PART I

Produced by Col Choat

Words in italics in the book are enclosed by underscores in this ebook.

STATISTICAL, HISTORICAL, AND POLITICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COLONY

OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AND ITS DEPENDENT SETTLEMENTS IN VAN DIEMEN'S

LAND: WITH A PARTICULAR ENUMERATION OF THE ADVANTAGES WHICH THESE

COLONIES OFFER FOR EMIGRATION, AND THEIR SUPERIORITY IN MANY RESPECTS

OVER THOSE POSSESSED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

* * *

BY WILLIAM CHARLES WENTWORTH, ESQ.

A NATIVE OF THE COLONY

* * *

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER

* *

1819

* * * * *

CONTENTS

PART I. STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENTS IN NEW HOLLAND.

PART II. OPERATION OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE COLONY

FOR THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS.

PART III. VARIOUS ALTERATIONS SUGGESTED IN THE PRESENT POLICY OF THIS COLONY.

PART IV. VARIOUS CHANGES PROPOSED IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.

APPENDIX.

* * * * *

FOREWORD

There can be little doubt that when my great-grandfather began

to write this book, his thoughts were centred on the objective

which he describes in his own Preface--the diversion to Australia

of some part of the stream of emigration then running from the

British Isles to North America. Perhaps, even more urgently, he

may have wanted to forestall any British tendency to withdraw

from the colony and abandon New South Wales altogether.

But as he wrote, he found that he had to make some explanation

for the defects which he saw in the current life of the colony,

and naturally he was led into propounding some way in which these

defects could be overcome. Contemporary reviewers, then, were not

so far wrong when theycommented that the book looked almost like

two books written by separate hands.

The secondary theme became the most important part of the

book, because the remedies he then proposed for his country's

ills became the guidelines for his own policies when he returned

to Australia. Through the influences which he and his friends

exerted over the next thirty years, these policies determined

much of the course of Australian history in those times. Most of

his proposals were eventually accepted, though in some cases much

later than he wanted, and in some cases with modifications which

he himself made or which were forced on him by the pressure of

events.

At the time he wrote this book he was in his middle twenties,

having returned to England to complete his education soon after

participating in the first crossing of the Blue Mountains.

Waterloo had just been won; Europe was settling down and trying

to forget Napoleon. The wounds of the American Revolution were

closing; British merchants and industrialists were preparing to

change the face of the world in accordance with the precepts of

Adam Smith.

In his attempt to divert the migration stream he was no enemy

of America, (indeed he had chosen the name "Vermont" for his own

farm on the Nepean) but he was perhaps the first Australian

really to support Macquarie's drive for Australian expansion and

Australian independence from London administration. He did this

at a time when some influential Englishmen were urging the

abandonment of the whole Botany Bay venture, which, after thirty

years, was still not self-supporting and which seemed doomed to

suffer from recurrent crises.

Apparently Macquarie had dreamed of a great transcontinental

river, which was to flow 2,000 miles westwards from the Dividing

Range, through fertile and well-watered fields, until it reached

the sea somewhere on the north-west coast. The Lachlan had been

found to peter out into swamps, but Oxley believed that the

Macquarie River would have a happier issue, and at the time of

the first Edition of this book (1819) that theory was still

tenable. It was not long, of course, before these hopes were to

perish in the Macquarie Marshes, to be succeeded by prospects of

a mythical Inland Sea, though it was decades before the

enthusiasts realised that they would have to be satisfied with

Lake Eyre.

This first edition accepts as fact the phantom of that

transcontinental stream and expatiates on the blessings which it

would bring, patterning its concept of the Heart of the

Australian Continent upon what was known of the Great Plains of

America, then just being opened up. Any child with an Atlas in

hand can now decry the mistake of having given to this concept

more credence than did Oxley or Macquarie: does not hindsight

make history so simple?

Abandonment of simple optimism on this physical fact must have

been quick and uncomfortable: but abandonment of some other

precepts must have been slow and more painful. At the time of

this first edition, the influence of the Enlightenment was

completing its penetration into politics and economics. Man had

only to be given freedom, and he would enter into a political

Paradise: the forces of the free market had only to be left

untrammelled, and they would create of themselves an economic

Eden!

These are the enthusiasms of the first edition, where Bligh

represents the forces of repression and darkness, while Macquarie

and Macarthur are both to be numbered among the angels. By the

time of the third edition (1824, nearly contemporary with the

author's return to Australia) the winds of change had blown

through the Australian scene. Bigge had presented his Report,

which destroyed so much of Macquarie's work, and the Exclusives,

in the author's view, were leagued with enemies of Australian

identity.

For the next thirty years the politics of New South Wales were

vigorous and variegated. Nobody who was at their centre could

have maintained all his illusions as to the essential goodness of

human nature, if only it could be freed from the unnatural chains

with which society had bound it. Nor could anyone who

participated in the commercial life of those times, who had

lived, for example, through the depression of the forties, have

preserved untarnished the precepts of Ricardo--published only a

few years before 1819, and accepted as gospel in that first

edition.

So some of those 1819 enthusiasms had to be abandoned: but the

objectives were not. Most of them were eventually to be

translated into action and actuality. It was in their

modification, perhaps, that the author was to display most of all

his foresight and acumen. From 1848 onwards he recognised the

true nature of "the spectre which haunted Europe"--and which

still haunts the world. From then onwards he was not to write in

the way which he wrote here.

W. C. Wentworth

24th February, 1978

* * * * *

PREFACE

It may prevent those inquiries that would be naturally made by

the public, respecting the manner in which the author acquired

the information contained in this work, when he states that he

was born in the colony of New South Wales, and that he resided

there for about five years since his arrival at the age of

maturity. This is a period which will, at least, be allowed to

have been sufficient for acquiring a correct knowledge of its

state and government, and for enabling him to observe the

destructive tendency of those measures, of which it has been his

endeavour to demonstrate the injustice and impolicy, and to

procure the speedy repeal. He would not, however, have it

concluded that the present work has been the result of mature and

systematic reflection; it is, on the contrary, a hasty

production, which originated in the casual suggestions of an

acquaintance, and which was never contemplated by him, during his

long residence in the colony. He has consequently been obliged

not only to omit giving a detail of many interesting facts, with

which he might have become acquainted previously to his

departure, but has also been under the necessity of relying in a

great measure on the fidelity of his memory for the accuracy of

many of those circumstances which he has stated: still he is not

without hope, that five years attentive observation will have

enabled him to communicate many particulars, of which, in the

absence of abler works on the same subject, most of the

inhabitants of this country cannot but be ignorant, and many must

wish to be apprized.

His only aim in obtruding this hasty production on the public,

is to promote the welfare and prosperity of the country which

gave him birth; and he has judged that he could in no way so

effectually contribute his mite towards the accomplishment of

this end, as by attempting to divert from the United States of

America to its shores, some part of that vast tide of emigration,

which is at present flowing thither from all parts of Europe. In

furtherance, therefore, of this design, he has described the

superior advantages of climate and soil possessed by this colony;

he has explained the causes why these natural superiorities have

not yet been productive of those beneficial consequences which

might have been expected from them; he has pointed out the

arguments which offer for the abandonment of the present system,

and the substitution of another in its place; and by adducing, in

fine, what he considers to be irrefragable proofs of the

expediency, merely as it regards the parent country, of adopting

the measures which he has proposed, he hopes that he shall

eventually occasion an alteration of polity, by which both the

parties concerned will be equally benefited. He has not, however,

presumed on a contingency which it is thus reasonable to believe

cannot be either doubtful or remote; but has restricted

himself to an enumeration of the inducements to emigration which

exist under actual circumstances; and, by comparing them with the

advantages which those writers, who have given the most

favourable accounts of the United States, have represented them

as possessing, he has proved that this colony, labouring as it is

under all the discouragements of an arbitrary and impolitic

government, has still a great and decided preponderancy in the

balance. How much this preponderancy will be increased, whenever

the changes and modifications which he has ventured to suggest,

shall be in whole, or in part carried into effect, he has left to

all such as are desirous of emigrating, to form their own

estimate; and to decide also how much longer a system so highly

burdensome to the parent country, and so radically defective in

its principles and operation, is likely to be tolerated. To all

those, who are of opinion with him that it cannot be of much

longer duration, the inducements for giving this colony the

preference will become so weighty, as scarcely to admit of the

possibility that they should hesitate for a moment in their

choice between the two countries.

If, in the course of this work, he has spoken in terms of

unqualified reprobation of the baneful system to which the

unhappy place of his nativity has been the victim, he would have

it distinctly understood, that it has been furthest from his

thoughts to connect the censure which he has bestowed on it, with

those who have permitted its continuance. He is too deeply

impressed with a sense of the arduous and momentous nature of the

contest which they have had to conduct, not to allow that it was

justly entitled to their first and chief attention. Our whole

colonial system, in fact, he considers to have been but a mere

under plot in the great drama that was acting. It could not,

therefore, be reasonably expected that the grievances of any one

colony should become the subject of minute and particular

investigation; and still less could it be imagined that the

government should convert their attention to the relief of one,

which has comparatively excited but a small share of public

interest, and has hitherto been considered more in the light of a

prison, than of what he has endeavoured to prove it might be

rendered,--one of the most useful and valuable appendages of the

empire. This apology, however, for the neglect which the colony

has experienced during the war, cannot be pleaded in vindication

of a perseverance in the same impolitic and oppressive course in

time of peace. Nor is it to be wondered at, as upwards of three

years have now elapsed since the consolidation of the

tranquillity of the world, that the colonists should begin to

feel indignant at the continuance of disabilities, for the

abrogation of which the most powerful considerations of justice

and expediency have been urged in vain. To remove such just

grounds for dissatisfaction and complaint, and to allow them, at

length, the enjoyment of those rights and privileges, of which

they ought never to have been debarred, would, at best, be but a

poor compensation for an impeded agriculture and languishing

commerce; but it is the only one that can now be offered; and,

although it cannot repair the wide ravages which so many years of

unmerited and absurd restrictions have occasioned, it may arrest

the progress of desolation, and prevent any further increase to

the numbers who have already sunk beneath the pressure of an

overwhelming system. It is, therefore, to be hoped that the cause

of humanity will no longer be outraged by unnecessary delay, and

that the only atonement, which can be made the colonists for

their past and present sufferings, will no longer be

withheld.

The author is fully aware that, in the course of this work, he

has developed no new principle of political economy, and that he

has only travelled in the broad beaten path in which hundreds

have journeyed before him. For troubling, therefore, the public

with a repetition of principles, of which the truth is so

generally known and acknowledged, the only plea he can urge in

his justification is a hope that the reiteration of them will not

be deemed unnecessary and obtrusive, so long as their application

is incomplete; so long as vice and misery prevail in any part of

the world, from the want of their adoption and enforcement.

* * * * *

PART I

NEW SOUTH WALES.

STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENTS IN NEW HOLLAND.

The colony of New South Wales is situated on the eastern coast

of New Holland. This island, which was first discovered by the

Dutch in 1616, lies between the 9 degrees and 39 degrees of south

latitude, and the 108 degrees and 153 degrees of east longitude;

and from its immense size, seems rather to merit the appellation

of continent, which many geographers have bestowed on it. Since

that period it has been visited and examined by a galaxy of

celebrated navigators, among whom Cook and Flinders rank the most

conspicuous. Still the survey of this large portion of the world

cannot, by any means, be deemed complete; since not one of all

the navigators who have laid down the various parts of its

coasts, has discovered the mouth of any considerable river; and

it is hardly within the scope of possible belief, that a country

of such vast extent does not possess at least one river, which

may deserve to be ranked in the class of "rivers of the first

magnitude."

If a judgment were formed of this island from the general

aspect of the country bordering the sea, it would be pronounced

one of the most barren spots on the face of the globe.

Experience, however, has proved that such an opinion would be

exactly the reverse of truth; since, as far as the interior has

been explored, its general fertility amply compensates for the

extreme sterility of the coast.

The greater part of this country is covered with timber of a

gigantic growth, but of an entirely different description from

the timber of Europe. It is, however, very durable, and well

adapted to all the purposes of human industry.

The only metal yet discovered is iron. It abounds in every

part of the country, and is in some places purer than in any

other part of the world. Coals are found in many places of the

best quality. There is also abundance of slate, limestone and

granite, though not in the immediate vicinity of Port Jackson.

Sand-stone, quartz, and freestone are found every where.

The rivers and seas teem with excellent fish; but the eel and

smelt, the mullet, whiting, mackarel, sole, skate, and John Dory

are, I believe, the only sorts known in this country.

The animals are, the kangaroo, native dog, (which is a smaller

species of the wolf,) the wombat, bandicoot, kangaroo rat,

opossum, flying squirrel, flying fox, etc. etc. There are none of

those animals or birds which go by the name of "game" in this

country, except the heron. The hare, pheasant and partridge are

quite unknown; but there are wild ducks, widgeon, teal, quail,

pigeons, plovers, snipes, etc. etc., with emus, black swans,

cockatoos, parrots, parroquets, and an infinite variety of

smaller birds, which are not found in any other country. In fact,

both its animal and vegetable kingdoms are in a great measure

peculiar to itself.

There are many poisonous reptiles in this country, but few

accidents happen either to the aborigines, or the colonists from

their bite. Of these the centipede, tarantula, scorpion,

slow-worm, and the snake, are the most to be dreaded;

particularly the latter, since there are, I believe, at least

thirty varieties of them, of which all but one are venomous in

the highest degree.

The aborigines of this country occupy the lowest place in the

gradatory scale of the human species. They have neither houses

nor clothing; they are entirely unacquainted with the arts of

agriculture; and even the arms which the several tribes have, to

protect themselves from the aggressions of their neighbours, and

the hunting and fishing implements with which they administer to

their support, are of the rudest contrivance and workmanship.

Thirty years intercourse with Europeans has not effected the

slightest change in their habits; and even those who have most

intermixed with the colonists, have never been prevailed upon to

practise one of the arts of civilized life. Disdaining all

restraint, their happiness is still centered in their original

pursuits; and they seem to consider the superior enjoyments to be

derived from civilization, (for they are very far from being

insensible to them) but a poor compensation for the sacrifice of

any portion of their natural liberty. The colour of these people

is a dark chocolate; their features bear a strong resemblance to

the African negro; they have the same flat nose, large nostrils,

wide mouth and thick lips; but their hair is not woolly, except

in Van Dieman's Land, where they have this further characteristic

of the negro.

These people bear no resemblance to any of the inhabitants of

the surrounding islands, except to those of New Guinea, which is

only separated from New Holland by a narrow strait. One of these

islands, therefore, has evidently been peopled by the other; but

from whence the original stock was derived is one of those

geographical problems, which in all probability will never be

satisfactorily solved.

Rude and barbarous as are the aborigines of this country, they

have still some confused notions of a Supreme Being and of a

future state. It would, however, be foreign to the purposes to

which I have limited myself, to enter into a detail of their

customs and manners; nor would it, indeed, be the means of

increasing the fund of public knowledge: since, whoever may be

anxious to be informed on these topics, will find a faithful and

minute account of them in the work of Mr. Collins.

Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, is situated in 33

degrees 55' of south latitude, and 151 degrees 25' of east

longitude. It is about seven miles distant from the heads of Port

Jackson, and stands principally on two hilly necks of land and

the intervening valley, which together form Sydney Cove. The

western side of the town extends to the water's edge, and

occupies with the exception of the small space reserved around

Dawe's Battery, the whole of the neck of land which separates

Sydney Cove from Lane Cove, and extends a considerable distance

back into the country besides.

This part of the town, it may therefore be perceived, forms a

little peninsula; and what is of still greater importance the

water is in general of sufficient depth in both these coves, to

allow the approach of vessels of the largest burden to the very

sides of the rocks.

On the eastern neck of land, the extension of the town has

been stopped by the Government House, and the adjoining domain,

which occupies the whole of Bennilong's Point, a circumstance the

more to be regretted, as the water all along this point is of

still greater depth than on the western side of the Cove, and

consequently affords still greater facilities for the erection of

warehouses and the various important purposes of commerce.

The appearance of the town is rude and irregular. Until the

administration of Governor Macquarie, little or no attention had

been paid to the laying out of the streets, and each proprietor

was left to build on his lease, where and how his caprice

inclined him. He, however, has at length succeeded in

establishing a perfect regularity in most of the streets, and has

reduced to a degree of uniformity, that would have been deemed

absolutely impracticable, even the most confused portion of that

chaos of building, which is still known by the name of "the

rocks;" and which, from the ruggedness of its surface, the

difficulty of access to it, and the total absence of order in its

houses, was for many years more like the abode of a horde of

savages than the residence of a civilized community. The town

upon the whole may be now pronounced to be tolerably regular;

and, as in all future additions that may be made to it, the

proprietors of leases will not be allowed to deviate from the

lines marked out by the surveyor general, the new part will of

course be free from the faults and inconveniences of the old.

This town covers a considerable extent of ground, and would at

first sight induce the belief of a much greater population than

it actually contains. This is attributable to two circumstances,

the largeness of the leases, which in most instances possess

sufficient space for a garden, and the smallness of the houses

erected in them, which in general do not exceed one story. From

these two causes it happens, that this town does not contain

above seven thousand souls, whereas one that covered the same

extent of ground in this country would possess a population of at

least twenty thousand. But although the houses are for the most

part small, and of mean appearance, there are many public

buildings, as well as houses of individuals, which would not

disgrace the best parts of this great metropolis. Of the former

class, the public stores, the general hospital, and the barracks,

are perhaps the most conspicuous; of the latter the houses of

Messrs. Lord, Riley, Howe, Underwood and Nichols.

The value of land in this town is in many places half as great

as in the best situations in London, and is daily increasing.

Rents are in consequence exorbitantly high. It is very far from a

commodious house that can be had for a hundred a year,

unfurnished.

Here is a very good market, although it is of very recent

date. It was established by Governor Macquarie, in the year 1813,

and is very well supplied with grain, vegetables, poultry,

butter, eggs and fruit. It is, however, only held three times a

week; viz. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It is a large

oblong enclosure, and there are stores erected in it by the

Governor, for the reception of all such provisions as remain

unsold at the close of the market, which lasts from six o'clock

in the morning in summer, and seven o'clock in winter, until

three o'clock in the evening. The vender pays in return a small

duty to the clerk of the market, who accounts quarterly for the

amount to the treasurer of the police fund. The annual amount of

these duties is about £130.*

[* Vide Market Duties in the Appendix.]

Here also is a Bank, called "The Bank of New South Wales,"

which was established in the year 1817, and promises to be of

great and permanent benefit to the colony in general. Its capital

is £20,000, divided into two hundred shares. It has a

regular charter of incorporation, and is under the controul of a

president* and six directors, who are annually chosen by the

proprietors. The paper of this bank is now the principal

circulating medium of this colony. They discount bills of a short

date, and also advance money on mortgage securities. They are

allowed to receive in return an interest of 10 per cent. per

annum.

[* See Appendix.]

This town also contains two very good public schools, for the

education of children of both sexes. One is a day school for

boys, and is of course only intended to impart gratuitous

instruction:--the other is designed both for the education and

support of poor and helpless female orphans. This institution was

founded by Governor King, as long back as the year 1800, and

contains about sixty children, who are taught reading, writing,

arithmetic, sewing, and the various arts of domestic economy.

When their education is complete, they are either married to free

persons of good character, or are assigned as servants to such

respectable families as may apply for them. At the time of the

establishment of this school there was a large tract of land

(15,000 acres,) attached to it; and a considerable stock of

horses, cattle, and sheep, were also transferred to it from the

government herds. The profits of these stock go towards defraying

the expences of this school, and a certain portion, fifty or a

hundred acres of this land, with a proportionate number of them,

are given in dower with each female who marries with the consent

of the committee intrusted with the management of this

institution.

Besides these two public schools in the town of Sydney, which

together contained, by the last accounts received from the

colony, two hundred and twenty-four children, there are

establishments for the gratuitous diffusion of education in every

populous district throughout the colony. The masters of these

schools are allowed stipulated salaries from the Orphan Fund.

Formerly particular duties, those on coals and timber, which

still go by the name of "The Orphan Dues," were allotted for the

support of these schools; but they were found to be insufficient,

and afterwards one-fourth, and more recently one-eighth, of the

whole revenue of the colony was appropriated to this purpose.

This latter portion of the colonial revenue may be estimated at

about £2500, which it must be admitted could not be devoted

to the promotion of any object of equal public utility.

Independent of these laudable institutions thus supported at

the expence of the government, there are two private ones

intended for the dissemination of religious knowledge, which are

wholly maintained by voluntary contribution. One is termed "The

Auxiliary Bible Society of New South Wales," and its object is to

cooperate with the British and Foreign Bible Society, and to

distribute the holy Scriptures either at prime cost, or gratis,

to needy and deserving applicants.

The other is called "The New South Wales Sunday School

Institution," and was established with a view to teach well

disposed persons of all ages how to read the sacred volume. These

societies were instituted in the year 1817, and are under the

direction of a general committee, aided by a secretary and

treasurer.

There are in this town and other parts of the colony, several

good private seminaries for the board and education of the

children of opulent parents. The best is in the district of

Castlereagh, which is about forty miles distant, and is kept by

the clergyman of that district, the Rev. Henry Fulton, a

gentleman peculiarly qualified both from his character and

acquirements for conducting so responsible and important an

undertaking. The boys in this seminary receive a regular

classical education, and the terms are as reasonable as those of

similar establishments in this country.

The harbour of Port Jackson is perhaps exceeded by none in the

world except the Derwent in point of size and safety; and in this

latter particular, I rather think it has the advantage. It is

navigable for vessels of any burden for about seven miles above

the town, i.e. about fifteen from the entrance. It possesses the

best anchorage the whole way, and is perfectly sheltered from

every wind that can blow. It is said, and I believe with truth,

to have a hundred coves, and is capable of containing all the

shipping in the world. There can be no doubt, therefore, that in

the course of a few years, the town of Sydney, from the

excellence of its situation alone, must become a place of

considerable importance.

The views from the heights of the town are bold, varied and

beautiful. The strange irregular appearance of the town itself,

the numerous coves and islets both above and below it, the

towering forests and projecting rocks, combined with the infinite

diversity of hill and dale on each side of the harbour, form

altogether a coup d'oeil, of which it may be safely asserted that

few towns can boast a parallel.

The neighbouring scenery is still more diversified and

romantic, particularly the different prospects which open upon

you from the hills on the south head road, immediately contiguous

to the town. Looking towards the coast you behold at one glance

the greater part of the numerous bays and islands which lie

between the town and the heads, with the succession of barren,

but bold and commanding hills, that bound the harbour, and are

abruptly terminated by the water. Further north, the eye ranges

over the long chain of lofty rugged cliffs that stretch away in

the direction of the coal river, and distinctly mark the bearing

of the coast, until they are lost in the dimness of vision.

Wheeling round to the south you behold at the distance of seven

or eight miles, that spacious though less eligible harbour,

called "Botany Bay," from the prodigious variety of new plants

which Sir Joseph Banks found in its vicinity, when it was first

discovered and surveyed by Captain Cook. To the southward again

of this magnificent sheet of water, where it will be recollected

it was the original intention, though afterwards judiciously

abandoned, to found the capital of this colony, you behold the

high bluff range of hills that stretch away towards the five

islands, and likewise indicate the trending of the coast in that

direction.

If you afterwards suddenly face about to the westward, you see

before you one vast forest, uninterrupted except by the

cultivated openings which have been made by the axe on the

summits of some of the loftiest hills, and which tend

considerably to diminish those melancholy sensations its gloomy

monotony would otherwise inspire. The innumerable undulations in

this vast expanse of forest, forcibly remind you of the ocean

when convulsed by tempests; save that the billows of the one

slumber in a fixed and leaden stillness, and want that motion

which constitutes the diversity, beauty, and sublimity of the

other. Continuing the view, you arrive at that majestic and

commanding chain of mountains called "the Blue Mountains," whose

stately and o'ertopping grandeur forms a most imposing boundary

to the prospective.

If you proceed on the south head road, until you arrive at the

eminence called "Belle Vue," the scenery is still more

picturesque and grand; since, in addition to the striking objects

already described, you behold, as it were at your feet, although

still more than a mile distant from you, the vast and foaming

Pacific. In boisterous weather the surges that break in mountains

on the shore beneath you, form a sublime contrast to the still,

placid waters of the harbour, which in this spot is only

separated from the sea by a low sandy neck of land not more than

half a mile in breadth; yet is so completely sheltered, that no

tempests can ruffle its tranquil surface.

The town of Parramatta is situated at the head of Port Jackson

Harbour, at the distance of about eighteen miles by water, and

fifteen by land, from Sydney. The river for the last seven or

eight miles, is only navigable for boats of twelve or fifteen

tons burden. This town is built along a small fresh water stream,

which falls into the river. It consists principally of one street

about a mile in length. It is surrounded on the south side by a

chain of moderately high hills; and as you approach it by the

Sydney road, it breaks suddenly on the view when you have reached

the summit of them, and produces a very pleasing effect. The

adjacent country has been a good deal cleared; and the gay

mimosas, which have sprung up in the openings, form a very

agreeable contrast to the dismal gloom of the forest that

surrounds and o'ertops them.

The town itself is far behind Sydney in respect of its

buildings; but it nevertheless contains many of a good and

substantial construction. These, with the church, the government

house, the new Orphan House, and some gentlemen's seats, which

are situated on the surrounding eminences, give it, upon the

whole, a very respectable appearance. There are two very good

inns, where a traveller may meet with all the comfort and

accommodation that are to be found in similar establishments in

the country towns of this kingdom. The charges too are by no

means unreasonable.

The population is principally composed of inferior traders,

publicans, artificers, and labourers, and may be estimated,

inclusive of a company which is always stationed there, on a

rough calculation, at about twelve hundred souls.

There are two fairs held half yearly, one in March and the

other in September; they were instituted about five years since

by the present governor, and already begin to be very numerously

and respectably attended. They are chiefly intended for the sale

of stock, for which there are stalls, pens, and every other

convenience, erected at the expence of the government; for the

use of these pens, etc. and to keep them in repair, a moderate

scale of duties* is paid by the vender.

This town has for many years past made but a very

inconsiderable progress compared with Sydney. The value of land

has consequently not kept pace in the two places, and is at least

£200 per cent. less in the one than in the other. As the

former, however, is in a central situation between the rapidly

increasing settlements on the banks of the Hawkesbury and Nepean

rivers, and the latter the great mart for colonial produce,

landed property there and in the neighbourhood, will, without

doubt, experience a gradual rise.

The public institutions are an Hospital, a Female Orphan

House, into which it is intended to remove the orphans from

Sydney, and a factory, in which such of the female convicts as

misconduct themselves, and those also who upon their arrival in

the colony are not immediately assigned as servants to families,

are employed in manufacturing coarse cloth. There are upon an

average about one hundred and sixty women employed in this

institution, which is placed under the direction of a

superintendant, who receives wool from the settlers, and gives

them a certain portion of the manufactured article in exchange:

what is reserved is only a fair equivalent for the expence of

making it, and is used in clothing the gaol gang, the reconvicted

culprits who are sent to the coal river, and I believe the

inmates of the factory itself.

There is also another public institution in this town, well

worthy the notice of the philanthropist. It is a school for the

education and civilization of the aborigines of the country. It

was founded by the present governor three years since, and by the

last accounts from the colony, it contained eighteen native

children, who had been voluntarily placed there by their parents,

and were making equal progress in their studies with European

children of the same age. The following extract from the Sydney

Gazette, of January 4, 1817, may enable the reader to form some

opinion of the beneficial consequences that are likely to result

from this institution, and how far they may realize the

benevolent intentions which actuated its philanthropic

founder.

"On Saturday last, the 28th ult. the town of Parramatta

exhibited a novel and very interesting spectacle, by the

assembling of the native tribes there, pursuant to the governor's

gracious invitation. At ten in the morning the market place was

thrown open, and some gentlemen who were appointed on the

occasion, took the management of the ceremonials. The natives

having seated themselves on the ground in a large circle, the

chiefs were placed on chairs a little advanced in front, and to

the right of their respective tribes. In the centre of the circle

thus formed, were placed large tables groaning under the weight

of roast beef, potatoes, bread, etc. and a large cask of grog

lent its exhilarating aid to promote the general festivity and

good humour which so conspicuously shone through the sable

visages of this delighted congress. The governor, attended by all

the members* of the native institution, and by several of the

magistrates and gentlemen in the neighbourhood, proceeded at half

past ten to the meeting, and having entered the circle, passed

round the whole of them, inquiring after, and making himself

acquainted with the several tribes, their respective leaders and

residences. His Excellency then assembled the chiefs by

themselves, and confirmed them in the ranks of chieftains, to

which their own tribes had exalted them, and conferred upon them

badges of distinction; whereon were engraved their names as

chiefs, and those of their tribes. He afterwards conferred badges

of merit on some individuals, in acknowledgment of their steady

and loyal conduct in the assistance they rendered the military

party, when lately sent out in pursuit of the refractory natives

to the west and south of the Nepean river. By the time this

ceremony was over, Mrs. Macquarie arrived, and the children

belonging to, and under the care of the native institution,

fifteen in number, preceded by their teacher, entered the circle,

and walked round it; the children appearing very clean, well

clothed and happy. The chiefs were then again called together to

observe the examination of the children as to their progress in

learning and the civilized habits of life. Several of the little

ones read; and it was grateful to the bosom of sensibility to

trace the degrees of pleasure which the chiefs manifested on this

occasion. Some clapped the children on the head; and one in

particular turning round towards the governor with extraordinary

emotion, exclaimed, Governor, that will make a good

settler,--that's my Pickaninny! (meaning his child). And some of

the females were observed to shed tears of sympathetic affection,

at seeing the infant and helpless off-spring of their deceased

friends, so happily sheltered and protected by British

benevolence. The examinations being finished, the children

returned to the institution, under the guidance of their

venerable tutor; whose assiduity and attention to them, merit

every commendation".

[* Appendix]

"The feasting then commenced, and the governor retired amidst

the long and reiterated acclamations and shouts of his sable and

grateful congress. The number of the visitants, (exclusive of the

fifteen children) amounted to one hundred and seventy-nine, viz.

one hundred and five men, fifty-three women, and twenty-one

children. It is worthy of observation that three of the latter

mentioned number of children, (and the son of the memorable

Bemni-long, was one of them) were placed in the native

institution, immediately after the breaking up of the congress,

on Saturday last, making the number of children now in that

establishment, altogether eighteen; and we may reasonably trust

that in a few years this benevolent institution will amply reward

the hopes and expectations of its liberal patrons and supporters,

and answer the grand object intended, by providing a seminary for

the helpless off-spring of the natives of this country, and

opening the path to their future civilization and

improvement."

WINDSOR.

The town of Windsor, (or as it was formerly called, the Green

Hills), is thirty-five miles distant from Sydney, and is situated

near the confluence of the South Creek with the river Hawkesbury.

It stands on a hill, whose elevation is about one hundred feet

above the level of the river, at low water. The buildings here

are much of the same cast as at Parramatta, being in general

weather boarded without, and lathed and plastered within.

The public buildings are a church, government house, hospital,

barracks, court-house, store-house, and gaol, none of which are

worthy of notice. The inn lately established by Mr. Fitzgerald,

is by far the best building in the town, and may be pronounced

upon the whole, the most splendid establishment of the kind in

the colony.

The bulk of the population is composed of settlers, who have

farms in the neighbourhood, and of their servants. There are

besides a few inferior traders, publicans and artificers. The

town contains in the whole about six hundred souls.

The Hawkesbury here is of considerable size, and navigable for

vessels of one hundred tons burden, for about four miles above

the town. A little higher up, it is joined by, or rather is

called the Nepean river, and has several shallows; but with the

help of two or three ferries, it might still be rendered

navigable for boats of twelve or fifteen tons burden, for about

twenty miles further. This substitution of water for land

carriage, would be of great advantage to the numerous settlers

who inhabit its highly fertile banks, and would also considerably

promote the extension of agriculture throughout the adjacent

districts.

Following the sinuosities of the river the distance of Windsor

from the sea is about one hundred and forty miles; whereas in a

straight line it is not more than thirty-five. The rise of the

tide is about four feet, and the water is fresh for forty miles

below the town.

Land is about ten per cent. higher than at Parramatta, and is

advancing rapidly in price. This circumstance is chiefly

attributable to the small quantity of land that is to be had

perfectly free from the reach of the inundations, to which the

Hawkesbury is so frequently subject. These inundations often rise

seventy or eighty feet above low water mark; and in the instance

of what is still emphatically termed "the great flood," attained

an elevation of ninety-three feet. The chaos of confusion and

distress that presents itself on these occasions, cannot be

easily conceived by any one who has not been a witness of its

horrors. An immense expanse of water, of which the eye cannot in

many directions discover the limits, every where interspersed

with growing timber, and crowded with poultry, pigs, horses,

cattle, stacks and houses, having frequently men, women, and

children, clinging to them for protection, and shrieking out in

an agony of despair for assistance:--such are the principal

objects by which these scenes of death and devastation are

characterized.

These inundations are not periodical, but they most generally

happen in the month of March. Within the last two years there

have been no fewer than four of them, one of which was nearly as

high as the great flood. In the six years precedings there had

not been one. Since the establishment of the colony they have

happened upon an average, about once in three years.

The principal cause of them is the contiguity of this river to

the Blue Mountains. The Grose and Warraganbia rivers, from which

two sources it derives its principal supply, issue direct from

these mountains; and the Nepean river, the other principal branch

of it, runs along the base of them for fifty or sixty miles; and

receives in its progress, from the innumerable mountain torrents

connected with it, the whole of the rain which these mountains

collect in that great extent. That this is the principal cause of

these calamitous inundations has been fully proved; for shortly

after the plantation of this colony, the Hawkesbury overflowed

its banks, (which are in general about thirty feet in height), in

the midst of harvest, when not a single drop of rain had fallen

on the Port Jackson side of the mountains. Another great cause of

the inundations, which take place in this and the other rivers in

the colony, is the small fall that is in them, and the consequent

slowness of their currents. The current in the Hawkesbury, even

when the tide is in full ebb, does not exceed two miles an hour.

The water, therefore, which during the rains, rushes in torrents

from the mountains cannot escape with sufficient rapidity; and

from its immense accumulation, soon overtops the banks of the

river, and covers the whole of the low country.

LIVERPOOL.

The town of Liverpool is situated on the banks of Geoge's

river, at the distance of eighteen miles from Sydney. It was

founded by Governor Macquarie, and is now of about six years

standing. Its population may amount to about two hundred souls,

and is composed of a small detachment of military, of

cultivators, and a few artificers, traders, publicans, and

labourers.

The public buildings are a church (not yet I believe

completed) a school house and stores for the reception and issue

of provisions to such of the settlers in the adjacent districts

as are victualled at the expense of the government. These

buildings, however, as might naturally be expected from the very

recent establishment of this town, are but little superior in

their appearance to the rude dwellings of its inhabitants.

The river is about half the size of the Hawkesbury, and is

navigable for boats of twenty tons burden as high up as the town.

It empties itself into Botany Bay, which is about fourteen miles

to the southward of the heads of Port Jackson. It is subject to

the same sort of inundations as the Hawkesbury; but they are not

in general of so violent and destructive a nature. The tide rises

about the same height as in that river, and the current is, I

believe, nearly of the same velocity.

The position of this town is all that can be urged in support

of the probability of its future progress; the land in its

vicinity being in general of a very indifferent quality. It is in

a central situation, between Sydney and the fertile districts of

Bringelly, Arids, Appin, Bunpury Curran, Cabramatta, and the

Seven Islands, to which last place the tide of colonization is at

present principally directing itself. There can be no doubt,

therefore, that the town of Liverpool will, in a few years,

become a place of considerable size and importance. Land there is

as yet of very trifling value; and a lease may be obtained by any

free person from the government, on the simple condition of

erecting a house on it.

Society is upon a much better footing throughout the colony,

in general than might naturally be imagined, considering the

ingredients of which it is composed. In Sydney the civil and

military officers with their families form a circle at once

select and extended, without including the numerous highly

respectable families of merchants and settlers who reside there.

Unfortunately, however, this town is not free from those

divisions which are so prevalent in all small communities.

Scandal appears to be the favourite amusement to which idlers

resort to kill time and prevent ennui; and consequently, the same

families are eternally changing from friendship to hostility, and

from hostility back again to friendship.

In the other towns these dissensions are not so common,

because the circle of society is more circumscribed; and in the

districts where there are no towns at all, they are still more

rare; because in such situations people have too much need of one

another's intercourse and assistance to propagate reports

injurious to their neighbour's character, unless on grave

occasions, and where their assertions are founded on truth.

Generally speaking, the state of society in these settlements

is much the same, as among an equal population in the country

parts of this kingdom. Of the number of respectable persons that

they contain, some estimate may be formed if we refer to the

parties which are given on particular days at the Government

House. It appears from the Sydney Gazette of the 24th January,

1818, that one hundred and sixty ladies and gentlemen were

present at a ball and supper which was given there on the 18th of

that month, in celebration of her late majesty's birth-day.

There are at present no public amusements in this colony. Many

years since, there was a theatre, and more latterly, annual

races; but it was found that the society was not sufficiently

mature for such establishments. Dinner and supper parties are

very frequent in Sydney; and it generally happens that a few

subscription balls take place in the course of the year. Upon the

whole it may be safely asserted, that the natural disposition of

the people to sociality has not only been in no wise impaired by

their change of scene, but that all classes of the colonists are

more hospitable than persons of similar means in this

country.

There are four courts in this colony, established by charter,

viz. the Court of Admiralty, the Court of Criminal Judicature,

the Governor's Court, the Supreme Court, and the High Court of

Appeals.

The Court of Vice Admiralty consists of the Judge Advocate,

and takes cognizance of captures, salvages, and such other

matters of dispute as arise on the high seas; but it has no

criminal jurisdiction.

The Court of Criminal Judicature, consists of the Judge

Advocate and six officers of His Majesty's sea and land forces,

or of either, appointed by the governor. This court takes

cognizance of all treasons, felonies, misdemeanors, and in fact

of all criminal offences whatsoever; and afterwards adjudges

death or such other punishment as the law of England may have

affixed to the respective crimes of which the prisoners may be

found guilty.

The Governor's Court consists of the Judge Advocate and two

inhabitants of the colony, appointed by precept from the

governor, and takes cognizance of all pleas where the amount sued

for does not exceed £50 sterling, (except such pleas as may

arise between party and party at Van Dieman's Land) and from its

decisions there is no appeal.

The Supreme Court is composed of the judge of this court and

two magistrates, appointed by precept from the governor; and its

jurisdiction extends to all pleas where the matter in dispute

exceeds £50 sterling. From its judgments, however, appeals

lie to the High Court of Appeals.

This latter court is presided by the governor himself,

assisted by the Judge Advocate; and its decisions are final in

all cases where the amount sued for does not exceed three

thousand pounds; but where the sum at issue exceeds this amount,

an appeal lies in the last instance to the king in council.

These courts regulate their decisions by the law of England,

and take no notice whatever of the laws and regulations which

have been made at various times by the local government. The

enforcement of these is left entirely to the magistracy, who

assemble weekly in the different towns throughout the colony, and

take cognizance of all infractions, as well of the colonial as of

the criminal code. The courts thus formed by the magistrates, go

by the name of "Benches of Magistrates," and answer pretty nearly

to the "courts of general quarter sessions for the peace," held

in the respective counties of this kingdom; and, generally

speaking, they exercise a jurisdiction perfectly similar.

The roads and bridges which have been made to every part of

the colony, are truly surprising, considering the short period

that has elapsed since its foundation. All these are either the

work of, or have been improved by, the present governor; who has

even caused a road to be constructed over the western mountains,

as far as the depot at Bathurst Plains, which is upwards of 180

miles from Sydney. The colonists, therefore, are now provided

with every facility for the conveyance of their produce to

market; a circumstance which cannot fail to have the most

beneficial influence in the progress of agriculture. In return

for these great public accommodations, and to help to keep them

in repair, the Governor has established toll-gates* in all the

principal roads. These are farmed out to the highest bidder, and

were let during the year 1817, for the sum of £257.

[* For a list of tolls, see the

Appendix]

The military force stationed in the colony consists ofseven

companies of the forty-eighth regiment, and the Royal Veteran

Company; which, form an effective body of about seven hundred

firelocks. These have to garrison the two principal settlements

at Van Diemen's Land, to provide a company for the establishment

at the Coal River, and to furnish parties for the various towns

and outposts of the extended territory of Port Jackson: so that

very few troops remain at head quarters. The colony is

consequently considered to be greatly in need of a further

accession of military strength. Much anxiety is felt on this

subject by the generality of the inhabitants, who have not yet

forgotten the insurrection which took place when the whole

population was not nearly so great as the present amount of the

convicts, although the military force was of equal magnitude.

That insurrection indeed was easily quelled; but the result of

another, under existing circumstances, would in all probability,

be very different.

An equal degree of anxiety is felt, and more particularly by

the mercantile part of the community, that a sloop of war, or a

king's vessel of some description, should be stationed in the

harbour, both as a protection against the easy possibility of

outward assault, and to frustrate the numerous combinations which

the convicts are constantly forming, and often too successfully,

to carry away the colonial craft, to the certain destruction of

their own and the crew's lives, and to the ruin of the

unfortunate owners Not fewer than three piratical seizures of

this nature have been effected within the last three years. On

all of these occasions the vessels so seized were run ashore on

the uninhabited parts of the coast, and all hands on board, the

innocent crews, as well as the abandoned pirates, either perished

from hunger, or were immolated by the spears and waddies of the

ferocious savages.

When Governor Macquarie assumed the command in 1810, the

population was only half its present number; and yet a sloop of

war was stationed at Port Jackson, and the military force also

was on a much more extended scale. Why a diminution has thus been

made in the means of protection and defence, when there appear to

be such strong grounds for their augmentation, merely with

reference to the internal state of the colony, it is no easy

matter to conjecture.

The expediency also of putting the colony in a better posture

to repel outward attack, is not less obvious; for although we are

now at peace with the whole world, it would be absurd to overlook

the possibility of future wars. The only battery of any strength

is called, "Dawe's Battery;" and is, as I have already casually

noticed, situated in the extremity of that neck of land, on which

the western part of the town of Sydney is built. This battery, if

I remember right, mounts fourteen long eighteen-pounders, but the

carriages of the guns are in a bad state of repair, and the

embrasures are so low, that a single broadside of grape would

sweep off all who had the courage or temerity to defend it.

Fort Philip stands on the highest part of the same neck of

land, and nearly in the centre of that part of the town which

goes by the name of "the Rocks." This fort was erected by

Governor King, immediately after the insurrection, to which I

have alluded. It is a regular hexagon, but it never was quite

finished, and there are no guns yet mounted on it. The glacis, in

fact, is not sufficiently levelled to allow a proper range for

artillery, and the circumjacent ground is so irregular and rocky,

that an enemy might at once erect batteries at fifty yards

distance. Besides, this fort is so completely hemmed in with

houses, that a great part of the town would be inevitably

destroyed by the fire from it. Its situation, therefore, is in

every point of view objectionable, and succeeding governors have

evinced their good sense, in not perfecting a work which would be

attended with a very considerable expense, and could never become

of any utility.

A new battery has lately been commenced on Bennilong's Point;

but this and Dawe's Battery are both too near the town to protect

it from the most insignificant naval force. It is indeed a matter

of surprise, that during the last American war, not one of the

numberless privateers of that nation, attempted to lay the town

of Sydney under contribution, or to plunder it. A vessel of ten

guns might have effected this enterprise with the greatest ease

and safety; and that the inhabitants were not subjected to such

an insulting humiliation, could only have arisen from the enemy's

ignorance of the insufficiency of their means of defence.

The climate of the colony, particularly in the inland

districts, is highly salubrious, although the heats in summer are

sometimes excessive, the thermometer frequently rising in the

shade to ninety, and even to a hundred degrees and upwards of

Fahrenheit. This, however, happens only during the hot winds; and

these do not prevail upon an average, more than eight or ten days

in the year. The mean heat during the three summer months,

December, January, and February, is about 80 degrees at noon.

This, it must be admitted, is a degree of heat that would be

highly oppressive to Europeans, were it not that the sea breeze

sets in regularly about nine o'clock in the morning, and blows

with considerable force from the N. E. till about six or seven

o'clock in the evening. It is succeeded during the night by the

land breeze from the mountains, which varies from W. S. W. to W.

In very hot days the sea breeze often veersround to the North and

blows a gale. In this case it continues with great violence,

frequently for a day or two, and is then succeeded not by the

regularland breeze, but by a cold southerly squall. The hot winds

blow from the N. W. and doubtless imbibe their heat from the

immense tract of country which they traverse. While they prevail

the sea and land breezes entirely cease. They seldom, however,

continue for more than two days at a time, and are always

superseded by a cold southerly gale, generally accompanied with

rain. The thermometer then sinks sometimes as low as 60 degrees,

and a variation of temperature of from 30 degrees to 40 degrees

takes place in half an hour. These southerly gales usually last

at this season from twelve to twenty-four hours, and then give

way to the regular sea and land breezes.

During these three months violent storms of thunder and

lightning are very frequent, and the heavy falls of rain which

take place on these occasions, tend considerably to refresh the

country, of which the verdure in all but low moist situations

entirely disappears. At this season the most unpleasant part of

the day is the interval which elapses between the cessation of

the land breeze and the setting in of the sea. This happens

generally between six and eight o'clock in the morning, when the

thermometer is upon an average at about 72 degrees. During this

interval the sea is as smooth as glass, and not a zephyr is found

to disport even among the topmost boughs of the loftiest

trees.

The three autumn months are March, April, and May. The weather

in March is generally very unsettled. This month, in fact, may be

considered the rainy season, and has been more fertile in floods

than any other of the year. The thermometer varies during the day

about 15 degrees, being at day-light as low as from 55 degrees to

60 degrees, and at noon as high as from 70 degrees to 75 degrees.

The sea and land breezes at this time become very feeble,

although they occasionally prevail during the whole year. The

usual winds from the end of March to the beginning of September,

are from S. to S. W.

The weather in the commencement of April is frequently

showery, but towards the middle it gradually becomes more

settled, and towards the conclusion perfectly clear and serene.

The thermometer at the beginning of the month varies from 72

degrees to 74 degrees at noon, and from the middle to the end

gradually declines to 66 degrees and sometimes to 60 degrees. In

the mornings it is as low as 52 degrees, and fires become in

consequence general throughout the colony.

The weather in the month of May is truly delightful. The

atmosphere is perfectly cloudless, and the mornings and evenings

become with the advance of the month more chilly, and render a

good fire a highly comfortable and cheering guest. Even during

the middle of the day the most violent exercise may be taken

without inconvenience. The thermometer at sun-rise is under 50

degrees, and seldom above 60 degrees at noon.

The three winter months are June, July, and August. During

this interval the mornings and evenings are very chilly, and the

nights excessively cold. Hoar frosts are frequent, and become

more severe the further you advance into the interior. Ice half

an inch thick is found at the distance of twenty miles from the

coast. Very little rain falls at this season, but the dews are

very heavy when it does not freeze, and tend considerably to

preserve the young crops from the effects of drought. Fogs too

are frequent and dense in low damp situations, and on the banks

of the rivers. The mean temperature at day-light is from 40

degrees to 45 degrees, and at noon from 55 degrees to 60

degrees.

The spring months are September, October, and November. In the

beginning of September the fogs still continue; the nights are

cold, but the days clear and pleasant. Towards the close of this

month the cold begins very sensibly to moderate. Light showers

occasionally prevail, accompanied with thunder and lightning. The

thermometer at the beginning of the month is seldom above 60

degrees at noon, but towards the end frequently rises to 70

degrees.

In October there are also occasional showers, but the weather

upon the whole is clear and pleasant. The days gradually become

warmer, and the blighting north-west winds are to be apprehended.

The sea and land breezes again resume their full sway. The

thermometer at sun-rise varies from 60 degrees to 65 degrees, and

at noon is frequently up to 80 degrees.

In November the weather may be again called hot. Dry parching

winds prevail as the month advances, and squalls of thunder and

lightning with rain or hail. The thermometer at day-light is

seldom under 65 degrees, and frequently at noon rises to 80

degrees, 84 degrees, and even 90 degrees.

Such is the temperature throughout the year at Port Jackson.

In the inland districts to the eastward of the mountains, the

thermometer is upon an average 5 degrees lower in the morning,

and the same number of degrees higher at noon throughout the

winter season, but during the summer months it is 5 degrees

higher at all hours of the day. On the mountains themselves, and

in the country to the westward of them, the climate, in

consequence of their superior elevation, is much more temperate.

Heavy falls of snow take place during the winter, and remain

sometimes for many days on the summits of the loftiest hills; but

in the valleys the snow immediately dissolves. The frosts too are

much more severe, and the winters are of longer duration. All the

seasons indeed are more distinctly marked to the westward of the

mountains, and bear a much stronger resemblance to the

corresponding ones in this country.

From the foregoing account of the state of the weather and

temperature during the various seasons of the year, it will be

seen that the climate of the colony is upon the whole highly

salubrious and delightful. If the summers are occasionally a

little too hot for the European constitution, it will be

remembered that the extreme heats which I have noticed as

happening during the north-west winds, are of but short

continuance; and that the sea and land breezes, which prevail at

this season in an almost uninterrupted succession, moderate the

temperature so effectually, that even new comers are but little

incommoded by it, and the old residents experience no

inconvenience from it whatever. The sea breeze indeed is not so

sensibly felt in the interior as on the coast, by reason of the

great extent of forest which it has to traverse before the

inhabitants of the inland districts can receive the benefit of

it. This circumstance not only diminishes its force, but also

deprives it in a great measure of that refreshing coolness which

it imparts when inhaled fresh from the bosom of the ocean. The

heat consequently in the interior, particularly in low

situations, is much more intense than on the coast; but by way of

compensation for the advantage which in this respect the

districts in the vicinity of the sea possess over the inland

ones, these latter are from the same causes that impede the

approach of the sea breeze, exempt from the sudden and violent

variations of temperature, which are occasioned by the southerly

winds, and are without doubt the reason why pulmonic affections

are so much more prevalent in Sydney than in the interior. The

hot season, however, which is undoubtedly the most unhealthy part

of the year, does not, as will have been perceived, continue

above four months. The remaining eight possess a temperature so

highly moderate and congenial to the human constitution, that the

climate of this colony would upon the whole, appear to justify

the glowing enthusiasm of those who have ventured to call it the

Montpellier of the world.

Abdominal and pulmonic complains are the two prevalent

diseases. The abdominal complaints are confined principally to

dysentery. This disorder is most common among the poorer classes

and new comers. In these it is generally intimately connected

with scurvy, and in both cases it is for the most part greatly

aggravated by the excessive use of spirituous liquors, to which

the mass of the colonists are unfortunately addicted.

The pulmonic affections are generally contracted at an early

period by the youth of both sexes, and are occasioned by the

great and sudden variations of temperature already noticed. They

are not, however, accompanied with that violent inflammatory

action which distinguishes them in this country; but proceed

slowly and gradually, till from neglect they terminate in

phthisis. They are said to bear a strong affinity to the

complaint of the same nature which prevails at the Island of

Madeira; and it is remarkable, that in both these colonies a

change of air affords the only chance of restoration to the

natives; whereas foreigners labouring under phthisis upon their

arrival in either of these places, find almost instantaneous

relief.

There are no infantile diseases whatever. The measles, hooping

cough, and small pox, are entirely unknown. Some few years,

indeed, before the foundation of this colony, the small pox

committed the most dreadful ravages among the aborigines. This

exterminating scourge is said to have been introduced by Captain

Cook, and many of the contemporaries of those who fell victims to

it, are still living; and the deep furrows which remain in some

of their countenances, shew how narrowly they escaped the same

premature destiny. The recollection of this dreadful malady will

long survive in the traditionary songs of this simple people. The

consternation which it excited is still as fresh in their minds

as if it had been but an occurrence of yesterday, although the

generation which witnessed its horrors, has almost past away. The

moment one of them was seized with it, it was the signal for

abandoning him to his fate. Brothers deserted their brothers,

children their parents, and parents their children; and in some

of the caves on the coast, heaps of decayed bones still indicate

the spots where the helpless sufferers were left to expire, not

so much perhaps from the violence of the disease as from the want

of sustenance.

This fatal instance of the inveteracy of this disorder, when

once introduced into the colony, has not been without its

counterpoising benefit. It has induced the local government to

adopt proper measures for avoiding the propagation of a similar

contagion among the colonists. The vaccine matter was introduced

with this view many years back; but as all the children in the

colony were immediately inoculated, it was again lost from the

want of a sufficient number of subjects to afford a supply of

fresh virus; and for many years afterwards, every effort that was

made for its re-introduction proved abortive. Through the

indefatigable exertions, however, of Doctor Burke, of the

Mauritius, the colonists are again in possession of this

inestimable blessing; and there can be no doubt that proper

precautions will be taken to prevent them from being again

deprived of it.

The colony of New South Wales possesses every variety of soil,

from the sandy heath, and the cold hungry clay, to the fertile

loam and the deep vegetable mould. For the distance of five or

six miles from the coast, the land is in general extremely

barren, being a poor hungry sand, thickly studded with rocks. A

few miserable stunted gums, and a dwarf underwood, are the

richest productions of the best part of it; while the rest never

gives birth to a tree at all, and is only covered with low

flowering shrubs, whose infinite diversity, however, and

extraordinary beauty, render this wild heath the most interesting

part of the country for the botanist, and make even the less

scientific beholder forget the nakedness and sterility of the

scene.

Beyond this barren waste, which thus forms a girdle to the

coast, the country suddenly begins to improve. The soil changes

to a thin layer of vegetable mould, resting on a stratum of

yellow clay, which is again supported by a deep bed of schistus.

The trees of the forest are here of the most stately dimensions.

Full sized gums and iron barks, along side of which the loftiest

trees in this country would appear as pigmies, with the beefwood

tree, or as it is generally termed, the forest oak, which is of

much humbler growth, are the usual timber. The forest is

extremely thick, but there is little or no underwood. A poor sour

grass, which is too effectually sheltered from the rays of the

sun, to be possessed of any nutritive and fattening properties,

shoots up in the intervals. This description of country, with a

few exceptions, however, which deserve not to be particularly

noticed, forms another girdle of about ten miles in breadth: so

that, generally speaking, the colony for about sixteen miles into

the interior, may be said to possess a soil, which has naturally

no claim to fertility, and will require all the skill and

industry of its owners to render it even tolerably

productive.

At this distance, however, the aspect of the country begins

rapidly to improve. The forest is less thick, and the trees in

general are of another description; the iron barks, yellow gums,

and forest oaks disappearing, and the stringy barks, blue gums,

and box trees, generally usurping their stead. When you have

advanced about four miles further into the interior, you are at

length gratified with the appearance of a country truly

beautiful. An endless variety of hill and dale, clothed in the

most luxuriant herbage, and covered with bleating flocks and

lowing herds, at length indicate that you are in regions fit to

be inhabited by civilized man. The soil has no longer the stamp

of barrenness. A rich loam resting on a substratum of fat red

clay, several feet in depth, is found even on the tops of the

highest hills, which in general do not yield in fertility to the

vallies. The timber, strange as it may appear, is of inferior

size, though still of the same nature, i. e. blue gum, box, and

stringy bark. There is no underwood, and the number of trees upon

an acre do not upon an average exceed thirty. They are, in fact,

so thin, that a person may gallop without difficulty in every

direction. Coursing the kangaroo is the favourite amusement of

the colonists, who generally pursue this animal at full speed on

horseback, and frequently manage, notwithstanding its

extraordinary swiftness, to be up at the death; so trifling are

the impediments occasioned by the forest.

The above general description may be applied with tolerable

accuracy, to the whole tract of country which lies between this

space and the Nepean River. The plains, however, on the banks of

this river, which are in many places of considerable extent, are

of far greater fertility, being a rich vegetable mould, many feet

in depth, and have without doubt, been gradually formed by

depositions from it during the periods of its inundations. These

plains gradually enlarge themselves until you arrive at the

junction of the Nepean with the Hawkesbury, on each side of which

they are commonly from a mile to a mile and a half in breadth.

The banks of this latter river are of still greater fertility

than the banks of the former, and may vie in this respect with

the far-famed banks of the Nile. The same acre of land there has

been known to produce in the course of one year, fifty bushels of

wheat and a hundred of maize. The settlers have never any

occasion for manure, since the slimy depositions from the river,

effectually counteract the exhaustion that would otherwise be

produced by incessant crops. The timber on the banks of these

rivers is for the most part apple tree, which is very beautiful,

and bears in its foliage and shape a striking resemblance to the

oak of this country. Its wood, however, is of no value except for

firing, and for the immense quantity of pot-ash which might be

made from it. The blue gum and stringy bark are also very common

on these flooded lands, and of the best description. The banks of

the Hawkesbury formerly produced cedar, but it has long since

entirely disappeared.

The banks of these rivers, and indeed the whole tract of

country, (generally speaking) which I have described, with the

exception of the barren waste in the vicinity of the coast, are,

to use the colonial term, located, i. e. either granted away to

individuals, or attached as commons to the cultivated districts.

It may not, therefore, be unacceptable to many of my readers, to

learn the particulars of those unappropriated tracts of land

within the immediate precincts of Port Jackson, which are best

adapted to the purposes of colonization.

COW PASTURES.

Of these "the cow pastures" rank first in point of proximity.

This tract of land has hitherto been reserved for the use of the

wild cattle; although these animals have for some time past

disappeared, either from having found an outlet into the

interior, through the surrounding mountains, or what is a still

more probable conjecture, from the exterminating incursions of

the numerous poor settlers, who have farms in the neighbourhood,

and who, considering their general poverty, it is easy to

believe, would not suffer the want of animal food, so long as

they could take their dogs and guns, and kill a cow or calf at

their option. These wild cattle were the progeny of a few tame

ones, which strayed away from the settlement shortly after the

period of its foundation, and were not discovered till about

fifteen years afterwards, when they had multiplied to several

thousands. On their discovery they immediately attracted the

attention of his majesty's ministers, and orders were dispatched

from this country, prohibiting the governor and his successors

from granting away the land, on which they had fixed themselves.

This they soon overspread, and on the occasion of the severe

droughts that were experienced in the colony in the years 1813,

1814, and 1815, great numbers of them perished from the want of

water and pasturage. Where thousands then existed, there are

scarcely hundreds to be found at present, and these chiefly

consist of bulls. A cow or calf can very rarely be met with.

There can consequently be very little doubt that they have

disappeared in the manner I have conjectured, and that their

numbers have been thus considerably reduced by the depredations

of the poorer settlers, which it was for a long time thought

beyond the power of the colonial courts to restrain; since,

although it was notorious that these wild cattle were originally

purchased by the crown, still the cattle of individuals had

subsequently, at various times, intermixed with them, and

prevented that identification of property, which the late judge

advocate considered essential to the conviction of the offenders.

His opinion, however, has been overruled by his successor, and

several persons have been lately tried for and found guilty of

this offence; and although they were not punished capitally for

it, there can be no doubt that their conviction will greatly

diminish such depredations for the future. Not that I consider

the preservation of these wild herds will be attended with any

advantages to the colony. On the contrary, it is my belief, that

their total destruction ought to be effected; since the increase

of them is of mere negative importance, compared with the

positive disadvantage that attends their occupation of one of the

most fertile districts in the colony, which it is to be hoped

will be soon covered with numerous flocks of fine wooled sheep,

for the pasture of which the greater part of it is so admirably

adapted. This tract of land is about thirty miles distant from

Sydney: it is bounded on the east by the river Nepean, on the

west by the Blue Mountains, of which this river, on the north

side of the cow pastures washes the base, so that they together

form the northern boundary, and on the south by a thick barren

brush of about ten miles in breadth, which these cattle have

never been able to penetrate. This fine tract of country is thus

surrounded by natural boundaries, which form it into an enclosure

somewhat in the shape of an oblong spheroid. It contains about

one hundred thousand acres of good land, a considerable portion

of which is flooded, and equal to any on the banks of the

Hawkesbury.

FIVE ISLANDS.

The next considerable tract of unappropriated land is the

district called the Five Islands. It commences at the distance of

about forty miles to the southward of Sydney, and extends to

Shoal Haven river. This tract of land lies between the coast and

a high range of hills which terminate at the north side abruptly

in the sea, and form its northern and western boundary: the ocean

is its eastern boundary, and Shoal Haven river its southern. The

range that surrounds this district on the north and west is a

branch of the Blue Mountains; and the only road at present known

to it, is down a pass so remarkably steep, that unless a better

be discovered, the communication between it and the capital by

land, will always be difficult and dangerous for waggons. This

circumstance is a material counterpoise to its extraordinary

fertility, and is the reason why it is at present unoccupied by

any but large stockholders. Those parts, however, which are

situated near Shoal Haven river, are highly eligible for

agricultural purposes; since this river is navigable for about

twenty miles into the country for vessels of seventy or eighty

tons burden; a circumstance which holds out to future colonists

the greatest facilities for the cheap and expeditious conveyance

of their produce to market. The land on the banks of this river

is of the same nature, and possesses equal fertility with the

banks of the Hawkesbury. There are several streams in different

parts of this district, which issue from the mountain behind, and

afford an abundant supply of pure water. In many places there are

large prairies of unparalleled richness, entirely free from

timber, and consequently prepared by the hand of nature for the

immediate reception of the ploughshare. These advantages,

combined with its proximity to Sydney, have already begun to

attract the tide of colonization to it, and will no doubt render

it in a few years one of the most populous, productive, and

valuable of all the districts. The soil is in general a deep fat

vegetable mould. The surface of the country is thinly timbered,

with the exception of the mountain which boundsit to the

Northward and Westward. This is covered with a thick brush, but

is nevertheless extremely fertile up to the very summit, and

peculiarly adapted both from its eastern aspect and mild climate

for the cultivation of the vine. This large tract of country was

only discovered about four years since, and has not yet been

accurately surveyed. Its extent, therefore, is not precisely

known; but it without doubt contains several hundred thousand

acres, including the banks of the Shoal Haven river. These

produce a great abundance of fine cedar, and other highly

valuable timber, for which there is an extensive and increasing

demand at Port Jackson.

COAL RIVER.

The next tract of unappropriated country which I shall

describe, is the district of the Coal River. The town of

Newcastle is situated at the mouth of this river, and is about

sixty miles to the northward of Port Jackson. Its population by

the last census forwarded to this country, was five hundred and

fifty souls. These, with the exception of a few free settlers,

established on the upper banks of this river, amounting with

their families perhaps to thirty souls, and about fifty troops,

are all incorrigible offenders, who have been convicted either

before a bench of magistrates, or the Court of Criminal

Judicature, and afterwards re-transported to this place, where

they are worked in chains from sunrise to sunset, and profitably

employed in burning lime and procuring coals and timber, as well

for carrying on the public works at Port Jackson, as for the

private purposes of individuals, who pay the government

stipulated prices for these different articles. This settlement

was, in fact, established with the two-fold view of supplying the

public works with these necessary articles, and providing a

separate place of punishment for all who might be convicted of

crimes in the colonial courts.

The coal mines here are considerably elevated above the level

of the sea, and are of the richest description. The veins are

visible on the abrupt face of the cliff, which borders the

harbour, and are worked by adits or openings, which serve both to

carry off the water and to wheel away the coals. The quantity

procured in this easy manner is very great, and might be

increased to any extent. So much more coals indeed are thus

obtained than are required for the purposes of the government,

that they are glad to dispose of them to all persons who are

willing to purchase, requiring in return a duty of two shillings

and six pence per ton, for such as are intended for home

consumption, and five shillings for such as are for

exportation.

The lime procured at this settlement is made from oyster

shells, which are found in prodigious abundance. These shells lie

close to the banks of the river, in beds of amazing size and

depth. How they came there has long been a matter of surprise and

speculation to the colonists. Some are of opinion that they have

been gradually deposited by the natives in those periodical

feasts of shell fish, for the celebration of which they still

assemble at stated seasons in large bodies: others have

contended, and I think with more probability, that they were

originally large natural beds of oysters, and that the river has

on some occasion or other, either changed its course or

contracted its limits, and thus deserted them.

These beds are generally five or six feet above high-water

mark. The process of making lime from them is extremely simple

and expeditious. They are first dug up and sifted, and then piled

over large heaps of dry wood, which are set fire to, and speedily

convert the superincumbent mass into excellent lime. When thus

made it is shipped for Sydney, and sold at one shilling per

bushel.

The timber procured on the banks of this river is chiefly

cedar and rose wood. The cedar, however, is becoming scarce in

consequence of the immense quantities that have been already cut

down, and cannot be any longer obtained without going at least a

hundred and fifty miles up the river. At this distance, however,

it is still to be had in considerable abundance, and is easily

floated down to the town in rafts. The government dispose of this

wood in the same manner as the coals, at the price of £3

for each thousand square feet, intended for home consumption, and

£6 for the same quantity if exported.

This settlement is placed under the direction of a commandant,

who is selected out of the officers of the regiment stationed in

the colony, and is allowed, as has been noticed, about fifty

fire-locks to maintain his authority. He is always appointed to

the magistracy previously to his obtaining this command, and is

entrusted with the entire controul of the prisoners, whom he

punishes or rewards as their conduct may appear to him to

merit.

The harbour at the mouth of this river is tolerably secure and

spacious, and contains sufficient depth of water for vessels of

three hundred tons burden. The river itself, however, is only

navigable for small craft of thirty or forty tons burden, and

this only for about fifty miles above the town. Just beyond this

distance there are numerous flats and shallows, which only admit

of the passage of boats over them. This river has three branches;

they are called the upper, the lower, and the middle branch: the

two former are navigable for boats for about a hundred and twenty

miles, the latter for upwards of two hundred miles. The banks of

all these branches are liable to inundations equally terrific

with those at the Hawkesbury, and from the same causes; because

they are receptacles for the rain that is collected by the Blue

Mountains, which form the western boundary of this district, and

divide it as well as the districts of Port Jackson, from the

great western wilderness. The low lands within the reach of these

inundations is if possible of still greater exuberancy than the

banks of the Hawkesbury and Nepean, and of four times the extent.

The high-land, or to give it the colonial appellation, the forest

land, is very thinly studded with timber, and equal for all the

purposes of agriculture and grazing to the best districts of Port

Jackson. The climate too is equally salubrious, and on the upper

banks of the middle branch, it is generally believed, that the

summer heats are sufficient for the production of cotton; the

cultivation of which would become an inexhaustible source of

wealth to the growers, and would afford a valuable article of

export to the colony.

In fact, under every point of view this district contains the

strongest inducements to colonization. It possesses a navigable

river, by which its produce may be conveyed to market at a

trifling expence, and the inhabitants of its most remote parts

may receive such articles of foreign or domestic growth and

manufacture as they may need, at a moderate advance: it surpasses

Port Jackson in the general fertility of its soil, and at least

rivals it in the salubrity of its climate: it contains in the

greatest abundance coal, lime, and many varieties of valuable

timber which are not found elsewhere, and promise to become

articles of considerable export: it has already established in an

eligible position, a small nucleus of settlers to which others

may adhere, and thus both communicate and receive the advantages

of society and protection; and it has a town which affords a

considerable market for agricultural produce, and of which the

commanding localities must rapidly increase the extent and

population.

COUNTRY WEST OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

The country to the westward of the Blue Mountains ranks next

in contiguity to Sydney, and claims pre-eminence not so much from

any superiority of soil in those parts of it which have been

explored, as from its amazing extent, and great diversity of

climate. These mountains, where the road has been made over them,

are fifty-eight miles in breadth; and as the distance from Sydney

to Emu Ford, at which place this road may be said to commence, is

about forty miles, the beginning of the vast tract of country to

the westward of them, it will be seen, is ninety-eight miles

distant from the capital.

The road which thus traverses these mountains is by no means

difficult for waggons, until you arrive at the pass which forms

the descent into the low country. There it is excessively steep

and dangerous; yet carts and waggons go up and down it

continually: nor do I believe that any serious accident has yet

occurred in performing this very formidable undertaking.

Still the discovery of a safer and more practicable pass would

certainly be attended with a very beneficial influence on the

future progress of colonization in this great western wilderness.

Every attempt, however, to find such a one has hitherto proved

abortive; and should the future efforts which may be made with

this view prove equally so, there can be little doubt, that the

communication between the eastern and western country will be

principally maintained by means of horses and mules with packs

and panniers.

The elevation of these mountains above the level of the sea,

has not yet been determined; but I should imagine that it cannot

exceed four thousand feet. For the first ten or twelve miles they

are tolerably well clothed with timber, and produce occasionally

some middling pasture; but beyond this they are excessively

barren, and are covered generally with a thick brush,

interspersed here and there with a few miserable stunted gums.

They bear, in fact, a striking similarity, both in respect to

their soil and productions, to the barren wastes on the coast of

Port Jackson. They are very rocky, but they want granite, the

distinguishing characteristic of primitive mountains. Sandstone

thickly studded with quartz and a little freestone, are the only

varieties which they offer; a circumstance the more singular, as

the moment you descend into the low country beyond them, granite

is the only sort of stone that is to be met with for upwards of

two hundred miles.

For the whole of this distance to the westward of these

mountains, the country abounds with the richest herbage, and is

upon the whole tolerably well supplied with running water. In the

immediate vicinity of them there is a profusion of rivulets,

which discharge themselves into the western river; or, as it is

termed by the natives, the Warragambia, the main branch, as I

have before observed, of the Hawkesbury. From the moment,

however, that the streams begin to take a western course, the

want of water becomes more perceptible, and increases as you

proceed into the interior, particularly in a south-west

direction.

This large and fertile tract of country, is in general

perfectly free from underwood; and in many places, is without any

timber at all. Bathurst Plains, for instance, where there is a

commandant, a military depot, and some few settlers established,

have been found by actual admeasurement, to contain upwards of

sixty thousand acres, upon which there is scarcely a tree. The

whole of this western country, indeed, is much more open and free

from timber than the best districts to the eastward of the Blue

Mountains.

The depot at Bathurst Plains, is 180 miles distant from

Sydney; and the road to it presents no impediment to waggons, but

the descent from the mountains into the low country; and even

this does not prevent the inhabitants from maintaining a regular

intercourse with that town, and receiving from it all the

supplies which they require. The difficulty, however, of thus

communicating with the capital, is such as to preclude this vast

tract of country from assuming an agricultural character; except

in as far as the raising of grain for a scanty population of

shepherds and herdsmen, may entitle it to this denomination;

since there are no navigable rivers, at all events for many

hundred miles into the interior, and the difficulty and expence

of a land-carriage across the Blue Mountains, will always prevent

the inhabitants of that part of this vast western wilderness,

which is at present explored, from entering into a competition

with the colonists in the immediate vicinity of Port Jackson. By

way, however, of set-off against the anifest superiority, which

the districts to the eastward of the mountains possess in this

respect over the country to the westward of them; this latter is

certainly much better adapted for all the purposes of grazing and

rearing cattle. The herbage is sweeter and more nutritive, and

there is an unlimited range for stock, without any danger of

their committing trespass. There is besides, for the first two

hundred miles, a constant succession of hill and dale, admirably

suited for the pasture of sheep, the wool of which will without

doubt eventually become the principal export of this colony, and

may be conveyed across these mountains at an inconsiderable

expense.

The discovery of this vast and as yet imperfectly known tract

of country, was made in the year 1814, and will doubtless be

hereafter productive of the most important results. It has indeed

already given a new aspect to the colony, and will form at some

future day, a memorable era in its history. Nothing is now

wanting to render this great western wilderness the seat of a

powerful community, but the discovery of a navigable river

communicating with the western coast. That such exists, although

the search for it has hitherto proved ineffectual, there can be

no doubt, if we may be allowed to judge from analogy; since in

the whole compass of the earth, there is no single instance of so

large a country as New Holland, not possessing at least one great

navigable river. To ascertain this point has been one of the

leading objects of Governor Macquarie's administration, ever

since the discovery of the pass across the mountains. Several

unsuccessful expeditions have been fitted out with this view from

Sydney, both by sea and land. The last of which we have learned

the result, was conducted by Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general, and

is most worthy of notice, as well from the extent of country

which he traversed, as from the probability that the river which

he discovered, discharges itself into the ocean on some part of

the western coast. The summary of this journey is contained in

the following letter, addressed by him to the governor on his

return from this expedition to Bathurst Plains.

_Bathurst, 30th August_, 1817.

SIR,

I have the honour to acquaint your Excellency with my arrival

at this place last evening, with the persons comprising the

expedition to the westward, which your Excellency was pleased to

place under my direction.

Your Excellency is already informed of my proceedings up to

the 30th of April. The limits of a letter will not permit me to

enter at large into the occurrences of nineteen weeks; and as I

shall have the honour of waiting on your Excellency in a few

days, I trust you will have the goodness to excuse the summary

account I now offer to your Excellency.

I proceeded down the Lachlan in company with the boats until

the 12th of May, the country rapidly descending until the waters

of the river rose to a level with it, and dividing into numerous

branches, inundated the country to the west and north-west, and

prevented any further progress in that direction, the river

itself being lost among marshes: up to this point it had received

no accession of waters from either side, but on the contrary was

constantly dissipating in lagoons and swamps.

The impossibility of proceeding further in conjunction with

the boats being evident, I determined upon maturer deliberation,

to haul them up, and divesting ourselves of everything, that

could possibly be spared, proceed with the horses loaded with the

additional provisions from the boats, in such a course towards

the coast as would intersect any stream that might arise from the

divided waters of the Lachlan.

In pursuance of this plan, I quitted the river on the 11th

May, taking a south-west course towards Cape Northumberland, as

the best one to answer my intended purpose. I will not here

detail the difficulties and privations we experienced in passing

through a barren and desolate country, without any water but such

rain water as was found remaining in holes and the crevices of

rocks. I continued this course until the 9th of June, when having

lost two horses through fatigue and want, and the others in a

deplorable condition, I changed our course to north, along a

range of lofty hills, running in that direction, as they afforded

the only means of procuring water until we should fall in with

some running stream. On this course I continued until the 23d of

June, when we again fell in with a stream, which we had at first

some difficulty to recognise as the Lachlan, it being little

larger than one of the marshes of it, where it was quitted on the

17th of May.

I did not hesitate a moment to pursue this course; not that

the nature of the country, or its own appearance in any manner

indicated that it would become navigable, or was even permanent;

but I was unwilling that the smallest doubt should remain of any

navigable waters falling westward into the sca, between the

limits pointed out in my instructions.

I continued along the banks of the stream until the 8th of

July, it having taken during this period a westerly direction,

and passing through a perfectly level country, barren in the

extreme, and being evidently at periods entirely under water. To

this point it had been gradually diminishing, and spreading its

waters over stagnated lagoons and morasses, without receiving any

stream that we knew of during the whole extent of its course. The

banks were not more than three feet high, and the marks of flood

in the shrubs and bushes, shewed that at times it rose between

two and three feet higher, causing the whole country to become a

marsh, and altogether uninhabitable.

Further progress westward, had it been possible, was now

useless, as there was neither hill nor rising ground of any kind

within the compass of our view, which was only bounded by the

horizon in every quarter, entirely devoid of timber except a few

diminutive gums on the very edge of the stream, might be so

termed. The water in the bed of the lagoon, as it might now be

properly denominated, was stagnant; its breadth about twenty

feet, and the heads of grass growing in it, shewed it to be about

three feet deep.

This originally unlooked for and truly singular termination of

a river, which we had anxiously hoped and reasonably expected

would have led to a far different conclusion, filled us with the

most painful sensations. We were full five hundred miles west of

Sydney, and nearly in its latitude; and it had taken us ten weeks

of unremitted exertion to proceed so far. The nearest part of the

coast about Cape Bernouilli, had it been accessible, was distant

about a hundred and fifty miles. We had demonstrated beyond the

shadow of a doubt, that no river whatever could fall into the

sea, between Cape Otway and Spencer's Gulph; at least none

deriving their waters from the eastern coast, and that the

country south of the parallel of 34 degrees, and west of the

meridian of 147 degrees 30' East, was uninhabitable and useless

for all the purposes of civilized man.

It now became my duty to make our remaining resources as

extensively useful to the colony as our circumstances would

allow: these were much diminished: an accident to one of the

boats, in the outset of the expedition, had deprived us of

one-third of our dry provisions, of which we had originally but

eighteen weeks; and we had been in consequence for some time on a

reduced ration of two quarts of flour per man, per week. To

return to the depot by the route we had come, would have been as

useless as impossible; and seriously considering the spirit of

your Excellency's instructions, I determined upon the most mature

deliberation, to take such a route on our return, as would, I

hope, best comport with your Excellency's views, had our present

situation ever been contemplated.

Returning down the Lachlan, I re-commenced the survey of it

from the point in which it was made, the 23d of June; intending

to continue up its banks until its connection with the marshes,

where we quitted it on the 17th May, was satisfactorily

established, as also to ascertain if any streams might have

escaped our research. The connection with all the points of the

survey previously ascertained, was completed between the 19th of

July and the 3d of August. In the space passed over within that

period, the river had divided into various branches, and formed

three fine lakes, which, with one near the determination of our

journey westward, were the only considerable pieces of water we

had yet seen; and I now estimated that the river, from the place

where first made by Mr. Evans, had run a course, taking all its

windings, of upwards of twelve hundred miles; a length of course

altogether unprecedented, when the _single_ nature of the

river is considered, and that its _original_ is its

_only_ supply of water during that distance.

Crossing at this point it was my intention to take a

north-east course, to intersect the country, and if possible

ascertain what had become of the Macquarie river, which it was

clear had never joined the Lachlan. This course led us through a

country to the full as bad as any we had yet seen, and equally

devoid of water, the want of which again much distressed us. On

the 7th of August the scene began to change, and the country to

assume a very different aspect: we were now quitting the

neighbourhood of the Lachlan, and had passed to the north-east of

the high range of hills, which on this parallel bounds the low

country to the north of that river. To the north-west and north,

the country was high and open, with good forest land; and on the

10th we had the satisfaction to fall in with the first stream

running northerly. This renewed our hopes of soon falling in with

the Macquarie, and we continued upon the same course,

occasionally inclining to the eastward, until the 19th passing

through a fine luxuriant country, well watered, crossing in that

space of time _nine_ streams, having a northerly course

through rich vallies; the country in every direction being

moderately high and open, and generally as fine as can be

imagined.

No doubt remained upon our minds that those streams fell into

the Macquarie, and to view it before it received such an

accession, was our first wish. On the 19th we were gratified by

falling in with a river running through a most beautiful country,

and which I would have been well contented to have believed the

river we were in search of. Accident led us down this stream

about a mile, when we were surprised by its junction with a river

coming from the south, of such width and magnitude, as to dispel

all doubts as to this last being the river we had so long

anxiously looked for. Short as our resources were, we could not

resist the temptation this beautiful country offered us, to

remain two days on the junction of the river, for the purpose of

examining the vicinity to as great an extent as possible.

Our examination increased the satisfaction we had previously

felt: as far as the eye could reach in every direction, a rich

and picturesque country extended, abounding in limestone, slate,

good timber, and every other requisite that could render an

_uncultivated_ country desirable. The soil cannot be

excelled, whilst a noble river of _the first magnitude_

affords the means of conveying its productions from one part to

the other. Where I quitted it its course was northerly, and we

were then north of the parallel of Port Stevens, being in

latitude 32 degrees 45' South, and 148 degrees 58' East

longitude.

It appeared to me that the Macquarie had taken a north

north-west course from Bathurst, and that it must have received

immense accessions of water in its course from that place. We

viewed it at a period best calculated to form an accurate

judgment of its importance, when it was neither swelled by floods

beyond its natural and usual height, nor contracted within its

limits by summer droughts: of its magnitude when it should have

received the streams we had crossed, independent of any it may

receive from the east, which from the boldness and height of the

country, I presume, must be at least as many, some idea may be

formed, when at this point it exceeded in breadth and apparent

depth, the Hawkesbury at Windsor. Many of the branches were of

grander and more extended proportion than the admired one on the

Nepean River from the Warragambia to Emu Plains.

Resolving to keep as near the river as possible during the

remainder of our course to Bathurst, and endeavour to ascertain

at least on the west side, what waters fell into it, on the 22d

we proceeded up the river, and between the point quitted and

Bathurst, crossed the sources of numberless streams, all running

into the Macquarie; two of them were nearly as large as that

river itself at Bathurst. The country from whence all these

streams derive their source, was mountainous and irregular, and

appeared equally so on the east side of the Macquarie. This

description of country extended to the immediate vicinity of

Bathurst; but to the west of those lofty ranges, the country was

broken into low grassy hills, and fine valleys watered by

rivulets rising on the west side of the mountains, which on their

eastern side pour their waters directly into the Macquarie.

These westerly streams appeared to me to join that which I had

at first sight taken for the Macquarie; and when united fall into

it at the point at which it was first discovered, on the 19th

inst.

We reached this place last evening, without a single accident

having occurred during the whole progress of the expedition,

which from this point has encircled within the parallels of 34

degrees 30' South, and 32 degrees South, and between the

meridians of 149 degrees 43' and 143 degrees 40' East, a space of

nearly one thousand miles.

I shall hasten to lay before your Excellency the journals,

charts, and drawings, explanatory of the various occurrences of

our diversified route; infinitely gratified if our exertions

should appear to your Excellency commensurate with your

expectations, and the ample means which your care and liberality

placed at my disposal.

I feel the most particular pleasure in informing your

Excellency of the obligations I am under to Mr. Evans, the Deputy

Surveyor, for his able advice and cordial co-operation throughout

the expedition, and as far as his previous researches had

extended, the accuracy and fidelity of his narration was fully

exemplified.

It would perhaps appear presuming in me to hazard an opinion

upon the merits of persons engaged in a pursuit of which I have

little knowledge; the extensive and valuable collection of plants

formed by Mr. A. Cunningham, the king's botanist, and Mr. C.

Frazer, the colonial botanist, will best evince to your

Excellency the unwearied industry and zeal bestowed on the

collection and preservation of them: in every other respect they

also merit the highest praise.

From the nature of the greater part of the country passed

over, our mineralogical collection is but small. Mr. S. Parr did

as much as could be done in that branch, and throughout

endeavoured to render himself as useful as possible.

Of the men on whom the chief care of the horses and baggage

devolved, it is impossible to speak in too high terms. Their

conduct in periods of considerable privation, was such as must

redound to their credit; and their orderly, regular, and obedient

behaviour, could not be exceeded. It may be principally

attributed to their care and attention that we lost only three

horses; and that, with the exception of the loss of the dry

provisions already mentioned, no other accident happened during

the course of it. I most respectfully beg leave to recommend them

to your Excellency's favourable notice.

I trust your Excellency will have the goodness to excuse any

omissions or inaccuracies that may appear in this letter; the

messenger setting out immediately will not allow me to revise or

correct it.

I have the honour, etc.

J. OXLEY, Surveyor-Gen.

To his Excellency Lachlan Macquarie, Esq.

The course and direction of this river is the object of two

expeditions, of which we may shortly expect to learn the result.

One is by land, and conducted by the same gentleman; the other by

sea, and under the command of Lieutenant King, R.N.; whose

father, Captain King, was formerly Lieutenant Governor of Norfolk

Island, and afterwards Governor in Chief of New South Wales.