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.