Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 42

At William Town: 1 hour 0 minutes.

Under Arthur's Seat: 1 hour 45 minutes.

At Corio Harbour: 2 hours 30 minutes.

At the entrance of Port Phillip the rise at springs is only three feet and a half, when the stream makes in at 2 hours 0 minutes. It also continues to run out from one to two hours after the water begins to rise by the sh.o.r.e. The outward and inward streams differ considerably; the latter being from 5 to 5 1/2 hours' duration, whereas the former is from 6 to 6 1/2 and 7. The outward stream between the heads sometimes attains a strength of nearly 7 knots, and when opposed to a southerly gale, causes a sea dangerous to small craft; these gales heap the water up in all parts of the bay, particularly at William Town in the northern corner. On such occasions there is scarcely any fall of tide perceptible near the entrance; the outward stream is then also much weaker. In the West Channel the flood and ebb-streams have a velocity of from 1 to 2 1/2 knots; but in the south it seldom exceeds two. Above the banks or in the inlet leading to Corio harbour there is scarcely any stream of tide perceptible; but through the channel over the bar at the latter the flood runs nearly three quarters of a knot. Outside the entrance the ebb sets between South by East and South-South-West for seven miles, when its strength is weakened to about a knot; from thence it trends more westerly towards the mouth of the Strait.)

CAPE PATTERSON.

Five and seven miles to the westward of Cape Patterson there are two rivulets, near the former of which an inferior kind of coal crops out; it occurs in beds of the carboniferous series. Between the two headlands above mentioned the sh.o.r.e falls back, forming a bight six miles deep, at the head of which is Anderson's Inlet, six miles in extent, full of mud banks, and available for boats only. A river, called Toluncan by the natives, empties itself into the head of it.

(*Footnote. The observations on the tides at this place make the time of high-water at the full and change days 1 hour 10 minutes, when the rise is 8 feet. The stream in the main channel runs upwards of 2 knots, and off the North-East end of Grant Island it makes to the eastward about two hours before the time of high-water; this difference is to be attributed to the flood entering round both ends of the island.)

From Port Western we carried a line of soundings across the Strait to Circular Head,* the greatest depth midway between being 40 fathoms. Here, according to arrangement, we met the Vansittart. Bad weather had prevented Mr. Forsyth from completing the work allotted the cutter. We found the management of the Van Diemen's Land Agricultural Company in the hands of Mr. Gibson, from whom we received great attention. The new system of letting lands, recently adopted by this Company, was working well; and it certainly appeared to be a very fair mode of getting their lands occupied.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE WESTERN ENTRANCE OF Ba.s.s STRAIT.

(*Footnote. My intention of getting some more soundings in the western entrance of Ba.s.s Strait was frustrated; but as I have entered into detail respecting the eastern entrance, I am induced to devote some s.p.a.ce to a few directions, which may aid in averting a repet.i.tion of such terrible catastrophes as the late wreck of the Cataraqui on the western side of King Island. The western entrance, formed by the islands off the north-west point of Tasmania and the projection on the Australian continent called Cape Otway, is 108 miles wide. King Island, lying nearly midway, occupies 35 miles of this s.p.a.ce, and leaves to the north of it a pa.s.sage of 47 miles in width, and to the south one of 37 miles. The latter, however, is impeded by Reid's Rocks, the Conway and Bell sunken rocks, with Albatross Island and the Black Pyramid; the tide also sets across it at the rate of from one to three knots, as I have already mentioned in the first volume; consequently, the entrance between King Island and Cape Otway is much safer, the chief danger being the Harbinger Rocks, two granite boulders, with deep water between, one lying North 74 degrees West three miles and a half, and the other North 88 degrees West, nearly four miles and a half from the north point of King Island, Cape Wickham, which may be recognized by a round hill, 595 feet high, over it.

The southern Harbinger is a few feet only out of the water, and the other scarcely awash. These, with the Navarin Rock, lying North 25 degrees West, one mile and a half from the same cape, and the reef lying half a mile off Cape Otway, const.i.tute the sole dangers in this entrance.

Masters of vessels should endeavour, if possible, to make the land in the neighbourhood of Cape Otway; but if the weather be thick they may know they are in the fairway of the Strait when they get into sixty fathoms, fine grey sand; in the same depth, with a rocky bottom, ships will be to the southward, and off the west side of King Island, which, as I have before described, is a rocky dangerous coast. There is a doubtful position of a sunken rock, ten miles West 1/2 North of the south point, which is low and rocky, and in lat.i.tude 40 degrees 10 minutes South, longitude 143 degrees 58 minutes East; whilst Cape Wickham is in lat.i.tude 39 degrees 35 minutes South, longitude 143 degrees 59 1/2 minutes, East; and Cape Otway in lat.i.tude 38 degrees 51 minutes South, longitude 143 degrees 35 1/2 minutes East of Greenwich, considering Sydney, to which these longitudes refer, to be in 151 degrees 16 minutes East.

Various opinions have been expressed as to the best position for a lighthouse at this entrance of the Strait, some recommending Cape Wickham; others, Cape Otway. I, however, hold to the latter, for this simple reason, that it will avoid bringing ships in the neighbourhood of the Harbinger Rocks and the western side of King Island. If a light were erected on Cape Wickham, and a vessel running for it should be to the southward of her position, she would risk sharing the fate of the Cataraqui,* unless more caution were used than is generally the case, I regret to say, in merchant vessels. Whereas, if the light were on Cape Otway, a ship to the southward of her position would have the Strait open to run through, and to the northward, would discover her error, by falling in with the land. The lead, also, would inform the master that his ship was near it, there being 30 fathoms ten miles from the land thirty-five miles to the westward of Cape Otway; the trend of the coast besides is too westerly to make it a lee sh.o.r.e.

(*Footnote. In consequence of a letter of mine that appeared in the Times, the owners of the Cataraqui have communicated with me, stating that they have reason to believe the Beagle's chart of Ba.s.s Strait was among those with which the ship was furnished, and that with regard to leads and lines she was well supplied.)

From the middle of the entrance between Cape Wickham and Cape Otway, in 57 fathoms, fine grey sand, and in lat.i.tude 39 degrees 13 minutes South, longitude 143 degrees 48 minutes East, the course to the entrance of Port Phillip, is North-East 1/2 North seventy miles; the soundings will be found, at first, to decrease rapidly, and in the parallel of Cape Otway the depth will be 47 fathoms, fine sand and sh.e.l.ls. Further particulars respecting the quality of the bottom off this part of the coast will be found in the first volume.

A South-East 1/2 East course 176 miles, from the same position, will take a ship to Port Dalrymple. In the first twenty-nine miles of this distance, the soundings will have decreased to nearly 30 fathoms, and the ship's place should be then abreast of the North-East end of King Island, distant ten miles. The sight of this and, further on, of the Hunter Group, which should be pa.s.sed at a distance of 20 miles to the South-West, will show if the right allowance has been made for the set of the tides. In the courses given in this note, the tidal influence has not been noticed; but I have above noticed the direction of the streams, and the allowance to be made will of course depend on what stream the ship enters or leaves the Strait with.

Again, from the same position, an east course, 136 miles, will place a ship four miles to the south of the Curtis Isles. The soundings will be found to decrease to 40 fathoms thirty miles to the eastward of King Island, and will continue within a fathom or two of that depth for the remainder of the distance.

Two hundred and four miles from the above position, on a North-East 1/4 East course, will take a ship to abreast of Cape Howe, distant twenty miles; pa.s.sing midway between Hogan and Kent Groups, distant nearly nine miles from each, at which time twenty-eight miles will have been run on the above course. In pa.s.sing the latter group, attention should be paid to the set of the tides; as with the flood-stream and a northerly wind vessels may be obliged to pa.s.s on the south side of it. Cape Howe bears from Kent Group, North 36 degrees East, 170 miles. When a ship gets into 30 fathoms she will be within 8 miles of the North-East side of these islands; and on the opposite she will have that depth half the distance off.

It only now remains to notice the tides in the pa.s.sage north of King Island. It is high-water on the full and change days at 1 o'clock; the stream begins to set to the South-West three hours and a half before high-water, running with a velocity of from 1 to 2 knots; past the Harbinger Rocks, however, it sweeps round to the South-South-West, sometimes at the rate of nearly two knots and a half.

Having alluded to the entrance south of King Island in an earlier part of the work, and as it is a pa.s.sage I do not recommend, I shall not here enter into many details respecting it, further than to say that if a ship is obliged to enter Ba.s.s Strait by that entrance, she should keep to the southward of Reid's Rocks, pa.s.sing close to the Black Pyramid, a dark rocky lump, 240 feet high, in lat.i.tude 40 degrees 28 minutes South, longitude 144 degrees 18 1/2 minutes East. This should be made bearing North-East 3/4 East, which would keep ships clear of the Conway and Bell sunken rocks, the former and outermost of which lies fifteen miles North 83 degrees West from it. The cross set of the tides should be particularly borne in mind, and likewise their strength, which is sometimes 3 knots. The stream to the South-West by South begins at 3 P.M.

on the full and change days, or three hours and a half before high-water.

The depth in the south entrance varies from 35 to 38 fathoms.

I shall perhaps make this note more useful by stating that January and February are the best months for making a pa.s.sage to the westward through Ba.s.s Strait; although easterly winds blow on some rare occasions at other times, but these are mostly gales, and generally terminate in a breeze from the opposite quarter, having much the character of a rotatory gale, one of which I have described in an early part of the work. The gales that chiefly prevail in this Strait begin at North-North-West, and gradually draw round by West to South-West, at which point they subside; but if the wind, before it has so much southing, veer again to the northward of west--or backs, as it is expressed--the gale will continue; but its duration may be told by the barometer, as it is seldom fine when it registers less than 29.95, and bad weather is certain if it falls to 29.70.

N.B. The courses recommended in this note are marked in the chart accompanying the work.)

Our anchorage this time was on the south side of the singular natural fortification I have before described; and whilst there we were placed in some anxiety by being caught in a gale from the eastward. The holding-ground, however, being very good, and a strong outset sweeping out of the bay round the south side of the head, lessened the strain on the cables. The sudden appearance of this breeze, and the manner in which it was succeeded by another from the westward, afforded additional evidence of how necessary it is for anchorages in this strait to be sheltered from both quarters. A jetty, which has been run out by the Company, forms available shelter at high-water for vessels of nine and ten feet draught.

On the 20th of January, having made a valuable set of tidal* and other observations, and arranged with Mr. Forsyth to meet him at Hobart, we sailed in the afternoon, and next morning pa.s.sed half a mile from the south side of the Pyramid, in 35 fathoms. It is a light-coloured ma.s.s, worthy of its name, 300 feet high. From thence we steered towards Cape Frankland, the North-West point of Flinders Island, which we had still to examine, decreasing the soundings gradually to 26 fathoms within two miles and a half to the West-North-West of it. We could see nothing of the sunken rock said to lie two miles west from the above headland; yet, as we have not exactly gone over the spot, it has been marked in the chart with a p.d. against it.

(*Footnote. The line of high-water at the full and change is 11 hours 40 minutes, when the rise is 9 feet.)

HUMMOCK ISLAND.

I was also anxious to obtain a distant seaward view of Hummock Island,*

which affords the best shelter for ships in westerly winds.

(*Footnote. This island, which affords a plentiful supply of fuel, is between five and six miles long, and scarcely half a mile in width, with a North by East trend. The anchorage lies abreast of the middle Hummock, where the depth is six fathoms, and may be approached by pa.s.sing round either the north or south end of the island. Some low islets lie a mile and a half off the latter, with a narrow pa.s.sage between; and a reef extends three quarters of a mile off the north point, which is in lat.i.tude 40 degrees 1 minute South, longitude 3 degrees 27 minutes West of Sydney, or 147 degrees 49 minutes East. It is distant three miles and a half from the nearest point of Flinders, where is situated the settlement of Tasmanian natives. A tide of from half to one knot sets through between, and the flood-stream comes from the northward. The outline of Hummock Island is so remarkable that it cannot fail of being recognised. In thick weather the navigator may know he is approaching this, and the other islands fronting the western side of Flinders, by having a depth of less than thirty fathoms.)

The north-west part of Flinders Island has a bold rugged outline. From our position off Cape Frankland, we carried a line of soundings across the pa.s.sage south of Craggy Island, pa.s.sing two miles to the eastward of it in twenty-seven fathoms. We then ran out of the strait and up to Sydney, to leave what stores were not absolutely required during the pa.s.sage to England, for the use of the ships on the station.

RAILROADS FROM SYDNEY.

Having spoken of the feasibility of railroads in other parts of New South Wales, I cannot leave Sydney without suggesting what appear to me to be the most practicable directions for lines leading from that capital. As the country between Parramatta and Sydney is very hilly, I would recommend that part of the journey should be performed in a steamer; and that the railroad should commence on the right bank, about seven miles from the town. An extension of this line would lead into the north-western interior. Towards the south, and in the direction of the Manero district, the line ought to pa.s.s round the head of Botany Bay, and by following some of the valleys trending southwards, might reach nearly to Illawarra, the garden of New South Wales. In this manner, the rich Manero corn country, and the coalfields of Illawarra, might be brought into connection with Sydney, and a prodigious development imparted to the whole colony.

MORETON BAY.

I regretted being obliged to leave this part of Australia without visiting Moreton Bay, as a survey of the mouth of the Brisbane River would have enabled the settlers of that district, now rapidly increasing, to have sent their produce direct from thence to England; whereas, until a chart of it is published, masters of large ships do not like to go there. The residents are in consequence obliged to submit to the expense of first shipping their merchandise to Sydney. The Moreton Bay district is perhaps one of the most fertile on the continent, combining the advantages of great partial elevation and of proximity to the equator, so that, within a comparatively short distance, the productions of both the tropical and the temperate zones may be found. Corn grows on the high plains; bananas, raisins, etc., on the lowlands; in short, as in Mexico, the traveller finds, in ascending from the sea-coast to the summit of the hills, almost the same successive gradations of climate as in pa.s.sing from the tropics towards the poles.

FAREWELL TO SYDNEY.

Our final arrangements were soon made; and on the 18th of February, the Beagle was turning out between the heads.* I cannot for the last time bid adieu to a place, which had become to us as it were a second home, without once more alluding to the reception I had experienced from its inhabitants. To enumerate any particular instances would be invidious; s.p.a.ce forbids me to pay due acknowledgments to all. In general, therefore, I must say, that every attention which kindness and hospitality could suggest, was paid to the officers of the Beagle, and a debt of grat.i.tude acc.u.mulated which it will be difficult to repay.

(*Footnote. It is worthy of mention, that vessels working in against the ebb-tide, should get close under the inner south head before making a board across the entrance, as the stream sets round the north head a knot an hour to the northward, but has a southerly direction from one to two miles off.)

Fresh easterly winds in the first instance, and light northerly ones latterly, carried us rapidly to the southward, and towards midnight of the 21st, we crossed the parallel of 39 degrees 31 minutes South,*

steering South by West 1/2 West.

(*Footnote. In this lat.i.tude a shoal was reported to have been seen by a vessel bound to Sydney, from Banks Strait, in 1838. The master of her states, that he sounded on it in seven fathoms, and saw moored kelp occupying the s.p.a.ce of about half a mile. As this vessel's lat.i.tude, by her run from Banks Strait, was twenty miles further south, we cannot place much confidence in this report, in which it is stated, that when Cape Barren bore West eight miles, they steered North-East for sixty miles, when finding themselves, near noon, close to broken water, they wore the vessel's head round to the southward, and sounded in seven fathoms in kelp; the lat.i.tude by observation being 39 degrees 31 minutes South. As it was blowing strong at the time from the North-West with a high sea, and as there was only one cast of the lead taken, in the confusion of wearing, it is possible they might have been deceived. The kelp might have been adrift, and the sea, in that neighbourhood, often breaks irregularly as if on foul ground. The position of this supposed shoal, by the run from Banks Strait would be, lat.i.tude 39 degrees 51 minutes South, longitude 149 degrees 40 minutes East; but as this gives a difference of twenty miles in the lat.i.tude by observation, and as the Beagle has crossed those parallels ten times between the meridians of 148 degrees 4 minutes and 150 degrees 13 minutes, and, moreover, as the position a.s.signed this shoal lies so much in the track of vessels running between Hobart and Sydney, there is every reason to doubt its existence.)

EAST COAST OF TASMANIA.

On the 23rd, we pa.s.sed along the east coast of Tasmania, at the distance of eight miles. The weather being fine and the water smooth, we had frequent opportunities of testing the accuracy of the present chart, which we found to be about three miles in error both in lat.i.tude and longitude; the latter with respect to the meridian of Fort Mulgrave.*

(*Footnote. Strange to say, the position a.s.signed this place in the chart, 147 degrees 28 minutes East is much in error with regard to longitude, as Fort Mulgrave is 3 degrees 52 minutes 35 seconds West of Sydney, or 147 degrees 23 minutes 25 seconds East; this, with the error I have already alluded to in the east coast of Tasmania, the most available one for shipping, points out the necessity of having the survey of that island completed.)

JOURNEY TO LAUNCESTON.

Next afternoon we entered the Derwent and anch.o.r.ed off Hobart. Finding that his Excellency Sir John Franklin had just left for Launceston, I proceeded thither to wait on him. Our stay in the Derwent depending on a favourable change in the weather, it was necessary that we should be always in readiness to leave, and accordingly I travelled by the fastest conveyance, the mail-cart, a sort of gig drawn by one horse, which, however, by means of frequent changes and good cattle, manages to average nine miles an hour. It leaves Hobart, at half-past seven P.M., and reaches Launceston a little before eleven the following morning. It was a cold, bleak night; but as the road was excellent, and I was well m.u.f.fled up, with my feet in a bag, the time pa.s.sed cheerily. The general topic of conversation during the journey was about some three desperate bushrangers,* who appeared to keep all the innkeepers in dread of a visit. At one place we stopped at, the host came up with a rueful countenance, and told us that it was only the previous night that he had been stuck up, with a pistol at his head, while they took what they wanted from his larder.

(*Footnote. The most notorious of these characters was one Michael Howe, who became a bushranger in 1812. In 1817 he separated from his party, taking with him a native girl, whom he shot when hotly pursued, because he imagined she might occasion delay. He twice surrendered on condition that his life should be spared; but soon resumed his predatory habits. In 1818 he was killed by three men who had planned his capture; having been nearly seven years in the bush, part of the time entirely alone. He committed several murders, and robberies innumerable. His head was conveyed to Hobart. In his knapsack was found a sort of journal of his dreams written with blood, and strongly indicative of the horrors of his mind.)

The first half of the journey was over a rather hilly and gradually rising country; the road then winds through almost one continued vale, bounded on either side by broken ranges of mountains. The n.o.ble Ben Lomond appears quite close on the right as you approach Launceston. I was much pleased with the comfortable inns on this line of road, the greater part of which is as smooth as a gravel walk.

RAILROADS IN TASMANIA.

I could not avoid, during this journey, being forcibly struck with the great facilities afforded by the road from Hobart to Launceston for a railway; and I have since heard and seen enough to convince me, that not only would such an undertaking be practicable, but that it would greatly conduce to the prosperity of Tasmania. At present, most of the productions of the northern part of the island are necessarily, on account of the expense of land-carriage, shipped at Launceston or Port Dalrymple, whereas the Derwent affords such superior facilities for the purposes of commerce, that if a means of cheap and rapid intercourse with it existed, nearly the whole export and import traffic of the coasts would be drawn thither. I have already observed that large vessels at Launceston cannot discharge alongside the wharfs. Besides, on the whole of the northern coast, with the exception of the Hunter Islands, there is no place of safety for a ship in all winds that a stranger would like to run into, the mouth of the Tamar being too much occupied with shoals. On the other hand, Hobart lies on that part of the island which may be approached with the greatest safety, being on a weather sh.o.r.e, whereas the northern side is partly a lee one. In saying thus much, I do not mean to imply that a private company, under ordinary circ.u.mstances, could construct a line with immediate advantage to itself, though I will go so far as to say, that in a very few years, comparatively, an ample remunerative return might be expected. What I especially desire to insist upon, is the fact, that a railroad traversing Tasmania from north to south would be a great benefit to the community, would stimulate trade, and consequently production, and would aid in restoring the prosperity which it once enjoyed.

LABOUR MARKET.

This being granted, let us take into consideration the condition of the labour market in that country, and observe what an opportunity now presents itself of executing a work of prodigious magnitude at a comparatively trifling cost. It will be seen at once that I allude to the population of probationers, pa.s.s-holders, ticket-of-leave men, who now compete with the free inhabitants, and cause the whole land to throng with people in want of work, with paupers and with thieves.

The great evil at present complained of by the settlers of Tasmania, is the superabundance of labour. In most other colonies the contrary complaint is made; and were it not for peculiar circ.u.mstances, the great demand in one place would soon relieve the pressure in the other. But it must be remembered, that the glut in the Tasmanian labour market is produced by the presence of crowds of convicts, in various stages of restraint, all prevented from leaving the island, and forced to remain and seek employment there; so that as soon as the demand for labour falls off, or the supply of it becomes disproportionately large, it is the free population that is necessarily displaced.