Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 42

I had arrived in a country which I had myself surveyed; and the roads and towns in progress were the first fruits of these labours. I had marked out in 1830 the road now before me, which I then considered the most important in New South Wales as leading to the more temperate south, and I had now completed it as a line of communication between Sydney and the southern coasts. This important public work on which I had bestowed the greatest pains by surveying the whole country between the Wollondilly and Shoalhaven rivers, had been nevertheless r.e.t.a.r.ded nearly two years on the representations of some of the settlers, so that the part most essential to be opened continued still in a half finished state.*

(*Footnote. A pet.i.tion had been got up in favour of another line said to be more direct; and it is a remarkable fact that numerous signatures were obtained even to such a pet.i.tion, although it was found at last that the line laid down after a careful survey was not only twelve chains shorter than the other proposed but also avoided the steepest hills.)

SHOALHAVEN RIVER.

The Shoalhaven river flows in a ravine about 1500 feet below the common level of the country between it and the Wollondilly. Precipices consisting at one part of granite and at another of limestone give a peculiar grandeur to the scenery of the Shoalhaven river.

LIMESTONE CAVERNS THERE.

The limestone is of a dark grey colour and contains very imperfect fragments of sh.e.l.ls. We find among the features on these lofty riverbanks many remarkable hollows not unaptly termed hoppers by the country people, from the water sinking into them as grain subsides in the hopper of a mill. As each of these hollows terminates in a crevice leading to a cavern in the limestone below, I descended into one in 1828 and penetrated without difficulty to a considerable depth over slimy rocks, but was forced to return because our candles were nearly exhausted. A current of air met us as we descended and it might have come from some crevice probably near the bed of the river. That water sometimes flowed into these caverns was evident from pieces of decayed trees which had been carried downwards by it to a considerable depth. I looked in vain there for fossil bones, but I found projecting from the side of the cavern at the lowest part I reached a very perfect specimen of coral of the genus favosites.

COUNTY OF ST. VINCENT.

The country to the eastward of the Shoalhaven river, that is to say between it and the sea-coast, is very wild and mountainous. The higher part including Currocbilly and the Pigeon house (summits) consists of sandstone pa.s.sing from a fine to a coa.r.s.e grain, occasionally containing pebbles of quartz, and in some of the varieties numerous specks of decomposed felspar. The lower parts of the same country, according to the rocks seen in Yalwal creek, consist of granite, basalt, and compact felspar. Nearer the coast a friable whitish sandstone affords but a poor soil, except where the partial occurrence of decomposed laminated felspar and gneiss produced one somewhat better. This country comprises the county of St. Vincent, bounded on one side by the Shoalhaven river and on the other by the sea-coast. The southern portion of that county affords the greatest quant.i.ty of soil available either for cultivation or pasture; although around Bateman Bay, which is its limit on the south, much good land cannot be expected as Snapper Island at the entrance consists of grey compact quartz only, with white veins of crystalline quartz.

UPPER SHOALHAVEN.

The country on the upper part of the Shoalhaven river comprises much good land. The river flows there nearly on a level with the surface and resembles an English stream. The temperature at the elevation of about 2000 feet above the sea is so low even in summer that potatoes and gooseberries, for both of which the climate of Sydney is too hot, grow luxuriantly. A rich field for geological research will probably be found in that neighbourhood.

CARWARY.

In a hasty ride which I took as far as Carwary in 1832, I was conducted by my friend Mr. Ryrie to a remarkable cavern under white marble where I found trap; a vein of ironstone of a fused appearance; a quartzose ferruginous conglomerate; a calcareous tuff containing fragments of these rocks; and specular iron ore in abundance near the same spot.

But still further southward and on the range separating the country at the head of the Shoalhaven river from the ravines on the coast, I was shown an antre vast which, for aught I know, may involve in its recesses more of the wild and wonderful than any of the deserts idle which I have since explored.

VAST SUBSIDENCE ON A MOUNTAIN THERE.

A part of the surface of that elevated country had subsided, carrying trees along with it to the depth of about 400 yards, and left a yawning opening about 300 yards wide resembling a gigantic quarry, at the bottom of which the sunken trees continued to grow. In the eastern side of the bottom of this subsidence a large opening extended under the rock and seemed to lead to a subterraneous cavity of great dimensions.

GOULBURN TOWNSHIP.

November 1.

Taking leave of my kind host at an early hour, I continued my ride, pa.s.sing through the new township in which, although but few years had elapsed since I had sketched its streets on paper, a number of houses had already been built. The Mulwary Ponds scarcely afford sufficient water of the supply of a large population there; but at the junction of this channel with the Wollondilly there is a deep reach not likely to be ever exhausted.

GREAT ROAD.

The road marked out between this township and Sydney led over a country shut up, as already stated, between the Wollondilly and the Shoalhaven rivers. These streams are distant from each other at the narrowest part of the intervening surface about ten miles; and as each is bordered by deep ravines the middle portion of the country between them is naturally the most level, and this happens to be precisely in the direction most desirable for a general line of communication between Sydney and the most valuable parts of the colony to the southward.

TOWRANG HILL.

At a few miles from Goulburn the road pa.s.ses by the foot of Towrang, a hill whose summit I had formerly cleared of timber, leaving only one tree. I thus obtained an uninterrupted view of the distant horizon, and found the hill very useful afterwards in extending our survey from Jellore into the higher country around Lake George. This hill consists chiefly of quartz rock. At its base the new line leaves the original cart track which here crossed the Wollondilly twice. I now found an intermediate road in use between the old track and my half-formed road which was still inaccessible at this point for want of a small bridge over Towrang Creek.

THE WOLLONDILLY.

The Wollondilly pursues its course to the left, pa.s.sing under the southern extremity of c.o.c.kbundoon range, which extends about thirty miles in a straight line from north to south, and consists of sandstone dipping westward. Near the Wollondilly and a few miles from Towrang a quarry of crystalline variegated marble has been recently wrought to a considerable extent, and chimney-pieces, tables, etc. now ornament most good houses at Sydney. This rock occurs in blocks over greenstone, and has. .h.i.therto been found only in that spot.

WILD COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH IT FLOWS.

The channel of the Wollondilly continues open and accessible for a few miles lower down than this, but after it is joined by the Uringalla near Arthursleigh it sinks immediately into a deep ravine and is no longer accessible as above, the country to the westward of it being exceedingly wild and broken. The scene it presented when I stood on the pic of Jellore in 1828 and commenced a general survey of this colony was of the most discouraging description.* A flat horizon to a surface cracked and hollowed out into the wildest ravines, deep and inaccessible; their sides, consisting of perpendicular rocky cliffs, afforded but little reason to suppose that it could be surveyed and divided as proposed into counties, hundreds, and parishes; and still less was it likely ever to be inhabited, even if such a work could be accomplished. Nevertheless it was necessary in the performance of my duties that these rivers should be traced, and where the surveyor p.r.o.nounced them inaccessible to the chain, I clambered over rocks and measured from cliff to cliff with the pocket s.e.xtant. Thus had I wandered on foot by the murmuring Wollondilly, sometimes pa.s.sing the night in its deep dark bed with no other companions than a robber and a savage. I could now look back with some satisfaction on these labours in that barren field. I had encompa.s.sed those wild recesses; the desired division of the rocky wastes they enclosed had really been made; and if no other practical benefit was derived we had at least been enabled to open ways across them to better regions beyond.

(*Footnote. My predecessor in office had declared the operation to be impracticable in such a country; but to this general survey I was pledged on accepting my appointment in London. Two other commissioners for the division of the territory were each receiving a guinea a day, but yet could do nothing until this survey was accomplished; and I therefore set about the work with the resolution necessary for the performance of what was deemed almost impossible. Universal wood, impa.s.sable ravines, a total absence of artificial objects, and the consequent necessity for clearing summits as stations for the theodolite were great impediments; but I made the most of each station when it had once been cleared by taking an exact panoramic view with the theodolite of the nameless features it commanded.

The accompanying facsimile of a page of my field book includes the view between north and north-west, taken for the above purpose from the summit of Jellore, and extends over the ravines of the Nattai to the crest of the Blue Mountains. Plate 38.)

THE NATTAI. MOYENGULLY.

In the numerous ravines surrounding Jellore the little river Nattai has its sources, and this wild region is the haunt and secure retreat of the Nattai tribe whose chief, Moyengully, was one of my earliest aboriginal friends. (See Plate 39.)

Marulan, the highest summit eastward of Jellore, consists of ferruginous sandstone, but in the country to the northward we find syenite and trap-rock. Of the latter, Nattary, a small hill north-east from Towrang and distant about four miles from it, is perhaps the most remarkable. The elevation of the country there is considerable (being about one thousand five hundred feet above the sea on the level part) and, except near the Shoalhaven and Wollondilly rivers, not much broken into ravines. It contains not only fine pasture land but also much good wheat land, especially towards the side of the Shoalhaven river.

ARRIVE AT THE LINE OF GREAT ROAD. CONVICT WORKMEN.

At fourteen miles from Goulburn I came upon that part of my new line of great road where the works had not been impeded by those for whose benefit the road was intended;* and here I found that the iron-gangs had done some good service. I had now the satisfaction of travelling along a road every turn of which I had studied previous to marking it out after a most careful survey of the whole country.

(*Footnote. One of the most palpable consequences of the interruption my plan experienced was that it interfered with the prospects of an innkeeper whose inn had already been half built of brick in antic.i.p.ation of the opening of the new line.)

BERRIMA BRIDGE.

On Crawford's creek I found that a bridge with stone b.u.t.tresses had been nearly completed. I had endeavoured to introduce permanent bridges of stonework into this colony instead of those of wood, which were very liable to be burnt and frequently required repair. We had among the prisoners some tolerable stonecutters and setters but, until I had the good fortune to find among the emigrants a person practically acquainted with the construction of arches, their labours had never been productive of much benefit to the public. The governor had readily complied with my recommendation to appoint Mr. Lennox superintendent of such works; and on entering the township of Berrima this evening I had the satisfaction at length of crossing at least one bridge worthy of a British colony.

BERRIMA.

This town is situated on the little river Wingecarrabee, and was planned by me some years before when marking out the general line of road. The eligibility of the situation consists chiefly in the abundance and purity of the water, and of materials for building with the vicinity of a small agricultural population. I found here, on my return now, Mr. Lambie of the road branch of my department, under whose immediate superintendence the bridge had been erected. The walls of a gaol and courthouse were also rising, and a site was ready for the church.

TRAP RANGE.

November 2.

A remarkable range consisting chiefly of trap-rock traverses the whole country between the Wollondilly and the sea in a south-east direction extending from Bullio to Kiama. The highest part is known as the Mittagong range and, in laying down the new line of road, it was an object of importance to avoid this range. Bowral, the highest part, consists of quartz or very hard sandstone.

SANDSTONE COUNTRY.

On leaving Berrima the road traverses several low ridges of trap-rock and then turns to the south-east in order to avoid the ravines of the Nattai; for we again find here that ferruginous sandstone which desolates so large a portion of New South Wales and, to all appearance, New Holland, presenting in the interior desert plains of red sand, and on the eastern side of the dividing range, a world of stone quarries and sterility. It is only where trap or granite or limestone occur that the soil is worth possessing, and to this extent every settler is under the necessity of becoming a geologist; he must also be a geographer, that he may find water and not lose himself in the bush; and it must indeed be admitted that the intelligence of the native youth in all such matters is little inferior to that of the aborigines.

The barren sandstone country is separated from the seash.o.r.e by a lofty range of trap-rock connected with that of Mittagong, and we accordingly find an earthly paradise between that range and the seash.o.r.e. The Illawarra is a region in which the rich soil is buried under matted creepers, tree-ferns and the luxuriant shade of a tropical vegetation nourished both by streams from the lofty range and the moist breezes of the sea. There a promising and extensive field for man's industry lies still uncultivated, but when the roads now partially in progress shall have connected it with the rest of the colony it must become one of the most certain sources of agricultural produce in New South Wales.

THE ILLAWARRA.

The sandstone on the interior side extends to the summit of the trap range and its numerous ravines occasion the difficulties which have hitherto excluded wheel-carriages from access to the Illawarra.

LUPTON'S INN.

To cross a country so excavated is impossible except in certain directions, but the best lines these fastnesses admit of have been ascertained and marked out in connection with that for the great southern road, which ought to leave the present line at Lupton's Inn. I consider this the most important public work still necessary to complete the system of great roads planned by me in New South Wales; but I have not had means at my disposal hitherto for carrying into effect this portion of the general plan.

From Lupton's Inn Sydney bore north-east, yet I was obliged to turn with the present road towards the north-west and to travel eleven miles over unfavourable ground in a direction to the westward of north.

Having been engaged this day in examining the bridges and the work done along the whole line, Mr. Lambie accompanying me, I did not reach the house of my friend Macalister at Clifton until it was rather late, but at any hour I could be sure of a hearty welcome.