The natives’ names of that part of the country where the stations are situated have been retained; the distance in miles is nominal.
The family at Darbylara are generally industriously employed in making butter and cheese, which is taken to Sydney for sale: they possess numerous herds of cattle, and the luxuriant pasturage about the farm fattens and enables the milch cows to furnish abundance of milk. From the industry displayed by this family, they deserve to realize an independence from their exertions. Formerly flocks of sheep were kept about the farm; but from great losses being sustained among them, from a morbid propensity of destroying their progeny, they were given up, and more attention paid to this as a dairy farm, for which purpose no land could be better selected.
CHAPTER XVI.
Flocks of pelicans and grey parrots—Arrive at Jugiong—A busy scene—The harvest—Quails and Hawks—Mr. Hume’s farm—Domestic life among the settlers—Miss my way in the forest—Mr. Reddal’s farm—Disease called the Black Leg—Mr. Bradley’s residence at Lansdowne Park—Drooping manna trees—Christmas festival—Mr. F. M’Arthur’s farm—Aboriginal tribes—Native costume—Noisy revelry—Wild ducks and pigeons—Spiders.
On leaving Darbylara, I proceeded to Jugiong by a different road from that by which I came, keeping near the Murrumbidgee river during the journey. Occasionally a flock of pelicans (“Guligalle” of the natives) were seen: this species has black and white plumage; the back and upper part of the wings being black, the remainder of the body white, with the bill and legs of a yellowish colour. Black swans (“Guniock” of the aborigines) were also seen; and among others of the “plumy tribe” that enlivened the scenery, were flocks of grey parrots, and several other species of the same tribe; the bell-bird, razor-grinder, and coach-whip birds, were also occasionally seen or heard; the latter well named from its peculiar note, which accurately resembles the cracking of a whip. In the vicinity of this noble stream the scenery was beautiful; rich and luxuriant pasturage abounded, and the country had a cheerful and animated appearance. The river, during its course, occasionally forms pretty cascades, by falling over huge rocks that oppose its current.
After riding four miles, a station belonging to Mr. Kennedy, called Kurongullen, gullen, was seen on the opposite side of the river; about a mile further distant, Mr. Lupton’s station of Guberolong was passed; and a further ride of eight miles, through a fertile picturesque country, brought me to Bulbábuck, a station the property of Mr. Henry O’Brien, where the men were busily occupied in cutting some fine fields of wheat. In the evening I reached Jugiong, and on the following day (10th December) arrived at Yas Plains.
This was the busy season with the settlers, being both the wool and grain harvest. Shearing had commenced some time before; but many who had numerous flocks were still engaged in that profitable occupation; the packing, sorting, screwing, and sewing in bales, occupying much time; wool being the staple article of the colony, and forming the principal riches of the settler. It is interesting for a stranger visiting the country at this period to view the processes of washing and shearing the animals—sorting, pressing, and packing the wool;—to often hear the terms of short and long staple wool, and to see the specimens of it arranged in small locks, showing the different degrees of fineness. If the shearing season is deferred, various grass seeds get into the wool, particularly those of the Anthisteria Australis, or kangaroo grass, one of the most abundant perhaps of the native grasses, frequently not only injuring the fleece, but, aided by its awns, penetrating even to the skin of the sheep. The Australian climate is admirably calculated for wool growing; the improvement of the fleeces during the late years, and the assorting of the wool by competent persons educated for the purpose in Germany, have produced for it so high a character in the London market, that the quantity exported from the colony is now great, and annually increasing: many of the settlers sell their wool to buyers in the colony, who speculate upon it, while others send it direct to agents in England.
The golden harvest also increases the business of the settler, usually occurring at the same time with the wool season, and the fields of grain around the scattered habitations render the scenery extremely rich. The prospect of the harvest this season was favourable both for its abundance and quality, although in some crops smut prevailed, the most were entirely free from it. It is a curious circumstance that self-sown wheat never smuts; that early sown is said to have little or none, and the wheat never smuts but when in blossom. I saw at one farm an ear of wheat from one of the fields, one side of which bore fine, healthy, and full grains, whilst the opposite side was entirely destroyed by smut. Wheat appears to suffer most. At one of the stations in the Tumat country the wheat suffered from smut, whilst barley and rye were perfectly free from it; and finer crops of the latter grain had never been seen. There are, I understand, many kinds of wheat that never suffer from smut in the colony; why are they not then sown in preference? The plan of trying different kinds of wheat and other grain, from various parts of the world, is worthy of attention, and would no doubt eventually confer much benefit, and add to the resources of the colony. There is a grain which the settlers have lately commenced to cultivate, called the “skinless oat,” said to be brought from China, that yields greater returns than the usually cultivated kind.