the interests of the
colonists would be better served, by leaving
in their own hands the power of establish-
ing two houses of legislature, whenever they
shall have reason to do so. His lordship stated,
in his despatch of 31st July, 1847, that
he concurred in opinion with the governor
of New South Wales, that the division ot
the legislature into council and assembly,
founded, as it is, on long practical expe-
rience, would be a decided improvement
upon the present form of the legislature in
New South Wales ; and, if the general feel-
ing of the colony had responded to it, his
lordship would have had no hesitation in
advising her Majesty's government to lay
before Parliament the measures necessary
to accomplish the change. It being too late
in the session of 1848, to introduce a bill
for the separation of Port Phillip from New
South Wales, and for the granting of Legis-
lative Councils to the other Australian colo-
nies, and for the general regulation of the
aflPairs of the whole of the colonies, the
secretary of state appears to have laid the
subject before a committee of the lords' com-
mittee of the Privy Council, appointed for
the consideration of all matters relating to
trade and plantations, such committe con-
sisting of several cabinet ministers and privy
councillors, accustomed to the discussion of
colonial matters.
On the 1st May, 1849, a court was held at
Buckingham Palace before the queen, when
a report of the lords' committee of the Privy
Council for trade and plantations, was read,
relative to a bill to be introduced into the
Imperial Parliament for the " better govern-
ment of the Australian colonies."
The following is an abstract of the leading
points in the report : — In the ancient pos-
sessions of the British crown, which at pre-
sent form so large a part of the United
States of America, and in all the other
British colonics, whether acquired by the
occupation of vacant territories or by cessions
from foreign powers, there prevailed until
the commencement of the nineteenth century
the almost invariable usage of establishing a
2c
210
PRIVY COUNCIL FAVOURABLE TO TWO CHAMBERS.
local legislature, consistiug of three estates —
that is, of a governor appointed by the
sovereign, of a council nominated by the
sovereign, and of an assembly checked by the
people. During the nineteenth century, the
crown acquired sixteen colonies, in no one of
which has the whole colonial polity of a
governor, council, and assembly been intro-
duced ; it has however been the practice of
parliament to recognize the ancient principle,
and to record the purpose of resuming the
former constitutional practice so soon as the
causes should have ceased to operate, which
in each particular case had forbidden the
immediate observance of it. The pledge has
been redeemed in New South Wales, except
so far as relates to the combination wliich
has taken place there, of the council and
assembly into one legislative house or cham-
ber; and it has been also redeemed with
regard to New Zealand, although pecuhar
circumstances have required a temporary
postponement of the operation in that colony
of the act passed by Parliament for estabhsh-
ing in it a representative legislatui'e.
With regard to South Australia, and to
Van Diemen's Island, (and also to Western
Australia when the settlers shall be able and
willing to sustain from their local revenues
the expense of their own civil government,
which is now proWded annually by a grant
of the Imperial Parliament,) the committee
are of opinion that the time has arrived
when parliament may properly be recom-
mended to institute in each of these colonies
" a legislatm'e in which the representatives
of the people at large should enjoy and
i exercise their constitutional authority ;" and
that on the separation of Port Phillip (which
the committee suggest shoidd be named
Victoria, after her Majesty) a legislature
should also be created in which the repre-
sentatives of the people should exercise their
constitutional authority and influence.
As to the nature of the legislatures to be
established in the several Australian colo-
nies, the committee say —
" If we were approaching the present question
under circumstances which left to us the unfettered
exercise of our own judgment, we should advise that
Parliament should be moved to recur to the ancient
I _ • It is a grave question, and demands serious con-
sideration, whether the crown ought to give up its
rights to the disposal of the waste lands in the
colonies. Those lands, I think, ought to be viewed
as the patrimony of the people of England, and to be
rendered available for the maintenance of her labour-
ing poor, who, unable to obtain remunerative emplov-
ment at home, are desii-ous of seeking, in another
L
constitutional usage, by establishing in each a governor,
a council, and an assembly. For we think it desir-
able that the political institutions of the British colo-
nies should thus be brouyht into the nearest possible
analogy to the constitution of the United Kingdom.
We also think it wise to adhere as closely as possible
to our ancient maxims of government on this subject,
and to the precedents in which those maxims have
been embodied. I'lie experience of centuries has as-
certained the value and the practical efficiency of that
system of colonial polity to which those 7naxims and
precedents afford their sanction. In the absence of
some very clear and urgent reason for breaking up the
ancient uniformity of design in the government of
the colonial dependencies of the crown, it would seem
unwise to depart from that uniformity. And further,
the whole body of constitutional law which deter-
mines the rights and the duties of the dififerent
branches of the ancient colonial governments having,
with the lapse of time, been gradually ascertained and
firmly established, we must regret any innovation
which tends to deprive the Australian colonies of the
great advantage of possessing such a code so well de-
lined and so maturely considered.
" But great as is the weight that we attach to these
considerations, the circumstances under which we
actually approach the question are such as to constrain
us, however reluctantly, to adopt the opinion that the
proposed Act of Parliament should provide for the
establishment in each of the four Australian colonies
of a single house of legislature only ; one-third of
the members of v,-hich should be nominated by your
Maiestv, and the remaining two-thirds elected by the
colonists.
The grounds on which the committee
arrived at this conclusion were, that a single
chamber already legislated for New South
Wales and Port Phillip; that it did not
appear ad\'isable to alter it, and that the
other Australian colonies ought not to have
a difterent legislative system.
They however recommended that the sev-
eral provincial legislatures should ha.e the
power of '• amending then* own constitutions
by resolving either of these single houses into
two houses of legislature, subject to the ap-
proval of the crown; that the governor-
general of Australia should have power to
convene a General Assembly of not less than
twenty nor more than thirty delegates, to be
elected by two or more of the provincial
legislatures, and that this General Assembly
should have full power over the disposing
and proceeds of the croAvn lands in Australia ;
the imposition of custom duties, and other
general subjects."* The whole colonial reve-
nues to be surrendered to the colonists,
and less densely-peopled portion of the empire, the
subsistence and the means of elevation which is
denied them by the over-crowded state of population
in the United Kingdom. It is one thing to lay so
high an upset price on land, as in New South AVales,
as to stop its sale either in the colony or in England ;
it is quite another thing to give up all control, on
the part of the crown, over those lands which have
REDISTRIBUTION OF THE FUNDS FOR RELIGION.
211
except a ci\il list to be settled upon the
crown, of an amount sufficient to defray the
expenses of those services which it woukl be
inexpedient to haA-e to be provided for by
annual votes of the respective legislatui'es ;
and a rcAdsion of the annual appropriation of
the sum of ^30,000 now A^oted from the
revenues of New South Wales and Port
Phillip, for the support of public worship
among the different churches of England,
Scotland and Rome, and the Wesleyan
Society ; the distribution of which is deemed
to be too strongly in favour of the Church oi
England, to be made on the basis of the
following calculations; and the sum to be
increased to £33,560 per annum : —
Voted by Legislative Council, for
In the present undivided colony of New South Wales.
Religious Purposes.
Church of
England.
Church of
Rome.
Church of
Scotland.
Wesleyans.
Total.
Distribution of £30,000 according]
to Census of 1841 (existing ar-[
rangement) j
Distribution of £30,000 according],
to Census of 1846 J
Sums -which, according to the Cen-
sus of 1846, will correspond with
the sum now enjoyed by the >
Church of England, according to
the Census of 1841
£. s. d.
17,581 2 4
15,715 0 0
17,581 0 0
£. s. d.
8,510 14 6
9,333 0 0
10,441 0 0
£. s. d.
3,136 9 11
3,634 0 0
4,066 0 0
£. s. d.
771 13 3
1,316 0 0
1,472 0 0
£
29,998
29,998
33,560
According to the census of 1846, the dis-
tribution would be — New South Wales —
Chm-ch of England, £14,812; Victoria —
£2,769 : ditto, ditto — Cluirch of Rome,
£8,757 and £1,684: ditto, ditto— Church
of Scotland, £2,979 and £1,087: ditto,
ditto— Wesleyans, £1,176 and £296.
The following is the census of the various
religious denominations in 1 841 and 1 846,upon
which the above calculations are founded : —
Years.
Population, 1841
Population, 1846
Church of England.
I Sydney
District.
67,537
79,810
P. Phillip
District.
6,190
14,923
Church of Rome.
Sydney
District.
33,249
47,187
P. Phillip
District.
2,441
9,075
Chuich of Scotland.
Sydney
District.
11,009
16,053
P. Phillip
District.
2,144
5,856
Wesleyans.
Sydney
District.
2,586
6,338
P. Phillip
District.
650
1,597
The report having been approved by the
queen in Council, the secretary of state
proceeded to act on it, and on the 11th of
February, 1850, a bill for the better govern-
ment of her Majesty's Australian colonies,
proposed by her Majesty's ministers, was
brought into parliament ; and the 19th of
February following, this bill was read a
second time. The following is an abstract
of its leading provi-sions : —
1. The district of Port PhiUip to be sepa-
rated from the Sydney or Middle district,
commonly called New South Wales; and,
after separation, to be named Victoria, and
to constitute a separate colony ; and its
boundaries on the north and north-east to
be a straight line drawn from Cape Howe
to the nearest som-ce of the river Murray,
been acquired, in past years, by the valour, skill, and
patriotic spirit of Englishmen. If tlie crown, it.s
ministers, and the legislature of the United Kingdom
declare they are unable to frame a system of repre-
sentative colonial government, and to deal effectively
and thence, by the course of that river, to
the eastern boundary of the colony of South
Australia.
2. That New South Wales and Port Phillip
shall each possess a Legislative Council ; the
number of members in the said councils to
be liable to variation, and to be determined
by the respective governors in council ; and
one-third of the whole number of each coun-
cil to be appointed by the crown or its
representative, the governor of the colony,
and the remaining two-thirds to be elected
by the inhabitants of the colonies, accord-
ing to the electoral districts and franchises
which may be established by the governors
in council.
3. Legislative councils to be established
in South Australia and in Van Diemen's
with the proceeds of the sale of crown lands for the
promotion of emigration, then there is no alternative
but to permit the colonists to construct their own con-
stitution, and to handover to them the vast and valu-
able domains of the crown in their respective territories.
212 PROPOSED CONSTITUTION FOR NEW SOUTH WALES, &c., 1850.
Island; not exceeding in number twenty-four
each; of wliom one-third shall be appointed
by the crown. The electoral districts, the
franchise, the representive qualification, and
the laws for the regulation of the said coun-
cils, to be determined by the colonial councils
or legislatures, when created.
4. A similar legislative council may be
established in Western Austraha, as soon as
its colonists defray such part of the expenses
of the civil establishments as is now defrayed
by parliamentary grant.
5. The governors and Legislative Councils
of New South Wales, Port Phillip, South
Australia, VanDiemen's Island, and Western
Australia have hereby authority to make
laws for the peace, welfare, and good go-
vernment of the said colonies respectively;
and, subject to the pro\dsions of the follow-
ing civil lists, may appropriate to the public
ser\dce the whole of her Majesty's revenue
within such colonies, arising from taxes, du-
ties, rates, and imposts levied on her Majes-
ty's subjects in said colonies : provided that
such law be not repugnant to the law of
England, or interfere in any manner with
the sale or other appropriation of the lands
belonging to the crown within any of the
said colonies, or with the revenues tliAice
arising. The governor must first authorise
the specific appropriation of any sum of
money, before it can be passed by the Legis-
lative Council ; and the money cannot be
lawfully issuable except in pursuance of
warrants under the hand of the governor
of the said colony, directed to the public
treasurer thereof.
The schedules, or civil lists, referred to in
the foreaoinsr are —
New South Wales.
Governor
Chief Justice
Two Puisne Judges
Salaries of the Attorney and Solicitor-Gene-]
ral, Crown Solicitor, and contingent and I
miscellaneous expenses of the administra- (
tion of justice throughout the colony . J
Colonial Secretary, and his department . .
Colonial Treasurer, and his department . .
Auditor-General, and his department . . .
Salary of Clerk, and miscellaneous expenses"!
of Executive Council ....... J
Pensions
Public AVorship
Victoria.
Governor
Judge
Salaries of the Attorney-General and Crown]
Solicitor, and contingent and miscellane- 1
ous expenses of the administration of jus- f
tice throughout the colony J
£5,000
2,000
3,000
19,000
6,500
4,000
3,000
500
2,500
28,000
2,000
1,500
5,000
Colonial Secretary, and his department • . £2,000
Colonial Treasurer, and his department . . 1,500
Auditor-General, and his department . . . 1,100
Salary of Clerk of Executive Council, audi ^^n
miscellaneous expenses J
Pensions 500
Public Worship 6,000
Van Diemen's Land.
Governor 2,000
Chief Justice 1,500
Puisne Judge 1,200
Salaries of Attorney and Solicitor-Gene-]
ral. Crown Solicitor, and contingent and I . „ o^n
miscellaneous expenses of the administra- f '
tion of justice throughout the colony . J
Colonial Secretary, and his department . . 2,800
Colonial Treasurer, and his department . . 1,800
Auditor-General, and his department . . . 1,600
Salary of Clerk of Executive Council, andi -/xq
miscellaneous expenses /
Pensions 2,000
Public Worship 15,000
South Australia.
Governor 2,000
Judge 1,000
Salaries of the Advocate-General and Crown]
Solicitor, and contingent and miscellane- 1 - ^^^
ous expenses of the administration of jus- 1 '
tice throughout the colony J
Colonial Secretary, and his department. , . 2,000
Colonial Treasurer, and his department. . . 1,500
Auditor-General, and his department . . . 1,000
Salary of Clerk of Executive Council, andl ,„p.
miscellaneous expenses J
Pensions —
The schedule, or civil list, for Western Aus-
tralia to be not less in amount than the sum
which may have been last authorized by Par-
liament to defray the charge of the civil
establishment, in the year previous to the
assembling of a Legislative Council.
6. The governors and Legislative Councils
of the several colonies may alter all or any
of the sums mentioned in the foregoing
schedules, and the appropriation of such
sums to the services and purposes therein
stated ; but such alteration cannot take efi'ect
without the signification of her ISIajesty's
pleasure thereon, and any saving which may
accrue from such alteration shall be applied
to such purposes connected with the admin-
istration of the colony, as to her Majesty
shall seem fit.
7. The district councils and the district
police rate to be established by Act 5 & 6
Vict., c. 76, s. 41, in New South Wales, are
avoided, and any letters patent issued under
that Act, are revoked; but the governor
may, upon petition made to him, grant char-
ters under the great seal of the colony, and
the same may take place in the other colo-
nies in Australia.
8. The authority of the crown to disallow
certain laws and ordinances is preserved.
PROPOSED GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. 213
9. The governor and Legislative Councils
may impose and levy import custom duties,
subject to the provisions of this act, and pro-
vided that no new duty be imposed upon
the importation of any article at a higher
rate than that levied upon the produce or
manufacture of another country ; i.e., the
colonies must have no discriminating duties.
10. The colonial legislatures to have full
power to make further provisions for the ad-
ministration of justice ; to define the con-
stitution of their courts of law and equity;
and to regulate the jury law; a supreme
court to be created in the new province of
Victoria.
10. The existing boundaries of New South
AVales and of Victoria may be altered by
an order of the Queen in council ; six months'
notice to be given to either colony which
shall not have petitioned for such alteration;
and her Majesty may, on the petition of the
inhabitants of the territories lying north of
the thirtieth degree of latitude, erect the
said territories into a separate colony.
11. The Legislative Councils of two or
more of the above-named colonies may, by
addresses to the governor- general of Aus-
tralia, require the convocation of a general
assembly, to consist of the governor-general
and a house of delegates, to be elected by
each Legislative Council, in the proportion
of two for each colony, and one additional
member for every 15,000 inhabitants in each
colony; and this general assembly may make
and vary its own constitution, subject to the
confirmation of her Majesty in council.
This general assembly to sit for three years,
and then to be dissolved or prorogued by
the governor-general.
According to the most recent censuses,
the general assembly would be thus formed :
Colony.
Population.
Delegates.
New South Wales . . .
Victoria
South Australia ....
Van Diemen's Island
West Australia (about) . .
155,000
33,000
31,000
46,000
12
4
4
5
3
Total
—
2S
12. The general assembly of delegates
may alter the acts 6 Vict., c. 36, and 9 and 10
Vict., c. 104, /or regulating the sale of waste
lands belonging to the crown in the Australian
colonies, and may make laws for selling, de-
mising, granting licences for occupation of,
or otherwise disposing of the waste lands of
the crown in the colonics represented in such
general assembly; and may impose, levy, and
alter, or repeal duties of customs on the im-
portation of goods into or from all the colo-
nies represented in the general assembly,
subjecting to appropriation to the public
service of such colonics respectively by the
separate legislatures thereof, such portions of
the aggregate revenue as to such general
assemblies may seem meet. The general
assembly of delegates may also create and
define the powers of a general supreme court
of original jurisdiction or of appeal from
the several courts of the respective colonies ;
post-ofiice regulations ; weights and mea-
sures ; roads, canals, or railways traversing
two or more of such colonies ; the erection
and maintenance of lighthouses and beacons ;
the imposition of shipping dues at any port
or harbour within the said colonies ; for the
enactment of laws affecting the colonies
represented on subjects wliich the respective
Legislative Councils shall desire legislation;
for the appropriation of such sums as may
be necessary to the purposes designed by
such legislation, and for the raising of such
sums by an equal per centage on the revenues
of all such colonies. But no duties to be
levied upon articles imported for the supply
of 'her Majesty's land or sea forces ; and no
duties, charges, prohibitions, exemptions, or
privileges to be enacted contrary to or at
variance with any treaty concluded by her
Majesty with any foreign power.
13. The power of general assembly, if
disputed, to be determined by her Majesty
in council.
14. The governors and Legislative Councils,
with the assent of her Majesty in council,
may alter the Constitution of the Legislative
Councils of then* respective colonies ; instead
of a Legislative Council, as before pro\aded,
with one-third nominees of the crown, and
two-thirds elected, they may establish a
council, and a house of representatives, or
other separate legislative houses, and vest in
them the powers and functions of the Legis-
lative Councils for which they may be sub-
stituted. But any bill passed for such
purpose must be reserved for the significa-
tion of her ]\Iajcsty's pleasure thereon, and
be laid before both houses of parliament for
at least thirty days before her Majesty's
pleasure be signified.
15. The crowu may nominate any of the
governors of the Australian colonies governor-
general of Australia.
There can scarcely be a doubt, that both
the report of the committee of the Privy
214
OPINIONS ON COLONIAL POLICY IN 1837 AND 1850.
Council, and the bill foiiuded thereon, and
introduced into parliament on the 11th Feb-
ruary, 1850, have been dictated by the most
hberal principles, and that her INIajesty's
government, in framing them, have sincerely
desired to secm*e to the Australian subjects
of the crown the fullest amount of political
liberty. 13ut granting the highest meed
of praise to the ministers who propose to
secure to Enghshmen, in every British do-
minion, the inestimable blessing of free
institutions; and to extend impartially to
those who occupy even the most di-stant
outposts of the empire, the privileges which
their ancestors have gradually obtained, after
centuries of sacrifice and sti'uggle — it may
be still faii'ly debated, whether the proposed
new constitution for the Austrahan colonists,
or the proposed plan of enabling them to
make or amend their own form of govern-
ment, is the coirrse most likely to conduce
to their ultimate well-being; and fai'ther,
whether such com-se be compatible with
their position as subjects of the British crown.
The question happily inrites discussion, and
that of a nature most hkely to elicit truth,
andprompt to judicious andefl&cient measm-es,
instead of forming the grounds of a mere
party or parliamentary contest. There can
be no difference of opinion as to the necessity
of granting, as soon as may be, local self-
government to the Anglo-Saxon race in
Australia, to the fui'thest extent compatible
with their relation to the sovereign of this
realm. For the weU-being of the Australians
themselves, it is evidently very important,
that whatever form of government be now
granted, it should, at least for some years to
come, be definitely settled by the Imperial
Legislatui'e, and not left to be a standing
bone of contention among conflicting inter-
ests, by which the industrial proceedings of
the colonists would be disturbed, — their
feelings, if not indeed engaged in violent
internecine democratic strife, at least kept in
a state of feverish excitement, their attention
being perpetually directed to the framing of
constitutions which may not be agreed on
for years to come, instead of their whole
energies being engaged in the farther deve-
lopment and improvement of the resources
of the fine country which already bears such
indisputable proofs of their persevering and
well-directed industry.
So far as the opinion of the colonists of
New South Wales can be gathered from
their petitions and recorded opinions, they
object to the abrogation of their present
electoral franchise, by the transfer of theii
votes to electoral colleges or district councils,
by which the elective power would be lodged
iu the hands of small irresponsible bodies,
A\Tio practically would, in many instances,
be nominated by the governor ; and, even
if that were not the case, would be probably
directed by other influences than those of
their constituents. But I cannot find through-
out the official documents any conclusive
expression against the estabhshment of two
houses of legislature, such as now exist in
Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince
Edward Island, Newfoundland, Jamaica, and
other possessions of the crown; and which,
even in Canada, have worked well for the
past ten years. My own opinions on this t
point have long been recorded ; while ad-
vocating the fullest grant of political liberty j
to our colonies consistent with their relation [
to the parent and governing state, I have |
always contended, that the link of political
connection should not depend merely on a
governor representing the crown. In my
work on the Colo?iial Policy of the British
Empire, published in 1837, the opinions I
then and still entertain, are expressed as
follows : —
Centuries of experience have demonstrated the
beneficial practical working of the British constitu-
tion in its three constituent, independent, and yet har-
monizing branches of king, lords, and commons ; and
as far as it is possible, and at suitable periods, I
would wish to see the colonies enjoying similar con-
stitutions ; the governor representing the crown, the
legislative council the lords, and the house of assembly
the commons. It must be gratifying to all friends
of rational freedom to reflect, that England has ever
been foremost in bestowing on her distant settlements
the advantages of her own political institutes, thus
evincing a true sense of justice ; whereas, as Mon-
tesquieu rightly observes, a republic governs its con-
quered provinces with more absolute and intolerable
sway than a monarchy, and its remote possessions
suffer all the evils without enjoying any of the ad-
vantages of monarchical government. "With certain
limitations elsewhere explained, the colonies enjoy
all the advantages of the British constitution, so far
as is compatible with their situation as distant pro-
vinces of an empire. The limitation of exception is,
that the Legislative Council is nominated by the
crown for life, or during the official tenure of those
civil servants who are ex officio entitled to a seat in
the Legislative Council. A question has, however,
been recently raised by a party in Lower Canada,*
as to the advantage of making the Legislative Coun-
cil an elective body, instead of being, as at present,
nominated by the king through the secretary of state.
However desirous I feel for the extension of just
principles, I cannot — looking to the slow progress
* This chapter was written in October, 1836, and
consequently, before the debates on Lower Canada,
relative to an elective Legislative Council, came on
in the British parliament.
NECESSITY OF AN HEREDITARY AND AN ELECTIVE CHAMBER. 215
of rational freedom, and remembering that moral
and mental independence of character are essentially
necessary to the due exercise of the elective franchise
— I cannot desire, either in the mother country or in
her colonies, two elective chambers.
It may be said that the upper house (Legislative
Council,) would be chosen by a higher class of elec-
tors than those who return members to the lower
house, and that, therefore, the popular voice would
be more calmly exercised, and property would have
its due weight in the making of laws for the coun-
try;* but it is impossible to deny that even the higher
classes in England (and how much more so in the
colonies) are, to a certain extent, liable to great ex-
citement, that their will is not always under the
control of their reason, and that in times of political
effervescence they would be almost as subject to the
influence of their stormy passions as their poorer,
though equally honest brethren. Those who have
not mixed in colonial society can have but a faint
idea of the extent to which party feeling on political
subjects arrives ; the animosities thus produced are
of the bitterest nature — poisoning the very core of
society, and destroying even the peace of families.
Now, looking at domestic tranquillity, security of
person, lightness of taxation, and freedom from
oppressive laws, as the great and desirable advan-
tages of political institutes, it would be insanity or
criminality to throw a fu'ebrand into the small com-
munity of a colony, with a pretence of gaining some
Utopian object.
Independently, however, of social considerations, we
have no instance on record of any state long main-
taining its political freedom either under a single
chamber of representatives, or under two elective
chambers, the one folding no control or check over
the other, and both at the mercy of fluctuating popu-
lar favouritism, jealousy, and caprice. Since the aboli-
tion of the hereditary chamber of peers in France,
but few traces of liberty have remained to the
people, and the restoration of an hereditary peerage
is now seriously entreated. The very antagonistic
forces which an hereditary and an elective chamber ex-
ercise, are essential to the preservation of the powers
of both. Gibbon, in reference to the Iloman repub-
lic, correctly observes — " as both the consuls and the
tribunes in their public and private interests were
averse to each other, their mutual conflicts con-
tributed for the most part to strengthen rather than
to destroy the balance of the constitution ; but when
the consular and tribunitian powers were united —
when they were vested for life in a single person —
when the general of the army was at the same time
the minister of the senate, and the representative of
the Iloman people, it was impossible to resist the
exercise, nor was it easy to define the limits, of his
imperial prerogative."!
The United States may be cited, perhaps, as an
example in favour of the adoption of two elective
chambers ; but it should be remembered, that a few
centuries of such government must be experienced,
ere we pronounce authoritatively on a subject which
* !Mr. Labouchere, a gentleman whom I much
respect, stated, in the Canada debate in the House of
Commons on the 8th March, 1837, that the old
American colonies of England had elective legislative
councils ; but it Mill be found that it was the char-
tered and not the crown colonies which had such
assemblies. Adam Smith says, that in three of the
frovernments of the New England colonies, the legis-
lative councils were chosen by the representatives of
inspires with weU-founded alarm, the most honest
and able statesmen, who clearly see with Gibbon,
that in elective monarchies the vacancy of the throne
is a moment big witli danger and mischief. We must
wait and witness the effects of civiHzation, of a dense
population, of adverse interests ; we must watch the
conduct of men who, like Marius and Casar, com-
menced by declaring themselves the protectors of the
people, and ended by subverting the liberties of their
country. Moreover, we should remember that the
United States are a republic, and I do not think
England is disposed to change her hereditary, con-
stitutional monarch for an annual or quinquennial
president.
Let us hear, however, the language of the most
enlightened men of the United States on this im-
portant subject. Judge Story, himself a republican,
in his commentaries on the constitution of the United
States of America, in treating of the senate thus ex-
presses his views on this topic : " Another and most
important advantage arising from this ingredient is,
the great difference which it creates in the elements
of the two branches of the legislature ; which consti-
tutes a great desideratum in every practical division
of legislative power. In fact, this division (as has
been already intimated.) is of little or no intrinsic
value, unless it is so organised, that each can operate
as a real check upon undue and rash legislation. If
each branch is substantially framed upon the same
plan, the advantages of the division are shadowy and
imaginative : the visions and speculations of the brain,
and not the waking thoughts of statesmen or patriots.
It may be safely asserted, that for all the purposes of
liberty, and security of stable laws, and of solid insti-
tutions, of personal rights, and of the protection of
property, a single branch is quite as good as two, if
their composition is the same, and their spirit and
impulses the same. Each will act as the other does;
and each will be led by some common influence of
ambition, or intrigue, or passion, to the same disre-
gard of public interests and the same indifference to
and prostration of private rights. It will only be a
duplication of the evils of oppression and rashness,
with a duplication of obstruction to effective redress.
In this view the organization of the senate becomes
of inestimable value.' Again he says, ' The improba-
bility of sinister combination will always be in pro-
portion to the dissimilarity of the genius of the two
bodies; and therefore every circumstance consistent
with harmony in all proper measures, which points
out a distinct organization of the component mate-
rials of each, is desirable."
Another eminent writer on the constitution of
the United States, the late chancellor Kent, in treat-
ing of the necessity of the powers of government
being placed in separate hands, says : ' The division
of the legislature into two separate and independent
branches is founded on such ol)vious princij)les of
good policy, and is so strongly recommended by the
unequivocal language of experience, that it has ob-
tained the general approbation of the people of this
country. One great object of this separation of the
the people ; in Coiuiecticut and lUiode Island, the
governor was elected by the colonists ; and in some
the revenue officers who collected the taxes were
assessed by the people. Pennsylvania, which was a
proprietary government, was a scene of never-ending
contentions, and the colonists even petitioned the
king to take its affairs under the management of the
crown.
t Decline atid Fall vol i. p. 105.
216
DANGERS OF A SINGLE LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER.
legislatures into two houses acting separately, and 1
with co-ordinate powers, is to destroy the evil effects
of sudden and strong excitement and of precipitate
measures, springing from passion, caprice, prejudice,
personal inriuence, and party intrigue, and which
have been found by sad experience, to exercise a
potent and dangerous sway in tjingle assemblies. A
nasty decision is not so likely to arrive at the solem-
nities of a law when it is to be arrested in its course
and made to undergo the deliberation, and probably
the jealous and critical revision, of another and a
rival body of men, sitting in a different place, and
under better advantages, to avoid the prepossessions
and correct the errors of the other branch. The
legislatures of Pennsylvania and Georgia consisted
originally of a single house.* The instability and
passion which marked their proceedings were very
visible at the time, and the subject of much public
animadversion : and in the subsequent reform of their
constitutions, the people were so sensible of this de-
fect, and of the inconvenience they had suffered from
it, that in both states a senate was introduced. No
portion of the political history of mankind is more
full of instructive lessons on this subject, or contains
more striking proofs of the faction, instability, and
misery of states under the dominion of a single, un-
checked assembly, than those of the Italian republics
of the middle ages, and which arose in great numbers,
and with dazzling but transient splendour, in the
interval between the fall of the western and eastern
empire of the Romans. They were all alike ill-con-
stituted, with a single unbalanced assembly. They
were all alike miserable, and all ended in similar dis-
grace. Many speculative writers and theoretical poli-
ticians about the time of the commencement of the
French revolution, were struck with the simplicity of
a legislature with a single assembly, and concluded
that more than one house was useless and expensive.
This led the elder president Adams to write and pub-
lish his great work, entitled A Defence of the Con-
stitution of Government of the United States, in which
he vindicates with much learning and ability, the
value and necessity of the division of the legislature
into two branches, and of the distribution of the dif-
ferent powers of the government into distinct depart-
ments. He reviewed the history and examined the
construction of all mixed and free governments, which
had ever existed, from the earliest records of time, in
order to deduce with more certainty and force this
great practical truth, that single assemblies without
check or balance, or a government with all authority
collected into one centre, according to the notion of
M.Turgot, were visionary, violent, intriguing, corrupt,
and tyrannical dominations of majorities over minori-
ties, and uniformly and rapidly terminating their
career in a profligate despotism."
Mr. Jefferson, late President of the United States,
in his remarks on the constitution of his native state,
Virginia, says, " All the powers of government, legis-
lative, executive, and judiciary, result to the legisla-
tive body. The concentrating these in the same
hands is precisely the definition of a despotic govern-
ment. It will be no alleviation, that these powers
will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by
a single one. One hundred and seventy-three des-
pots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those
•who doubt it, turn their eyes on the republic of
Venice. An elective despotism is not the government
* Franklin's favourite but mistaken idea was a sin-
gle legislature and a plural executive.
we fought for; but one which should not only be
founded on free principles, but in which the powers
of government should be so divided and balanced
among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one
could transcend their legal limits without being effec-
tually checked and restrained by the others."
With reference, however, to the highly important
consideration of having no check on the irregular
exercise of popular power, the link that binds the
colony to the mother country, so far as government
can do so, would be materially, if not entirely injured
by the substitution of an elective legislative council
for one appointed by the crown through the function-
aries of the state.
A governor, without any control over the two
houses of legislature in a colony, would be reduced
to a political cypher, and the adoption of the elective
principle in a governor would soon take the place
of his nomination by the king ; in fact, the indepen
dence of, and separation from the mother country,
would virtually occur, whether officially announced
or otherwise, the colony thereby deriving all the ad-
vantages of the connection, while the parent state
Avould lose everything which made the possession
valuable to the empire.
It is not necessary to discuss here the relative
advantages of the monarchical or elective principle in
government; as before stated, the former has been
tested by centuries in England, and found conducive
to the greatest portion of happiness that a nation has
yet possessed ; so long, thei'efore, as a colony be
united with Great Britain, it cannot be the desire or
the interest of any practical statesman to alienate or
weaken the just prerogatives and rightful power of
the crown.
It seems to be totally forgotten by those who go
the length of demanding an elective legislative coun-
cil, that there is a wide difference between an impe-
rial and a provincial government ; that the former
must of necessity have a control over the latter, so
long as they maintain towards each other their rela-
tive positions of protecting and protected states.
When the latter has ceased to be a colony, it is, of
course, free to choose its own government, but so
long as it remains in that state it has no right to
ask, much less to demand, from the mother country
democratic institutions which she herself does not
possess, and the granting of which, if she did, would be
fatal to all permanence of political or social connection.
The power held by the crown of appointing for
life the members of the legislative council is, if pro-
perly regulated under the management of the pro-
posed colonial board, of great benefit to the colony ;
it stimulates the wealthy and intelligent colonists to
distinguish themselves, in order that they may attain
the highest rank in their respective countries, and be
deemed worthy tlie approbation of their sovereign.
There is thus an honourable emulation kept up,
which is of the most essential advantage in every
community ; for, as it is finely expressed by Sir Wil-
liam Blackstone (and the remark is as applicable to
a colony as to the parent state), " The distinction of
rank and honour is necessary in every well-governed
state, in order to reward such as are eminent for
their services to the public, in a manner most desir-
able to individuals, and yet without burden to the
community; exciting thereby an ambitious yet laud-
able ardour, and generous emulation in others. And
emulation, or virtuous ambition, is a s])ring of action
Avhich, however dangerous or invidious in a mere
republic, or under a despotic sway, will certainly he
LAWS AND COURTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1850.
317
ttended with good effects under a free monarchy ;
where, without destropng its existence, its excesses
may be continually restrained by that superior power
from which all honour is derived. Such a spirit,
when nationally diffused, gives life and vigour to the
community ; it sets all the wheels of government in
motion, which, under a wise regulator, may be directed
to any beneficial purpose ; and thereby every indi-
vidual may be made subservient to the public good,
while he principally means to promote his own par-
ticulEir views. ^
" A body of nobdity is also more peculiarly neces-
sary in our mixed and compounded constitution, in
order to support the rights of both the crown and
the people, by forming a barrier to withstand the
encroachments of both. It creates and preserves
that gradual scale of dignity, which proceeds from
the peasant to the prince ; rising like a pyramid from
a broad foundation, and diminishing to a point as it
rises. It is this ascending and contracting proportion
that adds stability to any government ; for when the
departure is sudden from one extreme to the other,
we may pronounce that state to be precarious.
" The nobility, therefore, are the pUlars which are
reared from among the people, more immediately to
support the thi'one ; and if that falls, they must be
also buried under its ruins. Accordingly, when in
the last century the Commons had determined to ex-
tirpate monarchy, they also voted the House of Lords
to be useless and dangerous. 'And since titles of
nobility are thus expedient in the state, it is also
expedient that their owners should form an inde-
pendent and separate branch of the legislature. If
they were confounded with the mass of the people,
and, like them, had only a vote in electing represen-
tatives, their privileges would soon be borne down
and overwhelmed by the popular torrent, which
would effectually level all distinctions. It is, there-
fore, highly necessary that the body of nobles should
have a distinct assembly, distinct deliberations, and
distinct powers from the commons."*
The bill for the government of the Aus-
tralian colonies is now (15th March, 1850)
before the Imperial Parliament, where it
will doubtless receive a fair and full dis-
cussion. I have confeiTcd with no member
of the legislature thereon; received no pri-
vate information; and formed mj judgment
solely from the facts published by parha-
ment ; and belie\ing that it is the anxious
desire of the queen, of her Majesty's minis-
ters, and of all parties in both the Houses of
Lords and Commons, to act ^vith a just and
liberal spirit towards the Australian colonies,
I can only venttore to express an earnest
hope, that a measure conducive to the hap-
piness of the colonists, and calculated to
maintain their connection with England,
may be the result of the deliberations of the
Imperial Legislatm-e. [See Supplement.]
Laws and Courts. — The statute laws of
England are in force in the colony, aided by
I cts of Parliament and local enactments by
* The state of France, in 1850, under a single
chamber, is a practical illustration of the dangers
attendant on one Legislative Assembly.
DIV. II.
the governor and Legislative Council. An
Insolvent Debtors' Act is in operation, the
benefit of which may be obtained by an
insolvent a second or third time, if he pay
fifteen shillings in the pound. Any public
officer taking advantage of the provisions of
the Insolvent Act, is, by an order of the
secretary of state, dismissed the service.
The execution of the laws devolves upon
a supi'eme court, presided over by a chief
and two puisne judges, whose powers are as
extensive as those of the courts of King's
Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, at
Westminster. The supreme court is a court
of oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery ; it is
also a coLU't of equity, with all the power,
within its jurisdiction, of the lord high
chancellor of England ; and it is a court of
admiralty for criminal offences, within cer-
tain limits ; it is empowered to grant letters
of administration, and it is an insolvent
debtors' court. From the supreme court an
appeal Hes in all actions, when the sum or
matter at issue exceeds the value of £500,
to the governor or acting governor, who is
directed to hold a court of appeals, from
which a final appeal lies to the Queen in
council. The supreme court is provided
with an attorney and solicitor-general.
There are 36 barristers, and 144 solicitors
practising in the court. The sheriff exer-
cises, by his deputies, the duties of his office
over the whole territory. Circuit courts are
held in different parts of the colony; they
are courts of record, and stand in the same
relation to the supreme court as courts oi
oyer and terminer, and of assize and nisi
prills, in England, do to the king's superior
courts of record at Westminster. Courts of
general and quarter sessions have the same
powers as those of England, and while the
colony was a penal settlement, they might
also take cognizance, in a summary way, of
all crimes not puuishable by death, com-
mitted by convicts whose sentences had not
expired, or had not been remitted.
A rice-admiralty court, presided over by
the chief justice of the supreme court, takes
cognizance of civil cases only, such as .sea-
men's wages, &c. There is an ecclesiastical
com-t for clerical matters; but this cotu't
has no jurisdiction in testamentary affairs,
the charter of justice having empowered the
supreme court to grant letters of adminis-
tration, and direct the distribution of tes-
tators' effects. Courts of requests have been
established under authority 9 Geo. IV., c. 83,
for summarily determining claims not ex-
2 D
218
INEFFECTIVE MILITARY DEFENCES OF SYDNEY.
ceeding .£10 sterling, except the matter in
question relates to the title of any lands,
tenements, or hereditaments, or to the taking
or demanding of any duty payable to her
Majesty, or to any fee of office, annual rents,
or other such matter, where rights in future
would be bound, or to a general right or
duty, and to award costs.* The decision of
the court is final and summary, as in Eng-
land. One commissioner, appointed by the
crown, presides in all the courts of requests
throughout the colony.
Imprisonment for debt was abolished by
the Insolvent Act passed in 1844, on the
grounds: — 1st. That the imprisonment of
the debtor gave a vindictive creditor the
power of depriving other creditors of their
right to benefit by the labour of their
debtor; 2nd. That it drove the debtor,
however much he might wish to devote his
energies to the payment of his obligations,
to seek refuge in the insolvent court. By
the assent of a majority of the creditors, a
debtor under this act may make a voluntary
assignment of his property to the trustees
appointed by the creditors, provided such
assignment be published three times in one
of the Sydney newspapers.
In the earlier stages of the colony, crimi-
nal juries were formed of naval and military
officers, and civil causes were determined
by a judge and two sworn assessors. Now
juries, selected as in England, sit in all civil
and criminal cases. In 1844 a new jury law
was passed by the colonial Legislative Coun-
cil, by which in civil cases there need only
be four jurymen; if, after deliberating four
hours, they cannot arrive at a unanimous
judgment, the opinion of three-fourths may
be taken as conclusive; and if, after delib-
erating twelve hours, the jury of four can-
not agree, a new trial must take place. Mr.
Baker, a lawyer of the Inner Temple, who
visited New South Wales, says that the
" Sydney bar is highly respectable in cha-
racter, and is, certainly, the most numerous,
and perhaps, taken as a whole, the best
English bar out of England ; several of its
members earn from £1,000 to £3,000 a-year,
or more." Mr. Baker fancied himself
" transported to England," on entering the
Supreme Court at Sydney, and seeing three
judges on the bench, the registrar and other
officers at their feet, the attorney-general
and solicitor-general in their silk gowns, the
crowd of " learned" gentlemen behind them;
• These powers are so laid down by Mr. H. W.
Parker, in Mr. Clark's Summary of Col'unial Law.
all, from the judges downwards, duly wigged
and robed, and the attorne3^s, hardly dis-
cernible from amidst the heaps of red and
blue bags, and piles of red-tape bundles, in
which they delight to bury themselves.
Coroners are stationed in diff'erent districts,
and great attention is rightly paid to this
ancient and very important branch of juris-
prudence, ^ere are benches of unpaid
magistrates at Sydney and in all the principal
towns in the colony, aided by civil constables
and a mounted police. There are several
stipendiary magistrates.
Military Defence. — New South Wales
and the other Australian colonies are per-
fectly defenceless against a foreign enemy;
a hostile fleet might enter Sydney Cove,
plunder the merchant shipping in the har-
bour, and lay the capital under contribution,
mthout any effectual resistance being offered,
for the few British troops that are in the
colony are scattered at different outposts,
and there is no militia in existence ; and yet
at a comparatively small cost, the harbour
of Port Jackson, which would hold the entire
fleet of England, might be rendered per-
fectly impregnable, and be made one of the
strongest positions in the world. The
entrance of Port Jackson is formed by two
lofty headlands, distant about one mile and-
a-half from each other, and appear like
gigantic lock-gates within which the noble
haven expands for fifteen miles into numerous
coves, where vessels lie as sheltered as if
they were in the London Docks. On the
north and south heads of Port Jackson,
batteries mounted with sixty-eight pounders
would effectually command the entrance,
across which, in time of war, a chain-boom
might be drawn, supported by buoys. Di-
rectly in front of the entrance is the elevated
George's Head, on which a battery of heavy
guns might also be advantageously placed ;
so that with these three batteries, no hostile
ship, even with a leading wind, could enter
without being destroyed or disabled. There
are several other islets in the harbour where
well-constructed fortresses, and a citadel, with
a few guns well manned, would tend to the
effectual protection of Sydney Cove, and of
the city,- the few batteries now on either
side of the Cove are merely fit for firing
salutes. With the sea entrance well de-
fended, it is not likely that any successful
attempt could be made for the capture of
the city of Sydney, by landing a force on
the north-east shores of Botany Bay, as the
Australians would be enabled to defend
tlieir country on a line of fifteen miles of
broken country, capable of being made very
harassing to an enemy. It would be ad-
visable that the colonists should immediately
set about the defence of Port Jackson ; ap-
propriate annually a moderate sum towards
the construction of batteries at the heads ;
obtain from England heavy-metalled guns,
and boom chains of sufficient length. A
small battalion of colonial artillery should
be organised; and, for this purpose, the
queen would probably permit some of the
most efficient gunners in the royal artillery
to be drafted into the Australian corps. It
is also indispensable to the security of the
Australian colonies, that a militia law be
passed, providing for the embodiment and
training of every man between eighteen and
forty-five years of age, capable of bearing
arms, as is the case in our North American-
provinces, and other colonies. Canada,
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfound-
land, and even Prince Edward Island, have
each an effective militia ; and, in the event
of hostilities with the United States, or any
other country, they could bring immediately
into the field, fully armed and equipped, at
least a quarter of a million of trained sol-
diery. New South Wales, and the other
Australian colonies, under their new consti-
tution, will possess full control over their own
revenue and expenditure; and they cannot
3xpect the people of England to pay, out of
the exchequer of this heavily-taxed country,
jor their fortifications and military defence.
In time of war, England would, without
doubt, send her fleets and troops to every
part of this wide-spread empire ; but her
Dest defence must be the patriotism and
jravery of tlie colonists themselves. During
the American war of 1811-12, the French
and English Canadian militia successfully
resisted the American troops of the line;
and but for the gallant conduct of that
loyal body of British subjects, the regular
regiments of our soldiery would have been
inadequate to the defence of Canada. Thus
must it be with the Australian colonists.
The Imperial Parliament is granting them
perfectly free institutions ; and one of its
necessary conditions must be, the providing
adequately for their own defence against ag-
gression. The number of her Majesty's troops
in the several settlements in Australia, in
Van Diemen's Island, and in New Zealand,
is stated to be about 2,500; but, of these,
nearly a moiety are stationed at New Zea-
land, in consequence of the recent hosti-
lities between the British and the aborigines;
and a large number are employed at Van
Diemen's Island, in guarding the convicts
sent from England; it is unfair, therefore,
to speak of New South Wales being a heavy
charge to the crown for military protection ;
the colonists are quite able to provide their
own internal police, and do not require Bri-
tish soldiers for that purpose. As regards
Victoria or Port Phillip — Melbourne, the
capital, and the harbour of Geelong, have not
a single gun for their protection; Southern
and Western Australia, and Van Diemen's
Island, are also without defensive batteries or
militia ; and no time should be lost by the
colonists in placing their territories in a state
capable, at least, of some protection ; for it
is impossible to say, in the present anomalous
state of Europe, how long England, or any
other country, may enjoy the blessings of
peace. For myself, I hate war ; it engenders
every bad passion in human nature ; and is,
consequently, repugnant to the first principles
of Christianity, while, in a mere economical
sense, it dissipates wealth, destroys industry,
and converts men into mere machines for
the slaughter of each other; but my own
limited experience in the naval and military
service of the crown, has taught me to esti-
mate the value of an effective national
defence, as being, under Providence, the best
security for peace. The nation that would
preserve its independence, in the present im-
perfect state of practical Christianity, must
maintain a standing army and a fleet afloat ;
and this necessity Avill continue until the day
arrive, when " nation shall no longer rise up
against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more." Then, indeed, may we "turn
our swords into pruning-hooks;" but, until
then, Ave must keep them in readiness, though
the less they are used the better.
The number of troops of the line in New
South Wales and Port Phillip, in December,
1848, was — field-officers, 6; officers, 42;
non-commissioned officers and privates,
908 = 1,046. The troops are widely scat-
tered, viz. — at Sydney, and in the forts in
the Harbour, 706; Fort INIacquarie, 12;
Goat Island, 13; Cockatoo Island, 58;
Paramatta (15 miles from Sydney), 29;
Blackheath (66 miles), 48; Newcastle
(75 miles), 28; Moreton Bay (450 miles),
34; Port Phillip (600 miles), 58; attached
to mounted police, 20. The mounted police
consists of 6 officers; 18 scijeants; 13 cor-
porals ; troopers, 74 mounted ; 19 dis
mounted =: 130. [See Supplement.]
220
CHAPTER VI.
REVEXUE A^TD EXPENDITURE OF NEW SOUTH WALES, MONETARY STATE, &c.
For several years, the expenditure required
for the maintenauce of New South Wales,
as a penal settlement, was borne chiefly by
the British exchequer. The committee of
the House of Commons, which sat in
1837-38, on transportatioD, referring to the
cost of New South Wales and of Van Die-
men^s Island, as penal settlements, adduce
the following statement : —
" It has been impossible for your committee to ob-
tain an accurate statement of the total amount of
British funds expended on the two penal colonies since
their foundation, as the accounts have hitherto been
kept principally with a view to their examination and
audit, and not framed so as to afford the statistical
information requii-ed. The sum really expended on
account of the penal colonies, exceeds the subjoined
estimate, which, however, may be considered suffici-
ently to approximate to the ti-ue amount, to give, the
house an idea of what has been the cost of the pun-
ishment of ti"ansportation : —
Cost of the transport of convicts . . . £2,729,790
Disbursements for general, convict, andi . qq, ^gi
colonial services J ' '
Military expenditure 1,632,302
Ordnance 29,846
Total from 1786 to 31st March, 1837, 8,483,519
Deduct premium on Bills, Coins, &c., 507,195
£7,976,324
" The number of con%'icts transported to New South
Wales and Van Diemen's Land up to the end of the
year 1836, were 96,558 ; their conveyance to those
colonies has, therefore, cost about £28 per head on
the average ; and the various expenses consequent
upon their residence and punishment there has been
at least £54 a head, in all more than £82 a head,
how much more it is impossible for your committee
to ascertain.
" The expense entailed upon this country by the
penal colonies, has been, on the average since their
commencement, £156,398 a year; but at present the
annual expenditure is more than treble that amount,
and is rapidly increasing every year. That expendi-
ture can now be ascertained with considerable accu-
racy, as the commissariat accounts have been kept in
an improved form since 1832. It should be remarked
that the estimates for the penal colonies are not voted
in one sum, but are scattered through various portions
of the general estimates ; for instance, the transport
of convicts is defrayed out of the navy estimates ;
the pay of troops, out of the army estimates ; the
mainienance, &c., out of the miscellaneous estimates ;
the various dry stores required, out of the ordnance
estimates, and innumerable sundries are paid out of
the army extraordinaries.
" The following was the expenditure of this coun-
try on account of New South Wales and Van Die-
men's Land in the years 1836-37 : —
New SorxH Wales :—
Ordinaries of the army • £46,801
Commissariat 3,450
Ordnance 12,014
Navy 4,641
Extraordinaries of the army 55,625
Special disbursements for convicts . . . 127.949
Vax Diemen's Land : —
Ordinaries of the army 16,354
Commissariat 2,059
Ordnance 11,625
Navy 515
Extraordinaries of the army 20,867
Special disbursements for conncts . . . 113,083
Transport of convicts 73,030
Total expenditure . . . £488,013
" In 1836 the number of convicts in the two colo-
nies amounted to above 60,000, and in that year the
cost to this country was little more than £6 : 16s. a
head ; in the same year about 5,475 persons were
transported at the expense of about £13 : 6s. a head.
In these estimates of the expense of the system of
transportation, neither the cost of the convict estab-
lishment at Bermuda, nor of the hulks at home, are
included."
It is evident, from the foregoing state-
ment, that without reference to the moral
part of the question of transportation, it is
the cheapest mode of disposing of our crimi-
nals. Including all the heavy charges from
1787 to the close of the war in 1815, it
appears that about 100,000 contacts have
cost less than £8,000,000, or £S0 each.
Taking the average period of sentence at
ten 3'ears for each prisoner, this shews a
charge of about £S a year for each convict,
and during the year 1836, it was only £6 : 16s.
Under the most economical management,
a convict costs, in the Milbank Penitentiary,
England, all things included, £25 a year ;
foiu' times what he would cost the state, if a
proper system of penal colonization were car-
ried into eflect ; and the details in this volume
prove the great amount of moral reformation
which has taken place in New South Wales.
The retention, in the United Kingdom, of
5,000 convicts a-year, would soon prove a
hea\y charge on the home exchequer; and
when the period of their imprisonment is
ftilfilled, what is to become of them ? The
most humane and Christian policy is the
fotindation of settlements like that of New
South Wales.
Revenue. — It is unnecessary to enter
into details of the earlv collections of revenue
REVENUE OF NEW SOUTH WALES FROM 1824 TO 1848.
221
in the colony. The limited number of free
inhabitants, the few exportable products
they possessed for several years, and the
disinclination of the home government to
press heavily on the colonists, prevented any
endeavour to le^^ a large income for even
their local government. The following state-
ment of the revenue of the colony of New
South Wales, from 1824 to 1848, is given
in detail in a Parliamentary paper of 27th
August, 1839, and subsequently from various
returns. (It includes Port Phillip) —
Year.
General Revenue.
From Land.
Total.
1824
£49,191
£279
£49,471
1825
65,733
5,948
71,681
1826
69,478
2,742
72,220
1827
75,495
2,814
79,309
1828
91,306
5,437
96,743
1829
99,475
3,309
102,784
1830
102,743
1,985
104,729
1831
117,447
3,617
121,065
1832
122,163
13,683
135,847
1833
138,469
26,272
164,741
1834
161,960
43,482
205,442
1835
184,268
89,380
2V3,648
1836
198,129
132,396
330,526
1837
226,900
127,866
354,766
1838
220,780
125,729
346,509
1839
252,996
172,273
425,269
1840
332,332
354,060
686,392
1841
370,273
117,120
487,393
1842
371,937
63,149
435,086
1843
" 322,388
47,742
370,130
1844
274,185
44,524
318,709
1845
288,788
69,557
357,345
1846
270,550
76,271
346,821
1847
275,543
122,843
398,386
1848
295,566
105,281
400,847
The general revenue included duties on
spirits imported or distilled in the colony ;
on tobacco imported; five per cent., ad
valorem, on goods imported; fees, fines,
licences, and other miscellaneous items. The
total sum collected during the fourteen years
ending 1837, on these branches of taxation,
was £1,702,762. Of this, the spirits im-
ported yielded £1,051,624; spirits distilled
in colony, £15,364. Tobacco, £133,778;
malt and spirit retail licences, £90,770 ;
five per cent, custom duties, £79,535 ; fees
of pubHc officers, £74,296 ; proceeds of
sales of different things, £48,652 ; tolls,
ferries, and markets, £40,042 ; post-office
coUections (from 1828), £29,988 ; wharfage
dues, £27,581 ; auction duties, £25,410.
The other items were under £20,000. The
total income derived from land, during
the same period, was £460,217 ; of this,
£428,936 were the proceeds of land sold,
and £13,150 quit-rents. The amount of
land sold in the first year of the period, was
£279; in the last year, £120,427. This
statement shows a heavy taxation.
The details of fixed revenue of New South
Wales (not including Port Phillip) for the
year 1847-48, are thus shown :—
Items.
1847.
Duties : —
On spirits imported . . .
Ditto, distilled in colony . .
Tobacco, imported ....
Ad val. on goods imported .
Tonnage on shipping in sup-)
port of water police . i
A^^larfage
Dues : —
Entrance and clearance ofi
vessels i
Light house
Harbour
Post office collections . . .
Auction duty
Licences : —
Auctioneers'
Retail spirits, &:c
Night and day billiard tables
Distillers' and rectifiers ' . .
Hawkers' and pedlars' . .
Rent of tolls and ferries . . .
Assessment on live stock be-i
yond Settled Districts* . /
Fees in public offices ....
Fines of courts of justice, &c. .
Licidental
Ditto
Territorial or Crown : —
Sale of crown lands, and townl
allotments, S:c. . . . /
Quit Rents
Redemption of ditto . .
Licences for depasturing stock ,
within Settled Districts . j"
Ditto beyond ditto ....
To cut timber on crown lands
Rent of quarries ....
Rent of government build-}
ings and premises . . J
Collections for church and-i
school estates . . . . f
Other territorial sources . .
Special receipts and surcharges.
Total revenue and receipts 264,820 267,449
£58,715
14,091
38,915
26,956
627
1,339
696
709
681
14,103
4,834
433
20,615
2,110
75
241
5,331
1,127
9,631
1,510
4,921
751
8,129
824
13,914
2,836
23,821
218
5
91
4,682
249
1,640
1848.
£63,851
9,231
36,089
18,985
695
1,165
807
890
742
14,458
3,249
587
22,999
2,440
75
264
3,972
14,095
9,730
2.505
2,681
4,176
7,036
4,277
147
1,166
26,490
344
10
140
4,116
35
2
The territorial revenue for 1848, in the
colony, including New South Wales and
Port Phillip, was £103,284; and the total
revenue and receipts for the same year, of
the territorial and general taxation and
assessments, &c., was £401,850.
* The assessment on stock depastured on crown
lands, beyond the settled districts of New South
Wales : annually was — every horse, 3^. ; head of
horned cattle, \hd.; each sheep, ^d. Pending the
issue of licenses, under her Majesty's order in council
of 9th March, 1847, £10 for 4,000 sheep and forty
head of cattle, and a proportionate increase for larger
numbers. (Sec next page for other sources of revenue.)
222 DETAILS OF EXPENDITURE IN NEW SOUTH WALES, 1847-8.
The expenditm-e in detail of New South
Wales alone, exclusive of Port Phillip, was —
Items.
1847.
1848.
Civil : —
Governor arid establishment .
£5,561
£5,645
Executive Council ....
488
582
Legislative Council ....
3,327
2,657
Col. Secretary's department .
6,098
6,534
Registrar-General's „
970
1,007
Col. Treasurer's „
3,633
•3,814
Auditor-General's ,.
2,802
2,999
Customs' ,.
11,066
10,747
Chief Ins. of Distilleries..
1,525
1,605
Post Office
12,194
14,707
Post Master's „
3,212
4,369
Col. Architect's „
1,309
1,269
Col. Storekeeper's „
859
1,120
Botanic Garden „
528
891
Government Printer's „
1,546
2,002
Total
55,123
35,593
Judicial : —
Supreme Court department .
8,729
8,995
Crown Law Officers' „
3,520
3,243
Insolvent Estates „
444
506
Courts of Or. Sessions „
2,193
2,223
„ of Requests ,.
2,096
2,270
Sheriffs'
2,788
2,829
Coroners' „
1,706
1,997
Total
21,480
22,067
Police* :—
Sydney City police ....
7,769
7,464
„ Water „ ...
1,182
1,432
Within settled Districts . .
21,387
21,229
Beyond the settled Districts .
5,067
8,365
Mounted police
10.942
9,177
Border ,
1,376
—
Native „
—
227
Total
47,725
47,897
Gaols : —
Sydney
£3,180
£3,466
Country districts
4,336
4,246
Total
7,516
7,713
Medical : —
Health Officer and Med. Board
328
325
Lunatic Asylum
3,044
3,794
Total
3,370
4,119
Clergy and Churches : —
Ch. of England established .
14,401
14,114
Ditto building churches, &c. .
3,411
3,015
Presbyterian established . .
2,101
2,127
Ditto building churches . .
182
400
Wesleyan established . . .
800
662
Roman Catholic established .
5,536
5,780
Ditto building chapels . . .
1,812
3,088
Total
2S,244
29,188
♦ There are 32 police districts in New South Wales.
The police are in number 361. The average expense for this
protection, to each inhabitant, is under 4s. per head.
Items.
Schools : —
Protestant Male Orphan .
„ Female Orphan
Church of England Public
Presbyterian „
Wesleyan „
f Institution for Des--
R. Cath.j titute Children \
(Public Schools . .
Denominational School Board
National ,, ,, .
l^otal
Miscellaneous.
Pensions paid in the colony
Public Institutions :—
Support and medical treat- 1
ment of free paupers . j
In aid of Sydney Dispensary.
Hospital, Paramatta . . .
„ Windsor . .
„ Goulbourn , . .
„ Bathurst . . .
„ Maitland . . .
Mechanics' School of Arts .
Colonial Museum ....
Vaccination
Public buildings and works . .
Witnesses Supreme Court . .
„ Quarter Sessions . .
Travelling expenses, judges, &c.
Advances to Col. Agent General
„ towards new Mil. Barracks .
„ on account Gov. New Zealand
„ South Australia ....
„ Van Diemen's Island . . .
„ Madras
Revenue and receipts returned .
All other disbursements . . .
Total
1847.
1,471
1,268
4.032
1,921
549
1,168
1,846
12,258
1848.
1,489
1,603
3,991
1,736
570
1,264
1,784
137
4
12,582
576
Arrears of previous years
Gross total, Sydney district
244,541 252,638
593
548
903
627
763
—
37
141
174
208
198
139
69
188
234
200
200
300
300
75
100
31,781
33,755
1,806
2,210
903
1,213
850
802
16,085
17,886
8,250
—
153
2,304
—
299
—
50
—
36
3,282
3,723
2,352
2,347
68,473
68,196
349
917
Licences. — Annual : auctioneers, for all
the colony, £15; for a police district, only
£2 ; publicans, general, £30 ; wine and
beer only, £10; bilHard table, £10; to
keep open after nine o'clock at night, £10 ;
packet licence, for wines, &c., £2; confec-
tioners, for ginger and spruce beer, £1 ,
distilling, £50 ; rectifying and compounding,
£25 ; hawkers and pedlars, £1 ; stage car-
riage, 55. ; carters, 2s. 6c?. ; porters and
boatmen, 55. each.
To cut timber on vacant crown lands,
annually, £2, except cedar, which is £4.
The tolls and ferries in the colony are
numerous, and the rates levied about the
same as in England. The rate of customs
duties is stated under Commerce. There is
an extensive list of fees, which are exacted in
MILITARY AND CONVICT EXPENDITURE, N. S. WALES.
223
the different public offices in the colony,
civil and ecclesiastical, and carried to the
credit of the public revenue.
Auction duty. — Ten shillings on every hun-
dred pounds sterling of the purchase-money.
Postage of letters. — Weighing less than
half-an-ounce, not exceeding fifteen miles,
4c?. ; twenty, 5c?. ; thirty, Qd. ; fifty, Id. ;
eighty, 8c?. ; one hundred and twenty, 9c?. ;
one hundred and seventy, 10c?. ; two hun-
dred and thirty, lie?.; three hundred, 1^. ;
for every hundred miles above three hun-
dred, \d. By sea, from one part to another
of the colony, 4c?. ; colonial newspapers,
within the colony, for seven days, trans-
mitted once as a single letter. Ship letters,
for receipt or despatch, in addition to inland
postage, 3c?., 6rf., 9c?., or 1^., quadruple.
Total— in
1847.
1848.
Expenses
Kevenue and receipts . .
£558,891
534,594
£583,088
551,246
The commissariat department in N.S.W
Paid for Military service in 1848 .... £45,326
„ Ordnance ditto .... 10,783
Total militarv service
£70,716
Convict service 14,651
Not connected with the colony : —
Army, pensions, &c £8,608
Commissariat, pay and pension .... 625
Navy 10,224
Van Diemen's Island 32,506
New Zealand 83,776
North Australia 2,490
East India Company, advances to . . . 142
Excise 9
Irish government, police, pensions ... Ill
Total, not connected with the colony, £138,491
The expenses on account of 4,015 con-
victs in New South Wales, defrayed from the
military chest, Avas £14,651.
In September, 1849, the governor of New
South Wales had remitted to the lords of
her Majesty's treasury £180,000, to pay the
passage of emigrants from the United King-
dom during the year 1847-8. Of this sum,
£100,000 was authorized to be raised in the
colony, by the issue of debentures, secured
on the territorial revenue of the colony. The
debentures were issued in sums of £100 each,
bearing interest at the rate of 2>\d. per diem,
or £4 185. \^\d. per cent, per annum. They
would be received as cash in payment for
crown lands, but otherwise be redeemable at
par within three years, at the option of the
government, or within five years, at the
option of the holder of a debenture.
The sums paid from the colonial treasury
of New South Wales on account of immi-
gration and quarantine, from 1832 to 1847,
have been very large : —
Immigrants brought into")
the colony . . . . j
Passages of clergymen,")
missionaries, and others/
Superintendence, mainte--)
nance, lodging, &c.,after '
arrival in colony . . J
Quarantine
Total ....
1832—47.
£974,970
11,760
35,746
23,068
1,045,544
1848.
£105,026
4,145
793
109,965
Total.
£1,079,996
11,760
39,892
23,861
1,155,510
This statement does not include the sum
of £25,684, paid as interest on land and
immigration debentures, issued to the extent
of £149,700, of which the whole has been
paid off. [Latest returns in Supplement.]
Banking. — Monetary system. — Previous
to 1817, the circulating medium of the
colony consisted principally of the private
notes of merchants, traders, shopkeepers,
and publicans, the amount being sometimes
so low as sixpence. To remedy the e\il3
attendant on such a state of things, the
bank of New South Wales was, in 1817,
incorporated by a charter under the seal of
the colony, with a capital stock of £20,000
sterling, raised in shares of £100 each.
The amount of shares subscribed was
£12,600, and notes were issued by the bank
for 25. Qd., OS., \0s., £1, and £5. In the
first year of its incorporation, the bills dis-
counted by the bank amounted to only
£12,193; in 1818 they rose to £81,672;
in 1819 to £107,256; demonstrating the
necessity that had existed for such an estab-
lishment, and the advantage and convenience
that was found to result from it. Interest
was not uncommon at the rate of ten per
cent, per annum. The dividends declared
in 1818 were at the rate of twelve per cent. ;
for 1819, twenty-one per cent. ; for 1820
and 1821, twelve per cent. ; and for 1822,
fifteen per cent. The charter was granted
for seven years, which was of course re-
newed. Each shareholder v,as responsible
for the whole of the proceedings of the
bank, thus giving greater stability to the
institution, and securing a more careful
management of its transactions. The bank
seldom advances money upon real securities
of any description, nor does it grant cash
credits, or allow any interest upon current
accounts, or permanent lodgments of cash.
The capital of the bank of New Soucb
Wales was originally about £150,000, di-
vided into 1,500 shares of £100 each,
and the aiaouut of capital paid up about
£35,000. The affaii's of the institution
are managed by a president and eleven
directors, elected by the shareholders. Every
£50 paid up gives a vote. In examining
the proceedings of the bank in 1836, I
noticed a remarkable fact, namely — that the
estabUshmeut has never sustained any actual
losses through the non-payment of the
paper which it has discounted. Whether
it has since sustained any losses, I am
unable to say. Up to the year 1824, the
bank discounted at the rate of eight per
cent., after which the rate of discount was
increased to ten per cent. The colonial
government pays and receives in specie only;
and in consequence of its receipts, from the
customs, duties, sales, and leases of land,
and other sources of revenue, having con-
siderably exceeded the amount of its dis-
bursements, it has frequently withdrawn
from circulation nearly all the specie in the
colony. In consequence of this, and the
remittances occasionally made of specie to
Canton and other places, with which a trade
is carried on by the colonists, the bank of
New South Wales, though far more than
solvent, has more than once been under
the necessity of suspending the payment of
specie on demand. It is a fact, highly cre-
ditable to the bank and to the colonists in
general, that when, owing to the severe
drought during the panic which occurred in
1826, and which continued for three years
with little intermission, there were bills to
the amount of £18,000 over-due to the
bank, while the whole capital did not, at
that time, exceed £22,000. The confidence
of the public was so great, that, by prudent
management, not a sixpence of the over-due
bills was lost, and the bank continued to
pay a dividend all the time of from fifteen
to twenty per cent. The reliance of the
colonists on the stability and integrity of the
establishment was so entire, that instead of
any run being occasioned on the bank, the
inhabitants, on the contrary, with one accord,
poured into its coffers all the specie they
could collect, and, by refraining from de-
manding it as much as possible, soon enabled
the directors to resume cash payments. The
bank issues notes from £1 to £20 and up-
wards. The capital at present paid up is
about £125,000.
In 1836, a second bank was established
at Sydney, termed the Bank of Australia,
with a capital of £220,000. The Bank of
New South Wales was established, and largely
supported by the emancipists ; and the Bank
of Australia by those colonists who arrived
free in the country, and who acquired the
title of exclusionists. For some years this
new institution was highly prosperous, and
it seemed to be a powerful rival to the other
establishment. The yearly dividend varied
from twelve to fifteen and twenty per cent. ;
but, in the disastrous period of 1842-3, the
Bank of Australia became deeply involved,
and largely indebted to the metropolitan
Bank of Australasia : it has, consequently,
become necessary, together with the Sydney
Bank, to wind up aftan-s.
In May, 1835, a London company was
incorporated by royal charter, and called the
Bank of Australasia, with a large capital,
for the pui'pose of establishing banks of
issue and deposit in New South Wales, Van
Diemen^s Land, and other settlements in
Australasia. One-half of the company^s
then capital (£200,000) was required to be
paid up before the commencement of busi-
ness, and the entire capital within two years.
The stock was divided into 5,000 shares
of £40 each (500 of which were reserved
for allotment in the colonies), to be paid up
as follows: — £10 per share at the time of
subscribing ; £7 at three months from that
date ; £6 at six months ; £3 at nine months;
£4 at twelve months ; £5 at fifteen months ;
and £5 at eighteen months. The manage-
ment of the company's aflPairs is vested in
the London board of directors, appointed by
the proprietors ; and the banks in the colo-
nies are conducted by local directors, and
other persons duly qualified, appointed by
the London directors. The paid up capital
of this bank is now £900,000. Its manager
in New South Wales unfortunately allowed
the Bank of Australia to become largely
indebted to its Sydney branch, and, for
some time, no dividend has been declared.
The verdict of the courts of law in England
has established the validity of its claims on
the Bank of Australia. The prosperity of
the colony is reviving; and it is probable
the shareholders will soon be in the period-
ical receipt of a fair dividend. This estab-
lishment has branches in New South Wales,
Port PhiUip, South AustraHa, and Van Die-
men's Island.
The Union Bank of Australia was estab-
lished in London in 1837, with a capital of
£1,000,000. The institution was at once so
favourably viewed, that the whole of its
shares were taken as soon as issued, without
UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA.— N. S. WALES SAVINGS' BANKS. 2.25
having beeu offered for sale by advertise-
ment ; and althougli the Liability of each
proprietor was not limited by a royal charter.
Business was commenced by a junction with
the Tamar Bank at Launceston^ Van Die-
men's Land ; a branch was next opened at
Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land ; then at
Sydney, New South Wales; next at Mel-
bom*ne, Port Phillip ; and subsequently at
New Zealand, and in other parts of Aus-
iralasia. The number of branches is now
ten; they are managed, as are those of the
Bank of Australasia, by an excellent board
of directors in London, with boards of local
directors in the colonies.
This institution has been admirably con-
ducted from its commencement; the divi-
dends paid annually have ranged from six
per cent, to ten, the average of the whole
period has been eight per cent. The bank
has now a paid up capital of ^6820,000, and
a subscribed capital of £1,000,000. Through
this excellent institution, as also through
the Bank of Australasia, money may be
safely and economically transmitted from
England to any part of Australia, and vice
versa.
The Commercial Bank at Sydney, New
South Wales, is a modern establishment.
It has a capital of £73,000 paid up. By
prudence it withstood the recent commercial
crisis, and pays a dividend of ten per cent,
per annum.
An Australian Trust Company, has been
estabhshed in London by royal charter, with
a capital of c€l,000,000; I believe it operates
principally by making advances on land,
stock, &c. ; its proceedings do not therefore
appear among the banking retm-ns ; neither
does the Scottish Australian Investment Com-
pany, Avhose funds are employed in advances
in Australia. For the last few years the ope-
rations of such institutions must have been
very difficult, but when the colonial depres-
sion passes away, the field for investment is
large, lucrative, and, judiciously conducted,
perfectly safe. [See Supplement.]
Savings' Banks are established in different
parts of the colony. The deposits in them
in Febi'uary, 1849, were, at Sydney, by
3,606 depositors, £142,104; Windsor, 88
depositors, £2,496; Paramatta, 115 depo-
sitors, £2,287; Maitland, 89 depositors,
£2,500; Bathurst, 78 depositors, £3,077;
Penrith, four depositors, £120. The total
deposits, including other sums, was £1 72,638
The coin in the colony, in proportion tc
the population, was per head in 1836, £5 9*.,
in 1837, £5; in 1838, £5 6*.; in 1839,
£4 105.; in 1840, '41, '42, £3. This ex-
plains the commercial crisis of 1841-2.
The following is a general abstract of the
sworn retiu-ns, rendered pursuant to the act
of Council, 4tli Victoria, No. 13, of the ave-
rage assets and liabilities, and of the capita!
and profits of the undermentioned banks of
the colony of New South Wales, for the
quarter ending 31st ]\Iarch, 1849 : —
Liabilities, Assets, Capital, &c.
Liabilities : —
Notes in circulation . .
Bills in circulation .
Balances due to other banks
Deposits
Total liabilities ....
Assets : —
Coin
Landed property . . . .
Notes and bills of other bank-;
Balances due from other bank;
Notes and bills discounted,
and all other debts due to
the banks
Total Assets
Capital and Profits : —
Capital paid up
Rate per annum of last di-
vidend
Amount of dividend . . .
Amount of reserved profits
after paying dividend .
New South
Wales.
£34,519
225,767
260,286
157,564
12,570
5,599
225,793
401,528
125,283
8 per cent.
5,011
17,150
Commercial.
Australasia.
£31,226
152,735
183,961
90,958
3.600
47
12,772
152,566
259,945
72,955
10 per cent.
3,237
993
£79,560
13,117
354,781
447,459
146,774
1 5,820
1,376
779,240
943,212
900,000
Nil.
53,451
Union
of Australia.
£90,369
7,803
212
412,070
510,455
245,610
27,018
3,022
467,159
742,810
820,000
6 per cent.
25,317
77,930
Total.
£235,675
20,921
212
1,145,354
1,402,163
040,908
59.009
1,424
21,393
1,624,760
2,347,497
1,918,238
33,566
149,526
Note. — Out of reserved profits of
holders ; and a bonus of os. per share
DIV. II.
the N. S. Wales Bank, a bonus of 5 per cent, was, at the same time, paid to Sh.ire.
, oqiial to 2 per cent, was also paid by the Union Bank of Australia.
2 E
226
COIN IN NEW SOUTH WALES FROM 1837 TO ]848.
The quantity of coin in the colony for
twelve years is thus shewn ; it is to be ob-
served that the local government deposits its
treasure among the several banks, which will
account for the small sum in the colonial
treasmy.
Coin in the Colonial Treasury, the Military Chest, a?id
the several Banks, on 81st December in each year
from 1837 to 1848, inclusive.
Year.
Colonial
Treasury.
Military
Chest.
Banks.
Total.
1837
£245,250
£182.182
£427.432
1838
163,000
—
357,127
520,127
1839
124.100
—
391,969
516,069
1840
38:900
£49,151
309.529
397,581
1841
25,000
10,000
427,624
462,624
1842
—
32,409
442,980
475,389
1843
_
3,000
420,972
423,972
1844
—
11,000
548,923
559,923
1845
20,000
54,315
780,850
855,166
1846
25,000
121.173
681,132
827,306
1847
30,600
30,056
573,529
634.186
1848
20,600
15,082
598,121
633,803
Of the whole coin, probably not j£50,000
is in active cii'culation, which, added to about
£150^000 bank notes in active circulation,
will not give of paper and gold one pound
per head annually for the circulating medium
of the colony ; whereas it ought at the least
be five times that amount to facilitate the
transfer of property, which takes place yearly
to the amount of several millions. The sales
by auction alone were in 1 850 more than
one million sterling annually, and this de-
scription of business has largely increased, as
shewn in the following table : —
Auction Duty paid into the Colonial Treasury of New
South Wales {including the District of Port Phillip)
from the year 1834 to 1848, inclusive.
Year.
Amount of Dutj-.
Amount of Sales.
1834
£2,327
£155.156
1835
3,135
209,053
1836
4,697
313,171
1837
4,820
321,346
1838
6,137
409,166
1839
7,700
513,388
1840
18,701
1,246,742
1841
14,455
963,696
1842
10,291
686,088
1843
6,818
454,565
1844
4,662
310,831
1845
6,068
404,542
1846
6,217
414,490
1847
7,061
470,781
1848
4,551
787,800
Note.— Yrora 1st Januarj-, 18iS, the duty was reduced
from 30s. to 10s. per cent., by Act of Council, 11th Victoria,
Js'o 16, but was made chargeable on all sales effected by
licensed auctioneers by private bargain as well as by auction.
The amount of British coin in New South
Wales on the 31st of December, 1848, was — •
In colonial treasury, £20,600; military
chest, £15,082. Banks — New South AVales,
£176,430; commercial, £79,724; Austral-
Asia, £137,887; Union, £.204,078; in thehands
of private individuals, supposed £20,000.
Total, £653,803, Paper currency in circu-
lation : Banks — New South Wales, £31,716;
commercial, £25,601; Australasia, £74,292;
Union, £74,194. Total, £.205,803. This
may be considered a sound state, when there
is only £205,803 paper note cii-culation
against £654,803 in coin. Such an amount
of circulation is, however, far too small for
the healthy business of the colony.
At the period of the commercial difficul-
ties, in 1842-3, the local legislature passed
a law " to give a preferable lien on wool,
from season to season, and to make mort-
gages of sheep, cattle, and horses vahd
without delivery to the mortgagee." This
law, as regards live stock, was based on the
principle that had been adopted for more
than a centmy in the West Indies, where
slaves were made real estate, and were
literally walking freeholds, subject to all
the incidents of freehold property. Al-
though, in this respect, opposed to the spi-
rit of the British laws, the colonial Legis-
lative Council, after two years^ trial of the
act, finding it beneficial to the colonists, re-
commended its continuance ; and as live
stock could not carry on its backs the mu-
niments or title deeds belonging to rea;l
property, an efiicient registry of all trans-
actions respecting them was adopted. The
annexed shows the amount of mortgages
since 1843. (This return does not include
the Port Phillip district). In a state-
ment of the registrar-general, dated Sydney,
30th January, 1847, it is remarked that, in
the return of the number of sheep and
amount of money advanced under the Lien
Act, it would appear as if an additional sum
was advanced each subsequent year upon
that mentioned to have been advanced the
year previous. It must, however, be borne
in mind that as the Lien Act only autho-
rises an advance to be made on the ensuing
clip of wool, the liens are renewable every
year, and that consequently the same sheep
and money may be included in one year as
that mentioned for the previous year. The
same remark may also apply to the mort-
gages of sheep, cattle, and horses, as the
mortgages are generally made redeemable a
twelvemonth from the date thereof.
MORTGAGES ON LIVE STOCK, AND ON A^'OOL, 1837 TO 1848. 227
In the return of the amount secured by
mortgages of real estate, however, the repay-
ment of the amount is upon an average
required to be made every three or four
years, consequently in the return under
this head the same money may have been
relent and rcsecured thrice within ten
years.
Number and amount of preferable Liens on Wool, and of Mortqa(/es on
Live Stock,
registered at Sydney.
Liens and Mortgages.
1843.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
Preferable liens on wool : —
Number of liens
Number of sheep
Amount of liens ....
Mortgages on live stock : —
Number of mortgages . . .
Number of sheep
Number of cattle
Number of horses
Amount lent
54
318,739
£30,664
96
397,995
44,430
903
£178,567
139
837,997
57,733
226
694,381
81,679
2,158
241,727
125
657,989
55,865
152
464,713
49,131
1,568
132,355
149
813.951
71,351
146
491,518
42,870
1,070
150,733
199
1,095,402
107,447
168
623,257
45,578
1,110
137,856
240
1,378.180
108,892
205
1,118,762
84,411
2,056
219,756
There are no usury laws in New South
Wales. The Legislative Council recently
proposed to reduce the legal rate of interest
to not more than eight per cent. ; but her
Majesty's government rejected the proposi-
tion. It is not possible to state acciu-ately,
therefore, at what rates money is lent on
wool and live stock, nor on mortgages of
land; but the range is about eight to ten,
or even twelve, per cent.
Return of the tmmber and amount of Mortgages on Land in the colony of New South Wales, registered at
Sydney, from the year 1837 to 1846, inclusive.
Year.
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
I 1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
Lent on Town Lands.
Lent on Country Lands.
No. of
Mortgages.
145
139
159
155
241
238
246
192
135
146
156
196
Amount.
£108,860
59,702
112,835
112,158
266,944
282,659
275,386
94,400
111,659
64,856
81,516
110,501
No. of
Mortgages.
130
207
213
281
417
333
285
252
152
148
149
103
Amount.
£102,817
174,388
189,447
355,224
643,111
384,566
333,487
144,352
107,585
86,726
82,605
70,572
Lent on Town and
Country Lands.
No. of
Mortgages.
11
10
11
23
51
54
51
50
31
14
15
Amount.
£19,336
14,801
46,534
47,358
188,685
157,186
446,707
61,065
53,577
18,792
16,432
21,572
Total.
No. of
Mortgages.
Amount.
286
356
383
459
709
625
582
494
318
308
320
307
£231,014
248,891
348,818
514,741
1,098,741
824,412
1.055,580
299.818
272,822
170,374
180,554
202,646
The colonists are not, certainly, largely
in debt, either to capitalists or to the bank ;
and there appears fair grounds for assuming
that their mercantile affairs are now in a
sound and prosperous state.
Public Companies. — There are several
institutions in New South AYales connected
with the commercial affairs of the colony.
The Australian Agricultural Company was
formed in London, by royal charter, in 1824.
The design of the projectors was —
1st. — The breeding of horses, on an extensive scale,
for sale in New South Wales and in India.
2nd. — The breeding of cattle and other live stock,
the raising of corn, tobacco, &c., for the supply of
residents in the colony, and the manufacture of salt.
3rd. — The introduction, at a future period, of wine,
olive oil, hemp, flax, silk, opium, &c., as articles of
export, and the raising of coal at Newcastle, N.S.W.
about 250,000 acres.
„ 310,000 „
„ 440,000 „
To enable the company to carry their ob-
jects into effect, a grant of 1,000,000 acres
of land was made to them in fee simple by
his Majesty's government. This grant has
been selected in three locations, y\z. —
At Liverpool Plains
Peel's River . . .
Port Stephens . .
Of this territory, the company have the
power of leasing or selling 500,000 acres,
after the expiration of five years, provided
the sum of .€100,000 shall have been ex-
pended on the land, in the formation of
r"^ads, the erection of buildings, clearing,
cuMvating, fencing, draining, or other im-
provements ; and also of alienating any
portion of the remaining 500,000 acres, by
licence from his Majesty's secretary of state.
228
STATE OF AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY.
On the 31st of ]Marc]i, 1834, the total
number of sheep belonging to the company-
were — French Merino, 4,940; Saxon ^Merino,
2,866; Anglo-lMerino, 1,552; improved colo-
nial, 27,254 : — total of sheep, 36,615. Of
horses, thorough-bred and Cleveland, and the
produce of those breeds, 197; colonial ditto,
129 ; "Welsh and Timor ponies, and their pro-
duce, 58: total, 384. Of cattle, Dui-ham,
23; improved colonial, 330; Scotch, 51;
improved colonial, 867; colonial, 1,305;
working oxen, 227 : total, 2,803.
The following is a return of the stock of
horses, horned cattle, and sheep of the Aus-
tralian Agricultural Company, at periods of
five years from the establishment of the com-
pany to present date: —
Periods.
Horses.
Homed
Cattle.
Sheep.
Formation of company
1830 ".
1835
1840
1845
1850
13
245
422
569
972
not
208
2,227
2,924
5,187
7,189
yet
958
21,365
55,695
79,961
124,205
knoven.
Note. — Inteiinediately from the formation of the company
to the year 1830, a considerable number of cattle and sheep
were introduced by purchase and importation ; in the year
1830 importation ceased ; and from 1835 to 1845, large sales,
slaughter for maintenance of establishment, and boiling
down proceeded to a large extent; there were also some
items of casualties — age, accident, and disease.
In the year 1825, a negotiation was con-
cluded with his Majesty's government, by
which the mines of coal in New South Wales
which had been pre\'iously worked by the
local government, were transferred to the
company, with a grant of 2,000 acres of the
coal field. These mines are situated at New-
castle, about sixty miles to the north of
Sydney, at the south entrance of a secure
harbour, called Port Hunter. The coal is
being largely worked (see mines.) The
arrangements with her Majesty's govern-
ment are now satisfactoidly concluded, and it
is to be hoped that the shareholders who
have invested their capital in this useful
association to the amoimt of .£300,000 will
now begin to reap some reward for their well-
directed exertions and sacrifices.
The Australian Agricultural Company is
now offering for sale or lease all that portion
of its valuable estate near Port Stephens,
containing about half a million of acres,
which are bounded by the river Manning,
intersected by other streams, and provided
with roads and bridges, which have been
constructed by the company at a cost of
many thousand pounds. There are churches
and schools, and a resident clergyman, school-
master, and surgeon are paid by the com-
pany for the benefit of their servants.
The farms, which have been long in culti-
vation, with other erections, are ottered for
sale at twenty years' purchase on the esti-
mated annual value.
The uncultivated land will be sold in lots
of fifty acres and upwards, at £\ per acre ;
each £50 paid in England entithng the pur-
chaser to a choice, and a free passage ; and
each lot will include a right of pasttu'age for
stock on adjoining land until reqtiired for
sale. [For changes sec Supplement.]
Among other institutions in the colony
there is a Savings' Bank at Sydney; an
Australasian Colonial and General Life As-
surance and Annniiy Company, whose head
establishment is in London ; a Sydney Fire
Insurance Company; a branch of the Imperial
Fire Insurance Company of London; an
Australian Gas Light Company, with a capi-
tal of .£45,000 ; a Hunter River Steam Navi-
gation Company; a Sugar Company, and
other pubhc associations, which are well
managed, and conducted with a degree of j
probity unsurpassed in any other community
in the British empire.
The following brief chronological record
illustrates the rise and growth of this remark-
able section of the British empire : —
1789, one year after the establishment
of the colony, Jirst harvest reaped (at Para-
matta) : 1790, first settler (a convict) took
possession of the land allotted him; 1791,
first brick building finished ; \7Q^, first pur-
chase of colonial grain (1,200 bushels) by
government; 1 794, /rs/ church built ; 1800,
^r5^ copper coin circulated; 1803, /rs^ news-
paper printed ; 1804, Fort William built ;
1805, first vessel built; 1810, fiy^st census,
free school, toll-gates, pohee, naming of the
streets, establishment of Sydney market,
races, and race ball; 1811, first "pound;"
1813, /;'5^ fair; 1815, first steam-engine;
1817, supreme court established, and first
bank ; 1818, benevolent society formed ;
1819, orphan institution founded ; 1820, first
spirits distilled, and first colonial tobacco
sold; 1821, first Wesleyan and Roman Ca-
tholic chapels built ; 1822, freedom of the
press granted, and first agricultural and
reading societies formed; 1824, charter of
justice granted. Legislative Council appointed
by the crown, and first court of quarter
sessions held; lS2o, first criminal jiu'v im-
PROGRESS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 229
pannelled, first archdeacon ordained, first
coroner appointed, and first constitutional
county meeting held; 1827, y?/*s^ daily news-
paper established ; 1829, first circuit court
opened; 1830, first civil jury impannelled,
and first college founded; \^2)\, first colo-
nial ste^m-boat launched; \^'i2, first savings^
bank instituted; 1833, mechanics' school of
arts formed, and a monthly magazine es-
tablished; 1834, land sold in Sydney at
£20,000 per acre; \^?,o,fiirst Protestant bi-
shop of Australia; 1840, Legislative Council
(twenty-four elective members, and twelve
crown nominees), sheep sold at Is.Gd. each,
and thousands "boiled down" for the sake
of their tallow; 1842, Sydney incorporated
(population about 40,000) ; money provided
for emigration from 1832 to 1849, by the
sale of land, one million and a quarter
sterling; 1850, sheep in the colony nearly
12,000,000, horned cattle nearly 2,000,000,
horses, 150,000, pigs 100,000, population
estimated at 250,000, no convicts in the
colony, and grant of a representative As-
sembly ; 1851, (May,) discovery of gold in
abundance — for results see Suppleiiiciic.
Future Prospects. — The rapid strides by
which New South Wales has acquired its
present position, are so extraordinary, as to
raise fears for its duration. These fears
would be only too well grounded, if the
future prospects of this extensive country,
and of its increasing population, depended
solely on pastoral pursuits. Had New South
Wales no agricultural capabilities, no min-
eral wealth, no fisheries, then indeed might
we look forward v/ith melancholy foreboding
to the time when her vast pastures would
be overthronged, as the epoch which sooner
or later must arrive, and mark the period of
decadence. But the pastoral age is the pri-
mary step in the history of a people pos-
sessed of the varied elements necessary to
constitute a mighty and permanent empire.
The reason is sufficiently evident ; the pas-
toral resources of a newly-discovered region
are naturally the most readily available to
the settler, who from thence obtains not
only present sustenance, but the means of
developing the less prominent, but more in-
trinsically valuable capabilities of the soil.
That the colonists themselves are not dis-
posed to consider tlieir fine country as a vast
" sheep w^alk," or to restrict their energies to
the multiplication of flocks and herds, is evi-
dent from the facts adduced in the pre\-ious
pages, and from the tone of their public jour-
nals. The editor of the Sydney Morning He-
rald, in a " leading article," dated 20th Oc-
tober, 1849, on the " Destinies cf the colony,"
states, that according to the ratios of in-
crease which have heretofore prevailed, the
number of sheep in New South Wales will,
in the year 1857, amount to thirty -two
raiUion, and the number of other live stock
to five and-a-quarter million. For the de-
pasturing of these animals, it is estimated
an area of 231,000 square miles woidd be
requii'ed. It is calculated, that in 1857, the
sheep and other stock in New South Wales
and Port Phillip, independent of those in
Southern and Western Australia, will exceed
one hundred and forty-five million, and re-
quire 875,000 square miles of pasturage,
or about one-third the area of the whole
island. This is assuming that about four
acres are necessary to feed each head of live
stock. Making ample allowance for the dis-
turbing causes by which such calculations
are aftected, the urgent necessity for the
production of other staple exports may be
considered as sufficiently proved, although,
of Australian avooI alone (it may be right to
add), England could receive for her domestic
use and foreign exports, at least one hundred
million pounds.
The first steps in the progress from the
nomadic to the agricultural state, have been
taken; New South Wales now not only
grows sufficient grain for the consumption
of her own people, but has become an ex-
porting country; five years ago, its vine-
yards covered only 500 acres, now they
extend over 1,000 ; and the wine made from
them has increased, within the same period,
from 30,000 to 100,000 gallons. The colo-
nial mills have increased in nine years from
seventy-seven to 172. and the domestic
manufactures, in the same peiiod, from fifty
to 133. The vine, the olive, and the mul-
berry— cotton, sugar, and tobacco — hemp,
timber, and tallow, may all be produced to
an almost incalculable extent in Australia,
and are all in constant and increasing de-
mand in Europe. Humanly speaking, there-
fore, the welfare of this colony rests on a
sound basis, and, with the blessing of Divine
Providence, its futui'e greatness may seem
as marvellous to our descci^dauis, as the
position it has already attained appears to
those whose lengthened span of life has
enabled them to watch its progress from the
infant, starving, struggling penal settlement
at Sydney Cove, to the flourishing colony of
New South Wales. [See Supplement. J
230
BOOK III.— VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILLIP.
CHAPTER I.
POSITION— BOUXDARIES— HISTORY— TOPOGRAPHY— GEOLOGY— AND CLIMATE.
This di\'ision of tlie island-continent of
Australia, comprises the extreme southern
portion, between the parallels of 37° and 39°
S. lat., and the meridians of 141° and 150°
E. long. The area is estimated at 97,000
square miles, i. e. about 10,000 square miles
larger than England, Wales, and Scotland.*
The chief harbour was called Port Pliilhp,
after the first governor of New South Wales,
when discovered by heutenaut INIurray,
in 1802. Sir T. :\litchell, who explored the
country in 1836, gave it the name of Aus-
traha Felix, from the beauty of the scenery ;
and it is in futui*e to be termed Victoria, in
honour of our gracious sovereign.
In the act recently passed by parlia-
ment, for separating the district called Port
Phillip from the Sydney or Middle District
of New South Wales, erecting Port PhiUip
into a separate province, under the name of:'
Victoria, and granting to the Australian
colonies constitutional forms of government,
this district is stated to be " bounded on the
north and north-east by a straight line
drawn fi'om Cape Howe to the nearest
source of the river INIurray, and thence by
the course of that river to the eastern boun-
dary of the colony of South Australia."
On the south it is separated from the island
of Van Diemen, or Tasmania, by Bass'
Strait.
History. — Captain Cook (of whom fuller
mention will be made in the histoiy of New
Zealand,) visited the south coast of Austraha,
near Cape Howe, 19th April, 1770, and pro-
ceeded to the northward. After the British
settlement was formed at Sydney Cove
(Port Jackson) in 1788, attention was di-
rected to a survey of the adjacent southern
shores; and, in 1798, Mr. Bass, surgeon of
H.M.S. Reliance, with a whale-boat and six
men, sailed along the south-east coast, dou-
bled the projecting cape termed Wilson's
Promontory, entered the strait now called
after him, and anchored in a harbour which
• England, 50,400; Wales, 7,500; Scotland,
30,300 ; total. 88,200 square miles.
he termed Port Western, fi'om its situation
with reference to Sydney. His scanty
supply of provisions compelled him to re-
tiu-n to Port Jackson. The talents and
intrepidity of this successful explorer, in-
duced tlie governor of New South Wales to
direct him, together with lieutenant Matthew
Flinders, to prosecute the survey in a
schooner, built at Norfolk Island, of twenty-
five tons burthen. In this small vessel,
named the Norfolk, these gallant ofiicers
sailed, in October and November, 1798,
through Bass' Strait ; and, as noted at
p. 368, demonstrated the insularity of Tas-
mania. In March, 1802, lieutenant Murray,
in command of H.M. brig Nelson, a vessel
of sixty tons burthen, in which heutenant
Grant had sailed from England to Aus-
tralia, entered a large harbom' a little to the
westward of Port Western ; and a few weeks
after, captain Flinders, in H.M.S. Inves-
tigator, visited the same noble haven, which
received the name before-mentioned from
captain Hunter, R.N., then governor of New
South Wales, in honour of his esteemed
predecessor. Fhnders described the coast
as " a grassy country, capable of supporting
much cattle, though better adapted for
sheep."
While captain Fhnders was exploring the
coast adjacent to Port Phillip, he fell in
with captain Baudin, a French naval sur-
veyor, who had given the name of Terre
Napoleon to a considerable portion of the
south coast prevdously visited by Fhnders.
His INIajesty's government, probably with a
\\e\\ to prevent a French colony being there
formed, and at the instigation of Fhnders,
determined, in 1803, to found another penal
settlement at Port Phillip ; and colonel Col-
lins, of the royal marines, Avas sent from
England with a fleet of convicts and a
military guard. He reached his destination,
and landed at Point Nepean, in 1804-. ]Mr.
Grimes, then surveyor-general of New South
Wales, w as despatched from Sydney to make
a sui'vey of the port ; but he was evidently
EARLY HISTORY OF VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILLIP.
231
unfit for the duty assigned him ; for he
failed in discovering the river Yarra Yarra,
and obtained water only by sinking wells
in the sand.
Lieutenant-governor Collins, despairing of
success, and finding that many of the con-
victs were endeavouring to escape by talcing
to the woods, re-embarked the prisoners and
their guard, and proceeded to the Derwent
river, in Van Diemen^s island, where he
landed, and in conjunction with lieutenant-
colonel Patterson, who had been sent from
Sydney, founded the settlement now known
as Hobart Town. For twenty years from
this period this portion of Australia w^as
neglected. In 1824? Messrs. Hovell and
Hume made an overland journey from Appin
in Cumberland county. New South Wales,
to the southward and westward, crossed the
Murrumbidgee river, and after a severe and
perilous journey, reached the sea coast, at a
bay called Geelong by the natives, on the
16th of December, 1824. Geelong Bay
forms the western portion of the haVen of
Port Phillip. In consequence of the repre-
sentations of these gentlemen, the governor
of New South Wales, in 1826, sent captain
Weatherall, R.N., with a party of soldiers
under captain Wright, to take possession of
Western Port, and form there a station which
might attract settlers. A small fort was
erected at the east extremity of Phillip island,
which lies across the mouth of the port, and
the projected settlement was made upon the
mainland of the opposite shore. Captain
Weatherall reported that coal was to be
found in the vicinity of the station, both on
Phillip Island and at Cape Patterson; but
although the description of the place was
favourable, no settlers resorted thither, and
in about two years the military and naval
force was recalled, and the station aban-
doned. To the colonists of Van Diemen's
Land is due the credit of having commenced
the permanent settlement of Port Phillip.
The colony which had been founded at the
Derwent river, on the southern shores of Van
Diem en's Island, in 1804, gradually extended
to the river Tamar, at Launceston, on the
northern shores of the island ; and whaling
establishments were formed in Bass's Strait,
whence excursions were frequently made to
the adjacent shores of Australia. The
whalers, more intent on fishing than grazing,
paid little attention to the Port Philhp
shores, but rumours of a favourable character
began to feel straitened for sheep pastures.
At Two-fold Bay, a little to the northward
of Cape Howe, an extensive cattle station
was established by the Messrs. Imlay, from
Sydney; and in 1834 a whaling station was
fixed at Portland Bay by the Messrs. Henty,
from Launceston. In April, 1835, six Laun-
ceston settlers, Messrs. S. and W. Jackson,
John Pascoe Fawkner,*" Marr, Evans, and
Lancy, formed themselves into an association
to proceed with their families and stock to
the opposite shores of Port Phillip. It was
necessary to send for a suitable vessel to
Sydney; in the mean time their intention
was made known, the proposition was favour-
ably viewed, and became the absorbing topic
of the day. Mr. John Batman, descended
from European parents, and born at Para-
matta, but then a settler in Van Diemen's
Land, New South Wales, resolved to take the
lead in this novel enterprize : — on the 12th
of May, 1835, he embarked, with seven semi-
civilized natives of New South Wales, in a
small vessel at Launceston, Van Diemen's
Land, and directed his course to Port Phillip,
distant from the mouth of the Tamar 190
miles. Arriving at Port Phillip (called
Iranmor by the natives). Batman landed, and
on the day after his arrival met with a party
of the aborigines on the banks of the Weir-
abee (the river Ex of the colonists) ,t to whom
he explained that he intended for the future
to reside among them, with his wife and
seven daughters, and that he wished to pur-
chase some of their land for depasturing his
stock ; and he presented them with blankets,
tomahawks, knives, scissors, looking-glasses,
and necklaces. The aborigines appeared
disposed to entertain his proposition; he
remained a month at Port Philhp, and seems
to have conducted himself with consid-
erable tact as well as good feeling,— -he
induced the natives to cede to him, his heirs,
and successors, a tract of country " extending
across from Geelong harbour about due
south for ten miles, more or less, to the head
of Port Phillip, taking in the whole neck or
tract of land, and containing about 100,000
acres." For this he agreed to render in
return " a yearly rent or tribute of fifty pair
of blankets, fifty knives, fifty tomahawks,
fifty pairs of scissors, fifty looking-glasses,
* Credit is due to this gentleman for establishing
the first newspaper in Port Phillij) ; it \yas issued in
manuscript, but subsequently printed in a foolscap
form, and is uovf (1850) a flourishing daily paper.
t See In format ion on Australia Felix in 1840, by
respecting a fine, grassy country reached the George Arden, Esq., then the able editor of the Port
flock-owners of Van Diemen's Land, wno I Phillij) Gazette.
232 LIEUT.-GOVERNOR ARTHUR RESPECTING PORT PHILLIP.
twenty suits of slops or clothing, and two
tons of flour." The deed of assignment was
signed by Jaga-Jaga, Cooloolack, Bungarie,
and others, eight of the natives, with a
mark x . By another deed Batman pur-
chased "all that tract of country situated
and being at Port Philhp, running from the
branch of the river at the top of the port,
about seven miles fi*om the mouth of the
river forty miles north-east, and from thence
westerly forty miles across Iramnoo Downs
or Plains, and from thence S.S.W. across
Mount Vilnmarnatar to Geelong harbour, at
the head of the same, and containing about
500,000 acres, more or less." For this Bat-
man agreed to pay to the eight aborigines as
annual rent or tribute, "100 pair of blankets,
100 knives, 100 tomahawks, fifty suits of
clothing, fifty looking-glasses, fifty pairs of
scissors, and five tons of flour." These
deeds were signed and exchanged " on the
banks of Batman's Creek, 6th of June,
1835." Batman promised also to protect the
natives, to employ them in the same manner
as the New South Wales aborigines, to clothe
and feed them. He certainly seems to have
gained the good-will of the Port Phillip
savages. The total value of his proposed
tribute was about £200 per annum. After
leaving three Europeans and five New South
Wales natives to erect a house, and prepare
some ground. Batman re-embarked for Laun-
ceston on the 14th of June, and reached the
Tamar river in thirty-six hours. On arriving
in Van Diemen's Land he proceeded to Ho-
bart Town, where an association, consisting
at first of sixteen indi%iduals, was quickly
formed for the colonization of Port PhiUip.
Money was subscribed, and Batman ap-
pointed agent for the company.
Previous to departing from Hobart Town
for Port Phillip, on his second journey.
Batman addressed to colonel George Arthur
(then lieutenant-governor of Van Diemen's
Land) a letter, dated 25th June, 1835, in
which he laid fully before the colonial gov-
ernment the course that he had adopted.
He stated that, for the previous six years,
he had been most actively employed in
endeavouring to civilise the aborigines of
Van Diemen's Land ; that, under his gui-
dance, the humane objects of the local
government towards the aborigines had been
carried into effect; that, in 1827, himself
and ^Ir. Gellibrand had addressed a joint
letter to the government of New South Wales,
soliciting permission to occupy land at Port
thither to the value of £5,000, to be placed
there under his personal superintendence;
and that this application was not granted
by the government at Sydney, because the
land in question was beyond the limits of
that territory, and the occupations of Wes-
tern Port had been altogether abandoned.
Batman, in his letter to governor Arthur,
stated, that he confidently trusted the British
government would duly appreciate the treaty
he had entered into with the aborigines —
would not, in anj^ manner, molest the ar-
rangements he had made, and that he should
receive the support and encouragement, not
only of the local government, but also that
of his Majesty's ministers, in carrying the
objects into effect. Finally, he described
the country in the following terms : —
" I traversed the country, in opposite directions,
about fifty miles, and having had much experience in
lands and grazing in New South "Wales and in this
colony, I have no hesitation in asserting, T;hat the
general character of the country is decidedly superior
to any which I have ever seen. It is interspersed
with "fine rivers and creeks, and the downs were ex-
tended, on every side, as far as the eye could reach,
thickly covered with grass of the finest description,
and containing an almost indescribable extent of
fine land, fit for any purposes."
Governor Ai'thur, in a letter, dated Gov-
ernment-house, Van Diemen's Land, 4th
July, 1835, transmitted copies of Batman's
letter and deeds of transfer with the natives
to the secretary of state for the colonies,
soliciting that he might be " made ac-
quainted, at an early period, with the Aiews
which his Majesty's government enter-
tained upon this very important subject."
The governor added, that Mr. Batman was
an enterprising settler, that he had acted
with prudence as well as humanity in his
intercourse with the aborigines, but that it
was doubtful whether a migratory savage
tribe, consisting of thirty or forty indivi-
duals, roving over an almost unlimited extent
of country, could acquire such a property
in the soil as to be able to confer upon
the purchaser the right of possession which
would be recognised in otu- courts of law.
The governor further hinted to his INIajesty's
secretary of state, that the land had been
taken possession of, for the crown, by colonel
Collins, previous to the settlement of Van
Diemen's Land, and stibsequently by cap-
tain Wright, in 1826. He also stated, that
the formation of a colony at Port Phillip
would be highly advantageotis to Van Die-
men's Land ; that a liberal grant of land
would be a well-bestowed gift on Mr. Bat
Phillip or Western Port, and to export stock i man, but tliat he had informed the explorer
IN 1835 GOVERNMENT OPPOSE COLONIZATION OF P. PHILLIP. 233
that, with regard to the confirmation of his
treaty with the natives, he could not hold
out the slightest prospect of its being fa-
vourably considered.
Lord Glenelg, then his Majesty's secre-
tary of state for the colonies, replied to
governor Arthur's communication of 4th
July, 1835, in a despatch, dated Downing
Street, 23rd January, 1836. His lordship
therein stated, that he wotdd not then enter
into the question of the right possessed by
the chiefs who were the contracting parties
to the territory of which they agreed to
dispose, or of the justice and fairness of
the arrangement, but would simply advert
to the practical question at issue, namely,
the expediency of confirming the grant to
an association. All schemes for making
settlements by private individuals or com-
panies in the unlocated districts of Aus-
tralia, had of late years been discouraged
by his Majesty's government, as leading to
fresh establishments, involving the mother
country in an indefinite expense, and ex-
posing both the natives and the new settlers
to many dangers and calamities. His lord-
ship added — " And there is so much of
prudence and of justice, and, I think I may
add, of humanity, in this policy, that I do
not feel disposed to depart from it in the
present instance. The conduct of Mr. Bat-
man towards the natives has been such as to
make me regret that I find it my duty not
to advise his Majesty to sanction the pro-
ceedings of that gentleman and his asso-
ciates."
Lord Glenelg concluded by saying, that
the proposition of forming a settlement in
the vicinity of Port Phillip, and of placing
it under the jurisdiction of the supreme
court of Van Diemen's Land, seemed open
to some very serious objections ; but it
should receive every consideration. Mean-
while Batman, who appears to have antici-
pated a more favourable reply, proceeded to
a minuter survey of the vast estates he con-
sidered himself to have pirrchased, and
selected for his own residence the central
position of Indented Head, situated about
fifteen miles from the entrance to Port
Pliilhp, and commanding a beautiful and
extensive prospect. While these events
were occurring, the six Launceston settlers,
headed by Messrs. Jackson and Eawkner,
had procured their vessel from Sydney,
which they denominated the Enterprise.
In this they embarked with their families
and live stock, but a gale of wind di^dve
DIV. II.
them back into the Tamar ; they again set
sail, and reached Western Port, but not
considering the land inviting, the Enterprise
proceeded to Port Phillip, which it reached
on the 30th August, 1835. Batman viewed,
with a jealous eye, these intruders on his
broad domains, and warned them against
encroaching on his territories. Threats of
legal proceedings induced the Messrs. Jack-
son to move beyond the limits to which he
laid claim, and they settled on a fine tract
of pastoral land, situated upon the Salt
Water river, (called the Arndell by Hume),
about twenty miles above its junction with
the waters of the Yarra Yarra river. Fawk-
ner, however, disregarding the minatory
proclamations of Batman, took up a position
of great beauty and promise on the north
bank of the Yarra Yarra, about eight miles
by the course of the river, from its junc-
tion with the upper termination of the bay.*
The locality thus chosen must have been
peculiarly attractive to a pastoral eye : the
banks of the river sloped gently to a rising
ground, covered with luxuriant grasses ; and
from the summit of the eminence on the
northern bank, the waters of the bay of Port
Phillip, distant two miles, were visible to
the southward, over the tops of the trees of
an intermediate flat. The country, in a
northern direction, was of an undulating
character, covered with grass and moderately
wooded, and the Yarra Yarra rolled its deep
and dark waters from the eastward, between
banks that were occasionally lofty and pic-
turesque, while the grassy downs were
covered with the light-bounding kangaroo
and the majestic emu, who enjoyed the
fertile region until then undisturbed, save
by a few wandering savages.
The Yarra Yarra, at the part where Fawk-
ner fixed his camp, expanded its waters into
a basin, well adapted for the reception of
shipping. At the upper extremity of this
natural dock, a ledge of rocks partially
crossed the river, which occasioned a fall
in the body of the water, and served to pro-
tect the freshness of the upper portion of
the stream from the influx of the brackish
or salt stream caused by the flood tide. The
river pursued a circuitous course to the west-
ward. A salt-water lake, or swamp, skirted
its northern bank; and beyond appeared
the beautiful valley of the Salt-water river,
which united with the Yarra Yarra about
four miles above its junction with the bay.
In this favourable situation Fawkner com-
* ^^'ostgal•th's Australia Felix.
2 F
231 PORT PHILLIP SUBJECT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF N. S.WALES.
menced ploughing the ground, and planting
his corn and seeds, which in the ensuing
harvest yielded him an ample reward. To
add to his resources, Fawkner opened a
" public-house. '^ Batman, finding how for-
midable a rival he had to compete with,
removed from the inconvenient locality he
had prenously chosen, at Indented Head, to
a spot nearer the camp of Fawkner ; and on
a beautiful green he opened a general store,
to supply the wants of the colonists, who
now began rapidly to crowd to this land of
promise. That the position of Fawkner was
well selected, is evident from its being sub-
sequently chosen by his Majesty's govern-
ment for the site of the capital of the rising
settlement ; and the rude log dwellings of
Fawkner and Batman are now overshadowed
by the handsome buildings of the prosperous
city of Melbourne.
To return to the chronological history of
the settlement. The intelligence of the fine
country round Port Phillip; the knowledge
that numerous flocks and herds, belonging
to Messrs. Henty and other settlers near
Port Dalrymple, Van Diemen's Land, had
been conveyed to the opposite coast at Cape
Portland, in 1831, where they throve well,
and increased with great rapidity; a failure
in the supply of pastui'age in the available
districts of Van Diemen's Land; and the
desire of some to remove from a settlement
where bush-ranging convicts made life and
property insecure, — these and other causes
led to a Port Phillip fever ; and many has-
tened with their flocks and families to the
fertile shores from Avhich glowing accounts
were daily received at Launceston.
The governor of New South Wales, Sir
Richard Bourke, deeming the Port Phillip
country within the territories subject to his
jm'isdiction, issued, with the ad\dce of his
executive council, a proclamation, dated
Sydney, 26th August, 1835, declaring that
the lands in question were the property of
the British crown; that all treaties, con-
tracts, or bargains with the aboriginal natives
for the purchase of said lands, were "void
against the lights of the crown;" and that
all persons found in the possession of such
lands, without the licence or authority of
his ]\Iajesty's government, would be consid-
ered and dealt Avith as trespassers. A copy
of this proclamation "was transmitted, by
Sir R. Bourke, to his Majesty's secretary of
state for tlie colonies, on the 10th October,
1835. In this able despatch, the governor
nointed out the fallacy of endeavouring to
restrain the population of New South Wales
from dispersion; that the very natui'e of
their main pursuit — sheep-farming and de-
pasturing cattle, compelled the colonists to
send, yearly, large flocks beyond the existing
boundaries of location, to preserve them in
health throughoiit the year, otherwise the
settlers must restrain the increase, or endea-
vovir to raise artificial food for their stock.
Whilst nature all aroiuid presented an unli-
mited supply of the most wholesome nutri-
ment, either course would seem a perverse
rejection of the bounty of Providence, and
the latter would certainly require more
labour than could be obtained in New South
Wales, or than immigration could profitably
supply. Sir R. Bourke frankly acknow-
ledged that, independent of these powerful
considerations, he was unable to comply
with the desire of her Majesty's govern-
ment at home, '' to prevent dispersion." No
adequate measures could be resorted to for
the general and permanent removal of intru-
ders from waste lands, without incm^ing
probably a greater expense than would be
sufficient to extend a large share of the
control and protection of government over
the country which it was found desirable to
occupy. It was on these principles that Sii
R. Bourke had, in his despatch of 4th July,
1834, to liis INIajesty's secretary of state,
recommended the propriety of extending
in a southern direction, to Twofold Bay,
the limits within which, land might be ac-
quired from the crown ; but the Earl of Aber-
deen, then his Majesty's secretary of state
for the colonies, in a despatch, dated 25th
December, 1834, did not agree with Sii' R.
Bourke : his lordship said — " His Majestj^'s
government are not prepared to authorise a
measiu'c, the consequences of which would
be to spread over a still further extent of
territory a population which it was the
object of the land regulations to concen-
trate." This intimation, evidently based on
the theory which, in practical working, has
been a chief cause of the distress, and
fluctuation in the value of property in Aus-
traha, compelled Sir R. Bourke to check, as
far as possible, the herd and sheep-owners
turning '' squatters," and naturally seeking
for their expanding flocks fresh pastures.
His excellency, therefore, could afford no
encouragement to a Mr. James Atkinson,
Avho proposed to form a settlement at Two
fold Bay, by means of immigrants from the
north of Ireland. But, on visiting Twofold
Bay, Sir R. Bourke found the gTcater part
IMPEDIMENTS TO CLOSE CONCENTRATION IN N. S. WALES. 235
of tlie vast tract of fertile land lying between
the country of St. Vincent and Twofold
Bay, depastiu-ed by flocks and herds, attended
by shepherds and stockmen, the pastures
already contributing largely to the wealth
of the colony of New South Wales, and
exceeding, in importance, many of the
districts where land was then (1834-5) dis-
posable by sale or on lease. Many consid-
erations rendered the governor un^villing
to oppose the settlement of Twofold Bay in
183-i, and now, in October, 1835, induced
him to intimate to his Majesty's secretary
of state, that " it would be more desirable
to impose reasonable conditions on Mr. Bat-
man and his associates, than to insist on
their abandoning their undertaking.^' His
excellency therefore proposed, in this des-
patch of 10th October, 1835, that a town-
ship be marked, both at Twofold Bay and
in some eligible spot on the coast to which
Mr. Batman's party had proceeded. The
town allotments, and a portion of the ad-
joining territory, might then be declared
open to location, according to the existing
regulations; and purchasers of land would
probably soon be found. Finally, his excel-
lency remarked, that dispersion would go on
notwithstanding discouragement, and would
be accompanied by much evil that might be
prevented by the guidance and control of
authority opportunely introduced; and his
Majesty's government ought not to delay
taking some measure in assertion of the rights
of the crown over these lands.
The conclusive reasoning of Sir R. Bourke
seems to have produced an excellent effect
on Lord Glenelg, then his Majesty's secre-
tary of state for the colonies, who had also
been addressed, on the 26th January, 1836,
by Mr. George Mercer, of Edinburgh, as
shareholder in and agent for the " Geelong
and Dutigalla Association," who urged a
crown grant of the territories pm-chased by
Batman and Swanston, at Port Phillip, being
conceded to them. Lord Glenelg, in a de-
spatch to Sir R. Bourke, dated Downing-
street, 13th April, 1836, admitted that there
were physical impediments in Australia to
the close concentration of the inhabitants
(contemplated by the land regulations of
1831), with which it would be futile to con-
tend by human laws, and that the principle
of counteracting dispersion, when reduced
to practice, must unavoidably be narrowed
within the limits which the physical pecu-
liarities of a colony dictate and require.
New South Wales, he added, was marked
by nature for a pastoral country; the age
of manufacturing industry was of course re-
mote ; and the quality of the soil inevitably
separated the shepherds and herdsmen, and
all their associates in labour, very widely
from the general seat of government, and
from each other. It was therefore wholly
vain to expect that any positive lavvs, espe-
cially those of a very young and thinly
peopled country, would be energetic enough
to repress the spirit of adventure and spe-
culation in which the unauthorised settle-
ment at Port Phillip had originated. Lord
Glenelg therefore expressed his general con-
cm-rence in the views entertained by Sir R.
Bom-ke, and sanctioned his acting on them
in the manner proposed. In concluding his
despatch. Lord Glenelg, with his wonted
candour, thus expressed the enlarged \-iews,
a consideration of which had influenced him
in arriving at his present decision : —
" The motives which are urging mankind, espe-
cially in these clays of general peace and increasing
population, to break through the restraints which
would forbid their settling themselves and their
families in such situations, are too strong to be
encountered with effect by ordinary means. To en-
gage in such a struggle would be wholly irrational.
All that remains for the government in such circum-
stances, is to assume the guidance and direction of
enterprises, which, though it cannot prevent or re-
tard, it may yet conduct to happy results. It may
indeed admit of serious doubt, whether the settlers
at Port Phillip and Twofold Bay have not, in reality,
given birth to undertakings which deliberate reflec-
tion M'ould have recommended rather than discou-
raged. Each of those places will probably, at a
time more or less distant, form the nucleus of a new |
and flourishing settlement, interchanging with the
districts at present occupied in the vicinity of Sydney
many articles of internal commerce, and contributing
to expedite the general occupation, by the people of
this kingdom or their descendants, of those vast terri-
tories in which our national wealth and industry have
already, in the last half century, converted an unpro-
ductive waste into two great and flourishing pro-
vinces. In producing and multiplying such results
as these, it has, I believe, always occurred, and is
perhaps inevitable, that the sanguine ardour of pri-
vate speculation should quicken and anticipate the
more cautious movements of the government."
While the local and home governments
were engaged in considering the fittest course
to be pursued, a stream of colonists was
pouring into Port Phillip, and several co-
partneries or associations were formed. The
Port Phillip Association merged into the
Derwent Company ; a Clyde Company, pro-
moted chiefly by captain Wood, occupied
the fine pastures around the site of the
present town of Geelong; about the middle
of 1836, one year after the first location,
35,000 sheep had arrived from \'an Diemen's
236 MR. BATMAN'S CLAIMS DISALLOWED BY GOVERNMENT.
Land and pastoral stations spread over the
plains around the Salt Water river^ the
Weirribee, the Barwon, and the Leigh. The
settlers being at a remote distance from each
other, and occasionally in the \dcinity of
native tribes, had large beUs at their stations
for sounding an alarm when in want of aid."^
In June, 1836, Mr. Stewart, a magistrate,
arrived at Port Phillip, as the representative
of her Majesty's government : he had been
despatched thither by Sir R. Bourke, from
Sydney, with instructions to ascertain the
capabilities of the place, and to proclaim the
invalidity of all pui'chases of land fi'om the
aborigines vdthout the previously obtained
sanction of government. He found that
177 persons from Van Diemen's Land had
already settled in the neighbourhood of the
bay, and had brought with them live stock
andother property to the amount of £110,000.
At this period Messrs. Batman and Fawkner
had come to a mutual understanding on their
respective claims, and appointed a much-
esteemed fellow -colonist (M. J. Simpson) as
an umpire in all disputes.
The claims for the land purchased from
the aborigines by Mr. Batman and of the
Van Diemen's Land Association, with whom
he co-operated, were submitted to the late
Mr. Burge, Q.C, who had specially studied
the subject of colonial law. The questions
proposed, were: — (1.) Whether the grants
obtained by the association were valid? (2.)
Whether the right of the soil is, or is not,
vested in the crown? (3.) Whether the
crown could legally oust the Association
from their possessions? Mr. Bui'ge gave
his opinion at considerable length : the sub-
stance of it was, that the grants obtained
by the Association Avere not valid, and that
as between Great Britain and its own sub-
jects, as well as the subjects of foreign
states, the right to the soil was vested in
the crown, by virtue of prior discovery.
Mr. Pemberton and Sir William Follett
said they entirely concurred in the con-
clusions of Mr. Burge, as expressed in his
* Some settlers when landing sheep at Port Phillip,
perceived a man of great size, differing from the
aboriginal natives, but scarcely distinguishable as
a European, seated under a tree, watching the
shepherds with a listless gaze. When accosted, he
seemed to be roused from his lethargy, and was
observed to repeat slowly the words uttered, as if
memory was seeking to bring back some long-for-
gotten ideas. He gradually acquired the power of
expressing himself in English, when it was ascer-
tained that he had originally been a private soldier,
named Buckley, and had been transported for striking
his suoerior officer ; was in the fleet sent out to Port
" extremely able and elaborate opinion.^'
This terminated the existence of the Van
Diemen's Land Association, and of other
companies formed for the colonization and
appropriation of the lands of Australia Felix.
The members of these companies were, how-
ever, allowed, in consideration of their pay-
ments to the aborigines, a remission to the
extent of £7,000, of the purchase-money of
whatever lands they might choose to pur-
chase in Australia Felix from the crown.
Mr. Gellibrand, a legal practitioner of
repute, and attorney-general for Van Die-
men's Land, was one of the principal sup-
porters of Mr. Batman; he proceeded to
Port Phillip, in 1837, to protect the rights
of the Van Diemen's Land Association, but
in an excursion of exploration from Geelong
towards the sources of the Barwon river,
this unfortunate gentleman, with a Mr.
Hesse, perished. He is said to have been
mui'dered near the mission settlement of
Buntingdale, by the aborigines; in 1839
Mr. Hawdon was shewn an European skull
of highly intellectual formation, which was
supposed to have been that of Mr. Gelli-
brand. On the back of the skull were
the marks of two blows apparently inflicted
by a tomahawk.
The value of the newly occupied territory
had hitherto been known to few besides
the settlers themselves, and even they were
acquainted -ndth little beyond the immediate
neighboui'hood of that portion of which they
had taken possession ; but after the journey
from Argyle coimty, in New South Wales,
accomplished by Messrs. Hovell and Hume,
in 1824-5, favourable reports of the coun-
try became more widely circulated ; to the
exertions, however, of Sir Thomas Mitchell,
is due the credit of establishing the route and
laying open this region to settlers. In 1836
the surveyor-general having (during a jour-
ney related in a previous chapter; traced the
junction of the Lachlan with the Murrum-
bidgee, and of the Murrumbidgee with the
Murray, returned homewards along the left
Phillip with Colonel Collins in 1803, and, thirty-
three years previous, had effected his escape when
Collins landed his prisoners. Buckley had lived
among the natives, and had " entirely dismissed the
outward characteristic of a civilized being;" he Avas
extremely reserved and rncommunicative in his
manners. Mr. Batman took care of the unfortunate
man, governor Arthur granted him a pardon, and
he was appointed a constable at the new city of
Melbourne ; but, on expressing a reluctance to re-
main in the scene of his savage life, he was trans
ferred to Hobart Town. Mr. Logan took an active
interest in protecting the reclaimed man.
RAPID SETTLEMENT OF MELBOURNE AND ADJACENT COUNTRY. 237
or southern bank of the latter river to
the confluence of the Goulburn, Hovel, or
Bayunga. Sir Thomas then quitted the
Murray, and in lat. 36° S., long. 14^° E.,
struck off" in a southwest direction, when
he entered a country which he desci'ibes
his expedition as having traversed in two
directions with heavy carts, meeting no
other obstruction than the softness of the
soil, and in retui*ning over flowery plains
and green hills fanned by the breezes of
early spring. " I named this region Australia
Felix, the better to distinguish it from
the parched deserts of the interior country,
where we had wandered so unprofitably and
so long."
The ofiicial reports of Sir Thomas Mitchell,
contirming, as they did, the glowing ac-
counts of the immigrants fi'om Tasmania,
increased the desire for locations at Port
Phillip; large herds of cattle, and flocks
of sheep were driven from the old settled
districts of New South Wales, into the new
region; and in April, 1837, on the arrival
of Sir R. Bom'ke, the governor of New South
Wales, to inspect the place, it was found to
contain 150 horses, 2,500 horned cattle,
140,000 sheep, and 450 colonists. The
town (now city) of Melbourne was laid out
in the form of a parallelogram, one mile
ill length, by three quarters of a mile in
breadth, along the banks of the Yarra Yarra
river. The first land sale took place in
June, 1837; as the government required
gold in payment for the land, and there were
but few possessed of the precious metal, the
lots were then sold at from £30 to <£100
per half acre. The value of these town
sections rapidly increased ; at a sale by
auction, in 1839, three half-acre sections
realised the enormous sum of ^€10,250 — and
the purchaser made money by his bargain,
as he cut up the sections into several small
lots, to meet the great demand for building
applotments. Speculation was carried to a
great height. Up to the end of 1841,
government sold, chiefly by public auction,
205,748 acres of land, and realised for it
no less than £394,353. In 1837, the sales
of town allotments in Port Phillip district,
amounted to £7,245; in 1838, to £8,746;
in 1839, to £8,988; in 1810, to £79,168;
in 1841, to £4,028; total, £108,177. Of
these sums, £4,576 were for town lots in
Geelong, £11,026 for ditto in Portland,
£7,638 for ditto in Williamstown, and the
remainder for jNIelbourne. The country
and suburban lands in the Port Phillip dis-
trict, previous to the introduction of the
vuiiform price system, from 12th September,
1838, to 15tli October, 1840, amounted to
£231,526, viz.— in 1838, £25,286; in 1839,
£60,964; in 1840, to October, £145,272.
In 1839 sheep sold at £3 to £3 10s. each,
cattle at £12 to £15, and ordinary saddle
horses for upwards of £100 each. Flour
rose to £80 and even £100 per ton of
2,000 lbs. weight, the common four lb.
loaf was sold for 3s, 6d. Ten shillings a
day was no unusual remuneration for the
ordinary descriptions of labour, and cottages
of four rooms, with very moderate preten-
sions to appearance or accommodation, were
let at an annual rent of £150 to £200.
Vessels hastened to " AustraUa Felix " from
every quarter of the globe, and at the port
of Melbourne, less than three years after
the foundation of the colony, 130 vessels
were seen at anchor in one day.
It was about this period, I believe, that
Sir G. Gipps, then governor of New South
Wales, informed her Majesty's government
that the road to Melbourne might be tracked
for miles by champagne bottles ; and there
is a story of two bullock-di'ivers who, at a
country " public house,'^ on their way to
Melbourne, called for a dozen of champagne,
emptied the bottles into a bucket, and then
deliberately commenced drinking the froth-
ing wine from tin panikins.
Such a state of things could not last ;
in 1841 the reaction commenced, increased
in 1842, and in 1843, sheep which but four
years pi'cvious had been bought at £3, were
sold for Is. 6d. Cattle fell fi'om £12 to
125. each, and other things in proportion.
The insolvenccies were all but universal. At
Melbourne there were in 1842, 113 ; in 1843,
124; in 1844, 45. Total, 282. The colony
sustained during this commercial crisis great
destruction of property; it is now recovering.
Port Phillip, or Victoria, at present contains
a population of nearly 50,000, and its live
stock in 1849 consisted of 17,000 horses;
400,000 horned cattle; 5,200,000 sheep;
and about 6,000 swine.*
In 1839, her ^lajcsty's government created
the Port Phillip district a dependency of
New South Wales, and appointed Charles
Joseph La Trobe, Esq., superintendent, or
lieutenant-governor of the same, under the
directions of the governor of New South
Wales. The authority of the superintendent
was generally exercised more in sui'veillance
til an command, for he stood in the same
* Progress since "jold discoveries, in Supplement.
238 SEPARATION OF PORT PHILLIP FROM THE SYDNEY DISTRICT
relation to the governor of Sydney as the
latter stands -with respect to the secretary of
state for the colonics. The superAision of
the departments of the treasury, survey, cus-
toms, post office, sheriff, and clerk of the
crown, Avere ordered to be exercised through
the chief functionaries at Sydney ; but the
judicial, marine, police, and protectorate of
aborigines, were independent of the authori-
ties at Sydney. Separate statistics were
ordered to be kept, as far as possible, of the
Port Phillip district, and in the previous
book on New South Wales, the returns of
the two di\dsions of the province Avill be found
combined or separate. The Port Phillip
district was authorised to send six repre-
sentatives to the Legislative Council at
Sydney. As the population and wealth of
Melbom'ne and the surrounding country
inci'eased, the colonists objected to the dis-
trict continuing longer associated with New
South Wales; they sought the control of
their own local afiairs, petitioned the home
authorities for a separation from the Sydney
district, sent home an active and intelligent
gentleman (Mr. Cunningham) to represent
their views to her Majesty's government,
and finally refused to send representatives
to the Legislative Council at Sydney, alleging
that they could not find independent and
properly qualified persons to travel a distance
of 600 miles, and reside at Sydney for six
months in the year, in order to give atten-
tion to the affairs of the Port Phillip district.
Desirous of marking the impossibility of
continuing the existing state of things, the
electors at Melbourne elected Earl Grey, her
Majesty^s secretary for the colonies, as their
representative for the New South Wales
Legislative Council. This does not appear to
have been done from any feeling dei'ogatory
to the noble lord, but simply to show their
inability to obtain any fitting representative
on the spot. The secretary of state (see
page 550) complied with the urgent request
of the colonists of Port Phillip, and an order
in council, as preiiously stated (page 554),
decided on the erection of the Port Phillip
district into a separate colony, to be called
after our gracious sovereign Victoria, and
to be ruled by a governor, aided by a
Legislative Council, partly nominated by the
crown, and partly elected by the colonists, the
proportion being one-third nominees to two-
thirds elected representatives. Such are the
provisions of the act passed by parliament.
[This chapter was written in 1850 — for subsequent history, statistics, and gold discoveries, see Supplement.]
CHAPTER II.
BOUNDARIES— AREA— PHYSICAL ASPECT— MOUNTAINS— RIVERS— LAKES — HARBOURS
—COUNTIES— TOWNS— GEOLOGY— MINERALOGY— SOIL AND CLIMATE.
The north-east limits of Victoria are defined
by a line bearing north-west from Cape
Howe to one of the branches of the Murray
river, which divides the province from Auck-
land county and Maneroo Plains, in New
South Wales; the northern boundary is
formed by the Murray river to the frontier
of South Australia, in the meridian of
141° E. ; the western by a line bearing south
to the Pacific Ocean, along the South Aus-
tralian frontier; and the southern by Bass's
strait, which separates Van Diemen's island
or Tasmania from Australia. The length of
the province from east to west is about 500
miles, the breadth from north to south
about 250 miles, the coast line about 600
milee, and the area about 80,000 square miles
= 51,200,000 acres, it is therefore about
equal in size to Great Britain.
Physical Aspect. — The province through-
out its whole extent presents great diversity
of feature, from the lofty alpine region on
the east, to the low grassy plains in which
it terminates on the west; while its coast
line, indented in some parts by picturesque
bays and capacious havens, is in others
monotonous in the extreme, a long tract
extending between Cape Howe and Lake
King, called by the colonists the " Ninety
Mile Beach," being almost unbroken by
inlet or cove. But the peculiar character-
istic of Victoria is the large proportion of
fertile, accessible, and comparatively level
ground comprised within its limits, not-
PHYSICAL ASPECT OF VICTORIA PROVINCE.
239
withstandiug the mountain chains and
ridges of various extent and considerable
elevation by which it is traversed. The
whole territory is, generally speaking, well
watered. The Murray, which rises in the
Australian Alps, receives in its course various
other rivers which flow over extensive plains
in directions nearly parallel to its own, and
thus irrigate and fertilize a great extent of
rich land.
Hills of moderate elevation occupy the
central country, being thinly or partially
wooded and covered with the richest pas-
turage. The lower country, both on the
northern and southern skirts of these hills,
is chiefly open ; and on the south undulates
slightly towards the coast. The grassy plains
which extend northward from these thinly
wooded hills to the banks of the Murray,
are chequered by the channels of many
streams falling from them, and by the more
permanent and extensive waters of deep
lagoons, which are numerous on the face of
these plains, " as if," says Sir Thomas
Mitchell, " intended by a bounteous provi-
dence to correct the deficiencies of a climate
otherwise too dry for an industrious and
increasing people, by preserving in these
abundant reservoirs the surplus waters of
the large river; and indeed a finer country
for cattle stations than this can scarcely be
imagined."
In the western portion small rivers radiate
from the Grampians, an elevated and isolated
mass, presenting no impediment to a free
communication through the fine country
around its base. Hence the enormous
labour necessary in order to obtain access
to some parts, and for crossing continuous
ranges to reach others, by passes like those
so essential to the prosperity of New South
Wales, may be in great measure dispensed
with in Victoria. Towards the sea-coast on
the south, and adjacent to the open downs
between the Grampians and Port Phillip,
there is a low tract of very rich black soil,
apparently the best imaginable for the culti-
vation of grain in such a climate."^
Mountains. — The principal chain of
mountains in Victoria, designated by Mit-
chell the Australian Alps, but known also
as the great Warragong chain, or Snowy
mountains, are a continuation of the di-
viding range (see p. 433) whose progress as
far as Mount Kosciusko has already been
delineated. Commencing from that point,
and contimiing the description on the au-
* Mitchell's Expeditions into Australia
thority of Count Strzelecki, we find the
chain resuming a south-west direction, and
still maintaining a l)old though less elevated
outline. Its intricate branchings on either
side, with their peaked summits, render the
country rugged and sterile, excepting the
neighbourhood of Lake Omeo, and a part
of the Mitta Mitta valley, lying between the
spur crowned by Mount Yabbara, and that
surmounted by Mount Ajuk, a tract resem-
bling a vast basin, without trees, and scan-
tily supplied with Avater, but covered, even
during a parching summer, A^ith luxurious
pasture. The whole region westward of the
chain, towards Western Port, is rent by
narrow gullies, rendered well-nigh inaccessi-
ble, either by the steepness of the ridges by
which they are flanked or the thickly inter-
woven underwood. EastAvard of the chain,
in the direction of Corner Inlet, the country
presents very different features. In 37° S.
lat., or about the sources of the river Thom-
son, the spurs ai'c less ramified, and of
considerable height and length, shaping the
intermediate ground into beautiful slopes
and valleys, which ultimately resolve into an
open and well-watered plain, clothed with
nutritious grasses, adorned with fine timber,
and off'ering charming sites for farms or
country residences. The spur which bounds
the southern limit of that area, and another,
which, on the western side of the chain,
studs the territory of Australia Felix, and
the neighbouring district of Western Port,
with some remarkable eminences, again
change the face of the country, and consti-
tute a broken inhospitable region, frequently
unsupplied with water, and almost always
ill furnished Avith either quadrupeds oi
birds.
In the vicinity of Coroner Inlet (Gipp's
Land), the chain of mountains dips under
a loAV and marshy ground, above Avhich its
crest appears rising only at intervals. Ten
miles beyond, it is seen again, erect, jutting
out boldly into the sea, and exposing its
crranitic flanks for a length of thirtv miles to
the lash of the infuriated surf.
At Wilson's Promontory, the sea inter-
feres Avitli the visible continuity of the range,
but does not terminate its course, Avhich in
clear Aveather may be traced from the head-
land by the chain of islands in Bass's Straits.
These islands, Avhcther high and crowned
with peaks, or low and crested only by the
Avhitc sparkling foam of the sea, appear, in
their Avinding and lengthened array, like
the glittering snoAV-capped domes of the
240
AUSTKALIAN ALPS, GRAMPIANS, AND PYRENEES.
Andes, when seen above the dense clouds
which encompass their lower region,* The
Austrahan Alps cover an area of about 7,000
square miles.
The Grampians form the leading features
of the country westward of Port Phillip —
they are a lofty and extensive mass com-
prising three ranges, and covering a surface
which extends latitudinally fifty-four miles,
and longitudinally twenty miles. The ex-
treme eastern and highest summit is Mount
William, in height 4,500 feet above the sea.
The most northern point is Mount Zero, in
36° 52' 3'' S. lat. The most southern,
Mou.nt Sturgeon, in 37° 38' S. lat., rises
1,070 feet above the level of the plain, from
which it springs like a perpendicular rock
from the midst of the ocean. The most
northern and elevated range extends from
Mount William to Mount Zero, and is
steepest on the northern side. From this
hill the two other ranges branch off to the
south, the western being named by Mitchell
the Victoria range, and the eastern the
Serra, from its serrated outline. On the
slopes of the northern range are some forests
of fine timber, but, in general, the higher
summits are bare and rocky. Mount Abrupt,
the south-eastern extremity of the Gram-
pians, is 1,700 feet in perpendicular height ;
it contains a crater of 446 feet in bi"eadth, the
average depth being eighty feet. Mitchell
describes the prospect he beheld from the
summit as a truly sublime scene, the whole
of the mountains quite clear of clouds, the
grand outline of the more distant masses
blending with the sky, and forming a blue
and purple background for the numerous
peaks of the range on which he stood, and
which consisted of sharp cones and perpen-
dicular cliffs foreshortened, so as to form
one feature only of the extensive landscape,
but composing a crescent nearly thirty miles
in extent ; this range being but a branch
from the more lofty masses of Mount Wil-
liam, which crowned the whole. The view
includes a vast extent of open plains fringed
with forests, and embellished with lakes.
"Certainly," says Sir Thomas, with an
enthusiasm very natural under the circum-
stances, " a laud more favourable for colo-
nization could not be fovmd. Flocks might
be turned out upon its hills, or the plough
at once set agoing in the plains. No pri-
meval forests require to be first rooted out
here, although there was enough of wood
for all purposes of utility, and adorning the
• Strzeleeki's Netv South Wales.
country just as much as eye could wisli,"t
Mount Arapiles lies to the north-west of
Mount Zero. This mass, the western ex-
tremity of which has somewhat the appear-
ance of a ruined fortress, consists of a sand-
stone passing into quartz. It occupies an
area of about two square miles, and may
be easily recognised, both by its isolated po-
sition, and by its small companion, the Mitre
rock, situated midway between it and the
lake to the northward, named Mitre lake.
The highest summit of Mount Arapiles is
726 feet above Mitre lake.
Thirty or forty miles to the eastward of
the Grampians is a granitic range called
the Pyrenees, thinly wooded with very lofty
timber, and grassy to their summits; they
terminate, to the southward, in Mount
Cole.
About fifty miles to the eastward of the
Pyrenees is a range called the Bunnhiyong, or
Brisbane range, running north and south,
and traversing nearly a degree of latitude.
The Mount Macedon range commences
about thirty-five miles north-north-west of
Melbourne. Mount Macedon, properly so
called, is one of the principal mountains in
the province, clothed with trees (chiefly black
butt and blue gum eucalypti), measuring
from six to eight feet in diameter to its
very summit, about 3,000 feet high, which is
spacious, easily accessible, even on horse-
back, and covered, towards the south, with
the tree-fern, musk, and other plants found
at the Illawarra, New South Wales. Mounts
Campbell and Byng are two conspicuous
eminences to the northward, which, with
Mount Macedon, form the figure of a tri-
angle— the latter being the apex, the former
marking the extreme points of the base line
to the north-east and north-west.
Mount Hope (considerably to the north of
Mount Byng) belongs to a group of low granitic
hills, of which it forms the western extremity.
It is composed of immense blocks of granite,
and obtained its name from Sir Thomas
Mitchell, who after several months spent in
traversing the dead levels of the interior,
hoped from its summit to obtain an extensive
view of the region between him and the
coast. How much the prospect exceeded
his highest expectations, may be readily
conceived, for the fair and fertile region he
then beheld, was that which he afterwards
designated Australia Felix. Pyramid hill,
about six miles from Mount Hope, rises about
I 300 feet above the plain, in the form of a tri-
I •{■ Expeditions into Australia.
THE HUME OR MURRAY, AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
241
angular pyi-amid^ and being quite isolated,
closely resembles the monuments of Egypt.
Its apex is formed by a single block of
granite. To the northward of Portland bay
(in the county of Normanby) a range of in-
considerable extent and elevation, called the
Rifle Range, is chiefly characterised by its
lofty timber and numerous swamps. Along
the coast, to the eastward of Cape Otway, is
a range called the Marrack hills, of which
comparatively little is known, from the im-
penetrable character of its luxuriant vegeta-
tion. Station peak, the highest point of the
Villemanata range, is a well known land-
mark in the harbours of Port Phillip and
Geelong. The mountain is accessible on
every side, and is remarkable for its pictur-
esque beauty.* Besides the chains above
mentioned, there are Strzelecki range in
Bass county. Western Port district, the
Mamaloid hills, and other groups and de-
tached mountains alluded to in the geological
section. The prevailing line of the mountain
ranges, when \ieAved at a distance, is a deep
grey ; on a nearer approach every variety of
hue is agreeably blended.
Rivers. — The streams which irrigate Vic-
toria are generally deeper and more con-
stant in their course, than those of the older
colony, unless, indeed, we except the more
recently discovered streams in the northern
districts of New South Wales. The noble
river which forms three parts of the eastern
and northern boundaries of the pro\dnce, is
known as the Hume in the early part of
its coui'se, after receiving the waters of the
Ovens' and the Goulburn, the Campaspe,
the Loddon, and various smaller tributaries,
it pursues a north-easterly course to its
junction with the INIurrumbidgee, from
which point to its sea mouth. Lake Alex-
andrina, in South Australia, it is called the
Murray.f The earlier portion of its course
is that with which we are at present con-
cerned, and to avoid the repetition of the
two names — Murray or Ilume — it may be
well to speak of it, during this portion of
its course, by the latter appellation only.
The basins of the Hume lie in the deepest
recesses of the Australian Alps, and its im-
mediate tributaries ha\ang also their sources
among the Snowy mountains, it is supplied
• liecent information concerning Australia Felix,
by G. Arden, Esq.
t Several writers on Australia speak of this river
by the name of the iSIurray only, and some confusion
is" certainly apt to arise in the minds of readers not
intimately acquainted with the subject, from its bear-
ing different names in different places, yet this does
DIV. II.
from them with never-faiHng streams, and
enabled to support a continuous volume,
whose strength is manifested by its having
forced a channel through a portion of the
desert interior, instead of spreading over
extensive plains, or being lost among mo-
rasses, like several other northern streams.
I have, I believe, elsewhere quoted the
remark of Sir Thomas Mitchell, that " each
Australian river seems to have some peculiar
character, sustained with remarkable uni-
formity throughout the whole course.^^
That of the Hume appears to consist chiefly
in the vast extent of allmdal margin, the lofty
trees, and still lakes, which form its leading
features throughout the varied sceneiy of
the extensive regions Avhich it fertilizes and
adorns. It has been crossed, at different
seasons and places, by Hovell, Hume, Sturt,
Mitchell, Hawdon, and Strzelecki, and to
the latter explorer we owe the knowledge
of its sources. It is worthy of notice, that
the Hume receives no tributaries from the
westward or the northward. The first junc-
tion of any importance, is formed by the
Mitta Mitta River, itself the recipient of
Tallargetta and Livingstone creeks; some
forty miles further, a small stream named
the Keiva joins the main channel. About
the same distance beyond, is a low granite
hill named ]\Iount Ochtertyre. Near this
point Sir Thomas ]\Iitchell describes the
river as being bordered by so many lagoons,
that he succeeded in obtaining a A-iew of
it only with gi-eat difficulty, and after nearly
an hour's ride. He found it, at length,
running at the rate of two miles and-a-half
an horn-, and just beginning to overflow,
while the opposite bank consisted of a reedy
and impassable swamp.
Still, tracing the course of the Hume
from its sources, we find it receiring the
Ovens, another of the streams discovered
dm'ing the memorable jom'iiey of Messrs.
Hovell and Hume. The Ovens takes its
rise in the mountainous district to the west
of Lake Oraeo ; after its junction with the
River King, it becomes an important stream,
finely breaking up the dead levels of the
surrounding plains. The next junction with
the Hume is formed by a river of consider-
able magnitude, wliich has been unfortunate
not seem a sufficient reason for setting aside the
designation given to it by its earliest discoverer. To
those Avho agree witli iJr. Lang that the Murray is
formed ly the junction of tlie Hume and tlie \Iur-
rumbidgee, the distinction is a just and even a neces-
sary one.
2 o
24.2 GOULBURN OR BAYUNGA, CAMPASPE, AND LODDON RIVERS.
in receinng a variety of names. In the
maps it appears generally marked as the
Goulburn, but there being another stream
of that name in New South Wales, it is
styled by some the Hovell, Avhile others pre-
fer its native, and certainly more eupho-
nious appellation of Baymiga. The river,
however, by whatever name it may be de-
signated, is a very fine stream. Rising
among the mountains to the north-east of
Western Port, after receiAing Broken River
and several smaller creeks, it joins the Hume
in 143° E. long., 35° 19' S. lat. About 100
miles below this point, the high road be-
tween Sydney and Melbourne intersects the
river, which during that distance has a
medium breadth of from sixty to seventy
yards, flowing through a fertile and populous
district. The Bayiinga is subject to high
floods, which supply extensive lagoons much
frequented by aquatic birds. Sir Thomas
Mitchell, in recounting his expedition of
1836, describes it as having a breadth of
sixty yards, with a firm bed and banks;
its mean depth (near the Deegay ponds)
being somewhat more than two fathoms, and
its velocity about one mile and 240 yards an
hour. The length of its course is, according
to Lang, about 200 miles, but it is else-
where stated at above 400 miles. The land,
up to its sources, is occupied by squatters,
but near its mouth it is less settled, the soil
being considered of inferior quality.
The Campaspe falls into the Hume about
four miles above the junction of the Goul-
burn or Baj'^iinga. It rises near Mount
Macedon, and is joined at an early period
of its coiu'se by the Barnard or Coliban,^ a
stream remarkable for the bold character of
its scenery, and the abrupt and steep ravines
through which it flows, the left bank con-
sisting of undulating hills and lofty rocks
of granite, the right strangely contrasting
with it, by the perfectly level summits of
the adjacent hills, which give to the whole
the appearance of having been, at one time,
in a fluid state. Some of these table hills
are separated by dry grassy vales of excel-
lent soil. Further back, the rugged crests
of a wooded range of a diflercnt formation,
render the level character of this ancient
lava or vesicular trap more obvious. The
rocky channel of the Barnard forms in one
part a very striking cataract, the waters having
a perceptible descent of above sixty feet, but
* Accordinj^ to Mr. Ham's map of Australia Felix
(1849), the Barnard or Coliban joins a channel by
which the Loddon and Campaspe anastamose
they fall in reality more than double that
height; in the lower part, however, the stream
escapes unseen among large blocks of gra-
nite. The picturesque eff'ect of the water-
fall of Cobaw is attributable less to the body
of water falling, or the loud noise, than to
the bold character and harmonious grouping
of the rocks over and amongst which it
falls. The prevailing shades are light red
and purple-grey, the rocks being finely in-
terlaced with a small-leaved creeper of the
brightest green ; a dark-coloured moss re-
lieves the vivid hues; while a brilliant
iris, shining steadily amid the spray, blends
into perfect harmony the lighter colour of
the rocks, and the whiteness of the torrent
rushing over theni.f
Loddon River, called the Yarrayne by
Mitchell, from the noble line of Yarra trees
growing on the very brink of the stream,
next joins the Hume, and waters in its
com'se a large extent of fine country, be-
tween that river and the western side of
the Mount Bunninyong range, where it has
its origin. This stream has all the charac-
teristics of a mountain torrent, being at
some times (as when discovered, in 1836)
of considerable importance, with an equal
depth of about nine feet, and a current of
nearly a mile and-a-half an hour, while at
others it is little better than a rivulet. The
next important junction with the Hume is
formed by the Murrumbidgee, and has al-
ready been described in the account of the
latter river (p. 444) ; and of the former,
little more need here be said. Throughout
that portion of its course which avc have
just traced, the Hume, or Murray, maintains
the character of a deep and rapid stream,
exceeding at some points 400 yards in
breadth, and offering a valuable means
of internal communication. According to
Mitchell, it carries to the sea a body of
fresh water sufficient to irrigate the whole
country ; which is in general so level, even
to a great distance from the river banks,
that the abundant waters might probably
be turned into canals, for the purpose of
supplying natural deficiencies of water at
particidar places, or of affording the means
of transport across the wide plains. The
numerous and extensive grassy flats which
border the river are attended, however, with
one great disadvantage — the banks being
frequently so steep and yielding as to render
the water inaccessible to cattle, who appear to
shrink instinctively from the muddy margin.
f See Mitchell's J^xj)editions into Australia.
YARRA YARRA RIVER A>sD ITS TRIBUTARIES.
21-3
The Yarra Yarra, thougli in itself secon-
dary in importance to several other rivers
of Victoria^ all of which are, however, very
inferior to the noble stream whose course
through this province we have just exa-
mined, nevertheless claims attention, since
on its banks stands the fair city of Mel-
bourne. The Yan'a Yarra rises in a gully
between the Snowy mountains and one of
the Goulburn mountains, about 100 miles
east-north-east, as the crow flics, from Port
PhiUip, in 37° 46' S. lat., 146° 17' 30'' E.
long. The origmating spring is so small
that it could run through a four-inch pipe ;
it is, however, soon fed by branch streams,
some of considerable magnitude, from the
adjacent gullies. There are several water-
falls at the head of the stream, one rising
some hundred feet above the bed of the
river. The country is of trap-rock forma-
tion ; freestone and slate are to be found.
In various places the scenery (as described
by Mr. Hoddle, who explored it in 1844) is
extremely picturesque. Towards the source of
the Yarra Yarra, the surface was boggy, and
the scrub so close that the explorers could
only cut their way through it at the rate of
half a mile a day. Farther down, the soil
was good, but very hearily timbered, many of
the Avhite gum-trees measuring fifty feet in
circumference, and 150 feet in height ; the
tree-ferns were more than twenty feet high ;
and the sassafi'as and myrtle grew luxu-
riantly. The " greenest of trees" occasionally
vai-ied the scene; box, stringy bark, some-
times iron bark, black and silver wattle,
and honeysuckle, studded portions of the
country. One very pretty shrub abounded ; it
had smooth leaves, and produced, in bunches,
a seed resembling black pepper in appear-
ance and taste. Tavo other trees were also
noticed, the fruit of which might be mis-
taken for the coffee-berry and plum. No
aborigines were met with in the course of
the expedition, which occupied nearly fovir
months. This river disembogues in Ilob-
son's bay, the northern extremity of Port
Phillip; it is narigable up to jMelbourne
for steam-boats and other vessels of light
draught, by a tortuous course of seven
miles. The bar at its mouth has nine feet
water at high tide. At the distance of
four miles from Melboujne in a direct line,
although perhaps three times that distance
by the windings of the river, the Yarra Yarra
receives, as a tributary from the northward,
the Merri creek ; at four or five miles far-
ther^ it receives the Darebin creek; and
at six beyond the latter stream, the River
Plenty. These are all mountain torrents,
rising in Mount j\Iacedon range. There is
much good land on their banks, although in
general pretty heavily wooded and thickly
covered with rocks, which are all evidently
of volcanic origin, and have been carried
down by the torrents from the extinct vol-
canoes of that part of the territory. The
soil is a rich black mould, well adapted
for the growth of the vine and other de-
scriptions of European fruit-trees. There
are many small farms, in this part of the
country, in a highly creditable state of cul-
tivation ; and the situation of some of the
villas, both on the main river and on its
tributary streams or creeks, is romantic and
beautiful in the highest degree.*
A very interesting account of the lower
course of this river is given in an ofiicial
document written by his Honour C. J. La-
trobe, the Superintendent of Port PhilHp.
The source of the river had not then been
ascertained, although the Superintendent
rightly surmised that it would be found
" among the offsets of the Snowy Alps to
the eastward." Up to the furthest point to
which it had then been surveyed it presents
pretty much the imiform character of a con-
stantly flowing stream, from a chain-and-a-
half to two chains in breadth, and eight or
ten feet in depth, sunk in ordinary seasons
beneath abrupt and wooded banks. As it
approaches the vicinity of ]Melboui'ne and its
estuary, it is traversed by dykes of trap or
ironstone, the most elevated and striking of
which occui's at the head of the basin at
INIelboui-ne. At this point, in ordinary
times of the tide, the fresh water mingles
with that of the bay, which, following the
lower bends of the river, is nine miles dis-
tant. In dry seasons, before the dam was
built, the high tide would frequently pass
this natm-al barrier, and flow strongly up the
channel, its influence being felt for hours to
the distance of perhaps a mile above the
town.
Below the point where the river Plenty enters
the Yarra Yarra, the high banks of the latter
are found to border occasional flats, or low
undulating tracts of various extent, composed
of very rich alluvial soil ; in the other por-
tions of its com'se from the above point, the
river will be seen to be confined witiiin its
deep bed at the foot of steep sandstone hiUs,
or somewhat elevated flats of honeycomb
land, sprinkled with trap liouldcrs. The valley
• Lang's Philli2)'s Land.
241 THE SALT-WATER, BAHWON, MOORABOOL, AND GLENELG.
of the Yarra Yarra, properly so called, may
be said to terminate at Melboxirne. At this
point the bluif land retires on either hand
and gives place to a wide tract of countrj^,
composed partly of low marsh, but very
sHghtly raised above the level of the high
tides, and partly of low undulating sandy
rises, through which the Yarra Yarra and Salt-
Water river take their course to their junc-
tion with the ocean. From the whole of this
level the sea has doubtless retired, leaving
the original coast line exceedingly well de-
fined in the steep scarped banks which bound
the low land for many miles.
The Y'^arra Yarra is subject to occasional
heavy floods, which have occurred at every
season of the year, in the height of summer
and the depth of winter, as well as in the
spring. That of 1844 was a very serious one.
The river had been swollen by the usual
equinoctial rains above its ordinary height,
for some days previous to the night of the
2nd October, but it then rose for a few
hours with a rapidity so unexpected, and
with such short warning, that even after the
flood had gained the opening below the hills,
and consequently found room for its exten-
sion, the water rose so high, and poured
down towards the bay with great rapidity,
and in such a volume, that it was with diffi-
culty that the people inhabiting the river
banks a mile below the basin could be with-
drawn from danger. Up the river, above
and below Heidelberg (a village about seven
miles from Melbourne), where there are many
rich alluvial flats, the stream appears to have
overflowed its high banks and covered the
low cultivated ground on every side to the
depth of ten, fifteen, or even twenty feet.
In parts Avhere it was shut in by the hills
on either side, it flowed on with great
velocity with a mean height of thirty feet
and upwards above the ordinary level; and
reaching islie more open comitry in the
vicinity of and below the town rose in the
bed of the river to seven or eight feet
above the usual level, and in the course of
a few hours covered the whole of the lower
ground to the foot of the bluff's in every
direction to a mean depth of two or three
feet. A simultaneous rise in the tides,
caused mainly by the strong southerly gales,
converted the whole of the lower country,
from Melbourne to the Salt- Water River, into
a wide lake.
The Marriburnong, or Salt-Water River,
has its sources in the mountains south of
Mount Macedon ; it is fed by Beep creek
and others, and joins the Yarra Yarra four
miles above its embouchc in Hobson's Bay.
Barwon river, on whose northern bank
the town of Geelong is built, rises in the
high barren ranges near Cape Otway ; waters,
in its circuitous course of upwards of 100
miles, a splendid tract of country, and emp-
ties itself into the ocean by Lake Conewarre,
a few miles to the westward of the entrance
of Port Phillip. The mouth of the Barwon
is only navigable for boats entering in very
fine weather. The Barwon, near the foot of
some low hills called by the natives Barabool,
falls some height over a rocky shelf, forming
a pretty waterfall, and at a little distance
may be found meandering silently between
grassy flats. A few miles to the south-east
of Barabool hills the river communicates
with a large lagoon ; " after which," says
Captain Stokes, " I was informed there was
only a depth of three feet, and a width of
one-eighth of a mile. The Barwon is there-
fore not available for water carriage to the
town of Geelong, even if its entrance were
better protected."
Moorahool River rises in the Boninyong or
Brisbane range, and joins the Barwon at
Geelong. There is much good land on the
Moorabool, both towards its source and to-
wards its mouth. The declivities of the valley
of this river, as also the singular sloping tree-
less sides of the Barabool hiUs, are described
as appearing to have just emerged from the
sea, which had, as it were, scooped out their
hollows and smoothed their sides."*
Native creek also joins the Barwon from
the northward, with which another more im-
portant junction is soon after made on the
same bank by the River Leigh. This stream
rises to the north of Mount Boninyong, and
divides the county of Grant from the Port-
land Bay district.
Glenelg River issues from a gorge on the
western slope of the northern Grampians,
and pursues a due westerly course for about
fifty miles, to within twenty-five miles of the
western limit of the province. It then takes
a southerly bend, entering the territory of
South Australia a few miles from the ocean,
])ut, quickly recrossing the boundary line,
disembogues a mile or two to the eastward
of it in the deepest part of Discovery bay,
38° 2' 58'^ S. lat., 141° 2' 9'' E. long. Mr.
Tyers states that the mouth of the Glenelg
cannot be made available as a harbour; for
independently of the heavy breakers on the
bar, tlie accumulation of sand is sometimes
• Discoveries in Australia, by Captain Stokes, R.N.
DISCOVERY, PORTLAND, AND LADY OR MERRI BAYS.
215
so great between the eastern and western
shores of the entrance as completely to sepa-
rate the river from the sea ; and moreover
the basin, through which it flows imme-
diately before its entrance into the ocean,
has a depth of not more than two or three
feet water. Beyond the basin the river ap-
pears to be of considerable depth, but the
banks are chiefly limestone cliff's, for the
most part about 100 or 200 feet high, and
steep; the water is brackish for several
miles, and the land indifferent, being a mere
sand, covered with thick scrub, vines, and
forest.^ Higher up on the Glenelg, the
country is of a very diff'ei'ent description.
Sir Thomas Mitchell, who came upon this
river at an earlier portion of its course,
speaks in the highest terms of the " beauty
and substantial value" of the adjacent coun-
try. " It seems," he says, " that the land
was everywhere alike good, alike beautiful;
all parts were verdant, whether on the finely
varied hills, or in the equally romantic vales,
which seemed to open in endless succession
on both banks of the river." In 37° 30' S.
lat. the Glenelg receives the Wando, a tribu-
tary from the eastward ; farther south, in
about 37° 40' S. lat., it is joined by the
IVannon. This latter stream rises on the
eastern slope of the Grampians, then wind-
ing round the southern extremity of the
mountain range, strikes off" towards the fine
country on the westward, and after receiving
several tributaries from the southern and
western Grampians, is joined by the Grange
Burn, forty miles to the westward and at
length, about twenty miles farther west, falls
into the Glenelg some forty miles inland from
the mouth of the latter river. Between the
junction of the Wannon and the sea, two small
streams, named the Crawford and the Stokes,
flow into the Glenelg from the eastward.
Leaving the Glenelg, we may in noticing
the chief streams of Victoria (not already
mentioned), which have their embouche in
the ocean, trace also the leading features of
the coast-line proceeding in an easterly direc-
tion to Cape Howe.
Discovery Bay is a long open indentation
of the coast, and affords no shelter to ship-
ping beyond that of a mere roadstead.
Cape Bridgewater, its eastern extremity,
is a hummocky cliffy-faced point of land,
separated from the main by a low neck.
• Report of an Expedition to ascertain the position
of the lilst degree of east lomjitudc, 8fC. By C. J.
Tyers, surveyor. Colonial Government paper. Syd-
ney : 1841.
Eour miles to the north of this point are
some caves from forty to fifty feet high, and
of the same depth; the ceilings were encrusted
with stalactites, and the entrances overlooked
some pretty fresh-water lakes, three miles in
extent, separated from the sea by a narrow
chain of sand hills. Cape Nelson, the
southernmost point of the promontory, which
shelters Portland bay on the eastward, is in
38° 24' 15" S. lat., and 141° 34' 15'' E. long.
Portland Bay extends twenty-six miles
from east to west, and ten fi-om north to
south. The most northern portion of its
shore is comparatively low, but the western
portion consists of bold cliffs rising to the
height of 1 80 feet. There is excellent hold-
ing ground (mud with a coating of sand) in
from four to seven fathoms, towards the
western shore, where the anchorage is com-
pletely sheltered from the south-westerly
winds, but exposed however to those from
the south-east, which prevail diu-ing the
summer months. Two small rocky islets,
called Lawrence Isles, he off" the point form-
ing the south side of the bay, and a much
larger one named Lady Julia Percy's Isle
(known among the whalers as Julian Island)
lies off* its eastern shore.
The rivers which fall into Portland bay
are — the Surry, which disembogues in
38° 15' 43'^ S. lat., and about 141° 56" E.
long. ; the Fitzroy, a more important stream,
with much good land on its banks ; and the
Shaiv and Eujnerella, which unite imme-
diately above their junction with the ocean.
The channels of both these streams are
merged, for a time, in extensive swamps.
Moyn River next falls into the sea at Port
Fairy, a small and not very secure harbour
(38° 22' S. lat., 142° 16' E. long.), chiefly
valued as a whaling station. The entrance
is open, and affords but insufficient shelter
for the anchorage ; during the winter, how-
ever, which is the calving season of the
whales, the prevailing winds come off the
land. The town of Belfast is built on the
shore of this bay, at the mouth of the INIoj^n.
Lady or Merri Bay, about twenty miles
east of Port Fairy, is mentioned by Dr. Lang
as a small but superior harbour, but other
writers appear to consider it merely an open
roadstead. It receives the Merri and Hop-
kins rivers ; the former of these is a small
and unimportant stream; the latter rises
near Mount Cole, in a range sometimes
called by the same name as the river, on
the south-western face of the Australian
Pyrenees, thence it pursues a soutlierly
246
IMMENSE HARBOUR OF PORT PHILLIP.
coui-se of at least ninety miles, and falls
into the sea at the town of Warnanibool.
Both banks of the Hopkins* are occupied
by squatters the whole way down, the coun-
try being of excellent quality. The land,
towards the upper part of its coui'se, is
best adapted for pastoral, and that on the
lower portion, for agricultural piu'suits. The
Hopkins receives several tributaries. About
ten miles from the coast, Taylor's River, or
the Caranbalac, falls into it over a precipice
of forty feet.
The coast line between Lady or Merri bay
and Moonlight head is little known, and its
weather-beaten shores are deemed danger-
ous and impracticable. On the latter point
the erection of a light-house is in contem-
plation, as also on Cape Otway, the southern
extremity of the curved coast-line extend-
ing between the mouths of the Hopkins and
the Barwon, which are 100 miles apart, or
150, following the coast-line. Mr. Smythe,
who surs^eyed the shore for a distance of
about seventy miles, namely, from fifteen
miles west of Cape Otway, and fifty-five
miles east of that cape, describes it as bold,
— skirted by perpendicular cliflFs of 500
to 1000 feet elevation above the sea, and
ha-vdng numerous bays, which afford excel-
lent anchorage, and are well protected from
all but due easterly winds.
King's Island, thirty-four miles from Cape
Otway, forms the southern side of the western
entrance to Bass Strait. The Harbinger
reef runs about fom' or five miles oflP the
northern extremity of the island; and the
channel between that reef and Cape Otway
is twenty-nine miles wide, with soundings
of fine white saud. It is, therefore, a per-
fectly safe ship-channel ; I beat through it
in a large vessel during the night. There
are soundings along the whole south coast
of Austraha, at a considerable distance fi'om
* The desire of offering a tribute of esteem to an
old brother officer, appears in this instance to have
completely triumphed over the love of appropriate
names and sweet sounds, usually manifested by Sir
Thomas ^litchell in the numerous instances in Avhicli
the task has devolved upon him of finding designa-
tions for hill and valley, mountain and stream.
Judging from his general rule, we may fairly infer
that could he have ascertained the native name, he
would have gladly retained it, and saved this fine
stream from a patronymic which, but for the associa-
tions connected with it, would most assuredly sound
in the ears of Sir Thomas himself common-place and
distasteful in the extreme.
t Port Phillip is now visited by vessels from India,
China, and other places, where instructions for the
guidance of mariners may not be readily obtainable.
the land, and the current sets to the south-
ward.
Port Phillip was discovered by Lieutenant
Murray, R.N., when commanding the Lady
Nelson, New South Wales colonial brig, in
January, 1803, and was shortly after A-isited
and surveyed by Captain Flinders, in his
Majestj^s ship Investigator. The entrance
is scarcely two miles in width, but within,
the port expands into a capacious haven.
The heads are forty miles from the inner-
most anchorage, off" Melboui-ne, situated at
the north side of the bay, which has a
breadth varying from twenty to sixty miles,
and includes an area of not less than 875
square miles of water, capable of hold-
ing in perfect safety the largest fleet of ships
that ever went to sea. The entrance is
narrowed by rocks lying off" Point Nepean
(in 38° 18' S. lat., 144° 30' 30" E. long.),
and by shoals on the opposite headland.
It is, however, deep enough to admit
vessels of any size at low water, and may
be safely entered at flood tide, which rises
six feet. Masters unacquainted with the
harbour, should not attempt to enter at
night or at ebb tide. There are nume-
rous sand-banks about the middle of the
harboui% which break the force of the sea
when the wind is from the south, and afford
a smooth anchorage near ]\Ielbourne; the
eastern passage to which, along the bay, is
the deepest and safest. On the western
side of Port Phillip, a branch or arm ex-
tends into the land in a west-south-Avest
direction for about fifteen miles, and has an
entrance of about six miles wide ; it is called
Geelong harbour. A small basin at its up-
per end communicates with the larger one
hj ^ narrow na\igable channel. Geelong
harbour runs nearly east and west, and
there is secui'e anchorage at its fiu'thest
extremity, t
One vessel from Hong-Kong was recently lost at the
rather difficult entrance of this immense harbour.
Commanders of ships having on board this work on
the British Colonies would expect to find sailing
directions for entering new havens, I therefore sub-
join an abstract of the Directions for Entering Port
Phillip, as laid down by Captain W. Hobson, R.N.,
of H.M.S. Pattlesnalce, who made a running survey
of the port. Captain Hobson says that —
*' In approaching Port Phillip from the westward,
the entrance cannot be distinguished until Point
Nepean bears N.N.E.; then you open Shortland
Bluff, and obtain a view of the Estuary. _ But the
position of the entrance is easily determined by its
situation with respect to Mount Flinders to the west-
ward, and Arthur's Scat to the eastward- Mount
Flinders is a small flat topped hill at the extremity of
The principal features, on entering the
bay of Port Phillip, are Arthur's Seat, Sta-
tion Peak [Youanff], and a bluff in the
north-east, called Dandonong. Youang is
one of a small cluster of lofty peaks, rising
abruptly out of a low plain on the west side
of the bay. Arthur's Seat forms the north
extremity of a towering range, decHning
gradually, on the east shore, to the coast
at Cape Shanck.
Of the rivers which fall into Port Phillip,
the Yarra Yarra and the Salt Water river,
the Barwon and the Moorabool, have been
the low land ; it makes like an island, and bears
AV. h N. from Point Nepean. Arthur's Seat is the
highest land on the coast westward of "Western Port ;
from the southward its north-west extremity appears
precipitous ; it slopes to the south-east, and its sum-
mit bears E. j S. from Point Nepean, which is situated
on the eastern side of the entrance, at the extremity
of a peninsula, which slopes gradually from the base
of Arthur's Seat; at one-sixth of a mile N.W. by W.
from the Point is a low rocky islet, connected with
the shore by a reef, which dries at low water ; even in
calm weather the sea breaks on it with considei-able
violence. Point Lonsdale, on the western side, is a
low point jutting out from a dark rocky cliff, from
which a reef runs two cables' length to the eastward,
and forms the southern extremity of a bay that ter-
minates at Shortland Bluff to the northward. To
enter Port Phillip a fair wind or a flood tide is indis-
pensable ; with a fair Mind keep in mid channel be-
tween Point Nepean and Point Lonsdale, and steer
in for Shortland Bluff' until Point Nepean bears S.E.
by S., then shape a course as hereafter directed for
the channel through which you mean to pass ; with a
beating wind do not approach Point Lonsdale nearer
than a quarter of a mile, and be careful to avoid a
sunken rock which lies N.W. by W., two cables'
length from the rocky islet off Point Nepean. The
soundings across the entrance are very irregular,
varying in one cast from seven to twenty-four fathoms,
and again suddenly shoaling to five or six. On the
edge of the reef of Point Lonsdale is a depth of five
fathoms close to the rocks, and the same depth on
the southern edge of the reef that extends from Point
Nepean to the rocky islet. The tide in the entrance
runs with considerable force in the height of the
springs. From its impetuosity, and the irregularity
of the bottom, a rippling is created which in rough
"weather would render it very unsafe for an undecked
vessel to pass through, and presents to a stranger so
much the appearance of breakers, that it requires
good nerve to venture on. If the wind should be
light, care must be taken to get into the fair way
before you come too near the reefs, as the flood tide
sets across them towards the entrance of the port,
with great strength. As the entrance is only con-
tracted by projecting points, Mith a favourable tide or
a fair wind, you are soon within them, and then if
you are desirous to anchor, a good berth may be
found any where between Observatory Point and
Point King, within half a mile of the shore, in seven
fathoms, clay bottom.
" "When hound through the Western Channel, take
care to avoid a little shoal called the Pope's Eye, on
which there is only twelve feet. The following marks
will place you exactly on it. Swan Point N. T E.
described, and the Werribee and Little river
alone remain to be noticed.
Werribee River is a small fresh-water
stream, having its origin in the high range
between ]\Iounts Boninyong and Macedon,
and its embouche midway between I\Iel-
bourne and Geelong. In seasons of drought
(such as the summers of 1845 and 1846), it
is little more than a succession of deep
pools, with scarcely a perceptible current;
but in winter it becomes a large and rapid
river, and has been known to rise twelve
feet in a single hour. At an early portion of
(mag.) :^Iount Eliza, summit on with north end of
the flat island. If bound through the Western Chan-
nel, pass to the westward of Pope's Eve, by keeping
Swan Point to the northward of N. I E., until Short-
land Bluff bears W. i S., and steer for the entrance
of the channel which lies between a shoal that com-
mences two cables' length to the northward of Swan
Point and the west bank, to clear the bank off Swan
Point, keep Point Lonsdale just open with Shortland
Bluff, until Swan Point bears N. ^ W., the course
then is N.N.E., and midchannel will be preserved by
keeping Point Nepean a finger's breadth open with
Swan Point ; the soundings are from four fathoms at
the centre, to a quarter less three at the sides, from
which the banks shoal suddenly to five or six feet,
and in some places dry at low water, when Station
Peak is seen over the north red clift', bearing N. 72"
W., you are clear to the northward of the banks, and
will be in seven fathoms water. In approaching from
the northward, bring Point Nepean open with Swan
Point before the north red bank bears N. 72' W., and
follow the leading marks. This channel has now a
buoy marking the entrance on the edge of Pope's
Eye, two more on the edge of the shoals on either
hand, and a fourth on the Swan Spit. In beating
through, you must be guided by the eye on the
eastern side when the shoals show themselves very
distinctly, and take care not to shut the marks. In
standing to the westward, at all times, it is advisable
to keep a person aloft, whence the shoals may gene-
rally be distinguished. The tide runs from two to
three knots per hour, and follows the direction of the
channel. To pass through the south channel when
fairly within the port, keep along the south shore, at
a mile distance, in nine or ten fathoms water, until
abreast of Point King, from which situation an E. by
S. course, with very slight deviations, will carry you
through. It is impossible to find any leading mark
for a channel so long, and in some places so narrow,
that is not more liable to perplex a stranger than to
guide him. The only certain measures of navigating
it, until regularly buoyed, is by the eye from aloft,
and when the weather is too hazy to show the banks
it is not safe to go through. The soundings in the
south channel are very irregular, from sixteen fathoms
to five, and close to the edge of the banks, from that
to three, two, and one fathom. Although the deepest
water is to be found in this channel, it is not to be
preferred by vessels drawing less than sixteen feet
water ; the absence of any leading mark, and its great
length, being a great objection. The harbour-master
in a late government notice, has declared this passage
to be impracticable, from the shifting of the sands.
The south sand that commences near Point King,
forms the south side of the channel, its eastern end
2-i8
RIVERS AND COAST LINE OF VICTORIA PROVINCE.
its course, about two miles from Ballaa, the
Werribce forms a wide deep basin, bounded
on all sides by basaltic columns ; and above
this basin tlie stream flows over a basaltic
pavement of somewhat the same character
as the fajnous Giants' Causeway, in Ireland ;
but the blocks are less regularly formed."^
Little River rises to the north or north-
west of a low range called the Anaki hills,
and falls into Port Phillip a few miles to
the southward of the Werribce. Near its
som'ces there is some good land, but towards
its mouth are extensive plains of ferruginous
sandstone.
Port Phillip is divided from Western Port
by a low promontory, of which the soutli-
westei'n extremity is Cape Shanck, a narrow
projection of calcareous formation, imme-
diately off Avhich lies a rock named, from
its striking resemblance, Pulpit rock.
Western Port, discovered by Mr. Bass, in
1798, and so named by him from its being
the limit of his explorations to the west-
ward, from Sydney, is a fine harbour, situ-
ated in a wide and deep inlet (38° 15' S.lat.,
bears S. W. h S., (mag.), from the white cliff, and to the
eastward of that, deep water extends close to the shore.
" The northern side of the channel is formed by
the middle ground, the western end of which bears
N. 5 E. (mag.) from Point King, and extends seven
miles eastward when Station Peak is on with Indented
Head bearing N.AV. by W. (mag.), and White Cliff
S.W. by W. I W., you are clear of the middle ground,
and may steer to the northward. Symond's Channel
may be made available in N. or N.W. winds, when
unable to fetch through the western channel, but is
not recommended for any but small vessels until it
is buoyed. The Pinnace Channel is only suitable for
small vessels, the deepest water will be found close
along the edge of the great sand. To pass clear of
the shoals to the northward, keep Station Peak on
with the extreme of Indented Head, and do not
shoal the water under nine fathoms. From the edge
of the bank over the area of Port Phillip, to w ithin a
mile of the shore, there is deep water every where,
with the exception of the Prince George Bank off
Indented Head, and in running and beating tovv-ards
Hobson's Bay, at the northern extremity of the port,
there is nothing to ap])rehend. Steer in for Point
Gcllibrand and pass it at two cables' length distance,
taking care in so doing not to shoal the water under
five fathoms, and to anchor when you bring Point
Gellibrand to bear S.S.W. in four-and-a-half fathom
water ; small vessels may bring it to bear south in
two fathoms. A light-house is now erected on this
point, which will at night direct strangers to the
anchorage, inde])endent of the lights of the town and
numerous shipjjing. If you are bound into Geelong
harbour from sea, be careful to give a berth of at
least two miles from Indented Head to avoid the
Prince George Bank, which extends from it in a
N.E. direction. In rounding the shoal on the east
and north sides do not shoal the water under seven
fatlioms until Point Kichard bears W. by S., you
may then haul up for Point Henry.
145° 30' E. long.), containing two great bays,
the inner one being a circular basin of about
eighteen miles across, with an island, called
French Island, of about twelve miles in
length and six in breadth, in its centre,
which thus divides it into an eastern and
a western arm. Another island, called
Phillip or Grant Island, of about fifteen
miles in length, stretches across the outer
bay, almost from point to point, and effectu-
ally shelters the harbour, leaving a wide and
well-protected ship channel on its western
side, whilst on the eastern the passage is nar-
row, and fit only for boats and small vessels.
This harbour t presents one very curious
feattu^e, namely, a sort of canal or gut in
the mud flats that front the eastern side of
Grant Island. Its depth varies from six
to seven fathoms ; the width is half-a-mile.
The chief, if not the only danger to be
guarded against in Port Western, appears
to be a sandbank, lying in the centre of the
channel, four miles within the entrance.
Phillip Island consists of an unvaried
strata of vitrified sandstone and clay. The
" Do not approach the northern shore nearer than
one mile, and in passing Point Wilson keep Point
Henry to the westward of W. by S. (mag.) ; one
mile east, or E. by S. from Point Henry, there is
tolerable good anchorage. On the bar at the head of
Geelong harbour you cannot ensure more than seven
feet at high water ; at a cable's length within the bar
there are five fathoms, and the depth may be carried
close up to the shore ; the rise and fall of the tide
does not exceed four feet in any part of the port, and
more commonly it does not rise beyond two feet six
inches on the springs : both the time of high water
and the extent to which it rises are greatly influenced
by the wind ; the force of the tide through the chan-
nels leading to the north from the mouth may be
estimated at from two to three miles per hour; in
the south channel it runs with less force, and in the
wide expanse northward of the banks it is scarcely
perceptible. When it acquires its greatest strength
it is not safe for any open boat to venture out, but
it is easy to conceive the rapidity with which
it must run to raise the level of 875 square miles
of water four feet by means of so small an em-
bouchure."
* Phillip's Land ; by Dr. Lang.
f In proceeding from Port Western to Port Phillip
very extraordinary soundings Avere ascertained by
Captain Stokes, in H.M.S. lieacjle. About one-third
of the way across from Grant Island to Cape Schanck,
seven miles from the latter, the depth was ascertained
to be seventy fatlioms, on a gravelly bottom. The
same unusual depth was likewise found by a single
cast of the lead, three miles south of Cape Wollami,
with the same kind of gravelly bottom, or a very fine
kind of shingle. In the latter instance, there were
on either side thirty-nine and thirty-three fathoms
fine sand and shells. This depth is the greatest
within the strait. — (See Voycu/c of ILM.S. Beayle,
by Captain Stokes.)
COAST LINE AND RIVERS NEAR WILSON PROMONTORY. 249
western half of its southern side is formed
by a line of cliffs^ from one to three hun-
dred feet in height. A remarkable pyra-
midal rock marks the point where they
terminate, after whieh a long range of low
hiUs, covered with scrubs stretches to Cape
WoUami, a helmet-shaped headland, rising
abruptly from the sea to the height of
480 feet. This cape, situated at the south-
eastern extremity of Phillip island, is a very
conspicuous object, the rest of the island,
with little exception, being covered with
low hills, thickly clothed with the tea-tree,
scrub, and vinous plants. On the northern
side of the island are several small lagoons
or waterholes, situated a little distance in-
land, which contain pure water. The an-
chorage from the signal-post to EUzabeth
cove affords complete shelter from south
and south-west gales. The soil of French
island is of a superior description to that
of Phillip island ; and on its shore is found
freestone resembling the celebrated Portland
stone, which rises in large perpendictdar
masses. The water near those cliffs is of
sufficient depth for vessels of any size to
anchor alongside. The upper land has for
its principal trees, stringy bark, gum, and
'' she oak." The lowlands are impassably
covered with mangrove and tea-tree.
The mainland shores of both the inner
and outer bays are very rugged, and are
broken in many places by the channels of
small streams ; of which, however, only one,
Bass River, has received a name ; and in the
useful and carefully compiled map of Aus-
tralia Felix, published in 1849, by Mr. Ham,
there is not even this exception.
Leaving Western Port, we follow the coast
line in a south-easterly direction, to Cape
Patterson, a low point covered with scattered
sand hillocks, which marks the commence-
ment of a deep bight, in the centre of which
a tongue of land, somewhat similar in shape
and direction to that constituting the south-
ern boundary of Port Phillip, forms a bay,
or rather lagoon, called Anderson's Inlet, of
about fifteen mdes in diameter, into which-
the Tarwon River flows from the north. The
* A rock called Crocodile rock, in 39^ 21' 30' S.
lat., and 4' 41' 45" west of Sydney, lies in a line
midway between the western extremities of Rodondo
and Curtis islands, nearly nine miles from each. It
is a smooth round-topped granite boulder, just pro-
truding above the surface, and in fine weather the
sea runs over it without breaking. The depth being
forty-three fathoms close to it, if the waters of tlie
strait were drawn off, the shape of it would be that
of a column nearly 260 feet high. — Stokes' Disco-
veries in Australia.
DIV. II.
wild forest country, through which this
stream takes its course, is hemmed in on the
north, east, and west by the Strzelecki range
and its branches, — the native name is Tangel,
and there are said to be large open plains to
the north-east, abounding with game.
Ca2ie Liptrap, in 38° 55' S. lat., 145° 57'
E. long., marks the southern extremity of
the curve in which Anderson's inlet is situ-
ated, and the commencement of another
equally striking. Cape Liptrap is twenty-
four miles distant from Wilson Promontory,
and the shore receding between these two
points, forms a bay nine miles deep.
We now arrive at the majestic headland
which forms the southern extremity of Aus-
tralia. Wilson Promontory consists of a
lofty mass of hard granite, twenty miles
long by six to fourteen wide, its lofty sum-
mits rising to a height of 3,000 feet, are
at most seasons of the year enveloped in a
cloud of grey mist. Sometimes, however,
the bold outline of the mountains is re-
lieved against a clear sky, and their highest
peaks catch the first rays of the morning
sun as it rises from the southern ocean. The
promontory is connected with the main land
by a low sandy isthmus, which is described
as bearing the appearance of ha\dug only
recently been left dry. Several clusters of
small islands, namely, the Glennie, Cleft,
Rodondo,* and others, lie immediately off
the west and south shore of the promon-
tory ; those known as the Hogan group, are
situated to the south-east, the largest of
them (in 39° 13' 14'' S. lat.) is about a mile-
and-a-half in extent. Captain Stokes, who
landed upon it in 1842, when surveying
Bass Strait, found a number of dogs left
by sealers, that had become quite wild, and
some fur seals in a cave on the south-east
point. On the north-east is a boat cove
sheltered by two small islets, and provided
Avith fresh water.
Cape Wellington, the eastern projection of
Wilson Promontory, forms the north point
of a wide and spacious bay, called by Cap-
tain Stokes, Waterloo Bay,f from II. M.S.
i^ea^'/e having anchored there on the anni-
t The following extract, quoted by Dr. Lang, from
the Port Phillip Patriot (the date of which the
doctor does not state), evidently refers to the inlet
described above, on the authority of Captain Stokes,
as Waterloo bay. " Lady's bay is a small securely-
sheltered cove, with a depth, in many places, of from
seven to eight fathoms water, on the eastern side of
"Wilson ])romontory, about four or five miles from
its extremity. It was named by Captain Wishart,
who discovered it, after his vessel, the Lady of the
Lake. Lady's bay is so free from dangers that the
2 H
250
CORNER INLET AND ALBERTON (GIPPS' LAND.)
versary of that -victory. There is no good
anchorage between it and the south end of
the promontory, from which it is four miles
distant. The depth in the centre of Water-
loo bay is twelve fathoms, muddy bottom.
At its head lies the low valley three miles
in length, which stretches across the pro-
montory and forms a very conspicuous break
in the high land. On the northern side of
it, the lofty and wooded crest of IN'Iount
Wilson rises abruptly. On the southern is
a ridge strewn over with immense boulders
of granite. A ri^Tilet winding amid the
valley below, falls into the sea at the north
end of a sand beach, forming the head of
Waterloo bay.
Refuge Cove, to the north of Waterloo
bay, is so named fit'om being the only place
a vessel can find shelter in from the east-
ward, on this side of the promontory. This
small cove, which is only a cable wide at
its entrance, may be recognised by Kersop
Peak, which rises over the south part, and
from its lying between Cape Wellington and
Horn Point, and also from its being the
first sandy beach that opens north of the
former. The scenery of Refuge Cove is
said to resemble that of Tierra del Fuego;
and Captain Stokes states, that the smooth
quiet sand beaches, the dense forests reach-
ing to the water's edge, the mist-capped hills,
and the gusts that swept down the valleys
and roared through the rigging, forcibly re-
called to his recollection that land of storms.
On the north side of Refuge Cove is the
Sealers' Cove of the old charts, a small deep
bay, open to the east. The trees on the
south-west side are large, measuring eight
feet in diameter, aflbrding shade and mois-
ture to tree-ferns, and an undergrowth of
various kinds, and supporting on their
branches a profusion of creepers which, inter-
lacing, form a canopy resembling lattice-
work.
Comer Inlet, an extensive basin, situated in
the deep angle between Wilson promontory
and the main land, has a bar extending off
it six miles from the entrance, on which
there is water for vessels di'awdng from six-
teen to eighteen feet. Captain Stokes speaks
of it as a " great useless sheet of Avater, only
mariner, in entering, might touch tlie rocks -with
his vessel's broadsicle, and still float in six fathoms
water. The sliores are rocky, exceedingly steep, and
covereil with dense impenetrable scrub; the rocks
are principally of granite. Good water is to be ob-
tained in this locality. The bay, too, has the usual
character of unfrequented harbours on this coast,
abounding with fish."
na^dgable a mile or two Mithin the entrance,
and that chiefly on the northern side, the
rest being occupied by mud flats.'' A veiy
diflercut opinion was however expressed con-
cerning this inlet by its discoverer. Captain
Lev>-is, the harbour-master of Port Phillip,
who states that he " never entered a finer
harbour," and adds that on entering it, keep-
ing the promontory close on board, there
wei3 not less than three fathoms between
the reefs : no bottom was found at twenty
fathoms, nor for a considerable distance up
the harbour. A group of islets named from
their utility Direction Isles, lie a few miles
outside the bar. Close to the promontory,
and about seven miles from the entrance of
Corner inlet, is a small islet called Rabbit
Island, from the numbers of these animals
found there, the progeny of a pair turned
loose by a sealer about ten years ago. Over
the north shore of Corner inlet is a woody
range, the summit of which, INIount Fatigue,
is 2,110 feet high. A small stream called
Franklin River falls into Corner inlet from
the north, and thence to Port Albert the
coast is intersected by numerous creeks.
Port Albert is situated about fifteen miles
to the eastward of Corner inlet, in 38° 44' S.
lat., and 146° 41' E. long. It is a valuable
harboiu", available for vessels of 200 tons
The entrance is said to be rather intricate
and circuitous, but not dangerous to those
at all acquainted with the channel. " It has
this special advantage," says Dr. Lang, " that
when it would be unsafe — as I suspect it
would in a violent south-easterly gale — to
attempt the channel, there is shelter for
vessels close at hand, between Rabbit island
and the mainland of Wilson promontory."
Albert River and Tarra River fall into
this port. Both these streams originate in
thickly timbered ranges, about twenty miles
inland. On the banks of the latter river
the rising town of Alberton, the embryo
capital of Gipps' Land, is built. Several
islands, of various forms and sizes, lie off
Port Albert.
Vessels bound to Alberton usually pass
through Shallow Inlet ; but the water being
so shallow as to break across the entrance,
if there is any swell, it is considered more
prudent to enter by Corner inlet, and take
the second opening on the right within the
entrance.
Tracing the coast line from Alberton, first
in a south-east and then in a north-east
direction, we find it presenting few remark-
able features. Occasionally it is broken by
COAST LAKES OF GIPPS' LAND.
251
streams descending from the sontli-eastern
ilanks of the Snowy mountains, of which
Merriman's Creek is one of the largest ; but
there is Httle to deserve especial notice until
we arrive at a series of lakes or lagoons,
connected with each other, and running
parallel to the ocean, with Avhich they com-
municate by a narrow and unfortunately,
not na\'igable channel. The largest and
most westerly of these, Lake Wellington, con-
tains ftesh water, and is about twenty miles
long, by about ten broad. It is joined to
Lake King by a central and narrow lake,
assuming towards Lake Wellington the cha-
racter of a liver. Lake Reeve, situated be-
tween the central lake and the sea, has a
length of about eighty miles, opening into
Lake King at its eastern extremity. The
depth of water in mid-channel is twenty
feet, and in some places this depth is main-
tained right across from land to land; but
in others there are shallows and banks on
either side. Into these lakes various rivers,
all of which take their rise in the south-
eastern face of the Snowy mountains, or
rather on the eastern side of the dividing
range, disembogue, — Latrobe River and the
Dunlop or Avon falling into Lake Welling-
ton, Providence Ponds into the central lake,
and the M' Arthur or Mitchell, the Riley,
and the Tambo into Lake King. According
to Dr. Lang, the Latrobe is navigable for
thirty miles from its embouche, the JNI'Ar-
thur for twenty, and the Tambo for ten;
but they have each a bar, carrying seven
feet water, at their mouths. The Latrobe
is much the largest of the three, and forms
the general receptacle of the streams that
rise on the eastern side of the dividing
range for nearly a hundred miles, as well
as of those that rise on the northern side
of the coast range. Its principal tributaries,
among which are the M'Alister and the
Barney, originate in lofty mountains, of
which the highest peaks are covered with
perpetual snow ; and therefore, they are not
mere torrents, but perennial streams.'^
After leaving Lake King, the coast-line
becomes exceedingly monotonous, and con-
tinues so during the long tract extending
towards Cape How^e, called the Ninety-mile
beach, which has, I believe, not yet been
surveyed.
To the eastward of Lake King is Lake
Tyers, an interior lagoon, twenty miles fi'om
which the coast is broken hy the im-
petuous torrent carried to the ocean by
* Phillip's Land, by Dr. Lang.
the Margalong or Snoivy River. This stream
rises in the Austrahan Alps, traverses the
western portion of ^lonaroo plains, then
pursuing a southerly course, dashes along
its rocky channel from precipice to preci-
pice, forming in its rapid descent many
splendid waterfalls.
Jenoa River falls into the ocean at an
inlet, a few miles west of Cape Howe.
Gabo Island, on which it is proposed to
erect a lighthouse, is situated about a quar- -
ter of a mile from the sandy spit of Cape
Howe. This isle is a mile and-a-half long,
by three-quarters of a mile in breadth ; it
has a basis of solid rock, with some grassy
land, and springs of fresh water. The high-
est part is 158 feet above the level of the
sea. On the north-west of the island is a
bay named Santa Barbara, where vessels not
exceeding 100 tons may find shelter from
south-east and south-west gales. Tenders
have been issued by government for the
.construction of a light, as recommended by
Mr. Tyers, which wotdd be very advantage-
ous to the coasting trade, and to all vessels
navigating the south-east coast of Australia.
We have now traced all the rivers of any
importance Avhich fall into the ocean, as we
had previously done those which through
different channels unite theu' waters with
the Murray or Hume ; a few streams, how-
ever, still remain unnoticed which flow in-
land, and poui' thek waters into interior
lagoons, or (like some of the streams in the
older pro\ince) spread themselves over ex-
tensive marshes.
Of these the most remarkable is Wimmera
River, which originates near Mount Cole, in
the PjTcnees, thence pursuing a shallow and
tortuous course for about 200 miles, through
a region of sand and heath, succeeded by
jungle and mallee {eucalyptus dumosa) scrub,
intermingled occasionally with open plains
and tolerable pastui'age, it disembogues in
Lake Hindmarsh. (See Lake Hindmarsh,
p. 596.)
The leading characteristic of the Wim-
mera is its loug and beautiful reaches, which
extend towards the north and west, and are
so numerous that Mitchell, after fording
the main channel in 36° 46' 30" S. lat.,
142° 39' 25'^ E. long., crossed no less than
five, within the distance of a mile-and-a-half.
Avoca River, like the Wimmera, rises near
jNIount Cole, divides the Western Port from
the Wimmera district, and disembogues in
Lake Bacl Bael. (Sec Lake Bael Bael, p. 596.)
25.2
INTERIOR LAKES OF VICTORIA PROVINCE.
A small stream named Avon River flows
between the Wimmera and Avoca, and falls
into Lake Banynong. Woady Yaloah River
flows in a different direction to those just men-
tioned. It takes its rise near Lake Barram-
beet, thence running a southerly course, it
receives numerous tributaries, and falls into
Lake Corangymite.
Lakes. — The numerous inland lakes of
this province are among the most remark-
able of its physical features. The waters of
many of them are quite salt, much more so
indeed than the waters of the ocean; and
in summer, when the extensive evaporation
that always takes place at that season leaves
a large extent of the surface usually covered
with water, and sometimes the whole bed of
the lake quite dry, the salt is found in large
crystals to the depth of three or four inches,
and sometimes even of six, within the usual
water-mark. It is of excellent quality, and
is used for all domestic purposes by the
squatters in this part of the territory, re-
quiring only to be pounded when used for
the table. (See Geology of Victoria.)
Lake Corangymite, (so called from the
native word, corang or coraing, signifying
bitter,) the largest, is situated in the Port-
and Bay district, between the counties of
Hampden, GrenviUe, Heytesbury, and Pol-
warth. It lies about fifty miles due WTst of
the town of Geelong. When first disco-
vered, it was supposed, from its vast size, to
be an arm of the sea, but was proved by
Dr. Thomson to be a lake, apparently
exceeding ninety miles in circumference.
Its waters are perfectly salt, and towards the
southward become very shallow. To the
north the lake deepens to a degree which
has not been ascertained. Lake Corangymite
consists properly of two lakes, the smaller of
which (called Gnarpurt) is situated at the
north-western extremity of the larger — is
of a circular shape, and does not appear
to exceed eight or nine miles in circum-
ference. The large lake is of a very irregular
and serpentine form ; and although the banks
are generally rather bare of wood, it forms
an attractive object in many fine views.
This vast basin is supplied by numerous
fresh-water streams, most of which, how-
ever, are in summer merely chains of ponds,
their channels being, occasionally, quite dry.
The Woady Yaloah enters the lake at its
north-eastern extremity ; the Perring Yaloah
at its southern. These streams have been
knoAvn to rise, in a single night, with such
rapidity, as to sweep away bullocks, drays
and even men, encamped incautiously on
their banks.* There are many small lakes in
the vicinity of Lake Corangymite, most oi
them containing salt water. Lake Colac,
however, is among the exceptions, being
a beautiful sheet of fresh water, measuring
from seven to eight miles in length, by from
two to three in breadth. Lake Poorumbeet
is another fresh- water lake, in form nearly
circular, and measuring about four miles
in circumference. The banks are precipitous,
except at two or three points, where they
sink to the level of the adjacent country.
The lake is much frequented by water-fowl.
The water, which is of excellent quality,
and of unknown depth, is supplied by springs
underground. It has an outlet to the south-
ward, where the water that escapes forms
first a marsh, and afterwards a small creek
or stream. Lakes Colac and Poorumbeet lie
near the southern extremity of lake Coran-
gymite, the former to the eastward, the
latter to the westward.
Lakes Barrambeet and Boloke, or Bolac,
are small fresh-water lakes, situated in the
Portland Bay district. Lake Bolac is some
three miles in length, by about the same
breadth. At one point the water is salt,
but elsewhere quite fresh. It is chiefly
supplied by Fiery Creek, a small stream
from the Pyrenees.
Modewarre Lake (fourteen miles to the
south-west of Geelong) is of a circular form,
very shallow, and about six miles in circum-
ference. The banks are formed into regular
terraces all round, as if the water had once
stood at a much higher level than it usually
does now. In the continued di'ought of
1845 and 1846, the basin was quite diy,
which it had not been previously during the
recollection of the settlers. Its character and
origin appear to be similar to the nume-
rous circular lakes discovered by Mitchell,
about 150 miles to the westward, named by
him Greenhill Lake, Mitre Lake, &c.
Lake Hindmarsh, in the Wimmera district,
is a fresh-water lake, estimated at about
thirty miles in circumference. It is entirely
supplied by the Wimmera river, which enters
it fi'om the south, and has an outlet on the
north, whence it pursues its course through
a barren and uninhabited region, to a second
lake, from which it emerges as from Lake
Hindmarsh, and is finally lost in a third.
Lake Bael Bael, situated between the Wim-
mera district and the Western Port district,
• Lang's Phillip's Land.
COUNTIES AND DISTRICTS OF VICTORIA PROVINCE.
253
receives one branch of the Avoca river, the
second pursues a northerly course, till again
dividing, one channel terminates in a smaller
lake ; the other proceeds in a north-easterly
direction, until it is also lost in an extensive
lagoon.
Lake Banynong (in the Wimmera district)
receives the Avon river.
Lake Boga — one of the numerous lakes
bordering the upper course of the Loddon,
near its junction with the Murray or Hume ;
is about twelve miles round, fresh, and pro-
bably of considerable depth. A low neck of
firm ground separates it from a smaller lake,
(about three miles in circumference) which
is suiTounded with reeds and bulrushes, and
covered with black swans, ducks, and other
water fowl.
Lake Omeo, situated in the Australian
Alps, between the Mitta Mitta and Living-
stone rivers, is an extensive basin, marked
in Mr. Ham's recent map (1849) by the em-
phatic monosyllable, " dry." Count Strze-
lecki, in 1840, describes it as possessing only
the shape of a lake, with scanty water, and
rich pasturage. It bears a striking analogy
to Lake Bathurst and Lake George, being,
like them, destitute of spi-ings and feeders,
above the level of the adjacent rivers, and
assimilating, in shape, rather to a drained
reservoir, than to the natural basin of a
lake.
Divisions. — The larger and more south-
erly portion of Victoria has been lately
marked out into counties. The three first
estabhshed were, the counties of Bourke
* The boundaries stated by Mr. Wells, in his Aus-
tralian Gazetteer (1848), of the three fii'st established
counties, and of the five squatting districts above
mentioned, are : —
Bourke County (Melbourne) sixty-five miles long,
sixty broad, area about 2,500,000 acres, bounded on
the south-west and west by the Werribbee, from its
mouth to its source in the great dividing range ; on
the north by the great dividing range, from the
source of the Werribbee to that of the Plenty river ;
on the east by Plenty river, from its source to its con-
fluence with the Yarra Yarra river, thence upward by
that river to the confluence of the Deep creek, thence
by Deep creek upward to the point where the main
stream commences to run in a north-west direction ;
thence by a line southei'ly from the aforesaid bend to
the Dandenong creek ; thence downward to the shore
of the Port Phillip bay, and on the south by the
shores of Port Phillip bay to the mouth oFthe
Werribbee aforesaid.
" Grant County (Geolong), fifty-eight miles long,
north to south ; forty-two miles broad, east to west ;
area 1,000,000 acres; bounded on the east by the
western boundary of Bourke County ; on the north
by the dividing range, extending from Mount Black-
wood to Mount Buninyong ; on the west by AVilliam-
f on's creek, to its confluence with the Yarrowee river,
(containing the city of Melbourne), Grant
(the town of Geelong), and Normanby (the
town of Portland) ; to these have been added
those of FoUet, Duudas, Villiers, Ripon,
Hampden, Heytesbury, Talbot, Grenville,
Polworth, Dalhousie, Roduey, Anglesey,
Evelyn, Mornington, Douro, Haddington,
Bruce, Abinger, Combcrmere, and Howe.
The designations of Port Phillip or Aus-
tralia Felix ai'e frequently apphed to the
whole province, although the region on
which the latter term was originally be-
stowed extends only between the Glenelg
and Campaspe rivers. The north-eastern
portion of Victoria is usually termed Murray
district; the north-western, Wimmera dis-
rict ; the south-eastern, Gipps' Land; the
south-western, Portland Bay district ; and
the central, Western Port district ; but the
exact Hmits of these temporary divisions
are very vaguely defined, and can be but
of little interest to the general reader."^ The
capital of a newly colonized region is ne-
cessarily the first object of interest ; we
therefore proceed at once to examine the
condition of ]\Ielboui'ne.
Melbourne, the adjacent country, and the
Western Port District generally. — The better
to understand the actual position of this
embryo capital of an embryo province, and
to appreciate the incontrovertible eridence
which it affords of the enterprising spiiit
of our Anglo- Austrahan bretliren, we must
look back upon its condition twelve years
ago.
thence to its confluence with the Barwon river ; and
by that river to its source, and by a line south to the
sea coast and the waters of Port Phillip bay.
" Normanhy County (Portland), fifty miles long,
north to south ; eighty miles broad, east to west ; area
about 2,000,000 acres ; bounded on the west by the
Glenelg river, from its mouth to where the Wannon
river joins it ; on the north, by the Wannon river and
Grange-Burn, thence by a line easterly to Lake Lin-
lithgow, following Cameron's creek to its source, and
by a line south-east to the head of Muston's creek ;
on the east by Muston's creek to its junction with
the Hopkin's river, following the course of that river
until it reaches the sea ; and on the south by the sea-
shore to the mouth of the Glenelg, including the
Lawrence, Lady Julia, Percy's Island, and the small
islands at Port Fairy.
" IFesterji Port District is bounded on the south
by the sea coast from Anderson's inlet to the south-
east limit of the county of Bourke, further by the
east and north boundaries of the said county to the
Werribbee river, and a north-west line to Mount
Cole, thence by a line to the Avoca river, by the
Avoca river to Lake Baol-Bael, and thence by a line,
due north, to the Murray river ; on the north and
north-east by the Murray to the Goulburn, following
the latter river to its source, and on the east by a line
254 REMARKABLE PROGRESS OF THE CITY OF MELBOURNE.
In January, 1838, it consisted of a nucleus
of huts embowered in the forest foliage,
and had much the appearance of an In-
dian village. Two wooden houses served
the purpose of inns, for the settlers who
li-equented the place. A small square wooden
building, with an old ship's bell suspended
from a tree, was used as a chm'ch or chapel
by the various religious denominations ; two
or three so-called shops formed emporiums
for the sale of every description of useful
articles; the flesh of the kangaroo and va-
rieties of wild fowl were abundantly used,
for fresh mutton was still scarce, and beef
seldom seen; and a manuscript newspaper,
established by Fawkuer, one of the enter-
prising men to whom England is indebted
for the formation of this settlement, was
the organ of public opinion in the new
colony.
Fortunately, on the spot selected for the
city, excellent brick earth was discovered at
the river side, and the neighbourhood yielded
much fine and rough stone, adapted for the
builder. The progress of Melbourne during
the ensuing six months was extraordinary.
]\Ir. Arden, one of its early residents, states,
in the useful manual to which we have pre-
viously referred, that " so rapid had been its
running due south to Anderson's inlet. The area
within the above limits is estimated at 10,000,000
acres.
" Portland Bay District is bounded on the west by
part of the South Australian frontier ; on the north
by the range dividing the waters falling into the
Murray, from the waters falling into the Glenelg and
other rivers to the east of Portland bay, extending
from the head of the Glenelg to Mount Cole ; on the
east by part of the Western Port district, and the
county of Grant ; and on the south by the sea coast,
exclusive of the coiinty of Normanby. Area about
10,000,000 acres. [This large extent of country is
now being divided into several counties — see accom-
2)anying map.]
" The Wimrnera District is bounded on the east
by a line from Mount Cole to the source of the Avoca
river, thence by the Avoca river to Lake Baelbael,
thence by a line due north to the Mun-ay river; on
the north by the Murray to the South Australian
frontier; on the west by the South Australian frontier
to the range dividing the waters that fall into the
Murray from those falling into the Glenelg, and other
rivers to the eastward of Portland bay ; and on the
south by that range to Mount Cole. The area ia esti-
mated at 15,000,000 acres.
" The Murray District is bounded on the south
and west by the Goulburn river, to its junction with
the Murray river ; on the north and north-east by the
Murray river, and its tributaries ; and on the south-
east by the dividing range, termed the Australia-\
Alps. It contains about 8,000,000 acres."
Mr. Wells does not give any assignable boundaries
to Gipp's Land.
* The following statement shews the i)rogress of
progress, as to render it impossible for the
memory to keep pace with the movement."
Brick buildings, some even of two or three
stories liigh, were numerous ; the inns were
transformed into handsome and convenient
hotels ; the lines of streets had been cleared,
marked, and were, in some parts, under
a process of partial macadamization ; many
shops, warehouses, agencies, had been estab-
lished; population had quadrupled ; branches
of two Sydney banks were in active ope-
ration; and, in October, the Port Phillip
Gazette was issued from the printing-office
of Melbourne.
The rapid growth of the capital* received,
in the years 1841-2, a severe but tempo-
rary check. Its progress since, though less
speedy, lacking the strong excitement, not
to say the infatuation, which characterized
its earlier formation, has been steady; and
the Melbourne of 1850 would do no dis-
credit to a province of far older estabhsh-
ment and more developed resources. The
chief defect in the plan of the city is the con-
centration of the buildings, the plan originally
laid down having been on too small a scale.
This is easily accounted for, as Melbourne
was not originally intended for the capital of
the province, the locality selected by Sir
Melbourne from wild desert in 1836-7, to October,
1840. The figures and calculations are from June,
1837, to October, 1840 :—
June, 1837 — Population, 250; number of buildings,
36; value of buildings, £1,800; value of land,
£3,517.
June, 1838— Population, 1,800; number of build-
ings, 300; value of buildings, £60,000; value of
land, £17,406.
June, 1839 — Population, 3,000 ; number of build-
ings, 560; value of buildings, £112,000; value
of land, £169,542.
October, 1840 — Population, 5,538 ; number of
buildings, 923 ; value of buildings, £230,750 ;
value of land, £372,600.
To the value of buildings £230,750
Add value of land 372,600
Add the stock in trade of 36 mer-i gg^ qqq
cantile houses, averaging £10,000 j '
Of 175 miscellaneous dealers, aver. £250 43,750
3,000 tons colonial shipping, averaging | ^^ ^^^
£20 per ton J '
Deposits and capital of three banks,'* .^^^ qq^
averaging £100,000 ..,../ '
Paid up capital of five companies at-j ,q qqq
£10,000 ;
And the total value of property will be £1,392,000
iNote. — The value of property has been greatly m-
crcascd by tne recent gold discoveries : see Suppt.]
During the year 1840, the number of vessels Mhich
arrived at Melbourne was 313, nearly averaging one
a-day (excepting the Sabbath), and the tonnage en-
tering the port amounted to 54.928 tons.
DESCRIPTION OP MELBOURNE— VICTORIA PROVINCE.
255
Richard Bourke being Point Gellibrand, the
peuinsiila forming the southern shore of
Hobson's bay, (at the north-east end of the
bay of Port PhilUp,) on Avhich WilHarastown
now stands. The want of fresh water at
WilHarastown appears to have been the chief
obstacle to this design ; while, on the other
hand, the abundant supply afforded by the
Yarra Yarra river to Melbourne and its
vicinity, was naturally a striking advantage
in the eyes of many intending settlers, who
probably could not conveniently spare the
time or means necessary to ensure a suffi-
ciency of that indispensable article of sub-
sistence. Williamstown is the anchorage
station for sliips, as only small craft pass up
the Yarra Yarra to the capital.*
The public buildings of Melbourne, though
necessarily not very numerous, are of a
respectable, and even superior class. The
court-house and gaol at Melbourne have
been erected, at a cost to the colonists of
£30,000. The gaol, a gloomy-looking pile,
constructed of dark ferruginous sandstone, is
fa\^ourably situated for health and exercise,
and commands one of the finest marine
views in the neighbourhood of the city.
The building containing the government
offices, placed on a commanding eminence
in the western quarter of the town, near the
court-house, is composed of dark blue whin-
stone and a light-greyish granite, which are
judiciously blended. The custom-house, the
next public building of importance, is stated
to be a " chaste stnicture.^' The " Union"
and the " Austral- Asian" banks have hand-
some houses. The episcopalian, presby-
terian, Roman catholic, Wesleyan, inde-
pendent, and congregational temples of
worship, are all substantial edifices. There
is a mechanics' institute, erected of stone,
at a cost of .€4,000, and various other public
and private structures. There is a general
market, a cattle market, and hay and corn
markets, all imder the superintendence of
properly- qualified inspectors ; and hotels of
various grades. A bridge is now being con-
structed over the Yarra Yarra, composed of
a single arch, 150 feet span, and thirty feet
in width, which, it is estimated, will cost
* Captain Stokes relates an anecdote when describ-
ing^ the bay of Port Phillip, which well illustrates the
difficulty of detecting the mouths of Australian rivers.
" In the" north-west corner of Hobson's bay is the
mouth of the Yan-a Yarra river ; but although only
one mile and-a-half from the general anchorage, it is
very difficult to be made out. Soon after wc (i. e.
H.M.S. lk'(u/le) anchored in Hobson's bay, a small
schooner passed, going to Melbourne. Several of the
.€10,000. A botanical garden has been
established in one of the beautiful bends of
the river, and a good race-course has been
laid out in the vicinity of the city. The
streets are planned at right angles, the
larger ones being a hundred feet in width,
the smaller about thirty. The principal
street is, strangely enough, named Collins,
after the brave officer who, when directed, in
1803, to form a settlement at Port Phillip,
declared it to be " all barren," and aban-
doned it as a hopeless undertaking. Eliza-
beth-street is situated in a hollow, between
two considerable acclivities to the eastward
and westward, called the Eastern and Wes-
tern hills, the course of the river being nearly
due west.
Melbourne is divided into four wards, and
is under the municipal government of a
corporation, consisting of a mayor, foiu*
aldermen, and twelve town councillors, whose
exertions, though commenced at a period of
general depression and commercial difficulty
(November, 1842), speedily effected an im-
provement in the condition of the rising
metropolis. The streets and by-Avays of
Melbourne (previous to the existence of the
corporation) are described as having been
frequently rendered impassable, from the
operation of the weather, and the ceaseless
traffic of ponderous bullock-drays. Thick
gum tree stumps, and deep ruts, forming vast
reservoirs of mud, were vaiiegated by the
intersecting gullies of temporary water-
courses ; and many an anxious wife and
mother scanned the deep abyss of the urban
excavations, in search of a drunken husband
or a wayward child. A visitor, writing in
1842, declares himself to have been startled,
soon after his arrival in the colony, by a
paragraph in the newspaper, headed, "Another
child drowned in the streets of Melbourne."
In the following year, however, the stumps
were removed by order of the town council,
and the occasion of frequent accidents thus
removed. t On the south bank of the Yarra
Yarra, within a distance of three miles from
Melbourne, there are many pretty cottages,
surrounded by fertile and productive gar-
dens, extending over a gently undulating
officers were at the time standing on the poop, and
each selected a spot at which the schooner was to
enter the river ; and although, as I have before stated,
we were only a mile and a half from it, none of us
was right. A single tall bushy-topped tree, about a
mile inland, rose over the schooner as she left the
waters of Hobson's bay."
f Audralia i^c;//a-, by Westgarth ; Sydney ami Mel-
bourne, by Baker.
y256
VILLAGES AND COUNTRY NEAR MELBOURNE.
iccli\ity to the water's edge. The beauty of
the scenery is enhanced by hiUs, and bold
vvoodland in the background.
To the left of the city, and almost forming
a part of it, is a small green hill (Batman's)
of a conical shape, washed at its base by
the YaiTa Yarra river, from which the ascent
is rather precipitous. On the opposite side
there is a gentle slope towards an open
plain, with clumps of trees spread here and
there in wild and irregular beauty. Further
on is a long swamp, nearly always covered
with water, which gives it the appearance
of a fine lake; beyond it the Willoughby
plains commence, studded with trees like an
English park. The level of these plains is
interrupted by a succession of green mounds,
then by undulating flats, less timbered. The
view is bounded by a lofty range of moun-
tains, which begin near Geelong and continue
many miles into the interior of the country.
On the east of Melbourne, the view is
bounded by the Western Port range of
mountains, which stretches from the sea-
coast inland until it reaches the Plenty
range. The country between Melbourne
and Western Port is a vast forest, broken at
regular intervals by a succession of hills and
valleys, which present many picturesque
views.
The township of CoUingwood, formerly
NewtowTi, almost joins Melbourne ; it has
three hotels, one brewery, and numerous
stores. Further inland, upon the banks of
the Yarra Yarra, is the township of Clifton.
For many miles the banks of this " wildly
beautiful stream" are lined Avith villas and
parks, and fringed vnih. the graceful Yarra and
mimosa trees.
In a westerly direction from Melbourne,
in the direction of Mount Macedon, an open
grassy plain extends for more than thirty
miles, traversed by numerous creeks, and
thickly covered with homesteads. The soil
is light and dry, producing excellent pasture
for sheep. Further west are the deep and
romantic gullies of the Werribbee and adja-
cent creeks. The north portion of the
Western Port district contains much valuable
land, especially the extensive plains which
extend between the Loddon and the Cam-
paspe rivers, and also between the Campaspe
and Goulburn or Bayiinga, immediately be-
low their junction with the Hume, to the
south of which open forest country, clothed
witli good grass, but with occasional belts of
scrub, extends along the eastern bank of the
Loddon river.
Mr. James, speaking generally of the
country behind the coast of Port Phillip and
Portland Bay, describes it as among "the
finest countries not only in Australia but
perhaps in the world. Nobody can visit the
banks of the Yarra Yarra, the heads of the
river Plenty, the country about Mount
Macedon, and the river Campaspe, without
being charmed with its magnificence and
brilliancy."
Mr. Richard Howitt — who was unfortunate
in hi^ attempt to settle in Victoria, partly (it
would appear even from his interesting ac-
count of his proceedings) from his own inex-
perience, and want of perseverance, but
chiefly from the disastrous period during
which that attempt was made — in describing
an excm'sion in search of his stray bullocks,
which led him to within twelve miles of
Mount Macedon, bears the following testi-
mony to the goodliness of the land : — " A
more picturesque and beautiful region was
never looked upon. I saw a great deal of very
delightful country; it had a delicately-smooth
lawnlike surface, without scrub or stones.
Around me spread a spacious plain, the ' she
oaks,' a rich silky brown, scattered thinly'
and in clumps; further ofi*, bounding the
plain, knolls, slopes, and glens, all of the
smoothest outline, crowned or sprinkled with
the same trees ; and beyond, mountains and
mountain ranges on which rested deliciously
the blue of the summer heavens. Some
of these mountains were wooded to the sum-
mits, others revealed through openings im-
measurable plains, where sheep were whitely
dotting the landscape, the golden shadows
seen at intervals betwixt the long shadows
of the ' she oaks.' A more splendid and ex-
tensive country there is not in the world for
sheep and cattle than Australia Felix. How
fat and sleek are its immense herds ! I
speak not here of the immediate neighbour-
hood of the town, but of the country gene-
rally." *
Williamstown (the sea-port town of Mel-
boui-ne) whose early pretensions have been
so eff'ectually overshadowed by its powerful
neighbour, is at present a mere coast vil-
lage, with about 126 houses and 322 in-
habitants. It nevertheless possesses great
natural advantages. Situated at the head of
the harbour of Port Phillip, with fine anchor-
age, a beach admii'ably adapted for the con-
struction of piers and wharfs, and a con-
siderable extent of level land washed on
* Ilowitt's Impressions of Australia Felix, pp. 108
— 115.
GEELONG AND ITS VICINITY— VICTORIA PROVINCE.
257
three sides by tlie sea, it is only reasonable
to suppose that AVilliamstown will eventually
become an important place, as its disadvan-
tage (the want of water) is remediable. Tlie
only fault in its haven (Ilobson's bay) ap-
pears to be that Point Gel li brand scarcely
projects sufficiently to shelter large ships
from south winds.
St. Kilda and Brighton, are two pleasant
^dllages, situated on the eastern shore of the
bay of Port Phillip, the former about two or
three, the latter about six miles from INIel-
bourne, in both of which are a considerable
number of rui-al villas and cottages ornee,
the residences, either constant or occasional,
of respectable persons in business in the
city. St. Kilda is the first point on the bay
to the eastward, where the land is sufficiently
elevated to be above the reach of all land-
floods, and the terrace to seaward, in front
of the line of houses along the bay, both
there and at Brighton, at all seasons, in so
fine a climate, forms a delightful promenade.
The route and distances by which the
" royal mail" travels from Melbourne, the
capital of Victoria, to Sydney, the capital of
New South Wales, are — Melbourne to Kiu-
lochewe, 18 miles ; Kilmore, 32 ; Goulburn
river, 25 ; Honeysuckle creek, 56 ; Ovens
river, 53; Albury, 50; Tarcotta creek, 85;
Gundagai, 35 ; Yass, 66 ; Goulburn, 60 ;
Berrima, 40 ; Campbeltown, 47 ; Sydney,
33; total, 590 miles. Some of these esti-
mates, hoAvever, must be under the mark,
for the whole distance is about 600 miles.
The " royal mail" leaves Sydney and Mel-
bourne thrice in each week.
From Melboui'ne to Portland, 253 miles,
there is also a " royal mail" conveyance once
a week. Several steam boats ply daily be-
tween Melbourne and and Geelong.
Geelong and its vicinity. — Geelong, the
capital of the county of Grant (distant forty-
five miles from Melbourne) stands partly on
the picturesque cliflTs of the fine harbour
whose anchorage it overlooks, and partly on
the river Barwon. Geelong harbour is situ-
ated at the head of the deep inlet formed by
the western arm of Port Phillip. Its southern
point is a level expanse of land, named Point
Henry, from which a long spit extends,
eaving only a shoal channel between it and
the northern shore. Thus, though the har-
bour has apparently a broad open month, it
ie impossible for a large ship to enter it, so
that the vessels which are annually charged
with the large quantities of wool now ex-
horted from Geelong, are obliged to lie to
DIV, II.
the eastward of Point Henrj% about seven
miles distant from the port. The bar, which
has but nine feet water at high tide, is said
to be composed of an ancient deposit of
shells and other matter of inferior tenacity,
and its removal is considered practicable.
Geelong has several commodious places of
worship ; some good warehouses have been
erected in the town, and the neighbourhood
is adorned with cottages and gardens. The
principal inn (Mack's hotel) is built on a
veiy large and expensive scale. Like most
other Australian towns, Geelong has its race
ground. Several steam-boats ply on alter-
nate days between Geelong and Melbourne,
a passage of abovit six hours' duration. Gee-
long and Corio each support a weekly news-
paper. [See Supplemental Division j
The same policy, noticed in a pre-sdous
instance, as having proved so unconcentrative,
is exemplified yet more forcibly in the case
of Geelong. The high price fixed upon the
town allotments being found to hinder its
formation. Sir George Gipps separated the
township into two parts, calling the portion
nearest the harbour North Geelong, and the
other South Geelong, the minimum price of
allotments in the former being £300 an
acre, in the latter, £150. Subin'ban allot-
ments, however, being procurable at the
rate of £5 an acre, in one locality, and of
£2 in another, opposition towns were formed
immediately beyond the boundaries of the
government towns. There is thus the rival
toAvn of Ashby, a mile from North Geelong;
Irishtown, the rival of South Geelong, from
which it is also a mile distant ; and Neiv-
town, a third opposition town, between the
other two. The last census (1851) states
the population of the government towns at
8,291, and that of the three opposition to-rnis
omitted. Corio, (pronounced Coraio, with
the accent on the second syllable), is the
native name for the beach at Geelong : the
residents in the place usually call the town
of North Geelong, Corio. About a mile
and-a-quarter from Corio, the Barwon river
passes Geelong, in its tortuous course, to the
ocean; and as there is a natural terrace
on each side of the nver, parallel to its
banks, several suburban allotments have
been purchased in the vicinity, and delightful
villas constructed on either bank. The
country round Geelong and the neighbour-
ing villages is admired alike for the beauty
of its scenery and the richness of its soil,
which Avill probably eventually render it a
valuable agricultural district. A vineyard,
2 I
258
PORTLAND AND THE PORTLAND BAY DISTRICT.
established near Geelong, among the Barra-
bool hills, by three families of Vignerons,
from the canton of Neufchatel in Switzer-
land, produced, in 1846, at the rate of 1,000
gallons of wine per acre. The peninsula
included between the Barwon river and the
western arm of Port Phillip, which is pro-
bably about twenty-five miles in length, from
Indented Head to Geelong, contains about
160,000 acres, of which the gi-eater part
consists of land of the first quality, whether
for pasture or cultivation. It seems to be a
continuation of the same tract of level
country that stretches along for upwards of
200 miles to the westward of Geelong,
between the coast range, or Marrack hills,
and the ranges of the interior.
To the westward of Geelong, gi-assy hills,
occasionally varied with clumps of trees,
extend towards lake Colac. An immense
forest, between Geelong and Melbourne,
was at first reported to be composed of
cedar. On subsequent investigation, it ap-
peared that the trees were not cedar, but
a hard, solid, close-grained, dark-brown
coloured wood, with straight trunks of
twenty-five feet, and an average circum-
ference of nine feet.
The country from Geelong to the Glenelg
river may, in general terms, be described
as a parallellogram, of 200 miles in length,
by twenty-five miles in average breadth, the
whole of which consists of land of the first
quality for cultivation. It is nearly a dead
level ; and, for a railway, would present few
engineering difficulties, and require no tun-
nelling or embankments. There is abun-
dance of indigenous hard timber throughout;
and a wooden railway might be laid down,
at a cost of £1,000 per mile, whereby up-
wards of three million acres of the richest
land would be rendered immediately avail-
able for the settlement of a numerous agri-
cultural population.
Portland Bay District and Portland
Town. — This district consists of a series of
undulations, intersected by numerous rivers
and creeks. Portland, the chief town of Nor-
manby county, and indeed of the Portland
Bay district, is built on slightly rising ground,
on the western side of the fine bay, whose
name it bears. It is well placed, presenting
a fine bold terrace towards the sea, backed
by a sufficient extent of level gi-ound for a
large town.
The first town allotments in Portland were
sold on the 15th October, 1840, and the land
mania having then reached its height, the
forty allotments then disposed of realised
£11,026. Dr. Lang, waiting in 1847, says,
that nearly £30,000 have since been invested
in buildings. The population of Portland in
1846 Avas 510. Its trade is already con-
siderable, and it has two respectable weekly
journals. ^Mr. Angas, speaking from per-
sonal observation, says that the country in
this vicinity bears marks of having been
raised by volcanic action from beneath the
ocean; the same white coral limestone which
occurs at Mount Gambler, also appears here.
The aspect of the land resembles that in the
neighbourhood of Cape Northumberland,
and it would seem that a similar belt of
country extends in this direction. A thickly
wooded district is in the immediate vicinity
of the bay, consisting of stunted eucalypti,
black-wood, mimosa-wattle, the cherry (exo-
carpus), and a little underwood. The soil
is rich, the country verdant, even in mid-
winter, and the climate cooler than that of
Adelaide. The establishments of Messrs.
Henty (the first settlers at Portland Bay)
are extensive, and the town has grown \ip
around them. The soil around Portland
Bay is described to be of the richest alluvial
kind; the vegetable productions remarkable
for their size and quality — the barley " yield-
ing for four years a continued crop^' — the
timber peculiar for both beauty and utility,
and the climate unrivalled. Several whaling
vessels annually take up their stations in the
bay, the property of parties residing in the
neighboui'ing colonies. The anchorage is
good; the water in the harbour some-
times smooth enough to admit of landing
from boats; it is, however, often trouble-
some, and indeed dangerous, to debark on
the open beach ; and several shipwrecks and
loss of life have occurred. A wooden railroad
and jetty have been constructed from the
stringy bark wood in the neighbouring forest,
for the conveyance of goods to and from
the vessels in the bay.
Belfast is a thriving sea-port town, also
situated in the county of Normanby, on Port
Fairy. It is 779 miles from Svdnev. Popu-
lation in 1846 was 269. In 1851 was 3,846.
One of the finest tracts in the district is
situated between the Grampians and the
boundary of South Australia. The rich
black soil, several feet deep on a subsoil of
clay, is lightly wooded, covered with the
finest pasturage, and abundantly watered by
the Grange Burn, Wannon, Glenelg, and
their tributaries. The country near the
coast, between the mouth of the Glenelg
wim;mmera and ]\iuiiray districts— cape otway.
259
and Point Fairy, is generally poor, but there
is some better soil on the banks of the river
Crawford, and the land on the Fitzroy river
is adapted for either grazing or cultivation.
In the immediate \dcinity of Mount Eckerley
(Normanby county), there is a tract called
"the five-mile patch," reported to be of
extraordinary fertility. Mount Rouse (Vil-
liers county) is of trap formation, the soil
around it, and between it and Mount Shad-
well is good, but sw'amps are numerous.
An open forest of stunted Banksise extends
six miles to the northward of Mount Rouse.
Fine downs for two or three miles in width,
divide this from an open forest (chiefly of
eucalypti) extending some distance east and
west of Mount Sturgeon, the soil being
pretty good.*
The country around Cape Otway is almost
unknown, owing to its being densely tim-
bered with forest trees of gigantic size, covered
.with rank and nearly tropical vegetation, con-
sisting of an undergrowth of vines and other
creepers, which flourish with extraordinary
luxuriance, and form a trellis-work from
tree to tree, through which a passage can
with difficulty be eftected by a tomahawk;
the whole intersected with ravines and
ranges which render exploration very diffi-
cult. This tract extends over about two
million of acres, and is said by the few who
have penetrated it to some extent to be
plentifully "watered by running streams.
The timber is of the most valuable descrip-
tion, and includes a cedar not found in other
parts of the province. The country, although
now considered wild and impracticable will,
it is supposed, from its peculiar resources,
be eventually found available for small
settlers of the non-stockholding yeomanry.
An open country, with vast plains, extends
from Lake Colac and the river Leigh, to the
north and west of Lake Corangymite and
Mount Elephant. To the southward of
Colac Lake there is a romantically beautiful
district, with a thickly grassed soil, inter-
spersed with the tracts termed " stony rises."
Near Lake Corangymite the land is equally
fine, especially to the westward. In the
neighbourliood of Lake Killambeet there are
plains of great extent, belted with tall trees,
copses, and open forest. North-west of
Lake Porumbcct, on the road from Mel-
bourne to Portland, " the country," says
Dr. Lang, " for the next seven or eight
miles, continues pretty much the same as
before, rich plains, slightly undulating, with
• Tyer's liepurt.
a thick carpeting of grass, but with a some-
what greater frequency and variety of natui-al
wood." The Mount Leura district is re-
markably well watered, rain is frequent,
springs abundant, as well as creeks or small
streams, and water holes, or natural pools.
A whimsical proof of the contrast afibrded
by a large portion of the Portland Bay
district and the adjacent regions, to the
impenetrable nature of other parts of the
provice, was afforded in the early days of the
colony by Messrs. Hawdon and Mundy, who
left the neighbom-hood of Mount Macedon,
in a tandem, on the 11th of July, 1839, and
drove through the uninhabited country to
Adelaide, a distance of 540 miles in twenty-
seven days. They described this extensive
region as being for the greater part like an
English park.
Wimmera Squatting District. — Sandy
wastes, alternating Avith extensive tracts,
covered with the impenetrable scrub {euca-
lyptus dumosa) called Mallee by the abori-
gines, render the northern and Avestern
portions of this district hopelessly barren;
but on the east of the Wimmera river a good
sheep country extends in a parallel direction
Avith the river, composed of light forest and
plains. The lakes of this district are numer-
ous, the chief of them, namely, Hindmarsh,
Boga, Bael-Bael, and others, have been
already mentioned.
Murraij District. — Count Strzelecki, on his
journey to Gipps' Land, \-isited this district,
and crossed Mane's range, a spur of the
Australian Alps, which divides the tributary
creeks that flow from either side to the
INIun-ay and the INIurrimbidgee. To the
eastAvard of the meridian of 148° the moun-
tains present the eflects of some extraordinary
perturbations, and form many culminating
and characteristic eminences; to the west-
ward they are grouped in confusion, and the
country is broken, rocky, and often impassa-
ble. But both the ranges and valleys furnish
abundant natural and artificial crops, as is
CA-ident from the healthy state of the sheep
and cattle, and from the retiu-ns of grain
Avhich the squatters obtain from the culture
of the soil. Between the jNIane and Ajuk
ranges north of the parallel of 37°, ca'cit
feature bears the stamp of grandeur ; the
broken country to the westAvard in Avhich
the Tangella creek takes its rise, to the
eastAvard, the dividing range, here called the
Australian Alps, Avith its stupendous peaks
and domes, and in front the beautiful valley
I which the Murray so bountifully Avaters,
230 GIPPS^ LAND DISTRICT AND ALBERTON— VICTORIA PROVINCE.
unite to form attractions of no ordinary
magnitude. Count Strzelecki followed the
■windin"-s of a valley in this district for about
seventy miles, and found it intersected by
gullies and torrents, and by numberless
steep ridges.
The soil in all the valleys is composed of
disintegrated argillaceous and calcareous
rocks, richly mixed with sediments of de-
composed vegetable matter. For pasture
and agriculture, the valley of the IMurray,
■with those adjacent, and the country round
Lake Omeo, offer the most suitable spots.
Strzelecki says, the INIurray, with its tribu-
taries, the Mitta-Mitta, and others, supply
both the valleys and Omeo with plentiful
streams; everywhere nature seems to have
most liberally enriched this district for the
benefit of man.
Mercer's Vale is a grassy plain of ten
or twelve miles in extent, almost completely
destitute of timber, and surrounded in great
measure by hills of moderate elevation, and
distant mountain ranges.
Gipps' Land District and Alberton. — This
important section of the Victoria Province
may be said to extend from Cape Howe to
Cape Paterson, near Western Port, on a sea-
coast line of about three hundred miles.
The inland boundaiy is marked by the
Strzelecki range and Australian Alps, stretch-
ing from Western Port to Mount Kosciusko;
thence to Cape Howe along the boundary
line which separates Victoria Province fi'om
New South Wales. The portion examined
by Count Strzelecki, in 1840, from the
Thompson river to the southward has a sea-
coast of about 250 miles in extent, and
comprises an area estimated at 5,600 square
miles, of which about 3,600 consist of
forests, plains, and valleys, which in richness
of soil, pasturage, inland navigation, and
situation, cannot, it is said, be surpassed.
Two thousand square miles of the coast range
are clothed with the blue gum and black butt
trees of excellent quality, and contain many
large and deep valleys, well adapted for
cattle. The country is abundantly Avatered
by numerous rivers, and by a navigable lake
and lagoons which bisect the coast for 100
miles.
According to the Parliamentary Papers,
No. 120 (9th March, 1841), containing the
copy of a despatch by Sir G. Gipps, which
shows the progressive discovery and occupa-
tion of New South Wales during the period
of his administration, "Gipps' Land'' l3egins
at 17 miles S.S.E. from Lake Omeo, and
is bounded on the N.E. by the meridian of
148°. In this report, Strzelecki says, that
few of the parts explored presented him with
more gratifying prospects than this division:
a beautiful stream, the first of the eastern
waters, winding through a fine valley, soon
assumed the features of a river (the Thomp-
son), and appeared to be a guide into a
country hitherto unoccupied by the white
man. A hilly country closes the valley,
narrows the river banks, and brings the
explorer across the mountain ridges to an
elevation from whence there is a view of the
sea on the distant horizon; to the south-
east an undulating country, with mountain
ridges to the north-east. Approaching or
receding from the river according to the
windings of its bordering hills, the descent
into a noble forest tract is effected.
The valley of the Thompson river is se-
parated from that of the M'Arthur, which is
wide and covered with luxuriant pasture,
and slopes gradually in open forest ground
to Lake King and the sea-coast. From the
]\PArthur river, a south-west course leads
through forest and pasture country, crossed
by several rivers, and intersected by hills
clothed with timber; the coast range of
mountains approaches nearer to the ocean,
and narrows the expanse of forest into a vast
valley. The magnificent prairies termed
Barney's Plains, from thirty to fifty miles in
extent, and bordered by copious streams, are
surrounded by the most attractive scenery.
The dividing range is continued in a south-
east direction to Wilson's promontory, and
presents some fine panoramic views. Viewed
from Mount Gisborne, Gipps' Land is de-
scribed by its explorer, as resembling a
semi-lunar amphitheatre, walled from north-
east to south-west by lofty and picturesque
mountain scenery, and open towards the
south-east, where it faces with its sloping
area the uninterrupted horizon of the sea.
Most of the ranges between Gipps' Land
and Western Port ai'e of easy ascent and
descent, none are rocky or of a precipitate
character ; and there are several facilities for
opening this region, which may be termed
the Switzerland of Austraha, to the enter-
prize of the settlers. These ranges are
nevertheless so densely covered with scrub,
interwoven with grasses, and encumbered
with gigantic trees, fallen and scattered
in confusion, that Strzelecki, when passing
from Gipps' Land to Western Port, was
forced, in the route adopted, at its very
commencement, to abandon his pack-hrrse^
GEOLOGY OP VICTORIA PROVINCE.
2G1
and coUectious ; and not until after twenty-
six days of incessant labour did lie and his
half'famished party succeed in extricating
themselves from a situation in which they
were in imminent danger of perishing.
Such were the difficulties encountered on
that occasion, that, with the utmost exertion,
stimulated by the sense of peril, a progress
of from two to three miles a day, was all
that could be accomplished.
The honour of discovering this district is
disputed ^dth Count Strzelecki by Mr. M'jNIil-
lan, overseer for the Messrs. M'Alister, of New
South Wales, who in January 1810, made
an expedition into an unexplored country,
which, from its resemblance to his native
land, he named Caledonia Australis, and
in the following month wrote to his em-
ploj-ers a somewhat detailed description con-
cerning it. The result of Count Strzelecki's
expedition was made known in July, but
without attempting to decide the question
of priority of discovery, the merit of ac-
quainting the public with the existence of
these fine pastures certainly rests with the
Count.
There are three distinct descriptions of
land in the Gipps Land district. The first
consists of poor sandy soil and dense scrub ;
the second, of open forest, forming good
pasture land; and the third, of the best
quality for cultivation Of the first descrip-
tion, is the land along the sea coast, and also
the higher mountains, Avhich are, for the
most part, covered with dense scrub, growing
on masses of disintegrated granite or sand.
The back country, generally, towards the
base of the mountains that hem in the
district, may be included in the second
description : while the thii'd comprises the
alluvial soil, within two or three miles of the
rivers, and a belt of five to twenty miles
in breadth, generally along the lakes, from
the Tambo river to Alberton. Dr. Lang
thinks there are no less than 500 square miles
= 320,000 acres, of these rich flats, unen-
cumbered with timber, and ready for tlie
plough; close to navigable water; so gently
undulating, that hardly any change in the
level is observable ; with abundance of white,
blue, and blackish limestone, from the vici-
nage of the snow-covered Australian Alps,
and the southern coast of the Pacific, blessed
with abundance of rain, and enjoying a cool
but genial climate. The lakes are quite
fresh in winter, and the rivers always so :
but in February and March, the water of
the lakes becomes rather brackish. It is,
however, fit for stock ; and pure water may,
at any time, be obtained by sinking wells.
Gipps Land furnishes considerable quan-
tities of fat cattle, which are sent for sale to
Van Dicmen's Island; and an enterprising
settler, Mr. M'Leod, has the contract for
the supply of fresh meat for the government
at Hobart Town (Van Diemen's Land.)
Alberton, the port of Gipps Land, in
38° 44/ S., 146° 41' E., is situated on the
left bank of Albert river, and within two
miles of the Tarra river, which is to the
eastward. It occupies a very important posi-
tion, and is rising into eminence. Alberton
is distant from the Latrobe river twenty-five
miles ; at this point, the road into the inte-
rior crosses the Latrobe, and a tram or
wooden rail from Alberton, will open the
inland communication. Steam-vessels are
probably, by this time, plying between the
Albert and INlelbourne, a distance of 220
miles by the coast line.
Geology. — The principal geological fea-
ture in this di\dsion of Australia is the vol-
canic region, which extends over an area of
300 miles from east to west, and 100 to 150
miles from north to south. There are no vol-
canoes at the present time, but there are
numerous craters, Avhich by some are sup-
posed to have poured forth their lava and
fire while Southern Australia was still sub-
merged beneath the Pacific Ocean. Of the
number and size of these volcanic cones we
have as yet no precise intelligence. JNIount
Leura, which is situated between lakes
Timboon and Porumbeet, to the eastward of
Lake Corangymite, is upwards of 600 feet in
height, has about a fifth part of the rim of
the ancient crater remaining; within the
crater a conical hill has been formed, its
summit nearly on a level with the exterior
rim, and covered witli trees and bi'ushwood.
The ascent towards the top of the mount is
very steep. The sides are plentifully covered
with scoriae and fragments of rocks that have
undergone the action of fire ; but Dr. Lang,
M'ho examined the crater, did not observe
any of the light pumice-stone, or cellular
lava, which are found in such large masses
in the volcanic region of the Mount Macedon
district. 1 J locks of igneous rocks arc seen
for miles around Mount Leura, protruding
from a deep chocolate-coloured soil, consist-
ing chiefly of decomposed volcanic matter.
From the summit of Mount Leura twelve
volcanic cones are visible, and as many lakes,
several of which were formerly the craters of
other extinct volcanoes. Of these Mount
263 VOLCANIC REGION— MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF THE ROCKS.
Eccles, near Portland bay, is the most per-
fect J it has a small lake of fresh water at the
bottom of the crater, much frequented by
wild fowl ; the lava which it formerly poured
forth can be traced for ten miles. Mount
Eccles is fifty miles due west from Mount
Shadwell ; Mount Rouse (elevation 526 feet)
thirty miles distant to the northward of
west; and Mount Napier, a well-defined
crater, is forty-five miles, nearly to the
northward of west. Mount Napier is sur-
rounded by sharp angular fragments of
trap. These three mountains are all within
a few miles of the 142nd degree of east
longitude. It is therefore a region of
great interest to geological inquirers, and
a proper survey would add materially
to the facts which are being registered
m different countries in illustration of
the changes this earth has undergone.
Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, and other colonies
(of older establishment, it must however be
remembered,) have each provided out of their
local revenues the funds necessary for geo-
logical surveys of their respective provinces ;
and it is to be hoped that this important
duty will not be long delayed in Austral- Asia,
not only for the sake of science, but as a
means of exploring the mineral treasures,
and of becoming better acquainted with
the qualities of the soil, in order to its
more successful cultivation. Tracts termed
stony rises exist in several districts ; they are
usually ranged around, or in the vicinity of,
a volcano, and consist of innumerable hil-
locks or ridges of rocky fragments, varying
in height from ten to fifty feet, crowded
together in a confused manner, as if ejected
from the neighbouring volcanoes. ]\Ir.
Westgarth is of opinion that they have
been caused by some subterranean force
at no great depth from the surface, which
has raised up and broken into fragments
the rocky covering previously spread by
igneous action over a great extent of this
part of Australia. Some of these rises are
not stony, but smooth and covered Avith
grass, and beneath the soil is a stratum of
earthy limestone. The rock of the stony
rises, which is of basaltic character, usually
vesicular in structure, with a large admix-
ture of iron, is probably beneath the earthy
limestone strata. The rocks enclosing the
singular valleys, containing the stagnant
salt lakes near Mount Nicholson, are com-
posed of basalt, and in an adjacent running
stream it lies in blocks, forming small cliffs.
The genial character of the rocks in the
province is vesicular t-rap, or cellular lava.
The sides of many of the hills, particularly
those of Mounts Elephant and Nanime,
are covered with a vast quantity of heavy
scoriae, resembling the refu.^e of smelted
iron. [See recent discoveries in Supp'.]
Throughout the country traversed by Mr.
Tyers, except where the formation was lime-
stone or granitic, the magnetic pi^operties of
the rocks were so great, as to render the
needle almost useless as a surveying instru-
ment. In some cases, the deviation of the
pole from the magnetic north was upwards
of ten degrees. In his route from Mel-
bourne, Mr. Tyers proceeded by Geelong,
westward, to Mount Shadwell; thence to
Mount Rouse; then north to Lake Lin-
lithgow ; then westerly to Yo-ho ponds ;
thence south to Mount Eckersley and Port-
land bay; and from thence along the coast
to the Glenelg river. His return route was
nearly on the same line, until he reached
Mount Sturgeon, whence he travelled to
Melbourne by Lake Bolac, at a distance of
twenty to thirty miles north of his outward-
bound route.
The Pyrenees terminate to the southward
in Mount Cole, a lofty mass of granite, as
do also the Australian Alps, Wilson's Pro-
montory being of hard granite, about twenty
miles long, by six to fourteen miles broad.
There are immense surface masses of this
formation at the distance of five and ten
miles from Melbourne; said to equal that
obtained near Aberdeen. The stone in
some places bids defiance to the best tem-
pered tools ; but the manner in which the
Chinese split the hardest granite into co-
lumns twenty or thirty feet long might be
tried. They drill holes at short distances
along the splitting line, and then insert dry
spongy withs, or a reedy substance, which,
on tlie application of moisture and heat
divides the largest blocks into the thickness
required.
Granite is found protruding in some places
in the valley of the Glenelg river. It varies
considerably in the size of its component
parts, Avhich sometimes, especially in quartz
and felspar, exceed one foot square ; and in
this Sir T. Mitchell found distinctly im-
bedded friable masses, apparently of sand-
stone, but which on fuither examination
were ascertained to consist of a very fine-
grained grey granite, approaching in its
character to mica slate. The bluft' hill
called Mount Cole consists of hu<re b'ocks
FOSSILIZED BONES AND GEOLOGY OF VICTORIA PROVINCE. 233
of granite, composed of pink felspar, white
quartz, and silvery mica.
The base of the Bunninyong or Brisbane
range is supposed to be schistus. Mount
Bunninyong, its southern termination, 1570
feet in perpendicular heiglit, is of volcanic
origin. Mount Maccdou is sienitic.
In a small marsh near Mount Macedon,
about five feet below the surface, and imme-
diately beneath a dark alluvium, about a
foot in thickness, covered by a bed of yellow
clay, of eighteen inches, on which rested a
stratum of rich black soil, thei'e were found,
in 184;6j the fossil bones of several extinct
animals. Mr. P. Mayne was the discovererj
and they are described by Mr. M'^Combie, a
gentleman who has exerted himself with
success in making the condition of the Aus-
tralian colonies understood, and who is now
the editor of the Port Phillip Gazette: —
" Amongst the bones found are tne molar teeth,
under-jaw part of a femur, humeris, and scapula, and
other bones of a very large animal, resembling, in
many of its anatomical characters, those of the
mastodon. The molar teeth consist of the recurved
transverse ridges, which were covered externally by
a thick layer of enamel. The posterior ridge has,
at its base, a small transverse prominence, covered
by enamel, which ran parallel to the facet. The two
ridges are united by an isthmus of crusta-petrosa, so
characteristic of the mastodon. The largest of these
teeth measured one inch eight lines transversely,
and in an antero-postero direction, one inch six lines.
The distance between the ridge of the crown and
the extremity of the fang, in one of the largest
specimens, was three inches six lines. The dis-
covery of half an inferior jaw-bone, Avith the teeth
in situ, gives the following dental formula : — inci-
sors, 2 ; canines, 0 ; molars, 6 ; but this, however,
requires other confirmatory observations. The enamel
is arranged (with a very trilling difference) like that
in the European and American species of mastodon,
the mammilioid character of the tooth only being
wanting; but the solitary incisor, and the isthmus
of crusta-petrosa uniting the bases of the angular
ridges of the molars, are highly characteristic of the
mastodon. The largest bone, which appears to be
the shaft of a thigh bone, has, unfortunately, both
its articular extremities broken off; but from its
broad and flattened character, it must have given
support to a ponderous carcase. Its broadest part
measured ten inches in circumference. The blade
bone, or scapula, is also a large and strong bone,
but so much mutilated as to have lost its features.
Molar and incisor teeth, with other bones of a large
species of kangaroo, exceeding by one-third, at least,
the largest individual of the present macropus major,
are abundant. This fossil is probably identical wilh
that found in the Wellington caves by Sir Thomas
Mitchell, and called by Professor Owen, macropus
titan. Two incisor teeth of a huge rhodent were
also found amongst these bones."
Mount Sturgeon, the southern extremity of
the Grampians, is said by some to be a conspi-
cuous mass of granitCj and by other writers
is descril)cd as consisting of a tine ferrugi-
nous sandstone, in which is imbedded a
quantity of quartz ; but between Mount
Sturgeon and INIount Eckerley, twenty
miles to the northward of Portland, and
sixty miles in a direct line south-west oi
Mount Sturgeon, the rocks are chiefly trap,
wliich indicates the ^'olcanic chai'acter of the
intermediate plain.
At the extremities of Mount Napier, in
Normanby county, rough sharp-pointed
fragments of cellular rocks are scattered
about in heaps ; the cells or pores are seve-
ral inches in diameter, and, unlike amygda-
loidal rocks, are all empty. The reefs at Port-
land Bay consist of a similar rock in rounded
nodules, and a more compact trap rock, con
sisting principally of felspar, lying above them.
Near Cape Otway the sea-coast is of a
sandstone formation; the cliffs attain, in
some places, 100 feet in perpendicular height,
and are studded with granite pebbles, like
plu-ms in a plum-pudding. About ten miles
to the west of Cape Otway there is a remark-
able cave, large enough to hold some hun-
dred men, with a beautiful crystallized sub-
stance, formed by the dropping of water
for years, and hanging from its centre, like
a chandelier.
From Port Fairy to the Glenelg river,
the country is of limestone formation, and,
at these two places, nearly pure. The cliffs
at Portland Bay are composed of an arina-
ceous limestone (containing oysters, and the
exuvioe of other shell-fish) , ferruginous sand-
stone, and trap. Over the limestone is a
red clay, and a red pigment or ochre, used
by the natives for painting their bodies.
Half-way between the Glenelg river and
Portland bay, on the south-east side of a
lake, are cliffs of conglomerate, composed of
quartz, trap, sand, and shells, about twenty
feet high, in horizontal laminae of an inch
thick, with narrow vertical strata of pure
lime. Fine-grained sienite has been found at
JNIount Henly station, on the Wannon river.
The country between the Murray and the
^^cinity of Lake Omeo shows, on an exten-
sive scale, the primitive and secondary rocks'
argillitc and quartz rock on the one side
to the east ; old red sandstone, with conglo-
merates, on the other to the west; the
petrosiliceous porphyry, as intermediate or
transition rock, appears as if only to indicate
their respective limits. Tlie numberless
streams of lava, the trachitic rocks, and
others, which, through intense heat, have
had some of their constituent ingredients
261
AIINERALOGY— GOLD, COPPER, IRON, AND SALT.
altered, give cAident proofs of volcanic
agency, to which Lake Omeo may have
originally served as a laboratory.*
SriNERALOGY. — The volcauic character of
the country indicates the presence of rich
minerals, but, as yet, little attention has
been paid to the subject. Copper and lead
ore have been found on the banks of the
Barwon river, in the Geelong district. The
specific gravity of the lead ore is 6.4 per
cent. CojDper oi'e, lead, platina, and man-
ganese, have been discovered along the
coast from Point Urquhart to Moonlight
Head, at Cape Otway. The ore runs in
horizontal veins of four miles in breadth,
varying from east-north-east to west-south-
west. The specimens of copper ore collected
in this district yielded, on an average, forty-
five per cent, of coppsr.
The rivulets ^Merri and Darebin, in Mel-
bourne district, are strongly impregnated
with aluminous matter. Ironstone abounds
in several districts, usually in the shape of
pebbles sti-ewed over a plain. Surveyor
Hoddle, in his survey of the country near
Melbourne, found that seventy-five per cent,
of this stone consisted of iron ore ; and so
powerful was its efiects upon the instruments
of the survej'^ors, as to render it necessary
to sell the sections of land at a certain
number of acres, more or less, it being
found impossible, in some situations, to
obtain correct measurements. The sides of
Mounts Elephant and Nanime, particularly
those of the latter, are covered with a quan-
tity of scoriae somewhat resembling the
refuse of smelted iron. These mounts bear
every appearance of having had a volcanic
origin; their form is that of a horse-shoe,
open to the westward; the interior sides
slope down almost to a level with the ex-
terior bases.
Gold is reported to be plentiful in the
Pyrenee mountains, distant about 100 miles
from Melbourne. It is said to have been
discovered by a shepherd lad, Avho, after
selling his gold at the city, returned to
seek for more; he was followed by some
persons, and not having since been heard
of, is supposed to have been murdered.
Dr. Clutterbuck saw, in 1849, at the shop
of Mr. Brentani, a watchmaker and jeweller,
at Melbourne, several pieces of native gold —
one lump, of great purity, weighing twenty-
two ounces, exhibited minute portions of
quartz, was soft in texture, easily cut with
a knife, of uneven surface, somewhat oblong,
• llcport by Count Strzelecki to Sir G. Gipps.
and more than an inch in thickness, as ir
taken from a perpendicular fissure in the
rock. Mr. Brentani is said to have a lump
weighing seventy-two ounces. The com-
mander of the ship Berkshire, which left
Port Phillip for London, 25th February,
1819, purchased fourteen ounces of the
native gold from Mr. Brentani at eighty
shillings per ounce. Gold-dust has been
found in the river Plenty, in the bed oi"
tlie stream, Avhicli consists chiefly of mica.
Quartz sent to England for analyzation,
yielded twenty-eight ounces of gold for each
ton of ore. \_Note. — Since the foregoing was
written my prognostications of the abundance
of gold in Australia have been verified : the
results are given in the Supplement.]
Salt is obtainable in abundance from the
waters of the interior lakes. Professor Far-
raday examined specimens of the waters
collected from the salt lakes by Sir T. Mit-
chell, and stated that all of them were solu-
tions of common salt, much surpassing the
ocean, or even the Mediterranean, in the
quantity of salt dissolved. Besides the com-
mon salt, there were present (in compara-
tively small quantities) portions of sulphates
and muriates of lime and of magnesia; the
waters, except in strength, very much re-
sembled those of the ocean. Three drams
of the waters of lake Cockajemmy yielded
113 grains of dry saline matter, others
seventy- seven grains. A quantity of the
salt deposited on the shores of Lake Bolac,
analyzed by Dr. Anderson, of Edinburgh,
gave the following results : — chloride of
sodium (common salt), 99.654; sulphate of
soda, 0.104; chloride of magnesium, 0.052;
insoluble residue, 0.190; lime, a trace=
100.000. It was described as " a remark-
ably fine looking salt." When the summer
heat has caused great evaporation, the bed
of a lake is sometimes found quite dry,
and covered with salt crystals to the depth
of three or four, or even six inches, within
the usual water mark. In the vicinity of
Lake Corangymite, the settler has only to
send a bullock-dray in the morning, with a
few men, and it returns in the evening with
a load of two tons weight. For the cm'ing of
meat, and the improvement of the soil, this
mineral will be found very valuable.
These salt lakes are found in the region
Avhere there are several extinct craters. The
production of salt is not unfrequently ac-
companied by volcauic action, as in Sicily
and otlier places. Many of the rocks nea.
the salt lakes of Australia are of the trap
ABUNDANCE OF LIMESTONE AND COAL IN VICTORIA PROVINCE. 265
formation; and Sir T. Mitchell states that
a dark-coloured soil is found in the ridges
about some of these lakes. I am disposed
to think that the deposits of salt are ob-
tained from the saline earth, rather than
to agree with Sir T. Mitchell, that " the sea
deposited the water in these situations at
QO very remote period." Some of the lakes
have been filled again and again by rain
and fresh river-Avater, but the summer eva-
poration annually leaves a fresh deposit of
salt.
Very good limestone is quarried at Point
Nepean, the head of the Port Phillip bay ;
and lime of fine quality, used as stucco for
the outsides of houses, walls, and columns,
is made from oyster and cockle shells, of
which extensive beds are found around the
oay. The whole of the coast line from the
Glenelg river to Port Fairy (eighty miles) is
of limestone formation, and this probably
extends some distance into the interior. In
the northern part of Alberton district there
Ls a great quantity of limestone of various
kinds, some white, some blue, and some
black ; and on the banks of the Mitchell
river, about twentj^ miles from Lake King,
there are large banks of oyster and other
fossil shells under a thick layer of earth. A
hill of marble was seen by surveyor Sta-
pylton near Mount Macedon.
Coal is found at Western Port, but no
mine is yet worked. It is also stated to
exist to an almost unlimited extent near
Loutit bay, which is about three miles from
Cape Otway. The coal lies in large quan-
tities along that part of the coast.
The following abstract of the report of
Mr. Cameron, who was deputed by the local
authorities at Melbourne to examine the
coal region at Western Port for her Ma-
jesty's government, dated November, 1840,
will indicate the nature of the mineral found
in this part of Australia : —
" Upon my arrival at Western Port, I commenced
to examine minutely the several seams of coal which
presented themselves superficially, lyin<^ to the east-
ward of the bay, which I found situated at such an
angle of depression as to be wholly unworkable.
" There were four veins of coal, which were more
or less associated with a soapy clay, sandstone, and
greystone, and which varied in thickness from one
inch to nearly three feet. Upon combustion, these
coals emitted a very strong and fierce heat, deposit-
ing heavy bases, bearing a yellowish tinge or cast.
From the tossed and shattered appearance of those
several veins, an indication is manifested of the close
affinity of some extensive dyke-fault or trouble, as
dislocations in the coal strata are technically deno-
minated.
" Having traced the coal measures throughout the
DIT. TI.
direction of Cape Patterson, about twelve miles to
the eastward of the port, I discovered various strag-
gling open seams (termed the crops) of coal, varying
in quality and thickness from two inches to four feet,
and lying at such an angle as to be rendered avail-
able for mining. Here, as in Western Port, the coal
is associated with greystone, sandstone, &c. In some,
however, of the veins, the coal is of excellent quality,
possessing a considerable proportion of bitumen,
which would render it especially desirable for the
purposes of gas, for exportation to Sydney, or for
consumption at the towns of this province hereafter,
when the public convenience of gas shall be intro-
duced.
" The lofty and precipitous character of the rocks
upon the coast exposed to view a section of strata
which induced me to advance some miles farther
than the strict line of my instructions directed. On
approaching towards that part of the coast which
inclines towards Cape Liptrap, I found the coal strata
increased in thickness and regularity ; but, from an
accident which occurred to me at this period, whilst
prosecuting my researches, I was precluded from
following up my observations with a close examina-
tion. These were, nevertheless, sufficiently justifi-
catory of my suggestion, that, in any future search
for coals, this portion of the district should be mi-
nutely examined. The increased thickness and regu-
larity of the measures strongly indicate, though not
positively, the association of more extensive beds or
seams of coal."
Mr. surveyor S my the, who explored the
south-east coast from Point Urquhart to
within about fifteen miles of Cape Otway,
says that extensive veins or seams of coal
commence at a point thirty miles from the
Port Phillip heads, and dip in every direc-
tion, the general bearing being north-north-
west and south-south-east. The mineral
seems to abound over a considerable extent
of country. It is described as " in large
seams of four feet in thickness, extending
from 400 to 600 feet in length ; as burning
well, with Httle or no smoke, and leaving a
fine white ash, resembling the pui'est de-
scription of cannel coal."
Soil. — An earth formed of decomposed
lava has in every coimtry been found to pos-
sess extraordinary fertility. In the West
Indies, in Sicily, and other countries, where
volcanoes are in full activity, the inhabitants
brave the dangers of the burning lava, on
account of the richness of the surrounding
region. A large part of the territory be-
tween Melbourne and Portland (nearly 200
miles) is of the dark chocolate-coloured soil,
peculiar to a volcanic country ; it is not sur-
prising, therefore, to hear of wheat attaining
a height of seven feet, and yielding sixty
to seventy bushels per acre; oats, ninety
bushels per acre; maize, 100; and other
crops an equally valuable return for the
labours of the husbandman. To the west-
ward of Geeloug, for a distance of nearly
200 miles^ there is an almost continuous
succession of wliinstone and other allied
rocks, afibrding the basis of a soil which
usually characterizes a rich agricultural
country. Over this extensive region the
extinct volcanoes give a picturesque variety
to the well-grassed plains, the clumps of tim-
ber upon hill and dale, and the long lines of
gum trees that mark the courses of the
winding creeks. This country is being ra-
pidly occupied.
Mr. Malcolm, an intelligent settler and
stockowner in Australia, in his evidence be-
fore a committee of the New South Wales
Legislative Assembly, in 1845, stated that
he had travelled extensively in England and
Scotland, and had seen large tracts of land
in the Port Phillip province as rich as any
he had seen in Great Britain. The district
of Lake Colac, for about 200 miles, is " as
good land as ever plough was put in." There
are thousands of acres adjoining Lake Colac
clear of timber. Keeping the south side
of the lakes, the country, all the way from
Colac lake to Port Fairy, Portland Bay, and
the Glenelg river, is a fine grazing country ;
a great part of it is too rich for sheep. The
land north of the lakes is said not to be so
good ; but still well adapted for stock.
In the splendid country between Geelong,
Lake Colac, and the Glenelg river, there is
a soil unsurpassed in point of fertility. The
tracts suited for cultivation are not confined
to the banks of rivers or creeks, but extend
generally in all directions, and the rains
being regular, and the country not subject
to drought, the pasturage throughout the
year is perfectly sufficient to feed stock with-
out artificial food, and to produce fat cattle,
unsurpassed in any other part of the world.
In the district of Lake Colac, and around
Mount Leura, there is much land, of which
the natural pasture would maintain a bullock
an acre all the year round ; whereas the best
land in Somersetshire, England, is allowed
to be only capable of sustaining a bullock
and a sheep for seven mouths, the animals
being stall fed during the other five.
The richness of the soil is seen in its
vegetation; Dr. Clutterbuck says that the
daisy, buttercup, and the pretty but inodor-
ous violet, are seen everywhere ; the Florce
are exceedingly beautiful, and, in the spring,
literally carpet the ground; the wild gera-
nium, a diminutive plant bearing a tiny
pnik flower, grows abundantly ; two most
lovely creepers are found growing in every
variety of soil — one bears a brilliant scarlet
flower not unlike the laburnum in shape,
the other has tufts of a bkie colour, resem-
bling the double violet ; the balmy perfume
of the golden and silver wattle (the mimosse
tribe) is exhaled far and near; the bru-
nonia, bearing a flower in colour like ultra-
marine, in many places covers the surface
with " nature^s most exquisite embroidery ;"
the musk plant and hyacinth are indige-
nous; the English pelargonium and fuschia
blossom throughout the greater part of the
year; and Eui'opean vegetables and fruits
attain a size " which w ould excite aston-
ishment in the mind of a Covent-garden
fruiterer."
In most parts of the district finely open
and undulating ground is to be found,
adapted to the wants of the grazier and
agriculturalist; in very many a rich black
soil from eight to twelve inches in depth
prevails, containing much decomposed vege-
table matter with an argillaceous soil. Where
this occurs, the valleys are composed of ex-
tensive, verdant, and fertile flats of vege-
table mould. In some situations the soil is
red, in others, a clayey hazel loam. The
greater number of soils contain large por-
tions of sand of various degrees of depth and
fineness, and hence acquire the property of
powerfully absorbing the rays of the sun.
Admitting that some portions of the country
are boggy, and a proportion sandy, rocky,
and barren, yet, " millions of acres of good
arable land are to be met with."*
Climate. — The position of Victoria, to the
southward of New South Wales, gives it a
cooler climate than the more northern pro-
vince. Fires are agreeable mornings and
evenings, for eight months of the year.
There is sufficient frost to freeze the surface
of ponds for three or fovu' days in winter
(July), and snow falls occasionally on the
low lands. The changes of temperature are
occasionally rapid, but the "hot winds" are
annually of brief duration. Port Phillip
resembles, in its summer season, Baden,
Marseilles, and Bordeaux; its winter, Pa-
lermo or Buenos Ayres ; its fluctuations of
temperature, those of Montpellier, and its
annual mean is that of Naples. According
to Count Strzelecki, the annual mean tem-
perature of Port Phillip, is 61.3; mean for
summer, G9.4; for winter, 53.3; summer
maximum, 90.6; summer minimimi, 48.F,
winter maximum, 69.8; winter minimum,
* Port Phillip in 1849; by Dr. Cluttcrhiick, nin ■
years resident in the colony.
DELIGHTFUL CLIMATE OF VICTORIA PROVINCE.
267
36.9. Warmest month, November ; coldest,
July. The mean annual temperature is
rather more than 61°, or about 12|° higher
than the mean temperature of Groom's Hill,
Greenwich, England. In the reading-room
of the Mechanics' Institute, at Melbourne —
fronting the south, and free of tlie sun— the
thermometer, in the hottest summer, rarely
exceeds 75° Fahrenheit. The summer even-
ings are in general clear and cool ; the " hot
wind'' seldom has longer duration than one
day ; and the number of heated wind days
in summer, is about twenty, of which, one-
third are oppressively hot; but in a well-
constructed brick or stone dwelling, with
proper care to prevent the ingress of the
heated draft of air, but little disagreeable
sensation is experienced. For ten months
in the year, says Mr. Westgarth, the climate
is unexceptionable ; " the dryness and genial
warmth of the air afford an almost daily
access to the open country, and there ap-
pears, in the general buoyancy of the popu-
lation, a degree of enjoyment of existence
far beyond what is usually exhibited in the
duller climes of the fatherland." In the
western parts of the province, where Tas-
mania does not intercept the breezes and
clouds from the great southern ocean, the
temperature is lower, and the annual quan-
tity of rain greater than at IMelbourne. For
the following table I am indebted to Mr.
Westgarth, a merchant at Melbom-ne, who
has materially contributed by his writings to
the advancement of the province which he
has adopted as his home : —
Meteorological Hegister
for 3Ielbourne, 1845-6, IZQ feet above the level oj
■ the sea ;
lat. 38" \i
(' S.
Thermometer.
Barometer.
Rain.
Months.
Wet
Number
Maximum
8^ A.M.
21 P.M.
Thermo-
meter.
Highest.
Lowest.
2| P.M.
of
Days.
fallen.
in
one (lay.
July . . .1845
50.29
55.48
53.25
30.43
29.55
29.98
16
5.50
1.81
August . . ,,
—
57.38
53.77
30.22
29.48
29.72
. .
1.36
—
September . „
50.10
63.50
59.66
30.45
29.52
30.05
9
1.27
0.76
October . „
58.83
65.38
60.77
30.24
29.62
30.00
10
2.34
1.12
November . „
61.70
69.00
64.53
30.08
29.50
29.78
15
3.99
1.42
December . „
65.03
73.09
66.74
30.10
29 61
29.82
3
0.17
0.11
January . 1846
66.19
73.48
66.41
30.10
29.66
29.36
5
2.12
1.01
February . ,,
63.85
72.32
65.67
30.23
29.61
29.83
6
1.67
1.13
March . . „
61.83
08.74
63.09
30.19
29.66
29.92
6
1.30
0.92
April . . „
57.13
64.20
60.30
30.20
29.55
29.89
11
2.27
0.35
May . . . „
50.64
56.12
54.54
30.30
29.54
29.91
17
3.79
1.02
June. . . ,,
46.96
54.70
52.56
30.31
29.70
30.09
11
1.20
0.32
Note. — No Thermometrical return obtained for August at SJ a.:m.
The "hot winds" generally commence
about the middle or end of November, and
recur, at intervals, throughout the summer,
until towards the end of February. At
Melbourne, the hot wind has a N.N.W.
direction during the summer ; but the winds
from the same quarter, in winter, are cold.
During the prevalence of the hot winds, the
sky is generally cloudless : the warmth mate-
rially abates after sunset. The scorching
blasts are succeeded by a strong breeze from
the southward, Avhich occasions a fall in the
thermometer of twenty to thirty degrees.
During Avinter, snow sometimes covers the
ground to the depth of three inches, and
ice is formed of the thickness of a shil-
hng. It will be observed, that more rain
falls at Melbourne than in London. By
means of the Australian Alps any desirable
degree of cold may be obtained even in
summer.
The climate of Victoria, as well as that
of New South Wales, is occasionally dete-
riorated by a disease known as " catarrh,"
which breaks out in some localities among
the sheep, and will destroy in three or four
weeks, four or five thousand sheep in a flock.
There does not seem to be any mode of
checking the dise<ise ; and when it occurs,
the flock-master has to resort to the " boil-
ing down" system. The "scab" and "foot
rot," also cause mortality in sheep, and there
are stringent colonial laws to prevent the
disease called " scab " spreading ; sheep are
prohibited being driven on the common
roads, except in the month of February;
notice must be given of the disease ; and
other stringent regulations must be adoptcl.
subject to penalties of .£10 to £20 for
neglect. Licensed butchers are liable to
be fined for slaughtering or exposing for
sale infected sheep.
CHAPTER III.
POPULATION— EDUCATION— RELIGION— GOVERNMENT AND INSTITUTICNS.
Population has been extraordinarily aug-
mented ; the comparative progress of increase
in the inhabitants is thus shown, between
the years 1836 and 1851 : —
Places.
1836.
1841.
1846.
1851.
Melbourne, city. . .
Country districts . .
224
4,479
7,259
10,954
21,921
23,143
54,202
Total ....
224
11,738
32,875
77,345
[ Note. — Details of census of 1851 given in Suppt.]
The nationality shows that, of the total
population in 1846, there were bom in the
colony, 3,855 males, 3,728 females ; in Eng-
land, 7,407 males, 2,693 females ; in Wales,
83 males, 38 females; in Ireland, 5,037
males, 4,089 females; in Scotland, 2,757
males, 1,468 females ; in other British
dominions, 800 males, 603 females; in foreign
countries, 245 males, 76 females. Total,
20,184 males, 12,695 females =32,879. The
classification of occupations shows in com-
merce, trade, &c., 2,254; agriculture, 1,722;
grazing — management, of sheep, 4,666; of
horses and cattle, 1,334; horticulture, 178;
other labourers, 2,673. Mechanics and arti-
ficers, 3,635 ; domestic servants, 1,201 males,
2,136 females; clerical profession, 29; legal
ditto, 96 ; medical ditto, 106 ; other educated
persons, 476. All other occupations, 1,983.
Residue of population, 25,232. The civil
condition in 1846 was, free-born in the
colony, or amved free, 17,553 males, 12,488
females ; other free persons (meaning thereby
those who had formerly been prisoners),
2,363 males, 202 females. Bond, holding
tickets of leave, 230 males, 5 females; in
government employ, 18 males; in private
assignment, 20 males.
The prison population had its origin in
the circumstance of the Port Phillip province
being a district of New South Wales. The
inhabitants have been very strongly adverse
to the introduction of convicts, and recently
the superintendent, Mr. Latrobe, was neces-
sitated to prevent the debarkation of prison-
ers from two ships which had been despatched
dii-ect from England with convicts who had
gone througli a large probationary period in
penitentiaries in the United Kingdom. The
feeling evinced against the introduction of
criminals, however great may have been
their alleged reformation, was quite as strong
as that exhibited by the inhabitants of the
Cape of Good Hope. By this time (June,
1853) there is, most probably, no trace in
Victoria province of the convict system.
We have no returns of the number of the
aborigines within the Hmits of the province.
Their respected " Protector," Mr. Robinson,
during various journeys, found on the banks
of the principal rivers a comparatively dense
aboriginal population. There are several
mixed breed, or " half castes," of both sexes.
According to the census of 1846, the
white population was thus distributed : —
County or District.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Bourke County . . .
Grant „ . . .
Normanby „ ...
Gipps Land District .
Murray „ .
Western Port „ . .
Portland Bay „ . .
9,440
2,359
1,455
612
1,142
2,516
2,675
7,890
1,531
812
240
416
1,009
798
17,330
3,890
2,267
852
1,558
3,525
3,473
Total . . .
20,199
12,696
32,895
The key, with numbers attached to the
excellent map of Mr. Ham, published at
Melbom-ne in 1847, gives the names of the
landed proprietors, and of the squatters in
each division. In Bourke county the number
of proprietors was then 69 ; in Grant county,
72; in Normanby county, 72 ; in Western Port
district, 19.2 ; the Murray district, 149 ;
Wimmera district, 67 ; Portland Bay district,
232; and Gipps Land, 44. Mr. Ham adds
a district which he terms the Tumut district,
between the Murray river and the Murrum-
bidgee, but this region belongs to the terri-
tory of New South Wales.
Melbourne city is divided into four wards ;
in 1846 each ward was thus tenanted : —
Name of Ward.
Gipps ....
Bourke
Lonsdale . . .
La Trobe , . .
Total .
!Malcs.
Females.
1,738
976
1,481
1,557
1,002
929
1,176
1,495
b;-ib1
5,202
Total.
3,340
1,905
2,657
3,C52
10,954
POPULATION OF VICTORIA CLASSIFIED IN 1846.
269
Of the population of the city of j\Ielbom-ne
in 1846, there were — born in the colony, or
arrived free, males, 5,551; females, 5,i61 :
other free persons — males, 218; females, 38.
Bond— holding tickets of leave, males, 18;
females, 1 : in government employment,
males, 7.
The town population, irrespective of Mel-
bourne city, is now increasing, and affords a
Abstract of the Population on the 2nd March, 1846,
good indication of augmenting prosperity.
The various eligi])le positions on the coast,
and on the interior rivers for maritime and
military stations, wiU cause an equable dif-
fusion of Mealth and civilization over the
province.
\_Noie. — The augmentation of population since the
gold discoveries in 1851 has been very large, as wiU
I be shewn in the Supplement to this Volume.]
in each of the Counties and Commissioners' Districts.
Males.
Females.
Totals.
Gen(
ral
Total.
Counties.
Under
7
Years.
7 and
under
14.
14 and
under
21.
21 and
under
45.
45 and
up-
wards.
Under
7
Years.
7 and
under
14.
Hand
under
21.
21 and
under
45.
45 and
up-
wards.
Males.
Fe-
males.
Bourke
Grant
Normanby ....
2518
515
182
962
153
98
538
135
61
4843
1377
935
579
159
79
2495
500
283
917
152
91
680
148
45
3512
680
369
287
51
24
9440
2339
1455
7891
1531
812
1733]
3870
2267
Total ....
3315
1213
734
7155
817
3278
1160
873
4561
362
13234
10234
23468
Commissioners' Disti-icts,
beyond the Limits of
Location.
Gipps Land ....
Murray
Portland Bay . . .
Western Port . . .
98
169
275
354
32
40
80
135
36
31
72
116
390
810
2117
1726
56
92
133
188
81
139
289
367
24
32
50
86
19
30
27
52
107
205
418
463
9
10
15
38
612
1142
2677
2519
240
416
799
1006
85P
1558
3476
3525
Total
896
287
255
5043
469
876
192
128
1193
72
6950
2461
9411
Total Population .
4211
1500
989
12198
1286
4154
1352
1001
5754
434
20184
12695
32879
Abstract of the Population on the 2nd March, 1846, in the City of Melbourne, and in each Town and Village
Males.
Females.
Totals.
Gene-
ral
Total
Towns and Villages.
Under
7
Years.
7 and
under
14.
14 and
under
21.
21 and
under
45.
45 and
up-
wards.
Under
7
Years.
7 and
under
14.
14 and
under
21.
21 and
under
4.5.
45 and
wards
Males.
Fe-
males.
Melbourne (citv)
Ashbv* . . ■.
1,561
28
36
117
23
! Ill
' 48
[ 28
: 53
68
1 62
1 45
617
6
8
28
10
35
20
4
6
26
20
14
331
5
9
5
40
7
2
5
8
8
8
2,959
43
89
106
38
380
101
34
59
163
82
93
286
2
13
12
9
28
12
3
4
13
13
12
1,608
26
40
65
23
107
70
23
44
80
74
58
592
6
5
38
9
45
19
4
14
35
30
9
480
5
7
16
9
43
18
7
11
13
14
11
2,346
30
63
111
31
180
85
29
57
100
93
70
174
4
3
7
7
13
8
1
3
4
6
2
5,754
79
151
272
85
594
188
71
127
278
185
172
5,200
71
118
237
79
388
200
64
129
232
217
150
10,954
150
Belfast* . . .
269
Brighton*. . .
Brunswick* . .
Geelong (North)
Geelong (South)
Irishtown* . .
Newtown* . .
Portland . . .
Richmond* . .
"Williamstown .
509
164
982
388
135
256
510
402
322
Total urban Popula
tion
2,180
794
428
4,147
407
2,218
806
634
3,195
232 7,956
7,085
15,041
Note. — The mark (*) attached to the name of any town or village, indicates that it is situated on private property.
The population, by ages, of the proAince was : In 1846, the population in the follovnng
towns is thus sliown : [For 1851 see Suppt-]
Years of Age.
TJnder 7 . . .
7 and under 14 .
14 „ „ 21 .
21 „ „ 45 .
45 „ „ 60 .
60 and upwards
Males.
2,689
1,500
989
12,198
1,122
164
Females.
4,154
1,352
1,001
5,754
393
41
Name of Town.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Geelong
Belfast
Portland
William's, about . .
Alberton „ . .
1,149
359
278
916
242
232
2,065
601
510
250
100
270
MARRIED AND SINGLE IN VICTORIA PROVINCE.
Proportion of married to single in 1846 : —
I Counties and Districts.
JOUXTIES : —
Bourke . .
Grant . . .
Normanby
Districts : —
Portland Bay
Western Port
Murray . .
Gipps' Land .
Towns : — ■
Melbourne
Geelong' . .
Portland . .
Belfast . .
Married.
Single.
Males.
,2G4
716
402
506
224
107
2,107
274
101
101
Fern. I Males.
3,383
696
403
474
222
114
202
256
99
107
6,196
1,623
2,273
2,011
918
505
3,665
507
177
251
Fern.
4,507
835
395
534
194
126
3,000
333
133
135
Note — There are no returns for Normanby.
The total married was — males, 5,564;
females, 5,656 : unmarried, males, 14,620 ;
females, 7,039. Bond population iu 1846 :
holding tickets of leave, males, 230 ; females,
5: in government employment, males, 18;
in private assignment, males, 20 = 268.
Religious denominations.
1841.
1846.
Church of England . . .
„ Scotland . . .
Wesleyan Methodists . .
Other Protestant dissenters
Roman Catholics . . .
Jews
Mahomedans and Pagans .
Other persuasions . . .
6,190
2,044
650
346
2,441
57
10
14,921
5,856
1,597
1,169
9,075
117
27
117
In 1847 the province was divided into
sixty-nine parishes.
Number of houses in 1841 and 1846 : —
Year.
1841
1846
Stone or Brick.
450
1,835
"Wood.
1,040
3,363
The number shingled, i.e. roofed "with
small pieces of wood, was, in 1846, 3705 ;
and of slated, 76. The number of houses
finished was 4,547; unfinished, 651; inha-
bited, 5,070; inhabited, 128.
There is an abundance of the necessaries
of life, and great comfoirt among all classes
of the people. Dr. Clutterbuck, the most
recent authority on the state of the colony
(1849), in evidence of the condition of the
working classes there, points " to the cot-
tage of the mechanic or daily labourer, each
surrounded by his family of children ; on the
breakfast table are seen a large dish of rump-
steak, or mutton chops, eggs, fresh butter,
excellent bread, and tea or coflee ; the dinner
table is equally bountifully supplied, the cup
foaming with colonial ale, being a never-
failing accompaniment, tea and a substantial
supper succeed. Think of these things, ye
suffering poor at home. Fancy yourselves
also strolling in the bush, and arri^dng at a
station where, on some occasions, you see
fore-quarters of mutton lying about in a
state of putridity, and ask yourselves the
question — ' whence this shameful waste of
the bounties which God has given ?^ and
obtain the reply of the master — 'our men
refuse to eat this portion of the animal, and
owing to the scarcity of labour we are com-
pelled to submit to their dictation.' "*
The weekly rations allowed to shepherds
or hut-keepers consist of flom*, 10 lbs. ; meat,
12 lbs. ; tea, J lb. ; sugar, 2 lbs. It is com-
puted that the cost of maintenance for a
man is five shillings per week. The duty of
the hut-keepers, of whom there is usually
one to each flock, is to shift the hurdles
daily, prepare the daily meals for the shep-
herds, and watch the sheep by night from a
little " crib box.'' One shepherd usually
attends 1,000 sheep ; but in an open country
one man may have 1,500 or 2,000 confided
to his care. According to Dr. Clutterbuck
the current rate of wages, in addition tc
rations, given by squatters in 1849, was —
shepherds, £20 to .€25 ; hut-keepers, £18 to
£22 ; bullock di'ivers, £24 to £28 ; married
couples, w"ith a family, £25 to £30; ditto,
without encumbrance, £34 to £40; single
females, £16 to £20 ; wheelwrights, £25 to
£30; carpenters, £30 to £40 sterling per
annum. Farm servants, 10^. per week;
sheep shearers, IO5. to 135. for every 100
sheep; or "srithout rations, 155. per 100 sheep.
The town rates of wages are — female cooks,
£18 to £24; men ditto, £20 to £28; house-
maids, £16 to £18; nurses, £12 to £16;
grooms, £25 to £32 ; laundresses, £20 to
£28 sterhng per annum. Charwomen, 2*. 6c?.
to 35. ; and needlewomen, I5. per day.
Washing, 25. 6f/. to 35. per dozen.
Retail Prices of various Commodities. —
Beef and mutton 2d., veal and pork od. to Qd.,
bacon 8c?. to I5., tea I5. &d. to 35., sugar (fine
moist) 2>d. to 4d., butter \0d. to I5. 2d., cheese
7d. to 8c?. per lb.; ale (colonial), 5c?. per quart ;
bottled ale and porter (English), IO5. to 125.
per dozen; flour (fine) £10, seconds £9, per
ton ; wiieat, 35. to 55. per bushel ; potatoes,
35. to As. per cwt. ; milk, 4c?. per quart.
In the year 1840, flour was sold for £90
per ton ; bread, 25. 6c/. the quartern loaf;
* Port Phillip in 1849, p. 108. London: 1850
Parker, "West Strand.
STATE OF EDUCATION IN VICTORIA PROVINCE.
271
butter, 3s. per lb. ; cabbages, 6d. each ; po-
tatoes, Is. per lb. Dr. Clutterback says that
at this period he employed labourers, iu the
erection of a house, at a cost of 15s. per day
each ; but then he adds, " port and cham-
pagne were among the ordinary luxuiies
of the artisan.^'
Education. — According to the decision,
of the governor of New South Wales re-
specting education, it was ordered, on the
24th of September, 1841, that in towns or
places of which the population amounts to
2,000 or upwards, local government aid be
given for education, to any school, at a rate
not exceeding one penny each day for the
actual attendance of every child in the school,
whose parents or friends are in such a
station of life as to render it necessary to
extend to them the assistance of govern-
ment. Where the population does not
amount to 2,000, the aid aflbrded may be
as high as one penny farthing per diem, or
one pennj'' halfpenny, if there be no other
receiving aid from government within five
miles. The government aid cannot exceed
the sura raised for the support of the school
from private sources, nor be in excess of
£2o per quarter, unless the number of chil-
dren attending the school, or the poverty
of their parents, be such as to make a spe-
cial exception in favour of it necessary.
School inspectors, appointed by govern-
ment, visit the different schools in their
respective districts at uncertain times, but
never less than twice in every month, muster
the children, and compare the numbers
present with the numbers entered on the
registers of daily attendance kept by the
masters or mistresses of the schools. The
inspectors report to govei'nment any irre-
gularity or misconduct which may fall irn-
der their notice. Police magistrates act as
inspectors of schools. Quarterly Hsts are
required by the government from each
school, containing the names of all children
who attend the school, their ages, and also
the names, places of abode, trade or calling
of their parents or nearest friends.
A diocesan grammar school has been re-
cently established at Melbourne, through
the instrumentality of the bishop. The
annual fee is £10 10s. ; entrance fee, £2 2s.,
and £1 Is. for every additional boy of the
same family. The school is open to all
persons Avithout distinction, and the object
is to give a sound scriptural and general
education. There are also two private schools
for girls, and two for boys at ^Iell)om'ne.
There are about forty schools, with 5,000
pupils, in different parts of the province.
In 1846, the state of education, according
to the census of that year, was as fol-
lows : —
State of Education.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Under 21 years.
Cannot read .
4,005
3,863
7,868
Read onlv ....
1,052
1,138
2,190
Read and write .
1,643
1,506
3.149
Above 21 tears.
Cannot read . . .
1,797
988
2,(85
Read only ....
1,484
1,274
2,758
Read and write . .
10,203
3,926
14,129
Religiox. — The contrast between the ear-
lier and present state of society, is very -sasi-
ble ; a higher moral tone is gradually spread-
ing in the community, and this improvement,
in the estimation of many, dates from the
arrival (in January, 1848) of the bishop,
" one in whom are united the highest learn-
ing, humility, and piety .^^ Heretofore the
people at the distant stations in the interior,
had existed in almost a heathenish state;
the good bishop has ridden many hundred
miles to exhort, and instruct, to celebrate the
holy rites of baptism and confirmation, and
to administer the blessed sacrament. His
lordship was accompanied from England
by three clergymen, has ordained four more
since his arrival, and as fast as practicable,
is locating ministers of the Gospel at eligible ,
stations in the countiy. Prior to the arrival \
of the bishop (Dr. PeiTy, formerly district;
preacher of St. Paul's, Cambridge) only one
clergyman had been appointed by govern- ;
ment to superintend the Church of England
in this large district. From 1840 to 1848,
this zealous man (the Rev. Adam Compton
Thompson) had to perform the whole of the
duties, and has been known in one day to
perform the burial serAice over six persons,
the marriage ceremony for three couple, to
baptize four children, and to visit the sick in
^Melbourne and its suburbs. It cannot be
denied that grievous neglect has been evinced
in this matter, for primary functionaries in a
colony founded by a Christian people, before
the appointment of judges, magistrates,
police, and custom-house officers, ought to
be the ministers of the Gospel.
The efforts recently made by the British
government for the protection and instruc-
tion of the aborigines of Australia, is highly
creditable. During the secretaryship ol
Lord Glenelg, the appeals of the London
Aborigines Protection Society were received
272 PROTECTION OF ABORIGINES— GOVERNMENT AND INSTITUTIONS.
with attention, and protectors were appointed
to watch over, instruct, and if possible con-
vert to Christianity the dark-coloured migra-
tory races among whom we have established
oui'selves. The Port Phillip territory is divided
into districts, in each of Avhich is placed an
assistant protector, and a medical officer, or
assistant, with a homestead, and reserve of
land, for the exclusive use of the aborigines.
Agricultural operations are now carried on
by the natives. Those who are able are ex-
pected to give an equivalent for what they
receive ; the sick, aged, and young children
are rationed. A missionary is appointed to
each establishment, an overseer to superin-
tend agricultui'al operations, and a constable,
to keep order. The salary and allowances of
the protector-in-cliief are ,£600 per annum.
The salary of the assistant-protector is £250
per annum, and ten shillings and sixpence a
day allowance. They are to travel among
] and sojourn with the native tribes, and by
every means in their power endeavour to in-
duce them to adopt a settled mode of exist-
ence. They are required to furnish statisti-
cal and other information connected with the
native tribes of their respective districts ; the
boundaries and aboriginal names of districts
occupied by each tribe, the differences of
language, customs, and habits, the names of
mountains, lakes, rivers, and other localities;
a census distinguishing the number of each
family, name, age, sex, tribe, and chief of
tribes, whether warrior, councillor, or elder,
&c. The Port Phillip province is divided
for the above-named purposes, into four dis-
tricts, viz., the Goulburn River, Mount Ma-
cedon, Portland Bay, and Western Port, or
Melbourne district. At the homestead on
the Goulburn river, 110 miles from Mel-
bourne, the aborigines had, in 1842, cut
down, grubbed up, and burned 450 acres;
print it, and it appeared under the title oi
the Port Phillip Patriot. In the early part ,
of 1837, the Fort Phillip Gazette was issued,
edited by INIr. Axden ; and soon after a third
appeared, styled the Poj't Phillip Herald.
Each of these journals was issued bi-weekly,
by which arrangement the colonists had even ;
then the opportunity of having a newspaper
on their breakfast tables eveiy morning.
Four newspapers are now issued at Mel- ,
bourne daily (Sundays excepted), namely,
the Morning Netvs, Daily Neios, Patriot, and
Argus. At Geelong the Advertiser is issued
daily, and the Victojna Colonist I believe
weekly. These papers are as large as the
Globe or Standard. The copy of the Argus
before me (Vol. ii. No. 106, July 11, 1849)
contains fifteen columns of advertisements.
The " editorials" of those papers, their "ori-
ginal correspondence," poetry, and selected
articles, typography, and paper, place thera
on a par with the journals of the United
Kingdom, except the leading metropolitan
newspapers. The price of these daily Port
Phillip papers is fifteen shillings per quar-
ter, or sixpence for a single copy ; for
advertisements, six Hues and under, three
shillings, for every additional line three
pence. The Portland district has three ably
conducted newspapers, two printed and pub-
lished at Portland and one at Port Fairy.
A Port Phillip Magazine, and other peri-
odicals, still further attest the rapid exten-
sion of the "fourth estate," whose progress
is indeed unequalled in any other portion of
the British Empire.
Government. — Under the prorisions of
the bill now before Parliament, Victoria will
have a government appointed by the crown,
and a Legislative Assembly similar, in con-
stitution, to that of New South Wales, and
the other Australian colonies. It is uncer-
cleaned and broken up for cultivation, about | tain whether any alterations will be made in
twenty acres ; and obtained good crops of
wheat, oats, and barley, and about two tons
of potatoes. They have built good houses
for the assistant protector, medical officer,
and overseer, and constructed huts for them-
selves. The women manufacture baskets,
mats, string, &c.
The Newspaper Press of the pro^dnce is
coeval with the formation of the settlement,
I for a newspaper seems nearly as essential to
I an Englishman as the air he breathes.
The first newspaper, in 1836, appeared in
manuscript ; the enterprising projector, how-
ever, quickly obtained from Van Diemen^s
1 Land the requisite materials whexewith to
this bill in the House of Lords ; and there
fore it is unnecessary to note any other
details than those already given. (See p. 550.)
It is understood, that her Majesty's minis-
ters do not now propose to vest the con-
trol of the waste or crown lands in the
Australian legislatm-es, which conforms to
the opinion I ventured to express in the
published division of this work on New
South Wales. [For alterations see Supp.']
TJie Laws, are the same as in England;
and administered, as in New South Wales,
by a judge and supreme coxu't.
Institutions. — Several charitable, reli-
gious, literary, and benevolent societies, such
STAPLE PUODUCTS OF VICTORIA PROVINCE.
273
as have been described in the previous colo-
nies. Among other associations, may be
mentioned a ^Mechanics' Institution at Mel-
bourne, and another at Geelong; an Aux-
iliary Bible Society ; a Theological Educa-
tion Society; Temperance Society; Harmonic
Society ; Union Benefit Society ; Indepen-
dent Order of Odd- Fellows; a Commercial
Exchange ; an Auction Company ; Fire and
Marine Insurance Company ; Port Phillip
Steam Navigation Company; piiblic hos-
pital, &c. The Port Phillip Bank was wreciced
in the general disasters of 1843-3. The pro-
prietary of the Port Phillip Bank, in 1840-1,
elected me a London director, and I recom-
mended a course of procedure which met the
approval of their intelligent agent in Lon-
don, Mr. Gardiner, but it was not followed
in the colony. There are branches of the
Union Bank of Australia, and of the Ba7ik oj
Austral-Asia, whicli are known to be con-
ducting a profitable business.
CHAPTER IV
PRODUCTS— AVOOL, LIVE STOCK, TALLOW, PRESERVED MEAT, WINE, FLAX, TIMBER
FISH, &c.— COMMERCE— IMPORTS— EXPORTS— REVENUE— EXPENDITURE-
LANDS— EMIGRATION AND SQUATTING INTERESTS.
Products. — The first in value, and present
importance, as in New South Wales, is wool.
The quantity imported into the United King-
dom, from Port Phillip and Portland Bay,
since 1846, previous to which period many
of the Port Phillip and Portland Bay wools
were shipped for England, via Van Diemen's
Island, was in 1846, 20,956; 1847, 27,876;
1848, 37,351; 1849, 45,348 bales. The
bales average about 280 lbs. each. The
exports of wool from Victoria province to
the United Kingdom, in 1849, amounted
to 12,697,440 lbs. The total imports of
wool into the United Kingdom for the same
year, were 298,444 bales, of which Port
Phillip and Portland Bay contributed nearly
one-sixth part. Sydney sent 50,584 ; Van
Diemen's Island, 17,926; South Australia,
10,400; Western Australia and New Zea-
land, 1,474 bales. The total exports of
wool from the Austral-Asian settlements
during the past year, consisted of 125,732,
or nearly one-half the entire importations
into the United Kingdom ; while, in 1812,
only three bales were imported from Aixs-
tralia. The progress of the wool trade is so
remarkable — the augmented importation has
such an important influence on one of the
largest branches of English manufacture —
on the domestic comfort of the people — on
the extension of our foreign commerce, and
on the increased employment of shipping,
that I am induced to give the following
statement of the quantities of wool imported
from our various colonies, and from different
mv. II.
foreign countries, for the past half century,
and for which I am indebted to the respected
wool brokers, Messrs. C. Jacomb and Son,
of Basinghall-street, London. It will be
observed, that the imports from Spain and
Germany, our former great sources of supply,
have materially decreased of late years, while
the production of our colonies has largely
and steadily increased.
The augmented supply has reduced the
price of all wools ; Port Stephens fleeces, that
a few years since fetched 5^. to 6s. a pound,
do not now bring more than 2s. In the
London price currents the Australian wools
are distinguished by the words — Sydney,
Port Phillip, Van Diemen's Land, Adelaide,
Swan River, and New Zealand, to represent
the different colonies. The usual classifica-
tion of the qualities of the wool, and the
range of price will be seen in the following
extract from the London sales for ]\Iay,
1850, of wools from Port Phillip, which,
although improving, are still inferior to the
Sydney wools, but superior to those from
Van Diemen's Land, or from Adelaide : —
Extra flocks, in first-rate condition, 1*. Sd. to
Is. 1 1 \d. per lb. ; good flocks, in fair condition,
\s. 6d. to \s. Sd.; average do.. Is. 3|c?. to
Is. 6d. ; ordinary and ill-conditioned flocks.
Is. 2d. to Is. ?thd.; scoured clothing. Is. 6d.
to 25.; scoured lambs'. Is. 7d. to Is. lO^d.;
handwashed and ordinary skin, Is. \d. to Is.
4hd.; lambs' good, Is. 6d. to 2s. 2c?. ; lambs'
inferior to average, Is. 2d. to Is. 6d.; locks,
broken, &c.,10f/. to lii^d.; in grease, 8d. to \s
2l
274 AVOOL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1796—1852.
Importation of Wool in Bales into the
United K
inf/dom
durinij the following years.
Years.
5y(liiey.
Van
Diemen's
Land.
Port
Phillip. .
South
Australia.
W. Aus-
ralia & N.
Zealand.
Cape.
East
India.
German.
Spanish.
Portugal.
1796
—
—
—
—
41
16,699
412
1797
. .
— .
—
• —
1
—
394
24,330
69
1798
—
—
—
—
—
—
622
10,219
541
1799
—
—
—
—
—
—
2,342
14,752
6,366
1800
658
—
—
—
—
—
1,170
30,318
9,622
1801
1,302
_
—
—
85
—
598
26,989
5,015
1802
353
—
—
—
146
—
1,217
28,237
2,751
1803
18
—
—
—
78
—
680
21,778
1,280
1804
164
—
—
—
7
—
62
34,962
230
1805
1,203
—
—
—
—
—
—
67
34,298
1,113
1806
564
—
—
— .
—
—
—
1,953
27,228
1,666
1807
74
—
—
—
• — .
1
—
548
51,458
1,645
1808
128
—
.
—
10
—
225
9,808
170
1809
14
—
—
—
3
—
1,753
21,418
5,385
1810
83
15
—
2,221
2,976
16,772
1811
9
11
—
102
12,951
9,946
1812
3
—
—
—
—
10
—
—
10,735
25,970
3813
— .
—
—
—
—
—
1814
70
40
.
9
—
9,807
33,622
13,953
1815
151
92
—
11
—
8,964
24,649
6,351
1816
47
. .
10
—
8,047
14.795
2,876
1817
—
20
—
13,761
31,418
4,699
1818
255
170
—
22
—
24,092
43,803
6,582
1819
170
150
—
27
—
12,827
27,664
9,046
1820
213
180
—
29
—
14,609
17,681
475
1821
421
281
__
—
58
—
24,615
34,845
592
1822
347
207
—
77
—
31,786
29,972
626
1823
1,001
908
—
—
32
—
35,892
21,595
5,668
1824
972
519
—
—
43
—
44,035
25,104
2,459
1825
914
380
33
—
82,284
41,032
4,769
1826
2,905
1,525
—
175
—
30,219
8,097
2,665
1827
696
567
54
—
60,630
19,495
2,258
1828
3,087
3,209
—
51
—
62,901
19,043
1,644
1829
3,746
3,608
50
—
40,314
18,777
266
1830
3,998
5,792
4,005
5,804
—
—
—
263
—
74,496
60,782
8,218
2,319
1831
22,
675
1832
6,313
4,170
—
360
—
55,185
13,684
1833
8,908
6,040
—
—
__
511
—
72,776
20,714
1834
10,327
12,737
5,952
7,025
—
—
—
647
824
1,397
62,553
69,632
19,339
1835
■^ 8,582 1 2,772^
1836
14,055
19.564
8,728
10,754
—
—
—
1,716
1,812
3,493
5,663
90,450
53,359
20,
451
1837
'11,011
2,1 5r
1838
21,950
22,944
10,250
14,638
—
—
—
1,996
3,247
6,117
5,674
79,320
68,682
8,577
11,730
2,694
1839
1,524
4,753
1840
25,820
11,721
3,484
3,477
7,611
63,278
5,273
1,569
1841
30,280
13,937
8,798
4,191
10,563
62,483
5,287
2,716
1842
26,668
13,922
12,307
6,521
11,876
47,510
3,118
1,887
1843
37,255
14,948
14,957
7,734
6,594
53,495
2,715
1,680
1844
38,077
15,126
17,705
8,659
6,741
70,305
5,682
6,341
1845
37,825
39,112
16,839
13,656
22,815
13,765
11,626
10,065
11,279
61,777
52,922
5,188
4,809
3,267
1846
"20,956
5,994
1,686
3.274
1847
41,927
16,503
27,876
7,133
853
13,566
8,123
41,396
1,956
3,005
1848
46,612
16,095
37,351
9,827
1,056
13,409
16,923
48,478
403
2,922
1849
50,584
17,926
45.348
10.400
1.474
20,345
11,041
45,839
516
4,420
1850
51,463
17,468
55,378
11,822
2,548
19,879
9,704
30,491
2,105
7,361
1851
48,564
17,278
63,427
12,268
2,783
19,668
12,501
26,514
5,272
12,827
1852
50,062
18,026
61,885
12,552
3,242*
21,011
21,697-f
36,114
903
7,746
Average "1
weight. J
About 280 lbs.
3Cwt.
1 to 2 Cvvt.
Note. — There are no returns for the year 1813, owing to the London Custom House records being destroyed by fire. —
From 1833 to 1838, inclusive, separate Returns were not kept of Wool importations from the ports of P. Philip, S. Australia,
W. Australia, and New Zealand ; and from 1839 to 1845, inclusive, many of the Vv'ools of these colonies were shipped via
Van DiL-men's Land. — ♦ I'rom Swan Kiver, 1,025, New Zealand, 2,217=-3,2i:.i.— f Including 5SS from CLiua.
WOOL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM, 179G— 1852.
97 T^
Importation of IVooi
in Bales into the United Kin
gdom durinij the followinrj years.
Years.
Russian.
Italian.
Turkey,
Syria,
Peruvian,
Sheeps',
Buenos
AjTes and
United
Danish.
Sundries.
Goats'.
Total
Bales.
Egypt, &c.
and Alpaca
Cordova.
1796
21
7
8
17
7
32
_
17,244
1797
19
41
42
—
—
—
5
380
—
25,281
1798
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
130
11,512
1799
—
30
28
1
—
—
—
320
23,839
1800
25
84
76
—
—
—
14
473
—
42,440
1801
—
198
187
73
—
—
—
221
—
34,668
1802
1
186
174
210
—
—
—
1,326
—
34,601
1803
241
940
880
126
—
—
112
700
—
26,833
1804
482
627
605
24
—
—
205
230
37,598
1805
728
126
101
132
—
—
257
121
—
38,146
1806
207
60
58
110
—
—
57
64
—
31,967
1807
1,048
54
52
307
—
—
305
334
—
55,832
1808
27
130
124
407
—
—
6
22
—
11,056
1809
287
515
508
1,069
—
—
85
811
—
31,828
1810
868
683
676
601
—
—
207
142
—
25,244
1811
29
351
345
447
—
—
4
11
—
24,206
1812
259
6
4
261
—
—
92
12
—
37,352
1813
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1814
1,031
426
421
112
—
—
307
3,801
—
63,599
1815
876
296
292
274
—
—
250
3,950
—
46,156
1816
699
262
257
1,308
—
_
220
1,476
—
29,997
1817
582
179
178
956
—
—
125
5,636
—
57,554
1818
1,666
1,015
1,051
2,358
—
. —
510
10,850
—
92,374
1819
1,580
1,494
1,507
174
—
— ■
484
3,800
—
58,923
1820
150
334
380
25
—
—
20
1,459
—
35,555
1821
185
8
17
52
—
—
42
1,836
—
62,952
1822
554
5
10
32
—
—
170
4,356
— •
68,142
1823
400
2
4
11
—
—
208
2,142
—
67,863
1824
631
377
395
852
—
—
220
2,236
—
77,843
1825
5,362
1,430
1,452
1,054
" —
—
897
5,055
—
l'H,6G2
1826
1,650
534
547
5,068
—
—
320
1,189
—
54>894
1827
2,607
846
872
556
—
—
372
2,543
—
91,496
1828
2,706
425
434
929
—
—
715
1,214
—
96,358
1829
1,664
8
17
70
—
—
321
818
—
69,659
1830
1,680
14
29
64
—
—
323
3,672
—
98,818
1831
348
—
—
318
—
—
—
1,389
—
97,371
1832
997
2,445
—
—
—
639
—
83,793
1833
4,114
1,112
—
1,913
—
—
1,241
3,351
—
120,680
1834
6,910
4,761
14,983
8,498
—
—
1,547
760
—
136,277
1835
9,134
2,816
6,660
10,064
—
—
1,175
2,295
—
145,113
1836
15,072
3,754
14,714
16,053
—
—
4,488
14,762
—
208,336
1837
15,116
3,314
8,421
30,030
—
— ■
1,059
591
—
162,847
1838
8,826
4,434
4,249
30,378
—
—
1,388
1.593
—
181,772
1839
17,847
5,197
8,039
37.854
—
—
1,232
2,108
—
205,469
1840
11,776
4,055
5,492
40,000
—
—
2,199
320
—
186,079
1841
10,825
3,949
2,095
55,190
—
—
2,714
354
5,621
219,003
1842
14,199
573
1,439
19.956
—
—
1,475
358
5,967
167,776
1843
10,181
546
1,854
36,129
—
—
33
383
3,667
192,771
1844
16,984
5,310
9,564
24,565
—
—
424
3,684
5,165
234,332
1845
21,008
7,145
8,249
41,878
6,135
4,699
1,637
2,843
6,142
271,277
1846
11,451
4,247
12,520
56,574
1,076
2,440
1,408
1,550
5,231
261,811
1847
7,055
3,194
7,983
56,652
4,578
1,544
942
1,510
7,023
252,819
1848
7,402
1,502
6,272
56.438
6,463
139
678
1,067
5,468
278,505
1849
16,681
1,998
5,278
43,143
5,785
975
1,366
2,071
13,258
298.444
1850
9,758
1,536
11,896
39,731
3,841
35
771
2.235
13,139 i 291,161
1851
15,259
1,180
16,636
46,820
2,218
—
911
2,959
10.796 317881
1852
13,687
1,754
16,812
38,453
4,761
4i to
8 Cwt.
65
704
0,317
11,104 325,895
Average 1
-weight. J
3 Cwt.
Var
ous.
84 lbs.
Various.
Uto _
2 Cwt.
^i^ote. — Until the year 1845, the Wool imported into Great Britain from Buenos Ayrcs, Cordova, &c., was entered in
the Custom House returns as South American, with the return of Peruvian; and the Goats' wool imported to the year
1840, inclusive, was entered as from Turkey, Syria, Egypt, &c. The Peruvian sheep and Alpaca wool is in hallots of
84 lbs each.
It will be seen that the total number of bales imported in each year, from every country, from 1796 to 1852 inclusive,
is given in the last column of this page.
276
IMPORTANCE OF THE COLONIAL WOOL TRADE.
Had we been dependent on foreign coun-
tries for the raw material of this staple
branch of Biitish industry^ our foreign and
domestic trade would have been crippled,
not only by insufficient supplies, but by
high prices. Estimating the imports for
the vear 1853 at about 350,000 bales, (or
100,000,000 lbs.), fully two-thirds of this
quantity will be supplied from our trans-
marine territories in Australia, at the Cape
of Good Hope, and in British India. I con-
fidently look forward to a large progressive
increase of this valuable branch of trade;
for if we calculate the population of the
United Kingdom at thirty million, it is not
an unreasonable allowance to allot six lbs.
■weight of woollen garments annually to each
individual, if they could be cheaply obtained.
This would require a supply of 180,000,000
lbs. of wool yearly, for domestic use alone.
Mr. M'Culloch estimates the entire produce
of British and Irish wool at 500,000 packs,
of 240 lbs. each = 120,000,000 lbs.: the
home and colonial wools would therefore
be only equal to the wants for domestic con-
sumption, and leave nothing for the export
of woollen manufactures to our colonics and
to foreign countries, a trade which is now
carried on to the extent of nearly £7,000,000
sterling annually, and is still capable of
great increase, as light woollen fabrics are
as conducive to health in warm climates, as
stout fleecy garments in cold regions.
I adverted, in the history of New South
Wales, to the great national importance
of the wool trade ; but there are some other
facts connected with this ancient branch of
traffic and manufacture, which deserve a
record in this work, in connection with the
valuable staple product of our Austral-Asian
settlements. For this collection of data, I
am indebted to Mr. Heniy Burgess, one of
the best-informed practical men in England.
The rise and progress of the growth and
manufacture of wool is associated with the
advancement of society in Europe, and even
in some parts of Asia, but especially in this
kingdom ; and the welfare of the Australian
settlements has been so materially forwarded
by it, that tlic following summary of its his-
tory, though almost too lengthy for these
I)ages, may not be considered AvhoUy inap-
propriate : — •
" It is recorded of Pheniius, the step-father of
Homer, that he tauglit letters and music to the
youth of Smyrna, and received wool in exchange for
his instruction. The plain of Damascus supi)lied
large quantities of wool for the manufactures of Tyre
in the palmy days of Phoenician enterpri e, and when
purple and fine linen ranked amonj^ the choicest
articles of commerce. Colchis in Tlirace, Laodicea
in Phrygia, also produced wools of su[)erior quality,
and a portion of the latter was naturally of a tine jet
hlack. Ireland, at one time, had numerous flocks
of a similar breed. But Miletus, the Lord Western
of his time, is stated to have produced in Caria, w'ool
preferred to all others. Pliny speaks of wool being
brought from a great city north of the Ganges, pro-
bably in Thibet, or Nepaul, by way of Bactria, also
to supply the manufactures of Western Asia ; it was
from these sources of supply, the material was ob-
tained for the manufacture of those costly fabrics,
which, when dyed with Tyrian purple, conferred such
celebrity on the commerce of Phoenicia. After the
decline of the Tyrian manufacture, it appears to have
])lanted itself in Italy; Padua and Modena having, in
their turn, become celebrated for their woollen fabrics,
" Spain, antecedent to, or about the commence-
ment of, the Christian era, had also attained celebrity
for its woollen manufactures, and at that time ex-
ported largely. Soon after Cfesar's time Britain
jiroduced wool in great abundance, and in Anno
Domini 314, great fairs for avooI were held several
times in the year at York, London, and Colchester.
It was about the middle of the tenth century when
the woollen manufacture established itself on an
extensive scale in Flanders, and from that time to
the commencement of the twelfth century, the bulk
of the Avool produced in Britain appears to have
been exported to the former country, and to such
an extent, that it became proverbial that all the
nations in the world Avere clothed with English wool
made into cloth by the Flemings. An extensive
inundation of the Low Countries about the end of
the eleventh century, having caused a number of
Flemings to seek refuge in England, there they met
with a favourable reception, and gave the first
characteristic impetus to the woollen manufacture
therein; so that by 1189 it had become extended
over the greater part of England. At this date
jruilds of weavers had been established in Lon-
don, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Nottingham, Winchester,
Oxford, and York, all paying fines to the king for
their corporate privileges, and licences were also
granted to dealers in several large towns. In the
thirty-first of Henry II. (1185) the weavers of Lon-
don obtained a confirmation of their charter, in which
it was directed, that if any weaver mixed Spanish
wool with English, in making cloth, the chief magis-
trate should burn it. In 1216 it is stated that the
breed of sheep had greatly increased, and that,
although the exportation of wool was still very con-
siderable, the manufacture of cloth had also progres-
sively increased, and that large quantiti' s of cloth in
the grey unfinished or undressed state, were also
exported ; and in which state a good deal of cloth
was also worn in England ; it apj^earing that up to
this time very little progress had been made in the
art of dyeing, although we find the duties on woad
amounting to £593 12s. Id. in a single year. In
1261 the barons enacted "that the wool of England
should be manufactured at home, instead of being
sold to foreigners, and that all persons should wear
woollen cloth made within the kingdom, and avoid
every superfluous extravagance of dress." How far
this restrictive and sumptuary enactment was car-
ried into effect, does not distinctly ajjjjcar, but we
find that in 1266, new regulations were enacted in
respect to levving of duties on wool exported. In
IIISE AND PROGRESS OF THE WOOL TRADE IN ENGLAND. 277
1298 the king, by letter, directed that all wool and
wool-fells of the counties of Bedford, Buckingham,
Derby, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Warwick, Leicester,
Rutland, and Norfolk, should be shipped at Lynn ;
Newcastle, Hull, Ipswich, Southampton, Bristol, and
London, being also oiher ports for the exportation
of the same. It was in 1327 the king granted a
patent in favour of the manufacturers of worsted
stuffs in Norfolk; and in 1331, great inducements
were held out to Flemish manufacturers to im-
migi-ate into England. In 1337 an act was passed,
making it felony to carry any wool out of the
kingdom, and at the same time, all persons, except
the king and his family, were interdicted from wear-
ing any cloth of foreign manufacture, on pain of
arbitrary punishment ; this enactment, however, ap-
fears to have been preparatory to the king (Edward
II.) constituting himself the Mehemet Ali of that
day, for we find him, immediately after, contracting
for 20,000 sacks of wool, and for some years sub-
sequent, the great wool-stapler of England, entering
into and concluding negotiations with Flanders and
other foreign parts, for the supply of wool, and for
the year 1354, we find the following very circum-
stantial account of the exports and imports, viz. : —
Exports.
Quantity.
Value.
Customs.
31,651i sacks of wool, at £6 .
3,036 cwt. (120 lbs.) of do. £2
65 wool-fells, 21s. M. . .
hides
4,774i pieces of cloth . . .
8,061 1 „ of worsted stuffs
Total Exports . . .
£180,909
6,072
1
89
9,549
6,718
£212,338
[£81,624
7
} 216
£81,847
Imports.
Quantity.
Value.
Customs.
1,831 pieces of fine cloth . .
391 \ cwt. of wax
l,829i tuns of wine ....
Linens, mercery, grocery . . .
£10.986
795
3,659
22,944
£98
20
183
286
Total Imports . . .
£38,384
£587
" By 1357 the king appears to have become tired
of trading, for in this year, English as well as foreign
merchants, were permitted to export wool and wool-
fells, to any country in amity with the king. About
this time the woollen manufactures of Ireland had
acquired great celebrity. The Catalonians, at this
period, appear to have enjoyed the highest repute
in Pjurope for their fine woollen fabrics, but were,
at the same time, buyers of the stuffs called seri/es,
manufactured by the Irish, for re-sale in Florence,
where it is stated the luxury of dre<s was carried to
the greatest helgiit. A passion for what is termed
luxury in dress, appears at this period to have
become general over a great part of Europe ; for we
find that, in 1363, a sumptuary law was passed by
the parliament of England, prescribing the kinds of
cloth to be worn by the different classes of society.
From 1363 to the close of the century, various regu-
lations were enacted respecting the fulling, an.d the
sale and exportation of both wool and cloths ; and.
although in the year 1391, the exportation of wool
is stated to have been much less than usual, the
customs on it amounted to £160,000, over and above-
tonnage, poundage, aulnage, pellage, &c. In the
same year, Guildford, in Surrey, is spoken of as the
centre of an extensive manufacture, where the cloths
had fallen into disrepute, consequent on the defective
fulling and undue stretching. In 1399, cloths of
certain descriptions, and below a certain value,
should be exempt for three years from the charges
of sealing and duty, for the ease of the poor.
" In 1421 the following statement was presented
to the king, as the proceeds of revenue for the year
ending Michaelmas, 1420, viz. —
Customs on wool ..... £3,967 1 2
Subsidy on ditto ..!... 26,035 18 8
Small customs 2,436 9 U
12penniesinthe£on value of goods\ on,,, .^p, q.
exported, £164,750 15.*. 10^^. ./ ^'"^' ^" ^^
£40,676 19 91
Casual revenue 15,066 11 1
Total
£55,743 10 lOi
" In 1429 it was ordained that, for the profit and
w^ealth of England, the prices of wool and wooUfells
should be raised, and that they should be sold to
the merchants of Genoa, Venice, Tuscany, Lombardy,
Florence, and Catatonia, for gold and silver only.
In 1449, English cloths were pi'ohibited in Brabant,
Holland, and Zealand, which being judged contrary
to the existing treaty, and found very distressing to
the men weavers, fullers, and dyers, and the women
websters, carders, and spinners, and all others con-
cerned in the trade, it was resolved in parliament,
that if the Duke of Burgundy did not repeal the
injurious ordinance, no merchandise of the growth
or manufacture of his dominions should be admitted
in England. In 1463, the parliament, considering
that the wool of England was the principal com-
modity of the kingdom, and desirous of promoting
the industry of the psople and the prosperity of the
towns, prohibited foreigners from buying or shipping
any wool, wool-fells, morlings, or shorlings, from
England or Wales, except from the four northern
counties, and the districts of Alverton and Rich-
mond, in Yorkshire, and thence they were allowed
to be shipped from the port of Newcastle only. In
1497, it is stated that woollen cloth was one of the
greatest commodities of England, and that Henry
VII. concluded a commercial treaty with the Arch-
duke Philip, wherein it was stipulated that the wool-
len goods of England should be received in the
Netherlands without ])aying duty ; yet such appears
at all times to have been the caprice and_ uncer-
tainty resulting from the manufacturing mania, that,
in 1530, we find foreign merchants, as well as Eng-
lish manufacturers, withdrawing from England, in-
somuch that the woollen manufactures very much
declined, and foreign cloth was sold cheaper than
the English, by which means much land was turned
into sheep-walks for supplying the Netherlands with
wool.
" In 1534, an act of parliament (25 Hen. VIII.,
c. 13) represents the practice of engrossing farms
and diverting land from tillage to the support of
vast numbers of sheep, as an evil lately sprung up,
and that some have 24,000, some 20,000, some
10,000, to 5,000 sheep, whereby a good sheep, that
used to be sold tor 25. id. to 3s. at most, is now
sold for 6.S., or 05., or 4s., at least; and a stone of
■wool, which used to be sold for Is. Gd. or Is. 8d.,
is now sold for 4s. or 3s. 4f/., at least, &c., which
things tend to the decay of hospitality, the dimi-
nishing of the people, and to the let of cloth-making,
whereby many poor people have been accustomed
lo be set on work; for remedy it was, in substance,
enacted, that none shall keep above 2,400 sheep
(exclusive of lambs), and no man should hold above
two farms.
" In 1537, or thereabout, it is stated that the wool-
len manufacture was introduced at Halifax, in York-
shire, and that, besides the largeness of its parish,
which contained eleven chapels and about 12,000
people, nothing is so admirable as the industry of
the inhabitants, vho, notwithstanding an unprofitably
barren soil, have so flourished by the cloth trade,
that they are become very rich, and have gained a
reputation for this above their neighbours.
" In 1550, sixty vessels cleared from Southampton
with wool for the Netherlands, so great (it is
observed) was the demand for the woollen manufac-
tures of that country, even when England had made
a considerable progress in the same manufacture.
" In 1552, the English company of merchant-
adventurers, who had had for the forty-five preceding
years the sole command of the British commerce, had
reduced the price of English wool to Is. 6rZ. per
stone ; in the preceding year they had exported
44,000 woollen cloths of all sorts, while all the
English merchants together had, in the same year,
exported only 1,100 cloths.
" In 1560, the commerce between England and the
Netherlands is represented to have attained a great
height, the export of draperies from England amount-
ing to 200,000 pieces, and the aggregate export to
£2,400,000, to the great benefit, it is said, of both
countries, neither of which could possibly (without
the greatest damage) dispense with, of which the
merchants on both sides were so sensible that they
fell into a way of insuring their merchandise from
losses at sea by a joint contribution. I'hi's then ap-
pears the period of com7nencing the practice of mari-
time insurance.
" In 1567 the city of Norwich is spoken of as hav-
ing recovered from the desolating eS'ects of Ivet's
rebellion in 1540, and that its manufacture of fine
and light stuffs had become famous all over Europe,
and that the Flemings, about this time, introduced
into that part of the country a taste for floriculture ;
this is also the period when Colchester, in Essex, was
the centre of extensive manufactures of baizes, serges,
and other light worsted fabrics.
" In 1582, the Hanseatic League (the German
League of the present day) complained to the Diet of
the empire that by the high duty laid on woollen
cloth in England it had become twice or thrice as
dear as it had before been, whereby the vast increase
of England's wealth, 200,000 cloths being yearly im-
ported from thence. The only remedy was to banish
the English merchant-adventurers out of the empire,
and absolutely to prohibit all manner of English
woollen manufactures. The complaints of the League
prevailed with the Diet, who passed sentence against
the English merchants, and absolutely prohibited all
English woollen goods. Notwithstanding the pro-
hibition by the German Diet, it appears that in 1603
a duty of £1 13s. Ad. was levied on every sack of
wool exported by aliens, and the same for every 240
wool-fells, and by ])roclamation the exportation was
afterwards prohibited, which indeed, it is said, it was
high time to do, the English manufacture of it being
now too considerable, and sv, mich sent into foreign
parts as to employ or worK up all, or nearly all, our
own wool at home.
" In 1608 it is stated that the English were but
little skilled in the arts of dying and dressing their
own woollen cloths, and therefore usually sent them
white into Holland, where they were dyed and dressed,
and then sent back to England for sale. It is sur-
prising that those who made the finest cloths in the
world could not finish them, but the fact was really
so. Alderman Cockayne, and some other merchants,
reflecting on the great profit thereby made by the
Hollanders, proposed to the king to undertake the
dying and dressing of cloths at home, to the great
profit of the public and his Majesty ; whereupon the
alderman obtained an exclusive patent for it, and the
king was to have the monopoly of the sale of such
dyed cloths. The king thereupon issued a proclama-
tion prohibiting any white cloths to be sent bevond
sea, and seized the charter of the Company of Mer-
chant Adventurers, which empowered them "to export
white cloths. In retaliation the Hollanders and Ger-
mans prohibited the importation of all English-dyed
cloths ; from this period the manufacture appears to
have struggled with alternations of success and the
reverse for a great length of time.
" In 1630, King Charles is stated to have confirmed
his father's proclamation against the exportation of
wool, wool fells, and woollen yarn, upon pain of con-
fiscation, &c., for the encouragement of the woollen
manufactures, and ordering that for the better utter-
ance of cloth within the kingdom all black cloths and
mourning stuff's at funerals should be only of the
wools of the kingdom, and the false dying of cloths
and stuff's being a great hindrance to their vent, none
should therein use any logwood or blockwood. The
prohibition of the exportation of wool was further
confirmed by parliament in 1647 ; and in 1660 it Avas
further enacted that no live sheep, wool, or woollen
yarn should be exported on pain of forfeiture thereof,
and of the ships or vessels attempting to carry the
same, and also a penalty of 20s. for every sheep, and
3s. for every lb. of wool, and three months' imprison-
ment for the master of such sheep, 12 Car. II., c. 22.
In 1662 several additional enactments were passed
more rigidly prohibiting the exportation of wool. In
1666, 18 Car. II., c. 4, it was enacted, for the encour-
agement of the woollen manufactures of England,
' that no pei'son should be buried in any shirt, shitt, or
sheet, made of, or mingled with, flax, hemp, silk,
hair, gold, or silver, or other than what shall be made
of wool only, upon forfeiture of £5 to the poor of the
parish, towards a stock or work-house for their em-
ployment. In the following year, 1667, great im-
provements in dyeing and finishing of the cloth took
place in consequence of the immigration of some
workmen from Flanders. In 1685 an influx of refu
gees from France brought with them considerable
improvements in the manufacture of fine worsted
stuff's. In 1688-9 great complaints prevailed against
the rivalry of the woollen manufactures of Ireland ;
at the close of the century the total exportation of
woollens from England was as follows, of which t\vo-
thirds were exported from the port of London, viz : —
1698 £3,120,015
1699 2,932.292
1700 2,989,1 H3
1701 3,128,365
and at the three following periods the value of all
LIVE STOCK— THEIR INTRINSIC VALUE FOR TALLOAV.
279
woollen manufactures and worsted stuffs exported
was, viz. : —
Period.
Value in£
Period
Value in£.
Period.
Value in£.
1718
-',«73,696
1738
4,168,643
1772
4,43;;,783
1719
2,730,297
1739
3,218,273
1773
3,875,929
1720
J.059,049
1740
3,056.720
1774
4,333,583
1721
2,903,310
1741
5,669,734
1775
4,220,173
1722
5,384,842
1742
3,:i58,787
1776
3,868,053
1723
2.920,601
1743
3,541,558
and for the ten years, 1790 — 1799, the amount annually
exported averaged £5,392,744. In an appendix to
the evidence taken by a committee of the house of
lords in 1828, is a statement showing the proportion
of short and long wool grown in each county of
England, which represents the quantity in 1800 to
have been 325,000 packs, and in 1828, 384,500 packs
of 240 lbs. each = 92,260,000 lbs. : this is for England
only, and to which Wales and Scotland are to be
added.
The machinery of England and Scotland
is capable of working up an almost indefi-
nite quantity of wool ; its manufacture is, I
believe, one of the most steadily profitable
branches of our national industry.
The production of the raw material, also,
is found remunerative in England, Spain,
Saxony, and other countries. Capital in-
vested in an Australian sheep run is consid-
ered to return at present about twenty per
cent. The most highly-prized to breed from
are Lord Western's, the Saxony, and pure
Merinos. Saxony rams, recently imported
at Melbourne, sold privately for thirty
guineas each. October and November are
the shearing months ; and soon after that
time ships begin to load for England. The
wool from Victoria is annually improving.
The average weight of a Port Phillip
sheep is 60 lbs. ; each sheep is computed to
yield a clip of 2^ lbs. of wool (or 3 lbs. on
rich pasturage), and the average weight
of talloAV obtained from each animal by
boiling down, is 26 lbs. The price in Feb-
ruary, 1849, at Melbourne, was 4s. to 5s.
per sheep. Rough ser\dceable horses sold
at the same period at prices varying from
j64 to j614 sterling each; horned cattle at
25s. to 30s. per head.
The large Leicestershii'e breed of sheep
in Australia weigh about 140 lbs. each,
and yield 6 to 7 lbs. of wool. The Saxon
breed yield a much finer wool, and have
a small carcase. Dr. Thompson had, how-
ever, a pet Saxon wether, which weighed
150 lbs, and whose fleece weighed lO^lbs.
In general the yield of the fleece at Port
Phillip is 4 lbs. from a sheep at maturity
(five years), but every subsequent year the
nrisht of the fleece decreases. Much de-
pends on the state of the pasture ; if the soil
be too rich, or too sandy, the teeth of the
sheep wear away quickly, and if not con-
signed to the butcher they would perish
of inanition. The coarse, hardy Leicester
sheep is not so liable to ttie catarrh, or
foot rot, as the more pure-blooded Saxon or
Merino.
Live Stock were first imported into the
province, as previously stated, in 1836.
Their numbers have rapidly increased since
that period, as will be seen from the follow-
ing statistical return: —
Year.
Horses.
Horned Cattle.
Sheep.
Swine.
1840
2,372
50,837
782,283
1841
1842
1843
4,605
100,792
140,433
3,041
1844
6,2-78
167,156
1,602,798
—
1845
7,076
187,873
1,860,912
—
1846
9,289
231,602
2,449,527
3,986
1847
11,400
290,439
2,996,992
5,867
1848
—
—
—
—
1849
16,4^5
386,688
5,130,277
5,659
1850
—
—
—
—
JS'ote. — there are no returns previous lo tlie year 18i0.
The "boiling down" system has been
adopted in this province from necessity,
as well as in New South Wales, though to
a much less extent. The live stock slaugh-
tered, and its produce,^ is thus shown : —
Boiling
Slaughtered.
TaUow
Hogs
slaugh
tered.
Lard
Year.
tablish-
ments.
Sheep.
Homed
Cattle.
pro-
duced.
pro-
duced.
Cwt.
lbs.
1845
4
10,950
2,784
4,344
29
240
1846
3
7,007
982
1,994
__
—
1847
4
52,437
2,647
13,205
6
488
1848
7
120,691
5,545
27,725
2
200
1849
—
—
—
—
—
1850
—
—
—
—
—
Total
In 1848, the live stock slaughtered in
Melbourne, consisted of, sheep 37,787;
horned cattle 6,667; pigs 1,475.
The average weight of tallow obtained
from a sheep, is 26 lbs.
The expense of converting sheep into
tallow, sorting and packing the skin, wool,
&c., is about one shilling a sheep, which may
be defrayed by boiling the pelt, hoofs, horas
sinews, &c., into glue, of which each sheep
wiU yield about four pounds weight. With
regard to cattle, the intrinsic value of an
ordinary four- year-old beast consists of 80 lbs.
of tallow, at 32s. per cwt. ; hide, horns, glue,
bones, refuse, soup, and meat, lis. 6g?. =40s.
280
AUSTRALIAN CURED MEATS— AVINES AND BRANDY.
There is a very extensive " boiling down'^
establishment, near Melbourne, belonging
to jNIessrs. Watson and AVright, who have
not only large steam boilers for obtaining
the tallow from several animals at once, but
also kilns for drj'ing hams, manufactories
for curing meat, a tarmery, coopery, &c., all
giving employment to a number of people.
There are also similar establishments belong-
ing to Messrs. Brodie and Cruikshank, and
other enterprising individuals, who have
established candle works and soap manu-
actories.
The Australian preserved beef, put up in
air-tight canisters, is excellent, and well
desernng the attention of the victualling
department of her jNIajestv's uavy, and of
the owners of merchant ships.
I have recently partaken of a round of
this meat, put up two years before in New
South Wales, which was fit for any table
in the kingdom ; the flavour was good, and
the nutritious qualities very great. The
beef is of easy digestion, and would be well
adapted for aged and young persons in
England.
Mr. R. C. Dangar, of Billiter Street,
London, has sent out to the colony a pre-
serving apparatus, and properly instructed
persons to prepare the meat. He has now
obviated the defects that hitherto existed in
the Australian meats, Avhich rendered some
of them unsaleable in England, and has
introduced a valuable article of commerce.
The quality of that now imported is at least
equal, by some persons it is even deemed
superior, to any of the meats preserved in
England.
The admiralty require annually five liun-
di-ed tons of preserved boiled beef for the
crews of her Majesty's ships. A large
part of this is, I beheve, supplied from
Wallachia and Moldavia; but it is to be
hoped that encom'agement will be given
by government to the production of our
own colonies. The use of this fresh meat
in the British mercantile marine, once or
twice a week, would be beneficial to the
seaman and economical to the ship-owner;
good salt beef for sailors now costs from
(id. to 4d. per lb., and each man is allowed
one pound and a-half a day. Of this about
fifty per cent, is lost in boiling and by weight
of bone. One pound of Australian cooked
iresh meat, without bone, would not cost
more than the pound and-a-half of salt meat,
and be far more nutritious and healthy for
the men.
Several ship-masters have commenced the
royal navy practice, and are using the fresh
meat; and the certificates of the com-
manders of these vessels prove its capability
of standing the test of any voyage, even
when subjected to the trying temperature of
the hold of a ship in the tropics. I used,
while in China, some Australian beef gela-
tine, for the preparation of soup, and found
it wholesome and palatable. In a few years,
it is probable that the export of cured meats
wiU be a large and profitable branch of
business ; and, as horned cattle are increasing
with extraordinary rapidity, the supply may
be said to be almost incalculable.
The cultivation of the grape has been
successfully commenced in various parts ol
the colony, and promises well.
Year.
1847
184S
1849
1850
Acres of Vine-
yards.
101
108
Wine Made.
Gallons.
2,600
1,300
6,306
Brandy Made.
Gallons.
30
100
The produce of the Swiss vineyards at
Geelong is 1,000 gallons of wine per acre.
Mr. Andrew Lang, justice of the peace ol
Dunmore, Hunter's River, had 1,200 gallons
per acre. In both instances the beverage
had the character of the Rhenish and INIo-
selle wines. The tract of volcanic country
to the northward of INIelbourne is peculiarly
adapted, by soil and climate, for the cultiva-
tion of the vine ; and a large German immi-
gration is expected, for the development
of this useful product.
The common flax plant flinum usitatis-
simumj is indigenous to Australia. Towards
the Glenelg river it covers a large tract ol
marshy land. On the Lower Darling river
it is found in great abundance, and is used
by the natives for cord or line-nets. The
south-west part of Victoiia province, and
the north-east districts of New South Wales,
would seem well adapted for the culture
of flax, which is a thirsty plant, deri^-ing
nutriment from the air, rather than from
the soil. It affbrds a veiy profitable crop,
which, if properly dressed, always commands
a market in Europe. The raw staples of
flax, hemp, cotton, and silk, will doubtless
be included, in course of time, among the
valuable exports of Australia.
The 7'ed yum, or mahogany of the colo-
nists, is now being exported to England :
the texture is close and fine. Recently, a
PROGRESS OF VICTORIA FROM 1837 TO 1848.
vessel of 300 tons bui'den — the Jane Cain,
was launched from the Melbourne wharf:
she was elaborately finished ; and her cabin
exhibited specimens of nearly every kind of
wood produced in the colony. The Cape
Otway, and other neighboiu'hoods, present a
great abundance of rare and useful timbers.
The fisheries of Port Phillip, as also those
of the other Australian colonies, are as yet
undeveloped. A fine fish, called " cod," occa-
sionally weighing upwards of ninety pounds,
is numerous, and easily angled, in the rivers
in the northern portion of the province.
These fish are stated to be equal in
flavour, though not in firmness, to their
namesakes of Newfoundland. In February
and March, large " schools'^ of herring fre-
quent the coast. The real " Blackwdl white-
bait" may be taken in quantities in the bay of
Port Phillip ; also the schnapper, or bream,
butter-fish, flatheads, lobster, or sea crayfish,
and large shrimps.
T\Tiales frequent the bays and harbours on
the coast ; Portland bay has been a favourite
resort for the cetacae during the calving sea-
son, and there is a lucrative fishery.*
The progress of the pro\ince is seen in the
following tabular statement : —
Years.
Imports.
Exports.
Total.
Cus-
tom
duties.
Ves-
sels
out-
wards.
Wool
exported.
Tons.
lbs.
1837
£108,939
£12,180
£121,119
£2,979
13,424
175,081
1838
71,061
20,589
91,650
6,735
11,679
320,393
1839
204,722
77,684
282,406
11,476
20,352
615,605
1840
392,026
154,650
546,676
27,306
34,477
1,704,861
1841
217,764
157,069
374,833
46,093
34,156
2,752,340
1842
194,510
197,912
392,422
5t,973
34,146
3,331,395
1843
120,675
221,639
341,314
41,419
34,215
4,204,979
1844
158,863
242,801
401,664
36,451
—
4,828,735
1845
205,390
342,624
548,014
42,536
—
5,415,000
1846
315,571
425,201
940,772
37,852
—
6,406,950
1847
437,696
688,511
1,106,407
38,288
48,643
10,210,038
1848
373,676
675,359
1.049,035
52,270
55,094
10,524,663
1849
1850
1 1 '■ \
For continuation see Supplement.
12,697,440
Note. — From 1841 to 1845 the returns are for the years
ending 10th October, whch represent the annual progress
of the colony better than the year ending 31st Decembsr, as
that is the middle of the wool shipping season. The exten-
sive transactions with Sydnej' are not recorded, the province
having been a district of New South Wales.
* Some whale fishers at Peterhead, in Scotland,
have disputed the accuracy of my statements under
Newfoundland, as to the proportion of oil which each
foot of whalebone generally represents. If the sam-
ple blade of whalebone, i. e. the largest of the laminae
in the series, weigh seven pounds, the whalebone
will weigh about a ton. The oil yielded generally,
according to the measurement of the different lengths
of whalebone is stated by Scoresby to be as follows : —
Whalebone, 1 foot i- = U tuns of oil ; 2 = 2^ ; 3 = 21;
4 = 3i; 5 = 4 ; 6 = 5; 7= 6i; 8 -■- 8; 9=11;
10 = 13|; 11^17; 12 ^21
DIV. II.
281
The progress of the export trade is thus
shewn : —
Year.
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
United
Kingdom.
£26,654
60,155
94,431
200,332
266,650
202,850
I 576,551
323,881
566,417
581,355
Briti^h
Possessions .
£12,180
20,589
51,030
93,808
81,704
36,790
41,316
51,157
86,946
101,320
101,494
93,739
Total
Value.
£12,180
20,589
77,684
153,963
176,135
237,122
307,966
256,847
463,957
425,201
688,511
675,359
Total
Tonnage
Outwarda.
13,424
11,679
20,352
34,477
34,156
34,146
34,215
48,643
55,094
The following is the number and tonnage
of vessels, inwards and outwards, engaged in
the Geelong trade in the year ending Octo-
ber 10, 1849 :— •[1851-2 in Supplement.]
Vessels.
Foreign
Coasters
Total
Inwards.
No.
174
149
223
Tons.
12,659
7,534
20,193
Outwards.
No.
76
141
217
Tons.
11,347
7,848
19,195
Imports, £36,195; exports, £255,087;
exclusive of goods removed coastwise; reve-
nue collected, £9,256. Produce exported —
wool, 5,684,903 bales ; sheep, 9,976 ; horned
cattle, 524 ; beef, 112 tons ; hides, 637; horses,
2,400 ; tallow, 373 tons. i
Among the imports, in 1848, were the i
following items : — Apparel, 1,607 kegs; gun- '
powder, 18,220 lbs. ; shot, 22 kegs; beer and
ale, 289,381 gallons ; bricks (Bath and fire), '
9,000 ; cocoa nuts, 2,000 ; coff"ee and choco-
late, 505 cwt. ; cottons, 527 bales; earthen- '
ware and china, 864 packages; glass, 1,017
packages; haberdasheiy, 1,329 packages ;
hardware and ironmongery, 6,420 packages ;
hats, caps, and bonnets, 168 packages; ho-
siery and gloves, 541 packages ; instnimeuts
(musical), 28 packages; iron and steel,
872 tons; jewellery, 6 cases; lead, 29 tons;
leather (unmanufactm-ed), 72 packages; boots
and shoes, 305 packages ; machinery, 505
packages ; nails, 898 kegs ; malt, 465 bushels ;
oil (liuseed), 626 gallons ; oilcloth, 11 cases;
oilman's stores, 3,615 packages ; pepper and
spices, 36,648 lbs.; perfumery, 4 cases; pipes
(tobacco), 151 boxes; pitch, tar, and rosin,
654 barrels ; plants and seeds, 24.1 packages ;
plate and plated ware, 4 packages ; saddlery
and harness, 244 packages; silks, 31 cases;
slates, 19,174 number; soap, 232 boxes;
2 M
282
VALUE OF OUR TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA.
brandy, 50,345 gallons; rum, 52,552 gallons;
gin, 15,769 gallons; Avhisky, 5,529 gallons;
Hqueurs, 53 gallons; stationery and books,
551 packages; sugar (refined), 992' cwt. ;
ditto (raw), 1,940 tons ; tea, 302,840 lbs. ;
tin and tin-ware, 177 boxes ; tobacco, cigars,
and snuff, 179,506 lbs.; toys and turner}^,
85 packages ; tvu'pentine and varnisb, 70
cans; vinegar, 6,178 gallons ; watches and
clocks, 75 packages ; wine, 60,476 gallons ;
wooden ware, 1,008 packages ; woollens, 265
bales; &c.
Excepting tea, sugar, spices, and a few
other articles, the whole of the above-men-
tioned goods, and others not enumerated,
were from England, and amounted in real
value to about £300,000. The exports for
the present year to the Port Phillip district
will amount, it is estimated, to half a million
sterHng; and to the Sydney district, about
a million and-a-half sterling. Thus we ex-
port to a colony which is but the creation
of yesterday, with a population of 250,000
inhabitants, an amount of goods nearly equal
to one-half the total annual value of all om*
exports to France, with its thirty-six or forty
million of inhabitants. At the close of this
work, I hope to prepare a clear statement
of the British trade vnth our maritime pos-
sessions, compared with that carried on with
foreign countries, in order that a just esti-
mate may be formed of the relative impor-
tance of our colonial and foreign trades ;
and lest the assertion made in Parliament,
during the discussion on the Australian
government bill, that the cost of our colo-
nies to the home exchequer was equal to
the trade Ave carried on Avith them, should
be believed, it may here be stated that
New South Wales and Port Phillip, as well
as other colonies, defray every shilling of
their own expenditure ; and the troops sta-
tioned there might as well be withdraAvn, for
any protection they afford to the colo-
nists. Excepting, therefore, the pay of these
soldiers. New South Wales and Port PhilHp
not only meet their own charges, but remit
yearly a considerable sum to her Majesty's
treasury in London, to provide for the con-
Aeyance of the pauper laboming poor of the
United Kingdom, who seek remunerative
labour in that remote portion of the British
empire.
The ignorance of the mere geographical
position of om' colonies is not restricted
to pariiamentary documents, Avhere, among
other errors, Berbice is designated as one
of the islands of the Bahamas. Shippers
of goods should pay special attention to the
geography of the ports to which they con-
sign goods. For instance, two vessels sail
from London as advertised for Port Phillip ;
but there are two harbours Anthin this
immense port ; one called Hobson's Bay,
which is the haven of the city of Melbourne ;
and the other Geelong, which is nearly fifty
miles distant. Goods put on board a A^essel
bound to Hobson's Bay, Melboru-ne, but
consigned to Geelong, will be exposed to
risk, considerable delay, and additional ex-
pense, in their transit to their proper des-
tination. Bills of lading shoidd therefore
be made out either for Hobson's Bay, Mel-
boui"ne, or for Geelong, and shipped accord-
ingly.
The custom duties IcAaed at Port Phillip
are of the same amount as those enacted for
Sydney, New South Wales. Fifteen shil-
lings per foot is charged on all A^essels inward
or outAvard bound as pilotage dues, besides
harbour dues. One shilhng per bale is
charged for shipment of wool from Mel-
bom-ne to Hobson's Bay (the shipping port),
and 5*. per ton for general goods.
The rates of exchange are thus stated for
January, 1839 : — Bills on London at thirty
days' sight purchased at one per cent, dis-
count, one-half per cent, for every additional
thirty days ; on Van Diemen's Land at
sight pui'chased at tA^o per cent, discount.
Drafts on London, at thirty days' sight,
under £100, issued at three per cent, pre-
mium; on Sydney, at sight, issued at one
per cent, premium; on bills liaA'ing a cur-
rency of not more than 100 days, eight per
cent, per annum ; on bills beyond that cm'-
rency, ten per cent, per annum.
The rcA'enue and expenditure has been —
Re
cuue.
Total.
Years.
General.
Crown or
Expenditure.
Land.
1837
£2,979
£3,712
£6,691
£2,164
1838
6,734
37.194
43,928
6,723
1839
11,475
60,889
72,364
27,854
1840
36,569
218,853
255,422
93,195
1841
81.673
78,417
159,000
167,339
1842
84,566
2,729
87,295
129,048
1843
67,066
10,508
77,574
—
1844
56,799
11.021
67,810
—
1845
66,531
23,687
90,118
51,725
1846
60,623
35.996
96.619
51,559
1847
66,892
68,049
134,942
65,758
1848
84,868
59,479
144,347
137,500
According to the Melbourne Argus of 18th
May, 1847, the folloAving Avas the financial
state of the Port Philbp province for 1846 : —
MORTGAGES ON LAND AND LIVE STOCK IN VICTORIA PROVINCE. 283
Receipts. — General revenue, £60^623 ;
crown land revenue, £35,537 ; droits of the
crown, £459 = £96,619.
Expenditure. — From general revenue,
£34,695 ; schedule A, £5,200 : schedule B,
£1,769; schedule C, £3,325 = £50,768.
Surplus revenue for 1846, £45,850.
The general and the land revenue is again
increasing : for the quarter ending Septem-
ber, 1848, the general revenue was £18,180;
ditto, 1849, £21,030. The land revenue for
the same period was, in 1848, £20,142;
in 1849, £33,410. Total, 1848, £38^,222;
1849, £54,441. The returns on this head
are discx'epant, as some include only the
land sales, and others the depasturing li-
cences.
The extent of mortgages on land, and of
advances on wool and on live stocky are
shown in the following statements, which
are, in form, similar to the returns gdven
under New South Wales : —
Number and Atnount
of Mortgages
on Land,
registered at Port Phillip, from the yea
r 1837 to 1848 inclusive.
Year
Mortgages on Town
Mortgages on Country-
Mortgages on Town and
Totals
Lands.
Lands.
Country Lands.
1837
1838
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
16
£17,260
16
£17,260
1839
89
■ 44,868
21
£32,595
—
—
110
77,463
1840
60
73,176
19
53,768
3
£7,500
82
134,445
1841
51
42,858
40
39,765
8
25,850
99
108,474
1842
95
56,090
57
40,301
10
16,870
162
113,261
1843
69
27,238
47
48,322
18
194,853
134
270,413
1844
45
17,831
20
29,317
3
1,510
68
48,658
1845
37
12,262
25
24,461
1
10,000
63
46,723
1846
45
14,702
25
21,034
—
—
70
35,736
1847
67
19,544
30
23,487
—
—
97
43,032
1848
97
33,433
40
36,395
4
1,900
141
71,728
Amount of preferable liens on wool, and of
mortgages on live stock, in the colony of
New South Wales, registered at Port PhiUip,
since the passing of the act of Council, 7th
Victoria, No. 3, — 15th September, 1843, to
31st December, 1848, inclusive.
Year.
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
Preferable Liens on Wool.
Liens.
Number
9
66
37
22
43
102
Sheep.
No.
37,910
275,168
168,793
133,375
284,202
819,823
Liens.
Amount.
£4,959
23,022
11,784
11,159
33,790
62,532
Mortgages on Live Stock.
Mortgages. Sheep.
No.
28
117
71
85
125
146
No.
57,338
345,159
149,536
251,402
539,924
600,517
Cattle.
No.
4,240
19,655
8,175
12,506
22,252
34,469
Horses.
No.
310
629
136
227
480
510
Lent.
Amount.
£24,131
129,008
44,383
100,071
135,907
129,808
The liens are renewed every year, by ad-
vances on the ensuing clip of wool, and the
same sheep may consequently be included in
successive years. The mortgages of real
estate are renewed every three years, on terms
of mutual arrangement.
The number and description of the immi-
grants who arrived at Port Phillip during the
year 1848, are shewn in the accompanying
returns; but as the immigrants arriving in
the Port Phillip district may readily pass
into the New South Wales district, and vice
versa, the return is given for botli divisions
of the province.
Return of the Assisted Immigration to Sydney and Port Phillip, during the year 1848.
Births on the passage .
Deaths on the pa sage
Number landed . . .
Sydney.
Male Fern.
42 44
Above
14 years.
Male
2
1514
Fcm.
7
1613
Under
14 years.
Male
26
671
Fem.
28
578
Total
86
63
43763657
Port Phillip.
Male
36
Fcm.
30
Above
14 years.
Male Fcm.
13
122711306
Under
14 years.
Male
47
513
Fcm.
55
463
Total
66
122
5509
Grand
Total
152
185
i885
The extensive immigration caused by the recent gold discoveries is shown in the Supplement.
284 EMIGRANTS FROM ENGLAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND TO N. S.W.
Return showing the proportions in which the Assisted Immigrants, who have arrived in the Colony
during the year 1848, have been taken from the several counties of Great £ritain.
England.
England.
Northern counties :-
Northumberland
Cumberland
"Westmoreland .
Durham . .
Yorkshire . .
Lancashire . .
Isle of Man . .
Total .
Southern counties : —
Kent
Sussex . . . .
Surrey . . . .
Hampshire . . .
Wight I
Berkshire . . .
Dorsetshire . . .
Wiltshire . . .
Somei-setshire . .
Devonshire . . .
Cornwall . . . .
Guernsey I . . .
Jersey L . . . .
Alderney , . .
Total .
Midland counties : —
Cheshire . . .
Derbyshire . .
Nottinghamshire
Staffordshire
Warwickshire .
Worcestershire
Leicestershire .
Rutlandshire .
Northamptonshire
Buckinghamshire
Oxfordshire . .
Gloucestershire
Monmouthsire .
Herefordshire .
Shropshire . .
Total
Eastern counties : —
Lincolnshire . .
Norfolk ....
Huntingdonshire .
Cambridgeshire
Suffolk ....
Bedfordshire . .
Hertfordshire . .
Essex
Middlesex . . .
Total .
Grand Total
Landed
in Sydney
District.
6
3
2
Ig
149
268
102
46
66
47
5
48
32
192
19
177
42
3
3
1
783
27
160
29
25
28
62
1
99
215
66
76
15
9
829
55
62
31
41
85
59
37
30
200
600
2,480
Landed in
Port Phillip
District.
14
4
2
5
136
64
225
26
10
23
6
54
13
81
210
85
285
796
2
34
4
2
9
1
42
124
171
62
5
16
1
473
40
116
13
83
87
56
11
10
64
480
1,974
"Wales and Scotland.
Wales.
Carnarvonshire
Denbighshire .
Flintshire . .
Merionethshire
Cardiganshire .
Montgomeryshire
Pembrokeshire
Carmarthenshire
Brecknockshire
Glamorganshire
Anglesea . .
Total
Scotland.
Northern counties : —
Caithness
Sutherland
Ross-shire
Cromarty
Nairn
Inverness-shire . . .
Moray or Elgin . . .
Banff
Aberdeen
Kincardine
Forfarshire
Fifeshire
Kinross
Clackmannan . . . .
Perthshire
Orkney or Shetland Isles
Isle of Skye ....
Total . . .
Southern counties
Edinburgh .
Haddington
Berwickshire
Roxburghshire
Selkirkshire .
Peebles . .
Lanarkshire .
Dumfriesshire
Galloway
AjTshire . .
Dumbarton .
Argjleshii'e .
Renfrewshire
Stirling . .
Linlithgowshire
Bute . . .
Wigtonshire
East Lothian
Mid Lothian
Total .
Grand Total
Landed
in Sydney
District.
20
3
35
50
6
4
14
1
12
32
9
29
6
201
19
4
1
65
14
48
3
97
162
21
458
679
N'ote — Th.0 counties named are those of which the emigrants were natives.
IRISH PROVINCES FROM WHICH EMIGRANTS ARRIVED. 285
Return showing the proportions in which the Assisted Immigrants, who have arrived, in the colony during
the year 1848, have been taken from the several counties of Ireland.
Provinces.
Landed
in Sydney
District.
Landed in
Port Phillip
District.
Pro\'inces.
Landed
in Sydney
District.
Landed in
Port Phillip
District.
Ireland.
Leinster : —
Longford
Westmeath
Eastmeath
Louth
King's County ....
Kildare
Dublin
Queen's County . . .
Carlow
Wicklow
3
57
8
62
8
33
5
9
57
1
3
30
1
11
12
2
5
5
30
Ulster :—
Donegal
Londonden-y ....
Antrim
Fermanagh
Tyrone . . » . . . .
Down
Cavan
Monaghan
Armagh
Belfast
Total . . .
Munster : —
Clare
Kerry
Cork
Waterford
Tipperary
Limerick
Total , . .
Grand Total . .
8
38
127
5
62
43
24
21
56
1
58
49
20
12
10
2
33
6
36
Kilkenny
Wexford
385
226
177
2
40
101
92
Total . . .
243
99
47
Connaught : —
Leitrim ......
Sligo
Mayo
Galway
Roscommon ....
1
1
40
2
3
47
27
84
2
37
4
72
46
412
206
Total . . .
44
163
1,084
694
Kate. — Between the amount of the totals of this and the preceding return, and the number of assisted immigrants shown
in the return (p. 627), will be observed a difference of 141, which is composed of persons who were not bom in the
United Kingdom ; but, with few exceptions, were the children of English pai'ents who had been resident in France. The
counties given are the native counties.
Return of Expenditure on Account of Assisted Emigration to Sydney and Port Phillip, during the
year 1848,
Sydney.
Port PhilUp.
Totals.
Total Passage-money at the contract rate (in-]
eluding half-price for all above one year who >
died on the voyage) 3
Paid by the immigrants, or out of British funds
Paid out of the colonial emigration fund . . .
Gratuities to surgeons, officers, constables, &c. .
Total charged on the colonial fund for convey- "1
ance and superintendence J
45,806 12 8
1,338 16
44,467 16
3,486 10
47,954 15 0
37,287 17 2
507 5 1
36,780 12 1
2,745 11 0
39,526 3 1
83,094 9 10
1,846 1 9
81,248 8 1
6,232 10 0
87,480 18 1
Note. — The average contract price for the conveyance of each adult passenger was £12 lis.
Ages of the Assisted Immigrants who arrived dur
'ng the year 1848.
Age.
Where from.
Total.
Where landed.
Years.
Eng
and.
Scotland.
Ireland.
Elsewhere.
Sydney.
Port Phillip.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fern.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
Males.
Fem.
Under 1
95
92
33
40
29
25
4
8
326
89
94
72
71
1 to 4
176
169
53
42
41
14
15
15
525
162
137
123
103
4 to 7
132
127
47
31
23
24
13
17
414
133
103
82
96
7 to 14
329
266
85
62
90
53
19
12
960
287
244
236
193
14 to 21
432
362
131
117
90
620
8
7
1,767
381
593
280
513
21 to 45
1,260
980
440
377
324
398
4
19
3,802
1,110
1,004
2,028
1,774
45 to 50
40
23
11
14
1
2
—
—
91
23
16
29
23
Total .
2,464
2,019
800
683
598
1,180
63
78
7,885
2,185
2,191
1,740
1,769
286 EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL STATE OF THE EMIGRANTS.
Number of Assisted Immigrants who arrived during the year 1848, loho can read and write.
WTiere from.
"WTiere landed.
Age.
Total.
England | Scotland.
Ireland.
Elsewhere.
Sydney.
Port Phillip
Under 4 years : —
Cannot read . . .
521
166
107
42
836
471
365
Read only . . .
11
2
2
—
15
11
4
Read and write
—
—
—
—
. —
__
From 4 to 7 years :
Cannot read . . .
148
39
39
18
244
138
106
Read only . . .
101
34
7
10
152
91
61
Read and write
10
5
1
2
18
7
11
From 7 to 14 years :
Cannot read . . .
56
11
43
4
114
63
51
Read only . . .
291
62
80
17
450
243
207
Read and write
248
74
64
10
396
225
171
From 14 to 21 years :
Cannot read . . .
45
8
222
2
277
109
168
Read only . . .
201
35
176
6
518
322
196
Read and write
548
205
212
7
972
543
429
From 21 and upwards :
Cannot read . . .
154
31
152
3
340
219
121
Read only . . .
508
125
188
1
822
468
354
Read and write
1,641
686
385
19
2,731
1,466
1,265
1
Trades or Callings of the Adult Males and the Unmarried Adult Females who
have arrived in the
Colony as Assisted Emigrants, during the year 1848.
"WTiere from.
Where landed.
Trade or Calling.
Total.
England.
Scotland.
Ireland.
Elsewhere.
Sydney.
Port Phillip
Agricultural Labourers
1,146
206
332
8
1,782
969
813
Gardeners ....
46
15
4
—
65
38
27
Farm Bailiffs . .
6
—
5
—
11
11
Shepherds . . .
43
114
14
—
171
77
94
Herdsmen . . .
—
1
2
—
3
2
1
Domestic Servants .
507
260
804
12
1,583
864
719
Carpenters . .
112
41
10
—
163
81
82
Masons
15
6
2
— .
23
15
8
Quarrymen
5
1
1
—
7
4
3
Bricklayers
20
3
1
—
24
13
11
Brickmakers
19
6
—
—
25
20
5
Sawyers .
13
8
—
—
21
16
5
Plasterers .
1
—
—
—
1
1
Butchers .
19
1
2
—
22
13
9
Bakers . .
7
13
—
—
20
12
8
Grocers
2
—
—
—
2
2
Millers
2
1
—
—
3
2
1
Brewers .
1
2
.
3
2
Confectioners
1
1
Maltsters .
1
1
Poulterers
. —
—
1
— .
1
Tailors . .
6
4
1
11
4
Shoemakers
6
2
1
9
5
4
Dressmakers
35
10
10
55
42
13
Bonnetmakers .
4
4
4
Strawplaiters
2
—
2
2
Tailoresses . .
1
1
2
2
Embroideresses
1
1
1
Needlewomen .
10
1
11
11
Smiths ....
104
34
8
2
148
90
58
Wheelwrights .
18
7
6
1
32
19
13
Cabinet Makers .
8
6
1
15
8
7
Porters . . .
1
1
1
Printers . . .
3
3
2
1
Shipwrights . .
1
1
2
2
Flax Spinners .
—
1
1
—
2
2
Tota
1 .
•
2,119
841
1,207
23
4,230
2,329
1,902
RAPID EQUALIZATION OF THE SEXES IN AUSTRALIA.
287
Religious Persuasions of the Immigrants who arrived during the year 1848.
Religious
Denominatioiis .
Ch. of England
Ch. of Scotland
Wesleyan Method.
Other Protestants
Roman Catholics
Jews
Totals . .
Where from.
England.
Males.
1,764
21
384
266
23
6
2,464
Fem.
1,428
21
323
224
19
4
2,019
Scotland.
Males
40
604
14
115
27
800
Fem.
32
513
n
103
26
683
Ireland.
Males
119
44
1
4
430
598
Fem.
304
89
2
1
784
800
Elsewhere.
Males.
56
63
Fem.
58
4
8
8
78
Total.
Males
1,979
669
406
385
480
6
3,925
Fem.
1,822
627
344
326
837
4
3,960
Where landed.
Sydney Dist. Port Phillip
Males.
1,103
335
221
197
324
5
2,185
Fem.
1,035
329
172
171
481
3
2,191
Males.
876
334
185
188
156
1
1,740
Fem
787
298
172
155
356
1
1,769
To administer the consolations of religion,
there are at Victoria ministers of different
persuasions as follows : — churcli of England,
one bishop and nine chaplains ; church of
Scotland, five chaplains ; church of Rome,
one bishop, and seven chaplains; Indepen-
dents, Baptists, and Jews, one each. The
salaries of the chaplains vary from <£100 to
.£300 per annum.
Earl Grey has judiciously directed that
aid be given for the transmission of female
orphans of all religious denominations from
the United Kingdom to Australia, and or-
dered that every practicable precaution be
adopted for the safe conveyance of these
friendless children, and for their protec-
tion on arriving in the colony.
At Melbourne, a building has been erected
for their reception, and a similar committee
to that formed at Sydney has been ap-
pointed there, consisting of the following
members : — The Right Rev. the lord bishop
of Melbourne ; the Right Rev. Dr. Goold,
Roman catholic bishop ; Edward Curr, Esq.,
justice of the peace ; the Very Rev. P. B.
Geoghegan, Roman catholic vicar-general ;
the Rev. Irving Hetherington, minister of
the Scots chui-ch at Melbourne; Wilham
Lonsdale, Esq., sub-treasurer ; John Patter-
son, Esq., acting agent for immigration ;
Robert Williams Pohlman, Esq., barrister-
at-law, and commissioner of the Insolvent
Coui-t ; James Hunter Ross, Esq., solicitor ;
Andrew Russell, Esq. ; James Simpson, Esq.,
commissioner of crown lands ; the Rev. A. C.
Thompson, incmnbent of St. James', Mel-
bom-ne. The plan has answered well, and
many parentless children, who had no
prospect before them, in Great Britain or
Ireland, but penury, and perhaps a career
of \ice, have been placed in a position to
become respected and opulent members of
society in Australia.
The relative proportion of the population
of the United Kingdom is — England, 59.6
per cent. ; Scotland, 9.8 per cent. ; Ireland,
30.6 per cent.
The number of emigrants sent out to
New South Wales since the resumption of
emigration, in 1847, has been — Enghsh,
14,088; Scotch, 3,638 ; Irish, 6,911 ; total,
24,637 ; being in the proportions of —
English, 57.2 per cent. ; Scotch, 14.8 per
cent. ; Irish, 20.0 per cent.
Of the Irish, 2,488 were orphan girls,
who were taken as being a class well suited
to the peculiar wants of the colony, and as
being, for many reasons, the most eligible
class of Irish emigrants that it was possible
to select : they have, in general, given satis-
faction in the colony. It is due to the Irish
to state that they make excellent settlers in
a young colony; the Celtic desire for the
acquisition of land, and of thereby realizing
an independence, forms an inducement to in-
dustry and frugality, which is attended with
beneficial results ; and many Irish who have
landed Avithout a shilling in Australia are
now the owners of a considerable amount of
property.
Those who are alarmed at the present
deficiency of female population in Austral-
Asia will have their fears removed, at least
as regards the future proportion of the sexes,
by the following statement, given on the
authority of her Majesty's emigration com-
missioners. According to the 1846-7 returns,
the male and female population of each of
the Australian colonies was as follows : —
Colony.
Males.
Females.
Excess
of Males.
Date of
Return.
New South Wales :
Sydney District .
92,389
62,145
30,244
Census of
Port Phillip do.
20,IS4
12,69.5
7,489
( 18-16.
Van Diemcn'sLand
47,813
22,313
25,500
Uec.31,1847
South Au.stralia
21,027
17,139
4,388
1 J3lue Book
Western Australia
2,818
1,804
1,014
( 1848
New Zealand .
4,996
3,835
1,161
'
The number of unmarried male and fe
male emigrants sent to Sydney, Port Phdlip
288
KATES OF WAGES AND PROVISIONS IN VICTORIA.
and South Australia, since 1st of January,
1848, has been, to — Sydney, males 2,182,
females 3,618; Port Phillip, males 2,160,
females 3,094 ; South Australia, males 1,692,
females 2,191.
It will be seen from these returns that,
both in New South Wales and Van Diem en's
Land, there now exists a considerable excess
of males over females. A similar dispro-
portion exists in Western Australia, and,
to a less extent, in South Australia and
New Zealand. But it is not likely that
the three last colonies will absorb any con-
siderable number of female emigrants at
present. The outlet for this class of emi-
grants must be sought principally in New
South Wales or Van Diemen's Land. In
regard, however, to New South Wales, it is
to be observed that the disproportion be-
tween the sexes is continually and rapidly
decreasing. In 1836, the number of males
and females in the colony was — males 55,539,
females 21,557; being in the proportion of
five to two. In 1841, the numbers were —
males 87,298, females 43,558 ; being in the
proportion of four to two. In 1846, the
numbers were — males 112,573, females
74,840; being in the proportion of three
tc two. And a further analysis of the last
census (that for 1846) will show more clearly
both the cause of the existing disproportion
and the rate at which it may be expected
to right itself. Thus, in the population
under twenty-one years of age, the number
of males and females is very nearly equal ;
between twenty-one and forty-five, the pro-
portion of males to females is not quite two
to one ; and, among those upwards of forty-
five, not quite three to one. The actual num-
bers are — under twenty-one, males 40,071,
females 39,779 ; twenty-one to forty-five,
males 59,009, females 30,315 ; forty-five
and upAvards, males 13,493, females 4,746 ;
total, males 112,573, females 74,840. It is
evident, therefore, that in the com'se of a
reiy few years, as the old convict population*
dies off (and, excepting in 1849, no addi-
tions have been made to it by transportation
for several years past), the disproportion of
the sexes will disappear, even without any
special measures for that object.
The average retail price of proA'isions and
* In Victoria, as well as in New South Wales, the
leaven of a convict population, whose religious and
moral instruction was neglected, have, in a comparative
degree, caused a considerable amount of crime. The
convictions in Melbourne, in 1848, were — murder, 1 ;
manslaughter, 2 ; shooting, wounding, &c,, 6 ; rob-
clothing in the district of Port Phillip, quarter
ending 31st March, 1849, was as follows : —
Wheat, 4s. per bushel; bread, first quality, 2d.;
second quality, l|c?. ; flour, first quality, 2|t/. ; second
quality, IfJ.; rice, 3|(7. ; oatmeal, 5d.; tea, 25. Id.;
sugar, 3^d.; coS"ee, lid.-, sago, 9d. ; fresh meat, 2d. ;
salt meat, 2d. ; fresh butter. Is. 3c?. ; salt butter, Is. ;
English cheese. Is. 3d. ; colonial cheese, 7|</. ; salt,
l|rf. per lb. ; potatoes, 8s. per cwt. ; colonial wine, 6s. ;
imported wine, 15s. ; brandy, 25s. ; colonial beer,
Is. lOd. ; imported beer, 3s. 6d. per gallon ; candles, 5c?.
per pound ; lamp oil, 25. 9c?. per gallon ; soap, 5d.
per pound; starch, lid.; blue, 2s. ; colonial tobacco,
2s. 6d. ; imported tobacco, 45. Moleskin jackets, 8s.
each ; moleskin coats, 14s. 6d. ; waistcoats, 5s. ;
moleskin trowsers. Is. per pair ; flushing trowsers,
lis.; coloured shirts, 25. 8d. each; strong boots,
125. 6f/. per pair; strong shoes, 10s.; shepherd's coats,
185. each; socks, lO^c?. per pair; handkerchiefs, 9c?.
3ach ; straw ha^s, 5s. ; print dresses, 6s. ; merino
dresses, 155. ; flannel petticoats, 7s. ; calico petticoats,
25. lOd. ; stockings. Is. 6'^. per pair; shoes, 7s. ; caps,
2s. lOd. each ; shawls, lOs. ; shifts, 3s. ; stays, 6s. per
pair ; check aprons. Is. each ; straw bonnets, 4s. ;
flannel, 2s. per yard ; calico, 7c?. ; blankets, 13s. per
pair ; sheeting, calico, Is. per yard ; mattresses, 10s. 6c?.
each ; rugs, 5s.
Aierai/e Wages of mechanics, Sfc, in Port Phillip
district, qiiartei' ending 3lst March, 1849.
Average Wages.
Ti-ade or Calling
Town,
per diem.
Country,
per annum.
Males : —
s. d.
Carpenters
Smiths
6 0
6 0
£43
39
Wheelv^rights ....
5 6
39
Bricklayers
Masons
6 0
6 0
40
40
Farm Labourers . . .
—
23
Shepherds
Females : —
—
21
Cooks (Plain) ....
Housemaids ....
—
16
14
Laundresses
—
14
Nursemaids
—
13
General House Servanvs.
—
14
Farm-house Servants, \
Dairywomen, &c. . \
—
14
Note. — In the case of the country labourers, the price
paid for their services includes board and lodging, which con-
sist of a dwelling, with a ration of lOlbs. meat, lOlbs. flour,
21bs. sugar, and 4 oz. tea (or milk, in lieu of siigar and tea),
per week. The wives of farm labourers with families do not
receive this amount of money wages, as a sufficient quantity
of food is generally allowed for the support of their children
and a corresponding deduction is of course made.
The expense of erecting a country dwell-
ing suitable to an agricultural labourer is
from £o to £20, according to the materials^
the locality, and the extent of accommoda-
bery, 8 ; burglary, 2 ; housebreaking, 1 ; stealing in
dwelling, 5 ; larceny, 51 ; forgery and uttering, 13|
horse stealing, 9 — total felonies, 98. Misdemeanours
— assault, 10 ; riot and assault, 15 ; bribery, 1 ; ob
taining money under false pretences, 1 ; libel, 1 — •
total, 28. Capital convictions, 1.
PROFITS AND PRICE OF SQUATTING STATIONS.
289
tion ; but country labourers are provided
with rent-free dwellings by their employers.
The rent of a town loclsring suitable to a
mechanic and his family has greatly in-
creased since the gold discoveries.
There is no fund in the district for the
rehef of the destitute poor ; but there are at
Melbourne two societies, viz., the Stranger's
Friend and the St. James's Chui'ch societies,
which afford assistance to the poor and sick.
Some immigrants have been raticued at the
public expense.
It is not possible to say what amount
of labour Victoria pro%ance is capable ot
receiAdng. According to the area and fer-
tility of the soil, 20,000,000 people could
with ease be sustained; the cry stiU is —
Give lis labour. This is shown in the fol-
lowing paper, compiled from returns from
the principal benches of magistrates in the
distiict of Port Phillip, showing the agricul-
tui-al and other productions, and the demand
for labour, &c., in each of the districts named,
in the first quarter of the year 1849 : —
Districts.
Principal Agricultural and other
Productions of the District.
Demand for Laboiu', and description of Labourers required.
Melbourne . .
Western Port
Portland .
Geelong
Murray . .
Gipps Land
Wheat, oats, potatoes, barley, vegeta-
bles of all sorts in abundance.
GoM.
TVTieat, oats, potatoes, and maize . .
Go'd.
"Wheat, oats, hay, vegetable, wool,
hides, tallow, black oil, black cattle,
and sheep.
W^heat, barley, oats, potatoes, and all
kinds of vegetables
Gold.
All kinds of grain
Grain , wool, and fat stock for exportation
Most parts of the district are stUl requiring labourers ; the
city and vicinity a little better supplied than heretofore,
in consequence of late arrivals of immigrants. AU kinds
of labour required.
There is still ample room for any number of immigrants
likely to arrive ; but single men and young married peo-
ple without many children are generally preferred in the
bush. Shepherds and farm servants are the descriptions
of labourers in request.
The scarcity of labour was never more severely felt.
The families of mechanics exceeding three, without adults,
may probably meet with difficulties on their arrival.
Domestic servants, farm servants, and shepherds are in
request.
Agricultural and pastoral labourers are in request.
Shepherds, stockmen, and farm labourers are in request.
The following statement is compiled from
returns from the principal police divisions of
the district of Port Phillip, showing the rates
of yearly money-wages given in each division
in the first quarter of the year 1849 — food
and lodging
ployers : —
being provided by the em-
Trade or
Mel-
West-
Port-
Gee-
Mur-
Gipps
Calling.
bourne.
Port.
laud.
long.
ray.
Land.
Carpenters . .
.
£52
£38
£40
Smiths . . .
—
40
38
40
WTieelwrights
40
38
40
Bricklayers
—
—
—
40
—
—
Masons . . .
—
—
—
40
—
—
Farm labourers
£16
27
28
20
£20
£30
Shepherds . .
16
23
27
18
20
25
Cooks . . .
16
17
26
—
—
—
Housemaids .
14
12
20
—
20
—
Laundresses .
14
17
28
—
—
—
Nursemaids .
13
10
18
—
—
—
Farm Servants
14
17
—
—
—
—
House Servants
14
17
24
—
—
—
Country lands, as in the other Australian
colonies, are offered for sale, from time to
time, by public auction, at an upset price, as
fixed by act of Parliament, of 20^. per acre ;
but farms enclosed, and partially or wholly
cleared of timber, may occasionally be ob-
tained, on a lease of three to five years, at
a rent varying from 55. to 105. per acre.
The number of leaseholders in this district,
DIY. II.
as well as in New South \Yales, is increas-
ing; and such a course of procedure is
adrisable for newly-amved immigrants who
have but Httle capital, are not acquainted
with farming, and require time and practice
to understand a pursuit which at first sight
appears very simple, but which really re-
quires more watchfulness, steady laboui', fi'u-
gality, and even scientific knowledge, than
any of the ordinary branches of manufae-
tuidng industry.
In 1848, the squatting licences issued for
Port Phillip were, within the then settled
districts, 383 ; ivithovt them, 18,863 ; total,
19,246 ; and the laud sold in Port PhiUip
was 18,007 acres, for j€;24,030.
Squatters holding land under lease from
the crown for pastoral purposes may, by
permission of the crown commissioner for
the district, transfer their " run" to another
person. The price is determined not merely
according to the quantity of land in the
lease or " run," but by the healthy condition
of the sheep, the purity of the breed, siipply
of water, contiguity to a shipping port, the
quality of the pasture, and other circum-
stances. " Clean stations" average a sum of
95. to 125. for each head of sheep ; the pur-
chaser receiving also huts, hurdles, fencing,
and implements, and taking the stock at a
2 N
290
MODE OF ATTRACTING LABOUR TO AUSTRALIA.
valuation. A cattle station^ which is con-
sidered less profitable than a sheep run,
sells at the rate of 30*. to 405. for each
beast. Superior sheep and cattle sell at
higher rates. Each sheep " run" carries at the
least 4,000 sheep, or an equivalent number
of horned cattle, for which a rental is paid to
the crown of .€10 per annum, and £2 10s.
for every additional 1,000 sheep, or equiva-
lent number of cattle.
Every large sheep or cattle " run" has an
overseei', whose salary ranges from £50 to
£200 per annum. The firm of Boyd & Co.,
it is said, paid their overseer .€800 per an-
num ; but their sheep amounted to nearly
200,000. Some j^oung men judiciously com-
mence as overseers, and learn their business
before they invest their capital in stock.
The homestead is the head-quarters of the
overseer, who Aasits the distant flocks, super-
vises the shearing, the packing in the wool
presses (with which the wool-sheds are each
provided), and the despatch of the drays
with the packs to Melbourne, Geelong, or
Portland. Spacious steam boilers are also
being attached to each homestead, for con-
verting the fat into tallow, ready for ship-
ment to England.
It is due to the class of Australian gentle-
men termed the "squatters," to state, that
but for them. Port Phillip would have been
reduced to as low a condition as South Aus-
tralia was before the discovery of its copper
mines. Those who bought land largely at the
government auction sales in Sydney and Mel-
bourne, were ruined ; their purchases were
no more proof of the soundness of the
" AVakefield theory," than was the purchase
of scrip during the railway mania a proof
of the prosperity of this country. In both
instances, capital was transferred from in-
dustrious pursuits to be invested in gambling
speculations. The squatters remedied the
error; for like a young oak tree, around
which a band of iron had been placed to
prevent its growth, but which the expand-
ing bark soon eveloped in its folds — so the
squatters passed the settled boundaries of
Port Phillip and of New South Wales, and
found food for their increasing flocks and
herds, which an act of Parliament would
otherwise have prevented. By this means
staple exports of wool, tallow, hides, horns,
skins, and meat, were created ; the colonies
were enabled to import in return for their
products, British manufactures ; labourers
were required to tend their sheep, the
steady pursuit of w^ealth by industry and
perseverance took the place of land gam-
bling, the settlements were rescued from the
gripe of " land-sharks," and the wide-spread
ruin caused by the " Wakefield system,"
to some degree mitigated. But the in-
jurious effects of an erroneous course of
policy are not so immediately remediable;
unfortunately, a class-interest is created,
who liaATing paid a high price for their land,
are not desirous of a reduction in the market
price; some of the squatters also, knowing
they can rent a " run" from government
capable of feeding 6,000 sheep for i^lO a
year, prefer the maintenance of the present
system, which practically prevents the sale
of any land, except in the neighbourhood of
towns, or for some special purpose. Until,
however, a method be adopted, by which
land may become a marketable commodity,
no improvement can take place in Victoria
province in any degree commensurate with
its immense agricultural capabilities. Emi-
grants who can obtain fine land at 35. to 5*.
an acre, in British America, the United
States, and Natal, will not be induced to
pay 205. in Australia. It is quite a dif-
ferent thing, to make free grants of blocks
of several thousand acres to persons with-
out capital, and to sell it at a moderate
price ; and yet the argument for fixing a
price on land far beyond its real value, is
based on the error alleged to be committed
in Western Australia, where the granting of
land free was not the cause of failure, as will
be subsequently shewn.
In 1835 there were sold in the United
States, about 12,000,000 acres of land ; in
1836, about 20,000,000 acres; in 1837, the
quantity fell to 5,000,000 acres; in 1838,
12,251,966 acres were offered for sale by
public auction, and only 1,388,733 acres
sold ; the price paid w^as ^'1,749,401, or
about <Sli (55. 7\d.) per acre. The sales
declined annually, until 1811. In 1842,
they again increased to 1,600,000 acres, and
advanced gradually to 2,200,000 acres, in
1847. Since 1819, the price has not ex-
ceeded Sli per acre; and it is now pro-
posed to grant a certain quantity of land
to every single or married immigrant who
settles in the States. This is the best mode
of attracting labour, and until something
effective be done by reducing the price of
laud in Australia to its proper value, our
surplus population Avill proceed by tens of
thousands to America, compared with tens
of hundreds who may be induced to voyage
15,000 miles to Australia. [See Supp*.]
BOOK IV.— SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN— HISTORY— DISASTERS AND PROGRESS.
The history of this now thriving settlement
affords a remarkable instance of the truism
that men and nations frequently overlook the
wealth and advantages which are, as it were
at their own door, and seek a doubtful good
by speculative efforts remote from the prac-
tical field of operation which lies immediately
before them. For nearly fifty years England
had possessed a colony in New South Wales,
and had been acquainted with the salubrity
of the climate, the fertility of the soil, and
the maritime advantages of the position,
before any further inquiry was made into
the intrinsic value of other parts of the vast
island-continent over which her dominion had
been established. As in other instances a
superficial examination of the mere coast-
line had been deemed sufficient ; and one of
the naval officers employed, and considered
with reason the first authority on the sub-
ject (Captain P. P. King, R.N.), stated before
the Philosophical Society of New South
Wales, in the year 1822, that " the South
coast of Australia is barren, and in every
respect useless and unfavourable for coloniza-
tion." How far this sweeping condemnation
of a country larger than Great Britain, of
which moreover only a small part even of the
coast could have been seen by Captain King,
is consistent with fact, will be seen in the
following pages.
The inland discoveries of Oxley, Cunning-
ham, and others, to the westward, north-
ward, and southward of Sydney, from 1817-
18 to 1827-28 (see page 383), and the
extreme drought of three years' contin-
uance induced reflecting persons to consider
whether that portion of Australia open to
the south winds of the Pacific might not be
found better supplif d with periodical rains,
and that the dip of the land would be as in
other parts of the world, and especially in
the eastern hemisphere, from north to south,
consequently that the great water -courses of
the Blue Mountains, which served as drains
for the country west of the sea-coast range,
would be found to have a southerly direc- ,
tion. This opinion I expressed at the time
in Australia, and stated that it was founded
on what I had witnessed in Southern Africa,
Madagascar, and other adjacent regions.
To Captain Sturt, an officer then serving
with his regiment in New South Wales,
belongs the great merit of solving this pro-
blem, of pointing out the capabilities of
South Australia for a colony, and of giving
an additional stimulus to the interior ex-
ploration. The adventurous journeys of
Captain Sturt have been detailed (pages 383-
384); after a perilous navigation of nearly a
thousand miles, in a frail boat, on an un-
known stream, Avith rapids, shallows, sand-
spits, and sunken trees ; the banks crowded
with bands of hostile natives, and the coun-
try whither he was being hurried totally
unknown, this gallant officer and his brave
companions found their toils rewarded by
arriving in the early part of the year 1830
at a large lake, from whence they soon
reached the Pacific Ocean at Encounter bay,
in the meridian of 138° 56' E. The loss by
accident of a portion of his provisions com-
pelled him to hasten his return towards
Sydney, up the Murray, an undertaking far
more arduous than his course down that
stream with the current. This severe labom*
was successfully accomplished after eighty-
eight days of incessant exertion and suffer-
ings, which produced insanity in one of the
party, and temporary blindness in their
heroic leader. " It is impossible," says
Major-General Sir Charles Jam.es Napier,
" to read the account of Captain Sturt's
expedition down the Murray without feeling
much admiration for our countryman and
his companions — an intrepid enterprize !
Unanimated by the glory of battle, yet
accompanied by the hardships of a cam-
paign, without splendour and without reward-
This little band of undaunted men well knew
that severe trials awaited their bold adven-
ture, perils from men, from water, and from
starvation; and if they fell amidst these
dangers, no fame would attend their memory,
292 EXPEDITION OF THE GALLANT STURT DOWN THE MURRAY.
their courage would be unheard of, and their
death moui-ned only by a few friends. Nor
was the fortitude "vvith which they extricated
themselves from the dangers of the desert
less to be admired than the boldness with
which they entered these wilds/^
The brave ever respect the brave^ and this
desu'e of a distinguished officer^ who olten
met death face to face in the battle-field, to
''^ express the admiration he felt for these
intrepid explorers, and to spread the record
of their names/'"^ will be appreciated by all
who estimate at its right value what is noble
in man. But it is only those who have
themselves traversed trackless wilds, traced
to their sources rivers hitherto unknown,
and na\igated stormy and unsurveyed coasts,
amidst tribes of savages more bloodthirsty
than the tiger, who can estimate at its true
worth the value of the services Avhich Sturt,
jNIitchell, Leichardt, Eyre, Grey, Cook,
Flinders, King, Stokes, Blackwood, Jukes,
and other really great men have rendered by
their discoveries in Australia.
On the retm-n of Captain Sturt to Sydney,
he stated, in his official report, an opinion of
the country he had explored, as follows : —
" Cui'sory as my glance was, I could not
but think I was leaviijg behind me the
fullest reward of our toil in a country that
would ultimately render om' discoveries valu-
able. * * * ]\Xy eye never fell on a
region of more promising aspect, or of more
favourable position, than that which occu-
pies the country between the Lake and the
ranges of St. Vincent's gulf, and continuing
northerly, stretches away without any \isible
boundary.'' Stmi; added, " that a closer
survey of the interjacent country (from En-
counter bay up St. Vincent's gulf) would,
he believed, be attended with the most bene-
ficial results."
Fortunately, the then governor of New
South "Wales saw the importance of prose-
cuting further inquiries in this new region.
Governor Darling immediately acted upon
the recommendation of Captain Stiu't; and
Captain Barker, of his Majesty's 39th regi-
ment, then about being recalled from what
was considered a useless position — King
George's Sound — was directed to ascertain
how far the opinions of Captain Sturt were
correct. Barker arrived in Gulf St. Vin-
cent in April, 1831, and while engaged in
exploring the country in the neighboui'hood
of Lake Victoria, was killed by the abo-
•_ Colonization, particularly in South Australia, by
Major-General Sir Charles James Napier.
rigines. Sturt pays a well-merited tribute
to this victim of the treacherous savages of
Austraha, and describes his lamented brother
officer as mild and aflFable, possessing the
esteem and regard of every companion, and
the respect of every one under his command ;
zealous in the discharge of his public duties ;
honourable and just in private life ; a lover
and a follower of science ; indefatigable and
dauntless in his pui'suits ; a steady friend ;
charitable, kind-hearted, disinterested, and
sincere; in him the crown lost one of its
most valuable officers, and his regiment one
of its most efficient members. The Mount
Barker district, named after this good man,
evidences the grateful appreciation of his
character felt by the colonists.
Mr. Kent, one of the party attached to
the mission of Captain Barker, fully corro-
borated the report of Captain Sturt. He
stated that the soil was rich; there was
abundance of the finest pastm'age ; no lack
of fresh water ; and that it was " a spot, in
whose valleys the exile might hope to build
for himself and for his family a peaceful and
a prosperous retreat." The intelligence of
the discoveries of Captain Sturt, and their
confirmation by Mr. Kent, produced in Eng-
land an anxious desu'e to form a colony in
South Australia; and in 1831, a committee
was formed to consider the subject. I
attended some meetings, about this period,
in the Adelphi chambers, but finding it was
resolved to fix a high price on the land,
declined co-operating personally, but gave
every aid in my power towards the exten-
sion of our occupation of the Australian
territories. Great credit is due to Mr.
Gouger, who, after he had formed three
or four provisional committees, was often
left alone, to work out, at his own expense,
the noble object he had iu view. In 1834-,
an influential committee was formed, which
included eighteen members of the house of
Commons, who resolved to carry out what
was termed the " self-supporting system,"
by which the colony would be no expense to
England, as money would be obtained by
the sale of waste lands, whereby the labour
would be conveyed from the United King-
dom, and the formation of a prosperous set-
tlement would necessarily ensure the means
of an adequate revenue for its local govern-
ment. This was no new idea; it was not
a theory, as it had been termed : the plan
had been practised in the earlier British
colonies in the western hemisphere ; and for
some yeai's the sale of waste lands in the
MR. E. G. WAKEFIELD AND THE UNITED STATES' LAND SALES. 293
United States^ and the formation of colonies
in the wilds of the " far west/' were known
to have been very successful.^
This system was marred in its application
to the crown lands of Great Britain, by the
attempt to engraft on it principles and regu-
lations which neutralised or perverted its
effect. As to Avhat Mr. Wakefield somewhat
vaguely terms a " sufficient price/' neither him-
self;, Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens^ or any of its
advocates^ have yet agreed what this " suffi-
cient price" is ; and, in the search after this
ignis fatuus, New South Wales would have
been ruined, had not the squatters evaded
the impolitic law which fixed twenty shil-
lings as the minimum price for all lands —
good, bad, or indiflerent. To Mr. Wake-
field is, however, due the merit of having
urged the formation of a colony at South
Australia, by the sale of the crown lands.
Whether he was the author of the pound an
acre price, or the two or three pounds per
acre, subsequently proposed, does not clearly
appear in his recent work.f Colonel Tor-
rens avowed his advocacy of the high price.
The public, easily captivated with an ap-
parently novel idea, and having little leisure
* The property of the soil of the whole of the
territory of the United States, is vested, by the con-
sent of the several state governments, in the general
government of the confederation at Washington,
excepting such lands as belong to private indivi-
duals, or have been appropriated by the separate
states for educational and other purposes. The ex-
tent of this property is, certainly, not less than one
thousand million acres, which at 2s. per acre, shews
a value of £100,000,000 sterling. The public lands
have long been considered in the United States a
valuable source of revenue; in 1776, Silas Deane
laid before congress a plan for the sale and settle-
ment of the territory north-west of the Ohio, and
the calculations of the future value of this region,
caused the first conflict of opinion among the several
states. On the 20th May, 1785, an ordinance was
passed by congress, for ascertaining the mode of
disposing of lands in the western territory. Under
this ordinance, 121,540 acres were sold, and three
large tracts disposed of by what was termed " special
contract." The price varied from one dollar to two-
thirds of a dollar per acre. On 10th May, 1800, an
act of congress defined tlie land system of the United
States, of which the first feature was the rigid survey
of the public lands, founded upon a system of true
meridians. The largest division was a township com-
prising thirty-six square miles = 23,040 acres, this
was sub-divided into sections of one square mile each,
and further into quarter sections = 160 acres. In
each district a land-registry office was established,
with two public officers appointed by the President
of the United States — a registrar, and a receiver of
public monies, with a salary each of ^'500 a year,
and a commission of one per cent, on the moneys
paid into their office. For some years credit was
allowed on all purchases of public lands; but this
caused speculations, arrears , and relinquishment of
to inquire either how much of it is new, or
how much of it is applicable to the subject
in question, are too ready to take on trust
assertions for truths, and to believe (for a
time), that what is popularised, must be cor-
rect. Had Mr. Wakefield, in pursuance of
his meritorious efforts to establish a British
colony in South Australia, confined his views
to the retention of the price fixed in 1831
by Viscount Goderich and Lord Howick
(now Earl Grey), viz., 5s. per acre, much
suffering and great distraction of legislation
would have been avoided. I am personally
unacquainted with Mr. Wakefield, and enter-
tain no adverse feeling to his projects; but
am, on the contrarj^, disposed to appreciate
to the fidlest extent exertions which have
had for their object systematic colonization.
The field for thought and action aftbrded
by our vast colonial empire is Avide enough
to admit of every variety of opinion, and
it is that very diversity which appears, undei
Providence, best calculated to ehcit truth
and awaken the mind of the nation to the
deep and daily increasing importance of the
subject; for colonization, it must be re-
membered, is a national — emigration, an
purchases. But in the year 1820, an act of congress
altered this system, substituted cash payments for
the credit system, and reduced the minimum price
at which waste lands were to be offered for sale by
public auction, from two dollars to one dollar and
a quarter per acre. Lands not thus sold were sub-
sequently ojien to purchasers at the minimum price.
The value of the public lands sold in the twelve land
states of the United States from 1787 to 1st January,
1848, was, in dollars, as follows -.—Ohio, 513,599,602 ;
Indiana, 13,902,325; Illinois, 14,740,417; Mis-
souri, 9,643,931; Alabama, 10,764,654; Mississippi,
9,714,942; Louisiana, 2,908,356; Michigan, 9,000,720;
Arkansas, 2,832,277; Wisconsin, 4,309,669; Iowa,
2,227,828; Florida, 926,613. Total ^94,551,334;
which, at fifty pence the dollar, is equal to £19,698,184
13s. 4rf. The area of these twelve land states is given
at 392,579,200 acres, of which 304,376,348 acres are
surveyed, and 78,812,286 acres are unsurveyed ;
100,209,656 acres have been sold ; and, on 1st
January, 1849, 289,961,951 acres remained unsold.
During 1847, 2,521,305 acres sold, for ^3,296,404.
'I'he quantity of land offered for sale in the year
1849 was 9,113,400 acres. In the territories of the
United States, north and west of tlie regularly
organized states, there are 208,332.000 acres of
land to be sold at about 5s. an acre. What prospect
have our colonics for selling land at 20s. an acre in
Australia or New Zealand ?
I must reserve for the conclusion of this work, fur-
ther details on this important subject ; but sufficient
has been stated to shew the fallacy of the idea, that
Mr. Wakefield had " invented a system for the sale
of waste lands ;" whereas a judicious system has
been in operation in the United States for fifty
years.
t A View of the Art of Colonization, by E. G.
Wakefield. London: 1849.
294
ORIGIN OF THE COLONY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
individual — undertaking. ]My opposition, j
therefore, refers neither to individuals nor to
theories, but to what I conceive to be the
proved error of fixing a price on the waste
lauds of oiu' colonies so high, as to drive emi-
grants with but limited means to the United
States, where laud is obtainable on moderate
terms, and where, I believe, it is now con-
templated to give every respectable immi-
grant a limited number of acres free of aU
charge. With this preliminaiy explanation,
I proceed with au account of the formation
of the colony of South Australia.
By the persevering exertions of ^lessrs.
C. Bidler, AVakefield, Whitmore, Grote,
Angas, Torrens, Hutt, Rowland HiU, and
other gentlemen, aided by the Duke of Wel-
lington in the house of Lords, an act was
passed on the loth August, 1834, by the
Imperial Parliament (4 & 5 Wilham IV.,
c. 95), under which South Australia, within
certain defined boundaries, viz., "that part
of Australia which lies between the meridians
of 132° and 141° of E. long., and between
the Southern Ocean and 26° of S. lat., toge-
ther with the adjacent islands thereto," were
declared to be a British produce. A board
of three or more commissioners was to be
appointed by the crown under the act, to
carry the intentious of the legislature into
effect ; this board was to l)e represented in
the new colony by a resident commissioner ;
no convicts were to be sent to South Australia;
the minimum price of land was fixed at
125. per acre, to be disposed of in pubUc by
auction or otherwise, as the commissioners
might deem best ; the proceeds of all land
sales to be applied to the purpose of send-
ing out free emigi-ants; adult persons of
the two sexes, as far as possible, to be in
equal proportions of both sexes, and not
exceeding the age of thirty years ; no poor
person — husband or a wile — could be con-
veyed alone to the colony, nor without their
childi'cn ; the commissioners were empow-
ered to bori'ow money on bonds to the ex-
tent of c€200,000, to pay the expenses of
the colony, and to make it a charge on
the revenue, produce of rates, duties, and
taxes, as a colonial debt ; whenever the
population amounted to 50,000, a constitu-
tion was to be granted, and until this period
had arrived, his Majesty might empower
persons resident in the colony to make
laws, levy rates, duties, and taxes, subject
to tlie approbation of the king in council;
the act was not to be in force until the sum
of £35,000 had been raised by the sale of
land. The commissioners were further re-
quired to raise £20,000 by the issue of
bonds, as South Austrahan revenue securi-
ties, and this sum was to be invested in the
public funds, as a guarantee that the colony
would at no time be a charge on the British
exchequer. If within ten years from the
date of this act of Parliament, there were
less than 20,000 natural born subjects of
his Majesty in the province, all the public
lands then unsold would be liable to be
disposed of by his jNIajesty in such manner
as shall seem meet.
In jNIay, 1835, the commissioners were
appointed, Colonel Torrens chairman. They
fixed the price at 20^. an acre, but it was
found too high a price; for after the com-
mencement of the sales, and notwithstand-
ing incessant eflbrts for two months, con-
siderably more than half the quantity of
land required to be disposed of, in order
to commence operations, remained unsold.
The commissioners therefore announced, on
1st October, 1835, that "the price of land
included in the preliminary sales should be
reduced to 125. per acre." The first pur-
chasers were, accordingly, entitled to re-
ceive for £81, one acre of town land, and
134 acres of country land. This was little
more than 125. per acre, and a fair price,
considering that an acre of town land was
given. It was, nevertheless, stiU found dif-
ficult to fulfil the conditions of the act of
parliament.
In this dUemma, an association, termed
the South Australian Company, was formed,
which owed its origin to JMr. G. F. Angas,
who, with his own capital, and that of a few
fiiends, who had confidence in his prudence
and integiity, raised, at their own risk, the
sum necessary to purchase a considerable
quantity of land. When success, in going
forward, thus became certain, these gentle-
men handed over their interest in the pro-
ject to a company, under the above desig-
nation, merely ^ecei^ing five per cent, per
annum for the use of the cash advanced.
IsIy. Angas, a gentleman of considerable ex-
perience, and of a fine energetic spirit, be-
came chairman of the company, which dates
its establishment from the 22nd of January,
1836, when £200,000 was subscribed, in
4,000 shares of £50 each, on which £o per
share were immediately paid. 13,770 acres
(including 102 acres of the site of the first
town) were purchased from the South Aus-
tralian commissioners, on favourable terms,
such as — the selection of their own la-
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COMPANY— 1836.
295
bourers ; the reduced price of 12;?. per acre, I
in lieu of 20s. ; the right of purchasing one :
acre in the metropoHs of the colony for
every 134 acres of country land, this privi- 1
lege being limited to 437 sections : the
right, to purchasers of 4,000 acres and up-
wards, of selecting in any district they
pleased ; the privilege of leasing, for 10s.
per annum, 640 acres of pasturage for every
forty acres purchased, while non-proprietors
had to pay 40s. for the same quantity.
The commissioners continued until the
end of February, 1836, to sell land at 12s.
an acre, to all who were able to satisfy them
that the purchasers would take out adequate
capital, to be employed in the improvement
of the colony. The holders of the first
437 land orders were to have priority of
choice, of both land and pasturage, over all
others. Any one paying in advance for
4,000 acres had the right of requiring a
survey to be made of any compact district
not exceeding 40,000 acres, and, within a
reasonable time after such survey, to select
his 4,000 acres from any part of such dis-
trict, before any other applicant. The pri-
vilege of selecting servants and labourers,
for a free passage from England to the
colony, was allowed to all purchasers in
England, at the rate of one person for every
i616 expended in land.
By the 24th section of the act, the South
Australian commissioners were required to
invest ^820,000 in government securities, as
a guarantee against the colony becoming a
charge on England ; and, as they were au-
thorized to raise a loan of £200,000, at
a rate not exceeding ten per cent. (18th
section), they issued tenders for a loan to
the amount of £80,000, to be received by
instalments. Tenders, however, were re-
ceived to the extent of only £13,000, at ten
per cent, interest, and on the terms that
the loans were not to be paid off, nor the in-
terest reduced, for several years. The com-
missioners then proposed to raise £100,000,
at six per cent., by bonds, to be issued at
£80, for £100, and not to be paid off in
less than twenty years. They could have
raised the money on these terms, but the
solicitor-general was of opinion that the
act of Parliament did not authorize such a
proceeding. After considerable delay and
much private exertion, Mr. Wright, then
an eminent banker in Henrietta-street,
Covent-garden, and who was at tliat period
one of the South Aurstralian commissioners,
agreed, on the 12th of November, 1835, to
advance £30,000 to the South Australian
commissioners, on the following terms : —
£20,000 to be paid down on the 18th inst.,
and the remaining £10,000 on the loth of
December following. The loan not to be
paid off for ten years from the date of ad-
vance, and to bear interest at ten per cent,
per annum, payable half-yearly, in London ;
a commission of two per cent, to be paid
to Mr. Wright on £25,000. These terms
were accepted ; £20,000 were lodged in the
Three per Cent. Consols, in the names of
three trustees nominated by his Majesty's
government, and the secretary of state ap-
proved of the transaction.
By these proceedings, but chiefly, as be-
fore observed, by the large purchases of the
before-mentioned company, the South Aus-
tralian act was brought into operation ; and
the crown appointed as governor of the
province, on the recommendation of the
commissioners. Captain Hindmarsh, a brave
and experienced sailor, but totally unfit for
a position foreign to all his past pursuits.
Mr. J. H. Fisher was nominated resident
commissioner, and Lieutenant-Colonel Light
surveyor-general.
On the 1st of March, 1836, the commis-
sioners raised the price of land to 20s. per
acre, and announced that, at any time during
the first year from the period of the land-
ing of the governor, the price might be
raised to 40s. per acre, by the colonial resi-
dent commissioner. All sales were to take
place in the colony, but investments con-
ferring the right to select labourers might
still be made in this country ; subsequently,
however, sales were also made in England.
On the 20th March, 1836, the first vessel
despatched by the South Australian com-
missioners, named the Cygnet, of 239 tons,
sailed from London: she was followed by
the Rapidhrig, of 162 tons, both fast-sailing
craft, under the orders of Colonel Light, the
surveyor-general, accompanied by his sur-
veying staff, who were ordered to prepare
for the reception of the governor, and the
chief body of settlers who were to follow in
H.M.S. Buffalo, and two other vessels. The
Cygnet and the Rapid were each fully
equipped to act independent— supplied with
provisions for one year, with proper sur-
veying instruments, arms, ammunition, tents,
clothing, utensils, tools, medicines, and neces-
saries of all kinds likely to be required ; also
with a boat fitted for surveying the various
inlets, and a portable boat on a light car-
riage, for use in land explorations. The
296 DESPATCH OF FIRST A^ESSELS FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN 1836.
expedition was composed^ besides the sur-
veying staff, under Colonel Light, of Captain
LipsoUj R.N., as harbour-master, two sur-
veyors, and thirty mechanics and labourers,
including three carpenters, two smiths, four
woodmen, one shoemaker, and two or three
gardeners, besides the crews of the vessels.
Colonel Light was in the Rapid, with Messrs.
Field, Pullen, and Hill, as first, second, and
third officers; Messrs. Jacob and Symonds,
as assistant-surveyors ; and Mr. John Wood-
ford, as surgeon. The Cygnet contained
Mr. Kingston, the deputy surveyor-general.
Captain Lipson, Messrs. Finnis, O'Brien,
Neale, Hardy, and Cannan, as assistant-
surveyors; Dr. AVright, as surgeon; Mr.
Gilbert, as storekeeper ; and a few passen-
gers. As nothing was really known of the
mainland, the vessels were ordered to pi^o-
ceed first to Nepean bay, in Kangaroo Island,
which was to be the place of rendezvous,
where the gardeners were to be landed — a
plot of ground, stocked with vegetables ;
the provisions and stores not required for
the purposes of the survey were to be disem-
barked, together with the wives and families
of the ofiicers and men, if arrangements
could be made for their temporary accom-
modation and safety. The surveyor- general
was then to proceed to examine the coast
in the central parts of the intended colony,
excepting the parts surveyed by Flinders; his
attention was particularly directed to Nepean
bay and Port Lincoln, but more especially
to the line of coast from the east of En-
counter bay to the north of Gulf St. Vincent,
and the inlet in 34^° 40' S. lat. was pointed
out as demanding careful examination.
I Wherever a good harbour was found, the
land around for a considerable distance was
j to be explored, and if suited for the site of
even a secondary town, to be surveyed. The
', responsibility of selecting a position whereon
to found the future capital of the province
devolved on Colonel Light, who although
instructed to confer with the governor on
the subject, (should he arrive before the
selection was made,) and to pay due regard
to his opinions and suggestions, was fully
authorised to act according to his own convic-
tions. The South Australian commissioners
in London possessing no knowledge of even
the coast-line, could only lay down general
rules for the guidance of their surveyor ;
such as a commodious harbour, safe and
accessible at all seasons of the year, a con-
siderable tract of fertile land immediately
adjoining, an abundant supply of fresh
water, facilities for internal transit, and for
communication with other ports, distance
from the limits of the province, " as a
means of avoiding interference from with-
out in the principle of colonization," and the
neighbourhood of extensive sheep walks ; and
as of secondary value, building materials,
such as timber, stone, brick, and lime ; facili-
ties for drainage and coal. When the most
eligible spot was selected, the streets were
to be laid out of ample width, arranged with
reference to convenience, salubrity, and
beauty, and with the necessary resources for
squares, pubhc walks, and quays. The dis-
trict around the intended capital was to be
arranged, mapped, and divided into sections
of 134 acres each, of a form convenient for
occupation and fencing, and a road reserved
adjoining each section. All land on the
coast within not less than 100 feet of high
water-mark, and at least sixty feet along
each side of a na\igable river, and around
every lake or other sheet of water, to be
reserved as a public road. Collision with
the natives was to be avoided, the wild ani-
mals to be considered as their property, and
sporting by the Eru'opeans to be discouraged
as much as possible, and when districts were
found inhabited, to be prevented altogether.
The Rapid reached Nepean bay. Kangaroo
Island, on the 19th August, 1836, and the
Cygnet on the 11th September following;
they found three vessels belonging to the
South Australian Company which had pre-
viously arrived, viz. — on 27th July, 1836,
the Duke of York, which carried out emi-
grants and the colonial manager of the
company (Mr. Samuel Stephens), who was
subsequently thrown from his horse when
riding on INIount Lofty range, and died on
the spot ; on the 30th July, the Lady Mary
Pelham, and on the 16th August, the John
Pirie, under the command of Captain Mar-
tin. The manager of the South Australian
Company had landed, built a mud hut, sur-
rounded it with a small battery, and hoisted
the British ensign. The Africaine, Captain
Duff (an able and energetic commander),
arrived early in November, with emigrants,
having on board the colonial secretary and
the emigration agent. The Tam O' Shunter,
John Renwick, and Coromandel, each with
emigrants, soon followed; the latter vessel
carrying out a banking institution, and
the advocate-general and colonial surgeon.
The women and children, store-keeper,
gardeners, and stores, were landed from
the Rapid and Cygnet, at Nepean bay.
LANDING OF THE FIRST GOVERNOR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 297
and Colonel Light proceeded to examine
Kangaroo Island ; thence explored from
end to end the western shore of Gulf
St. Vincent; then visited Port Lincoln, in
Spencer's Gulf, where the governor, Cap-
tain Hindmarsh, was expected, in the Buf-
falo. The surveyor-general did not deem
Port Lincoln eligible for the site of the
chief town; but one spring of water was
found, and that below high-water mark ; no
good or clear land was seen, and the en-
trance to the fine harbour considered to be
surrounded by shoals, rocks, tide-ripples,
and other difficulties, which rendered the
approach hazardous.
The explorers then proceeded to examine
the east coast of Gulf St. Vincent, where
they discovered a creek about fifty miles from
the open sea, which proved to be the em-
bouchure of a fresh-water river, and ap-
peared to Colonel Light " as beautiful and
safe a harbour as the world could produce.'^
It was found to be sheltered from every
wind, abounded in smaller creeks — one
branch extending seven miles, and nearly one
mile wide, and with a depth of three to five
fathoms, suitable for vessels of three to four
hundred tons. The country, where ex-
amined, resembled English park scenery,
and consisted of widely extended open plains,
moderately wooded, with a rich soil clothed
with luxuriant grass, and watered by nu-
merous streams. It sloped backwards from
the coast for several miles, to a line of
sandy hills, intersected by picturesque val-
leys terminating in an elevated range, to
which the name of Mount Lofty was given ;
behind this range lay Lake Alexandrina
(now Victoria) , and the country of the Mur-
ray river. Colonel Light deemed this spot
the most eligible for the site of the future
capital of the province of South Australia,
* Considerable opposition was made for some time
by several members of the colonial government, to
the site chosen by Colonel Light, some contending
for Port Lincoln, others for the neighbourhood of
Encounter bay. Sir John Jeffcott, the judge, was
in favour of the latter, and while endeavouring to
prove the justice of his opposition, he lost his life,
together with Captain Blenkinsopp, by the upsetting
of a boat.
t The foundation of a new settlement in the
wilderness is always an interesting ceremony, and
among the ancients it was preceded by religious
solemnities. On the present occasion, the course of
proceeding was as follows: — as soon as H.M.S. Buf-
falo, with Captain Kindmarsh on board, came to an
anchor, preparations were made for landing, and on
the same day the gallant officer landed, escorted by
a party of marines, and accompanied by the various
official authorities, together with the ladies of their
DIV. IT.
and on the banks of the Torrens river, about
seven miles inland from the anchorage, the
plan of Adelaide was marked out.*
Captain Hindmarsh anchored in Holdfast
bay on the 28th of December, 1836, and was
immediately proclaimed governor.f Colonel
Light, under the authority of the commis-
sioners,had, as previously stated, fixed the site
of the future city of Adelaide licfore Captain
Hindmarsh arrived, who, although he had
accepted the appointment on condition of
" non-interference with the officers appointed
to execute the surveys and to dispose ot
the public lands," soon acted as if he was
on the quarter-deck, where no one dare
question his judgment. Disputes arose be-
tween the governor appointed by the crown,
the resident commissioner, Mr. Fisher, Colo-
nel Light, and, in fact, between most of the
officials.
In March, 1837, the town lots were se-
lected ; but the country lands were not
allotted until May, 1838, and then only par-
tially. The settlers, on arriving, found living
very dear ; the lands, for which they had
paid in England, were not granted immedi-
ately ; and the controversies of the authorities
caused great discontent. The commissioners
in England, on the 22nd of December, 1837,
addressed a despatch to Lord Glenelg, his
Majesty ^s secretary of state, complaining ot
the governor, who, on the 21st of Febniary,
1838, was recalled.
The conduct of the official authorities
under governor Hindmarsh appears not to
have been very creditable, and made his ad-
ministration of the aff'airs of the province a
matter of great difficulty. The resident
commissioner (Mr. J. II. Fisher), appointed
by the Australian commissioners in London,
refused to obey the authority of the gover-
nor ; and when Captain Hmdmarsh had dis-
several families. They were received in the tent of
the colonial secretary, by the gentlemen who had
previously arrived with Colonel Light, who had
fixed their tem])orary habitations on the plains after-
wards named Glenelg. The commission of the king,
appointing Captain Hindmarsh governor, was read
to the assembled settlers, numbering about 300 ;
the appointments of the memf)ers of council and
of the executive government, were announced;
the customary oat'lis of office were administered to
the governor by the colonial secretary, the British
flag was hoisted under a royal salute, the marines
fired a. feu-dcjoie, the Buffalo saluted his excellency
the governor with fifteen guns, a dinner, or rather
cold collation, was laid out in the open air, the health
of his Majesty was drunk with enthusiasm, the national
anthem was played and sung, healths were given and
speeches made.
298
appoint:ment of a second governor.
missed an emigration agent, named Brown,
for neglect of duty and inhumanity towards
the emigrants, (one of whom, named Trol-
lope, died in the pubhc hospital at Adelaide,
in a state of destitution,) Mr. Fisher pub-
licly placarded his reinstatement of Brown.
The colonial secretary, Mr. Robert Gouger,
and the colonial treasiu'er, Mr. Osmond
GOles, fought in the streets of Adelaide
publicly, and were taken into custody by the
Serjeant of marines, who acted as chief con-
stable. The offenders were conveyed to
government house, detained ten minutes,
and then liberated, on their parole to keep
the peace. The colonial secretary was aided
and abetted by Mr. Mann, the advocate-
general of the colony. The governor sus-
pended Mr. Gouger from his duties as colo-
nial secretary, who thereupon threatened to
bring an action against the governor for
"false imprisonment — damages, j810,000."
This is a sample of the disagreeable pro-
ceedings which took place in the infant
state of the settlement, of which details are
given in the South Australian Gazette, No. 6,
for September, 1837, and in other numbers.
The next recommendation of the commis-
sioners of a governor was even more unfor-
tunate than the preceding. One of the chief
claims of Captain Hindmarsh was, that he
had distinguished himself at the battle of
the Nile, and fought under Lord Nelson.
So, also, his successor, Lieutenant-Colonel
Gawler, had been "present at many of the
great sieges and battles in the Peninsula —
Badajoz, Yittoria, Nivelles, Orthes, Toulouse,
and lastly at Waterloo, where he commanded
the right flank company of the 52nd, during
the great charge on the imperial guards."
What CAadence the meritorious conduct of a
midshipman or captain of a comjjany at the
Nile and at Waterloo could aflbrd of the
adaptation of the individual for the peculiar
duties of civil governor in a young agricul-
tural settlement, it would be hard to diA'ine.
It is qmte true, that naval and military ofl&-
cers have occasionally (though seldom) made
efl&cient governors of colonies ; but they are
exceptions to a rule. Much of the long-
protracted misrule of some of our colonies
may be traced to the evil of appointing
soldiers and sailors as civil governors, irre-
spective of their aptitude and fitness for
such important and difficult duties. But
another opportunity will occur for the exami-
nation of this subject when treating of the
Colonial Policy of the British Empire.
The recommendation of the commissioners
was, however, adopted ; and Lieutenant-
colonel Gawler was appointed by the crown
governor of South Australia; the resident
commissioner, INIr. Fisher, was removed, and
the duties of his office were entrusted to
Colonel Gawler, who thus represented, in hisj
own person, the interests of the crown audi
those of the South Australian commissioners : '
he assumed the duties of his office in the
colony on 12th October, 1838. An act of
the imperial legislature, (1 & 3 Vict., c. 60),
passed 31st July, 1838, amended act 4 & 5
WilUam IV., and empowered the commis-
sioners, or their representative in the colony,
with their consent, to borrow such sums
from the land fund as might be necessaiy for
the eflficient government of South Australia.
The lords of her IMajesty^s treasury, on
9th November, 1838, issued minute instruc-
tions on the subject of expenditui'e. On
8th February, 1839, the resident commis-
sioner, (Colonel Gawler), was allowed, on
account of some additional charges, to in-
crease his expenditure, altogether, to ^616,500
per annum; and later in the year he was
informed, that the commissioners would be
ready to afford pecuniary aid, to any mode-
rate extent, in erecting wharfs at Adelaide ;
and they approved of the erection of a
government house and public offices, " the
total cost of which was not to exceed the
estimate of £25,162." It is asserted, that
a "general authority'^ was also given to
Colonel Gawler, as the resident commis-
sioner, to deviate from his instructions under
circumstances of indubitable necessity. The
sales of land, up to this period, Avere not of
such extent as to justify any extravagant
hopes, or expenditure of money. The Austra-
lian commissioners stated, that the whole of
the land sold from the commencement of
their proceedings on 15th July, 1835, to
7th December, 1837, consisted of 64,358
acres, for which they received £43,221.
The details were — 437 land orders, each for
135 acres, included in the preliminary sales,
= 58,995 acres, £35,397; one deposit for-
feited, £20; 200 land orders, exclusive of
the preliminary sales, each for 80 acres at
12s. per acre = 1,600 acres, £960; land
orders at 20s. per acre =3,200 acres, £3,200;
investment for the purchase of laud in the
colony, £50 ; amount received by the com-
missioner in the colony for sale of town sec-
tions by auction, not included in the 437
preliminary orders, 563 acres, £3,594; total
number of acres, 64,358; total amount of
purchases, £43,221.
COLONEL GAWLER GOVEKNOR OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 299
In 1838, the sales were stated to be —
January, acres, 320 ; February, 400 ; Marcb,
880; April, 1,200; Mav, 1,200; June,
5,920; July, 4,480; August, 4,640; Sep-
tember, 4,480 = 23,520 acres.
The state of the colony at this period may
be judged of by the following extracts from
the speech of the official gentleman who
ruled the affairs of the province from the
period of the departure of Captain Hind-
marsh, to the arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel
Gawler. The acting governor, Mr. Stephens,
after stating to the council the difficulties to
be encountered, said — " I have first to an-
nounce, with regret, that there are no funds
in the treasury; and the quarter's salary
due to the whole of the public servants on
the 30th June last, (1838), is at this day
unpaid. Second — by the departure of the
marines in H. MS. Alligator, this province,
with a population exceeding 4,000 persons,
is abandoned to the protection of eighteen
policemen, lately embodied by governor
Hindmarsh ; and there are now twenty-one
prisoners confined in the weather-boarded
hut used as a gaol, and perhaps double that
number of desperate runaway convicts in the
neighbourhood of the town. Third — there
are no funds for the support of the force now
constituting our only protection. Fourth —
the embarrassed state of the survey depart-
ment, and the want of land."
On the arrival of Colonel Gawler, on 12th
October, 1838, at Adelaide, he found all
things in confusion ;* " the public offices with
scarcely a pretension to system ; every man
did as he would, and got on as he could;
there were scarcely any records of past pro-
ceedings, of public accounts, or of issues of
stores; the survey department reduced to
the deputy surveyor-general (Colonel Light
had resigned), one draughtsman, and one
assistant- survey or — its instruments, to a great
extent, unserviceable, and its office with
scarcely any maps of the country, and totally
without system, records, or regulations ; the
colonial finances in a state of thorough con-
fusion and defalcation ; the population shut
up in Adelaide, existing principally upon
the unhealthy and uncertain profits of land
jobbing; capital flowing out, for the neces-
saries of life, to Sydney and Van Diemen's
Island, almost as fast as it was brought in
by passengers from England; scarcely any
settlers in the country; no tillage; very
* Despatch from Colonel Gawler to Lui J Glenelg,
her Majesty's secretary of state for the colonies, 23rd
January, 1839.
little sheep or cattle pasturing, and this only
bv a few enterprising individuals risking
therr chance as squatters."
These were herculean difficulties — quite
enough to have occupied the energies of any
governor, and to warn him against extra-
vagant expenditure. IMeanwhile the most
strenuous efforts v;-ere made by the commis-
sioners to raise money by the sale of land,
and the real merits of South Austraha mag-
nified until the public were well-nigh led to
consider it the only settlement worthy of
being the residence of a free Englishman.
Large quantities of land were soon sold
in London, where speculation was rife, in
"town lots and country sections." Up to
August, 1839, there were sold 250,320 acres
of land, which produced £229,756; and
7,412 persons had arrived at Adelaide : but
many of the English purchasers who bought
these lands have not received, to the present
day, any returns for their outlay.
Instead of directing attention to the culti-
vation of the soil, and the real foundation of
the colony. Colonel Gawler launched out
into a most lavish expenditure in the erection
of public buildings quite unnecessary in an
infant settlement, and which kept large
numbers of the labouring classes in Adelaide
dependent on government Avorks when they
ought to have been clearing, ploughing, and
cropping the land on their own account.
By this means the price of labour became
inordinately high, and speculations in town
lots and buildings the principal occupations
of the people. In 1839 there were only
2,500 acres of land under cultivation.
The colonial revenue was about £20,000
per annum, the expenditure at the rate of
£150,000 per annum. In the first quarter
of 1839 it was £8,950; in the second quar-
ter, £16,000; in the last quarter of 1839,
£34,000; and in the last quarter of 1840,
£60,155. The extravagance of all paiiies
in the colony is abundantly proved in the
documents laid before parliament in 1843.
Amongst the items in these papers is the
charge made by a police constable at Port
Lincoln of " ten shilHngs for two pounds of
wax candles for a prisoner for six nights ;"
this was certified by the "resident magis-
trate," but the auditor subsequently re-
marked— " it is not usual to allow felons any
light in their cells ; they are locked up when
darkness sets in, and certainly do not require
ivax candles."
Individuals holding official situations under
the government were allowed to supply
300
EXTRAVAGANT EXPENDITURE AT ADELAIDE.
stores for the service of the department in
which they held office, and the bills for snch
stores were rendered and paid soine months
before an examination took place by an
auditor; among other stores thus supplied
without any written authority, and for no
known object, I perceive in the list "three
tins of wine biscuits, £6 6s.," about ten
times their value; " £lOo for ten casks of
pore wine," no statement of the number of
gallons in each cask ; " £4 10s. for six tins
(of 4lbs. each) preserved meat," or 155. a
tin, the then usual shop price in Adelaide
being 5s. To a bullock driver, lis. Sd.
a day, and Mi a week for the hire of his
bullocks. Everything else was in an equally
wasteful ratio. The annual government
expenditure for the support of the different
departments was about ^O^OOO, exclusive of
Duildings, roads, printing, emigration, and
other charges ; to meet this heavy outlay the
colonial revenue amounted at the utmost to
£30,000 a year.
While the governor in his capacity as
resident cc-mmissioner was thus drawing
upon futurity, the land sales in England
were falling oflF, and the commissioners were
obliged to raise temporary loans for colonial
purposes, borrowed from the emigration
fund, which all persons purchasing land in
the colony had been assiu'cd should be solely
expended in conveying labour to South
Australia. By August, 1840, the amount
due to the emigration fund was upwards of
£90,000, which was expected to be replaced
by the end of the year. This however was
rendered absolutely impossible by the rapi-
dity with w^hich Colonel Gawler's bills came
pouring in. The South Australian commis-
sioners were, in August, 1840, compelled to
laj^a statemeiit of their difficulties before
Lord John Russell, who determined on
instituting a parliamentary inquiry into the
financial state of the colony, pending which
inquiry there was no alternative but to dis-
honour the bills drawn by Colonel Gawler
on the commissioners ; which was done ac-
cordingly, to the great damage of the colony
and of its interests.
Colonel Gawler was advised by the South
Australian commissioners that no further
funds remained in their hands, upon receipt
of which intelligence he publicly notified his
intention of drawing upon the lords of the
treasury in his capacity of governor, for the
purpose of paying the current expenses of the
government. Large debts were thus contract-
ed to store -keepers and others for supplies.
On the 26th of December, 1840, her
Majesty's government were compelled to
recal Colonel Gawler from South Australia;
the grounds assigned bv Lord John Russell
were " that he had drawn bills in excess of
the authority received from the commis-
sioners." Whether this were so, or whether
he had, as he appeared to believe, almost a
carte blanche from the commissioners, there
could be no doubt of the necessity of his im-
mediate recal from a position for which he
had proved himself in an important respect
so ill qualified. jNIr. Dutton represents
Colonel Gawler as possessed of many virtues,
and distinguished in private life by high
intellectual attainments. This is, I believe,
perfectly true ; the colonists entertained for
the gallant officer, whose moral conduct
and personal character are unquestionable,
great respect; but her jNIajesty's government
were not the less bound to remove him as
an incapable financier.
It is the opinion of an intelligent gen-
tleman— one of the first emigrants to South
Australia — that many of the difficulties of
the colony arose out of the unwarrantable
interference of governor Hindmarsh with
Colonel Light and the resident commis-
sioner. He asks — " Of what use was it to
proceed with the country sm-veys, when the
colonists were led to believe that the site of
the chief town or city selected by the sur-
veyor-general would not be confirmed by
the South Australian commissioners at
home? Who would think of selecting or
purchasing, and then locating on land, under
such circumstances ? The people were fright-
fully unnerved ; this was the reason of the
land not being tilled; the capitalist, the
farmer, the emigrant remained in the town,
squandering their money, and gambling in
town allotments. INIany of those people
who, perhaps, held preliminary land orders,
found, when the excitement subsided, and
their land could be selected with safety, that
their ready cash had vanished, and their
land orders were mortgaged."
There is a great deal of just observation
in these remarks ; but tV.ey appear to me an
effect, rather than a cause. The Imperial
Legislature clogged the act of Parliament
authorizing the formation of the colony with
injudicious restrictions; compelled a large
quantity of land to be sold, and considerable
sums of money to be raised before the act
became operative. Instead of encouraging
any body of Englishmen who would colonize
the wastes of South Australia, obstacles
CAPTAIN GREY APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 301
were interposed in their attempts to accom-
plish this most desirable object, which was
attended with many formidable difficulties.
The proceedings of the South Australian
commissioners added to the embarrassments
created by the act of Parliament ; and, in-
deed, in some respects, they were the inevi-
table result of a primary error. Twenty, or
even twelve shillings an acre for land, of
which the very locality was unknown, was a
most injurious perversion of a sound prin-
ciple of selling surveyed lands at a moderate
fixed price. The appointment of conflicting
authority in the persons of a governor and a
resident commissioner, the unfortunate selec-
tions made in Captain Hindmarsh and in
Colonel Gawler as governors, and the waste-
ful expenditure of the latter, produced a
climax which undoubtedly caused great dis-
tress, but from which arose a sounder system,
on which the existing prosperity of this fine
colony now rests.
The position of aff'airs is shown in the
debate on the South Australian bill in par-
liament, on the 15th of March, 1841, when
Lord Stanley stated that the colony had
commenced on the principle of loans, had
continued on a system of credit, its prosperity
had been fictitious, and now the bubble was
burst, and the full mischief which had been
created had been discovered. The noble
lord added, "he did not wish to enter into de-
tails, but when they saw that at the expiration
of four years from the commencement of a
colony there was an expenditure of £140,000
per annum, the revenue of the colony not
being more than £.20,000 ; that the govern-
ment-house had been built at an expense
of £24,000 on sanctioned authority ; that
£22,000 had been laid out in the formation
of a road across a swamp for the purpose of
improving a harbour originally badly chosen;
that lands bought for 12^. an acre were sold
in the hardly created town of Adelaide for
£500, £1,000, or £1,500 an acre (a price
hardly obtainable in Liverpool itself for an
acre) ; that there had been established three
banks carrying on business and issuing their
own paper; that labour had reached the price
of from Qs. to 125. per day; that a body of
police was estabhshed, paid at the rate of
£1 19s. per week each man, who complained
of the inadequacy of their wages, because
they were unable to procure their white
trousers and gloves to be washed for it —
what, he asked, was the consequence of all
this? — that there were not 200 acres of
land in the colony actually under tillage for
the support of the colony, the whole of the
colonists directed their attention to land-
jobbing and speculation, and a profligate
waste of money had taken place in a manner
utterly inconsistent with the success of the
colony.'^
Captain Grey, late of the 83rd reigiment,
was appointed to succeed Lieutenant-Colonel
Gawler. This ofiicer carried oS" high literary
honours at the Military College of Sand-
hurst; in 1837-8-9, when a lieutenant, he
voluntarily undertook, in company T\ith
Lieutenant Lushington, of the 9th regiment
of infantry, an expedition of discovery to the
west and north-west coasts of Australia
(see page 379). The talent and judgment
evinced by Lieutenant Grey in this arduous
pursuit of knowledge, the local information
which he possessed of South Australia, and
the comprehensive mind which was e\ddent
in his language and writings, made a strong
impression on Lord John Russell, then
secretary of state for the colonies, and
induced his lordship to recommend to the
Queen for the government of South Austra-
lia, a gentleman who, whether a soldier,
sailor, or civilian, was evidently adapted for
the responsible duties entrusted to his care.
On 19th March, 1841, the house of Com-
mons temporarily voted £155,000 towards
the liquidation of the bills drawn on the
South Australian commissioners by Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Gawler, which the commis-
sioners had no funds to meet. Governor
Grey arrived at Adelaide in May, 1841 ; he
found the balance in the hands of the colo-
nial treasui-er only £700, and the antici-
pated expenditure for the quarter, £32,000,
and about £3,000 remaining due from last
quarter. At the same time, £35,000 ot
claims left unsettled by Governor Ga-v\^er
were clamorously pressed upon Governor
Grey for liquidation. The sales of land had
all but ceased, the revenue was decreasing,
the colonial establishments were unneces-
sarily large, and there were little or no
funds to carry on the government. The
South Australian Bank off'ered Governor
Grey a loan of £10,000, at twelve per cent.,
c:^ his personal security; this he properly
declined — the crown property in the colony
he was authorised by her Majesty's minis-
ters to sell, but the derangement in the
money market caused by the proceedings of
Lieutenant-Colonel Gawler, rendered such a
measure impossible; no alternative remained,
but to postpone any attempt at liquidating
the bills of his predecessor, until the issue
302
KEDUCTIONS OF EXPENDITURE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
of the pending parliamentary inquiry should
be known. Retrenchment was everj^where
begun — the government works which could
not be left half-finished^ without the risk
of dilapidation, were completed so far only
as was absolutely necessary ; the labourers,
who had for eighteen months been em-
ployed at high wages, were urged to betake
themselves to agricultui-al labour in the
country, or if they did not. Governor Grey
treated them, to the number of nearly 2,000
men, women, and children, as mere pauper
emigrants, but allowed none to want the
necessaries of life ; by this means, the ener-
gies of the people were directed from un-
profitable buildings in town, to lucrative
tillage and pastoral pursuits, A sum of
j£3,000 was obtained as a loan from the
New South Wales government; the Lords
of the Treasury defrayed the cost of com-
pleting the requisite work on the public
buildings, the pauper emigrants, and the
police establishment.
In July, 1841, Governor Grey met the
Legislative Council with reduced estimates,
as follows : —
ileductious iu
1841.
1842.
Survey and Land Department
£14,850
£3,635
Emigration „
6,927
390
Storekeeper's „
23,748
340
Police, mounted and foot . .
16,109
9,112
Customs department . .
9,769
2,478
Harbour Master's „
3,944
1,612
Gaol „
2,141
1,034
Port Lincoln
1,299
572
Total ....
78,787
19,173
There were also various minor reduc
tions, and several useless ofiices abolished.
The wages given by government to the emi-
grants were reduced from Is. 6d. a day,
with rations, to Is. 2d. without rations, and
they were withdrawn from Adelaide, and
employed in making bridges and in opening
lines of communication, such as the Great
Eastern road, to the valuable Mount Barker
district.
Her Majesty's secretary of state for the
colonies and the lords of the treasury efl'ec-
tively supported the measui-es of Governor
Grey, and, in a despatch of their lordships
to Lord Stanley, of 26th April, 1842, they
stated that, ''the governor had acquitted
himself in an able and satisfactory manner,
of the important trust which "^had been
placed in him.''
^ Dm-ing the administration of Governor
Gawler, everything had a fictitious value;
a return to a sound state necessarily caused
a rapid fall in the price of land and houses,
and there were many bankruptcies. Nearly
one-half the population of the province
(8,500) had crowded into Adelaide, among
whom had been speut, during the twelve
months preceding the arrival of Governor
Grey, about ^150,000, which had been pro-
cui'ed by drawing bills on the South Aus-
tralian commissioners in England. This
lai'ge sura Avas distributed in the form of
salaries, allowances, and lucrative contracts.
The whole population of South Australia
was then less than 15,000 (]4,06J), who
thus received, man, woman, and child, each
£10. And although there was abundance
of the richest land around ready for the
plough, the immense sum of £277,000 was
sent out of the colony during the year
1840, for the purchase of the necessaries
of hfe.
The character of Governor Grey was mani-
fested by the exercise of a wise statesman-
ship, and the firmness with Avhich he resisted
the clamorous demands made by tumul-
tuous bodies of men using seditious lan-
guage, and marching in organized array to
government-house, threatening the repre-
sentative of their sovereign, whom there was
no military to protect. But these and other
unjustifiable proceedings, did not prevent
the governor contributing ^6400 in one year
to charitable purposes, out of his limited
income of £1,000; and to his honour it is
recorded, that " real poverty and distressed
merit never in vain sought relief."
In November, 1841, with a \iew to the
relief of the colony, whose mercantile com-
munity was limited. Governor Grey drew
upon the lords of the treasmy for the
amount of the bills which Colonel Gawler
had drawn, but which were then dishonoured
by their lordships. For this proceeding
Governor Grey was slightly censured by the
Secretary of State ; in justification he alleged
that Parliament had voted £155,000 to
liquidate the dishonoui'ed bills of Colonel
Gawler.
Captain Frome, of the Royal Engineers,
who had arrived in the colony with a small
detachment of that excellent scientific corps,
undertook to perform, gratuitously, the ar-
duous duties of colonial engineer. Under
the active superintendence of this able
officer, the land surveys made rapid pro-
gress, and by the end of 1841, claimed spe-
cial sui'veys of 4,000 acres each, to the
number of thiiiy-five, were completed, and
VOTES OF THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 303
306,000 acres were declared open for the
selection of new immigrants. The cost of
survejdng was reduced from an almost un-
known large sum, to 7^d. per acre.
The recommendations of the select com-
mittee of the house of Commons were not im-
mediately carried out, owing to the change
in the ministry; but on 5th July, 1842, Lord
Stanley, her Majesty^s secretary of state for
the colonies, with his accustomed ability
and clearness, laid fully before the legisla-
ture the state of South Austraha, and of
the liabilities incurred, which Mr. Button
gives as follows : —
I. Parliamentary grant, advanced ill 1841 £1
II. Bills of Lieutenant-Colonel Gawler)
remaining unpaid )
III. Bills of Governor Grey, on account of^
emigrants maintained at the public ^
expense j
IV. Amount borrowed by South Austra-^
lian Commissioners, bearing interest /
at 6 to 10 per cent, per annum . )
V. Outstanding debts of Lieutenant-Colo- "i
nel Gawler's Government ... J
Amount borrowed from Land and-i
Emigration Fund j
VI.
55,000
27,290
17,646
85,800
35,000
84,697
Total
£405,433
This was an unfortunate illustration of
what was termed the " self-supporting system
of colonization;" in about four years the
colony had incurred debts to the amount
of j£400,000, irrespective of its land sales
and local revenues. Lord Stanley proposed
to settle the debt of South Australia, thus :
— L (£155,000) To be made a free grant
by parliament ; II. and III. to be paid by
the British treasury ; IV. to remain as bonds
with the holders, at an interest of three
and-a-half per cent, guaranteed by her Ma-
jesty^s government, and for which pro\i-
sion would be made out of the consolidated
fund ; V. and VI., to be covered by deben-
tures issued in South Australia bearing in-
terest not exceeding five per cent. His
lordship also proposed to insert a sum of
.€15,000 in the estimates, to aid in carry-
ing on the local government in 1842. The
resolutions of the noble lord were agreed to
by a large majority, and an act " for the
better government of the province of South
Australia," was passed 15th July, 1842.
I cannot agree with Mr. Dutton, that
Parliament could be expected to sanction
the payment of the dishonoured drafts of
Governor Gawler, or the renewed drafts of
Governor Grey, and that no portion of them
should have been entailed as a burden on
the colony. The question Avas one which
it was utterly impossible to solve to the
satisfaction of all parties — for, whether the
penalty of Colonel Gawler^s grievous im-
providence was to be paid by the ruin of
the colony, or averted by a heavy sacrifice
at home, it would in either case be borne by
the innocent. Her Majesty's government,
in agreeing to pay upwards of £250,000
out of the taxes raised from the people of
England, towards a debt which, although
incurred by their representative, holding
under them authority whose measure, what-
ever it may have been, he doubtless greatly
exceeded — certainly e\dnced no desire to
shrink from the responsibiUty which they
had incurred in sanctioning the unwise
selection of the AustraUan commissioners.
The money, it must be remembered, had
been actually spent (though in a manner
most lavish and ill-timed) i7i and for the
colony, and the public buildings therewith
consti'ucted, would eventually benefit the
South Australians. The dishonom'ing of
the bills drawn by Governor Grey in pay-
ment of Lieutenant-Colonel Gawler's expen-
diture at Adelaide, necessarily increased the
financial difficulties of the colonial govern-
ment ; Governor Grey was obhged to bor-
row £1,800 from the commissariat chest;
during 1842, 136 writs were passed through
the sheriff's court at Adelaide, thirty-seven
fiats of insolvency were issued, and out of
1,915 houses built in Adelaide, 642 were
found, in December, 1842, totally deserted,
their inhabitants having proceeded into the
country to labour in raising the means of
subsistence from the fertile interior, where
ploughs and harrows were in great demand.
At the beginning of 1843 every able-
bodied man was at work on his own ac-
count; the harvest was so abundant, that
there were not sufficient hands to reap it,
and the soldiers and government employes
were permitted to aid the farmers in securing
the real wealth of the colony. The revenue
began to improve ; the exorbitant port dues
Avhich had been IcAaed by Governor Grey
to increase the " ways and means," were
abolished, and the post road which had
been constructed by the South Australian
Company, at an expense of £13,400, under
an agreement with Governor Gawler, that
twelve per cent, interest was to be paid on
the capital expended, by the colonial govern-
ment, or that a toll might be levied, was
comnounded for by Governor Grey giving
the company authority to select 12,000
304 ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY OF THE MINES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
acres of land out of the surveyed districts,
in full of all claims on this account. The
laud sales were, however, checked partly by
the distressed state of the colony, and partly
by the operation of an act passed by the
Imperial Legislature, 22nd June, 1842, "for
regulating the sale of waste lands in the
Australian colonies and New Zealand,^^ ,
which enacted that all lands should, in i
future, be disposed of by public auction at j
the minimum price of 20^. per acre, except
blocks of 20,000 acres, of which the price
should not exceed 20s. per acre. Under
this act, half (not all) the proceeds of the
land sales were to be applied to emigration
purposes.
In 1843 the whole of the land sales in
South Australia amounted to only 598
acres; the proceeds, to ^661 3 13s. 9^., and
but for a discovery then made, the colony
would have had to maintain a long and
difficult struggle against the enhanced price
of land. Among the eighty-acre sections sold
in 1843, there was one on the river Light
which was found to contain rich copper ore ;
a discovery which led to further researches,
and gave a stimulus to the enterprise and
industry of the colonists, which has ever
since continued, and has been the means
of greatly enriching South Australia. The
circumstances connected with this impor-
tant epoch in the history of the province
deserve detailed notice.
For several years after our occupation of
the province of South Australia, no suspi-
cion was entertained of the mineral riches
to be found there, and the crown unre-
servedly granted, in fee simple, the ground
and everything beneath it. Up to 1843,
more than 300,000 acres of land had been
surveyed and appropriated, and 300,000
more were surveyed and open to selection ;
but no one noticed the copper and lead
which were nevertheless " cropping out" on
the surface in so many places. During the
latter part of the year 1842, a son of Cap-
tain Bagot, wliile gathering wild flowers in
the plain, found and conveyed to his father
^ a fine specimen of the green carbonate of
copper. Fortunately for the colony, an
intelligent settler named Dutton, to whose
interesting work, entitled " South Australia
and its Mines," I am materially indebted
for details concerning its early history, had
been educated at the institute of M. de Fel-
lenberg, at Hofwyl, in Switzerland, where
during the annual pedestrian touis of the
pupils, he had acquired some knowledge of
mineralogy. One day, when in search of
one of his flocks of sheep which had dis-
persed dm-ing a thunder-storm, he ascended
a hill to obtain a \dew of the surrounding
country, and, if possible, find his sheep.
Wet, weary, and cold, from having been out
all day, he pulled up his horse beside a rock
which, at first sight, he supposed to be
covered with a beautiful green moss. The
habit acquired in Switzerland, of examining
any rocks or stones which presented a
curious appearance, induced Mr. Dutton to
dismount, when he found a large protrud-
ing mass of clay slate strongly tinged and
impregnated with a mineral which he sup-
posed must be copper, from the close re-
semblance of the colour to verdigris. Mr.
Dutton being on intimate terms with Cap-
tain Bagot, communicated his discovery to
him, and the value of the mineral found
by the young florist on the plain, and by
the sheep farmer on the adjacent hiU
(Kapunda), was soon ascertained.
Captain Bagot and ]Mr. Dutton kept their
own counsel ; got a section of eighty acres
surveyed, which according to the then land
regulations, was advertised for a month in
the government gazette ; they then became
the fortunate purchasers, at the fixed govern-
ment price of ^61 per acre, although there
were a number of " eighty-acre land orders"
previously granted to indiAaduals in the
colony, who might have selected this section.
What the marketable value of this tract
may now be, it would be difficult to say;
in April, 1845, Captain Bagot and Mr.
Dutton bought another lot of 100 acres,
adjoining their original purchase, which
they found contained rich lodes of copper
ore ; but on this occasion, instead of buying
the 100 acres for £100, it cost them, after
a sharp contest by public auction, £2,120.
The great value of the ores soon became
known, and the eighty- acre section con-
taining the Montacute copper mines, put
up for auction by government at £80, sold
for £1,550. The Kapunda copper ores
taken from the surface were sent to Eng-
land, and found to yield twenty-three per
cent. Some Cornish miners pursuing quietly
agricultui'al pursuits in the colony, were
soon engaged by the proprietors; and a
place which a very few years since was a
perfect wilderness, is now a thriving town-
ship, aff'ording profitable employment to a
considerable population.
The attention of all classes was now di-
rected to fiTcological and mineralogical know-
VALUE OF THE MINING LANDS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
305
iedg;e ; but the overseers, herdsmen, and
shepherds, who frequently could not find any-
thing but a piece of metallic ore to throw at a
stray beast, were the principal discoverers of
the valuable minerals which lay everywhere
exposed to the most ordinary observation.
The Montacute copper mine, distant ten
miles from Adelaide^ was discovered hy Mr.
Andrew Henderson, overseer to Mr. Fort-
niira, while in search of a lost bullock. ISIr.
Henderson, when ascending a spur of the
Mount Lofty range, remarked the green
colour of a perpendicular cliff, broke off a
piece, and conveyed it to ]Mr. Fortnum, who,
from his chemical and mineralogical know-
ledge, instantly recognised the specimen as
a rich copper ore.
Messrs. Fortnum and Henderson did not
keep their secret ; and when the govern-
ment had surveyed the eighty acres re-
quired, and the section was brought to sale
(16th February, 1844,) under Lord Stanley's
regulations, instead of £^Q, the purchasers
had to pay £1,500. In a few hours after
the sale, however, they sold thirty hundredth
parts for the cost of the whole, in £50 shares,
to a mining company.
Mr. G. F. Angas has also had the good
fortune (which he richly deserved, for his
unceasing efforts to benefit South Australia,)
to discover valuable mineral treasures in
his extensive property, and has leased the
mines on advantageous terms to mining
associations.
Furnaces for smelting the ores of copper
and lead, and refineries for separating silver
from the argentiferous ores, have been erected
near the different mines; and works which
will cost £70,000 are now in course of
construction near the Burra-Burra mines.
Copper and lead ores will be smelted on the
spot, rolled, and shipped direct to the avail-
able markets of India and China.
In consequence of the mineral riches
contained in the province, the sale of land,
which in 1843 was at a very low ebb, has
since that date considerably increased.
Two special surveys, of 20,000 acres each,
have been demanded, and the purchasers
paid £40,000 for the same. The Kapunda
mining land yielded £3,008 ; the Montacute,
£1,550. The Burra-Burra territory cost
the original proprietors £11,000. The total
amount paid for mineral lands, from 1843
to 1847, was about £70,000. A sale of
the crown lands surrounding the Kapunda
mine, realized for the first section of eighty
acres £7,100, or about £90 an acre , another
DIV. II,
section brous^ht £80 ; others, £.20 to £30 ;
the total (2,804 acres) yielded £30,081.
But these proceedings were not mere wild
speculations. Messrs, Bagot and Button,
who bought the first eighty-acre mineral
section (copper) at Kapunda, for £80, sub-
sequently refused, in London, £27,000 for
their land ; and they have from the com-
mencement worked entirely on the ores,
without risk, and without the advance of a
shilling being required from the proprietors.
The first lead ore sent (in 1841) from Ade-
laide to England sold for twelve guineas a
ton. The different ores raised in South
Australia probably exceed in value one
million sterling; and the amount is an-
nually increasing. Agricultural as well as
pastoral pursuits have not been neglected;
but have flourished, by means of the wealth
derived from the mines.
The subsequent chapters will show the
progress of the colony, when the revenue
began to exceed the expenditure, and the
exports the imports ; the extension of culti-
vation ; and the augmentation of wealth.
Governor Grey remained long enough at
Adelaide to witness a pleasing change in
the feelings and language of the inhabitants
towards him ; and when, in 1845, her Ma-
jesty's government resolved to confide the
administration of affairs in Netv Zealand to
his proved judgment, his excellency quitted
the scene of his difficulties, and of his tri-
umphs, with the esteem and heartfelt grati-
tude of those he had so efficiently governed.
The task of his successors has been com-
paratively an easy one. Governor Grey was
succeeded, in 1845, by Major Holt Robe,
of her Majesty's 87th regiment, late military
secretary at Gibraltar ; and Major Robe, in
1848, by Sir H. E. F. Young, who filled
with credit to himself for several years the
post of secretary to the government of Bri-
tish Guyana, was next appointed lieutenant-
governor of Eastern Africa, from whence
he was removed to the responsible position
of Ueutenant-governor of South Australia,
which station he now occupies.
The facts contained in the previous pages
go far to show that South Australia cannot
fairly be quoted as an argument either for
or against the system adopted in its forma-
tion ; since the leading causes both of its
past disastrous and present successful state,
viz., the improvidence of Colonel Gawler,
and the discovery of its readily available
mineral stores, were equally unforeseen by
the founders of the colony. [See Supp*.
2 p
CHAPTER II.
POSITION, AREA, PHYSICAL FEATURES— COAST LINE— HARBOURS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS,
AND LAKES— GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY, AND SOIL— CLIMATE AND SALUBRITY.
The province of South Australia is situated
between 132° and 141° E. long., and ex-
tends from the sea coast on the south,
inland, to the twenty-sixth parallel of lati-
tude. The area comprised within these
limits is estimated at 300,000 square miles,
or 192,000,000 acres, being more than dou-
ble the dimensions of the British isles. Of
this extensive territory, the greater part is, if
not totally unexplored, at least very imper-
fectly known. According to a recent local
authority, the only portions- which have as
yet been examined are, the peninsula formed
by St. Yincent^s gulf, on the west, and Lake
Victoria or Alexandrina and the Murray,
on the east ; the western Ijoundary extend-
ing fi'om Cape Jervis to the great bend of
the Murray, in 34° S. lat. ; Yorke peninsula,
between the Gulfs of Spencer and St. Vin-
cent, and the peninsula of Eyria, the boun-
daries of Avhich extend from Sleaford bay,
in a northern and eastern direction as far as
the head of Spencer's gulf, and in a northern
and western dii'ection as far as Streaky bay;
the latter of these tracts have been, how-
ever, but very imperfectly examined.
South Australia, though it has not the
grandeur imparted to the adjacent colony of
Port Phillip, by the lofty summits of the Aus-
tralian Alps, possesses, nevertheless, much
picturesque scenery; and its only serious
defect, the want of navigable rivers, is in
great measure remedied by the accessible
nature of the country.
Coast Line. — The sea-board of this pro-
Aince, roughly estimated at about 1,500
miles, trends in a general south-east direc-
tion from the 132nd meridian, which falls
on the coast a little to the westward of Cape
Adieu, to the 141 sfc meridian, a short dis-
tance eastward of Cape Northumberland,
and is, throughout its whole length, indented
with numerous deep and extensive bays,
(besides the two great Gulfs of Spencer and
St. Vincent), which though as yet very im-
perfectly known, are supposed to be, with
few exceptions, the resort of the whale
during the rainy season. Like most of the
sea-coasts of this hemisphere, that of South
A-Ustralia is bordered by many small islands,
few of which are of any considerable size,
Kangaroo island being the chief exception,
and rocks, reefs, and shoals, frequently
render the entrances to the inlets intricate
or dangerous, to a great extent neutralizing
the advantages presented by the indenta-
tions of the coast, whose leading features we
now proceed to notice.
Tracing the sea-line in the direction in
which we have before stated that it trends,
the first haven met with is Fowler's Bay,
which, though it afibrds but indifferent
shelter, is valuable fi'om being the only
harbour for several hundred miles ; the dan-
gerous nature of the shores to the east
of the pro^dnce being rendered yet more
hazardous, by the strong current which sets
into the Great Australian Bight. The an-
chorage is good, and although it is open to
three points of the compass, it is evident,
from plants growing close to the water- side,
that a swell capable of injuring a vessel at
anchor is seldom, if ever, thrown into it.
Between Fowler's bay and Point Bell, the
coast is moderately elevated, but barren and
sandy ; it is broken into three sandy bights,
separated from each other by rocky projec-
tions.
Niiyfs Archipelago is situated in the ex-
tensive curve of the main coast between
Points Bell and Westall, which comprehends
several deep bays. The principal islands of
this Archipelago are those of St. Peter and
St. Francis, of the former, the most consider-
able, is low and sandy, about six miles in
length and three or four broad. On it is a
well dug by a sealer, who lived there many
months. The shore abreast of it is of the
same character, and connected with it by a
shoal and some dry rocks, whence the shore
trends round to the north and west, towards
Point Peter, and forms —
Denial Bay, a good harboui', said to afford
great facilities for whale fishing. Round
the north side of Point Peter is a small
boat harbour, Avith four fathoms at its
entrance ; but this depth rapidly decreases,
and the creek terminates in an extensive
morass.
The Isles of St. Francis are eleven in
DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
307
number, they compose the south-western-
most group of Nuyt's Archipelago ; but one
only of them, situated in the middle of the
cluster, is of any considerable size ; it bears
the name of the whole. Isle St. Francis is
about three miles in length, and about half-
a-mile across, near the middle, which is a
sandy isthmus, connecting the moderately
high and cliffy extremes, whose breadth is
from one-and-a-half to two miles. The dark
brown birds called sooty petrels, abound
here, and a large bird called the barnacle
goose, occasionally frequents the island.
Smoky Bay is six or seven leagues across,
but very shoal and dangerous of entrance,
being much exposed to the south and west.
Point Brown, its eastern extremity, is a low
sandy projection, in 32° 37' S. lat., 138° 48'
E. long., between which and Cape Bauer a
cliffy headland, extending four or five miles
into the sea, is the low sandy shore of
Streaky Bay, a beautiful and extensive har-
bour, which obtained its name from its inner
portion being filled with light-coloured,
streaky water, bearing on its surface much
refuse from the shore, and sea-weed. Whales
are very numerous in this bay, and oysters
are procured here in immense numbers, and
of excellent flavour. At the distance of four
or five miles from Cape Bauer lies Olive's
Isle, the south-east of Nuyt's Archipelago ;
it is low, about three miles in circumference,
and surrounded by breakers.
Point Westall is somewhat higher than
Cape Bauer; the space between them is
occupied by a bight, skirted by a sandy
beach, and open to the westward, which
received from the French, who, it will be
remembered, explored about 100 miles of
this coast, the name of Corvisart Bay.
Cape Radstock, a bold projection, in 32° 12'
S. lat., 134° 15' E. long., forms the southern
extremity of a range of limestone cliffs, that
line the shore for about six miles to the
north-west ; from thence to Point Weyland
a large body of water runs parallel to the
coast, having an entrance at both points.
The Investigator's Isles lie off this portion
of the sea line. Flinders' Island, the largest
and most central, is in shape nearly a square,
each side of which is from three to five miles
in length, with rocks projecting from the
intermediate points. Bights are formed on
the four sides; but the northernmost alone
appeared to afford good anchorage. The
island, according to Captain Lee, is covered
with wood, possesses plenty of fresh water,
and is admirably adapted for a whaling sta-
tion. Flinders, who discovered it, gives a
different and almost contradictory account
of its capabilities; for he states that no
fresh water could be found, nor could fire-
wood, even of very small size, be procured
without difficulty ; yet it was frequented by
hair seals, sooty petrels, and small kanga-
roos ; and at a former season, probably dur-
ing the spring, had been visited by geese,
Waldegrave Isle, the most easterly of In-
vestigator's group, lies close to the main
land. Anxious Bay is situated between it
and Cape Radstock.
Pi-oceeding in a south-easterly direction,
the next feature worth noticing is Coffin Bay,
a whaling station of some importance. It is
rather an inlet than a bay, and stretches
so far into the land as to approach within
sixteen miles of Boston Bay, which lies
nearly opposite to it, on the eastern side
of Flinders Peninsula. It is seven or eight
miles across, and is well sheltered from all
w4nds, save from north to east; but, unfor-
tunately, a great portion of it is rendered
useless by the shallowness of the water.
The inner portion of the bay, however, is
said to contain two or three secure harbours,
with excellent anchorage. About two miles
distant from the sandy east shore of Coffin
Bay is Mount Greenly, a well-wooded hill,
which rises between 600 and 800 feet above
the level of the sea, and is remarkable as
being the first elevation of any importance
marking the difficult and dangerous coast
we have just been tracing. Mr. Cannan,
who examined the coast, in 1840, as far as
Fowler's Bay, says that there is no " rise
that can be called a hill from Mount Barren
to Mount Greenly," and speaks of the eter-
nal limestone cliffs, and the scarcity of water
and grass, along these shores.
To return. Fowler's Bay is sheltered on
the south and west by a barren and sandy
tongue of land, whose northern extremity
is named Point Sir Isaac (in honour of Sir
Isaac Coffin), and the western. Point Whid-
bey. To the east of the latter lies Avoid Bay,
a large ill-sheltered inlet.
Point Avoid, the south-east head of Avoid
bay, is low, and has two small rocky islets
connected with it by a reef lying off from it
to the extent of nearly three miles. These
are the easternmost of IFhidbei/s Isles, which
extend in a line neai^y five leagues from
Point Avoid, and are small but considerably
elevated ; the westernmost of the group is a
cluster of small rocky lumps called the Foui
Hummocks.
308
PORT LINCOLN AND ADJACENT COAST.
Perforated Isle, the largest and nearly the
central of Whidbey's group, is about a mile
in length, and near its summit has an exca-
vation through which the light is admitted
on both sides. Granby's Isles, three small
high islands, with a peak on the easternmost
or largest, said to be visible ten leagues off
in clear weather, lie fourteen or fifteen miles
off Point Whidbey.
Cape JViles is a steep cliffy head in 34° 57'
S. lat., 135^ 38' 30" E. long., with two high
rocks and a lower one near it. Liguanea
Island lies about three miles from the shore,
is of moderate elevation, and about a mile
and-a-half in length.
Sleuford Bay is seven or eight miles across,
and about four in depth, but being quite
unsheltered from the southerly swell that
rolls in so frequently upon this part of the
coast, is of comparatively little value. It
is occasionally used as a whaling station.
Sleaford Mere is a shallow lagoon about four
miles long and one broad, situated two or
three hundred yards from the sea beach of
Sleaford Bay.
Cape Catastrophe, so called from a boat's
crew belonging to H.M.S. Investigator,\vhose
names were afterwards given by Flinders to
the islands in Thorny Passage, having been
lost in the strong tide ripplings of this shore,
marks the western side of the entrance to
Spencer's Gulf. It has a round smooth sum-
mit, clothed with vegetation ; three miles to
the south of it lies Williams Isle.
We have now arrived at the deep gulf,
which stretches into the land for nearly 300
miles, extending to 32° 30' S. lat. It be-
comes quite narrow and shallow at the top,
and appears at one time to have communi-
cated with Lake Torrens. The extreme salt-
ness of its waters throughout renders it only
too probable that no fresh water stream of any
importance disembogues within its limits.
The entrance of Spencer's Gulf is about
fifty-five miles across, several islands are situ-
ated in it, of which, by far the most im-
portant. Thistle Island* is about twelve miles
in length, and from half-a-mile to two miles
broad, affording good pasture for sheep.
• No fresh water could be found on this island by
Captain Flinders, who explored it in 1802 ; he states
that he found seals upon the beach, and further on
numberless traces of the kangaroo. Signs of extin-
guished fire exist jd everywhere ; but they bespoke a
I conflagration of the woods of remote date, rather than
the iiabilual presence of men, and might have arisen
j from lightning, or from the friction of two trees in a
felrong wind. On their way up the hills a speckled
yellow snake was met ^ith asleep, measuring seven
Gambler Isles lie to the south-east of
Thistle Island; the chief of them. Wedge
Island, is so called fi'om its wedge-like form.
Neptune Isles are low, rocky, and sur-
rounded by breakers.
Thorny Passage, formed between Thistle
Island and the main, is from four to six
miles wide. It obtained its name from the
numerous small islands which contract its
southern entrance so materially as to leave
only about a mile-and-a-half of its breadth
safe for ships, the depth there being twenty
and twenty-two fathoms.
From Cape Catastrophe the shore of the
gulf trends to the north, till on rounding
Cape Donnington, in 34° 44' S. lat., 135° 57'
E. long., the north harbour of Port Lincoln
opens to view, with its three branches —
Spalding Cove, Port Lincoln proper, and
Boston Bay. This magnificent haven, from
its great extent, and the number of its
secure and sheltered anchorages, is capable
of containing the largest fleets, and as a
depot can scarcely be surpassed by any port
in the world. It is said strongly to resemble
that of Rio Janeiro. The first object that
strikes the eye is Stanford hill, on the
summit of which is a white obelisk, erected
to the memory of Flinders by Lady Franklin,
marking the spot whence that celebrated
navigator first beheld Spencer's gulf. At the
entrance of Boston bay is Boston island,
a hilly and romantic-looking spot, scattered
here and there with casuarina trees, and
clumps of various shrubs, and its shores
indented by a succession of deep bays. It
is uninhabited : only the solitary grave of an
emigrant occupies a glen on that side of the
island which looks towards the settlement
from across the bay.f The anchorage in
Boston bay is considered even safer and
more accessible than that of Port Lincoln
proper. The two channels of entrance into
the bay, round the island, are practicable
for vessels of the largest size, with any wind,
or in any weather; for the harbour is so
sheltered by the headlands forming the
entrance, that the swell of the sea is broken
before reaching it. The high ground which
feet nine inches, and on his return a white eagle,
with fierce aspect, and outstretched wings, bounded
towards them, but stopping short at twenty yards off,
flew up into a tree. Another eagle discovered him-
self by making a motion to pounce upon them, evi-
dently mistaking them for kangaroos. These birds
sit watching in the trees, and should a kangaroo
come out to feed in the day time, it is seized and torn
to pieces. — Flinders' I'erra Australis,
t Savage Life, by G. F. Angas.
SPENCER^S GULF— ITS ISLANDS AND HARBOURS.
309
almost surrounds Boston bay, protects it
in like manner from the winds, more espe-
cially those from the west and south-west,
in which directions some of the hills attain
the height of several hundred feet. The
depth of water in the central parts of the
bay is about twelve fathoms, varying from
five to seven, at the distance of less than a
quarter of a mile from the shore all round ;
whilst at Boston point, where the town has
been laid out, there is a depth of two, three,
and foui" fathoms, at about a boat's length
from the land. The bottom consists, in
some places, of mud, in others, of shells and
sand. The tide sometimes rises seven feet,
but usually not more than five; this de-
pends, however, on the outward state of the
gulf, and the quarter from whence the wind
is blowing. In the summer season, the
land and sea breezes blow very regularly for
three weeks or a month at a time. They
are then succeeded by strong winds from
the south-west, that last for three or four
days, and are sometimes very violent. In
winter, these inteiTuptions to the usual calm
state of the weather are more frequent, but
the harbour is little influenced by them.
(See Captain Sturt's Account of South Aus-
tralia in 18^7.) To the east and north-east
of Port Lincoln are scattered numerous
islands, known as Sir Joseph Banks' group,
whose names and positions are sufficiently
indicated on the map.
Our information respecting the shores of
Spencer's gulf is too fragmentary to afford
materials for any connected account. From
Port Lincoln to Franklin harbour a succes-
sion of rocky bays occur, many of them with
fine sandy beaches, and shelter for small
craft. Short reefs run out from all their
points; but outside of these, and generally
between them, the water is deep, and appa-
rently clear of dangers.
Franklin Harbour affords good and well-
sheltered anchorage; it is the port at the
entrance of Lake Flinders, a sheet of water
eight miles in length, by two in breadth, the
greater part being, however, very shallow,
and surrounded by mangrove swamps. In
1846, the head of the gulf was examined by
the lieutenant-governor, Colonel Robe, for the
purpose of ascertaining an eligible place of
shipment for the produce of the northern-
most located part of the province. The
chief result of his expedition was the dis-
covery that that portion of the gulf there,
about ten miles across, extending imme-
diately north from Point Lotvly, in 32° 57'
S. lat., to the latitude of Mount Remarkable,
32° 43', contains a commodious harbour,
well sheltered, and of easy access. A long
sand spit, stretching from the point (not
named) of the eastern coast, opposite to
Point Lowly, dry at low water, shelters the
anchorage from southerly winds.
Port Germein, situated about twelve miles
south-east by east from Point Lowly, afi'ords
good shelter for small craft. The port is
bordered by mangrove swamps. A sand-
stone hillock, called Benjamin's hill, marks
the north-east side of the entrance, whilst at
the south-west entrance is a low mangrove
point, ofi* which a broad sand-shoal extends
for many miles into the gulf.
The eastern shores of Spencer's gulf, formed
by Yorke Peninsula, are marked by Port
Victoria, situated at the spot termed by
Flinders Point Pearce, now occasionally
called Wardong Island, in whose neighbour-
hood there are stated to be several safe and
commodious anchorages : fiA'ther to the
south, and nearly opposite to Port Lincoln,
is an extensive and well-sheltered inlet,
called Hardwicke Bay. Cape Spencer, the
extremity of Yorke peninsula, is in 35° 17'
S. lat., 136° 52' E. long. ; ofi" it lies Althorpe
Island, a rocky islet, frequented by innu-
merable sea-fowl, in Investigator's Strait.
The Gulf of St. Vincent is about half the
size of Spencer's gulf, which it resembles in
the swampy nature of the shallow water at
the top, and the perfect saltness of the water
where both shores unite. Kangaroo Island,
which lies across its entrance, effectually
protects it from the swell of the heavy
southerly seas, and forms two wide and safe
passages, the western being known as Inves-
tigator's Strait, the eastern as Backstairs
Passage. The navigation of the gulf itself
is throughout easy and perfectly free from
hidden dangers. In Investigator's strait, on
the southern coast of Yorke Peninsula, nearly
midway between Cape Spencer and Trou-
bridge Shoal, is an extensive bay, called
Sturt Bay, which aflbrds good and safe an-
chorage, for although open to the south and
south-east, winds from these quarters, owing
to the narrowness of the strait, do not raise
a sea sufficient to impede a vessel in weigh-
ing anchor. The western shore of the bay
is formed by a promontory of sand hills
(from forty to fifty feet in height), clothed
with grass and casuarina trees, terminating in
Point Davenport, a flat rocky point which
forms an effectual breakAvater during south-
west gales.
310
GULF ST. VINCENT— HOLDFAST BAY— CAPE JERVIS.
On the eastern coast of Yorke Peninsula,
i. e. the western shore of St. Vincent's gulf,
Bearly opposite to Adelaide, is a good har-
bour,' called Port Vincent. BetAveen the
head of St. Vincent's gulf, in about 34° 30'
S. lat., and Port Adelaide, its eastern shore is
alternately hned with mangroves, or low and
sandy, affording nevertheless several commo-
dious havens for small craft. The most
important of these is Port Gaiuler, an inlet
or channel suiTOunded on either side by
mangrove swamps, by which the little river
Gawler enters the gulf. The next important
inlet is that which contains Torrens Island,
and terminates in the large creek on whose
eastern bank Port Adelaide"^ is situated.
From thence to Holdfast bay, which lies
about fourteen miles to the southward, a
sandy beach continues backed by sand hum-
mocks, that conceal the nearer country, but
are not high enough to impede the view of
the summits of the Mount Lofty range, dis-
tant about eleven or twelve miles.
Holdfast Bay, behind which is the fertile
and beautiful tract called Glenelg Plains, is
not very appropriately named, being in fact
an open roadstead, exposed to north-west,
west, and south-west winds, which, when
blowing hard, raise a short tumbling sea.
The ground is a fine sand, almost covered
with weeds, so that when the anchor once
starts, the weeds being raked up under the
crown, will in a great measure prevent its
again holding. In the summer months it
may be considered a perfectly safe anchorage,
if due caution is exercised in giving the
vessel cable in time.t About the middle of
the bay is an inlet of the sea, on which boats
can enter and discharge their cargoes at high
water, but at low water they are obliged to
unload on the beach, owing to a bar of sand
at the entrance. The southern arm of the
bay is formed by the termination of the
range of hills running from the north. A
few miles from this bay the coast becomes
bold and rugged, and, excepting one small
sandy bay, into which a fresh- water stream
oozes, continues so to the outlet of the
Onkaparinga, the largest river on this side
the gulf. There is a bar at its entrance,
over which boats can only pass at high
water, and it is salt as far as the tide flows,
about three miles. There is no anchorage
at this part of the coast.
Noarlmifja township is situated near the
mouth of the Onkaparinga, to the south-
• For description of Port Adelaide, see city of
Adelaide, in a subsequent page.
ward of which is a remarkable detached
rock of a tabular form. Near this point
some extensive gravel pits, with deep chasms
and gullies, are very conspicuous ; from
these a gentle slope of nearly a mile runs
along the coast into the plains, with an
extensive beach of sand and shingle, form-
ing a very narrow bay, called by Colonel
Light Deception Bay. The scenery now be-
comes exceedingly diversified, dark cliffs and
small sandy bays, with grassy slopes, almost
to the water's edge, succeed each other,
backed by moderate hills, sparingly covered
with trees, and broken into numerous val-
leys. Thus passing Aldinga Bay, the out-
lets of several small streams, Yankallilla
Bay and river, we arrive at a deep bay, pro-
tected on all sides by rocky mountains, and
backed by a beautiful little valley surrounded
by an amphitheatre of hills, richly covered
with kangaroo grass, from which descends a
small fresh-water stream, flowing through
the valley between high banks, and abound-
ing with fish. The hills here do not run in
one continuous longitudinal range, as higher
up the gulf, but to Cape Jerris, seven or eight
miles southward, are thrown together as it
were without any arrangement. They are
covered, however, with good soil, are in
many places well wooded, and enclose fertile
valleys and rich openings, with numerous
small streams. A rocky point, called by
Captain Flinders, North-west High Bluff,
forms the northern extremity of " Pat
Bungar," a small but secure boat harbour,
surrounded on all sides by low sloping hills.
In the vicinity of Rapid Bay the cliffs in
many places rise perpendicularly to a con-
siderable height, and are veined with mica-
ceous schist, or mica slate, Avith occasional
veins of dolomite and other minerals. Cop-
per ore has been found here. A few
miles beyond is Cape Jervis, the projection
which marks the eastern entrance to the
gulf, whose shores (with the assistance of
several authorities, but especially of the
recent volumes of Sturt and Angas) we have
now traced to their termination.
Kangaroo Island lies twelve miles south of
Cape Jervis. Its length and area are differ-
ently estimated ; but it is generally stated to
be about seventy-eight miles, and thirty in
breadth, with a superficies of 2,500,000 acres.
The principal features of the land, as seen
from the western coast, are SAvelling rounded
hills, clothed with thick scrub, intermingled
T ISatling Instriictiotis for South Australia, by Cap-
tain Lee.
KANGAROO ISLAND— NEPEAN BAY— KINGSCOTE.
311
^vitli clumps of trees. Cliffs of a whitish
colour, rising abruptly from the sea, attain
in some places a height of 300 feet. Many
romantic and saudy bays indent the southern
coast, a long line of bold cliffs and rocky
shores mark the north-Avestern boundary.
This extensive island is supposed by Mr.
Menge to have been formerly connected
"with the mainland at Cape Jervis, and to
have been separated by the ceaseless opera-
tion of the sea, which opinion is confirmed
by the continuation of the mica slate forma-
tion all along its southern coast. Kangaroo
island appears not long ago to have consisted
of two islands, since joined by an accu-
mulation of sand and lime at Lagoon bay.
Limestone is continually accumulating
around the coasts, and rests upon the primi-
tive slate. This limestone contains, in a
petrified state, the shells thrown out by the
sea, and stumps of the indigenous woods,
with their roots also petrified. Nine miles
in the interior there are belts of iron and
limestone running through the island, be-
tween which good arable soil is occasionally
found.
The denseness of the vegetation prevents
an accurate knowledge of the interior; it
is supposed that considerably more than
three-fourths of the surface is covered with
brush-wood and dwarf gum trees ; there is,
however, large timber. Mr. W. PL Leigh
measured one tree growing in the interior,
and found it nineteen feet in girth, as high
as he could reach, enormously lofty and
umbrageous, and with others growing around
it, as in an English wood ; the minor plants
and climbers which spring up at the roots
of the forest timber, render exploration dif-
ficult, if not impossible. In several in-
stances, where the land has been cleared, it
has, however, yielded good returns, and
quantities of the finest onions and other
produce are now sent from Kingscote to
Adelaide. The scarcity of good water, and
the great difficulty of obtaining it, appears
to be general throughout the island. The
valleys running out to the north coast are
filled with high timber, but there are some
tracts of excellent soil along the table-land
and in the drainages. Grass, however, is
said to be scarce.
A chain of large lagoons extends from the
head of Seal Bay over to Vivonne Bay ; and
from the Table Hill, twelve have been num-
bered, which, however, are mostly dry in
summer.
Nepean Bay, on the nortli-east coast, in
35° 33' S., 137° 41' E., the chief feature of
tlie island, is a large and excellent harbour,
protected by a long sand-spit, which forms
a perfect breakwater. The first colonists
for South Australia landed at Nepean bay,
and formed a settlement called Kingscote,
on the slope of some hills overlooking the
harbour. The soil was found to be poor,
being composed of sand left by the retiring
sea, and a small portion of vegetable mould.
After considerable expense had been in-
curred by the South Australian Company,
in erecting buildings and making roads, the
settlers removed to the mainland. The
climate is neither so warm in summer nor
so cold in winter, as at Adelaide ; but the
gales of wind are heavier, and there is less
rain, in general, than falls on the adjacent
coast.
The island derives its name from the
number of kangaroos seen by its discoverer.
Flinders, who with his party, in a single day,
killed thirty-one animals, the least weighing
69 lbs., and the largest, 105 lbs. ; they
were so unaccustomed to the sight of men,
whom, says Flinders, they probably mistook
for seals, that in some cases they allowed
themselves to be knocked on the head with
sticks. The kangaroo and the seal seemed
to dwell amicably together among the
bushes on the grassy flats near the shores
of the island. INIr. Leigh was informed by
a deserter from a ship, who had been on
the island twenty years, that so numerous
were the kangaroos at the period of his arri-
val, that himself and another deserter, with
the aid of two dogs, killed 800 of these
beautiful animals in one month. This
Avanton slaughter took place for the sake of
their skins, which the deserters sold to tlie
crcAvs of vessels calling at the island for salt
and seals. It is no wonder that this singular
animal is now scarce on Kangaroo island.
The wallaby, opossum, bandicoot, and guana,
abound, and venomous snakes, four to six
feet long, may be seen winding in all direc-
tions through the matted scrub; the com-
mon brown Norway rat overruns the island,
as does also the wild cat. The lagoons con-
tain numerous pelicans, and the poem of
the " Pelican Island," is stated to have
originated in its author reading Flinders'
description of Pelican lagoon, near Nepean
bay. Kangaroo island has been, for many
years, the resort of runaway men from the
whaling ships, and of various whalers and
sealers, who lived a lawless life, and made
occasional forays to the mainland, where
312 ENCOUNTER BAY— ROSETTA HARBOUR— JUNCTION OF THE MURRAY.
they kidnapped the native women, and con-
veyed them to their island homes. One
Eui-opean lived twenty-two years near Ne-
pean bay, somewhat after the manner of
Robinson Crusoe. His native wife killed
the last emu on the island, some years
before the arrival of the South Australian
Company^s settlers, in 1836. No incon-
siderable traffic was carried on by these
lawless wanderers, in skins of seal, wallaby,
and peltiy of different kinds, and in sup-
plying ships with fine salt, which is obtain-
able in unlimited quantities from the la-
goons, -where the crystals are deposited by
the solar evaporation of the sea-water.
The good houses which were built at
Kingscote are falling to decay, since the
abandonment of the island by their pro-
prietors, the South Australian Company;
but as the harbour is unquestionably excel-
lent, and the site of the town pretty, it may,
probably, eventually form an agreeable
summer watering-place for the citizens of
Adelaide, who desire change of air and sea-
bathing.
The harbour, however, of American river,
and also a small bay five miles to the south-
east of it, are considered by some persons
to present superior advantages for a seaport
town, there being an abundance of water at
both these places, of which there is a defi-
ciency at Nepean bay,* and as good, if not
better soil.
To return to the coast line of the main-
land, which from Cape Jervis trends in an
easterly direction, forming the northern shoi^e
of Backstairs Passage, (in whose entrance lie
three rocky islands, called the Pages,) and is
marked by a line of hills, diminishing gra-
dually towards Encounter Bay, the principal
* Mr. Robert Fisher, Dr. Slater, Mr. Osborne, and
three other gentlemen, landed from the barque Afri-
caine, Captain DufF, November 1st, 1836, near Morel's
boat-harbour, between Capes Borda and Forbin, to
travel overland to Nepean bay, ■« hither the vessel in
which they were passengers was bound, with emigrants
to establish the colony of South Australia. The party
were furnished with about two days' provisions, and
six bottles of rum. They found the sun oppressively
hot, the country hilly, and covered with dense prickly
shrub, to penetrate which was very difficult ; indeed
they frequently had to chop their way through by
means of a hatchet, which they fortunately had with
them. The first three days of their travels they found
fresh water plentiful, but after that time it was not
obtainable. After nine days' perilous journeying and
extreme hardships (for six days without water or food,
except the flesh of half a dozen parroquets and the
blood of a couple of sea gulls, shot during their ex-
cursion), Mr. Fisher, and three of his companions,
reached the South Australian Company's settlement,
at Port Nepean ; Dr. Slater and Mr. "Osborne were
scene of the shore whale fishery of South
Australia. To tliis locality a degree of pain-
ful interest is attached from the dreadful
disasters of which it has been the scene.
The shore abounds in rocks and reefs, and
the surf is represented by old captains as
being worse than that at the Madi-as roads.
The rollers rise to the height of fifteen or
eighteen feet in one unbroken line as far as
the eye can see, and as south "winds prevail
on this part of the Australian coast, it is
only during the summer season, and after
several days of northerly winds, that the sea
subsides, and the roar of breakers moderates
for a time. Eosetia Head, a lofty bluff',
stretching out to seaward nearly at a right
angle with the coast, forms the western side
of Encounter bay. From its summit the
whalers watch for then* prey. Under the
lea of Rosetta head is a small harbour also
called Rosetta,-\ in honour of Mrs. Augas,
which is separated by a rocky island named
Granite Isla?id, and a reef tiiat is visible at
low water, and connects Granite island with
the mainland from Victor harbour. Ac-
cording to Captain Sturt, neither of these
harbours are considered secure, although
protected from all but south-east winds ; and
he mentions, on the authority of an expe-
rienced seaman, (whose name is not given)
that under the lee of Freeman's Nob, and a
small island off" it, anchorage altogether pre-
ferable is to be found, as being more shel-
tered and having better holding ground.
The capabilities of these harbours are how-
ever at present of comparatively little im-
portance, but the rapid increase of colonization
will probably soon render them of more im-
mediate interest, and lead to their fuller
examination.
unavoidably left behind, and both must have perished,
as a party of native women and islanders sent in
search of them were out sixteen days, but returned
without succeeding in the object of their mission.
t It was in Rosetta harbour, during the early set-
tlement of the colony, that the South Australian
Company's ship, South Attsfraliati, was driven on
shore and lost. The John Pirie, a strongly-built
schooner, also belonging to the company, had well-
nigh shared her fate. This little vessel was lying
astern of the Australian, when she went ashore, with
the reef close astern of her. In this fearful position
her anchors began to drag, and her destruction ap-
peared inevitable, when her commander. Captain
Martin, determined on attempting to take her over
the reef, it being high-water at the time. He accord-
ingly cut his cable, set his sails, and ran his vessel
on the rocks. Four times she struck, and was heaved
as often over them, until at length she floated in
the deeper water of Victor harbour, and found her
safety under the lee of the very danger from which
she had expected destruction.
SEA-MOUTH OF THE MURRAY— LAKES VICTORIA AND ALBERT. SIR
At the eastern extremity of Encounter
bay the junction of the Murray with the
Southern Ocean takes place in 35 32' S. lat.,
138° 56' E. long. The aperture made by
the impetuous stream in the dreary line of
sand hills through which it forces its way is
about a third of a mile in breadth, and when
the river is flooded a strong current runs out
of it with such rapidity, that the tide setting
in at the same time, causes a short and bub-
bling sea. On its eastern side is a lake or
lagoon called the Goohva, (chiefly occupied
by Hindmarsh island) which receives the
waters of Finniss river and Currency creek.
Lake Victoria is connected with Encounter
bay by means of the channel of the Goolwa,
now called Port Pullen, in compliment to
the officer who by strenuous and persevering
effort, succeeded in taking a small cutter
through that narrow passage, and navigating
her aci'oss Lake Victoria into the INlurray
river, as high as the settlement of Moorundi.
Although the name of Port Pullen records a
daring and successful enterprise, yet many
melancholy associations are connected with
this spot. Some years before, Sir John
Jeffcott, the first judge of South Australia,
and Captain Blenkinsopp, with two of their
boat's crew, found a watery grave in attempt-
ing to pass from the Goolwa into Encounter
bay, and the large sand hill Avhich marks
the eastern shore, is named Barker's Knoll,
in memory of the brave officer, who after
having left his companions and succeeded in
swimming across the mouth of the jMurray,
there fell a victim to the superstitious fears
of the Milmendura natives.
Lake Victoria (originally called Alexan-
diina), is estimated at from fifty to sixty miles
in length, and from thirty to forty in
breadth. At seven miles from the entrance
of the Murray, its waters are brackish, at
twenty-one miles across, perfectly salt, the
force of the tide being there perceptible.
Although, when viewed from the point of,
Pomundi, which projects into it from the
south, it has the appearance of a clear and
open sea, yet it is, after all, exceedingly
shallow ; its medium depth is only four feet,
and it is rapidly filling up from the decay of
seaweed, and the deposits brought into it
yearly from the INIurray. " No doubt,"
says Captain Sturt, " but that future genera-
tions will see that fine sheet of water con-
fined to a comparatively narrow bed, and
pursuing its course through a rich and ex-
tensive plain. When that shall be the
case," he adds " and that the strength of
Div. ir.
the ]\Iurray shall be brought to bear on one
point only, it is probable its sea-mouth will
become navigable."
Two small streams named the Bremer
and the Angas, flow into Lake Victoria, which
communicates at its south-eastern extremity
with another lake, named Lake Albert, of
about fifty miles in circumference, with a
depth varying from four to ten feet. The
water in Lake Albert is in some parts very
good, in others, slightly brackish, but quite
fit for use. From the sea- mouth of the
INIurray, a sandy coast, completely open to
the ocean, stretches away to the south-east,
forming the outer shore or sand-hills of the
Coorong, a back-water of Lake Victoria and
the Murray, which runs parallel with the
sea for a distance of ninety miles, separated
only by a ridge of sand-hills, some of which
are from 300 to 400 feet in height, with a
breadth varying from half-a-mile to a mile
and-a-half. Its waters are salt ; its average
breadth about two miles. The inner shores
(which appear to have been originally the
boundary of the ocean) are broken with
numerous rocky promontories, and shallow
sandy bays indent its margin ; towards the
sea, the hills of sand rise in stupendous
masses, forming a long and dreary penin-
sula, against which the surf of the southern
ocean beats with unceasing violence. In
some places the sand is so white, as to
resemble snow, and contrasts strongly with
the shrubs growing on these hills, which
are of deep green. The Coorong terminates
in a series of salt lagoons, after passing suc-
cessive swamps intersected by belts of grassy
soil and low hills, scattei'ed over with casua-
rina and a variety of smaller shrubs ; near
its eastern extremity, a stream called Salt
Creek, flows out of it, running through the
desert country to the eastward. The Coo-
rong is the resort of myriads of waterfowl,
which in some places are so numerous, as
to darken its surface ; black swans, pelicans,
ducks, teal, and shags, breed in perfect
security amid its profound solitudes. Shell-
fish and mullet abound in its Avaters, and
the raontcrry, or native apple, grows in every
direction over the bleak and desolate moun-
tains of sand that form a barrier from the
fury of the ocean.*
The termination of the Coorong is marked
by a low granite range constituting a water
shed, throwing the drainage to the north
and south, respectively; from the shore a
protruding mass of granite, about twenty
• Australia Illustrated, bv G. F. Angas.
2 Q
314
MOUNTAIN RANGES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
or twenty-five feet high^ forms a bold point
in a long, straight line of coast, and was
mistaken for a cape by M. Baudin, who
called it Cape Morad-de-Galles. This rock
projects but a few feet ; there is, however,
from this point, a sunken granite reef jutting
into the sea, apparently connected with the
rocks that break the water in Lacepede bay,
an inlet immediately beyond, which, it is
supposed, will be found to afford sheltered
anchorage to small vessels, even in the winter
season.
From Cape Bernouilli, or Jaffa, a remark-
able projection to the south of Lacepede
Bay, reefs extend for a considerable distance.
Many disastrous ship^vi'ecks have occurred
in its vicinity ; among them, that of the
Maria, whose unhappy passengers and crew
— such of them, at least, as escaped the
perils of the sea — met a yet more melan-
choly death ; for after toiling along the
dreary shores of the Coorong, under a burn-
ing sun, for nearly ninety miles, they were
ruthlessly massacred by the Milmendura
natives.
From Cape Bernouilli a ledge of rocks
extends for ten or twelve miles towards
Godfrey Island, which lies in the centre of
Guichen Bay, a valuable outlet for the pro-
vince, and a much-needed port of refuge,
affording good anchorage, safe during every
wind. From its south point (Cape Dombey)
a ridge of rocks extends, which serves as a
breakwater for the outside swell. A town-
ship was laid out here, in 1846, called Robe
Town ; and another, named Grey Town, Avas
formed at Rivoli bay, about the same time.
The shores between these bays are bordered
by lakes or lagoons ; which, howevei', do not
.communicate with the sea. The first of
these — the nearest, that is, to Guichen Bay —
named Lake Haiodon, cannot rightly be called
a lake, being merely a flat swampy plain,
which in the rainy season is covered with
water. Luke Eliza and Lake George, both
of considerable size, are separated from each
other only by a narrow strip of land.
Rivoli Bay is a good haven, but, from its
exposure to south-west winds, is not con-
sidered to afford proper shelter for square-
rigged vessels. Penguin Island, so named
from the vast number of penguins found
there, lies off Cape Martin, the northern
extremity of Rivoli bay; the southern. Cape
Lannes, is, I believe, identical with the Cape
Biiffoa of the French.
Immediately behind Cape Lannes, Lake
Frome stretches soutliward towards Lake Bon-
ney, a very extensive sheet of water, divided
from the sea by a line of sand-hills.
Destaing Bay lies to the south of Lake
Bonney; from thence the coast trends in a
south-easterly direction to Cape Northumber-
land, in 38°'4' S. lat., 140° 42' 33" E. long.,
when it turns to the east, presenting no
feature worthy of notice between that point
and its termination, a little to the westward
of the mouth of the Glenelg.
Mountains. — Although the province of
South Australia contains several continuous
ranges of high land, it has none of any great
elevation, the loftiest not much exeeedins:
3,000 feet. The Mount Lofty range stretches
from Cape Jervis, along the east shore of
Gulf St. Vincent, to the northward for about
foi*ty miles, there attaining an elevation of
2,334 feet. From this point a chain branchei
off to the westward, but the main range
continues to run up towards the interior,
into which Captain Sturt considers that it
cannot extend far, or he must have seen
something of it during his interior explora-
tion. Captain Frome, in the map accom-
panying the account of his expedition of
1842, clearly connects it with the ranges
traced by Eatc to their termination in Mount
Hopeless, within the limits encii'cled by Lake
Torrens, and speaks of the direction of what
he terms " the dividing ridge between the
basin of the Murray and the interior or
desert plain, as generally about north-east
from the highest point north of Mount Bryan
(the Black Rock Hills, in about 32° 45' S.lat.),
gradually decreasing in elevation, and, if
possible, increasing in barrenness. '^ The
summits of these hills were found to be
invariably rock, generally sandstone; the
lower slopes covered with dense brush, and
the valleys with low scrub, with occasional
small patches of thin wiry grass. At the
highest points of elevation from Mount
Bryan northward, igneous rocks, of basaltic
character, exhibit rugged and fantastic out-
lines ; — in about 31° S. lat. marked indica-
tions of volcanic action have been found,
and several hoUows resembling small craters
of extinct volcanoes, near one of which a
warm spring was discovered, temperature 76*^
Fahr., atmosphere 54°.
The principal summits of this range, viz.,
the Razor Back, jNIount Bryan (to the south
of which is the great Bm-ra-Burra mine),
and the Black Rock Hill, rise to the height
of 2,992, 3,012, and 2,750 feet respectively.
The more western branch of the cb.ain,
sometimes called Flinders' range, follows the
MOUNT LOFTY RANGE— FLINDERS' RANGE.
315
eastern side of the head of Spencer's gulf;
thence it rims nearly parallel with the inner
shore of Lake Torrens for a very consider-
able distance, its most northerly extremity
being, according to Eyre, Mount Hopeless,
a low haj'cock-like peak, in 29° 30' S. lat.,
beyond which he describes the horizon as j
presenting one low uninterrupted level ; the \
hopeless nature of the adjacent country be- j
ing too clearly evidenced by the existence
of numerous brine-springs. j
Mount Serle, a A^ery prominent eminence,
is situated about ninety miles to the south-
west of Mount Hopeless. INIr. Eyre con-
sidered that it could not be less than 3,000
feet in height ; but, from an accident which
had occurred to his barometer, was unable
to ascertain it with accuracy.
To the east of INIount Serle, and connected
with the main range by low long spm*s, is
a ridge named Mount Deception, from the
fallacious expectations raised by its height
(which to all appearance could not be less
than 3,000 feet), of finding permanent water
in its vicinity. Its summit was found to be
attainable only by Aviuding along the steep
and stony ridges leading round the deep
gorges and ravines by which it is encircled.
The other principal peaks in Flinders'
range are. Mount Arden, Mount Brown, and
Mount Remarkable, so named by Captain
Flinders. Mr. Eatc, speaking of Flinders'
range between Mount Arden and Crystal
Brook, a distance of about eighty miles, says
that the character of the range Aaries but
little. High, rocky, and barren, it rises
abruptly from the level country at its base,
the slopes to the Avestward being steep and
precipitous, very hard, and ringing like
metal when struck with a hammer. The
hills have no other vegetation than prickly
grass, and are in many instances so coated
over with loose stones as to render their
ascent, from the steepness of the decliAity,
dangerous, if not impossible.
To return to the ]Mount Lofty range, the
; high land betAveen it and the INIurray is
I ably described by Colonel Gawler, in his
Geographical Notes, as the Mount Barker,
or Great Ironstone, and the Mount Wake-
Held ranges ; and although myself disposed
to consider the whole, including that just
described, as forming one great mountain
mass, and not properly divisible into distinct
formations, I yet give the following abstract
of Colonel Gawler's statement, as affording
valuable information on the subject.
The summit of Mount Barker itself, is
about twenty feet higher than Mount Lofty.
This elevation, howcA^er, is only continued
for about a mile in length, by from fifty to
one himdred miles in width. Beyond these
limits the ground on all sides drops sud-
denly for 800 feet, ]\Iount Barker rising
like an isolated hill from the great table-
land beneath it. This table-land is about
1,600 feet above the level of the sea. It
runs in a broad belt parallel to the Mount
Lofty range; its sm-face, presenting beau-
tiful undulations of Hghtly-Avooded low hills
and gentle valleys. At from ten to fifteen
miles south-west of Mount Barker, it falls
rather suddenly to about 1,200 feet, and
becomes covered with a stringy bark forest.
From ten to twenty fm'ther,'in the same
direction, sharp, precipitous ridges, some of
them attaining an elevation of from 1,800
to 2,000 feet, cross it in different directions.
Between these, still upon high table-land,
are formed the rich valleys of the INIyponga,
the Upper Finniss, and other streams, flow-
ing severally to the westward, eastward, and
southward. Immediately afterwards, enter-
ing along the range, still to the south-west,
huge branches strike off to the sea, and
from heights of from 1,200 to 1,500 feet,
fall precipitously into it, along the line of
coast which extends from Mount Terrible,
the southern boundary of the Aldiugha
Plains, to yankalilla. Other large branches
shoot off from ]\Iyponga to the eastward of
south, and fall with a more gentle descent
towards the great bend of the Lower Mm'ray,
in the neighbom'hood of CiuTcncy creek.
Mount Wakefield can scarcely be con-
sidered as distinct from the INIount Barker
range ; it is rather a mighty disruption from
its south-western extremity. BetAveen the
tAvo, for twenty-five miles from Yankalilla,
in Gulf St. A'iucent, to the moutli of the
Inman, in Encounter bay, runs a very
lovely valley varying from about six to tAvo
miles in Avidth, Avell watered, and rich in
soil adapted for agriculture, and in herbage
for pasturage. In this valley are situated
Division Hills, which separate the Avaters
flowing into Gulf St. Vincent from those
falling into Lake Victoria and the LoAver
Murray. Their summits are clothed AA'ith
pastures, and their height is not above 800
feet above the sea, Avhile that of the preci-
pitous mountains Avhich bound the A'alleys
to the north and south, is from 1,200 to
nearly 2,000.
The summit of the Mount Lofty range is
narroAv; it seldom exceeds a quarter of a
316 BAKOSSA, MARBLE, AND BAXTER RANGES, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
mile in width ; that of the INIount Barker
ran"-e, on the contrary, maintains a breadth
of trom six to ten miles, and though hills
and ridges frequently intersect it, their
elevation above the general summit is small,
as compared with its height above the level
of the sea.
Between the summits and the great val-
leys at the base, both in the Mount Lofty
and Mount Barker ranges, runs a belt fre-
quently from three to four miles in width,
of very thickset, narrow, and tortuous spurs.
These form, at first sight, the greatest
obstacles in the way of practicable roads ;
but, on a close research, good passes over
them may almost everywhere be found.
The small valleys between these spurs are
often very rich and well watered. The
lower slopes of all these mountain ranges
are almost everywhere composed of slate,
the surface above the slate being always
grassy. The summit of Mount Lofty is
capped with a highly ferruginous sandstone,
and large portions of the Mount Barker
range with a conglomerate of ironstone and
angular pieces of quartz ; upon both forma-
tions Colonel Gawler declares himself to
have invaiiably found stringy bark, forest,
or brush.*
The heights termed the Barossa Range,
about thirty miles to the north-east of Ade-
laide, form an undulating hilly country,
lightly wooded, comprising several rich and
picturesque valleys. The Keizerstuhl, the
highest point in the range, has a beautiful
outline, and the stream called the Rhine
flows northward, through the pretty town
of Bethany, where the German colonists
have located, and given the names of several
places in their fatherland to the more dis-
tinguishing features in the country around.
The Belvedere, Heranian, Hawdon, and other
suiTounding minor ranges, do not present
any very prominent features, but they off'er
much pleasing scenery.
A considerable portion of the peninsula
which forms the south-western shore of
Spencer's gulf, is occupied by a mountainous
table-land, about 1,300 feei above the level
of the sea, whose surface is traversed by
many short and narrow mountain ridges,
from 300 to 700 feet in elevation above it.
From Mount Olinthus, situated thirteen miles
from Franklin harbour, which attains a
height of 2,000 feet, the view is magnificent,
embracing, to the north-west, the whole
course of the table-laud for twenty-five or
• Colonel Gawler's Geofjniphuial Notes, f H^id.
thirty miles, with many peaks at much
greater distances; the north-east and east,
Middleback Mountain, which is an ofl'set
from the table-land, the upper part of Spen-
cer's gulf, with the mountains beyond it, and
the coast further than Point Riley ; to the
south-east. Point Pearce and Wardang
island ; and to the south-west, the immense
tracts of low undulating country, as far as
Mount Hill (Flinders' High Bluff), an isolated
peak about 1,500 feet high, forty-six miles
north-north-east from Port Lincoln. f
Marble Range, about thirty miles north-
west of Boston bay, rises abruptly, and
when its steep sides of quartz receive tht
evening sun, it appears as if inlaid with
diamonds. In the distance, to the north,
another mountain range is ^dsible, consist-
ing of abrupt, lofty cones, the most remark-
able of which, Albert Peak, is visible for a
considerable distance. Mounts Button and
Greenly are also seen to the west, beyond
the Marble range, and the high sand-hills
of Coffin's bay shut out the scene to the
south.
To the north of Eyria Peninsula, between
Mount Ai'den and Streaky bay, a singularly
rugged and barren range, of about 2,000
feet in height, extends for a considerable
distance. The succession of detached ridges
forming Gawler Range, consists entirely of
porphyritic granite, the front slopes ex-
ceedingly steep, and covered by small loose
stones, and without either timber or shrubs.
From the whole range, not a stream or
water-course was found to emanate, the only
water obtainable in its vicinity being afibrded
by the deposits left by very recent rains.
The adjacent country is equally sterile and
arid, the soil being in many places saline, with
several salt lakes, but affording no indications
of fresh water or springs.
Baxter Range, to the east of Gawler range,
is high and rocky, rising abruptly out of the
plains. It is distinctly visible from Mount
Arden, from which it is about fifty miles
distant. Its formation is entirely conglom-
erate, of rather a coarse description. Fresh
water and good grass abound in its vicinity. J
The country to the east and south of
Lake Victoria is not marked by a coast
range of mountains, running parallel to the
Pacific like the " Blue Mountains" of New
South Wales ; there are, indeed, only a few
eminences, that appear to be continuations
of the parallel ridges which mark the Aus-
tralian formations, and, so far as we know
I Eijre's Exjjeditiuns into Australia 1841.
MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
317
throughout the whole island-continent have
generally a direction from south to north.
Mount Benson, a round-topped eminence^
with an elevation of 700 feet above the sea,
is the highest of a range of limestone hills
visible from the sand hills at Lacepede bay.
The "sdew from the summit is that of " a sea
of woods/' with the blue plains melting
away into the invisible distance.
Mounts Gambler and Schanck, eight miles
apartj at a short distance from the coast^
near Glenelg river, are volcanic cones.
jSIount Schanck, the nearest to the sea,
rises at an angle of about 45° for 600 feet,
from a comparatively level country, and
attains an altitude of nearly 900 feet above
the ocean. The interior of the mountain is
one vast hollow basin, upwards of two miles
in circumference, and so deep that the trees
growing in the rich soil of the lower depths
of the crater, appear like minute shrubs
dotted over its surface. The outer side of
the cone is clothed with gi-ass, scattered over
with " she oak" trees. The rim or outer
edge of the crater is stated by Mr. Angas
to be not more than a couple of yards in
breadth. ]\Ir. Buit says there are three dis-
tinct craters ; the principal one is 500 yards
in diameter ; another to the east about one-
third as high as the principal, and 200 yards
across ; and a third crater to the south is
rather more elevated than the east, and 250
yards wide. The small craters are on the
slope of the main crater, nearly circular, de-
void of water, and covered with rich vegeta-
tion on the inner and outer slopes. The
riew from the rim of the main crater is very
extensive, commanding the windings of the
Glenelg river and the curves of Bridgewater
and Discovery bays in Victoria province.
At the base of the mountain to the north
there are circular limestone basins, and
the country around presents heaps of black
cellular lava. To the south-east and south-
west there is a large mass of cellular wacke,
forming a wall six to eight feet in height,
and appearing as if it had at one time formed
a sea beach. Governor Grey and his party,
when riding round the foot of the mountain,
noticed particularly to the south-east a hollow
sound, as if there were a vault beneath them.
Mount Gambler is rather higher than
Mount Schanck, of an oval form, GOO yards
long, by 120 yards broad, the largest dia-
meter in a direction nearly east-south-east.
Mr. Angas says, the foot of the mountain
exhibits the walls of three distinct craters,
each containing a lake of water. !Mr. Burr
states, that about one-third of the east por-
tion of the crater forms a lake with high
pei'pendicular cliffs, except to the west,
where it is bounded by a gently sloping hill
running nearly north and south across the
crater, and dividing it into nearly two equal
portions. The western portion of the crater
has several lagoons, which contain water.
The depth of the central lake of the crater
is very great, the water gjod, and frequented
by numerous wild ducks.
jVIr. Angas expresses his " rapturous ad-
miration of the glorioAS and enchanting
scene," which the sudden view of the largest
crater presented, when he reached the sum-
mit of the mountain; a vast hollow basin
was, as it were, shut out from the world by
the walls of lava that surrounded it, and
covered Avith emerald verdure, burnished to
a bright metallic green by the golden tints of
evening; small hills, like miniature craters,
interspersed among plains and valleys, car-
peted with grass of velvet smoothness, scat-
tered with a few blackwood or mimosa
trees, form one portion of this enchanting
dell. At its western extremity, terrace above
terrace rises along the sides of the moun-
tain, with occasional caverns of red lava.
The deep, still lake, with its black-looking
waters, is surrounded by lofty cliffs of pure
white coral. The country between the two
mountains is very rich, and the scenery
beautiful.
Governor Grey discovered at the foot of
]Mount Schanck several caves containing
numerous organic remains, with bones of
the emu, gigantic species of kangaroo, and
a tooth which must have belonged to a
marsupial animal of gigantic size.
A low ridge to the njrth-west connects
Mount Gambler with the Mount Burr range,
which has an elevation of about 1,600 feet,
and is generally steep to the soixth-south-
west and west ; but on the opposite side the
ascent is verj' gradual. The country around
appears to be of the most promising descrip-
tion for the settler.
Rivers. — There are but few streams
Avithin the limits of South Australia which
desene the name of rivers, either from the
length of their course or the body of water
they contain, by far the larger portion being
for the greater pai"t of the year merely chains
of ponds. Their channels however are gene-
rally of considerable depth ; and though fre-
quently almost dry in the hot season, a
mighty flood rushes along during winter ;
as is shown by tlic residue of sticks, scum,
318
RIVERS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA— THE MURRAY.
aud grass, left in the brandies of the gum
ti-ees that line their course, for many feet
above the supposed ordinary height of the
stream. Nevertheless the pro^dnce is by no
means so deficient in its supply of water as
is frequently supposed, for even after its
streams have almost or quite ceased running,
abundance remains in the pools, many of
wliicli from their temperature and other
causes, appear to be supplied by springs and
under-currents. Even in places whei'e no
surface-water can be found, wells may be
sunk, as good water is almost invariably
found at depths varying from eighteen to
sixty or eighty feet. The absence of surface-
water is however naturally looked upon as a
serious defect, and at Port Adelaide was
doubtless the chief reason for which the
town was built away from the harbour ; but
a well has lately been dug within 100 yards
of high-water mark, where, at a deptli of
only a few feet, excellent water has been
obtained in sufficient quantity for the uses
of the whole population, and the shipping
which frequent the port.^
The one striking exception to the usual
insignificant character of the South Austra-
lian rivers is formed by the noble Murray,
the upper portion of whose course, under the
denomination of the Hume, we have already
traced to its junction of the INIurrumbidgee,
river (see pages 585 and 586). From thence
to the confluence of the Darling the Murray
passes through a barren and unpromising
country, where, excepting on its immediate
banks, neither water nor food can be ob-
tained. Boundless plains of sandy soil,
covered with salsolacae, extend to the north
and south, alternating with brush and
forest land, A little below the Darling (on
the left bank of the INIurray) a succession of
lagoons occur, backing flats of considerable
extent, clothed with nutritious herbage, but
the plains to the northward preserve the same
sandy and barren character for many miles.
On the right bank of the Murray is the
junction of the ana-branch or ancient chan-
nel of the Darling, and on the same bank,
more to the eastwai'd, are two lakes ( Victoria
and Bonney), situated a few miles from the
left bank of the Murray,t whose surplus
waters they receive by means of their re-
spective channels, the Rufus and the Hawker.
By this distribution of its waters the floods
of the Mm-ray ai'e prevented from being cx-
• Bennett's South Australia.
t At page 384 mention was made, on the authority
of Captain Sturt, of a supposed tributary of the Mur-
cessive, or rising above a certain height.
Between the lakes above mentioned, and
especially in the vicinity of a little sandy
peak named Mount INIisery, the country is
described in very unfavourable terms, the
river itself being flanked by high level plains
on both sides, while cliS's of 100 or 120 feet
in height, composed of clay and sand, rise
above the stream, their faces presenting the
appearance of fretwork, so deeply and deli-
cately have they been grooved out by rains.
The soil of this upper table-land is a ferrugi-
nous clay and sand. The vegetation is
chiefly salsolaceous, with scattered tufts of
grass.
In 34° 9' 56" S. lat., an extraordinary
change takes place in the bed of the river ;
for at this point commences the great fossil
formation, through which the Murray flows
during the remainder of its course.
The following interesting particulars re-
specting the river and its singular channel,
are given on the authority of Governor Gaw-
ler and Captain Sturt; the geological for-
mation of the latter will be described in
its proper place.
In 34° S. lat., the river makes the decided
bend to the southward, commonly termed
the Great Bend, angle, or elbow of the
Murray, and from thence continues in a
southerly direction to its entrance in Lake
Victoria; its banks, meanwhile, being cha-
racterised by a broad line of scrub called
the Murray belt, composed of a thick brush
of slender trees, shrubs, and bushes. When
the surface is sandy, the pine predominates ;
when otherwise, eucalypti, exocarpi, acacia,
and a large variety of others, many of them
very beautiful. On the western side of the
bank this brush is generally from fifteen to
twenty miles in breadth. On the same
bank a stripe of open ground usually in-
tervenes between the brush and the valley of
the river, covered Avith grass and salsolacae.
North of the Great Bend, the brush almost
Avholly disappears, and the open ground
spreads out into enormous plains, from sixty-
five to eighty miles in length from north to
south, and to the eastward extending to the
limits of vision. If water could be procured,
these plains, and the mountains which bound
them, would be good sheep pastures.
The most remarkable feature of the sur-
face of the great fossil formation, is its want
of water-courses and water. Along the im-
ray, named the Lindesay, which has subsequently
proved to be only an ana-branch of the Murray
itself.
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RIVER MURRAY. 319
mediate banks of the jMurray, water has
worked oi;t deep gullies, but these are very
short. Generally, the rain appears to lodge
on its surface in very numerous shallow
patches, and to be carried oif by evaporation.
The valley of the jMurray, in its whole
length, — i. e., for about 200 miles — in South
Australia, is a hollow cut through this great
fossil formation, to nearly the depth of the
level of the sea, so that the hills and cliffs
of either bank rise sometimes close to the
margin of the river, sometimes at distances
of one or two miles from it, to an elevation
of about 300 feet. The scenery is rendered
peculiarly attractive by the bold outline of
the cliffs, whose colour varies from a light
shade of yellow to a deep ochre.
The valley itself, in its whole course, is
from three-quarters of a mile to two miles
in width — the more general width being
about a mile and-a-quaiter. The river flow-
ing through it, is from 100 to 250 yards
in width, the more general breadth laeing
between 150 and 200. Immediately above
its entrance into Lake Victoria, it is 170
yards wide, fresh, and very deep. The least
depth that has been observed between the
Great Bend and Pomunda (the western point
marking the mouth of the river), was twelve
feet ; but such comparative shallows are very
rare. The river varies, during this portion
of its course, to depths of forty feet, retaining
the latter for a long distance, before joining
the lake. The deep water in general holds
very close to the banks. The flow of the cur-
rent is about a mile an hour, immediately
above the Bend ; from a mile to a mile and-
three-quarters, for two-thirds of the distance,
towards the mouth ; aiid for the remaining
third, about half-a-mile. The long liues of
hills and cliffs which bound the Murray
valley, maintain throughout a rough paral-
lelism to each other, but the river scarcely
ever preserves an equal course between
them. It sweeps continually in magnificent
reaches, from side to side, forming perpen-
dicular cliffs wherever it strikes the hills,
and encircling never-ceasing flats of from
half-a-mile to four or five miles in length.
The formation of these flats is remarkable.
It is evident, that at a very distant period,
the whole breadth of the valley was covered
by water. After this, by degrees, the cur-
rent striking against a cliff, and flying
off towards the opposite side of the val-
ley, left between it and the clift" a bank
of detritus. This bank, for some distance,
has occupied the whole space between the
strong cui-rent and the cliff. Continuing
onward, a back-water was formed between
the detritus and the cliff, and the bank has
been carried on in a long narrow stripe
between the strong current on the one
hand, and the back-water on the other, until
the river, striking against the opposite cliff,
and returning again, after a long sweep, to
the side first alluded to, formed a great
semicircular flat, with a stripe of detritus as
an outer embankment between it and the
strong current, and a large back-water lake
in the centre of the flat, communicating
with the river by a narrow channel at its
lower extremity. These back-water lakes
have been gradually filled by alluvial depo-
sition; most of them are now above the
level of the river, and are covered with a
light but excellent soil. The soil of the de-
tritus banks is of course inferior ; it is com-
posed of the lime and sand of the cliffs,
with some vegetable alluvium. Wherever
the flats are fuUy formed, the margins of
the river and back-water lakes are mostly
lined with very fine flooded gum-trees, and
a considerable part of the remaining solid
ground with the box-tree.
The order of the formation of these flats
has been most regularlj^ successive. Those
at and above the Great Bend are perfectly
formed; their detritus banks are nearly
twenty feet above the level of the stream,
and clothed with magnificent gum-trees of
all ages, while reeds have nearly disappeared
from the soil. Proceeding downwards, the
detritus banks very gradually diminish in
height, reeds become numerous, and gum-
trees thinly scattered ; until at length, in the
lower part of the stream, trees disappear,
and the flats become vast expanses of I'ceds ;
the last of them, that within four miles of
Pomunda, retaining its long stripe of de-
tritus bank, and its back-water lake, in such
extensive dimensions, that navigators with
the stream would mistake the back-water
lake for the river.
Captain Sturt, describing the Lower Mur-
ray and the Upper Mm'ray, or Hume, as
one river, says, " the heads of its imme-
diate tributaries extend from the thirty-sixth
to the thirty-second parallel of latitude, and
over two degrees of longitude ; that is to
say, from the 14Gth to the 1 tSth meri-
dian; but, independently of these, it re-
ceives the whole westerly drainage of the
interior from the Darling downwards. Tak-
ing its windings into account, the length
of the Murray cannot be less than from
320
RIVERS AND STREAMS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
1,300 to 1,500 miles. Its rise and fall are
both gradual. It receives the first addi-
tion to its waters from the eastward, in the
month of July, and rises at the rate of an
inch a day until December, in which month
it attains a height of about seventeen feet
above its lowest or winter level. As it rises,
it fills in succession all its lateral creeks and
lagoons, and it ultimately lays many of its
flats under water. The natives look to this
periodical overflow of their river with as
much anxiety as did ever or do now the
Egyptians to the overflowing of the Nile.
To both they are the bountiful dispensation
of a beneficent Creator ; for as the sacred
stream rewards the husbandman with a
double harvest, so does the ]\Iurray re-
plenish the exhausted reservoirs of the poor
children of the desert with numbei'less fish,
and resuscitates myriads of crayfish that had
long lain dormant underground ; without
which supply of food, and the flocks of Avild
fowl that at the same time cover the creeks
and lagoons, it is more than probable the
first navigators of the Murray would not have
heard a human voice along its banks.''
As a line of communication between dis-
tant colonies, the jMurray is of great and
indisputable importance. Captain Sturt
considers that, as a commercial river, it
will not be of practical utility, because it
runs for more than five degrees of latitude
through a desert, is tortuous in its com'se,
in many places much encumbered with
timber, and its depth entirely depends upon
the seasons. Other authorities, however,
entertain a difi'erent opinion on the subject,
and deem the Murray navigable at certain
seasons for a considerable portion of its
course; and, consequently, likely to facili-
tate internal transit very materially, not-
withstanding the evident non-navigability
of its sea-mouth, and the impossibility of a
vessel entering it from the ocean, except
in unusually calm weather, from the united
force of the cuiTent and the immense sweep
of rollers, which rise and break for the dis-
tance of a couple of miles before the entrance
to the mouth of the river is attained.
Before leaving the INIurray, we must not
omit noticing the "Murray cod" of the
colonists, a beautiful and well-flavoiu'cd fish,
caught at certain seasons in considerable
quantity; the general size varying from
15 lbs. to 25 lbs., but frequently much
larger. Captain Sturt mentions ha\^ng seen
one, caught by :Mr. Scott (the successor of
Mr. Eyre a*; the Protectorate station at
Moorundi), that weighed 72 lbs. Large
numbers of a smaller but better kind, about
twelve inches in length, resembling the
English perch, have recently been taken
with nets. While the waters of the Murray
are thus occupied, its banks are enlivened by
numerous flights of the crested pigeon, the
cockatoo, and a vast variety of parrots, whose
brilliant plumage contrasts charmingly with
the fine gum-trees, which form one of the most
pleasing characteristics of this noble stream.
The other streams at present known in
South Australia are, the Inman, Hindmarsh,
Currency Creek, Finniss, Angus, and Bremer,
falling into Encounter Bay and Lake Alex-
andrina; the Yankalilla, CurricaVmga, My-
ponga, Onkaparinga, Sturt, Torrens, Upper
and Lower Para, Gaivler, Hutt, Light, Wake-
field, and Rhine, falling into or running
towards Gulf St. Vincent, and the Broughton,
Button, and several small streams falling
into or flowing toward Spencer's gulf. Not
any of these are of sufiicieut importance to
need any detailed notice in this place, espe-
cially as many of them will be mentioned
in the description of the districts to which
they respectively belong.
Lakes. — The known lakes of this pro-
vince, like its rivers, form but a meagre
catalogue; yet, among them are comprised
tAvo names already familiar to my readers,
to which considerable interest attaches, i.e.
Lake Victoria or Alexandrina, the large shal-
low lagoon recently described as the recep-
tacle of the Murray river, and Lake Torrens,
that huge and strangely-shaped basin which
strikes the eye as so remarkable a feature in
the map of the island-continent of Australia.
Lake Torrens, also, we have before had
occasion to describe, in relating the explora-
tions of Mr. Eyre (p. 385). It appears for-
merly to have communicated with Spencer's
gulf, and, indeed, is still connected with
the head of the gulf by a channel now
filled up, but soft and boggy, in places
containing salt water mixed with the mud.
The lake extends in the form of a horse-
shoe over a circuit of at least 400 miles,
encircling the numerous ridges of moderate
elevation, which form the northern extremity
of Flinders' range, and receiving the whole
drainage from them. The apparent breadth
of the lake has been before stated, on the
authority of Mr. Eyre, w^ho traced its shores
on the western side of Flinders' range for
200 miles, to be from twenty to thirty
miles; while Sturt, who visited its north-
eastern portion in 1845, mentions it as only
TOPOGRAPHY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
321
from ten to twelve miles across. The decep-
tive appearances caused by mirage and
refraction, on its sliores, are most extraordi-
nary, and render the evidence of vision very
insufficient. Eyre made various attempts to
cross the lake, and on one occasion, pene-
trated into the basin for about six miles,
Lut was always compelled to retreat, by the
increasing softness of the mud; once, only,
did he succeed in tasting its waters, in a small
arm near its most north-westerly portion,
and here they were perfectly clear, about
two feet deep, as salt as the sea, and of the
same greenish hue. The south-eastern por-
tion of the bed of the lake is stated by Cap-
tain Frome to be quite dry, and " more
properly a desert, than a lake."*
To Lake Albert, which is connected with
Lake Victoria, Lake Bonney, and other
lakes and lagoons mentioned in tracing the
coast-lme of this pro\dnce, we need not again
refer.
Of the two pretty inland lakes connected
Avith the Murray, named Victoria and Bon-
ney, the former is about twenty-four miles
in circumference, very shallow, and at times
nearly dry ; the tortuous channel called the
Rufus, by which it receives the surplus
Avaters of the Murray, is about eight miles
long. Lake Bonney is ten miles in circum-
ference and very shallow, and is supplied
solely from the Murray; but its channel,
— the Hawker, which, taking its windings,
is about six miles in length — being too
small to discharge the water equally with
the fall of the river, has a current in it, at
certain times, which gives it the appear-
ance of a tributary, rather than merely a
recipient.
Topography — Settled Districts. — The chief
portion of the province at present divided into
counties, is situated between St. Vincent's
gulf and the IVIurray, on the east and west,
and between Broughton river and Encoun-
ter bay, on the north and south. These
* A striking contrariety exists between the accounts
given of different portions of the lake by Mr. Eyre
and Captain Frome, the former describing it from
close examination on the west side of Flinders' range,
as girded throughout by a steep ridge, like a sea shore
from which you descend into a basin, certainly not
above the level of the sea, possibly even below it, the
whole bed being composed of mud and water ; while
Captain Frome, who visited its south-eastern extre-
mity, declares it to be "rather a desert than a lake,
consisting of loose drifting sand and low sandy ridges,
very scantily clothed with stunted scrub on their sum-
mits." Mr. Eyre considers that Captain Frome had
not reached the basin of Lake Torrens— first, because
of the manner in which the drainage is thrown off
from the east side of Flinders' range, and the direc-
DIV. TI.
counties (eight in number) were established
in 1845. That which first claims our notice,
as containing the capital of the province,
named, —
Adelaide Count >/, is bounded f on the east,
by Gulf St. Vincent ; on the south, by the
county of Hind marsh, as far east as Mount
Barker ; thence by a line continuing along
the main range to the di\ision of the waters
between the Gawler and the Rhine, and
following the creek IMoorooroo (Jacob's
creek), to its junction with the Gawler, that
river then forming the northern boundary
to the sea-shore, not including, however,
the portion of the Gawler special survey laid
out on its left bank.
The City of Adelaide is situated about
midway between the northern and southern
extremities of Adelaide county, in 34° 57'
S. lat., 138° 38' E. long. Although now
an episcopal see, as well as a corporate city,
possessed of the rights and responsibilities
attaching to ecclesiastical and corporate
power, it is not yet fifteen years old, for the
first intending settlers reached the shores
of Gulf St. Vincent the 27th July, 1836,
not knowing where they were to locate
themselves, for the territory on which they
landed had never before been trodden by
the white man; but was the abode of
the kangaroo and emu, and roamed over
by tribes of wandering savages in quest of
food. The measui'es which were taken for
selecting the site of the capital of the colony,
have been previously stated; but the mis-
understanding between Colonel Light and
the governor, respecting the position chosen
by the former, and ths incompetency of
several of the assistant-surveyors sent out,
caused considerable delay in preparing the
lauds for selection; much disappointment
was experienced by the settlers who had
paid in money in England, and expected to
be put in immediate possession of the land
on their arrival. Until this was done, some
tion which the watercourses take to the north-east or
north ; secondly, because an apparent connection is
traceable in the course of the lake from the heights
in Flinders' range, nearly all the way round it; thirdly,
because the loose sands and low sandy ridges, crowned
with scrub, mentioned by Ca])tain Frome, are very
similar to those met with near Lake Torrens on the
west side, be/ore arriving at its basin.
t The boundaries of this and of the other coun-
ties of South Australia, are chiefly cited from the
proclamation of the local govc-rnment, by which they
were fixed ; they are, perhajjs, somewhat too minutely
stated for the general reader, liut tlie accurate topo-
graphical information thus incidentally conveyed, will,
I think, make amends for that defect.
J
of the new comers remained at Nepean bay,
in Kangaroo island; but the greater part
pitched their tents on a plain, subsequently
called Glenelg, close to the beach^ at Hold-
fast bay, there to await the completion of
the sm-vev. When the site of the capital
was fixed,' most of the emigrants removed
thither ; but, as the applotments were not
vet laid out, and the question of priority of
choice was to be settled by a lottery, the
adventurers were nnder the necessity of
forming another temporary encampment,
and the banks of the Torrens river were
soon lined with huts erected from the mate-
rials most readily procurable; some being
constructed of mud and interlaced branches,
to the governor, signed by eight gentlemen,
requesting that a public meeting might be
called on the subject. This was accordingly
done on the 10th Februaiy, Avhen a motion
was carried by 218 land-order votes to 137,
in favour of the position on the Torrens
chosen by Colonel Light, and it was declared
that he had " most ably and judicioush' dis-
charged the responsible duty assigned him
by the South Australian Commissioners/'
In March, 1837, the survey of the town
lands was completed; the selections were
made by those Avho brought land orders
from England, and the remainder were sold
to the highest biddei', the prices varying
from £3 to £20 per acre ; the average price
termed "wattle and daub;" others of turf, i was £5 per acre. Within the ensuing three
of brushwood, or of reeds, and for a roof,
thatch, or a piece of canvass, was used. A
few had tents, or wooden houses, made in
England; fire-places were, fortunately, not
essential, but several huts had an opening
at one end, enclosed on three sides with
stone slabs, and a pork-barrel deprived of its
ends, for a chimney; outside the huts a
blazing fire was kept, with a huge pot swung
over it, gipsey fashion. These primitive
structures afford a good idea of the aptness
with Avhich Englishmen and Englishwomen
accommodate themselves to the exigencies
of a novel and trying position, and of the
speed with which they establish something-
even of comfort around them, under the
most unpromising cu'cumstances. Five
months elapsed between the arrival of the
first emigrants and that of Governor Hind-
marsh; meanwhile, they would have been
totally without law or government, had not
a strong sense of mingled justice and ex-
pediency ui'ged them to establish an autho-
rity and to obey its dictates. Indeed, the
years, some of the parties who had purchased
at these prices, sold their lots at £200 to
j82,000 per acre. The site chosen for the
new city, named after the excellent Queen
Adelaide, was on a sloping ground, with
grassy flats and umbrageous trees, on the
north and south banks of the Torrens river,
about six miles from Port Adelaide, on the
east side of Gulf St. Vincent, and about six
miles from Mount Lofty, the beautiful hilly
range before described. The portion of
the city on the south side of the river com-
prises 700 acres, and is nearly level ; that
on the north side contains 34-3 acres, and
is elevated, so as to afford a fine view of
the surrounding country, embracing to the
eastward the darkly wooded valley of the
river, and the peaks and elevations of the
Mount Lofty range, with the lighter Avooded
country at its base; to the westward com-
manding the whole extent of the Adelaide
plains. The acti\dty of the colonists,
when they became certain of the site of
their city, was soon visible. In June,
early settlers appear to have manifested a \ 1837, it was noticed in the South Australian
great deal of sound common sense in their Gazette, that the good citizens were fast
proceedings; to use a colonial expression, emerging from the semi-savage state of life
each one soon began "to shake down" into which was at first inevitable; " a cottage
his proper position, and orderly eommuni- planted and fenced round with a sub-
ties were established, first at Nepean bay, stantial English iron fence, a roof adorned j
and afterwards, at Holdfast bay, even before , with a cupola, surmounted with a weather- |
the arrival of the governor.
In January, (27) 1837, Mr. Edward Ste-
phens, then dwelling at Glenelg Plains,
addressed a circular " to the piu'chasei-s of
the first sections of land in South Aus-
tralia," urging their assembling to examine
the proposed site of the chief toArn on the
Torrens, and to remove all doubt or question
as to the superiority of the place. On 2nd
February, 1837, an address was presented
vane, and a door, too, graced with a hand-
some knocker," belonging to Mr Osmond
Gilles, the colonial treasurer, triumphantly
proved the progress of civilization. During
December, 1837, Mr. Morphett remarked
that the small park land vi'ds being cleared
of temporary erections, and that dwell-
ings were being constructed of a superior
order, all in the cottage style. They were
built some feet from the front lines of the
streets^ in order that they might serve for
out-houses and offices^ when more substan-
tial edifices Avere erected. A Government
House was constructed by the seamen of
H.M.S. Bujfalo, and consisted of mud put
between laths, supported by wooden up-
rights, and covered with thatch. The sailors
omitted, in " rigging the house," to place a
fire-place or chimney.
INIr. J. F. Bennett, who reached Adelaide
in ]\Iarch, 1839, says, that it still retained
somewhat the appearance of a collection of
booths, such as may be seen at a country
fair. Brick and stone were then, however,
beginning to take the place of straw and
mud, and shingles and slates had partly
supplanted canvass and reeds. The old hut
gave way to the neat cottage or handsome
two-story house. The first tenement erected
in Adelaide, even when a few stakes or
" pegs" were all that distinguished it from
the surrounding forest, vv'as a printing-office,
from whence issued a newspaper, Avhich
contained the official acts and orders of the
government, and the latest intelligence re-
specting the geography and capabilities of
the new land. A wooden church, sent from
England in frame, with sittings for 350
persons, was erected near Holdfast bay, at
an early date; and on 26t]i January, 1838,
the foundation stone of Trimty Church was
laid, at Adelaide, by the governor, in the
presence of a numerous assemblage of sub-
scribers to its erection. On a leaden plate,
was inscribed the names of the trustees and
of the incumbent, v.itli the following sen-
tence from Nchemiah ii. 20: — "The Lord
of heaven he will prosper us ; therefore ive
his servants will arise and build." An ex-
tensive store, built of limestone, at a cost
of i^.2,000, was erected by Messrs. Fisher,
in the centre of the town ; and in a re-
markably short space of time Adelaide had
assumed many of the characteristics of an
established town. There were, says INlr.
Morphett, " neatly and in some cases ele-
gantly spread dinner tables, well-cooked
dishes, champagne, hock, claret, and mara-
schino, the presence of some Avell-bred and
well-dressed women, and the soothing strains
of a piano." The illusion of sitting at the
hospitable board of some luxurious London
citizen was only dispelled by the visitor, on
quitting the hall-door, tumbling against a
cow, pig, or some such indication of colo-
nial prosperity.
Adelaide received a severe check, in
1841-2-3, at the period of general de-
pression before mentioned ; but it has since
recovered, and made considerable progress;
and it now ranks highly among the colo-
nial towns in her ]Majesty's dominions, and
eventually promises to become a noble city.
The extensive scale on which it is laid out,
and the ample jjrovision thus made for the
accommodation of a much larger population
than it possesses at present, or is likely to
possess even for many years, gives it rather
a straggling appearance; but the fault, if
it is one, is on the right side; and the
plentiful circidation of fresh air thus se-
cured must be very conducive to the health
of the inhabitants.
Captain Sturt, writing, in 1840, of the
southern portion of the city (which, it will
be remembered, is divided by the Torrens
into two portions, distinguished as North
and South Adelaide), says it is twice the
size of the northern, is more extensively
built upon, is the established commercial
division of the city, and contains the Go-
vernment House and all the public build-
ings and offices. The sliops and stoi'es now
built are of a substantial and ornamental
character. The Government House stands
in a well-kept enclosure of nearly ten acres,
and has the appearance of an Enghsh
country mansion. It is capable of enlarge-
ment. The public offices, built in a paral-
lellogram, with an open space in the centre,
are creditable to the colony ; and the gaol,
on which £36,000 have been improperly ex-
pended, is a large and substantial sti'ucture.
There are several Christian temples. Tri-
nity Church, built of stone, stands on the
north terrace, and forms a prominent ob-
ject; St. John's, built of brick, is on the
east terrace, from whence there is a com-
manding view of the INIount Lofty range.
Christ Church is in North Adelaide. The
Roman Catholic church, with its excellent
public schools, stands in a fine situation on
the AA'Cst terrace ; and there is a lioman
Catholic cathedral, I believe, now building.
There are several other churches and cha-
pels, appropriated for the Avorship of the
different Christian denominations. The
Bank of South Australia is a prominent
feature on the north terrace ; and there
arc several other good buildings in various
parts of the city. A theatre, capable of
holding 1,200 persons, which Avas built a
few years ago, and proved an unprofitable
speculation, is noAV rented by government at
£200 a year, and used for the supreme com't,
resident magistrates, sheriffs' offices, &c.
The streets have respectively a width of
66, 99^ and 132 feet, intersect each other
at right angles, and are sufficiently elevated
above the bed of the Torrens to facilitate a
perfect system of drainage, which is very
much required; for, with the exception of
Hindley and Run die streets, the thorough-
fares are unpaved, and large masses of
rubbish are allowed to accumulate. Unless
attention be paid to the drainage of Ade-
laide, a damp summer, followed by great
heat, may cause a severe pestilential dis-
ease; for it is by the neglect of such pre-
cautions that, in climates Hke South Aus-
traha, plague finds not only a temporary
but a permanent abiding place.
Hindley-street, about a mile in length,
has many excellent warehouses and shops,
with elegantly designed fronts and plate-
glass windows. It is the principal place
for business, and presents an animated ap-
pearance.
A large cemetery, sufficient for the re-
quirements of Adelaide for many years to
come, is situated outside the city line, on
its western boundary.
Adelaide is abundantly supplied with wa-
ter from the Torrens, and by means of wells
sunk sixty to eighty feet. There are nume-
rous springs in the hills, five miles distant,
and at sufficient elevation to enable every
house to be supplied by pipes.
Four bridges over the Torrens connect
the two di^dsions of the city, which is sur-
rounded by a public demesne, termed the
"Park lands," for the breadth of half-a-mile.
The advantage of these reserves cannot be
doubted, although at present they increase
the stragghng appearance of the city, and
must do so until Adelaide attains the im-
portance anticipated for it by Colonel Light,
to whose respected memory a monument,
consisting of a pentagonal Gothic cross,
forty-five feet in height, has been erected
in the centre of Light-square, at Ade-
laide.
On both sides of the river between North
and South Adelaide there are reserved
allotments, to the extent of 200 acres, for
the formation of pleasure-grounds and public
gardens.
Beneath the umbrageous canopies which
enhance the beauty of the city park, the
annual horticultural and agricultural show
of South Australia is held ; and the occa-
sion is a festive holiday for the city of
Adelaide and the surrounding country. On
this occasion, not only many varieties of
delicious fruits, beautiful flowers, and choice
vegetables are exhibited, but also articles of
export and of domestic economy, raised and
prepared by the industry and skill of the
colonists, together with models for agricul-
tural implements, samples of corn, wax,
honey, leather, starch, and other useful
commodities.
Beyond the Park lands, which together
with the city contain 400 acres, the " pre-
liminary" or country sections, of 134 acres
each, commence. Many of these have been
laid out in smaller sections, and are being
rapidly built on and improved.
Tlie race-course of Adelaide is a peculiarly
good one ; and during the three days in
the begining of January annually devoted
to this favourite amusement, the settlers
from far and near throng to the city, racing
being in this, as indeed in all the Australian
colonies, a very popular pastime — as are
also the other English sports of hunting,
cricket, &c.
Level plains extend between the city and
the Port of Adelaide, in 34° 51' S. lat.,
138° 34' E. long., which is situated on the
eastern bank of a large creek running nearly
parallel with the coast for about twelve
miles, and assuming, with its numerous
branches, the appearance of a river. There
are two entrances from seawarci ■ — the
northern is shallow; the southern contains
deep water, which is continued for ten miles.
It is a very fair harbour, although origi-
nally it had only twelve feet at low water
on the outer bar. By means of a dredging
machine, the sand has been removed so as
to allow vessels of 300 to 400 tons to pass
into the haven ; and from the nature of the
submarine formation, the bar may be re-
moved to a still greater extent, if nece!?sary,
and any improvement thus effected will be
permanent. During the rainy season the
Torrens pours some of its waters into the
head of Adelaide creek. There is a light
ship oft' the bar, at the entrance of the Port
Adelaide creek, and a steam-tug now enables
vessels to reach the shipping station without
the vexatious delays to Avhich they were
formerly subjected. That portion of the
population connected with the shipping or
the harbour, reside on the spot, and give
to Port Adelaide the appearance of a small
town ; but the only substantial buildings are
the wharfs, one belonging to the govern-
ment, the other to the South Australian
Company, and the custom-house. There is
a good majeadamized road between the port
and city of Adelaide (distant about seven
miles), constructed at an expense of
.£12,000 by the South Australian Company,
and subsequently transferred to the local
government, in exchange for 12,000 acres
of land. But a rail or tram-road is still
much needed — not only from the port to
the city, but also to Gawler town — for the
conveyance of ore and wool to the place of
embarkation ; this useful measure will, it is
expected, be soon accomplished.
Another excellent road, the foundation of
which is of stone brought from Kangaroo
island, has been constructed across a man-
grove swamp, between the port and Albert
Town, a straggling village about a mile dis-
tant ; the cost of this road, from the expen-
sive period at which it was commenced, is
stated at £14,000, which is improbable.*
Besides that connecting it with the port,
four other roads branch off from Adelaide,
of which one leads north through Gawler
town — another, called the Great Eastern
Road, to Mount Barker and the Murray;
the third, running southwards, crosses the
range to Encounter bay ; and the fourth, to
Glenelg and Holdfast bay.
There are several pretty villages in the
vicinity of Adelaide; indeed, within five years
of its establishment, upwards of " thirty vil-
lages were started" within three miles of
the city ; in 1841, there were but seven
remaining, \dz., Hindmarsh, containing 200
houses ; Bowden, 50 ; Prospect, 25 ; The-
barton, 100; Kensington, 40; Walkerville,
50; Islington, 45. Hindmarsh, Bowden,
and Prospect, were principally inhabited by
persons engaged in the carriage of goods
from Port Adelaide to the city, and by
brickmakers and labourers. Thebarton
and Walkerville contain many substantial
houses. Kensington and Richmond are
quiet and secluded villages embosomed in
trees, with neat residences, and beautiful
gardens. Islington, on the high-road to
Gawler, is a favourite place for dairymen,
on account of the good cattle runs imme-
diately behind the village, which contains
several good inns.
About three miles from Adelaide, on the
right bank of the Torrens, is the village of
Klemzig, the oldest of the German settle-
ments ; the houses having been built by the
refugees on the plan of those of their native
country, contrast pleasingly with the general
style. 'The scenery in the valley of the
Torrens is descril)ed as picturesque, its
♦ Angas' Savage Life, p. 207.
grassy flats being shaded by beautiful and
umbrageous trees, and the land in the
vicinity of the sources and tributaries of the
Torrens is very valuable. The river itself,
although in summer frequently but a chain
of deep broad pools, with long intervening
dry spaces, in the winter pours down an
impetuous stream, furnished by the moun-
tain torrents, whose channels lie in the deep
glens or ravines that occur between the
spurs of the Mount Lofty range. The
scenery around the heads of these little
sti'cams is described by Mr. Angas as wild
and romantic, especially that of Glen Stuart,
a rocky pass between the hills; during its
course through which the Moriatta rivulet
dashes over steep chasms of rock, with pre-
cipices rising like walls on either side, form-
ing three distinct waterfalls. In one of
these the water has a descent of some seventy
feet, falling into a deep pool, from which it
again emerges on its downward mission to
the plains.
The borders of this stream are in many
places choked with the fresh-water tea-tree ;
the native lilac, and a dwarf species of
mimosa are frequent along its banks. The
variety of Xanthorese or grass-tree, styled
Black Boy by the settlers, overruns the
rocky sides of the hills, usually abounding in
the most stony and inaccessible places.
The marine townships of Glenelg and
Brighton have a good beach, and are fre-
quented as bathing-places by the inhabitants
of Adelaide : a charming ride of four or five
miles, along an excellent road, brings the
citizen to the bay, which is a favourite even-
ing's excursion after the heat of the day is
over.
The little river Sturt falls into the gulf at
Glenelg, after spreading over the flats behind
the sandhills at that place. On its banks,
as also on those of the Onkaparinga, a more
important stream about fifteen miles to the
southward, there are excellent farms. The
township of Noarlimga is weU situated about
two miles from the head of the Onkapa-
ringa, which is navigable so far for small
craft. A large steam flour-mill, and a bridge
of 100 feet span, have been erected; several
lodes of copper ore exist in this vicinity.
Beyond Noarlunga is the township of IVil-
lunga; the country between is generally good,
portions of it arc sandy and scrubby, but
Morphett's Vale is a rich and extensive
piece of land, from which Sturt mentions
having seen several large stacks of hay cut,
before it was settled, and while yet iu a
3.26
COUNTIES KOllTH OF ADELAIDE— GAWLER TOWN.
state of nature. AVilluuga lies close under
the foot of the hills, which here trending to
the south-south-west, meet the coast line
extremity of the Southern Aldingha plains.
Close to this point is the conical hill named
Mount Terrible. The Mount Lofty range
which forms the eastern boundary of the
extensive plains on which Adelaide stands is
about three miles distant; the intermediate
space traversed by the Great Eastern or
]Mount Barker road, is laid out in carefully
cultivated farms. On the first rise is the
Glen Osmond lead mine, from thence the
road winds up a romantic valley to the sum-
mit of the range, which is covered with a
dense forest of stringy bark, and adorned
with a great variety of papilionaceous plants ;
and several beautiful kinds of orchidaceoe.
On the eastern confines of Adelaide county is
the village of Hahndorf, with its industrious
Prussians, situated among the Mount Barker
hills, and the village of Nairne, immediately
to the north of which is Mount Torrens.
To the north and east of the city of Ade-
laide are extensive tracts of fertile land,
intersected by the valleys of the North and
South Para rivers, beyond which lie the rich
districts of Lynedoch valley, of which how-
ever but a small portion is comprised within
the county whose leading features we have
now noted.
The names and limits of the four counties
north and north-east of Adelaide, are as
follows : —
Gaivler County, bounded on the south by
Adelaide county as far as the extreme east of
the Gawler special survey (all of which it
includes); thence by a line following round
this survey to the main north road, and
running along this road to the crossing of
the Wakefield river, bounded on the north
by this river, and on the west by the coast.
Liffht County, bounded on the west by
the Gawler county, and on the south by
Adelaide county, as far as the dividing ridge
between the Gawler and the Rhine ; thence
by a line following the main range to the
north, past Mount Rufus, to above the
sources of the Light, in the parallel of about
33° 50'; turning round the ridge on the
west bank of the Gilbert, in a line nearly
direct upon Mount Horrocks, until it meets
{ the eastern sources of the Wakefield, and
: running along this river to the crossing of
the northern road.
Stanley County, bounded on the south by
the counties of Gawler and Light, on the
cast by the nuun range as far as the parallel of
33° 20', and then by the down course of the
Broughton river, till about due north of the
mouth of the Wakefield, a line connecting
these points forming the western boundary.
Eyre County, bounded o)i the south by
Sturt county ; on the east by the Murray,
(including the sections laid out on each
bank), as far as the Great Bend: from
thence by a direct line to the north-east
angle of Light county, Avhich forms the
western boundary.
Of the territory comprised in these four
counties, the central and southerly portion
is the most settled. The chief place —
Gaivler Town, situated in the angle formed
by the junction of the little Para and Gawler
rivers, though yet in its infancy, promises
to become of considerable importance; it
contains a church, three or four good inns,
a steam flour mill, several stores, and other
buildings. The copper ores from the Burra-
Burra mines pass through this town for
shipment at Port Adelaide, which is about
twenty-three miles distant. Gawler river
rises in the southern part of the Barossa
ranges, and after receiving the Little Para,
flows to the westward of the shores of St.
Vincent's gulf. It has extensive and well-
wooded flats of deep alluvial soil along its
banks, flanked by the plains of Adelaide,
the line of trees running across them, only
with a broader belt of wood, indicate the
course of the river in a similar manner to
that of Adelaide creek. " Except these fea-
tures," says Captain Sturt, " and two or
three box forests, at no great distance from
Albert town, the plains are almost destitute
of timbei', and being very level, give an idea
of extent they do not really possess, being
succeeded by pine-forests and low scrub to
the north from Gawler town."
Beyond Gawler town, both to the north
and east, a decided change becomes percep-
tible in the character of the comitry ; the
monotonous plains give place to an undu-
lating and highly wooded district, containing
many fertile valleys. The road between
Gawler town and the river Murray, at about
eight miles from the former, passes through
Lynedoch Valleij, an extensive and fertile
tract, where there are two copper mines and
a pretty hamlet. There is very little sur-
face water; but a copious supply, of excel-
lent quality, has been found attainable by
digging five or six feet down in the centre
of the valley. Lynedoch valley is bounded
on the east by the Barossa range, as the
beautiful comitiy is termed, situated between
ANGASTON— KAPUNDA— THE BURRA-BURRA MINE.
327
tlie river Light and the hills, called the
Heranian range ; those termed the Hawdon
range and the Belvedere range, comprising
an area of about 225 English square miles.
This district is rich in metals, deposited
close to the surface, and occasionally crop-
ping out. It is watered partly by the Gawler
and partly by the little river Rhine. One
of its most picturesque and valuable tracts
is Angas Park, the property of Mr. G. F.
Angas, which is about seven miles long and
four broad, "ndth a deep siliceous soil, black-
ened by the abundance of vegetable matter.
Salem Valley is a lovely spot : the flat of
the valley, through which the Gawler flows,
is from one to five miles broad, with undu-
lating hills rising on either side. The
thriving %illage of Bethany, inhabited by
several hundred Germans, is situated at the
foot of the Barossa range, as are also those
of Lobethal and Langmeil ; but the chief
place in the district is Angaston, at German
Pass, which is picturesquely situated at the
head of a ra-vine, looking towards the Gree-
nock hills, and possesses a considerable num-
ber of comfortable habitations, a good hotel,
schools, and stores. Outside the town is an
excellent place of worship, with a cemetery,
enclosed by stone walls.
About twelve miles to the north-west of
Angaston, close to the river Light, is the
rich copper mine of Kapunda, the property
of Captaiii Bagot and Mr. Dutton, from
nhich the valuable muriate of copper, or
acatamite, previously found only in South
America, is procured. The cottages of the
miners are built of stone, obtained from
a hill of clay slate on the property, which,
being more or less tinged with copper, gives
them a peculiar appearance. A chapel,
serving also as a school-house, has been
erected, and the little hamlet wears a cheerful
aspect. Before long, a to-wnship will pro-
bably be formed here. The river Light de-
serves remark, not only for the mineral
wealth in its vicinity, but also for the thou-
sands of acres of fertile soil ready for the
plough, diversified by undulating hills, with
here and there patches of open soil. The
fertility of the numerous branch valleys
Avhich strike off from the main channel of
the Light, on each side, is testified by Mr.
Dutton from personal acquaintance, he
having resided, for some time, at Anlaby,
under jSIount Waterloo.
On the Light river, and from thence
northwards, the cultivation of the soil is not
carried on, excepting by those settlers who
grow corn for their own consumption ; here,
also, "the bush'' may be said to commence,
as all the country to the north, taking in
the Wakefield, Hill, Broughton, and Hutt
rivers, Crystal brook, &c., as far north as
Blount Arden, is occupied by sheep and
cattle farmers. In these districts there is no
lack of the best soil, and in most of them,
land ah'cady surveyed is open for selection
to the newly arrived emigrant.* A remark-
able feature in the extensive downs through
portions of which the Wakefield flows, is
the absence of trees; they are, neverthe-
less, well grassed, and covered with a pro-
fusion of orchideous plants. The Broughton
river, which, as we have before seen, forms
the northern boundary' of Stanley county,
and, consequently, of the territor}^ of Avhich
we have been speaking, was crossed by Eyi-e
in 33° 28' S. lat. At that point its bed
is of considerable width, and its channel
occupied by long, wide, and very deep water
holes, connected with one another by a
strongly running stream, which seldom or
never fads, even in the driest season. The
soil upon its banks, however, is described
as not valuable, being generally stony and
barren, bearing a sort of prickly grass
(spinifex) . Wild-fowl abound in its pools.
In the eastern portion of Stanley county
is the famous Bun-a-Bmra mine, situated on
the Burra creek, about eighty-five miles in
a direct line from Adelaide. The ores lie
in the same dii'ection as the ranges in which
they are placed. Captain Sturt makes the
folloA^ing mention of this immense mine : —
" The deposits of iron are greater than those
of copper, and it is impossible to describe
the appearance of the huge clean masses
of which they arc composed. They look,
indeed, like immense blocks that had only
just passed from the forge. The deposits
at the Bm-ra-Burra amoimted, I believe, to
some thousand tons, and led to the impres-
sion, that where so gi-eat a quantity of sur-
face ore existed, but little would be found
beneath. In working this, gigantic mine,
however, it has proved otherwise. I was
informed by one of the shareholders, that
it took three hom-s and three-quarters to
go through tlie shafts and galleries of the
mine. Some of the latter are cut through
soHd blocks of ore, which glitter like gold
Avhere the hammer or chisel has struck the
rock, as you pass Tvith a candle among
them." Statistical information respecting
• South Australia and its Mines, by Francis
Dutton. 1848.
328
EYRE, STURT, HINDMARSH, AND RUSSELL COUNTIES.
else-
this extraordinary mine is given
where.
The greater part of Eyi-e county is occu-
pied by " the dark and gloomy sea of
scrub" pre\aously adverted to as the^NIui'ray
Belt, here about twenty miles wide; the
hilly country immediately to the westward
of it, is of an inferior description, portions
only being occupied as sheep stations. A
dray-road has been formed through the
scrub, communicating with the government
station of Moorundi, distant twenty-six
miles from the Great Bend of the Murray,
and ninety from Adelaide. It was estab-
lished by Governor Grey, in 1841, in con-
sequence of the coUisions, too frequently
attended with loss of life and great destruc-
tion of property, which were constantly
occui'ring between the settlers coming over-
land with stock from New South Wales,
and the natives. So deep a spirit of revenge
had thereby become kindled in the breasts
of the latter, that although suffering severely
from every contest, tliey would not allow
any party with stock to pass along the line
of the river, without attempting to stop
then- progress. The appointment of j\Ir.
E\Te as resident magistrate and protector
of the aborigines, w^as most judicious, from
his proved humanity, and the influence he
had acquired over the natives. By his
exertions, aided by the occasional distri-
bution of a limited supply of blankets and
flour among the aborigines, their good- will
has been obtained, and the banks of the
Murray, no longer the scene of conflict and
slaughter, are now occupied by stock sta-
tions ; while in calm weather, the natives,
in their canoes of bark, are constantly upon
its waters, busily employed in striking fish.
Mr. EjTc, now lieutenant-governor of
New Zealand, has been succeeded at Moo-
rundi by Mr. Scott, whose influence appears
to equal that of his predecessor.
To the south of the county of Eyre lie the
counties of Sturt, Hindmarsh, and Russell.
Sturt County, bounded on the south and
east by the Russell county, as high as its
termination in about 3i°'50' S. lat., and
thence by the Murray (including the thirty-
nine sections), to the parallel of about
34° 32' due east of the dividing ridge be-
tween the Gawler and the Rhine, a line
between which points forms its northern
limits ; on the west by the counties of Ade-
laide and Hindmarsh.
Hindmarsh Counhj, bounded by the coast-
line from the termination of the main ranirc
in St. Vincent's gulf below Mount Terrible,
round Cape Jervis, to the sea outlet of the
jNIun-ay ; thence by the south-east shore oi
Mundo Island, in Lake Victoria, to Point
Sturt, on the northern shore of the lake;
thence by a direct line across the lake to
the mouth of the Bremer; thence by that
river up to the crossing-place of the eastern
road, above Langhorne's station; thence,
taking a line about N. 20" AV., till it strikes
the main range at ISIount Barker, con-
tinuing along the eastern range (enclosing
the jNIount Barker sui'vey), to Mount INlag-
nificent; thence by a course about north-
west, to the top of the AVillunga range,
where it is crossed by the southern road,
and following the ridge to the sea below
Mount Terrible.
Russell County, bounded by the coast-line
from the sea outlet of the ]Murray, to a spot
opposite w^here the Salt creek empties itself
into the Coorong; by this creek, to the
rocky ridge at its source, and thence by
taking a line due north, till it cuts the
INIurray, in about 34° 50' S. lat., bounded
on the north and west by the INIurray, as
far as Pomunda ; thence by a straight line
across Lake Victoria to Point Sturt.
Of the territory included in these three
southern counties, the finest and most cul-
tivated portion is comprised in the district
which, taking its name from its distinguish-
ing feature, is called Mount Barker. This
mountain, with its saddle-backed summit,
is a very conspicuous object, risible for
many leagues in the interior, beyond the
Murray; it forms a landmark for overland
parties from New South Wales, by which
they steer for the settled districts of South
Australia. The district may be said to ex-
tend from the riUage of Nairne (before
mentioned) to Strathalbyn, on the river
Angas, the latter place being fifteen miles
from the shores of Lake Victoria. It
abounds in beautiful valleys which, though
of limited extent, are level and clear; their
soil is a rich alluvial deposit, and the plough
may be driven from one end to the other,
without meeting a single obstacle to stop its
progress. The trees are grouped as if by
the hand of art. All British grains and
fruits are climatized here — and apples,
strawberries, and other fi'uits, which do not
thrive Avell upon the plains, grow luxuriantly
at Mount Barker, while upon the sunny
low lands, all the fruits of the Mediter-
ranean are produced in abundance. Besides
much fine agricultural land, there is also
a considerable portion of good pasturage ;
but there are, nevertheless, many stony
ranges entirely useless, even to stock.*
Mount Barker, the county-town of the
district, contains a court-house, where a
bench of magistrates sit once a week; a
police-station, a post-office, a school-house,
steam flour-mill, an inn, and some respec-
table private dwelling-places. The German
village QiHahndorf, before named as situated
on the confines of Adelaide county, belongs
to this district, as does also the township
of Macclesfield, situated on the river An gas.
This stream has its source in some clear
bubbling springs near the township, that
gush up from the earth, shaded by mimosa
trees, supplying a constantly running brook
of the purest water. Macclesfield is, at
present, a pretty little village; the white
cottages and tents of its settlers, inter-
mingled with corn-fields and gardens, and
groups of cattle reposing under the shade
of the gum-trees, bespeaking the nucleus
of the future town.f Its native name is
Kangooarinilla, signifjdng " the place for
kangaroos and water."
To the east of the Mount Barker district
a flat country, with a poor and sandy soil,
extends to the Murray belt, beyond Avhich,
on the direct road to Mount Gam bier and
Rivoli bay, and fifteen miles below Moo-
rundi, is the site of the township of WeDing-
ton, as yet only a station for the mounted
police. A ferry has been established here
across the MiuTay, which enters Lake Alex-
andrina, about half-a-dozen miles from this
point.
" The country immediately to the east-
ward of the Murray affords, in some places,
a scanty supply of grass for sheep; but,
generally speaking, it is similar in its soil
and rock formation, and consequently, in its
productions, to the scrubby country to the
westward."!
' Many parts of the shores of Lake Vic-
toria are composed of rich land, but in
others they are very bleak and desolate.
The ground on the eastern side of the lake
is a sand flat, gradually improving to the
southward ; where the shore begins to trend
to the westward, it becomes very good.
The rising ground behind, though sandy,
affords excellent back-runs for cattle, and
the hills are well timbered. Along the
eastern and southern shores of Lake Albert,
* Captain Sturt's Account of South Australia.
t Angas' Savage Life in Australia.
X Captain Kturt.
l;iv. II.
the same character of countrv continues, but '
the soil appears to be still better, and the
flats become more extensive. Mr. Fromc
states, in his report, that he considei's that
there are, at least, 50,000 acres of good
agricultm-al soil on the borders of the latter
lake.
The District of Encounter Bay lies between
the abrupt cape called Rosetta head and
the sea-mouth of the !Murray. It consists
of several beautiful valleys, covered with
luxuriant grass, and backed by the ranges
of hills Avhich, opposite Encounter bay,
occupy nearly the centre of the promontory,
forming a division between the eastern and
western waters, which is marked by a con-
siderable breadth of stringy bark forest.
The settlers here are numerous, and the
whale-fishery is carried on with considerable
success.
Currency Creek and Finniss River empty
themselves into the Goolwa, as the lagoon
is called connected with Lake Victoria, to
the eastward; the valley of the former
stream is prettily wooded and grassy, but
contains no very gi'eat extent of good land.
To the north and south it is bounded by
barren scrub. Near the head of the creek
is a great sandy basin, which forms a
striking contrast to the fertile valleys in
its Adcinity, and is, in itself, a remarkable
physical feature. At an elevation of between
600 and 700 feet, this basin is surrounded
by rugged stony hills, excepting to the
south and the south-east, in which directions
it falls into the valley of the Hindmarsh
and Currency creek, respectively. Mount
Magnificent, Mount Compass, and Mount
Jagged, rise in isolated groups in diflferent
parts of this basin, the soil of which is
pui-e sand; the surface undulating, and in
many parts covered with stunted banksias.
The Finniss rises behind Mount Magnifi-
cent, and is joined by a smaller branch
from JNIount Compass, as it flows from the
eastward.
To the north-cast of Hindmarsh river,
lies the narrow but beautiful ^'alley of the
Myponga, between which and Mount Ter-
rible, the country is poor and scrubby.
Aldinga Plains (to the north of the My-
ponga,) are sufficiently extensive to feed
numerous sheep ; but are at present unused,
from their deficiency of sui'face water. The
Httle river Yankalilla empties itself into
Gulf St. Vincent, passing between hills of
white sand, overgrown ^yith an almost end-
less variety of dark evergreen shrubs and
2 s
3S0
FLINDERS COUNTY AND PORT LINCOLN DISTRICT.
salsolaceous plants ; like the valley of the
ISIvpoiis^a, that of the Yankalilla ranks
among the most fair and fertile tracts in
the colony; the country between them is
exceedingly romantic, becoming more broken
and mountainous towards Rapid bay, a short
distance from whence is the valuable lead
mine of Yattagolingay.
Before leading this portion of Sov+h
Australia, it may be noticed, that from Cape
Jer\-is, its south-east extremity, a practi-
cable route for wheeled vehicles has been
repeatedly traced to a good and available
country twenty miles beyond Mount Re-
markable, in the north, equal in lineal dis-
tance to the space of country between the
eastern boundary of Cornwall and the
eastern boundary of Middlesex, and contain-
ing, it is believed, as large a proportion of
available land in a given breadth, as was
comprised in that dinsion of England while
yet in a state of nature.
Partially located and unsettled Districts. —
The extremity of the Eyria peninsula, situ-
ated between Spencer's gulf and the Great
Australian bight, comprises,
Flinders County, which is bounded on the
south by the coast between Capes Wiles and
Cape Catastrophe ; on the east, by the coast
from Cape Catastrophe to the northern ex-
tremity of Louth bay, including all the
islands on the coast between these parallels,
as well as William's ard the Gambier island ;
the northern and western limits are still
undetermined.
The settlement at Port Lincoln is the
only one, not merely in Flinders county,
but in the whole province westward of
Spencer's gulf. The character of the neigh-
bouring country, and the future prospects
of the township, have been differently \'iewed
by several explorers ; some contending that
the territory around is worthless, others
that there are large fertile tracts. Unless,
however, a district be thinly wooded, and
txplorable by navigable rivers, it is almost
impossible to form an accurate opinion.
According to Lieutenant-colonel Gawler,
whose geographical and geological observa-
tions are extremely valuable, the sm-face
of the Ej^ria peninsula, which is nearly an
equilateral triangle of 200 miles on each
side, is divided into three great portions : —
(1) the mountainous table-land tract; (2) the
low undidating country ; and (3) the hill coun-
try. The first has been noted at p. 660.
The many sliort and narrow mountain ridges,
which rise from 300 to 700 feet above tlie
plateau, in much confusion, but with tlio
prevailing direction towards Spencer's gulf,
are generally grassy and sprinkled with
small casuarina trees ; the water- courses be-
tween these ridges are occasionally lined
with casuarina, and with pines twenty -five
to thirty feet in height; the great outer
slopes of the table-land are also frequently
grassy; but the small plains between the
bases of the ridges and the water-com'ses
are almost always covered with brush, scrub,
or heath, generally the latter.
The herbage is of the description known
as kangaroo grass, but more commonly of
the same slender sort as is seen on the
plains between Adelaide and the sea. The
soil which bears the grass is a red ferru-
ginous sandy loam, much of it appearing
rich of its kind, and available for agricul-
tui'al or horticultural purposes.
The loio undulating country forming the
tongue of the peninsula consists of gentle
elevations, not more than 300 feet above
the sea, and is said to be a poor region.
A scarcely varying and nearly flat belt of
brush, scrub, and heath, seven to fifteen
miles wide, extends along the sea-coast to
the base of the mountain table-laud, whose
di'ainage passes through this tract. Several
salt lagoons, frequently dry and cloth. ed
with fine groves of the " salt-water tea tree,"
are found in this district.
The Hill Country, elevated 600 to 1,000
feet in height, commences in about 34° 10'
S. lat., and has its common courses to north-
east and south-Avest, with strong deviations
to north-west and south-east. In the nor-
therly subdi\dsion of these ridges, i.e., from
the " Sheep hills," in 34° 11' to "Northside
hill," a direct distance of forty miles, the
country is extensively covered with good
grass ; towards Cape Catastrophe, a similar
country, though in a more limited propor-
tion, extends. The Hill comitry contains
many fine valleys, one named the Tod is
sixteen miles in length, and has numerous
lateral branches. Another, six or eight
miles to the west of Boston bay, is a succes-
sion of broad swamps, some of which are
now available for agriculture, as the soil in
these valleys is of excellent quality. In the
hill ranges there is a considerable quantity
of permanent surface-water, the grassy hills
and valleys are sprinkled with fine casuarinas,
and the scenery is very beautiful.
Captain Ilawson ascended the Hill country
from the Happy Valley in a northerly direc-
tion for fifteen miles to the confluence of the
COUNTRY FIIOM STREAKY BAY TO MOUNT ARDEN.
331
Tod and Severn rivers^ about five miles west-
north-west of Mount GaAvler (twenty-one
miles distant from Boston bay.) During tlie
Avhole of this journey^ he passed over a
ver}' fine sheep country, the hills being
covered to then' summits with grass. The
explorer reached Cowan's Vale and lake,
(part of Steven^s river,) about twenty miles
north-north-west of the Happy valley.
" Nothing," he says, " can be imagined
more beautiful than the country about this
vale (which is about five miles long by one
broad) ; the grass in the flats being abun-
dant, and growing to a great height."
Smith's Valley, eight miles distant in the
same direction, is equally rich, and contains
many thousand acres of excellent land fit
for agi'icultui'al purposes. The hills in every
direction are adapted for pasturage, and
abundantly supplied with water the whole
year round. During this journey of fifty
miles the travellers were never two hours
without water, and did not meet with five
miles of unavailable land. When at the
greatest distance from the Happy valley the
country, as far as the eye could reach,
appeared to be of a similar character.
The opinion of Mr. Robert Tod, of the
country to the north and west of Port Lin-
coln, is equally favourable; he says the
majority of the hills, even during the dry
season, afford good sheep pasture, while the
valleys appear to be adapted for agricul-
tui'al purposes.
Major O'Halloran and a party of police
made two excursions, one of eighty-five
miles to the north-east, and the other of
fifty-five miles to the north-west of Port
Lincoln. He reported the country to be
well watered, covered with luxru'iant herbage,
abounding in game, and with numerous na-
tives. Angas, writing in 1846, says that
about thirty miles to the north and west of
Port Lincoln, there is a rich and beautiful
country, as yet but little known, having
several fine lakes of Avater, and luxuriant
pasture land, scattered with park-like trees ;
beyond these lakes rise two distinct ranges
of lofty and abrupt hills. Waungerri is the
native name for the largest lake, Avhich
abounds in black swans and other water-
fowl; kangaroos, emus, and a variety of
smaller game are still numerous in the sur-
rounding country, which is unoccupied by
settlers.
These opinions of disinterested eye-wit-
nesses fully redeem Flinders county and
the Port Lincoln neighbourhood from the
imputation of barrenness; tliere are now
from 70,000 to 100,000 sheep in this dis-
trict, and a practicable line of route having
been discovered from Adelaide along the
western shore of Spencer's gulf, the value of
landed property will most probably increase ;
the more so, if, as reported, good copper ore
be also found in this part of the colony,
which has already commenced shipping
wool and tallow direct from Boston bay to
England.
Mr. Eyre crossed the country in a direc-
tion nearly due east from Streaky bay
toAvards Mount Arden, September 18, 1839.
The first part consisted of alternations of
brush, of open grassy plains, and high
scrubby and sand ridges, interspersed with
hard limestone flats, to the base of the
Gawler range (see page 660), whence the
route was through a perfect desert, very
scrubby and stony, Avith much prickly grass
growing upon the sand ridges. The liiUs
seen were without either timber or shrubs,
and very barren, with theii' front slopes ex-
ceedingly steep, and covered by small loose
stones ; several salt lakes Avere seen in A'arious
directions, but no indications of fresh-water
or springs. Ridge behind ridge appeared to
rise to the north -Avest, increasing in eleva-
tion. Further east the view from a hill
shoAved to the north one vast sea of level
scrub, and in the midst of it a lake. The
journey to the head of Spencer's gulf was
performed Avith much difficulty ; Eyre says,
" there were no water-courses, and no tim-
ber— aU is barren, rocky, and naked in the
extreme." It appears to me probable that
the Gawler range extends continuously to
the north-Avest, and that a good country
may be found on the northern sides of the
range at a distance of fifty to 100 miles
inland from the Great Bight, improving
as it approaches the districts of Western
Australia.
Yorke Peninsula has only been partially
examined ; so far as is known, the shore is
generally Ioav, Avith several sandy beaches,
on Avhich may be seen ironstone, granite,
Avhinstone, and quartz. The land, as seen
near Point Pearce, rises gi-adually from the
coast towards the centre of the peninsula,
and consists of open plain, Avith occasional
belts of forest. This description of country
appears to exist as far as the eye can see,
north or south. The soil is light, of a
loamy nature, and well covered Avith fine
grasses. Fresh water has been discovered
in several places. The scrub and pine brush
332 GREY AND ROBE COUNTIES— THE COORONG AND LAKE ALBERT.
are in belts, but not dense * The water
shed appears to be westerly. It is prema-
ture to decide as to the pastoral or agri-
cultvu'al capabilities of the peninsula, or as
to its mineral resources. The geographical
position is good; with navigable gulfs and
harbours on either side, and possessing a
temperate climate, it will doubtless attract
attention as the population and wealth of
the proAince increase.
The country to the eastward of the head
of Spencer's gulf, and north of Stanley
county, has not been well explored : the
district about Mount Remarkable is said to
be exceedingly pictui'esque and good, and
possessed of considerable mineral advan-
tages. A special survey of 20,000 acres has
been taken by a company, for the express
pm'pose of working any lodes that might be
found. After passing the Mount Remark-
able range, the aspect of the land deterio-
rates, and continues falling off towards the
dreary region which extends round the head
of the gulf, and towards Lake Torrens.
With regard to the country eastward of
the high land, extending north from Mount
Bryan, as far as Mount Hopeless, a distance
of 300 miles, as far as the meridian of 141°,
and probably beyond it, the result of several
investigations shows, that there is no land
available for either agricultural or pastoral
pui-poses; and in the unbiassed opinion of
Captain Frome, of the Royal Engineers,
though there may be occasional spots of
good land at the base of the main range, on
the sources of the numerous creeks flowing
from thence towards the inland desert, these
must be too limited in extent to be of any
present value.
^ Two recently-formed, but important coun-
ties, yet remain to be noticed, situated in
the south-eastern portion of the colony,
viz. : —
Robe County, bounded on the north by
the parallel of 36° 54' S. lat., extending
from the sea- coast to where it intersects the
141st meridian; on the east by the said
meridian; on the south by the northern
boundary of Grey county; ajid on the
south-west and west by the sea-coast.
Grey County, bounded on the east by the
meridian of 141° from the sea-coast, to
where it is intersected by the parallel of
37° 20' south; on the north by the said
parallel, from its intersection with the 141st
meridian, to the sea-coast; on the south-
west and south by tne sea-coast. In Robe
• Report of Mr. Hughes.
county a township has been laid out on
Guichen bay, and one in Grey county, on
Rivoli bay. Governor Grey, accompanied
by Mr. Deputy-surveyor Burr, explored the
territoiy now comprised in these counties in
1844. Erom the statement of these gen-
tlemen we learn, that an almost uninter-
rupted tract of good country stretches
between the rivers Murray and Glenelg,
which, in some places, thins off to a narrow
belt; in others, widens out to a very con-
siderable extent ; and towards the boun-
daries of Victoria pro\dnce forms one of the
most extensive and continuous tracts of good
country which is known to exist within the
limits of South Australia. The general
features of this line of country may be
briefly stated. From the neck of the penin-
sula which separates the Coorong from Lake
Albert, to the Salt creek, or Bonney's creek,
there is a belt of grassy casuarina hills, with
numerous plains of good soil, in which water
may be obtained -s^dthin a few feet of the
surface. This belt is bordered on the north-
east by desert country, on the south-west
by the Coorong. From Bonney's creek to
the crossing of the Coorong, a distance of
about thirty-five miles, the road passes gene-
rally amongst a succession of salt swamps
and low scrubby hills. About two miles
north of this road, and following a direction
nearly parallel to it, is the low range, named
Wambat range, behind which there is an
extensive fresh-water swamp, several miles
across, which appears to be subject to annual
inundations. The soil on this swamp is
similar to that on the flats of the jSIurray ;
in it are many grassy hills, which have the
appearance of islands. Beyond the swamp,
to the north and north-cast, there are a
succession of ranges which do not, from
a distance, look very promising. From the
crossing of the Coorong to Cape Bernouilli
the country improves; from Cape Bernouilli
to Guichen Bay, and for some distance
aroimd Mount Benson, and to Lake Haw-
don, there is a useful tract of country.
There are several ridges of high land, sepa-
rated by low level ground, a great portion of
which is subject to inundation; but the
soil is excellent; and some of these plains
have been sufficiently raised by volcanic
action, to render them dry and availaljle
for pasturage or agriculture. Around Rivoli
bay there is much good land and picturesque
scenery; from thence to Mounts Schanck
and Gambler (see p. 061), the country is,
for the most part, of the richest description,
GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
333
the soil of a dark brown loam. The trees
o-iow luxuriantly ; the blackwood attains an
extraordinary size; beside which, there are
several trees quite different from those of
Adelaide. The Tatiara covmtry, once so
celebrated for the ferocity and cannibalism
of its inhabitants, is now occupied by settlers,
who have of late crossed the Murray, in
considerable numbers, to form stations
there. Between the land bordering the left
bank of the Murray, and that contiguous to
the sea-coast, there remains a considerable
extent still to be explored, before any decided
opinion can be formed as to its character.
The following are the sailing distances, in
nautical miles, from Adelaide : — England,
11,500; Cape of Good Hope, 6,000 ; Ceylon,
4,500; Mam-itius, 4,400; Timor, 2,700;
Java, 2,650; Melbourne (Port Phillip), 450;
Sydney (New South Wales), 1,134; Free-
mantle (Western Australia), 1,400 miles.
Geology. — There has e^idently been, in
this portion of Australia, a subterranean
movement of great power, which, finding no
vent in the northern district, in the vici-
nity of Mount Arden, pursued a southerly
course, where it met less resistance, and by
successive upheavings tore up the superin-
cumbent strata, and raised to a considerable
elevation a belt or zone of rocks, flanked by
similar and parallel ridges. The dip of the
strata composing the mountain range of
South Austraha, from 32° to 36° S. lat., so
far as has been observed, is generally to the
southward ; the exception to this declination
is probably attributable to the existence of
rocks of igneous origin, such as granite,
sienite, greenstone, &c. The rocks, of which
the main range is composed, belong to the
oldest of the primary strata; they are, so
far as known, totally devoid of any evidence
of the existence of animal or vegetable life
during their formation ; but the rocks on
the plains teem with fossil remains, many of
which belong to species identical with, or
nearly allied to, the species now existing in
the adjacent seas. The primary or sedi-
mentary rocks of the mountain range have
manifestly been forced out of an horizontal
position by subterranean action; but the
strata composing the plains which rest upon
the sedimentary rocks are perfectly hori-
zontal, and have, therefore, evidently not
been subjected to the influence of the
upheaving power.
Near Mount Arden, the indications of
volcanic agency are more manifest than at
the portions of this range farther south;
and in the same latitude as Mount Ai'den,
to the eastward. Captain Frome, of the royal
engineers, noticed basaltic rocks, thermal
springs, and what appeared to be the crater
of an extinct volcano. It appears to me
that the axis of pcrtui'bation was to the
south-east, and that the pent-up gases found,
or rather forced, an exit in numerous small
volcanoes, of which the craters are still to be
seen in the province of Victoria, on the line
of country extending from Lake Hindmarsh
to the basin of Port Phillip. The manner
in which the Adelaide range was raised from
the bed of the ocean, is explained by the
following diagrams, prepared by Mr. Burr,
who has given much attention to this inter-
esting subject : —
N rig. 1. s.
" This section exhibits a regular succession of
strata of the same mineralogical character, and lying
in the same order. The arrangement might be con-
ceived to arise from a uniform and powerful sub-
terranean action on strata, -which had formerly been
horizontal, and jilaced above one another in the fol-
lowing order : —
N Fig. 2. S.
f
Where a, 6, r, d, and e, i-epresent strata of sedi-
mentary rocks, which were originally deposited on
the unstratified rocks,,/". For it is evident, that in
order to produce the effect exhibited in Figure 1, we
have only to propel a force, having a tendency to
rise upwards, from the north to the south, when the
horizontal strata in figure 2 would be thrown into
a position similar to that exhibited in figui'c 1, which
represents, in a general manner, the arrangement
of the strata composing the principal range of South
Australia. In this figure, a represents a quartzose
sandstone traversed by veins of quartz, frequently
accompanied with ironstone ; h, a coarse dark-coloured
slate, with veins of quartz, and occasionally of lami-
nated specular iron ; c, limestone beds, frequently
very impure, and passing into slate and slaty sand-
stone. In this there are frequently veins of cal-
careous and other spars, with quartz, and ores oi
the metals, iron, copper, lead, &c., t^'c. ; (/, mica .slate
chlorite slate, hornblende slate, passing upwards into
sandy slates, and thence frequently into sandstone.
This strata is also metalliferous, and contains veins
334 VAST FOSSIL BED OF SHELLS AND CORAL IN S. AUSTRALIA.
of hornstone, in -nhich are calcedony, opal, agate,
cornelian, and jasper of varieties, especially near its
junction -with the strata immediately above it; e,
"•neiss, which is metalliferous, and frequently con-
tains garnets ; /, granite, and other igneous rocks."
The thickness of the strata varies much in
different places^ but the exact extent has not
vet been ascertained. The arrangement
above given is subject to variations arising
from local causes. In all probability the
east and west faces of the Adelaide range
were covered by the oceans long after the
force which raised the mountains had ceased
to operate in that direction. Mr. Burr is of
opinion that the successive deposits accumu-
lated at the foot of the range were, at
no distant geological period, raised^ from
being the bed of the ocean, to the position
of dry land, by an intense and deeply-seated
upheaving force, which, by degrees, and in
an uniform manner, raised the fossiliferous
strata to their present level; and that this
force was exerted in a direction from west to
east, as explained in the following dia-
gram : —
W. Range. E.
In support of this opinion, of a positive,
or at least comparative period of repose, it is
noticed that the embouchm-es of the ravines,
close under the range, have aU the appear-
ance of having once formed a sea beach.
Mr. Burr adds, that " the fossiliferous strata
are composed of a succession of horizontal
layers of limestone, of greater or less pmity,
but generally containing a large proportion
of sand^ especially the lower beds which
have been exposed to \dew, some of Avhich
are indurated sandstone, good for building,
containing, when compared with the upper
beds, but few fossil remains. These rocks
are nearly white, or of a cream colour. The
fossiliferous strata, which are considered to
belong to the tertiary period, are generally
covered Avith a deposit of soil and limestone,
that does not contain any visible organic
remains. This may have arisen from a
gradual shallowing ' of the water by the
rising of the land; for the tides and cm-rent
in shallow water, would be more destructive
to the remains of animals, than if they were
deposited in mud in water of a greater
depth. The smface soil, consequently, is
such as might be supposed to arise by the
drying of an impalpable mud, formed of
attrited shells and other matter, which had
been subjected to the action of the tides
in shoal water. The strata composing the
tertiary formation contain beds of the sul-
phate of lime (gypsum), the nitrate ofpotassa,
and bitumen."
The gypsum found is rather a sandstone,
containing a sulphate of lime, formed by
shells and other calcareous matter, which,
from its affinity for the sulphmic acid con-
tained in sea- water, and disengaged perhaps
by extreme heat, or other agency, united
to the lime, and left the silica nearly pure.
Mr. Burr accounts for the nitrate of potassa,
which is found in an efflorescent state on
the surface of the rocks, by supposing that
the potassa contained in the rocks united
with the nitrogen of the atmosphere in hot
and diy weather ; and the bitumen from the
decomposition of water by animal and vege-
table matter.
The vast fossil bed which extends from
about the meridian of 139°, with an imper-
fectly-known width, towards the western
boundary of the province, and from the
sea-mouth of the Murray to 32° 40' S. lat.,
indicates that a large extent of South Aus-
tralia was, not long since, submerged. The
strata are horizontal, surface level or slightly
undulated, and the greatest elevation about
400 feet above the level of the sea. The
upper stratum consists of beds of common
oysters and oyster-shells, unbroken, three
to four feet in thickness. Below this stra-
tum there are deeper beds, of mixed coral,
echini, pectoris, spiralis, and other small
marine shells, generally much broken, and
deposited in sand, limestone, and selenite,
alternating with beds of sand without shells.
At the base of these, or beneath them, are
vestiges of fish, teeth, and nautili, four or
five inches in diameter. Beds of excellent
compact limestone occur sometimes in the
fossil formation.
Daring the process of sinking wells at
Adelaide, beds of oyster-shells, very perfect,
were found forty feet below the surface ; that
is, seventy to ninety feet above the present
ocean level.
Mr. Menge is of opinion that the terrace
which occupies an undulated plain between
the Barossa and Rawdon ranges, in some
places about ten miles in breadth, has been
caused by a pseudo-volcanic agency ; that is,
by hot springs : but, he adds —
" The hornstone ■within the Barossa range has
nothing similar to it in Europe, where it is usually a
URALIAN MOUNTAINS AND SOUTH AUSTRALIA ALIKE. 33:
combination of quartz and felspar ; whilst the South
Australian hornstone combines quartz, magnesia, and
lime, Mhich produce a variety of siliceous minerals
of -which I have never seen anything alike. The
rock itself turns not merely round its own character
in different shapes and colours, but it includes, at
the same place, jasper, cornelian, chalcedony, opal,
woodstone, and siliceous tuffa, altogether more or
less varied by accidental ingredients of iron, mag-
nesia, and lime. Common jasper and opal jasper
form strata and veins in hornstone, and occupy
sometimes the -whole place of the rock. Chalcedony
and opal occur in veins, Avhich are very numerous,
and both are botryoidal where pores and caves occur
in the veins, without the least disposition to crystal-
lization. Crystallized substances, besides sulphuret
of iron, seem to be combinations of magnesia and
lime ; as bidderspar, rheticite, grammatite, &c.
Silver-white foliated talc spreads through the whole
rock, but seldom through chalcedony, and very fre-
quently through opal and siliceous tufia. The last
is sometimes perfectly like that from the Geysers,
in Iceland. There are two different series of sili-
ceous tuffa : the first is quartz, and begins with
porous hoi'nstone or chalcedony, and ends in a spongy
mass, like pumice ; the other is in connexion with
opal, takes the shape of siliceous ghur or hydrojjhan,
and ends in a kind of freestone. Opal occurs in
great abundance, partly as milk opal, partly as Avax
opal, fire opal, common opal, semi opal, and precious
opal. The fibres of asbestos, which run frequently
through the opal, give it a chatoyant lustre, and the
enslosed talc looks exactly like silver in the mass.
Veins of opal run iir almost every direction through
the hornstone, as well as through siliceous tuffa,
without regular stratification ; and if they be once
opened, we shall have precious stones in great abund-
ance. Red and blue striped opal-agate appears
sometimes on the surface with dendritic manganese,
which seems to form a vein in the interior; but
it is red and yellow opal jasper which occupies often
the places of hornstone, or forms regular strata in it.
" The veins of chalcedony run partly through
a compact hornstone, partly through jjorous horn-
stone, and partly through woodstone or fibrous
hornstone, and sometimes through wood asbestos
or rock wood. It forms a kind of oynx with
woodstone and with opal in aones, and is gene-
rally blue, bluish-white, or yellow, and forms a
transition, through a red colour, into cornelian. The
milk-white chalcedony, with enclosed fibres of asbes-
tos, forms the cat's-eye, which is of frequent occur-
rence in Amianth-place, as well as in Flaxman-
valley."
This peculiar formation is frequently in-
terrupted by strata and beds of magnetic
iron ore and white marble^ or magnesian
limestone ; and it seems to be cut off by a
formation of porphyry in the Hernanion
range.
Primitive limestone (white marble) is
found in great abmidance in the moun-
tains east of Gulf St. Vincent. Mr. Menge
met with fifteen hills of it within the Barossa
range, along the formations of hornstone,
magnetic iron ore, and talc, or of magnesian
rocks. Some has been found as fine-grained
R3 that of the celebrated Carara in Italy.
On Comfloiner hill, the table marble is easily
separated into flags of any size. In Flax-
man valley, the primitive limestone abounds
with magnetic iron ore. The western slope
of the Barossa rauge, along the Angas Park,
from Light Pass to Salem valley, is en-
tirely Avhite marble. Even the springs which
irrigate German Pass are impregnated with
carbonate of lime. Within the Belvedere
range there are several strata of transition
hmestone. The limestone on the plains is
full of shells in a petrified state, and Avas
formed from the ocean; that on the tops
of hills seems to have had its origin from
the primitive limestone usually deposited on
elevations, along Avith a breccia of quartz
pebbles connected by bog iron ore, as the
superstratum on the primitive slates.
The tertiary limestone seems to be spread
over a large part of the southern and eastern
coasts of Australia ; not merely through its
plains, and around its shores, but also on
its elevations. These different formations of
lime indicate abundance of minerals.
Mr. Menge, who has geologically exa-
mined the Uraliau mountains, and seen
there lumps of malachite, or carbonate of
copper, weighing more than a ton each
(found between primitive limestone and
clay slate), and lumps of gold 20 to 25 lbs.
weight each (found between primitive lime-
stone and mica slate), is of opinion that the
corresponding strata in Australia will yield
equally valuable products. [See Supp*-]
The lower slopes of all the mountain
ranges are chiefly composed of slate ; in the
Mount Lofty range, generally transition, very
mu^ch resembling the greyivacke of North
Wales. Proceeding to the east or southward,
it becomes harder, and of a red colour ; and
still farther to the south, it appears asjlinty,
mica, or hornblende slate. The sm-face of earth
on the slate is always grassy. The summit
of Mount Lofty is capped with highly fer-
ruginous sandstone ; and the Mount Barker
range exhibits a conglomerate of ironstone
and angular pieces of quartz. The ferru-
ginous sandstone and ironstone conglome-
rate is marked by stringy bark forest or
brush.
Throughout the Adelaide range, says
Mr. Dutton, granite shews itself in different
places, principally in the beds of rivers, or
at the bottom of deep gullies ; sometimes
also forming some of the high peaks, as in
the Barossa range. Other heights arc capped
with the old red standstone; and a recent
oolitic limestone covers the clay slate of
336 MINERALOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
many of the lower hills. The rock forma-
tions of this main range are, generally speak-
ing, the same throughout. The stratified
primitive rocks on each side of both the
gulfs St. Vincent and Spencer begin from
Cape Jer\ds, and extend to the northward
for about 200 miles : they are generally,
according to Mr. Menge, accompanied by
a formation of gneiss on one side, and an-
other of clay slate on the other side. The
gneiss is frequently interlined with exten-
sive banks or strata of granite, which often
run out into pui'c quartz ; and the clay slate
occurs in all its modifications in colour and
mixture.
On the Mount Remat'kable range, the pre-
vailing rock is a very hard white sandstone ;
and on the west coast, a coarse red sand-
stone prevails. Governor Grey, who exa-
mined this district, was of opinion that the
range of mountains as far as Mount Arden
abounds in minerals.
The prevaiUng rock in the neighbourhood
of FrankUn harbour is gneiss, and the ad-
joining hills are probably fall of minerals.
On the western side of the head of Spencer's
gulf, the hills are of red sandstone, in strata
nearly horizontal. In other countries this
formation is associated mth coal, which will
most likely be found in this neighbourhood.
At Lipson cove, on the west coast of
Spencer's gulf, the rocks observed by Colonel
Robe, when governor of the colony, in
December, 1846, consisted of gneiss and
hornblende schist, nearly vertical, and having
a due course north and south. At Port
Lincoln, the Gambler islands, Althorpe
island, and apparently the south-west extre-
mity of Yorke's peninsula, the governor
found stratified limestone of recent forma-
tion, horizontal, and similar to that of Ade-
laide, resting immediately on granite, without
the interposition of the transition or other
secondary rocks.
The country to the south and east of
Lakes Victoria and Albert, as far as Cape
Bernouilli, consists of domes of sand, which
are supposed to rest on a granitic reef or
barrier, as granitic rocks are visible above
the sea at Capes Morad and Bernouilli,
and at other points on the coast. It is,
therefore, presumed to be continuous, al-
though the connexion is not at present
visible.
Further south, the sand hills cease; no
granite, igneous, or hard rock appears; the
coast-line is wider and less elevated, and
there are numerous low swampy plains, sub-
ject to periodical inundations, and strewed
with cakes of calcareous tufa, some as large, !
and closely resembling a ship biscuit. !
The hills around the plains are of lime- 1
stone, as are also the rocks of the surround- |
ing country. In the vicinity of Mounts
Gambler and Schanck, for about twenty
miles, the geological features change, from
tertiary limestone and calcareous sandstone,
to coral limestone, with numerous beds of
chert, a siliceous rock containing the remains
of marine animals and coral. Throughout
this coral limestone and level tract there are
deep holes, or wells, containing fresh water,
one of which, of an oval form, measured
eighty yards in diameter ; the depth to the
surface of the water, twenty-eight feet and-
a-half; and the depth of the water, 103^
feet ; the colour of an intense indigo-blue.
These wells are all in the immediate vicinity
or within twelve miles of the volcanic moun-
tains; and in the same neighbourhood are
caverns containing the bones and teeth of
animals of a larger size than any at present
li^dng in Australia. Some are supposed to
belong to gigantic kangaroos, others to the
canine race.
The descriptions of Mounts Gambler and
Schanck have been given in the topography.
At the base of Mount Schanck, to the south-
west, there is a large accumulation of cel-
lular basalt, which is bare, and presents a
steep wall towards the plain. At Mount
Gambler there is black and red lava, gene-
rally cellular ; coral limestone is exhibited
in the cliffs of the lake in the middle crater,
and upon this there is a stratum of basalt ;
whilst on the upper parts of the mountain,
or on the rims of the craters, there is vol-
canic tuff, containing fragments of lava.
Mineralogy. — The preceding details of
the geological strata will serve to introduce
a sketch of mineralogical combination dis-
covered in South Australia. Mr. Menge,
who was the first person to direct attention
to the mineral riches of the province, says
that a rock in Australia is not confined to a
compound of earthy substances, as is gene-
rally the case in Europe, but that it is often
identified with metals, minerals, precious or
ornamental stone, or with some earthy sub-
stance fit for lithurgical use. He thus clas-
sifies them in South Australia according to
their order as receptacles of mineral wealth :
1. Ch'anite — composed of quartz, felspar,
and mica. Rocks depending upon yranite —
porphyry, sicnite, serpentine, and green-
stone. Minerals depending upon quartz —
METALLIC COMBINATIONS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
337
amethyst;, chalcedony, chiysopras, and opal ;
ditto on felspar — Perikliu, scapolithe, g;awle-
rite, and topaz. Ditto ou inica — talc, chlorite,
plumbago, and ironrose. Minerals inhabit-
ing the rock of granite — tourmaline (black
and green), garnet, beiyl or emerald, corun-
dum, zircon. Minerals in combination with
granite rock — visually (1) cobalt, with its
associated metals, viz., bismuth, arsenic, sil-
ver, and antimony; (2) uranium; (3) tin,
with its associated shelium or wolfram,
molybdena, and zinc; (4) lead — with its
associated silver and arsenic ; (5) copper —
associated with lead and copper.
Gneiss ranks second in order, and as it
diifers only from granite by its stratification
(and in South Australia by the proportion
of its constituent parts), similar metals and
minerals are to be found as in granite, but
the laminated structure leaves more room
for them in gneiss. "VlTiere quartz predomi-
nates in gneiss, the rock attains considerable
altitude. Where felspar is most abundant,
a disintegration or decomposition takes
place, and the metals, including the protox-
ides and peroxides of iron, are protruded
on the surface; Avhere 7nica is in excess,
magnesia is produced, and by chemical com-
bination indurated talc, usually called soap-
stone, appears. The Australian soapstone
differs from the kind usually found in
Europe ; it resists the disintegrating powers
of the atmosphere, becomes hard in the fire,
and takes a polish similar to cast silver, which
it retains, not being subject to tarnish.
Mica Slate ranks thu-d in South Australia,
and is very extensively distributed ; it con-
sists of quartz and mica, and wherever the
quartz is not compact, but granular, the
rock is easily dissolved, and becomes sand.
The ores in this rock are chiefly iron-
mica, specular iron, and bro^^^l ii'on ores.
Primitive Limestone, foiu-th in order, but
first in importance because of its metallic
riches, when combined with clay slate, con-
tains copper, lead, and zinc ; iron is found
in nests, veins, stocks, and caves. When
blended with quartz, it forms an excellent
millstone.
Hornstone (a compact quartz), fifth, often
accompanies primitive limestone, or clay
slate, when it is found to contain consider-
able quantities of copper ores. In this
formation are found many ornamental stones
or quartzose substances; such as chalcedony,
cornelian, jasper, opal, and hydrophane;
also the amphibolic substances — asbestos and
grammatite.
DlV. TT.
Clay Slate, tbe sixth and most extensive
formation in South Australia, abounds in
metals, particularly in iron, lead, silver, cop-
per, manganese, gold, and zinc. The ores
are mostly indicated by its stratified quartz.
The colour of this formation is usually grey,
but varying to white and to blue' slate.
Where the quai-tz predominates, it changes
into siliceous slate or touchstone ; where the
clay is in excess, alum slate appears.
To the above general view of the rocks
containing the metallic riches of South Aus-
tralia, it may be usefid to add a definition of
some technical terms which it woidd have
been scarcely possible to have avoided em-
ploying.
When speaking of minerals, miners distin-
guish the ores or lodes according to their
situation in the metalliferous ranges; thus
(1) strata, or stratified ores running parallel
with the rock; (2) veins crossing rocks at
different angles; (3) stocks filhng vertical
caves in the rocks ; (4) reins and nests scat-
tered in masses ; (5) labyrinths in zigzag or
curved lines; (6) chains in links and scat-
tered, and (7) vaults, heaped up in horizontal
caves within the rocks. Copper ores in this
last-named position are usually found lying
loose, or in distinct heaps, whilst the rock is
dissolved around.
The mineral and geological specimens
which have been discovered up to the year
1846, are thus classified; I give the list, as
prepared by jNIr. Burr, in evidence of the
internal resources of the province : —
IeoX. — Sidph urets.
Rapid Bay ; — general in the Iron pyi-ites, crystallised in
ranges, in limestone, quartz, cubes and unciystallised.
hornstone, slates, and asso-
ciated with other metalli-
ferous minerals.
Montacute Copper Mine, and
the metallii'erous districts
in its neighbourhood. Ra-
pid Bay, Encounter Bay,
&c.
Oxides.
Mount Gawler R.-inge, Ba- Specular iron ore, massive,
Iron pyrites, crystallised in
pentagonal dodecahedrons.
rossa Range, Mount Lofty
Range, very general.
Near the Montacute Copper
Mine.
Rapid Bay, Mount Barker,
near the Montacute, and
various other places.
Very general.
and lamellar, and granu-
lated.
Brown haematite, radiated
and fibrous.
Brown hoematite, compact.
Bog iron ore, and other earthy
oxides of iron.
Magnetic iron ore, crystal-
lised and massive, varieties
Sienite.
Very general, from Cape Jer
vis to Black Rock Hill.
Light River.
Carhonate.
Rapid Bay, Barossa Range. Carbonate of iron.
Mount Lofty Range, and
various other jilace*
Phosphate.
Near Mount Rufus, and near Phosphate of iron, earthy.
Strathalbyn.
2 T
338
MINERALS AND ROCKS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Maxg.\nese — Oxides.
Rapid Bay, Myponga, the
Horseshoe, Onkaparinga.
Rapid Bay, Light River, &c.,
&c.
Rapid Bay, Barossa Range,
Mount Bryant, &c., «S:c.
Black oxide of manganese,
fibrous, diverging.
Black oxide of manganese,
massive.
Siliceous oxide of manganese.
Eakthy Minerals — Siliceous.
Near Encounter Bay.
In veins, generally amongst
the metalliferous strata.
Near the Montacute Copper
Mine, Flaxman's Valley.
Very general among the
metalliferous strata ; the
cleanest specimens are
from the neighbourhood of
Mount Barker, the Barossa
and Belvidere Ranges.
Belvidere Range.
Near the Montacute Copper
Mine.
On the Reach, at RivoU Bay,
at Mount Gambier.
Barossa Range, Flaxman's
Valley, twenty-five miles
north-east of Adelaide.
Flaxman's Valley.
Flaxman's Valley.
Belvidere Range.
Barossa and Belvidere
Ranges.
Flagman's Valley.
Flaxman's Valley, and near
Mount Barker.
Barossa Range.
Near the Kapunda Copper
Mine.
Flaxman's Valley.
Belvidere Range.
Barossa Range.
Belvidere Range, in the
neighbourhood of Mount
Barker.
About twenty miles north-
east of Mount Barker.
Belvidere Range.
Mount Gambier.
Mount Gambier.
Belvidere Range, near Mount
Barker, Flaxman's Valley,
Encounter Bay, Strath-
albyn, &c., &c.
Flaxman's Valley, Barossa
Range.
Lynedoch Valley, Flaxman's
VaUey.
Flaxman's Valley.
Flaxman's Valley.
Near Strathalbyn.
Belvidere Range,
Quartz in dodecahedrons,
-with isosceles triangular
faces.
Quartz in hexagonal prisms
with summits.
Quartz in minute hexagonal
prisms with summits.
Quartz vein.
Quartz vein, smoky.
Quartz crystallised, rose-
coloured.
Flint in nodules, black (not
the chalk flint).
Homstone.
Woodstone.
Opal, brown, blue, milk
white, wood, green, mag-
nesian, brimstone-coloured,
and other varieties, some
with asbestos.
Jasper opal.
Jasper, varieties.
Chalcedony, blue.
Chalcedony, botryoidal.
Chalcedony, red, with opal.
Chalcedony, with jasper.
Agate, red and blue striped,
and moss.
Prehnite, or zeolite, mammil-
lated.
Prehnite, crystallised.
Garnet, red.
Garnet, black (grenat noir) .
Cinnamon stone.
Augite.
CoccoHte.
Hornblende.
Grammatite, or tremolite, in
limestone and in dolomite.
Actynolite, green and brown,
lamellar.
Actynolite, green and brown,
capillary.
Actynolite, white.
ActjTiolite, brown.
Amianthus, or asbestos, flexi-
ble and common, occasion-
ally traversing and woven
through other minerals, as
opal, homstone spars, &c.,
&c.
Asbestos, with chalcedony,
and siliceous tuifa.
Rock wood.
River Gawler.
Flaxman's Valley.
South Adelaide.
Near Mount Barker.
North Adelaide, 125 feet be-
low the surface.
Gawler Plains.
Sources of the Angas.
Crystal Brook.
North Adelaide, eighty feet
below the surface.
Belvidere Range.
Near Mount Lofty.
Mount Lofty Range.
Clay, yellow, red, and white
Clay, white, indurated.
Clay, variegated, unctuous.
Clay, variegated, red, vrhite,
and blue.
Pipe clay, red, white, and
pink.
Pipe clay, white.
Pipe-clay, white and pink.
Clay, yellow and green.
Clay, blue, with iron pyrites.
Alum fclate and alum stone.
Clay, green, indurated.
Alum slate.
Near Mount Barker.
Flaxman's Valley, and east
of Mount Barker.
Aluminous.
Barossa Range. Fibrolite.
Belvidere Range. Sappare, or kyanite, flowery,
foliated, white and green.
Alkaline, Eautht Minerals — Schorl, or Tourma-
line, (§-c.
Valley of the Nixon, near Schorl, acicular.
Encounter Bay.
Barossa Range.
Encounter Bay.
Seven miles north-west
Mount Barker.
Barossa Range.
Near Rapid Bay, twenty-flve
miles north-east of Ade-
laide, and various places.
Valley of the Nixon.
Barossa Range.
Barossa Range.
Schorl, in nine-sided prisms
with summits.
Schorl, in prisms, with yellow
mica,
of Schorl, black and green, in
granite.
Schorl, black and green, in
granite.
Schorl, varieties.
RubeUite.
Beryl.
Epidote.
Talc.
Belvidere Range.
River Hutt, and twenty-five
miles north-east of Ade-
laide.
Lynedoch Valley.
Earthy talc.
Silver-white foliated talc.
Twenty-five miles north-east
of Adelaide.
Barossa Range.
Mount Lofty Range.
Belvidere Range.
Indurated white, red, and
yellow talc.
Indurated red talc.
Green, foliated, indurated
talc.
Glanular talc, nacrite.
Nacrite.
Mica.
River Gawler, twenty-five
miles north-east of Ade-
laide, Valley of the Nixon,
Barossa Range.
Barossa Range, Valley of
the Nixon.
Barossa Range
Yankalilla.
Mica, white, flowery
Mica, black.
Iron mica.
"White foliated mica, in large
leaves
Fehpar.
Felspar, foliated, glassy, ami
flesh-coloured.
Felspar, flesh-coloured.
Felspar, granular.
AciDiFEROus, Earthy Minerals.
Barossa Range.
East of Mount Barker.
East of Mount Barker.
Clifis of the River Murray,
and at Brighton, near Ade-
laide.
Clifis of the River Murray.
Occasionally in small quan-
tities, with ores of copper
at the Kapunda Mine.
Rapid Bay, Barossa Range,
Belvidere Range.
Barossa Range, Belvidere
Range, Rapid Bay, near
Mount Barker.
North-east of Adelaide, Ra-
pid Bay.
Rapid Bay, Barossa Range.
Rapid Bay, near Mount Bar-
ker, and ten miles north-
east of Adelaide.
Sulphate of lime (gypsum),
foliated.
Sulphate of lime, in the form
of shells.
Fluate of lime, in cubes, with
the edges and angles re-
placed.
Dolomite
Bitter spar.
Pearl spar.
Carara marble.
Marble, white, fiiit
Ten miles north-east of Ade-
laide.
Mount Barker, Rafiid Bay.
Mount Barker, Rapid Bay.
Flinders' Kange, Barossa
Range, Mount Lofty
Range, very general in
creeks from the ranges
where there is limestone.
Depot Creek, near Mount
Arden.
Rapid Bay, Crystal Brook.
On plains at Lake Hawdon
and Rivoli Bay.
On plains near Lake Haw-
don.
On walls of wells near
Mount Gambler.
Near Rapid Bay, &c., &c.
Barossa Range, Mount Bar-
ker.
River Gawler.
Marble, white and pink, fine.
Marble, white and grey.
Marble, grey.
Calcareous tuffa, cellular.
Calcareous tuffa, coralloidal.
Calcareous tuffa, compact.
Calcareous tuffa, in cakes.
Calcareous tuffa, in spherical
balls.
Calcareous tuffa.
Calcareous stalactites.
SUiceous tuffa.
"Wavellite, stellated.
AciDiFEROiTS, Alkaline Minerals.
Crystal Brook.
In lakes near Lake Victoria.
Clifis of the River Murray.
Glauber salts, or sulphate of
soda, efflorescent.
Chloride of soda.
Nitrate of potassa, efflores-
cent.
AciDiFEROUS, Alkaline, Earthy Minerals.
Mount Lofty Range, Barossa Carbonate of magnesia.
Range.
Gorge of the River ToiTens, Alum, mammillated and
ranges near Mount Bar- efflorescent.
ker, &c.
Combustible or Inflammable Minerals.
Sulphiir, native, enclosed in
vein quartz with iron
pyi'ites.
Grapliite, or plumbago.
Bitumen.
Near the Montacute copper
mine.
Belvidere Range, and about
twenty-three miles north-
east of Adelaide.
Cliffs of the River Murray.
Geological Specimens — Granite, Granitic Rocks,
and Igneous Mocks,
Valley of the Nixon, near Granite, coarse red.
Encounter Bay, Cap Mo-
rard de Galles. Granite
rock near the head of the
Coorong. Cape Jaffa Reef,
Yankalllla, near Mount
Barker ; in the Murray
Scrub, at various places,
protruding through the
tertiary strata.
Cape Jervis, Yankalilla ; gra-
nite rock, near the head of
the Coorong, near Mount
Barker, Cap Morard de
Galles, Rapid Bay.
Cap Morard de Galles, in no-
dules, embedded in coarse
red granite.
River Torrens, about twenty-
five miles north-east of
Adelaide.
River Torrens, about twenty-
five miles north-east of
Adelaide, Barossa Range.
River Torrens, about twenty-
five miles north-east of
Adelaide.
About three miles north of Granite, white (binary).
Cape Jervis.
Onkaparinga River, north- Granite, binary, with black
Granite, fine red.
Granite, fine grey
Granite, graphic (binary).
Granite, coarse white, with
schorl.
Granite, fine white, with
schorl
west of Mount Barker,
Barossa Range.
North of Mount Barker.
Haxman's Valley, near En-
counter Bay, east of Mount
Barker.
and green schorl.
Granite, fine and
binary, white.
Sienite.
Near- Mount Arden.
Barossa Range.
Porphyry, red.
Porphyry, green.
Gneiss, 3Iica Slate, Hornblende Slate, 8^c., 8^c.
Lynedoch Valley, east of Gneiss.
Mount Barker about si.\
miles. Valley of the Nixon,
near Encounter Bay, near
Strathalbyn, River Tor-
rens, about twelve miles
north-east of Adelaide,
Barossa Range, River
Gawler, near Moorooro,
North and South Rhines,
and other localities, prin-
cipally in those portions of
the range which drain
eastward towards the Mur-
ray River.
To the east and south-east
of Mount Barker.
Near Mount Arden.
River Bremer, near Mount
Barker, Barossa Range,
Yankalilla, Sources of the
Angas, generally distri-
buted, especially in those
parts of the range which
drain to the eastward to-
wards the Murray River.
Valley of the Nixon, twelve
miles north-east of Ade-
laide, vicinity of Mount
Barker.
Barossa Range, Rapid Bay, Hornblende slate,
about six miles south-east
of Mount Barker.
Argillaceous, Stratified Rocks.
Near Encounter Bay, near Grauwacke slate.
Mount Lofty, near Mount
Arden, ten miles east of
Mount Brown, Flinders
Range, Mount Lofty
Range, Brownhill Creek.
Willunga, near the Monta-
cute Copper Mine, Rapid
Bay, west of Mount Bar-
ker five miles, Cape Jervis,
Kapunda Copper Mine,
Horse-shoe, Onkaparinga,
and country between that
and Willunga, generally
on the western slopes of
the range.
Flinders' Range, Mount Flinty slate
Lofty Range, &c.
Sandstones and Siliceous Rocks
Gneiss, passing into sand-
stone.
Mica slate, red and sandy.
Mica slate.
Chlorite slate.
Clay slates, various, som^
good roofing slates.
At the base of Flinders'
Range, to the westward,
near Crystal Rock.
Between Rocky River and
Crystal Brook.
About twelve miles north-
east of Adelaide.
About four miles south-east
of Mount Lofty.
Barossa Range, near the
North Rhine.
Occur very generally in the
ranges ; they are frequently
granular and ferruginous.
There are quartzose sand-
stones, which are hard and
good for buildings ; some
of the sandstones pass, by
almost imperceptible gra-
dations, into slate.
Quartz rock.
Sandstone, fine white, gra-
nular.
Sandstone, white, compact.
Sandstone, red, micaceous.
Sandstone, slaty grey
Sandstones, various.
Calcareous Rocks.
Barossa Range, Rapid Bay.
Near Mount Barker
to
White marble, similar
Curara.
White marble, and veined
white and prey.
340 OHES OF THE PRINCIPAL MINES IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
About twelve miles north-
east of Adelaide.
River Hurt, Barossa Kange,
near Mount Baiker, Rapid
Bay.
Rapid Bay.
Rapid Bay, near MoLnt Bar-
ker.
Near Mount Arden.
Near Jlount Gambier.
Near Mount Gambier and
Mount Schanck.
Plains near Cape Jaffa.
Salt Creek.
Over the whole of the coun-
try described as tertiary
and recent.
Dunes of sand on the Coo-
ronff.
White marble, and veined
white and piuk.
"White crystalline limestone,
cu;use-grained.
T\1iite and grey slaty lime-
stone.
Grey limestone, compact.
Variegated compact lime-
stone.
Compact limestone
Coral limestone.
Compact limestone, with fos-
sil remains of univalve
shells.
Arenaceous limestone, with
fossil remains of shells,
partly bivalve.
Fossil limestone.
Calcareous
flags.
sandstone, in
The chief ores of some of the principal
mines in South Australia^ are stated to be
as follows : —
Kajjunda Copper 3Iir-e. — The best varieties of sul-
phurels, as vitreous copper or copper glance, purple
copper ore, grey copper ore, the black sulphure'c of
copper, and the blue and green carbonate of copper,
which are generally mixed with earthy matter.
These have formed the principal ores Avhich have
been exported ; but there has also been a consider-
able quantity of the muriate of copper, and native
copper, crystallised in octahedrons.
Burra-Burra Copper Mine. — The protoxide of
copper, or ruby copper ore, and carbonate of copper.
The protoxide of copper is generally in veins, of
greater or less thickness, traversing the oxide of iron ;
some of the mixed specimens from tlie Burra-Burra
mine are exceedingly beautiful. A rich ferruginous,
red oxide of copper has also been procured in con-
siderable quantities. The sulphurets of copper are
scai'ce.
Montacute Copper 3I'tne. — Copper pyrites, generally
variegated. Carbonate of copper is also met with,
and some of the finest specimens of this ore have
been from the ^Montacute mine.
Rapid Baj/.- — Ores of copper similar to those of
the Montacute mine.
Motoit Barker Copper 3Iine. — Ores a red oxide,
containing a small portion of iron and silica, and
the blue and green carbonate of copper, generally
earthy.
Cop2)er Mine about twenty miles north-east of
Mount Barker. — A good kind of the sulphuret of
copper, variegated.
Wakejiehl Copper Mine. — The carbonate of copper,
with iron ore, and sul])hate of barytes.
Glen Osmond Lead Mines. — The sulphurets, or
galena, crystallised in cubes, and granular ; and the
corneous lead ore, a murio-carbonate of lead.
Rapid Bay. — Galena in cubes, and blue lead ore
pulverulent.
Yorke Peninsula, between Gulfs St. Yin-
cent and Spencer, is said to contain abun-
dance of minerals; and in the district o
FrankUn harbour, 150 miles north of Port
Lincoln, varieties of the blue and green car-
bonate of copper have been recently dis-
covered.
The length and breadth of some of the
lodes of copper in South Australia, surpass
anything of the kind, even in South America ;
at the celebrated Burra-Burra mines, in
particular (see map), the metal "crops out"
of the surface in such quantities, that hun-
dreds of tons may be removed without sink-
ing a shaft ; it resembles quarrying in metal,
rather than mining. In one place, where a 1
shaft has been sunk, it seems like work-
ing in a bed of solid copper.
Lead, in the same manner, especially at
the JVlieal-Watkbis mine, has been found
" cropping" through the svu'face ; the ore
of this mine sent to England, yielded seventy-
five per cent, of lead, and about 30a'. of
silver to the ton of ore, which may be raised
at the mine at less than 20^. per ton.
Several other minerals have been found,
as well as copper and lead. Native gold,
containing a small portion of silver, exists
about half a mile north of the jNIontacute
copper mine, ten miles north-east of Ade-
laide. It is also said to be obtainable in
several other places. I have seen some fine
grains of gold interspersed with black sand,
said to have been found in the bed of the
Torrens river. Emther details will be given,
when examining the staple products of the
province, and m the Su])plement.
The Soil, of course, varies throughout a
wide extent of country ; that on which the
city of Adelaide is built is remarkable for
containing in abundance the elements ne-
cessary for vegetable production. In North
Adelaide every kind of English and tropical
fruit may be found growing in perfection;
the banana and the gooseberry side by side.
The produce of the fruit-trees is no less
abtmdaut in quantity than rich in flavour :
yet the appearance of the soil Avould scarcely
indicate such a favoitrable return to the
industry of man.
A portion of the surface soil, and of the
subsoil, taken from the garden (which had not
been manured) of Mr. George Stephenson,
in North Adelaide, was brought to England
bv IMr. Dutton, and submitted to analysis hj
Dr. Ure ('23rd of February, 1846), when the
following results were produced: — Surface
soil — Sulphate of lime, or gypsum, 75 ; phos-
phate of lime, 2; moisture, 2; combustible
vegetable matter, 2 ; oxide and pho.sphate of
iron, 6 ; fixed alkaline salts, containing some
of tlie valuable potash salt (these are mu-
riates of soda and potash), 4.5; sibca and
a httle alumina, 8.5 ; a trace of magnesia ;
:= 100. Subsoil — Sulphate of lime, 53.33;
PRODUCTIVE SOIL OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
311
phosphate of lime, 2 ; oxide and phosphate
of iron, 5.50; moisfcufe expelled at red heat,
15 ; fixed alkaline salts, 3.50; silica, with a
little alumina, 20.67; a trace of magnesia;
= 100. This distinguished chemist says,
" I have devoted much time and pains to
the analysis of the soils ; they are the most
singular I have ever examined, or even heard
of : they must be very fertile, as they con-
tain all the elements necessary for the nou-
rishment of plants."
Dr. Ure examined samples of wheat and
barley from Adelaide, and determined their
value by the specific gravity of the corn,
which he compared with English prize
wheat, thus : — wheat from South Australia,
specific gravitv, 1.400; English prize wheat,
1.340; barley of Adelaide, 1.285. The nu-
tritive quality of the soil of South Australia,
as evinced in the growth of grain, is greater
than that of England.
The extent of limestone formation in the
colony would indicate an abundance of ara-
ble land ; while the slate formation furnishes
a great variety of pastoral districts. It is
probable that, in future years, the amount
of cultivable soil will be largely increased
in Australia, by reason of diminished terres-
trial heat, owing to the more rapid dis-
integration of calcareous rocks, cooling in
the surface of the earth, a clearing of the
indigenous forests, less immediate absorp-
tion of the periodical rains, and a greater
retention of surface-water, indispensable in
an Australian climate for pastoral and agri-
cultural pursuits.
Climate. — South Australia, from its lati-
tudinal position, absence of snow-clad moun-
tains, and, as regards Adelaide, from its
inland situation, has a higher temperature
than Melbourne, and may be said to range
more nearly with Sydney, New South Wales,
with Perth in Western Australia, and with
Palestine in Asia Minor. It is very salu-
brious; and, as the soil becomes more cvd-
tivated, will probably possess a more equable
thermometrical range. The southerly winds,
which prevail for the greater part of. the
year, ai-rive cool and refreshing from the
Pacific, and have an exhilarating influence.
During winter (June, July, and August) hoar-
frosts occur at Adelaide. The atmosphere
of South Australia is an excellent reme-
dial agent for alleviating the diseases of
Europe or of Asia.
The genei-al temperature of Adelaide is
somewhat higher than that of Perth, the
capital of Swan River, as shown by the
following abstract of observations of the
thermometer of Fahrenheit, in the year
1844:—
Adelaide.
Pel
th.
Difference.
Max.
Min.
Max.
Min.
Max.
Min.
January . .
101
66
97
52
4
14
February . .
103 i
64
100
67
3i
17
March . . .
95
64
89
48
6
16
April . . .
86
53
87
35
1
18
May . . .
76
50
72
37
4
13
June . . .
68
48
65
30
3
18
July . . .
60 i
48
61
31
Oi
17
August .
68
48
58
31
10
17
September .
70i
49
68
36
4i
13
October . .
96 i
50
78
40
18i
10
November .
93i
53
92
40
u
13
December .
103i
53
96
41
7i
12
The mean quantity of rain falling,
throughovit the year, in the following places,
is — in Adelaide, 20 inches ; Hobart Town,
19 ; London, 21 ; Manchester, 36 ; Liver-
pool, 34 ; Launceston, 40 ; Kendal, 53 ;
Dumfries, 36; Glasgow, 21; Arracan, in
July and August, 103; Tropics generally,
115; Bombay, 106; West of England, 57.
Annual variation in London, 75 per cent. ;
Adelaide, 38.
The annexed meteorological register is for
Adelaide : —
Rain.
Winds.
Highest
Temperature.
Lowest
Temperature.
Temperat
at Noon.
Days.
Inches.
Hot.
Warm.
Cool.
November, 1839 . .
73^ 82' 75^
58' 60' 53'
68'
14
3.330
0
10
23
December ....
94 106 95
62 65 52
82
5
.345
1
14
21
January, 1840 . .
92 103 87
65 74 66
87
3
.335
2
5
26
February ....
80 94 79
70 68 64
82
5
2.010
3
3
20
March
71 100 88
66 17 64
71
/
.445
2
13
27
April
74 91 77
53 62 57
75
10
1.119
0
17
25
May
60 81 63
50 61 55
69
8
1.597
0
25
13
June
54 69 55
48 58 51
60
11
3.247
9
24
11
July
50 96 55
48 58 51
62
8
1.900
0
25
10
August
63 78 67
52 54 48
62
16
3.040
0
24
11
September
70 83 67
49 54 52
65
10
4.540
0
22
11
October ....
76 84 83
60 56 62
79
6
1.900
1
21
16
342 TEMPERATURE, RAIN, WINDS—SALUBRITY OF S. AUSTRALIA.
The following- is an abstract of tlie rain-
gauge kept in Adelaide for the seven years
ending December 31, 18 i6 : —
Average
Maxi-
Mini-
English
Days.
mum.
mum.
Average.
Winter : —
May . .
11
3.58
0.25
1.85
June . .
11
3.70
1.72
1.83
July . .
14
3.66
0.86
2.52
August.
16
4.77
1.66
1.45
September
11
4.64
0.44
2.19
October .
10
2.74
0.94
2.07
Summer :—
November
8
3.31
0.02
2.40
December.
5
3.82
0.35
2.43
January .
4
0.45
0.21
1.48
February .
4
2.01
0.35
0.75
March . .
0
1.00
0.44
1.44
April . .
10
3.58
0.38
1.79
The following abstract of a table, carefully
compiled from the meteorological journal in
the land-office, for the years 1844, 1845, and
1846, by permission of the government au-
thorities, and extended back to 1839 by pri-
vate observations, will exhibit the manner in
which the warm and cold winds are distri-
buted on this coast dui'ing the summer and
winter months : —
Months.
Summer : — •
NoYember .
Dectcnber .
January
February .
March . ,
April .
Winter : —
May. . ,
June
July . .
August. ,
September
October
Hot.
Warm.
9
1
8
2
4
3
3
1
6
2
11
2
20
—
20
—
22
—
23
—
20
1
13
Cool.
21
22
26
23
24
14
9
10
9
8
10
17
The salubrity of the province is shewn in
the retui'ns of births and deaths.
Return of Births which have taken place.
Year.
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
Registered. Unregistered.
416
544
641
650
671
708
937
994
Total.
30
446
30
574
60
701
60
710
60
731
100
808
200
1,137
200
1,194
AVi'..'.— The unregistered return is below the ofiicial estimate.
Return q
f Births and Deaths to Inhabitants.
Year
Inhabitants to
Inh
ibitants to
One Death.
One Birth.
1840
39.8
32.7
1841
66.5
26.5
1842
76.5
23.0
1843
111.3
24.5
1844
139.8
26.0
1845
100.3
27.6
1846
80.0
24.6
1847
63.9
25.9
1848
1849
—
1850
—
—
Comjiarison of Births and Deaths to Inhabitants in
other Countries.
Countries.
England
Russia . .
France . .
Netherlands
Italy. . .
Inhabitants to
One Death.
46.4
33.0
33.0
27.5
24.4
Inhabitants to
One Birth.
35.2
25.5
27.0
21.0
30.6
We have no return of the maladies treated
in the Government Hospital at Adelaide, or
of their proportionate mortality ; the follow-
ing shews the number of patients treated in
the Government Hospital during the years
1844, 1845, 1846, and 1847:—
Y'ear.
Admitted on
payment of
Fees.
Admitted
without
Fees.
Dis-
charged.
Died.
1844
4
34
30
8
1845
15
50
53
12
1846
13
64
61
16
1847
30
109
120
15
The subjoined table is an abstract of the
register of interments at Adelaide, from
18i4 to 1847 :—
1844.
184
5.
1846.
1847
c
0
a
Month.
Adult.
u.
Adult.
^
Adult.
Adult
M.
F.
o
M.
F.
o
M.
F.
M.
F.
January
2
2
8
0
2
16
1
J.
1
13
4
0
Feb. .
4
2
6
3
3
21
7
2
40
11
7
March .
1
1
7
2
0
26
3
2
28
0
6
April
1
2
9
3
4
12
6
6
19
8
5
May .
1
2
11
3
1
9
9
2
26
11
3
June
2
3
6
y
1
7
9
3
14
4
6
July .
1
2
3
6
3
G
1
4
10
9
6
August .
4
3
6
2
3
8
9
1
7
V
I
Sept . .
0
2
3
2
4
4
3
2
13
15
2
Occober
4
3
6
4
4
8
8
3
15
6
V
Nov.
4
1
8
7
1
7
4
4
26
11
2
Dec. .
3
2
11
11
6
16
7
4
36
9
9
Total .
27
2.5
84
.51
22
140
07
U
247
99
59 1
Nota. — The population in these years was — 1844, 18,999
184.5, 22,390 ; 1846, 28,000 ; 1847, 31 000. The two la.st years
are an approximation.
CHAPTER TIL
POPULATION, CLASSIFIED AND BY DISTRICTS-RELIGION— EDUCATION— NEWSPAPER
PRESS— CRIME— LAWS— GOVERNMENT— NEW CONSTITUTION-
LIST OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS.
The colouizing character of the British race
was never more strikingly manifest than in
the province we are now examining. Fifteen
years ago there was not an Englishman in
South Austraha; now (July, 1850) there are
about 50,000 happy, prosperous, and loyal
subjects of Queen Victoria in the settled
portions of the colony ; of whom about 5,000
are Germans, and the remaindei' immigrants
from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland,
and their descendants.
On the 9th of November, 1836, the first
vessel arrived, with emigrants from England,
at Glenelg, between five and six miles dis-
tant from the site of the present city of
Adelaide. The subsequent augmentation of
the population of the colony is thus showm : —
Year.
Males.
Females
Total.
Aborigines,
estimated.
1837
200
1838
—
—
5,000
1,600
1839
—
—
9,000
1,600
1840
—
—
10,000
1,600
1841
—
—
14,600
1,600
1843
—
—
16,516
1,600
1844
9,526
7,670
17,366
1,600
1845
12,388
9,371
21,759
1,600
1846
14,711
11,182
25,893
1,600
1847
17,531
13,622
31,153
3,680
1848
21,527
17,139
38,666
3,730
1849
—
—
—
—
According to the government census of
1844, the ages and sex of the popvdation in
the colony was —
Age.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Under 2 years . . .
890
834
1,724
2 to 7 „
1,459
1,434
2,893
7 to 14 „
1,322
124
1,446
14 to 21 „
922
866
1,788
21 to 45 „
4,432
2,996
7,428
45 to 60 ,,
457
281
738
60 and upwards
44
18
62
Of married — males, 3,026 ; females, 3,032.
The classification by occupations showed —
professional persons, landed proprietors, mer-
chants, and bankers, 990 ; shopkeepers or
retailers, 319 ; mechanics and artificers, 986 ;
shepherds, &c., 763 ; stockmen in care of
cattle, 298 ; gardeners and farm servants,
1,838 ; domestic servants, 742 ; others, not
included in the foregoing, 11,260. Classed
by religion — Church of England, 9,418;
Church of Scotland, 1,691 ; Wesleyans, 1,666 ;
other Protestant dissenters, 3,309; Roman
catholics, 1,055 ; Jews, 25 ; Mahomedans
and Pagans, 32. The number of houses
was — of stone or brick, 1,346; wood, 1,142;
other materials, 903 =3,391.
Population of Adelaide and the neighbourhood in 1844
and 1846.
Port Adelaide
North Adelaide ....
South Adelaide ....
South-west of Adelaide
South-east of Adelaide . .
EastandNorth- east of Adelaide
Total in 1844 . .
„ in 1846 . .
Males
717
840
2,299
880
535
362
5,633
6,826
Females.
623
800
2,138
813
478
314
5,166
6,214
Total.
1,340
1,640
4,437
1,693
1,013
676
10,799
13,040
Abstract of the Cens
us in April, 1846
Districts.
Area in
sq. miles.
Males.
Females.
Total.
^lilner Spe. Surve
f 600*
706
493
1,194
N.ofGawlerTowr
I 2,300*
348
110
458
Wakefield andHut
t 8,500*
631
131
762
Moorundie . .
100*
58
8
66
Wellington . .
200*
93
12
105
Mount Crawford
400*
320
210
530
Little Para River
210
462
369
831
Port Adelaide .
48
816
713
1,529
North Adelaide
27
929
914
1,^43
South Adelaide
4
2,902
2,668
5,570
S.W. of Adelaide
45
965
892
1,857
S.E. of Adelaide
31
688
584
1.272
E.andN.E.ofAde
45
526
443
969
Sturtand Onkapa-
ringa Rivers .
68
212
176
388
0'HalloranHill,&c
50
392
320
712
S. of Onkaparinga
67
334
248
582
Sources of ditto
210*
780
672
1,452
Meadows Special
Survey . .
Finniss and Angas
Special Survey
; 162*
301
243
544
\ 247*
308
167
475
)
Encounter Bay, &c
240
158
107
265
Port Lincoln .
•
85
47
132
Kangaroo Island
1,500*
—
—
70
N. of Rivoli Bay
2,700*
230
21
251
S. of Rivoli Bay
8,400*
248
15
263
Yankallilla, &c.
110
91
47
138
Cape Jervis
200
92
40
132
Total
26,464
12,670
9,650
22,390
Note. — Marked thu.s (*) are uncertain. Census of 1851
given in Siqjplevient.
344 POPULATION; BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Number of each Age. — 3Iales. — Under two years
of a"e, 1,019 ; two and under seven, 2,143 ; seven and
under 'fourteen, 1,606; fourteen and under twenty-
one, 1,088; twenty-one and under forty-live, 6,111;
forty-five and under sixty, 629 ; sixty and upwards,
74. Females. — Under two years of age, 9o3 ; two
and under seven, 2,101 ; seven and under fourteen,
1,460 ; fourteen and under twenty-one, 981 ; twenty-
one and under forty-five, 3,696 ; forty-five and under
sixty, 410; sixty and upwards, 49.
Married or Single. — Hales. — Married, 3,847 ;
single, 8,823. Females. — Married, 3,81 1 ; single, 5,839.
Religion. — Church of England, 11,945; church
of Scotland, 1,958; Lutheran church, 1,524; Wes-
leyan inethodists, 2,246 ; other protestant dissenters,
2,888; Roman catholics, 1,649; Jews, 58; Mahome-
dans or Pagans, 52.
OccL'PATlON. — Land proprietors, merchants, bank-
ers, and stockholders, 1,152 ; clerks and overseers to
the above, 162 ; professional persons, 109 ; clerks and
assistants to the above, 35 ; manufacturers, brewers,
millers, 82 ; clerks and assistants to the above, 46 ;
shopkeepers and other retail dealers, 338 ; clerks
and assistants to the above, 160; brickmakers, 77;
bricklayers, 83; smiths, 152; carpenters and joiners,
362 ; masons, 92 ; shoemakers, 225 ; cabinetmakers,
24; plasterers, 38; harness-makers, 19; tailors, 62;
tanners, 19; miners, 269; sawyers and splitters, 240;
she{)herds and others in charge of sheepj 1,120;
stockmen and others in charge of cattle, 215 ; carriers
and their assistants, 134 ; gardeners, farm-servants,
and persons employed in agriculture, 1,492; mari-
ners and fishermen, 85 ; domestic servants, 818 ;
labourers not included in the above definitions, 726 ;
all other persons not included in the above, 13,993.
Houses. — Stone or brick, 1,715; wood, 1,272;
other materials or tents, 1,189 =4,176.
Oil the 1st of January, 1848, the popu-
lation of the colony was about 38,666 souls ;
on the 1st of January, 1849, it was 45,907;
it is now estimated at not less than 50,000.
The following is an analysis of the in-
crease since the commencement of 1845 : —
Description of Increase.
Immigrants whose passage was defrayed from the land fund
Excess of immigrants arriving at their own cost, over emigrants from the >
Province j
Excess of births over deaths registered
Total
1845.
172
2,118
470
2,760
1846.
1,469
2,088
577
4,134
1847.
3,257
1,504
499
5,260
184S.
6,622
891
7,513
The following is a comparative return of
the number of births, marriages, and deaths :
Births.
Sex.
1844.
1840.
1846.
1847.
1848.
Males
Females
354
317
380
328
483
454
544
450
—
Totals
671
708
937
994
1,239
3Ian-i(if/es
Solemnized.
1844.
1845.
77
1846.
1847.
1848.
Church of England . . .
57
139
218
Church of Scotland . . .
21
29
21
20
—
Roman Catliolic Chapel . .
10
10
17
45
—
German Lutheran Church .
6
2
17
22
—
Congregational Chapel . .
11
9
13
23
—
Methodi>t Chapel ....
2
11
10
7
—
Primitive Methodist Chapel
—
—
2
2
—
By Dep. llegistrar, Adelaide
1
—
—
—
—
„ „ Port Lincoln
—
3
—
—
„ Missionaries ....
—
—
—
9
Of the Jewit.h Religion . .
—
—
—
1
—
Totals
108
141
219
347
320
Deaths.
Age.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
7 Years and under ....
81
147
244
317
_
From 7 to 14 years ....
4
8
15
20
„ 14 to 21 „ . . . .
4
6
6
16
„ 21 to 30 „ ....
17
19
19
39
„ 30 to 40 ,
20
28
31
53
„ 40 to 50 ,
6
22
26
32
„ 50 to 60 ,
5
3
12
12
„ 60 to 70 „ ....
2
3
5
4
„ 70 to 83 „ . .
1
2
2
2
—
Total . .
140
238
360
495
510
The proportion of male to female deaths
is thus shewn : —
Sex
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
Males
Females
75
63
143
95
208
152
301
194
—
Total
138
238
360
495
—
The preceding returns merely show the
number of births, mai'riages, and deaths ac-
tually registered in the province ; there is, at
present, no satisfactory means of estimating
the number of those unregistered.
Religion. — It is gratifying to observe
that from the very foundation of South Aus-
tralia as a colony, a right appreciation has
been evinced of the value of the ordinances
of our holy religion ; the first emigrants were
accompanied by a minister of the gospel, and
a church (in frame) for the celebration of reli-
gious Avorship, was fovwai'ded from England.
The late Rev. C. B. Howard, colonial chaplain,
arrived in the colony, with Governor Hind-
marsh, in December, 1836. His ministra-
tions were gladly accepted, his person much
respected, and to this worthy disciple of the
cross we owe the foundation of the church
of Christ in South Australia, which is now
the seat of an episcopate of the chiu-ch of
England and of the church of Rome. The
church of England bishopric was endowed
ill 1847 by one of the munificent grants
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS AND CHURCHES.
315
prompted by the practical piety of Miss Bui'-
dett Coutts^ a lady whose name cannot be
mentioned without adding the passing tribute
of respect dae to her from every British sub-
ject really interested in the abiding Avelfare
of his country.
The relative numbers and position of the
different denominations is thus shown : —
Return of the Number and Description of Places of Worship in South Australia, winch sjjecijies the
locality, amount of accommodation, and average congregation of each.
Denomination.
Ade-
Port
Villages
"Willunga
Encounter
Gawler
Koo-
Mount
Totals
laide.
Adelaide.
Adelaide.
District.
Bay.
Town.
ringa.
Barker.
in 1847
Church of England :
Places of worship
2
1
2
—
—
1
3
9
Adapted to contain .
1,050
200
310
—
—
260
330
2,150
Average congregation
750
120
160
—
—
80
—
200
1,310
Church of Scotland :
Places of worship
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2
Adapted to contain .
750
—
—
—
• —
—
—
—
750
Average congregation
200
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
200
Dissenting Chapels :
Places of worship
9
1
16
3
1
4
1
4
39
Adapted to contain .
1,950
100
1,640
350
100
1,060
240
440
5,850
Average congregation
1,230
80
660
145
30
790
240
220
3,395
Society of Friends :
Places of -worship
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1
Adapted to contain .
100
—
—
—
—
—
—
100
Average congregation
12
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
12
Roman Catholics :
Places of worship
1
—
—
1
— .
—
—
—
2
Adapted to contain .
700
—
—
150
—
—
—
—
850
Average congregation
530
—
—
50
—
—
— ■
—
580
Since the foregoing return was made^
several other temples dedicated to the wor-
ship of the one true and living God have
been erected, and others are in progress;
the structures are neat, and the pews, &c.
formed of cedar-wood. Due provision has
therefore been made by every class of Chris-
tians, among whom entire harmony prevails,
much to the benefit of practical Christianity,
and its essential attributes of charity, peace,
and good- will to all. Public worship is
celebrated twice on Siinday, the religious
festivals of the year are kept as in England,
and nearly every church and chapel has a
Sunday-school attached.
The state of the religious denominations
in 1848, irrespective of the church of Eng-
land, is thus shev\'n : —
The Presbyterians are divided into the
Scotch Church and the Scotch Secession
(voluntary) Church.
The Independents have five chapels and
ministers, and five Sunday schools, consist-
ing of about 600 children.
The iVesleyan Methodists have twelve
chapels, also schools and branch societies in
many places throughout the province. The
out-stations are visited from time to time by
ordained ministers, who are assisted in their
arduous labours by thirty local preachers, and
by the employment of tliis lay agency facili-
DIV. TI.
ties are afforded for supplying the wants of
a scattered community.
The Primitive Methodists have five chapels,
about 220 scholars in their Sunday schools,
and several excellent local preachers, super-
intended by an exemplaiy itinerant minister.
The Baptists and " Immersed Believers,"
two chapels ; the Christian Brethren, two
chapels ; the Union denomination, five chapels;
the New Church or Swedenborgians, one
chapel, and the Jews a Synagogue.
The Roman Catholics have five chapels,
and then* church is confided to the super-
intendence of a suffragan bishop under the
metropolitan hierarchy of Sydney, New South
Wales. Considerable sums have been sub-
scribed towards the erection of a cathedral
at Adelaide ; and at a public meeting called
by their bishop the Roman catholics unani-
mously resolved to forego any further par-
ticipation in the support or assistance pro-
vided by an act of the colonial legislature,
deeming it inexpedient and incompatible
with Christian liberty to comply with the
stipulations appended to the grant. The
indefatigable bishop and ministers of the
Roman catholic church are very zealous in
their efforts for education, and in the main-
tenance of their faith.
The German immigrants Avho abandoued
their native land chiefly on account of the
2 u
346
AID FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES— STATE OF EDUCATION.
religious persecutions to wliieh they were
subjected, and who belong, for the greater
part, to the evangelical Lutheran church,
have places of worship and pastors for their
settlements of Klemzig, Hahndorf, Langmeil,
Lobenthal, and Bethany. Each place of
■worship has a school attached, and the mem-
bers of the chui'ch are required to send their
children regularly to the same, from the
sixth to the fourteenth year of their age.
There are three or four German pastors in
the colony; indeed each body of emigrants
is accompanied bv a minister from theii'
"fatherland."
In June, 1849, the ser\ices of the
chm'ch of England were celebrated in twenty
places ; of the chui'ch of Scotland in four : of
the Roman catholic in three ; of the society
of Friends in one ; and by the other
denominations of Christians (of whom the
"VTesleyans are the most numerous) , in forty-
eight chapels; making, in the whole, seventy-
six places of worship in this still infant
colony. The government have granted 284
acres of land for the sites of churches,
chapels, cemeteries, glebes, and schools, on
fourteen applications from the church of
England, two from the church of Scotland,
two from the Wesleyans, and foiu' from the
Roman catholics. Since the foundation of
the colony, the local government has contri-
buted £2,1.57 towards the erection of church
of England edifices, and private individuals,
j61 6,689. The amount of the several sums
subscribed by other denominations is not
Jcnown. [Present state of religion in Supp* ]
An ordinance (No. 10, of 1847), was
passed by the local government, to pi'omote
the building of churches and chapels for
Christian worship, and to proride for the
maintenance of ministers of the Christian
religion. This ordinance came into opera-
tion 1st April, 1848, and was to continue to
1st April, 1850. Up to June, 1849, the
church of England had received, under the
prorisions of this ordinance, in aid of erec-
tions, £''1,.325 ; in aid of clergy stipends,
£464 : church of Scotland, £300 and £68 :
Wesleyan church, £94 and £153: making
in all, for ecclesiastical buildings and sti-
pends, £2,406. The aid is issued to the
extent of £50, in cases where the popu-
lation being equal to fifty persons, a sum
not less than £50 has been raised by private
contributions for a church, chapel, or minis-
ter's dwelling; and the issue may be in-
creased to any sum not exceeding £150,
provided an equal or greater amount of pri-
vate contribution shall have been paid up
and deposited, or secured to the satisfaction
of the governor and execiitive council. The
aid to the stipend of the minister is fixed at
rates ha^-ing reference to the number of
sittings (one-fourth part being free of any
charge), rented and paid for in any church
or chapel; the stipend, however, in no case
exceeding £200 per annum. The South
Australian Church Society, in connexion with
the chvu'ch of England, has an income of
about £500 a-year arising from donations
and subscriptions; and its objects are the
assisting in erecting churches, and maintain-
ing religious worship and Christian education
in the , metropolis and in the rural districts
of the colony. The Australian Mining Com^
pany of London have built a chapel and
school-house at their mines ; and, generally
speaking, there is a deep feeling of piety
manifest among all classes throughout the
prorince.
EnrcATiox. — Whore the responsibilities
of the Christian religion are felt by the
legislature, the duty of imparting sound
instruction will not be neglected ; neither is
it so in South Australia. An ordinance of
the local government (No. 2, of 1847), for
the furtherance of education, grants to
schoolmasters an allowance, in aid of thcii-
emoluments, of £20 per annum for the first
twenty scholars, and £1 per annum for every
additional scholar, beyond twenty, at school;
the total not to exceed £40 to each school
in one year. ^Tien this ordinance came
into operation on the 31st ]\Iarch, 1849,
thirty-three schoolmasters, already in the
field, became immediate claimants for a sum
of about £1,000 per annum. Among other
scholastic institutions now in existence, there
is now at Adelaide a well-conducted gram
mar-school, with 300 pupils, chiefly of the
labouring classes, for whom a commodious
school-house has been erected by the liberal
subscriptions of a few benevolent persons.
On 2ith :\Iay, 1849, the bishop of Adelaide
laid the foundation stone of a church of
England collegiate school at St. Peter's,
Adelaide, for which the local government
granted 111 acres of land, and towards
which INIr. William Allen, of Buckland-park,
Adelaide, a large proprietor in the Burra-
Bm'ra INIining Company, ga^e the munificent
donation of £2,700. It is intended that
this collegiate school shall eventually merge
into a college, and accordingly, excellent
statutes and regulations have been laid down
for its government. The holy scriptures art
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
to he tauglit in the original tongue^ and the
principles of the Christian religion carefully
inculcated. To this most necessary know-
ledge is to be added instruction in any lan-
guage, art, branch of science, or literature,
which shall, from time to time, be deemed
by the visitor and governors of the school
important to constitute a sound and Hberal
education. The property and management
of the collegiate school is vested in a council
of fifteen governors, of whom not less than
three, nor more than five, shall be clergy-
men of the church of England. Every lay
governor, on accepting office, must sign a
declaration that he is a member of the
church of England, and that he considers
the thirty -nine articles of the Book of Com-
mon Prayer to be agreeable to the revealed
Word of God. The bishop of Adelaide, for
the time being, shall be the visitor, and have
poAver, at any time, to enter the school,
examine and instruct the scholars, inspect
the accounts and general management of the
institution, correct abuses, and prevent the
adoption of any bye-laws that might con-
travene the fundamental principles of the
school, or frustrate the intentions of the
original founders. The decision of the visi-
tor, on any disagreements among the gover-
nors, shall be final. The head master must
have graduated in arts or civil law in one of
the universities of the United Kingdom, and
his appointment rests with the governors.
Education is extending very generally
throughout the province. In 1849, there
were eighty-one day-schools, attended by
2,900 children, and forty-five Sunday-schools,
attended by 2,500 children, in South Aus-
tralia. There is also at Adelaide a school
for the instruction of the children of the
aborigines, where, in 1849, there were forty
male and eighteen female scholars, who cost
the local government £10 9^. 7Ul. each, per
annum, for education, food, and clothing.
The following is a comparative return of
Sunday and other schools in the province of
South Australia, and of the average number
of scholars attending them : —
Schools and Scliolars.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
Scholars, European male
„ „ females .
„ Native male . .
„ „ female . .
870
856
85
67
1,397
1,272
74
58
1,402
1,210
76
62
1,987
1,910
100
56
2,933
2,469
40
18
Total Scholars . . .
Number of Schools . . .
1,878
45
2,801
81
2,750
08
4,053
86
5,460
127
Mr. INIuudy, late the secretary of Soutli
Australia, who most ably fulfilled the duties
of his office, and carefully collected various
statistical returns, says of this document—
" The information contained in this return
has been obtained from private sources, not
from authentic official records, and its accu-
racy cannot, therefore, be confidently relied
upon."
The Press of Sovith Australia dates its
origin pre^aous even to the foundation of the
colony. On the eve of the departure of the
governor and emigrants from England, the
first number of the South Australian Gazette
was printed and published in London, on the
18th June, 1836. The second number of
the South Australian Gazette was issued at
Adelaide on the 3rd of June, 1837. Other
newspapers soon started into existence, and
there were subsequently issued a Govern-
ment Gazette, Southern Australian, Adelaide
Observer, Adelaide Times, a mining journal,
&c. A well conducted South Australian
Magazine was issued monthly, and the two
South Australian Almanacks, which have been
published annually for several years, are a
credit to the colony, for the valuable mass of
facts which they contain, and the moderate
tone in which their able digests are written.
The extension and progressive increase of
literature, and of newspapers, is in some
degree exemplified by the following return
showing the total number of letters and
newspapers passing through the General
Post Office, distinguishing ship fi'om inland,
during the years 1844, 1845, 1846, and
1847 :—
Number of Post-offices
Letters : —
Ship
Inland
Newspapers : —
Ship
Inland
Total Letters ....
„ Newspapers . .
Income
Expenditure ....
1844. 1845. 1846. 1847
20,9-1 1
9,384
50,389
10,626
36,325
61,015
£752
£751
13
31,2
11,0.32
59,411
12,981
42,329
72,392
£946
£706
3)233
1L136
73 012
22,137
53,369
95,149
£1,106
£915
4 ,312
31,638
.S6,2."3
37,679
79,9."0
123,912
£1,504
£1,2(9
About one-third of the newspapers under
the head of " inland" were received by sea,
and are consequently entered twice.
It is stated by Sir H. E. F. Young, the
present governor of South Australia, in an
interesting despatch to Earl Grey on the state
of the province, dated June 8th, 1849, that
mails are despatched from the city to Hind-
marsh village and to the port six times a-day,
the postage being 2d., and the extreme dis-
tance eight miles and-a-quarter ; the postage
to all other places within the colony, thirty-
one in number is 4</., and the extreme dis-
348
LAWS AND STATE OF CRIME IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
tance 233 miles. To the most settled districts
the mail is despatched twice a-week; to
Guichen Bay, ISIount Gambier, Melbourne,
and Sydney once a fortnight : and to Port
Lincoln, by sea, as opportunities offer. The
postage to Melboui-ne and Sydney is M.;
the overland mail to Sydney is at present
but little used by the public. The revenue
of the Post-office of South Australia for the
year ended 31st March, 1849, was £2,215,
which nearly covered the expenditure.
Crime. — It might be supposed from the
erection of a gaol at Adelaide, at a cost of
about £40,000, that there was a great
amount of crime in the province, whereas
the very opposite is the fact.
The annexed return extends over several
years, and considering the newness of the
colony, and its proximity to the large amount
of prison population in Tasmania or A^an
Diemen's island, the number of criminals
cannot but be considered small.
Comparative Return of the Kinnher of Offenders convicted in the Province of South Australia since 1840,
the years endinc/ Septonber '30th. — Since 1847, returns imperfect.
In the Supreme Court.
Felonies : —
Murder
Stabbing, cutting or shooting Avith intent to kill
„ „ or do some bodily harm . .
Manslaughter
Highway robbery
Assault, with intent to rob
Burglary
Stealing in a dwelling-house
Burglariously breaking and entering dwelling-)
house, and stealing therefrom )
Breaking and entering dwelling-house, and)
stealing therefrom )
Stealing in dwelling-house, and putting thel
persons therein in bodily fear -'
Sheep-stealing
Horse-stealing
Cattle-stealing
Receiving stolen goods
Larceny
Larceny and former conviction
Stealing from the person
Stealing in a warehouse
Forgery
Uttering forged notes, orders, 6^c., Avilh intent ,
to defraud /
Counterfeiting coin
Total felonies
Misdemeanours : —
Assault, intent to commit rape
Fraud
Assault
Concealing birth of child . .
1840. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. 1849. 1850.
Total misdt mean ours .
Total convictions 47 .37 37 29 33 16 33
28
2 1
29
16
24
24 — — —
The Laws are, as in the other Austr; lian
colonies, entirely English, and administered
by a supi'eme court, which sits for civil jnd
criminal business four times a year. The re
is a judge, an advocate-general, and crov, n
solicitor, a commissioner of insolvency, i
sheriff, and an official assignee. The mem-
bers of the legal profession, who in 1849
had taken out certificates as barristers and
solicitors, were in number twenty-four. A
'•esident magistrates' court sits daily at
Adelaide, and there are seventy of her
Majesty's justices of the peace in diflerent
parts of the province.
The establishment of district or county
couits, for the economical and summary
recovery of deb s under £50, according to
the constitution of the " county courts,"
whiili are now working so satisfactorily in
En-, land, would be a great advantage, if
extcndi'd to our colonies, and would super-
sec" e the necessity of " courts of request."
NEW CONSTITUTION FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
3i9
Government. — The afFaii's of tlie province
are administered by a lieutenant-governor,
usually styled a governor, who is joined in an
executive council by the colonial secretary,
the advocate-general, and the siu'veyor-gene-
ral. The Legislative Council consists of the
lieutenant-governor, colonial secretary, attor-
ney-general, register-general, and four private
gentlemen of the colony, holding no office
under the government, but nominated by
the crown under the recommendation of the
secretary of state for the colonies. It is
proposed to change this form of legislative
authority to that of a Legislative Assembly,
with one-third the number of members to
be nominated by the crown. Of the pro-
posed alteration I have given full details at
pages 553 to 558.
The bill for the better administration of
the affairs of the Australian colonies has now
(19th of June, 1850) passed its second read-
ing in the House of Lords ^ndthout any
material alteration in the provisions of the
bill, excepting the -withdrawal of the power
from the crown of disposing of the waste
lands in the colonies (see page 554), and the
extension of the franchise by Earl Grey,
conformable to the suggestions of leading
practical men in both houses of the legisla-
ture. The bill may now, therefore, be con-
sidered as finally settled, and I deem myself
at liberty to offer a remark which I did not
feel justified in making in a work of this
nature while the subject was pending; con-
sidering it my duty to avoid becoming a parti-
zan on so important a question, or endeavour-
ing to influence public opinion on what has
not assumed in legislation or in action the
character of a fact. With reference, then,
to the measure for preserving, at least for
the present, the existing form of Legislative
Assembly of New South Wales (see p. 5.76),
and for granting to the other Australian
colonies a similar legislative body, I think
that such procedure, namely, one House of
Assembly, partly elected by the people, and
partly nominated by the crown, the propor-
tion nominated being one-third of the
elected, decidedly preferable to having two
chambers elected by popvdar suffrage.
In the committee of the House of Lords
on the Australian Colonies' Government
Bill (11th of June, 1850), Lord Monteagle
moved that there shall be within each of tlie
said colonies of New South Wales and Vic-
toria a Legislative Council and a Repre-
sentative Assembly; his lordship supported
his motion by references to the mischievous
and dangerous effects resulting from a single
chamber, and urged that " the only way to
avert the e\il (of a single and democratic
chamber) was by a double chamber, to the
upper of which, by the election of persons of
greater age, for a longer time, and with a
higher qualification, they would impart a
stable and conservative character.''
Lord Lyttleton, in supporting the proposi-
tion of Lord Monteagle, contended that " it
was the bounden duty of the mother country
to lay down the form of constitution best
suited to her colonies ;" according, however,
to the report in the Times of the 12th of
June, 1850, his lordship suggested that
" the bill might be sent out to the colonies
with words providing a double chamber, but
leaving it to the colonies to fill up the
scheme."
The bishop of Oxford suggested that there
should be two chambers — one called the
Upper, and the other the Initiative, but both
elected; the upper to consist of a small
number of persons, to be elected by a high
franchise, and to be older men than the
members of the Initiative : further, that
they should sit for nine, instead of three
years ; and that only one-third of the mem-
bers of the iipper chamber should retire
at a time. His lordship thought that a
chamber thus constituted would be in "favour
of things as they were," and thus act as
a check on the Initiative chamber, who
would " seek to improve by continual inno-
vations;" and that the conflict and collision
which was inevitable in every self-governing
country, especially in those inhabited by
our own blood and race, would be mitigated
in its evil consequences.*
These propositions are at variance with
the principles of monarchical government :
they are perfectly in unison with the repub-
lican constitution of the United States, and
might be supposed to emanate from the
senate at Washington, rather than from the
house of Lords in London. The congi'css of
the United States of North America is a
practical proof that two elected chambers
are no security against the acknowledged
evils of democracy, however difterent may
be the qualifications of the electors or of the
elected ; and the sagacity of General Wash-
ington enabled him clearly to foresee, that a
plutocracy, or domination of wealth, would
in time become an all-pervading influence
in the republic -vvhich he was unavoidably
* Debate in the House of Lords, 10th June, 1850.
— Times.
compelled to adopt. A plutocracy is tlie
great bane of colonial society; there being
no object of attainment for human ambition,
energy, or patriotism, the mere accumula-
tion of riches becomes the sole spring for
action, and men lose those ennobling influ-
ences which help to form the character, and
guide the conduct of those who live under
the eye of a sovereign, and desire the hon-
orary or hereditary distinctions which the
crown alone can bestoAv.
It is with deference, and, I may add, ^yiih
diffidence, that I venture to offer an opinion
advei'se to the propositions put forth by se-
veral distinguished members of both houses
for two elective chambers in the Australian
colonies ; but my colonial experience teaches,
that to leave the representative of the crown
in the distant parts of this empire without
any gradation of rank between himself and
the representatives elected by the people —
without any breakwater between the surge
of popular opinion and the undoubted pre-
rogatives of sovereign power — must inevita-
bly lead, and that at no distant date, to the
formation of a republic, and a separation
from monarchical England.
If, therefore, her Majesty's ministex-s aid
not deem that there were the materials in
Australia for creating two chambers, in ac-
* Since the foregoing M'as written, Sydney papers
have been received from New South Wales, to the
date of 21st February, 1850, containing a memorial
which is said to embody the wishes of the greater part
of the colonists, who pray that all classes of the com-
munity may be fairly represented in the proposed
new constitution, which, they hope, will resemble
the British constitution as closely as the circum-
stances of the colony will allow ; they pray to be
" protected against rash and hasty legislation by the
interposition of a second chamber, and that this stej)
in the progress of constitutional government be no
longer deferred." The constitution which the colo-
nists seek is, the vesting of their government in
three estates — (1.) a governor ap])ointed by the
crown ; (2.) a Legislative Council, consisting of mem-
bers nominated by the crown, together with ex-officio
members of the executive, in the proportion of one
ex-officio to four non-official members; (3.) a House
of Assembly elected by the colonists. This is sub-
stantially the plan recommended in my Colonial
Policy, published in 1837, for colonies Mhen ripe for
constitutional government ; it is one for which New
South Wales is now prepared, and which the colo-
nists seek to obtain.
In the Legislative Council of South Australia, the
Honourable John Morphett, an intelligent, respec-
table, and influential member of the local legislature
(see Despatch from Sir H. E. F. Young lo Earl
Grey, dated Adelaide, 16th November, 1848), pro-
posed— " Tliat, in the opinion of this council, the
torni of the legislature should, as nearly as possible,
resemble that of tlie mother-country, 'consisting of
a governor and two chambers, one in Mie nature of
cordance with the principles of the British
constitution, they had no alternative but
the maintenance of the legislative system
introduced by Lord Stanley, in 1842; and
Earl Grey truly urged that the Legislative
Council of New South Wales had " acted
^Wth more judgment, discretion, and regard
to the public interests, than was usual with
colonial governments ;" that it stood " very
high among colonial administrations, and
was, on the whole, well adapted to the con-
dition of the people.^' (June 10, 1850).
Time and circumstances will eventually
necessitate the formation of legislatures in
our southern colonies similar to those which
have existed for so many years in British
America and in the AVest India islands ; for
this change the bill now sanctioned by the
house of Commons and the house of Lords
provides; and vt^hen that necessity arises,
her Majesty's ministers and the Imperial
Parliament can more effectually deal Avitli
the question than probably could be satisfac-
torily done at the present moment.*
Lieutenant-Governors of South Australia according
to the dates of their heiny proclaimed in the colony.
Captain Hindmarsh, R.N. . . . Dec. 28th, 1836.
Lieute;iant-Colonel Gawler . . . Oct. 12th, 1838.
Captain Grey May 10th, 1841.
Major Robe Oct. 25th, 1845.
Sir H. E. F. Young Aug. 2nd, 1848.
an upper chamber, to consist of hereditary members,
nominated by Iter Majesty the Queen, and Avhich mem-
bers of the upper chamber, in order to secure iden-
tity of interest with the colony, should possess a
certain landed qualification, free and unemcum-
bered. And, further, in order to secure a perma-
nence of that identity of interest, it is desirable that
each inheriting member should possess, and prove
the possession of, an equal landed qualification to
his predecessor. — That, in the opinion of this council,
the second chamber should consist of members
elected by the people. — That all bills passing the
two chambers, and receiving the assent of the gover-
nor, should at once become law. — That in the opinion
of this council, an executive council should be given
to the governor, consisting of two officials, having seats
in one or other of the chambers, and two members
of each of the chambers, all to be nominated by
the governor. That such members of the executive
should continue in office so long as the government
could command majorities in both chambers upon
questions introduced to the chambers by the gover-
nor, and so long as they retained seats in the respec-
tive chambers of which they were members. That
such members of the executive should receive cer-
tain fixed emoluments. That in order to secure
the irresponsibility of the governor, Mho would be
a third branch of the legislature and the represen-
tative of sovereignty, the members of the executive
council should be responsible, and should go out of
office as before provided, and upon a vote of want
of confidence, passed after due notice being given
of its introduction, by the chamber of representa-
tives."— [Further details given in Supplement.]
CHAPTER IV.
FINANCIAL STATE, REVENUE, LAND SALES, CUSTOMS' DUTIES, AND EXPENDITURE-^
BANKING INSTITUTIONS— COMMERCE, IMPORTS, EXPORTS, AND SHIPPING— STAPLE
PRODUCTS— MINES AND ^MINERALS— AGRICULTURE— LIVE STOCK— PUBLIC COMPA-
NIES AND SOCIETIES— RATES OF WAGES— PRICES OF PROVISIONS— FIELD FOR
EMIGRATION. iSee also SuPPLEMKXT/or changes to the. present period.']
The first chapter of this book on the history
of Soiith AustraUa, shews the improvident
expenditure and consequent financial embar-
rassment, caused by the proceedings of Gov-
ernor Gawler.
To save the province from ruin, the aid of
the Imperial Parliament, as before stated
(see page 645) , became absolutely necessary,
and in the year 1841, £102,649 were ad-
vanced to meet Governor Gawler's drafts on
the colonization commissioners, and ,£52,350
to defray other expenses ; in 1842, £27,290
was voted to meet Governor Gawlei-^s drafts,
and £32,646 to meet Governor Grey's ; in
the course of the three following years,
£10,446 were advanced to meet Governor
Grey's, making a total of £225,382, which,
though at first voted as a loan, was subse-
quently confirmed as a grant. There has
been, I believe, much discussion as to the
amount of aid afforded by Parhament, but
the above statement is given on the authority
of a document recently sent home by the
governor of South Australia. Notwith-
standing, however, the large sums thus
granted, the provincial government remains
burdened with a bond debt of £85,000, of
which the interest is being paid by the colo-
nists from the land revenue.
The colonists claim from the Imperial
Treasury a sum of about £82,000 on the
grounds of money to that amount having
been abstracted from the land fund, and
applied by the colonization commissioners
during the difficulties of the colony to gov-
ernmental purposes, notwithstanding the
pledge given to all purchasers of land pre-
vious to the year 1841, that the produce of
the land sales should be devoted solely to
the furtherance of emigration. This demand
the British government consider uni'eason-
able ; the common sense of the matter ap-
pears to me, that the sum in question having
been borrowed from the emigration fund in
aid of the local revenues, should be repaid
from the same source for which it was bor-
rowed— that is, whenever the fixed and inci-
dental revenue exceeds the wants of the local
government, a portion should be set aside
for the repayment of the money borrowed.
Annexed is a comparative return of the net
ordinary revenue during the last six years : —
Details of Fixed Revenue.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
1849.
Cus-^onis (including pilotage andl
tonnage dues) S
Postage •
Fees — Public Offices . . . . •
Fines — Law Courts . . . . •
Licences
£20,124
752
1,689
274
2,156
563
1,486
44
24
£25,590
946
2,207
347
2,409
570
2,191
52
65
£37,643
1,108
2,561
175
2,941
546
1,341
47
155
280
70
£48,742
1,504
3,533
237
3,733
1,458
4,860
174
254
1,181
£55,439
1,954
} 5,366
4,593
1,521
3,175
129
1,318
£73,900
2,000
4,500
5,420
Auction duty •
Assessment on live stock . . •
2,000
4,000
Storage of gunpowder ....
Tolls
200
City rates
700
Total fixed revenue . . .
Incidental
27,116
761
34,381
1,800
46,871
1,146
65,679
1,348
73,495
9,352
92,700
1,480
Total revenue
Deduct the revenue from eachi
preceding year j"
27,877
36,182
27,877
48,017
36,182
67,027
48,017
82,847
67,027
94,200
82,847
Increase on each year ....
—
8,305
11,835
19,010
15,820
11,353
Is ate. — The circumstance of a large proportion of tac assessmeut-s on live stock due fur 184G not having been collected
until 1847, accounts for the apparent decrease in this branch of the revenue in the former year, and its increase in the
latter. The revenue for 1849 is an estimate for the year ending lil^t March, 1850, as laid before the Legislative Council
at Adelaide, in the session of 18i9-o0. llevcnue for sub.^cquent years given in Supplement.
352
DETAILS OF REVENUE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
It will be observed that since 1844, there
has been a steady annual augmentation of
the revenue. The increase during the year
1847 over that of 1846 is thus noted by
Lieutenant-governor Robe : —
Ditties of Customs on Inqyorts. — On spirits, an in-
crease of 23 per cent. ; on tobacco, 24 ; on wines, 98 ;
on other goods, 35 ; on other customs' receipts, 67 ; on
the general receipts of customs, 29.
The other sources of revenue show a corresponding
increase in 1847: — Postages, 36 per cent.; fees of
offices, 38 ; of which the registry fees, 44 ; fines, 36 ;
licences, 27 ; auction duty, 166 ; and on the gross
revenue, 39.
The auction duty increased very largely,
which is attributed by the lieutenant-governor
to the admission of goods to free warehousing,
under the Ordinance No. 16, of 1846,
The annexed statement gives in detail the
income of 1847 and 1848 :—
Details of Income.
Customs : —
Spirits imported .
Wines ....
Tobacco ....
Other goods . .
Warehouse rents .
Incidental receijit*
Less drawback repayments
£18,378
2,806
7,448
19,118
990
Total . .
Miscellaneous : —
Postage of letters
Fines and fees.
Licences (Publicans)
„ (other) . .
Assessment on stock
Auction duty . . .
Storage of gunpowder
Tolls
City rates ....
Pilotage and harbour dues
Total
Incidental : —
Rents of government property
Sales of ,, „
Surcharges recovered . . .
Repayments
Miscellaneous
1847.
£22,714
3,119
8,890
20,094
222
57
50,634
1,892
48,742
Total
1,504
3,771
3,527
206
4,860
1,458
174
254
1,181
16,735
691
123
26
299
207
1,346
1848.
55,098
596
54,501
1,954
5,366
4,350
243
3,175
1,521
129
1,318
938
17,994
Land Fund : —
Proceeds of sales of \\ aste lands
Licences, occupation , .
„ timber ....
Rents of aboriginal reserves
Immigration department .
Repayments
Total
General total of receipts
976
307
1
1,160
6,969
9,413
33,748
1,570
660
28
76
30
36,112
— I 119,023
J^ofe.— jjetails since 1847 given in Supplement.]
The customs duties form the largest item
of revenue. Until the 6th of July, 1849,
there was a difierential tariff in South Aus-
tralia, but under the authority of the Im-
perial Legislature the colonial Legislative
Council from the above date adopted an
uniform tariff on the importation of the
goods and produce of all countries alike.
The duties levied on the principal articles
are — manufactures of cotton, silk, wool, and
linen, five per cent, ad valorem; also on
arms, apparel, baskets, boats, brass manufac-
tures, brooms and brushes, clocks and watches,
copper manufactures, cutlery, earthenware,
furniture, gloves, grindery, hair manufac-
tures, iron manufactures unenumerated, im-
plements and tools, lead manufactures, machi-
nery, matting, musical instruments, netting,
paper stained and hangings, perfumery,
pewter ware, pictures, pipes not of common
clay, plate and plated goods, saddlery and
harness, stationery, tin ware, Jive per cent,
ad valorem. On all other articles the duties
are as follows : —
Alkali, 6d. per cwt. ; annatto, 3s. ; arrowroot, 3s. ;
bacon and hams, 2s. 6d. ; hags and sacks — corn, 5s.
per 100 ; ore, gunny and returned, 6s. 6d. ; bales for
wool, 2d. each ; beef and pork. Is. 6d. per cwt. ; beer,
porter, ale, cider, and perry, 3d. per gallon ; liquid
blacking, 4d. per gallon ; paste blacking. Id. per lb. ;
printed books, 6s. per cwt. ; barrows and trucks. Is.
each ; boots, 6s. per dozen pairs ; half boots, 3s. ;
shoes, 2s. ; children's, Is. ; bread and biscuit, 7d. per
cwt. ; glass and stone bottles. Id. per dozen ; fire and
bath bricks, 5s. per 1,000; other bricks, 2s. ; brim-
stone, 6d. per cwt. ; butter, 3s. ; chain cables. Is. 6d. ;
tallow candles, 3s. ; wax, composition, sperm, &c., 6s. ;
canvass, 2s. per bolt; carts and drays, 10s. each;
wheeled waggons and timber carriages, 20s. ; car-
riages, 5 per cent, ad valorem ; emjJty casks, 2s. per
tun; cement, 4d. per cwt.; chalk. Is. 6d. per ton;
cheese, 3s. per cwt. ; chocolate and cocoa. Id. per lb. ;
coals, 9d. per ton ; coke, 2s. ; coffee, 4s. per cwt. ;
confectionary, 2d. per lb. ; copper, sheathing and
nails, 5s. per cwt. ; cordage and rope, viz., Europe,
2s. per cwt. ; Manilla, Is. 6d. ; Coir and Jute, 9d. ;
unenumerated. Is. 6d. ; small cord and twine, 5s. per
cwt. ; cork, 2s. ; corks. Id. per gross; corn, meal, and
Hour, viz., wheat. Is. 6d. per quarter ; barley. Is. 3d. ;
oats. Is. 3d.; maize and millet. Is. ; peas, beans, and
pulse. Is. 6d. ; malt, 3s. ; flour and meal. Is. per
100 lbs. ; bran and pollard, 3d. do ; cutlery, 5 per cent,
ad valorem ; drapery, ditto ; di'ugs — corrosive subli-
mate, 2d. per lb. ; spirits of tar. Id. per gallon ;
vitriol. Id. ; unenumerated drugs, 5 per cent, ad
valorem; other unenumei"ated and manufactures,
ditto ; bed feathers. Id. per lb. ; dry and pickled fish.
Is. per cwt. ; flax, Is. ; dried fruits of all sorts, 2s. ; in
bottles, 6d. per dozen quarts ; preserved in sugar,
succades, and jams of all .sorts. Id. per lb. ; fresh, 6d.
per bushel ; plate glass, in squares exceeding 600
inches, 4d. per lb. ; not exceeding 600 inches, 3d. ;
crown and sheet, in squares exceeding 200 inches, 2s.
per 100 feet: not exceeding 200 inches. Is. 6d. ; flint
glass, cut, cast, mirrors, and manufactures, 5 jjer cent
ad valorem; glue. Is. 6d. per cwt.; grease Is. : sport
TARIFF ON IMPORTS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
353
ing gunpowder, in canisters, 5s. per cwt. ; blasting,
2s. 3d. ; groceries, 5 per cent, ad valorem ; haber-
dashery and millinery, ditto ; hosiery, ditto ; curled
hair for upholsterers' use, Id. per lb. ; hats and caps,
5 per cent, ad valorem ; hay, 2s. per ton ; dressed
hemp. Is. 6d. per cwt. ; undressed tow and oakum, Is.;
dressed hides, 3s.; raw, salt, and dried. Is.; honey,
4s. ; hops, 2d. per lb. ; writing ink, 3d. per gallon ;
printing ink. Id. per lb. ; iron, viz., bar and rod, 10s.
per ton ; sheet and hoop, 14s. ; ])ig, 5s. ; sledges, an-
chors, anvils, plates, cart-arm moulds, and articles of
wrought iron, heavy and in the rough, Is. per cwt. ;
cart-arms and boxes, finished — chain, articles of
wrought iron, finished, Is. 6d. ; camp ovens, pots,
boilers, and castings, lOd. ; refined isinglass, 6d. per
lb. ; common for manufacture, 2d. ; implements and
tools, 5 per cent, ad valorem ; jewellery, ditto ; old
junk, Is. per cwt. ; lard, 2s. 6d. ; lead, viz., pig, sheet,
and shot, Is. per cwt.; leather, sole, 3s. per cwt.;
kip and harness, 6s. ; calf. Id. per lb. ; patent bazils,
5s. per dozen ; kangaroo. Is. ; hogskin. Is. each ;
basils, 6d. per dozen ; enamel, 3s. Gd. per hide ; lime
and lemon juice, and syrup of all sorts, 3d. per
gallon ; Inciters, 4d. per gross of boxes ; maccaroni
and vermicelli, Id. per lb.; mats and matting, 5 per
cent, ad valorem ; musical instruments, ditto ; mus-
tard. Id. per lb.; needles, 3d. per 1,000; nuts, viz.,
almonds, walnuts, chesnuts, filberts, and small nuts,
2s. per cwt. ; shelled almonds, 4s. ; cocoa, 6d. per 100 ;
oil, black. Id. per gallon ; sperm, head-matter, and
other fish or animal oil, 3d. ; linseed, rape, hemp, and
cocoa-nut, 2d. ; olive, castor, and other vegetable
oils, 6d. ; oilman's stores, 5 per cent, ad valorem ;
onions. Is. per cwt. ; paints, Is. ; painters' colours, and
vvhiting, 6d. ; brown paper, wrapping, and blotting,
3s. per cwt., printing and cartridge, 5s. ; writing, Id.
per lb. ; other unenumerated manufactures, 5 per
cent, ad valorem ; parchment, 3s. per roll ; percussion
caps, 2d. per 1,000 ; pickles and fruit preserved in salt,
4d. per gallon; tobacco pipes, of common clay. Id.
per gross; pitch. Is. per barrel; potatoes, 3s. per ton;
provisions and preserved meats, 3s. per cwt. ; pins.
Id. per lb. ; rice, 9d. per cwt. ; rosin, 6d. per barrel;
sago. Is. per cwt. ; salt, 3s. per ton ; saltpetre. Is. 6d.
per. cwt. ; skins for tanning, 4d. per doz. ; soap, Is.
per cwt. ; spices, viz., cassia, 3s. per cwt. ; cinnamon,
2d. per lb. ; cloves, Id. ; mace, 2d. ; nutmegs, 2d. ;
ginger, 2s. per cwt. ; pepper. Is. 6d. other spices, 5
per cent, ad valorem; spirits or strong waters of all
sorts, viz., for every gallon of such spirits or strong
waters of any strength not exceeding the strength of
proof by Syke's hydrometer, and so in proportion for
any greater or less strength than the strength of
proof, and for any greater or less quantity than a
gallon ; also, perfumed spirits not being sweetened or
mixed with any article so that the degree of strength
thereof cannot be exactly ascertained by such hydro-
meter, 10s. per gallon ; spirits, cordials, or strong
waters, sweetened or mixed with any article so that
the degi-ee of strength thereof cannot be exactly
ascertained by Syke's hydrometer, 10s. ; starch, 2s.
per cwt. ; steel, 2s. ; stones — millstones, 2s. per foot
diameter"; grindstones. Id. ; roofing slates, 3s. 6d. per
1,000; slabs and flagstones, Is. per 100 feet super-
ficial ; tomb and wrought stones. Id. per foot ditto ;
marble, wrought, 6d. ditto ; bluestone, 5s. per cwt. ;
refined and candy sugar, 4s. per cwt. ; muscovado, 2s. ;
molasses, 2s.; tapioca, 2s.; tallow, 2s.; tar. Is. per
barrel ; tea, 2d. per lb. ; tin plates, 2s. per box ; to-
bacco, manufactured, 2s. per lb. ; unman uiactured. Is.;
cigars and cheroots, 5s. ; snuff", 2s. ; boiled down in
DIV. II.
bond for sheepwash. Id. ; toys, 5 percent, ad valorem ;
turnery and woodenware, ditto ; spirit of turpentine,
2d. per gallon ; vinegar. Id. ; whalebone, 14s. per cwt.:
wine. Is. per gallon ; wood, viz., posts and rails, hand
spikes, and poles. Is. 6d. per 100 ; paling, 6d. ; shin-
gles and laths, 6d. per 1,000; trenails and spokes, 2d.
per 100 ; oars, 2s. per 100 feet ; square timber, and
balks, spars, deals, battens, quartering, planks, boards,
and sawn, hewn, or split timber of all kinds, not
otherwise particularly enumerated or described, 2s. 6d.
per 40 cubic feet; manufactures of wood, 5 per cent,
ad valorem ; zinc, and manufactures of ditto, ditto.
Unenumerated articles, raw and manufactured, 5
per cent, ad valorem.
Animals, living; baggage of passengers; bottles
imported full ; bullion and coin ; plants and trees ;
seeds and roots, garden ; specimens illustrative of na-
tural history, and wool unmanufactured are imported
free.
CrsTOMs' Storage. — Ample accommodation is
provided by the government at this port for the
storage of goods in bond, far which the following are
the weekly rates of storage : — For every pipe or pun-
cheon. Is. ; hogshead or half-pipe, 6d. ; barrel or
quarter-cask, 3d. : tierce, 4d.; six-dozen bottle cases, 6d.;
three-dozen ditto, 3d. Any less or greater quantity
to be charged in proportion to the above scale.
The powder magazine is situated on La Fevre's
Peninsula, opposite Port Adelaide, where powder is
stored at the following rates : — For each barrel con-
taining 50 lbs., for not more than six weeks. Is. :
above six weeks, per week, 2d. ; containing less than
50 lbs., for not more than six weeks, 6d. ; above six
weeks, per week, l|d.
Raies of Pilotage. — For every vessel taking
a pilot, £2 ; and in addition for every foot
of draft of Avater above nine feet, lO^.; ves-
sels employing the steam tug have one-
fonrth of their pilotage remitted. Harbour
Services — Mooring, unmooring, and removing
vessels above 70 and under 100 tons, 10*. ;
if 100 tons register, 15*. ; apd for every 20
tons above 100 tons, 1^. In addition to the
above, 1^. per hour for each man in the
harbour department employed in the above
service. The charges for the use of the
steam tug for towing in or out of harbour
any vessel of 200 tons register or less, £5 ;
and for every ton over 200 tons, 6*.
Dues on entry and clearance, wharfage
and pilotage, were abolished in 1845. The
storage charges at Port Adelaide are for
every pipe or puncheon, weekly, \s. ; hogs-
head or half-pipe, Qd. ; barrel or quarter cask,
Sd. ; tierce, 4d. ; six dozen bottle case, 6d. ;
three dozen ditto, 6^.
All her Majesty's vessels of war, hired
transports, merchant ships freighted wholly
or in part by government, vessels of the royal
yacht squadron, and ships of war belonging to
friendly nations, are exempt from all pilotage,
dues, &c.
" City rates," or assessments on houses,
were raised in 1847 from six to twelve-pence
2 X
354 LANDS SOLD, AND MONEY RECEIVED IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA
in the pound ; the whole of such rates are
expended upon the streets of Adelaide.
Licences to pubhcans yield no inconsiderable
revenue, as will be seen by the subjoined : —
Number of Pithlicans' Licences (/ranted in South
Australia from 18-14 to 1847, inclusive.
Year.
Publicans' Ge-
neral Licences.
Wine and Beer
Licences.
Storekeepers'
Licences.
Total.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
1844
1845
1846
1847
63
73
106
135
£1,.575
1,825
2.650
3,375
7
12
13
6
£84
144
156
72
5
5
6
9
£25
25
30
45
£1,684
1,994
2,836
3,492
Comparative Number of Public Houses in the Pro-
vince of S. Australia from 1844 to 1847 inclusive.
Locality.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
Adelaide
Port Adelaide and Albert Town
Country, including P. Lincoln
34
3
33
41
4
40
54
4
60
61
5
66
Total
70
85
118
132
The annexed table shews the quantity of
land sold, the price per acre, and the income :
Total amount of
Propor-
tion
Quantity of
land sold,
Average
price per
Purchase
-money.
Year.
received
in acres.
acre.
Paid
Paid in
in each
in Eng-
S. Aus-
year.
land.
tralia.
1835
58,995
£0
12 0
£35,.397
£35,397
1836
( 1,680
i 240
0
1
12 0
0 0
\ 1,248
J
—
1,248
1837
f 591
\ 3,120
6
1 0
0 0
1 3,120
3,594
6,714
1838
48,040
0 0
37,960
10,080
48,040
1839
170,841
0 0
48,336
122,.505
170,841
1840
15,.565|
0 0
7,040
8,-525
15,565
1841
{ 7,650|
12 0
t) 0
\ 320
7,331
7,651
1842
17,081^
0 0
80
17,001
17,081
1843
598
0 0
—
613
613
1844
/ 1,496*
I l,932t
6 4
2 8
I 100
5,566
5,666
1845
/ 5,675*
I 43,983t
11 3
0 0
}-
52,902
52,902
1846
/ 11,193*
1 48,209t
9 8
0 0
121,720
J
76,874
98,594
1847
f 16,911*
\ 18,092t
2 7
0 0
\ 908
35,428
36,336
1848
29,200
1 9
—
36,112
1849
1
'
1850
—
—
—
—
Note. — 325,4f54f acres were sold at fixed prices, and 2,367
acres disposed of by public auction up to the year 1844 ;
3,463 acres have been reserved for the aborigines. The acres
marked thus (*) were sold by public auction, and those marked
thus (f ) at fixed prices.
It will be observed, that in 1843 the sales
of land had diminished to 598 acres ; and
even that small quantity would not have
been sold at 205. an acre, but that some
of it contained minerals, which in that year
were discovered in South Australia. The
subsequent sales have been chiefly owing to
this fortunate addition to the natural re-
sources of the colony. It is understood
that the colonists of South Australia are
generally favourable to the maintenance ol
the system of public sales at a minimum
price of 20^. per acre. This, considering
the mineral valvie of the lands, and that
most of the purchases have been made on this
principle, is not unreasonable. But it seems
to be forgotten that the minimum price at
public auction of a commodity in demand
is of comparatively little consequence, for,
in this case it may be said with Hudibras,
" The value of a thing
Is just as much as it will bring."
If limited quantities of surveyed lands were
annually offered to pubhc competition, at
a price, say, of 55. per acre, due notice
being given of such sales in England and
in Australia, and accui'ate surveys on an
extended scale deposited in a crown-land
colonial office in London, as well as in the
colony ; whatever the land was actually or
prospectively worth would be bid for it,
irrespective of a minimum upset price.
Dui'ing the debate on the Australian colo-
nies bill in the House of Lords, Lord Lyt-
tleton proposed that the power of repealing
all or any part of the 5 & 6 and 9 & 10 of
Vic, regulating the sale of waste lands in
the Australian colonies, should be given to
the governors in council of New South Wales,
Victoria, Van Diemen^s Land, and South
Australia; and that they might make fur-
ther or other pro^dsions for the management
of the said waste lands, and the appro-
priation of the sums derived from such
sales. His lordship ably and rightly con-
tended that it was altogether inexpedient
longer to maintain the existing price of £\
per acre in these colonies, especially in New
South Wales and Victoria ; and he referred
to the report from the Legislative Council
of New South Wales on the subject (see
p. 428) . That the local legislatures would
reduce the price of land he had no doubt;
I but he did not imagine they would be dis-
posed to alter any of the other principles
of the existing land sales ; they Avould main-
tain the di^dsion of the land fund in two
parts, applying the one to local improve-
ments, the other to emigration. If the
local governments did not thus act, the
Imperial Legislature might refuse their
assent to any deviation from that prin-
ciple. As to those who had purchased land
on the understanding that tlie minimum
price of £1 per acre was not to be reduced,
he had no doubt but the local legislatures
would act rightly in regard to them ; but
GOVERNMENTAL EXPENDITURE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 355
these vested individual interests were, in
New South Wales and Victoria, exceedinoly
few in number, as the land sales at this
price were very limited.
Earl Grey, however, in the same debate,
(12th June, 1850), truly observed, that
the "^ crown lands in the colonies were
domains held by the sovereign as trustee,
for the benefit of all the subjects of the
realm,^^ and that " the interests of the people
of England were to be considered on this
question." The subject is one of gi'eat im-
portance to all classes ; and other occasions
will occur for its further examination.*
At the beginning of the year 1849, the
land alienated by the crown in South Aus-
tralia amounted to 499,283 acres; there
were then surveyed and unsold county lands,
82,287 acres, and 16,902 acres surveyed
and unsold mineral lands open for purchase,
at the upset price of 205. per acre, without
competition, as they had been pre^^ously
offered for sale, and remained unsold. The
lands surveyed, but not yet sold, comprise
320,168 acres, and, under the existing regu-
lations, cannot be sold for less than twenty
shillings per acre. The unsurveyed land is
computed at two million acres. Hoav much
of it is available for tillage or for pasturage
it is impossible to say; but even at five
shillings per acre, there is a considerable
revenue still to be obtained by the crown
from this source. The average cost of the
surveys in South Austi'alia, during the year
1848, was about fourteenpence-halfpenny per
acre, including everything but office-rent.
Expenditure. — In 1840, when the colony
was just formed, the expenditure was
£169,966; but this ruinous extravagance
was checked, as we have seen, by dishonour-
ing the drafts of the governor, and by tlie
recal of Colonel Gawler. As soon as prac-
ticable, his successor. Captain Grey, reduced
the expenditure to reasonable limits; and,
in 1844, it was within £30,000: the sub-
sequent annual disbtu'sements have, in each
year, been less than the revenue. The pro-
gressive increase is thus shown : —
Expenditure.
1844.
1845.
1816.
1847.
1848.
1849.
Civil establishment
Contingent expenditure . . .
Judicial establishment ....
Contingent expenditure . . .
Ecclesiastical establishment.
Contingent expenditure .
Public buildings and works
Miscellaneous
Total
Deduct expenditure of previously
years J
Increase on each j^ear
£17,293
2,017
3,636
258
214
509
5,523
£17,507
3,133
3,421
245
350
2,728
4,711
£18,303
4,001
3,637
468
350
777
3,896
5,772
£22,262
6,722
4.126
1,087
350
1.892
15.646
6,891
£25,449
10,407
4,331
1,322
350
28,888
9,382
£39,997
2,640
5,707
250
350
20,034
11,333
29,450
32,099
29,450
37,207
32,099
58,976
37,207
80,129
58,976
80,311
—
2,649
5,108
21,769
21,153
—
Note. — The great increase of expenditure during the year 1847 was occasioned by the number of public works — bridges,
buildings, &c., completed, or which were in covirse of completion, during that j-ear. In addition to the above annual
expenditure, t..e following repayments have been made from the Colonial Revenue on account of debts incurred by the
local government prior to the year 1844, viz., to her Majesty's Treasury, the sum of £1,274 \os. Ad., paid in 1844 in liqui-
dation of claims incurred in the year 1841 ; to the Land Fund, £984 lis. 2.d. in the year 1844 ; £1,800 in the year 1845 ;
£9,000 in the year 1846 ; and £7,820 2s. M. in the year 1847. 1849 is an estimate only.
An abstract of the expenditure estimate
for the year ending 31st March, 1850, will
prove the resoui'ces which a body of English-
men can develop within a very brief period,
when located in a country favourable for
their habitation, unfettered in their ener-
gies and industry. All the following sala-
ries are paid from the taxes, voted and
collected annually by themselves : —
Governor, £1,500; private secretary and
establishment, £424; legislative and exe-
cutive councils, £424; colonial secretary
(£700) department, £1,844; treasurer (£500)
department, £1,060; registry, £430; audit,
* Present state of the "land question" in Suppt.
£830; customs, £2,749; crown lands, £1,326;
siu'vey, £3,309; colonial engineers, £1,845;
royal sappers and miners, £823 ; post-office,
£3,342; harbour, £4,327; colonial store-
keeper, £200; superintendent of cemetery,
£50; out-stations, £1,445; police, £11,756;
aborigines, £1,991; medical, £1,082; luna-
tic asylum, £579; supreme court (judge,
£1,000) £1,992; insolvent court, £300;
resident magistrates' court, £780 ; bench of
magistrates, £150; sheriff's department,
£1,565; advocate-general, £700; coroner,
£220 ; colonial chaplain, £350. These sums
are irrespective of £2,890, supplementary
votes, about £30,000 for public works, and
356 BANKS, COINS, AND MONEYS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
neai'ly .€12,000 for miscellaneous expen-
diture.
A moiety of the money arising from the
sales of crown lands is applied to immigra-
tion; the other moiety, styled the crown
reserved moiety, is applicable to the survey,
crown lands, and aborigines departments.
Out of this moiety £15,000 was paid in
1848 and 1849, on account of the year
1848, towards the extinction of the colonial
bonded debt, of which the interest, at five
per cent., is paid yearly, out of the general
colonial revenue.
The estimated expenditure of the land
fund of South Australia, from April to
December, 1849, was as follows : —
Amount of relief to the General Revenuel ^^ g^^
to be charged to the Land-Fund . . j J^
For immigration 17,714
For public works 3,355
Towards extinction of the bonded debt of\ it Q^n
£84,000 / ^'fl^
For roads and bridges • 7,659
For sundry small items "83
£55,433
"WTiich will be covered by an estimated"!^
revenue from lands sold ■>
From licences and rents
Balance in hand
27,000
1,875
26,558
there is also a branch of the Austral-Asian,
and, recently, one of the Union Bank of
Australia, has been placed at Adelaide. The
South Australian Bank appears to be a Avell-
conducted chartered company; it has a
subscribed capital of £200,000, in shares of
£25 each; upwards of £180,000 have been
paid up. By the charter, there is a power
of augmenting the capital to £500,000.
The corporation is managed by a com-t of
directors in London, and there is a local
board of three directors at Adelaide, aided
by a manager. The net profits of the bank
at Adelaide and in London, for the year
1849-50, was £15,153; the dividend paid
to the proprietors for the year, was six per
cent, free of income-tax.
The bank averages for South Australia are
thus stated since 1843 : —
Liabilities.
Year.
£55,433
Greatly to the credit of the colonists,
they have contributed liberally to the pro-
motion of public works and improvements ;
under this head, the sums voted were, in
1846, £3,616; in 1847, £14,847; and in
1848, £28,789 ; and the estimated sum for
the 3^ear ending 31st ]\Iarch, 1850, is up-
wards of £30,000. The cost of the Supreme
Court-house is £6,000 ; the government-
house, hospital, jail, police office, Resident
Magistrates' court, and slaughter-house,
Avould be creditable to any city in England.
The expenditure from the British treasury
for troops, or what is termed " military pro-
tection," was, in 1843, nil.; 1844, £4,000;
in 1845, £3,700; in 1846, £3,750; in
1847, £4,000. The total cost for pay
of troops and commissariat expenses for
five years ending 31st March, 1847, was
£15,890. There is a militia consisting of
two troops of cavalry and one company of
infantry, but it has not been called out
since 1810, and there is no expense attend-
ing the force.
Banking Establishments. — South Aus-
tralia has its own public bank, which is
coeval with the foundation of the colony;
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
Notes in
circula-
tion.
£9,939
11,027
14,912
23,224
32.008
40,937
Bills in
circula-
tion.
Deposits.
£3,314 £51,897
1,890 55,348
3,714
5,008
4,793
5,826
66.513
91,848
102,636
118,563
Balance
due to
other
banks
£793
787
340
1,451
1,739
241
Total.
£65,944
69.054
85,480
121,532
141,178
165,568
Asset a.
Year.
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
Coin.
£27,881
32,492
30,314
69,238
101.808
88,620
, , Balances
Landed ^^^ ^^^^
pro-
perty.
£8,139
7,867
7,590
7,226
7,382
10,440
other
banks.
£2,944
3,055
3,495
2,707
9,280
7,194
Xotes and
bills dis-
counted
and all
debts due
to the
banks
£186.067
181,121
174,971
196,480
309.0!)
367,765
Total.
£225,032
224,537
216,376
275,652
409,646
474,021
The Coins in cu'culation are the gold,
silver, and copper coins of Great Britain,
which bear the same current value as in the
United Kingdom.
On 31st December, 1848, the coin in t]\e
colony was estimated at £125,247; viz. in
the Bank of South Australia, £57,573 ;
Bank of Austral- Asia, 25,674; in treasury
chest, £32,000; in circulation, £10,000.
The weekly average amount of bank-notes
in circulation is £ 18,371.
The course of exchange on London from
COMMERCE— IMPORTS AND EXPORTS— SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 357
1st January to 23rd October, 1818, was two
per cent, premium; from 23rd October to
31st December, 1848, four per cent. On
the colonies, 1st January to 23rd June, two
per cent, premium ; from 23rd June to
31st December, one per cent., by the Bank
of Austral- Asia ; and by the Bank of South
AiistraUa, for same periods, three to two per
cent, premium.^
Weights and Measures as in England.
Tliere is a well-managed Savings' Bank at
Adelaide, which possesses the confidence of
the public.
Commerce. — The rapid establishment of
settled and profitable commercial intercourse
between South Australia and England, afi'ords
a good proof of the value which the mer-
chants, manufactui'ers, and shipping interest
derive from the foundation of colonies where
Englishmen can produce those articles which
are in demand in the United Kingdom,
and receive in exchange British manufac-
tures. South Australia, that but a few
years ago was a wilderness, has now a mari-
time trade in value little short of a million
sterling, t
The following shows the imports and ex-
ports since 1839, shortly after the forma-
tion of the settlement^ the years ending
Januarv : —
Imports from
Exports to
Year.
Great
Britain.
British
Colonies.
Foreign
Countries.
Total.
Imports
consumed
Great
Britain.
British
Colonies.
Foreign
Countries.
Total.
Imports
re-
in colony.
exported.
1839
£123,308
£200,325
£23,016
£346,649
£9.524
£6,515
£16,039
_
1840
151,020
124,874
27,420
303,320
—
15,699
16,380
—
32,079
1841
161,480
123,192
3,676
288,348! —
53,798
50,263
£589
104,650
. .
1842
93.382
69,403
6,627
169,412
—
39,628
35,375
245
75,248
—
1843
58,479
47,024
3,595
109,093
—
53,987
26,138
730
80.855
1844
63,610
54,366
854
118,830
£105,993
64,787
28,451
2,020
95,258
£12,921
1845
103,797
75.848
5,174
184,819
168,160
97,600
41,075
9,783
148,459
16,658
1846
174,689
141,661
13,748
330,099
303,321
218,095
92,340
2,402
312,838
25,778
18471
1848 i
235,374
166,475
8,975
410,285
335,692
166,080
170,360
13,907
350,348
75,133
1849
177,428
196,236
10,662
384,326
346,130
334,977
167,215
1,875
504,068
38,208
Note. — The foregoing returns cannot be carried back beyond the year 1839, as the colonial records from which they
have been compiled do not embrace any earlier year.
The shipping outwards, from the years ending January, 1848 and 1849, according
to the Blue Books, was : —
Year.
1848
1849
Great Britain.
liber.
30
16
Tons.
10,940
5,572
British Colonies.
Xumber.
152
125
Tons.
28,275
22,156
Foreign States.
Number.
15
10
Tons.
5,101
3,152
Total.
Number.
197
151
Tons.
44,316
30,880
Men.
2,575
1,795
According to a return in the South Aus-
tralian Almanack for 1849, the number of
vessels entering inwards for five years, was,
from —
Great
British
Foreign
Total.
Britain.
Colonies.
States.
1844
6
60
2
70
1845
12
97
5
114
1846
20
111
11
142
1847
28
115
/
150
1848
35
170
10
215
Note. — The vessels registered according to law in the
eolony were, in 1848, 17 — tonnage 1,548.
* It may not be irrelevant to mention for the bene-
fit of tho.«e seeking information on colonial subjects
— that it may be obtained with trustworthy accuracy
at Saunders' Colonial Library, Charing Cross, where
all the colonial newspapers are filed, the proprietor
of that establishment understands his business.
The value of imports for the year ending
5th April, 1849, was £471,526; of the
exports, .£485,922. Tonnage, in, for the
year ending 5th April, 1849, 59,011 tons;
tonnage, out, 53,327 tons. Value of staple
produce exported during the year ending
5th April, 1849, £446,643 10*.'
Staple Products. — I have shewn, in a
previous page, the quantity of avooI exported
from South Australia (p. 618.) The quan-
tity shipped from South Australia, for the
folloA^ing years was, in 1845, 1,078,559 lbs. ;
1846, 1,473,186; 1847, 1,804,918; 1848,
t In order to render this work permatiently
valuable, and a record of the j)ast, as well as an
exposition of the present state of our colonies, full
and accurate details will, so far as known, be given
to the latest date in the Supplements and Appen-
dices.
^58 WOOL AND METALS EXPORTED FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
2,329,134; 1849, (estimated) 2,500,000.
The value of the wool exported is about
£120,000, and of tallow, about £5,000.
Tallow, which first appeared on the list of
staple produce dm^ing the year ending 5th
July, 1849, amounted to 2,168 cwt. Wheat,
flour, barley, maize, and oats, are now
becoming staple exports of the province; in
1843, the quantity of wlieat and wheaten
flour exported, was equivalent to 38,482
bushels; in 1847, to 169,490; and in 1848,
wheat and flour were shipped to the value
of £40,000. The wheat is of excellent
quahty ; some may be seen at the South
Australian Conqmny's offices in London, with
a larger ear and a longer stalk than any to
be found in the United Kingdom. Eight
lumdi'ed quarters of South Australian wheat
were recently received in Mark-lane, weigh-
ing 63 to 65 lbs. per bushel, and sold for
535. per quarter, when the price of English
grown corn was much lower.
Leather, whaleboue, oil, beef, live animals,
gum, bones, dried fruits, and other articles,
are now recorded in the export list, and to
this list, doubtless, various items will pro-
bably be added. The value of the exports
from South Australia for the following years
was, 1845, £103,981; 181G, £190,669;
1847, £275,171 ; 1848, £354,907.
According to an official return printed by
order of the house of commons, 5th July,
1850 (No. 511), the total imports of South
Australia for ten years ending 1848, were
valued at £2,643,847; the exports for the
same period at £1,719,856: the shipping
inwards was, in tons, 236,624. The quanti-
ties and values of the two staple products of
the colony, wool and minerals, exported, are
stated to have been thus: —
Wool Exported.
Minerals Exported.
Year.
Quantity in
Value.
Quantity
Value.
lbs.
in tons.
18.39
8,740
1840
—
8,740
—
—
1841
641,825
36,226
. —
£390
1842
661,191
29,749
—
—
1843
1,159,574
45,568
20
128
1844
819,897
42,770
442
6,437
1845
1,331,888
72,236
1,158
19,019
1846
2,042,195
106,510
6,609
142,231
1847
1,114,802
56,131
9,301
174,«:17
1848
2,170,793
98,582
17,006
320,624
Total
9,942,225
505,252
34,536
662,456
Note. — For the years l.s:W-40 the wool exported is not
stated ; nor docs there appear to have been any exports of
minerals during the same period. In 1812 a small quantity
of lead and copper was exported, but no mention is made of
its being the produce of the colony
The largest article of export consists of
metallic ores, of which the discovery is
recorded in the chapter on the history of the
province, p. 648. The discovery of a silver-
lead mine, termed the Wheal-Gawler, was
owing to the wheels of a heavily-laden dray
passing over a "bunch" of the mineral
cropping, through the surface ; — the bril-
liancy of the fragments revealed the trea-
sure possessed by the colonists. The first
export was some lead ore, in 1841, to the
value of £390. The exports have subse-
quently increased in the following ratio : —
Ores in tons.
Value.
Year.
Cop-
per.
Lead.
Eme-
i-y-
Copper.
Lead.
Emc-
Total.
184.3
1
18
£23
£104
£127
1844
277
203
—
4,009
2,427
—
6,436
1845
664
273
—
10,351
3,133
—
13,484
1846
2,691
189
—
58,395
1,919
—
60,314
1847
6,921
60
—
142,060
580
—
142,640
1848
10,6.32
271
68
199,134
3,954
£700
203,788
1849
16,323
682
—
310,172
10,462
—
320,624
There are about thirty-five mines in South
Australia, of which about one-half are in
active working; they are all copper, except
two, copper and lead ; five, lead and silver-
lead ; and one, copper and gold. These
mines are all within 100 miles of Adelaide,
except two mines, which are close to avail-
able harbours. A special survey of 20,000
acres has been purchased in the neighbour-
hood of Mount Remarkable, with a view to
mining operations; and mining explorations
have commenced near Port Lincoln. To
what extent the mineral resources of the
colony may yet be developed, it is impossible
to predict.
Thus, in the short space of seven years,
and in a colony whose duration only doubles
that period, the exportable produce in metals
has been augmented from £127 to £320,624 ;
from one ton of copper ore to sixteen thou-
sand tons. Of the copper ore raised in the
year 1848, there was exported to Great
Britain, in value, £206,605 ; and of the lead
ore, in the same year, to Great Britain,
£3,215. Lidia and China afford large and
profitable markets for any quantity of copper
or lead above what England may require.
Iron ore and mineral iron exist in pon-
derous masses in various parts of the pro-
vince : gold, in a black metallic-looking
sand, has been found in the bed of the
Torrens river; it is also said to exist, in
considerable abundance, in other places, and
one or two gold mining companies have
been formed at Adelaide for the collection
MINING ASSOCIATIONS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
359
of the precious metal. To afford some idea
of the progress of mining operations in the
colony, I subjoin a list of the mines in the
colony at the close of the year 1848 : —
Name.
Montacute Mining Company . . .
South Australian Mining Association
Princess Royal Mining Company
Paringa , ,,
Wakefield
Glen Osmond Union „ „
Au.stralian „ „
Adelaide ,, „
North Kapunda „ „
Mount Remarkable „ ,,
Victoria Gold Mine . . .
Prince Albert „ „
Port Lincoln „ ,,
Barossa „ ,,
Royal „ „
Enterprize „ „
Provincial Mining Association
Kapunda Mine
Wheal-Granger Mine ....
Wheal-Gawler „ ....
Belvidere „ ....
Kanmantoo „ ....
Greenock Creek ,. ....
Adelaide Ore Smelting Company
Assoinga „ „
Patent Copper „ „
Date
of 1
Formation. 1
Mar.
1845 1
16 April 1845
16 Oct. 1845
13 Nov.
1845
1845
20 Nov.
1845
1845
16 May
13 June
1846
1846
3 Nov.
1846
1846
1848
3 ]\Iay,
1848
1848
1848
1848
Aug.
1848
2 Dec.
1847
24 May,
1848
Where established.
Adelaide
London & Tungkillo
Adelaide ...
Port Lincoln
London
Adelaide
Near Albert Town
Tothill's Gap . .
Kooringa, &c.
Capital.
£5,000,
12,320,
20,000,
20,000.
5,000.
30,000,
400,000,
10,000,
22,000,
25,000.
20,000,
5,000,
3,000,
30,000.
50,000,
3,000,
6,000,
in 1,000 shares,
increasable to £20,000.
in 400 shares of £20 each.
in£10sh. inc. to £50,000.
paid up £80,000.
in 2,000 shares,
all paid up.
in 10,000 shares,
in 1,000 shares,
in 600 shares.
in 5,000 shares
in 1,000 shares
in 1,000 shares.
10,000, in 400 shares.
l^'ote. — There are no particular.s jniblished where the dash is inserted.
All these companies, except the Australian
Mining Company and the Barossa Range
Association, have been established in the
colony. The Australian Company has already
received about 1,500 tons of copper, which
average about thirty-five per cent, of pure
copper. They have pushed forward the
workings at their mines at Tungkillo with
much energy, driven an adit to the extent
of 180 fathoms, and laid down a tram-road
of 150 fathoms. Steam power, pit work,
and other machinery for three shafts, suffi-
cient to take the mine down 100 fathoms
below the adit, together with a general
supply of mining implements and stores,
have been recently sent out to the colony
by the board of directors in London ; and
under the management of able officers, and
with practical Cornish miners, the efforts of
this spirited company Avill, it is to be hoped,
reap an ample reward.
After the discovery of the Kapunda copper
mine in 1813-4, by Captain Bagot's son
and Mr. Button, the attention of the colo-
nists was strongly directed to the subject,
and at the end of 1844, and beginning of
1845, reports were rife in Adelaide, that
a "monster mine" of untold wealth had
been found by a shepherd : the precise
locality was for some time kept secret ; and
after great exertions to raise jg20,000 in
Adelaide, owing to the depressed state of
the province, two associations collected the
required sum, and purchased 20,000 acres,
by special survey, in the vicinity of the
Eazorback mountain and BiUTa creek, lat.
33° 40' S., long. 13° 98' .E., eighty-five miles
north by east from Adelaide. The two asso-
ciations having lineally divided the property,
apportioned it by lot, the northern half fell
to those who formed the Adelaide Mining
Company, and has been called Wheal-Grey ;
the southern half became the property of an
association called the Princess Royal Mining
Company.
The progress of that portion of the Burra-
Burra mine termed the South Australian
Mining Company, for three years ending
30th September, is thus shoAvn : —
Particulars.
1846.
1847.
1848.
Total.
Ore raised ....
Carted to P. Adelaide
Sold there ....
Shipped to Gt. Britain
Tons.
6,359
2,726
10
2,453
Tons.
10,794
6.963
1,067
5,370,
Tons.
16,231
11,731
3,203
7,588
Tons.
33,386
21,421
4,481
15,413
The dividends paid from the produce of
this mine are very extraordinary. First
di\adend, 24th June, 1817, fifty per cent.;
amount, £G,160: 5eco»(/ dividend, 8th July,
360
MANUFACTORIES AND WORKS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
1847, fifty per cent. ; amount, €5,160 :
third dividend, 18tli August, 1847, one hun-
dred per cent. ; amount, £12,320 : fourth
dividend, 1st December, 1847, tivo hundred
per cent. ; amount, £24,640 : fifth dividend,
1st INIarch, 1848, two hundred per cent. ;
amount, £24,640 ; sixth dividend, 1st June,
1848, two hundred per cent.; amount,
£24,640 : seventh dividend, 1st September,
1848, tivo hundred per cent.; amount,
£24,640. Total sum, dividends, in fifteen
months, amounting to one thousand per
cent. = £123,200, of which £119,850 have
been a,ctually paid. This prosperity con-
tinues.
In the half-yearly report (19th April,
1848) of the Bui-ra-Burra mine, it was
stated that there were 567 operatives en-
gaged in raising and dressing the ore, and
in other pursuits connected with their estab-
lishment : that in future, so long as the
then satisfactory prospects continued, the
directors proposed " paying dividends of two
hundred per cent, on the capital stock, on
the first day of every third month." The
funds necessary to purchase the land in
which the mine is situated were procured by
issuing 2,464 shares, of five pounds each,
the gi'eater number of Avhich are held by the
colonists, and are now saleable at about one
hundred and twenty pounds !
The following retui-n, compiled from the
Swansea ticketing papers, exhibits the pro-
duce shipped from the South Australian
mines, during the vears 1846-7 : —
Mines.
Burra-Burra .
Kapunda . .
iVIontacute
Kanmantoo .
Paringa .
Princess Royal
Total .
1846.
Tons. Value.
1,176
831
265
78
19
2,369
£20,684
16,726
4,370
1,259
394
43,433
1847.
Tons. Value.
4,351
1,480
b-i
228
100
60
6,274
£94,263
27,769
1,029
3,236
1,608
1,221
129,126
The average price, per ton, obtained for
the ores thus sold, was, in 1846, £18 7s. 2d. ;
in 1847, £20 Is.; but the heavy depre-
ciation which subsequently took place in the
copper market, very materially diminished
the amounts reahsed for South Australian
ore. The average cost of raising the ore,
mcluding every item previous to shipment,
was about £6 sterling per ton ; freight and
charges to Swansea, £5 155. per ton : leav-
ing, at £20 per ton, more than £8 per ton
clear profit. The formation of a tram-road
from the Burra-Burra mine to the city of
Adelaide, and of a railroad from the city to
the port, as now proposed, will greatly
reduce the cost of transit from the mine to
the shipping, which is considerable. For
instance, from September, 1845, to March,
1847, the cartage alone was £21,466.
The distance of South Australia from
England has induced the colonists to direct
their attention to smelting the ore at the
mines, a company has been recently formed
at Adelaide, and the Yatala smelting works
are now in progress, at a convenient position
between the city and port of Adelaide.
Another set of smelting works have been
constructed near the BuiTa-Burra mines,
contiguous to an extensive forest, by Messrs.
Walters and Williams, in connection with
INIessrs. Schneider and Co., of London, at a
cost of £70,000. The INIessrs. Thomas, a
well-known and respected family from Corn-
wall, possessed of much experience in mining,
have erected a copper smelting furnace near
the South Australian Company's mine at
Kanmantoo; other smelting establishments
are in progress, including small furnaces for
smelting lead; and, in a few years, no more
of the poorer ores will be shipped from
South Australia, by which a considerable
increase of profit must accrue to the colony
and to the mining proprietors.
The following is a comparative return
of manufactories and works in the province
of South Australia, from the years 1844 to
1848 : [For continuatic
n see
Supplement.]
Description of "Work.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848.
Barilla manufactory .
1
1
1
1
I
Boat-buildev ....
.
1
I
1
Boiling - clown estabO
lishments . . . ./
—
—
—
2
2
Breweries
9
IS
13
15
14
Candle-maker . . .
—
—
—
1
1
Cloth and woollen ma- 1
iiufactory . . . ./
1
1
Coach manufactories .
0
3
4
4
4
Flour mills — Steam
3
11
1.5
15 1
i!
Wind . .
7
8
8
25
"Water .
2
3
1
Cattle . .
4
9
2
Foundries — brass & iron
3
4
2
9
2
Machine manufactories
4
5
5
4
4
Maltsters
—
10
2
2
2
Organ-builder . . .
_
—
1
1
1
Pottery
1
1
—
—
—
Salt manufactoiy . .
1
1
1
1
—
Ship-builders ....
. —
—
1
2
2
Smelting works . . .
—
—
—
—
2
Snuff and tobacco ma-">
nufactories . . . /
1
3
1
1
1
Soap and caudle manu-"l
factories /
4
4
4
3
o
Soap-inakcrs ....
—
—
—
2
2
Tanneries
/
8
6
/
/
"Water- >vorks . .
^
1
1
1
1
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS IN EAjCH DISTRICT, S. AUSTRALIA. 361
The return for the year 1848 is given
from the Blue Book at the Colonial-office ;
but, excepting the works for smelting cop-
per, there does not appear to have been
any increase in the manufactiu'ing establish-
ments for the last few years.
The mechanics in the colony are said to
be skilful workmen, and the machinery made
is of first-rate character. Seven vessels of
a small size have been built at Adelaide,
and they are creditable specimens of naval
architecture.
Agriculture. — The neglect of this staple
source of prosperity, during the early days
of the colony, has been previously stated.
Ample amends have since been made for
this inattention; and the progressive in-
crease of cultivation is shown in the an-
nexed statement of the acres in cultivation
from the year 1840 to 1848 : —
Year.
Number of
Proprietors.
Wheat.
Barley.
Oats.
Maize.
Potatoes.
Garden.
Vineyard.
Total.
1840
1,059
388
424
192
440
2,503
1841
—
4,154
897
501
714
456
—
_
6,722
1842
873
14,000
2,700
700
850
690
850
—
19.790
1843
1,300
23,000
3,300
790
290
470
840
—
28.690
1844
1,357
18,980
4,264
1,045
241
397
761
—
26,918
1845
1,209
18,838
4,312
1,485
86
459
63
—
—
1846
1,714
26,134
3,489
1,963
106
590
896
Ill
—
1847
1.837
25,920
5,840
2,946
161
381
993
198
36,440
1848
1,846
29,737
8,479
3,977
4,602
591
1,300
219
48,911
The estimated average per acre is — for
wheat, 21 bushels ; barley and oats, 25 ; po-
tatoes, 4. The number of acres enclosed
was, in the year 1847, 94,684 ; and in 1848,
125,643.
The state of each district is shown by the
following account of the number of acres in
crop in 1848, which shows that, on an ave-
rage, each landed proprietor has about twenty-
seven acres of land under cultivation : —
Districts in 1848.
Adelaide . . .
Encounter Bay .
Gawler Town
Mount Barker
Mount Remarkable
Port Lincoln . .
Willunga . . .
Total
Number of
Landed Pro-
Wheat.
Barley.
Oats.
Maize.
Potatoes.
Garden.
Vineyard.
prietors.
978
12,744
4,949
2,517
4,579
211
819
171
39
577
81
11
10
12
15
2
232
5,153
1,727
233
6
43
178
22
388
6,834
960
767
4
289
187
18
20
95
20
171
0
16
32
2
18
45
17
28
—
3
12
2
171
4,289
725
250
2
22
56
3
1,846
29,737
8,479
3,977
4,602
595
1,300
219
Total
Acres.
25,990
708
7,361
9,058
338
107
5,247
48,911
Up to the 1st of January, 1849, the num-
ber of acres surveyed in South Aiistralia
was 465,943 ; add proportions for roads,
22,641 ; for the city of Adelaide and park,
3,400 ; total, 491,984. The number of acres
selected was 159,188, In the surveyed
lands, 198,997 acres were special; and of
these, but 52,400 were selected.
The agricultural and horticultural pro-
ducts are similar to those of the Australian
colonies previously described. The vine
thrives well, and the product of wine and
brandy is increasing.
South Australia was, on its foundation,
m 1836-7, supplied with live stock from
New South Wales and from Van Diemen's
island. Large parties of " overlanders" ar-
rived at Adelaide by travelling along the
banks of the Darling, Murrumbidgee, and
MuiTay rivers. The number of stock as-
DIV. II.
sessed for the years 1839, 1844, 1845, 1846,
and 1847, was —
Year.
Horses.
Horned Cattle.
Sheep.
1839
1844
1845
1846
1847
800
902
1,044
1.826
1,705
7,600
22,711
26,146
56,986
56,375
108,700
355,689
480,669
681,374
784,811
JS'ote. — The horses and horned cattle are above the age of
six months, and the return of sheep includes weaned lambs.
The Blue Book for 1848 only contains
returns for the Adelaide district, viz. —
horses, 686 ; horned cattle, 55,083 ; sheep,
838,394. It is stated that there are now in
the whole province — horses, 5,000; horned
cattle, 70,000; sheep, 1,000,000 ; goats and
pigs, 20,000. The increase of sliccp is com-
puted at twenty per cent, per annum.
In 1843-4, Mr. Ridley, anintelUgent South
2 Y
36.2 PRICES OF PROA^SIONS, AND WAGES IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Australian colonist, invented a machine
■which reaped and threshed the corn at the
same time. The machine is driven forward
by two horses; at the fore end are six
prongs, three on each side, Avhich embrace
the entire width of the wheel-track, and
serve to collect the ears into the narrower
range of teeth, which extend into a cylinder,
in the form of a comb ; between these teeth
the neck of the straw passes, and the head
or wheat-ear is guided into the lower cylin-
der, where it is caught by the "beaters,^'
which make 600 revolutions per minute.
The grain is beaten out of the ear, and
thrown up a curve, whence it falls into the
receiving-box, at the bottom of the cart,
and the chaff flies off by a sort of chimney,
at the upper and back end of the cart. This
invention would only answer in a climate
where the corn was so dry that it would
separate from the chaff' at the first blow of
the beater. With two horses and two men,
a farmer may thus reap and thresh a field
at the rate of one acre per hoiu".
Prices in 1848. — Wheat, 4^. 6c?. per
bushel; barley, 4s. 6d.; oats, 4s.; maize,
Ss. ; potatoes, per ton, £3 10s. to £5; grapes,
per lb., 2d. to 9d. ; peaches, per dozen, 4d.
to 8c?. ; melons, per cwt., 5s. to 6s. ; apples,
per lb., 5d. to 9d. ; nectarines, per dozen, 6c/.
to 9c?.; wheaten flour, per barrel of 196 lbs.,
22*. to 29s. ; wheat, per imperial bushel, 3s. 9c/.
to 5s.; wheaten bread, per lb., \\d. to l|c/.
Horned cattle — cows, ^2 to £h ; steers,
£\ 15s. to £3 ; working bullocks, £3 to £5.
Horses, £15 to £20. Sheep — ewes, 4s. to
6s. ; wethers (60 lbs.), 7s. Goats, 3s. to 5s. ;
swine, 6c/. per lb. ; milk, per pint, 2c?. ;
butter, fresh. Is. 2c?. to Is. ?)d. per lb. ; salt.
Is. to Is. 3c?. ; cheese, 9c?. ; beef and mutton,
2ic?. ; pork, 6d. ; rice, 3c?. ; coffee, 10c/. ;
tea, 2s. ; sugar, 3c/. to 3|c?. ; salt, \d. ; wine,
per dozen, 25s. ; brandy, per gallon, 21s. ;
beer, colonial, per hogshead, £4 2s. 6d. ; fo-
reign, £7 to £8; tobacco, per lb., 3s. 6c?.
Wages for Labour in 1848. — Domestic,
male, £25 to £32 per annum ; female, £14
to £22. Predial, £31 to £39 per annum.
Trades. — Bakers, 4s. to 5s. per diem ; black-
smiths and wheelwrights, 6s. 6c?. ; bricklayers,
masons, and plasterers, 7s. 6c/. ; brickmakers,
per ] ,000 bricks, 35s. ; butchers, 3s.6c/. to4s.2c?.
per diem ; bullock drivers, cabinet and car-
riage makers, coopers and carpenters, 7s. 6c?. ;
saddlers, 6s.; shoemakers, 7s. 6c?.; sawyers, per
1,000 feet, 9s. 6c?. ; shepherds, with board and
lodging, average £31 4s. per annum ; porters,
per hour, 7c/. to 8c/. ; farmers, 5s. per diem.
The colony is greatly indebted for its
foundation (see p. 638), and for the interest
which has been felt in England for its
welfare, to an association termed the South
Australian Company, which in June, 1850,
held its fourteenth annual meeting, and de-
clared a dividend of four per cent, per annum,
free from income-tax. The objects of this
company were, the purchase and improve-
ment of lands, and their lease and sale, when
so improved. It has also introduced improved
breeds of stock into the colony, and worked
some mining property. Meritorious eflbrts
have been made for the construction of wharfs
and warehouses at Port Adelaide, where ten
ships may now load or unload, as if they were
in the London Docks. The company seem
now to be directing their more special atten-
tion to leasing land, of which they possess
about 60,000 acres ; offering it on the follow-
ing favourable terms to settlers : — .
" Engagements for leases for a term of twenty-
one years, at very moderate rates, with a right of
purchasing the freehold.
" The sections, as marked off by the government
surveyors, contain either 80 or 134 acrf.s ; so that
the farms will consist of 67, 80, 134 acres, or any
larger quantity, as may be agreed on.
" The company's manager will point out five por-
tions of freehold land, each equal to the quantity to
be leased, and from them the tenant may select one.
The yearly rent Avill be 4s. per acre, during the first
period of seven years — 5s. per acre, during the second
period of seven years, and 6s. per acre, during the
third period of seven years.
" In order to provide for the due cultivation of
the farm, every applicant should possess a small
amount of ready money, to be deposited (on signing
the agreement) Avith the company, in London ; and
for which (without any deduction) an order will be
given on their manager in the colony. The lease
will stipulate, that the amount shall be expended
solely in improving the land; and the lowest sum
recommended to be thus deposited as forming capi-
tal, for a farm of 67 or 80 acres, is £150; and for a
farm of 134 or 160 acres, £300. It is advisable,
however, that every tenant should have, either from
his own resources, or his friends' assistance, nearly
as much capital besides, as he must incur expenses
for outfit, reaching the ship, purchasing implements,
freight of extra baggage and stores, &c., &c. ; and
ought to have a small amount available for use, on his
landing in South Australia. To accommodate settlers
possessed of limited means, the company Avill not
object to two partners being associated in a lease,
provided their respectability and other qualifications
be ascertained; and should the tenant need assist-
ance to erect farm-buildings, or to fence his land,
the company will aid him with an advance propor-
tionate to the capital expended by him on thefarra,
for which advance the rate of interest current in the
colony Avill be charged.
" This advance, or loan, Avill be made after the
approved expenditure upon the farm of the capital
deposited by the tenant, and may be repaid by in-
stalments; after repayment, the tenant will gene-
PRESENT POSITION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
363
rally have a right, at any time during the lease, to
purchase his farm, with all fixed improvements,
The price of purchase will be specified in the lease,
and will vary according to the period at which the
right is claimed."
A clause is inserted in ttie lease, " giving
the farmer, in the event of his being dis-
satisfied with all the portions of land ofiered
him by the colonial manager, the option,
within a specified limited time, of cancelling
the engagement, on payment of the trifling
expenses incurred."
The following is a summary of the revenue
for the last year : —
Rental of the town property £2,197
Ditto of port buildings, and receipts from wharf 5,650
Ditto of country lands 6,648
Profit on sales of land — town, port, and country 3,107
Net proceeds of wool 5,662
Sales of sheep to the butchers, including value ) ^ ocjq
of those killed for rations ) '
Total .... £25,105
The total cuiTcnt expenditure in tlie
colony, exclusive of that connected ^^dth the
mining operations, was as follows : —
Salaries and wages in Adelaide . . . £958
Miscellaneous charges there .... 429
£1,388
On account of the sheep 5,229
Ditto of the town and port propertv and coun- > , ^-r,
try lands ..'... \ ^'"'^
The total amount of salaries and] '' '
charges in London during this last >£1, 691
year, including the income-tax, is )
Interest on debentures, &c 921
2,612
£10,310
As population increases, and the pros-
perity of the colony is augmented, there will
of course be a proportionate improvement
in the value of the property of the South
Australian Company.
The rental received by this company, for
town, port, and country lots, during the past
six years, has been — 1844, £5,984; 1845,
£5,988; 1846, £7,084; 1847, £8,542;
1848, £11,034; 1849, £14,496.
Present Position of South Australia.
— The details given in the pre^aous pages
testify that this fine pro^dnce, after passing
through the ordeal of inordinate land specu-
lations in 1836, '7, '8, '9, and of mining
speculations in 1845, ^6, '7, has now attained
a sound position ; and that its prosperity, at
length established on a solid basis, may be
reasonably expected to steadily increase.
The extraordinary height to which the
land mania had arrived, may be seen from
the following data. The injui-ious and enerva-
ting effects need no comment ; it needed all
the inborn energy of the colonists to bear up
against them ; yet they did so right manfully,
and, by the blessing of God, with success.
Early in the year 1838, Mr. R. Fisher
sold an acre in Gouger-street (No. 387) for
£410 ; the original cost in March, 1837, was
£8 10s. In 1839, :\Ir. T. Y. Cotter, sold half-
an-acre (No. 144 in Grenfell-street) for £755.
The cost of the acre lot, in the previous
year, was about £10. Mr. D. Macfarlane
pui'chased one acre from Sir James Malcolm,
in Rundle-street, nearly opposite Messrs.
Russell and Freeman's warehouses, and
having upon it buildings over-estimated at
£500, for the sum of £2,000. Mr. Thomas,
the government printer, sold one of his
137 acre sections, on the Torrens, about
three miles from Adelaide, for £1,300 cash ;
the section cost him £80, in 1836. Mr.
Flaxman sold, to the German community
of Klemzig, 2,000 acres, of a special survey
on the Para river, for £20,000. Suburbaia
sections, at Hindmarsh and WalkerviUe,
which sold in July, 1838, for £10 an acre,
brought, in 1839,' from £45 to £100 per
acre. Even at Port Lincoln, allotments,
that cost the previous year £20, sold for
£120; and £300 were refused for half an
acre water frontage.
The bubble of high prices for land burst,
and the people betook themselves to the
steady pursuits of industry. They culti-
vated the soil, obtained ample returns for
their labour, but found no market for their
siu'plus produce. In 1844—5, copper and
lead ores were discovered, and a mania arose
for mining operations, by which many have
suffered considerably, and were obliged to
sell their lands. The following is a retiu-n
of the amount of mortgages on land regis-
tered during the years 1844, '5, '6, and '7 : —
Lent on
1844.
Town lands ....
Country lands . . .
Town & country lands
Total . . .
£1,155
13,860
5,022
20,038
1845.
£5,434
6,997
30
12,462
1846.
£5.089
30,651
1,500
37,240
1847.
£6,203
27,308
529
34,041
The liability by bills of sale, judgments,
and warrants of attorney, registered during
the years 1844, '5, '6, and '7, was —
Seciu'ities.
Judgments .
Jjills of sale . . .
Warrants of attorney
Total. . .
1844.
£532
16,395
5,206
22,133
1845.
£994
12,983
9,783
23,761
1846.
£10,478
49,659
10,741
70,879
1847.
£20,412
22,229
939
43,581
364
GENERAL CONDITION OF THE COLONY SINCE 1840.
The number and nature of writs which
passed through tlie sheriff's oflEice during the
years 1844, 'o, '6, and '7, were —
Nature of "Writs.
Capias ad satisfacien- 1
duin . . . . '
Capias
Fieri facias ....
Habere facias posses- (
sionem ... 3
To levy fines . . .
Habeas corpus . .
Attachment for con-l
tempt . . . . /
Total . . .
1844.
11
10
99
46
1845.
20
6
30
57
1846.
14
11
24
54
1847.
10
13
28
3
9
56
The following is a return of the number
of fiats in insolvency issued in the province
of South Australia during the years 1844,
% '6, and '7 :—
On Petition of
1844.
1845.
1846.
1347.
Creditors ....
Imprisoned debtors .
Debtors at large . .
2
8
1
13
12
6
10
2
12
7
Total . . .
10
23
16
21
All accounts now represent a more steady
industrial progress in mining, as well as in
agriculture; and I doubt not that every
succeeding year in which the facts may be
registered, in continuation of the' accom-
panying comparative tabular view of the
state of the province, will exhibit yet more
remarkable evidences of the ^^ elfare of this
promising section of the British empire.
General Condition of South Australia at the close of each year since 1840.
In. the Years
1840.
1841.
1842.
1843.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
1848. 1849
■}
Inhabitants in the Province
Do. in Municipality of
Adelaide ....
Do. Rural Districts .
Public houses in Adelaide,
Port Adelaide, and Al
bert Town . .
Do. in the Country . . •
Convictions for crimes and \
misdemeanours )
Flour Mills .
Manufactories . . . •
Acres in Cultivation . •
Value of Exports of Colo-l
nial Produce in £ . J
Amount of Government"'
Expenditure in £ . J
Do. Revenue in £
14,610
8,489
6,121
70
37
47
4
2,503
15,650
169,966
30,199
6,722
31,826
104,471
26,720
19,790
29,079
54,444
22,074
17,366
6,107
11,259
34
33
31
16
31
28,690
66,160
29,842
24,142
18,999
37
33
21
21
35
26,918|
82,268
29,453
27,878
22,390
7,413
14,977
45
40
22
24
59
26,218^
131,800
32,099
36,182
25,893
58
60
40
26
44
33,2921
287,059
37,207
48,017
31,153
66
66
31
25
51
36,440^
275,115
58,979
67,027
40,778
50,000
53
25
48^917
465,878
80,129
82,847
374,156
82,638
94,200
Note. — In 1849 the immigrants to the colony were : — from Great Britain, 12,501 ; British Colonies, 2,038 ; Foreign
Countries, 1,627 — total, 16,166. Departures from the colony to Great Britain, 131; British Colonies, 2,393; Foreign
Countries, 170— total, 2,694.
It may here be observed, that in some
Shij)ping at Adelaide in 1849.
returns, the proceeds of the land sales are
included as revenue, in others they are ex-
cluded. In the statement at p. 695, the
land revenue is excluded. A document laid
before Parliament on the 5th July, 1850
(No. 511), gives the undermentioned finan-
cial statement of the expenditiu-e for nine
years. [For continuation see Supplement.]
Countries.
Inwards.
Outwards.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
Great Britain . . .
British Colonies . .
Foreign States . .
Total . .
95
165
17
46,507
28,173
5,988
25
209
38
9,747
51,738
13,812
277
80,623
272
75,297
Year.
Ordinary Revc
nue (fixed and
incidental.)
Bills drawn on
her Majesty's
Treasury.
Bills on the
Colonization
Commissioners
Proceeds
of
. other Bills.
From
Land Sales.
Loans and
Transfers from
Land Fund.
Total.
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1817
1848
£31,879
28,550
25,034
24,779
27,879
35,574
48,018
67,028
82,912
£27,154
36,607
6,252
2,475
£129,273
23,853
£4,990
3,000
1
£2,602
17,830
411
£
1
9,955
5,692
200
3,587
5,609
£17
9
7
3
3
5
4
6
8
8,097
),851
9,471
1,642
i,941
1,183
8,018
7,028
2,912
BOOK Y.— WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
CHAPTER I.
POSITION, AREA— AND EARLY HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT.
This division of Australia, generally known as
the "Swan River" colony, comprises all that
portion of the island- continent situated to the
westward of the 129th degree of E. long.,
and extends between the parallels of 13° 44f
and 35° S. ; is bounded on the south by the
Pacific, on the west-north-west by the Indian
Ocean, on the north by the Arafura Sea,
and on the east by the meridian line above-
named. The length from north to south is
computed at 1,280 miles, and the bi'eadth
from east to west at 800 miles ; the area is
about 1,000,000 square miles, or more than
eight times the size of the United Kingdom
of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland,
History. — The "Swan River Settlement"
has been a bye- word and a reproach, fre-
quently cited by the advocates of the so-
called Wakefield system to illustrate the
evils of a different plan of colonization, while
defending themselves from the blame so
unsparingly bestowed upon them during the
period of distress and depression under which
South Australia laboured. In the previous
book I have expressed my conviction, founded
upon the facts therein stated, that the latter
colony could not, either in its prosperity or
its adversity, be fairly used as a general
argument on one side or the other; it re-
mains to be seen whether the Swan River
settlement in its turn presents any tenable
ground for the sweeping assertions in sup-
port of which it is adduced, mainly on the
score of its having been " a complete failure!'
Even were this the case, it would not
necessarily follow that the original plan was
the sole cause of so unfortunate a result;
for the grievous errors and inconsistencies
by which the practical working of the most
carefully-framed human system may be per-
verted, and the very existence of a colony
endangered, is painfully evident in the early
history of too many British colonies, though
counterbalanced by the energy, the industry,
and the sound principles of government
apparently inherent in the minds of the set-
tlers themselves.
In the present instance a succinct account
of the history of the Swan River settlement
%vi]l furnish data on which to found an
opinion of how far the stigma attached to it
as a total failure is really merited, and the
causes to which that failure, or, on the other
hand, the slow advances which it is admitted,
even by its best friends, to have made, can
be fairly attributed.
The term 8wan River was given to this
portion of Western Austraha by Vlaming, a
Dutch navigator, who discovered it in 1697,
and found in the neighbourhood many
black swans. In 1801, the French corvette
Naturaliste visited this coast, and M.M.
Bailly and Heirisson, on 17th June, entered
the river Swan in a cutter, obseiwed large
flocks of black swans, pelicans, and parro-
quets, and were surprised, after three days^
explorations, with the forests and geological
formation of the country.
Public attention was first directed in
England to Western Australia by Captain
(now Sir James) Stirling, R.N., who, when
in command of H.M.S. Success, made a
report, dated the 18th of April, 1827, point-
ing out the advantages of our occupying this
portion of that vast island, and thus prevent
the execution of a project then entertained
by the French government for the formation
of a Gallic Australian settlement.
Early in the year 1829, Captain Free-
mantle, R.N., of H.M.S Challenger, hoisted
the British flag near the entrance of Swan
River, and took formal possession of the
territory on behalf of the British crown, in
the name of his Majesty George the Fourth.
A portion of the country now included in
the limits of Western Australia, situated on
the south coast, and termed King George's
Sound, was occupied in 1825-G, by a de-
tachment of troops and persons sent from
Sydney under the command of Major
Lockyer. This detachment was withdrawn
in the year 1830-1.
It was generally understood that his
Majesty's government would not undertake
S66 SYSTEM ON WHICH WESTERN AUSTRALIA WAS FOUNDED.
at the public cost the formation of a settle-
ment on the western coast, a proposition
was therefore made on the pai-t of Thomas
Peel, Esq., Sir Francis Vincent, E. W.
Schenley, Esq., and others, to further the
views of government in founding a colony
at little or no expense to the mother coun-
try. These gentlemen offered to provide
shipping for the conveyance of 10,000
I British subjects within four years from the ,
United Kingdom to the Swan River, fur- j
I nished with pro's'isions and every other '
necessary, and to maintain three small ves- !
sels running to and from Sydney, as occa- [
sion might require. They estimated the I
cost of convejdng this number of emigrants
at £300,000, or £30 per head, and required
in return an equivalent gi-ant of land at the
rate of Is. 6d. an acre, making 4,000,000
acres, out of which they would engage to t
proAide every male eraigi'ant with no less
than 200 acres of land, rent-free. This
project fell to the ground owing, I believe,
to the inability of the proposers to satisfy
the government as to the adequacy of their !
means of carrying it into eflFect, and another j
plan for the execution of the same object
was issued in December, 1828, from the
Colonial-office, of which department Sir
George ^lurray was then the chief.
According to this project no expense was
to be incm-red by the government, either in
conveying emigrants, or supplying them
with pro\'isions on their arrival ; but intend-
ing settlers reaching Swan River before the
close of the year 1830, were to receive in
the oi'der of their arrival allotments of land,
rent free, at the rate of forty acres for every
sum of £3, which they could prove them-
selves to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant-
governor, prepared to invest in the improve-
ment of the land. Those who should incur
the expense of taking out labouring persons
were to be entitled to an allotment of land,
at the rate of 200 acres, considered equiva-
lent to i^lo for the passage of every such
person, Avithout reference to any other grants
of which they might become possessed. In
the class of " labouring persons" were in-
cluded women, and children above ten years
old. With respect to the children of labour-
ing people under that age, it was proposed
to allow forty acres for every child above
three years old; eighty acres for every
child above six years old; and 120 for
every child above nine, and under ten years
old.
The title to the land was not to be granted
in fee simple, imtil the settler had proved, to
the satisfaction of the Lieutenant-governor,
that the sum required (\iz. \s. 6d. per acre),
had been actually expended in some invest-
ment, or in the cultivation of the land, or in
solid improvements, such as buildings, roads,
or other works of that kind.
Any land, thus allotted, of which a fair
proportion, at least one-fourth, should not
haA'e been brought into cultivation, or other-
wise improved, to the satisfaction of the
local government, within three years from
the date of licence of occupation, was to be
liable to one further payment of 6d. per
acre for all the land not so cultivated or
improved, into the public chest of the settle-
ment ; and, at the expiration of seven years
more, so much of the whole grant as should
remain in an uncultivated or unimproved
state was to revert absolutely to the crown.
Eveiy grant was likewise to involve the con-
dition, that, at any time within ten years
from the date thereof, the government might
resume, without compensation, any land not
then actually cultivated, or improved, as
before-mentioned, which might be required
for roads, canals, or quays, or for the site of
public buildings.
Under the head of investment of capital,
his Majesty's government agi'ced to include
stock of eveiy description, labourers, provi-
sions, all implements of husbandry, and
other articles applicable to the purposes of
productive industry, or necessary for the
establishment of the settler on the land ; the
amount of any half-pay or pension receivable
from his Majesty's government was also to
be considered as so much capital. After the
year 1830, land was to be disposed of to
those settlers who might resort to the colony
on such conditions as his ]\Iajesty's govern-
ment might then determine.
Mr. Thomas Peel, aided, to the extent ol
£20,000, by the late Mr. Solomon Levy
(then of the firm of Cooper and hevj, of
Sydney and London), undertook the re-
sponsibility of making the first efforts for
the foundation of the colony. Mr. Peel was
to receive 250,000 acre?, on condition of
taking out 400 emigrants, with liberty to
extend the grant to 1,000,000 acres, previous
to the year 1840, by receiving 40 acres foi
eveiy child above thi'ce years, 80 for every
child above six, up to ten years 120, and
exceeding that age and upwards 200 acres
for each person conveyed to the colony.
Colonel Latour also availed himself of the
governmental terms, took out settlers, stock,
NUMEROUS ARRIVALS AT SWAN RIVER IN 1829-30.
367
&c., and became entitled to a tract of land of
considerable extent.
At the first glance it may appear that this
extensive tract was granted on very easy
terms, but it will not be thought so when
the circumstances of the case are duly con-
sidered. The estimated cost of the convey-
ance of an adult from the United Kingdom
to the west coast of Australia was then about
,£30; no supplies were procurable on the
spot, and the distance from Sydney (1,134
miles), together with the difficulty of doubling
the south-west coast from the eastward for
six months in the year, rendered the estab-
lishment of a colony at the Swan River
twenty years ago an extremely expensive
and arduous undertaking, and a very dif-
ferent matter to the creation of settlements
at Port Phillip and Adelaide eight years
later. To these latter places it must be
remembered that sheep, cattle, and horses
were driven overland at a comparatively
small cost from the southern pastoral dis-
tricts of New South Wales by the same
route, and by a short sea voyage from Van
Diemen^s land ; surplus labour was also ob-
tained from the older colonies, whereas stock
brought into Western Australia was neces-
sarily imported by sea, and it was estimated
that each sheep, including freight, insu.rance,
and allowing for losses, cost the colonists £20.
By the exertions of INIr. Peel, of Colonel
Latour, and other gentlemen, his Majesty's
government was enabled to announce that
a settlement would be formed on the west
coast of Australia ; Captain Stii'ling, R.N.,
was appointed civil superintendent, with
authority to select a grant of land for him-
self to the extent of 100,000 acres; and
early in the year 1829, a number of emi-
grants left England to form the new colony.
The government of that day were cer-
tainly to blame for the want of forethought
which marked this stage of the proceed-
ings ; no survey of the land had been
made, nor any inquiries as to its resources;
no system was organized, no public or cor-
porate body in England was responsible
for the due management of the expedi-
tion, and the consequences of these omis-
sions were most distressing. Not even
a secure anchorage had been ascertained.
* On the 1st June, 1829, the Parmelia transport
arrived at Swan River, with Captain Stirling as chief,
and several of the government officers for the new
colony. On the 8th June, II. M.S. Sulphur arrived,
with a detachment of H.M. 63rd regiment, under the
command of Captain Irwin. On the 17th, tlie first
public proclamation was issued, and the appointments
The settlers were landed on the beach, in
mid-winter, in the neighbourhood of a bare
limestone rock, the country around devoid
of agricultural or pastoral capabilities, but
filled with hostile savages. The settlers
began to arrive in the middle of the year
1829,* and by the end of the same year,
twenty-five ships had reached the new settle-
ment ; the number of residents Avcre stated
to be, 850 ; of non-residents, 440 ; number
of cattle, 204; of horses, 57; of sheep,
1,096; of hogs, 106; and the value of pro-
perty gi\ing claims to land, was quoted,
during these few months, at £41,550 ; the
value of cargo left by ships, up to the end
of December, was £50,428. In 1830, the
number of immigrants increased ; in Janu-
ary, 6 vessels arrived ; February, 5 ; March,
4 ; April, 1 ; May, 6 ; July, 2 ; August,
September, and October, each, 1 ; Novem-
ber, 2 ; and December, 1 = 30. The num-
ber of settlers brought by these ships was,
1,185 ; and the cargo left at the new town
of Freemantle by them, was valued at
£144,177. In 1831, the arrivals were less
frequent, and the vessels numbered only
17; and after the first quarter, 1832, the
immigration of persons and property ceased,
except so far as related to the friends and
funds of persons prcAdously estabUshed in
the colony. Dming this period, the amount
of property introduced into the colony by
the immigrants, on which applications for
land were based, amounted to £120,000,
and consisted of live stock, implements of
husbandry, provisions, wearing apparel, fur-
niture, and other goods.
Officers of the army and navy, and the
officers on the cvnl establishment of the
colony, were authorized by Sir George Mur-
ray to receive assignments of land on the
terms of importation of property which were
open to the public. To some naval and
military officers who engaged to return to
the settlement at an early period with the
property necessary to qualify them to re-
ceive allotments, permission to select land was
granted, and the territory so selected was
reserved for a considerable period. Thus,
many of the settlers who arrived in 1829
and 1830, on expressing a desire to possess
themselves of lands in favourable localities,
of the official authorities notified. In August the
Calista, St. Leonard, and Marquess of Anglesea
arrived, with colonists, stock, and merchandize. In
October nine vessels reached the Swan River, with
settlers and stock ; in November, two shi])s ; and in
December the Gihnore, with Mr. Peel and 170 pas-
sengers.
S6S GRANTS OF LAND TO CIVIL, NAVAL, AND IMILITARY OFFICERS.
conformable to the amount of property then
in their possession, were informed, " that
ten thousand acres is reserved for Captain
A. ; that six thousand acres to Lieutenant
B.; that five thousand acres to Mr. C. ;"
and so on, over the best situated applot-
ments. Between June, 1829, and the close
of 1831, the quantity of land assigned to or
reserved for, civil, naval, and military officers,
was as follows: — Civil, 19 persons, 162,062
acres; naval, 16 persons, 33,680 acres; mili-
tary, 11 persons, 30,862 acres. There were
also reservations for 15 private individuals,
of 60,880 acres.*
Thus nineteen of the ci^dl servants of the
crown, selected and reserved for themselves,
naturally out of the best lands, applotments
which averaged to each about 8,530 acres. f
In this list the governor (Sir James Stirling)
stands marked for 100,000 acres, which he
received by special award from Sir George
Murray, then her Majesty's secretary for
the colony. This immense grant was
selected in diflferent places, snd is stated
to have been shifted from time to time,
according to the prospective value of new
positions. J
The colonial secretary received 5,066
acres; harbour-master, 7,592; colonial sur-
geons, 5,000 each ; colonial naturalist, 5,000;
storekeeper, 5,000 ; surveyor-general, 5,600 ;
collector of revenue, 5,000 ; colonial chap-
lain, 5,020; civil engineer, 4,400; drafts-
man, 2,560; clerk in survey office, 1,280;
and a Captain Butler, whose name appears
among the civil officers, 2,560 acres. It is
presumed that aU these civil officers brought
* See Parliamentary Paper, No. 685, of 6th August,
1838, for details.
t It is said that the colonial authorities of 1829
gave the official servants of the crown who went out
to found the Swan River colony, profuse grants of
valueless lands, as compensation for the small salaries
awarded to them.
X It is, however, due to Sir James Stirling, who
possesses a high character in his profession, to state
that great credit is due to him for the manner in
which he surmounted the errors committed in the
early proceedings of the colony. After the first dis-
asters, he infused a new spirit into the desponding
settlers, and it is mainly owing to his perseverance
and unconquerable determination to succeed, that the
place was not utterly abandoned.
§ Mr. Peel was ruined by his exertions to pro-
mote the establishment of the colony, at its com-
mencement, and on 31st March, 1847, he was still
in debt to her Majesty's government, £3,828, in-
curred by introducing a valuable body of men into
the settlement. In 1847, the acting governor,
with aview to the liquidation of part of this debt
to thrf^crown, agreed to accept the surrender of
a block of land of 1,372 acres, at 20s. per acre
property into the colony, in conformity vnth
the official regulations.
Among the naval grantees were the names
of Captains Dance, of H.M.S. Sulphur, and
Freemantle, of H.M.S. Challenger, each
5,000 acres; and Sandilands, of H.M.S.
Comet, 2,560 acres. Lieutenants, mates,
masters, and surgeons of those vessels had
grants appropriated to them, varying from
1,280 to 3,840 acres. None of these gen-
tlemen could, of course, leave their ships,
and most of the grants were reassigned, or
remained unoccupied and unassigned.
Among the military grantees were cap-
tains Irwin and Mackie, of the 63rd regi-
ment, 10,000 acres ; Deputy Assistant-com-
missary-genei-al Lewis, 5,012 acres; Lieute-
nant Dale, 63rd regiment, 448 acres. Among
the private individuals, for whom 60,880
acres were reserved, was the name of Mr.
Gellibrand, for whom 10,000 acres were re-
served, on the promise of his importing into
the colony a sufficient amount of property
to entitle him to the selection. The other
reservations varied from 3,000 to 9,000 acres.
Moreover, in the years 1829, '30, and '31,
there were reserved for townships nearly
100,000 acres (98,590). For the to^-n site
of York alone, 38,400 acres were reserved ;
for Plantagenet, 17,000; for Clarence, 7,680 ;
for Perth, 3,840. London, with upwards of
2,000,000 inhabitants, does not cover, pro-
bably, more than ten square miles = 6,400
acres.
With these antecedents, it would have
been difficult for men§ unconnected with
government, and unaided by public support,
= £1,372, which was contiguous to the town
site of Rockingham ; the said block containing the
deepest water-frontage in Mangle's bay, on M'hich
the town is situated. Major (now colonel) Irwin,
who has laboured zealously for the benefit of Wes-
tern Australia, gives Mr. Peel credit for introducing
men of good conduct, who were well acquainted
with farming pursuits and handicrafts, and for bring-
ing into the colony, towards the fulfilment of his
contract, a population of 300 souls, with a property
of £50,000.
Another instance of great hardship is recorded in
the correspondence of the colonial office. Captain
Bannister, formerly high-sheriff of Van Diemen's
Island' — an officer of great energy and considerable
talent — accomplished, in 1831, after enduring much
danger and privation, an exploratory over-land jour-
ney, in seven weeks, from Perth to King George's
Sound ; yet this gentleman declares himself to have
been driven from the colony by the unjust treat-
ment he experienced regarding the land allotments.
A Mr. William Wise introduced property into the
settlement to the amount of £1,984 (irrespective
of ready money, which gave no claim for land,)
and accordingly, under the regulations of December,
DISASTROUS EARLY SETTLEMENT AT SWAN RIVER.
369
to have formed a colony, even in the love-
Hcst and most feilile land on earth; and
it is surprising that the attempt was not
abandoned in the outset. The frightful
struggles, which the settlers of 1829-30 had
to undergo, are described in a "monster
address," signed by nearly every non-oflficial
settler (including the magistracy, &c.), and
presented to the governor of Western Aus-
tralia, by a deputation of the leading gen-
try, in the presence of the members of the
Executive and Legislative Councils. This
addi'css was transmitted by the governor
to Earl Grey, and may be found at length
in the Parhamentary Emigration Papers for
1849-50.
The grievances therein complained of, de-
serve mention, not only as forming a chief
cause of the slow progress made by the
colony during ensuing years, but also as
affording a valuable example of what should
and should not be done on similar occa-
sions. The errors in this case appear to
have arisen chiefly from sheer carelessness,
and the most unaccountable want of fore-
thought on the part, it would appear, of all
concerned. Had the proposal been to co-
lonize one of the Channel Islands, instead
of to form a settlement in the southern
hemisphere, matters could hardly have been
taken more easily.
1828, was officially informed by the colonial secre-
tary, that he " had entitled himself to a grant of
land to the extent of 26,453 acres." Mr. Wise re-
ceived his " location order," which cost him, in actual
outlay, £1,001 5s. 9 J. ; there was no surveyed land
of which he could make sure, and after the waste of
the substantial j^roperty he had introduced into the
colony, Mr. Wise, for the sake of his family sold his
" location order" to Captain Bannister, and proceeded
to Van Diemen's Island. But from that day to this,
Captain Bannister has never been put in possession
of the land to which he had thus become entitled,
and most probably will never receive an acre or a
shilling for his property. — (See correspondence with
the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1836-7.)
* The following extracts from the address before
alluded to, paint in glowing language a vivid, but,
it is to be hoped, somewhat exaggerated picture of
the suffering which attended the foundation of the
Swan River settlement : —
" The entire material of a settlement, the official
staff", settlers, property, and live stock, were hurried
out to an unknown wilderness before one acre was
surveyed, before one building had been erected,
before even a guess had been formed as to the proper
scene of their labours, before the slightest knowledge
had been obtained of the soil, climate, products, or
inhabitants. Nay, further, it was absolutely made
a condition of the grants of land, that the emigrant
should not only arrive, but bring his family, depen-
dents, and property, into the colony while in this
state.
" The gliastly spectacle of the town-site of Clarence
DIV. IT.
The manner in which the terms for the
grant of land were framed rendered its
acquisition dependent on arrival in a stated
time, and induced the emigrants to bring
out in excess servants, live stock, machinery,
&c., of which each took more than he re-
quired. The season selected for their arrival,
in a country known to contain hostile na-
tives, was the month of June (there mid-
winter) . Not a shed had been provided for
their reception; not an acre had been sur-
veyed; and, as before stated, even a safe
anchorage had not been ascertained. Seve-
ral ships were dashed to pieces on the
beach, which was crowded with masses of
human beings — families with infant chil-
dren, ladies, civil officers, sailors, soldiers,
and farmers; while blood and cart horses,
milch cows, prize bulls, sheep, goats, poultry,
pigs, pianofortes, ploughs, mills, barouches,
casks, furniture, bedding, tools, and seed-
corn lay heaped together, drenched with
torrents of rain.
The confusion was complete; the leaders
of the enterprise were equally at a loss with
the settlers to know what to do or advisy.
Some demanded to be led to their lands ;
others gave way to despair : servants at-
tacked the spirit-casks ; masters followed
their example. * The farmers were told
they must wait, wait till lands were dis-
— its sole edifices crowded, hurried, and neglected
tombs — its only inhabitants corpses, the victims of
disease, starvation, and despair — the sea-beach
strewed with wrecks — the hills and borders of the
rivers studded with deserted and half-finished build-
ings— bear witness to these consequences, and speak
of brave men, delicate females, and helpless children,
perishing by hundreds on a desert coast from want
of food, of shelter, and even of Mater, and sur-
rounded by armed hordes of angry savages. It
were wholly impossible, sir, to estimate the vast
amount of property of every sort buried for safety
in the sands of the shore, and never again recovered,
or the multitude of most valuable and high-bred
stock of all descriptions, M'hose skeletons whitened
the beach or filled the morasses they had been forced
to enter in the desperate search for even fresh
water. Can we wonder, then, that thousands rushed
from such a scene with the relics of their capital,
to people other colonies ; or even that numbers sat
down in the frenzy of despair beside the spirit-cask,
never to rise from it alive ? Can we wonder that
the name of Sw'an River should, throughout the
civilised world, become identified with failure and
ruin, and that the survivors of such carnage should
be left alone by their fellow-men to carry on an
enterprise so dreadfully begun ? Or may we not
rather indulge in a justifiable pride in the resources
of a country and the energies of a ])eople who, from
such a commencement, have, under Providence,
elaborated even the civilization which your excel-
lency may already see around you ? But these ter-
rible scenes, brought on by the unjustifiable attempt
2z
370
CAUSES OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE COLONISTS.
covered, and then ivait imtil they were
surveyed. In fine, a quarter of a million
sterling of property was destroyed ; the
means of the immigrants dissipated ; their
live stock perished ; many died ; and num-
bers, as soon as practicable, fled from this
scene of ruin, carrying with them the wreck
of their fortunes. I have been assured by
a colonist of high character, and holding
an official position, that fifteen years elapsed
before the suiweys were sufficiently advanced
to enable a settler within five miles of the
capital to put up a boundary fence.
Mr. James Walcott, one of the first set-
tlers, says — " I was, in common with many
others, a severe sufferer, from the fact of
the government being unable to redeem
its pledge to the colonists arri\dng in 1829
and 1830 at the Swan River settlement. It
was not till several months after my arrival
that I was offered a very small grant on
the Swan, by the local government, and
then only in consequence of its being va-
cated by another party. In the mean time
most of the stock imported had died at
Freemantle, where there was no keep for
them — in fact, of actual want. I may say,
with safety, that one-half of the property
I imported was sunk before I could get
a location which offered auy prospect of
success."
Subsequently, Avhen the few, after gallantly
penetrating the forest, and discovering good
farm lands, had raised the drooping spirits
of the rest, and a chance arose that a fresh
body arriWng, with new capital and stock,
might do well, the land terms were changed
to the same as the old-estabhshed colony of
Sydney, where no hazards were to be run.
Almost at the same time companies arose to
push forward other colonies, each one natu-
rally vaunting the advantages of its own, and
disregarding, if not disparaging the merits of
the rest ; and the neglected little settlement
of Swan River was soon forgotten, and left to
establish the foundation of an infant nation
to hurry a colony into existence before steps had
been taken for its security, are far from being the
termination, or even the most injurious, of the eri-ors
which have plunged us into our present difficulties.
At the very time when the unhaj)py immigrants
■were crowding on the beach, wasting and losing all
their means, the conditions of their immigration told
them ihat they had but a limited time to select and
improve their grants. And more monstrous still,
tliis time was actually expired before these grants
were surveyed.
" A ."^''"OJ'i but yet very ruinous error, consisted
in limiting the investments of capital, which pro-
duced a vast accumulation of the same articles, and
unaided by aught but the resources of its
country and climate, and its own patient but
over-taxed energies. The effect of the non-
arrival of fresh immigrants in a colony so
peculiarly constituted may be readily con-
jectured. The hired labom-er rapidly acquired
the means of working on his own account,
and became desirous in his turn of obtaining
assistance, and the ruin of those Avho de-
pended upon hired labour Mas the conse-
quence. And here lies the secret of the
so-called failure of Swan River. In one,
and in only one, respect has it really failed,
and that is in attracting emi^jration; in
almost every other it has succeeded. Its
trade has increased, crime among the Euro-
peans is almost unknown, and its i^resent —
who are in general its original settlers — have
in proportion to theii' numbers, effected a
creditable extent of tillage, and evinced a
very praiseworthy spirit.
Every one at all practically acquainted
with the subject of emigration, is av»are of
the immense influence exercised by the
powerful London companies in favour of
the colonies in which they are respectively
interested. Is it, then, strange that a
settlement, iU supported by government,
and luirepresented (excepting for a brief
period by the Western Australian Com-
pany) in the mother country, should
have proved incapable of attracting the
stream of emigration which it was the object
of so much combined exertion to dii'ect
elsewhere? Besides, the miseries endured
at the foundation of the colony, naturally
gave rise to a strong prejudice in its dis-
favour.
To return to the proposition stated at the
commencement of this chapter, this present
instance would appear to be one of the
many in which the error lies not in the
system itself, but in the absence of the need-
ful preparation, as well as careful super-
vision necessary to its successful Avorking.
Any colony, equally neglected at home, and
total want of others, and of money. The majority
of the imported articles could not be of use for
some years, and each settler Avas induced to bring
more than he required, in hopes of sale. The want
of storehouses caused the destruction of all these.
As if sufficient means had not been used to destroy
our capital, the system of location duties was added ;
by Avhich the settler was compelled to prove that
he had wasted Is. M. per acre in permanent im-
provements. The result Avas, the erection of multi-
tudes of cottages, fences, &c., in remote, and at the
time, wholly uninhabitable places, which were, of
course, allowed to become the prey of the element<5,
as soon as the expensive farce had been performed."
LAND REGULATIONS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
J71
founded with as reckless improvidence with
regard to surveys and shelter, and prelimi-
nary preparations, must, like Swan River,
have been crippled, if not crushed, whether
established on the " sufficient price" or any
other system. Even the large grants of
]ar,d refeiTcd to in a previous page, would
not in themselves have proved injui'ious but
for the imprudence of the authorities in not
requiring sufficient security for the fulfilment
of the annexed conditions; even as it is
they appear to have exercised in some re-
spects a farourable efi'ect by giving a motive
for continued exertion much needed under
the circumstances.
It is pleasing to know, as will be shewn
in Supplementary observations on the colony,
that the stationary state is passed, the deve-
lopment of the resources of the territory has
commenced, and the tide of immigration is
now setting in towards Vv'"estern Australia.
With respect to the announcement relative
to the disposal of crown lands in Western
Australia, from the Colonial-office, Decem-
ber, 18.28, 13th .January, and 3rd February,
1829, granting land on certain conditions
(see page 710) new regulations were issued
from the Colonial-office, Downing-street,
20th July, 1830, by which 100 acres, valued
at £15, were allowed for eveiy laboui-er,
including women and children above twelve
years of age ; 60 acres for eveiy child between
twelve and six years of age, and 30 acres for
every child under six years of age. Lands
allotted, if unimproved, to the extent of 3s.
per acre, in tAvo years, to be liable to quit-rent
of Is. per acre ; if still unimproved in two
more years, to revert to the crown, or be
subjected to a higher quit-rent. The pro-
portion of " capital," i.e. of stock, imple-
ments of husbandry, &c., which qualified
settlers to receive land, was raised from
Is. 6d. to 3s. per acre. Subsequently the
land sales^ regulations adopted for the older
Australian colonies were declared to be in
force in Western Australia, where land is
now only purchaseable from the crown at the
minimum upset auction price of 205. per
acre. This high price has proved eff'ective
for the prevention of the sale of crown lands,
for according to the CA-idence of INIr. Lefroy
(an intelligent Swan River settler), before
the House of Lords, 24th :March,' 1848—
" There were in 1 844 certainly quite a mil-
lion of acres in the colony which could have
been purchased for 3^. an acre." Much of
this was probably poor laud ; and her ~Ma-
jesty's government, in a spirit of equity,
gave the original grantees, who had taken
up injudicious and sometimes unavoidable
allotments, an opportunity of exchanging
t/u-ee acres of bad land for one acre of
good land. These " remission tickets" were
stated in 1848 not to exceed £4,000 in
value. The land alienated from the crown
in Western Australia averages 3.j0 acres for
each man, woman, and child in the colony.
Before concluding this necessarily brief
sketch of the origin of the colony, it is due
to the settlement to notice the rise and fall
of a company, whose failure has been un-
justly ascribed to the character of the
countiy.
The Western AiistmRan Association had
its origin in the meeting of an institution
held in London, 23rd August, 1835, to
watch over the interests of the colony.
After several meetings and annual reports,
a regularly organized joint-stock company
was formed in 1841, under the auspices of
Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield (one of the
directors of the corporation), wliose object
was to piu-chase a large quantity of land
in the colony from the original grantees,
Sir James Stirling and Colonel Latour [to
whom 113,000 acres were assigned, 29th
Sept., 1829], at a cheap rate, with a riew of
selling it at the rate of £101 for 100 rui-al '
acres and four town sections of a quarter of
an acre each; the choice of the allotments
and town sections to be determined by lot.
A toAvnship or city, termed Australind,
was to be laid out at Leschenault bay, " to
extend over a thousand acres, exclusive of
a reserve for public objects, such as quays,
streets, squares, markets, chui'ches, and pub-
lic gardens." About this period Captain
(now Sir George) Grey returned to Eng-
land, bringing accounts of the fine country
he had discovered in the neighbom-hood of
Champion bay (see topography), and stating
also the existence of a good harbour adja-
cent. Nearly at the same time, it was
announced that the extensive grants to
Colonel Latour were forfeited to and re-
serA'cd by her Majesty's government. This
news, united with the representations of
Captain Grey, induced the Western Aus-
tralian Company to change their plan, and
attempt the settlement of the northern disr
trict. The change, however, exciting con-
siderable alarm, and the directors having
offered to refund the capital of all who
dcsu'ed it, a large part of the subscriptions
were withdrawn, and confidence in the enter-
prise paralyzed. Colonel Latouj-'s claims
372
GOVERNORS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA SINCE 1829.
rcntuallr proved to be valid, but the evil arrangements and ground-plans sketched in
caused by their supposed forfeiture was
irrecoverable.
The chief commissioner of the company,
:Mr. Clifton, left England in 1841, with the
first detachment of emigrants. On reaching
Port Leschenault, on his way to the new
district, he received such communications
from the governor, and such information
respecting the supposed Port Grey, and the
country in its ■\dcinity, as induced him to
found the colony under his charge on the
spot originally contemplated, in Leschenault
inlet, instead of at Port Grey."^
On the arrival of H.M.S. Beagle, Captain
Stokes, accompanied by Mr. Clifton, pro-
ceeded to examine the territory concerning
which statements so contradictory had been
made ; they sought in vain for the harbour,
and described the country as unfit for the
settler, being deficient in the three most
necessary articles, Avater, timber for build-
ing, and food for stock. t Subsequent ex-
aminations have proved that Captain Grey's
statements were, nevertheless, correct, inas-
much as there is a harbour now called Port
Grey, and a fertile and extensive tract of
country in its vicinity (see topography).
But to return, Mr. Clifton, considering him-
self fully justified in the step he had taken,
proceeded, with the counsel and concur-
rence of the local government, to establish
the settlement on the shores of Leschenault
inlet; setting aside the somewhat Utopian
London, for others more in unison Avith the
physical features of the country. The first
emigrants, however, had been obliged to
follow the prcAdous arrangements, which
were found so harassing and unsatisfactory,
as to induce several to abandon their allot-
ments and leave the company's lands, and
settle elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the energy and perseverance
of Mr. Clifton appeared in a fair way of
ultimately triumphing over all local ob-
stacles; the substantial advantages of the
site he had chosen were becoming evident,
and promised solid, though not brilliant,
success, when the Western Australian Com-
pany suspended operations, dismissed its of-
ficers, and practically abandoned the enter-
prise, since which period it has retained little
more than a nominal existence.
The names of the governors and acting
governors who have administered the aftairs
of Western Australia since its foundation,
have been : —
Captain Sir J. Stirling, R.N. (governor) 1st June 1829
Captain Irwin, H M. 63rd reg. (acting) Sept. 1832
Captain Daniel, H.M. 21st reg. „ Sept. 1833
Captain Sir J. Stirling returned fromi .,,„. 1004
England j" °' ^ "^^
John Hutt, Esq. (governor) .... 2nd Jan. 1839
Lieut.-Col. Clarke, K.B. (governor) . Feb. 1846
Died 6th Feb. 1847
Major Irwin (acting) 7th Feb. 1847
Captain Fitzgerald, R.N. (governor) . Sept. 1849
\_Note. — See Supplement and Appendix for continuation of History and Statistics to present period.]
CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL ASPECT— COAST LINE— ISLANDS-HARBOURS-RIVERS AND LAKES-
GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTIES-GEOLOGY— MEN^ERALOGY-
SOIL— CLIMATE— WINDS AND TIDES.
Western Australia is not marked, like
the provinces of New South Wales, and of
Victoiia, by lofty mountain ranges, nor, like
that of South Australia, by deep gulfs or
bays ; or distinguished by any great river,
such as the INIm-ray. Sheltered from the
tremendous roll of the Southern Pacific, and
laved by the more placid waters of the In-
* See Mr. Clifton's Letter to Captain Stokes, pub-
lished in the latter gentleman's Discoveries in Aus-
tralia, vol. ii., p. 382. f Ibid.
dian Ocean, the west coast, between Sharks'
and Geographe bays, presents a compara-
tively regular and unvaz'ied outline; com-
prising, nevertheless, many estuaries or in-
lets, some of considerable size and depth,
but barred with sandbanks at their entrance,
so as to prevent their being safe harbours
for large ships.
The coast-line north of Geographe bay is
bounded, for a distance of thirty to forty
miles from the land, by a bank of coralline
TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
or calcareous formation^ such as is found
on the coast of Sicily. The bank of sound-
ings extends farthest off the north-west coast,
as eighty-five miles north of Depuch island
(De Witt's Land) a bottom of fine white
sand was found at seventy-five fathoms.
Between 19'' 50' and 20° 10' S. lat., about
forty miles from the islands fronting the
coast, there are soundings of 200 fathoms.
Off the south point of Sharks' bay, in
26° 42' S. lat., soundings of grey sand were
obtained in 137 fathoms, at thirty-seven
miles distance from the land. In 32°
S. lat., twent}^ miles off Rottnest or Gar-
den island, the soundings are seventy
fathoms. j
The distinguishing feature of the colony
is a somewhat elevated and occasionally
steep and rocky range, termed the Darling
Hills, which runs nearly parallel with the 1
Avest coast, at a distance of about twenty
miles from it, and extends from about 35° j
S. lat., near Point D'Entrecasteaux, along :
the meridian of 116"^, for above 400 miles,'
with an average breadth of forty miles,
and a height varying from 1,000 to 1,500
feet. There are collateral spurs, which, on !
approaching the 32nd degree of latitude,
appear to form extensive parallel chains,
and are probably connected with more ele-
vated mountains in the unexplored northern
and north-eastern parts of Australia.
Captain Grey says that he discovered
two mountain ranges; one, named Victoria
range (see general map), at the northern
extremity of the Darling range, and about
thirty miles to the eastward of it, lofty and
altogether diflering in character from the
Darling, which at this point, where its direc-
tion is nearly north and south, is called
Moresby's flat-topped range ; and another,
apparently thrown off in a westerly direc-
tion from the Darling range, about forty
miles in length, from north to south, of a
bare, sterile, and barren nature, and termi-
nating seaward in Mounts Peron and Les-
neur. This ridge is called, after one of the
most intelligent gentlemen in the Colonial
Department, London, Gairdner's range. (See
map of Western Australia.) Another ridge,
north and east of the preceding, is termed
HerschelV s range ; and one farther south is
called Smit/is range.
The Darling range presents the appear-
ance of a mighty forest of magnificent timber,
broken only occasionally by a few in\dting
valleys.
The Darhng hills separate the province
into two distinct districts; the one, termed
the plain of Quartania, situated between the
Darling hills and the sea coast, stretching
from south to north for about 300 miles,
with a breadth of fifteen to twenty miles.
This plain is well wooded towards the coast,
is in some places low, of a coralline struc-
ture, and full of estuaries, lakes, rivers, and
streamlets. In other places the limestone
formation rises into eminences and hills,
parallel to the coast-line, and nearly iso-
lated from the surrounding country. To
the northward, towards Champion bay, the
country becomes more undidating, and
presents some singular ridges.
The district to the eastward of the Dar- !
ling range, " the country over the hdls,"
may be said to commence at King George's
Sound, on the south coast, and run north
for 500 mdes, over a varied territory, which
in some parts has been compared to the
county of Herefordshire, in England; in
others, to the county Wicklow, in Ireland ;
and in the more northern parts, in the
Toodyay district, to Switzerland. The ex-
tent of arable land in this division of the
colony is very considerable ; so lightly tim-
bered as scarcely to offer any obstruc-
tion to the plough ; and consists of a loamy
soil, well watered, not subject to be mate-
rially affected either by heat or wet. The
settled portion commences about the lati-
tude of Perth, and extends north from 80
to 100 miles. Some settlers have, however,
located themselves 100 miles farther, in a
northerly direction.
Owing to the limited number of its set-
tlers, and the serious difficulties with which
they have had to contend. Western Australia
has been less extensively explored than the
sister colonies described in the previous
pages, and the knowledge acquired of its
physical features is, consequently, yet more
fragmentary and imperfect; the difficulty,
moreover, of framing a correct though brief
general view of the topography of this ex-
tensive and really valuable province, is mate-
rially increased by the contradictory state-
ments made by different explorers, for, as
in the case of the Geraldine district, the
same region has been pronounced by one
party, of exceeding fertility and beauty ; by
another, sterile, and absolutely unfit for
cidtivation. After careful examination of
every available source of information, I have
succeeded in forming, as it were, a skeleton
outline of the coast line and the country at
the back, as far as it has been examined;
374 SHARKS' BAY, GASCOIGNE RIYER, AND ADJACENT COUNTRY.
but the details cannot be filled in, while
so mnch even of this portion remains im-
perfectly known.
The north-west coast line of Australia has
been traced as far as Sharks' bay, in the
general description of the island (see p. 382) ;
and the inland features, so far as they were
seen by Captain Grey, in 1838, have been
also noted (p. 379).
Sharks' Bay (see map of the whole island),
in 26° S. lat., is large, of easy access, and
affords several safe anchorages. It was dis-
covered by Dampier, on 6tli August, 1699,
and so named by him, on account of the
large number of sharks seen there. A con-
siderable^ portion of the land adjacent to
this extensive inlet is yet unexplored; we
continued unacquainted, even with the coast
line, and it still seems to me probable (as
I stated in my History of the Colonies, in
1834-5), that the outlet of a large river vrill
ultimately be found in this neighbourhood.
Gascoigne River, nearly opposite Bernier
island (see p. 382), and forming the south-
western extremity of Sharks' bay, was par-
tially examined by Captain Grey, in 1839 :
but with few men and a couple of whale-
boats, it was impossible for him to deter-
mine the character of the country, the ex-
tent of the river, or the depth of an adjacent
inlet. The manner in which he was pre-
served through the perils of shipwreck,
famine, and thirst, while driven about this
wild coast, was truly wonderful. Nothing,
as the gallant explorer himself says, could
have saved him and his party, but the ever
active and present care of Divine Provi-
dence. It appears from Captain Grey's
examination, that the country to the north-
crard and southward of the Gascoigne is low,
covered with mangrove flats, and abounding
in sand-banks, presenting, in fact, all the
features of the embouchure of a great river.
Near the sea-coast is a sandy, scrubby
ridge, termed LyeWs range, apparently thirty
miles in length. The plains beyond were
examined for fifteen miles in a north-east
direction, and found to consist of salt, mud,
and moist sand, devoid of fresh water, and
seemingly illimitable, the eye being too
much affected by the mii-age, to perceive
their actual limits.
The Dutch commodore, Vlaming, visited
this part of the Australian coast in 1667,
found a river, and went up it with three
boats, four or five leagues, amongst rocks
and shoals; saw much water inland, as if
the country were dro'svned, but no men nor
anything fit for food, and, as was the case
with our English explorer, wherever they
dug for water, the ground was salt. It is
supposed this river may have been the Gas-
coigne. Ylaming came to another river
near the preceding, ascended it for about a
league, found it terminated in a round basin,
and was entirely salt. The country was
destitute of grass and trees. The point of
entrance into the river was composed of a
very red sand. In the bed of the Gascoigne
a fine white sand was found. The northern
mouth of the Gascoigne, where entered by
Captain Grey, had twelve feet on its bar
at low ebb tide ; the bar once passed, there
are three to three-and-a-half fathoms, in
a land-locked creek, which is separated from
the sea by a shifting bed of sand and man-
grove swamps, termed Babbage Island, which
forms the northern and southern mouth of
the Gascoigne river.
The southern mouth of the Gascoigne
(lat 24° 57') is completely free from shoals,
and has seven feet of water on the bar at
low tide ; there is also a channel in it con-
taining never less than this depth of water
for about four miles, after which it is only
navigable for small boats during the dry
season. Large trees (termed snags, by the
Americans) are firmly planted in the bed
of the river, which renders the navigation
difiicult, especially at high water. In one
part of Captain Grey's Journal (vol. i.
p. 384), he speaks, as before, of the " nor-
thern mouth of the Gascoigne having a very
good passage with twelve feet of water at
low ebb tide;" in another part (vol. ii. p.
120), he says, " the northern mouth is nar-
rower and more shoal than the southern.''
The truth, however, is, as admitted by the
frank and intelligent author, his examina-
tion was 'Slurried and imperfect," and the
opinion above given must be received with
caution. The vast masses of drift-wood,
the large trees carried across the bay to
Dorre island, the gentle slope of the country
into the interior, and the immense bed of
the portion of the stream seen, indicate the
existence of a large river which drains pro-
bably a fine region. Plains of a rich reddish
loam border the Gascoigne on each side,
occasionally broken by low, gently roinided
hills, composed of the same description of
soil; fresh-water lagoons were found in dif-
ferent places, the country, even in the dry
season, was covered with grass, and no ter-
mination was seen of the good land, except
near the sea.
GANTHEAUME BAY— THE MURCHISON RIVER AND COUNTRY. 375
Immediately to the south of the southern
mouth of the Gascoigne, a line of shoals
commences at two to four miles from the
coast, and runs with scarcely any intermis-
sion round the bay, so as to render the
approach to this coast almost impracticable.
A loAv spit about twelve miles south of the
Gascoigne river, is termed Point Green-
ough, and between this point and the river
there is a deep bay, the shores of which are
low and thickly studded with mangroves,
through which many salt-water creeks run
up into the country. Below Point Green-
hough, the shore trends south-and-by-east,
preserving its low character, but thickly
wooded with mangroves for eight miles,
when a remarkable change takes place,
the mangroves suddenly cease, and the low
range of hills which extend southward along
the coast and parallel to the shore, increases
a little in height. Within about the dis-
tance of a mile, the mangroves recommence,
the coast trends south-east for about five
miles, then runs south-east-by-east, forming
a bay about foui- miles deep, the bottom of
which appears to be lined with mangroves.
After passing this bay, the coast runs south-
east-and-by-south, the mangroves appear to
be less numerous, and the low wooded hills
approach nearer to the sea, the low shore is
fringed with trees down to the water's edge,
forming little green knolls of foHage. Far-
ther south, to the Hamelin Bay and Freycinet
Harbour, in the bottom of Sharks^ bay, we
know nothing certain.
Peron's Peninsula, about 200 feet high,
is a barren, sandy table-land, sloping away
to tbe southward.
Dirk Hartoy's Island, when seen by Cap-
tain Grey, looked exactly hke a Scottish
heath. There is good shelter for shipping,
and adjacent there is a guano island, and a
very rich mother-o' -pearl bank.
Steep Point, the western extremity of this
portion of Australia, consists of lofty inac-
cessible limestone clifis, hollowed into deep
caverns by the action of the waves. The
coast then trends to the south-east^, is very
uninviting, and consists of a high range of
barren limestone hills, ascending gradually
from steep clifl's, which form the coast-line.
The outline of these hills is monotonous;
they have a barren appearance, and are rent
in places by deep rocky gulUes, which run
down to the sea.
Red Point, the western entrance of Gan-
theaume bay, is a bold circular headland,
foiu' miles in extent. To the northward
of this promontory the country has a white
sandy ajipearance ; the coast-line consists ol
low ridges of sand-hills; but inland there
are said to be tracts of good pastoral and
arable soil, in blocks of six to ten thousand
acres — much of a rich alluvial character.
Gantheaume Bay, where the monotony
is broken by the appearance of detached
hills, although protected at the south end
by a reef, has as heavy a surf breaking on
it as on any other part of the shore. An
inlet here is described by Captain Grey
as ''one of the most romantic and pic-
turesque estuaries he had yet scen;"^ its
shores abounded with springs, and were
bordered by native paths, whilst the trick-
ling springs, flowering shrubs, drooping
foliage of several large sorts of casuarina,
the number of wild swans on its placid bosom,
and the natives fishing in the distance, im-
parted to the whole scene a quiet and charm
to which he had long been a stranger. The
mouth of the inlet is protected from the
ocean surf by a line of breakers and reefs.
There are rich flats on each side of the
estuary, which communicates with a deep
valley, through which flows a stream called
the Murchison, after the distinguished geo-
logist of that name.
During an expeditionin 1849 from Pe]-th,the
explorers found on turning to the south-west
along the bed of that stream, that the right
bank of the IMurchison river had wide grassy
flats, the stream forming large pools, some of
them more than a mile in length ; but with
the exception of the flats on each side of the
bank, the country is said to be poor and
scrubby, destitute of trees, and the hills high
and rocky, consisting of red sandstone, those
to the west capped with limestone. It is in
this neighbourhood that the enormous de-
posit of galena ore has been found in
1848-9. In some places the Mm-chison
runs through almost perpendicular sand-
stone clifi"s, 200 feet in height, broken at
intervals by enormous fissures. It is not yet
known Avhether the embouche of the estuary
into which the river disembogues, is navi-
gable from seaward ; the estuary is about
one-and-a-half miles long, by half-a-mile
wide ; the tide flows five miles up the stream,
when it is obstructed by rapids, above which
the river, so far as it has been traced, is a
succession of long reaches of water, 100
yards wide, and extensive flats covered with
reeds. The river continues from east-north-
east, through a more level countr}', running
in a deep channel 80 to 100 yards wide,
376 TERRITOUY BEHI:ND GANTHEAUME BAY AND HUTT RIVER.
bordered by tliickets of acacia and cypress.
Mr. Bui'ges^ who Adsited tlie Murcbisoa in
1848, says, " We rode up the river about
seventy miles from our camp, and when we
turned back the river bed was nearly as
large as when we made it, but the water
was quite salt." He thinks it would make
a very good cattle-station, as there is plenty
of summer food along the river, and plenty
of winter provender on an extensive lime-
stone range of hills which lie to the north-
ward. There are also a number of large
springs along its banks ; game abounds. The
Murchison is supposed to take its rise in the
interior salt marshes. The Murchison valley
is backed by some lofty and fantastic-looking
hills, giving promise of a fertile region. A
total geological change seemed to take place
in this neighbourhood; a rock, heretofore
unobserved in the south-west portion of
Australia, occupied the principal place ; with
this rock limestone was associated, the springs
had a strong sulphureous smell, and the lofty
broken character of the distant mountains,
give a grand appearance to the scenery.
The country behind Gantheaume bay, pro-
ceeding in a south-by-east direction, consists
at fii'st of ravines and scrubs, next of elevated
sandy downs ; thickly clothed with banksia
trees; then of open sandy downs; subsequently
a rich limestone region occm's, with gently
sloping hills and valleys, affording even in
April fair feed for sheep and cattle, with springs
of water at intervals of every few hundred
yards, generally situated at the edge of large
clumps of trees. This description of country
appears to be continuous in a south-easterly
direction; on a southerly com'se a gravelly
treeless table-land was found, in places
covered with beds of clay, on which rested
ponds of water, occasionally intersected by
thick scrub.
According to Captain Grey, a fine fertile
country, abounding in grassy valleys, rich
plains, picturesque limestone ranges, running
streams, and estuaries, stretches between
the Murchison and Hutt rivers. It was more
thickly peopled than any district previously
seen ; the native paths were broad and well
beaten; the wells, ten to twelve feet deep,
were executed in a superior manner, and
the dwellings also were of superior construc-
tion. This observant traveller says, (vol. 2,
p. 14), " It seemed certain that we stood in
the richest province of South West Aus-
tralia, and one Avhich so differs from the
other portions of it in its geological cha-
racters, in the elevations of its mountains.
which lie close to the sea coast, in the fer-
tility of its soil, and the density of its native
population, that we appeared to be moving
upon another continent." This region is
situated between the parallels of 27° 30' and
29° 30' : its principal river, the Hutt, disem-
bogues into a large estuary. A few miles
above the estuary the river separates into
two branches, both of which were found
running in April, 1839. The other prin-
cipal streams which drain this district are
the Buller and the Murchison. The entrance
of the latter was not found available in
December, 1849, for a cargo boat. The
valley of the Buller is divided into two
equal portions by a granite ridge ; the land
on the left bank of the eastern branch has
been found to be of " a very good grassy
description, consisting of a range of granite
hills, about ten miles north and south, two
miles wide." Water, in pools, and abun-
dance of grass, exists on the eastern branch ;
further east, high and sandy level plains
commence, in an abrupt line of sandstone
slopes and hills. The valley is estimated to
contain 10,000 acres of good grassy land,
and 20,000 of inferior feeding country ;
the good land much broken into patches
by that which is of inferior quality. Timber
is scarce.
The Chapman River runs in a sandy
channel, with small shallow pools ; the land
on the bank of the stream is indifferent
and sandy for about a mile, Avhen it rises
into sandstone and granite hills, covered
with excellent grass. The land upon its
northern branch is not generally good,
although some fine patches are to be seen.
Mr. Burges thinks there are 30,000 acres
of good feeding and well-watered land on
the north branch of the Chapman, and
30,000 acres on the south branch, but not
so well watered.
In January, 1810, ISlv. G. E. Moore, in
the colonial schooner Champion, endea-
voured, but in vain, to find a navigable
entrance at the point laid down by Captain
Grey as the estuary of the Hutt river. The
interior, where any of it could be seen,
looked grassy ; but the view taken was very
limited and hui'ried. In December, 1849,
Lieutenant Helpman, in the colonial schooner
Champion, examined a boat harbour which
he had previously discovered at the south
end of the Hutt estuary, and found in
the channel, between the reefs, twenty-two
feet water; the breadth, from the reef at
the entrance to the dry sand beach, which is
COUNTRY NEAR, THE HUTT, BOWES, AND BULLER RIVERS. 377
very low and shehino;, is about 200 yards ;
and in the middle, for about a quarter of
a mile, tbere is eleven to nine feet water.
The entire reef is about three-quarters of a
mile long, extending in a north-west direc-
tion, about one foot above water, thus
keeping the boat harbour clear, which will
be found exceedingly useful for coasters
drawing seven or eight feet water, or for
even much larger vessels in fine weather.
Plenty of fresh water is found around by
digging one foot deep ; fish abound, and
may be easily caught from the beach. The
ore of the newly-discovered rich mineral
district, teraied the Geraldme, may be
shipped from this harbour, to which a good
road may be made at an expense of £100.
The Bowes streamlet, near the Hutt, con-
tains about 100,000 acres of good sheep
country : the bed of the stream being filled
with broad-leaved reeds, indicates a supply
of water in the dry season. The country
around exhibits a metalliferous formation.
In October, the small brooks were all
running strong, and the grass was then
green. The hills are of gneiss, with granite
and trap rock ; the latter clothed with excel-
lent grass, of various kinds.
The country south of the Hutt river was
examined during an expedition, in 1847, by
Lieutenant Irby and two enterprising gen-
tlemen, ^Messrs. Gregory, of the TVestern
Australia surveying department, who, on
20th December, crossed the Chapman river
two or three times, and found the country,
at first, scrubby, but afterwards saw several
fine patches to the eastward. On a course
varying north and east the country was
grassy; the soil of decomposed granite;
patches of scnibby country occurred, then
a good grassy district of about ten miles;
clumps of York gum, sandal wood, jam and
black Avattle, were observed on the hills.
Deep grassy valleys extended in a southern
direction, and the country appeared to con-
tinue good, and well watered. In the north
and -west, the grassy region extended for
at least ten or twelve miles, presenting to
view about fifty or sixty thousand acres of
sheep pasture, of a fine description.
At the stream called the Butler, near
Champion bay, the country, for a distance of
five-and-twenty miles, is bounded by a lofty
chain of flat-topped mountains, with so
regular an outline as to appear rather the
work of nature than of art. Between this
rano-e and a ridge nearer to the coast is
a large and fertile valley, partially drained,
DIV. II.
toward the sea, by another valley — in both
rise gently swelling hills and picturesque
peaks, wooded in the most romantic manner.
The next position of importance on the
coast, and indeed the best anchorage,
(excepting among the Abrolhos), between
Sharks' bay and Gage roads, (at the en-
trance of Swan R,ivcr), is termed —
Champion Bay, situated in 28° 47' S. lat.,
and 1° 9' 20'^ W. of Swan River. The road-
stead is sheltered from the south-west by
Point Moore; but a heavy surf occasionally
rolls on the beach, extending from the
bottom of the bay to the northward, so as
to prevent boats landing, unless a jetty, of
ninety feet in extent, were run out into
twelve feet water. A road has been formed
from the Geraldine mines to the bay, where
a government station, with a few "soldiers,
has been established, for the protection of
those engaged in mining operations. PubUc
attention is now directed to this neighbour-
hood ; and some details respecting the sur-
rounding country, so far as is known, are
necessary.
The most remarkable inland features are
the Menai hills, a group at the north end of
Moresby's flat-topped range, Mount Fairfax,
and the Wizard Peak, or Hill, which is an
almost solitary pyramidal hill, of 715 feet
elevation, distant eleven miles from Cham-
pion bay. It is composed of large blocks ot
ironstone, which have such a powerful effbct
on the needle, as to change its dii'ection, in
difierent places, ten degrees. A few small
casuarinas and wattles are thinly scattered
on its summit, and some stunted xanthoreas
on the south-west side. Stokes says, that
part of the range lying immediately north
was absolutely a mass of bai'c ironstone.
Mount Fairfax, 582 feet above the sea, is
the southern and most elevated part of
Moresby's flat-topped range. It rests on
a reddish, sandy, sloping plain, occasionally
scattered with fragments of quartz and iron-
stone, which apparently characterize the
formation of jMount Fairfax, and the neigh-
bouring heights.
The outline of Moresby' s flat-topped range,
in 28° 50' S., presents a remarkable simi-
larity to Sea range, near the Victoria river,
on the north-west coast, lat. 15^ 20' S., and
to Cape Bedford, on the north-east coast,
lat. 15° 10' S. The drawings of these ranges
given by Captain Stokes (vol. ii., p. 142),
present a striking resemblance to each other,
in their contour as well as elevation. The
view from the summit of Wizard peak is
3a
378 COUNTRY AROUND CHAMPION BAY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
very commanding: to the north-north-west
and north-east lie extensive valleys, con-
cerning whose capabilities very different
opinions haA-e |)een expressed. To Captain
Stokes (who viewed them through his tele-
scope), they all appeared of a similarly arid
nature. For a few miles to the eastward,
and a great many to the northward, the
formation of the country is considered by
this authority to be of the same flat, broken,
and irregular character, including no greater
elevations than the Wizard peak, while to
seaward, the appearance of the country was
that of an undulating plain, with patches
of stunted woodland, widely scattered. Air.
Bynoe, an intelligent naturalist, who ac-
corapaiiied Captain Stokes, conceived a like
impression of the comparatively sterile
nature of the country : he says, it was only
the sm-face soil which held vegetable matter ;
that near the Wizard peak, the holes dug by
the natives to obtain the warran, or native
yam, disclosed pure sand; and that near
Moresby's range, the soil became freely
mixed with ironstones and pebbles — the
vegetation more stunted, consisting princi-
pally of prickly bush, mingled with coarse
browTi grass, on which few kangaroos or
emus were seen.
On the other hand, the Honourable
George Fletcher Aloore, who was my fellow-
student at Trinity college, in days of yore,
and who there distinguished himself by
high attainments, and whose quiet, observant
character was not likely to give expression
to a hastily-conceived or exaggerated opinion,
thus speaks of the country near Champion
bay : — " Judging by the eye, at that dis-
tance, the entire space, as far as we had
an opportunity of seeing, after going a little
way back from the coast, on the slope to the
hills, upon the hills, among the hills, beyond
the hills, and, in short, everywhere as far as
the eye could discern, appeared a grassy
country, thinly sprinkled with some low
trees or shrubs, perhaps acacias. If this be
the case, and there be water sufficient, of
which there is no reason to doubt, this may
certainly turn out to be the finest district
for sheep pasture that this colony can
possess."
Since the foregoing v/as Avritten, I have
received from several quarters details of
explorations and examinations of the country
to the nortliward aud eastward of Champion
bay, which fully substantiate these riews, as
well as those expressed by Captain Grey.
Mr. Gregory, also, who ascended the Wizard
Peak, in 1848, giv<5s an idea of the country
totally diflerent from that expressed by
Captain Stokes ; he says, in his journal : —
" After an hour's ride over rich grassy liills, reached
the foot of Wizard's peak ; here we left our horses
and ascended the hill ; arrived at the summit, to our
great surprise, instead of the scrubby and sterile coun-
try described by Captain Stokes, of the Beagle, beau-
tifully grassy hills stretching from north-north-east
met our view to the extent of about 20,000 acres; had
it not been for certain bearings to Mount Fairfax
and other hills, that we were on Wizard peak, I should
have suspected its identity. Leaving Wizard peak
and steering north along the western foot of the gi-assy
range ; the country to the east consists of grassy hills
of limestone, rich in fossils of wood and shells, with
an occasional granite hill producing coarse grass or
short scrub."
The G^reenongh River, which flows into
Champion bay, was examined, in 1848, by
the Alessrs. Gregory and Burges, and found,
near the sea, bounded by white and red
sandstone cliifs 200 feet in height, and gene-
rally covered with dense thickets of acacia
groAving on an otherwise barren and stony
soil. One channel was found diy, with no
appearance of water having passed over its
sandy bed during the previous winter; as
the river was traced upwards, in a southerly
direction (see map), it was found to im-
prove, and was joined by a small gully from
the west coming through a grassy valley.
The explorers, on altering their course to
210 degrees, found the country improve,
the river running, with many large pools of
water, some more than half-a-mile long, and
80 to 100 yards wide; the water from sand-
stone springs slightly brackish. It is esti-
mated that there are 50,000 acres on the
Greenough well grassed and watered.
The embouche of the Greenough river is
a smaU estuary separated from the sea by
a low bank of sand, thii'ty-five feet wide and
five feet high, over which the sea, during
gales, appears to enter. The banks of the
Greenough are, in some places, seventy feet
high, composed of limestone.
Mr. Roe, the surveyor- general of Western
Australia, found, in June, 1847, to the
north-east of Champion bay, a tract of
about 150 miles of good arable land, one-
third of which he considered excellent for
every purpose, either agricultural or pas-
toral. He states, however, that he did not
find quite so much good country as Captain
Grey's book would have led him to suppose.
Proceeding southward, we arrive at Port
Grey, which is five miles to the south-
ward of Point Moore. The shore between
is rocky, with outlying reefs. There is
an extensive reef running from Point
Moore, and one to the north from Point
Grey, and a centre one, leaving a clear
opening on each side. The port is exposed
to southerly winds, but there is " a very
snug little harbour formed by the reef,
extending from the land in the depth of
the bay.'"' There are two and-a-half fathoms
smooth water close to the reef, and the
point of this natural jetty shuts in with
Point Grey, bearing south-by-east, " so that
no wind coidd hurt." There is fresh water
close to the harbour, which seems to be
adapted for small coasters.
Before proceeding fui'ther with the coast
line, it is advisable to examine Houtman^s
Abrolhos, distant thirty-five miles from the
mainland, in 32° 42' 50"* S. lat., and
\° 57' 50" W. of Swan River. They form
three separate groups of coralline islands
and reefs, which extend in a north-north-
west direction forty-eight miles, diminishing
in breadth towards the north. They are
termed the Northern, Easter, and Pelsart
group, and are separated by channels four
to ten miles wide.
Easter group (the central) contains a large
and secure haven, termed Good Friday har-
bour, having fifteen to seventeen fathoms,
fine muddy, sandy bottom, between the
coral patches, which demand the utmost
attention from the navigator in entering the
harbour.
Rat Island, the centre of the group, has
an elevation of about thirteen feet, and has
low overhanging cream-coloured limestone
cliflfs. The soil is mixed with guano, and
filled with buiTows of the sooty petrel or
mutton bird. The island is infested Avith
rats, and there are numbers of a pretty
lizard, whose tail is covered with spines.
The Abrolhos form the upper surface of
the great coral-bank, which extends from the
mainland, and shelves off at the outer edge
of the south part of the group, almost pre-
cipitously to no bottom, where soundings
are not found with 250 fathoms line. The
average depth surrounding the islands is
twenty to thirty fathoms. With the excep-
tion of the Bermudas, these coral islands, so
far as we know, are the farthest distant
coral formation from the equator. The reef
on which Rat island rests extends off 400
yards on the inner side, and has twelve
fathoms just off it on a grey sandy mud.
The greater portion is composed of a variety
* This is the position of the observation spot of
Captain Stokes on Rut Island
of corals, intermixed and forming a consoli-
dated mass with " brain-stones" scattered
over it. The reef is nearly dry at low water ;
but a portion does not rise so high, and pro-
jects so as to form a narrow shelf, from the
edge of which a wall descends almost per-
pendicular to the depth of fifty-four feet.
The coral on the upper twenty feet is formed
in the shape of huge fans, spreading out
from stout stems, overlapping each other in
clusters, and having angular cavities between.
The lower portion of the wall is of the com-
mon branch kind.
The IVallabi Islands form part of the
Abrolhos group, and have a good haven,
termed Recruit harbour, Avith eleven to
twelve fathoms, perfectly sheltered on all
sides. East Wallabi island has an elevation
at the north-east extremity of fifty feet, and
measures upwards of a mile each way. West
Wallabi island is two miles and-a-half long,
by one mile broad; in the centre is a low
flat, with hills rising all round except on the
south side. Flaghill, the highest, is formed
of sand and comminated shells, while the
flat which stretches to the south-west from
its foot, is of limestone formation, on which
there is a cavern fifteen feet deep, with a
sloping entrance and a stalactite roof. Some
sand hills, thirty feet high, and covered -with
a dense scrub, are filled with the bui-rows of
the mutton bird. The north end of the
island is a level stony flat, with patches of
brushwood, among which Captain Stokes
found such an abundance of the marsupial
animal, termed the Wallabi, that in four
hours, seventy-six, weighing about seven
pounds each, were killed with three guns.
It is strange how these animals reached the
islets from the main. The snapper fish were
numerous off" the island, and so voracious
that they allowed themselves to be taken
with a small piece of paper for a bait.
Gun Island, in 28° 53' 10" S. lat., 1° 53' 35"
west of Swan river, forms the north-west
extreme of the Pelsart group, and is the
largest of the islets (a quarter-of-a-mile
mile long). The group is encircled by a
reef; on which doubtless the Dutch ship
Zeewyk was wrecked in 1727. The island
was so named by Captain Stokes, in conse-
quence of finding on it, 24th April, 1840, a
brass foui'-pounder of singular construction,
which is now deposited in the United Ser-
vice Museum, Scotland-yard, liondon. The
gilding on the ornamental brass-work is in
a remarkable state of preservation. Two
Dutch doits were found, Ijeariug date 1707
380
COUNTKY BETWEEN THE IRWIN AND MOOKE KIVEKS.
of singular
and 1720 ; also a number of pipes and glass
bottles; the latter of a stout Dutch build,
some capable of holding five or six gallons ;
they were placed in rows, half buried in the
sand, as if for the piu'pose of collecting
water, and were covered with a white sub-
stance, which had eaten away the glaze.
Resuming now an examination of the
coast to the south of Champion bay, it ap-
pears, for at least thirty miles, as seen from
the deck of H.M.S. Beagle, to consist of high
sand hills, partly covered with vegetation ;
immediately in the rear is a range rather
higher and of a less barren appearance ; be-
hind these again, at a distance of eight or
nine miles, there arises a series
table-topped broken ridges.
The Irwin River falls into the sea midway
between Champion bay and the Arrowsmith :
it rises in the interior to the eastAvard, and
has in some places a bed eighty yards wide,
with limestone and clay banks, thirty feet
high ; but in the dry season water is only to
be found in pools. The valley of the Irwin
is said to extend thirty miles north-north-
west and south-south-east, and is about
eight miles wide. On an east-north-east
course from Champion bay, there are exten-
sive flats of good light soil, well grassed, and
some two miles Avide; a beautiful country,
full of warren-holes, and lightly timbered ;
several good pools, " one 200 yards by 25,
and no bottom to be foimd by diving." A
fine wide grassy flat, with small trees, con-
tinues to 29° y S. lat. Advancing thence
in a north-east course, the country much
improves; banks of clay and red sandstone
occur; but on approaching the Coal Vallerj
in 29° 57' 42" S. lat. (200 miles north of
Perth) there are no flats but steep banks to
the river bed, with plenty of good water by
digging a few inches, and abundance of
grass. The river bed twenty-five yards
wide, running through sandstones and
shales. The coal seam seen here was about
six feet thick, and ran entirely across the
bed of the river, and under the bank on
both sides. The Irwin divides into two
branches, where the sandstone ceases, and
the granite formation commences ; the largest
stream flows from the eastward.
Mr. Macgill, an officer of her Majesty's
96th (who was afterwards unfortunately
lost), made, in company with others, in
1847, a journey from Lefroy's station, on
the Moore or Garban river, to Port Grey;
he found the country (probably he kept near
the coast), for the greater part of the way,
wretched and unproductive ; the party were
two days without water ; but the Irwin
valley he describes as a " terrestial para-
dise," in breadth from one to six miles, and
extending, at all events, from twenty-five
miles inland down to the coast.
The Arrowsmith River, or rather brook,
has its embouche in the sea, to the north
of Gairdner's range, and its rise to the
north-east, in the Herschel range. The
pasture-lands on the Irwin join those on
the Arrowsmith ; the country is said to be
better adapted for cattle than for sheep, as
parts of it are rather low ; for agriculture
it would be useful, as the soil is rich, and
there is scarcely a tree to each hundred
acres. There are about 10,000 acres of fine
rich pasture land along the banks of the
Arrowsmith, reaching within two miles of
the sea, which would make a superior sum-
mer run for a large herd of cattle. Ten
thousand sheep could be kept between the
Eastern Irwin and the ArroAvsmith, but the
occupiers would probably have to dig for
water. "Whether the river and country is
identical Avith that named by Captain Grey,
is uncertain.
The country between the Arrowsmith and
Moore river, crossing the streamlets of Hill
and Smithy behind the ranges, consist of
extensive plains, which, at least, during the
rainy season, are Avell grassed.
The Hill stream flows from the south end
of Gairdner's range.
The Garban is formed by the junction of
the Moore and Norcott rivers,, about fifty
miles north of Perth. From the Garban to
Perth, there is a chain of fresh- water lakes,
at intervals of five or six miles apart.
The coast line presents no feature of
note; harbours for cargo boats probably
exist at Island Point, Jicrien Bay, Lancelin
Island, and behind the reefs at and near Bre-
ton Bay. The appearance of the shore is
barren and forbidding, but the Avind seldom
blows direct on the land ; vessels can there-
fore run north or south, according to cii'-
cumstances.
Approaching the Swan-river estuaiy, Ave
reach Rottnest (rats' nest) Island, distant
twelve miles from the port of Fremantle;
it is ten miles long by seven wide, heavily
timbered, principally by the cypress, and
bounded for nearly its entire circumference
by limestone rocks, so as to present few
landing-places for boats. This island is
the prison where the aborigines of Western
Australia were transported, for oficnces com-
SWAN RIVER— PERTH AND MELVILLE WATERS.
381
mitted in the colony. From a gently rising
ground near the superintendent's house,
the view is enclosed on every side by a
chain of hills which slope gradually down
into the plain, occupied by a succession of
lakes, the largest two miles in circum-
ference, and one yielding pure salt in abun-
dance. The aborigines, about twenty in
number, under the direction of their super-
intendent, Mr. Vincent, and with the aid
of foirr soldiers, have built an excellent
dwelling-house, store (70 feet long), cells
for prisoners, workshop, stable, &c. — all of
stone; made a road, ploughed, fenced, and
cultivated a considerable quantity of land,
and done much useful work. This establish-
ment is now broken up, and the island
leased to Mr. Thompson. The convict ab-
origines are employed on the roads. The
salt lake is a short distance from the house
of the superintendent; it is about three-
fourths of a mile in circumference, and is
nearly covered with beautiful crystals of
dazzling white salt, of which many tons
are collected in a month. The water of
this lake might, in American language, be
termed a " concentrated essence of subli-
mated salt;" it is so intensely acrid, as to
blister the tongue when tasted. Mr. De-
puty Assistant-commissary Webb, who ex-
plored the island, was pleased with the
scenery; the soil is of a light sandy loam;
in some places there is a rich dark brown
mould prized for gardens.
The Sioan River, which originally gave its
name to this colony, takes its rise about 80
miles from the coast, flows north for 100
miles under the name of the Avon, then join-
ing the Toodyay turns west, passes through
the hills for fifty miles, and disembogues
into the Perth water, an estuary about two
miles long by one broad, which communi-
cates with the beautiful lake termed Mel-
ville water, seven miles long by four broad.
The Swan flows all the year round, and
sometimes renders the waters fresh in Gage
roads dui'ing winter ; together with the
Perth water, it is navigable for boats or
flat-bottomed craft, as far as the tide flows,
viz., about forty miles.
The Canning, which flows from the south-
east to Melville Avater, has a boat navigation
for fifteen miles. The Helena falls into the
Swan below Guildford.
The Swan river is subject, like other
Australian rivers, to occasional, sudden, and
tremendous floods, which inundate the corn
lands in the vicinity. The early settlers, un-
aware of this fact, selected a low-lying site
for their town; but the first winter, for-
tunately, gave them a warning to choose
a more elevated and safer position.
Melville water, close to which the capi-
tal of Western Australia is situated, opens
into Freshwater bay, and the latter into
Rocky bay, from Avhich the estuary con-
tinues in smaller reaches until it opens into
the sea at Gage roads, where the town of
Fremantle is situated. The portion of the
bar from Fremantle to Rocky bay, is full
of shallows, on which there are only nine to
ten feet water ; but the estuaries of Rocky
and Freshwater bays, and of Melville, have
sufficient depth of water for the largest
ships, and would form a fine harbour, if
accessible from the sea. In my Colonial
Library, vol. iii. p. 328, published in 1836,
I urged the cutting of a canal, so as to
admit large vessels. The bar at Fre-
mantle, which extends three-fourths of a
mile, not long since was blown up, so as
to admit craft of eight feet draught to reach
Perth ; and it is now proposed to cut a ship
canal from Rocky bay to the sea, through
an isthmus of soft calcareous sandstone 480
yards in breadth, with an average height of
fifteen feet. If this be done, and the mouth
kept free from sand. Western Australia will
possess a most complete land-locked har-
bour.
The cliSs of the coast near Swan river
appear covei^ed with thousands of roots,
twisted together in a reticulated manner.
The same formation is observable at Bald
Head, King George's Sound. Their resem-
blance to the stumps of a dead shrubbery
is so exact, that, before touching them, i\
is difficult to say which is the wood and
which the calcareous matter. Mr. Darwin
supposes that this singular appearance has
been caused by the wind heaping up cal-
careous sand, together with branches, roots
of trees, and land shells ; the whole being
subsequently consolidated ; and when the
fibrous portion decayed, lime, washed into
the cylindrical cavities by the action of rain-
water, preserved the form of the wood. The
decaying influence of the weather is now
washing away the sandstone and softer por-
tions of the rock, leaving the vegetative
forms in their primitive state.
Gage Roads, at the entrance of Swan river,
are formed by Garden, Rottnest, Peel's, and
Carnac islands ; and the anchorage is pro-
tected from the vast body of water which rolls
in from the north-west by a bank, which ex-
383 HARBOURS AND ROADSTEADS— FREMANTLE AND LESCHENAULT.
tends out to the north-east^ between Rott-
nest island and the main. The anchorage
is in seven or eight fathoms, on sandy mud,
about a mile from the gaol at Fremantle,*
bearing east by north. A quarter of a mile
nearer the shore, the bottom shoals rapidly
to four and three fathoms, on rocky ground
slightly coated with sand. A ship rightly
found — especially with Honiball's patent
moveable fluke anchors — would not di'ag
up so steep a bank; and Captain Stokes
thinks that the cause of some ships being
driven on shore has been owing to not
selecting a proper berth, and getting too
near the land, on a rocky ground; so that,
when a breeze sprung up, there was no time
to let go another anchor with effect.
Oiven's Anchorage, the usual resort from
the 1st of May to the 1st of September, is
perfectly secure, and readily accessible from
Gage roads.
Cockburn Sound, in 33° 10' S. lat., formed
between Garden island and the main land,
seven miles from Eremantle, is a safe and
extensive anchorage. It would contain 1,000
ships, out of mortar range either fi'om the
sea or land side, and in the hands of an
enemy would be exceedingly injurious to
our maritime interests, especially in the
Indian Ocean. H.M.S. Beagle rode out
two gales, of forty-eight hours' duration,
here, on the 31st of March and the 11th
of June. The gales commenced at north
by west, and, after lasting foity-eight hours,
gradually blew themselves out at west-south-
west. At the anchorage there was not more
sea than a boat might have endured.
Rockingham Harbour is said to be a good
haven, requiring only a small breakwater,
for shelter against the north-by- west winds,
which are of rare occurrence. The deep
water runs within a few yards of the shore,
and a jetty would enable large ships to
discharge their cargoes.
Warnborough Sound, three miles from
north to south, and two miles and-a-half
from east to west, is formed by a chain
of reefs ; the entrance-bar has five or six
fathoms water on it.
Safety Bay, an inlet of Warnborough
Sound, is about thirty miles south of Ere-
mantle. The mouth of the inlet has a
tendency to fill up with sand, which a
small expense in piling would prevent. If
this were done, a light-house erected, and
the entrance buoyed, an Indiaman, it is
* The longitude of Scott's jetty at the Swan River
la considered to be 115' 47' E. of Greenwich.
said, might discharge her cargo by means
of a plank to the shore.
Peel Harbour, forty-five miles south of
Eremantle, has a narrow entrance. The
estuary is in length about fifteen miles, by
two to foui" miles in breadth, and eight feet
deep. Inside there appears to be sufficient
depth of water and space to hold many
vessels.
The Murray River, which is navigable for
sixteen miles by boats, disembogues at the
centre of Peel inlet ; and the Serpentine,
CuiTie, and Dandalup streams flow into the
broader part of the estuary. The Dandalup
joins the Murray. The Harvey flows into
the head of the inlet.
Leschenault or Koombana Bay, in Welling-
ton county, eighty miles south of Swan
river, ninety-eight miles from Perth by
land, and 180 miles from King George's
Sound, has the mouth of its inlet situated
in lat. 33° 19' 10'" S., long. 115° 40' 15" E.
The bay affords shelter for large ships in
four and-a-half to five fathoms, excepting
from north by east to west, and by north
or west-north-west wdnds, or for smaller
vessels lying farther in, round to north-
west; but as the bottom is clear of rocks,
and there is good holding-ground, vessels
have been uninjured during the heaviest
gales. Mount William, bearing N. 40° 6' E.,
from near the entrance of the bay, distant
thirty- three miles, and with an elevation of
1,725 feet, is the best land- mark. Mount
Leonard, another elevation of the Darling
range, bears S. 81° 44' E. ; distant thirteen
miles ; elevation, 1,270 feet.f The Lesche-
nault inlet, or estuary, at the south-west
of Koombana bay, is separated from the
ocean by a narrow limestone ridge, co-
vered with timber and vegetation, and has
a well-protected entrance. The estuary is
about fourteen miles long, by upwards of
a mile broad; in some parts, three to six
fathoms deep ; affording in all places water
communication, as it is full to the shore
edge. There is a sand-bar, easily remove-
able, dividing the estuary from the bay ;
boats drawing three to four feet water can
pass it at all times. Rise of tide inconsid-
erable.
The Preston and Collie Rivers have their
embouche on the east side of the inlet ; and
the Brunswick falls into the Collie, a little
above its embouchure. These rivers are
running streams all the year round, skirted
t Stokes' Voijaffe in H.3LS. Beagle. Vol.ii., p. 396.
Roe's Chart gives the heightof il/cww^ William 3,600 ft.
AUSTRALIND— BUNBURRY— GEOGRAPHE BAY— THE LEEUWIN. 383
by rich pastures, and remarkable for the
beauty of the scenery around.
At Leschenault, tlie Darling range ap-
proaches within fourteen miles of the sea;
its sharply-pencilled outline broken only by
Mount Leonard and the gorge through which
the Harvey river flows.
Australind is situated on the easternmost
border of the Leschenault estuary. It is,
beyond all comparison, the best planned
town in the colony; and Mr. M. Waller
Clifton deserves great credit for the ability
and taste which he has manifested. A sub-
stantial biidge has been constructed over the
Brunswick river, in the township : it is
160 feet long, by 10 feet wide; the span of
the four chief arches is 27 feet ; it is sup-
ported on five piers, of which three are in
12 to 16 feet water.
Bunhurry, at the southernmost part of
the bay, is beautifully situated on a small
high peninsula, lined on the soiith by
basaltic pillars. The town is on an height;
all the streets cross each other at I'ight
angles; and the neighbouring country is
very pretty. The harbour is secure for
small craft; but large vessels lie in the
roadstead, to take in long timber. On the
sea shore, near Bunburry, there is a forma-
tion of pure basaltic rocks, resembling, in
miniature, the celebrated Giant^s Causeway
in Ireland, The columns, as seen in the
chasms caused by the action of the sea, are,
in some places, six feet high, and beautifully
shaped. The district between Bunburry and
Geographe bay (Henty's Plains) is one of the
richest in the pronnce.
Geographe Boy forms a complete curve.
Vasse inlet, in the south-east portion of the
bay, affords shelter for small craft. There
is good anchorage, protected from north-
west and south-west winds, on the north-
east side of Cape Naturaliste, (which is in
33° 31' 45'' S., 0^ 47' 30" W. of Swan
river), the westernmost point of the bay.
The township in Geographe bay is named
Busseltou, situated on the Vasse river, 130
miles south of Perth. The most conspicuous
feature is a neat stone-built church, recently
erected, of which a drawing was given in
the Illustrated London News of 21st Feb-
ruary, 1846. The nave is 40 by 20 feet;
the chancel, 14 by 12 feet; the walls 16
to the line of roof; the roof is constructed
of native mahogany, with principals, pur-
lines, &c. Thus at a place, of which the
name and position are almost unknown in the
mother coimtry, Englishmen have erected
this stately fane, almost in the heart of
a wilderness.
The Vasse River is said to " flow through
a district rich in herbage, resembling clover,
and enamelled with daisies, buttercups, mari-
golds, and other beautiful field flowers."*
The north extreme of Cape Naturaliste is
formed of majestic chtfs of limestone, 200
feet high, and perforated with two ranges of
caverns. The outer, or great cavern, is
about 50 feet wide, 45 high, and 100 feet
deep. Some of the stalactites measure 15 feet.
The sides and roof present an extraordinary
assemblage of colours, owing to the variety
of liverwort and fungi with which they are
covered. Prom Cape Naturaliste to Cape
Hamelin the coast lies nearly due south,
marked only by the Margaret river, which
has its mouth almost midway between the
two capes. The most striking sea-coast fea-
ture is a belt of snow-white sand, of some
hundred yards in 'n'idth.
Cape Leeuioin, or Landt Van de Leemvin,
the headland so called by its discoverer, in
1622, is situated at the south-west extremity
of Australia, lat. 34° 21' S., long. 115° 6' E.:
it is tolerably elevated, of a smooth but
sterile aspect, visible about thirty miles in
fine weather, and defended, between south-
west and south-east, by rocky islets or de-
tached breakers, to the extent of five or six
miles. It appears like an island, lying close
to the main, with lower land on its north
side. Soundings do not extend far off shore.
Flinders found eighty-five fathoms, at nine
to ten leagues south by west, and forty to
sixty fathoms, at six Leagues to the south of
the Cape. South-west gales, with a heavy
sea, are experienced off this cape. H.M.S.
Zehra was compelled to throw her guns
overboard. I was myself, on one occasion,
in a constant gale for nearly three weeks,
running from north to south, without being
able to make any westing to double the
Leeuwin. There appears to be a northerly
current setting round the Cape from the
westward; but an easterly current generally
sets along the southern shores, towards Bass'
straits. A settlement was formed to the
south-east of the Leeuwin, at a small har-
bour towards Augusta. It was abandoned,
on account of the alleged insecurity of the
haven. The anchorage is spacious, sheltered
from the usual winter winds from the north
and north-west, but open to those which
blow from south and south-east.
* Western Australia, by T. J. Buckton, Esq. •
p. 39. London: 1840.
384 CHAIRMAN AND BLACKWOOD RIVEKS— KING GEORGE'S SOUND.
The Chapman river, after its junction with
the Blackwood river, flows into Augusta bay
or inlet, under the designation of M'Leod
creek. It is navigable for boats in a north-
erly, and then in a Avesterly direction, for
twenty-five miles.
The Blackwood river has been traced fifty
miles previous to its junction with the Chap-
man; its banks are stated to be, in many
places, covered with a dense forest of enor-
mous trees, and some of the finest land seen
by Sir J. Stirling was observed in its vici-
nity. The country was partially examined,
a few years ago, by Mr. J. C. Russell. At
first, the timber was of minor growth, and as
thick as usual : after advancing four miles,
the country improved ; the " face of nature
became more and more pleasing; the soil a
rich red loam." On a southerly course the
country deteriorated ; but, on bearing west,
the explorer " came upon a brook, sur-
rounded with magnificent gum trees, the
scenery very beautiful, with banks sloping
down to the water." Much of the country
seen was "exceedingly fertile, but greatly
encumbered with timber of stupendous size."
There were some grassy plains, and the
region is well watered.
Proceeding eastward from Cape Leeuwin
the coast trends to the north-east, and forms
an open roadstead termed Flinders' Bay,
which curves south forty-three, east thirty-
seven miles, along a low, sandy, uninviting
shore to Point D'Entrecasteauw, a remark-
able cape in 34° 52' S. lat., 116° 1' E. long,
visible thirty miles from the deck of a ship.
The next prominent point, Cape Chatham,
is a steep rocky island, lying a mile from a
clifiy projection on the main, lat. 35° 2i' S.,
long. 116° 29' E.
Point Nuyts, seven miles east by south
*rom Cape Chatham, is a cliffy head, pro-
jecting three miles beyond the line of coast.
It is known that Nornalup and the Deep
River District possess a very fine country;
timber of the most stupendous size, and of
the best quality, is found in this neighbour-
hood. A seven ton vessel was built of one
piece of thirty feet, cut oflF the butt of a tree
of 150 feet high before branching.
This region is not suflficiently known to
enable me to give any description of it; it
appears, however, very probable, from what
I saw of the coast-line, that a good country,
with certainly a fine climate, will be found
iu the interior ; the shore abounds in inlets
capable of being made valuable. Irwin Inlet,
WilHam's Bay, and Torbay, possibly possess
good havens. Mariet Lake, near RatclifFe
bay, is a large sheet of water. The whole
of this coast and country ought to be care-
fully surveyed and explored.
King George's Sound, the best harbour in
Western Australia, is formed on the south
side by Bald Head, and defended at its
entrance by Breaksea, Michaelmas, and
other islands, which protect the sound from
easterly winds. There are two havens called
Princess Royal and Oyster harbours, the
former adapted for large ships, the latter for
vessels not drawing more than eleven feet of
water, which may be secured within 100
yards of the shore. For a ship only wanting
water and fuel there is a sandy bay in the
south-west corner of the sound, where two
or three streams of excellent water run into
the sea over the land.
Bald Head, which forms the south-west
portion of the sound, is a barren rock of
moderate elevation, about two miles and-a-
half in length ; it is connected with the main
by a low piece of land, in the centre of which
stands a small peak; this gives the head
from the offing to the southward the appear-
ance of an island. The conspicuous head-
land, called Peaked Hill, with a peculiar
profile outline, is about five miles to the
south-west of Bald Head, whose south end
is in 34° 55' S. lat., 118° 29' E. long.
From the anchorage of Princess Royal
harbour, situated at the back or west part of
King George's sound, Mount Clarence bears
north-north-east, and the south end of
Michaelmas Island just open off Point Pos-
session. Stokes says that the entrance to
this great basin is by a narrow channel in
the north-east corner ; the chief impediment
being a long spit extending oft^ the inner west
entrance; it was worked through by H.M.S.
Beagle both ways ; inside there is water suf-
ficient for a line-of-battle ship, but only for
a limited space, a short distance within the
entrance towards the north-west corner of
the harbour, where a straggling village points
out the township of Albany. Mount Clarence
and Melville rear their bare and granitic
heads on either side, and huge fantastically-
shaped boulders are strewn over their slopes.
The Kalgan, or French River, which dis-
embogues into Oyster harbour, flows north
from the Stirling range, is of considerable
length, and fed by many tributaries. Ex-
cursions were made up the stream in 1831
by Dr. Collie and Lieutenant Dale, who for
the first twenty miles of their route found
dense forests of " mahogany," white gum
KING GEORGE'S SOUND— DOUBTFUL ISLAND BAY.
385
trees, casuarinas, banksias, wattles, (always
indicating in Western Australia a good soilj)
and other shrubs ; ascending the stream the
country became more open, and numerous
ponds of brackish water were fonnd.
Abovit thirty-five miles north-west from
King George's Sound, there is a fine coun-
try, resembling in its pnrk-hke features the
neighbourhood of jNIelbonrne, Port Phillip.
There is an abundance of kangaroos, which
indicates the pastoral character of the neigh-
bourhood.
The Hay river, at two miles above Ungerup,
is a small tortuous ri\TJet, with rich grassy
banks, overhung by fine shady trees. The
valley is narrow, sloping gently upon either
side, and its soil is a fertile mould. Lady
Spencer (whose husband was, for some time,
Government Resident at King George's
Sound), has some fine farms in this region.
The crops of grain produced here are equal
in quantity and quality to those of the most
favoured districts in A"an Dicmen's island.
The district of King George's Sound is
not subject to droughts, the harbour is
almost unrivalled, and the adjacent seas,
bays, and inlets abound with whales and
excellent fish of various kinds.
Albany, which is still a mere village, is
distant from Perth by land 300 miles, and
by sea 450 miles; from Adelaide, South
Australia, 1,400 miles; from INIelbourne,
Victoria, 1,800 miles ; from Van Dicmen's
island, 1,850 ; and from Sydney, New South
Wales, 2,700 miles.
The coast trends to the north-east from
King George's Sound, and presents several
bays and inlets ; the principal, Doubtful
Island Bay, is formed on the south side by
Point Hood and the Doubtful islands ; it is
about six leagues across to the north shore,
and about ten miles deep, affording shelter
in its south-west part fi-om all winds that do
not blow hard between north-north-east and
east. The north and west shores have not
been closely examined ; the coal seam, which
extends in a southerly direction from the
Irwin river. Champion bay, is supposed to
be continued to this bay, as coal is found
cropping out near the water's edge.
From Doubtful Island Bay the coast be-
comes low and sandy ; trending in an easterly
direction to the maritime portion of the
province of South Australia. Mr. Eyre,
during his adventurous and disastrous jour-
ney from the head of tlie Great Australian
Bight to King George's Sound, found the
country improve as he proceeded through
DIV. IIT.
the territories of Western Australia; tracts
of better soil, and water-courses appearing to
have an outlet to the ocean, rendered the
country one of great interest, but the re-
duced and worn-out condition of himself and
his horses, prevented his examining satis-
factorily the character of the region he was
traversing; he was therefore unable to deter-
mine whether the rivers (which appeared to
have but a short course) had or had not
their embouchure open to the sea.
Counties. — Having completed so far as is
practicable an examination of the coast-line
of Western Australia, its havens, inlets, and
rivers, I proceed to shew the leading features
of the counties into which it is divided,
whose names, position, and relative area are
indicated on the map.
From the smallness of the population,
Western Australia has been, as I have before
stated, far less extensively surveyed and ex-
plored than the sister colonies ; it is, there-
fore, not possible to give a detailed description
of the counties which it comprises, the larger
portion of which are still unsettled.
Perth County, which contains Perth, the
capital of the province, and Fremantle, the
principal sea-port, may be considered as
exemplifying the general character of the
sea- coast, counties of Melbourne, Twiss,
Murray, and Wellington. The Darling
range rises abruptly from the plain of Quar-
tania, about twenty miles inland, and con-
sists of rugged round-topped hills of rock
and gravel, with valleys of a rather better
quality, occasionally affording favourable
spots for culture. The whole is extensively
covered by an eucalyptus forest of good
timber, adapted either for the construction
of ships and other buildings, or for domestic
purposes. The Swan and other streams by
which Perth county is irrigated, have been
before mentioned, beside which there are
numerous fresh-water lakes and swamps, the
soil on whose banks is of great richness.
Several of these having been drained and
cultivated, produce luxuriant crops of fruits
and vegetables, maize, &c.
Generally speaking, however, the aspect
of this county is discouraging to the farmer.
On arriving the prospect from the sea
naturally gives rise to the exclamation —
" Sand ! sand ! is there nothing but sand?"
Little evidence of active life or prosperous
industiy greets the anxious eye of the immi-
grant, save in the towns of Fremantle and
Perth, and the craft on the river. For
twelve miles inland he does not see a farm.
3 B
386
PERTH, THE CAPITAL OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
Lookiug back from the top of Greenmount
(the first hill of tlie range on the road to
York) the eye wanders over an apparently
unbroken forest plain, the great height of
the trees effectually conceahng all signs of
farms or houses. The first view of Perth is
tiowever singularly pleasing. Situated about
eleven miles fi'om the sea-coast, on the brink
of the pretty sheet of water (formed by the
Swan river) which bears its name ; with the
wooded shores opposite; the forest plain
stretches away to the east; and the "range"
rises in the distance; while the air, although
so clear as to render the very stems on the
trees distinctly perceptible, has yet all the
charm of the soft haze, the many tinted
lights and shades of a semi-tropical climate.
Gazing on this tranquil panorama from
the top of Mount Eliza, the English immi-
grant views with surprise in the gardens
lying between the cliff and the estuary,
the banana, peach, nectarine, apple, and
pear, the lemon, orange, guava, loquat, and
pomegranate, the almond, fig, and mulberry,
while the melon and its fellows creep among
their stems; but yet more pleasing is the
effect of the endless interlacing of trellised
vines beneath which the people are pursu-
ing their avocations, and the successive ter-
races of Adnes and olives, rising almost to his
feet ; yet the question, ^Miere are the farms ?
still remains unanswered.
A resident of several years' standing as-
sures me that men frequently visit the
colony, who ha^nng seen nothing beyond
this, leave it with a very false impression,
forgetting how unfair it is to judge by one
limited tract, of the whole of so extensive a
territory as Western Australia. In this
county the farms are almost wholly confined
to the banks of the rivers and lakes.
The position of Perth is well chosen, not
only on account of its beautj^, but for the
more sohd advantages which it possesses.
The sandy soil, united to an unHmited sup-
ply of good water, procui'ed at an average
depth of fifteen feet, a perfect drainage in
each dii'cction, exposure to the healthful
sea-breeze sweeping up the succession of
picturesque estuaries, with a frontage and
rear of garden-gi'ounds, offer great promise
of salubrity, Avhile an abundance of brick-
clay, lime, fire-wood, and timber of good
quality have afforded the materials for a
substantial style of building. Nor have
these facilities been unavailed of by the
• From interesting sketches entitled Our Western
Australian Home, by George J. Webb, Eso.,
settlers. Up to the year 1838, we leara
from the journal of the Agricultural and
Horticultm'al Society of Western Australia
that the value of the improvements in Perth
were estimated at ,£50,000^ since which
time the increase has been considerable.
The building allotments have likewise ma-
terially augmented in value ; fifteen years
ago they were often bought and sold ftjr
a bottle of grog, now many are worth from
£500 to £1,000; it must, however, be re-
membered that then high and tough gun?
trees covered the site of the city, and froff
the thickness of the " bush" it was dan
gerous to move about even for a short
distance; — noiv there is a regular town,
excellent houses of brick and stone, with
large verandahs and neat gardens around;
a store which cost £3,000 — temnles of wor-
ship for different denominations of Chris-
tians, a Government-house, Court-house,
Western Australian bank, barracks, gaol,
club-house, hospital, magazine, public offices,
hotels, inns, mills, fields, gardens, good
roads, farms and homesteads in various di-
rections.
The military barracks at Perth occupy
a prett)^ situation, about 400 yards from the
river Swan (here nearly a mile wide), and at
the head of the government square, which
slopes gently towards the water. From the
barracks there is an uninteiTupted view of
Melville water for a distance of six miles,
and the beauty of the scenery is much
enhanced by the many strips of land which
run out from the shore, on either side. On
the left bank of the river, separating Perth
from ]Mehdlle water, is a long tongue of
land, with a windmill, and on the opposite
shore of the narrow passage, Blount Eliza
raises its rugged and precipitous sides, which
are studded here and there with white-
walled cottages, peeping out from the foliage
of the casuarina and banksia.*
Fremantle, the sea-port of Perth, distant
about fourteen miles by water, and eleven
by land, lies immediately behind the little
promontory of "Arthur's Head." It is
built entirely of white limestone, and the
dazzling glare of the walls and houses is, in
summer time, rather trying to visitors. It
contains a very pretty church, a Wesleyan
meeting-house, government store-houses,
two good hotels, and some commodious
dwellings. Dming the winter season, bay
whaling is actively carried on; and one of
D.A C.G., published, in an admirable miscellany
termed the Swan River News.
FREMANTLE AND GUILDFORD— MURRAY COUNTY, W. AUSTRALIA. 387
the most spirited undertakings in the colony-
is the tunnel, made through Arthur's Head,
from the principal street in Fremantle to
the whaling jetty. The inland face of the
cliff, at the mouth of this tunnel, is cut and
finished like a fortification, and being sur-
mounted by the stone gaol and court-house,
has a striking effect. The whaling com-
pany's storehouses, &c., are partly cut out of
the rock, and their ranges of furnaces and
try'pots, together with the long sharp boats,
suspended over the sea, ready for instant
action, with oars, harpoons, baskets of coiled
line, lances, and muffled rollocks, convey an
idea of energy and activity fvdly sustained
by the character of the Fremantle resident
whaling parties. The jetty is built of the
"Jarrah^' timber of the countrj^, which
defies even the sea- worm. Its piles and
beams, sunk above fifteen years ago, are
as sound as the day they were put down.
Another town, or rather scattered hamlet,
in Perth county, named Guildford, is advan-
tageously situated at the confluence of the
Swan and Helena rivers, about seven miles
north-east from Perth, and four miles from
the foot of the Darling range. It stands upon
the high part of the alluvial flat fringing the
river, which extends from half a mile to one
mile from it on either side. This flat is so
rich, that Captain Stokes states it produced,
in 1843, after thirteen years of successive
cropping, without manuring, a more abun-
dant harvest than it had done at first. This
officer notices, also, that in the y^ear 1833
(a period when the settlers were in want
of food), a flight of strange birds, resembhng
the rail, but larger, appeared in vast num-
bers near Guildford, when the corn was
green: they were so tame, as to be easily
taken by the hand ; they disappeared in the
same mysterious manner as they had arrived,
and have not since been seen. There are no
stock-farms, properly so called, in this dis-
trict, and the tillage farms are generally
small.
Monger's Lake is situated in a flat, barren
tract, about three miles from Perth, and
when filled, during the wet season (June),
occupies an extent of five miles. There is
another lake contiguous. Summer gardens
have been formed by the settlers on the
borders of these lakes, which yield plentifid
crops of melons, carrots, potatoes, and other
vegetables. The scenery around, when the
beds of the lakes are dry, is very dreary;
but in June, the margin of the water is
exquisitely carpeted with flowers.
The remarkable stalagmitic caves of Mai-
din, lie about thirty-five miles in a north-
north-west direction from Perth, the route
being along a chain of beautiful lakes situ-
ated from four to six miles behind the sea
coast, whose fertile banks afford luxuriant
feed for live stock. These caves have been
partially explored by Mr. Roe and Mr.
Webb, and are somewhat similar* to the
caves near Bathurst, and in Wellington val-
ley. New South Wales (see pp. 398-9 and
472). Six of the Maidin caves examined
by Mr. Roe, presented a magnificent ap-
pearance ; a narrow passage of a few yards
expanded suddenly into open extensive
chambers, which were traversed to the dis-
tance of 180 feet, and found to have an
average width of forty-five feet, and a roof
of twelve to fifteen feet, thickly studded
with beautiful stalactites, some descending
to the floor and forming pillars of ten to
twelve feet in circumference, for the support
of the roof. The floor was covered with
layers of smooth, white, and semi-transpa-
rent stalagmite. Another chamber, eighty
feet long by thirty feet wide, had stalactites
of all shapes and sizes suspended from the
roof. The cavernous entrances are in some
picturesque rocky glens near Mambibby
lake,
the abode of e\il spirits,
Murray county differs from Perth chiefly
in baring hardly any lakes, except large
swamps on the Serpentine river, fewer rich
flats, and more clay upland. It has a few
town sites, but no town; the chm'ch and
Ijarracks at Pingarro are very prettily situ-
ated, and will form a nucleus for a thriving
village. The main streams are the Murray,
Dandalup, Serpentine, and Harvey. The
chief stock of this district are horned cattle
and pigs, and its principal produce wheat of
fine quality. The farms are generally so
well fenced, as to admit of the practice
which prevails there, of tm-ning pigs loose
in the forest till wanted, and whole herds
of these animals wander about at will.
This county, like Perth, includes a portion
of the great forest of the Darling range, and
is, like it, covered with wood, even on the
plain, which is however more hilly and un-
dulating; but the valleys along the range
are finer, and abound in permanent rills,
and even waterfalls of much beauty, which
wiU eventually prove useful for mills.
Wellington County bears the same general
character, but is sufficiently south to render
the difference of climate perceptible. In
The aborigines consider these recesses
388 WELLINGTON, SUSSEX, KENT, YORK, AND OTHER COUNTIES, W. A.
some parts the grass remains green and
the rivers run all the year. It may be con-
sidered the finest district outside the range,
and oflers many inducements to the emi-
grant. It contains several town sites, but
only the seaport of Banbitrry (see coast-
line) is inhabited. The Harvey, Brunswick,
Collie, Preston, and Capel, are fine streams,
■with mnch rich land on their banks. All
kinds of stock thrive well.
It is probable that this district will be-
come the first scene of operations of the
Western Australian Timber Company, now
in process of establishment, as the naval
timber comes down nearer to the port here
than anywhere else on the west coast, and
some fine cargoes have already been shipped
from Bunburry.
Sussex County exliibits, as its leading and
distinctive features, — extensive low flats of
brown loam, sw ampy country, open downs,
and dense forests; the whole fitted rather
for English than Mediterranean produce,
and for horned cattle and horses rather than
sheep. The chief settlement is on the Vasse
inlet, ill Geogi'aphe bay. This bay affords
sufficiently secm-e anchorage, and whalers
resort here constantly for fresh meat, water,
potatoes, and other vegetables, butter, cheese,
&c., all which are produced abundantly and
of the finest possible quality. The cheese of
this district is celebrated. It consists of two
kinds, one resembling Stilton, the other
Cheddar. The potatoes are the finest in
the colony ; and its butter finds ready mar-
ket even in Perth.
There is no other town in this county,
except that at Augusta; but there is much
fine country. Proceeding along the south
coast, we come to the
Lanark and Stirling Counties. — These do
not possess any settlements ; though they
\ have, no doubt, especially the latter, alnni-
' dant sites for farms, and are intersected by
I numerous rivers and estuaries, some of which
might easily be converted into harbours.
1 The timber is the largest in the colony ;
I and its stupendous size may be imagined
I from the fact, that a seven-ton vessel Avas
' entirely Ijuilt out of the material furnished
1 by a single junk, of thirty feet length, cut
I otf one end of a tree. It often runs 150 feet
I in height, before it divides into branches,
j The timber is of excellent quality for build-
I ing puiiioses, especially for ships. Stirling
county has fine timber and good land.
Vlantaijenet County contains King George's
Sound harbour, and the town of Albany.
The soil is generally of inferior description,
although there are several fine farms. The
town of Albany is handsomely situated, on
a high ground, overlooking Princess Royal
harbour, with two bold and picturesque
granite hills, INIounts INIelville and Clarence,
on its right and left. The climate of Albany
is by many preferred, as being cooler than
Perth; but is liable to high winds, and
comparatively less fitted for INIediterranean
produce, &c. The scenery in the neigh-
bourhood is in many places beautiful.
Among the detached mountain masses in
this part of Australia are the Toolbrunup
hills, of which the most eastern height,
Koykyunarup, attains an elevation of 3,500
feet. It is ninety miles north of King
George's Sound, and seventy miles from
Lesehenault, and there is a valuable agri-
cultural and grazing country around.
Kent County is the last settled portion
of Western Australia to the south-east ; and
it only claims that title by "\irtue of a few
stations near Cape Riehe. It is not much
known, but contains some fine country, and
Avill derive future importance from the fact,
that the great Western Australian coal form-
ation crops out in seams Avithin a short dis-
tance of the harbour of Doubtful Island Bay,
Avhere there is also a fine district of country.
Hay, Goderich, Peel, JVicklow, Minto, and
Graritham Counties, as Ave proceed nortli-
Avard, are uninhabited by Europeans ; they
contain all varieties of soils ; and are gene-
rally hilly, intersected by streams and rivers,
and Avell timbered ; they include the eastern
portion of the Darling range, and bear a
considerable similarity to
York County, the first settled district '^ over
the hills.'^ This, with the adjoining county
of Victoria, long formed the chief stock dis-
tricts, but the settlers have lately pene-
trated above 200 miles northward. These
two countries are still, however, of chief
importance, both for agriculture and pas-
turage. In appearance they are very unlike
the plain of Quartania or Darling range,
presenting a continually undulating sur-
face, sometimes almost mountainous, always
Avooded, but seldom so as to obstruct the
plough. The best farms are generally on the
rivers Avon and Toodyay ; but this is not on
account of the soil, Avhich is as good in the
back lands, and often on the tops of the hills;
but on account of the surface Avater. The
soils are chiefly red and broAvn loams ; sand
is rare. The country abounds Avith building
stone ; but lime has not been found, unless
EXTENT OF LAND GRANTED aMD UNG RANTED— GEOLOGY. 389
in a few places. The farmhouses are gene-
rally built of stone and clay, or rammed
earth, and are often very well constructed ;
they have all verandahs, and are not unlike
the Indian " bungalows.'"
Victoria County much exceeds York in
quality of soil, in beauty of scenery, and,
indeed, in all respects. The Toodyay valley
contains noble farms, both for stock and
tillage.
From these districts northward, the settle-
ments are more of the squatting character,
with the exception of the rich Gingin agri-
cultural district, on the borders of Perth
and Twiss counties, and the Moore river
farms in Melbourne county. On the latter
is a settlement of Spanish Benedictine
monks, with a bishop, who carry on farm-
ing, pastoral, and vineyard operations, for
the purpose, as they state, of civilising the
aborigines.
The eastern counties of Howick, Beau-
fort, Lansdowne, Durham, Carnarvon, Grey,
&c., are little traversed or known, and are
not likely to be settled so long as good lands
remain open for that purpose nearer the
coast.
It appears that up to the year 1847, the
lands granted and purchased in fee-simple in
Western Australia amounted to 1,319,973
acres, and the lands sold, to 8,925 acres =
1,328,899 acres. The estimated number of
acres that remained ungranted in 1818,
was 19,201,274. There is, therefore, abun-
dant space for the extension of a Avhite
population; and even after making all due
allowance for exaggerated estimates, the
available land discovered in the neighbour-
hood of Champion bay Avould support a very
large number of inhabitants.
Geology. — Along the coast-line of Wes-
tern Australia there is a continuous bed of
limestone, covered in many places by sand
dunes. The table-land of the Darling range
consists of sienitic granite ; to the north,
near the Murchison and Ii'win rivers, is an
elevated tract of new red sandstone.
Throughout the greater part of Western
Australia there is an absence or scantiness
of the secondary or transition rocks ; all the
tertiary appear to be of the neAvest kind,
and to lie in juxta-position with the pri-
mary.^ On the east side of the Darling
range, close to the base, arc several groups
of isolated conical hills, about a mile apart,
bearing on their summits strong marks of
Ignition, and extending from the William
* Mr. Bynoc, surgeon to II.M.S. Beaf/le.
river to the Toodyay district. Further east,
the country passes into sandy plains, inter-
sected by water-courses, somewhat similar
to those on the western side of the range.
On the mountains, as well as on the plains,
pebbles are to be met with in patches, con-
taining magnetic iron.
Mr. J. W. Gregory is of opinion, first,
that the Darling range possesses no true
anticlinal axis, but is a sudden break and
descent from the table-land of the interior
to the plain of Quartania, Avhich will account
for the non-appearance of the silm-ian sys-
tem, and the very narrow belt of chlorite
and clay-slates; secondly, that the Darling
range attained nearly its present elevation
(that is compared with the other strata, but
not with regard to the actual sea level)
before the period of the coal formation;
thirdly, that the range formed the sea-coast
during the deposition of coal, and its accom-
panying shales, appears probable from the
beds of marine shells interstratified with
them ; that after this period the whole
country was immersed, while the new red
sandstone was deposited, as this formation
extends over all the known portion of Wes-
tern Australia, after which the whole of the
present land was upheaved, and without
great violence, as this sandstone is remark-
able for the horizontal position of its upper
strata, and it has not since been submerged,
with the exception of the present line of
coast where a narrow belt of limestone hills
containing shells of existing species, and the
water-worn boulders on the Avestern coast ol
Sussex, indicate a more recent change of
elevation than that which upheaved the new
red sandstone above the influence of the
sea. Mr. Gregory thinks it is also remark-
able that the absence of intermediate strata
between the older slates and the carbonifer-
ous system, and also between the new red
sandstone and the tertiary rocks, has been
observed on the eastern coast of Australia,
and in similar parallels of latitude.
Mineralogy. — The geological character-
istics, and the position, of the mountain
ranges, indicate a rich mineral country, and
recently copper, silver, lead, and coal, have
been found, of an excellent quality, in the
ncAvly explored region in the -sdcinity of
Champion h^y. Iron also abounds.
The mines explored on the Canning river
are curious; they all begin with lead, cop-
per, zinc, and iron, mixed, but as the shaft
is sunk, the zinc predominates; in one (the
flfty acre) section, there is a regular lode of
390 MINERALOGY, SOIL, AND CLIMATE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
zinc yielding (66 lbs. 11 oz.)* sixty-six per
cent, on assay. The Matrix is a quartz lode
about two feet wide, and full of bits of ore,
sixty-six per cent, of zinc. The country is
soft granite, and is expected to pass into
slate, The galena or sulphuret of lead ore
discovered recently near the Murchison
river, when analyzed (22nd May, 1849) by
Sir H. T. De la Beche, at the Museum of
Practical Geology, in London, at the request
of Earl Grey, was found to contain sixty-
five per cent, of lead, and pronounced to
be " therefore a good ore, and if found in
abundance, very valuable to the colony .^^
The coal bed discovered by the Messrs.
Gregory on the Irwin river, 210 miles north
of Fremantle, and forty miles from the sea,
is in two seams in the following order of
stratification ; — red sandstone, black shale,
white clay, coal five feet tliickj red sand-
stone, black shale, white clay, coal six feet
thick ; the strata then deepened, and the
next coal seam was hidden. The first 100
feet of depth consisted of coarse red sand'
stone. The coal burns well, blazes brightly,
and consumes to a white ash. It is sup-
posed that the coal bed continues in a
south-east direction to the southern coast
of Australia, near Doubtful Island baj?^, '
where coal has been found cropping out close
to the coast.
Soil. — Very various ] there are many
extensive wastes, but there are also nume-
rous rich alluvial flats, and the limestone
and coralline sandy strata on the Quartania
plains, when trenched, yields good crops,
especially of Mediterranean produce. The
vine, olive, and tobacco thrive luxuriantly ;
the silk- worm might also be extensively
reared, as the mulberry is well suited to the
soil and climate.
The geological formation of Western Aus-
tralia renders it as easy to get Avater there
by sinking Artesian wells at a depth of
fifty feet, as it would be in Europe at five
hundred feet. Dr. Van Sommer calcu-
lates that by a fortnight's boring two men
with an engine could obtain a supply of
water sufficient for the irrigation of 500
acres.
Climate, dry and warm, near Perth ; and
of acknowledged salubrity. Along the south
coast the temperature is much lower, and
there is more rain. Western Australia is
not subject to the droughts which prevail
• The best English zinc ores, those of Allowheod,
in Northuniberland, contain no more than 58 lbs.
l.j oz. in the 100 lbs.
on the east coast; it is open also to the
influence of the monsoons, and the annual
fall of rain is greater than in some parts of
England. The hot winds blow from six to
twelve days in the season. The mean of
the thermometer at 9 a.m. is 60° to 62°;
at 3 P.M. 68° to 70°. Winter—^ a.m.
52°; 3 P.M. 59°. Summer— ^3 a.m. 69^°;
3 P.M. 80°. The summer commences about
the middle of November and continues to
the middle or end of April. December,
January, February, and March are the
hottest months in the year; but in the
warmest weather labourers may work all day
in the open air, with no more inconvenience
than on a summer's day in England. The
adaptation of the climate for an European
population is shown by the state of the ages
and number of the inhabitants.
In October, 18-18, the census returns
showed, that out of 4,622 inhabitants, there
were, under three years of age, males, 267 ;
females, 244 : from three to fourteen years,
males, 606 ; females, 605 : from fourteen to
sixty years, males, 1,820; females, 913:
beyond sixty years of age, males, 30; fe-
males, 17.
The abstract of the census of 1848, which
I have received, does not show the propor-
tion of births to deaths, nor of males to
females born : but in two preceding years,
the relative proportions were—
Year.
Births.
Deaths.
Difference
1842-3{^f™^^"' • •
IMales . . .
ift4S 4fFemales . .
85
83
107
86
9
32
16
37
77
51
91
49
Preponderance of female over male births,
in two years, was 23. The net increase of
female births over deaths was 167, and of
males, 100. This confinus an observation
made in a previous part of this work — that
in a salubrious climate, fertile soil, with
sufficiency of foo<J and comfort, and among
a free people, it appears to be a fixed law of
population that the female shall predominate
over the male births.
The colonial surgeon, Mr. Ferguson, gives
the following comparative statement of deaths
among 1,000 people, in several places : —
Western Australia, 12; New South Wales
and Van Diemen's Island, 15 ; Cape of Good
Hope, 16; Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick, 18; East and West Canada, 20; Gib-
raltar, 22; Ionian Islands, 28; Mauritius,
30; St. Helena, 35.
ZOOLOGY AND OllNlTHOLOGY OF AUSTRALIA.
3D1
Zoology. — The native animals of West-
ern Australia do not comprise all those con-
tained in the island-continent^ which are
few in number, and A-ery peculiar in
kind. Of all the known mammalia, but
fifty-eight species, or about the one-seven-
teenth part of the whole, belong originally
to this region ; and of these, more than one-
half are of the marsupial order. Of Cuvier's
order of carnivora, if we except the marine
mammals of the seal genus (phoca), the
dingo, or native dog, is the sole represen-
tative, and the important orders of quadru-
mana, pachyderniata, and ruminantia, appear
to be without any land representatives in
this large portion of the globe. Of the
edentata, the genera echidna, and ornithor-
hynchus, are destitute of teats, and do not
suckle their young. The former genus
{echidna), consists of two species of porcu-
pines, one entirely covered with thick spines,
the other clothed with hair, in v/hich the
spines are half hidden. The ornithorhynchi
consist also of two species — O. rufus and
O.fuscus. These creatures unite with the
body, the fui", and habits of a mole,, the
webbed foot and bill of a duck ; are ovovivi-
pftrous, and have the internal formation of a
reptile. They are very shy, and lead a bur-
rowing life in the mud of rivers and swamps.
Of the 1'odentia, two species belong to
the sub-genus hydromys, and consist of
creatures that seem to unite some of the
peculiarities of the dormouse, rat, and
beaver. A new genus of rodentia, disco-
vered by Mitchell, and called by him the
flat-tailed rat, is remarkable for the enor-
mous nest of branches and boughs, which it
builds so strongly, as to W proof against the
attacks of the dingo, or native dog. The
rabbit rat, which climbs trees like the
opossum, is described by Mitchell, as hav-
ing feet resembling those of a pig, the
marsupial opening downwards, instead of
upwards, as in the kangaroo, and about the
size of a rabbit, but without a tail. Two
species of mice (both peculiar), and the
dipus Mitchellii, Australian jerboa, are in-
cluded in the list of rodentia, and the myme-
cobius rufus, or red shrew-mouse, is some-
times considered as belonging to that order.
With these few exceptions, the whole of the
Australian mammalia are of the marsupial
order, of which there are many species ; the
only character common among them being
what has been termed the premature pro-
duction of their young ; for even in the few
kinds oi marsupialia not possessed of pouclics.
the young hang to the mamma of the mother
for a considerable time. The most numer-
ous and important are the several varieties
of the well-known kangaroo {inacropusj, one
species of which {inacropiis unguifer), has
the singular appendage of a nail, like that
on the little finger of a man, attached to its
tail : the others are the different species of
opossums, bandicoot, or pouched badger, a
sort of sloth {phuscolarctos) , the wombat
{jihascolomys), an animal about the size of a
badger, and very slow in its movements, and
the kangaroo rat {pataroo), a diminutive
kangaroo.
Ornithology.— The list of Australian
birds present but two orders, wholly peculiar,
namely, the syndactyles, of Avhich the most
beautiful are " the sacred kingfisher," the
variegated bee -eater, the charming little
trochilus, or humming-bird, and the scan-
sores, consisting of parrots, parroquets,
cockatoos, &c., which are very numerous,
and adorned with every variety of gorgeous
plumage. Among the order accipitres, is a
species of vulture, so fierce, that when pressed
by hunger, he has been known to attack the
natives themselves. The white eagle is also
a very rapacious bird. The cream-bellied
falcon, the orange-speckled, and the milk-
white hawk, are common varieties ; the last
especially makes great havoc among the
poidtry. Of the owls, the most numerous is
the bird called the cuckoo by the colonists,
and "buck-buck" by the natives, from the
cry which it reiterates during the winter
nights. The order dentirostres includes a
beautiful bird, having the habits of the red-
breast; several varieties of the thrush, one
of which has obtained the soubriquet of the
laughing jackass ; a description of field lark,
and the wattle bird, which utters a chatter-
ing note ; swallows and goat-suckers, of the
order fissirosh'es, are numerous.
Conirostres. — There are several magpies
and crows of this order, and beautiful birds of
paradise, but the latter, like the various species
of epimae/si, are confined to northern Australia.
Gallincs. — Pheasants, quails, and pigeons
are in considerable numbers, of the latter
the most remarkable variety is the bronze-
winged. Gralke. — The cassowary or emu is
found in nearly all parts of Australia. It is
a very wild creature, and runs more SAviftly
than an English greyhound. The eggs are
of an elongated form, and of a green colour;
the flesh though coarse is eatable, especially
that of the young. Australia has also some
species of bustard, curlew ibis, — some of a
glassy rifle-green; herons^ avasets, rails^
snipes, spoonbills, &c.
Palmipedes. — The black swan is found
here. Gannets or boobies are numerous,
especially on the north coast, where pen-
guins, petrels, and ducks also abound. The
cereopsis somewhat resembles the goose-'^^
Vampires of a large size are numerous.
Reptilia. — The reptiles of Australia con-
sist of two or three genera of turtles ; as
many varieties of alligatoi*s, a considei*able
number of lizards and serpents, both veno-
mous and harmless. The great lacertcR, as
alligators, &c., do not appear to have been
found in Western Australia. The land-
lizard, and the crimson-sided snake {Coluber-
porphyriacus) , are of extraordinary beauty.
Serpents, also, of different species, have been
secii floating upon the water, in chase of the
cwious ponquin. Frogs are numerous. A
variety of lizard (the chlamydosmirus Kingii)-
is remarkable for a frill behind the head and
above the shoulders.
{Nate. — Recent geographical and
Insecta. — The insects are very numerous,
and many of the butterflies, moths, and
beetles, arc brilliant and beautiful. Locusts
abound in the hottest season. In swampy
places mosquitoes are extremely trouble-
some, but they are scarcely known in the
upper lands. Scorpions and centipedes
are found among dead wood. Wild bees
swarm in many places, depositing their deli-
cious honey in the hollow trees. Flies,
especially the blow-fly [musca carnivora) are
numerous in some districts. The gum-grub,
an insect about four inches long, is esteemed
by the natives a great dainty, and there are
various species of ants in Australia, some of
which are provided with wings. Ant hills
have been found measuring thirteen feet in
height, and seven at the base, tapering
gradually to the summit.
Botany. — The vegetation of Australia has
been frequently alluded to, and Avill be more
fully dwelt on in describing that of Van
Diemen's Island, which it closely resembles,
other discoveries in Supplement.]
CHAPTER III.
POPULATION, EUROPEAN AND ABORIGINAL— LAND IN CULTIVATION— LIVE STOCK-
LOCAL RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE— PARLIAMENTARY GRANTS— VALUE OF
COMMERCE— SHIPPING— STAPLE PRODUCTS— TARIFF OF DUTIES— ITEMS OF TAX-
ATION—GOVERNMENT— RELIGION— EDUCATION— CRIME— THE PRESS— PRICES OF
PRODUCE— COLONIZATION ASSURANCE COMPANY— TRANSPORTATION TO A^•EST-
ERN AUSTRALIA. SUMMARY— STATISTICS OF FOUR COLONIES IN AUSTRALIA.
The disastrous state of flairs at the early
formation of the colony, precluded the
collection of statistical returns, and it is
only within the last few years, that any
complete Blue Books have been received
at the colonial oflice. By an examination of
various statements and authorities, I have
endeavoured to frame the following con-
nected view of the state of the colony from
1834 to 1848, in its dift'crent aspects of
population, cultivation, farming stock, reve-
nue, and expenditure, commerce, shipping,
* The habits of the Australian birds are most pecu-
liar ; one, coniTnonly called the bower bird, builds for
itself a kind of roofed and sheltered pleasure-ground
(see Gould's Australian Birds) ; another, the mcf/apo-
dius tumulus, constructs a nest in the form of an irre-
gular truncated cone on an oblong base, one of which
Captain Stokes found to measure liK) feet in circum-
fertnce ; the slope of its sides being from eighteen to
&c. From this document the present social
condition of the country will be seen ; and it
may be noted, that for the last five years
there has been a progressive advancement in
population, cultivation, trade, and other ele-
ments of prosperity. In 1830, the white
population were computed at 1,500; in
1831, there were 200 acres of land under
cultivation with the hoe and spade, and 100
acres of wheat were reaped; in 1832, there
were 440 acres of grain crops; and in 1833,
600 acres; the progress has since been — ■
twenty-four feet, and its perpendicular height ten or
twelve feet. It was composed of earth, fragments of
coral or stone, and pieces of stick. On examining
these mounds by clearing away three or four feet of
earth, the eggs of the bird were found, measuring
eight and a-half inches lengthwise in circumference,
and six and three-quarters across. There was no in-
crease of temperature in the mound.
STATE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA FROM 183i TO 1848.
393
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594 CONDITION OF THE ABOiilQINES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
Aborigines, — The state of the aboriginal
inhabitants in Western Austraba is far supe-
rior to that attained by them in any other
Austraban colony. This most honourable
peculiarity, however, though doubtless attri-
butable, in the first instance, to the per-
sonal character and conduct of the early
settlers, of whom an unusual proportion
belonged to the better classes of society,
and to the judicious policy pursued by the
local government, appears to have been,
nevertheless, in no small degree brought
about by the very fact in other respects so
injurious to the colony, namely, the sudden
cessation of immigration, which not only
left the same individuals to carry "out the
original system with regard to the savage,
but rendered caution and forbearance, as
well as firmness, obviously indispensable.
The settlers are reaping their well-merited
fruits, in the perfect tranquillity they enjoy,
and the very considerable assistance they
receive from the coloured population. So
completely have the natives learned to
appreciate their rights as British subjects,
that they now appeal to the tribunal of the
law in their ditt'erences with the " white
fellows," and occasionally even in those with
each other.
The numbers receiving regular and casual
employment in 1848, Avas^
County or District.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Perthshire . .
130
32
162
Yorkshire . .
do
10
75
Wellington .
65
11
76
Plantagenet . . .
53
7
60
Toodyay district . .
52
53
105
Sussex
47
8
55
Murray
6
2
8
Total ....
418
123
541
Of these, many are employed about the
farms as herdsmen and messengers, and
occasionally in reaping and harvest work,
some, more regularly as servants; but in
general, they refuse all hard or steady work,
and no wages will induce them to forcijo
any amusement, or to settle permanently in
one place. They are essentially creatures
of impulse, absolutely devoid of any desire
♦ In a recent letter from Western Australia, dated
March, 1850, is the folloM'ing statement: — " We run
the mail to York, to Eunl)urry, and to Vasse once
a week, with natives only. The York native is
mounted, and costs us some £36 a year. The Perth
and Fremantle and the Guildford mails are run daily,
with the utmost 2mtwtualitr/, a?id coid but the natives'
rations, as they are prisoners on their parole, and there
IS a spare man in case of the sickness of any of these
to better their condition, and inclined to
look with contemptuous superiority upon
the laborious habits of their new associates.
" White fellow," say they, " fool, too much !
work, work, always work ! Black fellow
play, plenty play ! " They appear, neverthe-
less, to be attached to the " white fellows,"
and are a merry, harmless, idle, good-
natured race; sometimes very useful, often
most provoking ; on the whole, honest, but
afflicted with a constitutional preference of
mutton to kangaroo, which is the fertile
source of compulsory labour on the roads.*
Schools have been established for the chil-
dren, and an institution is maintained by
the Wesleyan body, assisted by government,
at which indefatigable and judicious eftbrts
are made to infuse into their minds the
principles of religion and social improve-
ment. Their quickness of apprehension as
shown in the facility with which they learn
reading, writing, arithmetic, &c., is said to
greatly surpass that of the ivhite child, and
the mere experience of the schools would
warrant the highest expectations of their
future acquirements; with puberty the in-
herent idleness, and the restless longings
after the wild and wandering life of the
bush, are developed — and the clean, bright,
intelligent child, able, not merely to read,
but to understand what he reads, merges
into the filthy, lazy savage, gorging himself
to stupidity, and basking under a gum-
tree. In some instances, however, the per-
severing care of the teachers has succeeded
in inducing a few to remain on the establish-
ment, to marry, and cultivate land for their
own support.
The classified occupations of the white
population in 1848 was, in —
Agriculture. — Occupiers, employing la-
boiu'crs, 124 ; ditto, not employing labourers,
176; agricultural labourers and gardeners, 47G.
Grazing. — Employed in the care of sheep,
121 ; of cattle, 24.
Trade. — Shopkeepers, and other retail
dealers, and their assistants, 04 ; bricklayers
and masons, 32; smiths, 22; carpenters,
joiners, plumbers, and glaziers, 98 ; tailors
and shoemakers, 39; sawyers and splitters,
49; other non-agricultural classes, capital-
men : these are all brought from Rottnt-st. The men
who go from Fremantle to Mundurah, Eunburry, anc;
Vasse, are also prisoners. We have no less than lour
native prisoner boys generally serving on board the
Chamjiirm. You would be surprised to see one of
them steering the vessel, going aloft to reef a top-
sail or furl a royal. The governor has one now lor
a body servant, and a number of our teamp are
brought into town by them."
POPULATION, CULTIVATION, AND STOCK IN EACH DISTRICT. S95
ists, bankers, professional, and other edu-
cated men, their clerks and assistants, 44 ;
civil ollicers, their clerks and assistants, G9 ;
labourers, employed in labour not agricul-
tural, including mariners, boatmen, fisher-
men, toll-collectors, road-makers, carters.
&c., 241 ; domestic servants (male), 55 ;
militaiy men, 103; all other males, above
fourteen, not included in the above, 106.
Residue (women, children, and others), 2,690.
The state of each of the settled districts
is thus shown on the 10th October, 1848 : —
Population, Land, Live
Stock, &c.
Population : —
European, males
,, females
Total
Aborigines, males .
,, females
Total
Acres under Cultivation :
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Maize ......
Potatoes
Vineyard
Oliye-yard . . . .
Kitchen garden . .
Green crops . . . .
Live Stock: —
Horses
Homed cattle . . .
Sheep
Swine
Goats
Perth
County.
1,415
1,098
2,.513
302
221
5.53
1,064
U3
113
44
29
48
90
8
146
990
394
2,873
8,888
786
1,050
York
County.
425
199
624
134
771
172
9
15
1
1
11
21
494
610
1,483
62,409
543
25
Welling-
tonCounty
217
141
358
300
406
99
20
7
2
24
69
124
1,729
3,415
167
198
Plantage-
uetCounty,
186
114
300
300
150
450
92
35
4
5
5
13
12
44
251
505
9j582
85
Toodyay | Sussex
District. I County.
258
107
365
300
484
lOG
7
5
10
355
460
1,682
49,180
367
31
142
82
224
100
50
150
126
103
2.0
2
33
1
15
184
184
1,472
6,020
134
43
Murray
County.
98
61
149
39
34
73
371
11
3
1
3
1
15
184
1,175
1,629
205
84
Total.
2,818
1,804
4,622
1,960
3,316
672
133
100
38
120
112
10
243
2,320
2,095
10,919
141,123
2,287
1,431
Note. — Tlic total of the return of European population includes the troops stationed in the colony, their wives and
children, numbering altogether 162. It also includes 77 males and 12 females = 89, on board colonial vessels and on emi-
gration parties. Of the aborigines 418 males and 123 females are regularly or casually employed by the Europeans.
Government. — The colony is at present
ruled by a governor, aided by an executive
council, consisting of the colonial secretaiy,
advocate-general, surveyor-general, and col-
lector of revenue. There is also a Legis-
lative Council, composed of the above, in
conjunction with the civil and criminal
judge, and with three non-official members
appointed by the crown ; but it is probable
that a more popular form will soon be
adopted, under the provisions of a bill for
the "better government of her Majesty's
Australian colonies," which has undergone
full discussion in both houses of the luipe-
riaL Legislature, while this volume has been
passing through the press, and received its
final decision in the House of Commons on
the 1st August, 1850. The provisions of
this bill, as first introduced to parliament, in
j\Tarch last, are stated at pp. 555 — 560 :
since then, the bill has undergone several
modifications in the House of Lords. The
proposed power to create a Federal Assemljly
of the Australian colonies, which, I feared,
would prove a source of contention (see p.
558), has been withdrawn, as also the power
to dispose of the crown lands by the said
Assembly (see note, p. 554) : the qualifi-
cation of voters is fixed at the possession
of a freehold estate, of the clear annual
value of £100 ; a .€10 household franchise ;
or the possession of a leasehold estate or
licence to depastui'e lands from the govern-
ment, of the value of ^610 sterling per
annum. Under the amended bill, the colo-
nial Legislative Councils have power to alter
the qualifications of electors, and to divide
the Legislative Council into two chambers;
but they have not the poAver to declare
there shall be a single legislative chamber,
or that the nominees of the crown, whether
official or non-official, shall be altogether
excluded from that chamber. A Legis-
lative Council may be established in Western
Australia, as in the other Australian colo-
nies, if petitioned for by not less than one-
thu'd in number of the householders within
the colony, provided the province undertakes
to defray the expenses of the civil establish-
ment, which have been heretofore borne by
the Imperial Parliament, such sums to be
permanently granted to the crown out of
the colonial revenues, and to form a civil
list.
J96
RELIGION, EDUCATION, CRIME, TAXATION, REVENUE.
Military Defence. — About 100 men,
iucludiug three officers, stationed in different
places. There are barracks at Perth capable
of holding sixty men ; also small barracks at
Albany, Kogonup, Bunbmiy, York, Pin-
garra, and Rottnest Island.
Religion. — The religious denominations
in the colony, October, ISI-S, "svere — church
of England, 3,063 ; Wesleyan methodists,
276; independents, 187; other protestant
dissenters, 188; protestants, 311: church of
Rome, 337; Mahomedans and Pagans, 90;
religion not specified, 169. The chiu'ch of
England colonists in Western Australia have
built ten churches — and several temporary
places of worship — have subscribed 8,000
acres of land towards a bishopric fund, and
have contributed liberally towards the main-
tenance of their clergy and the establish-
ment of schools. The church at Perth,
capable of holding 1,000 persons, has cost
£3,500, and that at Fremantle, £1,500.
There are seven clergymen of the established
church, under the supervision of an arch-
deacon ; and three of the church of Rome,
under a Roman catholic bishop. There are
also several exemplary dissenting ministers.
Education. — The governmental schools
arc under a board of education ; the instruc-
tion is entirely secular. In the Ptoman
catholic schools the Irish national system is
adopted.
Schools.
No.
INIale
Pupils.
Female
Pupils.
Total.
Governmental : —
Perth
2
55
28
83
„ infant . . .
1
27
33
60
Fremantle . . .
2
26
10
36
jNIurrav ....
1
9
5
14
Guildford ....
1
18
6
24
York
1
28
—
28
Albany ....
1
14
19
33
In connection -with R.\
Catholic Church . /
3
Gl
105
166
Total . . .
12
238
206
444
The Press. — Two well conducted news-
papers are published at Perth, and an excel-
lent Western Australian almanac, replete
with useful topographical and statistical
information, has been published in the
colony for the years 1842 and 18-19.
Crime. — Number of felonies in 1848 —
whites, 11 ; blacks, 47. Of misdemeanours —
whites, 11 ; blacks, 4.
Taxation. — The duties levied in Western
Australia, in 1848 (Blue Book), were :—
On spirits imported, the produce and inn,uu-
facture of any part of the British empire, 6.s.
per imperial gaUon; ditto foreign produce
and manufacture, 85. per gallon ; wines, pro-
duce and manufacture of British empire, Qd.
per gallon ; ditto, foreign, \s. 6d. per gallon ;
cigars and snuffs, 2^. (jd. per lb. ; tobacco of
all other kinds, is. peril).; live stock im-
ported from any part of the British empire,
Gs. per cent., other places, 12^. per cent. ; |
goods, ware, and merchandise, the growth, j
produce, or manufacture of any part of the !
British empire, not otherwise charged with a |
specific duty, 6 per cent. ; ditto of any
foreign state, 12 per cent. Internal duties —
Auction duty, 2^ per cent.; on registering
transfer of landed property, 1 per cent. ;
spirit licences, £10 to j€25 per annum;
auctioneer and attorney licences ; dog tax ;
licences to cut timber, on 640 acres, £20 per
annum, or 10s. a month for each pair of
sawyers ; licences to occupy crown lands for
pasturage, from £10 per annum for 4,000
acres, to £20 per annum for 20,000 acres.
Licences for boats and for boatmen, ware-
house rents, &c.
The revenue raised in Western Australia
for three years was —
Details of Revenue.
1848. 1847.
Duties on spirits
,, -wine .
„ tobacco . . .
„ goods imported, adi.
valorem . .
„ goods sold by auc
tion . . .
„ transfers of land
Licences to sell spirits
„ to sell by auction
„ to keep dogs
Warehouse, rent of . .
Spirits in bond ....
Fees of public officers . •
Post-office department
Total
Sale of crown lands . .
Licences to occupy ditto .
„ to cut timber
Perth jetty dues . . .
Repayment of crown debts
Rottnest establishment
Judicial fines and forfeitures
Miscellaneous ....
On account of parliamentary]
grant ...... .J
On account of juvenile immi-^
grants from Parkhurst . .j
Grand total ....
£3,494
507
910
2,143
92
22
547
31
80
111
107
298
8,345
463
576
226
24
Gil
158
39
41
£3,689
403
658
1,533
84
44
482
32
41
48
164
296
1846.
ifili
2,147
7,695
277
18,464
251
920
20
99
69
101
1
£3,475
288
790
1,393
117
35
498
15
51
33
148
332
7,175
124
258
63
283
39
54
165
1,4611 986
6,893
7,250
16,028| 15,4U
EXPENDITURE, COMMERCE, PRODUCTS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 397
The civil expenditiire in 1848 was-
Departments.
Audit office ....
Colonial secretary's office
Colonial treasurer's office
Commandant . .
Customs I'cvenue
Council . . .
Ecclesiastical office
Governor's office
Harbour-master .
Medical department
Natives and native school
Police force . .
Post-office . .
Public works . .
Registrar-general
Registrar of deeds
Roads and bridges
Rottnest establishment
Schools
Surveying department
Judicial department .
Miscellaneous . . .
Juvenile immigrant department
Colonial vessel ,
Total expenses
From
Parlia-
mentary
Grant.
£681
177
292
1,118
266
744
1,620
1,558
133
276
827
7,692
Colo-
nial
Fund.
Total.
£293
127
63
891
150
3761
100
512
270
221
690
596
845
20
62
468
393
212
961
694
2,250
10,194
£293
808
63
177
891
150
668
1,218
512
536
965
690
596
845
20
62
468
393
212
2,581
2,252
2,383
276
827
17,886
Total expenditure of the troops in Western
Australia, during 1848, for pay, allowances,
pensions, supplies, exclusive of the salt meat
and candles sent from England, and trans-
port, j€1 0,501 j repaii's to military buildings,
lodging money, &c., £1,044 = £11,545;
add Parliamentary grant for civil expenses,
from military chest, £7,128 = 18,673.
Commerce is increasing, and the exports
fast rising to a level with the imports. The
details of trade in 1848 were —
ountrics.
Imports
from
Exports
to
Shipping
Inwards.
United Kingdom . .
British. Colonies . . .
Foreign
£19,218
24,922
624
£12,96.5
15,612
1,020
Tons.
1,416
4,888
9,190
Total . . .
£44,764
£29,597
15,494
Staple Products. — Wool, timber, oil, fish;
to which will, probably, soon be added cop-
per, lead, and other metals.
A Geraldine Mining Company has been
established at Perth ; capital £6,400, in
1,280 £5 shares. A silver-lead mine, in
the Toodyay district, yields five ounces of
silver to the ton of ore, roughly assayed.
Mother-o' -pearl shells, which are worth
from o€20 to £70 a ton, cover a district
of Sharks' bav having six to twelve feet
water ; and pearls as large as peas have been
recently collected there. An island covered
with guano, equal to that of Peru, has been
recently discovered in the same neighboui'-
hood; where the raspberry (an acacia, so
called from the odour of the timber), sandal,
and red ebony woods have been found grow-
ing within 200 yards of the beach. The
sandal wood of Western Australia is a lu-
crative article of export ; some sent by the
Vixen to Singapore, for the China market,
sold for £21 per ton, leaving a net profit
of £17 per ton. Her Majesty's dockyards
are now contracting for the excellent ship
timber of Western Australia, some of which
{\h.e jarrah) endures any time in water, and
is not eaten by that destructive worm the
teredo navalis ; ships built with it require
no coppering ; a plank may be cut of any
size; and there is enough of timber and
knees, of the best kind, to supply the British
navy for centuries.
A forest of the jarrah, or mahogany, at
a distance of eighteen miles from Perth, and
twenty from the sea, extends over a tract
of at least 300 miles from north to south,
with a known width of thirty miles from east
to west. The trees are very fine ; and it
has been computed that this forest alone
contains sufficient of this invaluable timber
to build 200,000 line-of-battle ships, reckon-
ing the largest amount of timl)er ever re-
quu'ed for a ship as the average : 20,000
navies equal to all those of Em'ope might
therefore, be constructed from this single
forest.
The jarrah, and indeed all the heavy tim-
ber of the colony, is included in the genus
eucalyptus ; but the species are very nume-
rous : of these, that called the tuart ranks
next to the jarrah in value, and is indeed,
in some respects, superior to it, but is not
nearly so abundant.
The white gum much resembles the tuart,
and partakes in its remarkable quality of
scarcely slirinking in the process of cfrying ;
but -it is looked upon with an evil eye by
the settlers, as indicating the predominance
of sand or of ironstone and clay in the soil.
The red gum, one of the least common of
its tribe, though of no great value as timber,
being subject to gum-veins, is easily worked,
and much used in the. colony for spokes of
wheels, &c. : it is nearly equal to lance-
wood.
The morrel, chiefly found in the Toodyay
district, is highly esteemed for its toughness
£>nd strength.
898 COLONIZATION ASSURANCE COMPANY FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
The great blue gum is found in perfection
in the neighbourhood of Nornalup and the
Deep river, between Augusta and King
George^s Sound, where it attains the ex-
traordinary height of from 100 to 150 feet,
and measm-es fifty feet in circumference.
There are, besides, the black butt, salmon
gum, and many others.
The ornamental woods of the colony are
numerous, and many of them very beautiful
in grain and figure. The sandal wood has
been before mentioned. The raspberry, or
jam loood, which somewhat resembles rose-
wood in grain and colour, grows generally
in the country within the range. The ca-
suarina, or she oak, found mostly in the
sandy districts near the coast, Avhen w^ell
worked up, is a very pretty Avood.
Besides these, there are several other
kinds of ornamental woods, as the banksia,
and various species of dryandr'ui, one of
which is called satin-wood by the colonial
cabinetmakers.
Fisheries. — At present, only one vessel
and about eighteen boats are employed.
The Americans and French carry on exten-
sive whaling pursuits in the veiy harbours
of Western Australia, Avhose fisheries are
among the finest in the southern hemi-
sphere. The entire coast swarms with
snapper, whiting, mullet, bream, kingfish,
mackerel, &c., of the highest quality. The
snapper weighs from 10 lbs. to 40 lbs. ;
and dried, sells for £16 per ton, at the
Mauritius.
Banking and Monetary Affairs. — An
excellent institution termed the Western
Australian Bank, was established in June,
1841, with a subscribed capital of £20,000,
in 2,000 £10 shares. The capital paid up
is £5,544, by about 100 proprietors. The
diridend paid for the last five years has
averaged twelve and-a-half per cent, per
annum. The paper circulation in July,
1849, was £2,652 ; the bills under dis-
count, £10,360 ; and the deposits not bear-
ing interest, £13,718. Coin of all descrip-
tions in the colony, about £11,000.
Exchange. — Bills on her Majesty's Trea-
sury, and on agents of Western Australian
Bank, London, at par in 1848. Private bills
on London, at thirty days' sight, five per
cent, discoimt.
Prices of Produce in Western Australia in 1848 : —
Wheat, per bushel, os. ; barley, 4s. ; oats, 4s. ; horses,
£20 ; horned cattle, £6 ; sheep, mixed flock, 4s. ;
goats, milch, os. ; swine, 10s. each ; flour, per ton of
2,000 lbs., £1G; whcaten bread, per lb. 2f//. ; milk,
id. per. quart; butter, Is. Gd.; cheese, Is. 2d ; beef
od.; mutton, 3|rf. ; pork, 8d.; rice, 2d.; coflTee, Gd.;
tea, 2s. ; sugar, 3s. ; salt. Id. per lb. ; wine, 4s. Gd. ;
brandy, ISs. | beer, 2s. per gal.; tobacco, 2s. Gd.
per lb.
War/csfor lahonr. — Domestics, £15 to 20 ; predial-
shepherds, £o6 ; farm servants, £24 per annum ;
trades, 6s. per diem.
It remains for me now only to notice
two important featm-es connected -with the
colony. I have already adverted to the
advantages possessed by colonies which have
public companies in England connected with
their welfare. Western Australia, except-
ing in the short-lived instance of the Aus-
tralind Association, has not hitherto had
this collateral benefit. Earl Grey, however,
with a view to the remedying of this defect,
has sanctioned the formation, by act of par-
liament, of a Colonization Assurance Com-
pany, in London, whose operations for the
promotion of colonization have commenced
in Western Australia. The corporation,
under the provisions of the act of the impe-
rial legislature (13 Vie. c. 24), has rightly
ordained that the responsibility of its share-
holders be limited to the amount for which
they have severally subscribed. The capital
authorised to be raised in the first instance,
is £100,000 in £10 shares, with power of
increase, subject to the consent of the Lords
of her Majesty's Treasury. The corporation
is authorised to purchase and to hold lands
to any extent in the colonies and depen-
dencies of the British Empire : any emi-
grants conveyed or caused to be conveyed
to Western Australia by the company, shall
entitle them to receive land scrip to the
value of £20 for each emigrant, male or
female, above foiu'teen years of age, or for
every two emigrants under that age. The
land-scrip is to be taken in payment of
crown lands in Western Australia, at the
rate of 2Qs. per acre; corporation may re-
quire the governor to put up crown lands,
under certain provisoes. Accounts of cor-
poration are to be annually reauditcd by
the registrar of joint-stock companies, and
the annual report to be sent to the Board
of Trade. The operations of the company
are not to extend beyond Western Australia,
except the consent (a necessary and wise
precaution Avhere such extensive powers and
pri\dleges have been conferred) of her ]\Ia-
jesty's Secretary of State for the Colonics,
shall have been previously obtained. Taken
altogether, the act is liberal, and may be
beneficially worked for the interests of the
shareholders of the company, and of the
colonists. It is understood that the cor-
TRANSPORTATION OF CONVICTS TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 393
poration intend to pui'chase eligible sites
in Western Australia, for the formation of
settlements, and tbey propose to enable
emigrants to lease lands from the corpo-
ration on the principles of Life Assurance ;
such lands, on the payment of a rent for
a given period, or on the termination of the
life of the leaseholder, to be the property
of his heirs; thus the emigrant may be
enabled to pay for his land, not out of
capital, but out of profits to be realized from
his own labours, aided by the fostering ex-
ertions of the corporation. Thus — A., aged
30, for an annual premium of £7 4s. Id.,
is put into immediate possession of 100
acres of good land, and whenever he dies —
even if within the first year — the land be-
comes the property of his representatives,
without further payment. There are also
calculations for limited periods of assurance.
The company propose to devote a portion
of its funds to assist in providing for all its
settlements, churches and clergy of the
church of England ; and it will aflbrd liberal
assistance to other classes of Christians,
according to the circumstances of each case.
I believe this useful association has been
projected and carried into operation by
R. W. Nash, Esq., late member of the
Legislative Council in Western Australia,
by whose unceasing exertions the colony has
been materially benefitted.
Transportation. — Her majesty's govern-
ment, in accordance "ndth the strongly ex-
pressed desire of the colonists of Western
Australia, have resolved to send out a mode-
rate number of convicts tp the colony, who
will, at first, be entirely under the control
of the government, and be employed in im-
proving the harbours, opening roads, cutting
valuable timber, or in such other public
works as the government, in conjunction
with a competent officer sent from England
for the purpose, may consider most likely to
develop the resources of Western Austraha,
and to remove some of the obstacles to the
progress of the colony, by employing a com-
petent force of labour upon undertakings to
which private means have proved inadequate.
The convicts to be selected for this useful
purpose, will be those who from their con-
duct at their present places of detention,
and from their having to undergo but a
short period of imprisonment prior to be-
coming qualified for a greater degree of
freedom, appear likely to behave in an indus-
trious and orderly manner. When they are
set free from the public works on account of
good conduct, their services will become
available to the settlers ; but if they should
misbehave, and be therefore returned upon
the hands of government, they will again be
placed on public works at the expense, as in
the first instance, of the British Treasury.
There is no intention of assigning convicts
to settlers, or of introducing in any form the
system of assignment. There will be no
interference whatever Avith the free character
of the colony ; and should parliament, as it
is hoped, continue to grant an annual sum
for promoting free emigration to those colo-
nies which receive convicts, her Majesty's
government intend to send emigrants of
good character, and of both sexes, equal in
number to the convicts transported to Wes-
tern Australia.
By intelligence from Perth, Western Aus-
tralia, dated April, 1850, it appears that
the active population of the colony are in
favour of these pro]30sitions, but they rightly
deem that their efforts for the promotion
of moral and spiritual instruction must be
redoubled and watched over with increased
Aagilance. The statements given at page
409 to 419 of this volume shew that tran-
sportation, under proper management, is
the most Christian coui'se which can be
adopted for the reformation of the sinner,
and for the preservation of the community
to which he belongs, from the effects of a
renewal of his crimes. The absence of all
spu'itual instruction, the indiscriminate as-
signment-system, the terrific punishments
adopted without the slightest effort to cor-
rect the evil tendencies of the criminals, and
the pouring into a colony thousands of con-
victs without due admixture of free men
and women, caused the necessity for ces-
sation of transportation to New South Wales.
But in Western Australia her Majesty's
government are adopting a sound system, by
which the United Kingdom may be relieved
annually from the pressure of an enormous
prison population, the expenses on the
British Treasury materially lessened, and a
fine colony, blessed Avith a genial clime and
fertile soil, but with only 5,000 inhabitants
to 1,000,000 square miles of territory, may
be rendered attractive to free settlers of all
classes, and have its prospects increased of
becoming the seat of a large and flourishing
free population.'^ [See Supplement.]
Summary. — The limited number of pages
to which each division of this work is neces-
* Sec Letter from Earl Grey to R. W. Nash, Esq.,
of 20th December, 1849.
400 STATE OF THE COLONIES ON THE ISLAND OF AUSTRALIA.
sarUy restricted, not only compels an abbre-
viation of diiFerent sections, but altogether
precludes the discussion of several topics
more or less connected with the four colonies
whose descriptionoccupiesthe present volume.
The chief aim of this work being one of
plain and practical utility, I have devoted
the fullest assignable space to the details
best calculated to illustrate the progress,
actual jjosition, and resources of these pro-
vinces, alluding only incidentally to the
^ora and fauna of this singular country,
with which the splendid volumes of Gould
and Angas, and the interesting delineations
of Mitchell, Sturt, and other explorers, have
ab'eady, to a considerable extent, famDiarised
the public mind.
But there remains another subject from
which I tui'n with more reluctance, although
the above-named authors have dwelt upon it
at some length; and Eyre and Grey also
have published the results of their investi-
gation. I allude to the condition and cha-
racter of the aborigines, whose preservation
from extinction, and, if possible, conversion,
deserves the most strenuous efforts on the
part of a Christian nation, and is indeed the
only compensation that can be made for the
e\ils which the very presence of the white
man, and the ci\'ilization, which has become
a second natm'e to him, unavoidably brings
to the savage. Viewing it in this aspect the
subject is one of deep and painful interest;
to me it also appears very important in an
ethnological point of view; and when in
Australia I exhumed the body of a female
aborigine who was buried in the solitude of
the forest with the customs peculiar to her
race; and I obtained, after execution, the
body of a native chief, brought to the scaf-
fold for the murder of an English shepherd,
at Bathui'st, New South Wales ; I measured
their skeletons, bone by bone, and minutely
investigated their physical configuration.
Having, however, arrived at my last page, I
am reluctantly compelled to close the volume
vnth a hope that when the historical, geo-
graphical, and statistical delineation of the
colonies is completed, I may, with the aid of
that liberal support with which the public
has thus far sustained my labours, be en-
abled to present in a single volume a full
and illustrated description of the aborigiaal
or native subjects of the British crown in
various parts of the world, viz., the natives
of British North America, of British South
America, of Australia, of New Zealand, of
India, of Africa, and of the islands in the
Pacific and eastern hemisphere.
In conclusion, I cannot, I beheve, offer a
better summary of the facts contained in the
preceding pages, than is comprised in the fol-
lowing tabular view of the colonies planted by
England in Australia, as they stood in 1850.
The proi/rcss and state of the Colonies on the island-continent of Australia since 1850, given in Supplement.
Particulars.
Date of formation, A.D
Area in square miles, about
White population, about
Number of acres to each inhabitant . . .
Acres of land in cultivation
Live Stock : —
Horses
Horned cattle
Sheep
Swine
Maritime Commerce: —
Value of imports in £
Value of exports in £
Shipping tonnage inwards
Local revenue in £
Civil cost to Great Britain in £
Military cost to Great Britain in £ . . . .
Taxation per head, in shillings
Consumption of imports per head, in shillings
Staple Exports : —
AVool, in lbs
Tallow or Oil, in cwts
Metals, in £
Chief town
Population of capital
New South
South
Western
Total.
Wales.
Australia.
A\istralia.
1787
1836
1836
1829
500,000
92,000
300,000
1,000,000
2,000,000
200,000
50,000
50,000
5,000
305,000
1,600
1,117
3,840
128,000
—
130,000
40,000
50,000
8,000
228,000
100,000
17,000
6,000
3,000
126,000
1,400,000
400,000
100,000
12,000
1,912,000
7,000,000
5,200,000
1,200,000
150,000
13,550,000
70,000
6,000
1,500
2,500
80,500
1,300,000
500,000
400,000
45,000
2,245,000
1,500,000
600,000
500,000
35,000
2,635,000
140,000
70,000
40,000
5,000
255,000
300,000
100,000
120,000
10,000
530,000
_—
—
— .
7,500
7,500
70,000
—
16,000
11,000
97,000
30
40
48
40
—
130
2'oQ
160
180
—
16,000,000
14,000,000
3,000,000
400,000
33,400.000
60,000
28,000
3,000
—
91,000
25,000
350,000
—
375,000
Svdnev
Melbourne
Adelaide
Terth
—
50,000
15,000
15,000
1,500
—
Note. — In the £70,000 stated as military cost of New South Wales, Victoria province is included. In the return oi
mwuls exported as from New South Wales. Victoria is also included Hound numbers are used
SUPPLEMENTAL DIVISION.
CHAPTER I.
GOLD DISCOVERIES IN AUSTRALIA— THEIR PROGRESS AND PRODUCE.
In the preceding pages, the establishment
and condition of the four separate colonies
on the island-continent of Australia, have
been fully shown up to the year 1849-50;
since then the discovery of a new product
has given an enhanced value, such as scarcely
a century could have communicated, to two
at least of these settlements, — created an ex-
tended commerce, emigration and enter-
prise, which have exercised a marked in-
fiuence on the people of the United King-
dom, and attracted a degree of interest
which is without precedent in colonial
annals.
The existence of metallifFerous wealth in
Australia had for many years been sur-
mised, not only from the finding of small
portions of various metals, but also from
scientific deductions, based on the geolo-
gical structure and meridional direction of
the mountain-ranges which traverse the
east coast, from north to south, after the
manner of the Andes, in South America,
the Oural or Ural chain in Russia, and the
Sierra Nevada in California.
In the History of the British Colonies,^
published in 1834-5, I stated, generally,
the existence in the Australian settlements
of "gold, silver, blue and green copper ore,
iron, lead, zinc, manganese, and coal" in
various places ; and also beautiful agates,
opal, chalcedony, jasper, cornelian — white,
pinkish, and blue — close-grained marble,
fine porphyry, asbestos, white saponaceous
pipe-clay, various sulpliates of alumina, &c.
Little attention was, however, then paid to
these products, and all I could accomplish
at that time, was to induce an examina-
tion of the nature, extent, and general value
of our colonies. The subject was again
dwelt on in the Colonial Library, issued in
* Issued in five volumes, 8vo. with Maps, &c.
f One large vol. prepared from official documents
furnished to me by government.
X See pp. 504 and 608 of first issue ; pp. 160 and
264 of present issue.
DIV. III. 3 D
ten volumes, in 1837-8, and in the Statistics
of the British Colonies, published in 1839. f
In the previous pages of this work, writ-
ten and printed in 1849-50, an endeavour
was again made to attract attention to the
vast wealth which I felt convinced would be
found in Australia; under the head of
Mineralogy , New South Wales, it was
remarked, "gold most probably exists in
large quantities ;"J and under the same
head, in the description of Port Phillip, it
was stated " the volcanic character of the
country, and the geological structure of the
Victoria province, indicates the presence of
rich minerals, but as yet little attention
has been paid to the subject; — the precious
metals ivill probably be found extensively
distributed." [Thus in first issue in 1850.]
One of the most distinguished geologists
and scientific observers of the present age —
Sir Roderick Murchison — who had inves-
tigated, under the authority of the Emperor
of Russia, the auriferous portion of the
Uralian Mountains, felt convinced, some
years since, that this productive range bore
a similitude to that of the Australian Cor-
dillera. He arrived at this conclusion as the
direct result of inductive reasoning, founded
on a geological examination of the rocks, col-
lected by Count Strzelecki, in Eastern Aus-
tralia. A comparative view of these rocks
and those of the Ural chain, was given in his
address to the Royal Geographical Society,
in 1844, and printed in its transactions.
Not content with a mere philosophic an-
nunciation. Sir Roderick, in 181G, addressed
the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall,
urging the superabundant Cornish miners
to emigrate to New South Wales, and there
obtain gold from ancient alluvia, in the
same manner as they extracted tin from the
gravel of tlieir native county ; he alluded
to some specimens of gold having been
found, and distinctly argued that mucli
more would be discovered. [It is observ-
able that this statement was made before
402
SIR R. J. MURCHISON'S EARLY DISCOA^RY OF GOLD.
the discovery of gold in California.'] In
' consequence of these confident predictions
I [the earliest which appeared in print re-
! specting the Australian gold-fields] a Mr.
j W. T. Smith, of New South Wales, com-
! menced a search, and found good speci-
I mens of gold ore in a matrix of quartz, on
i the western slopes of the Blue Mountains,
' of which he sent a sample to Sir R. Mur-
chison, who also received similar informa-
tion from Mr. Phillips, of Adelaide. There-
upon, Sir R. jNIurchison (November 5th,
1848), addressed a letter to Earl Grey, her
Majesty's secretary of state for the colo-
nies, stating his previous ^aews as followed
' by the foregoing facts, suggesting a mine-
ral survey of the region, and a declaration
that the gold-field was open to the colo-
nists on the payment of certain dues. A
, letter of thanks Avas transmitted for — " the
interesting communication with regard to
the discovery of precious metals in Aus-
! tralia," and a geological surveyor Avas sub-
sequently sent from England to the colony.
On various occasions, during the two fol-
lowing years, at meetings of the British
Association for the Advanceme7it of Science,
of the Royal Institution, and in the article
entitled, " Siberia and California,'' in the
Quarterly Revieiv, 1850, Sir Roderick endea-
voured in vain, to rouse national attention
to the known existence of gold in Aus-
tralia, adverting strongly to the desirable-
ness of opening out gold works in the colo-
nies of that continent.*
Among the colonial investigators, the
first who deserves to be mentioned is Sir
Thomas L. ^Mitchell, the distinguished sur-
veyor-general of New South Wales, to whom
the colony is so largely indebted for his
valuable explorations of the interior of Aus-
tralia, and who has also made the scientific
world of Europe his debtor. In the course
of his first expedition, he adverted to the
peculiar character of the country [see
Journal of Exjj editions, vol. ii. p. 18]. Sub-
sequently, in 1846, when he discovered and
• Her Majesty's secretary of state for the Colonies,
the Duke of Newcastle, has directed the original
letter of Sir Roderick Murchison, which is in the
archives of Downing-street, to be printed in the
Pari. Papers on the Gold Discoveries in Australia,
where it will be found in the documents laid before
the legislature on the 18th of August, 1853, p. 44.
The Duke of Newcastle also sent himself, on July
22nd. 1853, copies of the correspondence to the
governor-general of New South Wales— Sir C. A.
Fitzroy — in reference, as his Grace observed, to the
" credit of (Sir Roderick), having, at an early period,
pointed out the indications of gold in Australia."
named Australia Felix (now Victoria), he
spoke with fuller confidence of the field
there opened for the geologist and the
miner, but I am not aware that he any-
where stated in print his belief in the ex-
istence of the precious metals.
During his last investigation of tropical
Australia, the surveyor-general obtained fine
gold embedded in quartz, but was advised
not to make known the locality, lest the
shepherds and others should quit their em-
ployment and proceed in search of the ore.
The Reverend W. B. Clarke, a colonial
chaplain and scientific geologist, also, in the
year 1847, published his views in the Sydney
Herald as to Australia becom.ing an aurife-
rous country. He says, that his opinions were
founded, like those of Sir R. iMurchison, on
the similarity between the structure of the
NewSouth Wales and theUrahan mountains,
and from their meridional direction ; this
was subsequently confirmed by the analo-
gous conformation and position of the Cali-
fornian ranges.
Some time since, Mr. Clarke brought
gold from the basin of the Macquarie (river),
and exhibited it to the members of the
government and of the legislature, in the
council-chamber itself, and to numbers of
persons in the community : the matter
then excited scarcely more than an in-
credulous smile. Mr. Icely, an old and re-
spected colonist and member of council, who
possesses extensive property in the Bathurst
district, exhibited in Sydney specimens of
quartz gold, but his representations on the
subject were also unheeded. Shepherds and
stock-keepers, who from time to time brought
gold into Sydney, were supposed to have
procured it from bush-rangers, who had
melted down the produce of their robberies.
One old shepherd, named McGregor, was in
the habit of obtaining the precious metal
from the neighbourhood of Wellington, for
many years.
Other proofs were not wanting in support
of scientific reasoning. f In 1849, Mr. W. T.
t Count Strzelecki, as shown at p. 153, carefully
noted the geology of the Australian Alps and Blue
Mountain ranges ; but, although the word goUl does
not occur in his valuable work published in 1845,
it appears that governor sir- George Gipps, on the
2nd September, 1840, enclosed to Her Majesty's
secretary of state a report from the Count, men-
tioning " an auriferous sulphuret of ii-on — partly
decomposed, yielding a very small quantity of gold,
although not enough to repay extraction"— -which
he found in the vale of Ciwdd. I presume that
the subject was subsequently forgotten by count
Strzelecki.
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF GOLD IN N. S. WALES— MAY, 1851. 403
Smith (the same gentleman referred to by
Sir R. Murchison in 1848) produced to the
colonial secretary a lump of gold, embedded
in quartz, which he said he had picked up at
a certain place, which he offered to make
known to the government, upon being pre-
viously rewarded for the intelligence, by the
payment of a large sum of money. The
governor replied he could enter into no
blind bargain on such a subject, but that
if Mr. Smith thought proper to trust to the
liberality of the government, he might rely
upon being rewarded in proportion to the
value of the alleged discovery, when its
truth had been ascertained. To this Mr.
Smith refused to accede, and there the
matter rested; as the government, apart
from the fear that the gold had been
brought into the country, was unwilling to
have the public mind agitated on the sub-
ject, lest persons should be drawn off from
their customary employments.
In 1847-8, on the discovery of gold in
California, 3,348 colonists quitted New
South Wales, and sought, on the slopes of
the Sierra Nevada, the precious metal, which
existed in still greater abundance and purity
in their own Blue Mountains. As might
be expected, several diggers returned to
Australia, and among the number was a
Mr. Edward Hargreaves, who remembered
that the geological features of the country in
the vicinity of Bathurst resembled what he
had seen in California. Thereupon he made
diligent search for two months — and then,
on the 3rd of April, 1851, announced to the
governor-in-chief (Sir Charles A. Fitzroy)
that he had succeeded beyond his expecta-
tions, and had made very satisfactory disco-
veries of the existence of abundance of
gold in several localities on the crown
lands; he proposed, therefore, to point out
the auriferous districts to the government,
if an award of £500 was made to him in
the first instance, and subsequently such
further compensation as the generosity of
the government, and the benefit likely to
accrue to the country would justify.
The governor gave the same answer that
he had previously done to Mr. Smith, of
Berrima, whereupon, on the 30th of April,
Mr. Hargreaves, probably fearing that the
matter could not longer be kept secret, as
he had been employing people at Summer
* Pari. Papers, 3rd February, 1802, p. 1.
t As many as 2,000 persons might be seen on the
road to Bathurst : the fares by the ordinary vehicles
were largely increased ; the rates for conveying goods
Hill Creek (in the district of Bathurst) in
digging for gold, declared he was quite satis-
fied to leave the remuneration for his dis-
covery to the liberal consideration of the
government, and named Lewis Ponds and
Summer Hill Creeks; the INIacquarie and
another river in the counties of Bathurst
and Wellington. The discoverer was then
placed in communication with Mr. Stuch-
bury, the geological and mineralogical sur-
veyor to the local government, who was
directed to make a strict examination and
report thereon at his earliest convenience.
On the 19th of May, Mr. Stuchbury, after a
very cursory examination, reported that gold
was being obtained in considerable quanti-
ties at Summer Hill Creek, about 400 diggers
being engaged in the search, many of whom
were without food, and no stores at hand.
On the 22nd of May, 1851, Governor Sir
C. Fitzroy wrote to her majesty's secretary
of state that grain gold had been found to
the westward of Bathurst ; but there were
doubts as to " the veracity of the reports,
which lead to a strong suspicion that the
accounts of the nature and value of the dis-
covery have been exaggerated by the parties
reporting it for purposes of their own, and
that the gold sent for inspection is really
Californian gold."'^ The governor in fact
considered the reports to be mainly fictions,
but not so the colonists, among whom the
news circulated like wild-fire, causnig great
excitement, and engrossing and unhinging
the minds of all classes of the community.
By the end of ]\Iay, all ofiicial hesitation was
removed as to the reality of this great dis-
covery ; the governor writing, on the 29th,
to the secretary of state, says — There is "no
doubt that gold has been found in abundance,
and that the gold-field will be found to ex-
tend over a large tract of country. Your
lordship will readily conceive the excitement
which prevails throughout this community ;
thousands of people of every class are pro-
ceeding to the locality ; tradesmen and
mechanics deserting certain and lucrative
employment for the chance of sticcess in
digging for gold, so that the population of
Sydney has visibly diminished. "f In the
beginning of June, about 1,000 people were
engaged in the search for gold at Summer
Hill Creek, and obtaining large quantities in
lumps varying from one ounce to three and
from Sydney to Bathurst advanced from £2 10s. to
£30. There vas a perfect scramble by speculators
in buying up every article of merchandize, especially
flour, beer, and spirits, and all articles of outfit.
404 GOVERNMENT MEASURES REGARDING GOLD— MAY & JUNE, 1851.
four pounds weight, the latter chiefly ob-
tainable from fissures in the clay-slate rock
which forms the bed of the creek. When
assayed, the proportions were — gold, 91-150 ;
silver, 8-333; base metal, 0-507=1 00— fine-
ness, 22 carats; the actual value of the gold and
silver being £3 18.?. 4c?. per oz., of which the
gold was £3 17^. 10c?. The miners were quiet
and peaceable, but almost to a man armed.
Notwithstanding these facts, many settlers,
especially the grazing class, discouraged, as
they had*^ done for years, the search for gold :
even when it was found in considerable quan-
tities, a Mr. C. C. Forbes, writing from
Bathurst, and admitting that he himself
picked up in one week to the value of
£6 8s. ; and saw one man dig out £36
■worth — termed the further prosecution " a
wild-goose chase,^^ — declared that the win-
ter would " kill many," and that " when the
present diggings are exhausted, hundreds of
miserable wretches will be sent back to
Sydney starving."*
The earliest measure of the government
■was to obtain the opinion of its law-officers,
who declared that by custom and by legal
decisions, all mines of gold or silver found
within the realm, whether on the lands of
the Crown, or those belonging to private
individuals, belonged to the sovereign;
thereupon some advised the governor to
proclaim martial law, and peremptorily pro-
hibit all gold digging, in order that the
industrial pursuits of the country might not
be interrupted. Sir Charles Fitzroy wisely
foresaw that with the means at the disposal
of the authorities, it would have been as
futile to attempt to stop the influx of the
tide as to check the rush of the people to
the gold-fields, without, as he humanely
observed, ''the risk of much bloodshed,
which could not be justified on any just or
sound principle of government." Accord-
ingly a proclamation was issued (22nd May)
warning the public that all persons taking
any gold or golden ore from any ground, or
digging or searching for the same, without
being duly authorized by her majesty's
colonial government, would be prosecuted
both criminally and civilly, but that licenses
would speedily be issued, on payment of a
reasonable fee, authorising the search for,
and collection of, gold. These were issued
on the 3rd of June, on the payment of a fee
of 30^. per month. The gold-producing
country was divided into districts, each
placed under the management of a commis-
sioner or his assistant. The parties to whom
licenses were granted had allotments marked
out for them on the banks of the river or
stream where they proposed to dig and
work ; usually two persons, paying 30^. each
monthly, received 9 feet frontage; three,
15; four, 18; five, 21 ; six, 24; where there
was no frontage to a stream, 20 feet square
were allotted to each party of three persons.
This distribution of space was made by the
commissioner or assistant~commissioner,who
issued the monthly licenses, performed the
duties of a police-magistrate, held from time
to time courts of petty session, removed all
persons of known bad character, or whose
proceedings were calculated to disturb good
order, or persons selling spirits without a
license ; he was also answerable for the peace
of the district entrusted to his care, for the
maintenance of which a chief constable and
a few mounted police were appointed.
Before proceeding with an account of the
successive steps of this extraordinary dis-
covery, it will be necessary to ofl'er some
explanation to the general reader, in order
that expressions occurring in the subsequent
pages may be clearly understood, — especially
with reference to some geological data, in
addition to those set forth at pp. 53 to 55 ;
153 to 157; 261 to 264; 333 to 340; and
389 to 390.
We know from the inspired Mosaic re-
cord, that at some very remote period, this
globe was in an aeriform or gaseous state,
" without form and void ;" from this con-
• Letter in the Si/dncy Emjnrc Newspaper, 2nd
June, 1851.
dition it probably passed into that of a
molten igneous mass, compounded of me-
tals, semi-metals, and the other materials
of which the earth is composed. On the
creation of a firmament or atmosphere, the
division of the waters, their gathering to-
gether into one place, and the consequent
appearance of a slimy ooze, or more solid
substance called land — the crust gi'adually
cooled, the fluid metals and other pon-
derous materials sunk towards the centre;
the surface became ultimately fit for the
growth of vegetables — was then subse-
quently adapted for the sustainment of
animal life, and thus finally fitted-up and
furnished for the habitation of man.
But previous to this crowning work of
the Almighty, it appears that the earth |
was, at different times, and in various parts, I
buried beneath the surface of the ocean, I
and raised again by submarine volcanic (
heavings ; this is evidenced by the depo-
sits of fossil fish and marine-shells, found at
great elevations; as in the Pvrcnees, at
8,000; in the Alps, at 10,000; in the
Andes, at 15,000; and in the Himalaya
mountains, at 16,000 feet above the level of
the sea. During these successive changes,
sedimentary rocks were formed by aqueous
depositions, in which are found entombed
fossilized remains of vegetables and animals
— many of which have no living types ;
some of the latter containing the remnants
of other extinct animals which they had
swallowed for food.
Subsequent to the deposition of the sedi-
mentary rocks, frequent protrusions took
place of substances, which the pent-up fires
in the centre of the globe forced upwards,
in a state of fluidity, but which became hard
by the action of the atmosphere. That
this igneous condition of the interior of the
globe is no theoiy, is evidenced hy the fact
that at a certain depth from the surface,
the influence of solar heat ceases, and the
temperature is equal for all latitudes; be-
yond this, the heat increases in a steady
ratio to the extent of one degree Fahrenheit
for every forty-five feet. Assuming this
ratio to continue at a depth of about 150
miles (the diameter of the earth is about
8,000 miles), the heat would be sufficient
to fuse any of the known rocks and all the
metals.
Rocks are arranged under two principal
heads — (1), stratified, sedimentary or aque-
ous; (2), unstratified, igneous or plutonic ; the
former being the result of the deposits of suc-
cessive ages ; the latter caused, as before ob-
served, by volcanic action. The first com-
prise the sandy, slate and clayey rocks, and
the varieties of limestone, chalk and marl;
they are classified as primary, secondary,
and tertiary, acccording to their relative age,
Avhich is known by the imbedded fossils —
the elder never lying above its junior. The
primary (besides certain crystalline rocks)
includes the fossiliferous deposits, such as
the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and
Permian ; the secondary, consists of the Trias,
Lias, Oolitic or Jura, and Cretaceous; and
the tertiary, comprises all the more modern
formations above the Chalk.
The second or i<rneous division have a
crystalline structure, are devoid of fossil
remains, and have evidently been formed
under the action of intense heat and pres-
sure : to this class belong basalt or trap,
granite (composed of three ingredients —
quartz, felspar and mica), porphyry, sienite,
serpentine, green-stone, &c. These are
placed beneath the sedimentary rocks, but
are frequently found forced upwards through
the crust of the earth to a considerable
height, constituting mountain-peaks and
ranges of great altitude. Between these
two divisions, there are a series composed
of the sedimentary rocks, and termed meta-
morpliic ; their character being transformed
from that of aqueous to a similarity with
those of the igneous rocks, by the agencj' of
excessive heat, when granite and other sub-
stances were impelled from within towards the
surface of the globe : the primary or sandy-
slate and clayey rocks, being nearest to the
centre are most likely to have their stratified
structure thus changed and broken into in-
numerable cracks and fissures ; they are
principally known by the terms — gneiss
(somewhat like laminated granite), mica slate,
chlorite slate, &c. These metamorphic, pale-
ozoic rocks,* as will be subsequently seen,
are of the highest importance in reference
to their connection with minerals.
Comparing the surface of the earth ta
crusts and layers, which may be peeled off
like the coats of an onion, until a homo-
geneous substance, indicating the agency of
fire, be arrived at, Mr. J. Scoffern (compiling
from the practical surveys of Jakes, Clarke,
and other geologists) arranges the Austra-
lian strata in descending order, as follows : —
A. Raised beaches or reefs with shells, &c.,
same as now existing: b. Bone caves with
extinct kangaroos; limestones with extinct
plants like those now Hving; fruit trees:
c. Shelly sandstone with oysters, cockles,
S3a-urchins, differing very considerably from
those now living: d. Sydney sandstone;
traces of plants : e. Coal-bearing strata, with
extinct plants resembling those of Indian
coal ; Yorkshire oolite ; fish of upper paleo-
zoic type : f. Sandstone and other rocks
with extinct sea-shells, like those in the
carboniferous and Devonian limestones of
Europe : g. Rocks with extinct shells and
trilobites, like those of the Silurian rocks of
Europe : h. INlctamorphic schist, &c., with
traces of fossils: i. Igneous rocks, such as
• From the Greek words uaxaii^ — ancient, and
z<i<f) life, — fossil animals being here found.
406
GEOLOGICAL AGE AND PECULIARITIES OF AUSTRALIA.
granite, &c.* Assuming this to be a correct
succession, Mr. Scoffern infers an absence
of the interesting series of stratified rocks
observable in Europe, in which the wealdean
and chalk deposits bear so important a part :
hence he supposes that Australia " remained
above the ocean while all the remaining
portions (of the globe) at one period or an-
other were submerged. "f It is certainly
very remarkable that types of animal races
still exist in this strange island, while they
have become extinct in every other country.
The marsupial animals, such as the opossum,
are now peculiar to Australia and America;
indeed, almost all the quadrupeds in the
former are distinguished by an abdominal
pouch with nipples, to which the uewly-
formed foetus, with scarcely the rudiments
of limbs, is found adhering. But it is more
than probable that this connecting link be-
tween birds and animals was, in a remote
age, extensively distributed over the earth —
fossil marsupials for instance have been dis-
covered imbedded in the oolitic system of
England and other countries. Yet the kan-
garoo, one of these marsupials, now exists only
in Australia, and we bave no record of its
being known alive in any other region. It
is also worth remarking that in the aurife-
rous districts of New South Wales there are
caves with the bones of enormous vertebrate
animals, including those of gigantic kan-
garoos [see pp. 54, 156, and 263) ; and
in the superficial drift of similar ages the
mammoth, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and
other large animals, of species now ex-
tinct, are found at many places in North-
ern Europe. t There is much to learn —
many data to be collected — various facts to
be classified before the geological structure,
age, and alternate elevations and depressions
of Australia can be accurately stated ; time,
an increasing population, and the search
after, and working of, minerals, will gra-
dually develope truth ; at present little more
can be done than to collect and state accu-
rately such facts as may be clearly esta-
blished— not rejecting, however, rational
theories, which are often stimulants to fur-
* Australian granite varies in different places ; in
some it exhibits the true ternary combination of
quartz, felspar and mica ; in others binary, one of
the component ingredients being absent, generally
the mica : the size of its crystalline constituents —
more especially as regards the felspar — is very diver-
sified, causing more or less of disintegration. I ob-
served in China that the coarse decayed much more
rapidly than the fine or close-grained granite, the
effects of heat and moisture being soonest felt.
ther investigation, and frequently help, by
the collision of differing minds, to reveal
things which are mysteries to the scientific
as well as to the unlearned. It is asserted
that the Australian Cordillera must once
have been at a higher elevation above the
sea than it now is, and some suppose that
their culminating points exceeded those of
the' Himalaya or of the Andes. That
20,000 feet of solid matter could have been
carried away in successive ages, is doubted;
but a supposition is hazarded that diminished
height might have been caused by a down-
ward movement of the sea bottom during
the oscillations which have occurred in the
Pacific and Indian oceans. It has been
remarked by Darwin, Jukes, Dana, and
others, that through several degrees of lati-
tude within the tropics on the Australian
coast, there has been a manifest subsidence,
while several islands in the Indian or Ma-
layan archipelago have been raised : this is
attested by the dead coral deposits now
found high above the sea, on the flanks of
the volcanic islands — such as Java, Sumatra,
&c.§ Changes of level, by vertical oscilla-
tions, above as well as below the present
horizon, have been observed by the Rev.
W. B. Clarke, between the latitude of Syd-
ney and Bass Straits; Sir T. L. Mitchell,
and other explorers have noted the same in
different places {see p. 239), and this is
further proved by the accumulation of ter-
tiary and modern products on the south
coast, for instance, at Gipp's-land and in the
interior, as at the Murray River. It appears
probable that there have been several oscil-
lations in vertical ascents and descents,
causing a wide spread decomposition of
rocks, and deep alluvial deposits — as evi-
denced by receptacles 100 feet deep, filled
with detritus of shale, sandstone, quartz,
trappean debris, bones of extinct gigantic
animals, and gold mingled with the whole.
Whatever may be the age of this vast island,
whether long submerged beneath the ocean,
or comparatively recently elevated, it ap-
pears that the plants found in the old car-
boniferous formations of Europe have their
t The Chemistry of Gold, by J. Scoffern, M.B.
X At the Mount Macedon ranges there have been
discovered large quantities of the bones of animals,
generally of an extinct species, and indicative of
creatures of enormous size — such as emus sixteen
feet high, kangaroos of the dimensions of an ele-
phant, and several other huge animals that em-
bodied the joint qualities of the elephant, t&\nr, and
kangaroo. — JVestt/arth's Victoria in 18.33, p. 267.
§ See Letter from Kev. W.B. Clarke, 24 Nov. 1852
representative in the coal-fields on the east-
coast of Australia.
The Rev. W. B. Clarke, Avho has examined
a large portion of the colony geologically,
viz., from beyond 32° towards the north-
ward, and below 37° to the southward,
and from the coast to the interior at va-
rious localities between 147° and 153° E.,
declares his conviction that so far as
he has seen, the general succession, as
exhibited in the order of rocks and their
fossil contents, appears to have an intimate
analogy with the succession in Europe.
The same explorer has discovered fossils
of the lower palceozoic or Silurian rocks,
thereby proving that in this respect New
South Wales is analogous to many Euro-
pean countries.
The geological features of the gold country
in the neighbourhood of Summer Hill
Creek, the Turon, Frederick's Valley Creek
{Ophir), Sec, New South Wales, was thus
described in July, 1851, by Mr. Stuch-
bury, the government geologist, who was
unremitting in his labours, and skilful in
his researches ; —
'• The trend of all the waterways is into the river
Macquarie, and the general run of the latter river is
in the direction of the strike of the strata, viz., from
east of south to west of north ; its deviations from
this course being consequent upon the hard cha-
racter of many of the rocks, especially those of
igneous origin, such as the granites, sienites, por-
phyries, basalt, &c. The whole area may be con-
sidered as schistose, principally clay slate, accom-
panied by nearly all the other varieties of slate
rocks, in many cases greatly disturbed by the in-
truding rocks above-mentioned, of subsequent igne-
ous formation, also by a large amount of quartz
sides in veins or lodes, parallel to the strike of the
schists. The quartz is amorphous, very nearly crys-
tallized, and in the neighbourhood of the gold
yielding localities it is accompanied by the titanifer-
ous iron, crystallized and in loose grains. That the
matrix of the gold is quartz in this district there
cannot be any doubt, sn many instances have oc-
cuiTed in which the quartz still remains attached,
and interlaced by the gold, as also by the iron. No
washings have yielded gold without the iron sand
incorrectly termed emery, accompanying it."
The schistose rocks being constantly dis-
integrated by the atmosphere, left the quartz
* See Geological Quart. Journal, London, May 1,
1853, No. 34, on Oold Fields of Victoria.
j Mount Wijigen, in Jirisbane county, New South
Wales — (31" 54' S. lat.) is called by th'3 Aborigines
the " 6!«-«jV?y mountain," and I heard in Australia
from eye-witnesses, that smoke and flames have been
seen at its summit. There are several extinct \ol-
canoes in Victoria and in South Australia.
I Gold is frequently found in conjunction with
iron, and it is also obtained combined with copjjcr,
arsenic, antimony, and manganese ; but as gold is
dykes unsupported, and immense blocks
were crushed as they gravitated down the
slopes of the mountains and hills, letting
loose in their course the tenacious gold, in
large or small portions, which, from their
gravity, were rolled on by the impelling
torrent, until arrested in the cleavage fis-
sures of slaty rocks, or deposited in sand
or mud, especially at the bends or elbows
of streams.
In Victoria, where gold has, as yet, been
found most abundant, the portion of the Aus-
tralian Cordillera, which passes through the
province, at a distance offifty to eighty miles
from the coast-line, is stated to consist of
recurring series, in successive steps of clay,
mica, and flinty slates, all of which are
nearly or quite vertical, with a north and
south strike ; these are intei'sected by
numerous quartz veins, running at an acute
angle. Vast trappean plains rise up to the
base of the mountains, covering some of their
lower slopes. It is in the vallies and gullies
of this zone of mountains, not far from their
junction with the table-lands formed by the
trap, and at points remote from each other,
that the rich golden deposits are found.*
As yet, we are not aware of active vol-
canoes in Australia.f Of the causes of
igneous action — why it is occasionally dor-
mant, and in some places extinct, we know
nothing ; we only see its extraordinary
power in the changes it has eflfected in the
face of our globe : equally ignorant are we
of the formation of metals in the hidden
womb of earth,! and their fusion in certain
rocks, and on meridional lines, in obedience
to some unknown but definite law. This
much appears evident — that where the
aqueous deposits are superficial, and their
layers broken through by igneous rocks,
such as granite, there gold, which is an
elementary or simple substance, § may be
looked for, when disintegration of the three
ingredients of which granite is composed
takes place under the dissolving efiects of
the atmosphere. The felspar first gives
way, becomes pliable, and is washed down
not liable to oxydation or rust, and all these metals
are — when they in process of time dissolve away —
the precious metal is purified from all extraneous
substances, and frequently dej>osited in or near the
beds of streams and gulleys through which moun-
tain torrents flow — sometimes in scales, grains, or
" nuggets" near the surface — sometimes at various
depths either in "pockets" or holes — or scattered
through veins of quartz and clay slate.
§ Of which there are about forty in the composi-
tion of our globe.
408 COMMENCEMENT OF GOLD "DIGGING'' AT BATHURST— JUNE, 1851.
by the rain, then the mica is separated, but
quartz remains longest in situ, and, from its
ponderosity, is but slowly moved, except it
be subjected to the force of violent tor-
rents.
The numerous quartz veins which traverse
the sedimentary or slate rocks, are evidently,
in tlie opinion of all authorities, the mati'ix
of the gold ; the auriferous quartz is not
milky-white, but of a delicate yellowish
colour and a waxy lustre; the richest is
that which is most broken and fissured —
the fissures frequently containing a red
ferruginous earth, in which particles of gold
are imbedded : but, sometimes large quartz
boulders are found deep in the auriferous
claj'^, yet rarely containing gold."^ As the
slaty rocks which surrounded, or were inter-
sected by the quartz, have been worn down
or crumbled by time, the latter has been set
loose, become disintegrated, or broken into
fragments, and the gold being thus liberated,
has descended by its specific gravity to the
beds of mountain-streams, or been deposited
in the chinks of rocks, or in the strata of
successive layers of coloured clays, or in the
alluvial collections formed many ages since
at varying depths below the present surface.
It must not, however, be supposed that
gold is only found in the lowlands or in
valleys and beds of streams ; the summit of
Hanging-Rock Creek, in the Gwyder district.
New South Wales, where the metal has been
obtained, is 3,413 feet above the sea. In the
southern districts of the settlement it has
been procured in abundance at a height of
3,000 feet ; and the Rev. W. Clarke saw some
at Gungarlin, which has an altitude of 4,000
feet, and at a point on the gap between that
river and Eucuni bene, at a still greater
height : the summits of the surrounding
snowy Alps were, however, 3,000 feet be-
yond this elevation.
As a general principle, the richest aurife-
rous deposits are found at the base or bed
rock, on which the aliuviura rests. These
deposits have not occurred at any one
period,but have accumulated by successive de-
scents of drift (chiefly under sub-aqueous and
former conditions of the surface), bringing
with them the precious metal. This, by its
specific gravity, and according to size, will de-
scend to a greater or less depth among the
surrounding earthy matter, and the renewal
of each such occurrence would add to the
quantity. If the water accompanying these
drifts passed away suddenly, the gold would
be mainly left on or near the surface, but if
not, the metal attracting round itself a
moist atmosphere, would gravitate through
the sustaining medium, forming probably
several strata, the largest pieces being in
the lowest accumulation. This natural law
is in accordance with what has been observed
in Australia. How gold became melted into
the quartz, or melted out of it, before it ^was
removed from the parent bed — whether by
the momentary or the slow action of sucla
powerful forces as magnetism, galvanism, or
thermo-electricity, is beyond our knowledge
With the foregoing prefatory observa-
tions, we may now proceed to investigate,
chronologically, the progress of discovery,
and tlie extent of obtainment of the precious
metal in the sister colonies of New South
Wales and of Victoria.
The first scene of the gold-digging opera-
tions was confined to the counties of Bathurst,
Wellington, and Roxburgh, west of Sydney,
along the western base of the great Blue
Mountain range. Thither the population,
bearing shovels and pickaxes, hastened from
diflerent districts, under the idea that gold
was sown broadcast over the land. Arriving
at the bed of a creek, or place where the
metal was procurable, the mode of operation
was as follows : — A large, round, flat-bot-
tomed, shallow, tin dish was used for a
* Pieces of rock have been tested at Sydney in
which no gold was visible, even under a powerful
microscope, but which, nevertheless^ upon analyza-
tion yielded at the rate of £520 worth of metal
" prospectiug"-pan, into which a shovel-full
of earth and stones was thrown; the pan
was then dipt into the water repeatedly,
and shaken until the agitated earth and
small pebbles were washed away; and the
remaining gravel was then examined for
gold, which, by its specific gravity, sunk to
the bottom of the mass. If the "stuff"
was found to be rich, then a "cradle" was
used. At first these were of very simple
construction, in form somewhat like the
usual domestic article of the same name.
per ton. Another specimen, in which gold was
visible in small portions, furnished 1^ lbs. from
100 lbs. of rock. The expected discovery oi" quick-
silver will render these auriferous rocks very valuable.
SUMMER HILL CREEK— BATHURST DISTRICT.
409
At one end an iron sieve was fixed, and
under it a board, sloping downwards, di-
vided by ledges into three nearly equal parts.
The eai'th and stones being thrown into the
sieve, water was poured thereon while the
cradle was being vigorously shaken by means
of an upright wooden handle. The mud
was thus carried off; and, if nuggets were
among the stones, they were soon seen.
On tlie 1st of June, as before observed,
1,000 persons were engaged in the pursuit :
the police-inspector (D. V. F. Scott) reported
them to be quiet, well-conducted, and mostly
doing well. On the sabbath, all parties left
off work, and a Wesleyan minister preached
to a large congregation. Within three
weeks about j85,000 worth of gold had
been obtained.
The diggings were chiefly in a creek situ-
ated beneath steep hills, varying in height,
with flats from ten to twenty yards in width.
In these flats the gold was found. Large
pieces of rock had to be removed, the slate
formation to be shattered by the pick, and
the earth to be washed. The solid pieces of
gold were obtained underneath and between
the rocks and slate ; the small portions were
produced from the washing of the earth in
cradles, the whole being an operation of
great labour and uncertainty — a party earn-
ing but little one day and many pounds
another day.
On the 3rd of June, when the issue of
licences commenced, Mr. Hardy, the govern-
ment gold commissioner appointed to grant
the licenses, reported from his camp as
follows: — "I am happy to say that I have
not experienced the slightest trouble or an-
noyance from any person here ; they refer all
their disputes to me, without attempting to
settle them by violence, and submit to my
decision without a murmur. I have not
sworn in any special constables ; it is per-
fectly unnecessary, for every thing goes on
in as orderly and quiet a manner as in the
quietest English town. There is no drinking
or rioting going on. One trifling assault is
the only offence I have heard of; any other ad-
dition to my force therefore is unnecessary. '^
There were then about 1,500 diggers at
work, whose earnings averaged £1 to 125.
a- day.
The first place which attracted the mi-
ners was Summer Hill Creek, which is distant
forty miles from the town of Bathurst, with
a well-defined and clear, but mountainous
road ; yet fit for carriage -travel. The
Canabolos mountain (see map), which is
DIV. III. 3 B
about one mile high is the centre, whence
Summer Hill, and other more or less auri-
ferous creeks take their rise.
The creek is narrow, very tortuous, with
abrupt elbows, and confined between high
ranges, causing the fall after rains to be very
great. The water-course is so narrow, broken,
and difficult, as to render riding impracticable
for 100 yards. The adjacent hills consist of
mica-slate, intersected in every direction
with broad and well-defined quartz-veins,
which are largely developed in the surround-
ing mountains. The gold found here, espe-
cially above the first falls, was large in the
grain, often massive, seldom thin and scaly.
It was frequently obtained from the earth
and sand lodged in the fissures of a veiy
hard green stone schist (slate), which dipped
to the north-east, at an angle of 60°. Some
of it was procured in the drift of a heavy
shingle bar, almost always in detached, in-
crementitious portions, and in separate incre-
ments of quartzoze crystals. The nuggets
obtained varied in weight from two ounces
to three pounds each. The bed of the
creek has been lowering from an unknown
period, and the alluvium in which the metal
was generally found is far above the mark of
the highest floods — in many places 60 feet
above the present bed of the stream; when the
waters rose, the miners worked towards the
hills, and with equal success. In June, 1851,
parties — four in number — procured from two
ounces to seven ounces in a-day ; occasionally
they were unsuccessful : on an average, about
800 persons earned each 205. ; 600, 3^. to
4s. and os. a-day (expense of living, \0s. a-
week, including meat, 3c?. per pound ; flour,
25*. to 305. per hundred-weight) ; about 300
earned nothing, but they had neither the
strength, energy, perseverance, or means of
sustainment requisite for success, and, after
looking about for a few days, went off in dis-
gust.
The next field of operation was the Titron
River, which rises nearer Cullen Cullen, in
Roxburghshire; runs through the county,
which it divides from that of Wellington ;
and, after a course of about 100 miles, flows
into the Macqiiarie.
This stream passes through a valley which
is several miles in width, with boundary
ranges rising in successive heights behind
each other, composed chiefly of mica-slate
(without much mica), and but few quartz
veins visible. In some places a compact
porphyry is succeeded by a hard clay slate,
forming here and there nearly perpen-
410
SOFALA, OPHIR, AND THE TURON RIVER.
dicular elevations of 400 to 500 feet. The
river is broad (50 to 100 yards), level, not
very tortuous; has a smooth bed, in which,
at times of flood, the water rises about twelve
feet ; in the dry season it is a chain of
ponds, but water is generally found at the
depth of a foot or two beneath the surface,
in places apparently dry. Throughout nine
miles of the river (so far as examined),
gold-dust appeared, as regular as wheat
sown in a field. The metal was probably
washed down from the narrow, broken, and
steep country, whence the stream takes its
rise ; for, as it was ascended, pieces, varying
from a pennyweight to an ounce were found.
The township of Sofala, about twenty-five
miles north of Bathurst, which rapidly rose
in importance, was founded by the miners
on this river. At Ophir, in Frederick's Val-
ley, between the counties of Bathurst and
Wellington, diggings commenced in the
middle of June; and, on the 26th of the
same month, Sir T. L. Mitchell suggested
the formation of a township, which was suc-
cessfully carried into effect.
The next placer noted was on the Meroo
Creek, north of the Turon, which it some-
what resembles in its physical and geological
features, but its riches were chiefly ob-
servable in tributary creeks, such as the
Louisa, where the country is flatter, and
the declivities gentler than those on the
main river. Beautiful specimens of gold in
the matrix were found here ; the metal ob-
tained was generally coarse, sometimes nug-
getty. Mr. Commissioner Green reported
that from forty to fifty thousand persons
might find employment here on the table-
land adjacent, and towards Campbell's Creek.
The aspect of the country in the vicinity
of the above-mentioned creeks is wild, and
in some places picturesquely grand. At
Pullen's Fall, a crossing-place of the Svm-
mer Hill Creek, the country is much broken,
and shows signs of evident volcanic action.
Northward of Pullen's Station, there are
seven or eight flat-topped hills, all of the
same height, and appearing as if they had,
at a distant epoch, formed a level plain of
some miles in extent, until a subterranean
convulsion had divided the plateau into
several parts. The summits of these de-
tached hills are covered with scorise, and
from the edges hang rugged masses of ba-
saltic rock, forming, as it were, a fringe
round each table-land.* The mountains
* Excursion in search of Dujgers, by a Gold
Commissioner.
become more steep and broken as they ap-
proach the Macquarie, whose banks here
are very precipitous; the river in many
parts is blocked up with immense masses of
rock, which have been separated from the
precipices above.
The banks of the Turon,, at its junction
with the Macquarie in this neighbourhood
are studdied with the ever-fresh casuarina
(mimosa), and highh^ picturesque, especially
after the rains, when they are covered with
fine grasses. The stream winds so abruptly
and constantly, that at every few hundred
yards the traveller must cross it; the side
from which the river turns is invariably a
cliff, formed by the constant washing of
the water — the opposite banks have long
sloping flats, which have been found to con-
tain generally golden depo'sits.
In the early state of proceedings every
" find" was viewed with great surprise : a
Bathurst blacksmith got 11 lbs. weight of gold
from one hole, at the Summer Hill Creek;
a few days after, two lumps, one weighing
46 and another 20 oz., besides many lesser-
sized nuggets ; altogether, they were valued
at £1,000. The gold was exhibited at
Sydney, also a nugget weighing 3 lbs. 11 oz.
troy, which was found at Ophir before the
licences were issued.
In the early part of July, an educated
aborigine — formerly attached to the " Wel-
lington mission," and who had been for
about seven years in the service of Dr. Kerr,
of Wellawa — left the sheep which he had
been tending in the Mudjee district, near
Louisa Creek, and proceeded to his master's
house, eight miles distant, to inform hira
that gold being the general topic of conver-
sation, he had been searching around, and
observing a glittering yellow substance upon
the surface of a block of quartz, he broke
off a portion with his tomahawk, and
saw at once a great treasure. Dr. Kerr
hastened to the spot; the precious mass,
weighing from two to three cwt., was
disengaged from its bed, among an isolated
heap of quartz-blocks where it was de-
posited, but unfortunately broken in several
pieces ; the largest, about a foot in diameter,
weighed 75 lbs. gross, and yielded 60 lbs. of
pure gold. It presented an appearance not
unlike a coarse sponge or honey-comb, and
consisted of particles of a crystalline form.
The piece of quartz in which the gold wa.s
found, weighed aboutSOO lbs.; the pure metal
weighed 1021bs. 9 oz. The value of the whole
was about £4,000 sterling ; had the mass
been kept entire, the worth would have b,een
doubled, as so large a specimen was never
before found. The golden blocks were dis-
tant about one hundred yards from a quartz
vein, which visibly covers an area of ten or
twelve acres in extent, and stretches up the
ridge from the Meroo and Merinda creeks,
in the locality of an undulating and very
fertile table-land, eighteen miles from the
nearest point of the Macquarie river, thirty
from the town of Wellington, and fifty-three
from Bathurst.
Dr. Kerr gave the fortunate black shep-
herd and his brother two flocks of sheep,
two horses, a team of bullocks to plough
some land, and a quantity of rations. It is
stated that the blacks hospitably invited
some of the neighbouring aborigines to
share in their success, and that the greater
part of the sheep were soon devoured. The
colonial government seized the gold as of
right belonging to the crown, as Dr. Kerr
had no license to dig or search for the same,
but it was subsequently given up to the pro-
prietors, Messrs. Thacker and Co., of Sydney,
who had purchased it from Dr. Kerr.
The Louisa Creek, where this extraordi-
nary block was discovered, soon attracted a
mining population : one day a few diggers,
named " Brenan's party," when about to
knock off work to prepare their dinner, were
stopped by one of the men striking his pick
on a hard substance : — " I have got some-
thing here,^' said the striker — " Its only a
boulder," replied his brother; but, upon
prizing it up from the clay, a nugge*"
weighing 341 oz. was discovered, which
when sold by auction in Sydney, brought
to the fortunate finders j£l,155 sterling.
Of course there were great hardships to
be endured — work all day under a burning
sun — supperless evenings, and rainy or dewy
nights — water pouring through the tents,
saturating blankets and drenching every-
thing— marches of twenty to thirty miles,
and bivouacking in the bush, in a Scotch
mist, after vain attempts to make a fire from
green wood; and then, after three or four
weeks' incessant toil, amid rapid alternations
of sunshine, rain, and chilling cold, up to
the waist in mud or water for hours — to
open hole after hole without a spec, with
funds rapidly exhausting, strength dimi-
nished, and energy excited by hope almost
gone, and rheumatism in the bones — to find
there was but an ounce of dust to divide
among a party of four, was indeed disheart-
ening.
On the other hand, in the lottery around,
there were some large prizes being drawn;
" it is pleasant," writes one miner, " to come
out of the liole and hear the man at the
cradle say — " ten ounces each to day, lads /"*
In dry weather the thriftiest among the
miners, when engaged in the search for
nuggets, piled the " dirt" near their tents
to wash it when the rains set in ; sometimes
this was very productive, as several pounds
weight of gold might be extracted from a
cart load of earth.
The excitement now became general, and
the prices of all articles of food rapidly in-
creased ; flour, from £20 to £30 per ton ;
wheat, from 4^. Qd. to 10s. per bushel ;
butchers' meat, from 2\d. to 8c?. per lb.,
and all other articles in proportion.
The public were so suspicious at first as
to the quality of the gold, or alarmed at its
abundance, that the price given by pur-
chasers, was only 'bOs. per oz. — (the stan-
dard price in England being 75^. 10c?,) — it
however gradually rose, and in August,
brought in Sydney 685. <od. per oz.
The measures adopted at this crisis of the
colony by the able governor-general. Sir Au-
gustus Fitz-Roy, and the colonial- secretary,
Edward Deas Thompson, were marked by
sound judgment, foresight, and common
sense. Gold was at once rightly viewed as
a raw product, which it would be desirable
to raise for export as much as wool, tallow,
or any other commodity of commerce;
facilities were given for its search ; Mr. Har-
greaves, the original developer of the placers,
was in June appointed a commissioner of
crown lands, with a salary of £365 a-year,
and 55. a- day for the forage of two horses,
and received instructions to prosecute his
researches in conjunction with the colonial
geologist and mineralogist, Mr. Stuchbury.
The Rev. W. B. Clarke, who had so long
endeavoured but in vain to draw public at-
tention to the auriferous character of the
country, now received a government ap-
pointment, and was sent forth well equipped
with men and horses to investigate such
districts as he might deem advisable. The
experienced surveyor-general. Sir T. L.
Mitchell, was despatched to explore the
Canabolos range of mountains, with definite
instructions for his guidance ; and all these
gentlemen concurred in reporting that it
was more difficult to determine what was
not an 'auriferous country than what was.
* Various terms were given to the jjrecious metal
— sucli as " dust" " stuff," " swag" ike.
412 GOOD CONDUCT OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES POPULATION.
A gold escort was established by the gov-
ernment, consisting of a strong carriage,
capable of holding four armed persons be-
side the driver, and attended by two of the
mounted police, who were stationed in small
detachments along the line of road from
Bathurst to Sydney. The escort left the
diggings once a-week for the seat of govern-
ment ; parties sending gold thereto had it
weighed in the presence of the commis-
sioner, sealed in bags, numbered, addressed,
and marked with the contents, in the pre-
sence of the proprietor, to whom a receipt
was given ; and who furnished in return the
name of the consignee, to whom delivery
was to be made on the production of a writ-
ten order from the owner. The charge
made by government for the conveyance
was fixed at two per cent, on washed gold,
which was valued at £S 45. per oz. ; gold
obtained by amalgamation was, for this pur-
pose, valued at £"2 85. per oz. This arrange-
ment was beneficial to the miners, to the
trading community and to the government.
Although the excitement consequent on
the rapid acquisition of wealth was very great,
yet the governor, writing in the middle of
August, refers to the good conduct of the
agricultural population in not neglecting
their rural duties — a larger breadth of wheat
was sown throughout the colony than had
ever been put in the ground, and the sheep-
flocks and cattle-herds were not left un-
tended; fortunately, during the previous
six or seven weeks, nearly 2,000 gold-seek-
ers arrived from jNIelbourne, Adelaide, and
the other neighbouring settlements. By
the 20th of August the weekly escort
brought from Bathurst 3,614 oz., valued at
£12,000, and in this month the governor
transmitted to the queen, by Captain Ers-
kine, of H.M.S. Havannah, two handsome
boxes, made of colonial woods, containing
specimens of gold in its various forms, as
found at the Ophir and Turon diggings.
These specimens, when viewed through a
strong magnifying-glass, exhibited singular
beauty. Her Majesty was pleased with this
tribute of respect from the colonists, and
ordered it to be placed among the public
property at Windsor Castle.
A practical illustration of the production
of the precious metal was afforded by the
shipments, up to November, 18.51^ being
about £300,000-worth. By this time the
demand for labour greatly increased, and
wages and the prices of provisions became
largely augmented. The legislative council,
however, refused to vote any increase of ex-
penditure for raising the pay of constabulary,
and claimed the I'ight of the revenue arising
from gold being, with other branches of the
public income, placed under the control of
the local legislature. Thereupon Governor
Fitz-Roy assumed the responsibility of order-
ing the necessary payments out of the terri-
torial or crown revenue, pending instructions
from her Majesty's secretary of state; who
complied with the wishes of the colonists,
and public business and the security for
life and property, remained unimpaired.*
In order to promote the introduction of
immigrants, to provide for the industrial
wants of the colony, in the event of the
gold-fields depriving the employers of labour
of the persons necessary to the carrying on
of their operations, the governor, with the
consent of his legislative council, raised a
loan of ,£100,000, which was transmitted to
her Majesty's emigration commissioners in
England for the above purpose. This com-
mendable measure was justified also by the
rapid augmentation of all branches of the
public revenue. For monthly licenses to dig
and search for gold, the amount received
from the 3rd of June to the 31st of December,
1851, was £30,890 ; and, for the conveyance
of gold by escort, £2,919=£33,809.
At the close of 1851, a large number of
diggers were at work in different parts of
the auriferous country, and the governor
reported that, during the previous seveil
months, " good order and regularity have
been maintained there ; no serious crimes of
any kind have been committed,t and the
roads have been perfectly safe for travellers ;
and, notwithstanding the diversion of so-
large a number of people from their previous
ordinary pursuits, the shearing has been got
over, and the harvest (a most abundant one)
gathered in without any serious impediment
or difficulty, and with much less additional
expense to the flock-master and farmer, than
could have been anticipated. "f
During the shearing season abundant
labour was found ; at the New England
stations the price for shearing, up to Decem-
ber, 1851, was 2s. 6d. the score, with a full
ration, and 2s. dd. with a dry ration : but it
was remarked that the clippers were new
men, few being able to clip more than sixty
sheep in a day; whereas, before the dis-
covery of gold, shearers were found in the
* At this period the total number of troops in the
colony was only 380 rank and file.
t Pari. Papers, 14th June, 1852, p. 8.
DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILLIP— AUG., 1851. 413
slieds who could turn out from 100 to 120
sheep in a day. Sixt}'^ was formerly the limit
permitted in the Hunter River district, in or-
der to insure a clean clip : now there was no
limitation, provided the woi'k be well done.
In November and December, washers re-
ceived 4s. a-day ; a man, shepherding and
watching, ^30, with a single ration ; shep-
herds, only j£.2.2 ; and watchmen, £20 per
annum.
The moisture of the season of 1851, caused
an increase in the weight of each fleece in
the Bathurst district from one pound ten
ounces to two pounds ten ounces.
The wealth of the colony rapidly increased.
Government granted sites for churches, and
clergymen were appointed, for the purpose of
performing their clerical functions, at several
localities : in fine, this wonderful discovery
was, as previously observed, equivalent to
adding a century of ordinary prosperity to
the material condition of the community.
On the 10th of September, definite intel-
ligence reached London (dated 22nd of May,
from Svdney), as to the find of gold in New
South Wales. The Royal Exhibition of In-
dustry was then open, and crowds flocked
thither to see the first nugget from Aus-
tralia, which was a fitting consummation for
that great gathering of nations, and afforded
a glorious prospect of the benefits which
might be expected from the emancipation of
commerce from its shackles, and a due
appreciation of the rights of labour,
Victoria Gold-fields. — Having now
brought the narrative of gold-discovery in
New South Wales to the close of 1851, it
will be necessary to retrace our steps chrono-
logically for a few months — to examine what
was doing in the sister colony of Victoria,
formerly called Port Phillip.
When the yield of gold was found to be
certain in the Bathurst districts, a large
number of persons quitted Melbourne — some
departing over-land, others by sea — in the
hope of being immediately enriched.
By the middle of June, five vessels were
laid on at Melbourne for the conveyance of
passengers to Sydney ; and alarm was felt
throughout the settlement lest the flocks
would perish for want of shepherds, while
agriculture would be entirely abandoned :
these fears were, howevei', soon removed.
In August there was considerable excite-
ment in Melbourne respecting the alleged
existence of gold in the Pyrennees, and other
mountain ranges. Some of the local jour-
nals derided the idea, and urged a search
for coal and copper as a matter of far more
consequence.
On the 25th of August Lieutenant-gover-
nor Latrobe announced to eai'l Grey, that
" within the last six weeks undoubted proofs
had been adduced of the extension of the
gold-fields to this colony :" and stated that
he was " officially made aware of three dis-
tinct localities, where a considerable number
of persons were congregated for the purpose
of obtaining the precious metal." A pro-
clamation was therefore issued, securing the
rights of the crown, and licenses to dig and
search for gold were granted, as in New South
Wales, on payment of 305. per month.
The first places where it was obtained
were at Anderson' s or Deep Creek, sixteen
miles from INIelbourne, where the metal was
found in grains among slaty rocks ; at
Clune's diggings, ninety miles from INIel-
bourne, on one of the head waters of the West
Loddon river, in an alluvium, composed in a
great measure of decomposed quartz rock ;
and at Bonim/ong, an extinct volcano, a
remarkable conical hill, seventy-five miles
from Melbourne, and forty-five from Geelong,
embedded in quartz. At the first-named
place, constant rains and floods interposed
such obstacles to the carrying on of works
in a water- course, that it was soon aban-
doned. The second-named was deserted,
not from unproductiveness, but because
Boninyong promised a moi'e lucrative re-
ward for labour. Here 500 licenses were
issued in September, 1851,
The following is from a printed copy of the
regulations to be observed by the persons
digging for gold or otherwise employed at
the gold-fields : —
" 1. This license is to be carried on the
person, to be produced whenever demanded
by any commissioner, peace-officer, or other
duly authorised person, and is not trans-
ferable.
" 2. No mining will be permitted where it |
would be destructive of any line of road ;
which it is necessai-y to maintain, and which j
shall be determined by any commissioner, j
nor within such distance around any store
as it may be necessary to reserve for access
to it.
" 3. It is enjoined that all persons on the
gold-fields maintain a due and proper ob-
servance of Sundays.
" 4. The extent of claim allowed to each
licensed miner is twelve feet square, or 144
square feet.
414 BALLARAT AND MOUNT ALEXANDER GOLD-FIELDS.
"5. To a party consisting of two miners,
twelve feet by twenty-four, or 288 square
feet.
" 6. To a party consisting of three miners,
eighteen feet by twenty-four, or 433 square
feet.
" 7. To a party consisting of four miners,
twenty-four feet by twenty-four, or 576
square feet : beyond which no greater area
will be allowed in one claim.''
Adventurers flocked to the centre of at-
traction, and by the 6th of October, no less
than 1,300 licences were issued for the cur-
rent month. A more valuable site than
Boninyong was soon discovered at a place
called Ballarat, seven miles distant, and
about ten miles N.W. of Warraneep, a silent
.cone similar to Boninyong, rising on the
same ridge or watershed. The formation
appears to be the ordinary quartz, iron, sand-
stone, and clay-slate, with an out-cropping
of granite in patches. The principal work-
ings commenced here at a place termed
Golden Point, which superficially presents
no features difl'ering at all from any other
of the numerous forested spurs which de-
scend from the broken ranges at the foot of
the higher ridges, and which bound the
valley of the Leigh on either side.* Yet at
this particular point, especially at the north
and north-east portion of the extreme slopes
and extremities of the spur, there was a de-
posit of the precious metal far greater, within
a limited area, than any that had been pre-
viously discovered. Early in October there
were about 500 " cradles" in use on the
stream, irrespective of other expedients for
obtaining the ore ; 2,500 miners were work-
ing or making preparatory arrangements,
and at least 100 new arrivals joined them
daily. The quantity of metal obtained was
large ; one party raised 16 lbs. weight by the
labour oi a forenoon, and was known to
have secured 31 lbs. weight by one day's
work. Mr. Latrobe himself saw 10 lbs. and
upwards, the produce of a single working in
one day, and this was not an isolated case.
"]\Iany parties," he says, "of four men
shared, day after day, 10 oz. per man." A
rougli cakulation induced him to believe
that on an average for a considerable time
the yield was 700 oz. and upwards per diem.
Other r.anges equally productive were soon
opened in the valley and adjoining glens, as
well as on the raugcs. A section of the
working showed — (1) red ferruginous earth
• Despatch from lieutenant-governor Latrobe, 10th
October, 1851.
and gravel ; (2) streaked yellowish and red
clay ; (3) quartz, gravel of moderate size ;
(4) large quartz, pebbles, and boulders —
masses of ironstone set in a very compact
clay, hard to work; (5) blue and white
clay ; (6) pipe-clay. Such was the general
order, but the proportion in which they
Avere distributed was very variable. In some
workings the so-called pipe-clay, which con-
tained no ore, w^as reached at ten or twelve
feet ; in other places not at thirty or up-
wards; the richest deposits were found in
the small veins of blue clay. The metal
was usually obtained in rolled or water-
worn lumps of various sizes, from a quarter
or half-an-ounce to one or two ounces in
weight, sometimes incorporated with round
pebbles of quartz, at other times without
any mixture whatever, in irregular, rounded,
or smoothed pieces, and again in fused irre-
gular masses of pure metal, of great beauty,
weighing occasionally seven or nine ounces.
Not unfrequently it was found combined
with quartz, pebbles, or gravel, of various
sizes, evidently united to them while in a
fused state, and also on the surface of de-
tached masses of ironstone, but it was pro-
cured in greatest abundance in the clays, in
the form of rounded or flattened grains.
In October, it was estimated that there
were 10,000 diggers at Ballarat and the
other fields, whose aggregate earnings were
£10,000 a-day. But, in the middle of Oc-
tober, a new district, forty miles distant,
began to rival Ballarat, and attract to itself
the more roving part of the gold- seekers —
this was Mount Alexander (formerly called
Mount Byng), situated seventy-miles north-
west of INIelbourne, in 37° S. lat., 144° 20' E.
long. It is of granitic formation, with a
rugged, flattened outline, rising a few hun-
dred feet above the surrounding slate-rock
ranges. In the neighbourhood of this mount
are two creeks, Forest and Fryers, which
have been more productive of gold than any
other known region of the globe — both tribu-
taries of the Loddon River. For six to ten
miles along the banks of these ci'eeks gold
was found extensively distributed, a shep-
herd being the first person to draw attention
to the neighbourhood. As population in-
creased, the "dirt" was soon obtained in
large quantities ; four or five pounds' weight
of pure metal being obtained by one party
in the course of a few hours. There was
nothing to distinguish Forest Creek and the
adjacent ranges, from hundreds of similar
localities around ; but the bed of the valley
EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERIES AT MELBOURNE, 1851. 415
appeared to be formed of the inclined layers
of slate-rock, covered with an irregular de-
posit of gravelly clays, similar to that found
at Ballarat, but not so deep or so compact,
requiring therefore less labodr to reach the
veins of clay lying on the slate, in which
the gold is generally found ; it was, however,
sometimes collected on the surface.
The success of some individuals was very
great; one man dug up eighty pounds' weight
in a very brief period ; a drayman obtained
.£1,100 as his share in a party after a few
weeks' digging. For several days in succes-
sion from three to five pounds' weight have
been procured from a single hole. A baker
and grocer returned to Melbourne, after
a few weeks' absence at the mines, with
j68,200. The progressive yield will be seen, to
some extent, by the quantities transmitted to
Melbourne through the weekly government
escort. From Ballarat the yield increased from
121 oz. on the 30th of September to 4,719 oz.
on the 5th of November : from Mount Alex-
ander, 228 oz. on the 28th of October, which
augmented to 10,583 oz. on 26th November.
On Wednesday, November the 19th, the
escort brought from Mount Alexander and
Ballarat, 10,138 oz. ; on the ensuing Wed-
nesday, 12,106 oz. = 1,008 lbs. (rather more
than half-a-ton) ; on the next Wednesday,
16,669 oz. = 1,389 lbs. : this astonishing
yield went on increasing, and on the follow-
ing Wednesday, the escort-cart, containing
26,656 oz. = 1 ton 221 lbs. 4 oz., broke
down with its load, and was delayed a day
beyond its time in reaching Melbourne.
All this was quite independent of the large
quantities reaching Melbourne and Geelong
by private hand, as many of the gold specu-
lators thought the government charge of
one per cent., for a distance of seventy-five
miles, without any guaranteed safety, an
excessive freight ; the lowest estimate of the
transmissions by private hands in five weeks,
was 28,353 oz., or one-third of that con-
veyed by government escort.
The excitement now became very great,
and the whole structure of society was com-
pletely disorganized : about 6,000 people were
congregated at and near Ballarat, and more
than 12,000 within an area of fifteen square-
miles, in the neighboui'hood of Mount
Alexander. In addition to a steady stream
of population from the settled districts of
the province, there was also a large and
increasing influx, by sea and by land, from
New South Wales and from South Aus-
tralia, and across Bass Straits from Tas-
mania. Almost every ship that arrived in
Port Phillip from England or from foreign
ports was immediately deserted, and none
but the captain, and sometimes a mate or a
boy, left to take charge of the vessel.
The effect of the gold discoveries was
more quickly felt at Victoria than at New
South Wales, owing to the proximity of the
diggings, the more limited number of the
inhabitants of the chief towns, and perhaps
the less settled and more newly located
population. In the beginning of October,
the towns of Melbourne and Geelong, with
their large suburbs, appeared almost deserted
by the male inhabitants, and all the active
bustle of drays and traffic had ceased. Not
merely the idlers and day-labourers hastened
to the gold-fields, but shopmen, artizans,
and mechanics threw up their occupations ;
left, says the lieutenant-governor, their em-
ployers, their wives and families to take
care of themselves, and run off to the work-
ings. Responsible tradesmen, farmers,
clerks of every grade, and not a few of the
superior classes followed —
" Some, Tinable to withstand the mania and force
of the stream, or because they were really disposed
to venture time and money on the chance, but
others, because they were, as employers of labour,
left in the lurch and had no other alternative. Cot-
tages are deserted, houses to let, business is at a
stand-still, and even schools are closed. In some of
the suburbs not a man is left, and the women are
known for self-protection to forget neighbour's jars,
and to group together to keep house. The ships in
the harbour are, in a great measure, deserted ; and
we hear of instances, where not only farmers and
respectable agriculturists have found that the only
way, as those employed by them deserted, was to
leave their farms, join them, and form a band, and
go shares — but even masters of vessels, foreseeing
the impossibility of maintaining any control over
their men otherwise, have made up parties among
them to do the same. Fortunate the family, what-
ever its position, which retains its servants at any
sacrifice, and can further secure the wonted supplies
for their households from the few tradesmen who
remain, and retain the means of supplying their
customers at any augmentation of price. Drained
of its labouring population, the price of provisions
in the towns is naturally on the increase, for although
there may be an abundant supply within reach,
there are not sufficient hands to turn it to account.
Both here and at Geelong all buildings and contract
works, public and private, almost without exception,
are at a stand-still. No contract can be insisted
upon under the circumstances."*
No ordinary interests, principles, or con-
siderations were sufficient to withstand the
temptation to depart. Ladies were obliged
to cook the meals for their families,
* Report from lieutenant-governor Latrobe, to her
Majesty's secretary of state, 10th October, 1851.
416 RUSH OF POPULATION TO THE GOLD-FIELDS IN NOVEMBER.
scrub the floors and fill all the offices
usually performed by menials. An idea
prevailed among some of the labouring
classes, that all the poor were to become
rich, and the wealthy to become poor. An
amusing instance of the prevalence of this
impression occurred in the case of the wife
of a poor man who possessed the only
mangle in Geelong ; when her husband be-
came suddenly enriched at the diggings, the
proprietress, in grateful return for patron-
age and kindnesses received from the
" Lady-mayoress,^^ called to give '' her wor-
ship^' the first offer for the purchase of the
mangle. The signs of the times were mani-
fested in the geological terms common
among the people ; the watch-house was
termed a "trap" formation, and heavy fines
"auriferous deposits;" public-houses were
said to be full of " quartz ;" — brandy
and hot water was called an " amalgam ;"
a reply a " retort ;" a bed a " stratum,"
and a baby a "recent formation ;" every-
thing, in fact, was geologically stricken, and
pick-axes, shovels and " cradles " were in
general demand.
It has been well observed by the Rev. W.
Ai'thur, one of the able and esteemed
secretaries of the Weslej'^an body : — " Men's
heads were turned with the whirl, and away
they plunged, madly diving for gold — a
well-behaved, sheep-breeding, sheep-eating,
sleek and sober colony, all wool and tallow,
comfort and prosperity, became the noisiest
country in the world ; — talked of, written of,
legislated for, envied, abused, praised, coveted,
and, above all, hurried to — by energy as its
own place — by laziness as the shortest road to
live without doing anything — by avarice as
its heaven — by generosity as the best hope of
lifting up the grey head of a ruined father —
— by money as its market — by poverty as
its relief — by theft as the land of plunder —
by honesty as a way to pay debts — by vice
as an open sphere — by piety as the scene for
a mission ; — all this rushing in red-hot, and
bringing to one point every passion and
every project that youth or age, ambi'fion,
energy, whim or genius could foment, the
whole stirred by the burning hope of gold —
gold — gold, has poured itself out — is pouring
itself out, on those once peaceful plains, and
there is a heaving and sweltering, as when a
water-spout is discharged upon the sea."*
• See a graphic article upon Our Australian Pos-
sessions (in the L(mdon Quarterly Revietv, for De-
cember, 1853,) written with all the power and spirit
of one of the most christian authors of the present day.
By the middle of December, the furor
became intense ; the produce of the INIount
Alexander diggings was now calculated by the
hundred-weight, and arriving in Melbourne !
at the rate of two tons per week ; about
20,000 individuals were congregated on the
four principal fields, and scattered over the
adjacent country to the extent of twenty
square miles. A pound weight of gold was
considered small remuneration for a party ;
many secured five or six pounds, and there
were instances of as much as fifty pounds,
valued at £1,600, being the produce of a
few hours' labour. Large quantities were
scraped from the very surface of the ground,
and everywhere the ore was found deposited
under the alluvium, immediately above and
in the fissures of the slate-rock.
Other workings, nearly equally prolific,
were discovered down the Forest Creek Val-
ley, to its junction with Barker's Creek, a
secondary branch of the Loddon River, upon
which and in the converging gullies the
labours of the miners were continued for
many miles. Another rich field was opened
at Bendigo Creek, twenty-five miles to the
north-east of IMount Alexander, and about
100 miles from Melbourne.
The strata at Bendigo consists of one
foot of dark firm loam, a few inches of gravel
and clay, changing lower down to solid,
tough clay, red, yellow, or veined and tinted
with various colours, which continues for
eight or nine feet, with occasional small
seams of gravel ; next, a solid, hard mass,
three to four feet thick, of gravel, quartz,
and clay, so closely kneaded as almost
to defy the efforts of a steel-armed pick ;
below this concrete a bed of gravel,
with considerably less clay, varying in
depth from a few inches to two or three
feet; and, underneath, a bottom of "pipe-
clay," depth unknown : six or eight inches
of the gravel and clay bottom, with about
two inches of the upper stratum of pipe-clay,
forms the washing stuff, in which gold, in
greater or less quantities, is always found.
Ironstone, mixed with the gravel, is a good
— a blue clay on the pipe-clay a bad, indica-
tion : the gravel is composed of quartz, ii'on-
stone, granite, white and red sand-stone,
clay-slate, blue slate, and other varieties,
with abundance of mica. Large boulders of
quartz — some many tons' weight — are fre-
quently found at the depth of twenty feet.
The auriferous districts are usually broken
by deep valleys and precipitous steeps ; the
hills are thickly forested ; the soil poor and
CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOLD DIGGINGS AT VICTORIA— 1851. 417
gravelly, and the surface strewn with angu-
lar fragments of white quartz. At the
western base of the sombre but golden hiUs,
park-like plains stretch for many miles, diver-
sified by numerous dome-like or flat-topped
elevations, now clothed with verdure, but
which, at no very distant period, were active
volcanoes — traces of the flowing, soft lava,
being still visible. Where gold is obtained
within twelve inches of the surface, it is
usually disseminated in a quartzose gravel;
at lower depths it is almost invariably im-
bedded in clay — generally of a tenacious
character.
The diggings are classified as surface anii
pit or hole workings : in the former the
gold is generally found diffused through the
gravelly soil to the depth of six to twelve
inches, beneath which there is a stiff red
clay, containing little or no gold ; it is
however procured from pits sunk at depths
varying from three to thirty and even sixty
feet. In some places the gold is lodged
in a grey clay, which fills the fissures of
the vertical slate-rock, where it impedes the
channel of a creek ; here the depth is three
to ten feet : in others it is found in the
dry gully or ancient channel of an auri-
ferous stream, whose bed has been some-
times narrowed by converging hills, or ex-
panded into open flats or gentle slopes ; but
the breadth of the area which yields gold is
usually only a few feet, rarely more than a
few yards : the strata varies from a sandy
gravel to a tenacious clay, which, when first
turned up, is of a bright red, yellow, or
whitish hue, soon fades on exposure to the
air : the latter is called " pipe-clay" by the
miners; and, when reached by them, not
further penetrated. Another sort of deep-
pit diggings takes place on the crests and
sides of low-rounded hills or acclivities, near
the auriferous gullies : the soil stiff — blue,
red and yellow clays, with the frequent
occurrence of beds of a very hard, reddish
concrete, composed of quartz and slate-
pebbles, or conglomerates of lava, trap, and
quartz. In these localities the " find" is very
uncertain, but, in many places, extraordi-
narily rich — nine pounds of gold being taken
from one tin-dishful of bluish clay, the dish
being fourteen inches in diameter, and five
or six inches deep. " Pockets" (as they are
termed by the miners) of immense value are
found in some of these rounded alluvial hills,
imbedded in red or yellow clays, lying im-
mediately on the fundamental slates, or on
the " pipe-clay," i. e. soft shaly strata.
DIV. III. 3 P
At first, gold was eagerly bought at 645.
per oz. ; but, as the quantity increased, a
panic ensued, until the price fell to 55s. ;
after Avhich it rose, in October and November,
to 605., and has since gradually attained a
market value of upwards of 70*. per oz.
During December there were from 16,000
to 20,000 people at the Mount Alexander
diggings, and 8,000 licenses issued : the
yield was still wonderfully large — "many
parties, within a very limited period, secured
forty, fifty, and even seventy pounds' weight
of gold." * According to the government
escort returns, it appeared that Eddy and
Gill (five in company), sent to Melbourne
3,008 oz. =.€9,024, raised in seven weeks ;
and D'Arcy and Co. (four in company),
2,222 oz.=£6,666, which they raised in
eight weeks.
At Ballarat, 739 licenses were granted
for December; but, before the end of the
month, the number of persons at work was
reduced to 200— who were all, however, stated
to be doing well. One party, in two days of
the same week, obtained ten pounds' weight of
gold. The secondary, or smaller gold-fields,
were no longer visited, as persons were not
satisfied with ordinary chances of gain or
moderate remuneration for labour.
Instances have occurred of a labouring
man acquiring gold to the value of €1,000
in a month, and others not " earning their
salt" in six months. It was calculated, at
the diggings, that out of every 100 men, ten
made fortunes; twenty, first-rate livings —
say £5 a-day, clear ; forty made 30^. a day ;
thirty did worse than nothing : but then
there was plenty of work for the unsuccess-
ful miner, at \0s. to 15^. a day.
The sight of quantities of money in the
streets, passing from hand to hand, and
very lavishly expended, turned the most
sober heads ; many who had returned from
Ballarat and other places unsuccessful, or
unable to undergo severe toil, now hastened
off to Mount Alexander, whei'e the labour
was comparatively trifling, and the return
almost certain ; and neither constables, boat-
men, clerks, or any class of subordinate
officials could be retained at their duty
without largely-increased pay.
Towards the close of the year (1851),
several of the public departments, police,
post-office, &c., were completely abandoned
by the subordinates; it was feared there
would be no one even to take care of the
* Lieutenant-governor Latvobe to Earl Grey, loth
January, 1852.
418 WAGES AND PRICES OF PROVISIONS— VICTORIA, DEC, 1850 & 1851.
Lunatic Asylum, and that its wretched in-
mates must be allowed to wander about at
large. The lieutenant-governor asked the
opinion of the leading public functionaries,
and they recommended an increase in wages,
varying' from 50 to 100 per cent — which was
done, and on account of the increased price
of all commodities, and the difficulty of
procuiing servants at any price, the salaries
of all the functionaries of government were
largely augmented; this was readily accom-
plished, as the increase of the territorial or
crown revenue for the quarter ending 31st
December, 1851, as compared with the cor-
responding quarter of the previous year
amounted to £69,253, and that of the
general revenue to £10,711 = £79,964; of
this £25,481 was received for gold-licences,
and the gold-escort, at one per cent., fur-
nished £3,634. House-rent increased 50;
furniture, 100; hotel and stable charges, 50
to 100; boat-hire, 50; and cartage 200 per
cent, on previous rates. Imported manu-
factures, 30 to 150 per cent., according to
the articles most in demand, such as cloth-
ing, boots and shoes, slops, hardware, spirits,
beer, wine, and tobacco ; the price of horse-
shoeing rose 350 per cent., and water-cartage
240 per cent, per load.
The wages of labour and the prices of
provisions rapidly increased. A comparison
is thus given between December, 1850, and
the end of 1851, by Mr. Childers, the immi-
gration agent : —
Comparative Statement of the Rates of Wages aiid Prices Current at Melbourne for the 3Ionths of Decem-
ber 1850, and December 1851. — Wages and Salaries.
Trades or Callings.
:}
Shearers ....
Reapers ....
Labourers ....
Ditto ....
Artizans employed by founders, iron-
mongers, factors, &.C.
Coopers ......
Shipwrights . . . . .
Woolpressers
Sailors
Stokers ......
Cooks (men)
Waiters at hotels . . . .
Ostlers and stable-men
Men-servants in toAvn
Ditto in country . . . .
Female-servants . . . .
Porters ......
Salesmen, shopmen, clerks, &c. .
Clerks in the banks and mercantile
houses. &c. .....
Term or
Quantity.
Rates in 1850,
December.
Per 100
Per acre
Per diem
Per week
Per diem .
Ditto . .
Ditto . .
Per mensem
Ditto . .
Per week .
Ditto . .
Ditto . .
Per annum
Ditto . .
Per week .
Ditto . .
12s.
10s.
5s.
20s.
5s. .
6s. .
3s. Qd.
4:1.
12/.
20s. to 25s.
20s. . . .
21s. . . .
25/. to 30/.
20/. to 25/.
12s. to 15s.
25s. to 35s.
Rates in 1851, December.
20s.
20s. to 25s.
1 5s. to 20s.
45s. to 50s.
Increase 80 to 120 per cent.
10s.
10s.
7s. to 8s. None to be had.
5 50/. to 100/. oflfered for the
I run to England.
20/.
2/. to 3/.
21. to 21. 10s.
21. 10s.
50/. to 70/. None to be 1 ad.
35/. to 40/.
Increase 25 per cent.
25s. to 35s.
21. to 3/. 10s.
Increase 20/. to 50/. per cent.
Provisions, ^c.
Articles.
Quantities.
Rate in 1850,
December.
Rate in 1851, December.
Bread
Four lb. Loaf .
5d
Is. id. to Is. 8d.
Butter
Per lb
Is. 2d. . . .
2s. to 2s. 6d.
Cheese
Ditto ....
8d. to Is. id.
2s. to 3s.
Fresh meat
Ditto ....
Ihd
3d.
Salt meat
Ditto ....
Ud
2ld.
Ham
Ditto ....
8f/. to Is. . .
Is. Gd. to 2s. Gd.
Bacon ......
Ditto ....
6(/. to 8d. . .
2s.
Groceries, generally ....
Increase 25 per cent.
Fowls and ducks ....
Per couple . .
3s. to 3s. 6c/.
5s. to 6s.
Potatoes ......
Per cwt.
8s
12s. to 15s.
Vegetables
Increase 50 to 100 per cent.
Spirits, wine, beer, &c., retail prices .
. . .
Increase 30 to 50 per cent.
Tobacco
Per lb. . . .
2s. Gd. to 4s.
7s. to 8s.
Confectionery
Increase 50 per cent.
Fruit
Increase 100 per cent.
DESERTION OF SEAMEN AT MELBOURNE FOR THE DIGGINGS. 419
There were at this period in Hobson's
Bay thirty-four ships, varying in size
from 400 to 1,200 tons, the aggregate bur-
then being 18,639 tons; the crews num-
bered 825 men, and their wages ranged from
£2 to £9 per month; of these 417 men
deserted. The amount of pay seemed to
have little influence in inducing the seamen
to remain: the Sarah Ann, of Adelaide, had
a crew of sixteen men, at ^9 each per
month — thirteen deserted ; the Susannah,
of Hobart Town, whose crew {fourteen in
number) had £4 a-month, was entirely
abandoned ; the Zetland, of Liverpool, bur-
then 1,283 tons, had a crew of thirty-six, at
£2 15s. per month — twenty-eight deserted.
The Ciiy of Manchester, 1,200 tons, lost
thirty out of a crew of forty. At the above
date there were twenty-four colonial vessels
in the port of Melbourne; their seamen
numbered 221, at wages varying from £4 to
.€8 per month, of these ninety-one deserted.
The wages offered for any sort of sailor for
the voyage to England Mas £80 to £100;
but even at this rate few could be obtained.
The harbour-master stated that even £180
per man had been in vain tendered for able
seamen to navigate the ship home.* The
moment a vessel approached the shore, every
device was used to quit her. At night a
man would purposely leap into the sea; the
cry of '^ a man overboard'^ was raised, a boat
lowered, the pretended drowning seaman
was picked up, and the boat's crew pulled
away for the shore. The Rattler went into
Hobson's Bay to land one passenger, and
lost eleven men by desertion. There was
no water-police, and no effective measures
taken by the local government to remedy
the evil, who alleged that it was beyond
their power to redress. The conduct of the
population was, on the whole, excellent.
The lieutenant-governor reported to her
Majesty's secretary of state, that although
" no inconsiderable number of restless and
unprincipled characters gathered from this
(Victoria) and the neighbouring colonies,
bound by no tie of social order, had obtaiued
a species of power" — yet " at the same time
I may bear evidence in general terms to the
good conduct observable up to this date at
* An excellent device was resorted to by the cap-
tain of the Statesman, who marshalled his crew,
gave them an outfit, and started them off for the
diggings, in charge of the mate ; they worked hard
for a month — got little or nothing, and one morning
all struck, woik — declaring, that " before the mast"
-was a thousand times more desirable than gold-dig-
ging : they gladly marched back to their ship, and
the various workings. "f Again in January
(12), 1852, when adverting to the fact of the
police in town and country having almost
entirely abandoned duty (in Melbourne, out
of forty constables, only four remained on
duty after midnight on the 7th of January),
the governor noted the absence of disturb-
ance, at a time when some thousands had re-
turned to the towns, flushed with success, to
spend the Christmas, and when there were
only forty-four soldiers in the colony.
The gold proceedings at Victoria, as well as
those at New South Wales, have now been
detailed down to the close of 1851 ; hence-
forward, the diggings in the latter-named
province were of subordinate importance to
the yield of the Victoria fields, which opened
auspiciously in 1852.
In January, a party of four men, found
in Canadian Gully, Ballarat, a nugget of
120 oz. weight, said to be pure gold. The
finders offered to sell the hole in which the
treasure was obtained for £300, but there
being some hesitation as to buyers, they
went down into the pit again, and procured
another nugget, weighing 76 oz. ; a pur-
chaser then stepped forward, and the lucky
miners retired with their fortunes made.
Within a few hours of this intelligence
reaching Melbourne, some hundreds of per-
sons departed for the gold-fields, and a rise
of price immediately took place in the
labour market.
The Ballarat gold-field, which had been
nearly deserted for Mount Alexander at the
close of 1851, recovered its attraction in
February, 1852 — the extensive river-flat in
advance of the Golden Point having been
opened with every prospect of considerable
success, the average yield to some parties
being at the rate of twelve ounces per diem
per man ; whereas, previous to this new " dig-
ging," the average produce for many weeks
to 200 steady workers, could not be estimated
at more than eight or ten ounces per man
monthly.
The progressive yield of the two principal
fields, from the commencement of their re-
spective operations, up to this date, J is shown
to some extent by the weekly escort re-
the sagacious captain was saved much trouble and
expense.
t Despatch, 19th December, 1851 ; in Pari. Papers
14th January, 1852, ]). G4.
X The total yield of the Victoria mines, from about
the 20th of September to the 17th of December,
1851, was carefully estimated at 10 tons 2 cwt. 82 lbs.
and !0 oz., valued at GOs. per oz., = £730,242.
420
YIELD OF GOLD MINES, VICTORIA, TO CLOSE OF 1851.
turns, from September, 1851, to March 31st,
1852: —
jronths.
Ballarat.
Mounl
1 Total in
Alexander.
1 Ounces.
1
September 30 . •
121
—
121
October 2
247
—
247
8
2.298
—
2,298
15
1.830
—
1,830
22
2.708
—
2,708
29
2,337
228
2,565
November 5
4,719
965
5,684
12
3,480
—
3,480
„ 15
2.737
6,443
9,180
„ . 26
1,745
10,588
12,333
December 3
2,886
13,783
16,669
10
2,006
23,650
26.556
17
1,302
18,192
19,494
24
779
10,077
10.856
31
216
10,598
10,814
30,311
94,524
124,835
January' 6 . .
117
10,957
11,074
12
193
14,398
14,591
19 .
59
12,000
12,059
26 .
14
16,071
16.085
Febi-uary 3
5
11,872
11,877
10 .
80
11,035
11 115
17 .
13
12,287
12,300
24 .
123
46
169
27 .
—
21,784
21,784
604
110,450
111,054
Tothe31stDecembei
30,311
94,524
124,835
To tlie 31st March .
1,370
60,824
62,194
Total .
•
32,285
265,808
298,093
This gives a total of 298,093 oz., but
the shipments for these months shows
563,471 oz.; thus: —
Months.
Gold.
Exportei to
Gold.
Ozs.
Ozs.
August, 1851. .
18
London . .
429,955
September, — . .
—
Hamburgh .
3,411
October, — . ,
1,548
Sydney . .
122.584
November, — . .
3,441
Hobart Town
1,483
December, 1852 .
140,128
Adelaide. .
6.038
January, — . .
160,472
February, — . .
152,092
Maa-ch, — . .
105,772
Total . .
Total . .
563,471
563,471
In March, there were about 500 persons
at Ballarat; and at Mount Alexander, within
an area of ten or fifteen miles, at least
30,000 men, women and children. The
favourite places of resort were Forest Creek,
throughout its whole course to Barker's
Creek, with Friar Creek and their con-
verging valleys; and the Loddon River at
the point of junction with these two
tributaries. The yield continued pretty
much the same as in the three previous
months — about two tons, more or less,
per week; the success of miners varying
considerably: during the m.onth of January,
a party of four men obtained in a single
day, 28 lbs. of gold, value about .£1,000.
In the same month, a piece of solid gold
was found, weighing 27^ lbs., with only a
few minute quartz pebbles in the hollows.
At Spring Creek, twenty miles to the south-
ward from the Loddon ; at Mosquito Creek,
twelve miles east of Bendigo, and at Wombat
Hill, fifteen miles from Mount Alexander,
theie were partial workings under license.
At first the workings were comparatively
superficial, and the mining slovenly and
wasteful in the extreme ; in several places,
however, it was found more profitable to
dig thirty, and even fifty feet below the
surface. Many of the steady and intel-
ligent miners thus rapidly acquired wealth,
and returned to their homes; the farming
classes especially found it advantageous to
secure their harvests, which were all very
generally reaped throughout the colony.
About 6,000 men left the diggings for this
purpose, in the ten days preceding the 1st
of Januaiy.
Although such a considerable number of
the orderly and well-disposed part of the
workers, who had a stake in the maintenancs
of peace, were thus withdrawn, leaving a
large mass of motley and apparently reckless
characters at the mines, yet their conduct
was creditable to the British character.
Lieutenant-governor Latrobe, addi-essing
her Majesty's secretary of state on this
subject, 2nd of March, 1852, says —
" I speak confidently, not only from official infor-
mation, but from the unsought evidence of many
competent and impartial observers of every rajik and
calling, quite unconnected with government, when I
assure your lordship, that hitherto no serious out-
break or rejection of constituted authority has ever
been attempted or taken place, and nothing that
could fairly be construed to evince a disposition on
the part of any number of the population at the
workings to have recourse to self-constituted protec-
tion or favour the introduction of so-called "Lynch
Law."
"24. With regard to the statements of the uni-
versal unchecked prevalence of crime and disorder
at the workings, detailed with such effrontery and
recklessness in the profligate public prints of this
colony itself, or greedily retailed and commented
upon for evident purposes in the New South Wales
press, all I can say is, that they are not true, the
greater part totally false, and in so far as there may
be foundation for this or that statement or circum-
stance, so grossly exaggerated as to be unworthy of
GOOD CONDUCT OF MINING POPULATION AT VICTORIA. 421
credit. Your lordship will allow me to state, that
viewing the position and character of no inconsider-
able number of persons frequenting the workings, a
far greater amount of crime might prevail without
the government of the colonj- — circumstanced as it
has been — being in any degree justly blameable. In
.such a crowd, one-half utter strangers to the other
and to the colony, met together in a wild tract of
broken, forested country, full of secluded hollows,
honeycombed with hundreds or thousands of ready-
made graves, under such strong inducements to
cupidity, disorder, and crime, the imagination is free
and unrestrained to picture the extent to which
crime may, bower improbable, prevail in secret with-
out the ])ossibility of discovery or chance of detec-
tion. Many a murder may take place, of the exist-
ence of which no evidence will ever transpire or
record exist ; but I can assure your lordship that
whatever crimes may really be perpetrated, no in-
difference to it on the part of the authorities could
have existed, and that no such general disorder and
rejection of law and constituted authority as these
statements would represent has ever been observable.
On the contrary, notwithstanding the extraordinary
cii'cumstances under which the multitude finds itself
brought together, the passions and temptations of
the hour, the acknowledged insufficiency of the
police force to oppose physical force to any really
serious outbreak or general disturbance, the inability
in every instance to afford prompt justice, the but
partial carrying out of the regulations, which must
be admitted as a grievance by the well-disposed, the
occasional agitation got up by a knot of well-known
advocates for change : and I may, lastly, justly re-
mark, the evident disposition manifested from the
very cutset of a portion of the colonial press, for its
own purposes, to induce political excitement, and
pander to the passions of the mob, spread a spirit of
disaffection, and induce a want of confidence in the
measures of government by a systematic distortion
of facts and of statements, pointing out, not only
what the mob actually do or meditate, but what they
.might do. The orderly bearing and conduct of the
great proportion of the people on the ground is un-
deniable, and the subject of surprise to all who have
an opportunity of personally ascertaining the real
state of the case."*
As might be expected among a population
of thirty thousand persons of all classes^
living very irregularly, devoid of the ordinaiy
shelter and comforts of civilized life, and
during a very hot season, there was some
low fever, dysentery, and inflammation of
the eyes ; but no disease of an epidemic or
serious character prevailed. There was no
want of food ; but, excepting mutton (always
procurable at a reasonable price) and flour,
every other article had its cost enhanced,
by 50 to 100 per cent., at the shops and
stores established all over the encampment.
In April, no less than 19,988 licences
were issued (of which 19,049 were for Mount
Alexander), yielding j£29,987 to the govern-
ment in that month alone ; and, had there
been an effective police, many thousand
* Pari. Papers, 28th February, 1853, pp. 170—1.
more licenses might have been secured.
The population in the Mount Alexander
district, including Bcndigo, was roughly
estimated at 35,000— including about 5,000
women and children.
The want of water caused a very wide
dispersion of the miners ; much of the auri-
ferous soil had to be carted five, eight, and
even ten, miles to be washed.
During this month the Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor again visited all the gold-fields in
Victoria, and in his report to her majesty's
secretary of state,t says : — " I may bear my
decided testimony to the good order which
pervades in every quarter, and the disposi-
tion evinced by the great mass of the mining
population to respect the law and conform to
the regulations." With evidence of such
excellent conduct, it was judicious policy in
the local government to appoint medical
officers to reside at INIount Alexander and
Bendigo, for the benefit of the police and
other officials : also to act as coroners, and,
with the aid of juries, to inquire into the
cause of all deaths taking place on the gold-
fields, either from natural or accidental
causes, as well as from \dolence, should such
occur. Eight clergymen (two of each per-
suasion) belonging to the chtxrches of Eng-
land, Scotland, and Rome, and of the Wes-
leyan body, were paid each from the gold-
fund £300 per annum, to provide for the
due observance of the ordinances of religion
at the gold-fields, and the celebration of
public worship on the sabbath. "With a \'iew
to the public safety, the governor of Tas-
mania despatched to Victoria, at the urgent
request of Lieutenant-Governor Latrobe,
130 of the military pensioners who had
been sent from England in charge of con-
tacts. They proved a useful addition to the
small body of troops then in the colony, in
mounting guard at the gaols, public depots
and gold-stores : the expense was borne by
the local revenues.
The population of the colony rapidly
increased. In one day (27th of April) no
less than 2,400 new arrivals appeared in
Hobson's Bay ; during the last week in
April, the number was 4,000. Between the
1st of January and 30th of April, 1852, the
immigrants were 21,385 — viz., 17,177 males,
2,473 females, and 1,736 children.
It now became a well-established fact,
that the product was in proportion to the
number of persons engaged in the operation.
Mount Alexander had the largest population,
t See DesjHitch, 10th May, 1852 ; Pari. Papers.
422 ENORMOUSLY ENHANCED PRICES AT THE DIGGINGS IN 1852.
and the quantity of gold transmitted from
thence by government-escort only between
the 2nd of JNIarch and 26th of April, inclusive,
was 128,913 ozs.=£386,739. For fifty-five
days, the transmission by government was
at the rate of upwards of £7,000 a-day.
In May and June — notwithstanding the
setting in of violent rains in the first-named
month — the yield was extraordinarily great ;
from the 5th of May to 28th of June, the
escort brought from Mount Alexander
176,580 ozs. ; and from Ballarat, for the
same period, 5,011 ozs. = 181,591 ; valued,
at J3 per oz., at £544,773.
The heavy floods in the rivers and creeks 1 bran ; for shoeing a horse, 405. ; and bait
caused considerable changes in raining | for a night, 35^.
22.?. ; carpenters, and blacksmith, 25.?. to
30s. ; and hire of a bullock or horse dray,
80s. to 100s. a day. The charge for a ton
of goods from Melbourne to Mount Alex-
ander and the other diggings — 70 to 90
miles — which was at first £20, rose on May
15th, £55, and on June 26th, £140. Flour
increased from £7 10s. on May 8th to £23
a bag on June 15th; other articles in pro-
portion. The cost of conveying flour to
Mount Alexander was estimated at £12,000
per month. Government paid at Bendigo
lOhd. a lb. for hay for the police horses,
65s. a bushel for oats, 16s. for 201b. of
operations, and dispersed the diggers in
search of new fields. In opening a new
gully at Bendigo, 44 Ibs.'-weight of gold
were obtained by one party in two-hours'
labour : another party regularly obtained
2 lbs. of gold per diem for six weeks, near
Friars' Creek.
In April, gold was found in a group of
granite-hills about 270 miles' distant from
Mount Alexander, 15 miles south of the
river Murray, at Albury, and near the river
Ovens, or Burwang.
At the Eureka diggings (nine miles from
Ballarat Proper), which were discovered in
May and at the beginning of June, the
average daily earnings were three ounces
eacli man. At other workings, owing to
the unusually severe rains, one ounce was
a fair average, though there were instances
The enhancement of price by this enor-
mous cost for freight is shown by a corre-
spondent from Melbourne, dated July 30th,
1852, and who says, that h.e sold at the
diggings — flour £16 a bag — for which he
had given £3 at Melbourne ; sugar, which
had cost him 3c?. per lb., he disposed of for
Is. 6^., " and so on." Two horses, a cart,
and harness purchased for £80, to convey
the goods, were sold when the work was
completed for £120. A punt on the river,
near Geelong, charged Qd. for each pas-
sengei', and 6s. for a bullock team, to be
conveyed a distance of but a few yards.
At Melbourne, wages of artizans ranged
from €4 to £6 a week with lodging and
rations. Even unskilled labourers received
on shore 50s. to 55s. a week with rations,
and on board ship still more. Waiters at
of parties raising thirty ounces and upwards | hotels were remunerated with £4 5s. to
in a day. During the third week in May,
a terrific storm occurred and continued for
several days ; the roads were completely
broken up by the floods, and several im-
portant bridges carried away. Many hun-
dred drays and carts scattered along the
line were brought to a stand-still. The
weekly escort en route from Mount Alex-
ander to Melbourne with 31,000 oz. of
gold were overtaken by the tempest; the
guards were unprovided with shelter, and
for days indeed almost without food, but
they manfully stood by tlie gold cart for
seven days and nights, and finally brought
it by a circuitous route in safety to Mel-
bourne. The price of provisions rose to an
unprecedented height, as carriage upon the
main lines of road became an affair of great
difficulty.
During May and June, wages at Mount
Alexander were — for tent-keepers, 10s. ; for
common labourers, 10s. to 16s. ; carters,
£6 a week with perquisites. Postmen had
their wages increased from 6s. to 10s, a day.
At the Victoria Registry office, Melbourne,
the wages offered were : —
" Mamed couples, as house servants for country-
hotels, See; can have engagements at 65/, to 70/. per
annum, with rations; shepherds, 38/.; hut-keepers,
30/.; bullock drivers, 50/., or by the week, 1/, 10s.,
and on the roads from 3/, to 4/. ; farm servants, 50/.
per annum, and 1/. 10s. by the week; bush carpen-
ters, 21. per week ; cooks for inns, 1/. 10s. to 'It. per
week; general servants, 40/. per annum, all includ
ing rations. Maid-servants can have engagements at
24/. to 30/., house-maids at 23/., nurse-maids, 18/.,
cooks and laundresses, 24/. including rations." — The
landing charges for goods at Melbourne was fre-
quently six or seven times the cost of freight from
England, so inordinately had everything been en-
hanced.
A local writer thus comments on the state
of things at this period : —
"Next to an efficient police force an imjiortation
of female servants is urgently wanted in Victoria.
GREAT YIELD OF GOLD AT VICTORIA, IN JUNE AND JULY 1852. 423
Ladies must do their own household work, or be ex-
posed to the double annoyance of paying high wages
and having to put up with a great deal of incom-
petence. Men have flocked into the colony by thou-
sands, but the women of England have been less
migratory, and as successful diggers usually get
married as fast as circumstances permit, the few
women who arrive are usually soon removed from
servitude and placed at the head of some rough es-
tablishment at the diggings or in the bush. "\Ve
are assured that the splendour of a digger's wed-
ding is sometimes rather startling. Young Irish
orphan girls, who scarcely knew the luxury of a
shoe until they put their bare feet on the soil of
Victoria, lavish money in white satin at 10s. or 12s.
a-yard for their bridal dresses, and flaunt out of the
shop slamming the door, because the unfortunate
storekeeper does not keep the real shawls at ten
guineas a-piece. What a blessing for our London
shop-keepers if they could but catch such custo-
mers !"
Flour was £2o a ton ; the 4-lb. loaf, \s. 4d. ;
beef or mutton, 6d. ; pork and bacon, 2^.
per lb. Cauliflowers, Is. each ; cabbages.
Is. ; tux'nips, 4s. per dozen ; carrots, 3^. per
dozen ; parsnips, 4s. ; onions, 4d. per lb. ;
potatoes, 12s. per cwt. ; new ditto, 6d. per
lb. ; green peas, 1^. 3d. per quart, unshelled j
turkeys, 205. each ; geese, the same ; ducks,
125, per pair; fowls, the same; eggs, 3^. per
dozen; ham, 3^. per lb.; milk (and water),
1*. 4d. per quart; one "pennorth" of water-
cresses. Is. 6d. ; radishes, 1^. per dozen ;
" three-pennyworth " of greens, 2s. ; tea,
1^. 6d. to 2s.; sugar, Sd. to 3hd.; coffee,
1*. 6d. ; English cheese, 2^. 6d. ; butter,
25. 6d. to Ss. 6d. ; potatoes, 2d. ; tobacco,
6*. ; candles, 8f/. to Is. 6d. per lb. "Whiskey,
55. ; gin, 45. 6d. ; brandy, 175. 6d. per gal ;
port, 255. to 405. ; and bottled beer or porter,
125. to 155. a dozen. At hotel — board,
105 ; bed-room, 25. 6d. a day. Keep of
horse, 505. to 6O5. a week. A small dwell-
ing-house, formerly worth ^620, would now
sell for jE150. Land, like everything else,
brought enormous prices. Shop frontage
in the best situation in Melbourne, with a
depth of 30 feet, sold for £210 per foot.
Water-carriers were the most money-mak-
ing people, except the proprietors of the
lowest class of public houses — for the " good-
will'' of M'hicli thousands of pounds were
given — as the sale of spirits and fermented
liquors was enormous.
In June, the population scattered within
the extended limits of the gold-fields, over
the adjacent country and along the great
lines of thoroughfare, was estimated at be-
tween forty and fifty thoussmd, (including
women and children,) and the number of
licenses issued 25,734. The governor bore
the following testimony as to their conduct,
in a despatch to the secretary of state
(No. 76), July 8th, 1852:
" Nothing can better show the power of the law,
and the willingness with which the majority seek, by
ready compliance with the regulations, to come un-
der its protection, than the fact, that, under circum-
stances of such comparative confusion, and of so
much temptation and excitement, and with such
seeming disproportion in the means employed to
ensure obedience, so large a number of licences are
recorded. On all hands it must be considered that
the population of the workings, taken as a whole,
are as orderly and well-disposed as can be met with
in any part of the colony. The comparative rarity
of instances of grave outrage or of capital crime is
a subject of great gratitude to God."*
Notwithstanding the severe hardships en-
dured, the season was not generally un-
healthy; low fever, dysentery, and diarr-
hoea prevailed to some extent, which was
not surprising, considering the imperfect
shelter and irregular diet and drink of
the mining population.
The wintry rains of June, July, and
August, caused great impediments to the
miners, and materially diminished the means
of transit ; nevertheless, during the last
week in July, Mount Alexander sent down
to Geelong, 22,402 oz. ; on the 3rd of Au-
gust, to Melbourne, 18,145 oz. ; and, on the
Monday and Thursday following, 71,145 and
18,174 oz. ; making a total of 107,384 oz.,
from one locality, in the first seven days of
August. This formed only a part of the
result of all the diggings. On a rough cal-
culation it was estimated that their yield, dm--
ing the month of August, was 246,000 oz.
Many immigrants crossed overland from
Adelaide to the diggings ; they are described
as enterprising, honest, sturdy, hard-work-
ing men ; and to these qualities, in addition
to the mining skill of several, their extraor-
dinary good fortune was justlv ascribed.
Gold, to the value of £6^000' (150 Ibs.'-
weight), was obtained in one day in July,
between breakfast and dinner, by a ]3arty of
Adelaide miners, four in number, who had
gone "prospecting" on a flat between Ade-
laide gully and Wattle-tree flat, on the road
leading from Forest's to Fryer's Creek.
Other holes were immediately sunk, closely
adjoining the lucky claim, and here the
daily yield, for some time, averaged G to
9 lbs. '-weight : many procured 9, 12, and
20 lbs. '-weight in jjockets ; and, in August,
7 tons were lying at Adelaide gully, for
want of horses to convey it to Melbourne.
At Neio Bendigo Flat, Forest Creek,
• Blue Book, 28th February, 1853, p. 210.
42-1
ENCAMPMENT AT MOUNT ALEXANDER IN 1852.
during the same mouth, one party took
12 lbs. from one hole ; and four Germans
gained 21 lbs. in a week. At Donkey gully,
in the upper part of this creek, 100 oz.
were procured in one week, and many of
the deserted holes in this vicinity were being
re-worked and " doing well." A set of Cum-
berland men, who worked hard, and were
very unfortunate for two months, at last hit
on a spot where they procured £180 worth
of gold from one hole. In another place they
obtaiued at the rate of =€50 worth from each
square foot of area. The Bendigo hills were
at this time covered with snow, which had
fallen around, to the depth of seven feet,
spoiling, by the floods, the labours of the
people.
The skilled Cornish miners introduced an
improved mode of working. At the Eureka
Diggings, in Boningyong gully, the miners
made circular holes, fifty feet deep, and
obtaiued a steady yield; occasionally there
were large "finds:" the gold was very
beautiful and pure, but more ragged than
that of Ballarat. One nugget found weighed
102 ozs., freed from all impurities : it re-
sembled in shape a cramped hand, and
^6330 was oflfered for it. The diggers, at
the end of August, were established here in
commodious tents, and huts and stores had
been formed.
The encampment at Mount Alexander
was a singular sight; each tent, separated
from its neighbour by an interval of twenty
yards, and distinguished by various marks
sticking out of the top — viz., flags, handker-
chiefs, old hats, boots, shoes, bones, &c. —
whatever, in fact, would enable the owner
to recognize his home. At night, it might be
supposed that a battle was raging, from the
incessant discharge of six-barrel revolvers
and all sorts of fire-arms, by the inmates,
in order to intimidate pilferers, and to
show that the inmates were on the alert.
Should a thief be shot, notice was given to
the police, and commissioner; an enquiry
and depositions followed, and then the
body of the culprit was buried in the nearest
hole.
Every day added largely to the popula-
tion. I find in the returns as many as
4,283 persons arriving at INIelbourne during
the last week in July. I hope to be able to
furnish a periodical statement of immigra-
tion in the appendix.
As before remarked, the temptation to
seamen to desert from their ships at Mel-
bourne was irresistible : the majority of
masters made up their minds at once as to
the hopelessness of restraining their men,
or of endeavouring to enforce a strict obser-
vance of their original engagements. Fair
words or the application of coercive mea-
sures failed in securing more than the
discharge of the cargoes of their respective
vessels ; and, when this was accomplished,
most masters resigned themselves to the
exigencies of their position. Some not only
released the sailors from their articles of
agreement, but good-humouredly assisted in
making up parties for the gold-fields, hoping
that their men, when disappointed, (as was
the case with the Statesman), might return,
or that, when ready for sailing, they might be
able to collect a crew for the voyage.
There was a harbour -master, marine-
magistrate, and water-police at Melbourne ;
but no reliance could be placed on the
latter : the men were constantly changing,
and open to bribery, and recruited from the
very class they were required to coerce;
some deserters and offenders were appre-
hended, convicted, and punished; but their
number bore a small proportion to that of
the runaways. The great disparity of wages
between the European (£2 to £2 \Qs.) and
colonial (£10 to £12 a month) shipping
naturally tended to increase the number of
absconders from the former : and, when a
few coasting trips were made, an able-
bodied seaman, on returning to Melbourne
after the departure of his original ship,
could readily obtain £50, and, in some
cases as high as £70, for the run to Eng-
land— a voyage of 90 to 120 days. The
presence of a ship of war in the harbour
would, at this critical period, have been of
great service to the local government and
mercantile interests.
On the 9th of August the number of
vessels in Hobson's Bay was 48 ; the total
number of crews on board, at the period of
their arrival, was 1,107 ; the number on
board on the above date was 435. But this
very inadequately shows the desertions, as
many of the colonial traders retained their
crews. On examining the state of the Eu-
ropean vessels, I find there were 22 ships
from the United Kingdom, whose crews, on
arrival, mustered 697 : on the 9th of Au-
gust, there were on board only 228 remain-
ing. Two of those vessels had arrived in
August, eight in July, five in June, and
others at more distant intervals ; some, ixi-
deed, had been six months '' waiting for
hands" — all having deserted. Of forty men
EXTRAVAGANCE AND DEBAUCHERY AT MELBOURNE.
425
on board the Duke of Bedford (900 tons)
when she came into port (February 4th,
1852), thirty had deserted before the 9th
of August. The proportions varied in other
vessels, seldom one-half remaining — more
frequently one-third or one-fourth ; and, in
a few cases, but one or two of the crew con-
tinued faithful to their engagements.
Between January and August, 1852,
110 vessels cleared from Melbourne, who
were sbort of their full complement of crew
to the number of 962. From the 1st of
April to 31st of July, only twenty-four de-
serters were recaptured : ninety-four were
imprisoned for refusal of duty ; and but
eighteen returned to their duty.
There was no room in Melbourne or
Geelong for the immense numbers who
flocked to the colony, and from 5.000 to
6,000 people were obliged to live in about
500 tents at a spot denominated Canvas
Town, in the vicinity of Melbourne, where
the local authorities exacted a rent of 5^. a
week for each tent, and prohibited the placing
of even a few boards on the damp ground.
A sort of Rag Fair was established, where
the emigrants might sell their little stock
or surplus of clothing, bedding, or books,
and anything they possessed which might
enable them to live; but the local gov-
ernment prohibited this, opened a " rag
fair" on its own ground, and char^^ed £\
a week for a small standing. Within a
few days after this harsh proceeding the
Market-house of Melbourne was burnt, as
is supposed, by an incendiary, and the city
itself had a narrow escape from a conflagra-
tion similar to those which occurred at San
Francisco and Sacramento.
Here it may be useful to advert to some
features characteristic of a population sud-
denly enriched. No language would convey
a full idea of the extravagance and waste of
money by men, who had never previously
been possessed of more than a few shillings
at a time, but who now found themselves
the owners of thousands of pounds. The
weddings at Melbourne afl'orded opportu-
nities for the largest profusion; not only
in the purchase of the richest silks, satins,
velvets, feathers, ribbons, mock jewellery,
&c., for persons, many of whom had been
servants the week before, but in lavishing
wines of the most expensive kind, and wed-
ding-cakes, which cost from £5 to €10 each,
on all who would partake of the wild hospi-
tality of the bridegrooms. Several pounds
would be paid for a two-horse fly to drive
DIV. III. 3 G
a wedding party, all mad with drink, about
the town for a few hours — the " cabbee,"
horses, and even the wheels of the vehicle
being decorated with bridal " favours," in
the shape of costly white and bright-coloured
ribbons. These weddings not unfrequently
cost from £300 to £500.
The most absurd stories are related by
credible witnesses of these extravagancies;
for instance, if £4 were asked for a wedding-
cake of six or eight inches diameter, the
purchaser would not unfrequently throw
down a £o note and snatch up a handful
of gingerbread-nuts as the " change :" in-
stances are recorded of a bank-note being
chumped up in a sandwich to show con-
tempt for money. In the hotels or inns
" diggers" struggled, even to blows, who
should pay for wine in the public rooms
to be oftered to all comers, strangers or
otherwise. On one occasion, two dig-
gers ordered 100 noblers (glasses) of
brandy to be placed on the green near
Melbourne, and invited every one who
passed to drink. Crowns, half-crowns, and
nuggets were showered from the boxes on
the boards of the theatre, for tawdry
actors, whenever some clap-trap sentiment
was uttered.
The more dissolute gave their gold to the
landlord of a low " pot-house," with the in-
tention to drink it out, and were soon told
the score was finished — they then went back
to the gold-fields as poor as when they ar-
rived in the colony. A large amount of
money deposited in the joint-stock and
savings' banks (for which the depositors
frequently refused a pass-book, under an
impression that it was something equiva-
lent to a convict's ticket-of-Ieave), will never
be claimed, as the owners drank themselves
to death, perished from accident or violence,
or died of disease and without any known
heirs. Those who saved their earnings to
invest in land or houses, or in business,
were the minority ; but they soon acquired
an independence for life, especially by the
construction of tenements — as rents were
asked for mere hovels which would not
have been demanded for handsome man-
sions in any of the European capitals.
That the heinous vice of intemperance —
the parent of innumerable crimes — prevails
in some of the large towns of Australia is
undoubtedly too true, but the sudden acqui-
sition of wealth, the absence of those reli-
gious and moral restraints which induce
men to place a curb on their passions, and
426 DRUNKENNESS IN AUSTRALIA AND SOBRIETY IN AMERICA.
the want of that christian instruction, ac-
companied by literary institutions, which
supply pure sources of pleasure, may explain
the causes of this destructive, debasing, and
unmanly vice.* Yet, when we see at the
present moment, that the king of Sweden
and the Lutheran clergy of that country
are unable to check the use of intoxicating
liquors which is rapidly destroying an entire
nation, whose consumption averages for each
man, woman, and child in the kingdom six
gallons, or thirty-six bottles of ardent spi-
rits— and that in Scotland the adult male
population are estimated to consume eleven
gallons, or sixty-six bottles annually,t we
should hesitate before casting indiscriminate
censure on the Australian. It is utterly
impossible that there should have been such
continuous industry at the gold-fields, if
drunkenness had been the prevailing habit
of the labourers. Since writing this, I ob-
serve that Mr. Westgarth, who visited
Mount Alexander and Bendigo in 1852,
adverts to the vigilance of the police in
checking illicit grog-selling, every one
caught doing so being fined j850, of which
sum half went to the informer ; and he
adds, " we reflected with satisfaction that
we had not noticed a single drunken man
upon the diggings ; and we learned after-
wards that this sobriety, although not en-
tirely without exceptions, was sufficiently
general to have become quite a proverbial
feature of the gold-fields. J"
That inebriety occurs extensively in
Sydney and in Melbourne — as it does
in London, Liverpool, Dublin, and Glas-
gow, is quite another question : yet, while
admitting such to be the case, there is
a hope of amendment. Boston was, not
long since, conspicuous among the New
England states of America for drunken-
* The Lotidon Times of loth December, 1853,
has a letter from an evidently well-informed corres-
pondent who thus expresses himself on the preva-
lence of this fearful vice in England at the present
moment : — " So intolerable is the lust and craving
of those who have been guilty of habituating them-
selves to the use of the unnatural stimulus of ardent
spirits that, as we sometimes see, there is nothing
they will not sacrifice — wife, children, mother, father
— all and everything — to appease their physical and
mental agonies, nervous irritation, remorse, shame,
and conscious degradation ; and there is not a re-
claimed drunkard but will tell us that, under these
horrid sufferings, if they were certain of being the
next moment consigned to the flames of endless tor-
ment, they must and would have the fatal draught ;
for their state is a hell, beyond which they can con-
ceive of nothing else equal, much less greater. There
is no magic, no mysterious ' portent' in these dread-
ness : Channing and other good men de-
plored the evil, and struggled to implant a
religious principle, which, with the divine
blessing, can alone eradicate this seductive
vice. In 1851, I dined with the mayor,
corporation, and principal citizens of Boston,
at Old Eaneuil Hall, on the 4th of July, at
the annual commemoration of the " Declara-
tion of Independence.^^ About one thou-
sand persons sat down to a sumptuous enter-
tainment, which would not have disgraced
the banquetting-room at Guildhall, London ;
but there was not a drop of wine, beer or
spirits on the tables, before, during, or after
dinner, and there was no want of festivity,
or of post prandial eloquence.
At the Irving House, New York, where
about 400 persons daily dined, I observed
that no wine was drank, but by a few
English travellers. The same sobriety was
noted in other parts of the " Union," at
hotels, at private houses, and on board the
steam -boats ; and I was assured that this
remarkable national change had taken place
within the last few years. There is, there-
fore, a hope that the Australians, who have
several points of character in common with
our trans-Atlantic brethren, will imitate
their good example in this respect — and
cease to put an enemy in their mouths to
steal away their brains ; and what is of in-
finitely more consequence, to destroy their
sense of responsibility as immortal beings.
To return to our more immediate sub-
ject : — A great object of attraction was the
gold-brokers^ shops, where large glass vases
were to be seen filled with the " dust," nug-
gets of a pound weight and upwards, placed
separate or intermingled with rolls of
bank-notes and piles of sovereigns, all re-
flected by a mirror; the value in the
window being not unfrequently from eight
ful crimes — it is the simplest possible case of cause
and effect. Gin and crime ! separate them if you
can. The awful vice of drinking ardent spirits is, in
spite of our prosperity, dragging down a very large
proportion of our population into the depths of phy-
sical, moral, and social degradation and misery, the
reaction of which will one day come with frightful,
but retributive vengeance, upon our highly-favoured
but gin-stricken country. Do our ' strikes' really
arise from the want of the means of subsistence,
apart from the money spent in gin-drinking — apart
from indulgence in that damning vice which year
after year spreads itself wider and wider, and in-
creases in intensity from generation to generation."
t A large proportion of this allowance is con-
sumed by women of the poorer class, who drink too
generally whenever they can get the poison.
X Victoria, by William Westgarth, late member of
Legislative Council. Edinburgh, 1853, p. 237.
GOLD-BUYING AND MANUFACTURING FRAUDS IN AUSTRALIA. 427
to ten thousand pounds. The tricks, fraud
and robbery practised by some of the gold-
brokers, enabled them to acquire rapid
fortunes, at the expense of miners, who
knew nothing of reading, writing, or arith-
metic. An eye-witness thus describes a not
unusual scene .- —
" A digger goes into one of these offices with his
bag of dust and nuggets, which the broker requests
him to empty on a large sheet of whity-brown
or other large paper; he then begins a vigorous
'rousing' with his fingers and a magnet to extract
the ironstone from among it, and, a good deal of
blowing and shaking having been gone through in
a careless off-hand manner, he empties the lot into
the scale. ' Seven and four is eight, eight and three
is eleven, eleven and four is fourteen ; fourteen
ounces, four pennyweights and a-half, at 3/. 7s. an
ounce, is 43/. ; there's a check, sir.' Now, all this
shaking, &c., is to make a portion of the gold pass
through two nicks each in two sheets of paper.
When he takes it to put the gold into the scale he
shifts the two sheets, so that the nicks are no longer
over each other, and consequently cannot be seen,
even if the seller has any suspicion. Sometimes,
after shaking and blowing the gold in the above
manner, he offers 2s. per ounce less than the digger
can get anywhere else, who of course declines sel-
ling, and goes away with an ounce or so less than he
came with. Some never buy an ounce, but have a
pound or two to sell at the end of a week. Some
scales have the beam divided unequally, so that it
takes a quarter of an ounce to turn the scale. If
one half of the beam is the 16th of an inch longer
than the other it will take this. The way to beat
them at this work is to reverse the gold and weights
from one scale to the other.
The old adage, "all is not gold that
glitters," proved true even at Melbourne.
Considerable quantities of the precious me-
tal, largely alloyed, and of brass nuggets elec-
trotyped, were " manufactured" at Birming-
ham for Australia. One party is reported
to have made £100,000 by this nefarious
transaction. A joint-stock bank lost, it is
said, £50,000, by its dealings in the "Brum-
magem pinchbeck."
The activity of trade was remarkable ;
the entire population of ^lelbourne, ex-
cepting the officials, was actively engaged in
buying and selling, and whether as vendors
or vendees, realised excessive profits. Lai-ge
fortunes were made in a short time by store
and shop-keepers, and active and discreet
gold buyers were equally successful. Two
or three grocers in Melbourne were known
to be making from £25,000 to £30,000
per annum. Many butchers became rapidly
rich, and bakers did a large amount of
business, as did also shoe-makers, tailors,
linen-drapers and milliners. An itinerant
knife and scissor-grinder (the first seen in
Victoria), and a locomotive cobbler, made
each at the rate of £400 or £500 a-year.
The owners of waggons were, to use a com-
mon expression, " coining money." During
six months of winter and rain in 1852, no
less than £750,000 was paid for the mere
carriage of the necessaries of life (excluding
meat, supplied from the squatting stations),
from Melbourne to the northern gold-fields,
where a tent full of stores was only second
to a tent full of gold. Flour, which cost at
Melbourne £24- a-ton, sold at the diggings
at the rate of £200 a-ton ; the rate of car-
riage having risen successively, as the rains
set in, from £10, £20, £80, £100, £120,
to even £150 per ton. The newspapers
afford an illustration of general auction-
eering. A copy of the Melbourne Argus
(a daily paper of fifty-six columns) , contains
650 advertisements, many of them very
long. Among the more prominent might
be noticed sales of — mining boots, mining
tools ; cradles, picks, hoes, shovels and
prospecting pans ; iron houses and can-
vass tenements ; dresses of every possible
variety and price; piano- fortes ; jewellery;
arms, offensive and defensive : playing-cards
and dice; saddlery, dressing-cases, musical
snuff-boxes, perfumery, silks, satins, laces
and embroidery ; terra-cotta figures and
bronzed groups ; patent medicines ; furni-
ture; ironmongery; wines, beer and spirits;
animal, vegetable and piscatory food ; ship
chandlery; four-in-hand mail-carts — and an
innumerable list of other articles.
Notwithstanding the arrival of five to six
thousand emigrants monthly, there was still
an enormous demand for labour; but in
a country, where if a man will not work
neither shall he eat, there was of course dis-
tress— among the so-called "gentlemanly"
— no capital — no labour people ; but for the
true manly spirit, that disdained to feed on
the toil of others, and considered begging a
disgrace, there was no want of remunerative
employment. Here is a specimen of what
gentle blood and right feeling will induce a
properly-educated Englishman to do, rather
than seek eleemosynary aid ; the writer, after
paying all expenses, found himself on the
sandy beach of Port Phillip — moneyless,
houseless, even tentless — an awkward "fix,"
as the Yankees would term it. He raised
£9 10^. on some eye-shades, bought a share
in a boat, and obtained a license as a water-
man, to land passengers and goods from
the ships in harbour, and was not above
doing anything to pick up a shilling, such as
carrying a box, go of an errand, and help to
r —
1 428
HEROES AND HEROINES AT THE DIGGINGS.
dig the foundation of a house. But duck
shooting, which had been a pastime in Eng-
land, here added to his income ; and the
mode in which it was accomplished is thus
pleasantly described in a letter to his friends
in England, from his "tent and home on
the sandy beach of Port Phillip :" —
" I start off in the afternoon for one of the nu-
raerous lagoons, situated from five to ten miles off,
and take with me on my back, besides my gun, a
blanket, hook-pot, pannikin, tea and sugar, bread,
&c. On my road I often get stuck in a bog or lost
in bush ; but, ruldesperajidum, on I go, and at length
reach my destination. At sunset I take my station
in some thick reeds — perhaps up to my hips in mud
and water, and there aMait the evening flight of the
ducks, teal, black swans, &c. At last, bang ! bang !
goes old Joe Manton ; and splash, splash, tumble the
ducks into the lake. Then for an hour its load and
fire, and then gather together the dying and the
dead. I now try and find out a soft place under
some friendly gum-tree, light a fire, make a cup
of tea (when I was on board ship I thought I
should become a solid lump of ' plum duff";' now I
really believe I shall be converted into a huge tea-
pot, for I drink tea by the quart — not the cup) — roll
myself in my blanket, d the ants and musqui-
toes, and off" to sleep. Up again in the morning be-
fore the sun, take my place in the rushes, see the
ducks turn out to wash their faces, and give them a
hearty salute; after which, pack up and away to
Melbourne, call at the clubs and hotels, and sell my
ducks ; and if I fail there, its ' Duck, O ! Wild duck !
Widgeon or Wild-fowl !' in the streets ; and the best
of all is, this kind of sport pays at 18s. a-pair for
ducks, '20s. a-goose, 5s. and 6s. per pair for teal — a
good night's work tells up." Fishing before sun-
rise was also profitable, as 20s. a dozen, large and
small, was the price. The writer then adds, " Now,
your poor, proud man won't do this, because, faith,
he never did such a thing in England, and its so
low to sell ducks, and therefore he starves, and no-
body pities him, and he either turns shepherd in the
bush or works his way home again as a ship's-
steward."
Subsequently he adds, —
" For the working-man this country is the finest
in the world, and he is sure of a fortune if he does
not take to ' nobblers' (small glasses of brandy or
rum.) Drunkenness is the very curse of the country.
Tell any young man you know who thinks of com-
ing here to think well before he leaves England,
and ask himself if he can submit to work like a com-
mon labourer, or act as a porter or shopman, sleep
under a tree, and put up with every sort of hardship
and privation. If so, let him come ; if not, for God's
sake, let him stay at home. Thousands of gentle-
manly young men are next to starving, and would
gladly return. I fear the finding of the great nugget
at Ballarat will cause another rush from England. I
hope not, for none others are wanted here but work-
men. I start, I hope, for the mines on Thursday. I
don't think you would know me in my present
rough dress, long beard and moustachios, and sun-
burnt api)earance. I expect after six months at the
diggings to return as yellow as gamboge and dry as
a mummy, as is the usual appearance of the diggers.
Had I brought a book on electro-biology out with
me and some discs, so as to get up a lecture, I could
have made a fortune. As it is, knowing something
about it, I am pressed to give a lecture. I can get
an engagement as comic singer at concerts at 61. per
week, and have been advised to accept it. If I find
the diggings a failure I think I shall accept the
off"er."
But amidst all the trafficking and.
knavery — the wealth-getting, as well as the
struggling for existence, there was some
romance : here is an account of a young,
gentle-born, and highly-educated lady, who,
with an only brother, were suddenly deprived
of all the luxuries of life, and left orphans
with only £300, as the wreck of large ex-
pectations. The brother had passed through
college with credit, was a poet, as well as a
bold huntsman ; the sister had learned
French and German, was a fair musical
composer, and had written ten chapters of
a novel, but broke down in her story from
being unable to get her herione out of a
terrible scrape. They were both called
on at a moment when their time was
being pleasantly but not profitably spent, to
fight the stern battle of life, and to cast
aside romance for reality. Possessed of
health and energy, and with a strong and
enduring attachment for each other, they
resolved, with their sole remnant of so much
prosperity and so little prudence, to use the
.€300 as a means of prosecuting their for-
tunes together, and along with some equally
respectable, but impoverished friends, in
Australia. The heroine felt it would be
imprudent to accompany her brother and
friends to the diggings in her own proper
costume and character, and she thus de-
scribes the change which took place, and
the results : —
" I cut my hair into a very masculine fashion ; 1
purchased a broad felt hat, a sort of tunic or smock
of coarse blue cloth, trousers to conform, boots of a
miner, and thus parting with my sex for a season (I
hoped a better one), behold me an accomplished
candidate for mining operations and all the perils
and inconveniences they might be supposed to bring.
I could not bear to be separated from Frank, and we
all felt that 1 should be safer in my male attire than
if I exposed myself to the dangers of the route and
residence in my proper guise. AVe have now been
nine weeks absent from Melbourne, and have tried
three localities, at the latter of which we have been
most fortunate. We are near water (a first-rate
article), and our tent is pitched on the side of as
pretty a valley as you could wish to visit. I have
for myself a sort of ' supplementary canvas chamber,'
in which I sleep, cook, wash clothes — that is, my own
and Frank's — and keep watch and ward over heaps
of gold dust and ' nuggets,' the sight and touch of
which inspirit me when I grow dull, which I seldom
do, for I have constant ' droppers in ;' and, to own
the truth, even in mv palmiest days, I never was
AN ATTACK BY BUSH-BANGERS— NOVEMBER, 1852.
429
treated with greater courtesy or respect. Of course,
my sex is generally known. I am called ' Mr. Harry'
(an abbreviation for Harriet) ; but no one intrudes
the more on that account. In fact, I have become
a sort of * necessity,' as I am always ready to do a
good turn — the great secret, after all, of social suc-
cess ; and I never refuse to oblige a ' neighbour,' be
the trouble what it may. The consequences are plea-
sant enough. Many a ' nugget' is thrust on me
whether I will or no, in return for cooking a pud-
ding or darning a shirt, and if all the cooks and
sempstresses in the world were as splendidly paid as
I am, the Song of the Shirt would never have been
written, at all events. My own hoard amounts now
to about 10 lb. of gold, and if I go on accumulating,
even the richest heiress in my family in former days
will be left immeasurably behind. Sometimes, when
I have a few idle hours, I accompany Frank and his
comrades to the diggings, and it is a rare thing to
•watch the avidity with which every ' bucket' is
raised, washed, examined, and commented upon.
Wild the life is, certainly, but full of excitement and
hope ; and, strange as it is, I almost fear to tell
you, that I do not wish it to end ! You can hardly
conceive what a merry company gather together in
our tent every evening, or how pleasantly the hours
pass. Tea and coffee we have in plenty, for every
one brings a hoard, and milk we manage to obtain,
for among us we have imported two cows, which
cost us about 50Z. each, but that is a mere trifle.
Cake of A^arious kinds I manufacture, thanks to old
Betsy D for teaching me ; and as for liquor, we
sometimes have a little wine, brandy, or arrack, and
sometimes not. And then we dance to the music of
a German flute, played by a real German, or we sing
glees and quartetts, or talk of Mocre, Byron, Burns,
Goethe, ' Shakspeare and the musical glasses,' &c.,
until midnight, and sometimes long after it. As for
suitors, I have them in plenty, and not despicable
ones either, I assure you."
In September tlie lieutenant-governor
reported the population at the gold-fields as
about 50,000 (comprising 25,000 licenses),
and added that " few cases of serious dis-
order (crime) have been recorded, and it
may be questioned whether they exceed,
if they even equal, the number which migtit
be found to exist in the^ same amount of
population engaged in more settled pur-
suits." In a quarrel between a party of
Irish and ethers, a leader of the distur-
bance was killed J but order was imme-
diately restored, and a coroner's jury re-
turned a verdict of "justifiable homicide.''
Escaped convicts, and other dangerous
characters from Van Diemen's Land, and
some deserters from the troops, caused
the formation of gangs of bush-rangers, well
mounted and armed, who committed various
robberies on the outskirts of the gold-fields,
on the main roads, and even in the suburbs
of Melbourne. Not uufrequently the rob-
bers tied their victims to a tree, and left
them to perish or to the chance of some
passing traveller hearing their cries. Some-
times the miners, who were generally well-
armed, exchanged shots with the robbers,
and beat off" their assailants. When the
thieves were captured, they frequently ma-
naged to escape, eithcp- through the negli-
gence or cupidity of an ineffective, inex-
perienced, and ill-remunerated police.
A description of an attack by bush-rangers
(16th Nov.) on a party of two overseers,
three carters, and a Mr. Wryghte, proceed-
ing with some drays, and valuable rams, sent
from England to the station of a public
company on Edward River, is thus given :
" Nothing of moment disturbed the progress of
our journey until Me had reached about twelve miles
from Maiden's Punt (on the river Murray.) AVe
halted for refreshment, and while in the act of pro-
curing it we observed, about fifty paces behind us, a
party of five mounted men riding towards us at a
reckless pace, which immediately roused our suspi-
cion as to their character. We had, however, no
sooner done so than they had ridden into the midst
of us with a brace of revolvers in each of their hands.
The first words that passed between us were an in-
quiry, from him who appeared to be their leader, of
how far we were from the next punt : but before the
question could be answered, a demand was made
upon Mr. "Wryghte to drop his gun (which he
held at the ' order'), and before it could possibly
be complied with one of the ruffians shot him, aim-
ing, as I conceive, at his breast ; but in consequence
of the uneasiness of his horse the ball entered a little
above the ankle, passing downwards and coming out
about the centre of the heel. Poor Wryghte of
course immediately dropped his gun, and was
marched, with the rest of us, about 50 yards to
the left of the drays. We then were ordered, with
the most horrible oaths and execrations, to lie on
our backs. By the orders of the captain one of the
party dismounted, as well as himself, while the
others held revolvers in their hands directed to the
out-stretched party. The captain then inquired of
each of us in turn his name, who he was, and whi-
ther he was going — at the same time searching and
depriving us of all our money and valuables. The
captain then proceeded to the drays, accompanied
by two of his men, and overhauled everything,
emptying packages. The position of the road was
well-adapted to their purpose — a wide plain sur-
rounded by bush, commanding a view, up and down,
for miles. The bush-rangers, finding a keg of brandy
belonging to the carters, stove it in and commenced
drinking. All now became one confused scene of
drinking, cursing, laughing, joking, and prancing
about, the captain the while conversing with us as to
how he ' had been brought to such a pitch by the
government oflicials.' After unharnessing the horses,
scattering everything about the plain, and threaten-
to shoot the nims or let them loose — which at our
earnest entreaties they desisted from — oiders were
given to remount, and the ruffians rode off with all
the booty they could carry in their saddle bags.
During this affair several shots v/ere fired by the
same man, who was only restrained from murdering
the whole of us by the determined threats of the
leader to blow his brains out. The 200 miles of
country which I have just travelled from Melbourne
nither seem to me the most beautiful that man could
430 PROPERTY FOUND ON DRUNKARDS— WEALTH OF ROBBERS.
wish to live in, yet in all that distance no sign of
protection is given either to the squatter or the
traveller."
In many instances £100 was offered by a
prisoner to a constable to sanction his es-
cape ; in the case of a run-away convict
from Van Diemen's Land, ^8 1,000 was
offered for his liberty. The quantity of
property found on the persons of drunkards
and others committed to the custody of the
police of Melbourne, was extraordinary. In
an account furnished by the police superin-
tendent, it appears that between the 1st of
July and the 1st of November, cash was
taken from the pockets of 175 committals
to the amount of upwards of j63,400,* inde-
pendent of bank cheques, bills of exchange,
bags of gold, nuggets, gold receipts, watches,
(nineteen in number,) gold chains, rings,
jewellery, &c. On one " breach of the
peace" .£320 was found; on a drunkard,
nine pounds three ounces of gold ; on a bur-
glar, £170; on a felon, £129; and on ano-
ther fourteen nuggets; on a horse-stealer,
a bag of gold ; on a disturber of the peace,
£11.2; on a highway robber, a purse of
gold, and £58; on a pick-pocket, a watch,
three nuggets, and £dt 7s. Qd. The drun-
kards had generally large sums of money,
and gold watches, guard-chains and seals.
As an illustration of the state of things,
police-superintendaut Sturt reported to the
governor the following case : —
" William Hatfield, prisoner of the crown, arrived
per ship Manchester, in 1843. Free on arrival. Con-
victed of felonj- at the Circuit Court held at Geelong
on the 22nd February, 1851, and sentenced to twelve
months' hard labour in the gaol at Melbourne. Con-
victed at the Supreme Court at Melbourne, 2Sth
May 1852, of ' stealing from a dwelling-house,' and
sentenced to ten years' labour on the roads of the
colony. The case of Hatfield is only an extraordi-
nary instance of what occurs every day. Scarcely a
thief, vagrant, or drunkard that is picked up during
the twenty-four hours but what money is found on
them, in repeated instances varying from 10/. to
100/. ; with such a state of things it can hardly be
deemed surprising that the organization of an effec-
tive police should be found a matter of very great diffi-
culty. AVilliam Hatfield was, about four months
ago, undergoing a sentence in the gaol for a felony ;
at which time I had cause to punish him for stealing
a handkerchief from a fellow-prisoner. He was dis-
charged about three months ago, receiving from the
gaoler 50/. which he had left iii his hands when first
imprisoned. It appears that he staid but a short
time in Melbourne ; and after supplying himself
with numbers of rings and other trinkets, ho pro-
ceeded to the Gold-fields. In selling these rings at
night to the gold-diggers, in their tents, he observed
where they deposited their money and gold, thereby
• Pari. Papers, 28th February, 1853, pp. 288—291.
knowing in what direction to make his incision into
the tent to abstract the same. For an off"ence of this
nature he was apprehended, committed, and now
convicted. On his person at Mount Alexander was
found about 700/. worth of gold, besides notes,
altogether, I believe, to the amount of near 900/.
He efi"ected his escape from Gisborne on the road
down to town, by breaking through the watch-house,
and made his way into Melbourne. On the second
night after, I again eff"ected his apprehension. On his
person was a large nugget of gold weighing 1 lb. 3 oz.
12 dwts., and about 175/. in cash. He subsequently
requested to see me privately, when he informed me
that he had-a ' plant,' which he would make over to
me, as it might be ' sprung' whilst he was in gaol,
and he would sooner that I had it than any one else.
I subsequently proceeded with him and some police
to the heaps of broken stones prepared for the roads
lying in front of the government offices, one of which
he proceeded to turn over, and abstracted three bags
of gold, in weight nineteen pounds. Thus was taken
from this man somewhat about 2,000/. worth of pro-
perty, collected in two or three months.
In order to aid the police in preserving
order, and securing life and property, the le-
gislative council addressed the lieutenant-
governor, praying that an entire regiment of
her Majesty^s troops might be stationed at
jSIelbourne, to be paid from the colonial
revenue; and also that a detachment of
the royal engineer corps might be sent from
England, to construct, at the cost of the
colony, the necessary defences for the pro-
tection of the harbour and large towns
against an enemy. A similar request for
troops was made from New South Wales,
and her Majesty's government acting on
these urgent representations, ordered a regi-
ment of infantry, 600 rank and file, to pro-
ceed to Australia, four companies (400 men)
to be stationed at Victoria, and two at New
South Wales, the whole cost of pay, sub-
sistence, and barrack accommodation, to be
provided from the colonial revenues. The
cost of six companies (comprising 600 men
and officers) of the 40th infantry, to be de-
frayed in England and in Australia from the
colonial revenues, is estimated at £19,250 ;
exclusive of the extra pay granted by the
local legislature : in consequence of the high
cost of living, resulting from the gold
discoveries, an allowance was made of 5*.
a-day to thirty-seven officers, and ?>\d. a-
day to 630 non-commissioned officers and
privates, serving in New South Wales,
and in Victoria in 1852. It was esti-
mated that the cost of two companies of
infantry, comprising 200 men and officers,
t On this estimate the annual cost of a regiment
of 10 companies is about 34,000/., or 34/. yearly per
man all round, not including barracks, clotbing,
arms, ammunition, &.c.
SUCCESSFUL GOLD-SEEKERS IN VICTORIA— 1852.
431
including one field-officer and one assistant-
surgeon=.€5,281 : 5*. a-day to thirty-seven
officers=,£3,376 ; 3^d. a-day to 630 men,
=£3,353. Total, £12,010.
On the cessation of the rains and the re-
opening of the roads for easier traffic, the
yield of gold was found to have largely in-
creased. The government escort brought
from Mount Alexander, between the 8th
of September and the 23rd of October,
210,312 oz.; Ballarat sent, in September
and October, 68,106 oz. The licenses is-
sued increased at the former, from 28,408
in September to 32,634 in October ; Bal-
larat augmented in the same month, from
2,074 to 4,700. The private escort con-
veyed to Melbourne, between the 23rd of
June and the 1st of November, 694,947 oz.
The number of persons — men, women, and
childi-en — at the gold-fields, was now esti-
mated at between fifty and sixty thousand.
Within the period of a fortnight, 30,000
persons arrived at Forest Creek, chiefly
from Bendigo, owing to some very rich dig-
gings having been discovered at Moonlight
Flat* about one and three-quarter miles
from Forest Creek. At this place, there was
procured in nine days, gold to the value of
j81,700, from one hole.
At Mount Alexander, on the 17th of
September, one man picked out of a creek,
a solid piece, containing about nine pounds
of pure gold, besides a quantity of smaller
nuggets or pepitas-\ around it, in all worth
nearly iSl,000. A party in the same month,
on digging down to the " pipe-clay," found
between nine and ten pounds of gold, lying
in a sort of vein on the rock, at an angle
of 4.5°.
At the Daisy-Hill diggings,^ thirty miles
from Foi'est Creek, on the main line of road
from Adelaide to Mount Alexander — where,
in September, surface- washing was com-
menced in a blind creek connected with one
of the branches of Deep Creek — a party, in
one afternoon, procured forty-two ounces of
gold : the average yield here, was one ounce
a man per day. About one hundred miners,
* The diggers gave fanciful names to different
localities : such as Eagle Hawk Gully (a notable
spot) ; Beelzehuh Flat — Fey-leg Gully, (where a man
with a wooden leg was very successful) ; New Chum
Flat (savouring, as Mr.Westgarth supposed, of " flat
new chums") ; Moo7iUght Fiat — celelirated at one
time for some lawless midnight proceedings.
t The word Nugget originated at Ophir, New
South Wales, and is probably a corruption of the
word ivgot — in itself a corruption from lingot — " a
little tongue" — derived from the word used in
chiefly Adelaide men, were successful here ;
many of them made at the rate of j£l20
a-week; the nuggets varied in shape and
size, from that of a bean to a bent and de-
faced shilling.
At Little Bendigo, near Ballarat, a party
obtained 208 oz. of gold in one day : the
quantity increased as the diggers sunk
further into the dip of the rock. Twenty
Adelaide miners, in less than a fortnight,
acquired j830,000 worth of gold at Bendigo
and at Forest and Fryer Creeks; of this,
196 lbs. weight were obtained by a party of
three men, at Peg-leg Gully, Bendigo.
One nugget of pure gold found at Bendigo
in October, weighed 45 lbs. 9oz. ;§ three
previous discoveries in the same neighbour-
hood, weighed respectively, (1) 27 lbs. 8 oz.
(exceedingly bright and pure); (2) 281bs. 4oz.
(with some iron incrustations and small
fragments of quartz) ; and (3) 24 lbs.
These were all extracted from the super-
ficial gravel ; and three (the 45 lbs. and
Nos. 1 and 2) were taken from the same
hollow — two being found close to each other.
The 28 lbs. 4oz. nugget, which was obtained
from a superficial bed of clay, iron-stone,
and quartz gravel, at a depth of three feet
below the surface, was purchased from the
finder by the lieutenant-governor and local
authorities, at the price of 86*. per ounce,
and transmitted, on the 24th of September,
to the Queen, as a specimen of the precious
treasures of the colony named after her
Majesty. Large masses were obtained at
Canadian Gully, Ballarat, at a depth of
fifty to sixty feet, in a bed of compact
broken quartz ; the largest, procured by
four men, about two miles from Ballarat,
weighed in gross 134 lbs., of which about
126 lbs. consisted of solid gold.
The uncertainty of gold-digging was ob-
servable in every locality, but especially at
Ballarat; holes which proved singularly
productive, were flanked for yards by others
which yielded nothing; even experience
was at this period at fault, for the miners
were engaged in washing a dozen sorts of
Hebrew to designate the wedge of gold which
Achaji purloined [see Joshua, ch. vii., v. 21]. In
California a mass of gold is called a " lump" — the
Spanish temi jjepitc, is ap})lied to those of small size.
X At this place, in the direction of the Pyrenees,
forty to forty-five miles from Castlcmaine, about four
years previous a heavy lump of gold was picked up
(see p. 264.) — but its discovery then excited no more
than a transient curiosity.
§ The largest mass found in the Ural mines was
70 lbs. weight.
432 DEPRESSED CONDITION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA— 1851— 2.
clay, of M'hich one only might prove auri-
ferous ; a yellowish gravel, a rich reddish-
brown aud green earth intermixed and
lying on a deep yellow clay, seemed to yield
the best in some holes ; while, in others,
a firm compact white sand super-imposed on
" pipe- clay" (schist), of the same colour, and
immediately under and intermixed with
opaque white quartz, proved the ground
worth working, and yet materials so dis-
tinct might be found in holes contiguous to
each other. A beautiful parti-coloured clay,
intersected with a fine pink colour, oc-
casionally with a bright red or Spanish-
brown, was thought a favourable indication,
but, as regards gold, it proved valueless.
The precious metal hitherto seemed to
be more unequally distributed at Ballarat
than at Mount Alexander, where it was
more on the surface, but the prizes were,
in some instances, larger to a few individuals
at the former place. The comparative easy
work at Mount Alexander, and the extent
of the auriferous field (supposed to be 200
miles around the mount — the circumference
of whose base is forty miles), naturally drew
the largest population thither, so that the
neighbourhood looked like the encampment
of an immense army, in tents of all sizes,
shapes and colours, extending over ten or
twelve miles. The want of water was, how-
ever, a great drawback. In the deep dig-
gings, or rather mining, at Ballarat, the
gold was in fine dust, but in large quantities,
embedded in lamina, or flakes of earth.
From three to four pounds weight have been
collected in such situations in a Aveek.
Sometimes a shaft of thirty or forty feet
would be sunk without a speck of gold
being seen, and then twenty or thirty
ounces might be obtained daily for some
time.
Elated with the prosperity of the pro-
vince, the Legislative Council* addressed
the Queen, setting forth the " salubrity of
the climate, as evinced by an almost total
exemption from endemic disease; the fer-
tility of the soil, as shown by an exuberance
and fecundity of both vegetable and animal
life, almost unexampled," — a sale of Crown
lands since the foundation of the colony, to
the amount of .£1,372,055 — the geographical
position in reference to the other Australian
• In September, 1852— ^-ee Pari. Papers, 28tb
February, 1853, pp. 254 and 331.
t See Despatch from Lieutenant-governor Young
to Earl Grey, of 6th January, 1852. Pari. Papers,
14th June, 1852, p. 112.
colonies — the safe and capacious harbour,
and other circumstances as affording pre-
tensions for Victoria being made the seat of
supreme government of all the Australasian
settlements, the legitimate seat of an ultei'ior
appellate jurisdiction, the chief pivot of postal
and steam communication, and the head-
quarters of naval and military forces. In
reply to this address, the Queen expressed
the interest with which her Majesty had
followed " the marvellous discoveries of
mineral wealth," and satisfaction at being
informed of the extensive and general par-
ticipation of the Australian colonies in the
benefits which had accrued from those dis-
coveries ; it was added that the cumulative
proofs which the address aff"orded of the de-
velopment in so many directions of the na-
tural advantages of Victoria, and the industry
of its inhabitants, had led the Queen to form
very hopeful anticipations of its future des-
tiny, but that it was " not deemed advisable
to constitute any seat of supreme govern-
ment in the Australian colonies."
In proportion as Victoria and New South
"Wales prospered by the production of gold,
and increase of inhabitants. South Australia
(where gold was only found in very small
quantities, and not worth the labour of ex-
tracting) suff'ered by the abstraction of its
population, who rushed to the neighbouring
colonies; as many as twenty vessels at a
time were lading with emigrants at Adelaide;
in some districts the men left en masse — the
value of property rapidly diminished — for
instance, Burra Burra mining shares fell in
in a few months from £170 to £70 — there
was a general stagnation of business — com-
mercial aff"airs were paralysed — coin was ex-
ported to Victoria, and the bank-note issues
based on the quantity of metal in the cof-
fers of the joint stock companies necessarily
diminished, causing a corresponding con-
traction of discounts — and the revenue of
government became seriously endangered.
Under these embarrassing circumstances of
loss of population and capital, the lieutenant-
governor (sir H. E. F. Young) was urged by
the leaders of public opinion to place a fixed
price on gold imported into the province
under his administration, and to establish an
assay-office at Adelaide, whence ingots of a
known fineness and weight could be issued,
which would supply to some extent the void
created by the diminution of the metallic
currency. t The necessity of upholding the
solvency of the trading and other monetary
interests of the colony, and an urgent appeal
REVIVAL OF PROSPERITY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1852.
433
from 130 merchants and other principal in-
habitants, imploring the lieutenant-governor,
in the extreme emergency of the times, to
save the colony, induced his excellency to
summon an extraordinary meeting of the
local legislature, by whom, after full discus-
sion and mature deliberation, an act was
passed (28th January, 1852) to appoint a
govei'nment-assayer, who was authorised to
receive all uncoined gold, not less in quan-
tity than twenty ounces, to be melted into
ingots of convenient size, stamped with their
weight and fineness, and delivered in that
state to its owner at any one of the local
banks he might select. The charge to the
owners for this assay and stamping was one
per cent. Furthermore by this legislative
act all persons were entitled to demand fi'om
any bank in the colony, in exchange for gold
bullion thus essa5^ed and stamped, bank
notes at the rate of 71^. per oz. of the
standard of coined gold, according to the law
of England (the price of which is 77s. 10c?.;
— and the banks were authorized to issue
(in addition to their paper then in circu-
lation in the province) notes in exchange
for any bullion purchased or acquired, at
the aforesaid rate of 7\s. per oz., provided
they kept gold or silver coin in their cof-
fers equal in amount to one-thii'd of the
notes so issued, under a penalty of iSlOO
a-week for so long as there might be any
deficiency of such securities. The bullion
so acquired by the banks was not to be sold,
exported, or otherwise disposed of until the
notes issued thereon were withdrawn from
circulation, or unless the banks possessed
coin of the realm equal in standard value to
the bullion exported or sold. Notes thus
issued were made a legal tender in the
colony, and accounts were furnished weekly
to the governor, who was empowered to in-
spect at all times the actual state of the
banks. The act was to cease and determine
at the expiration of twelve calendar months.
It received the qualified approval of her
majesty's secretary of state. Sir J. S. Paking-
ton, OQ the 10th of October, 1852; but, as
may be supposed, was censured by the gold
purchasers in Victoria and New South
Wales, who wished to keep down the price.*
• The various correspondence and opinions legal,
financial, and commercial, on this interesting sub-
ject are well worth perusal, and evince considerable
ability in the advocates and objectors to the mea-
sure— among the latter was the lieutenant-gover-
nor : the documents connected with the measure
will be found in the Papers on Gotd in Australia,
Div. iir. 3 11
At the period when this measure was adopted
in Adelaide, fixing the price of gold at 7\s.
per oz. there, the metal was selling at Mel-
bourne for QOs., and at Sydney for 63*., the
flow was consequently directed to South
Australia, not only for the use of the colony,
but for export to England, as after paying
freight (one-half per cent.) and insurance (say
two per cent.), the "dust" or "nuggets,"
owing to their purity, were really worth
nearly 80s. an oz., consequently a con-
siderable profit would be realizable by the
shipment. Any person taking this Austra-
lian gold to the royal mint, in London,
would be entitled to have it coined into
sovereigns at the rate of 77s. 10c?. per oz.
standard, which might be shipped to Aus-
tralia, or he might receive from the Bank
of England an equivalent in notes, for the
purchase of consols or of merchandize, or
any other commodity.
In order to facilitate the transmission of
gold to Adelaide, Mr. McLaren, the sur-
veyor-general, with a party of sappers, was
sent in January and February to explore a
new line of route from the ferry at Wel-
lington on the river Murray, to Mount
Alexander, a distance of nearly 400 miles.
Between Wellington and the boundary line
of Victoria, a distance of 127 miles, nine
wells were sunk at various intervals — in
seven of these good fresh water was ob-
tained ; the country within the Victoria
boundary, which was crossed at 33° 21' 50"
S. lat., was found to be wxll watered and
presenting abundant pasturage.
The next step of the South Australian
government, was the establishment of a
gold escort, which consisted of three light
spring-carts, with three horses each, for
which there were relays at short stages.
The journey over a rough country, with
several rivers, was accomplished at first in
twelve, then in ten, and ultimately in eight
days. Gold was bought by the South Aus-
tralian government at the Victoria diggings,
for 71 5. per ounce, or paid for in Adelaide
at that rate, and the escort received any
amount of gold in charge ; numerous small
parcelsf were thus remitted by the fifteen or
sixteen thousand of miners from Adelaide, to
laid before Parliament, 28th February, ISoS, pp.
33Gto411.
t The gOTcrmcnt escort in Victoria refused any
parcels under one pound weight ; the miners were
therefore obliged to hoard up their ounces of dust,
until they reached the prescribed quantity ; but in
the meantime, they might be robbed of their savings.
43A
SCENERY AROUND THE RIVER OVENS' DIGGINGS.
their wives and familes in South Australia.
The good effect of these measures was soon
felt at Adelaide, in the restoration of public
confidence, and the receipt of large quan-
tities of gold from Victoria. The escort, on
its two first journies, conveyed 25,235 oz.
from Mount Alexander, and between the
10th of February and the 1st of May,
87,740 oz. — the charge of two per cent,
defraying all the police and escort expenses.
Nearly the whole of the gold thus attracted
to the colony, was the property of its mer-
chants and the absent diggers, who had thus
a strong inducement to return with their
gains to their originally adopted country.
The cessation of the commercial panic at
Adelaide, is shown by the amount of paper
under discount, before and after the passing
of the Legislative Bullion Act : in about
three months, the current paper in the three
banks stood thus : —
Banks.
South Australian bank
Bank of AusUalasia .
Union bank of Austi-alia
Totals & Difference i
in three Months ]
Before the
act
passed.
£
280,000
160,000
120,000
560,000
After the
act
£
180,000
60,000
70,000
210,000
Reduc-
tion.
100,000
100,000
50,000
250,000
The falling rates of exchange, which had
been much against the merchants, was stop-
ped ; time was given to debtors to ship their
overstocks of merchandize to Melbourne;
an ingot of pure gold, assayed and stamped
at 71s. per ounce, was found to possess an
intrinsic value, free from the evils and
dangers of a depreciated or merely nominal
value paper currency, and an improvement
quite unprecedented took place, which, be-
fore its occurrence, would have been deemed
almost impossible."^ At the end of the year
for which the law was made (viz., 1852),
the price of gold in Victoria and New South
Wales, had advanced up to and beyond the
limit of 7ls. per ounce, fixed by the South
Australian legislature, the measure therefore
terminated naturally without any of the in-
jurious consequences predicted by its op-
ponents, and it drew to Adelaide from
Victoria, during the year, 347,913 oz. of
gold, at 71s. per oz. = £1,235,091. Having
• As an illustration of the improved value of pro-
perty, it is noted that a tenth of a choice acre allot-
ment inVictoria-square, Adelaide, sold in March, 1852,
for £530 ; being at the rate of £3,300 per acre.
given the foregoing exposition of the state
of affairs in South Australia, we may now
resume the narrative of the gold discoveries
in Victoria province in 1852.
"We have first to notice a new field of
operation, termed the Ovens diggings,
situated in Spring Creek, which flows into
the river of the above name : distance
from Melbourne about 200, or, some sey, 250
miles. Chains of mountains stretch around
in vai'ious directions ; broad spaces of bare
granite glow in the sun, and on these ridges
and in the crannies, where there is not ap-
parently a particle of earth, a species of
pine, with foliage like a Scotch fir, but
tapering like a larch, luxuriates ; shrubs
and flowers occasionally relieve the monoto-
nous aspect of a road, with hills after hills
scantily dotted with eucalypti and acacia of
different sorts, many looking shattered and
weather-beaten. In November, 1852, there
were hundi*eds of cradles at work on the
water's edge, amid a succession of gravel
pits, for more than a mile on each side of
the creek. Some were successful, securing
eight to ten ounces a day for a week ; a few
procured two pounds a day for a party, but
many did not obtain sufficient to pay their
expenses. The richest spot was, as usual,
the bed of the stream, but the work required
strong hands ; the dust was deposited in a
drift of rounded or decomposed quartz,
lying upon granite in intersections of the
Maij-day hills. Eight men of the " ?iavvie"
breed, not unfrequently failed in keeping up
the shored walls and bailing out the water ;
but when this was done, large prizes re-
warded the toilers — for instance, one hole
yielded sixteen pounds of gold in a single
day; another, seventeen pounds in a week;
the great majority were content to make
one ounce of gold a man every day.
A scene on the way to the Ovens is thus
graphically described by that pleasing writer,
William Howitt, himself a traveller thither
in December, 1852 : —
" Singular groups pass us continually on the
road. Here are five or six diggers on splendid
horses, with their ' swag' before them, consisting of
a rug rolled round their damper, &c. Here again
career along diggers of a more work-a-day descrip-
tion, on lanky horses M'ith switch tails and a more
weather-beaten swag; the men themselves in nothing
but dirty cabbage-leaf hats, shirt and trousers,
and belt round the waist, with a tin pannikin hang-
ing behind. There, again, goes a train of bullock
teams. They are all the property of one man who
travels from one digging to another with stores —
sugar, flour, cheese, &c. See, they come to a creek.
All halt, take out their bullocks, and let them graze.
PROCEEDINGS AT THE OVENS RIVER DIGGINGS— 1852.
435
Out of one covered waggon comes a flock of children,
from two to seven or eight years old, followed by
their mother with her sun bonnet shading her neck
with a broad flap. A fire is made and the kettle
set on, and the frying-pan brought out. But there
again. See what a train. It is like the retainers of
some feudal baron. First rides a man in a cloth cap
with a gold band and scarlet mantle that floats be-
hind him. He has a led horse carrying swag in a
leathern wrapper. Next comes another man in
ordinary dress leading two horses ; and finally, one
with the cabbage-tree bee- hive helmet of the mounted
police leading another horse. They belong to the
officers of the mounted police."
A picture of the actual proceedings at
the Ovens River diggings, is given bv the
above-named interesting writer : —
" Reaching the brow of a hill we see a broad val-
ley lying below, and white tents scattered along it
for a mile or more. The tents right and left glance
out of the woods on all sides. In the open valley
they stand thick, and there is a long stretch up the
centre of the valley, where all the ground has been
turned up, and looks like a desert of pale clay.
After our long pilgrimage it seems as if we ought
never to arrive at our journey's end, but to go on
and on . . . We descend the hill. There stands a
large, wide, open tent, with a pole and a handker-
chief twisted round it. This is a store or shop. AVe
go on. Hnts, dusty ground all trodden, trees felled
and withering in the sun ; here and there a round
hole like a well, a few feet deep, where they have
been trying for gold. Down we go. More tents,
more dust, more stores, heaps of trees felled and
lying about, lean horses grazing on a sward that a
goose could not lay hold of, hole after hole, where
gold has been dug for, and now abandoned, linen
hanging out to dry, horrid stenches from butchers'
shops and holes into which they have flung their
garbage. Along the valley to the left grows a smooth
sward. AVhat there is, however, to indicate gold
here more than in a thousand other places that we
have walked over with unconscious feet, we cannot
see. Up the valley hundreds of tents are clapped
down in the most dirty and miserable places, and all
the ground is perforated with holes, round or square
— some deeper, some shallower, some dry, some full
of water ; but in very few of them does work seem to
be going on. They have flitted to other holes. All
between the holes the hard, claj'-coloured sand lies
in ridges, and you must thread your way carefully
among them if you don't mean to fall in. Still hor-
rid stenches of butchers' shops and garbage pits ;
stores after stores ; tents, and booths, and bark huts,
like a fair. There is the creek, or little stream, no
longer translucent, as it came from the mountains,
but thick as a clay puddle, and rows of puddling
tubs standing by it, and men busy washing their
earth in tins and cradles.
" Such is the first view of the diggings. But we
turn up to the left into a green quiet glade of the
forest, and there pitch our tent at a distance from
the throng, and where there is feed for the horses.
A hasty tea, and away we go to the commissioners'
tent for our letters. It is on the other side of the
creek ; two of these stately tents, in fact, lined with
blue cloth, and with other tents in the rear, the
whole enclosed with palings. ... If you could see
our pots, pans, pannikins, our tin dishes, some for
making loaves and puddings in, others for washing
in — our knives, forks, spoons, lying on our bags of
sugar, rice, flour, &c., standing about, our tea-chest,
our lantern, our tin tea-pot of capacious size, our tea-
kettle in constant requisition, our American axes for
chopping firewood, our lantern at night suspended
from a string in the tent — the interior of our tent,
with the beds spread out broad over part of the
floor, and covered with grey rugs ; the tent hung
round with pieces of dried salt beef, straw hats with
veils round them, caps, and so on ; our guns stand-
ing in a corner, with books and writing-cases and
portfolios — you would say it was a scene at once
curious and comfortable-looking.
" I have taken a round among the diggings, and
seen the people washing their gold. They seem to
have a good deal. One man had, after pouring off
the sand and water from his tin dish, a pound weight;
another had five or six ounces, and so on. Numbers
are out exploring all round, and it is expected that
great discoveries will be made. No language, how-
ever, can describe the scene of chaos where they
principally are at work. The creek, a considerable
brook, is diverted out of its couj-se, and the whole of
the old bed dug up ; each side of the creek is dug
up, and holes sunk as thick as they possibly can be
to leave room for the earth that comes out. They
are, in fact, pits and wells. Out of these, of course,
the earth has to be drawn up in buckets, and some
have rudely-constructed windlasses, others blocks
and pulleys. They ascend and descend, the diggers
themselves, by holes cut in the side, holding by a
strong rope or strip of bullock's hide. To-day many
of these holes are nearly filled with water from a
deluging thunder-storm of last night ; for we find, so
far, that about three days of broiling heat runs into
thunder-storm, and then there is often cool weather
for awhile, with nights as cold as winter. So it was
last night. As we were watching the people wash-
ing their gold at the creek, we noticed that a great
crowd gathered round a little green rocker, as they
called it — a little green painted cradle. Thev said
that the party belonging to that rocker had washed
out 7 lb. of gold from nine tin dishes of stuff. All
eyes, therefore, were on the Avatch to trace the party
to the hole they came from, and then a desperate
rush was made to that spot. In a few hours hun-
dreds of claims had been marked out as near as pos-
sible to the golden hole. It was curious to see "what
swarms were at once on the place, engaged with
their picks and spades. In a few hours a great space
of many acres was marked out, and more people were
flocking in, so that they bade fair speedily to come
up our quiet glade to our very tent."
Another and very remunerative field of
operation — the White Hills — deserves no-
tice. These are situated on the south side
of Bendigo creek, are of some height, and
have the appearance of being covered with
snow, from the quantity of the so-called
pipe-clay brought from beneath, and cast
over the surface, during the search for gold
by the miners, who here look like millers or
lime-burners during their operations. This
singular substance, which, like the chalk
and older limestones in the northern hemis-
phere, appears extensively to pervade the
436
IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION— VICTORIA, 1852.
country,* is, according to ]\Ir. Westgarth,
" iu structure of a soft shaly character, and
usually of a white or satin hue, but occa-
sionally also lightly tinged with a blue, yel-
low, or other colour : it prevailed at Bal-
larat of a bluish-grey hue — hence the deno-
mination of the celebrated blue clay" —
where gold was found so abundantly. This
author adds — " the bed of this substance is
much thrown out of its original horizontal
stratification, and in the many interlaminar
furrow and crevices on the upper surface,
where it joins the superincumbent gravel,
deposits or pockets of gold were frequently
j met with.^t According to another autho-
! rity, the pipe-clay is silicate of alumina, de-
composed from silicious slates and granite.
But whatever be its origin or component
parts, gold is now found in, on, and beneath
I it, according to the period when the metal
I was separated from the parent source, " whe-
ther before, after, or during the develop-
ment of the decomposed felspar.^'l Some
diggers, on coming down to pipe-clay, would
' retire on finding no gold ; another party
! pierced the white floor, and obtained wealth.
' In Californian gully, more than six feet
I of the pipe-clay contained gold. The depth
j of this shale, schist, or silicate of alumina
I varies from one inch to forty feet; occa-
sionally— as in the shallow, lucky holes of
I Peg-leg gully — there is none.
j At the White Hills, the strata are — (1) sur-
face gravel for several feet ; (2) clay mixed
with gravel ; (3) white quartz boulders im-
' bedded in their own debris ; (4) a stratum
not exceeding two inches in thickness, con-
sisting of quartz grit, distinctly defined from
superincumbent quartz, in a diflferent form ;
(5) pipe-clay, commencing at depths varj^ing
between twenty-five and sixty feet. This
quartz grit appeared to be saturated with
gold, especially the lower part of the stra-
tum, which, for about two-thirds of an inch,
was a reddish-brown tinge, deepening in hue
to the base of the bed, and apparently caused
by oxide of iron. A bucket-full of this quartz
grit yielded generally, on washing, two to
three ounces of gold, i. e. from £6 to ^69.
In consequence of this high remuneration,
shafts were sunk at considerable depths,
upwards of 100 feet being pierced, and tun-
nels driven in diverse directions, in search of
I * A somewhat similar strata occurs at Echunga,
I South Australia, but it is devoid of gold.
t Victoria in 1853 ; pp. 139, 140.
X Article on the Goology of the Gold Fields, in
' the Melbourne Gold Digger s Manual.
SO rich a harvest. Here and at other sink-
ings a rude but effective Yankee windlass
was used : it resembled a gigantic cart-
whip, the butt end loaded with a piece of
heavy timber, and the thong end of the
lash having a bucket attached; when this
was filled with the auriferous grit, and a
slight upward impulse communicated, the
heavy end of the butt descended, and the
bucket was instantly lifted to the surface.
How far this rich stratum may extend is
unknown, as is also the amount of wealth
still to be worked beneath the White Hills.
Before closing the chronological narrative
of proceedings in Victoria for 1852, it is
advisable to give some general review of the
state of affairs at the termination of the
year; and first with regard to the immi-
gration and emigration which took place
by sea during this period : —
Months.
January .
February
March
April . .
May . .
June .
July . .
August
September
October .
November
December
Total
Immigrants.
Emigrants.
7,494
550
7,460
847
5,073
1,239
4,111
1,511
5,631
1,629
3,872
1,614
4,271
2,383
6,552
1,618
15,855
1,841
19,162
3,637
10,947
4,287
14,255
6,866
104,683
27,025
This only shows the recorded arrivals;
there were many unrecorded, not only by
ship, but from the adjacent colonies of New
South Vv^ales and South Australia, who
travelled by land. In March, 1851, the
census of Victoria showed a population of
77,000, which, in one year, without reference
to the natural increase by births, received an
augmentation of at least 80,000 persons.
The large addition of working hands
helped materially to develope the metallic
treasures, but there are only approximative
data to show the progressively increasing
prodtiction of the gold fields.
]Mr. Westgarth has prepared a table, from
detailed returns obtained from the colonial
treasury at Melbourne, and from the Victoria
Escort Company, showing the quantities of
gold brought from the different mining fields
into !Melbourne and Geelong, to which he
has added a table of the quantity exported
for each month to the close of 1852 : but it
should be remarked that many miners con-
GOLD PRODUCE AND EXPORT OF VICTORIA— 1851-2.
437
veyed their own treasure to Melbourne ;
and a large quantity passed into South
Australia and to New South Wales ; and,
as regards the exports, shippers, after the
plunder of the Nelson,\ were rather afraid to
state the quantities on board vessels, lest
they should be holding out an inducement
to pirates.
Gold Received hy Escm-t at 3Ielbourne and Geelorig, and exportad from the different parts of tJie Colony.
Mouths.
1851
1852
August .
September
October .
November
December
January
February
March
April . .
May . .
June . .
July . .
August .
September
October .
November
December
Received bv Escort from-
Ballarat.
Total ounces . . .
Per Victoria Escort from Kyne-
ton, &c
Grand Total oz. . .
121
4,390
9,448
6,391
246
118
644
484
814
1,446
581
2,230
2,165
6,314
14,694
13,926
64,012
64,012
Mt. Alexander
and
Bendigo.
228
17,816
65,759
53,348
56,024
61,382
67,557
76,433
114,563
319,637
311,965
305,117
271,260
260,641
126,635
>,108,365
2,108,365
Ovens River.
Total oz. by
Escort.
5,783
9,020
14,803
14,803
121
4,618
27,264
72,150
53,594
56,142
62,026
68,041
77,247
116,009
320,218
314,195
307,282
277,574
281,118
149,581
Exported
by Sea.
2,187,180
3,692
2,190,872
18
1,560
3,441
140,128
160,477
152,560
107,406
92,512
94,975
152,242
179,412
172,091
161,189
248,397
322,550
131,163
2,120,121
2,120,121
There being but one escort establishment
for Mount Alexander and Bendigo, their
product is classed together. The table
shows the fluctuation in the monthly yield ;
and that Ballarat, which in February was
nearly deserted, in November and December
made large returns, and indeed in the sub-
sequent months became one of the richest
fields.*
The intelligent authority to whom I am
indebted for the foregoing table states the
total yield for the entire of the above-men-
* The export by sea to different countries during
1851 — 2, so far as known was — to London, 1,739,504;
Liverpool, 20,120; Calcutta, 22,000; Singapore,
5,396; Sydney, 313,912; Hobart Town (Van Die-
men's Island), 1,965; Adelaide (South Australia),
13,813; Hamburgh, 3,411: Total, 2,120,121 oz.—
The amount of specie (coin) imported into Mel-
bourne and Geelong in the year 1852, is stated by
Mr. KhuU to have been— January, £20,000 ; April,
£40,000; Julv, £200,000; August, £90,000; Sep-
tember, £538,000; October, £432,000; November,
£397,800; December, £150,000; estimated amount
by private hand, £632,200 : Total, £2,500,000.
t The barque Nelson, while lying in Hobson's
Bay in April, 1852, awaiting a full com])iement of
crew, was boarded by twenty-two armed men in two
boats, who wounded the mate, tied up the crew, and
tioned period, ascertained and estimated in
oz. troy, as follows : —
Exported per Official i
Returns . . . . j
Ditto do. Overland to 1
Adelaide . . . . j
Unrecorded Export: —
N. South Wales . .
Van Dieman's Land .
South Australia . .
England, India, &c. .
Total Exported. . 3,171,422
On hand in Colony. 709,766
Total production . 3,881,188
Proportion in 1851 . 145,146
Ditto produced in 1852 3,736,042
Ascer-
tained.
Oz.
2,092,385
228,533
344,913
177,680
327,913
Estimated.
Oz.
230,000
67,000
20,000
50,000i
Total.
Oz.
2,320,916
574,913
244,680
347.913
50,000
367,000 3,538,422
360,0001,069,766
727,0004,608,188
200.000 345,146
527,0004,263,042
The total quantity of 4,608,188 oz. troy
may be considered a near approximation.
plundered the vessel of £30,000 worth of gold which
had been embarked as freight by different merchants
for England. The pirates got clear off with their
unlawful prize.
Much of this gold is nearly pure — that of
Ballarat 23 1 carat fine; and therefore ac-
tually worth about 80.?. per oz. ; ' but if the
current market price of 70^. per oz. be
taken, we have a new product added to the
wealth of the colony, in fifteen mouths, of
£16,128,658 sterling ; it is not therefore sur-
prising that the value of the imports increased
from£744,925inl850,to£4,069,742inl852.
That this rapid increase of wealth, im-
mense traffic, and great influx of population
from every quarter of the globe, and of all
classes of society, and shades of vice and
crime, must have affected extraordinary
changes, is beyond a doubt ; but, after
examining all available trustworthy evi-
dence, it is due to poor and sinful human
nature to show that the people who rushed
to the gold-fields were not so bad as they
have been represented. I have previously
given some of the official reports of the
lieutenant-governor to her majesty's secre-
tary of state : in all of them he speaks with
admiration of the conduct of the mining
populat*ion ; and I have shown, from the
respected testimony of Mr. Westgarth,
that sobriety generally characterised the
" diggers.'^ Here is the unbiassed evidence
of a visitor from New South Wales — a
colony in some degree jealous of the won-
derful progress of its rival sister : —
" I can, from personal experience and -without the
least hesitation, affirm, that the tales of robbery and
vblence are very much distorted and magnified.
When it is considered that a mass of some forty thou-
sand souls is here assembled, very many of them
coming fresh from an association -with professed
criminals, amongst -whom robbery is a boast, and a
deed of violence a recommendation, it is not at all
surprising that some unlawful acts should be com-
mitted ; but in a town population of like amount,
guarded by a well-disciplined protective force, and
avenged by a cunning detective, similar acts would
be committed. At the diggings, moreover, I con-
tend, that taking the amount of population, there is
not a fourth part of the crime committed that there
is in any town on the Australian continent ; and yet
there is, in the one case, the almost total absence of
police protection and of household security ; whilst,
on the other, bricks and mortar, and solid doors, in-
terpose between the thief and his plunder, and daily
and nightly patrols are on the watch. In fact, I
have often been astonished in passing some of the
stores that the temptations to robbery which they
offer have not more frequently been taken advantage
of. I have remarked the sides of some stores com-
posed of nothing more than a few gunny bags sewn
so_ loosely together, that between the interstices
might be seen shirts of calico, woollen, and serge ;
trousers, belts, and all the other paraphernalia so
dear to the digger's heart. These would require
only one thrust of a knife to change ownership,
whilst the thief need be under no dread of detection.
As to the Lynch law, that exists only in name, no
one instance having, in fact, occurred. Some few
designing men have endeavoured, for their own pur-
poses, to introduce this odious system under the
more genial name of self-protection; but, thanks to
the good sense, manly feeling, and true British
spirit of the diggers, the proposition was scouted
with all the contempt and loathing it deserved. Even
the publicly-made assertion of one of the self-named
leaders of the diggers, that ' the government were
prepared to wink at a certain amount of Lynch law,'
did not in any way turn them from their honest pur-
pose of appealing only to the law of the land, though
the agents of that law were few amongst them, and
though its proverbially strong arm was weakened by
distance.
" After much consideration and inquiry I have
come to the conclusion that nearly the whole of this
outcry of the insecurity of life and property at the
diggings has originated with a few only — men of
low mental calibre, who, in ordinary and peaceable
times, struggle in vain against insignificance, to
which their want of sterling talent dooms them ; and
whose only chance of rising into notoriety is, conse-
quently, in the turmoil and disturbance of troublous
times. To such as these it thus becomes an object
to cause discontent, and to foment anarchy and dis-
cord, as, like the bubbles of noxious gas that rise to
the surface of some pestilential pool only after strong
agitation, these men, by their aptness in stringing
together a few clap-trap phrases, manage thus to
raise themselves to a position which they dignify by
the name of a leader of the people. Some of these
are acted on simply by a love of notoriety, but some
few have a still deeper object. Penniless in purse,
and almost without a standing in society, by thrust-
ing themselves forward as the mouth-piece of the
people, in delegations to the government, to the offi-
cers of which they are as obsequious in the bureau
as they are insolent in the face of a public meeting,
a desperate game for place is played, in the hope
their influence may be deemed valuable to meet the
storm which they themselves have raised,
" So far as I have seen of the diggings, the days
are spent in toil and the night in rest, except on^y in
the neighbourhood of some of the sly grog-shops, in
which scenes of drunkenness and debauchery may be
sometimes witnessed. As the sun sets, the diggers
retire from work, and the savoury smell from a
thousand frying-pans indicate the kind of employ-
ment to which they next devote themselves. No
sooner is the evening meal finished than some bugler
strikes up some lively or well-known air, at the con-
clusion of which some rival performer advances his
claims to superiority. At the conclusion of his
essay, during which there has been the most pro-
found silence, loud shouts of applause greet hira
from the tents around him, whilst those in the neigh-
bourhood of his antagonist answer by mocking, by
good-humoured cheers, joined with recommendations
to ' lie down,' and ' shut up.' Anon the first bugler
again commences, and instantly there is silence, and
when he concludes his friends cheer, whilst the
neighbours of his rival pass some playful commen-
tary on his performance. In this way the rivalry is
kept up for some time, till the buglers get tired and
bid each other good night, leaving the silence to be
disturbed only by the barking of dogs, the neighing
of horses, and the firing of guns. One night we
were amused by three players on the cornopean at
different parts of the creek, who replied to each
CRUEL NEGLECT OF THE IMMIGRANTS AT MELBOURNE. 439
other, one selecting English, another Irish, and the
third Scotch airs ; I need not tell you what a beatiful
effect this had, especially as after each air a volley
was fired, almost with military precision, in the quar-
ter whence the musician gave forth his sweet notes.
Here's brass band has lately been playing for an
hour or so every evening, and the shout that greeted,
each lime as it was concluded, must have rather
astonished the knowing-looking old opossums in the
gum trees on the ranges overhead.
" Picture to yourself some forty thousand souls,
for so many there must be, all resting under tents,
the ends of which are triced up in hot weather to
catch any passing breeze, many of them unguarded
by a dog, and sleeping as sound as men who labour
hard through the day always sleep, and then wonder,
not that there are the few trifling depredations that
we hear of, but that there are not far, very far, more.
But, in truth, any person who keeps himself quiet
and orderly, has little fear of being molested or dis-
turbed; it is only those who, hankering after drink,
resort to the sly grog-shops, that are in danger of
being robbed, and these, thrusting themselves into
bad companj', cannot expect aught else than to pay
the penalty of it. To such as these, but small com-
passion can be extended ; they know the danger they
brave, as all are well acquainted with the fact that
the lazy, the criminal, and the scheming make these
tents their resort. This fact is well known to the
authorities on the diggings, and too much credit
cannot be given to the commissioners for the ex-
ertions they make to put down these sinks of iniquity.
Hardly a day passes without at least one of these
tents being burnt by the police, whilst some days
witness two or three conflagrations." *
As regards Melbourne, unfair and exag-
gerated statements have been purposely put
forth as to the state of societj' in that city ;
the following letter, written by a lady who
had then resided there several years, and
who, from her position in society, had
ample opportunities for observing what she
writes of, will show the actual condition of
the place : it is an act of common justice to
the citizens, that the letter (which was pub-
lished in the London Times, and vouched for)
should be placed on permanent record : —
" Melbourne, Nov. 24, 1852.
"As to the state of society, it has never in the
least degi'ee interfered with our comfort, further than
the hearing of it. We enjoy the ministrations of a
godly man, we have our Bible and Auxiliary Mis-
sionary Societies, our Sabbath-school and benevolent
societies ; we have never, on any occasion, been kept
from our Sunday and -week-evening meetings, nor
suffered the least annoyance; and even at the dig-
gings people may, and do, live as retired as in town.
That there are large numbers who belong to the
worst class of society is undoubtedly true ; that the
plentifulness of money has led to a great increase
in intemperance, is also painfully visible in our
streets ; but the large number of our respectable
working population now in comfortable cottages of
their own, and the large amount of land and house
property sold at high prices, show it does not all go
into the tavern. Even yet, our numerous strangers
express themselves surprised at the decency and dc-
* Australian and New Zeal. Gaz. 4th Sept., 1852.
corum with which the Sabbath is kept; I say it not
without consideration — equal to any town in Scot-
land."
That there was much sin, suflfering, and
sorrow, cannot be doubted; but let all the
circumstances of the case be impartially
considered before a judgment be formed.
The London journals have been filled with
dolorous statements. Let us hear what
the lieutenant-governor says in a despatch
to the secretary of state, when referring
to the influx of population, calculated at
thousands weekly. Adverting to the cha-
racter and prospects of the immigrants, he
stated — that, amongst the new comers, it
was evident not one in ten were prepared to
encounter the crush and labour of the gold-
fields ; the great majority were unfitted and
unsuited by previous habits, occupation, or
temperament, to surmount the difficulties
which beset them in becoming colonists at
the present time. The strong and active
labourer, the clever mechanic, the thoroughly
competent clerk, and the energetic of all
classes, gradually worked their way at the
gold-fields, or elsewhere ; but the multitude
of decent men of small means and large
families, decayed or unfortunate tradesmen,
half-educated clerks, young men of no
decided calling or character, professing
their willingness to do anything, with the
power of doing nothing well, the horde of
weak or irregular characters whose expatria-
tion has been advocated or assisted by rela-
tives, for the purpose of getting rid of them
at home ; and the undisguised worthless or
dissolute, undoubtedly suffered great priva-
tions and positive hardships. The father
of a large family soon saw his little all
swallowed up in the purchase of the bare
necessaries of life — a sovereign going no
farther in Australia than half-a-crown in
England — and the man with a slender purse,
after paying enormously for the landing of
his baggage and himself, found himself on the
beach at Melbourne nearly penniless. On
these grounds Mr. Latrobe thinks the suf-
ferings endured were almost unavoidable.
But, as regards my own impressions —
based on the facts communicated to me from
Melbourne — while admitting the correctness
of the preceding statement of the lieute-
nant-governor, I cannot help thinking that,
amidst so much improvidence and miscal-
culation, there was still a lamentable neg-
lect of the unfortunate immigrants : the
colony wanted heads as well as hands ; and
the authorities might have turned both to
440 STATE OF GOLD-FIELDS AT NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1852.
good account, instead of leaving, as the
lieutenant-governor admits, " large numbers
of the new comers to pass both day and
night without shelter at all." The Wesleyan
body had the credit of taking the lead in
procuring temporary shelter and relief for
these unfortunate people. A sum of £2,000
was collected by subscription among their
members, to provide a "refuge for the
houseless" — primarily to those in connexion
with their community, but in effect, so far as
their means would admit, for all who needed
this aid.
The evil became at last so flagrant, that
on the 5th of October, 1852, a large public
meeting was held at Melbourne, headed by
the bishop, Mr. Westgarth, and other
benevolent persons, with a view of raising
£4,000 by subscription, to provide a refuge
for the " houseless," which was done : gov-
ernment then lent its aid, and a considerable
amount of suffering was relieved. Let us
now briefly examine the proceedings in New
South Wales in 1852.
Although the elder colony took the lead
in the discovery of gold, either from want of
sufficient population, or owing to the less
concentrated deposit of the precious metal,
its production during 1852 was small com-
pared with that of Victoria ; but the Rev.
W. B. Clarke asserted, after extensive geo-
logical investigations, that gold in variable
quantities is distributed over an area in the
colony of 16,000 square miles, not including
any portion of the country to the northward
of the parallel of Marulan — a township in
Argyle, 109 miles south of Sydney; and
at the close of an exploration tour extending
from September, 1851, to June, 1852, he
observed — " for nearly nine months, I have
been travelling, from day to day, over fresh
evidences of the distribution of gold."
The matrix whence the golden nuggets,
grains, scales, and dust, are derived, has yet
to be discovered. It may, as regards New
South Wales, be found in the Canabolos
mountain range, which consists of a mass of
trap rock, forming some of the highest
elevations in the country (the greatest alti-
tude, 4,4C1 feet above the sea). From this
lofty ridge the general direction of the
waters is northward towards the river Mac-
quarie ; the lowest point of the same terri-
* See valuable Scientific Meport of the Surveyoi'-
seneral, Sir T. L. Mitchell, IGth October, 1851. Sir
I'homas, in a letter with which he has favoured me,
dated 4th January, 1854, says — " down the river
tory being where the Macquarie is joined by
the Bell River, at a height of 878 feet above
the sea. Between these two extremes there
are remarkable evidences of igneous and
aquatic action, and in their localities gold,
in its matrix or original bed, as well as in a
fluviable state, may be expected. On the
margin of the trap rock of the Canabolos
pure gold has been found amongst un-
abraded fragments of quartz, and combined
with iron-stone.*
The precious metal has been obtained,
though sparingly, in the Macquarie, from Wel-
lington to Dubbo, small in grain, and appa-
rently drifted from the numerous creeks above
Wellington, as well as from the highlands of
the upper part of the river itself. Beyond
Wellington Valley, near Mitchell's Creek,
adjacent to a low dyke of trap rock, there
are hills of quartz, from which, for some
years, the shepherd, Macgregor (previously
referred to, p. 402), procured gold. There
appears to be a more capricious deposit of the
metal in New South Wales than in Victoria ;
at one place {Poor Man's Point, Patterson's
Point), one party obtained thirty, forty,
and even fifty ounces a-day from a single
claim, while no other opened in the vicinity
repaid the labour expended thereon. This
circumstance, and the fact of profitable em-
ployment being open to all branches of
labour, caused a considerable diminution of
the gold-fever in New South Wales in 1852.
During February there were not more than
200 diggers at Ophir, who were earning
about half-an ounce a-day each. At the
Hanging Rock there were about 50 ; at
Braidwood, 800 — of whom 500 were at
BelVs Paddock and Moreing's Flat. The
small yield of New South Wales mines
compared with those of Victoria, is shown
in the quantity sent to Sydney, by escort, in
one week in this month. From Braidwood,
663; Araluen, 324; Bell's Creek, 33;
Mudgee, 200; Avisford, 381 ; Sofala, 1,796 ;
Albury, 48; Gundagay, 26 oz.; smaller
amounts from other places.
Governor Fitzroy at this period (February
21) reported to her majesty's secretary of
state the beneficial results attendant on the
appointment of clergymen, of different deno-
minations, to minister to the spiritual wants
of the diggers at the several gold-fields ;
and he added — "there is no more satis-
Lacldan, for 170 miles beyond the diggings, and even
between the Bogan and Lachlan, there are auriferous
creeks, only accessible at wet seasons. — /, for one,
believe the gold-Jields inexhaustible."
CHARACTER OF THE MINERS AT NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1852. 441
factory feature in the progress of the gold-
discovery in this colony than the order and
decorum with which the sabbath has been,
from the first, observed by the gold-diggers
and others assembled at the several gold-
fields : and I am informed that nothing has
astonished the numerous parties who have
returned to this colony from California
more than the general obedience of all
classes to the laws, and particularly the
regular attendance, on Sundays, of the
people at the gold-fields at the places ap-
pointed for divine worship according to
their several persuasions/' *
The attorney-general, during his official
visit to the Bathurst district, in February
and !March, 1852, confirmed this pleasing
view of the proceedings of a population who,
for some years, have been misrepresented in
England. The learned gentleman, in a
letter to the colonial secretary, says : —
"Sir. — It is my pleasing duty to report, for the
information of his excellency the governor-general,
that durint; the proceedings of the late Bathurst
assizes I had ample proof of the wholesome state of
public feeling throughout that extensive district, and
of the determination of the great body of the people
congregated there at the gold diggings to uphold
the authority of the law, and to give every assistance
to the constituted authorities in preventing and de-
tecting crime ; indeed this feeling appeared so gen-
eral, from several instances which manifested it in
the public court, that the presiding judge, Mr. Jus-
tice Dickinson, expressed his gratification at it, in
some of his charges to the juries, and at the close of
the proceedings, again, in reference to it. compli-
mented, not only the juries for their just and
proper verdicts, but the whole community of the
district. I never received more cordial support in
the discharge of my duties ; all persons required as
witnesses gave their attendance most readily, how-
ever inconvenient to themselves (and several instances
of great inconvenience I was made aware of).
" In consequence of this state of public feeling
there were comparatively but few cases for prosecu-
tion growing out of the new state of things con-
nected with the discovery of gold, and the few cases
of larceny and horse-stealing that were traceable to it
were promptly detected and punished. I never re-
cclleet that part of the country in a more orderly
state, and I may mention that I myself rode on
horseback to and from the assizes unattended, and
even unaccompanied the greater part of the way, and
I had no reason to be apprehensive of any danger.
(Signed) " J. H. Plixkett."
In April, the number of gold-digging
licenses issued in New South "\^'alcs for the
quarter ending ^larch, 1852, was 11,835.
Up to May, 1852, the various commis-
sioners of crown lands in the districts of
Lachlan, Gwydir, Bligh, Wide Bay, New
England, Wellington, Darling Downs, Mur-
rumbidgec, Moreton, Clarence, and Mane-
• Pari. Papers, 28th February, 180.3, pp. 40, 47.
DIV. III. 3 I
roo, had successively reported the finding of
gold in their respective and wide- spread
localities. Some of these ultimately proved
not worth (at least surface) working.
The governor-general (Fitzroy) visited the
several gold-fields, and received six different
addresses, signed by the diggers and resi-
dents at Araluen, Bell's Creek, Ophir, Braid-
ivood, the Turon, and from the inhabitants
of Bathurst : the general tone of these
addresses may be gathered from that of
the Araluen miners, who, after alluding to
the tranquil and prosperous state of the
people, add — "We take this opportunity of
expressing, through your excellency, our
continued feelings of loyalty and affection to
her most gracious majesty, Queen Victoria,
and her royal consort, and our confidence in
the administration of the government in
this portion of her majesty^s dominions."
Up to June, 1852, the placers where gold
had been worked in any quantity were in
the western districts — Ophir, the Turon
River, INIeroo Creek, Louisa Creek, Aber-
crombie River, Mudgee, Burrandong, Tam-
baroura, and ]\Iuckerwa : in the southern
districts. Major and Bell creeks, Araluen,
Mungarlow River. Gold had been dis-
covered in many other places, but there was
not sufficient population to work them.
The labourers at the above-mentioned places
fluctuated ; sometimes one spot was nearly
abandoned, then re- occupied, according as
caprice or reports of " good luck" prevailed.
At Ophir (the first place occupied by the
diggers), there were from INIay to August,
1851, six to eight hundred persons at work,
whose earnings averaged 20^. a-day ; in
January, 1852, there were not fifty; but
the intelligent gold commissioner, J. R.
Hardy, says " the gold at Ophir has scarcely
been touched, the diggings having been ex-
clusively confined to the banks of the creek ;
the bed having never been attempted : a very
extensive gold-field is untouclied at Ophir."
The Turon has unfortunately been visited
by several overwhelming and tempestuous
floods, which haA'e destroyed the works of
the miners. In !March, the river-bed for some
distance was laid out in "claims," like squares
on a chess-board. Many of these claims
had been excavated to depths varying from
twelve to twenty feet — some more — and were
found to be surprisingly rich, yielding as
much as 30 oz. a-day. Every claim had its
pump, scaflblding, and ether mining requi-
sites, and presented from a distance a uni-
formity not unlike a chain of net-work,
442 WIDE EXTENT OF THE GOLD FIELDS IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
the labour of a busy hive, and affording
evidence of the exertions which men will
make to obtain gold. But all these indica-
tions of skill and toil were swept away in
one night, and on the following morning
nothing was to be seen but a wide-spread
foaming torrent. On such occasions the dry
diggings, on the upper banks, or the fresh
deposits from the hills, afforded a resource
for labour — a party of three or four acquiring
generally an ounce of dust per diem. When
the waters subside, it is frequently found that
they have brought down from the mountains
fresh supplies of auriferous materials.
Four thousand diggers in the previous
year found profitable employment there :
20s. a-day was the average earnings for
some months ; but in June, 1852, the
population in this locality, including Sofala.
had dwindled down to 1,500 ; the majority
having gone to Mount Alexander. The
river-bed had, however, scarcely been
scratched, owing to the long-continued wet
season : where, efficiently worked, parties of
three or four have been known to obtain
twenty ounces of gold in one day. In the
adjacent hills rich dry diggings were being
constantly found.
The Meroo district is very scattered, com-
prising not only the Meroo River, but
various tributaries, and the table-land of
the high range, at the foot of which the
Meroo runs, — in its course to the Cudge-
rjonfi, which flows into the Macquarie.
Within a few miles is the Muckerwa Creek,
rising from the Wellington side of the ]\Iac-
quarie, and disemboguing into that river.
There were, in 1852, about 800 persons in
these localities, but space enough for as many
thousands. On the Louisa Creek, one of
the tributaries of the Meroo, where Dr. Kerr
obtained the hundred-weight of gold (see
p. 410), a quartz-crushing company was then
commencing operations with machinery.
Tambaroura Creek runs parallel to the
Turun River, midway from the Meroo, and
empties itself into the Macquarie River,
about eight miles above their juncture. In
geological character and productiveness, this
field resembles that of the jNIeroo : about
800 persons were at work in June, 1852,
Every small creek or water-course produces
gold; and the adjacent table-land, which
extends about twenty miles in length by ten
miles in breadth, appears to be throughout
an auriferous district. The junction of this
creek with the Macquai'ie is stated to be a
very rich locaUty.
Abercroinbie River, forty miles south of Ba-
thurst, forms the upper portion of the Lach-
lan river. Up to the period of this report
(20th of June, 1852), it did not justify any
high expectations ; but Tuena and Mulgunnia
creeks, which flow into it from the higher
table-lands, are supposed to be productive :
about 100 persons were at work. Here, as
in other parts throughout the ivestern gold-
field, the general features of the country
consist of clay-slate, intersected by numerous
quartz veins, running generally from north
to south, and containing more or less gold :
when the veins run east and west, they do not
appear to be auriferous, but frequently con-
tain lead or copper.
The Cudgegong River, from the source to
its confluence with the IMacquarie, is stated
throughout its whole course to be replete
with gold ; very many of its smaller tribu-
taries, together with the dry diggings of
their accompanying flat-lands and swamps,
will, in the opinion of the government mine-
ral surveyor, " supply room for thousands of
adventurers for many years to come." The
same experienced authority adds, that dur-
ing the period of cessation which will ensue
consequent upon the ill-arranged mode of
working in this the infancy of Australian
gold-mining, localities that have proved
highly productive, but are supposed by the
majority to be worked out, will be returned
to at a future time, and yield lai'ge profits.*
A gold-field was reported by Mr. Com-
missioner Bligh to exist from the head of
Bingara Creek, down Courongoura Creek,
and lip the Gwydir River, a distance alto-
gether of fifty or sixty miles. Forty to fifty
diggers were concentrated about the table-
land, at the heads of the above-named creeks.
Their researches did not extend beyond one
or two feet from the surface ; the gold found
was generally in nuggets and "pepitas,'*
varying in size from a pin's head to that of
a pistol-bullet ; the latter size common,
generally not water-worn, but retaining the
sharp impression of the substances on which
they rested while in a state of fusion. One
nugget weighed 14 oz., another 7 oz., and
so on. The richest yield was from a short
and scarcely perceptible water-course, of
about 300 feet in length, and strewn with
decayed quartz. The diggers were mostly
of a superior class, and manifested a peace-
able demeanour. The country at Bingara
is level, and has the usual characteristics of
a gold jcgion — quartz and slate.
• Mr. Stuchbury's Keporl of 1st October, 1852.
PRINCIPAL GOLD FIELDS— NEW SOUTH WALES— 1852.
4i3
At OaJcey Creek, a branch of Cohidah
Greek, a tributary of the Horton, and ulti-
mately of the Gwydir River, about seventy-
three miles from Tamworth (Liverpool
plains), a remunerative gold-field was dis-
covered at the end of 185L The creek
has its source on the western side of an
extensive mountain range emanating from
the main range of BelVs Mountain, and
running nearly north, divides the more
direct tributaries of the Gwydir from those
which reach that river by the Horton.
Bell's Mountain range divides the waters of j
the Namoi from those of the Gwydir. At the j
Hanging Bock Creek about 200 miners were
at work in March.
The mountain ranges whence these waters
flow are supposed to consist chiefly of ser-
pentine intersected by quartz dykes of large
size. After leaving the serpentine, the
Oakey Creek flows through beds of clay
slate, whose strata are inclined at an angle
of about 65° with the horizon, and its
channel is filled with fragments of white
quartz and of a red quartzoze rock, with a
sand consisting of the detritus from these
and from the serpentine, mingled with par-
ticles of clay, and " of a ponderous red
mineral."* The surrounding soil is chiefly
a yellow clay, with fragments of shale and
quartz, and occasionally of a whitish clay,
both formed apparently from the decompo-
sition of the clay slate.
The southern gold-field, in the neighbour-
hood oi Braidwood, 170 miles from Sydney,
comprise Major and Bell's creeks, tributa-
ries of the Araluen River and Mungarlow
River (fifteen miles from the Araluen), which
flows into the Shoal-haven River. Operations
were commenced on the above-named creeks
in November, 1851, and 1,200 licenses were
issued in December ; varying numbers have
since then found employment in the Araluen
Valley, which has a width varying from a
half to three-fourths of a mile, and is stated
by the commissioner to be, beyond doubt, a
very abundant and extensive gold-field,
equal in extent and pi'oduction to the Turon.
The chief diggings, however, have been car-
ried on in the tributary creeks on the table-
land, 1,500 feet above the valley, and where
the water, though very abundant, could be
kept down without so much difficulty as in
the valley : there the production has been
as great, in proportion to the number of
* Commissioner Ilichard Elijah's lleport, with
Map, (S:c.; in Pari. Papers, 25th February, 1853, pp.
123—5.
miners, as in any other gold-field. f One
party obtained 3 Ibs.-weight of gold the day
after the licenses were issued. Another
obtained 45 oz. between breakfast and din-
ner. The average earnings of each individual
were said to be 20.9, a-day.
At Mimgarlow River, 200 persons were
hard at work with varying success. It is
supposed that this river and its tributaries,
through an extent of fifty miles, will ulti-
mately be found profitable.
The Brisbane Doivns, Maneroo District,
(county St. Vincent), in which the Braidwood
diggings are situated, consist of a series of
gentle undulations— diversified hill and dale,
lightly timbered, and abounding in water.
The Maneroo Plains, at the foot of the great
Warragong Chain, contain some of the
loftiest peaks of the Australian Alps, which
are always covered with snow. Nearly the
whole of the Braidwood neighbourhood is
of granite formation, and gold is dissemi-
nated in most of the hills around.
Major's Greek, in this district, is a sluggish
stream, making its way with difficulty down
a narrow flat, and presenting no difference
in appearance from hundreds of other valleys
in the colony. The surface is a fertile allu-
vium, varying in depth from five to fifteen
feet, in some parts of which gold is sparingly
found ; when this is removed, granite boul-
ders and crushed granite appears : in this
latter, a deep yellow gold, generally granu-
lar, occasionally spiral and unabraded by
water, is found. There is nothing mixed
with this broken granite but the short fila-
ments or grains of metal. Bell's Creek pre-
sents the same characteristics. At Araluen
the gold is obtained near the surface. The
beautiful plain where these streams fl-ow ap-
pears surrounded on all sides by mountains.
The Rev. W. B. Clarke examined the
features of the country between the divid-
ing range or eastern limit of the Maneroo
highlands and the coast of the county of
Auckland. The east border of the main
coast ranges is marked by a series of depres-
sions or passes, overlooked by high peaks
where the ridge divides the waters of the
Murrumbidgee and Snowy rivers from those
of the maritime counties. This ridge, at
the points of depression, may be stepped
across in from six to nine paces. The des-
cent through these passes is very steep, and
retulered more difficult of transit by stock-
men and shepherds from the head waters of
several rivers or streams, such as the Jenoa,
■\ Report of J. K. Hardy, Gold Commissioner
444
EFFECT OF MONETARY DERANGEMENTS~1852.
Totvamba, Bemboka, and Brogo, being di-
rected along these fissured lines caused by
volcanic action in the schistose rocks.
In the alpine region around Maueroo the
predominant colour of the granite is gi'ay,
with patches of a reddish or ferruginous hue ;
the felspar varies from small grains to con-
siderable crystals ; the quartz is limpid, and
highly crystalline ; the mica, in small green-
ish tables. In some places the granite is
in a state of decomposition, resulting from
exposure at so great an altitude.
In August, within the space of three
days, 870 drays left Sydney for the diggings,
having an average of three persons to each
dray=2,600. In September, the number of
licensed diggers in all the gold-fields of New
South Wales was supposed to be under
8,000 ; of these the largest proportion were
at the mines north of Sydney — namely, at
Ophir, Tambaroura, Meroo, Hanging Rock,
in the neighbourhood of Peel River, and
Bingara on the Gwydir Rive?'. At Ophir,
including the miners on Mr. Wentworth's
property, there were about 200, whose
earnings averaged 10s. to 60*. a-day. At
Turon, including Sofala, where, at one time,
there were 10,000 persons, now there were
only 1,200, earning 155. to 80^. On the
Tambaroura, 1,000 ; and on the Meroo,
including Louisa Creek, and the site of the
Great Nugget Vein, 1,500, earning 205.
each, on an average, per diem. At the
Hanging Rock, 200, doing well, some getting
20 oz. a-day ; at Bingara, about SCO. West
of Sydney — 200 on the Abercrombie ; 100 at
Havilah, on the Campbell. In the south,
the chief locality, Araluen Valley, had its
numbers reduced from 2,000 to 500 ; earn-
ings ranging from 15*. to 6O5. per diem.
A beneficial result ensued from this abate-
ment of the gold fever : the high prices
given for provisions at the mines, where it
was Tiot considered exorbitant to pay 455.
per 100 lbs. of flour ; and 125. Qd. a bushel
for maize ; — the importation of several thou-
sand tons of flour from the United States,
and the expanding circulating medium of
the colony, gave great encouragement to
agriculture : large quantities of fresh land
were sown with corn, in 1852 : — all sorts of
business increased ; and there was general
prosperity among every class of the commu-
nity. Shops in Sydney, in first-rate situa-
tions, gave a rent of ^700, JSOO, and even
iil,000 a-year; a good family house, £300
a-year ; a five-roomed cottage, 505. to 8O5. a
week. Building was carried on briskly, in
the superior style of architecture, and with
the excellent stone for which Sydney is
remarkable.
Quari^men and sawyers earned 2O5.,
and mechanics II5. to 145. a-day. Sawn
timber rose in price from 85. to 505. per
100 feet; bricks, from 405. to I6O5. per
1,000 ; hewn stone, from 4:d. and 5c?. to
25. and 25. Qd. per foot. Seamen employed
in the coasting traffic between Sydney,
Melbourne, and other adjacent ports, ob-
tained .€5 a-week as wages.
The great demand for labour naturally
caused, here as well as at Melbourne, nume-
rous desertions of seamen : indeed Sydney
Avas always a strong temptation to sailors ;
but, by the vigilance of the governor, the
evil was greatly checked by the middle of
the year 1852, as will be seen by the follow-
ing statement of the number of deserters;
the warrants issued for their apprehension;
and the number captured : —
Number
By
By
Years.
Deserters.
Appre-
Water
General
hended.
Police.
Police.
1849*
358
144
336
313
23
1850
456
160
266
244
22
1851
599
242
338
267
71
1852]
Jan.
to
115
78
231
123
108
May
incl. j
The eff'ect of the sudden discovery of
gold deranged for a time the monetary
transactions of the two colonies, and obliged
the banks to make larger remittances of
their capital to London, to meet drafts
against gold at 555. per oz. in New South
Wales ; and 505. in Victoria. The exchange
on England soon fell to a discount — nine to
ten per cent — and coin was imported to the
amount of nearly five million sterling,t to
meet the demand for current money.
The cry for a mint as a means of restoring
the balance of trade was very general : a
bank of England note for j^lOO only repre-
sented .£90 in Sydney, or sometimes only
£80 in Melbourne ; the banks sold their
drafts at 6i per cent, bought bills against the
hypothecation of produce at 8 per cent, dis-
count and did a thriving business, hy ad-
vancing cash (4O5. to 5O5. an oz.) on gold con-
signed to their care. The crown, after due
• Pari. Papers, 28th February, 1853, p. 142 -3._
t The export of }?old from England to Australia,
even from Jan. to Nov. 12th, 1853, was £3,726,655.
AUSTRALIAN GOLD COMPANY "BUBBLES" IN 1852.
445
iDvestigation, and a report from the distin-
guished Sir AVilliam Herschell, the master
of the mint, sanctioned the formation of a
branch of that establishment at Sydney;
and, in November, 1852, the governor-
general remitted j£lO,000 to England, to
meet the cost of machinery for the purpose
of assaying and coining on the spot sove-
reigns, or whatever current money may be
deemed advisable.
When the certainty of the existence of
gold in Australia became fully established
in England, numerous joint-stock com-
panies were formed, to reap some of the
golden harvest. In vain people were warned
that these companies were but " bubbles'^ —
that no dividend could accrue from such
speculations ; the public refused to profit by
the experience derivable from the Californian
companies, and eagerly swallowed every
falsehood — such, for instance, as the fol-
lowing, which was put forth in the public
papers : —
" Australia. — Some time since a little party of
gentlemen, holding high government appointments,
obtained leave of absence to visit Australia, with the
view of exploring certain districts Mhich the colonial
office had already been informed were singularly en-
riched with the precious metals. This little band,
accompanied by an intelligent mineralogist and
geologist, and armed with the requisite power and
the highest official introduction, appears to have
been indefatigable in their undertaking. We are
now informed that their reports fully confirm the
first advices, and that Tlie London and Liverpool
Australicm liming and Steaming Company, just an-
nounced, is a commercial result of the news just
received. It would further appear that the principle
with which the adventurers commenced, the tie of a
common interest, is to remain intact, and the effec-
tive mining staff about to sail forthwith are to have
their services secured by a like agreement with the
company in England."
This invention, about the " gentlemen
Holding high government appointments"
profiting by the information obtained by
the secretary of state for the colonies, and
" armed with the requisite power and high-
est official introductions," might have been
thought too absurd for even a gullible
public ; but there was no lie which, in the
desire to become suddenly rich, many were
not ready to swallow. Australian land was
sold in London, at thousands of pounds per
acre, on the mere faith that gold might be
found thereon : and some hundreds of thou-
sands were subscribed, by which none but a
few crafty adventurers, and characterless
* Shares to the value of £1,500 or money to that
amount, and upwards were offered to the writer if he
would only let his name appear as a director in some
jobbers could ever benefit.* That com-
panies for crushing auriferous quartz may,
by economy and good management, become
a source of profit, is undoubtedly true ; for
such enterprises are beyond the reach of
individual efforts. Some of the quartz ex-
amined yielded startling results : 40 oz. from
a vein in the Loiver Turon gave 12 dwts. of
gold, or at the rate of .€1,200 per ton;
another specimen, in which no gold was
visible to the unaided eye, was worth jg523
per ton, and there were said to be hundreds
of tons equally rich. Joint-stock bodies
could alone carry on the operations requisite
for long continued and extensive speculations.
In December, the Legislative Council
passed an act (16 Vic. No. 27) to " regulate
the carrying of fire-arms," as it was found
that some of the persons at the diggings
always went armed, and were in the habit
of using deadly weapons on the slightest
provocation. This led others in self-de-
fence to the adoption of a similar un-
English habit, and hence the necessity for a
general prohibition. Offences against the
act were made a misdemeanour, punishable
with imprisonment for any term not exceed-
ing two years, with hard labour. Any one
carrying fire-arms in the city of Sydney,
except by lawful authority, was liable to a
pecuniary fine. A similar act was passed
in the province of Victoria.
About this period the Colonial Legislature
passed a gold enactment, exacting double
fees from those who were not British subjects
— empowering the executive to grant leases
or licenses of aux'iferous tracts for twenty-
one years — and giving power to suspend*
pastoral leases or licenses so far as might be
necessary to mining operations in the
"runs" to which existing licenses pertain.
Half-licenses to be permitted after the 15th
of the month.
The diggers in both colonies began to
protest against the exactment of a high
license fee ; they asked why their occupa-
tion should be taxed more than that of
other labourers or mechanics, more espe-
cially since the product of their industry
contributed so largely to the general wel-
fare ; resistance was threatened, but they
offered to pay a lower fee, and proposed
10*. a-month.
On the 2nd of December, Mr. Arthur
Todd Holroyd, an active and intelligent
of the " gold" bubbles ; but to every application he
replied, " to take money under such pi-etences was
little better than a public robbery."
446 PRODUCE OF NEW SOUTH WALES GOLD-FIELDS IN 1851-2.
member of the Legislative Council for the
western boroughs of Bathurst, &c., moved,
on behalf of 2,000 miners at the Turon,
that a select committee be appointed to
"inquire into the working and tendency of
the gold regulations upon the mining and
national interests of the colony." The mo-
tion was opposed by Mr. Wentworth and
other influential and independent members,
and withdrawn. The money derived from
the licenses at the rate of 305. a-month was
included under the term territorial or crown
I'e venue, and the lords of the treasury in
England had the sole disposal of the fund,
but the colonists Avere much gratified by the
announcement from Sir John Pakington,
her majesty's secretary of state for the colo-
nies, that the Crown surrendered the appro-
priation of the territorial revenue, including
the proceeds accruing from the sale of lands,
as well as those arising from gold licenses, and
other items, to the Legislative Councils of
New South Wales and Victoria, after each
council had secured whatever permanent
charges might have been already placed on
it. This sound policy removed a source of
constant bickering between the representa-
tives of the queen and the Colonial Legis-
lative Assemblies, and the timely concession
was received with joyful acclamation at
Sydney and at Melbourne.
The number of licenses to dig and search
for gold was, during the four quarters, as
follows : —
1852.
1st Quarter
2nd
3rd
4th
Total .
On Cro-^-n
Lands, at 30s
a Month.
9,669
7,793
5,738
5,300
28,500
On Private
Lands, at los.
per Mouth.
2,166
1,609
1,114
1,520
6,409
Total
Licenses.
11,835
9,402
6.852
6,820
34,909*
to some extent shown in the amounts trans-
mitted by the escorts and mail to Sydney,
viz. : —
If the total for the year be divided by
twelve, it will show that the average monthly
number of licensed diggers was under 3,000.
There were, however, an inconsiderable
number who eluded the gold commissioners,
and paid no licenses. The yield of the
New South Wales gold-fields, for 1852, is
* See Pari. Papers, February 28th, and August
16th, 1853. Mr. G. A. Lloyd gives the number of
licenses for the year at 22,500, and founds some cal-
culations thereon; but his basis is evidently incorrect.
t There was by estimate on hand in Sydney, 31st
December, 1852, 230.000 oz. It is probable that
the whole yield to this date was about 800,000 oz.
Western Escort, oz. 133,207
Southern „ 47.519
Northern „ 10,970
Total . oz. . 191,696
Mail 29,120
9,176
;, 3,868
42,164
Assuming the quantity brought into Syd-
ney by escort to be the produce of New South
Wales, and the diggers at 3,000, it would
give an annual remuneration for each of
92 oz., at 70*. per oz. = .€322.
The known export from Sydney during
1852 was 962,873t oz., of which a considera-
ble portion must have been forwarded from
Victoria. J The export for 1851 (from
May to December) was 144,120 oz.§ Total
for both years, 1,100,993 oz., valued at
.€3,874,475 sterling. The colonial price
fluctuated from 62^. in January, to 70^. 9d.
per oz. at the close of the year.
The immigration was far less than that of
Victoria; during 1852 the statistics were —
United Australian
Other
Kingdom. Colonies.
Countries
Arrived from
6,443 9,886
5,487
Departed to
478 13,511
948
Total Arrivals
21,816 Departures,
(See Ajiji&ndix )
14,937
Among the arrivals were numerous " Yan-
kees" from California; about 200 were
employed on the Turon river in December,
and they are described by an eye-witness as
sober, industrious, steady, quiet, intelligent,
and, as a body, exemplary in their conduct.
Some Chinese were introduced, and found
very useful ; industrious, frugal, sober, quiet,
and skilful, they were ready to do anything,
and adequate to whatever they undertook ;
their honesty (questionable in their native
country) was here noticeable ; one of them
found a cheque in the bush, and delivered it
up to the police. As gardeners they are
unrivalled, but even as shepherds — to them
a novel occupation — they soon evinced con-
siderable adroitness.
The large number of passengers embark-
ing from England for the gold-fields caused
the laying on some of the finest ships in our
merchant service ; one deserves here special
mention. The Marco Folo sailing-ship made
X Mr. E. Khull, a Melbourne bullion-broker, gives
the export from Victoria, " shipped per customs' re-
turn, 280,599; by private hand, 341,739 ; estimated
in addition to above, 100,000"=722,328 oz.
§ Another statement gives it at 142,975 oz. ; the
lesser quantity is on the authority of a re.spected
gold-broker at Sydney, George A. Lloyd.
SEARCH FOR GOLD IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA— 1852.
447
the outward passage, via Cape of Good
Hope, in sixty-eight, and the homeward,
vid Cape Horn, in seventy-five days. Going
out she sailed from the parallel of the Cape
of Good Hope to Port Phillip in twenty-
three days. During the voyage her run for
three successive days was 315, 318, and 306
miles. This fine clipper beat the Australian
paddle-wheel steamer from England; the
voyage out and home round the world, M'as
made in the short space of five months and
twenty-one days. That immense screw-
steamer, the Great Britain, made a tolera-
ble fair voyage ; her run from the Cape of
Good Hope to Melbourne occupied thirty-
five days. A large number of emigrants
were on board, of whom only one died on
the passage. The General Screiv Steam
Ship Company placed several of their fine
and well-conducted vessels on the Austra-
lian line, and the ocean between England
and the Antipodes, a distance of nearly
14,000 miles, was almost bridged over by all
sorts of navigable craft. Some of the
traders had valuable freights to England;
for instance, the Australian steamer had on
board 8i tons, or 222,293 oz. of gold, valued
at nearly jS800,000, independent of con-
siderable sums in the hands of a large num-
ber of passengers. The gold was sewed up
in leathern bags and sealed ; then placed in
strong cedar boxes, screwed down, and
sealed. The Australian had also a quantity
of rich copper ore from South Australia ; a
pretty full cargo of wool and tallow fi-om
New South Wales, and on her way home
she received 100 tons of sugar at the Mau-
ntms.
Previous to resuming the record of pro
ceedings at Victoria, it is necessary to ad-
vert to South Australia, which cannot yet be
classified in the list of gold colonies. In
August, 1852, it was announced that an
auriferous site had been discovered near
the village of Echunga, in the IMount Bar-
ker range of hills, twenty-three miles dis-
tant from Adelaide. The gold was found in
very small quantities, and over an extremely
limited area, in a detritus of sand, quartz,
and ironstone, resting immediately on clay,
with a substratum of sandstone ; l)ut there
were no basaltic or trap rocks, which gene-
rally exist in gold districts. No trap, in-
deed, is to be found nearer than 150 miles
to the north-east of Adelaide. The metal,
obtained by washing the surface soil, was
more stringy than that of !Mount Alexander,
with accompaniments of iron and silver,
but perfectly free from, copper. A country
of similar formation extends for a consi-
derable distance to the north, and stretches
away to the south, towards Encounter Bay
and Cape Jervis; probably, also, to Kan-
garoo Island.
On the announcement of gold by a per-
son named Chapman, who claimed the re-
ward of ^^1,000 off"ered by the local govern-
ment for its discovery, there was a great
rush from Adelaide, and sixty licenses were
at once issued. In September, more li-
censes were granted ; but many returned to
Adelaide, disappointed in their hope of be-
coming immediately possessed of riches. A
few sunk pits : one party penetrated to a
depth of thirty-five feet without reaching
the bottom of the clay stratum; and an-
other reached a steatitic white clay ; but
neither obtained any gold. Up to the end
of September, 296 licenses were issued, but
continued heavy rains materially interfered
with the operations of the diggers, who,
however, procured a little gold.
In October, about 400 people had pitched
their tents at Echunga ; several families of
respectability arrived ; and the presence of
well-dressed women and children gave a
pleasing feature to the diggers, who were
characterized by decorum and sobriety. One
nugget, weighing an ounce and a-half, was
found seven feet below the surface ; and as-
sistant gold- commissioner Murray reported
(2nd October, 1852) — " many almost as
large were discovered among the small gold,
by different persons, during the last week.'^"^
Towards the end of October, 700 licenses
had altogether been taken out, but success
was small and very variable. Specks of
gold were found in a few places on the sur-
face; but several shafts, sank down in the
rock, yielded none. One of these passed
eighty feet, entirely through the plastic
earth, down to a white, porous, brittle, sili-
cious formation, easily friable, by pressure
beneath the fingers, into coarse-grained par-
ticles. At the close of the month, about
200 persons quitted the diggings.
In December, only eighty-seven licences
were applied for, making, with 1,011 issued
in August, September, October, and No-
vember, 1,098, Every creek and fiat had
been tried, and failed in the expected yield.
The diggers complained of the heavy li-
cense-fee (305.), which they were required
to pay in searching for a precious commo-
* Tail. Papers, IGth August, 1853, p. 133.
448
VICTORIA DIGGINGS— COMMENCEMENT OF 1853.
dity, and petitioned for its diminution to
10*. a month, which they declared them-
selves ready to contribute, until they might
find a gold-field which would reward their
labour, when they would be enabled to give
a larger sum for their license to dig. Lieu-
tenant-governor Young refused to comply
with the prayer of the petitioners, who con-
sequently left Echunga, and the search has
not since been resumed. Whether South
Australia be or be not an auriferous coun-
try is still open to investigation : the same
remark applies to Western Australia, where,
it is said, there are small particles of gold.
Both these provinces are, however, rich in
other minerals, such as copper, lead, &c.
The year 1853 opened well at Victoria.
Notwithstanding the absence from the dig-
gings of many labourers at the festive sea-
sou — which Englishmen delight to celebrate
in every part of the world — the licenses
issued were —
Districts.
Ballarat (incl. Creswick's Creek)
Mt. Alexander and adjoining dis.
Ovens River district ....
Total number . • .
January.
3,720
23,441
6,112
33,273
February.
5,105
25,838
6,477
37,420
The fees derived by government from
these licenses amounted to ^8110,561.
The gold transmitted by government es-
cort to ^Melbourne, during the above months,
was — from Ballarat, 36,122 ; Mount Alex-
ander district, 105,562 ; Ovens River dis-
trict, 72,617 = 250,423 oz. Some gold was
conveyed from the Ovens diggings to Syd-
ney, New South Wales, by a private escort
company : the quantity is supposed to have
been from ten to twelve thousand ounces
weekly, which would show a large yield for
this district The Victoria private escort
brought also to INIelbourne, during Janu-
ary and February, from Forest Creek,
77,130; and from Bendigo, 105,175 —
182,305, which, with the government es-
cort, gives 432,728 oz. Allowing 10,000 oz.
sent to Sydney weekly, for eight weeks, we
must add 80,000 more; showing a total
yield from the Victoria mines of at least
512,728 oz.,* which, at 705. per oz., gives
£1,794,548, for fifty-nine days, or at the
* Some of this gold may have been collected in
December, or even in November : the licenses
granted for these months respectively, were 35,469,
and 35,575.
rate of .€30,000 a-day. The average num-
ber of miners for January and February,
was 35,345 ; so that the earning for each
was about sixteen shillings a-day.
At Ballarat there were six or seven thou-
sand persons, including women and chil-
dren. At Mount Alexander and Bendigo
districts, the diggers were distributed over
Fryers, Forest, and Barker Creeks. At
j\Iount Koorong, fifty miles to the north of
Bendigo, between the Avoca and the Lod-
don, two gullies, of limited extent, were dis-
covered, yielding gold in considerable abun-
dance, and almost on the surface : between
five and six hundred miners found profitable
employment. Creswick's Creek was fre-
quented by a small number of diggers, with
moderate success. The May -day Hills, in
the Ovens district, termed the " border dig-
gings," were at this period popular, in con-
sequence of new placers being discovered at
Reid's and Spring Creeks. The district be-
tween Yass and Albuiy (see jSIap) was
spoken of as an immense gold-mine, the
spots more particularly mentioned being the
Black Range Mountains, four or five miles
from Albury, and Adelong Creek, near
Gundegai, on the frontier between Victoria
and New South Wales. The neighbourhood
of Lake Omeo (see p. 253) was also said to
be very rich. On January 7th, thirty-eight
drays left Melbourne for the Ovens district,
with, on an average, four persons to each
dray, all determined not to return until
they had realized an ample independence.
Reid's Creek was ascertained to be auri-
ferous throughout its length of sixteen miles.
The produce was derived from surface wash-
ing, the gold being as fine as gunpowder,
and very pure.
With regard to Spring Creek, its bed was
entirely of granite, the surface soil in gene-
ral a dark loam; in some places, a red
gravel. The average depth of the pits dug
by the miners was 8 to 10 feet; in the dry
diggings, 12 to 14 feet: and at the Upper
Creek, 15 to 20 feet. Tunnelling was uni-
versally practised at the dry diggings ;
the compact natm'e of the soil facilitating
the process. The gold, remarkably fine,
and of a deep bright, rich colour, was found
immediately above the bed rock, universally
in a stratum of loose decomposed granite;
but it required care and toil to separate the
minute particles of metal, which were lighter
than fine sand; the black and apparently
iron dust blown from the gold was not
affected by the magnet. Some of the claims
PAY OF ESTABLISHMENTS AT THE GOLD FIELDS-1853. 449
(8 feet by 16) turned out very rich : owe,
worked by soldiers, yielded 138 lbs. ; another,
occupied by a Sydney party, 93 lbs, ; seve-
ral yielded 20 or 30 lbs. ; it was considered
a poor claim that did not furnish over 3 lbs.
of gold. Towards the close of January, it
was supposed this creek was worked out;
but owing to the extreme fineness of the
dust, a considerable quantity must have re-
mained in the soil.
At the junction of Yackindandah with
Gap Creek, about seven miles from Spring
Creek, gold was found by sinking deep
holes in the centre of the creek, through a
rich black alluvial deposit — a work of great
labour, and requiring not less than six or
eight men, on account of the quantity of
water to be baled out, and the necessity of
erecting strong frame-work, to prevent the
sides of the pits from falling in. In the
Ovens district, generally speaking, there
were good returns obtained by about 5,000
diggers. One party procured 300 oz. within
a month j others, in a longer period, 500 oz.
A group of Germans are stated to have
given in to the commissioner 120 lbs. weight.
At Canadian Gully, (Ballarat), four miners
found, at about fifty feet from the sur-
face, two masses of nearly pure gold, one
weighing 77 lb. 3oz., the other 69 lb. 6 oz.
This caused a great rush to the neighbour-
hood. A promising gully was opened at
Creswick's Creek, and new diggings at
VVahaup, where 1,000 men temporarily found
employment.
On the 12th of February many hastened
from different quarters to the Loddon (forty
miles from Fryer's Creek), where a man had
obtained 6 lbs. weight of gold, as the fruit
of ten days' toil. Workings were discovered
at Kerang, about twelve miles south-west of
Koorong, and still further to the soiith-west
in Mount MoUyagall range, which aflForded
good promise, but unfortunately there was
a want of water. New openings of small
extent were commenced at VVinters''s Flat,
in the vicinity of Boninyong township. A
marked change was at tbis period noticed
in the habits and manners of the miners;
the feverish haste which characterized them
fit the outset was much less observable ; their
dwellings, whether huts or tents, instead of
l)eing closely huddled together on the very
edge of the workings, were distributed over
the adjacent hills, for the sake of greater
privacy, comfort, and convenience; there
was more science, general intelligence, and
perseverance manifested ; and the large pro-
DIV. III. 3 X
portion of women and children gave a more
domestic aspect, and an appearance of more
settled occupation than previously existed.
Provisions were plentiful, considerably re-
duced in price, and no unusual amount of
sickness prevailed. An improvement M'as
manifested in some respects in the character
of the governmental establishments, and in
the subordinate arrangements for carrying
on the duties of the field. The governmen-
tal establishments connected with the gold-
fields were large;* it included a chief commis-
sioner (£1,500 per annum) ; thirty-three
resident, senior and junior assistant-com-
missioners, at salaries varying from .£400 to
■£700 per annum, Avith rations and forage
for one horse ; three surgeons and coroners
(c€350 to £400 each); three postmasters
(£250 to £300); forty clei^ks to commis-
sioners (£150 to £400); five store-keepers
(£1.50 to £300) ; three tent-keepers '(8s.
a-day); deputy-sherifl:' (£500); clerk to ditto
(£150); gaoler (£250); bailift" (£300); and
two turnkeys {\2s. a-day); four police ma-
gistrates (£500); five clerks to bench (£150);
two inspectors of the police (£600) ; two
acting ditto (£400); fifteen sub-inspectors
(£300). Mounted police. — One serjeant-
major, 13^.; six Serjeants, 125. each; seven-
teen corporals, 95. ; 134 troopers, 8*. Foot
police, twenty-one serjeants, 125. ; 280 con-
stables, 85. ; troops of the line, 110 privates,
one drummer, four corporals, four serjeants,
one ensign, one lieutenant, and one captain,
all with extra allowances, varying from \s.
to 75. (Sd. a-day. Ecclesiastical. — Two
clergymen — church of England ; two church
of Scotland; two Wesleyan (£300 each).
Treasurij offices. — A gold-receiver (£600) ;
sub-ditto (£500) ; six clerks (£250 to £300
each). Road gangs. — Fifty-six overseers,
eighteen carpenters, four blacksmiths, four
strikers, one mason, two quarrymeu, three
time-keepers, two store-keepers, 1,347 la-
bourers; these receive 85. to IO5. a-day;
the carpenters, 125. to 205. ; blacksmiths,
205. to 225. ; overseers, &c., 125. i)d. to 155.
a-day each. All the above-named classes
preceding the ecclesiastical and treasury re-
ceived, in addition to their salaries and pay,
rations at the public expense. The expen-
diture of the police for 1852 was £60,554;
the estimate proposed by the governor for
1853 was £339,179; the expenditure autho-
rized by the appropriation act of tlie local
legislature was as follows : —
* The patronage thus obtained was enormous.
Pail. Tapci-s, 16lh August, 1S23, p. 87.
450
SMALL EXTENT OF CRIME AT THE GOLD FIELDS— 1853.
One chief commissioner of police at 1,200^. per an-
num, £1,200 ; five clerks, one at 400/., two at 300/.,
and two at 200/. each per annum, £1,400 ; one chief
inspector at 900/. per annum, £900 ; one paymaster
at TOO/, per annum, £700; four district inspectors
at GOO/, each per annum, £2,400 ; twenty sub-in-
spectors : ten at 400/. each per annum, and ten at
330/. each per annum, £7,000 ; one studmaster at
GOO/, per annum, £600; one veterinary surgeon at
300/. per annum, £300 ; two serjeant-majors of
mounted police at 13s. per day, £474 10s. ; thirty-
five Serjeants at 10s. per day, £6,387 10s. ; 100
cadets at 8s. per day, £14,600; 300 constables at
8s. per day, £43,800 ; 59 Serjeants of foot police at
10s., £9,125; 200 constables at 10s., £36,500; 300
constables at 8s., £43,800 ; two armourers at 15s.,
£547 10s. ; two saddlers at 14s., £511 ; two farriers
at 12s., £438; two female searchers at 30/. per an-
num, £60. Detective ])olice : — -two officers at 350/.
each per annum, £700 ; fifty men at 250/., £12,500 ;
amount authorized for pay of police force, £183,9.43
10s. ; contingencies, £74,550 : total, £258,493 10s.
To provide for the speedy administration
of justice, a circuit of tlae supreme court of
the colony was held on the 9th of February,
at Castlemaiue, Forest Creek, for the adju-
dication of offences committed at the dig-
gings since the previous circuit. Fifty-three
prisoners were tried — one, for shooting with
intent to do bodily harm; two, robbery with
violence J fifteen, robbing in company; two,
assault with intent to rob ; six, stealing in a
dwelling ; one, burglary ; eleven, larceny ;
five, assault ; four, horse-stealing ; and the
remainder were minor offences. Twenty-two
of the accused were convicted,* eleven ac-
quitted, six discharged for non-attendance
of witnesses, and fourteen remanded to next
sessions.
At the preceding circuit on the 9th of
December, 1852, there were forty prisoners
for trial ; among these were — one, murder ;
oue,manslaughter; one,shooting with intent,
&c. ; seven, robbery ; four, assault ; eight,
horse-stealing; nine, larceny. Of the ac-
cused, twenty-five were convicted, three
acquitted, two discharged, and ten not tried
on account of non-attendance of witnesses,
and other causes. Considering that about
50,000 persons, of all classes and characters,
were collected at the mines, the result does
not exhibit a large amount of crime. On
this point, Lieutenant-governor Latrobe,
writing to the secretary of state towards the
close of the year 1852 (despatch, dated 29th
November), says —
" I am justified in saying that general good order
prevails throughout the gold-fields, and tliat there is
• The sentences were labour on the public roads for
periods varying from eighteen months to twelve years,
and imprisonment from three to twenty months.
t Pari. Papers, IGth August. 1853, p. oo.
every disposition among the great bulk of the miners
to yield ready obedience to the law, and to the regu-
lations laid down by government, as well as to look
to the authorities for such measures of protection as
can be aflforded. If these do not find on all occa-
sions the degree of readiness which might be desir-
able, to give judicious and timely information, or to
render the assistance requisite for the prompt repres-
sion of disorder, it is, I am assured, less to be attri-
buted to any real indisposition to assist than to the
earnestness with which the main object of their oc-
cupation of the ground is pursued, and to a disincli-
nation to turn aside, unless it be absolutely necessary,
to perform any duty which may interfere with indi-
vidual schemes or interests, and perhaps involve a
temporary withdrawal from the field, by attendance
as witnesses, at the supreme court more especially,
which must entail ultimately a great expenditure of
time and trouble. I may here state, that I found all
the arrangements ordered with a view to the proposed
holding of a circuit court at Castlemaine. forest
Creek, on the ninth proximo, in a state of forward-
ness ; and I believe no measure w ill be better cal-
culated to further the ends of justice, and obviate
the indisposition to give evidence to which I have
adverted, even in grave cases."
And his excellency further adds —
" I am still enabled to state that the amount of
crime and disorder, in so far as these are really
known to prevail, is far less in proportion than that
remarked among the population in the towns. Take
from the list those ofi'ences that originate or are con-
nected with and facilitated by the illicit sale of
spirits, and horse-stealing, to which it may be con-
ceded the circumstances of the colony afford extra-
ordinary inducements, the number of serious crimes
really known to be committed on the gold-fields and
in their vicinity, however marked these may be, is
comparatively few."t
This statement, although undoubtedly
correct, and in corroboration of opinions
previously expressed, is irreconcilable with
the enormous outlay proposed on the 3rd of
the same month in which the foregoing was
written, by the Lieutenant-governor, in his
estimates for 1853, for the prevention and
punishment of crime among a popitlation
whose aggregate number was about 200,000.
(1) Administration of justice, c€4-2,280 (a
small portion of this may be debited to civil
business — say £12,280, the remaining
£30,000 to criminal matters). (2) Police
establishments, .€412,715. (3) Gaol and
penal establishments, £94,449. (4) Mili-
tary (acting chiefly as police), £67,489.
Total, £604,051,1 or, in other words, an
annual taxation of about £3 a head for every
man, woman, and child in the colony. "What
a waste of public money, which might have
X See Pari. Papers, IGth August, 1853, pp. 46—
53, for message from Lieutenant-governor to legisla-
tive council of Victoria (No. 34) with estimates for
tlic vear 1853, dated November 3rd, 1852.
CHARACTER OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR LATROBE.
451
he.Qii most usefully employed in the promo-
tion of necessary works — in sanitary mea-
sures"^— which Melbourne and Gcelong were
deplorably in need of, and in providing for
the reception of valuable immigrautSj some
of whom were at this very period perishing
of destitution in the streets of oMel bourne !
But it was not only in police and gaols
that the iNIelbourne authorities were most
lavish; the whole governmental estimate of
the lieutenant-governor for 1853 (in the
message (34) just referred to) was .€1,7 19,042
sterling; this includes €31,879 for the ex-
ecutive and legislative departments; £39,417
for the custom or revenue olficers ; £57,168
for the jjost-office (which was worse than a
nuisance); £62,356 for gold-field commis-
sioners ; €42,580 for port and harbour de-
partments ; €65,663 for stores and their
transport: but it is unnecessary to par-
ticularise further. The anticipated income
for the year was €1,733,600; the estimated
expenditure, €1,749.0 12 ; excess of expen-
diture over even such an extraordinary in-
come, €15,442. And yet, with all this
abundance of means for providing an effec-
tive administration, the editor of the London
Times adverts to the " unjustifiable neglect
which it would appear characterizes every
department of the colonial government,^^
and cites as one instance the case of '' a
man who was not drunk but cranky, taken
into custody, locked up, and forgotten. No
trace of him was found on the watch-house
list; and three days afterwards, Avhen the
cell was accidentally opened, the prisoner
was discovered dead.^' With regard to the
local police, irrespective of neglect and in-
solence, it is explicitly stated that several
members of the detective force were subsi-
dized by outlaws and vagrants, and received
a certain weekly stipend for conniving at
their misdeeds.
jSIr. Latrobe was considered by impartial
colonists as an intelligent and excellent
private gentleman ; a man of literary tastes,
and a good despatch- writer — perhaps too
* Sale of town lands in Melbourne up to this date,
about £150,000; in Geelong upwards of £75,000.
But of these large receipts, there was, in June, for
the first time, advanced to the corporation of the
city of Melbourne, £10,000, and £0,000 to Geelong,
in aid of the town funds, for draining, cleansing, and
local improvements.
■j- Fourteen years ago— on arriving in the province
as chief administrator — Mr. Latrobe bought for a
small sum twenty acres of land, within a mile of the
then town, on which he placed a wooden house brought
from England, for his residence ; by the augmentation
of the chief city, and the increased value of pro-
much inclined to give reasons and make
excuses for non-pcrfOrmauce of obvious
duties. But he was also considered to be
deficient in energy and wanting in decision
of character; certainly he had no love for
public life. A staff of not very efficient
officers Mas much in his way, and an ob-
stacle that one of his temperament was
likely to find difficulty in remedying or re-
moving. With less impartial observers,
Mr. Latrobe was severely criticized ; yet it
must be recorded that he always bore wil-
ling testimony to the good conduct of the
mining population — and had he but em-
ployed some of the immense sums of money
which were lying idle in the local treasury,
in providing for the houseless immigrants,
in opening public lands for sale, and in
making traversible roads to the gold-fields,
he would have escaped most of the cen-
sure which has been cast on his govern-
ment. The attempt to double the license-
fee of 30.9, a-month, and its subsequent sud-
den abolition, instead of reduction to 10^.
a-month, was certainly injudicious, especially
after the enormous outlay which was being
incurred on the anticipation of an income
of about half-a-miUion sterling per annum,
from the issue of these very licenses. It
should, however, be observed, that as his
administration drew to a close, Mr. Latrobe
promptly and liberally responded to the
public v.ishes, in the desire for rail-roads
and other useful measures, by which some
re-actionary feeling was created in his favour:
I believe, however, the strongest political
opponents cannot accitse him of tyranny,
corruption, t or favouritism ; and when freed,
in July 1851, from the control of governor
Fitzroy, he became overwhelmed by the
magnitude and unprecedentedness of the
circumstances which the gold-fever created :
he doubtless conscientiously acted according
to the best of his ability, and in the fulfil-
ment of what (in some respects errone-
ously) he deemed his duty to the Crown,
The unfeeling — un-English conduct of the
perty, this land became of great value — some say to
the amount of £70,000 — but Mr. Latrobe's friends
deny that this was a reason for his keeping back the
waste land from public auction. On the other
hand, the opponents of the local government, at a
public meeting in Melbourne, asserted that it was
the policy of the authorities, wlio were nearly all
proprietors of land, or squatters with a right of pre-
emption over their extensive runs at tl;e rate of
205. per acre — (three of vhom held a million acres
at a rental of £00 per acre) — to enhance territorial
property by refusing to put up to public auctioii
some of the sixty million acres which the colony con-
453 TREATMEMT OF IMMIGRANTS BY VICTORIA GOVERNMENT— 1853.
local authorities to the unfortunate immi-
grants, is thus described by an eye-witness :*
" I -will now tell you what an emigrant may ex-
pect on landings — say a man, his wife, and family,
with 5/. and no tent (the case 1 am j?oing to make
up is not one in 100, but 99 cut of 100). He lands,
and finds the whole of his money gone for convey-
ance of himself and family ashore. He sits down on
his boxes, debating what he shall do for the best.
He hears he can get work on the roads at 10s. a-day,
or if he's a stonemason, carpenter, or blacksmith, his
ju'ospects are even better — ready employment at
2os. a-day. This revives him. He looks around
and sees a waste sandy desert, which, from the reeds,
is a bog in winter, and close to the sea. He there-
fore sets to work, opens his boxes, gets out sheets,
blankets, table-clothS; gowns, handkerchiefs, &c.,and,
while his wife sews them together, he gets some
sticks and manages to make what he calls a tent or
cover from the weather. He then takes a seat by
the roadside, and sells some of his things at a sad
loss, and with the proceeds buys a supper for his
family, and the next morning he is off to town to try
and get work. He comes back saying he has suc-
ceeded; but what is his surprise at finding liis tent
pulled down, and things scattered about ! He asks
the cause, and his Avife tells him that the govern-
ment othcials have been, and, after abusing her,
took, or rather tore down the tent, because, as they
said, it was on government land ; and also, that if
they saw them pick up any sticks again, dead and
rotting although they might be on the ground, they
should be fined 5/., or a month's imprisonment, and
this, too, where firewood is at 21. and 3/. a-load.
What does he then do ? Why, perhaps, he curses
a-bit, and then packs up, carries, and drags his goods
on to Melbourne; sells some more, and then goes to
a government office for permission to pitch his tent
on what is called ' Canvas Town,' and pays the gov-
ernment 5s. a-week rent. Away he goes and pitches
his tent, goes to work, and when he returns he finds
his tent again in confusion. He hears from his ys'it'e
that she, finding the ground dirty and very dusty,
and thinking to make the tent more comfortable,
laid down some planks in the shape of box-lids, &c.,
when, lo and behold ! up comes a government offi-
cial, and orders her to take up the boards, as they
were not allowed to board the tents."
" At the present moment typhus fever and dysentery
are raging among the 6,000 tented inhabitants of
Canvas Town, and in most cases producing fatal
eff'ccts. A little girl I know, who died of sun-
stroke during a hot wind. Four died the same day.
They were struck in the tents near to her. The
doctor who attended her said that he should give up
attending persons in tents, as nearly all cases proved
fatal ; and yet government, after squeezing out 5s. a-
week for a little piece of dirty, useless land, lying
near a swamp, won't allow the poor people either to
tahis ; and this too at a time when there were several
million pounds sterling lying idle as deposits in the
banks — vyhile many of the fortunate diggers were
squandering in debauchery and extravagance those
acquisitions wliich would have been gladly invested
in the soil. My own impression is, that Lieutenant-
governor Latrobe is not justly chargeable of acting
with a view to his personal advantage ; but I re-
luctantly consider that, in 18.-|2, he allowed his mind
to be biassed by those who had a direct pecuniary
put on a wooden roof to keep the heat and wet out,
or a wooden floor to rest their beds on and keep
out the dust." ... , ...
" Talkhig of tents, there are some queer ones, I can
assure you. The first I had was a calico one, about
six feet by eight feet, in which I could not stand up.
This cost 21. 12s. Gd. In this place four, and often
six, slept on the ground, while our boxes remained
outside exposed to the wind and rain, which spoilt
all their contents. This tent was anything but water-
proof, and when it did rain it was one of the finest
shower-baths I was ever in, and many a cold night
have I lain in sop. One little tent near me I have
named the tombstone, from its resemblance to that
structure. It belongs to a young man who, dis-
gusted, is returning to England. Thousands would
follow him if they could. It measures, length four
feet, breadth two feet, height two feet. When he
turns in, half his legs stick out at the door, which
has a very droll effect."
As to the Melbourne post-office, it was a
disgrace to the British character ; there was
not merely neglect, there must have been
positively a large and wilful destruction of
letters. t A correspondent thus describes it
in 1853, when there had been full time to
remedy any unforeseen pressure : —
" So badly regulated a place I believe does not
exist in the world. To get to the window for a let-
ter takes at least two hours, and then you must fight
against a crowd as rough and large as on a boxing-
night at the lloyal Vic. ; and the great difficulty is to
get out again. All this could be set to rights by
making a barrier ; but no, the pig-headed govern-
ment won't do it. Hundreds and hundreds of letters
are lying in the post-office, and the persons to Avhom
they are directed know they are there, but cannot
get them. As for the post-offices at the diggings,
they are a perfect farce ; they take the postage, but
the letters never arrive. A lady friend of mine wrote
four letters to her husband at the diggings, begging
him to return to Melbourne, as their eldest daughter
was dying. He not coming, she advertised in the
Argus, and that he saw, and returned ; but, alas! too
late. The letters he never received. I wrote three
letters to a friend at Sydney ; he only received one ;
the others are not to be found."
Viscount Canning, the post-master-genc-
ral in London, on being applied to by the
author, relative to the total disregard of
public duties by the post-master at Vic-
toria, replied that this functionary was not
under his control, but solely subject to the
local government at Melbourne : a fact which
fully accounts for the whole proceeding.
interest in maintaining a monopoly of the land; and
that the neglect of sutfering thousands was a dere-
liction of Christian duty.
* See London 'Times, Nov. 4, 1853.
f Clerks might be seen walking over floors a foot
deep with letters ami lu^wsjiapers ; sometimes weeks
elapsed after the arrival of a mail from J'lngland
before the letters were delivered ; thousands, iiow-
ever, never reached their destination, although the
postage had been paid for their safe transmission.
AaCTORTA GOLD-PRODUCE— FIRST QUARTER, 1853.
453
The commercial interests jeopardized, to say
nothiug of the social feelings thus disre-
garded,* may be estimated by the number
of vessels at this period in Victoria.
On the 1st of ^larch, there were in Hob-
son's Bay, 90 vessels, of which 33 were
ships, with an aggregrate of 24,885 tons —
ranging from 1,274 to 400 tons each; 56
barques,t with an aggregate of 18,829 tons:
total, 43,714 registered tons. Besides this
large mercantile fleet, comprising some of
the finest trading vessels in the world, there
were in the port of Geeloug, at the same
time, 23 vessels of various rig, from the
Bourncvf, of 1,494 tons, to the Mosquito
schooner, of 35 tons : the aggregate was
8,097 tons. In the basin at Melbourne,
there were also 21 barques, brigantines and
schooners, with an aggi-egate of 3,581 tons :
giving a grand total for this one harbour,
of 57,992 tons, at one and the same period.
The desertions were not so numerous as in
the previous year, but some large vessels were
left unmanned. The Bourneuf lost 54 out
of 58 men ; another, 48 out of 52 ; and so
on. J Many ship-owners and merchants in
London and Liverpool, could neither com-
municate with, nor receive intelligence from
the captains and supercargoes at Melbourne.
The importance of rapid postal commu-
nication, in a commercial point of view, may
be further estimated from the fact, that the
shipping engaged in the trade of Victoria,
during the first half of the year, amounted
to 519,941 tons, which, for the whole year,
would give 1,039,882, a figure correspond-
ing with tliat of the port of London in 1817;
and yet, but eighteen years had elapsed
since the Yarra Yarra was a silent stream,
over which the exuberant foliage and creep-
ers nearly formed a verdant arch, beneath
which the adventurous pioneer might have
been seen threading his way to the destined
site of Melbourne — a city containing, at the
time I am now writing (January, 1854),
nearly 100,000 inhabitants.
To resume the mining record. Mr. Berk-
myre has prepared a return showing the
"Weekly amount of gold-dust brought by escorts
into Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide, and Sydney,
from the diflerent gold-fields of Victoria, in the
* Tliere was no want of funds, even from the post-
ofFice revenue, to have provided for its proper
management. For the first six months of 1851 it
amounted to £.'J,177 ; for the first six months of 1S53,
to £10,019. In 18.51, there went througli the Mel-
bourne post-office, 229,670 letters, and 2()(),(J74 news-
papers; in 1852, 898,601 letters, and 638,728 news-
papers.
weeks ending on the Saturdays of the first four
months of 1853 ; also the weekly produce compared
with that of 1852 :—
Mount
Balla-
rat.
Total
Total
Weeks.
Alex-
Ovens.
per week
per week
ander.
in 18-53.
in 1852.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
January 8
52,037
3,931
13,400
69,368
10,9.^7
„ 15
29,912
3,967
—
33,879
14,566
22
43,718
3,037
—
46,755
12,015
„ 29
38,341
3,949
13,729
54,019
16,070
February 5
74,445
3,126
11,665
89,236
11,871
„ 12
25,749
3,14.^
5,475
34,372
11,035
„ 19
28,847
3,107
13,696
47,650
11,1.39
„ 26
30,337
5,000
8,782
44,119
21,784
March 5
34,903
4,237
12,950
52,090
12,895
„ 12
28,301
4,035
9,370
41,696
12,981
„ 19
41,915
3,905
—
45,820
11,082
„ 26
29,739
4,429
10,474
44,642
13,408
Total, first'
quarter
456,234
47,871
99,541
603,646
159,803
April 2
31, ■5.59
5,702
—
37,261
11, .3.59
9
25,-595
5,79;
6,125
37,519
12,881
16
9,464
5,08:
4,082
18,629
21,129
2.3
32,906
5,883
10,375
49,164
13,S20
30
12,364
6,307
2,837
21, .508
19,726
Total oz. .
.568,122
76,645
122,960
767,727
238,718
" The apparent produce of gold by escorts in the
first four months of this year is 767,727 ounces, or
an average of 45,160 ounces per week, while the
quantity brought in by escorts during the same time
last year was only 238,718 ounces, or an average of
14,042 ounces per week. Hence the average weekly
increase during the first 17 weeks (four months) of
this year, as compared with the same time last year,
is 31,118 ounces, or 221 per cent."
This shows a considera.ble increase in
1853 over 1852 ; but it must be remembered
that in the latter-named period there were
fewer working hands at the mines. The
principal gold-fields, in June and July, are
seen by the quantity sent by escort to Mel-
bourne, viz., from Mount Alexander and
Bendigo, 73,607 and 73,950; Ballarat,
5,061 and 4,811 ; M'lvor, 21,458 and
12,156; Ovens, 8,682 and 6,151. Totals,
103,808 and 97,068 oz. ; independent of
53,963 oz. brought down by the Melbourne
Private Escort Company. It will be ob-
served that the Mount Alexander district
still maintained its pre-eminence, and col-
lected the largest number of people around
its picturesque sites. Clusters of tents might
be seen in every gully between the hills,
some of which were covered with lofty
eucalypti ; other elevations, bare to the sum-
t Vessels with three masts, but having the third
mast, not square, but schooner-rigged.
X The desertions of seamen from Adelaide, althougli
not a gold-field, were very numerous ; from July,
1851, to August, 1852, not less than 303 seamen de-
serted from 70 vessels; of these, 101 were cap-
tured.
454
GOLD-FIELDS WORKED, IN 1853, AT VICTORIA.
mit, were crowned with fantastically-shaped
rocks, which jutted also from their sides,
the whole wearing a sombre hue, and con-
trasting well with the bright green aspect
of neighbouring eminences. Here and there
the country seemed like a series of gigantic
mole-hills, with heaps of gravel, chalk-pits,
and stone-quarries, interspersed with small
tents and huts ; everything, in the dry sea-
son, covered with dust, and conveying the
idea of the desert in the vicinity of Suez, or
on the southern border of the Red Sea.
Several spots and gullies, on and near the
jM'Ivor Creek,^ where there were at one time
20,000 people collected, gave, for a time,
good returns in nuggets and grains; the
strata diftered from that at other placers,
it being necessary to sink through three,
four, and even five separate bottoms of clay,
before coming down to the hard rock, at
thirty to fifty feet, where the gold lay;
though it was found more or less on each
bottom ; the washing-stuff was of a yellowish
red, and not the bluey-white colour of
Forest Creek and Bendigo diggings. Sub-
sequently the M'lvor was nearly deserted for
the Goul bourn, twenty-three miles to the
north-east ; as was also the Korong : — at the
Ovens, labour was steady ; — Ballarat, in con-
sequence of some large nuggets being turned
up, received an increase of diggers; but at
Bendigo a steady certainty was preferred
to a doubtful new field. Operations ex-
tended for twenty miles along the Loddon
or Yarrayne river — surface-washing in some
places — in others " fossicking" — i.e., work-
ing abandoned holes, which sometimes
proved remunerative.
Gold was said to exist over a large extent
of country at Mount Frankly or Wombat,
commonly designated under the name of the
" Jim Crow ranges" — (a creek of this latter
name is tributary to the Loddon River.) It
is probable that valuable districts, known
only to a few, were kept secret, and that
rich placers are yet open for public working.
An exploration company was formed by
wealthy citizens at ]\Ielbourne and Geelong,
who sent out exploring parties to discover
auriferous tracts. The Wardy Yallok banks,
Anaki Hills, were tried with but little suc-
cess ; also a range of large iron-stone rocks,
south-west of the Spindella River, where a
kind of limestone is intermixed with boul-
ders of quartz, which are thrown up in a
singularly picturesque manner, and called
Stone-Henye. The company was, however,
dissolved, as its proprietors were of opinion
that individual speculators were more likely
to find out profitable workings.
At Whitehorse Gully, on the Ballarat side
of the Dividing range, a nugget of about
60 oz. weight was taken, at a depth of
fifty-four feet, in a seam of quartz running
horizontally beneath a hard conglomerate of
slate and quartz blended. The colour and
shape of the gold and the fragmentary ap-
pearance of the quartz was similar in every
respect to the masses found at Canadian
Gully. ■\ Many sailors acquired fortunes at
the mines : for instance, within the space of
twelve months, thirty-five seamen lodged
i€16,241 with the superintendent of the
" Home," in WelFs-street, London Docks ;
the individual earnings ranged from j£9i0
to J160 each. The "Jack tars" worked
very hard, and found fresh mutton and
damper savoury fare. This latter word
m«ets an English non-colonial reader fre-
quently, and requires explanation. Damper
consists of flour kneaded with water for two
or three minutes, then formed into a cake
(somewhat less than two inches thick),
which is placed on the hot hearth, beneath
the burning ashes, which have been tem-
porarily removed to admit the mass ; in half
an hour or so, the cake is well baked ; and
when the ashes are dusted off, ready to be
eaten. I have often, when hungry, partaken
of damper in the settlers' huts, and found it
palatable, though not readily digestible; but
with a keen appetite and strong exercise, it
is substantial and wholesome food.
That good fortune favoured the few and
not the many was abundantly evident at
the gold-fields and elsewhere. The un-
favourable side of the picture is thus de-
scribed in a letter from Fryar's Creek,
dated 2ud April, 1853 :—
" We arrived at the difrf^incTs ready to commence
work on the first day of March, which is now past.
We sunk one hole nine feet deep, and it turned out
a blank ; that occupied five days. We then went to
another place, and sunk another hole 23 feet deep,
and in the bottom of the hole we got 12j dwt. of
gold ; that occupied a fortnight in March. We then
drove it, as they call it, and in the other fortnight
we obtained 2 oz. of gold, value 11. 10s. here, which
has all been expended. — They are very strict here ;
and if you are taken without a license they fine
you oL, or in default of payment, you are sent
to work on the roads for one month. The second
offence is 15/., and the third offence is 30/., or three
months on the roads. There are thousands of dis-
* Also at Waminr/n, 36 miles north of iM'Ivor.
t At 3luli/fiyal!, (Jones' Creek), gold was discovered
in July by a dray passing over the boggy soil :
about 25 lbs. weight were procured here by cue party
in two days.
UNFAVOURABLE PICTURE OF GOLD-SEEKING— 1853.
455
appointments here as ■well as on the Sydney side.
Mr. L. and James G. have barely paid expenses
since their return, which has been between three
and four months, until the last week in March,
when they came on a pound weight of j?:old, and
now are doing scarcely anything. Notwithstanding
the many fortunate persons we have heard of, there
are thousands scarcely earning a livelihood. Every-
thing is very dear: bread. Is. G(/. the small loaf;
flour, 11. the bag of two cwt. ; beef and mutton, M.
per lb. ; sugar, Id. ; tea, 2s. Gr/. ; common boots,
30s. per pair. Tliere are thousands and tens of
thousands of holes deserted here. The way these
holes have been made is this — what they com-
monly call a ' rush' : — One person tells a friend that
he has done well at such a place, and then there are
a thousand round the spot immediately, digging
away, and then there are a hundred loiterers about,
to see from them that get down first to the bottom —
sometimes 20 feet, sometimes 23 feet, and 30 feet —
and if the news is favourable they all commence to
sink; if not, the place is vacated in one week, and
not a soul is to be seen there again. And you
would be surprised if you saw this part of the
country : holes on the hills and in the flats in every
place you can go ; and it is dangerous tc move about
of a night at all. I have come in conversation with
some men who have been here six, twelve, and eigh-
teen months, and they have nothing as yet."
There is a sameness in the accounts from
all the gold-fields — reports of the produc-
tiveness of some spots, and the rush to them
from others — complaints of the roads, of
the price of provisions, of the inefficiency
of police, and neglect of government.
Time and experience changed the opera-
tions of tlie miners from that of mere phy-
sical labour to a system necessitating some
degree of skill. Gunpowder began to be
used to loosen beds of conglomerate from
five to ten feet thick, ■whicli required to be
cut through at the IVIdte Hills and at
Ballarat ; the simple contrivance of the
" cradle," first used for -washing the stuff,
was superseded, to some extent, by dif-
ferent machines that tested larger quanti-
ties of earth, and more thoroughly.
Among the various implements invented
for crushing rock and pulverizing hard
clays — in which the presence of gold is sus-
pected— one simple construction performs
three processes at the same time, thus —
" The first compartment of the machine, with its
powerful crushers and agitating perforated plates, is
intended for the stiff and hard clays, by which, in
two or three revolutions, a quantity is reduced to
a floating pulp, and flows off through the pipe lead-
ing from this jjart of the machine to the amalgama-
tor, where only that portion of the gold which can-
not be detected will be received, all the heavier
portions having been detained, in consequence of
the formation of the pipe through which it is made
to pass off. The second portion of the machine is
for the looser earth, and it is so constructed as to
allow of nothing leaving it till perfectly worked,
when, by its own motion, it discharges all stones,
&c., into the chamber underneath, and is again
ready to receive a fresh supply. The compartment
underneath the washer is relieved from time, to time,
by raising a sluice. The floating matter then passes
over a long trough, and at last empties itself into
the amalgamator, all solid particles, as before, hav-
ing been arrested in their passage from the washer,
while the action of the machine keeps up a con-
tinual supply of water. The third portion of the
machine, called the amalgamator, is so constructed
as to expose a large surface of silver to the action
of the floating matter, and, by means of washers and
balls made of wood, renders it impossible for any
portion to escape coming in contact with the silver."
The machine is so portable that it may be
carried about in a cart; may be worked by
two men, by water or by steam, so that
several tons of earth can be reduced in one
day; and it may be locked up, and the
progress of the operation occasionally exa-
mined by an inspector.
Another machine for pulverizing, wash-
ing, and amalgamating, was exhibited at
the Neiv York Crystal Palace: its pecu-
liarity consists in the rolling and grinding
of two iron balls, weighing together nearly
four tons, in an iron basin revohang by
steam power, by which an action is pro-
duced analogous to that of the pestle and
mortar : some of the hardest ores are there-
by reduced to an impalpable powder, which
is washed by the constant dropping of a
small jet of water, and amalgamated by a
deposit of quicksilver at the bottom of the
basin, heated by a fire beneath it. The
whole of the processes usually performed
by separate laboitr at the gold mines are
therefore effected simultaneously, at a cost of
125. per cwt,* But this and the previously
mentioned machine, are too complicated
and expensive for general use in Australia;
when the surface gold has been worked out,
and it becomes necessary to crush quartz
and other rocks containing auriferous metal,
a crusher and amalgamator will become of
more importance to the colonists.
"Where the flow of water permitted, a
sluicing practice was adopted; but all ob-
servers agree in condemning the very waste-
ful mode in which the gold has been sought
for, not only from the want of efficient ma-
chinery, but from the manner in which the
ground was occupied by " claims," there
being no law to necessitate a systematic
examination and effective workiug of any
given spot.
• Welsh ore-s are now yielding, by this machine,
two oz. of gold: large quantities of this metal may
thus be obtained in the United Kin>jdom.
456
DANGERS ATTENDANT ON GOLD MINING.
In some places the work might be termed
" collicring." A gully opened on Monday
morning might be traversed by Saturday
night its entire length, for two miles under
ground, at a depth of sixteen feet. Some
miners excavated to a considerable depth,
and procured gold in large quantities ; but
the generality of workings were from ten
to twenty-five feet.
The usual plan adopted, at the period
under review, was to sink shafts or holes
50, 70, or even 100 feet; if a vein be then
found, side galleries were driven under it,
and the bed containing the gold removed
by working from beneath ; should the veins
prove productive, they are followed, regard-
less of the surface claims. Sometimes a
keen competition arises between two neigh-
bouring parties who shall first sink a shaft
down to a vein, so as to undermine the com-
petitor and clear out the precious "dirt"
before the rival has reached the level. In
work of this nature, as in other descriptions
of mining, some boarding is used for the
shaft, to prevent the sides falling- in, and form
supports for the galleries; but the work-
manship is very rough, except when a car-
penter and blacksmith constitute members
of the party.
One of the dangerous incidents connected
with tunnelling is thus described by a
miner, in a letter to his friend, written
from Dead -Horse Gulhj, in 1853 : the
digger had sunk a hole about seventeen
feet, and, as it proved pretty good, he drove
a tunnel about forty feet towards the side
of the hill. The remainder deserves to be
given in the words of the narrator : —
" One clay I had been more than usually lucky, so
next morning betimes I was stirring, made fast my
rope to a tree, and down I went by it hand under
hand, lit my slush lamp, and proceeded along the
drive on my hands and knees, eager to begin Avork,
and thinking of the bignuggets. You remember I was
always celebrated for making small di'ives. Shading
tlio light with my hand I crawled in. Near the far
end I Slopped, to avoid crawling through a small
pool of water. Casting the light before me to see
how the land lay — hon-or of horrors ! — on the other
side of the pool I perceived a pair of small glittering
grey eyes intently fixed on me, the cold, malignant
expression of which forced the warm blood back to
my heart with a bound which nearly suffocated me.
1 knew at once that it was a snake, and a deadly
one too. Arching its neck with a hissing noise, it
collected itself for the fatal spring; starting back,
my head came in contact Avith the roof of the tun-
nel, and I fill back stunned and senseless. How
long I lay in this state I know not ; but when I
caine to consciousness I at first thought that I was
at home in the » big smoke ;' but gradually the
truth forced itself upon me. Where was the snake ?
Was I bitten ? to the last mental query I cheerfully
answered ' No !' for most of tliese snakes are very
deadly, and the bitten parts swell up immediately.
On consideration, I remembered that the snake had
reared for the spring, so it was clear 1 had fallen in
the nick of time, and the reptile had ])assed over me ;
but where was it now ? A cold shudder passed over
me when I considered that the snake must still be
in the hole, perhaps even within a few feet, watch-
ing me with its glassy eyes, or preparing for another
spring. I am not easily frightened, as you well
know ; but for all the gold in Bendigo I would not
be in that situation again. How was I to proceed ?
My only weapon was a driving pick; gi'asping it,
and creeping cautiously along, I heard a noise in
front. AVas it the snake ? I held my breath in
fearful suspense, with the sweat of agony moisten-
ing my brow. No, it was only some loose stones
falling from the roof. I breathed again, and with a
forced courage crept stealthily along. Arrived near
the mouth of the tunnel, I was again startled at
seeing a large carpet-snake (my late tormentor)
circling round the bottom of the hole, and gliding
half his length up its slippery sides, darting in and
out his forked tongue, and slowly moving his head,
as if searching for an opening to hide itself. Being
concealed in the dark tunnel, I had ample time for
deliberation. Evidently I should be able to strike
the first blow if I could succeed in reaching the
mouth without making a noise. I made up my
mind at once, perhaps rashly ; I might have done
better if I had waited until it was asleep. Mutter-
ing a prayer, I crept cautiously forward, but the
head of my pick caught against a loose projecting
stone, and down came a lot of earth. Cursing my
bad luck, I looked to see what eff"ect it would have
on the snake. It was evidently aroused, twisting
and contorting its body into all sorts of knots and
circles, at the same time keeping its piercing glance
fixed on the mouth of the tunnel. Darting quickly
from my concealment, I nailed the snake to the
ground through the neck with my pick. With a
hiss of pain it suddenly threw its folds round my
leg, and partly drew it towards its head ; recovering,
I planted my leg firmly, pulled out my bowie-knife
Mith my left hand, and cut the snake in two about
a foot from his head ; still the slimy body Avas con-
tracted round my leg, and still the forked tongue
was playing in and out, notwithstanding the body
was severed in two. 1 clambered up the side of the
hole, with the snake's body still clinging to my leg ;
when I got to the grass, I again cut the snake in two
and unwound it, thanking God for my narrow es-
cape. The snake measured eight feet six inches.*
I went home to my tent, and made out the day
' fossicking.' " [That is, trying abandoned holes.]
Notwithstanding the immense amount of
gold transmitted, under the guard of a ie.w
men, over a large extent of wild country, it
is creditable that there was only one attempt
at plunder. In July, a gang of six well-
armed, mounted bush-rangers (three at
least of whom were notorious London
thieves, dressed as miners), t attacked the
* A snake found at Parammatta measured 27 feet.
f Outside, a blue serge shirt, with a leathern belt
for fire-arms, &c.; high jack-boots,audbroad brimmed
XV id e- awake hat. Beards and mustachios were uni-
versal.
BUSH- RANGERS ATTACK M^VOR GOLD ESCORT.
457
M'lvor Escort. The robbers cut down j
boughs of trees, stuck them upright by
the side of the road, to screen the assail-
ants : placed a large log aslant on the road,
to impede the passage of the cart; and
when the four mounted troopers in ad-
vance reached the spot, a volley of bullets
and duck-shot wounded the advance, both
men and horses, and also the driver ; the
officer in chai'ge and the scrjeant were then
compelled to retreat, and the robbers got
possession of the gold : this was equally
divided, and each took different roads to
Melbourne, w'here one of them had a house.
The vigilance of the police was evaded until
the 11th of August, when four were cap-
tured, one of whom turned approver ; the
fifth committed suicide ; and the sixth has,
as yet, escaped. The remaining three were
executed at Melbourne, on the 4th of October.
One of them was taken on board the Mada-
gascar, about to sail for London. Upwards of
£5,000 worth of the gold was recovered.
In July it was estimated, at a rough cal-
culation, there were about 60,000 persons
at the gold-fields ; but the yield was not in
proportion to the number employed. Many
were continually moving from one place to
another in search of " good-luck." Some
were " fossiv'iking ;" others were "shepherd-
ing"— by which was meant, marking off
some claims; watching the result of miners
less sparing of labour : if successful, the
" shepherds" went to work ; if not, they
walked off, congratulating themselves on
so mucli toil saved. Gold-digging, unless
attended by profitable results, is very dis-
heartening. A considerable number were
therefore generally returning, to be replaced
by new comers, whose sanguine hopes had
not been chilled by continued disappoint-
ments ; but the wealth of the country — or,
in other words, the quantity of its exchange-
able and surplus production of gold and of
wool,* largely increased.
The progress and state of afiairs, at this
period, is described by the correspondent of
the London Times . —
" Public business is altof^ether ne{,'lfctecl. put
aside, or slurred over ; for though eacli individual
colonist must, in the end, feel and sulicr from the
consequences of the carelessness and idleness of the
public servants, and though complaints, grumblings,
and even curses, loud and deep, are neither few nor
* To remove the fears entertained that the gold
would injure the wool-trade, -t may here be observed,
that the shipments of the wool were, in the years
ending .5th of July, 1852, 18,G57,5G7 lbs. ; 18.53,
21,310,294 lbs. Number of bales in 1852, GG,G34 ;
DIV. III. 3 L
far between ; each man is too much occupied with
the advancement of his own fortune to waste his
time and energy in the correction of evils which
affect him only inasmuch as they affect the whole of
the community. But whatever individuals can do
for and by themselves, for their own advantage, in
the first place, and incidentally for the advantage
and convenience of others, that is readily and quickly
done by the stirring and restless colonist of Austra-
lia. Hence arise the strangest contrasts — a jum-
bling of comforts and discomforts, luxuries and the
want of conveniences the most common in old-
established and civilized countries, splendour in log-
huts, epicurism cheek-by-jowl with starvation, the
height of civilization confounded with the lowest
depths of barbarism. The colonies have no roads to
the diggings; but along the line of swamps, dirt-
holes, quartz boulders, and felled trees, vhich mark
the track to the gold-fields, individual enterprise
has established hotels which the papers describe as
splendid and replete with every convenience. Among
the list we mark the ' Glen Lyon Inn ;' the ' Pick-
and-Shovel Inn,' on the M'lvor road ; the ' Gold-
seeker.s' Inn,' ou the Ovens road, near the Fifteen
Miles' Creek ; the ' Sunbury Inn,' at Jackson's Creek ;
and the ' Royal Mail Hotel,' at Buningong. An en-
terprising hotel-keeper, evidently with an eye to the
patronage of the learned professions, advertises the
'Oxford University Hotel' at Castlemain Diggings;
and at Bendigo there is a ' stylish' coffee-house
called ' the Argus,' and a ' Crystal Palace Hotel.'
It is true that the town of Melbourne has not, as yet,
been able to afford the cost of a pavement for its
streets, and that the Melbournians, like Dickens's
dogs in a London fog, wade ' undistinguishable in
mire ;' but the miry pools, called streets, are on
either side lined with shops displaying the richest
brocades, the most elaborate carvings, the costliest
lace, and all the manifold appliances which even in
England are confined to the persons and houses of
the upper classes. Gold-diggers' wives — if fortune
wills it so — can afford to have London-made pianos,
Turkey carpets, rosewood furniture, and silk cur-
tains;* but they must huddle all these splendours
into tents, sheds, or four-roomed houses. They may
wear dresses which a lady mayoress might covet, but
they cannot have a servant to cook their diimers."
The immigration of 1852 is given at
p. 436 ; we shall now examine the arrivals at
Victoria, by sea, during the first six months
of 1853 .—
Vessels
Ton-
nage.
Passengers.
Months.
Males.
Females.
Chil-
dren.
1,301
1,221
1,102
1,701
1,175
270
6,080
Infants.
Januarj'
Februaiv
March.".
April . .
May . . .
June . .
13S
122
163
1!1S
202
17
42,.517
4,5,486
47,189
60,73,5
62,105
46,058
.5,768
4,510
5,831
8,323
5,502
3,669
1,.563
1,491
1,433
2,1.59
2,054
407
1.58
1,50
115
172
131
10
Totals.
998
304,090
33,603
9,170
712
Statute adults, 50,183.
in 1853, 76,108 ; price Is. id. to l.v. M. per lb. This
increase has occurred despite the immense addi-
tional number of sheep slaughtered for the aug-
mented population.. — Many flocks were driven into
the colony from N, S, Wales— (st'6' next chapter.)
458 EXTRAORDINARY RISE IX VALUE OF PROPERTY— VICTORIA.
It was estimated that on the 1st of July, j
1853, the popuLitioR of Victoria amounted
to 99,200 adult males ; 39,702 adult females ;
and 57,846 children of both sexes=196,745.
The inhabitants of ^Melbourne were about
80,0C0 ; of Geelong, 25,000 ; in other towns
and districts, probably 30,000 = 135,000;
leaving for the gold-fields, 61,745 ; deduct-
ing from this, 11,745 for women and chil-
dren, there would be about 50,000 miners,
store-keepers, and others, of whom about
40,000 able-bodied men were actually en-
gaged with the shovel and pick.
If the production of gold for the year be
taken at £16,000,000, the average annual
earnings of each of the 40,000 would be
£400 : but as several "lucky hits" were made
by a few parties — some of whom obtained
sums varying from £20,000 downwards —
the individual receipts of the many must
have been far below the rate of lOs. for
each working day ; and as the cost of pro-
visions and other uecessai'ies of life (except-
ing meat) were generally treble English
prices, there were severe privations and
many deaths among the miners ; and the
unrecorded dead not a few ; but all engaged
in the manufacture, sale, and transit of com-
modities for the use of the diggers, benefitted
by the labours of those industrious men.
The migratory and motley character of
the population is worthy of note. Between
the 1st of August, 1852, and the same date,
1853, no less than 77,288 adult males ar-
rived in the colony by sea, and about 4,000
overland == 81,288; of these it is estimated
there emigrated, 39,000; and remained,
42,000. About 34,000 of the latter went to
the gold-fields. Of the above 12,105 ar-
rived from, and 12,855 departed to, New
South Wales; 1,094 //-cm, and 12,193 to,
South Australia ; \%,S^o from, and 11,675
to. Van Diemen's Land; 1,316 from, and
512 to. New Zealand. It appears, therefore,
that South Australia and New South Wales
were gainers by the great rush of population
to Victoria; the influx from the adjacent
southern colonies was 36,838, the efflux
there, 38,235. There was scarcely a nation
in Europe that had not, in different pro-
portions, a number of its representatives in
Victoria; the thrifty Germans in particular
flocked thither ; and British colonists from
the West, as well as the East — Indies, from
Africa and from America, sought wealth, if
not a home, in the El Dorado of the south.
The financial condition of the colony is
shown, during the year ending 30th June,
1858, by the increase as compared with the
previous corresponding year: —
Gold, including licenses, (£057,818) . £711,700
Custom's, (commerce) 458,037
Dues, auction and other licenses, pos- ) , n~' Ann
. r, f 1,2/0,460
tage, 'X'c J '
Temtorial, incl. land sales (£1,138,922) 1,175,775
£3,620,972
This large receipt cannot be all considered
as revenue, the land sales being, in fact, so
much out of capital or stock; but it indi-
cates, nevertheless, a high degree of taxa-
tion on 200,000 inhabitants, viz., (excluding
the land sale), at the rate of £^2 per head;
but if it be remembered that for a part of
the year the population was below 200,000,
we may fairly conclude that the sum paid
in twelve months was about £15 by every
man, woman, and child in the province.
It was difficult to put a limit on the value
of land and house-property in Melbourne,
so rapid was the augmentation in popula-
tion and wealth ; a frontage of twenty-five
feet, in Bourke-street, let to some Yankees
for building at a rent of <£l,200 per annum.
An Americanized Polish Jew, who arrived
about twelve months before, in Victoria,
without a shilling, commenced a restaurant
or dining-establishment on credit, and suc-
ceeded so well, that in August he was in
treaty for the purchase of the Royal Hotel
on the following terms : — £10,000 to pre-
sent tenant for two years of a lease uncom-
pleted; £1,000 to the owner of property
for his consent to exchange ; £1,000 a-year
rent for two years; £4,500 for five years
after ; and £5,000 to be spent in improve-
ments. The government wanted to purchase
a fine store belonging to a Mr. Degraves,
and asked him to name his price — a final
figure ; it was £85,000, almost the cost of
a ducal estate in England.
The land sales which took place indicate
the rise in this description of property :
town allotments brought from £3,000 to
£7,000 per acre ; in the country townships,
according to distance from ^Melbourne, from
£100 to £1,000 per acre ; a small lot at
Kyneton, distant fifty-five miles from thence,
brought at the rate of £1,440 per acre;
other lots in the same township, £162 to
£410 per acre. Land near Melbourne,
generally speaking, was worth £2,000 per
acre, and within a distance of twenty or
thirty miles, £50 to £80 per acre. A build-
ing lot at the corner of Collins and King-
sti'cet, with thirty-three feet frontage to
tlie former, and eighty feet nine inches to
IMMENSE PROFITS IN MELBOURNE BY THE IRISH IN 1853. 459
the latter, sold for .€5,115, or at tlie rate
of €155 per foot ; other lots brouiiht also, hy
auction, prices varyiiii!; from €50 to €100
per foot. In some phiccs, frontage iu the
shop-streets sold at the rate of €13 per inch.
An allotment, whose value, in 1837, was
€50, rose to €4,000 in 1839— collapsed to
€400 in 1844— rose again to €4,000 in
1851— and to €15,000 in 1853* Fifty
acres of land near the Melbourne Benevolent
Asylum, put up for sale in quarter-acre al-
lotments at €75 each, produced altogether
€G9,693 ; some of the lots brought €600
each. Building-materials readily sold at
800 per cent, profit; bricks at €10 per
thousand (price in England, 42.?.); deals at
35. 6d. the square foot (cost in England,
25.) To avoid warehouse expense, which
was very great, almost everything was sold
by auction, in spacious rooms ; and as the
goods were not " guaranteed," instances of
fraud in exporters and dealers came to
light. A purchaser, for instance, buying
fifty cases of what was advertised as " best
brandy — Martell's genuine mark,'' found
sometimes only ditch ivafer ; bottles marked
" Alsop's bitter ale," probably had nothing
in them but air. Auctioneering became the
most thriving business : to attract customers,
one " knight of the hammer" had a man
playing, during the forenoon, popular tunes
on the key-bugle; a rival establishment
opposite collected its customers together by
the dulcet strains of a bagpipe. On all
sides, at mid-day, the only sounds heard
were "going — going — gone."
In consequence of the high price of build-
ing-materials, and the excessive house- rent
demanded, tenements of wood and iron
were imported ready-made. The same plan
was adopted for public structures : thus, to
meet the wants of the Episcopalians, ati
iron church was sent from England to the
order of the bishop of Melbourne ; it was
capable of holding 700 persons, being seventy
feet long by fifty broad, with a nave, side-
aisles, and two galleries at each end of the
building. The outside was formed of cor-
rugated and galvanized iron, and the in-
terior lined with thick planking, covered
with paper ; between the two a space of three
inches admitted ventihitlon ; the roof was
iron, and the ceiling made of inodorous felt,
papered; felt, as a non-conductor, insured
coolnesss : a square tower, forty feet in
height, was fitted with belfry and clock ; a
pulpit, reading-desk, altar, baptismal font,
* Westgarth's Victoria, p. 79.
seats, and fittings, together with a vestry,
were most complete; and the whole cost no
more than €1,000. An iron parsonage, subse-
quently added, comprising parlour, four bed-
rooms, kitchen, servants' room, pantry, and
store-room, cost 250 guineas. A conside-
rable trade has now arisen in London, Bris-
tol, Glasgow, and other places, by the manu-
facture of habitations and wareliouses for
export to the Australian colonics.
The class who profited most largely by
the gold discoveries was the shopocracj' of
Melbourne, who were chiefly Irish; their
profits on the retail of their respective
commodities could scarcely be calculated;
indeed, their consciences w^ere frequently
the only limit to the prices demanded, and
readily paid. In addition to their counter
business, most of them had speculated in
suburban lots, for which €30 to €50 per
acre had been given : those lots became worth
£500 to €1,000 each in eligible situations.
Some employed spare capital in running up
wooden houses for the new-comers. For
instance, at St. Kilda, a suburb of the city,
100 of these tenements were constructed
in two or three weeks, and let before they
were finished. And here it may be re-
marked, that Victoria has had its agricul-
tural as well as town population largely
augmented from Ireland ; but in Australia,
as in Canada and the United States, the
Celt has demonstrated, that where there is
a fair remuneration for labour, a removal
from the temptation to crime, and an op-
portunity for the exercise of skill, he is at
least equal in physical, moral, and mental
characteristics to any of the most favoured
races of mankind.
The extraordinary state of things which
had arisen within little more than a year,
in a colony not a sixth of a century old,
materially affected society in all its aspects ;
the older colonists, although they became
rapidly enriched, disliked the new-comers —
most of whom were poor, many rude and
ignorant, and some, not a few, vicious : the
office-holders and annuitants, whose incomes
were fixed, looked upon the gold discoveries
(at least, till their salaries were raised 50
to 100 per cent.) as something akin to a
curse : one writer. Sir W. A'Bcckett, chief-
justice of Victoria, wrote a pamphlet under
the signature of Colonus, in which he pretty
plainly indicated his view that Pandora's
box, with all its evil genii, had been opened
at the gold-fields ; he evidently did not even
admit that Hope had been retained in the
460
MAMMON-^VORSHIP IN ENGLAND AS WELL AS IN AUSTRALIA.
casket;* in fact, it was pretty plamly de-
clared that Satan had been permitted to
set up a vast golden image at the Antipodes,
and had ordered all men to fall down and
•norship the same.
That the sacrifice to mammon was gene-
ral, and manifest, both publicly and pri-
vately, in official, as well as in non-official
persons in Australia, was undoubtedly true :
but where is it not so? Look at the Ex-
changes of London, Liverpool, Glasgow —
the Bourse of Paris— the Marts at New
York, Hamburg, &c., and it will be seen
that mammon is everywhere in the ascend-
ant. Let any economist pursue his investi-
gations beneath the surface of society in
England, and he will find that a large part
of the middle, and some even of the wealthier
classes, are living beyond their means ; that
few are expending only their incomes, and
fewer still are laying by an annual surplus.
To be content with the station of life in
M'hich it has pleased the Benign Disposer
of man's earthly career to place him, may
be the catechism of infancy ; but it is not
evidently the creed of manhood. Most per-
sons are striving to attain a position beyond
their existing social status ; many are endea-
vouring to appear richer than their neigh-
bours— to vie with them in entertainments,
in equipage, and in dress — aye, even in the
funeral pomp which is conveying a moulder-
ing corse to mingle with the earth from
which it was formed.
Such is the lament in England of the
Christian — such is the anxious thought of
the far-seeing statesman. I believe that
this idea was strongly impressed on the
mind of the late Sir Robert Peel, whose
pulse throbbed strongly for the prosperity
and perpetuity of his country. This emi-
nent man declared, that from an examina-
tion of various official and statistical docu-
ments, he felt assured the mass of the
comfortable classes in England were living
beyond their incomes; he saw, from the
extensively-mortgaged condition of terri-
torial property, that the landed aristocracy
of England must share the fate of that of
Ireland, unless a check were interposed to
their extravagance and inevitably downward
progress; he could scarcely avoid noticing
that dress, among his fair countrywomen,
* One of the nuisances which Sir "VV. A'Beckett
lays at the door of the gold-finders is the unsewered
I and neglected state of Melbourne ; but this existed
1 before tlie gold discoveries ; and if he will read the
I reports of saTiitary officers in October and Noveni-
j ber, 1853, on the disgraceful — aye, even barbarous
(who need less meretricious adornment than
any other race), was become an absorbing,
expensive, destructive habit; and that gam-
bling in railways, mines, and other specu-
lations, with the desire to get money for
the gratification of these and various pas-
sions and appetites, was become an idol-
worship throughout the land. That there
are numerous exceptions to the rule only
proves its existence ; and nothing but the
pervading and renovating spirit of Chris-
tianity (not the enactment of lifeless forms)
can cure a growing and alarming individual
and national evil. Before we censure the
Australians for the aiiri sacra f anus mani-
fested at Melbourne and Sydney, let us
look at home, and pluck the beams out of
our own eyes. Many colonists are now re-
turning to England with fortunes of one
and even two hundred thousand pounds
each, acquired in a very short time ; some
by devoting every faculty to the production
of wool and the breeding of stock as gra-
ziers ; others by jobbing in land, trafficking
in gold-dust, or speculating with merchan-
dize ; not a few from grog- selling : they will
be received and courted here without in-
quiry as to the mode in which their wealth
was obtained, and with little or no investi-
gation as to their mental or religious develop-
ments ; but the modest man of science, the
missionary of the cross, the geographer,
political economist, and philanthropist, who
return from the Antipodes with minds
stored with knowledge — hearts yearning
for the extension of Christian civilization —
souls sympathizing with human sufieriug
in every clime — thoughts deeply intent on
the preservation of the lives of the abori-
ginal races whose territories the Anglo-
Saxon and Celt have ruthlessly occupied —
these pioneers of the gospel and its prac-
tical workings are received only into a few
small coteries devoted to their respective
views — and* being without wealth, they re-
main comparatively unknown and unheard-
of in the middle ranks of English life. To
say that such a state of society can last long
in England or in Australia would be irre-
concilable with a belief in the extension
of vital spiritual growth now in operation,
as I believe, though slowly, throughout the
British empire — and nowhere more than in
state of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Glasgow, and other
towns in Britain, as disclosed while cholera raged
there, respecting sewage and cleanliness, he need
not attribute to the gold at Mount Alexander, neglect
of the drainage at Melbourne and Geelong, which
has been complained of for several years.
DISADVANTAGES OF RAPID PROSPERITY.
461
the aristocracy of Britain : let us, therefore,
while we deplore the existence of a perni-
cious nialadj'^ at the extremities of our wide-
spread domain, be the more careful to de-
stroy its growth at the centre of dominion,
and, with the aid of that Divine power, by
which alone man can be regenerated and
purified, finally extirpate the root whence
the branches are nourished.
The auriferous discoveries of 1851-2, un-
doubtedly '' precipitated Australia into a
nation." This expression the gold-opponents
cavil at, and assert that it would have been
better that the country had been " elevated,^"
rather than " precipitated.^' But the words
thus used by Mr. Wentworth, a distinguished
colonial lawyer, bore a similar signification,
with an additional meaning, that the eleva-
tion had been precipitated or hastened more
rapidly than would have been the case by
the ordinary course of events. It is cer-
tainly as dangerous to morals for a com-
munity to become suddenly enriched or
powerful, as it is for an individual ; the
proverb which declares, that if a beggar be
set on horseback he will ride into the pit of
Tophet, is also true in reference to a nation.
But there is an antidote against the dangers
attendant on the sudden acquisition of
wealth : the word of sacred writ enjoins —
" if riches increase, set not your heart upon
them ;" and the righteous nation, or the
sincere Christian, on finding themselves un-
expectedly improved in their worldl}' cir-
cumstances, M'ill the more carefully take
heed unto their ways — will remember that
power and money are means of raising the
weak and benefitting the poverty-stricken,
conferred by the Giver of all good for those
purposes ; and that a responsibility is thus
conferred, for which a strict account will be
demanded by Him, who, sooner or later,
will mete unto each man, and to every na-
tion, according to their works.
An examination of numerous official and
public documents, as well as private com-
munications, convince me that the Austra-
lians are providing religious ordinances, and
moral and intellectual instruction, to carry
their respective provinces through the dan-
* In June, 1853, there were 999 foot, and 599
hor<se police; besides 50 soldiers employed as mounted
troopers for f^old escort.
t The penalty for unlicensed grog-selling was £50 ;
to avoid detection, the contrabandists had " plants"
of spirits hid in the bush, which, it was alleged, the
police were generally aware of. The vendors only
brought into camp small quantities at a time, and
were allowed to prosecute this illegal calling until
gerous ordeal to which society is now sub-
jected. To aid them in this righteotts cause,
by cheering encouragement, should be the
object of leaders and enlighteners of public
opinion at home and abroad. But this will
not be promoted by considering gold as an
unalloyed evil, and treating those who are
obtaining it from the bowels of the earth as
a degraded class of our fellow-subjects.
Unfortunately, this feeling towards the
diggers began to prevail after the first burst
of excitement was over, in 1852 : their
useful occupation was officially considered
by some merely as a means for gathering
money into the government treasury.
The licensing system was pushed to an ex-
treme j store-keepers, schoolmasters, doctors,
parsons, and lawyers, were obliged to take
out licenses, — even a carter, looking for his
bullocks in the bush, was fined £5 for being
without a 305. permit. The commissioners'
staff and police, in white and blue uniforms,
bedizened with lace, booted and spurred,
and mounted a la militaire, looked on the
miners with contempt — treated them M-ith
great harshness, and, in several instances,
very brutally. Mr. "VYestgarth informs me
that he has seen the diggers losing their
precious time at the commissioners' tent,
waiting for their licenses, the officials being
too lazy to perform the easy work of de-
livering the monthly tickets. In one noted
case the police"^ pulled down several tents
and huts in the night, on the suspicion of
grog being within t]iem,t and the inmates,
men and women, were turned into the open
air. On this occasion, compensation was
promised to the parties whose property was
wantonly and unlawfully destroyed ; but the
ofi'enders were continued at the stations
where their conduct was condemned.
It is not surprising that the miners, find-
ing no improvements in the roads, and no
protection from the police, lost all confidence
in the executive : the more so, when they
found that Governor Latrobe was endeavour-
ing to double the license- fee. J Added to
this, a motion in the Legislative Council of
want of confidence in his administration
was rejected only by a majority of two votes.
(in Chinese phrase) they were ripe for squeezing,
when the informing policeman obtained half the
fine. Tiie publican could well afford the £50 out
of his enormous profits ; and he soon went to work
again at the hidden stores. Imprisonment ought to
have been the punishment, instead of penalties,
which became incentives to collusion Avith the
police.
} An export ta.\ on gold was also contemplated.
462 UNJUST TREA'niENT OF THE GOLD MINERS, AND ITS EFFECTS.
No attention being paid to entreaties
and complaints, "indignation-meetings"
were held at the large gold-fields, com-
mencing with Bendigo, where several thou-
sand men, "armed to the teeth," passed a
series of resolutions, which were embodied
in a petition to the lieutenant-governor :
the substance of their case was, that they
were too poor to pay the license-fee of 305.
per mouth ; that in consequence of the few
officials appointed to issue licenses, the dig-
gers, store -keepers, and other residents,
must sacrifice much valuable time at every
monthly issue; that the tax bore unjustly
upon invalids who cannot work, and hard
on " new chums," who were ignorant of the
required skill for gold-digging ; that the
land monopoly prevented successful diggers
from investing their hard earnings in land ;
that the persons authorized to collect the
license-fee went about armed ; that many
of them were disreputable charactei's ; and
that they insulted and cruelly ill-treated all
who neglected taking cut a license. After
a detailed statement of their grievances, the
diggers proposed a license-fee of 10s. per
month, a reduction of the penalty to be
paid by those who neglected taking out a
license, and a reasonable time to be allowed
to new-comers before they came under the
operation of the tax.
Similar meetings were held at ]\PIvor,
Castle main, and other places; the Bendigo
petition was adopted, and strong speeches
were received with enthusiasm. The miners
asserted that the money raised from them
was employed in paying a host of useless
officials, instead of improving the means of
transit, and that they had no voice in the
imposition of an oppressive tax.
Delegates were appointed to wait on the
governor at jMelbourne, and represent their
grievances. They were told by Mr. La-
trobe that he was unable, on his own
responsibility, to comply with their request,
and was prepai'ed to enforce the law ; that
the license-fee was a mere payment for a
certain extent of public property, alienated
for the benefit of the miners ; and it was
added that the fees were employed for their
benefit, and in securing them good govern-
ment. In reply to this argument it was
observed, that the diggers paid quite as
much in the way of taxation as any other
denomination of colonists, and were entitled
to the same police protection and advan-
tages accorded to other classes of society.
It was further observed, that half a raitliou
sterling per annum, received in the shape
of licenses, ought to have given tiiem roads
to the gold-fields, instead of tlic route being
almost impassable for half tlie year, whereby
the diggers were obliged to pay for the ne-
cessaries of life double and sometimes treble
the sums they could have procured the like
articles for in ^Melbourne.
The miners expressed their intention not
to submit to so exorbitant a special tax, re-
solved on passive resistance, and tendered
105. a-month, Avhich was refused b}'^ the com-
missioner, who declared them rebels ; there-
upon troops, with two light guns, were
dispatched, towards the end of August, to
the gold-fields ; happily, however, a better
sense of humanity and justice ultimately per-
vaded the intentions of the local government ;
but there was a vacillation which gave the
miners (who were too strong to be coerced)
a great advantage in their discussions.
To the surprise of the whole community,
at the opening of the Legislative Council,
on 30th August, Mr. Latrobe declared it was
the intention of the government to abolish
the gold license-fee altogether at the expi-
ration of three months — the sum of 40^. to
be paid for August, Septernbei*, and Octo-
ber, and a mere nominal fee was to be im-
posed for the purpose of registration. Sub-
sequently, a select committee of the Legis-
lative Council was appointed to consider the
whole matter. Local writers described the
conduct of the authorities as exceedingly
mischievous, and asserted, that they were
in fact, " training a young colony, step by
step, to get nothing for the sake of justice
alone, but everything when a hint of force
made it expedient," And of the governor
it was remarked — " He is always ready to
raise expectations, and feeble to realise
them ; never deficient in plausibility ; pro-
mising to give every remonstrance his ' best
consideration,' but at the same time never
again moving in the matter till forced to it ;
and then ditficulties, real or imaginary, ap-
pear so to multiply at every step, that a
measure which might be eminently useful,
if properly carried into eftect, is allowed to
drag along its slothful length until contempt
changes place with loyalty and respect."*
Mr. Latrobe had by this time retained
the administration of affairs for nearly
double the period officially allotted to colo-
nial governors ; his resignation of the office
was therefore accepted, and Sir Charles
• On the Vl\\\ September, 18-53, the governor ad-
mitted the justness of the miners' compkiints.
NEW GOVERNOR APPOINTED FOR VICTORTA— 1853.
463
Hotham (a naval officer, who distinguished
himself diplomatically in South America,
respecting the navigation of the Plate River,
and during the disturbances between Buenos
Ayres and INIonte Video) was selected to fill
the arduous post of chief over a mixed, un-
settled, and excited population — a duty
which will require the exercise of patience,
justice, firmness, and above all, of Christian
charity, for its satisfactoi'y fulfilment.
With all the admitted faults of the motley
population congregated together from dif-
ferent places, there was an English love of
justice and common sense predominating
among the mass, and none of the scenes
which so frequently disgraced the gold-
hunting population at California wei-e ob-
servable. A Vigilance Committee was once
talked of, not for the execution of " Lynch
law,'^ but to seize and hand over offenders
to the government to be dealt with accord-
ing to their merits : for instance, a digger
at Bendigo quarrelled with his mate and
stabbed him thrice in the waist and belly ;
the bystanders seized the murderer, bound
him to a tree, and on the following morn-
ing delivered the criminal into the custody
of the police.
It is to be regretted, therefore, that the
excellent spirit which was manifested by the
mining population in 1852 was not pi'cserved
in 1853, by attending to their reasonable
complaints, and thus preserving their sup-
port of law and order. The existence of
an inefficient government at Victoria in
1852-3, has inflicted a serious injury on other
colonies, led thousands to consider law as
the antagonist of justice, and compelled
them to feel that the latter was only pro-
curable by the subversion of the former.
Moreover, in the contest between the people
and the local authorities in Australia, the
rightful prerogative and dignity of the sove-
reign was unfairly dragged into the arena to
aid petty functionaries in their assertion that
all minerals and waste lands belonged to the
crown, who might retain, grant, or sell them
at its pleasure ; to this it was replied, that
the monarch had no personal interest in the
waste lands or in the gold vvhich they con-
tained; that the crown, through its minis-
ters, was simply a trustee for the public,
• There was a teetotal society ; but the view of the
new association was to check the evil by the with-
drawal of men from the temptations of the tavern
by the substitution of other attractive places of re-
sort, where either business can be transacted, or
social intercourse enjoyed, or the excitement and
pleasure of the most interesting kinds of reading j
who had a right to demand the alienation
of the land and all its products on equitable
terms ; and, that although a discretionary
power existed, there could be no final re-
sistance, otherwise the public would be
wronged under cover of a trusteeship created
for its benefit. Should the crowu prevent
the beneficial occupation of land and the
digging of minerals, which it was unable
to accomplish of itself, or only authorize
the public to do so on condition of fulfilling
some unreasonable requirement, then the vis
Popularis would be brought into collision
with the vis Hegia, and general and immediate
interests would be found stronger than in-
dividual claims or obsolete prescription.
While the government was disputing Avith
the miners as to the rate of taxation, and
grasping at an unnecessary amount of re-
venue, the golden age of profits to bullion
dealers and mercantile traders was fast
passing away; as regards the former, gold
which at first was only 55^. to 60s., now
rose to 76s. and 77*. Qd. per oz. ; and the
latter experienced, owing to enormous im-
ports, a fall in commodities of 50 to 100
per cent. : flour, for instance, was at so low
a figure that some thousand bari'els were
shipped for England, and manufactures were
forced on neighbouring markets below cost
price. The price given by merchants for
" dust" as a remittance, was 77*. per oz. ;
freight to England, deliverable at the bul-
lion-office [Bank of England), 4jd. per oz. ;
insurance to Great Britain, three guineas
per cent. Advances were made to individuals
by the Australian banks on gold shipped
to the United Kingdom at 60*. per oz.
A commercial crisis was evidently at
hand ; but there was an abundance of un-
employed capital, which caused a combina-
tion in the form of joint-stock companies
for local improvements; such as the Mel- |
bourne, St. Kilda, and Brighton Rail- i
ivay (capital, .€250,000, in .€20 shares) ; ;
Melbourne and Geelong Railway (capital, I
£350,000) ; Melbourne, Mount Alexan-
der, and Murray River Company (capital,
€1,000,000) ; a Bath and WashJiouse Com-
pany (capital, €60,000) ; an Immigrants'
Aid Society ; and Church of England Asso-
ciation for promoting Temperance/^
obtained. To can-y out this object, a large amount
of money was to be expended in the erection of a
suitable building, where coffee-rooms and reading-
rooms, with lecture-hall, Ike, would be provided
on a commodious and handsome scale, but at a
trifling cost, to any one disposed to avail himself of
them.
464 VICTORIA YIELD OF GOLD AND SHIPMENTS— 1853 AND 1853.
An idea began to prevail that the gold-
fields were being exhausted, that nearly all
the surface-metal procurable had been ob-
tained, and some metallurgists were of
opinion that gold was not generally found
at great depths. A comparison of the es-
cort returns of 1853 with those of 1852, did
not indicate an aggregate diminution of
yield :—
Months.
Gold received per
Escort.
Gold Shipped.
1852.
18o3.
18.52.
1853.
January . .
53,594
186,615
160,477
266,668
February. .
56,142
172,239
152,560
189,675
March . .
62,026
169,654
107,406
166,423
April . . .
68,041
170,427
92,512
101,683
May . . .
77,247
116,812
94,975
213,319
June . . .
116,009
122,695
152,242
153,865
July . . .
320,218
198,007
179,412
202,126
August . .
314,195
168,419
172,991
147,621
September .
307,282
161,189
October . .
277,574
248,397
November .
281,118
322,550
December .
149,581
131,163
Total oz.
2,083,027
1,974,974
The districts of Mount Alexander, Ben-
digo, and Ballarat were the principal fields
for the greater part of 1852 ; the following
is a comparison of their yield with 1853, so
far as the escort returns indicate : —
Months.
January . . .
February . .
March . . .
April . . . .
May . . . .
June . . . .
July . . . .
August . . .
September . .
October . . .
November . .
December . .
Total oz.
For 1852.
2,051,710
For 1853.
53,608
156,856
55,889
142,644
61,389
133,655
67,556
138,277
69,453
124,302
108,650
106,146
320,218
165,779
314,195
307,282
277,574
275,335
140,561
The relative yield of the different gold-
fields is shown by the number of ounces
brought down by escort, in four successive
trips, during the winter period : —
From
Mount Alexander
Ballarat
Ovens
M'Ivor,&c. . .
Goulburn .
Total oz. .
26th Aug.
39.912
5,946
5.746
4,433
3rd Sep.
43,384
8,377
5,995
3,186
56,037 60,942
10th Sep.
44,226
15,258
3,571
1,970
65,025
17th Sep.
21,738
13,615
5,358
2,069
436
3,574
Showing a total, for one month, of 230,578 oz.
independent of the Adelaide and Sydney
escorts, which took considerable quantities to
their respective colonies. Assuming the
product for the month 260,000 oz., at lis.
per oz., it was upwards of £1,000,000 ster-
ling. The shipments from the 1st of Janu-
ary to the middle of October, 1853, were
about 2,000,000 oz., valued at upwards of
£7,000,000 sterling.
Rich placers were said to be discovered in
several localities, viz., at JVhipstick Scrub,
and also at Sydney Flat, eight miles north-
west of Bendigo ; the latter divided atten-
tion with Sandy Creek, beyond the Loddon,
thirty miles from Bendigo, in the direction
of Motmt Korong, where the "surfacing"
surpassed in richness all other known fields.
The gold was large, chiefly in the form of
nuggets, and extraordinary successes were
mentioned ; the discovering party obtained,
it is said, 130 lbs. of gold in seven hours.
At Bendigo the miners commenced trying
the second bottom, or pipe-clay stratum,
with success. But the fears about an ex-
haustion of the gold were materially dissi-
pated by the find, in September and Octo-
ber, at two Ballarat gullies, named Cana-
dian (from its discovery by a North Ameri-
can colonist) and Prince Regent. Here
deep sinkings — 30, 50, 80, 100, and even
120 feet were made — requiring a mass of
slate and unproductive soil to be removed
before the washing-stuff was reached — a la-
bour of one, two, or three moiiths. Deep
holes required to be slabbed from top to bot-
tom (one of the party being necessarily some-
what of a carpenter), and to have in the
bed of the gully a raised barricade of four
feet high, well clayed, to prevent surface-
water running into it, which, in the rainy
season, was very likely, whereby some good
holes were so suddenly filled at the begin-
ning of winter, that tools and everything
had to be left, the miners barely escaping
with their lives. To prevent the accumula-
tion of water, strong parties of seven or
eight divided themselves into three gangs,
working each eight hours day and night;
where the party was only four or five,
twelve continuous hours' labour, in two re-
lays, wei'e cheerfully undertaken. The usual
mode of proceeding was to sink a shaft of
from six to twelve feet in diameter, to a
depth varying from 20 to 100 feet; at the
base radiating tunnels were made, which
were connected at the outer ends by a cir-
cular tunnel : all the produce was sent up
the shaft. Holes of three-feet-by-two cost
BraTISH MERCHANTS GENERALLY OVERDO MARKETS.
4g:
for sinking, according to depth, from £.200
to £500, reckoning the value of each man's
labour at the rate which it is usually hired
for at Ballarat, at 20^. a-day; even counting
nothing for labour, the actual outlay for
provisions, tiraljer, and tools, was about
£100 ; and with this outlay many pits were
sunk on mere speculation, the diggers say-
ing— '■ we know it is uncertain : but if we do
hit, we hit it heavy.-" The yield of some of
these holes, especially in Prince Regent's
Gully, was so great, that twelve of them
were termed the "jewellers' shops:" it is
said that from one of these, 12,000 oz. =
£40,000 was obtained; and that the auri-
ferous soil was worth from £80 to £100
per square foot. Three men, in six days,
raised 192 lbs. weight of gold. A man
named Wilson, who had been a servant at a
tavern, obtained, it is said, one hundred
weight avoirdupois from a ten-gallon keg of
the washing-stuff out of a hole in Prince
Regent's Gully. Several parties, after a
month's work, acquired from 200 to 400 oz.
of gold each. The metal was generally
found in the beds of subterranean creeks ;
some diggers called them basins, others
gutters; the bed or bottom was generally
six to eight feet wide at top, and two to four
at bottom ; but the gutter was soon lost
sight of, and baffled skill and ingenuity for
its rediscovery, although fifty lioles were
dug in different directions. Canadian and
Prince Regent's gullies are about a furlong
apart, and run nearly in the same direction,
distant from the Eureka diggings about
three miles; the whole of these auriferous
tracts are in progress of connection by a
chain of claims. The line of gold from each
of the above gullies has been found to cross
the main Buninyong gully in the direction
of the Gravel-pits and Eureka, and the rich-
ness of the district or otherwise will be fully
tested. [I hope to give, in an Appendix, the
latest accounts from this and other gold-
fields in Australia.]
The arrival in England of ship after ship,
with large quantities of gold, caused an
* The rapidity with which voyages are made in
the present day, lessens the number of ships em-
ployed; the extent of the Southern Pacific trade
Avill, therefore, be the more evident. The Argo, which
left England 11th May, 1803, for Australia, returned
home after an absence of only five months and two
weeks ; her passages, out and back, were made in
exactly the some time, viz., sixty-four days. She
brought to England gold to the value of £537,776,
100 passengers, and a full frelglit. The Victoria
steamer left Gravesend lOlh June, 1853, and ur-
DIV. III. 3 M
immense export of goods to Australia.
The British merchants are always at first
very chary of entering on doubtful or
hitherto unexploi'ed fields of enterprise ;
but when they see some more adventurous
neighbour realising high profits from fore-
sight and fair speculation, they rush reck-
lessly into the trade, and soon overdo
the market. This was strongly exemplified
at the period of the independence and open-
ing of South America, when all sorts of com-
modities were sent thither without reference
to individual tastes or climatorial necessi-
ties : for instance, quantities of warming-
pans to regions of perpetual summer —
the people, not knowing their use, con-
verted them into culinary utensils; skates
also were exported to places whore ice had
never been seen : so also when the monopoly
of the East India trade was abolished, in
1813-14, sapient calculators thought a lum-
dred million persons would require an
immense supply of hats (forgetting or not
knowing that turbans were used), and
hastened to forestall other exporters, by
despatching as many coverings to Calcutta
as would meet the demands of all the hat-
Avearing population of India for fifty years
to come. When the Chinese trade was
opened, in 1833-4, there was a rush into
the Canton markets which precluded profit
for several years. Owing to similar reckless
speculation, I have frequently purchased
European goods in Asia, in Africa, and other
parts of the world, at lower prices than they
could be made at the seat of production.
The same holding back in the early stage,
and subsequent inconsiderate haste, was
manifested in the Australian trade. No
less than thirty ships arrived at jMelbourne,
filled with cargoes, within the space of three
days, in the month of June.*
In July, there were in the port, 8 steam-
vessels, 73 ships, 89 barques, 58 bi'igs, and
58 schooners, whose aggregate burthen was
estimated at 84,000 tons. From 12 to 14
vessels arrived daily, from various parts,
laden with goods. It was calculated that
rived at the nearest Australian port (Adelaide) on
the 18th August — an unprecedented short tran.sit,
and contrasting strongly with the period when five
or six months were occupied with the voyage. The
necessity for rapid voyages to cur distant southern
colonies has caused the construction of a class of
ships very superior to those formerly employed in
the mercantile service. Sotne of lije best and swift-
est vessels now engaged in the Australian trade '
were built in the British colony of New Brunswick,
North America.
466
EXCESSIVE IMPORTS INTO MELBOURNE IN 1853.
the Aveekly tonnage entering inwards,
amounted to 2,000. For the six months
ending 20th of August, no less than 968
vessels — burthen, 265,000 tons — entered
inwards. Three weeks in August show
these numbers : —
Week ending
"V essels. Tonnage, &c.
4th Aug.
11th Aug.
17th Aug.
Vessels inward, No. .
Aggregate tonnage .
Passengers, No. . •
51
20,415
1,976
24
9,152
1,646
58
21,605
3,015
titles imported for the year ending the 30th
of June, 1852 :—
During these three weeks about 3,000
tons of flour, and a large quantity of bis-
cuits, ship-bread, &c., had been received.
The value of imports for the quarter end-
ing 5th of July was £4,115,233 ; for the
previous quarter, ending 5th of April,
£1,488,290: total for half year, £5,603,523.*
The quantity of spirits and wine imported
and bonded during the July quarter was —
spirits, 537,460 ; wine, 56,312, gallons :
there were also 32,840 casks of beer and
cider ; the value of which latter alone was
£150,115. The casks, averaged at twenty
gallons each = 656,800 : there appears to
have been imported in three months, for a
population of about 230,000 (including men,
women, and children), 1,250,572 gallons
of intoxicating liquors, or, for each mouth
— infant and adult — about six gallons ! It is
not surprising that a great fall in prices took
place in Melbourne. Other articles, equally
in excess of the demand, were poured into
the colony.
The provision -market was excessively
overstocked. There were in port 50,000
barrels of flour,t which was quoted at c€32
per ton on 11th of June, and offered 2nd of
July at £6 10.9. per ton, barely more than
the freight from England or America ;
while the cost for cai-rying and landing it,
a distance equal to that between West-
minster-bridge and the West India docks,
was 'i{)s. per ton : the landing of a barrel of
flour, and its storeage for a month, would be
equivalent to its value in the market.
A Melbourne price-current of 18th July,
1853, gives the following statement of the
flour-trade for the year ending the 30th of
June last ; and a comparison of the quan-
• Six days only of week.
t The supply required for 60,000 mining popula-
tion was 10 lbs. each per week = 600,000 lbs. = 300
tons : or for the year, 15,600 tons. The cost for con-
veyance from Melbourne was £40 per ton, at which
rate, for the whole year, the carriage was £624,000.
From
1S52.
1853.
'•5 3
3rd
Qr.
4th
Qr.
1st
Qr.
2nd
Qr,
O O CO
Europe ....
United States . .
British America .
East Indies . .
Neighbouring |
Australian col.
Tons.
9
3o
1,671
1,715
Tons.
234
459
5
6,105
6,950
Tons.
586
2,303
70
1,265
Tons.
1,601
0,239
12
215
2,284
Tons.
2,430
9,036
17
285
11,325
24,337
Tons.
207
8
10
14,855
Total Tons .
4,887
10,835
15,080
" From this table it will be perceived that America
has sent us no less than 9,036 tons during the last
twelve months, against only eight tons in the pre-
ceding year ; Avhile the imports from the neighbour-
ing colonies have actually decreased in this article
to the extent of upwards of 3,000 tons. This is
rather a striking commentary upon the effects of
gold as respects the cultivation of the important
article of food ; and the fact Avill appear still more
striking when we mention, that in 1851 there were
under cultivation in this colony no less than 29,633
acres of wheat, yielding about 740 tons of flour,
which had decreased last year (1852) to 16,823
acres under cultivation, yielding only about 420
tons of flour. Here we have a decrease in the supply
from the neighbouring colonies of 3,000, and a de-
crease on our own yield of 320 tons ; to compensate
for which we have the enormous imports from Ame-
rica and other ports, to which we have already
alluded. The quantity of these foreign supplies has
certainly been great of late, but they have been
partly removed by shipments of inferior qualities to
England, and of other and larger quantities to Sydney,
and other colonial ports. No less than from 20,000
to 30,000 barrels has found an outlet in this man-
ner during the last two months ; and, in conse-
quence, the market has been much relieved. At pre-
sent, though it is very difficult to form an estimate, it
is pretty generally believed that the quantity of all
kinds on hand exceeds considerably 100,000 barrels."
Colonial flour was then £30 per ton ; and
American, 60s. per barrel : oats, 145. a
bushel.
The Americans rushed into the Australian
trade with their wonted eagerness. There
arrived at Victoria within one year, from
the United States, 307 vessels, of which
87 were from California.
The prices of apparel were reduced from
50 to 100 per cent, less than the previous
rates ; and other articles in proportion.
The excess of imports at Melbourne bene-
fitted some of the neighbouring colonies at
the expense of the British consigner. For
instance : the timber, flax, potatoes, and
provisions of New Zealand were in great
demand at Victoria, and the coasting ves-
sels (many of them owned, manned, and
COMMERCE STIMULATED BY GOLD PHODUCTION.
467
commanded by Maories — aborigines of New
Zealand) — returned freighted with cheap
merchandize.
The following is a statement of the quan-
tities and values of the principal articles of
import into Victoria for only one quarter of
a-year, ending 5th of July, 1853 : —
Articles.
olle
Appai'el and slops
Arms ....
Barley and maize
Bags and sacks .
Beer and cider .
Blankets and wo
Butter and cheese
Bricks . . .
Candles . . _ .
Carts and carriaf^es
Coal and fuel
Coffee . . .
Cottons '. .
Cutlery and hardw
Earthen-ivare
Fish, preserved .
Flour and bread
Furniture . .
Glass ware . .
Haberdashery a:
hosiery . .
Iron and steel .
Oats ....
Oilmen's stores .
Salted provisions
Skip chandlery .
Specie ....
Spirits . . .
Sugar ....
Tea ....
Tobacco . . .
AVine ....
Quantity.
5,088
3G0
84,831
1,415
32,840
2,892
904
1,285,806
363
734
9,899
600,660
6,030
10,761
810
11,928
11,710
8,440
4,021
pkgs.
ditto
bshls.
pkgs.
casks
pkgs.
tons
No.
tons
No.
tons
lbs.
pkgs.
ditto
ditto
ditto
tons
pkgs.
ditto
3,480 ditto
614 tons
177,577 bshls.
20,895 pkgs.
1,005 tons
253 pkgs.
171 boxes
335,928 galls.
1,87G tons
201,152 lbs.
1,122,062 ditto
214,860 galls.
Value.
£
116,236
12,747
51,036
5,308
159,115
119,958
87,479
15,306
28,066
21,110
38,988
19,908
163,823
130,856
11,987
25,430
271,431
70,076
14,978
119,241
10.876
117,252
61,201
66,703
3,037
797,490
233,587
64,270
14,062
f2,803
96,819
The different countries with which this
enormous trade for one quarter was carried
on is thus shown : —
From
Great Britain . .
Gothenberg . .
Bordeaux . . .
Lisbon ....
Oporto ....
Cape of Good Hope
Mauritius . . .
Van DIemen's Land
New South Wales
Adelaide . . .
Western Australia
New Zealand . .
Bombay . . .
Calcutta . . .
Cochin ....
Imported
Imported
in British
in Foreign
ships.
ships.
£
£
1,909,162
270,832
—
9,720
—
21.848
36
—
16,010
9,681
46,821
—
35,586
6,366
328,315
—
397,989
— .
150,123
3,500
2,259
—
38,496
—
13,657
—
126,335
—
840
Totals.
£
2,179,994
9,720
21,848
36
25,691
46,821
41,952
328,315
397,989
153,623
2,259
38,496
13,657
126,335
840
From
Colombo . .
Hong Kong .
Singapore . .
Batavia . . .
Manilla . . .
Shanghai . .
Wampoa . .
Raiatca . .
Tahiti . . .
Quebec . . .
Baltimore . .
Boston . . .
Salem
San Francisco
New York . .
E-io de Janeiro
Valparaiso . .
Geelong . .
Port Fairy . .
Portland . .
Totals .
Imported
Imported
in Britisli
in Foreign
sliips
shijjs.
£
£
660
—
11,270
—
65,534
—
—
16,579
1,980
7,300
6,491
—
1,404
—
1,150
— .
2,199
—
8,060
—
—
9,075
19,758
277,683
—
6,751
5,125
4,395
—
233,854
—
1,000
17,173
26,500
820
—
60
—
6
—
3,207,319
907,914
Totals.
£
600
11,270
65,534
16,579
9,280
6,491
1,404
1,150
2,199
8.060
9^075
297,441
6,751
9,520
233,854
1,000
43,673
820
60
6
4,115,233
The activity of the Australian trade may
be judged of from the circumstance that in
one day, in September, the port of London
had 131 ships — tons, 74,268 — loading for
our possessions in the southern hemisphere ;
of these ships 110 were British; 15 Dutch,
2 American, 2 Hamburg, 1 Brenen, and
1 French. In August, 96 vessels left Lon-
don for the Australian colonies; in Sep-
tember, 118 were appointed to leave; of
these, 49 were for Victoria, 35 for New
South Wales, 15 for South Australia, 12 for
Van Dieman's Land or Tasmania, 2 for
Western Australia, and 5 for New Zealand.
The value of goods on board these vessels
must have been enormous.*
Liverpool, during September, sent 48
ships — tonnage, 30,507 — to the same desti-
nation : 10 of these ships were each upwards
of 1,000 tons ; one, the Sovereign of the Seas,
had on board 3,000 tons of measurement
goods, valued at £300,000, and 65 passen-
gers, f Glasgow and other ports also contri-
buted their quota to the Australian trade. J
The shipments of Manchester and manu-
factured goods from that district for the
Australian colonies for the twelve months
* At this very period there were at Victoria, 423
vessels, viz.j 70 ships, 5 steamers, 136 barques, 92
brigs, 112 schooners, and 8 hulks.
t Further particulars on the trade and shipping
will be given in the next chapter and in Appendix.
X Liverpool sent to Australia during the first six
months of 1853— ships, 138 ; tons, 73,190: during
the remaining half year — ships, 134 ; tons, 82,501=^
ships, 272 ; tons, 155,ti91.
468
CONSUMPTION OF GOODS IN VICTORIA— 1852-3.
ending 16tli of December, 1853, and 1853,
were —
Articles.
Cotton yarn, lbs
Cotton thread, lbs. . . .
Cotton sundries, yds. . .
Calicoes, plain ....
Calicoes, printed and dyed
Cambrics and muslins . .
Cords, jeans, fustians, vel- i
vets, and velveteens . j
Lace, gauze, net, & crapes
Unenumerated cotton gds. £
Linen and cotton goods \
mixed, yds. ... J
Linen, partly in value . £
Linen partly in length, yds.
"Woollen and cotton goods,"!
value £i
"Woollen and worsted, val. £
"Worsted and cotton, val. £
1S52.
190.807
2.5,374
156.803
5,446,548
5,106,324
599,546
67,119
533,194
5,723
112,088
69,810
777,269
44,251
141,352
87,381
1853.
94,896
80,359
535,458
17,932;070
15,636,699
1,865,880
146,139
1,574,406
13,391
75,579
128,687
2,469,774
177,401
544,466
*371,202
Prices at Melbourne in December.
It appears, therefore, that the export of
textile fabrics in 1853, in excess of the quan-
tities sent in 185,2 (in itself a year of large
export), was, of calicoes, plain, 12,000,000;
ditto, printed and dved, 10,500,000; lace,
gause, net, 1,000,000; linen, 1,500,000
yards. Woollen and cotton goods, value
i;i32,000; woollen ditto, .€300,000; wool-
len and worsted, £281,000.
It is estimated that the imports of Vic-
toria, comprising food, manufactures, &c.,
during the year 1853, amounted in value to
€12,000,000 sterhng, which, for 200,000
inhabitants, would be at the rate of €60
each per annum. f Whether even the main-
tenance of the present yield of gold would
enable the colonists to consume such a large
extent of imports, is scarcely probable.
Siiould the production of gold continue at
the rate of twelve or fifteen million ster-
ling per annum, population will be largely
augmented, and manufactures must be in
extensive demand. It is difficult, however,
to predicate anything of the future, and my
duty at present is to narrate facts. The
record of transactions for the year may be
closed with a comparative view of the rate
of wages and prices of provisions in Mel-
bourne since the discoveries in 1851.
* Australian ami New Zealand Gazette, 7th Jan-
uary, 1854.
t In 1852, the population of the L'nited States
(about 25,000,000) consumed British goods to the
value of £10,500,000, or at the rate of 13s. per head
per annum.
\ The weekly rations usually consist of 10 lbs. of
fioar; 10 lbs. of meat; 2 lbs. of sugar; ^ lb. of
tea, and a sufficiency of salt to each person weekly.
§ Gold was traced at Tuena, MuUjaunia, Copper-
Avocations, Provisions, &c.
1850.
1851.
1852.
1853.
Labour : —
Labourers, per week . .
lis.
17s. Qd
54s. 6f/
Shepherds' with rations, )
per annumj . . . j
22,1.
291.
38Z.
Blacksmiths, ditto . . .
47n0y
5'il.
6.5/.
General useful servants, do.
28/.
SSL
57/.
Carpenters, per day . . .
4s. 2d.
21«.
22;. 6f/
Iem.ale Servants: —
Thoroua;h servants, per an.
lot.
17/.
27/.
Cooks, ditto
18Z.
20/.
42/.
Nursemsids, ditto . . .
Id.
17/.
23/.
Is. M.
Bread, 4 lb. loaf ....
Sheep, wethers, each . .
6*. &d.
—
15s.
Cows . . . ditto . . .
21. OS.
4/. 17s.
Geese and Turkevs, ditto .
6s.
3os.
Fowls and Ducks, per pair
4s.
—
24s.
Cabbages, per dozen . .
Is. Qd
—
27s.
Rice, per ton of 2,000 lbs.
—
9/.
lo/.
Beer, Ale, per hos^shead .
Al. 10s
51. 10s
6/. 15s.
Tea, Hysou. per chest . .
12/. 9s.
3/. 10s
31. 15s.
Coffee, Java, per lb. . .
i ohd.
Gd.
Ud.
Sugar, refined, per lb. . .
\ ^,d.
! 0-7
Id.
9d.
Acre of land, near Mel- 1
bourne or Geelong . j
1 2o/.
~~
1,000/.
Cottage of 4 rooms (rent)
I 2^^-
200/.
The New Soufh Wales 2)roceedings in
1853, as regards gold digging, may be briefly
recorded. The places worked were Sofala,
Mudgee, Tamworth, Tambaroora, Avisford,
Hanging Rock, Bingara, Rocky River,
Goulburn, jNIurrurundi, Cameron's Creek,
Braidwood, Bell, and ]Major creeks, and part
of tbe Ovens district, within the colonial
boundary; but the products (except from
the latter) were small, § compared with the
Victoria auriferous districts. Surface-wash-
ing was chiefly resorted to ; water compa-
nies were established at several of the places ;
and " dirt," that formerly had to be carted
up and down hill for several miles, was now
washed on the spot by water conveyed in
gutta-percha tubes. Bark, slab, and even
log huts took the place of tents and lairs
constructed of dry branches ; the miners,
who averaged from 9,000 to 10,000, Avere
settling down at their several locations, and
obtaining, at least, a competence. The
southern placers, including the Ovens dis-
trict, appear to have yielded the largest
returns. It was estimated, in ]May, 1853,
that, during the previous eighteen months,
hania, and ^fountain Jiun creeks ; also at ILivilah,
on CarnpheWs River and its tributaries, Gylman-
fli/ke and Davis creeks — at ninburnale Creek, a
few miles nortli of Bathurst — at Billabonr/ range,
100 miles from Bathurst — at Boro, in Argyle county.
24 miles from Goulburn — at Cunuwanfj — at the
Snoivy Mountains — at Lake Gconje — and at several
other places. In foct, the Avhole region seems to be
electrotyped with gold, wliich, it has even been as-
serted, may be obtained from the Sydney sand-stone.
THE GOLD PLACERS OF NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1853.
409
about half a million sterling; worth- of gold
had been obtained at the Braidwood dig-
gings by about 700 diggers ; the return to
each man actively employed had, during
this period, averaged from two to three
ounces of gold per week of six days — say
from £Q to £9 sterling, which must be
considered " a fair day's wage for a fair day's
work" of little more than mere manual toil.
The western and northern fields were
several times nearly abandoned, but as often
re-occupied; and although the "find" did
not present such, lottery prizes to the few,
it was pretty equally distributed to all
steady workers. At Bingera, in the district
of Liverpool plains, the diggings were at
one time very profitable; several nuggets,
varying in size from 2G to 17 oz., and down-
wards, were found ; parties of three averaged
a receipt of 6 oz. per week ; two men ob-
tained, out of Bingera Creek, 22 oz. in nine
hours, and, subsequently, not less than 3 oz.
a-day. At a contiguous gully, near the
Black Forest, 2 to 3 oz. a-day were pro-
cured from dry diggings. The Avashing-
stuff at Bingera consisted of decomposed
quartz and rotten trap, accompanied with
small quartz veins, very soft, and a few iron-
stones or boulders ; colours — green, yellow,
and Prussian- blue ; the bed-rock — serpen-
tine. At Samuel Flat, Tamboorara, the
geological features were striking : above a
slate ridge a bed of " pipe-clay" (schist) ap-
pearing, when first broken, similar to chalk ;
the upper surface like ploughed ground :
the washing-stuff, or gravel, in which the
gold was found, is twelve feet from the sur-
face. At the crest of Bald Hill, the slate
breaks through soft rock, rises about six
feet, and to within five feet of the top of the
pipe-clay. There is a small section of auri-
ferous quartz on the top of the hill. The
geological investigator and the mineralogist
will find full details in the reports of Sir
T. L. Mitchell, the Rev. W. B. Clarke, and
Mr. Stuchbury, printed in the reports on
the gold-fields, laid before parliament in
1852-3.
There are no complete returns of the
gold obtained from month to month, during
1853,* in New South Wales; the superior
* Gold exported by sea from New South Wales,
between 1st January and middle of September,
1853 — oz. 1,473,148 : of this a considerable part M'as
derived from the Victoria mines. I hope to give, in
the Appendix, the latest returns.
t For Banking returns, see ApjicncUx.
X This enterprising gentleman is the son of a
British officer, and was born in the Peninsula dur-
attractions of Victoria drew off many miners
to that quarter, and the winter (June, July,
and August) was the severest one known
for at least thirty years; heavy and con-
tinued rains overflowed the rivers, and con-
verted many roads into quagmires ; a large
tract of country round Gotdburn M^as under
water ; on the Bathurst plains there was a
fall of snow (an unusual sight) on the Blue
Mountains — it lay two feet deep, and the
cold on the higher elevations was intense ;
in some districts the frost not only killed
the orange-trees, but blighted much forest-
timber. At many fields the miners were
obliged to suspend operations ; but there was
abundant employment for labour throughout
the colony, and a high degree of prosperity :
for instance, it appeared by the first quar-
terly returns of the monetary afi'airs of the
colonists, that the deposits in the banks at
Sydney (then containing from 70,000 to
80,000 inhabitants) amounted to ^63,338,700,
and their joint circulation of notes to only
o€974,700 : this comparatively small sum, in
proportion to the deposits, being ninety-two
per cent, above the issue of notes in the
preceding year.f Thus —
Notes and Deposits.
Notes of local banks "1
out J
Deposits in banks .
March,
18o2.
£
512,600
1,479,200
March.
1853.
£
984,700
3,118,700
lucreasc.
£
472,100
1,639,500
A remuneration, to the extent of £10,000
was awarded by the local legislature to Mr.
Hargreaves,J for his practical demonstration
of the gold-placers ; and £1,000 to three
men who had assisted him : .€1,000 were
also awarded to the Rev. W. B. Clarke, to
be paid on the completion of his geological
examination of the colony, in addition to
the stipend of which he was in receipt, for
his exploratory services.
The common sense which characterized
the Sydney authorities, enabled them to
perceive that it would be impossible to
maintain a monthly license of 30s. ; and
that it would be advisable to encourage,
rather than restrict, the efforts for the ob-
tainment of gold.
ing the Wellington campaigns. It is evident, from
his simple narrative, that he returned from Cali-
fornia to New South "Wales under the strongest im-
pression that be would find gold in his adopted
country. He states that the first indication that
convinced him of the Batlnirst district being an
auriferous region, was a schistose dyke running
across the Summer Hill Creek at right angles.
470 JUDICIOUS MEASURES OF NEW SOUTH WALES GOVERNMENT.
The gold-digging license-fee ou crown-
lands was therefore reduced* from 30^. to
10^. a-month, for all classes, aliens as well
as British subjects. " Clergymen, sick per-
sons, officers on public service, and domestic
servants resident at the gold-fields/' were
exempted from the license to which they
were previously subjected. A royalty, in
lieu of fees for leases, was fixed at three
per cent, on the gross value of the gold
procured, instead of ten per cent., as pre-
viously enacted. On private lands, the fees
and royalties were settled at half the amount
of those levied on crown property.
Public -houses were authorized to be
licensed on the gold-fields. These con-
cessions satisfied the mining population,
and there was no resistance to the govern-
ment authorities, as in Victoria.
Another judicious measure adopted, was
the ofibring for sale small farms, varying in
extent from 10 to 100 acres; this was so
acceptable, that between the 9th and 31st of
August, there were sold no less than 898 of
these allotments, of which 430 were of
thirty, 178 of forty, and 137 of fifty, acres
each. Those who had acquired wealth were
thus induced to invest it in the purchase of
crown-lands.
A large augmentation of the general
revenue was employed in useful public
works, instead of being lavished, as in Vic-
toria, on extravagant and useless hordes of
officials. Among other satisfactory appro-
priations may be mentioned — £50,000
voted for the building of the Sydney uni-
versity, at the rate of not more than £10,000,
or less than £5,000, per annum. Railroads
were encouraged, as were also other undertak-
ings conducive to the welfare of the province.
During the search for gold, various por-
tions of the teiTitory (especially the south-
ern parts) were explored, which had hitherto
been neglected, and publicity was given to
their leading features : among these may be
mentioned Blakeness Creek, north of the
Yass River, Avhich was "prospected." The
country around was found attractive. In
the neighbourhood of Yass township there
are several handsome private residences,
with gardens, orchards, and extensive pad-
docks attached. The margin of the river is
adorned with magnificent clustres of weeping-
willows, whose pendent branches dip into
* ()n ond after October, 1353.
t Gold wa*. found at Aclclmt/h Creek, near Gun-
dagai, and op. the Black Ru'nyc, five miles from
Albimj, near tlie Mctoria frontier.
the clear stream : wild-ducks abound, and
almost every description of indigenous birds.
The climate is good ; fruit is plentiful —
apples and peai^s especially are of excellent
quality ; peaches and gi-apes, middling. The
country is thinly- wooded, and covered with
long yellow grass in March.
On leaving Yass, proceeding towards
Gundagai, Mount Brown is conspicuous
from the adjacent level ground. Further
on, a mountainous tract is passed, where
granite and schist rock abound, with a
slight sprinkling of quartz. The road
thence passes for a few miles through a
plain, to the Jugyong Creek, half a-mile
from which is the Murrumbidgee River,
here thirty to forty yards broad, with, for
the most part, a deep channel ; a great
extent of alluvial flats, and piles of drift in
the trees on the river banks, indicate a rise
of twenty or thirty feet in seasons of flood.
Passing along the bank for a mile or two,
the road winds over mountains ; granite
masses again appear ou the summit of
ridges, and in the beds of the creeks :
thence to Gundagai is tolerably level, with
creeks and ascending hills ; and, as the in-
tended township is neared, quartz and slate
appear in considerable quantity, and the
region becomes decidedly auriferous. f Gun-
dagai is in a valley between ridges and
mountains, through which a large stream of
water once poured, leaving an alluvial flat,
varying in width according to the approach-
ing or receding mountains.
It is probable that these and other dis-
tricts around the Australian Alps are rich
in minerals; and, as they contain all the
elements necessary for the support and
healthy existence of man, population will
soon be attracted thither.
A few general remarks on the physical
structure of the auriferous districts may not
be inappropriate.
As the animal and vegetable kingdoms of
Australia have puzzled naturalists, so its
geological features have surprised men of
science. The prevailing rocks are of an
igneous character; many, however, so me-
tamorphosed as to receive the appellation
of quartziferous schist, which consists of
cholorite slate, full of quartz veins, and
dykes, and bosses of quartz : instances are
numerous of slate with imbedded quartz,
and quartz pervading slate. The Rev.
W. B. Clarke seems to have had his geo-
logical creed confounded by what he sav/ :
STRANGE GEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AUSTRALIA. 471
he hints at the probability of quartz, green-
stone, basalt, and slate, by the influence of
segregation, chemical affinity, galvanic or
other forces, being " derived from the same
original source, and indefinitely varied in
the order of their arrangements and rela-
tions to each other at different intervals."
AThile sinking mining shafts, the absence
of ordinary stratification has been remarked,
and the materials through which the diggers
work were frequently alike on the tops of the
hills and in the gullies. The irregularitj'^ of
the mineral beds is very striking ; no two
holes are alike : the fantastic changes in the
order and depths of the beds have been com-
pared to the alternations of eight notes of
music on different bars. In Victoria the
slates are elongated, amorphous, crystalline,
contorted, laminated, or without cleavage ;
the cleavage planes, evidently made by vol-
canic agency, sometimes, as at Bendigo,
preserve a true parallelism while passing
through contorted hard slate : in colour,
they are red, brown, blue, white, and choco-
late ; some are very talcose and soapy ; in
others, grains or streaks, like rainbows, are
seen.
At Miles' Creek, Bendigo, there are fine
curvilineal lines in red slate. Near Forest,
and beside Fryer's creeks, there is some
blue " book-slate'' resembling the leaves of a
book; and, at the Forest Creek, mundic or
iron pj'rites crystals are found in dark, fri-
able, unctuous slate. Odd changes of posi-
tion occur. On the road from Bendigo to
Bullock Creek, the slate in one place dips
80° to the east ; a little further, 80° to the
west. In Ironbark Gully, in a square yard
of space, some blue roofing slate occupied
the following positions — 45° to N.E., 30^ to
E., 70° to N. The ridges of rocks generally
run in nearly a north to south direction.
There is unceasing activity in the mineral
as well as in the vegetable and animal king-
doms ; the apparently inert mass of our
globe is daily undergoing change; moun-
tains are washed down by torrents into silt,
and becomie the bed of the ocean; the
hardest rocks are slowly crumbling into
dust by the dissolving effects of the atmos-
phere; and the various earths are under-
going transformations of which we cannot
foresee the result : thus, also, must it be
with minerals. Crystals which have been
termed the " floivers of the earth," are
known to grow on the walls of mines pre-
viously bare; new separations and combi-
nations are continually arising under the
influences of moisture and heat, and there
are gradual developments and metamor-
phoses dependent on certain acids, alkalies,
and other substances eliminated from air
and water, by chemical processes, concern-
ing Avhich we are utterly ignorant.
How gold is produced — where it origi-
nates— is a mystery. Many of the miners
are strongly impressed with the idea that
it " grows," or comes up in yearly crops,
in Australia. This idea has probably arisen
fi'om the observation that some deserted
holes, on being tried again, have yielded
large returns; one at Forest Creek, when
driven a foot or two further than when
neglected, was found to contain, almost in
a heap, 20 lbs. weight of gold in nuggets.
Another hole in the same locality, which
the miner had abandoned at twenty-one
feet deep without seeing a speck, was worked
eighteen inches deeper by a fresh party,
and a heap weighing 18 lbs. was obtained.
Others affirm, that one or more volcanoes
burst forth, and sent out showers of gold
instead of cinders; and, in confirmation of
their theoiy, they point to the shot-hke
appearance of nuggets, many of which have
evidently undergone the action of fire.
A tendency towards the formation of
crystals is everywhere observable ; the gra-
nulated quartz or grindstone schist, has
often minute transparent crystals in cavi-
ties ; and in the soft sandstones of Golden
Gully, Bendigo, exquisitely beautiful veins
of crystallized quartz run in all directions.
Australian quartz is of all kinds — black
(caused by carbon) ; white, yellow, pink,
or rose (by manganese) ; green (by copper
or chlorine) ; red or brown (by oxyde of
iron) ; spotted, streaked, mosaic, porous,
fibrous, clinker-like. The crystals are hex-
andron pyramids, single or double, of dif-
ferent sizes and degrees of transparency :
some rise from the surface like wedges, and
have a singular appearance; others have
crystals attached to their sides ; the prisms
triangular, quadrilateral, or pentagonal.
Various matrices are assigned to gold,
viz., quartz, mica, granite ; or when the cer-
tain sedimentary and igneous rocks are ob-
served in juxta-position. Generally speak-
ing, it is found associated with iron, as in
Australia,* California, the Ural (with iron
pyrites) : Siberia, Chili (with sulphuret of
iron) ; Ceylon (in black peroxyde of iron) ;
* At Clunes, the fissures in the quartz are filled
with a greasy red earth, highly impregnated with
iron, in which gold was found.
472 NUMEROUS METALS AND THEIR COMBINATION IN AUSTRALIA.
Hungary (in pyrites) ; Granada (ferruginous
clay-slate) ; Columbia (decomposed silicious
rock adhering to a peculiar iron) ; the Niger
(in ferruginous sands) ; and AYicldow (with
iron of all kinds). When crystalline rock
disintegrates, iron sand is developed and
accumulated.
It is observable, that the production of
gold chiefly takes place at no very great
distance from the surface of the earth,
though minute particles may be detected
in the compact debris at a considerable
depth. It has been supposed that the
gold deposits in Victoria are not the pro-
duct of washings from distant rocks, but
owing to the decomposition of certain friable,
metalliferous masses, which gradually unfold
their treasures ; that the precious metal is a
sort of crystallization, or growth in crystal-
line formations, acting of course under re-
gular but unknown laws ; and that these
masses are at this moment producing gold.
It is certainly found in all possible situa-
tions— on the tops of mountains and in the
depths of valleys : no person can confidently
say where it does or does not exist. As the
experienced miners observe- — '• we are never
sm'e where to drop on it.^'
"While in some places the metal is solely
obtainable in nuggets, in others it is in the
shape of an auriferous sand, combined with
emery ; and these, mixed with a yellowish
powder, have been found in abundance on
the top of a mountain range. It is most
probable, that in the stupendous gullies, and
amid the elevated portions of the primary
formations, where gneis, granite, trap,
quartz, schist, and iron abound — of which
the Australian Alps, with their snow-capped
summits, constitute the principal mass — gold
will be found in very large quantities, in
veins and masses, as originally cast up from
the bowels of the earth, unaffected by sur-
rounding chemical decompositions, or by
the disintegration arising from the com-
bined action of the elements. That Aus-
tralia abounds in metals is beyond a doubt ;
the richest copper mine in the world is in
South Australia, and copper-mines are now
* Singular metallic combinations ■nill probably be
found in Australia.
t In the neighbourhood of Earbigel, eighteen
miles from the confluence of the Talbragar with
the Macquarie, there are seams of coal visible on
the river- banks: the sections show — (1) large rocks
of coarse conglomerate, sloping back to the height
of 200 feet; (2) fine-grained sandstone, twenty feet;
(3) loose scaly culm-like coal, six feet; (4) hard fis-
sile coal, resembling the splint coal of Lanarkshire,
being worked in New South Wales. A sin-
gular amalgamated ore has been found at
Berima, seventy miles from Sydney, at the
foot of Gibraltar ranges : it is composed of
iron, gold, tin, nickel, rhodium, and tita-
nium; procurable over a space of twelve
acres, connected with three extinct volcanic
mounds, and found continuous to a depth of
thirty-five feet : the metals, when smelted,
present an appearance of the best steel.^
At Quedong (Wellesley county), in the
neighbourhood of the M'Loffhlin River, and
near the everflowing Delegete River, gold,
iron, lead, and copper exist within a narrow
compass, with abundance of excellent lime-
stone, and plenty of wood on the adjoining
ranges. t
Iron is very abundant; crystals of iron
pyrites are common; carburet of iron
(emery iron-sand) is associated with the gold :
oxydulous masses of iron form a precipitate
waterfall of sixty feet, near Oakey Creek
(New South Wales). Ferruginous, or iron-
bearing conglomerate, overhangs the Turon
River at Ophir. Auriferous bands of argil-
laceous iron ore traverse the limestone of
Bungonia. Large nodules of peroxyde of
iron, and magnetic iron ore of all kinds, were
taken out of the Victoria diggings. The
"burnt stuff ^^ of the miners is a ferruginous
cement, binding quartz pebbles. In the
Ballarat holes, it was found in some places
ten feet thick ; it was less at Mount Alex-
ander, and generally less at Bendigo ; but on
the adjacent hills it is six to eight feet
thick, t
At five miles from Murrumbidgee the
land is composed almost entirely of compact
hoematite iron ore, in pebbles from the size
of sand to three or four inches in dia-
meter; the ore is of a rich qiiality, and
thousands of tons could be gathered from
the surface ; the metal extends along the
road for nearly a mile, but its breadth was
not ascertained. § North of this iron ore
are large masses of impure limestone, in
which imperfect traces of corals may be ob-
served. IMercury, in its native form, has, it is
asserted, been seen in small quantities; the
five feet to the water-line — probably more. The upper
bed would answer for calcining metallic ores or burn-
ing lime ; the lower bed is highly inflammable, and
would answer for most purposes, and may be easily
obtained, the angle of the dip being scarcely per-
ceptible from the horizon. — Sixth Report of Geolo-
gical Survey, July, 18>j2.
X Correspondent in the Melbourne Gold Diggers'
Ma7iual.
§ Sixth Report by the Geological Surveyor, 1852.
AN AUSTRALIAN GOLCONDA—DIAMONDS, RUBIES, ETC.
'i/O
same sort of decomposed clay-slate in which
it has been found at High Torrington, North
Devon, is also visible in New South Wales.
Cinnabarj the ore of mercury, which gene-
rally accompanies gold and silver, will pro-
bably, ere long, be obtained. If quicksilver
be abundant in Australia, the production
of gold will rapidly augment. Platina and
tin have been discovered in small quantities.
The geological structure of Australia, and
the diffusion of gold and iron, indicate the
existence of " precious stones.^' In Septem-
ber, 1851, Mr. Stuchbury, the government
geologist, found or was shown various gems
of small size, obtained in or near the gold
district, viz., rubies (two varieties), sapphires
(three varieties), garnets (two varieties),
topaz (white), chrysoberyl, chrysolite, and
cairngorm. He saw also " a small but
beautifully-crystallized diamond from the
Turon River.''
The Rev. W. B. Clarke, in a report
dated 14th February, 1853, says — " It is a
most remarkable fact, that all over the tracts
in which gold occurs amongst granite, such
as the Ovens, the ^Ips, and Neiv England, the
gold is accompanied by a marvellous abun-
dance of rubies, sapphires, and other gems,
to the almost total exclusion of magnetic
iron — vulgarly called emery — though true
emery does occur; whilst in other localities of
gold, magnetic iron is a principal indication
of the metal." In the New England gold
region, as in the Southern granitic districts,
the proportion in which they occur in
Tilbuster Creek, at a depth of about two feet
below the surface, is — gold, one grain; rubies,
315 grains ; sapphires, 49 grains ; and ori-
ental emerald, one grain. Another sample
of four pans of " dirt" from the Rocky River,
gave gold, 15^ grains ; rubies, 118 grains ;
and other matter. So abundant are rubies
and sapphires in the surface-drift of New
England, and in the granitic tracts, that
they may be procured anywhere and of all
sizes, most of them water-worn, in about
the same degree as the gold : some perfect
unabraded crystals, with the usual octahe-
dron form, were obtained by IMr. Clarke.
The diamond mines of Southern India
present geological features very similar to
the gold regions in New South Wales. The
Nulla Malta (Blue INIountains, north of the
river Kistna) have an elevation of two to
three thousand five hundred feet above the
sea; the outline is flat and rounded, very
rarely peaked; they run north-cast and
south-west, the ranges gradually diminish- \
DIV. III. 3 N
ing in height, until, in the former direction,
they unite with the sandstone and clay-
slate mountains of the Godavery River, near
Palunshah, which are considered, geologi-
cally, a prolongation of the Nalla Malla
range. The breadth varies, but never ex-
ceeds fifty miles; only some parts can be
crossed by travellers. The different rocks
of which they are composed are mixed to-
gether without regard to order or position,
each in its turn being uppermost; the term
" schistose formation" was at first given by
their investigator (H. W.Voysey, in 1824);^
but subsequently finding that clay-slate was
probably the most prevailing rock, he de-
signated it " clay-slate formation :" this con-
tained every variety of slaty limestone, be-
tween pure lime and pure slate ; also of
quartz, sandstone, sandstone bi'cccia, flinty
slate, hornstone slate, andof a substance which
he called, for want of a better name, Tuffa-
ceous, which had embedded in it rounded
and angular masses of all the above-named
rocks. The mountains are bounded on all
sides by granite, which everywhere appears
to pass under it, and to form its basis : some
detached portions have only the upper third
of their summits of sandstone and quartz,
the basis or remaining two-thirds being of
granite. Deep ravines are not infrequent.
The diamond is found only in the sand-
stone breccia, which is found under a com-
pact rock, composed of a beautiful mixture
of red and yellow jasper, quartz, chalcedony,
and hornstone, of various colours, cemented
together bj'^ a quartz paste: it passes into a
pudding-stone of rounded pebbles of quartz,
hornstone, &c., cemented by an argillo-cal-
carious eai'th of a loose friable texture, in
which the diamonds are most frequently
found. The breccia is seen at depths
valuing from five to fifty feet, and is about
two feet in thickness ; immediately above it
lies a stratum of pudding-stone, composed
of quartz and hornstone pcbljles, cemented
by calcarious clay and grains of sand. The
miners are of opinion that tlie diamond is
always growing, and that the chips and
small pieces rejected ultimately increase to
large diamonds. This description of the
geological structure of the country in the
neighbourhood of the Golconda mines, is
given with a view of drawing attention to
the subject in Australia, where another Gol-
conda may be found, rivalling that of
Oriental fame.
* See Transactions of Asiatic Society of Bengal
(Asiatic Researches), Vol. xv., p. 120.
474
GOLD IN THE WORLD AT DIPFEE-ENT PERIODS.
Before closing this chapter, a few observa-
tions relative to the quantity of gold pro-
duced in different parts of the world may
be useful. The statistics on gold, except
those of recent date, must be viewed as
merely approximative data.
From the earliest times, gold and silver
have been considered as money, or the
representative of value ; they were probably
coined, or at any rate assayed, at the period
when Abraham " v^eighed" to Ephraim, for
the cave Machpelah, " four hundred shekels
of silver current with the merchant."*
That the precious metals were abundant
among the Egyptians, the Israelites, the
Assyrians, the Canaanites, and other ancient
nations, is manifest from the historical por-
tions of the Bible, and from the relics still
found in tombs and excavations. What
amount of gold then existed we have no
means of ascertaining. I saw in Egypt a
series of coins, collected from pyramids,
tombs, and ruins, all of great antiquity, but
manifesting — as in other countries — that, as
the kingdom decayed, the coinage was de-
preciated both in quantity and quality.
Greece, at an early date, began to issue
coins, and obtained gold from Persia and
India. The Romans were celebrated for
their coinage and medals : the quantity of
gold and silver in the empire, between a.d.
14 and 806, is estimated to have been thus —
A.D.
£.
AD.
£
14
358,000,000
446
96,692,332
50
322,200,000
482
87,033.099
86
287,980,000
518
78,229,700
122
259,182,000
554
70,406,730
158
233,263,800
590
63,364,057
194
209,937,420
626
57,027,652
230
181,943,678
662
51,324,887
266
163,749,311
698
46,192,399
302
174,374,380
734
41,573,160
338
132.636,942
770
37,415,840
374
119,373,248
806
33.674,256
410
107,435,924
Europe, in the middle ages, was probably
deficient in metals. India was a great gulf,
which swallowed up for centuries the gold
of other countries, which it received in
exchange for merchandize, much coveted by
other countries, as shown in my history of
British India. Jacob supposes the quantity
of gold and silver in circulation, in 1482, at
34,000,000; in IGGO, at 130,000,000; in
1790, at 297,000,000 : these estimates must
necessarily rest on very imperfect data. The
• Genesis xxiii., v. 16.
value of a pound of gold was, in 1344, i€l5 ;
in 1412, £16 13s. ; in 1464, £20 IQs. 8d. ;
in 1526, £27; in 1549, £34; in 1605,
£40 10s.; in 1626, £44 10^.; in 1718,
£46 14s. Qd. — about its present price.
The discovery of America, and the impor-
tation from thence into Europe of the pre-
cious metals, caused a great social revolution.
A century before this epoch, the price of a
quarter of wheat was 6s. ; a century after, it
was six times that sum ; all other commo-
dities proportionately increased in value.
Humboldt calculated that the quantity of
gold extracted from the mines of South Ame-
rica, up to the commencement of the present
century, was 81,582,252 oz., which, at the
present standard, would be, in British ster-
ling money, about £317,830,856. To this
may be added about £5,000,000 plundered
by the Spaniards from the natives of Ame-
rica. The quantity in Europe, previous to
the discovery of America, was estimated at
£34,000,000 in coin, and about £20,000,000
hoarded or employed in plate : the produc-
tion of Europe, in three centuries, about
£35,000,000 — making a total, in the year
1800, of nearly £412,000,000 sterling, irre-
spective of the loss by abrasion, gilding,
hiding, shipwreck, &c.
The annual produce of all the American
mines before the revolution of the Spanish
colonies is stated to have been : —
Mme.s,
New Spain ....
Peru
Buenos Ayres . . .
New Granada . . .
Cliili . . _ . . . _ .
Total, Spanish America
„ Brazil . . .
„ Spanish &Por-T
tuguese America j"
Marcs of
Gold.
7,000
3,400
2,200
20,505
5,212
8,317
29,900
68,217
Silver.
2,338,220
611,090
481,830
29,700
3,460,840
3,460,840
Value in
dollars.
23,000,000
6,240,000
4,850,000
2,990,000
1,000,000
3,808,000
4,360,000
43,500,000
Taking the dollar at 4s., there would be a yearly-
yield of gold and silver to the amount of £8,700,000.
How long this rate of production continued there arc
no means of ascertaining. With regard to Brazil, it
has been noted that during the first thirty-seven years
of gold-washing, the greatest annual yield was in
1754, when the produce was valued at £1,088,925.
I gather from Pari. Paper, No. 476, laid before the
House of Commons, 24th July, 1843, some data
approximative of the yield of gold from mines in
several of the states of South America. — 1st. Bo-
(jota — value of gold coined at the mint from
1790 to 1829, .$;40,374,298; annual average for 40
years, J5! 1,1 59.357, at 4s. per dollar=:£23 1,874 sterl.
QUANTITY OF GOLD IN THE WORLD AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. 475
2nd. Pojmi/an— mint bought, during the same period,
gold to the value of ^'27,o93,T92 ; annual average,
5689,844 =£137,968 sterl. [During these 40 years
the returns for the latter are nearly equal to those of
the former years.] 3rd. Mexico— mint return for
1836: gold coined, £114,733. 4th. Potosi (Bolivia)
— gold minted (generally the only mode of ascertain-
ing the quantity produced) in 1837, value, £39,506.
5th. C«seo— South Peru, 1837, value, £27,660. 6th.
Lima — value of gold minted from 1790 to 1819,
£3,222,234, annual average, £107,407; from 1820
to 1834, the annual average was only about £22,000.
[The value of silver minted in Peru, in 1839, was
£573,727.] 7th. Santiago de Chili — gold stamped
at the mint from 1790 to 1830, value in dollars,
23,630,620 = £4,726,124, annual average, £115,515.
[In 1834, the quantity of gold extracted from the
mines in this republic was, 3,852 marcs, valued at
£105,050 sterl. ; the silver obtained was stated to be
£296,883.]
Silver constitutes the principal yield of the Mexi-
can mines. In 1836, the total produce of gold and
silver, including the illicit export, was valued by the
British consul-general at £3,400,000 sterl. The prin-
cipal mining districts of Peru where silver is ob-
tained are, " Puno, Lampa, Chimbaya, and Paucar-
tambo, and, in general, all the rivers that descend
along the eastern declivity of the great Eastern
Cordillera of the Andes, towards the afHuents of the
Amazon." — [Report of Mr. Consul-General Pentland
to Viscount Palmerston, 1 July, 1838.]
As it is difficult to obtain correct returns from the
South American republics, owing to their anarchy,
the concealment of mining operations, and the illicit
exportations of the precious metals, we may safely
assume that the figures here officially stated do not
represent more than half the yield of gold.
The production tliroughout tlie world, dur-
ing the first half of the present century, is
supposed to have averaged about £5,000,000
sterling per annum= £2 5 0,000,000 — which,
not allowing for consumption, would show a
grand total of gold in existence, in the year
1851, (excluding California and Australia),
of £662,000,000 sterling.
If we allow the consumption for 350 years
to have averaged about £1,000,000 sterling
* By some authorities, the quantity of gold coin in
the world, in 1850, is supposed to have been equal
to £150,000,000. Others rate the coin and bullion
as high as £600,000,000 gold, and that of silver at
£1,200,000,000. M. Leon Faucher estimates that
France possesses silver to the value of £134,000,000
sterling, of which 120 million consists of coin; the
gold coinage belonging to France is probably not
less than thirty million sterling.
t Taking the cubic yard of gold at £2,000,000,
all the gold known to be at present in circulation
i throughout the world, might, it is calculated, if
i melted into ingots, be contained in a cellar 24 feet
square by 16 feet high.
j t Pari. Paper, No. 45, of 18th February, 1845,
on the mines of Siberia. Information furnished by
H.M. ambassador at St. Petersburg.
§ The auriferous sands of the mines of Yegoro Kan-
kuiski produce 1 lb. troy to every 140 tons ; at
Toulubinsk, to every 190' tons; and at Marydink,
per annum = £350,000,000, the quantity
in use, as coin, plate, and ingots, would
be £312,000,000 ; and, judging from the
stock in England, as coin and ingots — say
£70,000,000 — it appears probable that
£250,000,000 sterling* would nearly repre-
sent the gold existing in Europe at the
period of the discoveries in California and
in Australia — which, together with Russia
(since 1838), now constitute the main
sources of supply .f
The quantity of gold produced in the
Russian territories for thirteen years — from
1830 to 1842 inclusive — is stated, on the
authority of the imperial government,t to
have been 6,171 pouds, at 36 lbs. avoir-
dupois= 222,1 56 lbs. = 3,554,496 oz., at
60^. per oz. ^£10,663,488, or on an average,
£820,268 per annum. This gold was the
produce of the Uralian (Ouralian) mountains
and of Siberia : the former yielded, during
the thirteen years, 147,888, and the latter,
74,268 lbs., avoirdupois. At both places
there are mines belonging to the crown,
and also to private individuals. During the
period under review, the crown obtained
from the Ural, 64,939, and from Sibe-
ria, 8,928 lbs.: and individuals, 82,948,
and 65,331 lbs., avoirdupois. The Uralian
yield was nearly stationary from 1830 to
1842 ; that of Siberia increased from 191,
to 21,816 lbs., avoirdupois.
The largest gold-field at present explored
in Siberia, is said to be that called Yenisay-
mA',§ probably formed by the deposits of the
Yenisaye and Angara, which flow in a north
to south direction, though the highlands in
which they originate have a winding course
from east to west ; the western portion, form-
ing the irregixlar mass, is termed the Lesser
Altai. 11
to every 213 tons, of material. The Victoria diggers
grumble at a cart-load yielding only an ounce or
two; and expect a tin-dish, containing half a cubic
foot of earth, to yield at least £5 worth of gold.
In Brazil, the solid rock, crushed by machinery,
yields, after careful scientific treatment, half an ounce
of gold to one ton of stone.
II A geologist of ability, C. E. Austin, referring to
this circumstance, objects to the assertion that gold
is only found in mountain chains which run north
and south ; and that these chains lie in meridian lines
which divide the globe into four nearly equal ])arts.
Mr. Austin says, that south of the Lesser Altai "are
the Torboi/otai mountains, which run north west and
south-east, and whence the Chinese derive much
gold. The chain running from the Altai mountains,
nearly to Lake Baikal, namely, the Sayan, in which
the Yenisaye and Angara take their rise, runs nearly
east and west, and contains very large and rich gold
disti'icts. Tlie Oblakelnoi chain, cast of the Baikal,
476 COINAGE OF ENGLAND FROM ELIZABETH TO VICTORIA.
There is an abundance of gold in Hun-
o-ary ; probably also in several other European
countries ; and in Syria and various parts of
Asia. The metal has been found in quartz
lodes, in Wales, at the Ogofan, in Carmar-
thenshire, from the time of the Romans to
the present period; also, in granite, at
North Tawton, Devon; at St. Just, in
Cornwall ; in Westmoreland, Scotland, and
other parts of the United Kingdom. In
Ireland, gold must h8,ve been extensively ob-
tained in former ages, as e%ddenced by the
various articles made of that metal, and
now found in bogs and other places beneath
the present surface of the country. The
western and eastern coasts of Africa have
large gold placers, but the yield is small.
Virginia, and some other parts of the United
States, also furnish annually a limited quan-
tity. Gold will probably be extensively ob-
tained in India : it is known to abound in
Japan.
With the foregoing data, although very
imperfect, and, in some respects, contradic-
tory, an idea may be formed of the effect of
the Californian and Australian discoveries
on the value of property and the extension
of commicrce among the civilized nations of
the world ; but especially on England, which,
of all other countries, most required a more
adequate representation of her intrinsic
■wealth. The quantity of gold yielded by
California since its discovery, in 1848, can-
not be very accurately stated ; the receipts
from thence at the United States mint and
its branches, up to January, 1854, amounted
to about £42,000,000 sterling.* One of the
best-informed writers on the statistics of
money,t considers that to the above must
be added £18,000,000 for export to other
countries and retained for home circulation,
showing a total, in five years and ten months,
of £60,000,000, on an average, about
£10,000,000 per annum. The Australian
yield for part of 1851, and the whole of
1852, is estimated at £15,000,000. The
amount collected for 1853 is not yet as-
certained; it will probably equal that of
1851-2; furnishing a total, in two years
and a few months, of £30,000,000.
Estimating the annual produce of all
other auriferous countries at £5,000,000,
we find an addition made from California,
between 1848 and 1854, of £60,000,000,
and from Australia, between the last quar-
ter of 1851, to the end of 1853, of
£30,000,000 = £90,000,000. This exten-
sion must ultimately affect prices and wages
throughout the civilized world, as it has
already done those of England, by causing a
considerable addition to our coinage, and en-
larged issues of paper-money based thereon.
It is supposed that the gold and silver
coin in the United Kingdom is from fifty
to sixty million sterling. The following shows
the amount of gold and silver coinage in
England, from the accession of Elizabeth,
November 17, 1558 (sixty-six years after the
discovery of America), and that of the
United Kingdom, from the accession of
James I. (1603) to the year ending Decem-
ber, 1853, given on the authority of Mr.
Birkmyre, except 1853, furnished by sir
John Herschell: —
Reign.
Date.
Years
Gold.
Average
Yearly.
Silver.
Average
Total
Yearly.
Money.
£
£
£
£
£
Elizabeth . . .
Nov. 17, 1558, to March 24, 1603 .
44
3,900,000
88,636
1,932,000
43,909
5,832,000
James I. . .
March 24, 1603, to March 27, 1625
22
3,666,389
166,654
1,807,277
82,149
5,473,666
Charles I.
March 27, 1625, to Jan. 30, 1649 .
24
3,465,185
150,660
9,776,544
425,067
13,241,729
Cromwell . . .
Dec. — , 1653, to Sept. 3, 1658 . .
0
—
—
—
Charles 11. . . .
May 2, 1660, to Feb. 6, 1685 . .
25
4,177,253
189,875
3,722,180
169,190
7,899.433
James II. ...
Feb. 6, 1685, to Feb. 13, 1689 . .
4
2,113,638
528,429
2,115,115
520,778
4,228,753
William and Mary
Feb. 13, 1689, to March 8, 1702 .
13
2,314,889
192,907
7,093,074
591,089
9,407,963
Anne ....
March 8, 1702, to Aug. 1, 1714 . .
12
2,484,531
207,044
618,212
51,517
3,102,743
Georpje I
Aug. 1, 1714, to June 11, 1727. .
13
8,492,876
653,298
233,045
17,926
8,725,921
George II. . . .
June 11, 1727, to Oct. 25, 1760 .
33
11,662,216
353,400
304,360
9,223
11,966,576
George III. . . .
Oct. 25, 1760, to Jan. 29, 1820 . .
60
75,753,443
1,262,557
6,996,765
114,701
82,750,208
George IV. . . .
Jan. 29, 1820, to June 27, 1830 .
10
33,147,700
3,147,700
2,216,168
221,616
35,363,808
William IV. . .
June 27, 1830, to June 20, 1837 .
7
14,000,000
2,000,000
1,200.000
171,428
15,200,000
"V ictoria . .
Juno 20, 1837, to Dec. 31, 1850. .
13
36,008,247
2,724,744
2,624,744
201,903
38,632,991
1851 ....
1
4,400,411
8,742,270
11,952,391
226,281,439
4,400,411
8,742,270
11,952,391
87,868
87 8uS
4,488,279
8,931.866
12,653,935
'
1852
1
189,596
701,544
41,618,492
189,596
701,544
"
1853
1
Totals ....
267,899,931
is supposed to be still richer in gold. Its course is
by r.o means perfectly north and south. To the
south of the Yablonovue mountains, running east
and west, which separate Daouria from the province ' =£65,000,000 sterling.
of Yakoutsk, are also large gold-fields." 1 t M. 13. Sampson, Esq
* During the year 1853 the deposits amounted to
£11,130,000 sterling. In California, the total pro-
duce is estimated at 260,000,000 dollars— at 4s.
PROPORTION OF SILA^ER TO GOLD SINCE 1800.
477
The amount of gold and silver coined in
the above period, was :€2C7,899,931 ; or on
an average of £908,135 per annum.*
The augmentation, and, consequently,
diminished purchasing power, of gold in
the European markets, causes an increase
in the price of silver, as well as of every
other commodity whose cost is regulated
by a given quantity of gold. Until recently,
the relative value of silver to standardf
gold, weight for weight, was 15 to 1.
Mr. Westgarth has prepared a table show-
ing the proportion of silver to gold annually
supplied to the world in 1800, and since the
Californiau and Australian discoveries —
(1848-53)— gold 1 or unity :—
Years.
Quantity in oz.
"Value in £ Sterling
Proportiol]
of Silver.
Silver.
Gold.
Silver.
Gold.
By ^.Veight.
By Value.
1800
30,000.000
814,500
7.849,000
3,258,000
38i
2}
1848
33,500,000
2,000,000
8,630,000
8,000,000
16|
Ixtr
1850
36,000,000
4,250,000
9,000,000
17,000,000
8i
1.
1851
38,000,000
5,500.000
9,500,000
22,000,000
7
-3-
1852
40,000,000
9,250,000
10,000.000
37,000,000
H
i
4
1853
42,000,000
12,000,000
10,500,000
48,000,000
H
Unless there be a discovery of silver mines
proportionate to those of gold, it is difficult
to predicate what may be in future the
relative value of the two metals. For house-
hold use and the fine arts, gold will always
be more in demand than silver, owing to its
more attractive colour, greater malleability,
and being less liable to oxydazation or tar-
nish ; but should this beautiful metal ulti-
mately become as abundant as copper or
tin, then the defect of steadiness in price
would I'cnder it inferior to silver as a me-
dium of exchange for measuring the cost of
commodities. In Britain, where silver is
now only a legal tender in payment of debts
to the amount of 40s., and where, until
1844, it was not even allowed to count as
bullion, to enable the Bank of England to
issue notes thereon, there has been little
inducement to accumulate silver beyond the
exigencies of our small coinage ; whenever
brought to this market it has, therefore, been
re-shipped at a small profit to India and
China, as also to France and other countries
of Europe, where it constitutes the mone-
tary standard : by the unwise and selfish
* The great increase in the gold coinage in the
United Kingdom, in the seven years ending 1847, was
partly caused by the calling in of all the light gold
coins, of which 2,779,000 oz., equal to 101 tons
ti-oy, or 85 tons avoirdupois, valued at £3 17s. 'iO^d.
per ounce=^£10,820.731, were delivered by the Bank
of England to the Mint between the 1st of January,
1842, "and the 5th of February, 1844. Deducting
the £10,820,731 from the £30,204,929 coined in
those seven years, leaves £19,444,198 for gold bars
or foreign coin, which being divided by seven, is
equal to an average yearly coinage of £2,777,742 of
other gold than light British coin. In the East
Indies, the gold coinage in tlic seven years ending the
1st of May, 1817, wa.s £lGl,8Go,oi an av'-rnge yearly
attempts of the bullionists, since 1819, to
measure everything by gold, the country
has suffered in various ways, and we now
see one of its effects in the scarcity of silver.
The well-informed editor of the Bankers'
Circular (Mr. Eyres), states the quantity of
gold and silver received at the Bank of
England, in three years, to have been thus —
Years.
Gold.
Silver.
1850
1851
1852
£
5.939,956
13,379,674
18,720,866
£
4.880,211
4,711,873
5,591,892
Totals . .
In 1853 .
38,040,496
19,775,664
15,183,976
5,174,118
Showing a total receipt of bullion in
four years, ending 1853, of ^€78, 174,25 4.
Nevertheless, as will be seen in the table
on the ne.xt page, the Bank of England, in
1853, had no silver bullion left, and but
.€67,079 in coin ; and at the commence-
ment of 1854, the silver in the Bank was
only =6154,272, out of an aggregate pur-
chase, in four year.^ of €20,358,094.
coinage of £23,125, while the coinage of silver, in
the same time, Mas £14,086,959, equal to a yearly
coinage of £2,012,422. It appears, therefore, that
both metals were coined in British India, in the
seven years ending the first of IMay, 1847, to the
extent of £2,035,547 per annum. — Birl-mj/re.
+ Standard gold is mechanically blended or alloyed
with other metals to render it harder, less liable to
abrasion, and waste by use and friction ; in technical
phraseology, it is " twent3"-two carats fine ;" twenty-
four carats being, by custom, taken as the represen-
tative of pure gold. The usual density of gold, taking
water as the unit 1, is 19-3 ; the density of Australian
gold varied from 13 to 17. Some of the Victoria
gold Avas purer than standard gold.
478 GOLD AND SILVER IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND, AND COINAGE.
The following shows the amount and value
of specie and bullion in the Bank of Eng-
land on the 1st of January, 184.7- 48-'49-
'50-'51-'52-'53 and 1854, distinguishing
gold from silver, specie from bullion, and
foreign from British coin : —
Gold.
Silver.
Years.
Total.
Bullion.
Coin, Foreign.
Coin, British.
Bullion.
Coin,Foreign
Coin, British.
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
1847
4,031,404
3,081,971
5,170,014
1,936,835
532,655
198,693
14,951,572
1848
1,177,669
3,607,502
6,081,100
944,342
402,717
190,920
12,404,250
1849
3,261,110
3,152,805
7,693,944
149,144
358,764
338,882
14,954,649
1850
3,867,493
3,813,428
8,587,650
77,744
199,333
474,832
17,020,480
1851
4,699,108
3,565,810
6,187,960
26,625
25,042
325,573
14,830,118
1852 •
5,503,772
5,772,435
5,997,437
4,625
28,750
250,522
17,557,541
1853
10,827,436
6,509,204
3,123,943
—
19,154
47,925
20,527,662
1854
6,865,990
3,237,880
5,594,757
None.
None.
154,272
15,852,899
The increasing population of Europe and
of America necessitates an enlarged cur-
rency, and gold is being resorted to as a
substitute for silver; in the United States,
half and quarter eagles form a useful por-
tion of the circulating medium : a five-shil-
ling gold piece would be equally portable
and beneficial for England.
During the six yeai-s ending with De-
cember, 1853, England coined, of sovereigns,
£.28,069,192; of half-sovereigns, 6,295,342
pieces — value, j£3, 147,672 : total of gold,
£31,216,864. The silver coinage, for the
same period, amounted to £1,263,139.
The gold coinage* of England, France, and
* Mr. Birkmyre, who has paid great attention to the
I .subject, calculates that during the fifty vears ending
1850, the United Kingdom coined £i00,805,180 ;
France, £52,660,682; United States, £23,130,221
r=£176,896,083, or per annum, £3,531,921 of ooM :
and during the same period there was coined,
in the United Kingdom, £14,058,090 ; in France,
£149,722,000 ; and in the United States, £15,871,000
=£179,651,000 of silver. The total gold and silver
coinage of these three countries, in fifty years, was
therefore equal to £256,547,083 : or, on an average,
more than £5,000,000 sterling per annum. In 1853
the coinage of France amounted to £14,101,120;
that of the United States to £11,961,702 ster-
ling; and that of England to £12,663,009: the
coinage of three mints only, being in one year,
£38,725,831 sterling.
+ It would be very desirable to have the standard
of value represented in bullion instead of in coin :
one ounce of gold, of a given standard, does not
suffer like coin by abrasion — provides a sure par of
exchange with our colonies and in transactions be-
tween foreign nations, and saves a considerable
expense in coinage. The pound sterling might still
be used as a denominational money of account, repre-
sentative of a quarter of an ounce of gold, divisible
into a thousand mils or farthings, while the inter-
mediate monies of account would be in decimal
proportions. By this reform we should obtain a
decimal coinage and an unvarying representative of
value by (not witli) which goods are exchanged.
The simplicity in keeping public and private ac-
the United States of America, since 1848'
in pounds sterling, is thus shown —
Years.
England.
France.
U. States.
Total.
£
£
£
£
1848
2,451,999
1,587,908
179,000
4,218,908
1849
2,177,955
1,084,380
1,415,000
4,677 380
1850
1,491,836
3,407,692
7,388,000
12,287,692
1851
4,400,411
10,183,328
10,626,000
25,209,328
1852
8,742,270
1,090,000
10,803,000
20,635,000
1853
11,952,391
13,218,536
10,377,776
35,548,703
Totals
31,216,864
30,571,844
40,788,776
102,577,011
Withinthe period of six years, the above three
states have added more than .£102,000,000
of gold coins to the previously existing cir-
culation of the world. t Mr. Westgarth, to
counts, and in transacting all bargains would, under
this system, be very gi'eat; and such as, if once ex-
perienced, must command general approval. Mr. W.
Debonaire Haggard, who has for many years been
at the head of the bullion-office in the Bank of Eng-
land— to whose exertions we owe the partial intro-
duction of silver as a basis for the issue of bank
notes in the act of 1844 — and who has bestowed
much practical attention to the standard of value,
strongly recommends the change above stated, both
as to the use of the ounce of (/old in the buying and
selling of commodities, and to the adoption of a
decimal system of account. This experienced au-
thority remarks, in reference to the former, and in
reply to an objection that might be urged, " in
adopting a bullion standard it is not necessary to
have bars of various reports converted into one of an
uniform character; to do so would be a useless ex-
pense and inconvenience ; the assay-master's report
is a safe voucher for the quality of the bar; for the
Bank of England requires three trials for the report
of each bar. When the assay-papers are brought to
the Bank by the assayer, the reports are re-entered
in a book against the respective bars, then brought
into standard weight, Avhen they are ready for de-
livery."—[5(/;iA-e;-s' Circular, 28th May, 1853, p.
764.J The great mass of monetary transactions are
now carried on by cheques — almost every sum above
£5 — and many below it are paid by an order on a
banker; and the coin passing from hand to hand
is comparatively small. The substitution of bullion for
sovereigns would not interfere Avith a paper circula-
LARGE EXPORT OF GOLD FROM ENGLAND IN 1853.
479
whom I 'dm indebted for part of the above
table, has not been able to indieatc the coin-
age of other countries : it has most proba-
bly been increased in all; and this will
account, in some degree, for the compara-
tively small efiect yet produced by the aug-
mented production of gold. Undoubtedly
England has already largely benefited by
the supplies from California and Australia.
[n the middle of 1847 there was little more
than .€11,000,000 sterling in gold bullion in
the coilers of the Bank of England; and the
entire gold and silver bullion and coin in
the issue department, which governs the
issue of bank notes, was only from seven to
eight million sterling: the "screw" was put
on — in other words, the cm-rency was con-
tracted, discounts diminished, and 460
mercantile firms became bankrupt, v/hose
liabilities were estimated at nearly sixty
million sterling, and our export trade ma-
terially diminished. In 1 84-9-' 50 the eftect
of the gold discoveries in California began
to be felt, and commerce revived : in 1851-2,
those of Australia swelled the auriferous
tide ; the bullion in the issuing department
of the Baiik of England increased to nearly
i622, 000,000 sterling, almost entirely of
gold, notwithstanding an immense export
to difierent countries for corn, tea, and
other commodities, and there was a rapid
and healthy spring in all branches of in-
dustry ; wages rose, prices increased, and
the public reveime augmented, despite large
reductions, in taxation.* The potato famine
in Ireland, short crops in Britain, and an
increased power of consumption among the
labouring classes, owing to higher wages,
have necessitated large importations of
food.
From 1847 to the 10th of October, 1853,
lion : a £4 note would represent one oz. of gold ;
a £20 note, five oz. ; £100 note, twenty- five oz. ; and
so on. Should the abundance of gold cause, as
some suppose possible, a depreciation in relation to
silver — i.e. should the troy pound weight of silver,
■which is now coined into 66s., so rise in price that it
may be necessary (according to the opinion of Mi\
D. Forbes Campbell) to convert the same weight
into 80 or even 100 shillings — to keep the coin out of
the melting-pot — then the advantage of a bullion
gold standard would be more evident, and the rise or
fall of silver, as a mercantile commodity, would not
affect pecuniary transactions.
♦ lievenue in 1853, £54,430,344 ; exp. £51,174,839 ;
showing a surplus of £3,255,505.
t See Commercial Barometer, from 1845 to 1853.
X The known export of bullion from London only,
during the vear 1853, was — gold, to the value of
£15,450,800 ■; silver, £5,745,800 =. £21,196,600.
jMessrc. Haggard and Pixley, the intelligent bullion-
!we paid for grain, .€110,639,253 sterling,
and for live cattle (oxen, sheep, and pigs),
.€6,745,849: total, €;il7,385,102,t or, on
an average, about €17,000,000 per annum
for grain and meat. But for the Austra-
lian and Californian gold we should have
found it difficult to procure these indispen-
sable supplies, and at the same time have
stood the heavy drain of bullion, which was
exported during the year 1853, to the
amount of more than .€30,000,000 sterling. J
Were the production of gold to be stopped,
there would be an immediate check to every
description of industry; happily, however,
there are no indications of such a misfor-
tune : all the mineralogical investigations in
Australia pronounce that auriferous field to
be almost inexhaustible; and it is to be
hoped that no impediment of licenses or
official restraints will discourage men from
pursuing a branch of most useful labour,
whose results are of deep national impor-
tance.
California fortunately does not exhibit
any symptoms of its gold being exhausted :
the yield of 1853 amounted to §67,873,505,
at 4a\ the dollar = .€13,574,701 sterhng;
and this, although water was scarce : tun-
nelling was, however, coming into use, by
which subterranean beds of rivers and creeks
had been discovered, and proved very rich.
New surface-diggings were recently found
on one of the eastern head branches of the
Sacramento ; and the Pilot Creek canal
(twenty miles in length), intended to furnish
water to some of the most extensive and
valuable dry places, was nearly completed.
The population, who require no license to
work the mines, is abundant : it consisted,
on the 30th of December, 1853, in round
numbers, of 215,000 Americans, 25,000
brokers in London, who have prepared a statement
of the shipments to each country, consider tliat a.
sum of at least £8,000,000 must be added to the
above for the export during the year from Liverpool
and other towns in the United Kingdom : to these
sums should be added, the quantity of coin taken
abroad by emigrants and travellers — which is not
ascertainable. 4'he whole export of bullion for 1853
has, therefore, been equivalent to upwards of
£30,000,000 sterling : which shows an enormous
drain. Tlie largest shipments from London have
been— to India, £3,422,500 ; to China, £2,202,400 ;
to Australia, £3,974,400 ; Hamburg, Belgium, and
Rotterdam, £7,615,000; France, £1,805,800; Pe-
ninsula and Mediterranean, £1,080,200. India and
China took, the greater part of the silver, viz.,
£5,122,100. The estimated jn-oduce of gold during
1853 is— for California, £14,000,000; Australia,
£15,000,000; llussia, £4,000,000; other places,
£2,000,000 = £35,000,000.
r,
480
PROBABLE PRODUCE OF GOLD UP TO 1864.
: Germans, 25,000 French, 20,000 of Spanish
"' blood, 17,000 Chinese, 5,000 miscellaneous
foreigners, 20,000 Indians, and 2,500 ne-
groes: total, say 300,000. Of these, only
about G5,000 are women, and 30,000 chil-
dren.
; Central and Southern America possess
inexhaustible gold-mines, which must, ere
' long, be made productive. In December,
I 1853, the Mexican government officially
' notified the discovery of gold placers in
I several rivers running through the state of
; Guerrero — localities which are said to agree
j with those described by Cortez, in his com-
I munication to the king of Spain, as the dis-
tricts from \^hich gold was washed for Mon-
tezuma. The cessation of slavery will tend
to increase the collection —
" Where Afric's simny fountains
Moll doivn its goldeti sands."
In both Australia and California deep
sinking may be required instead of surface-
washing; consequently, some delay and
Jieavy expense may occur ; but mineralo-
gists, in both countries, do not doubt an
ultimate large and permanent yield.
On a review of the whole field of produc-
tion, I think we may confidently look for-
ward to a steadily-increasing supply of the
chief precious metal.*
* The Australian and Neio Zealand Gazette,
published weekly in London, by Stewart and Mur-
ray, 15, Old Bailey, contains valuable information re-
specting the gold-fields, and generally as regards all
our colonies in the Southern Pacific. The details of
intelligence are well condensed and admirably ai'-
ranged ; the editorial department manifests remark-
able ability; and the work, bound in yearly volumes,
with a copious index, is useful as a work of reference.
t I am aware that this estimate of £250,000,000,
as the amount of available gold in the civilized
world in 1848, is small compared with other opinions ;
but nothing that I have read of or seen in the prin-
cipal countries of Europe, America, and Asia in-
duces me to rate the amount above that sum. Mr.
Danson (see Statistical Journal, vol. xiv., 1851)
supposes the quantity of gold obtained in North and
South America, from 1492 to 1848 — 35G years — to
have been £43;5,000,000 ; but his deduction for wear
and tear, casualties, &c., is only -j; from 1492 to 1803,
and I per cent, from 1803 to 1648— say £2,400,000;
while his deduction for supposed quantities sent from
America elsewhere than to Europe, for the wliole
356 years, is only £4,500,000; leaving, therefore,
£426, 100,000 as the quantity of the above gold
" existing, in various forms, in Europe and North
and South America" in 184S ; INeio Supplies of Gold,
by W. Newmarch, London, 1853, p. 4.] Without
questioning the estimate of receipts— 433 mil, which
rests on very vague data — it must be evident that
the deductions are far too small : India and China,
and ihe adjacent regions were, for at least two cen-
turies, immense absorbers of the precious metals ;
The estimated additions would stand thus
for the next ten years —
Countries.
Australia, per annum .
California ,,
]tussia „
N. and S. America, includ-
ing Brazil, per annum
Africa, Asia, and all other
countries, per annum
:\
One Year.
£
12,000,000
12,000,000
3,500,000
3,000,000
1,500,000
Totals .... 32,000,000320,000,000
Ten Years.
£
120,000,000
120,000,000
35,000,000
30,000,000
15,000,000
Allowing .£2,000,000 per annum for ab-
rasion, loss, gilding, and export to Asia
= £20,000,000, there would be an augmen-
tation, in ten years, of =€300,000,000 ster-
ling, to a quantity estimated, in 1850, at
£250.000,000.t To this we must add the
yield of California, Australia, and other
countries, from 1850 to the end of 1853
—say £60,000,000— so that, in 1864, the
probable quantity of gold available for active
circulation would be about £600,000,000.
It is not within the province of this work
to examine the permanent eff"ects producible
by Australian and Californian gold on the
condition of England. On some future oc-
casion I hope to have an opportunity of
discussing this very important stibject.
the Spaniards exported lai'gely in their annual gal-
leons from Acapulco, and other ports on the Pacific,
to Manilla ; the English and Dutch East India com-
panies bought the greater part of their oriental
cargoes with bullion, and the Spanish and Portu-
guese maintained their foreign dominions in the
west and in the east with the gold and silver ob-
tained from Mexico and Peru. If we allow only
half-a-million annually for the whole period of 356
years (between 1492 and 1848), there will be a de-
duction of 178 mil horn 433 mil ; leaving 2o5 mil,
as the remaining product, to be added to the limited
quantity in Europe before the discovery of America,
which is supposed to have been 12 mil. Mr. New-
march is more vague than Mr. Danson as to the
estimated quantity of gold in Europe and America
in 1848: his statement of the produce of different
countries up to this period is — from America, 426
mil; Europe, 25 mil; Russia, 44 mil; Africa, 100
mil — total, 595 7nil ; which, added to 12 mil existing
in the year 1500, shows 607 mil pounds sterling. But
this view will not bear investigation — especially as
regards Africa, which has not probably furnished a
quarter of the sum here laid down. Then, as re-
gards the deductions for exportation to Asia, wear
and tear of coin, gilding, ornaments, losses by ship-
wreck, fire, hoarding, and casualties, Mr. Newmarch
allows no more than 50 mil for nearly three-and-a-
half centuries— less, in fact, than £150,000 a->par.
(Loudon requires 60,000 ounces annually for gilding
pottery, &c.) Other estimates are still more un-
tenable than the foregoing, and confirm the opinion
I have expressed in the text.
CHAPTER II.
SOCIAL PROGRESS OF THE FOUR AUSTRALIAN COLONIES —NEW SOUTH WALES
—VICTORIA— SOUTH AUSTRALIA— AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA— SINCE THE GOLD
DISCOVERIES.
It is difficult to delineate, by descriptive
writing, the rapid growth of a young, pros-
perous, and expansive colony : the transition
from youth to manhood is marked not
only by increase of stature and of strength,
but also by different modes of thinking — by
a diminishing obedience to authority, an aug-
menting reverence for reason, and a desire to
advance towards independence ; or, at any
rate, to be released from a state of pupilage.
These successive phases are strikingly
manifested in a rising community ; and
under the just and conciliatory policy of
the British government in the rule of its
dependencies, at the present day, nascent
developments are fostered into maturity,
and full scope is given for the exercise of
faculties calculated to improve the physical,
mental, and moral growth of the offshoots
of a body-politic, which desires to link to-
gether its wide-spread members by sympa-
thetic chords, by community of interest,
and by the ties of a common origin,
language, and institutions, into one har-
monious empire — which, sooner or later,
must, by its pervading influence, affect the
condition of all mankind.
In no part of our oceanic dominion can
the birth, infancy, and adolescence of a
young and important nation be so clearly
traced as in the island-continent of Aus-
tralia : three of the settlements on its shores
are of comparatively recent formation; the
most ancient, New South Wales, is in
reality little more than half a century old ;
and all have been elevated into their pre-
sent importance within the last decade.
In order, therefore, to convey as clear an
idea of their existing condition as statistics
will permit, we shall examine the returns
from each colony since the date of those given
in previous pages ; in order that this " Sup-
plemental Division" may furnish materials
for observation and reflection, in relation to
their present state and future prospects.*
* New South Wales was separated from Victoria
on the 1st of July, 1851, and formed into a distinct
colony : the returns up to that period are somewhat
confused; but, so far as they can be rendered distinct,
they will be found in the Appendix.
DIV. III. 3 o
To begin with —
NEW SOUTH WALES.
The most prominent feature in the pra-
gress of a new settlement, is the amount
and condition of its —
Population. — In chap, iii., pp. 166 to 179,.
full details are given, under this head, from
the year 1788 to 1848. In 1851, a census
of the inhabitants of the colony (more com-
plete than any previous return) was ob-
tained; and as it forms a good basis for
ulterior examination, the principal facts are
printed in an Appendix.
The increase of the population between
the 2nd of May, 1846 (see p. 168), and the
1st of March, 1851, is thus shown —
Years.
Males.
Females.
Total.
1851
1846
106,229
92,389
81,014
62,145
187,243
154,534
Increase . .
13,840
18,869
32,709
This does not indicate a rapid augmenta-
tion in five years, during which there was
a continuous immigration and an increase
from births ; but it is probable there was a
large emigration to the adjoining territory
of Port Phillip (Victoria), and several thou-
sand able-bodied men departed to the gold-
diggings in California.
The number of youths, of both sexes,
at the two periods, was —
Years.
Under 14 Years of Age.
Total.
Males.
Females.
1851
1846
36,651
27,285
36,264
26,886
72,915
54,171
Increase . .
9,366
9,378
18,744
Years.
Under 21 Years of Age.
Total.
Males.
Females.
1851
1846
45,698
33,371
47,184
33,272
92,882
66,643
Increase . .
12,227
13,912
26,239
'
482
POPULATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES— 1851-52.
The population between 21 and 45 years
of age, was —
Years.
1851
1846
Decrease
Increase
Males.
44,697
46,811
2,114
Females.
27,593
24,561
3,032
Total.
72,290
71,372
912
From 45 years of age and upwards —
Years.
Males.
Females.
Total.
1851
1846
15,834
9,572
6,247
4,312
22,081
13,884
Increase . .
6,262
1,935
8,197
It would appear, from the foregoing, that
there was a large emigration of the adult
male population.
Within the space of 20 years (from the
1st of January, 1832 to the 31st of Decem-
ber, 1851), there arrived in New South
Wales, 85,179 immigrants {see Appendix for
details) ; of these, 20,372 came at their own
cost, and 64,807 at the expense of the
colony. Of the total, there were, of 14
years of age and upwards — males, 32,582 ;
females, 31,006 : under 14 years of age,
21,591. There were also clergymen and
teachers, &c., introduced at the public ex-
pense ; the whole number (including bounty
immigrants), of all denominations, thus paid
for, was 65,477 ; and the charge defrayed
out of the territorial revenues of the colony,
was £1,134,511, or about £17 each. It
may be useful to state in detail some of
the items of this heavy disbursement thus
incurred by the colonists — viz., bounties
for the introduction of female immigrants,
under the direction of the Immigration
Board, £32,985 ; bounties for the introduc-
tion of immigrants by private individuals,
£451,678; passages of mechanics and la-
bourers forwarded by government, £10,430 ;
freight, victualling, and other expenses of
vessels chartered by government, £221,818 ;
gratuities to surgeons, superintendants,
masters, officers, overseers, and others,
£36,001 ; pay and allowances of surgeon-
superintendants of vessels chartered by go-
vernment, £18,039; lodging, maintenance,
and other expenses of immigrants after
arrival, £33,756; salaries and contingent
expenses of agents for immigration in the
oolony, £14,447; salary and expenses of
agent-general for immigration in England,
£,6,317; other expenses of land and immi-
gration commissioners in England, £4,794 ;
advances from colonial treasui'y to the land
and immigration commissioners, £266,468;
outfit and passages of clergymen (number,
88) and teachers, £11,010; quarantine ex-
penses, £24,743.
Of the immigrants who arrived in the
colony in 1852, at the public expense,
2,074 were Protestants ; 1,862 Roman
Catholics, and 1,045 other denomination of
Christians.
Of the above, 1,939 were from England
and Wales; 2,417 from Ireland; 616 from
Scotland ; and nine from different other
countries.
Number of immigrants the year before
and the year after the gold-discovery : —
8.1
2f S
2
d-TS
■^
>^'Z
o
a
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O D<
-HOC
0)
s
1850
3,665
513
96
1,686
2,688
1851
2,043
480
79
1,419
1,183
1852
6,747
2,015
—
—
—
4,374
2,602
8,762
An examination of the census returns will
remove the unjust imputation, that New
South Wales is " a colony of convicts." Of
187,243 persons— 81,226 males, and 76,695
females^ 157,921 were born in the colony,
or arrived free : 26,629 (males, 22,397;
females, 4,232) had been prisoners, but
were, at the date of the census, in March,
1851, free: the remaining population stood
thus : —
Prisoners.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Holding tickcts-of-leavc
Prisoners in government ]
employ J
Prisoners in private as- 1
signment ...... J
1,986
594
26
46
32
9
2,032
626
35
Total under sentence .
2,606
87
2,693
Every year tlie old convict population is
being diminished by death or emancipation.
In December, 1852, the number remaining
was 1,722 ; of whom, 1,363 held tickets-of-
leave ; 100 males, and 6 females, were
lunatics ; 92 males, and 18 females, were
invalids ; 72 were under sentence in iron-
gangs on the roads ; 40 under detention ;
10 in gaol ; and 20 attached to different
government departments. In four or five
POPULATION IN RELATION TO LAND IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 483
years more the convict population from the
United Kingdom will be entirely extinct.
Nearly one-half the inhabitants have been
born in Australia since 1787. The nation-
ality is thus indicated in March, 1851: —
Nations.
Born in the Colony
„ England
„ Wales
„ Ireland
„ Scotland
,, Other parts of
the British do-
minions . . .
,, Foreign countrie
Total . ,
Males. I Females.
40,665
35,021
376
20,440
6,531
1,118
2,078
40,726
16,101
182
18,219
4,376
837
573
106,229 81,014
Total.
81,391
51,122
558
38,659
10,907
1,955
2,651
187,243
In no part of the British empii'e are the
mass of the people better housed than in
New South Wales. In March, 1851, 187,243
persons possessed 31,662 houses — six to each
habitation : 13,303 were constructed of stone
or brick; and 18,152 of wood; many of
them being substantial edifices. Sydney,
the capital, contained 11,742 houses, of
which 8,831 were built of brick or stone,
and would bear comparison with the better
class of London tenements : the population
dwelling therein was 53,924 ; of whom 9,684
resided in the contiguous suburbs : the
number of mouths in each house was nearly
four and a-half.
The census occupation shows that 12,423
persons were engaged in commerce, trade,
or manufactures ; 11,898 in agriculture ;
15,619 in grazing (in care of sheep, horses,
and cattle) ; 930 in horticulture ; 5,857 as
mechanics and artificers ; and 10,875 in
other employments. The domestic servants
were in number — male, 3,853; female, 6,594.
The professions numbered — clerical, 283 ;
legal, 207; medical, 326. Other educated
persons, 2,188. The paupers and pensioners
were 694, or one in every 270 inhabitants —
(the proportion in England, 1853, was about
one in 20.)
The population, in relation to the area
of the colony, stood thus, in 1851 : —
Divisions.
Popula-
tion.
Area in
sq. miles.
Mouths
to each
sq. mile.
Settled Districts . . .
Squatting Districts . .
1.59.546
27,697
45,906
275,673
3-48
010
Total ....
187,243
321,579
0-58
There was about half an individual to
each square mile=^640 acres, or 1,280 acres
to every mouth. If the county of Cumber-
land, containing Sydney, Parramatta, Liver-
pool, Windsor, Richmond, and other towns;
and comprising a population of 81,114, on an
area of 1,445 square miles (56 mouths to
each square mile) be excluded, tlie paucity
of inhabitants, even in the settled districts,
will be more manifest. In many of the
counties there is not one to a thousand acres
of land. The squatting districts are still
more thinly peopled ; several are in the
proportion of 10,000 acres to each person.
As might be expected, the cultivated land
is very small : in December, 1852, the total
number of acres under crop (see details in
Appendix) , and the waste land, stood thus : —
Land in —
Acres cul-
tivated.
Acres
Waste.
Cultivated pro-
portion.
Counties . . .
Grazing districts
141,536
10,521
29,379,840
176,430,720
One acre in 200
One acre in 17,000
Total . .
152,057*J205,810,560
One acre in 1,350
Allowing 20 acres of land to each indi-
vidual, there is room in New South Wales
for upwards of 10,000,000 inhabitants ; and
there would then be only 32 mouths to each
square mile ; or about one-tenth the popula-
tion density of England.
Even with the still imperfect cultivation
adopted in Australia (much of the land being
sown amid the stumps of cut- down trees,
in the midst of forest clearings, and very
little of it manured), it appears that 116,621
acres were under crop, in 1852, with
wheat, maize, barley, oats, rye, and millet;
the yield amounted to 2,312,153 bushels of
produce,t or, on an average, at the rate of
20 bushels of corn to the acre — a return
that would be deemed satisfactory in the
cultivation of the United Kingdom. As
regards wheat, the average yield is 17, oats
and barley 20, and maize 28, bushels to the
acre : potatoes averaged nearly 70 cwt.
to each acre planted. There can, therefore,
be no want of bread for those who till the
land.
Neither is there any defiiciency of anima*
food, as shown by the quantity of live
stock in January, 1852 — \nz., horned cattle,
1,375,257; sheep, 7,396,895; pigs, 65,510:
thus, for each mouth, there was about eight
oxen, nearly 40 sheep, and almost half a
pig — to say nothing of poultry, which
* Of this, 30,626 acres are laid down for hay and
gown grasses.
t See A^pendiXi for tabular view.
484 BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES IN N. S. WALES— 1852.
abound. And it may be remarked, that
the domestic animals are increasing more
rapidly than man.*
The' latest return that has reached me
does not indicate a large augmentation of
population after the experience of a year
and a-half — gold-digging — when it was ex-
During the year 1852,
cording to the Register —
:here were, ac-
Persuasion.
Births.
Marriages.
Deaths.
Church of England . .
3,576
814
535
69
6
2,843
23
860
522
97
25
664
7
1,927
378
199
Independents ....
46
pected there would have been an immense
rush to the colony.
Baptists
Church of Rome . . .
1
1,040
14
Inhabitants.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Total
7,866
2,175
3,605
Population 31st December, j
18.51 .• }
Increase by Immigration .
Births in i8o2
113,032
18,147
4,000
84,136
5,071
3,866
197,168
23,218
7,866
This shows a propoi'tion of more than
two births to each death.
The number of registered births to deaths
Total .
135,179
93,073
228,252
were, during the years —
Decrease by Deaths
„ „ Departure . .
2,215
14,277
1,390
2,116
3,605
16,393
Births and Deaths.
1850.
1851.
1852.
Total
16,492
3,506
19,998
Births
7,283
2,585
7,675
2,600
7,886
3,605
5,655
118,687
5,431
89,567
11,086
208,254
Estimated population 31st \
December, 1852 . . . J
Excess of Births. . . .
4,698
5,075
4,281
The matrimonial state is thus shown : —
There is a constant migration going on
between New South Wales and Victoria;
therefore, the actual population of either
cannot be very accurately stated.
There are no returns showing the num-
ber of coloured persons in the colony; viz.,
Chinese, South-Sea Islanders, and others :
these must be considerable ; and as they are
almost entirely males, there will ultimately
be a very mixed race — comprising the off-
spring of English, Welsh, Irish, Scotch,
jees, and other varieties of mankind.
Marriages.
Males.
Females.
Married
Single
30,a02
76,227
30,363
50,651
In the counties, the proportion of married
to single, is about one-half; in the squatting
districts, about one-fourth.
The state of education, at the period of
the last census (1st of March, 1851), was not
satisfactory : a summary of the returns gives
the following view : —
Males.
Females.
Under 21 Y
ears. Above 21 Years.
Und
er 21 Y
ears.
Above 21 Years.
6
4->
6
«j
o
n
if
fe
3
'^
^
o
c
c
c
a
(T-
■g
o
o
o
cj
o
o
C5
■S
O
c3
^
^
r:i
r^
C
-s
-^
a
T}
-a
a
r^
Ti
<— •
—
zz
c;
eS
a
C3
<rS
a
rt
C3
■2
o
O
p:^
Pi
a
rt
P^
o
P5
u
p^
Pi
s
^
H
22,772
8,240
14,686
12,475
7,222
40,834
22,253
9,593
15,338
7,010
6,842
19,978
106,229
81,014
187,243
• There have been large exportations of sheep
and cattle to the southern colonies of late years, and
especially to Victoria. The numbers boiled down
for tallow have been very great.
In one district (Maitland) there were slaughtered,
at four boiling-down establishments, in the year
1852— sheep, 82,215; horned cattle, 29,466; pigs,
726: which yielded 56,930 cwt. of tallow, and
0,275 cwt. of' lard. In 1837, the export of tallow
commenced with 500 cwt. : the amount annually
; increased to 128,090 cwt. in 1850, when 292,416
sheep, and 60,385 horned cattle were slaughtered, by
94 boiling establishments, for this quantity of tallow
Between 1844 and 1851 (inclusive), no less than
1,500,000 sheep, and 270,000 head of horned cattle,
were boiled down for the above purpose.
What a contrast to the period when the straying
into the woods, near Sydney, of two bulls and four
cows was a serious loss, and the only remaining cow
in the colony was obliged to be shot, on account of
its dangerous wildness ! See Appendix, for annual
returns of the slaughtering establishments.
EDUCATION AND RELIGION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
485
It appears, therefore, that 64,510 of the
population Avere then unable to read or
write: deducting 22,171 for children under
the age of seven years, it shows an utter
ignorance of 43,239 ; or almost one-fourth
of the inhabitants. A large number of the
persons iu this state of mental destitution,
were probably at one time prisoners ; for it
appears, that 19,8 15, or nearly one-half of
the whole number unable to read or write,
were above 21 years of age.
Of late years, great efforts have been in
progress for the remedying of this serious
evil of defective education : the progress of
governmental schools has been, since 1840,
satisfactory —
Years.
Number.
Scholars.
1840
149
8,574
1841
192
9,095
1842
232
10,233
1843^
272
11,389
1844
313
12,590
1845
327
14,454
1846
338
16.263
1847
376
18,000
1848
382
18,989
1849
444
19,971
1850
493
21,384
1851
423
21,120
1852
351
24,391
The apparent diminution of schools in
1851-'2, has been owing to an augmentation
of " National Schools ;" and to the amal-
gamation of small denominational schools
into one establishment.
The number of scholars at the different
schools, of which the government have
cognizance, is stated to be, in 1852 —
Schools.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Protestant Orphan School .
Roman Catholic School . .
82
82
80
88
162
170
Total
1G4
168
332
Denominational Schooh
•
Denominations.
Schools
Males.
Females.
Total.
Church of England . .
Presbyterian ....
Wesleyan
Roman Catholic . . .
National
92
14
8
49
50
5,582
689
468
2,322
1,998
4,633
527
309
2,213
1,660
10,215
1,216
777
4,535
3,658
Total ....
213
11,223
9,510
20,733
The private schools are in number 135,
with 3,498 male, and 3,585 female scholars.
The total amount paid by government
for schools in 1852, was £31,118; and the
amount from private funds, was j€6,960.
The Sydney University, incorporated by
the local legislature (act 14 Vict. No. 31),
was inaugurated the 11th of October, 185.2 :
it is liberally endowed, the object of the
government being to provide a high standard
of education — to present stations of emi-
nence and emolument, calculated to awaken
the ambition of students — and to cause an
inci'easing appreciation of the moral, social,
and even physical advantages, which educa-
tion, when connected with Christianity,
invariably confers. A sum of £50,000 has
been voted by the local legislature to pro-
vide a suitable building for the institution.
A valuable piece of ground (known as Grose-
farm), at the southern side of the city, and
100 acres in extent, has been appropriated
for the university site, and for a Church of
England college, called St. PauVs, in con-
nection, to which 20 acres are assigned ;
and for the building of which £7,000 is in
course of subscription. It is proposed to
make a similar grant to the Roman Catho-
lics, when they are prepared to receive it;
and the Presbyterian and other non-episco-
pal bodies will probably soon form a united
college, and receive proportionate aid from
the state.
The state of religion has been shown at
p. 174. The ecclesiastical returns for 1852
exhibit the following facts. The number of
clergymen in the colony is —
Denominations.
Paid wholly
or in part by
Government.
Supported
wholly by
voluntary
Contribu-
tions.
Total.
Church of England . .
Presbyterian ....
Wesleyan
Independent ....
Roman Catholic . . .
Jews
66
14
4
32
12
18
12
4
1
78
32
16
4
32
1
Total . . .
116
47
163
The expenses paid by the state are —
Church of England, £18,344; Presbyterian,
£5,998; Wesleyan Methodists, £1,012;
Church of Rome, £12,836 ; arrears of
1851, £4: total, £38,194.
This amount is divided as follows : —
General revenue, schedule A, part 3, act
13 and 14 Vict., cap. 59, £35,123; gold
revenue, £1,972 ; church and school estates'
fund, £1,096; arrears of 1851, £4: total,
£38,194.
It is understood that Svdney will in
486
NO JUSTIFICATION FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS.
future be the seat of an archbishopric,
under wliose jurisdiction the whole of the
episcopal churches in the Australian settle-
ments will be placed.
In continuation of the tabular views of
crime, down to 1848, given at pp. 176-7,
the followiug is subjoined : —
Years.
Conyictions.
1849.
1850.
1851.
1852.
For Felony
Misdemeanour ....
Executions*
Law Cases tried . . .
437
97
4
101
451
104
4
80
461
113
2
119
422
105
5
92
It is gratifying to observe that crime is
rapidly diminishing ; and still more so, that
the number of executions has been so greatly
lessened (see p. 177). During the eight
years ending with 1852, there were hanged,
at Sydney, 25 persons — on an average, three
per annum : during the eight years ending
with 1 836, the death punishments amounted
to 283, or, on an average, 35 were annually
strangled. There is no fact connected with
the history of this remarkable colony which
it gives me such pleasure to record. I wit-
nessed, with horror, at New South "Wales
and at Van Diemen's Land, the awful in-
difference to human life manifested by the
authorities. Eight or ten persons would not
unfrequently be hanged in one morning,
with almost as little compunction as if they
had been mad dogs ; and the result, as might
be expected, and as Ireland has lamentably
testified, was an increase of crime.
I may not live to see the day — but come
it must — when Christianity, having perfected
her heaven-born mission, the life of no
human being will be taken by his fellow-
man under a perversion of the term, justice.
Nothing short of a divine command, ad-
dressed, not to the Jews under the Old
covenant, but to Christians under the New,
can authorise the infliction of the penalty of
death. The denunciatory text so often
quoted, that " ivhoso sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed" (Gen. ix. 6.),
can hardly be construed into an injunction,
if interpreted by other divine decrees, such
as — " Vengeance (retribution) is mine ; I loill
repay, saith the Lord" (Rom. xii. 19.) — " To
me belongeth recompense" (Deut. xxxii. 35) .
• The executions in previous vear.s, viz., from
1837 to 1848, were— 12; 14; 22; 8; 15; 9; 9; 8;
3 ; 1 ; 2 ; 4.
+ The colonial convicts numbered 665 ; of whom,
only HO arrived free, or were born in the colony:
In the chapter from which the authority to
hang our fellow-creatures is supposed to be
derived, it is declared — "At the hand of \
every man — at the hand of every man's
brother, ivill I require the life of man." '■
— (Gen. ix. 5.) And the blessed gospel
announces, that they who " take the sword, :
shall perish by the sword." — (Matt. xxvi. 52.) j
We are mercifully informed that the " Lord ;
God desireth not the death of a sinner, but
rather that he should turn from his wicked-
ness and live.^' To suppose otherwise, would \
be to imagine the great, beneficent, and '
adorable Deity a Hindoo idol, delighting
in blood; — retribution would become the
variable decree of fallible man — instead of
the unerring fiat of an omnipresent, omni-
scient, and omnipotent Ruler of the whole
universe : it would be to restore the law,
and abrogate the gospel — to reject the pre-
cious sacrifice made for man — and to depose
an ever-merciful Proridence from His jus-
tice-seat. But I may not dwell here on
this theme : and proceed with the record of
facts. As stated at p. 75, transportation
to New South ^Yales ceased in 1840, and
the convicts then remaining in the colony
have nearly all died off, or been emanci-
pated : their number stood as noted below,
on the 31st of December, 1852.t Since
the gold discoveries there has been a
marked diminution of great crimes in New
South Wales.
There is no record of the number or con-
dition of the aborigines within the colonial
boundary. In 1850, the experiment was tried
of enrolling them as a mounted police-force,
under the command of British officers : it
has been eminently successful ; there is no
want of recruits, and no " bounty" is
needed : detachments of the corps are sta-
tioned in diff'erent parts of the colonies of
New South Wales and Victoria, and are the
terror of evil-doers, whether of the white or
black race. The men are all young ; average
five feet nine inches in height — are light,
agile, strong, quick at drill, good shots, and
fearless horsemen. The uniform is a light-
dragoon undress, and the pay 3d. a-day.J
The efficiency of the native police is thus
recognised in the Burnett district, neigh-
bourhood of JFide Bay : — Before the arrival
of this aboriginal force, murders were of
238 held tickets-of-leave : 35 were in gaol or
hospitals ; and the remainder were on roads or pub-
lic works. The expense of colonial convicts was
£17 to £19 each per annum.
+ See Lt.-Colonel Munday's interesting Sketches.
ABORIGINAL POLICE IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
487
frequent occurrence : men could not travel
unless well -mounted and well-armed; hut-
keepers could not go down to a creek for a
bucket of water without a double-barrel
gun; workijig-hands would not journey
along a road unless in bands, with drays for
protection ; and sawyers and splitters could
not fell a tree without looking behind at
each blow, to see if a lurking savage was
levelling a spear at them. Now, the district
is as safe and peaceable as the most settled
parts of the colony : men and boys are now
shepherding without arms, and traversing
the roads with blankets on their backs, as if
walking through the streets of Sydney.
Some stations, with 16,000 sheep, are shep-
herded by blacks ; on others, the whole of
the washing of the fleece is done by them :
in one instance, 30,000 sheep were thus
cleansed with the aid of a white overseer.
Masters acknowledge that in shepherding,
lambing-down, sheep-washing, and shearing,
there is a saving of £150 to £2o0 per an-
num at their respective establishments, by
the employment of the heretofore despised
and persecuted aborigines.*
In June, 1852, Governor Fitzroy reported,
that owing to the departure for the gold-
fields of many of the Europeans engaged in
pastoral pursuits, " the natives are employed
in great numbers in tending sheep, hut-
keeping, and wool-washing, in the more
remote districts ; but they appear to be too
migratory in their habits to remain for any
length of time in one employment. Except
in the northern districts, where a few out-
rages have been committed, the aborigines
are becoming harmless and peaceable ; and
the establishment of the native police corps
is reported to have done much in maintain-
ing order amongst them. There appears to
be no difficulty in recruiting for this force,
as the young men of the different tribes are
found anxious to enlist.' 'f The commis-
sioners reported, from the Manei'oo and
Lachlan districts, that the aborigines were
peaceable, employed in cutting wood for the
settlers, getting in the harvest, and acting
as stockmen, for which latter service they
are well adapted, " being fond of riding, and
remarkably quick in distinguishing stock
belonging to their masters from those of
other parties."
At the Lower Darling, it is recorded
* Abstracted from correspondence of iSycZ/i^^yil/t^-n-
ing Herald, in 1853.
t Pari. Papers — Gold Papers, 28th February,
1853, p. 66.
that the natives are entrusted by the set-
tlers with the entire transit of their wool
on the Murray River J at Euston ; and in
their frail canoes, fashioned out of the
bark of the Yarra, it is wonderful, that
without damage or loss of any kind, how
carefully bales of wool, stores, and sup-
plies of every description, are floated over.
In several districts the squatters would
have had much difficulty in carrying on
their pursuits without the aid of the abo-
rigines, who are literally the hewers of
wood and drawers of water in many of
the provincial tov/ns. But, in some places,
there are still hostile feelings between the
white and the coloured races — the latter
spearing and destroying cattle, when prac-
ticable, and receiving, in retaliation, the
murderous fire of their adversaries.
By kindness and fair dealing, the at one
time ferocious savages of the Darling Downs'
district have become perfectly peaceable and
industrious. Three or four years ago, the
tribes frequenting the Macintyre River were
the most blood-thirsty in the district; yet
now the European residents entrust all their
sheep and stock to their charge ; and some
have not even a white man in their employ.
In the New England district, several abori-
gines earn wages at the rate of £20 per
annum ; and the commissioner says, he
" can speak confidently of the good conduct
and orderly habits of the black servant,
and kind conduct of the white master."
The practice, which is increasing, of paying
the natives wages in money, has had a bene-
ficial effect in keeping them steady at their
employment. Some, indeed, have been
labouring at the gold-fields successfully,
and were delighted with their acquisitions.
Such are the people who have been hunted
to death as if they were wolves, or destroyed
as vermin by poisoned flour, and other dele-
terious substances, purposely left in their
way. Until of late years, the murder of the
aborigines, even in cold blood, involved no
penal consequences ; and white men, calling
themselves Christians — and, in many in-
stances, in the rank of gentlemen — boasted
of the number of natives whom they had shot.
The intelligent author of one of the most
truthful and interesting works published on
New South Wales, § gives a fearful picture
of the treatment of the miserable natives,
J If steam navigation be established along the
Murray river for fifteen hundred miles, the services
of the aborigines will be very valuable.
§ Settlers and Convicts: London, 1852.
488
COMMERCE OF NEW SOUTH WALES— 1850 to 1852.
and furnishes the details of one celebrated
instance, in 1839, where some stockmen
seized, by surprise, a whole tribe, and de-
liberately massacred them all — men, women,
and children.* Seven perpetrators of this
diabolical deed were arrested by some magis-
trates in the Hunter lliver district; sent down
to Sydney ; tried twice, sentenced to death
and executed, despite a protest of eleven of
the jurymen on the first trial, and a recom-
mendation to mercy, signed by ten of the
jury, on the second trial. This meting out of
even-handed justice, almost for the first time,
between white and black men, taught the
former a severe lesson, and, it is to be
hoped, checked at least wholesale slaughter.
When a hostile recrimination has com-
menced between two races, far removed
from each other in the scale of civilisation,
it is easy to foresee how fatal must be the
issue to the weaker party. Nearly similar
results have ensued in Australia to those
which I have described in my South African
volume, as attendant on the contests between
the Dutch settlers and the bushmen and
Hottentots ; the main difference being, that
the British did not, like the Dutch Boors,
form commandoes, under the sanction of
their government, for the slaughter of the
people whose country they had both unlaw-
fully occupied. A more humane spirit now
prevails in Australia ; and, it is to be hoped,
that the existing remnant of a once nume-
rous people may be saved from extirpation.
Unfortunately, like all savage races, there is
an ardent desire among them for intoxi-
cating beverages, when the nauseating taste
at first experienced is overcome. Then the
"fire-water" is sought at all hazards, and
wide-spread, irretrievable ruin, is the result.
Self-interest, as well as higher motives, will,
I trust, induce the settlers to prohibit, as
far as practicable, the supply of spirits to
the aborigines, who know no moderation
when the taste is implanted, and for whom
— as, indeed, for many of their white bre-
thren— the only safety consists in total absti-
nence.
Commerce. — The maritime trade of New
South Wales, down to 1848, has been given
at p. 187: but most of the returns, up to
that date, included the district of Port
Phillip — now Victoria. The imports of New
South Wales alone, are now prepared sepa-
rately, and will be found in the Appendix,
arranged in a tabular form since 1837. In
order to show the effect of the gold- discovery,
details of the following three years are
given, comprising twelve months before,
and the same period after, that event.
Value of imports into, and exports from.
New South Wales—
Impoi
ts.
Great Britain
British Colonics.
South Sea
Islands.
Fisheries.
United States
of America.
Foreign
States.
"i ears.
New
Zealand.
Elsewhere.
Total.
1850
1851
1852
1,070,511
1,152,421
1,395,091
12,385
15,609
40,124
61.210
174,250
134,862
31,827
6,771
4,501
11,052
23,033
25,770
8,143
14,127
29,690
138,285
177,720
270,398
1,333,413
1,563,931
1,900,436
Expo
■ts.
Years.
Great Britain.
British Colonies.
Sovith Sea
Islands.
Fisheries.
United States
of America.
Foreign
States.
New
Zealand.
Elsewhere.
Total.
1850
1851
1852
1,038,340
1,477,452
3,607,269
96,003
94,046
74,759
97,3.59
146,805
904,271
17.537
15,334
6,271
a
o
95,473
33,784
5,081
13,072
29,491
6,383
1,357,784
1,796,912
4,604,034
The large augmentation of exports in 1852, | viz., 818,751 oz., valued at .£2,660,946 stor-
was caused by the amount of gold shipped — j ling. Details of the chief items of export,
• See record of trial at Sydney, in SHtlers and \ since 1837, are given in the Appendix.
CoHfjcis ; by an emigrant mechanic : pp. 388 to 396. ' Among the imports during 1852, there
IMPORT OF MANUFACTURES AND SHIPPING— 1851-^2.
489
were — tea, 3,413,550 lbs. ; sugar, 10,843
tons ; oofTee, 4,100 cwt :* also beer and
ale, 689,049; wine, 332,550; brandy,
229,139; rum, 363,823; gin, 70,191;
whiskey, 18,542; perfumed spirits, 1,212;
liqueurs, 2,307 — gallons : making a total of
1,706,813 gallons; or, on an average, up-
wards of eight gallons per annum for each
mouth in the colony.
The imperfectly-arranged statistical re-
turns, and fallaciously " declared" and " offi-
cial" values, render it difficult to arrive at
a fair conclusion with regard to the large
amount of British manufactures consumed
in our colonies : the following shows the
export of various textile manufactures from
the ports of London, Liverpool, Bristol,
Hull, and the Clyde, to New South Wales,t
in two years : —
Manufactures.
1852.
18.53.
Cotton Goods —
Plain calicoes . .
vds-
4,808,036
14,340,416
Printed & dyed eali- 1
coes J
,,
4,244,416
12,821,642
Cambrics, muslins, 1
lawn, &c. . . .)
>>
492,669
1,455,934
Other plain cotton
goods . . . . ,
Lace, gauze, &c.
>)
183,109
646,890
,,
373,748
1,296,278
Counterpanes and 1
quilts .... J
No.
45,723
107,605
Hosiery, caps, and \ -.-v
gloves .... J
83,916
271,661
Ditto do. in value
£
3,673
25,384
Shawls and hand- "I -p
kerchiefs ... J
8,487
16,986
Goods unenumerated
£
20,887
162,248
Linens ....
yds.
908,444
2,242,097
Ditto also in value .
£
57,747
85,446
Woollens & cottons "1
mixed .... J
£
38,926
157,159
Kerseymeres . . .
£
1,677
3,608
Long & short cloths
£
24,390
96,135
Stuifs, woollen and'
worsted
£
86,347
324,040
Heavy woollens . .
£
17,201
48,552
Shawls (woollen) .
£
14,505
66,166
Flannels and blan- \
keting . . . ./
£
64,905
188,300
Hosiery, woollen, &1
worsted . . -J
£
39,532
132,303
Woollens, unenume-
rated ....
£
8,379
31,849
Total of all woollen |
goods .... J
£
295,862
1,048,112
Silk, silk and cotton,]
and silk and wor- ^
sted, mixed . J
£
87,911
327,831
♦ Under Tariff Act (16 Vic. No. 9), 19th August,
1852, colonial-made spirits pay Zs. 8d.; imported
brandy and gin, 6s. ; whiskey, rum, &c., 45. ; ale and
porter, in wood, Is., in bottle, 26-. ; wine. Is. — per im-
perial gallon : coffee, chocolate, and cocoa, -^d., and
tea, l\d. — per pound : sugar, unrefined, 2s. 6d. ; re-
DIV. III. 3 P
Assuming that these goods were for the
use of the population of both New South
Wales and Victoria — say 400,000 persons —
an immense consumption is indicated. Cali-
coes, for instance, were trebled in quantity.
The number of ships and tonnage inwards
for three years, were —
Years.
Ships.
Tons.
1850
1851
1852t
421
553
721
126,185
153,002
197,366
Ship-building is now becoming a regular
branch of trade ; the number and tonnage
constructed, of late years, were —
Years.
Ships.
Tons.
1847
33
2,121
1848
26
1,281
1849
35
1.720
1850
36
1.605
1851
24
939
1852
23
1,582
Showing an aggregate, in six years, of 9,248
tons. The number of vessels colonially re-
gistered, in 1847, was 93 — tons, 8,609; in
1852, number, 131— tons, 13,188.
In 1853, the port of Sydney possessed
.27 steamers, of which 17 were sea-going
vessels; and comprised, in the aggregate,
5,633 tons, and 1,942 horse-power : eleven
steamers were employed in the trade with
Melbourne ; four in that of Newcastle and
Hunter's River ; and Moreton Bay, Clarence
River, and New Zealand had each vessels
engaged in its traffic with Sydney. Several
new first-class boats, with improved engines,
were expected from England at the close of
the year ; and casual purchases were being
made of steamers sent from the United
States and elsewhere, on speculation. It
was expected, that in 1854, the steam-ton-
nage belonging to Sydney would be double
the amount above stated. Two or three
coasting steam-packet companies are now in
profitable operation.
Mills and manufactures are making pro-
gress : in 1852, there were 28 M'ater, 20
wind, and 1 9 horse-power mills ; and 78
iined, 3s. 4d. — per cwt. : molasses. Is. 8^. ; dried
fruits, |c/. — per jjound : tobacco, unmanufactured,
8d. ; manufactured. Is.; cigars, 2s. — per pound.
t These figures are collated from some useful
data published in the Economist of 11th February,
1854. Victoria is not mentioned specially; and, I
presume, that the exports thither are included un-
der the head of New South Wales.
X The total number of vessels that cleared out
490
MANUFACTORIES— COA.L FIELDS— POST-OFFICE.
steam-mills for dressing grain. Among the
manufactories, there were two distilleries,
one rectifying establishment, 11 breweries,
two sugar-refining establishments, 16 soap-
factories, nine tobacco-factories, seven wool-
len cloth -factories, one hat-factory, four
rope-walks, 64 tanneries, one salt-factory,
five salting and meat-preserving establish-
ments, four potteries, one gas " works," 12
iron and brass-founderies, and one smelting-
furnace. The tendency is towards the in-
crease of these establishments ; and abun-r
dance of capital will assist enterprising in-
dividuals. The " tweeds" and " Parramatta
cloth" are excellent for wear. Some of the
articles manufactured have thus augmented
since 1837 —
Articles.
: 1847.
1852.
Soap ....
Refined sugar .
Tobacco . . .
Woollen cloths .
Blankets . . .
. . cwt.
. . j-ds.
. . No.
19,925
39,600
1,321
174,088
424
26,042
83,100
6,564
234,378
326*
See Appe
idix.
Among the products of colonial industry
in 1852, the value may be thus noted —
wool, £676,815; tallow, £146,811; hides
and leather, £37,661 ; salted and pre-
served-meats, £17,638; live-stock (by sea),
£16,500; timber, £17,330 ; oil and whale-
bone, £34,562 : total, £947,31 7.t
Tallow will become a large colonial pro-
duct; between 1844 and 1851 (inclusive),
there was furnished upwards of 25,700 tons
of this valuable article : it is to be hoped,
that ere long we shall be quite independent
of Russian tallow : should horses multiply,
as in South America, they also v^all furnish
a large yieM.
Coals now form a lucrative article of
colonial traffic. In 1836, the Neivcastle
coal-mines (see p. 194) yielded only 12,646
tons; in 1849, tons, 33,390; in 1850, tons,
45,084; in 1851, tons, 45,642 : official value,
in 1851, £17,804—75. 6^. per ton.
From other places, also, within the colony,
coal raised as follows : — In 1849, tons,
15,126; in 1850, tons, 26,132; in 1851,
tons, 22,018 : official value, in 1851, £7,652,
or 75, per ton. — [See p. 194 for previous
return.]
The abundant coal-fields of New South
Wales ai'e among her richest treasures, and
the mineral will become an annually-increas-
ing export, as steam-navigation extends over
the Southern Pacific — an ocean specially
adapted for this system of intercourse.
The state of the post-office in the colony
indicates the commercial and general position
of the people —
Years.
No. of Post-
Offices.
Letters Trans-
mitted
Newspapers.
Miles of Private
Roads traversed.
Income.
Expenditure.
£
£
1840
53
619,748
920,078
380,353
13,413
17,276
1845
67
540,936
833,512
412,438
14,165
12,309
1849
88
609,021
734,985
586,678
15,462
13,615
1850t
96
842,309
604,488
686,614
13,946
16,732
1851
101
975,318
762,487
751,154
18,252
16,324"
1852
131
1,117,777
1,023,678
—
18,174
25,304
Finances. — Details of the revenue and
expenditure are given, for a series of years,
at pp. 220-3. The following returns, for
three years, show that the colonists now
defray all their own civil charges ; and it is
proposed that they shall contribute also, to
from the ports of London, Liverpool, and Glasgow,
for Sydney and Port Thillip, in 1839, was— number,
114; ton.s, 52,412.
• For 1851.— No return for 1852.
t Cotton wool is likely to become an important
article of export : five acres of gravelly ridge land
yielded, in 1853, 2,500 lbs. of cotton, although half
the yield had been destroyed by frost before the crop
could be gathered. The clear profit was £37 18s. 4f/.
X An uniform and cheap postage act came into
operation part of this year.
a considerable extent, towards the payment
of their military defence. §
The taxation, per head, is about fifty shil-
lings annually, which is larger than that
levied from the inhabitants of the United
Kingdom.
§ The actual expenditure incurred by Great Bri-
tain, for military protection to New South Wales
and Victoria, during the year ending 31st March,
1852, was £31,590 : since then the colonists have
undertaken the payment of the additional troops
sent from England. A very excellent and exten-
sive cantonment, termed the Victoria Burraclis, has
been constructed at Sydney, with military garden,
cricket-ground, &c : they will contain, with much
comfort, four field-officers, 36 officers, and 646 rank
and file.
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF N. S. WALES— 1850-'l-'2.
491
Items of revenue for the years —
General.
1850.
1851.
1852.
Custom duties . . .
Coloiiial spirits . . .
Gold fund ....
Conveyance of gold . .
Land sales
Rents, exclusive of land
Licenses
Postages
Fines and forfeitures .
Fees of office ....
Sale of government 1
property . ._ . .1
Reimbursement in aid )
of expenses . . . J
Miscellaneous receipts
Pilotage ]
Port & harbour dues j
Assessment on stock |
beyond settled dis >
tricts J
Auction duty ....
£
142,819
2,850
11,733
4,363
29,563
13,646
2,549
10,752
465
2,194
701
5,542
16,715
3,583
£
153,540
7,210
30,890
2,919
21,369
3,517
30,083
18,252
3,334
8,327
3,615
2,203
1,334
f 2,299
1 3,824
16,477
2,337
£ ■
217,021
18,211
65,764
6,542
11,740
5,184
33,751
18,174
0,338
8,465
3,636
28,197
1,729
I 2,519
1 3,202
16,101
2,811
Totals
247,573
311,538
438,391
Crown revenue.
1850.
1851 .
1852.
Territorial —
Land sales ....
Land and immigra- 1
tion deposits . . |
Leasps and licenses to |
occupy crown lands J
Licenses to cut timber
Quit-rents and re- )
demption . . . . j
Government quarries |
rents j
Reimbursements of|
sales . . . .]
£
21,674
350
34,753
473
6,209
196
352
£
42,234
821
36,806
1,179
7,667
42
778
£
41,272
2,795
36,928
489
3,468
25
5,616
Special Credits — ■
Sale of land and im- ~j
migration deben- |-
tures J
ImmigratiMi remit- 1
tances . .
64,008
57,917
339
89,531
80,541
626
90,595
144,176
3,731
Church an-d school |
estates' fund . . J
4,832
374,669
81,167
4,460
147,907
5,242
Gen. Totals . .
486,698
682,137
The general revenue for the year 1853-'4
is estimated at £566,2.^5, notwithstanding
the aboHtion of port and harbour, auction
duties, and assessment on stock ; but it is
painful to observe, that among tlie items a
sum of .£188,000 is put down for imported
spirits : the whole duty anticipated from
foreign and colonial spirits, beer and wine,
is £250,000. The amount of the territorial
revenue will depend on the quantity of land
sold — it will probably exceed .L' 100,000: so
that the colonial legislature will have at its
entire disposal a sum of upwards of six hun-
dred thousand pounds sterling.
The proceeds of the sale of crown-land, iu
N. S. Wales, separate from Victoria, have
been, from 1837 to 1852 (inclusive), thus: —
£116,474; £79,130; £92,968; £^97,498;
£19,235; £11,844; £5,311; £6,745;
£11,563; £11,249; £9,929; £7,624;
£20,113; £33,757; £64,425; £55,808.
The foi'egoing shows how the Wakefield
system of high, or " sufficient price,^' brought
the sale so low as £9,929, in 1847. The
discovery of gold has enabled the colonists
to resume the purchase of what every
Englishman covets, and thus a mischievous
theory may, in time, be neutralised. In
order to enable the colonists to provide
funds for immigration, which the land-sales
failed to supply, money was borrowed on
debentures to a considerable amount ; and,
on the 31st of December, 1851, there were
still outstanding and unpaid, £187,100, now
in course of liquidation. The details of ex-
penditure are thus shown for three years : —
Departments.
1850.
1851.
1852.
Civil establishment ....
Judicial ditto
Police
Gaols, &c
Medical establishment . . .
Ecclesiastical ditto ....
Orphan school establishment
Pension and retired allowances
Charitable allowances . . .
Grants in aid of public insti- ]
tutions j
Education
Public works
Roads, streets, and bridges .
£
62,573
26,723
42,386
11,972
4,220
27,379
2,710
1,935
4,314
500
13,137
16,067
6,356
£
63,786
27,323
52,032
12,527
5,038
45,647
3,541
2,334
5,659
5,800
17,897
14,117
6,741
£
85,799
27,142
64,494
17,065
5,742
38,152
3,745
3,597
8,315
5,600
15,369
18,306
15,705
220,772
262,447
309,096
Drawbacks and refunds. . .
llevenue and receipts returned
Miscellaneous disbursements .
Remittance to colonial agent
Survey, sale, and manage- )
ment of crown lands . . j
Immigration
Aborigines
Miscellaneous services . . .
Remt.to colonial agent-general
Revenue and receipts returned
E.xpenses consequent on gold 1
discoveries ..... J
Management of church and ]
school estates . . . .
2,250
9,700
7,732
31,357
89,675
771
3,691
270
3,608
2,272
3,223
10,460
18,233
32,026
98,721
163
3,488
2,964
409
9,299
399
11,295
3,434
10,028
12,108
33,689
158,097
353
4,738
17,688
440
38,927
424
Total disbursements* . . .
369,841
444,108
600,322
The number and value of land mortgages
demonstrates that the proprietors are now
in a sound state. It would be well if Eng-
land, Scotland, or Ireland could present as
sound a state of private money-arrange-
* The allowances to troops from colonial revenue,
in 1852, was £l,;jr)2. The expenses by England, for
military protection, was £30,578 ; the number of
troops being G84 men and officers of all grades.
492
FINANCIAL STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES— ] 840-1 852.
ments as New South Wales now does, after
a severe crisis in the years 1840-'3.
1
Years.
Mortgages.
Amount of
Mortgages.
No.
£
1837
286
231,044
1838
256
248.891
1839
383
348,818
1840
459
514,741
1841
709
1,098,741
1842
625
824,412
1843
582
1,055,580
1844
494
299,818
1845
318
272,282
• 1846
308
170,374
1847
320
180,544
1848
307
202,646
1849
376
198,497
1850
310
142,022
1851
359
144,402
1852
330
180,068
The liens on the wool of sheep, and the
loans on live stock, which were legally
authorised and registered in 1843, now ex-
hibit a healthy condition of affairs : —
Wool.
Live
Stock.
Years.
No. of
No. of
Money
No. of
Mort-
Money
Liens.
Sheep.
Lent-
Lent.
gages.
£
£
1843
54
318,739
30,664
96
178,567
1844
139
837,997
57,733
226
241,727
1845
125
657,989
55,865
152
132,352
1846
149
813,951
71,351
146
150,733
1847
199
1,095,402
107,477
168
137,856
1848
240
1,378,180
108,922
205
219,756
1849
211
1,154.468
84,692
213
161,533
1850
187
1,148,344
82,731
103
118,987
1851
192
1,069,981
85,110
158
193,126
1852
69
917,170
79,610
101
129,958
Monetary State. — New South Wales has
passed through a monetary crisis on several
occasions, owing partly to mistaken mea-
sures of government, and partly to those
habits of speculation which characterise the
Anglo-Saxon race. That the state of the
colonists is now sound, is evidenced by the
following comparative review of their bank-
ing proceedings at two periods : —
Sute.
1840.
Population, about .
1S52.
130,000
£
2,218,600
210,000
£
1,581,300
Decrease or
Increase.
Discounts . . .
Discounts per head, i r.,- r .^.
about ]
Coin and bullion in | , ^3. ^qq 1 428,900
banks . . . ' ' '
Proportion to popu- r o
lation, per head .
Liabilities of banks-
Coin required
Coin held . . .
Deficiency
Excess .
487,200
437,500
49,700
D. 637,300 =
40 per cent.
In. 991,400, abt.
230 per cent.
In. 41.
1,158,300
1,428,000
270,000
Coin and Bullion in the Colony on
It remains to be seen whether the abun-
dant, production of gold, and a plethora of
money, may not cause another period of
excitement. Several new banks have, since
the gold-discoveries, been established or com-
menced in Australia and in London, to
operate in Australasia, in connection with
branches in England and in India ; they
will require prudential management to avoid
loss. The financial state of the well-esta-
blished banking institutions is remarkable :
their coin and bullion is twice, and their de-
posits thrice, the amount of their paper issues.
31.si; December, 1852— «» the Banks.*
Banks.
British Coin.
Bullion.
Total.
Deposits.
Notes in
Circulation.
Bills &c..
Discounted
New South Wales . .
Commercial ....
Australasian
Union of Australia
£
105,512
160,859
184,070
242,473
£
108,230
163,429
264,328
179,647
£
213,743
324,288
448,398
422,120
£
1,236,987
441,723
447.508
470,199
£
120,036
149.412
222,073
252,238
£
563,766t
338.957
291,452
387,155
Totals . . .
692,914
715,634
1,408,549
2,596,417
743,759
1,581,330
There is no coin now retained in the
colonial treasury, and but a small sum in
the military or commissariat chest. The
value of the coin and bullion in the banks,
in 1852, is thrice the amount of that in the
colonial treasury, military chest, and banks,
during the average of seven years, ending
with 1843. lu 1851, the money so placed
was only £540,766 (see Appendix).
Government. — Since the first division of
this work was issued, in 1850, the imperial
parliament passed an act (13th and 14th
Vic, cap. 59, dated 5th of August, 1850) —
see Appendix — for the better government of
the Australian colonies. In previous pages
(214-17), the opinions I then and still enter-
* Si/dneij Morning Herald, 16th March, 1853.
t Quarter ending 31st December.
\ --
GOVERNMENT OF NEW SOUTH WALES AS SETTLED IN 1850. 493
tain, are fully expressed ; and the prediction
that the act would not be acceptable in New
South Wales, and would lead to political
excitement, has been unhappily verified.
Indeed, but for the discovery of gold, which
absorbed public attention, internecive strife
might have caused serious mischief : as it is,
agitation, and the propagating of extreme
opinions, have tended materially to weaken
the ties of connexion with the parent state.
The new act (as stated in p. 211) provided
for the separation of the district called Port
Phillip from New South Wales, and its
erection into a separate colony, under the
designation of Victoria. After the separa-
tion, the Legislative Assembly was to consist
of such a number of members as the governor
and council might determine ; two-thirds of
the members to be elected by the colonists,
and one-third to be nominated by the crown.
The franchise fixed was a freehold estate of
£100, clear value; or the occupation of a
dwelling-house, for six months, of the clear
value of £10, or a license to depasture ; or
a leasehold estate of £10 value ; and the
usual provisions of age (21 years), natural-
born, or naturalised, and not attainted of
treason or felony. The qualification to be
free of all incumbrances ; a lease to have
not less than three years to run ; and all
rates and taxes due to within three mouths
of election or registration to be paid. The
governor and council to establish, and alter
if necessarj^, the electoral districts, and to
increase the number of elected members,
provided the Crown appoint a corresponding
proportion of one-third new members.
The governor and Legislative Assembly,
thus constituted, were authorised to make
laws for the colony, provided they were not
repugnant to those of England ; and to ap-
propriate the whole of the revenues, except
those arising from land, with which the local
government was not to interfere. Out of
the annual revenues, the following sums
were to be primarily provided : — Governor,
£5,000; chief justice, £2,000; two puisne
judges, £3,000 ; attorney and soHcitor-gene-
ral, crown solicitor, and expenses of adminis-
tration of justice, £19,000 ; colonial secre-
tary and his department, £6,500 ; colonial
treasurer and ditto, £4,000 ; auditor-gene-
ral and ditto, £3,000 ; clerk and expenses
of executive council, £500; public worship,
£28,000 ; pensions, £2,500 =- £53,500.
These sums might hereafter be altered, with
the consent of the Crown. The costs and
charges for the collection and management
of the customs' revenue to be subject to
the regulations of the Treasury Board in
London. No diff"ercntial duties to be levied
in favour of England, or of any other
country : all goods to be treated alike.
The act was to be brought into opera-
tion within six weeks after its receipt in the
colony ; but the Legislative Assembly and
governor, with the consent of the Crown,
had power to alter its provisions as to the
election and qualification of electors and
members; or to establish, instead of the
Legislative Assembly above described, a
council and a house of representatives, or
other legislative houses ; and to vest in the
same the powers now confided to the local
government. Sir Charles Fitz-Roy was
raised from the position of governor of New
South Wales, to that of governor-general
over all the Australian colonies ; and in
virtue of the powers confided to him, and
with the assistance of Mr. E. Deas Thomp-
son, the colonial secretary. New South
Wales was divided into 13 county districts,
to return, on the basis of population and
property, 14 ; eight pastoral districts to re-
turn eight ; and 10 urban districts to return
10 — members (= 32) for the new Legisla-
tive Assembly, to be summoned in 1850.
When this enactment, passed by the
Imperial Parliament, reached New South
Wales, the existing Legislative Council,
previous to its dissolution, remonstrated
strongly against the procedure ; recorded
their " deep disappointment and dissatisfac-
tion at the constitution conferred by that act
on this colony ;'' and added their reasons in
the following explicit statement : —
" After the reiterated reports, resolutions, ad-
dresses, and petitions which have proceeded from
us during the whole course of our legislative career,
against the schedules appended to the 5 and 6 Vict.,
c. 76, and the appropriations of our ordinary revenue
under the sole authority of parliament — against the
administration of our waste lands and our territorial
revenue thence arising — against the withholding of
the customs' department from our control — against
the dispensation of the patronage of the colony at
dictation of the minister for the colonies — and against
the vote reserved and exercised by the same minis-
ter, in the name of the Crown, in matters of local
legislation— we feel that we had a right to expect
that these undoubted gricvan,ces would have been
redressed by the 13 and 14 Vict., cap. 59, or that
power to redress them would have been conferred
on the constituent bodies thereby created, with the
avowed intention of establishing an authority more
competent than parliament itself, to frame suitable
constitutions for the whole group of the Australian
colonies. These our reasonable expectations have
been utterly frustrated. The schedules, instead of
being abolished, have been increased. The powers
494 PROTEST OF N. S. W. LEGISLATUHE AGAINST ACT OF 1850.
of altering the appropriations in these schedules,
conferred on the colonial legislature by this new act,
limited as these powers are, have been in effect nulli-
fied by the subsequent instructions of the colonial
minister. The exploded fallacies of the Wakefield
theory are still clung to ; the pernicious Land Sales'
Act (5 and 6 Vict., c. 36) is still enforced, and thou-
sands of our fellow-subjects (in consequence of the
undue price put by that mischievous and impolitic
enactment upon our waste lands, in defiance of the
precedents of the United States, of Canada, and the
other North American colonies, and even of the
neighbouring colony of the Cape of Good Hope) are
annually diverted from our shores, and thus forced,
against their Avill, to seek a home for themselves and
their children in the backwoods of America. Nor is
this all. Our territorial revenue, diminished as it is by
this most mistaken policy, is in a great measure con-
fined to the introduction among us of people unsuited
to our wants, and in many instances the outpourings
of the poorhouses and unions of the United King-
dom, instead of being applied in directing to this
colony a stream of vigorous and efficient labour, cal-
culated to elevate the character of our industrial
population. The bestowal of office among us, with
but partial exception, is still exercised by or at the
nomination of the colonial minister, and without any
reference to the just claims of the colonists, as if the
colony itself were but the fief of that minister. The
salaries of the officers of the customs, and all other
departments of government included in the schedules,
are placed beyond our control ; and the only result
of this new enactment, introduced into parliament
by the prime minister himself, with the declared in-
tention of conferring upon us enlarged powers of
self-government, and treating us at last as an integral
portion of the empire, is, that all the material powers
exercised for centuries by the House of Commons,
are still withheld from us ; that our loyalty, and de-
sire for the maintenance of order and good govern-
ment, are so far distrusted, that we are not permitted
to vote our own civil list, lest it might prove inade-
quate to the requirements of the public service ;
that our waste lands and our territorial revenue, for
which her Majesty is but a trustee, instead of being
spontaneously surrendered, as the equivalent for such
civil list, is still reserved, to the great detriment of
all classes of her Majesty's subjects, in order to swell
the patronage and power of the ministers of the
Crown ; that whilst, in defiance of the Declaratory
Act (18 George HI., cap. 12, sect. 1), which has
hitherto been considered the Magna Charta of the
representative rights of all the British plantations,
a large amount of our public revenue is thus levied
and appropriated by the authority of parliament, we
have not even the consolation of seeing that portion of
it which is applied to the payment of the salaries of our
public officers distributed as it ought to be among
the settled inhabitants ; and that, as a fit climax to
this system of misrule, we are not allowed to exercise
the most ordinary legislation which is not subject to
the veto of the colonial minister.
" Thus circumstanced, we feel that, on the eve of
the dissolution of this council, and as the closing act
of our legislative existence, no other course is open
to us but to enter on our own journals our declara-
tion, protest, and remonstrance, as well against the
act of parliament itself (13 and 14 Vict., cap. 59)
as against the instructions of the minister, by which
the small power of retrenchment that act confers on
the colonial legislature has been thus overridden, and
to bequeath the redress of the grievances which we
have been unable to eflfect by constitutional means
to the Legislative Council by which we are about to
be succeeded.
" We, the Legislative Council of New South Wales,
do accordingly hereby solemnly protest, insist, and
declare as follows : —
" 1st. That the imperial parliament has not, nor
of right ought to have, any power to tax the people
of this colony, or to appropriate any of the moneys
levied by authority of the colonial legislature ; that
this power can only be lawfully exercised by the
colonial legislature ; and that the Imperial Par-
liament has solemnly disclaimed this power by
18 Geo. IIL, cap. 12, sect. 1, which act remains
unrepealed.
" 2nd. That the revenue arising from the public
lands, derived as it is ' mainly' from the value im-
parted to them by the labour and capital of the
people of this colony, is as much their property as
the ordinary I'evenue, and ought, thei-efore, to be
subject only to the like control and appropriation.
" 3rd. That the customs and all other departments
should be subject to the direct supervision and con-
trol of the colonial legislature, which should have the
appropriation of the gross revenues of the colony,
from whatever source arising, and, as a necessary
incident to this authority, the regulation of the
salaries of all colonial officers.
" 4th. That offices of trust and emolument should
be conferred only on the settled inhabitants, the
office of governor alone excepted ; that this officer
should be appointed and paid by the Crown ; and
that the whole patronage of the colony should be
vested in him and the executive council, unfettered
by instructions from the minister for the colonies.
" 5th. That plenary powers of legislation should
be conferred upon and exercised by the colonial
legislature for the time being, and that no bills
should be reserved for the signification of her Ma-
jesty's pleasure, unless they effect the prerogatives of
the Crown, or the general interests of the empire.
" Solemnly protesting against these M'rongs, and
declaring and insisting upon these our undoubted
rights, we leave the i-edress of the one and the as-
sertion of the other to the people whom we repre-
sent, and the legislature which shall follow us.
" (Signed) Charles Nicholson, Speaker.
" Legislative Council-Chamber, Svdney,
"May 1, 1851."
Earl Grey, in a despatch dated 23rd of
January, 1853, replied, at considerable length,
to the objections of the council. The argu-
ments of his lordship are clearly set forth,
and temperately urged : he says — the pri-
mary object of the act was the separation of
Port Phillip from New South Wales, and to
accommodate the existing constitution to
that separation ; and that there was but one
fundamental change, which gave to the
legislature the power of " amending and
altering (subject to certain conditions),
almost to the fullest extent, their own insti-
tutions," Earl Grey then commented seri-
atim on the protest; — the views of his lord-
ship, which deserve to be read in extenso,
may be thus briefly noted : —
REPLY OF EARL GREY TO THE N. S. WALES PROTEST.
495
1st. Schedules of expenditure — essential
for the protection of existing interests.
2nd. Waste lands — are not the exclusive
property of the inhabitants of Kew South
Wales ; and their representatives ought not
to have, as a right, the control and disposal
of the revenue arising therefrom. When,
and on what condition, it may be desirable
to transfer the control of the waste lands of
a colony to its local legislature, is a question
of expediency and not of right — of expedi-
ency respectively both to the local commu-
nity and to the people of the empire at
large, whose claims require joint considera-
tion of mutual adjustment ; as the present
value of those waste lands has been mainly
given through the expenditure incurred by
this country in founding, maintaining, and
defending the several settlements.*
3rd. Emigration system defended, on
the ground that, amidst the great multitude
of people sent out to the colony, the pro-
portion of persons of whom there has been
any serious complaint, is very small, and that
there have been testimonials of a gratifying
nature as to the character of the emigrants
selected.
4th. Gross, instead of net revenue, derived
from custom duties, to be placed at disposal
of local legislature. — Colony, in this matter,
is exactly on the same footing with the Im-
perial Parliaraent.t
5th. Official appointments. — No mono-
poly can be recognised, on the part of the
inhabitants of New South Wales, to such
situations, so as to preclude them from
being bestowed on others of her majesty's
subjects ; but, for several years past, public
employments in Australia have, with scarcely
an exception, been filled by persons in the
colony, selected by the governor, and ap-
proved by the Crown.
6th. Plenary poivers. — The control over
the acts of the local legislature, retained and
exercised by the Crown from the earliest
period of colonial history, could not be
abandoned without endangering the con-
nexion between the mother country and her
colonies.
INIore than 200 acts, passed by the New
South Wales legislature, have received the
royal confirmation ; seven have been dis-
allowed ; and about the same number re-
* The reader will find, in a note at p. 210, similar
opinions given by the author in 1850.
t It is now proposed to cause the whole of the
gross custom revenue in the United Kingdom to be
paid, without deduction, into the exchequer.
turned to the colony for the insertion of
amendments : of the trifling number thus
interfered with, nearly all were passed during
the early sittings of the legislature, when
the members were inexperienced. Earl
Grey concludes his despatch, in the thirtieth
paragraph, with the following well-expressed
and noble-minded sentiments, which will
not bear abstracting or abbreviating : —
" 30. I have thus explained to you the views of her
majesty's government on all the principal heads of
the declaration of the late Legislative Council ; and I
trust that, however this explanation may be received
by those who, as members of that body, adopted
the declaration, their constituents will be more dis-
posed to weigh the considerations here advanced,
and to endeavour, to the best of their ])o\ver, to
mitigate the opposition of opinions, and conciliate
jarring interests, than to adopt, without demur, the
sweeping conclusions which that declaration advo-
cates.
" At all events, I feel certain that, on reflection,
they will acquit her majesty's government of any
intention to inflict on them a system of niisrule and
oppression. We have had the interests of the local
community and of the empire (which, rightly con-
sidered, are the same) solely in view; and to attri-
bute to us other motives, would be as unjust as it
would be on my part to impute the language of this
declaration, because I do not agree in it, to a spirit
of faction or resentment. Whatever may be the
censure in which the late council may have thought
fit to have indulged towards myself, I cannot be
guilty of such injustice towards them. Amidst the
deep satisfaction with which I have watched, of late
years, the extraordinary progress of New South
Wales in nearly all that constitutes the social and
material welfare of a community, I have never ceased
to appreciate the manner in which its legislature has
contributed to that advance by the zealous and con-
stant discharge of its duty to its constituents ; and it
is my sincere hope that the now separate legislatures,
using with their best abilities the powers which the
act now under discussion has conferred on them, will
follow in that career of improvement which their
predecessors have marked out for them.
" I have, &c.,
" (Signed) Gret.
" Governor Sir C. A. Fitz-Rov,
"&c. &c."
It cannot, however, be denied, that the
spirit engendered in New South Wales has
been owing to the maladministration, in
past years, of its afl"airs by the home go-
vernment. Persons have been sent out to
fill important situations in the colony, who
were, in every respect, disqualified ; and
remonstrances on the subject were unheeded.
This pernicious system has been abandoned,
but the rankling which it occasioned has
remained. Then, again, the fixing 20*. per
acre as the minimum price of waste lands,
caused (as previously shown, p. 491) a dimi-
nution of the land revenue, a check to emi-
gration, and the rise of the squatting system.
496 CREATION OF AN HEREDITARY ARISTOCRACY IN N, S. WALES.
or monopoly of land by a few individuals :
it is not, therefore, surprising that the
colonists, finding no attention paid to their
earnest entreaties for a reduction in the
minimum upset price of land, struggled for
the obtainment of complete control over the
unoccupied wastes in New South "Wales. "^
The plan for carrying out constitutional
government in Australia is still (March,
1854) unsettled: in New South Wales the
Legislative Council has proposed the forma-
tion of two chambers (as recommended in
1850,atp.216), one nominated by the Crown,
and the other elected by the colonists ; and
a numerous and influential portion of the
present representatives of the people suggest
the creation of a titled hereditary aristocracy.
In Victoria, the council advise two chambers,
both elective ; in South Australia, two
chambers, one elective and the other nomi-
native, with certain qualifying conditions.
Much discussion has also taken place as to
colonial and imperial legislation — the boun-
dary to be drawn between merely local
enactments and those Avhich concern the
weal of the empire.
The clavise in the report of the committee
of the Legislative Council, appointed to
prepare a draft of the new constitution,
which refers to the conferring by the Crown
of hereditary titles in the colonies, and has
been objected to by some colonists, is founded
on an act of the Imperial Parhament (3
Geo. III. c. 31), proposed by Mr. Pitt,
" for making more effectual government for
the province of Quebec :" —
"I'hat act (says the report of the Legislative
Council of Xew South Wales) authorises the Crown,
■whenever it thinks pro])er to confer any hereditary
title or honour, rank or dignity, to annex thereto an
hereditary right of being summoned to the Legisla-
tive Council. Your committee are not prepared to
recommend the introduction into this colony of a
right by descent to a seat in the upper house, but are
of opinion that the creation of hereditary titles
(leaving it to the option of the Crown to annex to the
title of the first patentee a seat for life in such house,
and conferring on the original patentees and their
descendants, inheritors of their titles, a power to
elect a certain number of their order, to form, in
conjunction with the original patentees then living,
the upper house of parliament) would be a great
improvement upon any form of Legislative Council
* I have to acknowledge, with grateful thanks, to
the governor-general of Australia, sir Charles Fitz-
Roy, the recent receipt of the whole of the legislative
records of New South Wales, up to 1852 inclusive,
comprised in 26 large volumes, handsomely bound ;
and which the lords of the treasury liave been pleased
to order the commissioners of customs to pass free of
duty. In the present work, which is necessarily
restricted in size, it has not been possible to take
hitherto tried or recommended in any British colony.
They conceive that an upper house," framed on this
principle, whilst it would be free from the objections
which have been urged against the House of Lords,
on the ground of the hereditary right of legislation
which they exercise, would lay the foundation of an
aristocracy which, from their fortune, birth, leisure,
and the superior education these advantages would
superinduce, would soon supply elements for the
formation of an upper house, modelled, as far as cir-
cumstances will admit, upon the analogies of the
British constitution. Such a house would be a close
imitation of the elective portion of the House of Lords
which is supplied from the Irish and Scotch peerage ;
nor is it the least of the advantages which would
arise from the creation of a titled order, that it would
necessarily form one of the strongest inducem.ents
not only to respectable families to remain in this
colony, but to the upper classes of the United King-
dom and other countries, who are desirous to emi-
grate, to choose it for their future abod'e."
The large majority of the council who
have approved of this clause, say, they " desire
to have a form of government based on the
analogies of the British constitution, and
have no wish to sow the seeds of a future
democracy." A large extension of the elec-
tive franchise is proposed — in fact, closely
approximating to universal suffrage — a libe-
ral civil list is off'ered to the crown, and
" responsible government" to the people.
It appears to me, that the parliament of
the United Kingdom is the fitting tribunal
for the settlement of the constitutions of
the Australian colonies ; and the materials
for such legislation now exist, each province
having had frequent opportunities for dis-
cussion, by which the wishes of the people
have been made known.
That a wisdom superior to mere worldly
policy may guide the councils of the state in
laying the foundations of the government of
a great nation in the Southern Pacific, must
be the earnest prayer of all who desire the
peace, happiness, and prosperity of their
fellow-beings of every creed, colour, and
clime.
VICTORIA, rOUMEllLY PORT PHILLIP.
No community of which we have any
record, presents such an extraordinary rise
and progress as is exhibited in the statistics
of this fine region, which was originally
advantage of these treasuries of facts ; but, if life
and health be spared, I may hope, at some not distant
day, to prepare, with the concurrence and suj)port of
the local legislature, a full and impartial chronologi-
cal record of New South Wales, in whose prosperity
I have ever felt a warm interest, and whose loyal
inhabitants I have, since my first History of the
Colonies, in 1834, endeavoured to defend from
calumny and misrepresentation in England.
EXTflAORDlNAllY RISE AND PROGRESS OF VICTORIA— 1836-1853. 497
styled by one of the early explorers (Sir T. L.
Mitchell), Australia Felix. Its prosperity
was, in the first instance, owing to a fertile
soil, and the contiguity of the older and
flourishing settlements of New South Wales
and Van Diemen^s Land, whose flocks and
herds, seeking new pastures, found here abun-
dant food and a congenial climate. These
substantial attractions drew together a large
population, who, on the discovery of gold, to-
wards the close of the year 1851, were enabled
to avail themselves of the auriferous riches
beneath their feet, and to furnish sustenance
(mutton and beef), at a cheap rate, to thou-
Reveniie and Expenditure, Trade an
sands who flocked thither from every quarter
of the globe. The chronological history of
the colony — its physical features, geology,
climate, population, products, and general
statistics, so far as they could be separated
from those of New South Wales, of which
Victoria was, until July, 1851, a depen-
dency, have been given up to 1848 in previous
pages (pp. 268-290) : it now only remains
to state briefly the present and comparative
condition of the settlement. In the short
space of eighteen years we see the following
results, which must be considered extraordi-
nary, independently of the gold-discoveries:
d Population of Victoria, since 1836.
General
Land and
Total
Total of
Population
Years.
Revenue.
Crown
Revenue.
Revenue.
Expenditure.
Imports X
Exports.
External
Trade.
Average of
Year.
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
1836
None
None
None
2,164
No returns.
No returns.
No returns.
1,200
1837
2,358
3,712
6,070
5,872
109,000
12,000
121,000
3,000
1838
2,245
37,774
40,019
16,874
71,000
21,000
92,000
5.000
1839
14,008
60,689
74,697
35,848
205,000
78,000
283,000
7,000
1840
29,238
226,745
255,983
70,128
392,000
155,000
547,000
10,000
1841
73,065
79,759
152,824
201,363
335,000
139,000
474,000
14,000
1842
75,372
11,924
87,296
124,630
264,000
204,000
468,000
19,000
1843
61,792
11,772
73,564
57,165
183,000
278,000
461,000
22,000
1844
58,648
11,264
69,912
63,048
151,000
257,000
408,000
24,000
1845
66,001
32,537
98,538
43,241
248,000
464,000
712,000
28,000
1846
60,332
36,013
96,345
51,094
316,000
425,000
741,000
34,000
1847
68,142
70,150
138,293
73.460
438,000
669,000
1,107,000
42,000
1848
86,153
58,607
144,760
140,259
374,000
675,000
1,049,000
50,000
1849
104,718
102,080
206,798
154,949
480,000
755,000
1,235,000
60,000
1850
124,469
136,852
261,321
197,323
745,000
1,042,000
1,787,000
70,000
1851
180,004*
199,820
379,824
—
1,056,437
1,423,909
2,480,346
82,000
1852
846,214t
730,966
1,577,181
734,961
4,069,742
7,451,549
11,521,291
150,000
1853
—
—
3,200,000
3,000,000
15,000,000
9,000,000
24,000,000
240,000
The shipping increase is thus shown —
Years.
Ships.
Tons.
1837
1851
1852
669
1,656
13,000
126,411
408,216
Population. — Details of the census in 1846
are given at pp. 269-70. In March, 1851,
another enumeration was taken, and showed
that there were then 46,202 males and
31,143 females = 77,345 inhabitants (see
Appendix). The greater number of these
were adults ; viz. —
Years of Age.
Males.
Females.
Totsl.
Under Seven
Seven and under Fourteen .
Fourteen & under Twenty- )
one (
Twenty-one & under Forty- )
five )
Forty-five and upwards , .
9,619
4,636
3,712
24,660
4,019
9,318
4,374
3,576
12,273
1,602
18,937
9,010
7,288
36,939
5,621
Of the above 77,345, there were born in
the colony, or arrived free from other
DIV. ITI. 3 Q
countries, 43,006 males, 30,784 females =
73,790. Of the remaining population, 3,053
males and 356 females =3,409, were formerly
prisoners, but had now become free by fulfil-
ling their period of servitude, or by pardon.
The number of convicts was 144 males and
2 females = 146, of whom 65 held "tickets-
of-leave ;" two were assigned as servants
to private individuals ; and 79 were in the
employment of government.
Probably, by this time, there is not an
English convict remaining in the colony;
but how many runaways there may be from
the prisoners of Van Diemen's Land, it
would be difficult to discover.
The nations to which the population be-
longed, in March, 1851, were — England,
• Including £24,404 of gold revenue.
t Including £438,845 of gold revenue.
t Until the separation of New South Wales from
Victoria, 1st of July, 1851, it was not always possible
to discriminate the trade properly belonging to each
settlement ; the earlier years are, therefore (in the
opinion of Mr. Westgarth, to whom I am indebted
for some of the details), somewhat shorn of their
due proportions.
498
ABORIGINES ONLY TO BE SAVED BY CHRISTIANITY.
28,968 ; Ireland, 14,618 ; Scotland, 8,053 ;
Wales, 377 ; other British dominions, 3,425 ;
foreign countries, 1,494 : born in the colony,
20,470 — viz., males, 10,452; females, 10,018.
The women from the United Kingdom were
in number, 19,125 : nearly one-half (9,171)
were from England ; 6,904 from Ireland ;
2,919 from Scotland ; and 131 from Wales.
Of the entire population, 12,529 males and
12,498 females are returned as married :
52,318, of both sexes, are described as single ;
but it must be remembered that 35,235 of
the inhabitants were under 21 years of age.
The division of occupation will be seen in
the Appendix : it may be observed, that the
domestics were — females, 3,198; males,
1,412= 4,610, or one servant to every 16^
persons : the paupers and pensioners were
only 146, or one to every 536 — a great con-
trast to the state of pauperism in England,
where, in 1854, one in every 20 inhabitants,
legally receives alms; those supported by
pensions, in public institutions and by private
individuals throughout the kingdom, are not
ascertainable. The number of houses was
10,935, or seven inmates to each. Of the
habitations, 4,864 were built of brick or
stone, and 6.128 were constructed of wood.
The two principal towns stood thus in
1846, and in March, 1851 :—
Towns.
Meltourne
Geelong .
Houses
in 1851.
4,073
1,.593
Inhabitants.
1846.
10,0.54
2,065
1851.
23,143
8,291
Melbourne and its suburbs has now, probably,
about 80,000 ; and Geelong and suburbs, 35,000 in-
habitants : in the other towns and villages there
are about 20,000 ; engaged in mining, about 76,000 ;
and in pastoral and agricultural pursuits, about
40,000.
The population (previous to gold era)
was more than doubled in five years — viz.,
from 23,879 in 1846, to 77,345 in 1851 :
these numbers do not include the aborigines,
who are supposed not to exceed 2,500,
living within the boundaries of Victoria.
On our first colonization of this portion
of Australia, the aborigines were com-
paratively numerous : in 1844, about 700
males and females, of the tribes situated
between Port Phillip and the river Murray,
assembled in the vicinity of Melbourne, and
encamped in their rude wigwams upon the
grass of the open forest. But few now re-
main of this assemblage. AVhether this re-
markable people would have perished with-
out the intervention of Eui'opcans, or have
increased in numbers if England had not
occupied the country, has been matter of
discussion. I think we have no reason to as-
sume the former, unless it be that the
crimes inherent in these descendants of the
first man who sinned, would ultimately have
led to their extirpation by mutual destruc-
tion. Mr. Westgarth says — '• nothing is
better affirmed, than that cannibalism is a
constant habit with this degraded race, who
alternately revel in the kidney fat of their
slain or captured enemies, and in the entire
bodies of their own friends and relatives.
Nor can the infant claim any security from
the mother who bore it, against some ruth-
less law, or practice, or superstition, that on
frequent occasions consigns the female pro-
geny, and sometimes both sexes to de-
struction. On authentic testimony, bodies
have been greedily devoured, even in a state
of obvious and loathsome disease ; and a
mother has been observed deliberately de-
stroying her young child, serving it up as
food, and gathering around her the re-
mainder of the family to enjoy the un-
natural banquet.''*
Admitting this horrible statement to be
true — for the author who affirms it, although
he furnishes no authorities on the point, is
trustworthy, and evidently careful in his as-
sertions— it affords no justification for the
abandonment and destruction of the Austra-
lians ; on the contrary, it is an incentive to
greater exertions for their reclamation and
preservation : the New Zealanders, as shown
in my volume on that colony, were inveterate
cannibals ; but, bj'^ the blessing of God on
the labours of the missionaries, this awful
crime was rooted out from the land, and these
now Christian fellow-subjects are among
the finest specimens of our race in all
that pertains to humanity. Unfortunately,
the course at first adopted in Australia was
entirely opposite to that pursued from the
beginning by the missionaries towards the
New Zealanders; and the result of public
and private indifference in the one case, and
of Christian philanthropy in the other, is
manifested in the present condition of the two
races. Recent official reports, from which
the following abstracts are made, afford some
gleams of hope for the preservation of at
least a remnant of this singular people.
Commissioner IVrighVs lieport, Wimmera Dis-
trict, Jamiary 1, 1852. — " All natives able and wil-
ling to work, are sure to find employment. The cha-
racter of the work performed by them, generally
* Westgarth's Victoria, 1853; p. 50-51.
OFFICIAL REPORTS ON ABORIGINES.— VICTORIA.
499
light and of short duration ; but some engage in
permanent employment, and perhaps more will do
so, impelled by the wages given them by the settlers
in the great want of labour caused by the gold-dis-
coveries. At all times, I believe, they received an
amount of remuneration equivalent to the value of
their services in clothing, food, and sometimes money.
At the present time engagements are readily entered
into with such as can be most depended on, at wages
which, in ordinary years, would be looked upoii as
fair for European labour."
Commisswner Ti/er's Rejyort, February 4, 18.52. —
" The Maneero and Omeo tribes still wander over
the district, encamping at the several stock stations,
■where they can obtain food. A very few of these are
occasionally employed as stockmen, shepherds, &c.
The wild blacks, or natives of Gipps' Land, are much
reduced in numbers by disease, and collisions with
the neighbouring tribes. These occasionally visit
some of the stock stations, but can seldom be in-
duced to work."
Commissioner Femvick's Heport, Fehrunry 12,
1852. — " Their harmless deportment, when sober, has
secured to the Melbourne tribes general good feeling
among the settlers and farmers. Their gross number,
up to the end of last year, did not exceed 77, viz.,
4-5 males and 32 females, and only five under 14
years of age, of both sexes. No collision appears to
have taken place between the European and abori-
ginal population in this district, and the conduct of
the natives has, upon the whole, been peaceable
among themselves ; the general state of their health
is likewise said to have been satisfactory. Although
there are instances, as heretofore, of the aborigines
taking service at stations, and in various other occu-
pations, there is as little dependence to be placed
upon them as ever ; they will work only when they
choose."
Commissioner Gray^s Report, Portland Bay Dis-
trict, Bumienyoiig, February 20, 1852. — " They are
now perfectly harmless, and I have not heard of any
outrages whatever with Europeans. Towards civili-
sation they have made no progress. In the course
of twenty years or less, in this district, they will be
extinct, as few or no births take place, and the deaths
from natural causes, and murders amongst them-
selves, are very numerous. Should one of any tribe
die, they consider it imperative to kill one of another
tribe. The settlers are, generally speaking, kind to
them, and will always give remuneration for any
labour they perform ; and at some of the stations a
distance in the interior, owing to the great scarcity
of labour caused by the servants all going to the
gold-mines, there are none but natives to look after
the sheep. In such case they are more likely to re-
main permanent; but in one day they take a fancy to
leave, and no persuasion nor remuneration would be
the means of making them remain."
Commissioner M'Crae's Report, 3Iarch 15, 1852.
— " With the exception of Henry, who is of the
Yarra tribe, ail of the Gipps' Land have been em-
ployed in the immf;diate neighbourhood of Alber-
ton, in the property known as Orr's Special Survey,
during a portion of the last summer and autumn.
They were engaged for two months, and were em-
ploved at first at weeding in the fields, and after-
wards in reaping (nine of them), and served the full
term of their engagement. According to my infor-
mation, they worked steadily as many hours as the
whites who were their fellow-labourers, and did tlie
same amount of work. In addition to the usual
ration of the country, they had each (the nine) one
ninth of a bottle of rum diluted and half a fig of to-
bacco. Their pay, or the consideration given for the
labour of each, is stated to have been in money £2,
and that there was also given to the party a gun of
the value of -SOs., one blanket, three shirts, one pair
of trousers or cap, and about 2s. Qd. worth of powder
and shot. I am also informed, by one of their em-
ployers, that a match was made between a party of
three whites and another party consisting of two
blacks and one white, which should reap soonest, and
in the best manner, the greatest breadth or extent of
wheat, and that the black party beat the whites. I
regret to be obliged to mention, that two gallons of
rum seems to have been the wager in this trial of
skill ; but as I was in the immediate neighbourhood
of the reapers, and heard of no disturbance, I have
no doubt that the rum (if then used) was consumed
chiefly by a large party of whites, and probably much
diluted, as they were all most anxious to get in their
crops, that they might start for Mount Alexander.
I would beg that it may be borne in mind that the
employers, the persons mainly interested in the labour
of the natives, always worked in the field with them,
and saw, as it was evidently their interest to see, that
the blacks had their rations according to agreement,
and that they were all well treated by their fellow-
labourers the whites.
" It would, therefore, appear, if I may be allowed
to offer an opinion (which I do after a residence of
twelve years in the colony, and many opportunities of
studying the habits and dispositions of the abori-
gines), that in favourable circumstances, such as I
have just brought under your notice, where the
employer offers a fair remuneration, keeps faith with
the black natives, and ivorks icith them, that their
labour, not much if at all inferior in reaping (if in-
structed) to that of the whites, may be made avail-
able. I regret that I cannot here (or Melbourne)
mention the number of acres weeded and reaped by
these Gipps' Land blacks, but I know that it is con-
siderable, probably from 100 to 120 acres. It may
occur to you, that the payment in money stated to
have been given to the blacks is large; be this as it
may, it is beyond doubt that the work has been done
by them. You will observe that a gun appears to
have been given for part payment to the gang, in
ignorance, doubtless, of the law. I shall desire my
chief constable to reclaim it as soon as possible, see-
ing that an equivalent is given in money or in useful
articles."
Report of W. Thomas, Esq., Guardian of Abori-
gines, dated July 5, 1852. — " There has not been, I
am happy to state, any collision whatever between
the white and aboriginal population in the counties
of Bourke, Mornington, and Evelyn, during the last
six months, nor has any aboriginal native been com-
mitted from the interior, evident proof, notwithstand-
ing the temptations the aborigines are exposed to,
that there is a growing good feeling between them
and the colonists. Such, however, cannot be said
among themselves. In these counties no less than
four murders inter se have been committed, neither
of which was seen by any European ; so that the
parties concerned therein, if known, cannot be
brought to punishment, owing to the inadaptation
of our laws to m.eet aboriginal delinquents when
their crimes are inter se.
" The present condition of the aborigines have no
way improved, but lamentably deteriorated. The
discovery of gold has greatly affected their moral
500
STATE OF THE ABORIGINES.— VICTORIA— 1852.
condition; at all events those -nho locate these coun-
ties or make transient visits to them, with the excep-
tion of the Gipps' Land blacks, who appear much
improved. There have been, during the last half
year, upwards of 300 aboriginal natives at one time
in these counties, from the N.N.W., AV., and E.
tribes ; and all, except those from the E. (generally
speaking), appear to have become habitual drunkards,
male and female — I allude to the young— and in con-
sequence are with great difficulty kept from the town.
AA'hen there, they no longer ply with their tomahawks
to cut wood for the inhabitants, but prowl about the
public-houses and vile avenues, where they are en-
couraged by the improvident gold-diggers in drink-
ing, even to rewarding them for so doing. On vai'ious
occasions they have been so drunk as to be found
lying in the highways during the night. Their thirst
and propensity for ardent spirits is so great, that I have
known them recently to go thirty miles to indulge
their appetites. They are now brought to an awful
and dangerous state of degradation, so that the speedy
extinction of the Melbourne and Berrabool tribes are
inevitable. Although the law is stringent upon those
■who supply blacks with liquor, it is now craftily
evaded by them. Wherever a public-house is, in
town or the bush, they will get drink. At Brighton
they will give any child they see playing about, a
few pence to get them a bottle of rum ; in town they
are so crafty, that if they see an idle fellow about
they will give him 6c?. or more to purchase them the
same. Xor are they destitute of the means. One
black showed me three half-crowns, and some smaller
silver, that he and another had got for two days
drinking. The consequence is, that their frames are
enervated in the absence of regular exercise, and
their blood corrupted through continued dissipation ;
so much so, that, when seized with a violent cold,
inflammation follows so rapid that it is impossible in
most cases to save them. The old and middle-aged do
not die in any proportion to the young, who ' do not
live out half their days.' Those who die by the visita-
tion of the devil, are double the number of those who
die by the visitation of God."
[Six tribes frequent the district under charge of
Mr. Thomas ; their aggregate number in June, 1852,
was men, 235; women, 106; children, 7 :— thus the
females were not half the number of the males. In
one tribe with 10 women, there was no child; in
another with 37 women, only two children. There
are reserves set aside for their use, but they are
seldom occupied ; flour, sugar, tea, and tobacco are
given to the sick and aged.]
Further Report from Mr. Thomas, dated Jan-
uary 15, 1853 : — " During the last six months no
collision whatever has taken place between the
white and aboriginal population in the counties of
Bourke, Mornington, and Evelyn. As a colony,
though of but seventeen years ' standing, we may
congratulate ourselves, that the weapons of opposi-
tion between us and our sable fellow-subjects are
laid aside; outrages on person and property have
ceased, and the reaping-hook has been taken up for
the benefit of the settler, in lieu of the spear against
him ; we may safely state that loop-holes in huts are
no more needed, nor armed police, to keep aborigi-
nese in awe.
"Although peaceful with the white population,
the lends among themselves still continue. The
^arra olacks have, the whole of the past six m.onths,
been, comparatively speaking, as industrious as
l!-uropeans, which, in these times of scarcity of
labour, has been most opportunely for the squatter,
sheep-farmer, and agriculturist. Five and six of
them were for three weeks engaged at lOs. per week
and rations at one station, performed their work
well, remaining as agreed upon, till the washing was
over. From this station they went to another, and
so on, to my knowledge, at four sheep-stations near
the source of the Plenty. At last an altercation had
near taken place. The blacks came to me, on ray
having said ' they would not go to the next station
under 25s. per week.' 1 was displeased with them,
saying they had worked for 10s. and -15s. at the
other stations ; that they must not deceive Mr.
Cammeron. I found that' the blacks had been put
up to this by a white man. They, in consequence,
went at 15s., and finished their work. The middle-
aged blacks remained, during November and De-
cember, at the foot of Mount Disappointment, where
are, S.E. of the marshes, some extensive farms.
They were engaged cutting bark, repairing of barn-
roois, weeding the wheat and oats from thistles, &c.
This tribe are all now together gathering in the
harvest, reaping, &c. An experienced farmer gave
me to understand, that most of them were occupied
on his and the surrounding farms : he had several
reaping ; two of whom cut each half-an-acre per day.
All were not so ready. The middle-aged generally
reap sitting, working themselves forward as they
go on.
" Taking a general view of the two tribes locating
these three counties, although, at every opportunity,
like white profligates, the young are confirmed
drunkards, yet they have, the last six months,
yielded no small degree of labour to the community,
which, in this dearthy supply of labour, has been of
infinite service, and frankly acknowledged by settlers
and farmers. All efforts, however, to further im-
prove their condition, have been tried without avail.
I have pressed, and the farmers and others also have
urged, their becoming as we are, not merely in work
and diet ; but to stop in house, and open convenient
places at night, comfortably clad, is what they will
hear nought of. The hook, axe, or bridle down, and
all further of civilisation for the day is over. Off
goes apparel, and they bask under the canopy of
heaven as in their primitive wildness, evidently en-
joying their freedom from incumbrance ; nor do I
conceive any further advancement beyond what they
have obtained practicable to those' in the settled
districts, nor have they any desire to be meddled
with further. Such is their wandering propensities,
that not all the kindness, entreaty, or persuasion
can secure them one day beyond their determination,
and they have latterly been particularly cautious
how they make bargains for labour on this account.
The malediction pronounced upon the first offspring
after the fall, seems peculiarly to meet the voluntary
degradation of this people — ' fugitives upon the face
of the earth.' Nor do I know of any likely plan for
improving the race generally, than that suggested to
your honour of the 17th September last, the purport
of which was, if not coercion, the removing the
young as early as possible from their districts, and
placing them under instruction. When out of their
districts, they are compelled to be useful and sta-
tionary. There are two female servants in N. and
S. Bourke, and two male servants in the county of
Mornington, all from the westward, and all valuable
servants, giving the greatest satisfaction."
Extract of Report from E. Bell, Esq., Commis
sioner of Crotcti Lands, Wimmera, 10th January
UTILITY OF THE ABORIGINES— VICTORIA— 1852.
501
1853. — "Their usefulness to the white population
has been very much increased duriufr the present
dearth of labour, produced by the attractions of the
gold-fields. There is scarcely a station which the
natives are in the habit of frequenting, where they
have not been more or less employed. The system
of turning sheep adrift and herding them like cattle,
which has been forced upon the settlers, to a great
degree, by the impossibility of procuring shepherds,
is one for which their knowledge of the country, and
facility of tracking, render them peculiarly adapted,
and they have been found of great service in this
way. They appear to be gradually acquiring a
knowledge of the value of money, and have been
temporarily engaged at rates of wages which, in
ordinary times, would be considered high for emi-
grant labour. Their migratory propensities are not,
however, diminished : and even those who have been
longest employed on stations, and appear to have
acquired a degree of European civilisation in dress
and habits of living, are not to be debarred the
luxury of occasionally throwing off the restraints of
civilised life, and visiting their accustomed haunts,
and joining in the sports and savage, though gene-
rally harmless, warfare of their respective tribes.
Very few of them have engaged in the search for
gold."
Extract of Mejwrt from Charles J. Si/ers, Esq.,
Commissioner of Crown Lands, Gipps* Land, \5th
January, 1853. — " The dearth of European labour,
occasioned by the discovery of the gold-fields, has no
doubt led to improvement in their position in rela-
tion to the Europeans, inasmuch as a portion of the
labour thus withdrawn has been re])laced by the
aborigines, and the intercourse between the two
races consequently increased. Their services have
been in requisition as sheep -washers, stockmen,
shepherds, and reapers, and, in two or three in-
stances, even as house-servants. In a letter to me
from Mr. W. O. Raymond, a large stockholder in
this district, who employed the Dergo tribe in sheep-
washing (I believe 12,000 sheep), that gentleman
states — ' I have found them most useful ; indeed, I
could not have washed my sheep without them. I
paid them for each day's wages Is. each.' Some
wei'e also employed in washing Mr. Macmillan's
sheep. Mr. Campbell, the superintendent of the
Swan Reach station, has acquainted me, that he has
occasionally employed a few of them as shepherds,
and that two remained in that capacity for seven
weeks, but that he could not depend upon their con-
tinuing such avocations for any length of time con-
secutively. At Bavinsdale, the head station of
Messrs. R. Campbell and Co., some have been use-
fully employed in reaping ; and at Lucknuon, Mr.
F. Jones has obtained the services of several as
shepherds, and others as reapers. Mr. Hoddinoth, a
sheep-farmer, near Port Albert, has informed me,
that he has employed several of the Yarra tribe as
shepherds, and that they have behaved very well.
Besides these, I have heard that other settlers have
availed themselves of their services as shepherds ;
among whom have been mentioned Mr. James
Davis, of Woodside ; Mr. James M'Farlane, of Hay-
field ; and Mr, Wilkie, of Tongcomungee. Two of
the Plains tribe have been in my service for several
months, one as cook and waiter, and the other as
messenger. They made themselves generally useful,
and behaved remarkably w^U ; but I have been
recently obliged to accede to their request for per-
mission to return to their tribe.
" Notwithstanding the opportunities they have
had, by their increased intercourse with the settlers,
I cannot say that they have made any progress in
civilisation. They still conform to their savage
habits and mode of life. Too idle to cultivate the
soil and to lay up provision for to-morrow, they hold
to their wandering propensities when unemployed by
the Avhite population ; and are satisfied with the
scanty food which their indolent life allows them to
obtain from the gum-trees, or from the rivers and
lakes.
" P.S. — Since writing the above, I have received a
letter from Mr. F. Jones, on the subject of the em-
ployment of the aborigines, of which the following is
an exti'act : — ' It is no figure of speech to assert that,
wanting their services, I could neither have washed
my sheep, nor secured my wheat-crop this season ;
for instance, eight of them reaped four and a-half
acres in two days, with the help of only one white
labourer : nor, indeed, could I have carried on the
ordinary work of the station without their assistance.
Two lads have shepherded 2,000 sheep since the
month of May last. They have certainly proved
themselves more useful generally, in time of need,
than I ever expected.' "
Extract of a Report from H. W. H. Smythe, Esq.,
dated Commissioner of Crown Lands' Office, May Day
Hills, I8th January, 1853. — "In January last, I
made a special report as to the numerical strength ni
the aborigines In this district, estimating them as
399 of men, women, and children. Since then I
have personally witnessed the death of several of
them, and my impression is that they are rapidly
disappearing from the face of the earth. I perceive
the use of intoxicating liquors is greatly on the
increase ; and, whilst under its influence, the natives
are very dangerous. There are instances where
some of them make themselves useful as stock-men
and bullock-drivers, but these cases are the excep-
tions. Even the allurement of gold-seeking cannot
overcome the natural Indolence of their disposition
The Chinaman, the Lascar, the New Zealander,
Malay, and African, are to be seen working In par-
ties, but in no case is the aborigine to be met with.'
From William Gray, Esq., Crown Lands' Office,
Portland Bay District, February 3, 1853. — "I am
very sorry to say, the aborigines make no progress
towards civilisation, nor is there any change in theii
miserable condition. No outrage of any kind has
been brought under my observation as having been
committed by or upon them. In caiTying out their
own laws, they frequently commit, amongst them-
selves, what would be constituted murder by Eu-
ropeans. This, coupled with numerous deaths from
consumption, and from no births taking place, they
will soon become extinct. The settlers are kind to
them, and will at any time give them employment ;
but no dependence can be placed on their remaining
for any period, as their laws make it imperative upon
them to attend various meetings of tribes to go
through certain ceremonies. However, on some of
the distant stations, when they have not been cor-
rupted by Europeans, and still keep to their primitive
state, more confidence can be placed in their remain-
ing ; for if the men go, they will leave the women to
do the work. Some make shepherds at these sta-
tions ; and in sheep-washing, at all stations, they are
of considerable service, and some few can even shear
sheep." [The official reports vary, but the whole tenor
is in favour of the aborigines: the advantage of just
dealing and kind treatment is fully exemplified.]
502
IMMIGRATION— VICTORIA, 18ol-'2— EDUCATION.
Since the census of INIarch, 1851, there
have been no complete returns of the popula-
tion. The immigration during 1851, was : —
Immigrants.
Males.
Females
Total.
Assisted by Government .
Unassisted
1,383
1,G88
1,168
1,164
2,551
2,852
Total
3,071
2,332
5,403
A large proportion of these were adults —
viz., above 14 years of age — males, 2,477;
females, 1,741=4,218: the number under
12 mouths was 86 : — of the unassisted, 2,488
were from England, and 286 from Scotland ;
of the assisted, 980 were Irish, 841 English,
and 726 Scotch. The deaths during the
voyage, of the assisted immigrants, Avere 47,
of whom 22 were under one year old, and 39
under 14 years of age : the births during the
voyage, were 27. The monthly immigration,
during 1852, is given at p. 436; it shows
that 104,683 recorded persons arrived in,
and 27,082 departed from, the colony in that
year. There arrived, during the year ending
31st December, 1851, in Victoria, 2,551
assisted, and 2,852 unassisted immigrants.*
On the 31st December, 1852, the popu-
lation within the limits of the colony is
stated officiallv thus : —
Inhabitants.
Increase by Immigration
„ by Births . .
Decrease by Deaths . .
Departure by Sea . . .
Population 31st Dec. 1851
1852
Aborigines, about . .
Total
Males.
74,872
1,868
28,620
Females.
19,792
1,888
2,418
Total.
94,664
3,756
2,105
31,038
83,350
148,627
2,500
366,040
Other accounts give the numbers in Vic-
toria at this period as not less than 200,000.
No returns have yet reached me (March,
1854) of the immigration during 1853. The
following table shows the estimated popula-
tion at the several gold-fields in Aug., 1853 : —
Forest Creek
Bendigo . .
Ballarat
Ovens' . . ,
M'lvor, &c. ,
Total .
Men.
Women
Children
1
Total.
14,100
17,900
6,950
3,100
4,500
2,630
5,100
1,725
435
850
2,410
6,300
1,965
265
650
19,140
29,300
10,640
3,800
6,000
46,500
10,740
11,590
68,880
Any authentic returns which may arrive
from Australia before this " Supplement" be
finally closed, w\\\ be given in the Appendix.
Judging from imperfect data, I think there
are now about 250,000 persons in Victoria.
Details of the number of persons profess-
ing different forms of Christianity, and of
the state of education at the period of the
census in March, 1851, will be found in the
Appendix.
The recent separation of the district from
New South Wales, and the turmoil occa-
sioned by the gold-discoveries, have, it is
stated, precluded the preparation of statistical
returns from Victoria — which, however, are
said to be in progress. With the abundant
means at the command of the authorities, it
is discreditable that these treasuries of facts
have been neglected, and that to a private
indi^ndual (Mr. Westgarth) we are chiefly
indebted for the little that has yet been
done on this head.
The following is from an official return,
showing the state of education on 31st
December, 1852 : —
Denominations.
Schools.
Scholai's.
Support.
Males.
Females.
Total.
By Govern-
ment.
By Voluntary
Contributions.
Church of England . .
Presbyterian . . .
Free Presbyterian . .
Wesleyan ....
Independent . . .
Roman Catholics . .
Total . . .
National
Private
1
36
8
6
7
5
27
1,670
270
189
508
155
1,019
1,413
151
126
387
142
806
3,083
421
315
895
297
1,825
£
3,118
538
303
436
249
1,343
£
1,747
609
375
842
299
1,529
89
3,811
3,025
6,836
5,989
5,403
9
17
292
219
241
253
5.33
472
614
328t
t School- fees.
• By the truly benevolent exertions of Mrs. Chis- I "remittance-roll" which this excellent woman re-
holm many deserving emigrants have been sent to ceived, contained a sum of £2,824, which was sent
Victoria as well as to New South Wales. The first I by 137 persons, in sums varying from 10s. to £150 :
RELIGION— CRIME— AGRICULTURE— VICTORIA, 1852.
503
It would appear from the foregoing, that,
out of a population of nearly 200,000, there
were not 8,000 children under instruction in
the denominational, national, and private
schools. This confirms the statement shown
iu the census of 1851 — viz., that there were
then 22,157 persons who could not read, and
11,557 who could read, but not write.
Crime for 1851-'2, without reference to
increase of population, is thus shown : — •
Years.
Convicted
of Murder.
Felo-
nies.
Misde-
mea-
nours.
Criminals
Executed.
Civil Cases
inSupreme
Court.
1852
1851
2
1
366
151
103
18
2
1
80
72
Religion. — Number of churches and
chapels, December, 1852 — 49 ; attended
generally by 14,520 persons. The church
of England have 13 places of worship — •
Wesleyans, 17; Presbyterians, seven; Inde-
pendents, three ; Baptists, two ; Roman Ca-
tholic, six ; and Jews, one.
Agriculture. — The cultivation and stock
returns are defective. In 1852, there were
under grain-crops — wheat, 16,823; maize, 1;
barley, 411; oats, 2,947; potatoes, 1,978 —
acres. Produce. — Wheat, 498,704 bushels ;
maize, 61 ; barley, 9,431 ; oats, 96,980 ; po-
tatoes, 4,512 — bushels. Live-Stock, in 1852.
—Horses, 34,021 ; horned cattle, 531,380 ;
sheep, 6,551,506; pigs, 8,996 : on all these
there was an increase, as compared with the
previous year, owing partly to large importa-
tions from neighbouring colonies. The land
under vineyards was 107 acres, and the pro-
duce— wine, 4,500 ; brandy, 500 — gallons.
The live-stock slaughtered in 1852, consisted
of — horned cattle, 56,668 ; sheep, 740,996 ;
pigs, 5,106. Boiling-down establishments,
five; sheep slaughtered, 8,000; horned cattle,
600 ; tallow produced 2,000 cwt.*
This agricultural return, from such an
extensive arable colony, exhibits great neglect
of the natural riches of the soil.f Many
attribute the evil of being dependent on
of the above, sixty-one remitted the money for the emi-
gration of their parents. This self-supporting system is
now being extended : the Legislative Council of New
South Wales have placed at the disposal of the
Family Colonizafioti Loan Society ( which origi-
nated with Mrs. Chisholm, the Right Hon. Sydney
Plerbert, Mr. Samuel Sydney, and other philan-
thropic individuals) funds for the promotion of emi-
gration— to be advanced, by way of loan, in part
payment of passages to that colony — and to be re-
paid under easily-obtained guarantees.
foreign countries for a great amount of food
which might be grown at home, to the
squatting system, and the immense tracts
thus monopolised. The system will have to
undergo revision by parliament : all that can
be done here, is to mention a few facts on
both sides of the question.
On 1st July, 1831, unlocated lands in
Australia were, for the first time, sold at the
minimum price of 55. per acre ; on 1st
January, 1839, the up-set price of all lands
was raised to 12^. per acre; and in January,
1843, the minimum price for sales by auction
was fixed at 20.<?. On 19th June, 1850,
orders in council were passed, empowering
the grant of leases of lands for periods not
exceeding one year, for pastoral or other
purposes, and authorising the holder of any
lease to purchase any part of the land
specified in his lease for its fair value, in an
unimproved state, not being less than the
minimum up-set price prescribed by the
government regulations for the time being.
The land sold in the colony up to 30th
June, 1851, was — 63,289 acres, put up at
5*. and 12^. (average price, 13if.), which
brought £41,327; 128,059 acres, refused at
public auction at 205., sold by private sale
at the up-set price, £128,059 ; 198,746 acres
produced by auction, £605,673. Thus,
390,094 acres averaged nearly £2 per acre|
— £775,599. Some lands in the interior
townships brought £10 to £100 per acre.
Under an order in council, the territory
of the colony on 8th March, 1847, was di-
vided into three classes — settled, intermediate,
and unsettled. The first, comprised all lands
within 25 miles of Melbourne, 15 of Geelong,
10 of Portland, Alberton, and Belfast, and
within two miles of the sea-coast of the whole
colony — the estimated area being about
3,000,000 acres; the second, comprised the 16
counties of Victoria and the whole of Gipps'
Land, not contained in the first area — about
20,000,000 acres; the third, the remainder
of the colony — 2,500,000 acres — which may
be sold when surveyed. It is calculated that
there are 20,000,000 acres leased to the
* There were, in Victoria, in 1852, breweries, 13 ;
tannaries, 8 ; coach-manufactories, 20 ; engineer and
foundry establishments, 6 ; ship-building yards, 2 :
and 33 mills for grinding and dressing grain.
t The agricultural advantages of the Australian
colonies are set forth in some Notes, by Mr. Edward
Saunders, of what he " saw, heard, or thought,"
during a visit to those settlements in 1852-'3 ;
printed at Bath by Keane, 1853.
X Land sold in 1852— acres, 258,144, for £701,172
— to 3,134 purchasers ; average £2 14s. per acre.
504 LAND AND '^SQUATTING" SYSTEM EVILS -VICTORIA, 1852.
" squatters," which, at the expiration of
each year of lease, may be put up for sale
by auction, subject to the proviso of per-
mitting the lessee to purchase such portion
as he may require at its fair value.
The quantity of laud situated beyond the
settled districts of Port Phillip in May, 18-i9,
was 29,464,240 acres ; the number of licenses
issued for " runs" — that is, for the pastoral
occupation of these tracts — was 827; and the
average number of acres in each ''run,"
35,627=55f square miles : the fees paid for
licenses in the previous year, amounted to
£18,452, and the assessment on stock, to
£10,385=j€28,837.
The limits are imperfectly defined, as the
squatters objected to pay £2 per lineal mile
for the survey of their runs, which they
asserted would cost £60,000.
The whole area of Victoria is supposed to
be about 62,000,000, of which the squatters
now hold about 60,000,000 acres, paying, in
license-fees, about £14,000, and for assess-
ment on stock, £16,000=£30,000 per an-
num, or at the rate of £500 for each mil-
lion acres of land which has hitherto been
sold at an average price of about £2 per
acre.
It is alleged that the squatters have not
done any act to entitle them to hold the
vast tracts now claimed ; — made no roads,
imported no immigrants, and, with few ex-
ceptions, explored no country. The whole
sum paid by squatters, for 16 years, for
about 60,000,000 acres, was — from 1836
to July, 1851, assessment on stock,* £94,951;
license to depasture ditto, £145,454 : about
870 squatters have thus paid £240,405.
In 1849, eleven squatters held 4^ million
acres, and only paid £320 a-year for the
same.
The views of the colonists, who are not
squatters, are stated at some length by JNIr.
John Pascoe Fawkner (a member of the
Legislative Council, and who designates
himself as the ''founder of the colony.")
He says, that the squatters have held, for
16 years, nearly the whole lands of the
settlement, for which they have paid " some-
where about £15,000 per annum;" while
the land bought by the settlers has been at
" a cost per head to the whole population —
man, woman, and child — upwards of £10
sterling each." In a letter to Sir John
Pakington, Mr. Pawkner dwells at much
• One halfpenny per sheep per annum,
t See Pari. Papers on Australian Crown Land,
6th May, 1853, pp. 158—162.
lengthf on the evils and injustice of the
squatting system, and thus refers to the
pre-emptive right of the leaseholders : —
•' Turn now to the pre-emptive right granted to.
the squatter alongside of some of these country towns.
The government valuator employed to ascertain the
value and fix the price to be paid by the squatter,
did actually (see returns) fix the minimum price of
£1 per acre, alongside of country town-lands sold by
auction for from £8 to above £100 per acre. The
squatter's pre-emptive right and title to lease is based
on, and the orders in council were obtained under
and by virtue of, fraudulent misrepresentations put
forth by the Legislative Council of Sydney, New
South AY ales, and supported by the squatters and
their partisans in London. The committee of the
Legislative Council, and the witnesses they examined,
declared that the lands of the colony were not worth
the smallest coin current in Britain. They did make
some trifling exceptions. And thus, by classing Port
Phillip with the barren parts of New South AVales,
obtained the same rules for this fertile country that
might in part suit that colony — viz., New South
Wales Proper.
" The land-returns made to the legislature here in
June, 1852, of the lands sold to 30th June, 1851,
completely disprove the representations of the above-
named committee and their chosen witnesses. They
distinctly stated that an up-set price of £1 per acre
would prevent the lands from being sold. The above
return is an answer in full to this false statement.
Let us see the extent of this colony or province.
Mr. Westgarth's History of Port Phillip gives the
area of the colony as containing 97,000 square miles.
This gives us in round numbers 62,080,000 acres.
The squatters have for years asserted that they have
all the useful grazing land in their possession beyond
the settled districts. The settled districts are thought
to contain the odd 2,080,000 acres ; therefore the
squatters hold about 60,000,000 acres, and for which
they paid last year license-fees (they say), £14,000,
and by way of assessment (as they say), £16,000, or,
in the gross, £30,000, or at the rate of £500 a-year
for each million of acres for lands that have hitherto
sold at nearly £2 per acre, as per government-returns
furnished to the Legislative Council.
" These men, the squatters, say now, that they
cannot pay one halfpenny ])er annum per head for
the feed of their sheep, and this, too, for land that
sells at nearly £2 per acre, and of which land they
claim to monopolise ten acres for each sheep rent-free.
Yet they say they cannot pay one halfpenny per year
for each ten acres of land, although they get yearly
near 3 lbs. of wool per sheep, worth from 3s. to 4a-. 6(/.
They declare that they will not pay any sum for the
grass used by their flocks and herds, and virtually
that the orders in council have consigned the whole
of the lands of the colony into their hands, and that
they will keep possession of them. To prove this, I
add, that the squatters who have seats in the Legis-
lative Council of Yictoria, declared in the present
sittings of that body, that " they would not tax
themselves ;" and they did join together, and refused
to continue the assessment upon stock of one half-
penny per head per annum upon sheep, and pro-
portionate sum upon cattle and horses.
" The squatters have not done any one act for this
colony, or for this people, to entitle them to such
undue advantages as they claim — viz., to hold pos-
session of 60,000,000 acres of land, a great part of
INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF SQUATTING MONOPOLY.
505
■which is rich agricultural land, for which, to the
extent of from £3 to £4 per acre, would have been
given by public auction, had not the squatter inter-
fered and prevented the sale, after the lands were
advertised, and people collected at the auction-room,
from 50 miles distant, prepared to buy these lands.
The squatter has not done any act to entitle him to
hold his eight or nine hundredth part of 60,000,000
acres for his proportionate share of £14,000 a-year ;
and it is a Avell-known fact, that the lands cultivated
by the squatters is v/orth far more than this sum
yearly, as. per acre being the lowest sum usually
paid in the interior for poor land to graze stock
upon — that is to say, wherever the lands are sold ; —
Kilmore special survey to wit.
" The squatter has not made any roads, nor paid
for making any ; the squatter has not paid any
money to import immigrants from Great Britain or
Ireland, but they have done so to import pagans and
savages from China, from India, and from the South
Sea Islands. The present squatters, with very few
exceptions, did not explore the country — did not
\enture their lives amongst the simple aborigines ;
and the early squatters who did assist to found this
colony, and open up the country, received no reward
nor no encouragement, save a yearly license to graze
their flocks and hei'ds; and the men, in truth and
sober fact, who have ousted the earlier settler, have
been rewarded with what should have fallen to the
real squatter-settlers who explored the country.
" The squatters hold these lands very unequally
amongst them. The government never adopted any
system, but let them take land in any quantities they
chose, without respect to the quantity of stock they
held. In fact, no plan was ever acted upon. The
return of squatters, laid upon the Sydney council
table, and ordered to be printed, May 22nd, 1849,
fully shows this, as follows : —
i (50
o a
3
t2
— 1^
-^
o^f.
o
S £
Land
Monopoly of Land by Squat-
■- a
»H cn
., «
held, in
ters in Yictoiia.
IB
11
3 O
O g
?3
Acres.
z;
^
2
£
"VVTien less than 25,000]
acres are held by each ,
person 3
339
347
3,470
4,599,304
Not above 50,000 ....
153
180
1,800
5,-304,014
100,000 ....
103
162
lfi-20
7,141,107
150,000 ....
33
52
520
3,996,109
200,000 ....
16
31
310
2,660,960
250,000 ....
0
18
160
1,094,638
300,000 ....
f 4
11
110
1,064,805
400,000 ....
3
10
100
1,079,120
450,000 ....
* 1
5
50
408,583
650,000 ....
2
5
60
1,272,000
850,000 ....
I 1
1
10
845,600
* Eleven persons holding 4,570,108 acres.
" Thus, 339 persons, paying £3,470, hold for this
sum, 4,599,304 acres; the next, 153 and 103—256
persons, paying £3,420, hold for this, 12,443,121
acres, nearly three times the first 339 men's portion ;
and the last 11 persons, holding 32 licenses, and
• The consequence of neglected agriculture is
shown in the cost of imported food in the year 1852,
viz., wheat, 87,570; maize, 81,182; barley, oats,
and peas, 25i,803—bti.shcls ; flour and bread, 23,101
tons ; rice, 969,920 lbs. ; potatoes, 3,475 tons ; malt,
DIV. III. 3 R
paying only the sum of £320, hold lands to the
extent of 4,570,108 acres, or within 30,000 acres of
the quantity held by the first 339 persons, paying
£3,470 a-year — viz., for one-tenth of the sum. The
total number of persons accounted for in this return,
with the quantities of land they held, M-as 060 persons,
holding 820 licenses, paying yearly, £8,200, holding
jointly, 29,464,240 acres ; and there are six persons
on the same list, holding seven licenses, paying £70,
Avho refused to return the quantities of land they held.
Possibly the other 30,000,000 acres are held by these
six and the other 660 jointly.
" Now, if 339 persons could claim, by any acts of
theirs, a right to monopolise four millions and a-half of
acres of land, worth at least four millions and a-half
of pounds sterling, what right can another 11 squatters
claim an almost equal quantity, whilst they only pay
£320 a-year to the first number's £3,470 a-year, or
less than one-tenth the sum for nearly the same
quantity of land, worth at least four millions and a-
half of British money ? — £320 a-year for land worth
£4,500,000 ! Again, let us compare 391,094 acres, a
less quantity of land than is held singly by each of
the 11 individuals before referred to. These 391,094
acres were sold ; part by private sale, part by public
auction ; some put up at 5s, per acre, part put up at
125. per acre ;■ and yet these lands realised £776,841
odd. Each of the above 11 persons hold lands that
are, or may be, worth £2 per acre — lands worth
£776,841 to each of the eleven — yet they only pay
less than £30 each, or, collectively, £320 a-year for
eleven times as much land as sold for £776,841, for
upwards of 4,500,000 acres; that is to say, they hold
these lands, or did hold them, according to the return
quoted before, and the present holders claim under
their title.
" A large population are now spread and spreading
over this colony. There are numerous small towns
and villages laid out through the length and the
breadth of the country. The colony is in reality
settled in its breadth and length ; and the discovery
of gold has introduced many thousands, who are
fixing themselves in the interior, and many more
thousands are coming. These people want bread-
stuffs. The carriage from the town costs in winter
from £50 to £180 per ton. Bread or flour costs these
prices for carriage only. These bread-stufl's can be
grown on the lands adjoining the mines, and that,
too, from 30 to 50 bushels of wheat per acre, upon
lands that the squatters say it takes 10 acres for a
sheep, and they cannot pay one halfpenny per sheep
per annum.*
" Yet they demand to keep these lands. The lands
are really worth, where good, from 20s. to 50s, an
acre, and plenty of people ready to buy them ; and
these poor squatters say they cannot pay one half-
penny per 10 acres. Is this just to the people here ."
Is the prevention of these lands from sale, and the
withholding this money from the treasury, and from
importing immigrants — is this politic, or is it just?
These lands could be sold. The money would help
Great Britain, by finding vent for its surplus popula-
tion. This money would create a vast demand for
her manufactures, as every immigrant, Avhen settled
here, demands and consumes at least £10 worth of
British goods yearly, A pauper can thus be taken
2,621 bushels : total value, £564,881, Quantity
and value exported in 1852 : — Wheat, 25,249; bar-
ley, oats, and peas, 627 — bushels ; rice, 31,696 lbs, ;
potatoes, 34 tons : total value, £12,304. About
15,000 tons of flour are required for 1853,
50G
THE CASE ON BEHALF OF THE SQUATTERS.
from the ranks of the tax-eaters, and made a tax-
contributor. Thousands— nay millions of British
subjects can be provided with homes here, and made
(them and their families) comfortable — yes, inde-
pendent and happy— instead of locking up this fine
country in the hands of less than 1,000 persons —
these 60,000,000 acres."*
The case of tlie squatters is set forth
in a petition to the Queen in September,
185.2, of which the following is an ab-
stract : —
" That the great bulk of the waste lands of the
Crown in this colony was first discovered and occupied
by the present licensed occupants, or by their prede-
cessors, whose interests in such waste lands, as con-
ferred by the Crown, they purchased, and w^hom they
now represent.
" That the flocks and herds introduced by your
Majesty's petitioners and their predecessors have
given a value to the land which could have been
imparted to it in no other way, and have been the
means of creating an export of wool and tallow,
which has been hitherto the chief cause of the
prosperity of this colony, and proved of vast impor-
tance to the mother-country.
" That the value of this export of wool and tallow
amounted, in 1850, to upwards of £1,000,000 sterling.
" That in the discovery and settlement of this
countiy, your Majesty's petitioners, and those whom
they represent, expended much capital, experienced
great personal hardships, and made great social
sacrifices — were continually exposed to great risk of
life and property, passing a life of great hardship and
privation, and that for many years, owing to the high
price of labour, to the losses consequent on a new
settlement, and other causes, the profits of your
petitioners were so small and ])recarious, that many
of the first settlers became insolvent.
" That in consideration of the causes shortly
stated above, and for divers other good reasons, an
act was passed by the Tmpe/ial Parliament in the
year 1846, empowering your Majesty to grant leases
of eight and 14 years to your petitioners, and to make
regulation, by order in council, as to the terms on
which such leases should be granted, and for other
matters connected therewith, as more fully alluded
to in the explanatory despatches of your Majesty's
secretary of state to the governor of New South
AVales, accompanying the orders in council.
" That in pursuance of the authority thus vested
in your Majesty, your Majesty did, on the 8th day
of March, 1847, by order in council, divide the
lands of this colony into three classes, called re-
spectively the settled, intermediate, and unsettled
districts.
" That by these orders in council, your Majesty
declared that the occupants of land in the unsettled
districts should be entitled to demand leases of their
respective runs, and the governor was empowered to
grant such leases for 14 years, subject to certain
reservations for public purposes therein specified.
"That within lands coming w'ithin the description
of intermediate lands, your Majesty further declared
that leases shotdd be acquired on similar conditions,
but that they should only lust for eight years, and
that at the expiration of each year of the lease, the
governor, on giving to the lessee 60 days' notice,
might offer the whole or any part of such lands for
• Pari. Tapers, 6th May, 1863, pp. 159—60.
sale by auction, subject to the right of the lessee to
purchase any portion of them at their fair value,
ascertained by arbitration in the mode pointed out
by such orders.
" That in the settled district, leases for exclusively
pastoral purposes should be granted for one year, but
revocable should the land be required for sale.
" That the settled district comprises all lands
within 25 miles of Melbourne ; 15 miles of Geelong ;
10 miles of Portland, Alberton, and Belfast ; and
within two miles of the sea-coast of the whole colony.
It is computed to contain an area of about 3,000,000
acres.
" That the intermediate district comprises the 16
counties of Victoria, and the whole of Gipps' Land,
not contained in the settled district, and is computed
to contain about 20,000,000 acres.
"That the purchased lands amount to about
400,000 acres, not one-tenth part of which has ever as
yet been brought under the plough — while the culti-
vation of the arable lands which were under tillage
previous to the discovery of the gold, has been, in a
great measure, since then abandoned for the more
lucrative pursuit of gold-digging, and that there are
upwards of 2,500,000 acres which may be put up for
sale by public competition as soon as the surveys of
them are complete ; and 20,000,000 which may be
put up for sale at the expiration of each year of lease,
subject to the proviso permitting the lessee to purchase
such portion as he may require at its fair value; so
that with a population of 120,000, or even if it
amounted to many millions, there is no just pretence
for saying that there is not sufiicient land at present
obtainable for all agricultural purposes required by
the colony, or that the lands of the colony would be
confiscated or occupied prejudicially to the general
interests of the colony, if leases for the limited term.s
contemplated by the orders in council, were issued
to the licensed occupants, the. public interest being
protected by the proviso above cited.
" That your petitioners have made their claims for
leases within the time prescribed by the orders in
council, but that, owing to some cause with which
your petitioners are not acquainted, the lieutenant-
governor of this colony has not issued any leases to
your petitioners, nor has he declared when they are
to issue, nor the time from which they are to date,
although frequently requested so to do, and the
governor-general in the neighbouring colony of New-
South Wales has declared, that, in that colony, leases
under these orders are to issue and to bear date 1st
day of January, 1852.
" That on the faith of these orders in council
many persons have invested their entire capital in
the purchase of runs, and that claims to leases, with
the privilege of purchasing at a valuation, were made
transferable through the sanction of government, by
the proclamation of the 30th June, 1848; the language
of which is so clear and expressed, as to the right
to sell leases, which many of }'Our petitioners have
bought, that they cannot but consider that it will be
impossible to deprive your Majesty's petitioners of
the rights acquired by them under so express a
sanction, without disregarding entirely those prin-
ciples which are essential to the protection of property
and of public faith.
" That very large sums of money have, upon the
faith of the above proclamation, been paid by persons
settling in this colony, in the purchase of leases by
such proclamation authorised to be sold, believing
that the capital brought over by them for the jjurpose
of investment and enterprise, could not be more
securely laid out, or more beneficially employed, tban
in the acquiring of an interest guaranteed by the
Crown, in connection with an occupation to which the
colony owed its progress, and by which the mother-
country had been, and still is, immensely benefited.
" That the withholding of leases, on the part of the
government, has discouraged your petitioners from
taking those steps for dispensing with labour which
they might otherwise have taken, by fencing and
procuring permanent water by artificial means. The
present great want of manual labour in the colony,
joined with the before-mentioned withholding of the
leases, is certain materially to impair, both in quality
and quantity, that export of wool, which has conduced
so much to the jiast prosperity of this colony, and has
at the same time ])romoted the manufacturing in-
terests of the mother-country.
" That a party in this colony look with jealousy at
the increased value which the holdings of your
petitioners, in common M'ith all other property, are
likely to derive from the discovery of gold, and as
your petitioners are informed, have petitioned your
Majesty to revoke the orders in council, and to
break your Majesty's promise, and the good faith of
parliament, pledged to your petitioners.
" That your petitioners feel that it might be con-
sidered an insult to your Majesty to conclude with
a prayer, that your Majesty would preserve inviolate
a pledge solemnly given. It is, therefore, from no
distrust in your Majesty's good faith that they nov/
approach your Majesty on this subject, which they
would not have done did they not fear that their
silence might be construed into an approval of the
proceedings of these persons before-mentioned, and
an indifference to their own rights.
" Your petitioners therefore pray, that
your Majesty will give directions to the lieu-
tenant-governor* of Victoria, to carry out the
orders in council in the spirit in which they
were made, by issuing leases to your petitioners,
dated, as proposed by the governor-general in
New South Wales, from the first day of Januarj-,
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, and
securing to them the rights guaranteed by these
orders.
" And your petitioners will ever pray."
'Signed by ninety-two licensed occupants.)
The possession of a lease would the better
enable a squatter to sell his right of pastu-
rage and power of pre-emption of the land,
at what is called a " fair valuation. '^
It is, however, impossible to value that of
which the value has never been tested,
especially in a new country, where no fixed
data of any description exist, and where
land, worth one day 205., may, before the
end of a month, be sold for £50 an acre.
Lieutenant-governor Latrobe has written
a long (85 paragraphs) and able despatch
on this highly-important subject,"'^ The
gist of his opinions seem to be conveyed in
the following extract from that despatch :
refen'ing to the difficulty of ascertaining the
• Sea Pari. Papers, 6th May, 1853, pp. 97 to 114,
dated Melbourne, 3rd September, 1852.
worth of land, and to the right claimed by the
squatters of purchasing any of, or all, the
vast territory now held by them under lease
at 20s. per acre, Mr. Ijatrobe says : —
" Even lands sold at public auction are seen,
every hour, and on every hand, to be transferred at
hundreds per cent, over the original cost. The
system of open sale by auction has at least this ad-
vantage— that whatever fluctuation the times may
produce, the government does not come into collision
with popular feeling or popular suspicion, right or
wrong. But no system whatever, however seemingly
just and carefully administered, will relieve the go-
vernment from the odium of having betrayed the
public interests, whether from incaution or igno-
rance, or by design, if the land valued to-day at a
given price should prove, in the hands of the fortu-
nate purchaser under pre-emptive right, to be con-
sidered worth fifty times as much to-morrow. And
in the state in which this colony now is, the occur-
rence of such cases is unavoidable, and I make no
doubt must have their effect upon the mass of the
population, already disposed to dispute the justice of
the pre-emptive right of a limited and distinct class,
and to chafe under the imaginary or real obstacles
which the advantages claimed by them interpose to
the unlimited purchase of crown-lands, to which the
ready acquisition of great and unexpected wealth
has disposed the whole community.
"71. I cannot go further into detail ; but I woidd
earnestly seek to impress upon her Majesty's go-
vernment, that the concession of a right of ])re-
emption so extended to the licensee, claimed as it Ls
even now by the mere applicants for lease, was
scarcely justifiable or called for, even were it not
found to involve so great an abandonment of the
system of open sale by auction, which had woi-ked
so well and advantageously for the colonial interests,
and the introduction of a system of valuation which
must bring the government and the public feeling,
if once aroused, into collision, and which never can
be satisfactorily administered under the present ex-
traordinary circumstances of the colony.
" 72. Taking the view which I am necessitated to
do of the whole question, and of the consequences
which the carrying out of these orders in council in
their integrity in Victoria might entail, I cannot
discharge my duty otherwise than by pressing the
facts set forth in the above statement, and in the
enclosures to this despatch, upon the most serious
attention of her ISIajesty's government. I would
make every allowance for the weakness, want of
correct information, or unsound reasoning shown by
either of the parties standing in open opposition to
each other, and for the influence of passing oc-
currences upon the temper of the colonists. I ad-
mit the extreme view which the stock-holder is now
disposed to take of rights or claims, which, how-
ever originally unsought, are now held to be con-
ceded, and therefore to be asserted at all hazards.
I concede, on the other hand, that there may not
only be much ignorance and prejudice in the view
taken of the real result of the concessions made
under the orders in council in favour of the pastoral
interest, provided tiiat the power of government to
sell land, when required. Mere once shown to be
undoubted. Further, that the object aimed at by
some who mingle in the discussion on what must be
called the popular side, though not at this time fully
508 EMBARRASSING CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE LAND QUESTION.
I declared, is nothing short of the entire sacrifice of
I the pastoral interest, in favour of the passions, and
j cravings, and supposed advantage of the large monied
population springing up amongst us. But I am con-
strained to look upon the whole question as one of a
very serious character, and to conclude that the
• revision of the orders in council of IMarch, 1847, as
far as it may be legally practicable, is most un-
doubtedly called for.
j " 73. That the pastoral interest should be pro-
I tected requires no demonstration. Its due main-
I tenance is, for the present, as necessary to the vcelfare
and prosperity of the province, as for the advantage
of the mother-country. It never can be overlooked,
that but for the supplies which it has been enabled
to pour into the gold districts, to the assistance of
the thousands upon thousands, rushing without due
preparation and foresight beyond the reach of the
I ordinary means of sustenance, the riches of the
I gold-fields themselves could never have been de-
veloped as they have been. The peculiar and em-
I barrassing circumstances in which this great interest
is seen to be placed, in consequence of these very
gold-discoveries, may present further argument why
it should meet with every degree of consideration.
The fullest assurance should be given that the oc-
cupant ol' the Avaste lands of the Crown for pastoral
purposes, whether in the ' intermediate' or ' un-
settled districts,' will be protected in his occupation
till such time as the progress of the colony may
demand the appropriation of the land to other pur-
poses ; and to this end it is imperative that a lease
should issue in such form as may at least place his
position with regard to the Crown and the public
beyond all doubt.
" To the concession of a pre-emptive right of pur-
chase to a certain limited portion of land, I find no
objection opposed of sufficient weight as the case
now stands, to justify denial. The precise amount
within the maximum area decided upon, should be
determined under such rules of general application,
and further special consideration in each case, as the
lieutenant-governor and Executive Council may pre-
scribe ; but beyond this, I think it were well if all
claim to the exercise of a pre-emptive right of pui'-
chase over lands beyond the settled districts of the
colony, held under lease, should be extinguished.
The restriction upon the power of sale to any but the
lessee himself should be done away with ; and be-
yond the limited exercise of pre-emptive right of
purchase of sections containing homestead and im-
provements, already adverted to, no departure from
open sale by auction admitted, either in the case of
land applied for and sold at the solicitation of the
lessee, or that which may be brought into the market
by the lieutenant-governor, from a view of the public
requirements.
" 74. If the orders in council, when properly
interpreted, are seen to have given to the stock-
holder rights, which cannot now be justly taken
away — I believe I speak the sentiments of the
colonists as a body — let compensation be made, at
any sacrifice; but, at every ri.sk, let these exclusive
rights, where they are seen to operate to the public
' disadvantage, in appearance, if not in reality, be
j done away with.
I " 75. Further, the power of the Crown to resume
I possession, for ap])ropriation to the public service,
I or to dispose by open sale of such portions of land,
j in any quarter of the colony, as may clearly be
! judged necessary for the public advantage, must be
placed beyond all contestation. The circumstances
of the times, and the changes now operating on the
character, means, and prospects of the great mass of
the colonists, urgently require that this should be
the case. The pastoral interest, great as it undeniably
is, cannot be opposed to the forward and irrepres-
sible movement of regular settlement in any direc-
tion, or advance a claim, sustained by the annual
payment of a rent, it may be, of less than one
farthing per acre, to retain possession, with the
privilege of purchasing without competition, of lands
which, did no such claim exist, might be thrown
open to settled occupation and improvement, under
a system of sale, which would at least restore all
interests to the same level, and give room for no
charge of mismanagement or favouritism on the part
of the government of the colony. The pastoral in-
terests must become more restricted, as the agricul-
tural may be presumed to acquire strength, by every
sale of land.
" 76. But were these changes elfected, I do not
anticipate that the pastoral interests M'ould be
seriously perilled or injured for many years to come;
for it would be the duty of government, as well as
to the benefit of the colony, that the power which it
might possess of bringing land into the market
should not be lightly exercised ; the undoubted re-
quirements of the community always being held dis-
tinct from the wishes and speculations of individuals.
In many parts of the country, especially those tra-
versed by the auriferous strata, or adjacent to them,
undisturbed tenure for any length of time might be
very doubtful; for no law or regulation could protect
the occupant for pastoral purposes from the effects
of the discovery of the precious metal in any abun-
dance, and the consequences which must immediately
follow, or which might be entailed before long, by
the necessity of providing for the wants and meeting
the reasonable cravings of a large population, pre-
cipitating itself upon a given portion of the country.
" But I repeat, that such curtailment of the rights
proposed to be conveyed by the original orders in
council, need not of itself be seriously detrimental to
the interests of the stock-holder. At the same time,
it would do away with what is believed to be a
grievance, even if it be not so, and that by a body
of which the weight and power is increasing day by
day, through large accessions from without, and the
rapid acquisition of wealth ; a body which will
always command the support of the press, because it
pays for support, is more likely to be swayed and to
act by impulse, and over whom the law and the go-
vernment will only maintain their ascendancy in
proportion as it may be clear that both the law and
the government which administers it are impartial,
and opposed to the protection and advancement
of one class of the community in preference to
another."*
It must be evident from the foregoing,
that the Imperial Parliament can alone settle
the question. The great demand for land
after the gold- discoveries, and the strong
public outcry on the neglect of the local
government to put up for auction sufficient
to meet the wants of the community, at
length caused a quantity to be offered
for sale. The following shows the number
* Pari. Papers, 6th May, 1853, pp. 109—110.
LAND SOLD IN VICTORIA, AND PURCHASE-MONEY~1852.
509
of acres sold, and the purchase-money for
the same, during the year 1852 : —
Counties.
Acres.
Purchase
Money.
Bourke . . .
Grant . . .
Dalhousie . .
Villiers . . .
]Mornington
Normanby
Dundas . .
Evelyn . , .
Polworth .
Talbot . . .
Grenville . .
Hampden . .
Ripon . . .
Unnamed . .
Pre-emptive .
Total
63,102
42,472
6,215
27,050
18,881
3,779
189
10,812
8,544
241
457
10
6
1,905
74,474
258,144*
£
310,545
139,145
33,698
58,492
25,929
7,999
3,064
12,926
22,375
4,715
5,426
272
20
3,678
76,677
711,159
Government. — On 1st July, 1851, Port
Phillip district was separated from New
South Wales, and erected into a colony,
under the title of Victoria. A Legislative
Council was formed similar to that of New
* Of this, in town lots, 785 acres ; suburban,
15,636; country, 231,956; special lots, 9,765 acres.
+ A number of respectable colonists in January,
1854, presented Lieutenant-governor Latrobe, before
his retirement from Victoria, with a handsome gold
vase, in testimony of their esteem for his character.
X Form of Constitution proposed by the Select Com-
mittee.— That the legislature of Victoria should consist
of two chambers, to be designated respectively the
House of Representatives and the senate. The senate
to be wholly elective, neither the Crown nor the
House of Representatives having any direct voice in,
or veto upon, the election of its members. No
senator to be eligible unless he be thirty years of
age. The property-qualification of a senator to be a
freehold of £10,000 value, or producing an income
of £1,000, which qualification must be held for one
year previous to his election. A senator must be a
British-born subject, and a resident in the colony for
five years. The qualification of an elector to the
senate to be one of the following : — 1st. Possessor of
a freehold valued at £1,000, or producing £100
a-year of income. 2nd. Person having in possession
a leasehold estate which shall have been held for one
year, and shall have three years to' run, and which
shall confer upon him a bona fide interest over all
charges and outgoings of £300 annually ; and any
tenant in occupation of any leasehold estate who shall
pay the sum of £300 as the rent thereof. 3rd. Gra-
duates of any university in the British dominions ;
barristers and solicitors on the roll of the supreme
court; legally-qualified medical ju'actitioners; all such
persons having been resident twelve months within
the colony. 4th. Officiating niinister.s of religion,
as defined by the Act 10th Victoria, No. 16. 5tli.
Licensed occupants of crown-lands possessing 8,000
sheep, or 1,000 head of cattle, free from all charges
and incumbrances, and having been in possession for
one year. The qualification for a member of the
South Wales, its members being in part
elective and part nominated ; and power was
given to frame its own constitution. \Bee
act of parliament, in Appendix.']
In January, 1851, Earl Grey announced
to Mr. Latrobe that he would receive,
through the Governor- general. Sir C. Fitz-
Roy, a commission as lieutenant-governor of
Victoria ; and his lordship added — " In
conferring it on you, her Majesty^s govern-
ment have great pleasure in acknowledging
the services which you have rendered to the
community of Victoria during your long and
careful superintendence of its affairs, while
constituting a district of New South Wales. "f
A select committee of the Legislative
Council of Victoria has re<!ommended the
formation of a constitution, to consist of a
governor and two elective chambers, with
different qualifications; J but here, as in the
case of New South Wales, the Imperial
Parliament will have to decide the future plan
of government.
Next to the settlement of the constitution
and land-question, the most important topic
of legislation is the nature and amount of
House of Representatives to be a freehold estate of
£2,000, free from all incumbrances, or of the annual
value of £100, which must be verified on oath at the
commencement of every new session. The qualifi-
cation of an elector to the House of Representatives
to be one of the following: — 1st. Freeholder of £5
annual value. 2nd. Leaseholder of £10 annual
value. 3rd. Householder of £10 annual value in
joint occupancy. 4th. Having salaries to the amount
of £100 yearly. 5th. Licensed occupants of crown-
lands for pastoral purposes. 6th. All persons giving
any consideration which will entitle them to occupy
crown-lands for twelve months. Si.\ months' pos-
session ])rior to registration of any one of these
qualifications, in the same electoral district, to be
necessary. Besides the usual disqualifications of an
elector, are non-payment of taxes, and, after the year
1856, being unable to read or write. The durations
of the House of Representatives to be three years. The
senate to consist of twenty-five members. For the
purposes of election to the senate, the colony to be
divided into five electoral districts. Five members
of the senate to go out by rotation, according to
seniority, every two years. On the occasion of the
first election to the senate, those holding the lowest
number of votes in each district to be the first to
retire, and so in rotation according to the position of
members on the poll ; and in case of two or more
members having an equal number of votes, the mat-
ter to be decided by lot. Of the ofiicers of the go-
vernment, two at least must have seats in the senate,
and two at least must have seats in the House of
Representatives. The civil-list is not completed ;
but it is proposed that the salary of the future go-
vernors is to be fixed at £10,000 a-year, with £5,000
to meet the expenses of the establishment. This
amount of salary, it is hoped, will secure the resi-
dence in Melbourne of the governor-general of the
Australias. It is also proposed to give the present
510
ITEMS OF REVENUE— VICTORIA— 1850-'2.
the fee for licensing persons to search and
dig for gold. A committee of the Legislative
Council recommended, instead of the entire
abolition of the fee, as proposed by the
lieutenant-governor, a graduated scale of
license-fees, thus : —
One month, £1 ; tliree months, £2 ; six months,
£3; 12 months, £5. Also, that annual licenses
should (under the new constitution) have the elective
franchise accorded to them ; that no export duty on
gold should be imposed ; that small plots of garden-
ground shoukl be lent to annual licensees; that the
sale of alcoholic liquors on the gold-fields should be
legalised; and that sundry other minor alterations in
the old law sliould be made. Soon after this report
was submitted, tlie attorney-general brought a bill
into council embodying some of its recommenda-
tions, and rejecting others. This bill fixes the license-
fees as follows : — One month, £1 ; two months, £2 ;
six months, £4 ; 12 months, £8. The recommenda-
tion as to the franchise has been referred to the
constitution committee. The principle of giving
annual licensees the use of a smaU portion of garden-
ground has been acknowledged.
The Legislative Council admit that the
gold-diggers, or rather miners, had just
grounds of complaint, and that they were
entitled to an equitable revision of the taxa-
tion, which was the cause of their passive re-
sistance to the law.
The lieutenant-governor, in a despatch
dated 12th September, 1853, states some
aspects on both sides of the question of the
license-act. Mr. Latrobe says : — •
" The broad objection seems to have been, that it
made no distinction between the successful or the
unsuccessful adventurer ; between the man who raised
his sl'.ovel full of gold per week, and the man who
threw away all he possessed in the world on his ven-
ture without any fruit; between the individual to
whose gains it bore but a trifling proportion, and
the adventurer from whose slender and wasting
means it formed an important deduction ; in short,
that the revenue raised M'as not a fair per centage
upon the actual yield of the gold-fields, but upon
the labour employed, whether successfully or unsuc-
cessfully. On the other hand, it was said, and -with
some apparent justice, that the unsuccessful miner
or speculator looked for the same amount of protec-
tion, and demanded similar facilities for the prosecu-
tion of his scheme, whatever might be the result to
himself individually, as the successful adventurer
did : further, that the monthly charge was only at
the rate of Is. per diem."
The miners, on the other hand, contended
officers of the government, who may be displaced by
the advent of responsible government, retiring pen-
sions of two-thirds of their present salaries ; and it is
further proposed that one-half salary, as pension,
shall be given to those judges who serve the country
ten years, or two-thirds if they serve fifteen years ;
and, moreover, it is said that the members of the
responsible executive, which is to be, will receive,
upon retiring from their offices, if they retain tliem
for two years, two-thirds of their official salaries as
that it was an oppressive tax, levied upon a
class who had no voice in its imposition.
There can be no doubt that the miners
were harshly treated, and that they had
done nothing to justify the language used
towards them. So recently as the 3rd of
May, 1853, the lieutenant-governor wrote to
the secretary of state : —
" I would repeat, as I have said in earlier
despatches, that the conduct and state of the
people of this colony, under all its difficulties
and the excitement of the times, have, all
things considered, done it no discredit : on
the contrary, in spite of exposui'e to the
irruption of vicious elements from without,
and of studied and systematic incitement to
disorder from within, there has been far less
serious disturbance of the social fabric than
could ever have been anticipated.^' And on
the 6th July, 1853, Mr. Latrobe again
tendered similar testimony to the character
of the inhabitants, and adduced evidence of
the ''peaceable disposition and good conduct
of the mining pojmlation."
Finances. — The rapid increase of revenue
since the formation of the colony in 1836-^7,
has been shown at p. 497.
The following statement of the amount
received on several items,* shows the aug-
mentation resulting from the gold-discoveries,
especially as regards the customs, notwith-
standing: a liberal alteration in the tariff: —
Heads of Revenue.
Customs
Port and harbour dues ....
Wharfage and rent of ditto . .
Postage
Licenses
„ Gold
Fines and forfeitures ....
Fees of office
„ Commissioners' disputed )
boundaries . . . . )
Gold-escort fees . . . . •
,, Treasury fee
Assessment on stock ....
Land-sales — country ....
„ town
Licenses for depasturing stock .
1850.
£
76,478
2,932
6,526
10,037
675
4,866
3,929
12,655
1852.
£
318,978
11,780
3,059
12,453
11,564
398,159
17,481
9,062
36,102
4,583
14,362
424,813
279,042
21,424
permanent pensions. It is thought, by these means,
that a great amount of talent will be attracted lo con-
tend for the high prizes offered to the successful com-
petitors in this golden arena. — {3Ielbourtte Paper.)
* The following is the tariff of customs esta-
blished in Victoria, by an act passed on the 19th
January, 1854 : — Ale, porter, spruce, and other beer,
cyder and perry, per gallon, 6f/. ; tobacco, cigars, and
snuft', 2s. per lb.; coffee, 10s. per cwt. ; spirits (all
kinds), 7s. per gallon ; all other goods free.
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE— VICTORIA— 1851-'2-'3.
511
The total receipts, repayments, and balances
for the year ending December, 1852, was
£1,577,181, against £379,824- in the year
1851. According to the returns of the
financial year ending in June, the receipts
in 1852 and 1853, were : —
Receipts, Customs, &c.
Total Receipts
Of which from Customs .
„ „ Land-Sales .
„ ,, Gold-Licenses
18.52.
£
714,679
98,767
235,264
144,349
1853.
£
2,451,236
297,367
1M38,922
657,818
The estimated available revenue for the
^ear ending 31st December, 1854, is
.^3,213,000, but this includes a sum of
5^200,000 unexpended balance in the treasury
at the close of 1853, leaving the actual
receipts about £3,000,000 sterling. Sup-
posing the population, throughout the year,
to have been about 250,000, this would show
a public annual income at the rate of nearly
£12 per head.
The revenue for 1854 is really enormous :
the items, according to the auditor-general
of the colony, j\Ir. Childers, are : —
"Customs, £1,380,000; gold, £660,000; pilotage,
£16,000; postage, £40,000; licenses, £107,250; fines
and forfeitures, £71,000; fees of public offices,
£27,450 ; rents, £3,800 ; reimbursements, £6,750 ;
miscellaneous, £1,250: total, £2,313,500: — to which
it is proposed to add, by transfer from the Crown re-
venues, £900,000 : makingagrand total of £3,213,500.
The probable balance on the 31st of December, 1853,
is set down at £108,823; the total available funds,
therefore, amount (by estimate) to £3,322,323. The
estimated expenditure amounts to no less a sum than
£3,265,761 Is. 9d., being an excess of some £52,000
over the estimated revenue ; and, taking the balance
for 1853 into account, the probable balance on the
31st of December, 1854, is estimated at £56,562 —
about 1"7 per cent, on the total revenue. Of this
expenditure, £663,058 is for police, and £258,098
more for penal establishments, petty sessions, and
gaols. Public works, £1,106,925. Education,
£140,000; post-office, £139,499; gold commissioners,
£114,157. There are other heavy amounts."
Such a state of affairs requires the most
rigid supervision by government : nothing
can justify such an extravagant expenditure.
Commerce. — The trade of Victoria, as
shown at pp. 466-7, augmented extraordi-
narily with the gold-discoveries : its pro-
gressive value is given at p. 497. The fol-
lowing is a comparison of the years 1851 and
1852:—
British Colonies.
United States
of America.
Foreign
States.
Y
ears.
Great Britain.
New
Zealand.
South Sea
Islands.
Elsewhere.
Total.
ij
S
1851
1852
£.
748,984
1,752,216
£.
977
25,499
£.
266
£.
238,367
2,102,297
£.
122
60,363
£.
67,987
129,101
£.
1,056,437
4,069,742
a3
tc
c
o
1851
1852
54,621
168,919
—
—
07,135
225,446
746
5,220
6,457
8,031
129,426*
408,216t
a"
1851
1852
£.
1,198,894
6,198,433
£.
5,392
1,775
—
£.
217,046
1,232,236
£.
1,577
£.
19,105
£.
1,42'2,909
7,451,5491
There were 172 items of import in 1852 :
among them may be noted: — Tea, 2,157,792
lbs.; coffee, 7,785 cwt. ; sugar, 8,012 tons;
tobacco, 1,364,788 lbs. Spirits.— Brandy,
307,574; cordials, 1,709 ; Geneva, 128,069;
gin, British, 35,482; perfumed, 615 ; rum,
418,815; whiskey, 63,453; arrack, 5,8.50;
other spirits, 549 ; total of spirits, gallons,
962,116. Wine, 415,138 gallons; beer and
cyder, 826,337 gallons; lime-juice, 2,760
gallons : flour and bread, 23,101 tons.
Grain.— Maize, 81,182; malt, 2,621; oats,
* Men, 7,735.
t Men, 22,088.
I Of this, £7,337,925 was the produce of Victoria.
218,577; barley, 32,210; peas, 3,016;
wheat, 87,570; bran, 263,304 — bushels;
rice, 433; corn-meal, 31; oatmeal, 165 —
tons ; pollard, 328 bushels ; butter and
cheese, 782 tons ; fish, £6,500 value ; fruit,
810 tons ; confectionary, ^68,461 ; cocoa-
nuts, number, 19,320; fruit, dried, 810
tons; fruit, green, 24,823 bushels; onions,
99; salt, 2,402 — tons; vinegar, 52,766 gal-
lons ; candles, 432 tons ; bricks, number,
1,055,531 ; carriages, number, 5,033 ; coals
and fuel, 15,695 tons; corks, 39,117 gross;
cradles for gold, number, 434; hay, 2,380
tons ; wooden houses, 593 ; watches and
clocks, 573. The articles produced and I
512
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS— VICTORIA— 185 1-'2-'3.
manufactured in tlie United Kingdom were
valued at €2,013,614; those of other Bri-
tish dominions, at £1,028,297; and those
from foreign states, at .€1,027,831. The ex-
ports produced in the colony consisted chiefly
of gold and wool : the known quantity of
the former was, in the years 1851-2-3,
thus— 145,128; 1,974,975; and 2,497,723
= 4,617,828 oz., irrespective of overland
exports to New South Wales and Victoria.
Wool shipped years ending 5th July : —
Ports.
Melbourne
Geelong
Port Fairy .
Portland
Total
1852.
lbs.
9,389,967
6,791,400
723,400
1,752,800
18,657,567
1853
lbs.
10,248,049
6,721,960
1,259,725
3,080,560
21,310,294
Number of bales, 66,634 ; 76,108. In
some cases, only the number of bales has
been given. These are estimated at an
average weight of 280 lbs. each. The wool
is estimated by the Custom-house at the
low value of Is. Id. per pound; which gives
the total value, in 1852, €1,008,470; and
in 1853, €1,154,306.
What may be the extent of the future
trade of Victoria no person can predict. The
imports for 1853 must have been very great :
they are estimated at about .€15,000,000;
but on these there must be severe losses.
Shipping for passengers, as well as goods, has
largely augmented. During 1852, forty-two
vessels, containing 15,477 immigrants, ar-
rived from Europe : the adult females were,
in number, 5,345 ; the adult males, 5,007 ;
and the children, under 14 years of age,
5,125. The number of deaths, on the
voyage from Europe, was 849, of which
356 occurred in four vessels, owing chiefly
to over-crowding. The number of births on
board was — males, 148; females, 122 = 270.
Of the above numbers, England and Wales
sent 5,349; Scotland, 7,127; Ireland, 3,001.
The cost of conveyance, per statute adult,
averaged £14 17 s. 4:d. each.
The vessels and immigrants which entered
inwards at Melbourne, from January to June,
1853, were : —
Months.
January . ,
February
March . . ,
April . .
May . . .
June ...
Total
Vessels.
138
122
163
198
202
175
998
TonnaRe
42,517
45,486
47,189
60,735
62,105
46,058
304,090
Passengers.
Males.
5,768
4,510
5.831
8,323
5.502
3,669
33,603
Females.
1,563
1,491
1,433
2,159
2,054
470
Children.
1,.301
1,221
1,012
1,701
1,175
270
9,170
6,680
Infants.
158
150
115
172
131
16
742
Total passengers recorded in six months,
50,195.
The monetary aff'airs of the colony are
necessarily in a state of transition, as well
as the commercial and financial, and can
also be now only imperfectly recorded.
Bank returns since 1851 — (none distinct
from New South Wales prior to July 1st,
1851) :—
Banks, Deposits, &c.
1851.
1852.
1853.t
Number of banks . . .
Bank deposits
Circulation
Coin and gold in banks .
3
£
822,254
180,058
310,724
5
£
4,334,241*
1,327,311
3,034,538
6
£
5,G81,1G5
1,715,991
4,871,105
During 1852, the average amount of bank-
notes in circulation, was £849,434,
• Of this, nearly £700,000 deposited by govern-
ment, -j- September, 1853.
The monetary state of the bank of Vic-
toria, and the branches of those of Union,
Australasian, Neiv South Wales, and Aus-
tralia, is thus shown on 30th September,
1853: — Circulation of notes, £1,715,991;
deposits not bearing interest, €5,681,165 :
total liabilities, €7,918,188. Coin and
bullion, €;4,871,105 ; debts due bank,
£2,597,587 : total assets, £7,960,725.
It will be observed, that there is a great
plethora of unemployed capital; and this,
probably, will cause large investments in
land, railway, and other speculations ; and
extensive building operations in Melbourne,
Geelong,J and other towns.
+ Among the appropriations from the public re-
venue, for 1853-'4, to the improvement of Geelong,
the following may be noted : — Public u-orks atid
buildings. — Grant to the corporation of Geelong, for
public works, £10,000; extending the Geelong
wharfs and improving approaches thereto, £30,000;
APPEARANCE AND PROGRESS OF MEI^BOURNE, 1853.
513
Should the present rate of revenue con-
tinue, there will undoubtedly be extraordi-
nary improvements in the colony. The
excavation of ground for docks, the cutting
of a ship-canal through a narrow slip of
land, so as to enable vessels to sail up to the
city quays, and the improvement of wharfage-
accommodation, are under discussion. A
railroad to connect Melbourne with Geelong
is in progress, as is also a short line to the
beach at Hobson's Bay. A tram-way is
proposed to the gold-diy gings ; and even the
junction of Melbourne with Sydney by rail
is talked of. An electric-telegraph is being
laid down from ]\lelbourne to the port ; and
this ought to be extended to Sydney and to
Adelaide. .
The rapid increase of wealth has as yet
chiefly benefited the capital : Melbourne,
indeed, looks somewhat like a city that has
sprung into existence by the magic wand of
an enchanter ; and its wide and well laid-out
streets, and a fertile surrounding country,
adapt it for the growth of a great commercial
city. Public buildings of magnitude and
beauty"^ are now arising in different direc-
tions, in the room of existing structures
which have a temporary character ; but
what the shops want in architectural adorn-
ment, they supply with wood, tinsel, and
paint,t which have a fragile or gaudy elFect.
The solid mansions, massive structures,
handsome marts, excellent churches, and
fine masonry of Sydney (the result of half
a century of untiring industry), are yet to
be supplied. Great changes are, howevei-,
taking place : the corporation have applied
to the legislature for power to borrow one
million sterling, and to double the city-rates
for municipal improvements ; and, among
other noble structures, the local government
have called for plans from architects for the
towards removing the bar, £17,000; extending the
gaol, £20,000 ; towards erecting new public offices
and a court-house, £20,000 ; erecting a post-office,
£6,000 ; additional buildings at the barracks, £3,000 ;
additional police-barracks, £7,000 ; additional pilots'
quarters, £1,000; completing cottages at the public
gardens, £1,500; erecting a liag-staff, £400.
* The Toicn-Hall of Melbourne, for holding public
meetings and for citj' business, a spacious and hand-
some structure, now in course of erection, would be
an ornament to any city in Europe. The portion
now building will have a frontage l34 feet in length
by 51 in depth. About £13,000 has been expended,
up to 1853, on the structure, including a portion of
the clock-tower : as it now stands, the building in-
cludes the city council-chamber, fitted up in a manner
superior to tliat of the hall of the Legislative Coun-
cil, with a reporters' gallery, and also a gallery
for the public. The offices of the city surveyor,
DIV. III. 3 S
erection of a Melbourne university, at a cost
of £100.000. Hotels and restaurants, of a
large size, are being built at an enormous
expense in every part of the town and its
suburbs ; but it is still without sewers, gas,
or water. The rivalry between Victoria and
New South Wales will be productive of good,
if not carried to an extreme : each may
become the basis of a great nation which
will prove an honour to the parent-stock,
and, it is to be hoped, a blessing to all within
the sphere of their influence.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
This fine province, although not as yet
yielding gold (see p. 447), has participated
in the general improvement of the sister-
colonies — partly on account of the auriferous
discoveries in Victoria, and partly by reason
of the energetic character of its inhabitants,
the fertility and natural resources of the
country, and the judicious conduct of an
excellent governor — Sir H. F. Young.
In this " Supplemental Division," it atIU
be only necessary to show the progress of the
settlement since the date of the ample re-
turns, given at pp. 343 to 364.
Population. — In 1846, the number of
Europeans was 25,893 : on 1st January,
1851, it was found, by census, to be 63,700,
showing an increase, in five years, of 14G
per cent. The proportion of the sexes
was : —
Population.
Under 21 years
Married
Unmarried, above 21 years of age
Total
Males.
1.5,-510
10,664
9,128
35,302
Females.
11,295
10,842
5,600
27,737
commissioners of sewers and of water supply,and other
municipal departments, are in the basement, where
there are several " strong-rooms." The council-
chamber, offices of the city treasurer, town-clerk,
&c., are on the first floor ; and the upper story con-
tains private residences for the town-clerk, (S;c. A
Mercantile Exchani/e, with offices for the chamber
of commerce, at a cost of £30,000 is also in progress.
t The Hifjlilander's Hotel has the upper jjortion of
the front of the house embellished .vith a tolerably
well-executed oil-painting, thirty feet in width from
left to right, and ten feet in height ; the fore-ground
of the picture is filled up with ten " bonnie lads and
lasses," nine of whom are engaged in strathspeys,
reels, and flings, while the tenth is furnishing the
music of the bagpipe; in the distance are the ruins
of a highland castle ; in the fore-ground, a basket of
fruit, a bottle of whiskey, and glass; and, on either
side, the national emblem of the thistle.
514 SOUTH AUSTRALIA—POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION.
According to the census of 1851, the dis-
tributiou of the population was thus : —
Sq.
Miles.
Whites.
Divisions.
Males.
Females.
Total.
City of Adelaide . . .
County of Adelaide . .
„ Hindmarsh
„ Stuart . . .
„ Eyre, &c. . .
„ Russell . . .
„ Robe ....
„ Gawler . . .
„ Light . . .
„ Stanley . . .
„ Flindei'S . .
From Great Bend of Mur- ^
ray River to E. boun-^
dary of province . .)
Kangaroo Island . . .
Portion of Burra Creek .
Kooringa, Redruth, and |
Aberdeen J
Burra special survey . .
N.&N.W. of Stanley, N.i
& N.E. of Burra, S.S. (
York peninsula . . .
8
1,159
994
1,332
1,625
1,530
2,070
1,044
974
1,415
7,684
15,976
1,811
1,056
248
137
925
552
2,543
811
357
55
55
1,026
1,428
178
349
111
6,893
13,471
1,310
777
113
37
284
459
1,853
472
163
8
32
774
944
79
67
11
14,577
29,447
3,121
1,833
361
174
1,209
1,011
4,396
1,283
620
63
87
1,800
2,372
257
356
122
Total ....
Add for omissions . . .
-
35,302
600
27,737
61
62,989
The white population includes 7,000 Ger-
mans : the aborigines were estimated at
8,730. The greatest increase of inhabitants
was in the rural districts. Adelaide, the
capital, had, in 1846, 7,413; and, in 1851,
14,577. The aggregate population dwelt in
5,873 houses of brick and stone, 3,791 of
wood, and 2,369 of other materials : except-
ing a few hundred persons employed in
mining, who dwell in excavations on the
bank of the Burra Burra creek, there were,
in January, 1851, about five persons to each
tenement. At the end of 1851, the colonists,
exclusive of aborigines, were estimated at
66,538 ; and, on 31st March, 185.2, at 61,218,
large numbers having departed for the gold-
fields of New South Wales and Victoria —
some by sea, others over-land. During the
first quarter of 1852, 6,298 persons, chiefly
males, and the best of the labouring popu-
lation, left the colony by sea ; and, in the
same period, about 4,000 departed by land,
making an abstraction, in a few months, of
at least 4th of the colonists. A re-action
subsequently took place ; and at the end of
1852, the population stood thus: — Males —
under fourteen, 14,721 ; above fourteen,
21,589: females — under fourteen, 14,184;
above fourteen, 18,169. Total, 68,663.
Aborigines, about 3,670.
Tlie number of Europeans is now rapidly
increasing, by reason of the salubrity of
the climate and the means of comfort pos-
sessed by the mass of the people. During
1852, the destitute persons relieved were —
for periods varying between three and six
months, 80; for longer than six months, 75;
for the entire year 1852, only 32 : total amount
of pecuniary relief administered during the
year, j6l,9S9. The admissions into Ade-
laide hospital, for the year, were — males, 226;
females, 116=342: of these, thirty-two
males and one female paid fees for admission.
In 1851, the aggregate arrivals consisted
of 8,464 persons, and the departures were
6,025. In 185.2, the f/o?je?'nmew/ immigration
consisted of 2,972 English, 1,155 Scotch,
1,152 Irish=5,279 : the excess of males over
females was 273. Of the above, 469 were
female servants, of which class many more
are required in the colony. The average
cost of the immigrants was ^13 12^. 7d. per
head ; the number of vessels employed, 19,
averaging 667 tons each; average voyage,
101 1 days; average mortality during the
passage, 3 per cent. The unassisted immi-
grants, in 1852, who paid their own passage,
was 15,976, showing a total influx of 20,395,
of whom 12,529 were males in excess of
females. The total emigration from the
colony, during the year, was 15,976; the
excess of males departing was 11,412 : thus
restoring, within 1,117, the balance of the
sexes. The excess of immigration over emi-
gration was 4,419 persons. In 1853, the
immigrants numbered 8,668 persons. The
remittance from the colony, in 1852, to
the emigration commissioners in London, was
£48,523; and the bond-debt of £84,601
was finally extinguished from the land-fund.
In January, 1854, the white population
numbered about 80,000. The aborigines,
whose numbers were then estimated at
3,500, appear to have been, generally speak-
ing, more carefully and humanely treated,
from the very commencement of the colony,
than in any of the other Australian settle-
ments,— although some of the tribes were
of a savage nature, and not very tractable :
the beneficial result of this Christian policy
is now being reaped by the colonists, in an
almost complete cessation of hostilities with
the whites, and in the valuable labour which
the latter obtain from their sable brethren.
Here, as in Victoria, when the European
shepherds deserted the flocks for the gold-
diggings, the aborigines took charge ; and
in one district alone, there were upwards of
200,000 sheep committed to the care of
natives : some large flocks had not even
one European overseer. They were also
SOUTH AUSTRALIA— EDUCATION— UELIGION— CRIME, 1852.
515
1
useful as bullock-drivers, and in getting in
the harvest : around the lakes they rendered
valuable service to the stock-owners, by
preventing the spread of bush-fires. In the
Port Lincoln district, their conduct, with
the exception of one petty theft, was re-
ported to be particularly satisfactory. At a
Training Institution, or native mission at
Poonendi, to which Archdeacon Hale has
praiseworthily, and with success, devoted
his philanthropic efforts, the aborigines
plough, sow, and reap their own ground ;
make bricks, cultivate a garden, and carry
on sundry kinds of work with spirit and
I activity. The sub-protector at Korikoo,
fifty miles above Moorunde on the Murray,
reported that the aborigines were peace-
able, well-disposed, and extremely useful to
travellers to the gold-fields, with whom they
kept up a brisk barter : their numbers are,
however, rapidly diminishing, few children
being reared ; and, owing to some super-
stition, the offspring of a white father and
a black mother is destroyed soon after its
birth.
Polygamy is discountenanced by the
aborigines' protectors. In February, 1853,
the Bishop of Adelaide married a native
couple at Poonendi,"* not far from the spot
where, in 184;9, his lordship saw a sad scene
of suffering, caused by five blacks stealing
flour mixed with arsenic, which had pur-
posely been left by an inhuman European
settler for their destruction. This diabolical
system was practised in other parts of Aus-
tralia ; and a considerable number of these
unfortunate people must have been poisoned,
as if they had been rats, by persons calling
themselves Christians, who had, without
purchase, occupied the lands which right-
fully belonged to their victims. For such
crimes, verily there will be a retribution.
Education. — A central board was formed
in April, 1851, which issues to properly-
qualified persons licenses to teach, under
the supervision of an inspector of schools,
appointed by government. Grants of money
are made annually by the legislature for the
encouragement of education, especiallj'^ to-
wards the establishment of elementary
schools throughout the country. The num-
ber of licensed teachei's, in G9 schools, under
* An interesting account of the mission, from the
pcni of the good bishop, will be found in the Keport
on the lilue-Books for 1852, under South Australia,
pp. 230-3
t See Blue-Book Reports for 1852, pp. 245—257.
The reports of Sir II. F. Young are complete.
the control of the central board, stood thus,
in December, 1852 : —
Education.
In Ade-
laide.
County.
Total.
Licensed Teachers
Scholars:
Bo^s
Girls
27
849
648
42
983
803
69
1,832
1,4.51
At these seminaries, instruction is afforded
in reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar,
geography, history, mathematics, drawing,
singing, languages (Latin, Greek, and
French), and general science. Full returns
are laid before government of the number
of pupils engaged in the acquirement of
each branch of knowledge.f The total
number of schools aided by government, in
1852, was 101 : the schoolmasters, 60 ; and
the schoolmistresses, 41 : of children under
their tuition, there were — males, 1,355 ;
females, 1,106 = 2,461.
The collegiate school of St. Peter's, Ade-
laide, incorporated, founded, and endowed
in 1849, by private funds, aided by the
church of England religious societies in
Britain, has tended to raise the standard of
education throughout the country.
Religion. — Adelaide is the episcopal seat
of a bishop of the church of England, who
presides over the established church in the
colony, and has under his jurisdiction about
17 clergymen and 21 churches. The church
of Scotland has six churches; that of
Rome, eight : the Dissenters have 96 places
of worship ; tlie Lutherans, 16 ; the Jews,
one ; and the Quakers, one. Of the Dis-
senters, 27 chapels belong to the Wesleyans ;
23 to the Primitive Methodists; 23 to the
Congregationalists ; 15 to the Baptists; and
eight to the denomination calling themselves
Christians.
Many of these places are merely school-
houses ; some, indeed, are private dwellings ;
but the number indicates there is no lack
of religious ordinances. The Germans have
their own pastors, and a periodical in their
native language. Happily, there are no
sectarian differences in the colony : men
do not bring disgrace on the profession
of Christianity by vilifying and persecuting
each other, under the pretence of religious
zeal.
Crime. — The remark of the lieutenant-go-
vernor, in his annual report for 1851, to the
secretary of state, precludes the necessity of
any details. Sir H.Young says — "I am happy
to state that the amount of crime, as yet com-
)16
GOVERNMENT AND FINANCES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
mitted in this colony, among all classes, is
so slight, that I do not feel it necessary to j
make any unfavourable remark whatever."
Poverty and crime have, in England, a
direct connection with each other : in South
Australia, the temptation occasioned by the j
former is removed, as there is abundance of j
remunerative employment for all who are
able to work.
Government. — Until 1851, South Aus-
tralia was ruled by a lieutenant-governor
and a council, composed of three ofiBcial
and two non-official members.
In conformity with the act of the Im-
perial Parliament, " for the better govern-
ment of her Majesty's Australian colonies "
(see Appendix), the lieutenant-governor of
South Australia, with the advice of his
council, issued an ordinance, dated the 21st
of February, 1851, "to establish a Legis-
lative Council, and to provide for the election
of members to serve in the same.'' The
council thus created, consisted of twenty-
four members, one-third nominated by the
Crown, and two-thirds elected by the colo-
nists : the province was divided into sixteen
electoral districts, each to return a mem-
ber by the inhabitants possessed of a certain
amount of freehold property, or occupying a
dwelling-house, in conformity with the pro-
visions of the imperial act.
The local legislature thus created was
empowered to devise the plan for the future
constitution of the settlement ; and accord-
ingly an act Avas passed in the session of
1853, which, like those framed in New
South "Wales and Victoria, now awaits the
decision of the Queen and parliament.
Considerable attention seems to have been
given to this important subject. Two
chambers of legislation are recommended ;
one to be elected by the people, and the
other to be nominated by the Crown.
There has been no deficiency of legislation
in this colony. During the administration
of Captain (now Sir John) Ilindmarsh,
(1837-'8) ten ordinances were passed : under
* District councils are formed of ratepayers^ three
or more of the elected to be a quorum : they license
public-houses, slaughterics, pounds, the cutting of
timber, use of common lands, levy assessment for
roads, &c.
t Under this enactment, 412,000 ounces of gold
were In-ought into Adelaide, from Victoria, between
10th February, 1852, and 15th February, 1853.
X It has been stated tome, that Lieutenant-colonel
Gawler is annoyed at the description given of liis
ackiiinistration at pp. 209—300. I offered to insert
a vindication from the ex-governor, if forwarded in
time for this " Supplement;" but it has not reached
Lieutenant-colonel Gawler (1839-'40, and
part of 1841), the second governor, twenty-
three ordinances were enacted : under Cap-
tain (now Sir George) Grey (fi-om 1841 to
1845), there were eighty-five ordinances; and
from' August, 1848, to INIarch, 1853, the
legislative measures were, in number, eighty-
five : of these, thirty-eight were passed by
the Legislative Cotincil, composed of the
governor and eight nominated members, and
forty-seven by the existing legislature, of
whom eight are nominees of the Crown, and
sixteen elected by the people.
Sir H. F. Young has laudably endeaA^oured
to divest the head of the government of the
centralising authority previously possessed,
and distributed the power of the executive
throughout various local boards and autho-
rities. Much business is now transacted by
the municipal corporation of Adelaide, the
city commissioners, the trinity or marine
board, elective district boards for roads and
bridges, district councils (under which the
tax-payers exercise a control over their own
local proceedings),* county courts for the
recovery of small debts, and the trial and
punishment of minor offences — all tend to
the preservation of an ancient and most
useful, economical, and sound policy in the
administration of public afl:airs.
Finances. — The monetary state of the
colony is now perfectly satisfactory : there is
no debtjt and a surplus income is being made
available for public works. Since 1839, the
ordinary revenue (that is, money not de-
pendent on land-sales) has increased from
£19,000 to upwards of £100,000 per an-
num. As stated at p. 432, the financial
and social crisis was, at the end of 1851
and beginning of 1852, very alarming ; but
the assay, purchase, and stamping of gold as
ingots, by the local government, at £3 lis.
per ounce, saved many from ruin; and when
the price became enhanced, at Victoria and
at Nevv^ South Wales, beyond £3 lis., the
measurej necessarily ceased to be operative
at Adelaide.
me. Mr. S. Sidney, in his interesting and spirited
work, entitled The Three Colonies of Australia, refers
to the " injustice to Colonel Gawler," whom he de-
scribes as being " an amiable, enthusiastic, simple-
minded, yet amliitious man ; who accepted the
theories of Mr. Wakefield as solemn, immutable
truths, and the calculations of the bubble-blowing
commissioners as the emanations of the highest
financial ability." Ihis is precisely the view given,
in the previous pages, of the gallant officer's Austra-
lian career : it is no discredit to him to say, that he
was unable to carry out an impracticable scheme, and
that he broke down in the attempt ; but, it may be
REVENUE, LAND, AND BANKING— SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1852. 517
The ordinary revenue for the j'car 1853-M.
is estimated at £190,000, and the land-fund
at £250,000.^ "After providing for the
introduction of labour, the governor has
directed ^€5,000 to be appropriated, out of
the land-fund of 1853, to city improvements ;
£20,000 (in addition to £20,000 in the
previous year) to the central road-board ; and
£20,000 to the district councils of the colony.
For 1854, £114,000 of the Crown moiety of
the land-fund is to be placed on the general
estimates. Towards roads, bridges, and other
Morks of impi'ovement, in 1854, it is proposed
to advance the large sum of £l55,000."f
The remittances to England for the intro-
duction of labourers, between October, 1852,
and May, 1853, amounted (along with a
balance in hand) to £172,480. J A bill was
passed by the local legislature, at the close
of 1853, authorising the loan of £150,000
for the construction of a railway from the
city to the port of Adelaide — a distance
of seven miles : the gauge adopted for the
line is five feet three inches.
There is abundance of employment on
the above works § for a large number of
artisans and labourers, who will find em-
ployment without the loss of a day's hire.
The total quantity of land surveyed and
sold to January, 1854, was 995,000 acres.
During the year ending 31st December, 1852,
there were sold, 72 town-lots, comprising 18
acres, 73 suburban — 6,150 acres; and 953
lots of country land, 80,504 acres=86,672
acres, which yielded to government, £99,081.
Of the above, 33,911 acres w-ere disposed of
by auction, and the remainder at the fixed
price of 205. per acre. The quantity sold,
in 1852, exceeded, by 4,083 acres, the sales
of 1851, and, by 21,723 acres, those of
added, not before he had sacrificed a considerable
portion of his private fortune, and been made, as Mr.
Sidney says, " the scapegoat for the criminal absurdi-
ties of the colonizing theorists in London." Hospi-
tality, charity, truthfulness, and kindly sympathy for
the poorer classes of society, rendered Colonel Gawler
respected and beloved in South Australia ; and, when
the errors of the period are forgotten, his name will
be held in grateful remembrance by the colonists.
* The sums received of ordinary revenue for th^
years 1851-2, were— Customs, £93,321 ; £72,514:
port and harbour dues, £4,094 ; £273 : rents (exclu-
sive of land), £1,620; £768: licenses,£7,766; £6,191:
taxes, £1,892; £449: postage, £6,805; £7,270:
fines and forfeitures, £5,422; £3,753: fees of office,
£5.213 ; £3,837 : sale of government i)roperty,
£185; £567: reimbursements, £508; £639: mis-
cellaneous receipts, £217; £3.620: interest, ex-
change, &c., £2,437: total, £127,046 ; £102.325.
Land Revenue. — Land sales, £91,272 ; £93,365:
land revenue, £3,092; £17,438: government pro-
1850 ; this was partly owing to the governor
putting up small lots for sale, whereby the
fortunate gold-diggers were enabled to invest
their earnings instead of spending them in
riotous living, extravagance, and debauchery
— a system which was engendered and en-
couraged by the ]\Ielbourne government
withholding land from public auction, or
only granting it for sale in quantities beyond
the means of the humbler classes. Of the
gold brought into Adelaide, £230,000 was
paid to the government for waste-lands.
The territorial revenue for the year end-
ing 30th June, 1853, amounted to £245,000,
and exceeded, by £6,498, the same source
of income in New South Wales for 1852.
The quantity of land sold, in 1853, was
204,933 acres, which realised £297,515. It
appears that, up to 1852, there had been
leased, for 14 years, 14,000 square miles of
the territory, and that 1,143 square miles
were held on leases renewable every year.
The banking state of South Australia has
materially improved, and in July, 1853, was
on a sound basis, as shown by the banks : —
Deposits, £1,439,455 ; notes in circulation. £226,633 ;
bills under discount and other, £331,913; coin and
bullion, £1,532,521. The operations of the bullion
act and escort brought £1,500,000 sterling worth of
gold into the colony. In 1853, the quantity brought
overland from Victoria, was 99,113 ounces, valued
at £390,000.
Commerce. — The progress of trade, to the
year 1849, is fully shown at pp. 357-8;
and, as stated at p. 352, discriminative or
differential duties were abolished in 1849.
Equal and very moderate rates are levied on
the products of every country. In 184S-'9,
the levy of royalties on metallic ores were
discontinued.
The trade of the colony has been rapidly
pertv, £4 ; £26 : reimbursements, £139 ; £24 : mis-
cellaneous, £719; £192.
f Australian Gazette.
I In conformity with an address to that eflfect from
the Legislative Council, the governor has agreed to
]ilace on the estimates a sum of £6,000, for three
years, to be given as a premium, in sums of £500
per month, to any company or jjrivate individual
who, being under contract with the home govern-
ment, shall deliver mails, via the Cape of Good
Hope, at Port Adelaide, within sixty-eight days of
departure from Great Britain, provided that one---
sixth of the reward shall be deducted as a fine if
the length of the voyage exceeds the prescribed
time. In conformity with recommendations from
England, there is to be an uniform charge of six-
pence for all foreign letters, pre-paid by stamps.
§ It is proposed to borrow £500,000, to be secured
on the colonial revenue ; one-third to be applied in
aid of the em.igration-fund, and the remainder
towards the construction of railways.
518 COMMERCE— IMPORTS AND EXPORTS— SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
developed : the returns, exclusive of gold- '
dust, for years ending December, show : —
Value of
Ships Inwards.
Imports.
Exports.
1849
1850
1851
1852
599,518
845,572
798,828
798,811
£
402,853
570,816
602,086
1,787,741
Tons.
80,623
86,583
74,757
101,066
The exports are thus set forth by a
committee of the chamber of commerce,
at Adelaide, for the years ending 25th
Jime 1852-'3 :—
1852.— I. Produce of the colony :— Wool, 12,608
bales (3,566,994 lbs.), value, £141,443; copper,
43,704 cwt., £179,632; regulus, 583 tons, £17,690;
copper ore, 10,074? tons, £164,346; lead ore, 49
tons, £520; grain, 10,338 qrs., £18,152 ; flour, 5,160
tons, £89,347; bran and pollard, 880| tons, £5,527;
hay, 232 tons, £701 ; othei farm produce, £6,591 ;
tallow, 1,462 cwt., £2,075; hides, liorns, bones, &c.,
£1,113; animals, £4,080; sundries, £8,844: total
exports, produce of the colony, £647,063. II. Im-
ports re-exported, £174,064: total export of mer-
chandise, £821,127. III. Gold-dust and bullion,
manifested, £123,175: grand total, £944,302.
1853.— I. Produce of the colony:— Wool, 11,360
bales, (3,702,952 lbs.), value, £189,657; copper,
28,1441 cwt., £113,893; regulus, 34 tons, £1,360;
copper ore, 4,793| tons, £95,147 ; lead ore, 20^ tons,
£291; grain, 9,018 qrs., £30,993; flour, 6,233Uons,
£166,881; bran and pollard, 1,549^ tons, £16,399;
hay, 1,309} tons, £13,278; other farm produce,
£13,629; tallow, 180 cwt., £250; hides, horns,
bones, &c., £316; animals, £4,170; sundries,
£5,704 : total exports, produce of the colony,
£651,970. II. Imports re-exported, £101,104 :
total ex])orts of merchandise, £753,074. Ill, Gold-
dust and bullion, manifested, £1,487,283: grand
total, £2,240,358. Besides gold-dust and bullion
not manifested, the quantities of which cannot be
ascertained.*
INIining operations, •which are of the
highest importance to the colony, have
been temporarily impeded by the migra-
tion of the miticrs to the gold-fields of
Victoria, as stated at p. 452 : the works
* The staple products of the colony exported in
1853, were in value about £700,000, of which the
"bread-stuff's" amounted to £271,676, although the
quantity of land under cultivatioTi is only about
52,000 acres; wheat, 8,000; barley, 3,200; oats,
995; potatoes and gardens, 2,785— acres.
t From the commencement of this mine, to 1852,
there have been raised 87,839 tons of ore, at an
expenditure of upwards of £900,000, and 17 divi-
dends have been paid, amounting to £308,000, or
£125 on each £5 share, which is valued at about
£150. Pickett, the discoverer of the Burra-lJurra
(which has enriched many individuals), Avas found in
November, 1851, dead in a vacant hut at Ilallett's
Springs, three miles from Kooringa : he was last
were, therefore, for a time at a stand -still,
but have now resumed pretty full activity :
the celebrated Burra-Burra\ still keeping
the lead. The £o share sells for £160.
Little has yet been done hy the other
companies named at p. 359. The Austra-
lian Mining Company has a property of
22,000 acres of land, with machinery, &c.,
for working the mineral deposits, which are
within seven miles of the river Murray.
Notwithstanding the paralysing effects of
the gold-discoveries, a quantity of copper
has been raised to meet the colonial dis-
bursement.
The English and Australian Copper Com-
pany have had 7,280 tons of ore shipped for
England, at Kooringa : the quantity smelted
for the year ending 31st March, 1852, was
1,823 tons, or 35 per week. The company
obtained a cargo of mules from Monte
A^ideo, for the conveyance of the ore to
Port Wakefield, at the head of Gulf St.
Vincent, whence it is shipped for Britain.
To economise space, the following interest-
ing subject is given in small type.
Among other valuable accessories for the advance-
ment of South Australia, not the least important is
the opening of the 3Iurray River. This extensive
stream — the Mississi])pi of Australia — was discovered
by the enterprise and gallant daring of Captain Sturt,J
in 1829, as stated at p. 40. It appears to be the great
artery of an immense tract of country, westward of
the Blue Mountain range, extending through about
10 degrees of latitude, and probably 15 degrees of
longitude, and is formed from the waters of several
rivers, of Avhich the Darling (swollen by the Mac-
quaries, Bogan, Castlereagh, and other streams),
Lachlan, and Murrumbidgee, with their several con-
fluents, are the chief known tributaries. The surface
drained by these is estimated at 480,000 square
miles.
For twenty years this noble aqueduct, flowing
through the rich and valuable back-settlements of
New South Wales and Victoria, was utterly neg-
lected as a means of transit for the produce and
wants of the numerous graziers and farmers who
have been gradually collecting along its banks.
The reports of Sturt, Mitchell, and Hume,§ were
neglected, and the drowning of Sir John Jeflcott, and
seen there in a state of intoxication, and, in that
condition, and when nearly naked, fell into the
fire ; hij; lifeless body was found by a boy ten
years old, who accidently strayed into the hut in
search of some twine.
X This modest, amiable, and distinguished Aus-
tralian explorer, Avho for several years creditably
filled the arduous office of secretary to South Aus-
tralia, has received a pension of £600 per annum
from that government — a small and tardily-bestowed
reward for invaluable services to all Australia and to
geographical research.
§ The upper part of the river, previous to its
junction Avilh the INIurrumbidgee, is frequently called
after the name of this enterprising traveller.
several of his companions, in attempting to pass
llirough the narrow, sand-barred, and heavy-surfed
embouchure of the Murray into the ocean at En-
counter Bay {sec p. 313), seems for a time to have
checked all further attempts at examining the sea-
ward portion of this great river, excepting the
hazardous feat of a Captain Pullen, who crossed the
bar in a barque of thirti/ tons' burthen, which was
left to rot in the river.
Lieutenant-governor Young, who deserves high
credit for the zeal, judgment, and perseverance
evinced in endeavouring to open up the Murray to
British enterprise, thus explains* the circumstances
which have delayed this great object : —
"That this extensive navigability of the river
Murray should have remained so long unserviceable
to the continent of Australia, and especially to South
Australia, within whose territory flow so many hun-
dred miles of its course to its final exit on the
Southern Ocean, requires some explanation to persons
ignorant, perhaps, of the past and present condition
of this infant colony: and, figuring only to their
own imagination how the labour, wealth, art, science,
and enterprise, teeming in Great Britain, would,
without loss of time, have been engaged in improving
this gigantic ' water privilege.' The m.emorable and
important discovery of the river Murray, by Sturt,
and the arduous and courageous exploration of it
which his enterprise first carried to the ocean, and
his fortitude retraced, despite the uncertainty of
ever safely returning through a wilderness peopled
with unknown tribes, no doubt gave a powerful in-
citement to the subsequent colonisation of South
Australia.
" In the early days, however, of the plantation of
this colony, the impracticability of the sea-mouth of
the river Murray; its shifting and narrow channel;
its fearful surf and heavy rollers ; its unmitigated ex-
posure to the swell of the great South Ocean ; the
disa])pointments and fatal accidents which attended
all attempts, save one, to enter it from the sea ; the
ignorance then felt of the power and dispositions of
the aborigines on its banks ; the supposed insufficient
depth of water through Lake Alexandrina ; the
absence, in those days, of steamers of light draught
of water, adapted to the navigation of rivers ; the
then scanty number of colonists who found for their
immediate purposes a more than sufficient extent of
agricultural and grazing land adjacent to Port Ade-
laide iii Gulf St Vincent ; all these causes sufficed to
render the solitary instance of the success of Captain
Pullen, in 1841 (in entering the river from the sea,
in a little cutter of thirty tons, which has never made
its exit again) unproductive of further efforts in
South Australia at that time, to penetrate the inte-
rior of New Holland from the sea by the navigation
of the Murray. Nor was this great object, Avhilst
left unachieved for all practical purposes by enter-
prise from hence, likely to engage the attention of
the less interested colonists of New South Wales.
Indeed, the squatters on the Australian continent —
those useful pioneers of colonisation — were otherwise
profitably employed. The occupation of new country,
which led to the settlement of Port Phillip, in 1837,
and of Twofold Bay, in 1839, had been carried, in
1840, 300 miles to the north beyond and behind
Moreton Bay, whilst to the south and west, sheep
and cattle stations extended beyond Port Phillip to
the very confines of South Australia; thus colonisa-
* In a letter, dated 29th June, 1852.
tion, and the attendant investments of commercial
s])eculation, were chiefly directed to these outlets to
the sea along the eastern side of the ridge of moun-
tains parallel to the Pacific, between the 26th and
32nd degrees of latitude."
In September and October, 1850, Sir Henry
Young explored the Murrmj, for a distance of 600
miles to its junction with the river ; and the follow-
ing is an abstract of the observations recorded by
the governor on this occasion : —
" From the Ilufus to the Darling seventy soundings
were taken : the deepest three and a-half fathoms ;
the shallowest eight feet; the soundings for the
most part gave two fathoms. The shallow water
was over a sand-bank, near Moourna, about forty
miles before coming to the Darling.
" On each side of this sand-bank, at the lowest
time of water— viz., in June, three to four feet were
said to prevail. At the Darling the flood-mark on
the trees was 11 feet high ; at its junction with
the Murray it is 100 yards wide, and two fathoms
deep. There is a substantial new ferry punt across
the Darling, about one mile up the river. It is
worked by a rope, and is capable of crossing a loaded
dray and its team. The Murray, at the Darling, is
209 yards wide, and this width is reported to be not
materially altered onwards to the Murrumbidgee and
Lachlan. The Rufus Creek rose ten inches in seven
days. The flood-mark on the trees was nine feet,
high. The creek is nine miles in length ; depth,
varying from eight feet to two feet, the water shal-
lowing near its entrance into the lake Victoria. The
lake is about fourteen miles by six miles, with three
feet water in the middle. From the Rufus to
Moorundee, returning, 150 soundings were taken:
the deepest, four fathoms ; the shallowest, one and
a-haif fathoms ; the usual depth, two fathoms. From
Moorundee to Point Pomond, in Lake Alexandrina,
63 soundings M'ere taken ; the deepest, 12| fathoms;
the shallowest, one and a-half fathoms. Of these ex-
tremes, but one of each depth was met with ; three,
four, five, six, seven, and eight fathoms, being much
more frequent. The deep water was off" Thompson's
station, 30 miles before reaching Wellington, in a
line with a granite rock in the river, about 20 feet
long, four feet high above water, having one and
a-half fathoms close alongside the rock. The rock is
said to be at all times visible. Tlie deep water is on
the south side of the river. Lake Alexandrina, ft'om
Point Pomond to Point Sturt, is 25 miles across,
with a channel of one and a-half fathoms. From
Point Sturt to the Goohva the distance is 15 miles,
with a breadth of water generally exceeding half-a-
mile, a channel of 300 yards, and a depth of one and
a-half fatlioms. Close to the Goohva old police sta-
tion-house, alongside of a limestone formation pro-
jecting into the water, 90 feet of water are obtained.
This is a good site for the contemplated jetty ; and
the basin here, sheltered by Hindmarsh Island, is
about as spacious as the commodious harbour at the
north arm of of the Port Adelaide Creek.
" The distance from the Goohva to the Darling is
about 080 miles ; there are no falls or rapids, or
other impediments of any kind, except the insignifi-
cant ones already alluded to ; and throughout the
entire distance there is a channel, most amply deep
and wide, for steamers of greater draught of water
than that of the limit prescribed by the legislature of
South Australia to the competitors for the premium
for the successful navigation of the river Murray
from the Goohva to the Darling. The country from
520 EXPLORATION OF THE MURRAY BY SIR H. E. F. YOUNG.
the Goolwa to the Darling has no vacant run with
river frontage for stock. There is a stock-holder
claimant for every part of this extensive country
along the river. Traces of cattle or sheep are con-
stantly visible ; and wherever the animals were met
with, they seemed in excellent condition. The
alluvial land varies in depth from half-a-mile to three
miles on the border of the river. There is abundance
of timber, and particularly fine above Moorundee.
It mav safely be conjectured that the necessities of a
denser population would soon induce a resort to
expedients for preventing the inundation of the river
and its tributary creeks, and for raising and retaining
supplies of water for irrigation of both the alluvial
and sandy land along the extensile course of this
noble river. I was informed that a vast tract of
pastoral land, stretching from the back of the Burra-
Burra range of hills to the north-west bend, and
onwards to Laidley's Ponds on the Darling, hitherto
only used in portions adjacent to the river, is now
likely to be occupied for pastoral purposes over its
entire inland space, because of the recent discovery
of good water beneath the surface.
" The climate on the river, in September and
October, was sharply cold in the early morning, cool
and pleasant after sunset, and fiercely hot at mid-day
in the scrub and on the water. The natives were
seen in great numbers — unoffending, useful, and
obliging. At every station some few were engaged
in the service of the stock-hclders. Six natives rowed
from Wellington to the Darling, and from the Dar-
ling to the Goolwa, nearly 1,400 miles. Throughout
the expedition I was much indebted to the settlers
for their great kindness and hospitalitv.
" (Signed) H. E". F. Young.
" Government- House, Adelaide, Oct. 25, 1850."
The practicability of a steamer plying between
Lake Alexandrina (which is merely an expansion of
the Murray instead of its having several exits), and
the Darling being thus ascertained, the next step
was to examine the depth of water in Upper Murray
to Albnry, situated at the base of the last range of
hills on the Ncav South "Wales side of the Victoria
frontier (where the flat country commences), and
about 400 miles S.AV. of Sydney. Albury is a thriv-
ing village, with 500 or 600 inhabitants, possesses its
church, steam-mill, stores, inns, Sec, and is becoming
the centre of an active inland trade. From this
place, an experienced traveller, named Gerstacker,
launched a gum.-tree canoe, drawing 10 to 11 inches,
in May, 1851, when the river was at its lowest point,
" a decent shower" not having fallen for 16 months.
iJe found a copious stream of water, but its channel
was obstructed, particularly in the upper course, by
snntjs, or fallen timber.
After the union of the Hume, or Upper Murray,
with the Murrumbidgee, when it becomes the proper
Murray, the river was, with some exceptions, ascer-
tained to be free from the dangerous obstacles of
snags and banks; below the Darling junction, few
were to be seen, and no such short bends as exist
higher up: there was plenty of " sea-room" in mid-
channel for steamers of considerable size, although
sand-bars occurred nearly as far down as the north-
west bend.
Mr. Gerstacker, after adverting to the clearing the
bed and removing the snags, with the aid of ropes
and saws, proceeds to say — " That inland steam-
navigation would create an entirely new zeal in the
population of the surrounding districts; it would
prompt them to make new efforts, and to commence
experimental cultivation, the results of which may be
most successful, and the means of drawing hundreds
and thousands of settlers to the borders of the Mur-
ray and its tributaries. At present, comparatively
ies"! jDersons feel strong inclination to remain in dis-
tricts so completely isolated from the known world,
and with which there are no means of communica-
tion except by long and tedious journeys and bullock
di'ays. A water-communication, once opened, would
produce a considerable return, even from the pas-
sengers. Of one thing I am sure — if this river,
under the same circumstances, and labouring under
the same difficulties, had been found intersecting a
colony in the United States, the Americans would
have had before this time not merely one but ten
steamers running on it ; and, if they had to give it
up at last, they Mould at least be able to give proof
of their full acquaintance Mith the difficulties, and a
sufficient reason for the relinquishment. I have fully
admitted, that the removal of the snags is a work of
difficulty ; but it does not represent a thousandth
part of the obstacles which have been overcome in
the States. Bed Biver, which divides Texas and
Arkansas, and empties itself in the ^lississippi, was
blocked uj) by layers of fallen trees called ' raft,' for
nearly 40 miles. Not only was the current impeded
by snags, but the whole river was filled up with
immense trees in such quantities, that even other
trees (young cottonwoods), grew on the top of them,
and forced the current of a large and splendid stream
to work for itself another channel through the low
lands on the southern shore, by which means two
lakes were formed, one called Soda, and the other
Clear Lake. Through this prodigious raft the
Americans, with immense labour and perseverance,
have cut a channel for steamers ; and though it filled
up several times during my sojourn in the United
Slates, the channel was again and again renewed,
and eventually kept clear. It will be admitted,
therefore, that the possibility of steam-boat navi-
gation on the Murray need not be doubted ; for,
except in an extraordinary dry season like the last,
even the upper part of the Hume, as far as Albury,
usually contains, I am told, during eight months of
the year, plenty of m ater to float boats drawing four
or five feet. Difficulties have certainly to be over-
come ; but there exist no real or insurmountable hin-
drance to the accomplishment of this important
object."
While these explorations were taking place, a
Scotchman, with the marked inlelligence and per-
severance which distinguishes his countrymen, was
preparing to turn them to a practical account.
In 1848, a Captain Cadell, (who had unavailingly
offered to explore the Amazon) while commanding
a merchant ship in the Australian trade, had his
attention directed to the possibility of navigating
the Murray ; he carefully sounded Lake Victoria,
and became convinced of its waters being available
for commerce. Nothing further was then done, Mr.
Cadell being obliged to return to Britain on mer-
cantile business; but on revisiting Australia in 1851,
he re-examined the sea-mouth of the Murray, and
was nearly drowned by the upsetting of his boat in
the terrific surf which breaks on the bar. On
entering into correspondence with the Lieutenant-
governor, Sir H. F. Young, that far-seeing officer
entered at once into the views of Mr. Cadell, and it
was resolved to procure a suitable steamer, drawing
a very small draught of water, to attempt the navi-
gation of the stream. Such a vessel could not be
CAPTAIN CADELL^S STEAM NAYIGATION OF THE MURRAY. 521
brought round the Cape of Good Hope. Undeterred
by this difficulty, Captain Cadell resolved to turn to
advantage the knowledge acquired some years before
in the engine-manufactory and ship-biii!ding-yard
on the Clyde, of the justly celebrated and liberal
Robert Napier. He, therefore, proceeded to Sydnev,
planned and superintended the construction of h'is
steamer and lier machinery, which he named the
Lachj Augtisfa, and also directed the building of her
tender (the Eureka), at Goolwa. "While these ves-
sels were preparing, Cadell resolved to examine the
Murraij in a small boat of light frame-work, covered
with stout canvas. With the'se materials packed on
one liorse, and mounted himself on another, this
persevering man left Melbourne, reached the Bendigo
gold-diggings, picked up a volunteer crew, and started
for a bend of the Upper Murray, named Stcan Hill,
upwards of 100 miles from Bendigo, a journey in
which much suffering was endured from " bushing"
it in an inclement, rainy season. At Swan Hill,
Cadell put together his frail bark, named the Fore-
runner ; but the night previous to its launch, a
tremendous storm blew down the roof of the out-
house, under the lee of which the craft was got
ready, and the Forerunner was utterly smashed.
Plenty of wood was at hand ; another frame was
constructed ; and the brave pioneer, with his crew of
gold-diggers, navigated some 1,300 miles of the sinu-
ous and deep waters of this, to them, unknown river ;
and, after 25 days' toil, safely reached the Goolwa.
The Lady Auyusfa arrived in South Australia safe
from Sydney; and, on the 16th of August, 1853,
Cadell, watching a favourable opportunity of wind
and wave, after six weeks' unremitting tidal observa-
tions, and marking out in whale-boats the safest
channel, ])iloted his tiny steamer* over the formidable
breakers from the Pacific into the Goolwa. Here
the governor, and a party of pleasure, were received
on board, and the whole — numbering in all 44
persons — proceeded across Lake Alexandrina, the
channel of which had been previously buoyed by
conspicuous and permanentbeacons by the aborigines,
under the superintendence of their humane sub-pro-
tector, Mr. Mason. The distance of 38 miles was
performed at the rate of eight miles an hour, against
wind and tide — the Ladij Augusta towing a tender
larger than herself.
The weather was fine, and the exploratory trip
most agreeable ; the voyagers being surprised at the
depth of water, the variety of the scenery, and the
numerous European stock-stations along the banks
of this hitherto almost unknown river.
The land about Point Pomond is infested by veno-
mous black snakes, five or six feet long. They have
been driven down by the sheep and cattle into the
extreme point, where the swamps prevent the animals
feedmg. There they breed to such an extent, that
as many as 20 have been shot in a single day. Their
chief food is frogs, with an occasional rat or mouse
by way of variety.
* The tonnage of the Lady Augusta is, by the old
measurement, 72 tons; by the new, 19. The reason
of this great discrepancy between the old and new
measurements is, that the entire measuring portion
of the vessel is occupied by her boilers and machi-
nery. The boilers are seated, one before, the other
abaft, the engines, to insure an equal distribution of
weight over a large portion of the hull, thus enabling
her to accomplish the considerable sea voyage from
Sydney ; it was one of the many difficulties and dis-
DIV. III. 3 T
On the peninsula between Lake Victoria and Lake
Albert, and nearly opposite Point Pomond, is a
neat white house, built on the property of Mr. Neil
Malcolm, a wealthy Scottish gentleman, who pos-
sesses a special survey of 4,000 acres, comprising
about 12 miles of water frontage. Nine miles above
Point Pomond is the entrance of the Murray. The
river is there only 200 yards wide, but it expands
considerably a. little higher up. The view on the
right-hand is very pleasing, and has rather an
English appearance— a rising ground, with occasional
clumps of fir-trees, slopes gently down to the water-
side. The southern road overland, from Adelaide to
Melbourne, runs near the river, and numerous
passing drags give life to the scene. The land is a
native reserve, and is of good quality.
At Wellington, a party assembled" at tlie inn, to
greet with tumultuous huzzas the novel sight, as did
about 100 persons (white and black) at the sheep-
station of Messrs. Wark and Cooke, Avhoso "run"
comprises 24 miles of river frontage, and extends
six miles inland, where there is an immense pine-
forest, Avhich supplies good six-inch planks, and
plenty of timber for building.
Higher up (24 miles from Wellington) is a granite
rock, which stretches almost half across the Murray,
forming, it is supposed, part of the same mass
which may be traced at intervals of two or three
miles, running in nearly a half-circle to a large
granite reef pn the sea-coast, about 40 miles north-
east of Rivoli Bay. In nine or ten places it juts out
of the ground to a considerable height. The sound-
ings in the river between the granitic mass and the
bank gave 13 fathoms. Ten miles further up is an
island, one mile by 200 yards broad; good land,
covered with gum-trees, and subject to inundation
at one corner only.
The scenery, as in most large rivers in the lower
portion of their course is, in general, flat and unin-
teresting ; but occasionally there are spots of marked
beauty. At Messrs. Keane and Orr's station, the
view is thus described : — '• We had first to ascend a
steep cliff of red sand about 50 feet high, which
brought us to an extensive undulating table-land,
clothed w ith abundant pasture, and studded with the
gayest flowering shrubs. No EngHsh pleasure-
ground could surpass such an Australian shrubbery;
indeed, it is almost impossible to fancy that nature,
in its adornment, has received no assistance from
art, so tastefully are the colours blended, and so
gracefully do the long ci-eepers mingle their white
blossoms with the rainbow-tints among which they
tumble and twine in all the gay luxuriance of the
bush."
It was formerly supposed that the soil in the valley
of the Murray Avould be found unfit for cultivation ;
but now it is stated, that nearly the whole of the
scrubby land, througli which the river passes, might
be converted into fruitful corn-fields. About the
Darling junction there are some vast meadows, par-
advantages that the building of her, so many miles
from the field of her operations, entailed. The fol-
lowing are the principal dimensions of the Lady
Augusta: — Extreme length, 105 feet; extreme beam,
20 feet G inches; beam between the paddle-boxes, 12
feet 6 inches ; depth of hold, 5 feet 6 inches ;
engines, horizontal, of 20-horsc each, and two cylin-
drical boilers. A covering on the Lady Augusta's
deck extends fore and aft. It is seven feet in height,
and forms a promenade.
522 SCENERY AND APPEARANCE OP THE MURRAY RIVER.
tially inundated, which, if drained, Avould make
valuable pasturages : the worst land is within the
South Australian boundary. For 30 miles below,
and 25 miles above Swan Hill, the river winds
througli large reedy flats, and has the appearance of
a wide canal full to the brim ; and in many places,
the immediate banks are here destitute of trees :
some are seen in the distance ; in other parts there
is abundance of excellent timber at the water's edge,
which will give employment to numerous sawyers, as
rafts can be floated down to the Goolwa.
On Saturday, August 27, the voyage M-as continued
throughout the night — the engines at full speed,
although the weather Avas dark and stormy. Mr.
Mason, and the aborigines under his kind care, were
good pilots, and the broad river was clearly distin-
guishabl-e. Innumerable water-fowl were met with,
including the goose, duck, diver, pelican, and stately
black swan, with many others not known. Every
new "reach" passed seemed more lovely than the
last ; one, seven miles in length, was bounded by a
perfect avenue of tall trees. " Some have on one
side sandstone rocks, varying in height from 50 to
200 feet, and on the other side extensive meadows,
studded with clumps of gimi and fir-trees, and abso-
lutely yellow, with a flowering plant resembling
groundsel. The rocks are as perpendicular as walls,
crowned, and sometimes ornamented at the base, Avith
hardy trees. The yellow flower is a useless weed,
but it indicates good land and the absence of salt.
In many places where the shore is lined with reeds,
the back land, to the extent of section after section,
is covered Avith this auspicious plant."
The steamer at length reached Swan Hill, Avhere
there is government reserve and toAvnship called
Castle Donnington, which occupies, as slightly rising
ground, the only eminence to be seen for miles
around. Here there is a clerk of the peace, surgeon,
a few constables, a comfortable inn, a store, and,
among artisans and Avorkmen, a brickmaker and
smith._ Petty sessions have been established, and
there is to be a resident magistrate. The elements
of civilised life are therefore provided ; but, as yet,
the prices of necessaries are high. When the Lady
Atigusta steamer stopped here, a bottle of beer cost
6s. ; a glass of Avhiskey, 2s., at the inn : and, at the
store, a pair of cotton socks, Avorth Gd., cost 2s. 6f/. ;
letter-paper, 5s. a quire; tape. Is. per yard ; needles,
6c?. each ; and flour, 2s. a-pound. Wages Avere pro-
portionably high. The police received 8s. a-day,
and bullock-drivers, 35s. a-Aveek ; both being pro-
vided with board and lodging ; and the former Avilh
two suits of clothing a-year.
The European colonists now settling along the
Murray Avill ultimately change its monotony to one
of picturesque scenery. This change has already
commenced : the Australian correspondent of the
London Times notices the fact thus : — " The passage
of the little steamer past the stations on the banks
might Avell be considered a great event. Captain
Cadell and his companions Avere everywhere most
hospitably received, and entertained Av'ith the good
cheer which is better and more plentiful hundreds of
miles in the interior than in the crowded capitals.
The luxuriance and variety of the vegetables and
fruits of the settlers' gardens are recorded Avith
grateful emphasis : thus — ' Mr. Cole's salads' have
acquired, on the Murray, 'a world-wide celebrity;'
the Lady Avc/uf-ta testifies unanimously to their
excellence, and < their hospitable dispenser may con-
fidently challenge the bush to produce crisper lettuces,
richer eggs and cream, or bottled condiments more
judiciously compounded.' At ' Bombany, on the Vic-
toria side, is Mr. Grant's station. He lives there,
Avith his family, in a very comfortable bush residence,
and has a garden of two acres, in Avhich there are
peas, potatoes, greens of various sorts, lettuces,
radishes, and several other esculents, all looking well
and strong.' Another settler's garden is thus de-
scribed : — ' ]Mr. Beveridge's garden is the most beau-
tiful I have seen on the Murray. It is laid out Avith
much taste, the acacias being trained into hedges, and
the AvilloAvs into bov.ers, Avhile an artificial canal,
leading from a " billebong," gives the Avhole a cool
and pleasing appearance. Our table was liberally
supplied Avith new potatoes, carrots, turnips, greens,
lettuces, and mint ; Avhile the Avell-tended beds dis-
played, in A'arious stages of advancement, peas, garlic,
onions, caulifloAvers, and asparagus, besides more
herbs than I can enumerate, and all doing well.
The garden also contains vines, plum-trees, and
peach-trees. There is a patch of healthy-looking
Avheat ; and Mr. Beveridge says he has every year
abundance of melons and pumpkins.' Never has an
exploring expedition opened up a thousand miles of
an unknoAvn river more pleasantly. Delicious salads,
imitations of champagne suppers, bonfires on shore
at dusk, and the evening ' again finished by a
dance,' as if partners and polkas were nothing un-
usual, gave the enterprise something of tlie air of a
prolonged pic-nic."
Leaving Sivan Hill, the steamer proceeded to
CdVijjbell's station, 100 miles further up the stream,
distant from the Goohva about 1,500, and from Mel-
bourne 210 miles. The average rate of steaming up
the river and back Avas G\ miles per hour: the
average rate of travelling, including all stoppages,
62 miles a-day. Tlie Eurelxa brought down valu-
able cargoes of wool, talloAv, and skins, collected
from some of the fifty sheep-stations situated along
the route, and the traffic is now regularly esta-
blished. It is stated in an Australian journal, that
"the officers and sailors of the Lady Augusta, are
men who have seen the rivers of each quarter of the
world, and they compare the Murray Avitli some of
the finest. One it reminds of the St. LaAvrence at
and above Quebec ; another terms it a miniature
Mississippi ; a third likens it to the Hooghly, adding,
that it is broader than either the Ganges or the
Jumna above their point of junction ; a Chinese
mariner says it resembles the Tigris at Whampoa ;
and one of the officers, Avho has recently been at
California, states that it is broader than the Sacra-
mento. The water of the Murray, like that of the
Ganges, is generally rather thick and muddy, espe-
cially Avhen, as at present, the stream is rising. This
is said to be chiefly caused by its admixture Avith the
Darling. It looks, in a tumbler, as if it had a little
milk or chalk in it, but settles doAvn in a feAv hours
and becomes perfectly bright, leaving a considerable
sediment, Avhich may be described as something be-
tween Fuller's earth and pipeclay, feeling soft and
greasy in the fingers. It is excellent both for drink-
ing and Avashing.
There Avill, doubtless, be ultimately a large traffic
on the Murray. On his second trip. Captain Cadell
brought down 606 bales of avooI, of Avhich 349 Avere
from the Ncav South Wales territory, and 257 from
that of Victoria.
It is expected that a great extent of good arable
soil Avill be available in the A-alley of the Murrum-
bidgee : Avithin the limits of the colony of South
GOOD EFFECT OF OPENING THE MURRAY RIVER.
523
Australia, contiguous to Port Elliott, or to the navi-
gable waters of the Murray, there are 735,651 acres
of good land surveyed, and now open to purchasers
from the Crown, at the rate of 20s. per acre. Im-
mense tracts contiguous to the great stream and its
tributaries are adapted for the rearing of horned
cattle, sheep, and horses ; indeed, ere long, this re-
gion will probably become, with a cheap and ready
transit to the ocean, the most lucrative pastoral
country in the world. For at least seven months* in
the year there is now a navigable channel through
one of the finest portions of Australia ; the rising of
the INIurray, in June, will become to our southern
brethren of as much importance for traffic, as is that
of the Nile to the Egyptians for agricultui-e.f
Sir H. E. F. Young, who again ascended the
Murray in August, 1853, states several facts con-
nected with this important stream in his despatches
to the Duke of Newcastle, her majesty's secretary
of state. The following is an abstract of the principal
points : — After stating that the steamer Eureka
reached Gana Warrah, 150 miles beyond Swan
Hill, Sir Henry proceeds — " At this point the depth
of water was three fathoms, and the breadth about
200 yards. The branch of the Murray, called the
Wakool, was ascended for a distance of sixty miles,
and was found to average forty yards in width; and
the soundings were from two-and-a-half to upwards
of five fathoms. Near Poon Boon, on the Wakool,
there is a reef of sandstone, but leaving a channel
just large enough to admit the two vessels to pass
abreast in six-feet water ; after which the water
assumes its average depth. This reef is capable of
easy removal. The total extent of the navigation of
the Murray proper, accomplished on this voyage,
was 1,450 miles; that of its branch, the AVakool,
sixty miles in addition. It is to be noted, that very
genei'ally the river is so winding, that the distance,
in a direct line by land, may be computed at less
than half the distance by water. On the Avhole I
am enabled to give it as my opinion, that the Murray
proper is navigable from the Goolwa to Albury, that
is, for a space of 1,900 miles. Its branches and tri-
butaries are the Wakool, the Loddon, the Campaspe,
the Goulburn, the Kyaltie or Edward, the Tuppul,
and the Billibong. The Murrumbidgee, from its
junction with the Murray, has a navigable course of
700 miles to Gundagai. The Darling is navigable
in seasons of flood."
The colonial legislature has made a grant to Cap-
tain Cadell of £4,000; and contracted with him for
a continuance of the transit during the six or eight
months, when there is an abundance of water for his
steamers ; and it is expected, that by means of flat
boats he will be able to extend the navigation along
the Darling and the Murrumbidgee into nearly the
centre of the pastoral districts of New South Wales.
In consequence of the difficulty of entering the
Murray from seaward, a rail or rather tramway is in
progress, at a cost of £21,000, between the township
of Goolwa, inside the river-mouth, and Port Elliott,
on the southern coast of the colony, in lat. 35' 32'
45" south, long. 138' 49' 15" east, six miles from
Rosetta Head, Encounter Bay : by this communica-
tion (about seven miles in length), the produce of
the back-settlements (wool, tallow, hides, and grain,
* At the Darling junction the waters commence
rising in June ; attain the highest point, in ordi-
nary seasons, in October; and then continue falling
until April.
and probably minerals) of the three colonies may be
shipped direct for Europe,
Ever since the colony was founded, coasters have
been in the habit of entering and departing from
Port Elliott at all seasons of the year : first-rate
moorings from Woolwich dock-yard are now laid
down for large vessels inside a breakwater ; but the
holding-ground is good outside ; and with the aid of
the brilliant revolving Sturt Liijht on Cape Wil-
loughby, Kangaroo Island, which has a total ele-
vation of 241 feet, and is visible at a distance of six
nautical leagues, mails may be safely landed at a
jetty, which is completed for 100 feet in length, with
twelve feet at its extremity at high tides, and six at
low-water. Sir H. F. Young, Captain Cadell, and
all who have co-operated in making the Murray a
highway for millions yet unborn, deserve great
credit for their zeal and perseverance, and will re-
ceive the thanks of all who view the dissemination
of the Anglo-Saxon race over the waste spots of the
earth as an object of the highest importance.
General Improvement. — The prosperity of
South Australia is based on a solid founda-
tion, and civilisation is everywhere advanc-
ing. x\delaide, in particular, has been much
enlarged within the last few years. New
buildings are rising in every dii^ection, and
the value of land has been greatly enhanced.
The municipal authorities have made pro-
gress in the sewage and lighting of the
city; and, in 1853, the legislature gave a
grant of ^€30,000 towards supplying the
citizens with abundance of pure water.
Frontage-ground in Adelaide has sold at
£50 per foot, or at the rate of £10,500 per
acre. This enhanced price will be seen by
comparing the ground bought by the com-
missioners of the National Gallery of Lon-
don, near Gore-house, Kensington, and
contiguous to the site of the Gi'eat Exhi-
bition, where 86 acres were purchased for
£280,000, at the rate of £3,250 per acre.
A public market, erecting at Adelaide by
the corporation, is 160 feet in length by 40
feet in width — outside dimensions: the stalls,
12 feet by 9 feet, have separate locks-up, and
the occupiers and their produce are screened
from the sun by a verandah, six feet wide :
the centre is an open space ; and all round
the outside is a roadway, by which the stalls
are supplied through openings in the ex-
ternal walls.
The outlying counties have kept pace
with the capital; and a new pastoral dis-
trict has been discovered to the north of
Mount Eyre, between 31° and 32°: it ex-
tends from Mount Arden to Lake Torrens,
t In 1853, two enterprising young farmers and
millers of the Mount Barker district, constructed a
small steamer, on which they embarked a load of
farm produce for Swan Hill, in Victoria province.
524 WESTERN AUSTRALIA— POPULATION AND PRISONERS.
over about 150 square miles ; the country is
mountainous; the ranches rise to the height
of 2,000 feet, from which several streams,
said to be perennial, flow. In one part, a
level tract, capable of depasturing 500 head
of cattle, is surrounded by perpendicular
rocks of 1,000 feet elevation ; the entrance
to the " Pound, ^' as it has been termed, is
by a nari'ow swampy gorge, which cattle
would not willingly pass. There is also
said to be a good country between the
eastern boundary of Lake Torrens and the
Darling, which would be valuable, as there
is a level line of road from the bight of
the lake to the head of Spencer's Gulf. A
useful, and therefore honourable career, is
before those who have made South Aus-
tralia their home ; and England may well
be proud of this, one of the youngest of
her oftspring.
Governor Young, in a despatch to Eaii
Grey, compares South Australia, in the
fifteenth year of its age (in 1850), with
New South Wales of the same age (in
1803) ; but the comparison is not a fair
one, as the prosperity of the latter was a
main element in the success of the former :
the two colonies stand thus in the fifirenth
year of their existence : —
Xeiv South n^ales in 1803 : | South Australia in 1850 :—
Land granted, acres 125,746 Land granted, acres 655,589
„ cleared „ — ,, fenced ,, 16,621
Wheat cultivation „ 7,118 Wheat cultivation „ 35,183
Barley and maize „ 5,279| Barley and oats ,, 7,220
Homed cattle Xo. 2,447 Horned cattle Ko. 51,540*
Sheep . . . . „ 11.232 Sheep , 885,918*
Horses . . . . „ 352! Horses . . . . „ 1,784
European residents „ 7,134|Europeanresidciits„ 54,175
AYestern Australia.
This colony has been very slightly aftected
by the gold-discoveries on the eastern shores
of Australia, but its character and prospects
have been somewhat changed by the intro-
duction, for the first time, in 1849--'50,t of
conncts from England, and of persons who
have undergone punishment at home for
their offences, and to whom " tickets-of-
leave'^ have been granted on their arrival
in the settlement {see p. 399.) The neces-
sity of a deportation of criminals must be
evident from the fact, that in April, 1853,
there were in gaols, houses of correction,
&c., in England alone, 20,143 persons; or
in the pi'oportion of one known felon to
every 800 of the inhabitants. As yet, the
• Exclusive of 33,747 horned cattle, and 202,482
sheep, depastured on common lands of the crown.
t Under authority of order in council, 1st May,
1849. y i>
number of convicts sent to Western Aus-
tralia has been very limited; and this judi-
cious policy will tend to prevent the evil of a
large prisoner class, before there be a sufficient
number of free inhabitants to prepare the
way for their profitable employment.
Population. — In 1849, the white popu.
lation, exclusive of military, was 4,654.
In 1850, exclusive of military and bond, it
was 5,293 — increase, 639. The convicts
were in number, 170; the military troops of
the line, 109; their wives, 19; children,
44 : enrolled pensioners sent out as guard
of convicts — men, 79 ; their wives, 64 ;
children, 126 : grand total of whites, 5,904.
The population, at the close of the year
1852, was 8,711, of which 3,066 were
females, and 5,645 males. The number of
the aborigines may be estimated at about
1,700 ; but it is impossible to arrive at any
satisfactory conclusion with regard to their
numbers, from their wandering habits. Of
the population of 8,711, there were free,
6,574; bond, 1,432; and 705 military —
being an increase of 1,615 over 1851.
During 1852, the colonial emigration
commissioners dispatched to Western Aus-
tralia four vessels, containing 629 emigrants
— viz., 135 male, and 216 female, adiilts ;
and 104 male, and 114 female, children,
under 14 years of age.
There are, as yet, no returns of the
prison-population in 1853; but the esti-
mated convict expenditure for the vear
1852-'3, is £57,400, to provide for '600
prisoners, 1,300 ticket- of-leave men, and
200 superiutendants, and their wives and
families. The cost of the convicts is esti-
mated at 1^. 2d. per day; the pro\dsions
for the whole, to <£39,323 for the year.
That the introduction of convicts does
not necessarily cause the deterioration of a
colonial community, when due regard is
paid to their moral and spiritual state, is
evidenced by the statement of Governor
Fitzgerald, who, in an official report to her
Majesty's secretary of state, dated Perth,
7th of June, 1853, adverts to the favourable
returns exhibited by the Blue-Book for 1852,
which he says —
" Afford the most satisfactory evidence of the
general progress and advancement of this colony in
all the elements that usually contribute sources of
wealth, prosperity, and contentment, and, I am
happy to say, without a single drawback at this
moment. This may appear strange language from
the governor of a recently-made penal settlement;
but I am bound to declare, Avhatever might have
been the consequences and results of the intro-
WESTERN AUSTRALIA— CRIME— RELIGION— EDUCATION— 1852. 525
duction of convicts in other settlements, it has r.s
yet been productive of nothing in this colony but
marked benefit, which is now fully admitted by
even the most timid of those originally opposed to
the introduction of convicts, who can scarcely realise
to themselves the gratifying fact of the security
felt by all as to the safety of life and property in
every part of this widely-extended possession, not-
withstanding there are nearly 2,000 ticket-of-leave
men scattered throughout the inhabited districts
among a free population, whose numbers do not
reach 9,000.
"In submitting this very favourable view, 1 do not
wish it to be supposed for a moment that there is a
total immunity from crime or minor offences, but
that looking at the increase that has been given in
the last two years to the general population, bond and
free, I doubt much if any greater increase of crime
has resulted from tlie introduction of ticket-of-leave
men, than would have been the case by the intro-
duction of an equal numl)er of any other kind of
m.ixed immigrants. Much of this good result is, no
doubt, to be attributed to the state of the law which
gives such strong coercive power, by summary juris-
diction, to the magistracy in dealing with ticket-of-
leave men ; and a further canse in some May, I would
fain hope is, from the determination of many of this
class to lead a new life, and thus prove that the
efforts made, and being made, by her majesty's go-
vernment for their reformation have not been en-
tirely fruitless."*
In another passage, the governor says,
" Crime, I am happy to state, is as small as
can well be expected, and without a single
act of violence on the person during the
year.^^
Aborigines. — The report of Governor Fitz-
gerald (1852) on this distressing theme, is
unfavourable. It is to be hoped, however,
that although success may not at pre-
sent attend the philanthropic eflbrts of
societies and communities, there will be no
relaxation of a duty which is imperative
and self-imposed, for the preservation and
civilisation of the aboriginal race.
Religion. — Since the introduction of con-
victs, three additional clergymen of the
church of England have been appointed to
the colony, which defrays one-half their
salaries ; the remainder being paid by the
home government. The churches at York,
Freemantle, and Bunbury, where these
gentlemen are stationed, have full and at-
tentive congregations.
Five thousand acres of land have been
subscribed towards the formation of a
bishopric. The Wesleyaus and other Pro-
testant Dissenters have increased their
ministries, as has also the Roman Catholic
community.
Education. — In Perth, five public schools
receive government aid ; several private ones
♦ Report on Blue-Book for 1852, p. 221.
rely on their own resources. In Freemantle,
two public schools, one for boys and the
other for girls, supported by government
aid, are well attended ; there are also several
private seminaries. In Guildford, the school
is under the charge of a clergyman of the
church of England, who receives government
assistance. There are also schools at York,
Bunbury, and Albany, under lay-masters
paid by the colonists.
Government. — "Western Australia remains
under the form of government stated at
p. 305, the inhabitants not being, as yet,
able to take upon themselves the duties and
increased burdens of self-government, as
prospectively laid down in the imperial act.
(See Appendix.)
Financial. — In this respect, the progress
of the colony is slow, but satisfactory ; the
ordinary revenue having been doubled in
ten years, and the land-sales augmented.
There has been no new imposition of
taxes : the intercolonial postage has been
reduced from 4f/. to 2d. the half-ounce ; and
on all foreign letters, a diminution from
lOf/. to a universal rate of 4c?.
Land. — The quantity of land alienated in
Western Australia, up to August, 1852, in-
dependent of town sites and public reserves,
was 1,330,143 acres, in G75 grants; or, on
an average, nearly 2,000 acres to each grant.
The town and suburban lots consisted of
1,378 acres, on 14 town sites. Of the
above, 1,259,218 acres have been surveyed
and marked, which exhibits a comm.endable
diligence in the surveyor of the colony and
his small staff. The appropriated, but un-
surveyed lands, at the above date, were dis-
tributed over 101 locations, and consisted
of 70,925 acres.
The applications for pastoral leases, up
to October, 1852, extend over an area of
2,272,236 acres; the quantity thus sought,
was, in 1851 — acres, 1,671,000. No lease
is granted for more than 20,000 acres ; and
not more than one-fourth of the external
boundaries of any selection is allowed on any
river or water, whose course or direction is
known. The squatters have not, there-
fore, here the opportunity availed of on the
IMurray and other rivers, to monopolise
water-frontages for miles. Leases or licenses
are put up to auction, at an up-set price, in
the same manner as land is sold : a pastoral
is quite distir.ct from a tiUage lease, and is
paid for at a different rate ; the charge for
the latter is 2s. per acre ; for the former, 2*.
per 100 acres, or £1 per 1,000.
526 SUMMARY VIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES— 1853-'4.
The expectations entertained of great
mineral wealth, have not yet been realised.
At the Gerald ine mine, in the Champion
Bay district, the smelting of lead has com-
menced ; and the neighbouring country is
said to be rich in blue and green carbonates
of copper, found at a depth of 12 feet
from the surface, and with a soft matrix,
similar to that of the Burra-Burra mine.
The harbour, at the mouth of the Hutt,
capable of receiving vessels drawing 12 feet
of water, is within 40 miles of the mine.
Several thousand tons of guano have been
obtained from rocky islets in Shark's Bay ;
and it is not improbable larger deposits of
this valuable manure will be found on the
coast still further north ; which, as well as
the interior, is still almost entirely unex-
plored.
Governor Fitzgerald, who has for several
years zealously presided over the adminis-
tration of the colony, and has endeavoured
to develope its resources, made an inland
tour, in April, 1852, to the extent of 300
miles around Champion Bay [pp. 376 — 8] :
he considers the bay " a secure anchorage
in all weathers, for a well-found ship."
There is, however, as yet, a scarcity of
drinking-water — that obtained by sinking
wells being salt. The governor remarked,
that " the land between the Boives and
Greenough, and the Greenough and the
Irivin rivers, is, on the whole, both for pas-
toral and agricultural purposes, equal, if
not superior, to any similar extent of land
traversed in the colony, and unattended by
any of the evils arising from the existence
of the jjoison-jilant, which has proved so
great a scourge to the sheep-farmers in
other districts. * * The absence of
timber is the only want noted : the climate
is second to none. The country between
the Hutt and the INIurchison rivers, although
possessing patches of good land, is, on the
whole, of an inferior description."*
This fine section of Australia only wants
population to render it as prosperous as any
of the neighbouring settlements, while its
position on the Indian Ocean is favourable
for intercourse with India. Whether gold
exists here or not, is yet to be ascertained ;
that copper and lead prevail is very pro-
bable; but there can be no doubt that
there is an abundance of good land, with a
salubrious climate, adapted for the sustain-
ment of a large portion of the human race.
CHAPTER III.
SUMMARY VIEW OF AUSTRALIA— SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROSPECTS.
In the preceding pages, an endeavour has
been made to 'trace the rise and progress,
the vicissitudes and prosperity, of each of
the four Australian colonies :* all that can
now be done, within the limited remaining
space, is to offer some general remarks on-
their present state and future prospects ; but
such is the rapid transition of these settle-
ments, that the present becomes the past
while its prominent features are being
chronicled — the daguerreotype of to-day
proving an inadequate representative of the
morrow : and as regards the future, the
most sanguine anticipations may fall short
of possible realities.
Yet the numerous facts here recorded,
will convey to the home reader some im-
• Correapomhuce on Convict BisopHne, 13th De-
cember, liio2—TJ''estern Australia, p. 264.
pression of the extent and resources of Aus-
tralia : and they will serve as indices to
mark the various phases of social and po-
litical existence in a young community.
Under Providence, all that Australia now
requires for the fulfilment of its destiny is a
virtuous population, guided by intelligence ;
there, the labourer receives fair wages for
the sweat of his brow ; the mechanic, pay-
ment in proportion to his skill ; the trades-
man, good profit on his retailings ; the mer-
chant, quick returns on his capital ; the ship-
owner, a remunerative freight ; the agricul-
turist, rich harvests for his toil ; the grazier,
high prices for his cattle; the squatter,
a certain demand for his wool; and
the government, a large and increasing
revenue. There is a healthy climate, cheap
food, plenty of work, abundant scope for
enterprise, a free government, light taxes,
religious toleration, scholastic instruction
for all classes, and as peaceable, intelligent,
and honest society as may be found in most
other countries.*
Even since the discovery of gold, there
* That the cUmate of the temperate regions of Aus-
tralia is salubrious there can be no doubt, otherwise
forty to fifty thousand persons could not have re-
mained at the gold-fields throughout the year, pro-
vided with only tents or bark-huts pervious to wind
and rain. There has been, doubtless, much disease
and many deaths at Melbourne, owing to the over-
ci'owding of habitations, absence of sewage and
cleanliness, irregular diet, drinking, excitement, and
other causes ; moreover, it is unreasonable to expect
the climate of England in the latitude of Italy. With
ordinary care, health and longevity may be attained
in the present four colonies, although, in December,
January, and February, the temperature is very varia-
able, and hot winds, for a few days, distressing to new
comers. How far the climate may be affected by
clearing and cultivating the soil, or how strong or
enfeebled the human race may become, after a few
generations, time only can demonstrate ; there is,
however, no reason to entertain unfavourable views
on the subject. The cutting down of woods, though
for a season causing an exhalation from the ground,
ultimately renders the air drier and purer ; and as to
the Australian youth of New South Wales, — their
physical and mental qualities are at least on a par
with their corresponding grades of rank in England.
A Report from tlie Colonial Surgeon at Adelaide
(J. G. Nash), in March, 1852, furnishes details
which are applicable to the other three colonies : —
" The salubrity of the climate of South Australia
is indisputable, the thermometer, in summer, averag-
ing 73'' Fahr., and in winter, 55' Fahr., showing a
mean temperature for the year of 65' Fahr., being
only one degree higher than the mean temperature
of Madeira. There is no endemic disease in South
Australia. From the peculiar character of the indi-
genous vegetation, and from the absence of moisture
during the summer months, there is but little de-
composition of rank vegetable matter, consequently
bilious, remittent, and intermittent fevers are scarcely
known. The prevalent fever of South Australia is
closely allied to the congestive fever of Bengal, and
chiefiy affects the newly-arrived. Eight-ninths of
those cases that terminated fatally occui-red in persons
who had not been one year in the colony. The mem-
branes of the brain, the bronchial and intestinal mu-
cous membranes, are the parts chiefly congested, the
former more especially in children, arising from ex-
posure to the sun, and the two latter from checked
perspiration, irregularities in diet, or the too frequent
use of stimulants. Meningitis, bronchitis, or dothein
enteritis, is generally found more or less developed
in the continued fever of South Australia. No erup-
tive fevers, with the exception of occasional cases of
scarlatina, have yet ajjpeared in the colony. The dry
warm atmosphere of Adelaide has a tendency to pre-
vent the development of the strumous diathesis, con-
sequently there are but few cases of scrofula. Phthisis
pulmonalis is also infrequent, and progresses but
slowly in South Australia, opening a wide field to the
skill of the physician and the efficacy of medicine in
checking the disease.
" Organic disease of the liver is rare, but that vis-
are indications that the possession of the pre-
cious metal is not invariably the " root of
all evil;" although there can be no doubt,
that in the undue desire for its attainment,
much sin and suffering have occurred; but
crimes, especially those of a sanguinary
cus frequently becomes congested soon after the rainy
season sets in, and relieves itself by an increased se-
cretion of bile, rendering jaundice at this period of
the year a very common affection.
" Dysentery is one of the prevalent diseases, but
yields readily to treatment. It is caused by improper
diet or clothing ; in the one case directly causing a
determination of blood to the mucous membrane of
the alimentary canal, and in the other indirectly by
checking the insensible perspiration ; and in both
cases producing that congestion of the portal system
which so frequently accompanies dysentery. Epi-
demic cholera has not visited South Australia since
its colonization. Diseases of the brain are not com-
mon in this colony, and the admissions into hospital
have been chiefly cases of delirium tremens. I do not
think that insanity prevails here to a greater extent
than in England, and generally occurs in those who
have recently arrived. Some of the causes of insanity,
such as regret at leaving home, anxiety during the
voyage, and disappointment perhaps on landing, are
in more active operation at that time than at any
subsequent period. Dropsies are not prevalent in
South Australia. Rheumatism is a frequent disease
in the bush, and most of the cases admitted into
hospital have been sent from the sheep stations.
" Abscesses and ulcers are not of more frequent
occurrence here than at home. Wounds and injuries
in South Australia are most frequently ' gun-shot
wounds,' accidents from i'iding horses not properly
broken in, and injuries received in felling trees.
Accidents from bullock-drays are frequently occa-
sioned by the dangerous practice of riding on the
pole of the dray. Conjunctivitis is the most prevalent
disease of the eyes in this colony, and, in the summer
months, is frequently occasioned by exposure to the
night air after having been subjected to the glare of
a cloudless sky. The impalpable dust in the streets
and on the roads also acts as an irritating cause.
Diseases of the skin are not often met with.
" Annexed to this report are tables showing the
prevailing winds and weather, taken from an average
of ten years ; of the height of the barometer from an
average of seven years ; and of the thermometer from
an average of ten years. Tlie quantity of rain fallen,
is an average for seven years : —
" Barometi-r, 7 Years. — Maximum, 30 deg.; 7 min.:
minimum, 29 ; 5 : mean of maximum and mini-
mum, oO; 1 : range, 1 ; 2 : annual mean, 30 ; 2 : great-
est variation from 9 to 9 — 0 ; 3 : least variation
from 9 to 9 — 0 ; 0 : mean variation from 9 to 9 — 0 ; 0.
" 'Thermometer, 10 Years in the Shade. — Maxi-
mum, 102 deg.; minimum, 45; mean of maximum
and minimum, 73; range, 57; annual mean, 65;
greatest variation, from 9 to 9 ; 23 : least variation,
from 9 to 9 ; 2 : mean variation, from 9 to 9 ; 10.
" Thermometer, 10 Years. — Davs, above 100 deg.,
—3 ; above 100 and 91,-17 ; above 90 and 81,-52 ;
above 80 and 71,-106; above 70 and 61,-119;
above GO and 51,-66; above 50 and 41,-2.
" Winds, 10 Jwo-.s-.- N., days, 13 ; N.E., 61 ; E., 7 ;
S.E., 42; S., 20; S.W., 110; W., 39; N.W., 58 j
variation, 9 ; pi-edominant for year, S.W.
528 AUSTRALIA— LONDON, MADEIRA, AND AUCKLAND COMPARED.
character, have diminished ; and there is a
manifest improvement in the position of
" Weather, 10 Years. — Clear clays, 29; cloudy, but
fine, 190 ; overcast, without rain, 7. — Rain, little, 73 ;
rain, much, 64; rain, constant, 2. Total, 139.
the small settlers : they evidently possess, in
greater abundance than formerly, the com-
" Calm or light breezes, 232; fresh breezes, 118;
strong gales, 15; hail, 5; thunder and lightning,
21."
Counties.
London . .
Madeira . .
Auckland, N.Z.
Adelaide, S. A.
Latitude.
N.L. 51-30
N.L. 32-37
S.L. 36-51
S.L. 34-40
Mean
Temperature
of the Year.
50
64
59i
65
Warmest
Month.
62
73
69
73
Coldest
Month.
36
58
52
55
Mean
Barometer
of the Year.
29-89
30-03
29-92
30-2
Quantity
of Rain
during the
Year.
Aqueous
Vapour.
Number
of days
on which
Ilain fell.
Inches.
20
45f
22
5o
4 3
178
160
139
" The highest range of the thermometer, in 1852,
was 105'; the lowest, 44'^; the average is 67^ The
number of days on which rain fell, in 1852, was 115
days ; and the total quantity, 27-34 inches.
" The most steady rains, both in Avinter and sum-
mer, begin with the Avind at about north-east, the
rain falling greatly and the wind light, both gradually
increasing as the latter veers round to the north,
when the rain is much heavier, and still increasing
until the M-ind is about north-west, when the heaviest
fall takes place.
" After this, the wind draMS round to the Avest and
south-M'est, when the rain gradually ceases, or at
least only occurs in heavy squalls and showers, and
the weather clears up. Tiio period occupied by a
continuous fall of rain rarely exceeds t\Yelve hours.
The wind will, however, often hang at about west,
with a few points' variation to the soutlt for some
days, during which rain constantly occurs in showers,
but no lengthened fall unless the wind has backed
round to north.
" The heaviest showers occur after a hot north-east
wind, drawing round to north-west, at which point
an inch of rain has fallen in less than half-an-hour.
accompanied by thunder and lightning. With refer-
ence to the connexion between the weather and the
barometer, it is to be remarked, that the latter inva-
riably falls with a north-east wind, rising with a south-
west one, generally attaining its lowest point with
the wind at north-west, and a strong gale blowing,
— the quicksilver rising rapidly with the wind to the
south of west.
" Generally throughout the year, during fine wea-
ther, a land and sea breeze alternate. About sunset,
the wind blows at about south-east to east, dying
away towards daylight ; a light sea-breeze from west
to south-west coming up about nine A.M. ; or else the
night wind, towards morning, draws round from east
to north-east by north, to north-west and west to-
wards the afternoon.
" Should it hang to the east of north, with a .''ailing
barometer, it is a certain indication of a hot wind." —
■Bine. Booh for 1852.
The hygrometic state of Sydney, N. S. Wales, is
shown by a Meteorological Register, kept for 1 1
years, at the South Head (240 feet above the sea)
of Port Jackson (lat. 33^ 51' 11" S.) : the quantity of
rain which fell is more than double that of London :
Kain.
Months.
[See Exjylanations — next page.]
Total
quantity in
each month
during the 11
complete
yoa\-s end-
ing 1851.
Mean
monthly
qxiantity, de-
duced from
these 11
years.
Total number in each
month during those
years, of
Mean monthly numbers
(deduced from those
years) of
Wet days.
Dry days.
Wet days.
Dry days.
^51-145
53-758
44-797
81-233
48-063
39-258
60-077
35-878
33-186
59-032
22-239
38-516
4-6495
4-8870
4-0724
7-3848
4-3693
3-5689
5-4615
3-2616
3-0169
5-3665
20308
3-5105
143
146
136
140
132
121
148
133
127
142
119
122
198
164
205
190
209
209
193
208
203
199
211
219
13
13
12
13
12
11
14
12
;2
13
11
11
18
February
15
19
17
May
June
19
19
July
August
Sc])tembcr
October
November
December .
17
19
18
18
19
20
Rain.
Total number during
the 11 years, of
Which gives a yearly
average of
Rain.
Max. and Mi".,
number of wet
^V^lich gives
a yearly
average of
Maximum
in any
n-onth.
Minimum
in any
rnontli.
Total quan-
Wet daj's.
Dry days.
Wet days.
Dry days.
tity during
the 11 years.
Maxim,
Minim.
567 382
51-580
1,609
2,408
116
219
25-43
007
22
3
VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF WEALTH IN AUSTRALIA.
529
forts, as well as the necessaries of life, and
their moral standard is elevated. =i^ A strong-
disposition is evinced by fortunate miners to
expend their acquisitions in the purchase of
farms or homesteads; and sooner or later,
gold-digging will become a settled business,
instead of a mere scramble or lottery.
It is impossible to estimate the amount of
mineral wealth scattered profusely through-
out this strange land : not only gold,t but
silver, copper, antimony, and most of the
known metals, separate or in combination,
have been found in Australia; while excel-
lent coal, adapted for smelting, is obtainable
in numerous districts.
Tin is extensively distributed in both
Victoria and New South Wales : in the
former colony, more especially, at the Ovens ;
and as regards the latter, in the Bendoc
and other districts of the southern country,
and about the Rocky River ; also, all through
New England and its flanks, f
But Australia does not depend on its
minerals, although they are a very useful
adjunct as a raw material for exchange.
The navigation of the Murray and its tribu-
taries by steam-tugs, is opening up many
thousand square miles of the finest regions
of New South Wales, Victoria, and South
Australia, for pastoral and agricultural pur-
Explanations. — ■ The rain-gauge is cylindrical,
ten inches in diameter, having a funnel-lid, with
sides two inches deep, then decreasing to a tubular
hole of half-an-inch diameter, to prevent as much as
possible evaporation and other decrease, or extraneous
augmentation. It is placed on the ground in a per-
fectly open situation. It should be observed, that in
taking account of the number of Avet days, every day
wherein the smallest quantity of rain falls is included.
A striking uniformity is observable in the monthly
and yearly proportionate means of wet and dry days ;
and even in the very dry year of 1849, this uniform
ratio was preserved. The wettest month in the ave-
rage of the 11 years appears to be April, and the
driest month, November.
* Considering the origin of New South AVales, as
a penal settlement, and the variety of all classes from
different nations Avho have resorted to the gold-fields
since 1851, it is remarkable how few murders have
recently been committed, as exemplified in the capi-
tal punishment returns. The remarks on death-
sentences at p. 486, were written before I saw the
standard work of Beecaria on Crimes and Pttnish-
ments. In the twenty-eighth chapter of his admirable
treatise, the author, without discussing the subject
in a religious aspect, condemns, by conclusive reason-
ing, the destruction of our fellow-beings by legal
tribunals ; — proves that " the punishment of death
is pernicious to society ;" — shows that " human
sacrifices" are an abuse of religion ; — and asks, " is
it not absurd, that the laws which detest and punish
homicide should, in order to prevent murder, pub-
licly commit murder themselves."
t Mr. John Calvert, a successful gold-digger from
DIV. Ill, 3 u
suits. Where river communication is im-
practicable, rail or tram-roads will supply
the requisite facilities for transit ; increase
of population will enable the colonists to
collect supplies of water, which now rush
uselessly to the ocean : hereafter they will be
carefully preserved against seasons of draught;
and by means of aqueducts, fertilizable
tracts, now arid, when supplied with peren-
nial moisture, will yield abundance of
food for man and beast. Throughout the
whole of the settlements, there is a manifest
spirit of improvement abroad : an energy
which peculiarly distinguishes the British
race, pervades every community ; and each
colony seems engaged in friendly emulation,
seeking to attain a prosperity which shall
outrival that of the nations of Europe and
America.
Northward of Moreton Bay and Port
Curtis, on the verge of the tropic of Capri-
corn (see p. 147), a magnificent pastoral
and agricultural region has been explored,
and a township formed, bearing the respected
name of the present able chancellor of the
exchequer (Gladstone.) Here cotton, rice,
tobacco, and other products which have
enriched the southern states of America,
may be cultivated in abundance. If settle-
ments of Chinese, and other nations from
Australia, has issued (in 1853) an interesting volume
on the Gold Rocks of Great Britain and Ireland —
showing that, in past times, gold was extensively
obtained in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
The Romans procured the precious metal at Oogofan
in Carmarthenshire, from the Poltimore mines in
Devon, at Goldscoop in Cumberland, and Lead Hill
in Scotland : during the middle ages it was worked
in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucester, Shrop-
shire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland,
Lanarkshire, and Fife ; it is also obtainable in Che-
shire, Merionethshire, Ayrshire, Perthshire, Aber-
deenshire, and Sutherland; and in Wicklow, Cork,
Antrim, and Londonderry. The work of Mr. Cal-
vert is of great importance to the metallurgist and
mineralogist, and to all interested in the supply of
gold from different regions : the author also refers to
the diamond, ruby, and liyacinth, being found among
the gold rocks in the L'nited Kingdom, and says,
that he obtained these rare stones, together with
the sapphire, beryl, chrysoberyl, opal, and others, in
Australia.
\ The tourmaline granite, in M-hich stream-tin is
found in Cornwall, jn-evails in the above-named
Australian districts ; and there is reason to think,
that the Banca tin-mines present a similar forma-
tion : gold is known to exist in various parts of the
Indian Archipelago, and it is said to have been re-
cently obtained at Celebes, among the crystalline
quartz-hills of the island, in flakes or sheets of nine
or ten inches square, and an eighth-of-an-inch in
thickness. The Victoria ore, wh ni analysed, gave
tin, 98 ; lead, 1*20 ; gold, -45 per cent. Tin and gold
are obtainable near Mount Ophir, in Malacca.
630 INDIVIDUAL EEFORM INDISPENSABLE TO NATIONAL GREATNESS.
the populous islands of the Eastern Archi-
pelagOj be established at intervals along
the northern coast, stretching from Cape
York to Shark's Bay, in Western Australia,
full scope might be given to the energies
of several million people, tvIio would even-
tually become large consumers of British
manufactures, and contribute to the pros-
perity of the European colonies in the tem-
perate portions of this extensive region.*
But among the various measures neces-
sary to the well-being of the colonists, self-
reform stands first : neither flakes of gold
beneath the soil, nor countless herds and
flocks on its surface — neither political nor
social institutions can ensure individual
happiness or national greatness. Unless
Christian virtue, temperance, and chastity
be the main-spring of action, no community
can be permanentl}^ prosperous ; and all
extrinsic wealth is but as " sounding brass
and tinkling cymbal." Vital (not formal
or lifeless) Christianity is the divine salt,
by which alone human prosperity can be
preserved from decay and corruption; the
renovating change from an inherent taint to
purity, must be perfected individually ; and
the sin which doth most readily beset a
community, must be eradicated by each of
its members. Take, for instance, the crime
of drunkenness, which prevails in Sydney
and Melbourne to an awful extent. While
this fearful enormity prevails, it is in vain
to expect individual or national good. The
man debauched with strong drink, is de-
based far below the level of the brute, Avho,
for ought we know, possesses some higher
enjoyments than mere animal appetite : the
drunkard, although created in the likeness
* The exploration of tropical Australia is one of
the most interesting geographical problems which
remains to be solved in our day ; and it is understood
that her Majesty's government, at the persuasion of
the Royal Geographical Society, have resolved to
prosecute this meritorious enterprise. The fate of
the gallant Leichard (see p. 5) is no longer in
doubt; it is believed that he and his companions
were all murdered by the aborigines, not long after
they left Moreton Bay. The colonists at the three
principal settlements ought to set on foot expedi-
tions of discovery from their respective capitals ;
— New South Wales undertaking the region west-
waidfrom the Gulf of Carpentaria to Buccaneers'
Archipelago : from Victoria a party should endeavour
to penetrate, direct nortli, towards Cambridge Gulf:
the spirited colonists at Adelaide might open up a
route with Perth, in Western Australia ; while an
expedition sent from England should explore the
entire breadth of Australia— along the tropic of
Capricorn — either from east to west, or from west to
east. There is an abundance of money in the Aus-
tralian treasuries to provide equipments and rewards
of his Maker, and endowed with a capacity
for pure and unfleeting joys, spurns the
precious gifts designed for his delight ;
barters the glories of eternity for a few
frenzied moments of time ; and has a fore-
taste, even in this probationary stage of
existence, of endless torments, of unsatisfied
desires, where the worm ceaseth not to
gnaw — where the fire is unquenchable — and
where an undying remorse will be the bitter
lot of all who refuse obedience to the com-
mands of God, and reject the unsearchable
riches of Christ.
The consumption of ardent spirits and
fermented liquors in Australia, is beyond
any possible requirement for health or con-
viviality : thousands drink at all times of the
day, on every occasion, during hours of busi-
ness or of rest ; — with some, periods of toil or
abstinence are followed by a carnival of in-
dulgence. This important subject, which has
engaged the earnest attention of statesmen
and moralists, has been alluded to in a pre-
vious page (426) ; and I therefore conclude
with quoting the words of the honourable
Edward Everett, wherein that experienced
senator sums up the eff'ects produced by
ardent spirits, in the United States, during
the past ten years : —
"1. It has cost the nation a direct expense of
^600,000,000. 2. It has cost the nation an indirect
expense of ^600,000,000. 3. It has destroyed 300,000
lives. 4. It has sent 100,000 children to the poor-
house. 5. It has consigned at least 150,000 persons
to the gaols and penitentiaries, 6. It has made at
least 1,000 maniacs. 7. It has instigated to the
commission of 1,500 murders. 8. It has caused
2,000 persons to commit suicide. 9. It has burnt or
otherwise destroyed property to the amount of
.510,000,000. 10. It has made 200,000 widows, and
1,000,000 orphan children."
for the bold pioneers in such meritorious enter-
prises ; and, doubtless, many men accustomed to
busli-life would, with suitable inducements, venture
their lives in solving the enigma,— o/' «•/;«< does the
interior of Australia consist f Is it a mere sandy
Avaste ? May there not be a great inland sea or lake ?
Possibly, a lofty chain of mountains abounding in
gold, diamonds, and precious stones ? or not unlikely,
a fine table land, trending to the northward and
westward, clothed with forests, and covered Avith
sweet herbage, on which millions of sheep, horned
cattle, and horses, may be multiplied. The geogra-
phical configuration would favour the idea that this
unknown expanse may be reached by some river
M'hich has its embouche on the north or north-west
coast; and an exploring party, traversing the region
of the head-waters which flow into Van Diemen's
Gulf, Cambridge Gulf, and Buccaneers' Archipelago,
would determine this point. Having taken posses-
sion of the whole of this island-continent, to the ex-
clusion of other nations, it behoves us, as a scientific
and a commercial people, to investigate fully the
condition of the territory thus acquired.
PRESENT RELIGIOUS STATE OF AUSTRALIA, 1852-'3.
531
There is only one effectual mode for the
permanent cure of inebriety — the adoption,
in practice, of Christian principles.
The deplorable deficiencies of the church
of Engiandj in the early stages of the
settlement of New South Wales have been
shown in previous pages : happily, former
apathy has passed away, and under the
bishoprics of Sydney, Newcastle, MelbournCj
and Adelaide, an efficient clergy are zealously
labouring in the vineyard of their Lord,
Other religious communities are workiug
in harmonious co-operation; and the seed
which was sown with toil and care, is now,
it is to be hoped, ripening for the harvest.
The only complete ecclesiastical return be-
foi'e me, for the four colonies, is that of the
Wesley an body, whose first missionary (the
Reverend Samuel Leigh), with some diffi-
culty, got permission to commence his pious
duties in New South Wales, in 1815, and
whose ministrations were, at the commence-
ment, restricted to a few soldiers and re-
formed convicts.* Thei'e were then only
four clergymen of the church of England ;
no Presbyterian minister ; and but fourteen
accredited Wesleyan laymen. The settle-
ment consisted of many thousand prisoners,
sunk in crime and beastiality ; and the free
colonists, with very few exceptions, cared
little for religion or its concerns. Now,
there are chm^ch of England pastors in every
district, and there are about 20,000 mem-
bers of the church of Scotland. In the
four colonies of Australia, the Wesley -
ans, in 1853, had — chapels, 119; other
preaching places, 13G; missionaries and as-
sistant ditto, 50 ; catechists, three ; day-
school teachers, 41 : unpaid agents — viz.,
sabbath-school teachers, 787; local preachers,
* See an interesting life of this Christian teacher,
by the Rev. A. Strachan, published in London, 1853.
f In 1853, the London Wesleyan committee made
arrangements to send sei-en additional ministers to the
four then residing at Victoria, which was no sooner
known in Melbourne, than the Wesleyan congrega-
tions there forwarded, through the Kev. J. Harding,
£600 towards the outfit and passage of the mission-
aries ; this formed but a very small portion of the con-
tributions of these zealous Christians : between the
months of May and December, 1853, a chapel was
erected at Prarhan, at a cost of £1,400; another at
St. Kilda, (£1,300); at Brunswick, (£1,600); at
North Melbourne, (£1,000) ; one in progress at
Richmond, (£3,000) ; and the chapel at CoUingwood,
undergoing enlargement, (£2,000.) These chapels
are all within four miles of the old Melbourne chapel,
in Collins'-street ; others are in progress at a greater
distance from town, and particularly near Geelong,
and at Brighton, Bendigo, and Forest-Creek. A
mission-house has also been erected near the " Wes-
leyan Home," (£1,500); another at Geelong; and
281 ; full and accredited church members,
4,632; on trial for membership, 213; sab-
bath-schools, 100; sabbath-scholars, 6,837;
day-schools, 25; day-scholars, 2,148; and
attendants on public worship, 30,190. f
There is no state-church in Australia ;
all Christian denominations that choose to
accept pecuniary aid from government, share
in the appropriation of the public funds
devoted to the maintenance of religious
ordinances and scholastic instruction; and
this toleration, combined with the freedom
of political institutions, and an untaxed,
unlicensed press, gives to our Antipodean
fellovv^-subjects an amount of civil and re-
ligious liberty, not surpassed, if indeed
equalled, by that of any other community in
the world.
With regard to the commerce carried on
with Australia, there is no branch of in-
dustry more beneficial to the English mer-
chant and manufacturer. Among the erro-
neous opinions advanced by the opponents
of colonies, one of the most prominent is
the assertion, that our intercourse with in-
dependent states is more beneficial than that
conducted with transmarine dependencies;
and, in support of this allegation, the trade
with England and the United States is
quoted as a proof — a large increase having
taken place since the separation of the
former North American colonies from the
crown of England : but this assertion will
not sustain the dogma ; for there are
various considerations which must be taken
into account — such as the great increase of
population in America; the large produc-
tion of corn, cotton, tobacco, and rice, as
staples, exchangeable for British manufac-
tures ; improved facilities of intercourse ; and
one is in course of erection at Brighton. An im-
portant change has just been decided upon respect-
ing the Australian missions. The British conference
has proposed to them, by a deputation (the Rev.
Robert Young), that they should henceforth become
an independent body, finding all their own support,
and conducting their own aftairs. This has been ac-
cepted by the Australian Wesleyan church, which will
now cease to be a mission, and become itself, in turn,
the source of missionary agency to the neglected parts
of Australia, and other regions of the South Seas.
The missions in Van Diemen's Land will form part
of the same conference ; and those in New Zealand,
the Friendly and the Feejee Islands, will be placed
under its direction. For these last, however, all the
funds will not at once be found in Australia; but
for a time, the parent missionary society will an-
nually grant a certain sum for carrying on the Poly-
nesian missions, which will be decreased yearly till
it altogether ceases ; and then the head church in
Australia will find itself fully provided with work
for its missionary zeal, both domestic and foreign.
532 FOREIGN COMMERCIAL PROHIBITIONS, AND COLONIAL TRADE.
other matters which cannot here be dis-
cussed. Yet, without reference to the pro-
tective and prohibitory duties adopted by
foreign states,* or to tlie national value of a
barter between one part of the empire and
another, being at least equal to twice the
same amount of trade cai'ried on with a
foreign country — it might be shown, that
* British manufactures are received into Aus-
tralia either free of duty, or in most instances at
little more than nominal rates ; while in the United
States, on some articles prohibitory duties are im-
posed; and on others there is a high revenue
tariff. Here is a picture from the London Times,
of the reception free-trade has met with on the con-
tinent of Europe : — " A statement has lately been
prepared of the changes made by foreign states in
their tariffs, as regards the principal articles of Bri-
tish and colonial produce and manufactures during
the last seven years — namely, from 1846 to 1853.
From this it appears that the countries which have
made alterations have been Russia, Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, the Zollverein, Holland, Belgium, France,
Portugal, Spain, Sardinia, Switzerland, Austria,
Turkey, and Mexico. All the changes by llussia
have been in the direction of a reduction of duties,
or the removal of prohibitions ; but, although nomi-
nally large, they have, for the most part, merely con-
sisted of a substitution of one preposterous rate for
another, which would prove equally efficient in
keeping out our goods, while, at the same time,
the pretence might be made of a concession. As
regards Turkey, the case has been wholly different,
an average reduction of about forty per cent, having
taken place upon a large class of important articles,
which Avere previously not subject to immoderate
rates, while in no instance has a new or increased
duty been imposed. In the Swedish tariff, the altera-
tions have consisted chieffy of a reduction of duty
upon ships, their stores and materials, and the re-
moval of a prohibition on M'rought-steel ; while
there has been an increase of 100 per cent, upon
most kinds of woollen manufactures, and of 278 per
cent, on salted herrings, coupled with the enforce-
ment of a prohibition against bar and hoop-iron. As
regards Norway, there has been some considerable re-
ductions in cotton, linen, and woollen manufactures,
bar-iron, and coals, while a duty has been imposed
on machinery, which was previously free. Denmark,
also, has greatly lowered her rates on a large series
of important articles ; but, at the same time, has in-
creased them on woollens, fine ironmongry, gloves,
salt, beer, and porcelain. The alterations made by
the Zollverein have, with the exception of cofiee,
•all been directed against our commerce, an increase
of from fifty to 200 per cent, having been adopted
on cottons, linen, and '.inen yarn and manufactures.
Holland presents an example of progress towards
freedom, coals and salt having been entirely ex-
empted from duty, and great reductions having been
made on iron, copper, linen manufactures, machinery,
and sugar. Belgium, on the contrary, has tended
towards restriction, having imposed a heavy augmen-
tation of duty on linen manufactures, most kinds of
woollens, and coals. Tin, lead, and earthenware
have, however, been set free, and the duty has been
reduced on copper, salt, and herrings. France has
made only two alterations — a reduction in raw and
an increase on cast steel. The changes by Portugal
our commerce with Canada has augmented
in a far larger relative proportion than that
with the United States since the commence-
ment of the present century, while, per
capita, the consumption of British manu-
factures is tJiree times greater, in our pre-
sent North American colonies, than it is,
even now, in the adjacent republic.f
have been numerous, and mostly on the adverse
side, especially as regards cotton manufactures. On
metals and cutlery, however, there have been some
considerable reductions. Spain exhibits several re-
ductions, but in many cases, like those of llussia,
they are little better than nominal, while on silk
manufactures, pig-iron, fish, and coffee, there has
been a heavy increase. Sardinia, like Holland and
Turkey, appears on the side of a liberal policy, an
average reduction of fifty per cent, having been made
in the rates on all the most important articles of
British industry. Austria has mitigated, in several
instances, her prohibitory duties, and at the same
time has taxed linen and AvooUen yarns, leather, and
beer more heavily than ever. Finally, INIexico has
made some considerable reductions in many of our
most important articles of manufacture, although the
I'ates retained are too high to admit of any very
active commerce. At the same time, she has in-
creased her duties on glass-Avares and gloves."
t In the first volume of this work, the liberal tariff
adopted in British America Avill be seen in strong
contrast Avith the protective tariff of the United
States. The tariffs in force at New South Wales and
at Victoria, will be found at pp. 489 — 510; recently,
all goods, ware and merchandise, except spirits,
coffee, tea, and tobacco, Avere admitted into Mel-
bourne free of duties. The duties levied are on the
lowest scale consistent Avith the receipt of revenue.
" All imported goods, Avith the folloAving excep-
tions, are admitted into South Australia at a duty of
five per cent, ad valorem : — Beer, porter, ale, cider,
and perry, 4f/. per gallon ; brick — fire and bath, 5s.
per 1,000 ; coffee, 6s. per CAvt. Corn, meal, and fiour,
viz. : — Wheat, barley, oats, maize, and millet, peas,
beans, and pulse, 6d. per quarter; malt, 3s. per
quarter ; flour, meal, bran, and pollard, 2d. per
100 lbs. ; fruit — dried, of all sorts, 4s. per cwt. ; hops,
2d. ])er lb. ; iron — bar and rod, 10s. per ton ; iron —
sheet and hoop, 14s, per ton ; iron — pig, 2s. 6d. per
ton; pitch and tar. Is. per barrel; provisions and
preserved meats, 3s. per cwt. ; resin, 6d. per barrel ;
salt, 3s. per ton ; spirits, or strong Avaters of all sorts,
9s. per gallon ; sugar — refined and candy, 4s. per
CAVt. ; sugar. Muscovado, 2s. per cwt. ; sugar, molasses.
Is. iiei cAvt. ; tea, 2d. per lb. ; tobacco, manufactured.
Is. per lb. ; ditto, unmanufactured, Gd. per lb, ;
cigars and cheroots, 2s. 6d. per lb. ; snuff. Is. per lb. ;
tobacco — sulphured and tarred, for sheepwash. Id.
per lb. ; Avine, Is. per gallon. Wood — posts and rails,
hand and poles, Is. (jd. per 100; paling, 6d. per
100; shingles and laths, Oc/. per 1,000; trenails and
spokes, 6d. per 100; oars, 2s. per 100 feet; square
timber and balks, deals, battens, quartering planks,
boards, and saAvn, liewn, or split timber of kinds
not otherAvise enumerated, 25. Qd. per forty cubic
feet.
" Free List. — Animals, living ; baggage of passen-
gers ; books, printed ; bullion and coin ; coals, coke,
and other fuel ; plants and trees ; seed and roots —
garden ; specimens illustrative of natural history ;
SUPERIORITY OF COLONIAL OVER FOREIGN TRADE.
533
In Australia, the fallacy of this anti-
colonial theory is fully seen; all, however,
that can now be advanced in its refutation,
is to show the value of exports from tlie
United Kingdom to Australasian settle-
ments, at four intervals, since 1828, viz. : —
1828, £443,819; 1838, £1,336,662; 1848.
£2,500,000 ; 1853, about £15,000,000,
Thus, in the first period of ten years, the
imports from Great Britain were trebled;
in the second, nearly doubled ; and in the
third period of five years, sextupled. No
commerce with the United States or other
foreign country can show anything like this
rate of commercial progress; and should
gold, as Avell as wool, continue to be a large
staple product, the consumption of goods
will be enormous.
The shipping employed in tliis trade
has increased in an extraordinary manner :
within the last three years the total number
of vessels dispatched from the L^nited King-
dom for Australia was (according to the re-
pictures and prints ; -works of art ; Avool ; tallow ;
skins and hides (rnAv) ; bark ; gum ; bales for -nool ;
and ore bags."
* There is now a rivalry between shipping com-
panies, as to which shall construct the largest vessels.
The following is stated to be the dimensions of one
preparing for the Eastern Steam Navigation Com-
j'any, and intended for the Australian or Indian
trade ; this leviathan, if built and launched, will
considerably exceed the tonnage of the Great Britain
or the Himalaya. " Her length is to be 680 feet ;
breadth, eighty-three feet ; depth, fifty-eight feet,
with screw and paddle-engines of aggregate nominal
horse-power of 2,600. In addition to taking from
4,000 to 6,000 tons of coals, she will be able to carry
5,000 tons' measurement of merchandise, and will
have 500 cabins for passengers of the highest class,
with ample space for poops and lower class passen-
gers. The whole of her bottom, and up to six feet
above the water-line, will be double, and of a cellular
construction: so that any external injury will not
affect the tightness or safety of the ship. The upper
deck will also be strengthened on the same principle ;
so that the ship will be a complete beam, similar to
the tube of the Britannia-bridge. It will be divided
into ten separate water-tight compartments. She
will have separate sets of engines, each M-ith several
cylinders ; and separate boilers will be applied to
work the screw, distinct from those working the
paddle-wheels ; so that, in the event of temporary, or
even permanent, derangement of any one of the
engines, or of either the paddle-wheels or the screw,
the other engines and propellers would still be
available. It'is computed that her great length will
enable her to pass through the water at the velocity
of fifteen knots an hour; and, by the great speed,
combined with the absence of stoppages for coaling,
the voyage between England and India,^ via the
Cape, may be accomplished in thirty or thirty-three
days ; and between England and Australia in thirty-
three or thirty-six days. It is said that the ship will
become, by its construction, a beam of sufficient
turns collected by the intelligent editor of
the Liverpool Albion) : —
Years.
Ships.
Tons.
1851
1852
1853
271
501
1,074
145,777
304,118
516,772
Not only has the tonnage been largely
augmented : the character of the ships has
also been greatly improved ; while the length
of a voyage to the Antipodes has been mate-
rially lessened. ^= The average duration of the
passage to Australia, in 1852-'3, of the sail-
inff-xesseh was, from London, 126; from
Liverpool, 105 — days : the quickest were
made by leaving England in the summer-
months ; and the average is in favour of
large ships : thus, those of 600 tons, have
an advantage of twenty-four days over those
of 200 tons; and the 1,200 ton vessels,
twenty-two days over the 600 tons. Liver-
pool exceeds any other part in the size and
strength to meet any strain to which it can be sub-
jected, and will consist of so many distinct compart-
ments, that no local injury, however serious, will
affect its buoyancy to any dangerous extent."
Nearly equal to the above is the Great Hejmhlic,
recently built at New York for the Australian trade,
and almost entirely destroyed by fire when ready for
sea. This American cliiii)er will carry 4,000 tons of
goods ; she is fifty-eight feet wide, and thirty-nine
feet deep, and, if placed on end, would tower 120
feet above the monument near London-bridge. In
her construction, 1,500,000 feet of hard pine have
been used, 2,056 tons of hard oak, 336^ tons of iron,
56 tons of copper for bolts, &c., exclusive of sheathing.
She will spread 16,000 yards of canvas, with four
masts. A new feature on board is a steam-engine of
15-horse power ; this is in' jiided to do all the heavy
work of the ship, such as hoisting in and discharging
cargo, setting up rigging, hoisting topsail, Sec. ; it is
also connected with an apparatus for distilling fresh
water from salt water. It will also diminish the
number of men required to work the ship — her crew
consisting of only 100 men and thirty boys. The
keel, for sixty feet forward, is gradually raised from
a straight line, and curves upwards into an arch, so
that the gripe of the fore foot is the arc of a circle,
and not angidar, like other vessels. The lines are
concave forward and aft, up to a few feet above the
load displacement line ; the sides are arched, some-
thing like a man-of-war, but not so much in propor-
tion to her size ; the stern is semi-elliptical in form,
and, instead of bulwarks, the outline of her spar-
deck is protected by a rail supported by turned oak
stanchions. She has four comjilete decks, and four
houses on her spar-deck, erected for the use and
comfort of the crew. All her beams, masts, spars,
&c., are in proportion to her enormous size : the
main-mast and fore-mast are forty-four inches in
diameter, the main-yard 'twenty-eight inches, and
120 feet long, carrying a sail 120 feet square.
These structures seem to be in excess, for practical
use.
534 NEW PRINCIPLES OF EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA, 1853-^4.
tonnage of the ships dispatched to Aus-
tralia; several of the vessels from this im-
portant haven having traversed nearly 15,000
miles in seventy-seven, eighty-two, eighty-
four, eighty-eight, and ninety days ; — in fact,
in less than three months, or about one-half
the period occupied in former years.
The transit of passengers will add to the
amount of navigation ; for tens of thousands
are now annually finding new homes in the
Southern Pacific.-- The New South Wales
legislature consider, indeed, that voluntary
emigration will be largely augmented ; that
a period has arrived for a complete altera-
tion in the present bounty-system ; that the
necessity which has hitherto existed to lead
intending emigrants, by extraordinary in-
ducements, to select Australia as their home,
is no longer in force, as the advantages of
the southern colonies are now appreciated
by all classes; that an immigration, com-
mensurate Avith the large and growing re-
quirements of New South Wales, could not
be supplied from the territorial revenue ac-
cording to the present regulations ; and that
the immigrants introduced at the public ex-
pense, are under no obligation to remain in
the colony, or to engage in the ordinary in-
dustrial pursuits of the colony, which w'as
the justification for the expenditure of the
revenue in providing for their free passage :
it is therefore proposed, that all male immi-
grants of the labouring class, not exceeding
forty- five years of age, who are conveyed to
Australia at the charge of the state, shall,
as a preliminary measure, enter into a ser-
vice-engagement of not less than two years,
and should also bind themselves to repay,
by equal yearly instalments, a sum of .€13
towards their passage-money, of which £l
is to be paid in advance in England, and
€12 in New South Wales ; no payment to
* New South Wales, Victoria, and South Austra-
lia will jn'ohably remit half a million sterling to
England, in the years 1853-4, for the promotion of
emigration.
t It is a mistake to suppose that the Irish are not
a migratory race : for centuries they have been so ;
and probably Australia may now become with them
as favourite a locality as the United States bos hi-
therto been. Sir Francis B. Head, in a recent tour
through Ireland, collected some data, and makes the
following observations on this interesting subject: —
"From the year 1620, Avhen the Pilgrim Fathers
went out, up to the present time, not less than
9,500,000 of Irish have emigrated from England,
Ireland, and the Canadas, to the United States of
Aijnerica. From 1S06 to 1851, not less than 4,500,000
of the Irish people have emigrated from their native
country. From 1841 to 1851, not less than 1,500,000
have left Ireland. In the single year 1851, Irish
be required for their wives or any of their chil-
dren under the age of fourteen years. Unmar-
ried female farm and domestic servants, un-
der thirty-five years of age, to be conveyed
on the above terms of repayment and inden-
ture; also, mechanics under forty-five, by
payment of €5 in England and €10 in
the colony, and indenture for two years ;
pei'sons above the age of forty-five, pay a
proportionately large sum in England, and
less in the colony.
With regard to the numerous children of
both sexes in the orphan-schools and other
eleemosynary establishments in the United
Kingdom, it is proposed, that such as should
emigrate at the age of thirteen years and
upwards, and be of good character, should
be indentured for four years ; receiving, for
the first two years, wages at the rate of €5 ;
and for the second two years, at the rate of
€10 per annum : towards the migration of
these boys and girls, the colonial revenue
would advance €8 per head in aid of the
funds provided by the guardians or managers
of such eleemosynary institutions in Eng-
land— the said €8 to be repaid by the em-
ployer when tbe apprentice is indentured to
him by the government immigration agent.
The committee further recommended, that a
sum of €10,000 be held at tbe disposal of
the London Committee of the Family Colo-
nisation Loan Society, presided over by the
Earl of Shaftesbury (which has had its
origin in the philanthropic exertions of
Captain and Mrs. Chisholm) ; and this has
been done. The proposed alterations in the
emigration system wall require the confirma-
tion of the Imperial Parliament.
The tliousands now settling in Australia
will yearly send for the struggling members
of their families from the United Kingdom,
as the Irish have done from vVmerica ;t and
emigrants amounted to not less than 257,372 ; and
even from the Clyde, of 14,435 emigrants Mho, in
1851, sailed to America, more than one-third were
Irish. In London, there are more Irish than in
Dublin ; in Manchester and Salfoi-d, more Irish than
in Cork ; in Glasgow, as many Irish and descendants
of Irish as in Belfast. There are more Irish (born
in Ireland) now living in GlasgoAV, than there are
living at Belfast Irish who have been born there.
Of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races abroad, nearly
one-half of the whole are Irish."
In my work on Ireland before and after ike
Union, published first in 1832, and next in 1844, I
stated, that nothing but an extensive migration, a
famine, or a pestilence, could save the country from
agrarian or civil war, owing to the density of popula-
tion, in proportion to the cultivable area, and still
more in regard to the very small amount of capital
and circulating medium in the island.
EMIGRATION TO BE DIRECTED ARIGHT— NOT PREVENTED. 535
thus a self-supporting migration will be sus-
tained : for few who receive eighteen-pence
or two shillings for a day's toil in England
will remain, when they know they can
obtain thirty to fifty shillings a-wcek in
another part of the empire, with good mut-
ton or beef at twopence to threepence per lb.,
and the certainty of becoming themselves, by
industry and sobriety, small farmers, and
even landholders, as soon as the claims of
the squatters, and the millions of acres now
held by them on lease are adjusted.*
It is not only in the gold-producing
colonies that high wages are paid : in South
Australia, an agricultural settlement, not-
withstanding the advent of 10,000 immi-
grants during 1853,t equally high rates
generally prevailed at the commencement
of 1854, and may be expected to continue
for several years. When it is considered
that tlie cost of living is less in Australia
than in London, with the climate of the
south of France, the great boon held out to
the skilled artisan, or mere manual toiler,
must be evident : by industry, sobriety, and
frugality, the man who has health, and a
pair of good hands, may lay by something
for old age, instead of looking forward to
the parish poor-house, as in England; or
he may attain a competence, rear a family,
and place them in a position to rise above
the station of their parents : this, under the
present state of things, not one day-labourer
in a million could hope to accomplish in
England, Ireland, or Scotland.
In New South Wales, there are about
3,500 gold-diggers constantly at work, and
their average earnings, throughout 1853,
ranged from £150 to £200 per annum,
which sum any intelligent, sober mechanic,
working six full days in the week, may earn
at Sydney or other large towns, and " call
no man his master." At Victoria, the
average receipts of o5,000 gold-diggers are
not so large or steady as in New South
Wales; the prizes, however, in the golden
* The state of the crown-lands in Australia will
require the early consideration of parliament ; and
happily, there is noM- in England one who, as a mem-
ber of the Legislative Council of New South "Wales,
and a lawyer of ability, is known to have devoted
considerable attention to the subject. This gentle-
man is at present a member of the British House of
Commons, and holds office (as secretary of the India
Board) in her Majesty's government. It is, there-
fore, to be hoped, that the local information and
integrity of character of Mr. Robert Lowe, will
be rendered available for the equitable compromise
of a matter which, the longer it is protracted, must
become of more difficult adjustment.
lottery, are greater ; but for handicraft or
even hewers of wood and drawers of water,
there is an immense demand at 8.?. to 10*.
a-day, many of the public works and build-
ings projected at Melbourne and Geelong,
for which the funds are ready, being nearly
at a stand-still for want of labourers.
It is useless, and it should be added,
pernicious, to attempt the stoppage of the
present Exodus from Britain ; as well might
the owner of a stock of bees endeavour to
prevent their swarming in search of a fresh
hive, where they would have more scope to
build their cells, lay up food for the young,
and provide against a cold or a rainy day :
a more judicious policy is, to direct the
human stream to the imoccupied but fertile
fields of another part of our oivn empire, in-
stead of allowing valuable strength to waste
at home, or to become the bone and sinew
of other states, which may some day be our
enemies.
What would be thought of a project to
prohibit the population of the Surrey side
of the river Thames crossing to the Middle-
sex shore, and compelling the superabun-
dant and ill-paid labourers to remain in
their over-crowded districts, adding daily to
the felon array of 25,000 criminals, now
annually convicted in the United Kingdom ;
contribviting to the 30,000 orphan and de-
serted children, which now fill the parish
and other eleemosynary asylums ; swelling a
yearly expenditure of about £12,000,000
out of the national capital for the support
of 1,000,000 destitute, infirm, and prema-
turely-decayed paupers ; and dragging down
all their fellow-workmen to the lowest pit-
tance on which human life can be sustained :
or, if the more energetic and manly-spirited
rejected the alternatives of crime — a poor-
house, sickness, an old age of suflFering and
dependence — then leaving them no other
course than a migration to America, to
Russia, or to any foreign land where they
could hope to live in comfort by the sweat
t Mechanics, 14s. to 18s. a-daj', without board or
lodging ; domestic servants — males, £50 to £60 :
females, £20 to £30 per annum, with board and
lodging ; farm-servants, married couples, £45 to
£70 per annum, with board and lodging; single
men, £50 to £(J0, with ditto ; miners, 6s. to 8s. ditto ;
painters and glaziers, 8s. to 10s. ditto ; plasterers,
14s. to 16s. ditto ; sawyers, 15s. per 100 feet ; saddlers,
10s. to 12s. per day, without board or lodging; shoe-
makers, 8s. to 10s. ditto; shepherds, £.'35 to £50 per
annum, with board and lodging; shopmen, £100 to
' £180 per annum, with board and lodging; tailors,
lis. per hour, without board or lodging; tanners,
10s. to 12s. ditto; wheelwrights, 16s. to 18s. ditto.
586 BRITISH COLONIES THE SAFETY-VALVE OF THE MONAKCHY.
of their bro-n'-, and look forward to some day
vfhen the curse pronounced on original
sin might be mitigated, and hopeless toil be
changed into a sabbath of rest, preparatory
to the final summons, which a youth and
manhood of severe and never-ending toil,
leaves little time to consider.
There is present safety and future good —
there is worldly policy and sound wisdom —
there is pure philanthropy and practical
Christianity, in directing the stream of
mieration from Britain to Australia, and
other parts of the dominions of our gracious
sovereign : were it possible, the ocean which
encircles, but connects our maritime em-
pire, ought to be bridged over, and kept
free from tolls and obstructions, that all
might pass freely to and fro through the
territories of the Queen, as they do between
England and Ireland. AVith the extra-
ordinary spread of education taking place
among nearh'' thirty million people, who
can predict the consequences to England,
if the fullest scope be not given to every
energy and faculty of our nature? The
rising generation start, in the race of life,
from a Vantage ground, of which their an-
cestors had no conception : to keep them
pent up within the ideas, hopes, and con-
tentedness which satisfied a past genera-
tion, is physically and morally impossible,
and at variance Math the natural law of
human progression.
But if the vast amount of mind noAV
being called into existence, be allowed free
scope in the wide-spread domains with which
a far-seeing Providence has endowed us, we
may faintly perceive the happiness and
* The practicability of forming a canal for the ,
transit of large-sized ships from the Atlantic to the
PaciGc, is now undergoing investigation; but it is
to be feared, that the surveying-parties from England,
the United States, and France, are unable to find an
available route, the isthmus being more elevated at
its shortest points between the two oceans than was
expected, and so contorted with mountain chains
and ravines as to bid defiance to engineering skill : it
is therefore to be anticipated, that the noble pioject
of Sir Charles Fox for a Darien canal, 40 miles
long, 30 feet deep, 150 feet breadth at midwater,
devoid of locks, and with an excellent harbour at
each end, cannot be carried out; but there is still a
reasonable possibility of a canal, by Lake Nicaragua,
being constructed, Avhich would comprise 56 miles
of existing lake-navigation, 90 miles of river, re-
quiring canalization, leaving about 48 miles of
canal to be excavated, the Mhole necessitating locks,
and probably detaining for four, five, or even six days
the passage of ships from one ocean to the other :
but there is nothing in the Nicaragua route to deter
Sir C. Fox and his scientific, wealthy, and influential
colleagues from turning their energies in this direc-
blessings accruing, not only to our own
citizens, but to all who are brought within
reach of their influence.
To the statesman, I would humbly say,
guide where you cannot control ; make the
colonies integral parts of the empire, and
they will become safety-valves for the pre-
servation of the monarchy; then leave the
issue to Him, who never yet deserted the
good man, or the righteous nation.
The cutting of a ship-canal through the
isthmus of Darien, uniting the Atlantic with
the Pacific,* must promote intercourse with
Australia as well as with India and China, —
expand commercialoperations, and strengthen
international relations between the eastei'n
and western hemispheres.
A canal that would admit the largest
class of vessels, and cost not more than
.€20,000,000 sterling, would pay, by the
transit of two to three million tons of ship-
ping annually. Until this be accomplished,
the railroad just completed to Panama will
facilitate the passage across the isthmus, and
provide an additional route to those now in
operation : these may be described as —
(1) Vid Cape of Good Hope, returning by
Cape Horn; (2) Isthmus of Darien, and
across the Pacific; (3) Mediterranean and
Red Sea, by Torres Straits ; (4) From the
Red Sea, across the Indian Ocean, along the
western and southern coasts of Australia.
These various routes suit diff'erent classes,
and may all be turned to useful account,
especially as regards the intercourse between
Australia and India, which is of great im-
poi'tance in its political bearings.
Should the jdeld of gold continue, even
tion, if the Darien plan be found hopeless. It would
be better for ships to endure the detention of a week
at the isthmus, and jiay 5s. a ton tollage, than spend
six weeks or two montlis doubling the Cape of
Good Hope or Cape Horn, with the wear and tear,
and risk that must be endured in the passage round
these stormy, southern headlands. The result of a
navigable canal through the isthmus would be like
moving the valuable sea-board of the continent of
Asia several thousand miles nearer to that of Europe,
thus effectually diminishing space and time in inter-
national communications.
Tlie distances of several routes are stated to be
— (1) Tehuantepec (Mexico) route, 198 miles; (2)
Nicaragua, from San Juan del Norte to Ilealejo,
272 miles; (3) Nicaragua to San Juan del Sur, 170
miles ; (4) Atrato, by Naipi and Cu])ica, 172 m.iles ;
(5) Chagre to Panama, 51 miles ; (6) Darien, from
Port Ecosses [Caledonia Bay] to gulf of San Miguel,
39 miles. To Chagre from England, 4,742 miles ;
from Panama to Sydney, 7,960 ; Southampton to
Sydney, vid Panama, 12,752; ditto, vid Marseilles,
Suez, '&c., 12,010; ditto, vid Cape of Good Hope,
about 14,000 — miles.
EFFECT OF GOLD DISCOVERIES ON ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA. 537
at the present rate,* it is scarcely possible
to predict the beneficial consequences to
both Australia and England :t in the latter,
an expanding currency would raise the
wages of the labouring classes, and induce
many, who would otherwise migrate, to be
content with the enhanced wages received
on the soil of their birth; abundance of
capital would cause large investments in
remunerative public works, in the drainage
of inferior lands, and in the improved tillage
of the soil ; the taxes required by govern-
ment would be more easily paid under a
full than with a restricted currency, J and
the interest of the national debt (nearly
£30,000,000 a-year) be less onerously felt :
a high price and enhanced rental for fixed
property, whether vested in land or houses,
would reconcile the more stable classes of
society to free-trade ; the rapidly augment-
ing demand for manufactures throughout a
wide-spread maritime empire would furnish
profitable employment to Lancashire and
Yorkshire, and to the industrious hives of
Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, and other
large operative towns ; thus promoting the
shipping interests and the many trades and
occupations connected therewith.
In Australia, the golden era must be at-
tended with corresponding advantages —
Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide become
centres of a Christian civilization§ — spread-
* There are no means of ascertaining exactly the
yield of gold in Australia, since its discovery in June,
1851. The known exports by sea, from the two pro-
ducing fields, are thus stated : —
Years.
N. S. Wales.
Victoria.
Total.
1851 oz.
1852 „
1853 „
144,120
818,751
548,052
145,128
1,974,975
2,497,723
289,248
2,793,726
3,045,775
Total oz. .
1,510,923
4,617,826
6,128,749
Valuing the ounces of gold at 80s., this shows a
known export of £24,972,324. It may be safely
assumed, that upwards of a million sterling has been
taken out of the colonies by passengers; making a total
of seaward transit of about £26,000,000. The quan-
tity conveyed, overland, to South Australia, Avas pro-
bably not less than £20,00,000; and that taken to
Van Diemen's Land, about £1,000,000. This brings
the figure up to £29,000,000. The metal retained in
Australia may be about £4,000,000 ; which would
show a total produce of the value of £33,000,000
sterling to the end of 1853.
t See Preface, p. x. — xii.
X The reader desirous of understanding the appa-
rently complex question of currency, will find an in-
teresting, lucid, and philosophical exposition of this
important element of political economy and of social
life, in An Essay on Money ; its Origin and Use
DIV. III. 3 X
ing from thence, not only over the vast and
almost untenanted regions behind the coast-
line, but also throughout the countless
islands of the Pacific, and along the Asiatic
Mediterranean, which stretches from New
Guinea, northward, to the beautiful Corean
peninsula, to the far-famed isles of Japan,
and eventually to India and China.
Who would have dreamed, that the small
and struggling settlement for criminals,
planted at Sydney Cove towards the close
of the last century, and which it was at one
time contemplated to remove, from the fear
of its perishing by starvation, should become,
in so brief a period, the nucleus of an em-
pire of great magnitttde? — and who can now
prescribe a limit to the power and influence
of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races thus
singularly situated, and providentially fur-
nished with the physical and moral elements
best calculated to promote our well-being
here and hereafter? IMay He who rules
the destinies of nations, and Avho has vouch-
safed in revelation how happiness can alone
be preserved, guide the minds of all con-
cerned in the duty which lies before them, —
the one to propagate, and the other to accept.
Divine truth, and thus make the coloniza-
tion of Australia — future as well as present
— a substantial blessing to myriads of otir
fellow-beings throughout the southern and
eastern portions of the globe.
(2nd edition, enlarged), by John Taylor, Esq. — a
M-riter whose Christian principles and well-stored
mind entitle his observations to the fullest attention,
and who has already effected much good, by inducing
the legislature and government to recognise at least
the fact, that the industry and happiness of the
people depend, in a great measure, on the quantity
of symbolic money to meet the demands of the state
for taxation — to remunerate the labourer, and to
facilitate the interchange of commodities.
§ Every mail brings new accounts of projected
public works of great magnitude ; — railroads, electric-
telegraphs, docks, wharfs, and splendid edifices: it is
to be hoped that permanently passable roads, though
scarcely mentioned, are also in progress. As an in-
stance of these spirited undertakings, I may mention
the Yan-Yea7i reservoir, for supplying Melbourne
with water, which will be one of the largest in the
world, and may almost vie with the Croton water-
works at New York : the area, covering nearly 15,000
acres, with an average depth of twenty-five feet,
is formed on three sides by the natural valley of the
river Plenty ; an embankment on the fourth side will
comprise 320,000 cubic feet, faced with stone-work ;
the water will be conveyed to Melbourne (distant
twenty-two miles) in iron pipes, with a bore of two
feet six inches, laid underground at a distance of six
to seven feet : the fall is 500 feet ; so that the highest
buildings in the city will be supplied. The contract
is under £95,000 ; and the works are to be completed
fif aien be obtainable) within eighteen months.
538
STATE OF THE FOUR COLONIES IN THE YEARS 1853-^4.
Details.
Date of formation .... A.D.
Area in square miles . . . abt.
White population . . . . „
Number of acres to each person .
Land in cultivation . . . acres
Live Stock : —
Sheep No.
Horned Cattle . . . . „
Horses „
Pigs „
Imports, value £
Exports, value £
Shipping inwards .... Tons
Wool exported lbs.
Tallow , cwt.
Gold produced 1851-'2-'3 . £
Coin and bullion in banks . £
Local revenue £
Land-sales £
Four Colonies*
New South
AYales,
1787
600,000
220,000
1,745
160,000
8,700,000
1,500,000
150,000
100,000
3,000,000
4,500,000
250,000
16,000,000
120,000
7,000,000
3,000,000
800,000
4,500,000
Victoria.
1836-'7
90,000
250,000
230
50,000
7,000,000
600,000
35,000
11,000
15,000,000
11,000,000
500,000
20,000,000
27,000
26,000,000
4,500,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
South
Australia.
1836
300,000
75,000
2,560
100,000
2,000,000
125,000
10,000
5,500
1,800,000
1,500,000
100,000
3,000,000
2,500
10,000
1,500,000
150,000
320,000
"Western.
Australia.
1829
1,000,000
10,000
04,000
10,000
300,000
30,000
5,000
3,500
120,000
35,000
25,000
500,000
500
20,000
10,000
3,500
Total.
2,000,000
555,000
avg. 2,300
320,000
18,000,000
2,230,000
200,000
120,000
19,920,000
17,035,000
875,000
39,000,000
150,000
33,000,000
9,020,000
2,460,000
1,573,500
In portraying the extraordinary riches
and resources of these dependencies of the
British crown, let us not be unmindful that
every grant of power, or talent, or wealth,
has a responsibility attached which renders
the receiver amenable to a divine tribunal,
and involves a punishment for its misuse,
which cannot be evaded. Australia has
poured into England a renovating life-
blood ; it has been an invigorating stimulus
to mind, as well as to matter: the humblest
classes have been familiarised with the daily
doings of their fellow-citizens at the An-
tipodes, and the scope of our social horizon
has been enlarged. Every description of
industry — commercial, manufacturing, agri-
cultural, and maritime, has been called into
full and profitable activity : the capitalist,
living on the interest derived from the ju-
dicious employment of accumulated hoards,
and the labourer, earning daily food from
the sweat of his brow, have both been bene-
fited by the prosperity of the colonies ; and
a hopeful, healthy, cheering spirit has been
diffused throughout this wide-spread em-
pire. At the very period when a deadly
struggle was drawing nigh with one of the
most despotic and powerful governments,
which threatened to overwhelm Europe and
Asia — when it was indispensable that taxa-
tion should be light, the people contented,
and our coffers replenished for the purchase
of large supplies of food, in consequence
of successive deficient harvests — and when
statesmen were looking gloomily to the
future, all fears were dispelled by the
Figures are given in round numbers, as the near-
est approximation to the existing state of Australia.
astonishing products of a region which had
once been our shame, but has become our
glory — where we had sown in tears, but
now reap in joy — and where sin, suffering,
and sorrow have been supplanted by virtue,
peace, and happiness.
Can this unlooked-for relief and change
be a mere natural result of previous causes,
or be assigned to an indefinable casualty
called chance, which in reality is as much at
variance with the existence and care of an
all-wise, superintending Deity, as it is with
the unerring law which pervades the ma-
terial universe ? Why deny to the Creator
and Preserver of the world the exercise of a
providential interposition for the benefit of
His people? Why declare the Almighty to
be incapable of using a discriminating dis-
pensation, which man, clothed with a little
brief authority, deems his rightful preroga-
tive ? Why blind our eyes, and harden our
hearts, because we cannot comprehend the
designs of the Infinite, whose thoughts are
not as our thoughts, nor His ways our
ways ? Instead of supposing that the ac-
quisition of Australia has been the result of
chance, or derivable from cunning devices
and physical power, let us rather " offer to
God the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and tell
out His works with gladness ;" and w^hile
praying to be strengthened against the
temptation, and freed from the danger
which riches and power engender, rejoice
over the manifestations now presented, that
England, by means of her colonies, has at-
tained a position unparalleled in the annals
of the world, — which will be coeval with the
duration of Christian principles and practice.
APPENDIX OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.
Most of the following Returns have been completed by Mr. Edward Deas Thompson, the
active and intelligent Secretary of the Colony, who has contributed materially to its pros-
perity, and to the formation of a well-organized government : they are intended to show
the state of New South Wales Proper, for a series of years, irrespective of Victoria or
Port Phillip, which province was separated from New South Wales 1st July, 1851 :
3Iarrta//es Registered in the Colony from the Year 1837.
Churches in wluch
Solemnised.
1S37.
1838.
1839.
1840.
1841.*
1842.*
1843.*
1844.
Church of England . .
„ of Scotland . .
„ AYesleyan . . .
„ Independent . .
„ Baptist ....
„ of Rome . . .
Jews' Synagogue . . ,
66
172
178
553
230
172
537
321
7
221
762
358
13
259
697
418
30
5
410
855
400
46
6
616
679
344
30
7
441
673
322
38
3
432
Totals ....
916
955
1,086
1,392
1,560
1,923
1,501
1,468
Churches in which
Solemnised.
18-15.
1846.
1847.
1848.
1849.
1850.
18.51.
1852.
Church of England . .
„ of Scotland . .
„ Wesleyan . . .
„ Independent . .
,, Baptist ....
„ of Ptome . . .
Jews' Synagogue . . .
690
336
35
8
435
681
357
33
4
398
Vo
645
399
43
10
375
4
552
421
62
8
5
347
6
656
499
72
14
6
353
3
830
434
73
7
3
504
5
765
426
100
8
4
605
7
860
522
97
664
7
Totals ....
1,504
1,478
1,476
1,401
1,603
1,856
1,915
2,150
Births registered in the (
Colony from th
e Year 1837.
Deaths
Registei
edin the Colony from the Year 1837.
Years.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Males.
Females.
2,270
Years.
Total.
1837
1,159
1,111
Men.
Children.
Women.
Children.
1838
1,440
1,377
2,817
1839
1,618
1,575
3,193
1837
937
280
303
279
1,799
1840
1,928
1,947
3,875
1838
983
404
381
321
2,089
1841*
2,336
2,219
4,555
1839
1,074
489
445
420
2,428
1842*
2,031
2,630
5,261
1840
964
434
402
384
2,184
1843*
2,959
3,325
2,815
5,774
1841*
908
626
412
597
2,543
1844
3,232
6,557
1842*
1843*
1,007
760
478
508
375
298
420
427
2,280
1,993
1845
3,531
3,430
6,961
1844
800
442
309
348
1,899
1846
3,377
3,374
6,751
1845
648
415
336
388
1,787
1847
3,645
3,533
7,178
1846
879
500
353
458
2,190
1848
1849
3,576
3,803
3,350
3,673
6,926
7,476
1847
1848
1849
811
812
994
606
484
632
377
375
491
508
432
586
2,302
2,103
2,703
1850
3,705
3,578
7,283
1850
984
629
424
548
2,585
1851
3,893
3,782
7,675
1851
1,026
587
476
511
2,600
1852
4,000
3,866
7,866
1852
—
—
—
—
3,695
* 1841 to 1843. — The return of Births, Marriages, and Deaths having been rendered only to the 30th of September,
the number for the last Quarter of these Years has been taken at the average of the three previous Quarters,
f No information previous to 1846.
[The above returns do not exhibit the whole of the births and deaths in New South
Wales, but only those registered : they must be considered only as approximative as to
the actual mortality, and proportionate number of births to deaths. The marriages are
correct returns of all solemnised.]
540 POP. AND AREA IN SQUARE MILES, NEW S. WALES— 1851.
6Q
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POLICE DISTRICTS OF NEW S.WALES, AND POPULATION IN 1851.541
Ahstract of the Returns of the Population in the Police Districts, on the 1st of March, 1851.
Police District.
Males.
Sydney
Parramatta and Liverpool
Campbell Town, Picton, Narellan
WoUongong
Kiama
Shoalhaveu
Berrima
Goulburn .
Braidwood .
Broulee
Queanbeyan
Yass .
Hartley
Penrith
Windsor
Bathurst
Carcoa
Wellington .
Mudgee
Orange
Gosford
Newcastle .
Raymond Terrace
WoUombi .
Macdonald River
Dungog
Maitland .
Paterson
Patrick's Plains
Merton and Muswellbrook
Scone
Rlurrurundi
Cassilis
Macquarie .
Port Stephens
Eden .
Bombala
Cooma
Tumut
Gundagai .
Albnry
Wagga Wagga
Moulamein
Binalong
B air an aid
Brisbane
Molong
Dubbo
Tamworth
Wee Waa
Armidale
M'Leay
Grafton
Wellingrove
Tabulam
Tenterfield
Warialda
Ipswich
Warwick
Drayton
Burnett
Maranoa
Albert
Wide Bay
Total .
and
Camden
Females.
Total.
30,031
28,962
1 58,993
5,857
4,962
10,819
3,178
2,554
5,732
1,652
1,447
3,099
1,037
884
1,921
691
462
1,153
1,026
744
1,770
3,399
2,561
5,960
851
578
1,429
612
426
1,038
1,511
1,015
2,526
2,005
1,419
3,424
940
689
1,629
2,133
1,700
3,833
3,922
3,359
7,281
4,194
3,025
7,219
1,673
1,039
2,712
522
332
854
843
524
1,367
923
540
1,463
790
661
1,451
1,416
1,056
2,472
1,521
1,189
2,710
599
401
1,000
380
301
681
1,201
867
2,068
5,462
4,778
10,240
1,129
912
2,041
1,393
1,130
2,523
572
396
968
545
356
901
317
234
551
521
264
785
902
735
1,637
597
355
952
486
291
777
613
367
980
1,056
673
1,729
507
320
827
623
396
1,019
643
358
1,001
890
406
1,296
807
265
1,072
1,209
651
1,860
226
65
291
1,897
1,259
3,156
952
423
1,375
1,217
459
1,676
1,472
546
2.018
293
74
367
1,860
899
2,759
242
149
391
523
279
802
792
322
1,114
573
317
890
313
96
409
636
231
867
1,278
625
1,903
743
227
970
809
213
1,022
740
112
852
69
11
80
96
36
132
319
87
406
106,229 '
81,014
187,243
542
SOCIAL CONDITION OF POPULATION, N. S. WALES— 1851.
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CIVIL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF POPULATION, N. S. WALES— 185L 545
Civil Condition— Is;; of March, 1851.
Classification.
Males.
Females
Total.
Born in the colony, or ]
arrived free. . . .J
Other free persons^ . .
Holding tickets of leave .
In government employ .
In private assignment .
81,226
22,397
1,986
594
26
76,695
4,232
46
32
9
157,921
26,629
2,032
626
35
Total ....
106,299
81,104
187,243
Note. — ' Other free persons refers to those who have been
prisoners. The three subsequent classes are still prisoners,
but the number is rapidly decreasing.
Social St.\te — 1st of 3Iu)ch, 1851.
Resident.
Males.
In the Counties .
Squatting Districts
Total
Mar-
ried.
26,300
3,702
30,002
Single.
60,710
15,517
76,227
Females.
Mar-
ried.
26,763
3,600
30,363
Single .
45,773
4,873
50,651
Abstract of the Returns of the number of Houses, and the Total number of Inhabitants in the Counties
and Commissioners' Districts, on the \st of 31 arch, 1851.
Name of Division.
Stone
or
brick.
Wood.
Shin-
gled.
Slated.
Total.
Finish-
ed.
Unfin-
ished.
Inha-
bited.
Unin-
habited
Total
Inhabi-
tants.
Counties,
Argyle
297
444
371
— .
741
708
33
691
50
5,465
Bathurst
462
501
750
—
967
937
30
952
15
6,405
Bligh .
11
84
35
—
95
91
4
95
—
1,004
Brisbane
48
209
167
1
257
231
26
256
1
1,733
Camden .
260
1,305
653
3
1,620
1,515
105
1,620
—
9,663
Cook .
105
510
337
1
616
598
18
613
3
3,541
Cumberland
10,413
5,593
14,184
598
16,080
15,556
524
14,402
1,678
81,114
Durham .
124
1,175
819
1
1,299
1,242
57
1,299
—
7,928
Georgiana
9
210
19
—
221
216
5
221
—
1,525
Gloucester
94
522
335
2
616
595
21
599
17
3,149
Hunter .
12
193
148
—
205
191
14
205
—
1,063
King
25
309
56
—
330
334
2
335
1
2,505
Macquarie
100
224
19G
—
324
302
22
305
19
1,637
Murray .
132
477
274
—
610
604
6
573
37
3,886
Northumberland
736
2,061
1,935
5
2,811
2,715
96
2,741
70
15,207
Phillip .
9
60
11
—
69
69
—
69
—
674
Roxburgh
112
278
159
—
398
391
7
394
4
2,538
St. Vincent
55
422
148
—
477
472
5
476
1
2,572
Wellington
42
166
62
—
208
200
8
207
1
1,609
Westmoreland
9
206
29
—
240
231
9
240
—
1,541
Total in the Twenty Counties
13,055
14,949
20,688
611
28,190
27,198
992
26,293
1,897
154,759
Stanley (reputed county)
111
607
603
—
718
639
79
699
19
4,787
Total in Settled Districts
13,166
15,556
21,291
611
28,908
27,837
1,071
26,992
1,916
159,546
Squatting Districts.
Bligh
1
243
16
—
244
243
1
244
—
1,291
Clarence
2
157
102
. — .
159
139
20
158
1
1,721
Darling Downs
—
159
66
— .
164
139
25
164
2,173
Laclilan .
26
279
58
—
306
280
26
302
4
2,892
Liverpool Plains
14
225
33
—
243
230
13
241
■ 2
2,385
M'Leay .
—
52
21
—
52
49
3
47
5
391
Monaroo (including Auckland)
29
444
64
1
477
465
12
460
17
3,689
Moreton (excluding Stanley) .
—
11
10
—
11
11
—
11
—
272
Morumbidgee
41
364
87
—
407
391
16
405
2
4,671
New England
21
244
106
. — ■
265
240
25
264
1
4,197
Wellington
3
144
13
—
147
143
4
146
1
1,512
Burnett
—
52
8
—
53
36
17
52
1
852
jNIaranoa
—
18
4
— .
18
18
—
17
1
85
Wide Bay
—
54
54
—
57
47
10
57
—
406
Western Lower Darling
—
13
—
—
13
13
—
13
—
132
Eastern Lower Darling
—
42
3
—
42
42
—
42
—
291
Gwydir .
—
95
16
— 96
85
11
96
—
737
Total in Squatting Districts
Total in New South Wales
137
2,596
661
1
2,754
2,571
183
2,719
35
27,697
13,303
18,152
21,952
612
31,662
30,408
1,254
29,711
1,951
187,243
1 !
546
POP. OF METROPOLITAN COUNTY— NEW SOUTH WALES, 1851.
Abstract of the Returns of the Population in the County of Cumberland, on the 1st of March, 1851,
classified tcith reference to Social Condition.
Social Condition.
Totals.
Hundred and Parisli.
Males.
Females.
Married.
Single.
Married.
Single.
Males.
Females.
General
Total.
Sydney —
St. Philip . . .
1,918
3,734
2,083
3,336
5,652
5,419
11,071
St. James ....
1,108
2,4.54
1,145
2,267
3,562
3,412
6,974
St. Lawrence . .
1,102
2,140
1,092
2,067
3,242
3,159
6,401
St. Andrew ....
1,090
3,077
1,712
2,638
4,676
4,350
9,026
Alexandria ....
2,074-
4,607
2,753
4,826
7,181
7,579
14,760
Botany . . . .
100
236
93
152
336
245
581
Petersham . . .
1,318
2,503
1,347
2,156
3,821
3,503
7,324
St. George . . .
160
341
151
250
501
401
902
Concord .
190
484
198
335
679
533
1,212
Packenhani —
Willonghby . . .
190
346
189
304
536
493
1,029
Gordon ...
78
197
77
138
275
215
490
Manl}- Cove . . .
12
28
11
25
40
36
76
Narrabecn ....
3
6
3
15
9
18
27
Broken Bay . . .
13
30
13
14
43
27
70
Dun das —
Marraniarra
,5
18
5
5
23
10
33
Berowra . . .
1
7
1
2
8
3
11
Cowan . . . .
3
16
1
2
19
3
22
North Colah . . .
29
78
27
'10
107
77
184
South Colah . . .
44
80
46
67
124
113
237
Liverpool —
Banks Town . . .
50
114
45
85
164
130
294
St. Luke's ....
157
331
156
259
488
415
903
Minto
40
73
34
34
113
68
181
Holsworthy . . .
33
107
34
67
140
101
241
Woronora — •
Southerland . . .
9
12
7
5
21
12
33
Wattamolla ....
—
Heathcote ....
—
Bulga
• —
Parramatta —
Castlehill ....
75
164
73
124
239
197
436
Field of Mars . . .
439
1,168
407
882
1,607
1,289
2,896
St. John's . . .
370
772
402
765
1,142
1,167
2,309
Prospect ....
88
209
85
170
297
255
552
Hunter's Hill . . .
198
443
212
309
641
521
1,162
Liberty Plains . . .
41
97
40
92
138
132
270
Tirxngelly —
Cahraniatta . . .
18
46
17
24
64
41
105
Bringelly ....
79
215
79
129
294
208
502
Cook
C9
145
67
122
214
189
403
Evan —
Melville
59
163
5e,
118
222
174
396
Claremont . .
41
86
38
46
127
84
211
Mulgoa
117
232
110
193
349
303
652
Hardinge — •
Frederick ....
9
32
11
17
41
28
69
Cornelia
41
95
41
81
1.36
122
258
Maroota
22
62
24
42
84
66
150
Windsor —
Nelson
27
69
29
55
96
84
180
Pitt Town ....
100
239
103
189
339
292
631
Gidley
23
67
23
50
90
73
163
St. Mathew ....
301
782
317
617
1,083
934
2,017
Hichmond —
Ham Common . .
219
550
224
450
769
674
1,443
Castlcreagh ....
186
480
188
353
666
541
1,207
Londonderry . . .
25
64
24
50
89
74
163
liooty Hill . . . .
31
91
37
67
122
104
226
Cam^ihellto W7% —
Narcllan
114
255
118
193
369
311
680
St. Peter's ....
199
502
211
389
701
600
1,301
Mcnangle ....
30
86
29
66
116
95
211
Appin . . . .
55
174
57
132
229
189
418
Southend —
Wedderbum . . .
—
Eckersley ....
__
. —
—
Southend ....
3
8
3
7
11
10
21
Total ....
13,720
28 315
14,248
24,831
42,035
39,079
81,114
HOUSES AND CLASSIFICATION OF INHABITANTS— SYDNEY, 1851. 547
Abstract of the Returns of the number of Houses and the total number of Inhabitants in the City and
Suburbs of Sydney on the \st of March, 1851.
Houses.
Name of Ward or Suburb.
Stone
or
Brick.
Wood.
Shin-
gled.
Slated.
Total.
Finish-
ed.
Unfin-
ished.
Inhab-
ited.
Unin-
habited.
Total
Inhabi-
tants.
Gipps Ward
1,065
144
1,128
80
1,209
1,191
18
1,131
78
6,862
Brisbane Ward
9G6
298
1,201
51
1,264
1,241
23
1,135
129
6,220
Boiirke Ward .
797
104
776
125
901
891
10
827
74
5,456
Philip Ward .
1,925
537
2,381
80
2,462
2,444
18
2,139
323
11,600
Macquarie Ward
773
112
795
90
885
882
3
826
59
4,997
Cook Ward
1,588
274
1,753
72
1,862
1,762
100
1,654
208
9,105
Total Avithin the city .
7,114
1,469
8,034
498
8,583
8,411
172
7,712
871
44,240
Balmain ....
192
127
311
6
319
282
37
271
48
1,397
Camperdown
90
30
118
2
120
112
8
95
25
503
Canterbury
14
78
91
1
92
86
6
88
4
473
Chippendale
59
29
87
1
88
81
7
81
7
387
The Glebe
285
66
349
2
351
348
3
302
49
1,575
Newtown ....
101
89
177
3
190
ISO
10
169
21
925
O'Conneil Town
123
24
146
1
147
142
5
123
24
560
Paddington
221
100
314
1
321
312
9
266
55
1,389
Redfern ....
175
100
253
22
275
253
22
240
35
1,205
St. Leonard's .
98
60
155
3
158
150
8
142
16
737
Surry Hills
55
51
98
6
106
98
8
89
17
533
Total in the suburbs .
1,413
754
2,099
48
2,167
2,044
123
1,866
301
9,684
Total, city and suburbs
8,527
2,223
10,133
546
10,750
10,455
295
9,578
1,172
53,924
Abstract of the Returns of the Pojmlation in the City and Suhurbs of Sydney, on the 1st of March, 1851,
classified ivith reference to Sex and Age.
Males.
Females.
Totals.
Name of "Ward or
Gene-
Under
7 and
14 and
21 and 45 and
Under
7 and
14 and
21 and
45 and
Fe-
males.
ral
7
Years.
under
14.
under
21.
under
45.
up-
wards.
7
Years.
under
14.
under
21.
under
45.
up-
wards.
Males.
Total.
Gipps Ward . . .
793
484
304
1488
397
791
539
539
1293
234
3466
3396
6862
Brisbane AVard
663
435
306
1350
475
679
471
476
1122
243
3229
2991
6220
Bourke Ward .
479
375
313
1209
350
483
434
588
1007
218
2726
2730
5456
Philip Ward .
1346
901
561
2112
1041
1321
972
822
2015
509
5961
5639
11600
Macquarie Ward
460
383
355
1032
351
493
360
508
876
179
2581
2416
4997
Cook Ward .
1061
742
381
1634
515
1074
776
798
1779
345
4333
4772
9105
Total within the city
4802
3320
2220
8825
3129
4841
3552
3731
8092
1728
22296
21944
44240
Balmain
188
99
62
238
70
171
132
127
254
56
657
740
1397
Camperdown .
06
51
23
77
44
70
47
24
76
25
261
242
503
Canterbury
75
46
18
105
21
68
31
24
67
18
265
208
473
Chippendale
55
38
8
70
23
54
36
19
68
16
194
193
387
The Glebe . .
219
130
62
260
76
209
173
104
299
43
747
828
1575
Newtown . .
99
79
46
150
88
95
89
73
159
47
462
463
925
O'Conneil Town
73
50
19
92
46
73
49
31
93
34
280
280
560
Paddington
209
145
56
211
70
164
126
109
244
5o
691
698
1389
Redfern . . .
144
122
60
211
56
157
110
80
219
46
593
612
1205
St. Leonard's .
75
48
38
149
57
67
73
69
130
31
367
370,
737
Surry Hills . .
bs
67
40
26
118
35
67
40
40
83
17
286
247
533
Total in the subui
1270
848
418
1681
586
1195
906
700
1692
388
4803
4881
9684
Total, city & subu
rbs
6072
4168
2638
10506
3715
6036
4458
4431
9784
2116
27099
26825
53924
Religious State— Is^ o/3/a;r7i, 1851 :— Church of England, 93,137; Church of Scotland, 18,156;
Wesleyan Methodists, 10,008 : other Protestants, 6,472 ; Roman Catholics, 56,899 • Jews, 979 ; Mahomedans
and Pagans, 852 ; other persuasions, 740. Total, 187,243.
548
POPULATION OF CITY OF SYDNEY— MAECH, 1851.
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3
EDUCATION
AND SUMMARY OF POPULATION, N. S. WALES— 1851. 549
Education.
State.
Males.
Females. j
General total.
Under 21 years of age — •
Cannot read .
.
22,772
22,253
45,025
Read only
.
8,240
9,593
17,833
liead and write
14,686
15,338
30,024
Abave 21 years of age
—
Cannot read .
,
12,475
7,010
19,485
Read only
7,222
6,842
14,064
Read and -write
Total
.
40,834
19,978
60,812
106,229
81,014
187,243
Detailed Educatioyial Abstract.
Males.
Females.
Age.
General
Cannot
Read only.
Read and
Total.
Cannot
Read
Read and
Total.
total.
read.
write.
read.
only.
write.
Under 4 years . .
11,408
160
11
11,579
11,098
203
22
11.323
22,902
4 and under 7 years
7,141
2,784
667
10,592
6,961
2,905
691
10,557
21,149
Under 7 years
18,549
2,944
678
22,171
18,059
3,108
713
21,880
44,051
7 and under 14 years
3,060
4,092
7,328
14,480
2,861
4,440
7,083
14,384
28,864
4 and under 14 years
10,201
6,876
7,995
25,072
9,822
7,345
7,774
24,941
50,013
Under 14 years . .
21,609
7,036
8,006
36,651
20,920
7,548
7,796
36,264
72,915
14 and under 2 1 years
1,163
1,204
6,680
9,047
1,333
2,045
7,542
10,920 : 19,967
7 and under 21 years
4,223
5,296
14,008
23,527
4,194
6,485
14,625
25,304 48,831
4 and under 21 years
11,364
8,080
14,675
34,119
11,155
9,390
15,316
35,861 69,980
Under 21 years . .
22,772
8,240
14,686
45,698
22,253
9,593
15,338
47,184 92,882
21 and upwards . .
12,475
7 222
40,834
60,531
7,010
6,842
19,978
33,830
94,361
14 and upwards . .
13,638
8,426
47,514
69,578
8,343
8,887
27,520
44,750
114,328
7 and upwards . .
16,698
12,518
54,842
84,058
11,204
13,327
34,603
59,134
143,192
4 and upwards . .
! Total . . .
23,839
15,302
55,509
94,650
18,165
16,232
35,294
69,691
164,341
35,247
15,462
55,520
106,229
29,263
16,435
35,316
81,014
187,243
General Summary.
Summary of Population.
Population of the Colony classified and domiciled
Travellers, not classified nor domiciled, (estimate)
Mariners, &c., on board 89 Colonial Vessels in the Ports of the Colony
Mariners, &c., on board 204 Colonial Vessels at sea
Military, &c., in barracks and guards .....
Total belonging to, or within, the colony, 1st March, 1851
Corresponding total of the colony, 2nd March, 1846
j Increase during these five years ....
Centesimal increase during the same period .....
Centesimal proportion of the sexes in 1841
18^6
1851
Crews, &c., on board 50 British ve.ssels in the ports of the colony
' Crews, &c., on board 9 Foreign vessels in the ports of the colony
Males.
106,229
100
553
1,220
589
108,691
94,585
14,106
14.92
65.80
60.35
57.22
818
134
Females. ; Total.
81,014
58
13
175
81,260
62,145
19,115
30.76
34.20
39.65
42.78
96
187,243
158
566
1,220
764
189,951
156,730
33,221
21.20
100
100
100
914
134
Kotes.—ln the tables of Urban Population, some of the Towns, and some parts and suburbs of Government Town-
ships, are of private formation ; but it has not been thought necessary to distinguish them.
Several Towns, possessing only a trifling population, arc inserted, in consequence of their having been formerly so
shown, or for the sake of future comparison of their present state with their expected advancement.
The contents of the Population Tables for Cities, Towns, and Villages, arc comprehended as component parts of the
contents shown in the Abstracts for the Counties, the Police Districts, and Parishes, in which such Towns are situated.
The difference between the sum of Slated and Shingled Houses, and the total number of Houses m any District, is
made up of Houses covered with B;irk or Thatch, and Houses not roofed in. The difference between the total number of
Houses, and the sum of houses constructed of Brick or Stone and of Wood, consists of Houses formed of Bark, or other
inferior material.
550
EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES SINCE 1840.
Schools, and Scholars aitefuling the same, in the
Colony, from the Year 1840.
Number of Scholars.
No. of
Schools.
Years.
Males.
Females.
Total.
1840
159
4,639
3,935
8,574
1841
192
4,935
4,124
9,059
1842
232
5,698
4,635
10,333
1843
279
6,286
5,103
11,389
1844
313
6,814
5,776
12,590
1845
327
7,813
6,641
14,454
1846
338
8,613
7,650
16,263
1847
376
9,848
8,752
18,600
1848
382
10,267
8.722
18,989
1849
444
10,721
9,250
19,971
1850
493
11,214
10,170
21,384
1851
423
11,118
10,002
21,120
1852
351
13,221
11,170
24,391
N.B. See Statistics of Education, in a previous page.
Increase and Decrease of the Population of New
South Wales, from \st March to Zlst December,
1851 ; and the total number on the latter date.
Increase and Decrease.
Male.
Female.
2,091
3,152
Total.
Gen.
Total.
Increase by Immigration
„ „ Births . ,
5,799
3,244
7,890
6.396
Total Increase . .
9,043
5,242
—
14,286
Decrease by Deaths . .
„ „ Departure .
Total Decrease . .
1,344
3,358
4,702
823
1,544
2,367
2,167
4,902
7,069
Net Increase . . .
4,341
2,876
-
7,217
Population as per CensusN
taken on 1st March,)
1851 )
108,091
81,260
-
189,951
Population on 31st De-\
cember, 1851 . . ./
113,032
84,136
-
197,168
Number of Schools, ^c, in the Year 1851.
1
o
Number of Scholars.
Amount paid by
Government
from the Colonial
Treasury.
Amount
received from
Voluntary
Contributions.
Schools.
a
3
o
Totals.
Oephan Schools —
Protestant
1
1
84
90
80
91
164
181
£ s. d.
1,864 1 10
3,348 2 1
£ s. d.
£
1,864
3,348
Roman Catholic
Total of Orphan Schools . .
2
79
36
10
35
174
171
345
5,212 3 11
—
5,212
Denominational Schools —
Church of England . .
Presbyterian ....
2,692
1,095
507
1,679
2,306
899
384
1,631
4,998
1,994
891
3,310
5,321 5 3
2,063 11 0
588 9 2
2,576 15 4
158 19 6
2,324 2 7
1,216 12 9
665 11 2
985 17 1
7,645
3,280
1,254
3,562
158
Weslej'an
Roman Catholic . . .
Secretary to the Board .
Total of Denominational Schools
160
5,973
5,220
11,193
10,709 0 3
5,192 3 7
15,901
National Schools—
Schools
34
1,417
1,444
2,861
5,747 18 7i
1,018 11 7i
1,179 17 3^
6,927
1,018
General Management . . .
Total of National Schools
34
196
1,417
1,444
2,861
6,766 10 3
1,179 17 31
7,946
Total of Orphan, Denomina-j
tional and National Schools J
7,564
6,835
14,399
22,687 14 5
6,372 0 lOi
29,059
Private Schools—
King's School, Parramatta . .
All other
1
220
97
3,457
3,167
97
6,624
—
z
—
Total of Private Schools . .
227
3,554
3,167
6,721
1
—
Total of Schools and Sch
olars
423
11,118
10,002
21,120
1
—
In 1852, the total number of denominational schools was 163, with 6,730 male, and 5,827 female {
scholars. There were also fifty national schools, with 1,998 male, and 1,660 female scholars. The num- !
ber of children taught in 351 schools amounted, in 1852, to about 11 per cent, on the whole population of
the colony. In 1852, government paid for public schools, £31,118, and the amount contributed from
private funds was £6,960.
LUNACY AND EXPIRATION OF CONVICTISM IN N. S. WALES. 551
Patients in the Lunatic Asylum, Tarhan Creek, Sydney.
In the Asylum
on 31st De-
cember.
1~i GO
Discharged during Absconded during
the Year. the Year.
Died
during
the Year.
Remaining in the Asylum
on
31st December.
Years.
6
6
S
o
o
6
"a
S
Cured.
pro^v^d. Retaken.
Not
Retaken.
"3
a
Supposed
Curable.
Supposed
Incurable.
Total.
"3
IS
a
a
14
o
9
a
a
18
1
5
1
a
1
o
1
"3
a
'3
d
"3
a
o
P=H
6
"a
"3
a
o
Pm
6
"3
"3
i
1851
1852
59
67
52
51
111
118
50
70
35
31
14
20
4
11
42
38
24
23
25
53
27
28
67
91
51
51
Patients in the free Lunatic Asylum, Parramatta.
In the Asylum
on 31st De-
cember
•^ be 3
Discharged during Absconded during
the Year. " the Year
Died
during
the Year.
Remaining in the Asylum
on
31st December.
Years.
aj
'3
-3
a
OI
p^
"3
o
H
"3
d
"3
a
Cured.
Im-
proved.
Retaken.
Not
Retaken.
d
"3
d
-3
a
Supposed
Curable.
Supposed
Incurable.
Total.
d
"3
1^3
■3
a
f>4
d
"3
d
"3
g
S
d
'3
"3
a
d
"3
d
'3
a
a)
P^
d
"3
d
"3
a
0)
P4
d
d
a
til
d
"3
0
"3
a
1851
1852
56
56
45
56
101
112
8
19
17
18
3
3
—
1
—
—
-
-
5
2
5
6
51
68
50
65
56
68
56
65
Patients in the Convict Lunatic and Livalid Estahlish7nent, Parramatta.
In the Establish-
ment on 31st
December.
CD'S .
Discharged during
the Year.
Absconded during
the Year.
Died
during
the year.
Remaining in the Establish-
ment on
31st December.
d
-3
d
'3
"3
a
Cured.
Im-
proved.
Retaken.
Not
Retaken.
d
■3
3
7
10
d
'3
a
Supposed
Curable.
Supposed
Incurable.
Total.
d
"3
a
"3
0
H
d
"3
d
a
p^
d
"3
8
"3
a
d
'3
1
'3
a
d
"3
1
2
d
'3
a
d
"3
d
"3
a
pt^
d
"3
d
"3
a
d
-3
_d
"3
a
1851
Lunatics
Invalids
105
117
22
10
127
127
4
49
15
5
40
12
4
5
24
2
1
95
93
20
8
100
117
22
9
Totals
222
32
254
53
15
45
12
8
-
1
—
3
—
4
29
3
188
28
217
31
" Memorandum of the number of convicts in the colony of New South Wale.s on the 1st of Decem-
ber, 1851, showing out of those the probable number who will become free, or who may die, during each
year, until Ihe whole of them are disposed of:— Number of convicts in the colony on 1st December, I80I,
1,640; will probably become free or die during the year 1852, 80: remaining in the colony on ^Ist
December, 1852, 1,560; will probably become free or die during the year 1853, 17/: remaining in^ the
colony on 31st December, 1853, 1,383; will probably become free or die during the year 18o4, /jy:
remaining in the colony on 31.st December, 1854, 584; will probably become free or die during the year
1855, 358: remaining "in the colony on 31st December, 1855, 226; will probably become free or die
during the year 1856, 78: remaining in the colony on 31st December, 1856, 148; will probably become
free or die during the year 1857, 129: remaining in the colony on 31st December, 1857, 19; will probably
become free or die during the year 1858, 19. , , , • i^ .• i ^ n
" These calculations are made without reference to the number of the (lately arrived) ticket-of-leave
holders, who, after the 1st of June next, may, with few exceptions, be recommended for conditional
pardons, upon the payment of their passage-money, but of which no possible estimate can be made, as
only nine out of the whole number have as yet paid the amount required by the regulations. _ 1-rom the
foregoing remarks it will be seen that every ticket-of-leave man in the colony, with the exception ol those
now in the service of government, and those who obtained tickets since the 1st of June, 18o0 in all about
450), would on that date be eligible to be recommended for conditional pardons, and thus rendered tree in
the colony, if they make the payments required by the regulations, or if those regulations were rescinded.
" Superintendent of Convicts' Office, Sydney, 1st Dec, 1851. J. M'Lean, Principal Superintend.
552 POST-OFFICE— ELECTORS— WAGES— NEW SOUTH WALES.
Nu7nher of Post- Offices, ^c, and of Letters, Newspapers, ^-c, passing through the General Post-
the Colony of New South Wales, from the Year 1838.
No. of
Extent
Number of News-
5
No. of
Persons
of Post
Number of Letters.
papers.
Totals.
6
Years.
Post-
Officos
em-
ployed.
Roads.
g
o
Miles.
Ship.
Inland.
Town.
Ship.
Inland.
Letters.
Newspapers
a
W
1838
40
52
253,830
No record
253,326
14,967
221,479
297,245
489,772
297,245
£
8,390
£
10,357
1839
41
59
277,900
No record
324,046
33,063
*280,025
428,829
357,109
708,854
10,540
13,263
1840
53
73
380,353
157,152
412,283
50,313
264,290
655,788
619,748
920,078
13,413
17,276
1841
56
83
396,688
189,575
473,521
57,072
323,606
803,267
720,168
1,126,873
17,737
18,374
1842
58
83
389,156
186,006
461,617
71,347
297,562
1,380,880
718,970
1,678,442
18,087
19,123
1843
63
86
395,174
180,658
393,007
84,670
240,075
608,609
658,325
848,684
16,566
16,761
1844
65
88
393,926
181,719
329,786
53,623
232.724
559,802
565,128
792,526
14,608
13,157
1845
67
90
412,438
183,184
318,521
39,231
267,264
566,248
540,936
833,512
14,615
12,309
1846
67
90
426,206
188,965
343,337
57,728
328,106
576,563
570,030
904,669
13,895
11,863
1847
71
94
450,022
181,568
400,144
44,606
324,259
625,318
625,412
949,577
14,103
12,256
1848
74
98
479,350
167,080
368,705
49,813
362,494
644,449
t585,598
1,006,943
14,458
15,357
1849
88
115
586,678
178,533
383,353
47,135
277,787
457,197
t609,021
734,984
15,462
13,651
+1850
96
123
686,614
179,406
592,026
70,877
204,601
399,947
842,309
604,548
13,646
15.732
1851
101
137
751,154
202,480
694,356
78,482
248,792
513,515
975,318
762,487
18,252
16,324
* Letters included.
f The decrease in 1848 and 1849, is accounted for by Letters for Port Phillip being sent direct, instead of in the
Mails by Post- Office Packets.
X In this Year, the Act for the Establishment of an uniform Rate of Postage, and the use of Postage Stamps came
into operation, under which no Letters were exempted from Postage, but Petitions to the Queen, the Governor,
the Executive, or Legislative Council.
Electoral Roll of each District of Neiv South Wales,
under the Act of Council, 14 Victoria, No. 48 : —
Electoral District.
Number of Electors.
18ol~'2.
1852-'3.
1
Argyle
157
173
2
Bathurst
250
308
3
East Camden ....
653
626
4
West Camden ....
401
406
5
Cook and Westmoreland
407
449
6
Cumberland ....
1,653
1,643
7
Durham
724
756
8
Gloucester and Macquarie
343
361
9
King and Georgiana .
183
192
10
Murray and St. Vincent .
345
351
11
Northumberland & Hunter
763
809
12
Phillip, Brisbane, and Bligh
218
228
13
Roxburgh and Wellington
281
323
14
Stanley (County) . . .
117
126
15
Maneroo
164
159
16
Murrumbidgee ....
296
296
17
Lachlan and Lower Darling
188
222
18
WeUington and Bhgh
190
160
19
Liverpool Plains & Gwydir
301
244
20
New England and M'Leay
245
239
21
Clarence & Darling Downs
198
230
22
Moreton Bay, Burnett, 1
and Maranoa ... J
76*
63*
23
Sydney
5,715
7,038
24
Sydney Hamlets . . .
886
1,004
25
Parramatta
407
574
26
Cumberland Boroughs .
372
375
27
Western Boroughs
334
325
28
Southern Boroughs . .
260
238
29
Northumberland Boroughs
472
519
30
North-eastern Boroughs .
129
136
31
Stanley Boroughs . . .
291
271
Totals ....
17,025
18,844
Average Rate of Wages for different Classes of La-
hour in Australia during 1851 : — -
* No Returns for the Maranoa District.
1851.
Trade or Calling.
Town and
Covxntry.
Average
wages per
diem,
without
Board and
Lodging.
Average
wages per
annum,
with
Board and
Lodging.
Males : —
Carpenters . A
Smiths . . . . -^
Wheelwrights . -j
Bricklayers . .-
Masons . . . .^
Farm Laborers .
Shepherds . . .
Females : —
Cooks (plain) . .
Housemaids . .
Laundresses . .
Nursemaids . .
General House \
Servants ... J
Farm - house ^
Servants . . .
Dairy Women, r
&c J
Town . .
Country .
Town . .
Country .
Town . .
Country .
Town . .
Country .
Town . .
Country .
s. d.
6 5
6 8
6 4
6 0
7 8
£
42
45
46
42
49
18 to 22
18 to 23
16 to 25
14 to 18
14 to 18
7 to 12
14 to 18
13
Since the gold-discoveries, the above rates of wages
have, in many instances, been fully doubled, parti-
cularly as regards skilled labour and domestic ser-
vants. Li 1854, mechanics were earning 15s. to 20s.,
and labourers 8s. to lOs. a-day at Sydney, Melbourne,
and Adelaide : domestic servants, male and female,
£20 to £60 per annum, with board and lodging.
PRICES OF PROVISIONS AND CLOTHING IN N. S. WALES. 553
Average Prices of Provisions and Clothimj in the Colony durific/ 1851 and 1852.
Articles of Consumption.
Wheat .
Bread, First quality
Ditto, Second quality
Flour, First quality
Ditto, Second quality
Rice
Oatmeal .
Tea ...
Sugar
Coffee .
Sago
Meat, Fresh .
Ditto, Salt .
Butter, Fresh
Ditto, Salt .
Cheese, English
Ditto, Colonial
Salt
Potatoes.
Wine, Colonial
Ditto, Imported, best
Brandy
Beer, Colonial
Ditto, Imported .
Candles .
Lamp Oil
Soap
Starch .
Blue . ._ .
Tobacco, Colonial
Ditto, Imported
Articles of Clothing and Bebdi
3fale Clothing : —
Moleskin Jackets
Ditto Coats
Waistcoats
Moleskin Trousers
Flushing ditto
Coloured Shirts
Strong Boots
Ditto, Shoes
Shepherds' Coats
Socks
Handkerchiefs
Straw Hats
Female Clothing : —
Print Dresses
Merino do.
Flannel Petticoats
Calico do.
Stockings
Shoes
Caps
Shawls
Shifts
Stays
Check Aprons
Straw Bonnets
Flannel
Calico
Bedding : —
Blankets
Sheeting Calico
Mattresses
Rugs . .
DIV. HI. 3 z
Quantity.
Per bushel
Per pound
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Per cwt.
Per gallon
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Per pound
Per gallon
Per pound
Ditto
Ditto .
Ditto
Ditto .
Each .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Per pair
Ditto
Each _ .
Per pair
Ditto
Each
Per pair
Each
Ditto
Each
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Per pair
Ditto
Each
Ditto
Ditto
Per pair
Each
Ditto
Per yard
Ditto
Per pair
Per yard
Each ,
Ditto .
1851.
£ s. d.
0 8 G
0 0 3i
0 0 2\
0 0 3
0 0 2i
0 0 4
0 0 6
0 14
0 0 3i
0 1 3
0 0 11
0 0 2^
0 0
0 1
0 1
0 1
0 0
0 0 11
0 6 0
4 6
0 8 0
13 0
0 2 6
0 5 0
0 0 5|
0 4 0
0 0 5.1
0 10
0 2 0
0 3 8
0 7 9
0 9 0
0 15 0
0 6 6
0 8 0
0 8 0
0 2 6
0 9 0
0 7 0
0 19 0
0 0 10
0 0 9
0 5 0
0
0 6 0
0 14 0
0 5 0
0 2 2
0 1 6
0 6 0
0 1
0 5
0 1
0 0
0 15 0
0 1 2
0 8 6
0 5 0
1852.
£ s. d.
0 6 0
0 0 3i
0 0 2|
0 0 3
0 0 2i
0 0 4'
0 0 6
0 14
0 0 3i
0 13'
0 0 11
0 0 3
0 0
0 1
0 1
0 1
0 0
0 0 li
0 6 0
0 4 6
0 8 0
1
3
0
0
2
6
0
5
0
0
0
6
0
4
0
0
0
6
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
4
0
0 8 0
0 9 0
0 15 0
0 6 6
0 7 0
0 8 0
0 2 6
0 9 0
0 7 0
0 19 0
0 0 10
0 0 8
0 5 0
0 5 7
0 13 0
0 5 0
0 2 2
0 16
0 6 0
0
0
0
0
0
0 5
0 1
0 0
9
6
6
0
2
0
3
61
0 15 0
0 1 2
0 8 6
0 5 0
554
IMMIGRATION INTO NEW SOUTH WALES SINCE 1832.
s
'^
2Q
Native countries of Im-
migrants at the Public
Expense.
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3,502
1,575
3,060
1,519
1,238
208
2,500
4,572
724
522
Religion of Immi-
grants at thcPublic
Expense.
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5,215
3,943
5,770
2,998
1,962
370
3,563
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1,393
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561
1,462
633
469
69
671
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331
207
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EMIGEATION TO NEW SOUTH WALES BETWEEN 1838 AND 1849. 555
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556 EXPENDITURE, N. S. WALES, FOR IMMIGRATION, SINCE 1832.
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558
AGRICULTUEAL PllODUCE— NEW SOUTH WALES.
Land in Cultivation, and the Produce {exclusive of Gardens and Orcliards) , from the Year 1837.
CHOPS.
Sown Grasses,
Year.
Wheat
Maize.
Barley.
Oats.
Rye.
Millet.
Potatoes.
Tobacco.
Oats, Wheat
and Barley,
for Hay.
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
■
Acres.
1837
59,975
18,381
2,551
3,893
493
80
1,165
533
5,054
1838
47,977
25.023
2,922
3,745
429
39
1,768
921
9,939
1839
48,211
22,026
3,480
6,713
483
46
965
424
12,534
1840
72,193
24,966
4,844
4,633
609
115
2,444
381
12,721
1841
56,903
24.922
5,070
4,607
490
47
3,095
308
14,807
1842
62,758
27,256
4,559
1,885
487
99
3,755
215
17,743
1843
73,409
28,984
4,694
1,392
514
42
3,803
652
20,095
1844
74,984
20,652
5,517
2,068
359
41
4,297
869
19,619
1845
76,428
25,296
8,761
1,292
330
36
3,060
483
22,551
1846
73,108
31,647
7,262
2,460
177
81
3,397
228
32,674
1847
63,365
27,103
4,798
2,073
310
82
2,912
67
27,888
1848
67,801
20,220
5,954
4,252
167
14
3,197
201
21,693
1849
66,459
23,316
7,741
2,809
203
18
3,138
458
31,664
1850
70,720
23,170
7,576
2,717
293
42
4,236
510
35,383
1851
82,110
25,017
6,725
2,470
245
54
4,079
731
30,626
PRODUCE.
Years.
WTieat.
Maize.
Barley.
Oats.
Rye.
MiUet.
Potatoes.
tobacco.
Hay.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Tons.
C\rt.
Tons.
1837
692,620
632,155
51,447
17,119
6,753
695
2,102
2,034
5,627
1838
469,140
556,268
32,103
13,416
4,878
353
3,496
4,952
6,960
1839
802,540
525,507
66,033
27,788
7,008
283
2,601
2,509
25,923
1840
1,066,394
777,947
96,389
39,270
8,863
3,338
10,750
4,300
21,329
1841
784,936
502,603
80,787
25,379
6,507
1,072
7,407
2,570
16,275
1842
798,982
588,774
68,742
18,221
4,451
1,201
6,565
2,004
16,322
1843
896,185
717,758
70,502
21,479
5,145
410
9,459
6,088
25,113
1844
1,170,513
572,567
92,495
26,126
4,475
477
12,134
6,347
24,860
1845
976,365
497,142
136,118
16,825
4,101
775
8,768
3,985
18,975
1846
1,075,804
867,070
146,098
30,927
2.250
1,909
9,299
2,087
33,451
1847
678,072
722,074
58,521
14,346
1,120
778
6,985
725
16,281
1848
1,118,654
258,412
108,816
37,866
2,386
158
7,614
3,059
27,172
1849
1,401,063
276,406
115,379
49,656
2,959
134
8,300
4,238
31,914
1850
921,582
457,102
124,625
53,313
5,529
848
9,400
4,923
44,762
1851
1,407,465
717,053
133,944
49,069
4,891
731
13,644
12,530
36,605
Convictions in the Su^jreme
Court, and Courts
of Quarter Session,
since 1837.
Felonies.
Misdemeanors.
Total Number
of
Year.
Supreme
Courts of
Supreme
Courts of
Quarter
Total.
Quarter
Total.
Convictions.
Sessions.
Sessions.
1837
177
»
12
.*
1838
199
«
—
18
*
1839
159
582
741
12
113
125
866
1840
99
553
652
9
140
149
801
1841
114
449
563
14
64
78
641
1842
113
429
542
22
72
94
636
1843
107
416
523
22
54
76
599
1844
157
331
488
30
48
78
566
1845
139
303
442
27
51
78
520
1846
113
350
463
38
77
115
578
1847
115
281
396
24
61
85
481
1848
91
269
360
40
45
85
445
1849
148
289
437
28
69
97
534
1850
149
302
451
40
64
104
555
1851
139
322
461
46
67
113
574
*In
1837, 1838
—No Retu
rns by the
Clerk of th
3 Peace.
POPULATION OF VICTORIA OR PORT PHILLIP— 1851.
559
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562
UMPORTS AND EXPORTS— N.S. WALES— 1837 to 18-12.
Value of Imports and Exports since 1837.
I
Year.
IMFOP.TS.
From Great
From Briti
h Colonies.
From
South Sea
Islands.
From
From United
From
Britain.
New Zealand
Elsewhere.
Fisheries.
States of
America.
Foreign
States.
Total.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
1837
807,264
42,886
142,158
1,764
80,441
9,777
97,932
1,182,222
1838
1,102,127
53,943
183,501
5,548
71,506
8,066
82,112
1,506,803
1839
1,239,600
70,923
313,261
3,863
186,212
23,093
194,697
2,031,649
1840
1,966,280
52,921
200,659
1,348
104,895
24,164
250,383
2,600,650
1841
1,665,277
45,381
124,123
24,361
97,809
35,282
200,503
2,192,736
1842
713,338
37,165
141,302
10.020
64,999
20,117
204,299
1,191,240
1843
920,330
14,471
155.264
22,387
42,579
12,041
200,151
1,367,223
1844
556,879
20,795
75,257
10,624
32,507
17,187
66,949
780,198
1845
624,931
34,094
110,247
40,048
43,503
7,416
125,322
985,561
1846
905,912
23,183
152,064
21,799
56,461
4,459
151,073
1,314,951
1847
1,028,817
26,971
259,678
6,919
41,557
1,550
178,835
1,544,327
1848
840,743
8,982
139,988
2,642
73,715
2,065
114,739
1,182,874
1849
1,014,387
25,244
107,095
3,202
44,516
3,961
115,384
1,313,589
1850
1,070.511
12,385
61,210
31.827
11,052
8,143
138,285
1,333,413
1851
1,152,421
15,609
174.250
6,771
23,033
14,127
177,720
1,563,931
1852
1,395,091
40,124
134,862
4,501
25,770
29,690
270,398
1,900,436
EXPORTS.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
1837
518,951
39,528
10°6,269
485
54,434
10,617
17,592
747,876
1838
583,154
46,669
85,973
7,137
33,988
11,324
6,525
774,770
18.39
570,446
95,173
143,654
1,347
34,729
18,568
7,175
871,092
1840
732.347
215,486
236,585
6,621
27,864
27,885
24,044
1,270,832
1841
628,905
110,105
67,139
13,144
18,417
4,837
41,715
884,262
1842
531,033
127,549
123,358
3,005
22.862
17,101
38,661
863,569
1843
618,789
78.548
136,632
17,934
18,827
—
23.918
894,648
1844
652,053
70,799
114,396
11,528
11,623
—
10.869
871,268
1845
878.330
76,857
112,885
17,656
1.593
—
5,068
1,092,389
1846
805,898
105,531
122,471
13,441
590
' —
8,407
1,056,338
1847
936.674
121,195
112,448
14,231
—
— ,
16,987
1,201,535
1848
901.869
163,938
78,210
6,944
—
—
4,048
1,155,009
1849
898,854
91,255
76.075
10,160
—
55,611
3,989
1.135,944
1850
1.038,340
96,003
97,359
17,537
—
95,473
13,072
1,357,784
1851
1,477,452
94,046
140,805
15,334
33,784
29,491
1,796,912
1852
3,607,269
74,759
904,271
6,271
—
5,081
6,383
4,604,034
Value of Imports atid Exports since 1844.
IMPORTS.
Total.
EXPORTS.
Year.
i
Articles, the
Produce or
Manufacture
of the United
Kingdom.
Articles, the
Produce or
Manufacture
of other
British
Dominions.
Articles, the
Produce or
.Manufacture
of Foreign
States.
Articles,
the Pro-
duce or
Manufac-
ture of
XewSouth
Wales.
Articles,
the Pro-
duce or
Manufac-
ture of the
United
Kingdom.
£.
111,986
92,422
110,272
122,935
114,158
95,789
121,099
124,452
Articles, the
Produce or
Manufacture
of other
British
Dominions.
Articles, the
Produce or
Manufacture
of Foreign
States.
Total.
1844
1845
1846
i 1847
1 1848
1849
1850
1851
£.
542,970
012,912
878,660
933,364
790,720
900,759
961,364
1,109,480
£.
96,701
104,666
66,896
51,101
52,229
87,892
30,316
77,013
£.
140,527
267,983
369,395
559,862
339,925
324,938
341,733
377,438
£.
780,198
985,561
1,314,951
1.544,327
1,182,874
1,313,589
1,333,413
1,563,931
£.
628,598
817,270
791,620
996,909
963,590
964,018
1,158,858
1,572,654
£. .
58,482
110,060
80,499
15,865
20,054
17,926
15.400
20,550
£.
72,202
72,637
73,947
65,826
57,207
58,211
62,427
79,256
£.
871,268
1.092,389
1,056,338
1,201,535
1,155,009
1,135,944
1,357,784
1.796,912
i\"
imher and T
unnage of Vessels
entered Inivards cmd Outwards since
1837.
INWARDS.
From Great
Britain.
From British Colonies.
From South
Sea Islands.
From
Fisheries.
From United
States of
America.
From Foreign
States.
T
C3
<U
New
Zealand.
Elsewhere.
otal.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
1837
56
21,816
35
5,392
94
21,085
5
581
48
13,004
5
1,220
17
4,262
260
67,360
1838
102
41,848
36
4,115
106
22,928
6
616
31
7,928
1
274
9
2.351
291
80,060
1839
128
54,198
48
7,743
107
24,851
V
836
36
9,321
4
1,177
38
11,721
368
109,847
1840
152
64,933
65
12,009
127
27,462
6
750
27
8,087
8
2,520
62
19,781
447
135,542
1841
184
76,680
47
7,511
123
22,570
3
358
23
6,163
13
4,754
49
13,242
442
131,278
1842
92
37,790
79
13,731
97
17,642
19
2,902
20
5,806
7
2,762
77
19,528
391
100,161
1843
64
27,643
41
5,559
175
28,310
2o
4,194
30
7,967
5
1,116
41
10,754
381
85,543
1844
58
27,417
54
7,189
121
20,367
13
1,831
27
7,888
3
1,005
13
3,222
289
68,919
1845
58
21,959
61
6,179
117
24,854
24
2,612
37
11,900
1
243
26
6,268
324
74,015
1846
59
28,619
63
10,613
160
27,209
•li
3,005
78
24,191
1
370
30
6,891
418
100,898
1847
57
25,349
70
10,176
193
37,422
2o
2,443
77
22,501
1
160
32
8,968
455
107,019
1848
71
34,309
106
23,877
233
45,173
23
2,695
63
17,473
1
406
30
7.753 527
131,686
1849
105
54,641
68
15,732
134
25,792
20
2,804
47
13,226
—
—
40
9,769 414
121,964
1850
90
48,776
79
14,474
94
19,293
22
2,755
38
10,432
60
17,848
38
12,607 421
126,185
1851
73
40,867
80
17,577
191
40,190
40
5,643
33
8,430
72
20,473
64
19,822
553
153,002
1852 111
—
—
—
—
—
32
30
51
1
50
—
721
197,366
OUTWARDS.
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
13,398
12,367
13,068
16,687
14,592
12,948
16,259
17,044
19,726
17,089
21,267
21,468
23,232
24,681
26,694
6,633
91
20,959
5,130
83
17,043
12,745
122
34,051
17,111
131
36,504
13,776
125
38,414
11,248
138
31,765
9,463
172
27,623
8,590
137
27,593
8,723
120
23,015
15,519
163
30,312
19,156
203
37,915
34,349
186
42,959
19,052
145
37,616
22,364
144
38,227
13,920
201
41,821
362
1,216
737
2,002
2,749
9,783
2,657
2,993
3,359
3,383
5,316
3,706
4,018
5,513
10,344
10,3S5
7,718
6,199
5,053
7,318
5,793
6,724
11,579
21,873
23,645
16,039
13,832
27,508
9,658
289
621
950
341
705
10,385
27,804
9,457
42
73
88
140
183
119
54
37
23
35
48
31
60
54
80
52
13,262 262
35,749 273
35,005
51,182
63,784
33,972
18,004
12,038
6,811
11,129
14,664
12,097
23,324
32,160
31,957
359
433
462
408
392
a22
323
414
508
499
447
506
503
701
64,596
81,325
104,424
129,370
137,962
100,705
86,925
74,646
72,847
99,281 1
120,030
132,228
131,147
176,762
139,020
175,930
Vessels Built and Registered since 1837.
Year.
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1S48
1849
1850
1851
1852
Vessels Built.
Number.
17
20
11
17
33
25
41
15
15
27
33
26
35
36
24
23
Tons.
760
808
763
1,196
2,037
1,297
1,237
498
931
1,013
2,r-'l
1,281
1,720
1,605
939
1,582
Vessels Registered.
Number.
Tons.
36
3,702
41
6,299
75
10,668
94
12,153
102
10,992
77
9,173
84
6,657
81
7,835
87
8,888
68
4,205
93
8,609
87
6,618
109
7,551
99
7,783
97
9,181
131
13,188
Salt 3Ieat Imported since 1837.
Year.
Beef, Pork,
Bacon, and
Hams.
Quantity.
1837
566.i tons.
1838
638 tons.
1839 1
860 i tons.
1840
l,402i tons.
1841
1,984 tons.
1842
607 1 tons.
1843
919 tons.
1844
232 tons.
1845
148 tons.
1846
5.868 barrels
1847
894 barrels
1848
878 ca.sks.
1849
57i tons.
1850
471 casks.
1851
267 tons.
1852
218 Tons.
Preserved
Meats.
Quantity.
246 cwt.
292 cwt.
64i cwt.
20 casks.
375 casks
3 casks
5 cwt.
Total Value, as
entered in the
Returns of Im-
ports.
144
361
cases.
cases.
65 cases.
405 cwt.
97 pack.
164 pack.
£
25,131
28,621
36,008
81,458
69,184
19,925
17,665
2,393
4,705
6,964
3,413
2,660
1,061
1,649
3,951
8,317
564 GRAIN IlNfPORTED AND EXPORTED— FISHERIES— N.S. WALES.
Quantity and Value of Gi-ain, ^-c, Imported since 1837.
Total Value, as
Year.
Wheat.
Maize.
Barley, Oats,
and Peas.
Flour and
Bread.
Rice.
Potatoes.
entered in the
Returns of
Imports.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Pounds.
Pounds.
Tons.
£.
1837
114,416
3,383
6,222
1,086,587
169,746
525
56,817
1838
79.166
5,860
65,075
875,878
702,346
1,161
53,323
1839
170,871
30,612
54,655
1,802,584
1,359,189
956
248,824
1840
289,736
19.185
24,424
4,404,983
6,776,086
1,085
153,296
1841
236,376
12,773
17,445
9,840,017
3,528,272
239
155,665
1842
139.462
1,020
21,564
3,599,680
2,224,656
1,027
64,285
1843
365,725
583
58,973
4,571,840
1,149,120
541
87,238
1844
226,279
17
16,345
1,599,360
259,840
1,074
41,970
1845
83,664
—
24,848
872,592
422,800
274
22,030
1846
233,552
536
35,261
3,239,936
1,225,728
2,166
53,780
1847
218.877
—
21,996
3,214,400
782,208
1,122
41,034
1848
115,691
—
33,044
1,283,520
680,960
840
25,577
1849
130,599
4,844
48,309
1,831,200
1,525,776
1,104
31,767
1850
54,070
100
47,635
943,522
640,192
657
16,939
1851
140,278
500
10,056
8,320,816
5,073,376
1,869|
66,882
1852
108,229
too
185,34
4,576,080
1,619,520
1,056
60,259
Quantity and Value of Grain, ^-c, £!xpo)-ted since 1837
Total Value, as
Year.
Wheat.
Maize.
Barley, Oats, and
Peas.
Flour and Bread.
Potatoes.
entered in the
Returns of
Exports.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Pounds.
Tons.
£.
1837
252
6,748
802
2,048,480
7
21,399
1838
—
8,583
4,340
1,437,538
H
14,643
1839
—
1,401
1,721
874,496
15
15,180
1840
3,726
10,265
645
2,755,200
4
44,825
1841
8,890
27,765
115
444,000
3
25,523
1842
88
3,191
672
3,448,000
11
47,309
1843
20
4,687
1,870
3,146,192
2
13,215
1844
78
26,184
1,798
1,926,624
36
11,503
1845
20
5,334
63
2,648,352
32
13,059
1846
20
1,867
545 -
3,433,604
3
10,592
1847
—
62,262
3,866
1,458,240
22
13,406
1848
154
27,058
1,300
490,672
1
6,873
1849
—
1,240
1,111
1,184,960
12
6,162
1850
2,693
1,712
19,831
4,715,200
27
21,454
1851
—
54,232
30,340
2,155,636
21
22,856
1852
600
81,444
170,337
9,434,880
52
64,090
Ships and Vessels engac/ed in the Fisheries that have visited Port Jackson since 1844 ; distinguishing
those that are Colonial, British, or Foreign, icith the Tomuige of each description, and Fstimated Value
of the Cargoes disposed of by the last-mentio7ied class for payment for Repairs, Refitting, and Refreshinent.
Description
of Vessels.
Description and Value of Cargo disposed
Year.
Colonial
British.
Foreign.
of by Foreigp Ships.
Number.
Tonnage.
Number.
Tonnage.
Number.
Tonnage.
Sperm Oil.
Black Oil.
Whalebone.
Value.
Tons.
Tons.
Cwt.
£.
1844
13
3,052
3
1,219
12
8,617
122
152
33
4,993
1845
15
3,444
7
2,685
15
4,345
37
122
147
4,269
1846
16
3,894
9
2,287
55
18,147
203
30
129
6,981
1847
23
5,345
4
1,137
43
13,8G6
368
192
673
15,804
1848
26
6,103
1
267
37
11,203
158
8|
6
4,340
1849
17
4,023
1
430
24
7,417
257
170
40
10,417
1850
14
3,313
3
952
25
7,434
67
63i
—
2,208
1851
20
4,556
1
4f
164
12
3,710
439
3
268
17,923
Whalers exempted from Port Charges, 25th P'ebruary, 1845.
STOCK KILLED—MEAT EXPORTED-HIDES IMPORTED-N. S. W. 565
Salt Meat
Exjmrted since 1837.
Year.
Beef, Pork, and
Mutton.
Bacon and Hams.
Tongues.
Preserved Meats.
Total Value, as
entered in the Re-
turns of Exports.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
:
£.
1837
592i tons.
—
14 kegs.
14,277
1838
612 tons.
4i cwt.
—
15,090
1839
127i tons.
—
—
5,372
1840
302 tons.
—
—
12,263
1841
546 tons.
3\ cwt.
—
17,980
1842
227i tons.
9 cwt.
—
10,053
1843
2,867 casks.
—
—
9,307
1844
4,292 casks.
r 10,065 mutton 1
1 100 bacon J
150 in No.
f31 cases and"!
1 258 lbs. J
12,939
1845
1,142 casks.
94 cwt.
63 casks.
345 packages.
3,506
1846
721 casks.
30 cwt.
12 casks.
12 packages.
2,301
1847
4,345 casks.
218 cwt.
127 casks.
224 packages.
12,289
1848
2,308 casks.
145 cwt.
84 casks.
90 casks.
9,060
1849
192 tons 3 cwt.
284 cwt.
151 casks.
370 cases.
5,446
1850
308 tons.
141 cwt.
218 tons.
4,990 cases.
15,344
1851
221 tons 17 cwt.
246 cwt.
4| tons.
765 cMt.
9,099
1852
1,121 tons.
3,638 cwt.
3 tons.
1,086 cwt.
17,638
Hides and Leather 1
mported since 1837,
HIDES.
LEATHER.
Total Value,
Year
Horned Cattle.
Sheep and
Goats.
Kangaroo and
Opossum.
All Other.
Manufactured
Boots and
Shoes.
Unmanufac-
tured.
as entered
in the
Returns of
Imports.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Quantity.
Packages and
Trunks.
Packages.
£.
1837
• —
—
75,097 No.
—
543
— .
24,457
1838
739 No.
—
44,184 „
—
561
—
22,737
1839
77 „
10 bales.
60,542 „
—
545
—
20,050
1840
[31 cases &1
1 8 No. )
77 ,,
43,418 „
—
757
847
104,292
1841
—
2 „
423 bales.
9 cases.
1,581
83
59,787
1842
—
2 „
491 „
4 cases.
887
39
33,874
1843
10 bdls.
17bales&8No
224 „
75 doz.
1,008
68
33,682
1844
—
26 pkgs.
159 bdls.
—
493
29
17,509
1845
310 No.
6 „
132 bales.
—
321
37
10,392
1846
83 „
37 „
74 „
—
310
42
11,300
1847
319 „
58 „
113 „
—
484
26
14,840
1848
—
49 „
112 „
—
624
82
17,440
1849
—
29 „
89 „
—
907
35
22,043
1850
311 No.
170 bdls.
1,140 No.
—
1,090
34
22,756
1851
r 1,221 No., 1
t & 7 cases J
109 bales.
[2,652 No.1
1 & 8 cases J
—
1,057
92
22,807
1852
500 No.
299 „
1,978 doz.
500 No.
2,630
175
32,271
Live Stock Slaughtered, and Quantity of Tallow and Lard produced from the same, since 1844.
Year.
No. of Boiling-
down Estab-
lishments.
Sheep
Slaughtered.
Horned Cattle
Slaughtered.
Tallow Produced.
Hogs
Slaughtered.
Lard
Produced.
Number.
Number.
Cwt.
Number.
lbs.
1844
43
127,280
16,891
28,901
388
11,481
1845
52
85,377
36,361
46,854
522
25,323
1846
34
33,538
9,438
16,802
184
7,114
1847
49
128,741
32,012
58,963
54
1,680
1848
55
165,701
33.097
60,842
56
1,865
1849
80
393,071
35,744
85,675
252
29,659
1850
94
292,416
60,385
128,330
45
2,916
1851
75
269,845
42,231
88,145
24
2,000
1852
72
292,000
74,194
147,947
—
12,000
566 TIMBER IMPORTED AND EXPORTED
Timber JExported since 1837
Year.
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
Cedar.
Quantity.
116,828"feet
699,066
729,001
1,250,786
513,139
522,882
944,121
1,222,533
and 214
pieces
78 1,4 15 feet
956,515 „
953.995 „
863,307 „
1,269,321 „
715,039 „
1,468,658 „
1.013 775 „
OTHER TIMBER.
Sawn, &c.
Quantity.
18,828 feet
9,000 „
r 823 deals '
\ and 15 logs
151,500 feet
1,000 „
27,404 „
r 10,020 „
\ and 45 blocks
r 99,500 feet,
J 193 pieces, 95
I loads, 867 bds.
[ btns., &c. J
( 71,800 feet )
I & 2,600 billets j
1,495 feet
31,350 „
16,150 „
456,980 „
1,149,054 „
1 135,592 „ 1
I and 5 tons j
768,549 „
Wrought.
Quantity.
11 houses]
2 sashps ,
106 doors -J
and I
■windows J
- 91 pkgs.T
doors, I
windows, (
. &c. J
115 houses
Shingles.
Laths.
Paling.
Trenails
& Spokes.
No.
163,600
62,000
No.
Bundles
No
62,989
73,450
—
—
—
40,588
—
50,000
—
4,350
32,200
—
—
26,890
55,644
—
—
—
155,294 •
—
—
—
105,428
89,500
—
—
105,908
76,500
75,500
511,140
92,900
65,150
12,000
3,765
2,180
113,972
163,178
75,901
154,717
307,141
143,000
—
_
318,409
8,900
61,800
5,364
209,092
Total Value, as
entered in
the Returns
of Exports.
£.
14,562
6,444
8,815
21,750
7,004
5,806
9,584
7,989
7,319
7,460
7,158
5,591
12,988
17,138
17,462
17,330
IMPERIAL PARLIAMENTARY ENACTMENT FOR AUSTRALIA. 567
AN ACT FOR THE BETTER GOVERNMENT OF HER MAJESTY'S AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.
Cap. LIX. [5th August, 1850.]
Anno Decimo Tertio and Decimo Quarto. Victorice Regince.
"Whereas by an act passed in the si.xth year of the
reign of her Majesty, intituled "An Act for the
Government of New Soutli Wales and Van Diemen's
Land,"* it was enacted, that there should be within
the colony of New South "Wales a Legislative Coun-
cil, to consist of thirty-six members, and that twelve
of the members of the said council should from time
to time, in the manner therein mentioned, be ap-
pointed by her INIajesty, and that twenty-four of the
members of the said council should from time to
time, in the manner therein mentioned, be elected by
the inhabitants of the said colony : and whereas an
act was passed in the eighth year of the reign of her
Majesty, intituled " An Act to clear up Doubts as to
the Regulation and Audit of the Accounts of the
Customs in New South AVales,"t and another act
■was passed in the same year, intituled " An Act to
explain and amend the Act for the Government of
New South "Wales and Van Diemen's Land :"J and
whereas by an act passed in the ninth year of the
reign of his late Majesty Kuig George the Fourth,
intituled " An Act to provide for the Administration
of Justice in New South "Wales and Van Diemen's
Land, and for the more effectual Government thereof,
and for other Purposes relating thereto, "§ his said
Majesty, his heirs and successors, were empowered
to appoint in Van Diemen's Land a Legislative
Council, to consist of such persons, resident in the
said colony, not exceeding fifteen nor less than ten,
as his Majesty, his heirs and successors, should be
pleased to nominate : and whereas the provisions of
the last-mentioned act, so far as respects the council
of Van Diemen's Land, have been made permanent
by the said act of the sixth year of her jSIajesty :
and whereas by an act passed in the sixth year of
the reign of her Majesty, intituled •' An Act to pro-
vide for the better Government of South Australia,"||
her Majesty is empowered, in manner therein men-
tioned, to constitute within the said colony of South
Australia a Legislative Council, consisting of the
governor and seven other persons at the least : and
whereas by an act passed in the tenth year of the reign
of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled
" An Act to provide until the Thirty-first Day of
December, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
four, for the Government of his Majesty's Settlements
in Western Australia on the Western Coast of New
Holland,"^ his said Majesty, his heirs and suc-
cessors, with the advice of his or their Privy Council,
■were empowered to make, ordain, and (subject to
such conditions and restrictions as to him or them
should seem meet) to authorise and empower any
three or more persons resident and being within the
said settlements to make, ordain, and constitute,
laws, institutions, and ordinances for the peace,
order, and good government of his Majesty's sub-
jects and others within the said settlements : and
whereas the last-mentioned act has been from time
to time continued, and ultimately, by an act of the
* 5 & 6 Vict. c. 76.
J 7 & 8 Vict. c. 74.
T 7 & 8 Vict. c. 72.
§ 9 Geo. 4. c. 83.
tenth year of her Majesty,** ■was continued until the
thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight
hundred and fortj'-eight, and to the end of the then
next session of Parliament: and whereas it is expe-
dient that the district of Port Phillip, now part of the
colony of New South Wales, should be erected iisto
a separate colony, and that further provision should
be made for the government of her Majesty's Aus-
tralian colonies : be it enacted, therefore, by the
Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the
advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and tempo-
ral, and Commons, in this present Parliament assem-
bled, and by the authority of the same, that after
such provisions as hereinafter mentioned shall have
been made by the governor and council of New
South Wales, and upon the issuing of the writs for
the first election in pursuance thereof, as hereinafter
mentioned, the territories now comprised within the
said district of Port Phillip, including the town of
Melbourne, and bounded on the north and north-
east by a straight line drawn from Cape How to the
nearest source of the river Murray, and thence by
the course of that river to the eastern boundary of
the colony of South x\ustralia, shall be separated
from the colony of New South Wales, and shall
cease to return members to the Legislative Council
of such colony, and shall be erected into and thence-
forth form a separate colony, to be known and desig-
nated as the colony of Victoria.
II. And be it enacted, that the number of mem-
bers of which, after such separation as aforesaid, the
Legislative Council of the colony of New South
Wales shall consist, shall, in manner hereinafter
mentioned, be determined by the governor and
council of New South Wales ; and there shall be
within and for the colony of Victoria a separate
Legislative Council, to consist of such number of
members as shall in like manner be determined by
the said governor and council ; and such number of
the members of the Legislative Council of each of
the said colonies respectively as is equal to one-third
part of the whole number of members of such coun-
cil, or, if such whole number be not exactly divisible
by three, one-third of the next greater number which
is divisible by three, shall be appointed by her
Majesty, and the remaining members of the council
of each of the said colonies shall be elected by the
inhabitants of such colony.
HI. And be it enacted, that after the proclamation
of this act in the colony of New South Wales it shall
be lawful for the governor and Legislative Council
of such colony, by an act to be for that purpose made
and enacted in the manner and subject to the condi-
tions now by law required in respect of acts made
and enacted by the said governor and council, to
determine the number of members of which, after
such separation as aforesaid of the said district of
Port Phillip therefrom, the Legislative Council of
the colony of New South Wales shall consist, anri
II 5 & 6 Virt. c. 61.
** 9 & 10 Vict. c. 35.
% 10 Geo. 4. c. 22.
568
PRINCIPLES OF LEGISLATION FOR AUSTRALIA
also to determine the number of members of which
the Legislative Council of the said colony of Victoria
(shall consist, and also to make all necessary provi-
Bions for dividing the territories which after such
separation will be comprised within the colony of
New South Wales into convenient electoral districts,
or for continuing such of the existing electoral dis-
tricts as shall be deemed convenient, and for ap-
pointing and declaring the number of members of
the council of the colony of New South Wales after
such separation to be elected for each such district,
and for dividing the territories to be comprised in the
colony of Victoria into convenient electoral districts,
and for appointing and declaring the number of
members of the council of the colony of Victoria to
be elected for each such district, and for the compi-
lation and revision of lists of all persons qualified to
vote at the elections to be holden within the several
districts of the said colonies, respectively, and for the
appointing of returning officers, and for the issuing,
executing, and returning of the necessary M-rits for
such elections, and for taking the poll thereat, and
for determining the validity of all dis])uted returns,
and otherwise for ensuring the orderly, effective, and
impartial conduct of such elections ; provided that
the writs to be issued for the first election of mem-
bers of the Legislative Council of the colony of
Victoria shall be issued by the governor of New
South Wales or by such person as her Majesty for
that purpose, by warrant under her Royal Sign
Manual, countersigned by one of her Majesty's
principal secretaries of state, shall appoint.
IV. And be it enacted, that every man of the age
of twenty-one years, being a natural-bcrn or natu-
ralised subject of her Majesty, or legally made a
denizen of New South Wales, and havmg a freehold
estate in possession situate within the district for
■which his vote is to be given, of the clear value of
£100 sterling money above all charges and incum-
brances in any way afi'ecting the same, of or to
which he has been seised or entitled, either at law
or in equity, for at least six calendar months next
before the date of the writ of such election, or in
case a registration of electors shall be established
next before the last registration of electors, or.
being a householder within such district, occupying
a d^yelling-house of the clear annual value of £10
sterling money, and having resided therein six
calendar months next before such writ or registra-
tion as aforesaid, or holding at the date of such writ
or at the time of such registration a licence to de-
pasture lands within the district for which his vote is
to be given from the government of New South
Wales, or having a leasehold estate in possession
situate within such district of the value of £10
sterling money per annum, held ni^on a lease which
at the date of such writ or at the time of registration
has not less than three years to run, shall be entitled
to vote at the election of a member of the Legislative
Council : provided always, that no man shall be
entitled to vote who has been attainted or convicted
of treason, felony, or other infamous off'ence in any
part of her Majesty's dominions, unless he have
received a free pardon or one conditional on not
leaving the colony for such offence, or have under-
gone the sentence passed on him for such offence:
and provided also, that no man shall be entitled to
vote unless at the time of such election or registra-
tion of electors (as the case may be) he shall have
paid up all rates and taxes which shall have become
payable by him as owner or leaseholder in respect of
such estate, or as occui)ier in respect of such occu-
pancy, or as the holder of a licence in respect of such
licence, except such as shall have become payable
during three calendar months next before such
election or registration respectively.
V. And be it enacted, that up'on the issuing of
such writs for the first election of members of the
Legislative Council of the said colony of Victoria
such colony shall be deemed to be established, and
the legislative authority of the governor and coun-
cil of New South Wales, and the powers of such
governor, over and in respect of the territories com-
prised in the said colony of Victoria and the revenues
thereof, shall cease.
^ VI. And be it enacted, that, subject to the provi-
sions herein contained, the provisions of the said
firstly-recited act of the sixth year of the reign of
her Majesty, as explained and amended by the said
acts of the eighth year of her ]Majesty, shall remain
applicable to the said colony of New South Wales
after such separation as aforesaid, and to the go-
vernor and Legislative Council thereof.
VIL And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for
the legislatures now by law established within the
colonies of A'an Diemen's Land and South Australia
respectively, by laws or ordinances to be for that
purpose made and enacted in the manner and sub-
ject to the conditions now by la"\v required in respect
of laM-s or ordinances made by such legislatures, to
establish within the said colonies of Van Diemen's
Land and South Australia respectively a Legislative
Council, to consist of such number of members, not
exceeding twenty- four, as they shall think fit; and
that such number of the members of each council so
to be established as is equal to one-third part of the
whole number of members of such council, or if such
M-hole number be not exactly divisible by three such
number as is next greater than one-third of the
whole number, shall be appointed by her Majesty,
and the remaining members of such council shall be
elected by the inhabitants of the colony in which
such council shall be established; and it shall be
lawful for such legislatures respectively, by such
laws or ordinances as aforesaid, to make all neces-
sary provisions for dividing the said colony of Van
Diemen's Land and the said colony of South Aus-
tralia into convenient electoral districts, and for
appointing and declaring the number of members of
council to be elected for each such district, and for
the compilation and revision of lists of all persons
qualified to vote at the elections to be holden within
such districts, and for the appointing of returning
officers, and for the issuing, executing, and returning
of the necessary writs for such elections, and for
taking the poll thereat, and for determining the
validity of all disputed returns, and otherwise for
ensuring the orderly, effective, and impartial conduct
of such elections.
VIII. And be it enacted, that immediately after
the issue of the writs for the first election of mem-
bers of a Legislative Council for Van Diemen's Land
established by law or ordinance under the powers
herein contained, such of the provisions of the acts
herein recited or referred to, or any of them, as relate
to the constitution, appointment, and powers of a
council in Van Diemen's Land, shall be repealed;
and immediately after the issue of the writs for the
first election of members of a Legislative Council for
South Australia established by law or ordinance
under the powers herein contained, such of the
provisions of the secondly herein recited act of the
sixth year of the reign of her present iSIajesty as
relate to the constitution, appointment, and powers
of a council in South Australia shall be repealed.
IX. And be ij, enacted, that upon the presentation
of a petition signed by not less than one-third in
number of the householders within the colony of
Western Australia, praying that a Legislative Coun-
cil according to the provisions of this act be esta-
blished within such colony, and that provision be
made for chai'ging upon the revenues of such colony
all such part of the expenses of the civil establish-
ment thereof as may have been previously defrayed
by parliamentary grants, it shall be lawful for the
persons authorised and empowered to make, ordain,
and establish laws and ordinances for the govern-
ment of the said colony, by any law or ordinance to
be made for that purpose, subject to the conditions
and restrictions to which laws or ordinances made by
such persons are now subject, to establish a Legisla-
tive Council within such colony, to consist of such
number of members as they shall think fit, and such
number of the members of such council as is equal to
one-third part of the whole number of membei's of
such council, or if such number be not exactly
divisible by three, one-third of the next greater
number which is divisible by three, shall be appointed
by her Majesty, and the remaining members of the
council shall be elected by the inhabitants of the
said colony ; and it shall be lawful for such persons
as aforesaid, by such law or ordinance as aforesaid,
to make all necessary provisions for dividing Western
Australia into convenient electoral districts and for
appointing and declaring the number of members of
council to be elected for each such district, and for
the compilation and revision of lists of all persons
qualified to vote at the elections to be holden within
such districts, and for the appointing of returning
ofHcers, and for the issuing, executing, and returning
of the necessary writs for such elections, and for
taking the poll thereat, and for determining the
validity of all disputed returns, and otherwise ensuring
the orderly, effective, and impartial conduct of such
elections ; provided that no law or ordinance esta-
blishing such Legislative Council within the said
colony of Western Australia shall have any force or
effect unless provision be thereby made for perma-
nently granting tb her Majesty, her heirs and suc-
cessoi's, out of the revenues of the said colony,
towards defraying such of the expenses of the
establishments of the said colony as may have been
previously defrayed in whole or in part by parlia-
mentary grants, a yearly sum not less in amount
thari the sum which may have been lastly before the
making of such law or ordinance authorised by
parliament to be issued and applied out of the aids
or supplies granted by parliament to defray the
charge for one year of the said colony, and for raising
the yearly sum so granted by means of sufficient
taxes, duties, rates, or imposts to be levied on her
Majesty's subjects within such colony.
X. And be it enacted, that the said recited act of
the tenth year of the reign of King George the
Fourth shall be revived and continue in force until
the issue of the writs for the first election of members
of the Legislative Council of the said colony of
AVestern Australia, and from and after the issuing of
such writs such act shall be repealed ; and all laws,
institutions, and ordinances made, ordained, and
established, and all other acts done, in the said
colony of Western Australia, by the persons autho-
rised and empowered, or who if the said recited act
DIV. III. 4 B
had not expired would have been authorised and
empowered, in that behalf, shall be and be deemed
to have been as valid and effectual as if this act had
passed before the expiration of the said recited act.
XL And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for
the governor and Legislative Council of the colony
of New South Wales, after the separation of the
colony of Victoria therefrom, and also for the
governors and Legislative Councils of the said colo-
nies of Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South Australia,
and Western Australia respectively, after the esta-
blishment of Legislative Councils therein under this
act, from time to time by any act or acts to establish
new electoral districts in any parts of the said
colonies respectively, and to alter the divisions and
extent of the electoral districts of the said colonies,
and to alter and appoint the number of members of
council to be chosen by the said districts, and to
increase the whole number of members of such
Legislative Councils respectively, and to alter and
regulate the appointment of returning officers, and
make provision in such manner as they may deem
expedient for the issue and return of writs for the
election of members to serve in such Legislative
Councils respectively, and the time and place for
holding such elections : provided alwaj's, that where
the whole number of members of council shall be
increased such number of the additional councillors
as is equal to one-third part of the whole increase,
or if such whole increase shall not be exactly divisible
by three such number as is next greater than one-
third of the whole increase, shall be appointed by
her Majesty, and the remaining additional membei'S
of council shall be elected by the inhabitants of the
colony.
XII. And be it enacted, that all the provisions
herein contained concerning the qualification and
disqualification of electors in New South Wales, and
subject to the provisions herein contained, all the
provisions of the said firstly-recited act of the sixth
year of the reign of her Majesty, as explained and
amended by the said secondly-recited act of the
eighth year of her Majesty, concerning the election
of the elective members of the Legislative Council
of New South Wales ; the qualification and disquali-
fication of elective members ; the appointment of the
non-elective members of such council, and the tenure
of their seats, and their holding of offices ; the
resignation of members of such council, and the
causes by which their seats may be vacated; the
authority of the governor upon and in respect of
vacancies ; the hearing and determination of ques-
tions respecting vacancies ; the places and times of
holding such council ; the duration, prorogation, and
dissolution thereof; the election, allowance, and
disallowance of the speaker ; the number or portion
of members competent to the despatch of business ;
the decision of questions ; the oath or affirmation to
be taken or made and subscribed, and the declaration
of qualification to be made, by members ; the prepa-
ration, adoption, approval, and confirmation or
disallowance of standing rules and orders ; the issue
of writs for elections upon vacancies and upon a
dissolution or other determination of such council ;
the proposal of drafts of laws and amendments to
such council ; the giving and withholding of her
Majesty's assent to bills, and the reservation of bills
for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure thereon,
and the bills so reserved ; the instructions to be
conveyed to the governor for his guidance in relation
to the matters aforesaid ; and the disallowance of
570
FREEDOM OF LEGISLATION FOR AUSTRALIA.
bills by her Majesty, shall apply to and be in force
in the colony of Victoria, and in each of the said
colonies of Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and
"Western Australia, in which a Legislative Council
shall be established under this act, as if all such
provisions were here repeated, the name of such
respective colony being substituted for the name of
the colony of New South Wales.
XIIL Provided always, and be it enacted, that so
much of the said firstly-recited act of the sixth year
of the reign of her Majesty as requires that all bills
altering the salaries of the judges, or any of them,
shall in every case be reserved for the signification
of her Majesty's pleasure thereon, shall not apply to
or be in force in the colonies of Victoria, Van
Diemen's Land, South Australia, and "Western Aus-
tralia, or any of them, and after the establishment of
the said colony of Victoria shall be repealed.
XIV. And be it enacted, that the governors of the
said colonies of Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South
Australia, and "Western Australia respectively, with
the advice and consent of the Legislative Councils to
be established in the said colonies under this act,
shall have authority to make laws for the peace,
■welfai'e, and good government of the said colonies
respectively, and, with the deductions and subject
to the provisions herein contained, by such laws, to
appropriate to the public service within the said
colonies respectively the whole of her Majesty's
revenue within such colonies arising from taxes,
duties, rates, and imposts levied on her Majesty's
subjects within such colonies : provided always, that
no such law shall be repugnant to the law of Eng-
land, or interfere in any manner with the sale or
other appropriation of the lands belonging to the
Crown within any of the said colonies, or with the
revenue thence arising; and that it shall not be
lawful for any such council to pass, or for any such
governor to assent to, any bill appropriating to the
public service any sums or sum of money, unless the
governor on her Majesty's behalf shall first have
recommended to the council to make provision for
the specific public service towards which such money
is to be appropriated ; and that no pai-t of her
Majesty's revenue in any of the said colonies arising
from the sources aforesaid shall be issued, or shall
be made by any such law issuable, except in pur-
suance of warrants under the hand of the governor
of the colony, directed to the public ti'easurer
thereof.
XV. And be it enacted, that the revenues of the
said colonies of Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South
Australia, and "V\''estern Australia respectively shall
be permanently charged M'ith all the costs, charges,
and expenses incident to the collection, management,
and receipt thereof, such costs, charges, and expenses
of duties of import and export to be regulated and
audited in such manner as shall be directed by the
commissioners of her Majesty's treasury of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and L-eland, and
all such costs, charges, and expenses of other branches
of the said revenue which are subject to be appro-
priated by the governors and councils of such colo-
nies being subject to be regulated and audited in
such manner as shall be directed by laws of such
governors and councils.
XVI. And be it enacted, that after the establish-
ment of the said colony of Victoria so much of the
said firstly-recited act of the sixth year of the reign
of her Majesty as makes payable to her Majesty, her
heirs and successors, out of the revenue fund of the
said colony of New South "Wales, the sums therein
mentioned for defraying the expenses of the services
and purposes named in the schedules to the said act,
and the provisions concerning the appropriation of
such sums, shall be repealed.
XVII. And be it enacted, that there shall be
payable to her INIajesty, every year, out of the
revenue funds arising from taxes, duties, rates, and
imposts levied within the said colony of New South
"Wales after the establishment of the colony of
Victoria, the several sums mentioned in the schedule
(A.) to this act ; and out of the like revenue fund
levied within the said colony of Victoria after the
establishment thereof, the several sums mentioned in
the schedule (B.) to this act; and out of the like
revenue fund levied within the colony of Van
Diemen's Land after the establishment of a Legisla-
tive Council therein under this act, the several sums
mentioned in the schedule (C.) to this act ; and out
of the like revenue fund levied within the colony of
South Australia after the establishment of a Legisla-
tive Council therein under this act, the several sums
mentioned in the schedule (D.) to this act; such
several payments to be made for defraying the
expenses of the services and purposes mentioned in
the said schedules respectively, and the said several
sums to be issued by the treasurers of the said
colonies respectiveh' in discharge of such warrants as
shall be from time to time directed to them uuder
the hands and seals of the governors of such colo-
nies ; and the said treasurers shall account to her
Majesty for the same through the commissioners of
her Majesty's treasury of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, in such manner and form
as her Majesty shall be graciously pleased to direct.
XVIII. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful
for the governors and Legislative Councils of the
said colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Van
Diemen's Land, and South Australia respectively, by
any act or acts, to alter all or any of the sums men-
tioned in the said schedules respectively, and the
appropriation of such sums to the services and
purposes therein mentioned, but every bill which
shall be passed by the council in any of the said
colonies altering the salary of the governor, or alter-
ing the sums mentioned in the third part of any of
the said schedules (A.) (B.) and (C), shall be re-
served for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure
thereon, and until and subject to such alteration by
act or acts as aforesaid the salaries of the governors
and judges shall be those respectively set against
their several offices in the first parts of the said
several schedules ; and accounts in detail of the
expenditure of the several sums for the time being
appropriated under this act, or such act or acts as
aforesaid of the governor and Legislative Council, to
the several services and purposes mentioned in the
said schedules, shall be laid before the Legislative
Councils of such colonies respectively within thirty
days next after the beginning of the session after
such expenditure shall have been made : provided
alwaj-s, that it shall not be lawful for (he governor
and Legislative Council of any of the said colonies, by
any such act as aforesaid, to make any diminution in
the salary of any judge to take effect during the
continuance in office of any person being such judge
at the time of the passing of such act; and provided
also, that it shall be lawful for the governors of the
said colonies respectively (either before or after such
sums have been altered by act or acts of the governor
and Legislative Council as aforesaid) to alter from
INCORPORATIVE POWERS GRANTED TO AUSTRALIA.
571
time to time the sums apprqpriated to any of the
services and purposes mentioned in the first parts of
the said schedules, except the salaries of the gover-
nors and judges, and also the sums appropriated to
any of the services and purposes mentioned in the
second parts of the said schedules, but such governors
respectively shall not by such alteration increase the
total amount for the time being appropriated under
this act, or such act or acts of the governor and
Legislative Council, to the services and purposes
mentioned in either of such parts of the said sche-
dules, nor contravene any provision made by act or
acts of the governor and Legislative Council for the
permanent appropriation of any sum to any of such
services and purposes.
XIX. And be it enacted, that within thirty days
after the beginning of the first session in each year
of the Legislative Councils of the said colonies of
New South Wales, Victoria, Van Diemen's Land,
and South Australia, the governors of such colonies
respectively shall make known by message to such
Legislative Councils the amount of the sums in-
tended to be appropriated out of the sums applicable
thei'eto to the several services and purposes named
in the second parts of the said several schedules for
the service of the year then next ensuing.
XX. And whereas, by the said firstly-recited act
of the sixth year of her Majesty, it was enacted, that
it should be lawful for the governor, by letters patent
under the great seal of the colony of New South
Wales, to incorporate the inhabitants of every county
within the said colony, or of such parts of counties
or other divisions as to him should seem fit, to form
districts for the purposes of that act, and by such
letters patent to establish a council in every such
district for the local government thei-eof, subject to
certain provisions in the same act contained : Be it
enacted, that where under any letters patent issued
under the provision lastly herein-before recited there
has not been before the proclamation of this act in
the said colony of New South Wales any election of
councillors for the district formed by such letters
patent, such letters patent shall from and after such
proclamation be void ; and where before such pro-
clamation there has been an election of councillors
for the district formed by any such letters patent, it
shall be lawful for the governor of the said colony of
New South Wales, and after the establishment of
the colony of Victoria in the case of a district within
the territories comprised in such colony, for the
governor of such colony, upon the petition of the
council in such district, or if there be no such council
existing, then, upon the petition of the inhabitant
householders of such district, by letters patent under
the great seal of the said colony of New South
AYales or of the said colony of Victoria (as the case
may require), wholly to revoke the letters patent
forming such district ; and it shall be lawful for the
governor of the said colony of New South Wales or
of the said colony of Victoria (as the case may re-
quire), upon the petition of the inhabitant house-
holders of any district heretofore formed by any such
letters patent as aforesaid which shall become void
or be revoked under this act, or of any county, part
of a county, or other division comprised in any such
district, or in more than one such district, or of any
other county, part of a county, or other division not
comprised in any district formed by any such letters
patent as aforesaid which shall continue in force, or
by any letters patent to be issued as herein-after men-
tioned, by letters patent under the great seal of the
said colony of New South Wales or of the said
colony of Victoria (as the case may require) to incor-
porate the inhabitants of such district or of such
county, part of a county, or other division to form a
district for the purposes of the said firstly-recited act
of the sixth year of her Majesty, and of this act, and
by such letters patent to establish a council in every
such district for the local government thereof; pro-
vided always, that notice of every such petition for the
grant of such letters patent for foi'ming a district and
establishing a council therein, and of the time when
the governor intends to take the same into conside-
ration, shall be published by proclamation one month
at least before the consideration of such petition ;
and the provisions of the said firstly-recited act of
the sixth year of her Majesty, concerning the provi-
sions to be contained in letters patent issued under
that act for forming districts and establishing a
council in every such district, shall extend and be
applicable to all letters patent issued under this act
for forming districts and establishing district coun-
cils as if such provisions of the said act were here
repeated, the name of the colony of Victoria, where
the case may require, being substituted for the name
of the colony of New Soutli Wales ; and, save as
herein provided, it shall not be lawful for the gover-
nor of the said colony of New South Wales to form
districts and establish councils in such districts as by
the lastly herein-before recited enactment authorised
or required.
XXI. And be it enacted, that the provision of the
said firstly-recited act of the sixth year of her Ma-
jesty as amended by this act, authorising the go-
vernor of the said colony of New South Wales, upon
such petition as herein mentioned, to form districts,
and establish a council in every such district, shall
apply to and be in force in each of the said colonies
of Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and Wes-
tern Australia, in which a Legislative Council shall be
established under this act, as if such provision were
here repeated, the name of such respective colony
being substituted for the name of the colony of New
South Wales.
XXII. And be it enacted, that all the provisions
of the said firstly-recited act of the sixth year of her
Majesty, concerning the authority of district councils
to make bye-laws, the transmission of a copy of every
such bye-law to the governor of the colony, the dis-
allowance and the time of coming into efi'ect of such
bye-law, the authority of the governor to specify the
metes and bounds of districts, the number of coun-
cillors for every district, and the time and manner of
their election, to fix the qualification of the council-
lors, to nominate the councillors who shall form the
first councils in every district, to appoint the order
and manner of their going out of office, to fix penal-
ties for qualified persons refusing to take office in
the council, and to make all other necessary provi-
sions for establishing district councils, for defining
their powers, and enabling them to exercise their
functions, and the authority of the governor in every
case of vacancy of the office of district councillor, if
a new election be not made within the time in the
same act mentioned, to nominate a person to fill the
vacancy, shall extend and be applicable to all letters
patent issued under this act for forming districts and
establishing district councils, and to such districts and
district councils, as if all such provisions were here re-
peated, the name of the colony in which such district
is formed being (where the case may require) substi-
tuted for the name of the colony of New South Wales.
572
COURTS OF JUDICATURE APPOINTED— VICTORIA.
XXIII. And whereas by the said firstly-recited
act of the sixth year of the reign of her Majesty it
was enacted, that one-half of the expense of the
police establishment of the said colony of New South
Wales (exclusive of the convict establishment) should
be defrayed out of the general revenue arising from
taxes, duties, rates, and imposts within the said
colony, and the other half should be defrayed by
assessment upon the several districts of the colony,
in such proportions as should be from time to time
fixed by the governor and Legislative Council : Be
it enacted, that so much of the provision lastly here-
in-before recited as requires that half of the expense
of such police establishment as aforesaid shall be de-
frayed by assessment upon the several districts of the
colony shall be repealed.
XXIV. And be it enacted, that, notwithstanding
any letters patent issued under the said firstly-re-
cited act of the sixth year of the reign of her Majesty,
or to be issued under this act, or anything in either
of such acts contained, it shall be lawful for the
governors and councils of the said colonies of New
South Wales, Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South
Australia, and Western Australia respectively by any
act or acts to make such regulations and provisions
for or concerning the raising, assessing, and levying
of tolls, rates, and assessments within or on or in
respect of any public works or any property within
districts formed in such colonies respectively under
the said act or this act, and the appropriation of such
tolls, rates, and assessments, and to make such al-
terations and provisions in and concerning the con-
stitution, duties, and powers of district councils, and
such alterations in the number and boundaries of
districts, and such provisions for establishing district
councils in new or altered districts, as to such re-
spective governors and councils may seem meet.
XXV. And be it enacted, that all laws and ordi-
nances made under the provisions hereby repealed or
otherwise, and which shall be in force in the terri-
tories comprised in the said colony of Victoria, and
in the said colonies of Van Diemen's Land, South
Australia, and Western Australia respectively, at the
time of the issue of the writs for the first election of
Legislative Councils in the said colonies respectively
under this act, so far as the same are consistent with
the provisions of this act, shall continue in force in
the said colonies respectively, subject, as to such
laws or ordinances as would then have remained
subject to be disallowed by her Majesty, to the
authority of her Majesty to disallow the same within
the time within which such disallowance might have
been signified in case this act had not been passed,
and subject to the power of the governors and Legis-
lative Councils of tlie said respective colonies, in the
manner and subject to the rules and restrictions
herein prescribed, to repeal or vary such laws or
ordinances ; and where under any law which shall be
in force at the time aforesaid in the territories to be
comprised in the colony of Victoria any powers are
vested in or may be delegated to the governor of
New South Wales, the same, so far as respects all
territories to be comprised within the colony of Vic-
toria, and so far as the same are consistent with the
provisions of this act, shall thenceforth be vested in
and may be delegated to the governor of the said
colony of Victoria.
XXVI. And be it enacted, that so much of the
said act of the ninth year of the reign of King
George the Fourth as requires that the purposes for
which every such tax or duty as therein mentioned
may be imposed, and to or towards which the amount
thereof is to be appropriated and applied, shall be
distinctly and plainly stated in the body of every
law or ordinance imposing every such tax or duty,
shall be repealed ; and no such law or ordinance
made or to be made by the governor and council of
Van Diemen's Land, and enrolled and recorded in the
supreme court of the said colony, shall be or deemed
to have been invalid by reason of such purposes not
being so stated in the body of such law or ordinance.
XXVII. And be it enacted, that, subject to the
provisions of this act, and notwithstanding any act
or acts of Parliament now in force to the contrary, it
shall be lawful for the governor and Legislative
Council of the colony of New South Wales, and
after the establishment of Legislative Councils
therein respectively under this act for the respective
governors and Legislative Councils of the colonies of
Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and
Western Australia, to impose and levy such duties
of customs as to such respective governors and
councils may seem fit on the importation into such
respective colonies of any goods, wares, and merchan-
dise whatsoever, whether the produce or manufacture
of or imported from the United Kingdom, or any
of the colonies or dependencies of the United King-
dom, or any foreign country : provided always, that no
new duty shall be so imposed upon the importation into
any of the said colonies of any article the produce or
manufacture of or imported from any particular
country or place which shall not be equally imposed
on the importation into the same colony of the like
article the produce or manufacture of or imported
from all other countries and places whatsoever.
XXVIII. And whereas under an act of the go-
vernor and council of New South Wales passed in
the fourth year of the reign of her Majesty, intituled
" An Act to provide for the more effectual Adminis-
tration of Justice in New South Wales and its De-
pendencies," the number of the judges of the supreme
court of New South Wales constituted under the
said act of the ninth year of King George the Fourth
has been increased to five, and one of such judges
is resident, and has such power, jurisdiction, and
authority within the district of Port Phillip, subject
to such appeal to the said supreme court, as by the
said act of the governor and council of New South
Wales is provided : be it enacted, that it shall be
lawful for her Majesty, by letters patent under the
great seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, to erect and appoint a court of judica-
ture in the said colony of Victoria, which shall be
styled " the Supreme Court of the Colony of Vic-
toria;" and such court shall be holden by one or
more judge or judges, and shall have such ministerial
and other officers as shall be necessary for the ad-
ministration of justice in the said court, and for the
execution of the judgments, decrees, orders, and
process thereof; and all the provisions of the said
act of the ninth year of the reign of King George
the Fourth, concerning the appointment and re-
moval of judges and officers of the supreme court of
New South Wales, and for appointing persons to
act in the place and stead of judges being absent,
resigning, dying, or becoming incapable to act, and
concerning appeals to her Majesty in council from
judgments, decrees, orders, or sentences of such
court, shall apply to the said supreme court to be
erected in the said colony of Victoria, but so that
the powers of the governor of New South Wales in
relation to the matters aforesaid shall be vested in
NEW COLONIES MAY BE FORMED IN AUSTRALIA.
573
the governor of the colony of Victoria ; and from '
such time as shall be mentioned in such letters patent
all the authorities, powers, and jm-isdiction of the
supreme court of New South Wales, and of any
judge thereof, over or to be exercised within or in
relation to the said colony of Victoria, including all
admiralty jurisdiction exercisable within the limits
thereof, shall cease to be had and exercised by such
last-mentioned supreme court and judge respectively,
and shall thenceforth be vested in and exercisable
by the supreme court erected by such letters patent;
provided that in the meantime the said authorities,
powers, and jui-isdiction of the said supreme court
of New South Wales and of the judges thereof,
■within and in respect of the said colony of Victoria
shall remain as if this act had not been passed,
unless or until the same shall be varied by act of the
governor and council of the said colony of Victoria.
XXIX. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful
for the governors and councils of the said colonies
of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and
Victoria respectively, from time to time, by any act
or acts, to make such provision as to them may
seem meet for the better administration of justice,
and for defining the constitution of the courts of
law and equity and of juries, within the said colonies
respectively, or within any present or future depen-
dencies thereof respectively, anything in the said act
of the ninth year of King George the Fourth, or in
this act, or in any charter of justice or order in
council made or issued in pursuance thereof re-
spectively, or in any law, statute, or usage, to the
contrary thereof notwithstanding.
XXX. And be it enacted, that in case at any
time hereafter the Legislative Councils of the said
colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, or the
Legislative Council of one of the said colonies, shall
petition her Majesty to alter the boundaries of the
said colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, so
as to transfer to one of such colonies a portion of
the territories which, after the separation authorised
by this act, shall be comprised in the other of them,
it shall be lawful for her Majesty, if she shall think
fit, by any order to be made with the advice of her
privy-council, to alter such boundaries in pursuance
of the prayer of such petitions or petition, or in such
varied manner as her Majesty with such advice shall
think fit : provided always, that unless the councils
of both the said colonies shall petition for an altera-
tion of such boundaries, notice of the petition, and of
the intention of her Majesty to order the same to be
taken into consideration by her privy-council, shall
be given in such manner as her Majesty shall direct
to the Legislative Council which shall not have peti-
tioned, six months at least before such petition shall
be so considered.
XXXL Provided also, and be it enacted, that it
shall not be lawful for the legislatures of any of the
said colonies to levy any duty upon articles imported
for the supply of her Majesty's land or sea forces,
nor to levy any duty, impose any prohibition or re-
striction, or grant any exemption, bounty, drawback,
or other privilege, upon the importation or exporta-
tion of any articles, nor to impose any dues or
charges upon shipping, contrary to or at variance
■with any treaty or treaties concluded by her Majesty
with any foreign power.
XXXII. And be it enacted, that, notwithstanding
anything hereinbefore contained, it shall be lawful
for \he governor and Legislative Council of the
colony of New South Wales, after the separation
therefrom of the colony of Victoria, and for the
governors and Legislative Councils of the said colo-
nies of Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South Austra-
lia, and Western Australia respectively, after the
establishment of I-egislative Councils therein under
this act, from time to time, by any act or acts to
alter the provisions or laws for the time being in
force under this act, or otherwise, concerning the
election of the elective members of such Legislative
Councils respectively, the qualification of electors and
elective members, or to establish in the said colonies
respectively, instead of the Legislative Council, a
council and a house of representatives, or other sepa-
rate legislative houses, to consist respectively of
such members to be appointed or elected respectively
by such persons and in such manner as by such act or
acts shall be determined, and to vest in such council
and house of representatives or other separate legis-
lative houses the powers and functions of the Legis-
lative Council for which the same may be substituted :
provided always, that every bill which shall be passed
by the council in any of the said colonies for any of
such purposes shall be reserved for the signification
of her Majesty's pleasure thereon ; and a copy of
such bill sliall be laid before both houses of Parlia-
ment for the space of thirty days at the least before
her Majesty's pleasure thereon shall be signified.
XXXIII. Provided always, and be it enacted,
that the provisions of the said firstly-recited act of
the sixth year of the reign of her Majesty, as ex-
plained and amended by the said secondly-recited
act of the eighth year of the reign of her Majesty,
concerning bills reserved for the signification of
her Majesty's pleasure thereon, shall be applicable
to every bill so reserved under the provisions of
this act.
XXXIV. And whereas by the said firstly-recited
act of the sixth year of the reign of her Majesty power
is reserved to her Majesty by letters patent to be from
time to time issued under the great seal of Great
Britain and Ireland to define the limits of the said
colony of New South Wales, and to erect into a
separate colony or colonies any territories which
then were or were reputed to be or thereafter might
be comprised within the said colony of New South
Wales, provided that no part of the territories lying
southward of the twenty-sixth degree of south lati-
tude in the said colony of New South Wales should
by any such letters patent as aforesaid be detached
from the said colony : and whereas it is expedient
that the power reserved to her Majesty as aforesaid
should be extended over certain parts of the said
territories lying southward of the twenty-sixth de-
gree of south latitude, upon the application of the
inhabitants thereof: be it enacted, that it shall be
lawful for her Majesty from time to time, upon the
petition of the inhabitant householders of any such
of the territories in the said recited proviso men-
tioned as lie northward of the thirtieth degree of
south latitude, to detach such territories from the
colony of New South Wales, and to erect such
territories into a separate colony or colonies, or
to include the same in any colony or colonies to be
established under the powers of the last-mentioned
act; and all the powers and provisions of the last-
mentioned act in respect to any new colony or
colonies to be established under such act shall ex-
tend to any new colony or colonies to be established
under this enactment. [Clause XXXV. provides that
Legislative Councils may be established in newly-
erected colonies ; XXXVI. relates to the interpreta-
574
SALARIES OF GOVERNORS, JUDGES, Etc.
tion of governor ; and XXXVII. to the commencing
operations of the act within six weeks after its being
received and proclaimed in each colony.]
New South Wales. — Schedule {A.) Part 1. —
Governor, £5,000; chief justice, £2,000; two puisne
iudges, £3,000 ; salaries of the attorney and solicitor-
general, crown solicitor, and contingent and miscel-
laneous expenses of the administration of justice
throughout the colony, £19,000: total, £29,000.
Schedule {A.) Part 2. — Colonial secretary and his
department, £6,500 ; colonial treasurer and his de-
partment, £4,000 ; auditor-general and his depart-
ment, £3,000; salary of clerk, and miscellaneous
expenses of Executive Council, £500 ; pensions,
£2,500 : total, £16,500. Schedule (A.) Part 3.—
public worship, £28,000.
Victoria. — Schedule {£.) Part 1. — Governor,
£2,000; judge, £1,500; salaries of attorney-general
and crown solicitor, and contingent and miscel-
laneous expenses of the administration of justice
throughout the colony, £5,000 : total, £8,500.
Schedule {P.) Part 2. — Colonial secretary and his
department, £2,000 ; colonial treasurer and his de-
partment, £1,500; auditor-general and his depart-
ment, £1,100; salary of clerk of Executive Council,
and miscellaneous expenses, £400; pensions, £500:
total, £5,500, Schedule {B.) Part 3. — Public
worship, £6,000.
Van Diemkn's Land. — Schedule (C.) Part 1. —
Govei-nor, £2,000; chief justice, £1,500; puisne
judge, £1,200; salaries of attorney and solicitor-
general, crown solicitors, and contingent and miscel-
laneous expenses of administration of justice through-
out the colony, £13,300: total, £18,000. Schedule
(C.) Part 2. — Colonial secretary and his depart-
ment, £2,800 ; colonial treasurer and his depart-
m.ent, £1,800; auditor-general and his department,
£1,600; salary of clerk of Executive Council and
miscellaneous expenses, £700 ; pensions, £2,000 ;
total, £8,900. Schedule {C.) Part 3. — Public
worship, £15,000.
South Australia. — Schedule (D.) Part 1.—
Governor, £2,000; judge, £1,000 : salaries of the
advocate-general and crown solicitor, and contingent
and miscellaneous expenses of the administration
of justice throughout the colony, £5,000 : total,
£8',000. Schedule (D.) Part 2.— Colonial secretary
and his department, £2.000 ; colonial treasurer and
his department, £1,500; auditor-general and his
department, £1,000; salary of clerk of Executive
Council and miscellaneous expenses, £500 : total,
£5,000.
TABULAR VIEW
OF THE
WESLEYAN MISSIONS— 1853.
575
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_-^_
-, . .
^ ■ . •
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'^
~^-~"rx
entral or Principi
Stations or
Circuits.
Jew South Wale
1. Sydney, North
2. Sydney, South
3. Sydney, East .
4. Parramatta
5. Windsor . .
6. Bathurst, Sofala,
and the Turou
p
c 3
bCjjH
0) r
• 60
d
. 0
d )$
ai 3
E-o
C5^
. Goulburn and
Araluen gold-
mines . . .
. M oreton Bay .
. Port Macquarie
„ Gold-fields
ctoria:
. Melbourne
. Collingwood .
. Brighton , .
. Geelong . .
. Port Fairy
.Gold-fields (Mt.
Alexander") . .
—
"c;
VTH Australia
. Adelaide, South
. Adelaide, I^orth
. Willunga . .
. Burra-Burra .
. Mapunda . .
. Mount Barker
ESTX. AUSTRALI
c
>
d
(Perth, &c.)
.Native Institu
tions(Yori£,&c.
1)
0
0
t^co
CJO
,_(
C-l CO
^ ■* «0 CO t- 00 C3S
CD
?rHC-lCO^>IiCDfc>
f-I
00
^
c^ia^dcqdcicjdr'o
d
^
INDEX TO THE FOUR COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA.
[/;, Preface. — a. Appendix.]
Heads.
Discovery . . .
Exploration . .
Settlement (early)
History . . . .
Position and Area
Topography . .
Mountains . . .
Coasts and Rivers
Divisions
Chief Towns
Geology
Soil . . .
Mineralogy .
Climate and Winds
Diseases . . .
Population (White)
Aborigines
Immigration .
Births and Deaths
Education . ■
Religion . .
Crime . . .
Government
Governors . .
Finance • • •
Commerce .
Shipping
Tariff . . .
Products
Banks . .
Companies .
Agriculture
Live Stock .
Squatters
Wool . .
Land Sales, &c.
Wages and Prices
Transportation
Gold Discovery
„ Diggings
,, Production
,, Formation
„ Effects .
1. The Queen.
2. Captain Cook.
3. Sir J. Banks.
4. Mr. Pitt.
5. Viscount Nelson.
S
(^
New South Wales.
Pages.
p. vii.— 18 to 24.
38 to 51; 101 to 107; 530
p. viii.— 59 to 63 ; 538.
p. i. to xii.— 58 to 88.
88; 538.
88 to 147; 409—11; 529.
88 to 92; 155.
25 to 38 ; 92 to 109 ; 470.
108; 119 to 148.
109 to 118; 400,
53 to 56; 153 to 157; 406.
157-8; 443; 483.
159-60; 442; 472.
52-3;
165.
57 ; 160 to 164.
f 115; 166 to 173; 481-
I 538 ; a. 540-
-3;
-9.
294; 400; 486—8.
fl49; 169; 283; 446;]
1 482; 534-5; a. 554— 7. i
173; 484 ; rt. 539-40.
175; 484-5; a. 549-50.
174-5; 211; 485 ; a. 575.
119; 176—8; 486; a. 548.
(64; 200 to 218; 493— 6; 1
1 a. 567—74. J
88; 404; 411.
220—3; 491-2; 538.
f 186 ; 195—9 ; 488-9 ; )
1 538 ; u. 562-3. i
200; 489; 538; «, 563-4,
197; 489; 532.
150-3; 187 to 195 ; 490.
223—6; 469; 492; 538.
133-4; 227-8; 228.
182—4; 538; a. 558.
180-1; 184; 538; a. 565.
83—7 ; 405 ; 535.
187 to 190; 274—8; 538.
75 to 88; 204 ; 491.
149; 194; a. 552-3.
(58; 65 to 78; 167; 178; I
1 482. /
401—4 ; 408 ; 441 ; 469.
408 to 412 ; 441 to 446.
446—9; 474 to 480; 537.
404—8; 440; 4i3; 469.
p. xii. ; 441.
Victoria.
South Australia.
West Australia,
Pages,
Pages.
Pages.
24; 330.
24; 297.
20; 365.
39-40; 530.
J 39 to 41 ; 1
1 292; 331.
375-6 ; 530.
231 to 238; 538.
296-7; 538.
365—7; 538.
230 to 238.
291 to 305.
365 to 371.
238; 538.
306 ; 538.
365; 538.
238 to 261 ; 435-6.
307 to 333; 524.
372 to 387.
239-40.
314 to 317.
(-306-14; 317)
373 ; 388-9.
241 to 253.
\ — 20;518^
( —23. -•
374 to 388.
258 to 261,
326 to 333.
385 to 389.
254—8; 400 t 498.
321—6; 400.
385—7; 400.
260 to 263 ; 407.
333 to 340.
389.
265-6; 416-17; 436.
340-1; 447.
r 304-5; 336-"!
390.
264-5; 431-6; 472.
\ 7: 340-1 : \
(. 360;518 J
389; 526.
266-7.
341 ; 527-8.
390.
267 ; 452.
342; 527.
—
268 to 270; 458 to"!
1 497;«. 559— 61.1
f 243-4; 513; 1
I 538. 1
392—5 ; 524.
r 231-2; 272; 498 |
to 501. \
514.
394; 525.
(149; 283—7; 436;
1 502; 512. J
344; 534.
524.
502.
342 ; 344.
399.
271; 502; a. 559-61.
346-7; 515.
396.
270; 503; a. bio.
345-6 ; a. 515.
396; 525.
178; 450; 503.
348; 513.
396; 525.
272; 509; a. 567.
349;a.516;567.
395; 525,
451 ; 462-3.
350.
372.
282; 449—51; 1
1449-50; 497-500.1
299; 351; 516.
393—6; 538.
{281-2; 446— 8; 1
1 497; 511; 538.1
357; 517; 538.
393; 517,
200; 281; 497; 538.
364; 518; 538.
397 ; 538.
282; 532.
352; 535.
396.
273; 280; 289.
358; 518.
397; 536.
273; 512; 538.
356; 517; 538.
398; 538.
463.
359; 362-3.
371 ; 398.
191; 503; 505; 524.
361 ; 538.
393; 538.
185; 279; 503; 538.
361-2; 538,
393; 538,
504—8.
517.
525.
273—9; 512; 538.
358; 538.
393; 538.
f 289-90; 458; ^
[ 503-4; 509. J
r 299; 363;)
523; 517.
368; 525.
( 270 ; 288-9 ; |
1 418; 423. i
362 ; 534.
398.
497 ; a. 559.
—
399; 525.
413-14; 419; 454.
447-8.
__
r418to 432; 448-)
J 9 ; 454 to 464- [
Ditto.
—
[ 5; 510. J
(437; 448; 453 ; 1
1 464; 537. J
Ditto.
—
436; 471-2.
Ditto.
—
f 438-9; 452; 459-1
1 60; 432-3. /
432—4.
—
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
6. Earl Howe.
7. John Locke.
y. Viscount Exmoxith.
Illustrated Maps.
9. Eastern Hemisphere.
10. Australia.
11. New South Wales.
12. Victoria.
13. South Australia.
14. Western Australia.
Views.
15. Sydney.
16. Sydney.
17 Melbourne.
18. Geklong.
1 a 84 —ru
\
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