However, the assurance of the superintendence of Divine Providence may check all misgivings; and under this wholesome persuasion we may proceed to consider the present condition of that country, which has been recently settled and civilized on the eastern coast of New Holland, and which is known by the name of New South Wales. It is manifestly impossible, in describing a territory like this, continually increasing and enlarging itself, whilst at the same time much of the country already within its bounds is barren and almost unknown, to maintain that accuracy which we are accustomed to find in descriptions of the counties or districts of our own well-defined and cultivated island. Yet, in New South Wales, as in Great Britain, the territory is divided into counties, and occasionally into parishes; and it may serve to give the reader a general idea of the whole country, if each of these former divisions is briefly noticed.
The county called Cumberland is the most populous and important, although by no means the most fertile, in the whole province. It contains the capital, Sydney, and the thriving towns of Paramatta, Liverpool, Windsor, Richmond, &c.; so that in population it far exceeds all the others. It is described as an undulating plain, extending from north to south about fifty-three miles, and in breadth from the sea to the base of the Blue Mountains, upwards of forty miles. The coast is generally bold and rocky, and to the distance of a few miles inland the soil is a poor sandstone, and the country looks bleak and barren; further from the sea its appearance improves, an undulating country extends itself to the width of about ten miles, and this district, where it has been left in its natural state, has the appearance of a noble forest, but, although partially cultivated, the soil still continues poor, for it rests upon a foundation of sandstone. Beyond this, the soil becomes better, the trees are less numerous, the herbage more luxuriant, the scenery beautifully varied, the hills are generally more fertile than the valleys, and the farms and cultivated spots are very numerous. In the valleys of the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers, the richness of the soil is very great, and the plains are extensive. One great evil, the scarcity of good water, has been very much felt in this country, but it is expected that by boring, the deficiency may be supplied. The coast of Cumberland is broken and indented by many creeks or inlets, the most remarkable of which is the noble harbour of Port Jackson. The county of Cumberland is said to contain about 900,000 acres, of which not more than one-third is fit for cultivation, and all the good land in it has been long since granted away. Unfortunately, that part of the country which is most fertile and preferable, is the very part where scarcely any natural springs are to be found, for, although these are abundant on the coast, and in the sandstone country, beyond that line they are rarely met with; and, since the tides flow to a considerable distance up all the rivers, the water of these is in many parts of the district brackish and unfit for use; besides which, in the summer-time, the smaller streams become dry, or dwindle down into mere chains of ponds, barely sufficient to supply the wants of the cattle.
The next county to the southward of Cumberland is named Camden, which continues the line of coast, extending itself about sixty-six miles in length, and being in breadth, towards the interior, about fifty-five miles. This is a more mountainous district than Cumberland, and abounds in lofty timber, but, nevertheless, there are several large tracts of great fertility contained within its limits. The district called Illawarra, or the Five Islands, and that of the Cow Pastures, are the most remarkable; and being both of them rural districts, they may be briefly described here. Illawarra is a very peculiar spot: it is situated immediately between the sea and a range of high hills, so steep that they are almost impassable, while on the remaining side, upon which neither of these two boundaries enclose it, Illawarra is bounded by the Shoal Haven River. The district thus separated by nature from the adjoining country, extends about eighteen miles along the coast, and is said to comprise 150,000 acres of most beautiful scenery and very fertile soil. The greater part of Illawarra is heavily timbered, and it is said to be not well fitted for the rearing of sheep; but for the plough its deep vegetable soil is admirably suited, and whenever the land begins to feel the effect of repeated cropping, there are means of enriching it at hand in the large heaps of decayed shells to be found upon the sea-shore, which would furnish an excellent manure. The communication between this fertile spot, and the nearest market of any consequence, Sydney, is carried on almost entirely by water; and the Shoal Haven River being navigable for vessels of eighty or ninety tons to the distance of twenty miles up the country, affords the ready means of conveying produce to the capital from many parts of Illawarra. Besides this navigable river, the southern boundary of the district, there are many smaller streams which issue from the mountains to the north and west, so that the country is well watered, besides which advantage it is said to have a larger share of rain than many other parts of the colony, and to be sheltered from the blighting winds which occasionally have proved destructive to the crops elsewhere. The mountain range by which Illawarra is shut in, partakes of the general fertility of the neighbourhood below, and it is supposed, from its eastern aspect, and mild climate, to offer spots favourable for the cultivation of the vine. The timber of the district is very profitable, when felled, and highly ornamental where it is left standing. Indeed, the immense fern-trees, shooting up their rough stems, like large oars, to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and then suddenly putting forth leaves in every direction, four or five feet in length, and exactly like the leaf of the common fern,—the different kinds of palms rising to the height of seventy or one hundred feet, and then forming large canopies of leaves; the cedars, the undergrowth of wild vines, creeping plants and shrubs, in rich abundance; all combine to remind the visitor of a tropical climate, of a more northern, or as Englishmen would naturally say, more southern, climate than that of Illawarra.
Respecting the Cow Pastures, the rural district, which, next to Illawarra, is most deserving of notice in the county of Camden, little further need be added to what has been already stated in another place. Instead of cow pastures, however, nearly the whole of the 60,000 acres of good land, which form this district, have now become sheep farms; and the soil appears to be very suitable to the growth and perfection of the last-named animal. Towards the southern and eastern parts of the cow pastures are numerous streams, which retain water even in dry weather, and which communicate with the Nepean River. There do not appear to be any towns deserving of mention in the county of Camden, and its population is small and rural: it is crossed in every direction by steep ridges of hills, which almost always tower upwards like the roof of a house, and where the country is mountainous, meet so close as to leave only a narrow ravine betwixt them.
The adjoining county, which may be next noticed, is that of Argyle, an inland district, not having any front whatever towards the ocean, and lying to the south-westward of the county last described. Argyle is about sixty miles in length, with an average breadth of thirty miles; it is a lofty and broken region, and abounds in small rivulets and ponds, containing water during the whole of the year. It is also well furnished with timber, although there are places where the trees are scattered sparingly, and likewise plains of considerable extent, entirely bare of trees. Of this description are Goulburn’s Plains, which consist of open downs, affording good pasturage for sheep, and extending twenty miles southward from the township to which they owe their name, their breadth being about ten. There are some remarkable lakes in this county, or near its borders, the two largest of which are called Lake George and Lake Bathurst. Some of the old natives say that they can remember when these lakes did not exist; and dead trees are found in the bed of Lake George, the whole of which was, in October 1836, dried up, and like a grassy meadow.[131]
Bathurst is another inland county, lying nearly due west of Cumberland, but not adjoining it, which may deserve to be briefly described. In looking over a map of the colony of New South Wales, it appears strange that counties, like this, comparatively remote both from the capital and from the sea, should be more known and flourishing than others lying betwixt them and these important objects. But when we reflect upon the nature of the country, and remember that the intervening counties are in a great measure occupied by the Blue Mountains, with their tremendous ravines and dreary sandstone wastes, all wonder will cease at finding the green pastures and smiling country beyond the mountains occupied, while the rugged tract is suffered to remain for the most part in its natural state, and instead of becoming populous itself, is employed only as a channel of communication between the consuming population on the coast and the producing population of the more fertile interior. Bathurst is in length seventy-two miles, and in breadth sixty-eight, in shape somewhat approaching to an irregular square. No part of this district was explored before 1813. It is, in general, a kind of broken table-land, in some places forming extensive and bare downs, as, for instance, Bathurst Plains, containing 50,000 acres. Occasional open downs of this kind, and not unlike the South Downs in England, extend along the banks of the Macquarie for upwards of one hundred miles. Bathurst is reckoned one of the most flourishing and desirable situations in the whole colony, and the view of these plains from the high land to the eastward upon the road from Sydney is very interesting. The prospect of an extensive district naturally destitute of timber is rare in Australia, and therefore it surprises and pleases the eye of the traveller. Bathurst Plains form, however, by no means a dead level, but consist rather of a series of gentle elevations, with intervening flats of moderate extent; the surrounding forest is rather thin, and patches of it extend irregularly to some distance in the plains, like points of land projecting into a lake.
The green pastures and naturally clear state of this district, formed the first inducements to settlers to occupy a spot, which is now distant from Sydney by the road 121 miles, about fifty of which cross the wildest and most barren mountains imaginable, and which then had no road at all leading to it, except a difficult mountain-pass only recently discovered; consequently, the district was portioned out chiefly in large grants to persons whose means enabled them to cope with the difficulties of approaching the new settlement; and the society at Bathurst Plains is esteemed very good; possibly it may be all the better for its distance from the capital. But the best proof of the goodness of the society in this neighbourhood is the attention which the inhabitants are stated to pay to their religious duties, and the harmony in which they live with one another.[132] The situation of Bathurst Plains is an exceedingly high one, being more than 2000 feet above the level of the sea; and this elevation, rendering the climate much cooler,[133] produces the same vegetable productions in the parallel latitude of Sydney with those that are to be found in Van Diemen’s Land, ten degrees farther to the south. Bathurst is said to be a very healthy climate; wonders are told of the climate of New South Wales generally, and yet we are informed that “the cheeks of the children beyond the mountains have a rosy tint, which is seldom observable in the lowlands of the colony.” However, notwithstanding all that may be said, disease and death can find out their victims even in Bathurst Plains.
“Guilt’s fatal doom in vain would mortals fly,
And they that breathe the purest air must die.”
The county of Northumberland is one of the most important and valuable in the colony; it is upon the sea-coast, and adjoins Cumberland, being bounded on the south by the river Hawkesbury, and on the north by the Hunter. Its length is about 60 miles, and its breadth about 50: whilst its general appearance is undulating, with high table lands dispersed among the hills, and it is well watered by many streams and rivulets. Within this county are two great sources of worldly wealth,—the coal-mines near one of its principal towns, Newcastle, and the rich productive farms in the valley of the Hunter. The last-named river is navigable for small craft for fifty miles above Newcastle, which is a thriving little port, and boats may ascend two of its three principal branches for about 120 and 200 miles, but the navigation is liable to be interrupted by sudden and tremendous floods.[134]
Coal is to be found in several parts of New South Wales, but it is most abundant in the country to the south of Hunter’s River, which forms part of the county of Northumberland. Even at some distance from the shore, the black lines of coal may be seen in the cliffs upon the coast, and the coal-pits in this neighbourhood are worked with comparatively little trouble. The Australian Agricultural Company have obtained a grant of these from government: and, as a specimen of the demand for coals some years ago, it may be stated, that, in 1836, there were sold at the pit’s mouth 12,646 tons for 5,747l., being at about the rate of nine shillings per ton. Since that time the consumption has been very rapidly increasing, and steam navigation has now become common in the colony;[135] so that, besides the manufactories of Sydney, and the supply of private families, there is an additional demand for fuel created by the steam-boats plying constantly along that remote coast, which only a century ago no European had yet beheld. It is also reported that iron is to be found in New South Wales, at no great distance from the coal which is so necessary to smelt it; and, if this be true, with these two principal causes of the wealth of the mother country concealed within its bosom, it is quite possible that, in the course of time, the colony may rival, or outstrip, England itself in worldly prosperity.