Agreeable travelling.
Appearance of the country on the Murrumbidgee.
Jugion Creek.
Brunonia abundant.
Yass plains.
The Gap, an inn.
Bredalbane plains.
Lake George.
Soil and rocks.
The Wollondilly.
Goulburn plains.
A garden.
Public works.
Shoalhaven river.
Limestone caverns there.
County of St. Vincent.
Upper Shoalhaven.
Carwary.
Vast subsidence on a mountain there.
Goulburn township.
Great road.
Towrang hill.
The Wollondilly.
Wild country through which it flows.
The Nattai.
Moyengully.
Arrive at the line of great road.
Convict workmen.
Berrima bridge.
Berrima.
Trap range.
Sandstone country.
The Illawarra.
Lupton's inn.
The Razorback.
Ford of the Nepean.
Campbelltown.
Liverpool.
Lansdowne bridge.
Arrive at Sydney.
General remarks on the character of the settled country.
Fires in the woods.
Necessity for cutting roads.
Proportion of good and bad land.
Description of Australia Felix.
Woods.
Harbours.
The Murray.
Mr. Stapylton's report.
The aboriginal natives.
Turandurey.
My mode of communicating with Mr. Stapylton.
Survey of the Murrumbidgee.
Meteorological journal.
Arrival of the exploring party at Sydney.
Piper.
The two Tommies.
Ballandella.
Character of the natives of the interior.
Language.
Habits of those of Van Diemen's Land the same.
Temporary huts.
Mode of climbing trees.
Remarkable customs.
Charmed stones.
Females excluded from superstitious rites.
Bandage or fillet around the temples.
Striking out the tooth.
Painting with red.
Raised scars on arms and breast.
Cutting themselves in mourning.
Authority of old men.
Native dogs.
Females carrying children.
Weapons.
Spear.
Woomera.
Boomerang.
Its probable origin.
Shield or Hieleman.
Skill in approaching the kangaroo.
Modes of cooking.
Opossum.
Singeing.
Vegetable food.
The shovel.
General observations.
AGREEABLE TRAVELLING.
October 27.
Brightly shone the sun, the sky was dressed in blue and gold and "the
fields were full of star-like flowers, and overgrown with joy,"* on the
first day of my ride homeward along the green banks of the Murrumbidgee,
having crossed the river in a small canoe that morning. Seven months had
elapsed since I had seen either a road or a bridge although during that
time I had travelled over two thousand four hundred miles. Right glad was
I, like Gilpin's horse, "at length to miss the lumber of the wheels," the
boats, carts, specimens, and last but not least, Kater's compasses. No
care had I now whether my single step was east or north-east, nor about
the length of my day's journey, nor the hills or dales crossed, as to
their true situation, names, or number, or where I should encamp. To be
free from such cares seemed heaven itself, and I rode on without the
slightest thought about where I should pass the night, quite sure that
some friendly hut or house would receive me and afford snugger shelter
and better fare than I had seen for many a day.
(*Footnote. Remains of Peter Corcoran. Blackwood's Magazine.)
APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
We had arrived on the Murrumbidgee seventy-five miles below the point
where that river quitted the settled districts and ceased to form a
county boundary. I found the upper portion of this fine stream fully
occupied as cattle-stations, which indeed extended also, as I was
informed, much lower down the river; and such was the thoroughfare in
that direction that I found a tolerable cart road from one station to
another. I passed the night at the house of a stockman in charge of the
cattle of Mr. James Macarthur, and I was very comfortably lodged.
October 28.
With the Murrumbidgee still occasionally in view we pursued the road
which led towards Sydney. Each meadow was already covered with the lowing
herds for which it seemed to have been prepared; and the traces of man's
industry were now obvious in fences, and in a substantial wooden house
and smoking chimney, usually built in the most inviting part of each
cattle run. All the animals looked fat and sufficiently proved the value
of the pasturage along this river. Steep and rugged ridges occasionally
approached its banks and, in following the beaten track, I this day
crossed acclivities much more difficult for the passage of
wheel-carriages than any we had traversed throughout those uncultivated
wastes, where even the pastoral age had not commenced.
The scenery at various points of the river seen this day was very
beautiful; its chief features consisting of noble sheets of water,
umbrageous woods, flowery meadows, enlivened by those objects so
essential to the harmony of landscape, cattle of every hue.
The gigantic and luxuriant growth of the yarra eucalyptus everywhere
produced fine effects; and one tree in particular pleased me so much that
I was tempted to draw it, although the shades of evening would scarcely
permit; but while thus engaged I sent my servant forward to look for some
hut or station that I might remain the longer to complete my drawing.
JUGION CREEK.
I arrived long after dark at a cattle-station occupied by a
superintendent of Mr. Henry O'Brian, near Jugion Creek on the right bank
of the Murrumbidgee, and there passed the night. Two considerable rivers
join this creek from the mountainous but fine country to the southward,
one being named the Coodradigbee, the other the Doomot. The higher
country there is granitic although, on both rivers, limestone also
abounds in which the corals seem to belong to Mr. Murchison's Silurian
system. Favosites, Stromatopora concentrica, Heliopora pyriformis, and
stems of crinoidea are found loosely about the surface. There is also a
large rock of haematite under Mount Jellula.
BRUNONIA ABUNDANT.
October 29.
The road led us this day over some hilly country of a rather poor
description, but the beautiful flower Brunonia grew so abundantly that
the surface exhibited the unusual and delicate tint of ultramarine blue.
I was tempted once more to forsake the road in order to ascend a range
which it crossed in hopes of being able to see, from some lofty summit
thereof, points of the country I had left, and thus to connect them by
means of my pocket sextant with any visible points I might recognise of
my former trigonometrical survey. It was not however in my power to do
this satisfactorily, not having been able to distinguish any of the
latter.
YASS PLAINS.
Towards evening I drew near Yass Plains and was not a little struck with
their insignificance as compared with those of the south. A township had
been marked out here, and the comfortable establishments of various
wealthy colonists evinced, by their preference of these plains, that they
considered them the best part of a very extensive district.
THE GAP, AN INN.
Mr. Cornelius O'Brien had invited me to his house and afterwards
furnished me with a supply of provisions for my party; but I carried my
own despatches, and a much shorter route led to the left by which I could
divide the way better in continuing my ride to the Gap, a small inn where
I arrived at a very late hour, the road having been soft, uneven, and
wholly through a dreary wood.
The noise and bustle of the house was quite refreshing to one who had
dwelt so long in deserts, although it seemed to promise little
accommodation, for there had been races in the neighbourhood and horses
lay about the yard. Nevertheless the waiter and his wife cleared for my
accommodation a room which had been full of noisy people, and my horses
were soon lodged snugly in the stable. There indeed I perceived more room
than the house afforded, for while the guests were regaling within their
horses were allowed to lay about to starve outside, as if so many gypsies
had been about the place; no uncommon circumstance in Australia.
October 30.
In the course of my ride this morning I recognised the poor scrubby land
about the southern boundary of the county of Argyle, which I had surveyed
in 1828. The wood on it is rather open, consisting of a stunted species
of eucalyptus, the grass, apparently a hard species of poa, affording but
little nourishment. Sandstone and quartz are the predominant rocks
although some of the most remarkable hills consist of trap.
BREDALBANE PLAINS.
Passing at length through a gap in a low ridge of granular quartz, we
entered upon Bredalbane plains, consisting of three open flats of grassy
land circumscribed by hills of little apparent height, and extending
about twelve miles in the direction of this road, their average width
being about two miles. Deringullen ponds arise in the most southern
plain, and are among the most eastern heads of the Lachlan. The plains
are situated on the high dividing ground or water shed between the
streams falling eastward and westward, and had probably once been lagoons
of the same character as those which still distinguish other portions of
this dividing ground.
LAKE GEORGE.
The most remarkable of these is Lake George, about fourteen miles further
to the south, and which in 1828 was a sheet of water seventeen miles in
length and seven in breadth. There is no outlet for the waters of this
lake although it receives no less than four mountain streams from the
hills north of it, namely Turallo creek, whose highest source is fourteen
miles from the lake, Butmaro creek which arises in a mountain sixteen
miles from it, Taylor's creek from the range on the east, six miles
distant, and Kenny's creek from hills five miles distant. The southern
shore of this lake presents one continuous low ridge, separating its
waters from the head of the Yass river which would otherwise receive
them. The water was slightly brackish in 1828 but quite fit for use, and
the lake was then surrounded by dead trees of the eucalyptus measuring
about two feet in diameter, which also extended into it until wholly
covered by the water. In that wide expanse we could find no fish, and an
old native female said she remembered when the whole was a forest, a
statement supported pro tanto by the dead trees in its bed as well as by
the whole of the basin being in October 1836 a grassy meadow not unlike
the plains of Bredalbane.
It would be well worth the attention of a man of leisure to ascertain the
lowest part in the country around Lake George, at which its waters, on
reaching their maximum height, would overflow from its basin.
Several lagoons, apparently the remains of more extensive waters, occur
between Lake George and Bredalbane plains in the line of watershed as
already observed. These are named Tarrago, Mutmutbilly, and Wallagorong,
the latter being apparently a residuum of the lake which probably once
covered the three plains of Bredalbane.
SOIL AND ROCKS.
The quality of the soil now found in the patches of grassy land on the
margins of these lakes and lagoons depends on the nature of the high
ground nearest to them. The hills to the eastward of Lake George are
chiefly granitic. Ondyong point on its northern shore consists of
sandstone resembling that of the coal-measures; and the rock forming the
range above the western shores is of the same quality. The hills at the
source of Kenny's creek consist of trap, of which rock there is also a
remarkable hill on the southern side of Bredalbane plains; and these
plains are bounded on the north by a ridge of syenite, which here forms
the actual division between the sources of the rivers Lachlan and
Wollondilly.
The water in the smaller lagoons westward of Lake George is perfectly
sweet, and the pasturage on the plains adjacent being in general very
good, the land is occupied by several extensive grazing establishments.
THE WOLLONDILLY.
On entering the valley of the river Wollondilly which waters Goulburn
plains, I was surprised to see its waters extremely low and not even
flowing. The poor appearance of the woods also struck me, judging by
comparison with the land in the south; and although the scantiness of
grass, also observable, might be attributed to the great number of sheep
and cattle fed there, I was not the less sensible of the more parched
aspect of the country generally.
GOULBURN PLAINS.
Goulburn Plains consist of open downs affording excellent pasturage for
sheep and extending twenty miles southward from the township, their
breadth being about ten.
A GARDEN.
I reached at twilight the house of a worthy friend, Captain Rossi, who
received me with great kindness and hospitality. The substantial
improvements which he had effected on his farm since my last visit to
that part of the colony evinced his skill and industry as a colonist;
while an extensive garden and many tasteful arrangements for domestic
comfort marked the residence of a gentleman. Under that hospitable roof I
exchanged the narrative of my wanderings for the accumulated news of
seven months which, with my friend's good cheer, rendered his invitation
to rest my horses for one day quite irresistible.
October 31.
A walk in the garden; a visit to the shearing shed; the news of colonial
affairs in general; fat pullets cooked a la gastronome and some good
wine; had each in its turn rare charms for me.
PUBLIC WORKS.
I had arrived in a country which I had myself surveyed; and the roads and
towns in progress were the first fruits of these labours. I had marked
out in 1830 the road now before me, which I then considered the most
important in New South Wales as leading to the more temperate south, and
I had now completed it as a line of communication between Sydney and the
southern coasts. This important public work on which I had bestowed the
greatest pains by surveying the whole country between the Wollondilly and
Shoalhaven rivers, had been nevertheless retarded nearly two years on the
representations of some of the settlers, so that the part most essential
to be opened continued still in a half finished state.*
(*Footnote. A petition had been got up in favour of another line said to
be more direct; and it is a remarkable fact that numerous signatures were
obtained even to such a petition, although it was found at last that the
line laid down after a careful survey was not only twelve chains shorter
than the other proposed but also avoided the steepest hills.)
SHOALHAVEN RIVER.
The Shoalhaven river flows in a ravine about 1500 feet below the common
level of the country between it and the Wollondilly. Precipices
consisting at one part of granite and at another of limestone give a
peculiar grandeur to the scenery of the Shoalhaven river.
LIMESTONE CAVERNS THERE.
The limestone is of a dark grey colour and contains very imperfect
fragments of shells. We find among the features on these lofty riverbanks
many remarkable hollows not unaptly termed hoppers by the country people,
from the water sinking into them as grain subsides in the hopper of a
mill. As each of these hollows terminates in a crevice leading to a
cavern in the limestone below, I descended into one in 1828 and
penetrated without difficulty to a considerable depth over slimy rocks,
but was forced to return because our candles were nearly exhausted. A
current of air met us as we descended and it might have come from some
crevice probably near the bed of the river. That water sometimes flowed
into these caverns was evident from pieces of decayed trees which had
been carried downwards by it to a considerable depth. I looked in vain
there for fossil bones, but I found projecting from the side of the
cavern at the lowest part I reached a very perfect specimen of coral of
the genus favosites.
COUNTY OF ST. VINCENT.
The country to the eastward of the Shoalhaven river, that is to say
between it and the sea-coast, is very wild and mountainous. The higher
part including Currocbilly and the Pigeon house (summits) consists of
sandstone passing from a fine to a coarse grain, occasionally containing
pebbles of quartz, and in some of the varieties numerous specks of
decomposed felspar. The lower parts of the same country, according to the
rocks seen in Yalwal creek, consist of granite, basalt, and compact
felspar. Nearer the coast a friable whitish sandstone affords but a poor
soil, except where the partial occurrence of decomposed laminated felspar
and gneiss produced one somewhat better. This country comprises the
county of St. Vincent, bounded on one side by the Shoalhaven river and on
the other by the sea-coast. The southern portion of that county affords
the greatest quantity of soil available either for cultivation or
pasture; although around Bateman Bay, which is its limit on the south,
much good land cannot be expected as Snapper Island at the entrance
consists of grey compact quartz only, with white veins of crystalline
quartz.
UPPER SHOALHAVEN.
The country on the upper part of the Shoalhaven river comprises much good
land. The river flows there nearly on a level with the surface and
resembles an English stream. The temperature at the elevation of about
2000 feet above the sea is so low even in summer that potatoes and
gooseberries, for both of which the climate of Sydney is too hot, grow
luxuriantly. A rich field for geological research will probably be found
in that neighbourhood.
CARWARY.
In a hasty ride which I took as far as Carwary in 1832, I was conducted
by my friend Mr. Ryrie to a remarkable cavern under white marble where I
found trap; a vein of ironstone of a fused appearance; a quartzose
ferruginous conglomerate; a calcareous tuff containing fragments of these
rocks; and specular iron ore in abundance near the same spot.
But still further southward and on the range separating the country at
the head of the Shoalhaven river from the ravines on the coast, I was
shown an antre vast which, for aught I know, may involve in its recesses
more of the wild and wonderful than any of the deserts idle which I have
since explored.
VAST SUBSIDENCE ON A MOUNTAIN THERE.
A part of the surface of that elevated country had subsided, carrying
trees along with it to the depth of about 400 yards, and left a yawning
opening about 300 yards wide resembling a gigantic quarry, at the bottom
of which the sunken trees continued to grow. In the eastern side of the
bottom of this subsidence a large opening extended under the rock and
seemed to lead to a subterraneous cavity of great dimensions.
GOULBURN TOWNSHIP.
November 1.
Taking leave of my kind host at an early hour, I continued my ride,
passing through the new township in which, although but few years had
elapsed since I had sketched its streets on paper, a number of houses had
already been built. The Mulwary Ponds scarcely afford sufficient water of
the supply of a large population there; but at the junction of this
channel with the Wollondilly there is a deep reach not likely to be ever
exhausted.
GREAT ROAD.
The road marked out between this township and Sydney led over a country
shut up, as already stated, between the Wollondilly and the Shoalhaven
rivers. These streams are distant from each other at the narrowest part
of the intervening surface about ten miles; and as each is bordered by
deep ravines the middle portion of the country between them is naturally
the most level, and this happens to be precisely in the direction most
desirable for a general line of communication between Sydney and the most
valuable parts of the colony to the southward.
TOWRANG HILL.
At a few miles from Goulburn the road passes by the foot of Towrang, a
hill whose summit I had formerly cleared of timber, leaving only one
tree. I thus obtained an uninterrupted view of the distant horizon, and
found the hill very useful afterwards in extending our survey from
Jellore into the higher country around Lake George. This hill consists
chiefly of quartz rock. At its base the new line leaves the original cart
track which here crossed the Wollondilly twice. I now found an
intermediate road in use between the old track and my half-formed road
which was still inaccessible at this point for want of a small bridge
over Towrang Creek.
THE WOLLONDILLY.
The Wollondilly pursues its course to the left, passing under the
southern extremity of Cockbundoon range, which extends about thirty miles
in a straight line from north to south, and consists of sandstone dipping
westward. Near the Wollondilly and a few miles from Towrang a quarry of
crystalline variegated marble has been recently wrought to a considerable
extent, and chimney-pieces, tables, etc. now ornament most good houses at
Sydney. This rock occurs in blocks over greenstone, and has hitherto been
found only in that spot.
WILD COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH IT FLOWS.
The channel of the Wollondilly continues open and accessible for a few
miles lower down than this, but after it is joined by the Uringalla near
Arthursleigh it sinks immediately into a deep ravine and is no longer
accessible as above, the country to the westward of it being exceedingly
wild and broken. The scene it presented when I stood on the pic of
Jellore in 1828 and commenced a general survey of this colony was of the
most discouraging description.* A flat horizon to a surface cracked and
hollowed out into the wildest ravines, deep and inaccessible; their
sides, consisting of perpendicular rocky cliffs, afforded but little
reason to suppose that it could be surveyed and divided as proposed into
counties, hundreds, and parishes; and still less was it likely ever to be
inhabited, even if such a work could be accomplished. Nevertheless it was
necessary in the performance of my duties that these rivers should be
traced, and where the surveyor pronounced them inaccessible to the chain,
I clambered over rocks and measured from cliff to cliff with the pocket
sextant. Thus had I wandered on foot by the murmuring Wollondilly,
sometimes passing the night in its deep dark bed with no other companions
than a robber and a savage. I could now look back with some satisfaction
on these labours in that barren field. I had encompassed those wild
recesses; the desired division of the rocky wastes they enclosed had
really been made; and if no other practical benefit was derived we had at
least been enabled to open ways across them to better regions beyond.
(*Footnote. My predecessor in office had declared the operation to be
impracticable in such a country; but to this general survey I was pledged
on accepting my appointment in London. Two other commissioners for the
division of the territory were each receiving a guinea a day, but yet
could do nothing until this survey was accomplished; and I therefore set
about the work with the resolution necessary for the performance of what
was deemed almost impossible. Universal wood, impassable ravines, a total
absence of artificial objects, and the consequent necessity for clearing
summits as stations for the theodolite were great impediments; but I made
the most of each station when it had once been cleared by taking an exact
panoramic view with the theodolite of the nameless features it commanded.
The accompanying facsimile of a page of my field book includes the view
between north and north-west, taken for the above purpose from the summit
of Jellore, and extends over the ravines of the Nattai to the crest of
the Blue Mountains. Plate 38.)
THE NATTAI. MOYENGULLY.
In the numerous ravines surrounding Jellore the little river Nattai has
its sources, and this wild region is the haunt and secure retreat of the
Nattai tribe whose chief, Moyengully, was one of my earliest aboriginal
friends. (See Plate 39.)
Marulan, the highest summit eastward of Jellore, consists of ferruginous
sandstone, but in the country to the northward we find syenite and
trap-rock. Of the latter, Nattary, a small hill north-east from Towrang
and distant about four miles from it, is perhaps the most remarkable. The
elevation of the country there is considerable (being about one thousand
five hundred feet above the sea on the level part) and, except near the
Shoalhaven and Wollondilly rivers, not much broken into ravines. It
contains not only fine pasture land but also much good wheat land,
especially towards the side of the Shoalhaven river.
ARRIVE AT THE LINE OF GREAT ROAD. CONVICT WORKMEN.
At fourteen miles from Goulburn I came upon that part of my new line of
great road where the works had not been impeded by those for whose
benefit the road was intended;* and here I found that the iron-gangs had
done some good service. I had now the satisfaction of travelling along a
road every turn of which I had studied previous to marking it out after a
most careful survey of the whole country.
(*Footnote. One of the most palpable consequences of the interruption my
plan experienced was that it interfered with the prospects of an
innkeeper whose inn had already been half built of brick in anticipation
of the opening of the new line.)
BERRIMA BRIDGE.
On Crawford's creek I found that a bridge with stone buttresses had been
nearly completed. I had endeavoured to introduce permanent bridges of
stonework into this colony instead of those of wood, which were very
liable to be burnt and frequently required repair. We had among the
prisoners some tolerable stonecutters and setters but, until I had the
good fortune to find among the emigrants a person practically acquainted
with the construction of arches, their labours had never been productive
of much benefit to the public. The governor had readily complied with my
recommendation to appoint Mr. Lennox superintendent of such works; and on
entering the township of Berrima this evening I had the satisfaction at
length of crossing at least one bridge worthy of a British colony.
BERRIMA.
This town is situated on the little river Wingecarrabee, and was planned
by me some years before when marking out the general line of road. The
eligibility of the situation consists chiefly in the abundance and purity
of the water, and of materials for building with the vicinity of a small
agricultural population. I found here, on my return now, Mr. Lambie of
the road branch of my department, under whose immediate superintendence
the bridge had been erected. The walls of a gaol and courthouse were also
rising, and a site was ready for the church.
TRAP RANGE.
November 2.
A remarkable range consisting chiefly of trap-rock traverses the whole
country between the Wollondilly and the sea in a south-east direction
extending from Bullio to Kiama. The highest part is known as the
Mittagong range and, in laying down the new line of road, it was an
object of importance to avoid this range. Bowral, the highest part,
consists of quartz or very hard sandstone.
SANDSTONE COUNTRY.
On leaving Berrima the road traverses several low ridges of trap-rock and
then turns to the south-east in order to avoid the ravines of the Nattai;
for we again find here that ferruginous sandstone which desolates so
large a portion of New South Wales and, to all appearance, New Holland,
presenting in the interior desert plains of red sand, and on the eastern
side of the dividing range, a world of stone quarries and sterility. It
is only where trap or granite or limestone occur that the soil is worth
possessing, and to this extent every settler is under the necessity of
becoming a geologist; he must also be a geographer, that he may find
water and not lose himself in the bush; and it must indeed be admitted
that the intelligence of the native youth in all such matters is little
inferior to that of the aborigines.
The barren sandstone country is separated from the seashore by a lofty
range of trap-rock connected with that of Mittagong, and we accordingly
find an earthly paradise between that range and the seashore. The
Illawarra is a region in which the rich soil is buried under matted
creepers, tree-ferns and the luxuriant shade of a tropical vegetation
nourished both by streams from the lofty range and the moist breezes of
the sea. There a promising and extensive field for man's industry lies
still uncultivated, but when the roads now partially in progress shall
have connected it with the rest of the colony it must become one of the
most certain sources of agricultural produce in New South Wales.
THE ILLAWARRA.
The sandstone on the interior side extends to the summit of the trap
range and its numerous ravines occasion the difficulties which have
hitherto excluded wheel-carriages from access to the Illawarra.
LUPTON'S INN.
To cross a country so excavated is impossible except in certain
directions, but the best lines these fastnesses admit of have been
ascertained and marked out in connection with that for the great southern
road, which ought to leave the present line at Lupton's Inn. I consider
this the most important public work still necessary to complete the
system of great roads planned by me in New South Wales; but I have not
had means at my disposal hitherto for carrying into effect this portion
of the general plan.
From Lupton's Inn Sydney bore north-east, yet I was obliged to turn with
the present road towards the north-west and to travel eleven miles over
unfavourable ground in a direction to the westward of north.
Having been engaged this day in examining the bridges and the work done
along the whole line, Mr. Lambie accompanying me, I did not reach the
house of my friend Macalister at Clifton until it was rather late, but at
any hour I could be sure of a hearty welcome.
THE RAZORBACK.
November 3.
The Razorback range is a very remarkable feature in this part of the
country. It is isolated, extending about eight miles in a general
direction between west-north-west and east-south-east, being very level
on some parts of the summit, and so very narrow in others, while the
sides are also so steep, that the name it has obtained is descriptive
enough.
FORD OF THE NEPEAN. CAMPBELLTOWN.
Around this trap-range lies the fertile district of the Cowpastures,
watered by the Nepean river. On proceeding along the road towards
Campbelltown we cross this river by a ford which has been paved with a
causeway, and we thus enter the county of Cumberland. Here trap-rock
still predominates, and the soil is good and appears well cultivated, but
there is a saltness in the surface water which renders it at some seasons
unfit for use. The line of great road as planned by me would pass by this
township (now containing 400 inhabitants) and the town might then
probably increase by extending towards George's river, a stream which
would afford a permanent supply of good water.
LIVERPOOL. LANSDOWNE BRIDGE.
Passing through Liverpool, which has a population of 600 inhabitants and
is situated on the left bank of George's river, I arrived at three miles
beyond that town at Lansdowne bridge, where the largest arch hitherto
erected in Australia had been recently built by Mr. Lennox. The necessity
for a permanent bridge over Prospect Creek arose from the failure of
several wooden structures, to the great inconvenience of the public, this
being really a creek rising and falling with the tide. The obstacle, and
the steepness of the left bank, which was considerable, have been
triumphantly surmounted by a noble arch of 110 feet span which carries
the road at a very slight inclination to the level of the opposite bank.
The bridge is wholly the work of men in irons who must have been fed, and
must consequently have cost the public just as much if they had done
nothing all the while; and it may be held up as a fair specimen of the
great advantage of convict labour in such a country when applied to
public works. The creek is navigable to this point and, stone being
abundant and of good quality on the opposite side of George's river, one
gang was advantageously employed in the quarry there while another was
building the bridge. Mr. Lennox ably seconded my views in carrying these
arrangements into effect. He contrived the cranes, superintended the
stone cutting, and even taught the workmen; planned and erected the
centres for the arches and finally completed the structure itself which
had been opened to the public on the 26th of January.
Before venturing on so large a work I had employed Mr. Lennox on a
smaller bridge in the new pass in the ascent to the Blue Mountains, and
the manner in which he completed that work was such as to justify the
confidence with which I suggested to the government this larger
undertaking.
ARRIVE AT SYDNEY.
At length I arrived at Sydney and had the happiness on terminating this
long journey to find that all the members of my family were well,
although they had been much alarmed by reports of my death and the
destruction of my party by the savage natives of the interior.
...
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CHARACTER OF THE SETTLED COUNTRY.
Released from the necessity for recording each day's proceedings I may
now add a few general remarks on the character of the country traversed
in these various expeditions.
FIRES IN THE WOODS.
It has been observed that the soil in New South Wales is good only where
trap, limestone, or granite rocks occur. Sandstone however predominates
so much as to cover about six-sevenths of the whole surface comprised
within the boundaries of nineteen counties. Wherever this is the surface
rock little besides barren sand is found in the place of soil. Deciduous
vegetation scarcely exists there, no vegetable soil is formed for, the
trees and shrubs being very inflammable, conflagrations take place so
frequently and extensively in the woods during summer as to leave very
little vegetable matter to return to earth. On the highest mountains and
in places the most remote and desolate I have always found on every dead
trunk on the ground, and living tree of any magnitude also, the marks of
fire; and thus it appeared that these annual conflagrations extend to
every place. In the regions of sandstone the territory is, in short, good
for nothing, and is besides very generally inaccessible, thus presenting
a formidable obstruction to any communication between isolated spots of a
better description.
Land near Sydney has always been preferred to that which is remote,
though the quality may have been equal; yet throughout the wide extent of
twenty-three millions of acres only about 4,400,000 have been found worth
5 shillings per acre, and the owners of this appropriated land within the
limits have been obliged to send their cattle beyond them for the sake of
pasturage.
EMPLOYMENT OF CONVICTS.
From the labour necessary to form lines of communication across such a
country, New South Wales still affords an excellent field for the
employment of convicts; and although some of the present colonists may be
against the continuance of transportation, it must be admitted that the
increase and extension of population and the future prosperity of the
country depends much on the completion of such public works. The dominion
of man cannot indeed be extended well over nature there without much
labour of this description. The prisoners should be worked in gangs and
guarded and coerced according to some well organised system. It can
require no argument to show how much more pernicious to the general
interests of mankind the amalgamation of criminals with the people of a
young colony must be than with the dense population of old countries,
where a better organised police and laws suited to the community are in
full and efficient operation, both for the prevention and detection of
crime; but the employment of convicts on public works is not inseparable
from the question of allowing such people to become colonists; and
whoever desires to see the noble harbour of Sydney made the centre of a
flourishing country, extending from the tropic to the shores of the
Southern Ocean, rather than one only of several small settlements along
the coast, will not object to relieve the mother country by employing her
convicts even at a greater expense than they cost the colonists at
present. Thus the evil would in time cure itself by preparing the country
for such accessions of honest people from home as would reduce the
tainted portion of its inhabitants to a mere caput mortuum.
NECESSITY FOR CUTTING ROADS.
With a well arranged system of roads radiating from such a harbour even
the sandstone wastes, extensive though they be, might be overstepped and,
the good parts being connected by roads, the produce of the tropical and
temperate regions might then be brought to one common market.
PROPORTION OF GOOD AND BAD LAND.
Where there is so much unproductive surface the unavoidable dispersion of
population renders good lines of communication more essentially
necessary, and these must consist of roads, for there are neither
navigable rivers nor in general the means of forming canals. This colony
might thus extend northward to the tropic of Capricorn, westward to the
145th degree of east longitude, the southern portion having for
boundaries the Darling, the Murray and the seacoast. Throughout the
extensive territory thus bounded one-third, probably, consists of desert
interior plains; one-fourth of land available for pasturage or
cultivation; and the remainder of rocky mountain or impassable or
unproductive country. Perhaps the greater portion of really good land
within the whole extent will be found to the southward of the Murray, for
there the country consists chiefly of trap, granite, or limestone. The
amount of surface comprised in European kingdoms affords no criterion of
what may be necessary for the growth of a new people in Australia.
Extreme differences of soil, climate, and seasons may indeed be usefully
reconciled and rendered available to one community there; but this must
depend on ingenious adaptations aided by all the facilities man's art can
supply in the free occupation of a very extensive region. Agricultural
resources must ever be scanty and uncertain in a country where there is
so little moisture to nourish vegetation. We have seen, from the state of
the Darling where I last saw it, that all the surface water flowing from
the vast territory west of the dividing range, and extending north and
south between the Murray and the tropic, is insufficient to support the
current of one small river. The country southward of the Murray is not so
deficient in this respect for there the mountains are higher, the rocks
more varied, and the soil consequently better; while the vast extent of
open grassy downs seems just what was most necessary for the prosperity
of the present colonists and the encouragement of a greater emigration
from Europe.
DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIA FELIX.
Every variety of feature may be seen in these southern parts, from the
lofty alpine region on the east, to the low grassy plains in which it
terminates on the west. The Murray, perhaps the largest river in all
Australia, arises amongst those mountains, and receives in its course
various other rivers of considerable magnitude. These flow over extensive
plains in directions nearly parallel to the main stream, and thus
irrigate and fertilise a large extent of rich country. Falling from
mountains of great height, the current of these rivers is perpetual,
whereas in other parts of Australia the rivers are too often dried up and
seldom indeed deserve any other name than chains of ponds.
Hills of moderate elevation occupy the central country between the Murray
and the sea, being thinly or partially wooded and covered with the
richest pasturage. The lower country, both on the northern and southern
skirts of these hills, is chiefly open, slightly undulating towards the
coast on the south, and is in general well watered.
The grassy plains which extend northward from these thinly wooded hills
to the banks of the Murray are chequered by the channels of many streams
falling from them, and by the more permanent and extensive waters of deep
lagoons. These are numerous on the face of the plains near the river, as
if intended by a bounteous Providence to correct the deficiencies of too
dry a climate. An industrious and increasing people may always secure an
abundant supply by adopting artificial means to preserve it and, in
acting thus, they would only extend the natural plan according to their
wants. The fine climate is worthy of a little extra toil, especially in
those parts at a distance from the surplus waters of the large rivers,
and in places considered favourable in other respects either for the
rearing of cattle or for cultivation.
In the western portion small rivers radiate from the Grampians an
elevated and isolated mass presenting no impediment to a free
communication through the fine country around its base. Hence that
enormous labour necessary to obtain access to some parts, and for
crossing continuous ranges to reach others by passes like those so
essential to the prosperity of the present colony, might be in a great
degree dispensed with in that southern region.
Towards the south coast on the south and adjacent to the open downs
between the Grampians and Port Phillip, there is a low tract consisting
of very rich black soil, apparently the best imaginable for the
cultivation of grain in such a climate.
WOODS.
On parts of the low ridges of hills near Cape Nelson and Portland Bay are
forests of very large trees of stringybark, ironbark, and other useful
species of eucalyptus, much of which are probably destined yet to float
in vessels on the adjacent sea.
HARBOURS.
The character of the country behind Cape Northumberland affords fair
promise of a harbour in the shore to the westward. Such a port would
probably possess advantages over any other on the southern coast; for a
railroad thence, along the skirts of the level interior country, would
require but little artificial levelling and might extend to the tropical
regions or even beyond them, thus affording the means of expeditious
communication between all the fine districts on the interior side of the
coast ranges and a sea-port to the westward of Bass Strait.
THE MURRAY.
The Murray, fed by the lofty mountains on the east, carries to the sea a
body of fresh water sufficient to irrigate the whole country, which is in
general so level even to a great distance from its banks that the
abundant waters of the river might probably be turned into canals for the
purpose either of supplying deficiencies of natural irrigation at
particular places, or of affording the means of transport across the wide
plains.
The high mountains in the east have not yet been explored but their very
aspect is refreshing in a country where the summer heat is often very
oppressive. The land is in short open and available in its present state
for all the purposes of civilised man. We traversed it in two directions
with heavy carts, meeting no other obstruction than the softness of the
rich soil and, in returning over flowery plains and green hills fanned by
the breezes of early spring, I named this region Australia Felix, the
better to distinguish it from the parched deserts of the interior country
where we had wandered so unprofitably and so long.
This territory, still for the most part in a state of nature, presents a
fair blank sheet for any geographical arrangement whether of county
divisions, lines of communication, or sites of towns etc. etc. The growth
of a colony there might be trained according to one general system with a
view to various combinations of soil and climate and not left to chance
as in old countries or, which would perhaps be worse, to the partial or
narrow views of the first settlers. The plan of a whole state might be
arranged there like that of an edifice before the foundation is laid, and
a solid one seems necessary where a large superstructure is likely to be
built. The accompanying sketch of the limits which I would propose for
the colony of New South Wales is intended to show also how the
deficiencies of such a region might be compensated and the advantages
combined for the convenience and accommodation of a civilised and
industrious people. The rich pasture land beyond the mountains is already
connected by roads with the harbour of Sydney and the system, though not
complete, has been at least sufficiently carried into effect to justify
the preference of that town and port as a capital and common centre not
only for the roads, but for steam navigation around the coasts extending
in each direction about 900 miles. The coast country affords the best
prospects for the agriculturist, but the arable spots therein, being of
difficult access by land, his success would depend much on immediate
means of communication with Sydney by water and, on the facility his
position would thus afford of shipping his produce to neighbouring
colonies.*
(*Footnote. A new market for cattle and sheep has just opened on the
interior side by the establishment of the new colony of South Australia,
an event more fortunate for New South Wales than the most sanguine friend
of that colony could have foreseen. It is to be regretted however that
the colonists are so slow in availing themselves of such a market by the
direct line of road already traced by my wheels along the right banks of
the rivers Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Murray, by which flocks and herds
may be driven to the new colony without any danger of their wanting water
or the necessity for their crossing any rivers of importance.)
It would be establishing a lasting monument of the beneficial influence
of British power and colonisation thus to engraft a new and flourishing
state on a region now so desolate and unproductive; but this seems only
possible under very extensive arrangements and by such means as England
alone can supply:
"Here the great mistress of the seas is known,
By empires founded, not by states o'erthrown." Sydney Gazette, January 1,
1831.
MR. STAPYLTON'S REPORT.
Mr. Stapylton met no difficulty in following my track through Australia
Felix with heavy wheel-carriages and worn out cattle, as appears by his
own account of his progress in the following report, which he forwarded
to me on his arrival at the Murrumbidgee.
Camp near Guy's Station,
Murrumbidgee, November 11.
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that in compliance with your directions
of the 18th of September last I quitted the depot near Lake Repose on the
3rd of October, and that I arrived at this station today. Our journey
towards the located country has been most prosperous. On the 17th of
October I reached the Goulburn, the numerous streams which intercepted
our progress thither having been overcome with rapidity and excellent
management on the part of the bullock-drivers. On the 23rd of the same
month the three men whom you sent back to me from the Murray arrived at
our encampment on the left bank of the Goulburn, and on the 25th the
passage was effected across it without an accident of any kind
whatsoever. On the 30th we encamped on the right bank of the Swampy river
having been again successful in the transit of stores and cattle, and on
the 2nd of November the party was established on the right bank of the
King. Here we unfortunately lost one bullock, a weak and lame animal. On
the 4th of November I made the Murray, and on the 5th, the provision
party not being arrived, I directed that the boat, which we found in the
contiguous backwater, should be got afloat, and on the evening of that
day we took up our position on the right bank of the river; the cattle,
horses, and equipment having been passed across in safety and in a manner
highly creditable to all the men employed. The boat-carriage (which as
well as the boat appeared to have remained untouched by the natives) was
brought off on the following morning which being Sunday I halted. On the
7th I resumed our journey and arrived as above-mentioned, the cattle and
horses having been got safely over the Murrumbidgee the same afternoon. I
duly received your several communications numbers one, two, three and
four; your letter by McKane and that by Burnett. Turandurey has grown
enormously fat which should speak well of the care we had taken of her,
and to the best of my belief no improprieties with her as a female have
ever taken place. She was married last night to King Joey and she
proceeds with him to her friends. Having a superfluity of government
blankets I have taken the liberty of giving her one now and one formerly
at the last depot.
I have to acknowledge the receipt of the letter containing your
instructions of the 26th ultimo which was delivered to me by Overseer
Burnett on the 5th of this month, who arrived at the moment the first
boatload from the camp reached the opposite bank of the Murray. By means
of casks we floated the drays over the three rivers and, after two
experiments with a raft, both partial failures, and while a third raft
was in progress, of a more solid and better construction, we discovered
that a canoe, of very large dimensions and paddled by the native boy
Tommy, would prove the most expeditious as well as a safe mode of
shipment for the boxes of value, equipment, etc. I therefore caused a
canoe to be used for this purpose and it answered admirably. I have to
mention the loss of three of the cattle. One by death at the depot in
consequence of previous over-exertion, and two by accidents of a most
provoking and unlucky nature, but which could not have been foreseen or
prevented.
I have the honour to be, etc.
...
THE ABORIGINAL NATIVES.
This was one of the best proofs how valuable the services of the
aborigines who accompanied the party were to us on some occasions. They
could strip from a tree in a very short time a sheet of bark large enough
to form a canoe; and they could propel the light bark thus made through
the water with astonishing ease and swiftness. By this means alone most
of our effects were transported across broad rivers without an accident
even to any of my papers or dried plants.
TURANDUREY.
I was now anxious to convince them how much I appreciated that
assistance, but felt in some degree at a loss, especially in the case of
The Widow. It was therefore not the least satisfactory part of the
intelligence subsequently received from Mr. Stapylton that she was
married on her arrival to Joey, the King of the Murrumbidgee.
MY MODE OF COMMUNICATING WITH MR. STAPYLTON.
Mr. Stapylton had also received my several communications Numbers 1, 2,
3, and 4, which he dug from the earth at various camps; thus we had for
once eluded the keen eye of the aborigines in this kind of
correspondence, although on my first journey we had not been so
successful. My original plan on this expedition was to bury the letter
under the ashes of my fire; cutting at the same time a cross in the turf
where my tent had stood, as the mark by which Mr. Stapylton was to know
that something was so deposited. But I subsequently improved on this plan
and buried my letter in the centre of the cross by merely making a hole
with a stick in the soft earth where the turf had been cut and dropping
the letter into it.
SURVEY OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
In my instructions to Mr. Stapylton, sent by Burnett, I directed him to
survey the course of the Murrumbidgee upwards from Guy's station until he
connected our interior survey with the map of the colony. This he
accomplished by measuring to the junction of the Doomot, a river he had
himself previously surveyed. The direct distance between that junction
and the point at which we first arrived on the Murrumbidgee was
ascertained by Mr. Stapylton's measurement to be 34 3/4 miles, but
according to my map of the interior country 36 1/2 miles; making an error
of only 1 3/4 miles + or westward in a chain-measurement continued from
the station at Buree, where the journey commenced, to the Darling, thence
to the southern coast, and back to this point on the Murrumbidgee. The
measurement was checked by latitudes determined nightly from observations
of several stars, the difference between several amounting to a few
seconds only. I availed myself of trigonometrical measurements also with
a good theodolite wherever this was possible, in which case such a survey
engaged my whole attention, and my route was often directed according to
the position of good points.
METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
The meteorological journal was kept more carefully during this journey
than on the two preceding; and with the kind assistance of my friends
Captain King and Mr. Dunlop it affords, in some parts at least, materials
for comparing the atmospheric changes in the regions explored with those
occurring simultaneously on the eastern coast.
ARRIVAL OF THE EXPLORING PARTY AT SYDNEY.
It was long before the party arrived in Sydney for, when it reached the
Murrumbidgee and the apprehension of famine no longer existed, rest was
so necessary for the cattle that it was indulged in for their sake
chiefly, to an extent much beyond the wishes of the men. The oxen looked
tolerably well therefore when the party did reach Sydney, although from
so long a journey; and my men enjoyed at length the triumph among their
fellows, to which they had long looked forward, on conducting the boat
and boat-carriage safely once more into the yard of my office.
PIPER AND THE MEN REWARDED.
But Piper seemed to relish his share of triumph most, and certainly he
well deserved the kindness he met with on all sides. I clothed him in my
own red coat and I gave him also a cocked hat and feather which had once
belonged to Governor Darling. His portrait thus arrayed soon appeared in
the print shops; an ingenious artist (Mr. Fernyhough) having drawn his
likeness very accurately. Piper was just the sort of man to enjoy
superlatively all his newly acquired consequence. He carried his head
high for (as he now found) everybody knew him and not a few gave him
money. With these donations he purchased silk handkerchiefs and wore them
in his breast, gowns for his gins, for he at last had TWO, and to his
great credit he abstained from any indulgence in intoxication, looking
down, apparently with contempt, on those wretched specimens of his race
who lead a gipsy life about Sydney.
The men, after having been examined in my presence by the Council
composed of the governor, his secretary, and the bishop, respecting the
events of 27th May, were rewarded according to the standing and condition
of each. The government granted every indulgence I asked in their behalf.
Burnett, Muirhead, Woods, and Palmer obtained absolute pardons. Woods
receiving besides a gratuity of 10 pounds, and several, specially noticed
in my report, 5 pounds each. Those who had tickets of leave were rewarded
with conditional pardons, and tickets of leave were awarded to the rest
with one or two exceptions. Among those excluded was Drysdale, a most
trustworthy man and in whose behalf I was therefore much interested. He
had not been long enough in the colony to be entitled by the regulations
to any indulgence; and all I could do was to obtain for him a very
laborious place in the general hospital by holding which he avoided the
hulk.
Piper was impatient to return to his own country near Bathurst, and I
fulfilled all the conditions of my contract with him by allowing him an
old firelock, blankets, etc., decorating him also with a brass plate on
which he was styled not as usual "King," for he said there were "too many
kings already," but "Conqueror of the Interior"--surely a sufficient
passport for him among those most likely to read it, the good people of
Bathurst. But when he came to bid me farewell he was accompanied much
against his will by the murderer of Mr. Cunningham, Bureemal, who had
been placed under his protection by Mr. Ferguson to be conducted back to
his tribe. This fellow had grown so stout that I could perceive no
resemblance in him to the youth he appeared when captured by Lieutenant
Zouch, and he had acquired an impudent air very unlike that of other
natives. According to his own confession he had put Mr. Cunningham to
death in cold blood, and Mr. Ferguson had in return clothed and fed him
for one year, and taught him the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments.
THE TWO TOMMIES.
The two Tommies still remained to be provided for, and they were both
desirous of accompanying me to England. I had seriously intended to take
one with me but, so docile and so much attached to my service were both
of these youths, that I felt much difficulty in choosing between them.
Meanwhile they remained at Sydney while official cares and troubles so
thickened about me that I at length abandoned my intention, however
reluctantly and, when they were about to return at last to their own
country, I gave to each what clothes I could spare and they both shed
tears when they left my house. They were to travel through the colony
under the protection of Charles Hammond, one of my steadiest men who,
having obtained his freedom in reward for his services with me, was
proceeding towards Bathurst in charge of the teams of a Parcel Delivery
Company.
BALLANDELLA.
The little Ballandella, child of The Widow, was a welcome stranger to my
children among whom she remained and seemed to adopt the habits of
domestic life con amore, evincing a degree of aptness which promised very
favourably. The great expense of the passage home of a large family
obliged me at last to leave her at Sydney under the care of my friend Dr.
Nicholson who kindly undertook the superintendence of her education
during my absence in England.
CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES OF THE INTERIOR.
My experience enables me to speak in the most favourable terms of the
aborigines whose degraded position in the midst of the white population
affords no just criterion of their merits. The quickness of apprehension
of those in the interior was very remarkable, for nothing in all the
complicated adaptations we carried with us either surprised or puzzled
them. They are never awkward, on the contrary in manners and general
intelligence they appear superior to any class of white rustics that I
have seen.
LANGUAGE.
Their powers of mimicry seem extraordinary, and their shrewdness shines
even through the medium of imperfect language and renders them in general
very agreeable companions.
On comparing a vocabulary of the language spoken by the natives on the
Darling with other vocabularies obtained by various persons on different
parts of the coast I found a striking similarity in eight words, and it
appears singular that all these words should apply to different parts of
the human body. I could discover no term in equally general use for any
other object as common as the parts of the body, such for instance as the
sun, moon, water, earth, etc. By the accompanying list of words used at
different places to express the same meaning,* it is obvious that those
to which I have alluded are common to the natives both in the
south-eastern and south-western portions of Australia; while no such
resemblance can be traced between these words and any in the language
spoken by natives on the northern coast. Now from this greater uniformity
of language prevailing throughout the length of this large island, and
the entire difference at much less distance latitudinally, it may perhaps
be inferred that the causes of change in the dialect of the aborigines
have been more active on the northern portion of Australia than
throughout the whole extent from east to west. The uniformity of dialect
prevailing along the whole southern shore seems a fact worthy of notice
as connected with any question respecting the origin of the language, and
whether other people or dialects have been subsequently introduced from
the northern or terrestrial portion of the globe. These words although
few may be useful to philologists as specimens of the general language
and, as the names of parts of the body can be obtained by travellers from
men the most savage by only pointing to each part, comparisons may be
thus extended to the natives of other shores.
(*Footnote. See Appendix 2.1)
I am not aware that any affinity has been discovered, at least in single
words, between the Australian language and that of the Polynesian
people;* but with very slight means of comparison I may perhaps be
excused for noticing the resemblance of Murroa, the name of the only
volcanic crater as yet found in Australia to Mouna-roa, the volcano of
the Sandwich Islands; and that tao, the name of the small yam or root
eaten by Australians, is similar to taro, the name of thirty-three
varieties of edible root and having the same meaning in the Friendly and
Society Isles and also in the Sandwich Islands. (See Cook's Voyages and
Polynesian Researches by William Ellis.)
(*Footnote. Mr. Threlkeld has detected in it a similarity of idiom to the
languages of the South Sea islanders and the peculiarity of a dual number
common to all. See his Australian Grammar, Sydney 1834.)
HABITS OF THOSE OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND THE SAME.
The natives of Van Diemen's Land, the only inhabited region south of
Australia, are said to have been as dark as the negro race and to have
had woolly hair like them. Little is known of the language and character
of the unfortunate Tasmanian aborigines, and this is the more to be
regretted considering how useful a better knowledge of either might have
been in tracing the progressive extension of the Australasian people. The
prevailing opinion at present is that the natives of Van Diemen's Land
were also much more ferocious than the natives of Australia. But, brief
as the existence of these islanders has been on the page of history,
these characteristics are very much at variance with the descriptions we
have of the savages seen by the earliest European visitors, and
especially by Captain Cook who thus describes those he saw at Adventure
Bay in 1777: "Their colour is a dull black, and not quite so deep as that
of the African negroes. It should seem also that they sometimes heighten
their black colour by smoking their bodies, as a mark was left behind on
any clean substance, such as white paper, when they handled it." Captain
Cook then proceeds to describe the hair as being woolly, but all the
other particulars of that description are identical with the
peculiarities of Australian natives; and Captain King stated, according
to the editor of the Northern Voyage of Cook, that "Captain Cook was very
unwilling to allow that the hair of the natives seen in Adventure Bay WAS
woolly." The hair of the natives we saw in the interior and especially of
the females had a very frizzled appearance and never grew long; and I
should rather consider the hair of the natives of Tasmania as differing
in degree only from the frizzled hair of those of Australia.
HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABORIGINES.
Instead of the ferocious character latterly attributed to the natives of
Van Diemen's Land we find on the contrary that Captain Cook describes
them as having "little of that fierce or wild appearance common to people
in their situation;" and a historian* draws a comparison, also in their
favour, between them and the natives of Botany Bay, of whom THREE stood
forward to oppose Captain Cook at his first landing. The ferocity
subsequently displayed by natives of Van Diemen's Land cannot fairly be
attributed to them therefore as characteristic of their race, at least
until extirpation stared them in the face and excited them to acts of
desperate vengeance against all white intruders.
(*Footnote. The History of New Holland by the Right Honourable William
Eden, 1787 page 99.)
The habits and customs of the aboriginal inhabitants are remarkably
similar throughout the wide extent of Australia, and appear to have been
equally characteristic of those of Van Diemen's Land: geological evidence
also leads us to suppose that this island has not always been separated
from the mainland by Bass Strait. The resemblance of the natives of Van
Diemen's Land to those of Northern Australia seemed indeed so perfect
that the first discoverers considered them "as well as the kangaroo, only
stragglers from the more northern parts of the country;" and as they had
no canoes fit to cross the sea, that New Holland, as it was then termed,
"was nowhere divided into islands, as some had supposed."
TEMPORARY HUTS. MODE OF CLIMBING TREES.
Their mode of life, as exhibited in the temporary huts made of boughs,
bark, or grass,* and of climbing trees to procure the opossum by cutting
notches in the bark, alternately with each hand as they ascend, prevails
not only from shore to shore in Australia but is so exactly similar in
Van Diemen's Land and at the same time so uncommon elsewhere that Tasman,
the first discoverer of that island, concluded "that the natives either
were of an extraordinary size, from the steps having been five feet
asunder or THAT THEY HAD SOME METHOD which he could not conceive of
climbing trees by the help of such steps." It is strong presumptive
evidence therefore of the connection of the inhabitants of Van Diemen's
Land with the race in Australia that a method of climbing trees, now so
well known as peculiar to the natives of Australia, should have been
equally characteristic of those of Tasmania. The notches made in climbing
trees are cut by means of a small stone hatchet and, as already observed,
with each hand alternately. By long practice a native can support himself
with his toes on very small notches, not only in climbing but while he
cuts other notches, necessary for his further ascent, with one hand, the
other arm embracing the tree. The elasticity and lightness of the simple
handle of the mogo or stone hatchet employed (see Figure 5 above) are
well adapted to the weight of the head and assist the blow necessary to
cut the thick bark with an edge of stone. As the natives live chiefly on
the opossum, which they find in the hollow trunk or upper branches of
tall trees and, as they never ascend by old notches but always cut new
ones, such marks are very common in the woods; and on my journeys in the
interior I knew, by their being in a recent state, when I was approaching
a tribe; or when they were not quite recent how long it was since the
natives had been in such parts of the woods; whether they had any iron
hatchets or used still those of stone only; etc.
(*Footnote. Many usages of these rude people much resemble those of the
wandering Arabs. Dr. Pococke mentions some open huts made of boughs
raised about three feet above the ground which he found near St. John
D'Acre. He observes: "These materials are of so perishing a nature, and
trees and reeds and bushes are so very scarce in some places that one
would wonder they should not all accommodate themselves with tents but we
find they do not in fact." Volume 2 page 158. "And that they should
publish and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem saying, Go
forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches and pine branches and
myrtle branches and palm branches and branches of thick trees to make
booths as it is written." Nehemiah 8:15.)
REMARKABLE CUSTOMS.
The men wear girdles usually made of the wool of the opossum, and a sort
of tail of the same material is appended to this girdle, both before and
behind, and seems to be the only part of their costume suggested by any
ideas of decency. The girdle answers besides the important purpose of
supporting the lower viscera, and seems to have been found necessary for
the human frame by almost all savages.
CHARMED STONES. FEMALES EXCLUDED FROM SUPERSTITIOUS RITES.
In these girdles the men, and especially their coradjes or priests,
frequently carry crystals of quartz or other shining stones, which they
hold in high estimation and very unwillingly show to anyone, taking care
when they do that no woman shall see them.*
(*Footnote. Genesis 28:18. "From this conduct of Jacob and this Hebrew
appellative, the learned Bochart, with great ingenuity and reason,
insists that the name and veneration of the sacred stones called Baetyli,
so celebrated in all Pagan antiquity, were derived. These baetyli were
stones of a round form, they were supposed to be animated, by means of
magical incantations, with a portion of the Deity; they were consulted on
occasions of great and pressing emergency, as a kind of divine oracles,
and were suspended either round the neck or some other part of the body."
Burder's Oriental Customs volume 1 page 40.)
BANDAGE OR FILLET AROUND THE TEMPLES.
The natives wear a neatly wrought bandage or fillet round the head and
whiten it with pipe-clay as a soldier cleans his belts.* They also wear
one of a red colour under it. The custom is so general, without obvious
utility, at least when the hair is short, that we may suppose it is also
connected with some superstition.
(*Footnote. See illustration Cambo Volume 1.)
STRIKING OUT THE TOOTH.
But still more remarkable is the practice of striking out one of the
front teeth at the age of puberty, a custom observed both on the coast
and as far as I penetrated in the interior. On the western coast also
Dampier observed that the two fore-teeth were wanting in all the men and
women he saw. According to Piper certain rites belong to this strange
custom. The young men retire from the tribe to solitary places, there to
mourn and abstain from animal food for many days previous to their being
subjected to this mutilation. The tooth is not drawn but knocked out by
an old man, or coradje, with a wooden chisel, struck forcibly and so as
to break it. It would be very difficult to account for a custom so
general and also so absurd, otherwise than by supposing it a typical
sacrifice, probably derived from early sacrificial rites. The cutting off
of the last joint of the little finger of females seems a custom of the
same kind; also boring the cartilage between the nostrils in both sexes
and wearing therein, when danger is apprehended, a small bone or piece of
reed.*
(*Footnote. The aborigines of Australia seem to resemble more, although
at so great a distance, those of the Sandwich Islands than the natives of
any other of the numerous isles so much nearer to them. According to Cook
this strange custom of striking out the teeth prevails also there. "The
knocking out their fore teeth," says that navigator, "may be, with
propriety, classed among their religious customs. Most of the common
people and many of the chiefs had lost one or more of them; and this we
understood was considered as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Eatooa to
avert his anger; and not like the cutting off a part of the finger at the
Friendly Islands to express the violence of their grief at the death of a
friend." Cook's Voyage.)
PAINTING WITH RED.
To paint the body red seems also a custom of the natives in all parts
that I have visited: but the most constant use of colours both white and
red appears on the narrow shield or hieleman (see below) which is seldom
to be found without some vestiges of both colours about the carving with
which they are also ornamented.*
(*Footnote. "A German pays no attention to the ornament of his person;
his shield is the object of his care; and this he decorates with the
liveliest colours." Tacitus de Mor. Germ. c.6.)
RAISED SCARS ON ARMS AND BREAST.
The "large punctures or ridges raised on different parts of their bodies,
some in straight and others in curved lines" distinguish the Australian
natives wherever they have been yet seen and, in describing these raised
scars, I have quoted the words of Captain Cook as the most descriptive
although having reference to the natives of Adventure Bay, in one of the
most southern isles of Van Diemen's Land, when first seen in 1777.
CUTTING THEMSELVES IN MOURNING.
It is also customary for both men and women to cut themselves in mourning
for relations. I have seen old women in particular bleeding about the
temples from such self-inflicted wounds.*
(*Footnote. "We often read of people cutting themselves, in Holy Writ,
when in great anguish; but we are not commonly told what part they
wounded. The modern Arabs, it seems, gash their arms which with them are
often bare: it appears from a passage of Jeremiah that the ancients
wounded themselves in the same part, 'Every head shall be bald, and every
beard clipt; upon all hands shall be cuttings and upon the loins
sackcloth.' Chapter 48:37." Harmer volume 4 page 436.)
AUTHORITY OF OLD MEN.
Respect for age is universal among the aborigines. Old men, and even old
women, exercise great authority among assembled tribes and "rule the big
war" with their voices when both spears and boomerangs are ready to be
thrown.* Young men are admitted into the order of the seniors according
to certain rites which their coradjes, or priests, have the sagacity to
keep secret and render mysterious.
(*Footnote. Leviticus 19:32. "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head,
and honour the face of the old man." The Lacedemonians had a law that
aged persons should be reverenced like fathers. See also Homer Iliad
15:204 et 23:788. Odyss. 13:141.)
LAW AGAINST EATING EMU FLESH.
No young men are allowed to eat the flesh or eggs of the emu, a kind of
luxury which is thus reserved exclusively for the old men and the women.
I understood from Piper, who abstained from eating emu when food was very
scarce, that the ceremony necessary in this case consisted chiefly in
being rubbed all over with emu fat by an old man. Richardson, one of our
party, was an old man and Piper reluctantly allowed himself to be rubbed
with emu fat by Richardson; but from that time he had no objection to eat
the flesh of that bird. The threatened penalty was that young men, after
eating it, would be afflicted with sores all over the body.
NATIVE DOGS.
The native dog, so common in Australia, is not found in Tasmania; while
on the other hand two animals, the Dasyurus ursinus and Thylacynus, exist
in Tasmania but have not been found hitherto in Australia. Have these
been extirpated in Australia by the dog on his introduction subsequently
to the opening of the straits? It may be observed that this is the more
likely as the above-mentioned species found in Van Diemen's Land only,
consist of those two unable to climb and avoid such an enemy. The
Australian natives evince great humanity in their behaviour to these
dogs. In the interior we saw few natives who were not followed by some of
these animals, although they did not appear of much use to them. The
women not unfrequently suckle the young pups and so bring them up, but
these are always miserably thin so that we knew a native's dog from a
wild one by the starved appearance of the former. The howl of a native
dog in the desert wilds is the most melancholy sound imaginable, much
resembling that of a tame dog when he has lost his master. We find no
remains of this genus among the fossils and it seems therefore probable
that the dog accompanied the native, wherever he came from.
FEMALES CARRYING CHILDREN.
We trace a further resemblance between this rude people and the orientals
in their common method of carrying children on their shoulders; and the
sketch of Turandurey with Ballandella so mounted (Plate 24) affords the
best illustration of a passage in Scripture which has very much puzzled
commentators.* But the savage tribes of mankind as they approach nearer
to the condition of animals seem to preserve a stronger resemblance to
themselves and to each other. The uniform stability of their manners
seems a natural consequence of the uncultivated state of their faculties;
and it is satisfactory to discover such direct illustrations of ancient
history among these rude and primitive specimens of our race.
(*Footnote. "Was the custom anciently the reverse of this? So it might be
imagined from Isaiah 49:22. 'They shall bring thy sons in their arms and
thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders'"! Harmer's Oriental
Customs.)
WEAPONS. THE SPEAR. WOOMERA.
The weapons used by the natives are not more remarkable and peculiar in
their construction than general in their use on every shore of New
Holland. The spear is thrown by means of a woomera which is a slight rod
about three feet long having at one end a niche to receive the end of the
spear. The missile is shot forward by this means with great force and
accuracy of direction; for by the peculiar method of throwing the spear
the woomera affords a great additional impetus from this most ingenious
lengthening of the arm to that extent.*
(*Footnote. For the shape of the woomera see Moyengully Plate 49 above;
and the manner of throwing the spear may be seen in Plate 8 Volume 1.)
THE BOOMERANG. ITS PROBABLE ORIGIN.
The boomerang, a thin curved missile, can be thrown by a skilful hand so
as to rise upon the air and thus to deviate from the ordinary path of
projectiles, its crooked course being nevertheless equally under control.
It is of the form here represented, being about two feet four inches
long. These weapons are cut according to the grain from the curved parts
of acacia or other standing trees of compact hard wood. They usually
weigh about 9 1/2 ounces. One side, which is the uppermost in throwing,
is slightly convex, and is sometimes elaborately carved. The lower side
is flat and plain. The boomerang is held, not as a sabre, but
sickle-wise, or concave towards the thrower and, as a rotatory motion is
imparted to it when sent off, the air presents so much resistance to the
flat side and so little to the sharp edge as it cuts forward, that the
long-sustained flight of the whirling missile seems independent of the
common effect of gravitation.
The native, from long practice, can do astonishing things with this
weapon. He seems to determine with great certainty what its crooked and
distant flight shall be, and how and where it is to end. Thus he
frequently amuses himself in hurling the formidable weapon to astonishing
heights and distances from one spot to which the missile returns to fall
beside him. Sometimes the earth is made a fulcrum to which the boomerang
descends only to resume a longer and more sustained flight, or to leap,
perhaps, over a tree and strike an object behind it.
The contrivance probably originated in the utility of such a missile for
the purpose of killing ducks where they are very numerous, as on the
interior rivers and lagoons and where, accordingly, we find it much more
in use than on the seacoast and better made, being often covered with
good carving.* (See Cambo, Volume 1, also small figures in Plate 28
above.)
(*Footnote. That Dampier saw this weapon also on the western coast in
latitude 16 degrees 50 minutes is evident from the following observation.
"These swords were afterwards found to be made of wood and rudely shaped
something like a cutlass.")
SHIELD OR HIELEMAN.
There is also much originality in the shield or hieleman of these people.
It is merely a piece of wood of little thickness and 2 feet 8 inches
long, tapering to each end, cut to an edge outwards and having a handle
or hole in the middle behind the thickest part. This is made of light
wood and affords protection from missiles, chiefly by the facility with
which it is turned round the centre or handle.
SKILL IN APPROACHING THE KANGAROO.
Great ingenuity is necessary and is as cleverly practised by the natives
in approaching the kangaroo. This they display in creeping, stalking with
bushes, advancing behind trees, etc. and to such a degree are their wits
sharpened by their appetites that they can even distinguish when the
kangaroo kills a fly; and they consider in their proceedings, from the
habit of the kangaroo to kill flies and smell the blood, whether the
animal may discover from the blood the fly contains that men are near.
FOOD OF THE NATIVES. MODES OF COOKING.
The natives are accustomed to cook such animals by digging a hole in the
ground, making a fire in it, and heating the stones found about. The
kangaroo is placed in this hole with the skin on, and is covered with
heated embers or warm stones.
OPOSSUM. SINGEING.
The opossum which constitutes the more ordinary food of the native is not
cooked so much, but only singed, so as to have a flavour of the singed
wool; but it is nevertheless palatable enough even to a white man.
VEGETABLE FOOD. THE SHOVEL.
The young natives of the interior usually carry a small wooden shovel
(see foreground figure, Plate 12 Volume 1) with one end of which they dig
up different roots, and with the other break into the large anthills for
the larvae, which they eat: the labour necessary to obtain a mouthful
even, of such indifferent food, being thus really more than would be
sufficient for the cultivation of the earth according to the more
provident arrangements of civilised men. Yet in a land affording such
meagre support the Australian savage is not a cannibal: while the New
Zealander, who inhabits a much more productive region, notoriously feasts
on human flesh.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
Were it expedient to enter here into further details, or upon a longer
description of the natives of Australia, I might quote largely from
Captain Cook's account of those he saw at Adventure Bay, Van Diemen's
Land, as being more detailed and descriptive, both of the natives in the
interior, and of those also around the whole circumference of Australia,
than any I could give. In the descriptions by Dampier and other
navigators who have touched on any part of these shores we recognise the
same natives with all their characteristics, and are led to conclude that
they are derived from the same stock and, as the judicious compiler of
the first History of New Holland considered it most probable from this
and other circumstances "that the number is small, and that the interior
parts of the country are inhabited,"* I may observe that I have had no
reason to entertain a contrary opinion from what I saw of the interior
country beyond the Darling. The native population is very thinly spread
over the regions I have explored, amounting to nearly a seventh part of
Australia. I cannot estimate the number at more than 6000; but on the
contrary I believe it to be considerably less. They may increase rapidly
if wild cattle become numerous; and as an instance I may refer to the
number and good appearance of the Cudjallagong tribe near Macquarie range
where they occasionally fell in with a herd of wild cattle.
(*Footnote. History of New Holland pages 31 and 232.)
DESTRUCTION OF THE KANGAROO.
The kangaroo disappears from cattle runs, and is also killed by stockmen
merely for the sake of the skin; but no mercy is shown to the natives who
may help themselves to a bullock or a sheep. Such a state of things must
infallibly lead to the extirpation of the aboriginal natives, as in Van
Diemen's Land, unless timely measures are taken for their civilisation
and protection. I have heard some affecting allusions made by natives to
the white men's killing the kangaroo. At present almost every stockman
has several strong kangaroo dogs; now it would be only an act of justice
towards the aborigines to prohibit white men by law from killing these
creatures which are as essential to the natives as cattle are to the
Europeans. The prohibition would be at least a proof of the disposition
of the strangers to act as humanely as they possibly could towards the
natives. If wild cattle on the contrary become numerous the natives also
might increase in number and, if not civilised and instructed now, might
become formidable and implacable enemies then, as no absolute right to
kill even wild cattle would be conceded to them. The evils likely to
result from such circumstances were apparent both in the commencement and
termination of my first journey; but although the desert character of the
interior renders such a state of things less likely to happen, at least
on a larger scale, the unfortunate race whom we have found on the shores
of Australia are not the less entitled to our protection.
CIVILISATION OF THE ABORIGINES.
Some adequate provision for their civilisation and maintenance is due on
our part to this race of men, were it only in return for the means of
existence of which we are depriving them. The bad example of the class of
persons sent to Australia should be counteracted by some serious efforts
to civilise and instruct these aboriginal inhabitants. That they are
capable of civilisation and instruction has been proved recently in the
case of a number who were sentenced for some offence to be confined with
a chaingang on Goat Island in Sydney harbour. By the exertions of Mr.
Ferguson, who was I believe a missionary gentleman, these men were taught
in five months to read tolerably well, and also to explain in English the
meaning of the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments. During that time they
had been initiated in the craft of stone-cutting and building so as to
completely erect a small house. They grew fat and muscular and appeared
really stronger men, when well fed, than the white convicts.
The natives have also proved very good shepherds when any of them have
been induced, by proper encouragement and protection, to take charge of a
flock. Tommy Came-first, one of the lads who travelled with me, had
previously tended sheep for a year and had given great satisfaction.
My experiment with the little native girl, Ballandella, will be useful I
trust in developing hereafter the mental energies of the Australian
aborigines for, by the last accounts from Sydney, I am informed that she
reads as well as any white child of the same age.