If we take our departure from Adelaide by the great Northern Road, we shall have to travel 25 miles over the plains, keeping the Mount Lofty Range at greater and less distances on our right, the plains extending in varying breadth to the westward, ere we can pull up at Calton's Hotel in Gawler Town, where, nevertheless, we should find every necessary both for ourselves and our horses.
That township, the first and most promising on the Northern Road, is, as I have stated, 25 miles from Adelaide; and occupies the angle formed by the junction of the Little Para and the Gawler Rivers; the one coming from south-east, and the other from north-north-east; the traveller approaching from the south therefore, would have to cross the first of these little streams before he can enter the town.
Still, in its infancy, Gawler Town will eventually be a place of considerable importance. Through it all the traffic of the north must necessarily pass, and here, it appears to me, will be the great markets for the sale or purchase of stock. From its junction with the Little Para, the Gawler flows to the westward to the shores of St. Vincent's Gulf. It has extensive and well wooded flats of deep alluvial soil along its banks, flanked by the plains of Adelaide--the river line of trees running across them, only with a broader belt of wood, just as the line of trees near Adelaide indicates the course of that river. If I except these features, and two or three open box-tree forests at no great distance from Albert Town, the plains are almost destitute of timber, and being very level, give an idea of extent they do not really possess, being succeeded by pine forests and low scrub to the north from Gawler Town.
The Gawler discharges itself into a deep channel or inlet, which, like the creek at Port Adelaide, has mangrove swamps on either side; still the inlet is capable of great improvement, and the anchorage at its mouth, so high up the gulf is safe, and if it were only for the shipment of goods, for tran-shipment at Port Adelaide, Port Gawler as it is called, would be of no mean utility, but it is probable that ships might take in cargo at once, in which case it would be to the interest of the northern settlers to establish a port there. Captain Allen and Mr. Ellis, two of the most independent settlers in the province, are the possessors of the land on both sides the Gawler, and I feel confident it is a property that will greatly increase in value. The alluvial flats along this little stream, are richer and more extensive than those of the Torrens, and they seem to me to be calculated for the production of many things that would be less successfully cultivated in any other part of the province. Apart, however, from any advantages Gawler Town may derive from the facilities of water communication, it will necessarily be in direct communication with Port Adelaide, as soon as a road is made between them. At present the drays conveying the ore and other exports are obliged to keep the great northern line to within a few miles of the city, before they turn off almost at a right angle to the Port; but there can be no doubt as to the formation of a direct line of communication with the Port from Gawler Town, if not of the establishment of a railway, ere many years shall elapse, for not only are the principal stock stations of the province, but the more valuable mines to the north of this town.
Up to this point the traveller does not quit the plains of Adelaide, the Mount Lofty Range being to the eastward of him and the plains, bounded by the mangrove swamps extending towards St. Vincent's Gulf. Generally speaking, for their extent the soil is not good, but there are patches of alluvial soil, the deposits of creeks falling from the hills, that are rich and fertile. Yet, notwithstanding the quality of the soil, a great portion of the Adelaide plains have been purchased and are under cultivation. There is a great deficiency of surface water upon them, but it is procurable by digging wells; and Mr. Ellis I believe has rendered those parts of them contiguous to the Gawler available as sheep stations, by sinking wells for the convenience of his men and stock; neither can there be a doubt but that many other apparently unavailable parts of the province might be rendered available by the adoption of similar means, or by the construction of tanks in favourable situations.
This is a point it is impossible to urge too much on the attention of the Australian stock holder. There is generally speaking a deficiency of water in those Colonies, and large tracts of country favourable to stock are unoccupied in consequence, but the present liberal conditions on which leases of Crown lands are granted will make it worth the sheep farmer's while to make those improvements which shall so conduce to his prosperity and comfort.
In proof of this, I would observe that I had several capacious tanks on my property at Varroville, near Sydney, for which I was indebted to Mr. Wells the former proprietor, and not only did they enable me to retain a large quantity of stock on my farm, when during a season of unmitigated drought my neighbours were obliged to drive their cattle to distant parts of the Colony--but I allowed several poor families to draw their supplies from, and to water some of their cattle at my reservoirs.
Beyond Gawler Town the country changes in character and appearance, whether you continue the northern road across the river, or turn more to the eastward, you leave the monotonous plain on which you have journeyed behind, and speedily advance into an undulating hilly country, lightly wooded withal, and containing many very rich, if not beautiful valleys. The Barossa Range and the districts round it are exceedingly pretty. Here, at Bethany, the Germans who have fled from the religious persecution to which they were exposed in their own country have settled, and given the names of several places in their Fatherland to the features around them. The Keizerstuhl rises the highest point in the Barossa Range, the outline of which is really beautiful, and the Rhine that issues from its deep and secluded valleys flows northwards through their lands.
In this neighbourhood Mr. Angas has a valuable property, as also the South Australian Company. Angas Park is a place of great picturesque beauty, and is capable of being made as ornamental as any nobleman's estate in England. The direct road to the Murray River passes through Angas Park, but a more northerly course leads the traveller past the first of those valuable properties to which South Australia is mainly indebted for her present prosperous state. I mean the copper mines of Kapunda, the property of Captain Bagot, who, with Mr. Francis Dutton, became the discoverer and purchaser of the ground on which the principal lode has been ascertained to exist. There has been a large quantity of mineral land sold round this valuable locality, but although indications of copper are everywhere to be seen, no quantity sufficiently great to justify working had I believe been found up to the time I left the Colony. As however I shall have to give a more detailed account of the mines of South Aust ralia, it may not be necessary for me to speak of them at length in this place.
Captain Bagot is anxious to establish a township in the vicinity of Kapunda, and he will no doubt succeed, the very concourse of people round such a place being favourable to his views.