“ Seventy Five miles north of Port Jackson, the Hunter River finds its outlet to the sea. Eighty-nine years ago Lieutenant Shortland, when hunting some runaway convicts, saw the inlet north of Nobby’s, and very cautiously entered. He found no convicts, but he found coal, which was far more important. He called the stream Coal River, and Coal River it remained for some time, though before the close of the eighteenth century the settlement had been formally christened Newcastle, while the main river had received the name of the Hunter, after the Governor.” P99

“ Such was the beginning of the town which now ranks first among the coal ports of the Southern Hemisphere, and which in its appliances for safe and rapid shipment is fully abreast of the needs of the trade. The resources of the port and district are so large and varied that there could be no doubt about their ultimate growth when once enterprise had taken root, though the stringent regulations of the early days made progress slow and not always proportionately sure. Prior to 1804 there had been many accidents owing to "mines having, been dug by individuals in the most shameful manner, without having props." For this sailors were responsible; ships used to put in, and the crews would both cut and ship coal, burrow into the hillside as far as seemed safe, and leave unprotected the excavations they had made. To prevent a recurrence of these accidents, an order was made that in future no sailors should work in the mines, but only Government men under the direction of professional miners.” P100

“ The passage from Sydney is effected at present by steamer —two good lines ministering to the wants of Newcastle in this particular — though the north-eastern line of railway from Homebush to Waratah, now in course of completion, will largely supersede ocean transit. The harbour is protected by a breakwater connecting on one side of the entrance the mainland with the rocky hummock known as Nobby’s Head, and stretching beyond it into the open sea, and by a second dyke of great stones on the other side reaching towards Nobby’s from the oyster bank —narrowing the entrance and increasing the scour. Even on a comparatively quiet day a silver line marks the course of this weather-wall, and when the wind blows roughly from the south or east huge white-crested billows may break over it, momentarily disturbing the calm of the port. On a very boisterous day from the hill-top of the peninsula head, it is interesting to note the difference between the rough sea breaking on the coast —causing the big steamer weathering the farthest point to heave and pitch —and the smoothness of the protected haven.” P100

“ Upon the arrival of the steamer at her moorings, and on an ordinary working day, the traveller will view a scene of animated labour. On the main wharf there are the steam cranes lifting the coal and depositing it in the hold of some dingy collier or ocean mail boat. Past the steam cranes and continuing the sweep of the wharf, are staiths for loading the smaller kinds of vessels, and beyond these again are the staiths of the Australian Agricultural Company. The accommodation for ships coaling was found to be altogether insufficient, and so Bullock Island, lying directly opposite the embouchure of the river and close to the shore, was connected with the mainland by a railroad; eight large cranes’ were erected upon the foreshore, and these are worked by a powerful hydraulic apparatus located in a neat stone building about a hundred yards to the rear.” P100

“ The banks, the hotels, and the newspaper offices are in this busy traffic way, named Hunter Street, and above them dwelling houses, looking out across the hill —the site of the public park and recreation ground —down on the bold coastline, and away to the ocean beyond. In Newcastle, as in Launceston, one’s garden-gate may swing level with the chimney pots of the adjoining houses.
The town is famed rather for its commercial importance than for its beauty. Utility is the foremost consideration, and the whole city is eloquent of its staple product. There are no public buildings in Newcastle worthy of the importance of the town, or commensurate with its prosperity. The customs office is commodious and neat, and the asylum for imbeciles finely situated on the hill. The banks are rather substantial than ornate in their design, and the churches have evidently been built to meet the wants of a practical people, and not out of munificent endowments. The school of arts is a convenient and modern building, while the theatre is suggestive of early days. The post office and the courthouse, with an imposing portico supported by four Doric columns, are at the southern end of Hunter Street, and here also are the more important hotels. At the northern end of the street is a scene of busy life; omnibuses ply all day to the various outlying villages, and the streets are bustling with shippers and seafaring men. On Saturday night the one business artery of the city is thickly thronged with crowds of men and women and youth of both sexes, gaily tricked out in their holiday attire. The visitor listening will catch words and phrases with the West England accent, and may well imagine himself in a Cornish mining town, although the surroundings are rather suggestive of the north of England.” P101

“ At the head of the river navigation is Morpeth —once the great shipping port, but whose trade has been largely diverted by the railway. It is, however, one of the prettiest towns on the Hunter River, and is reputed to be one of the healthiest. A branch line of railway connects it with the town of East Maitland, and it has daily steamers to and from Sydney. Near it are some coal pits, but the business of the town rests mainly on the fertility of the flats that fringe the river. Morpeth is well laid out, and contains several fine buildings, the Anglican church being one of the most picturesque structures of the kind in the colony. Along the river banks are the wharves of two steamship companies, which connect with the railway, the Hunter being navigable as far as Morpeth to vessels of eight hundred tons burthen. The Government has here a coal staith to accommodate one of the main industries of the district.
The population is nearly fifteen hundred, and the ratable property of the municipality close upon one hundred and twelve thousand pounds per annum. But the town, or rather the double town, for this district is Maitland, divided by the water of Wallis’ Creek. East Maitland, laid out on high and dry ground, is the Government town; but West Maitland, laid out on the alluvial flat by the riverside as a private town, took the public fancy more; and though occasionally liable to floods, has become the principal business place. Expensive works have had to be undertaken to prevent the river from encroaching on the main street, which runs along the rich alluvial flat, and which has on either side many interesting relics of the old order and some good specimens of the new. Patriarchal verandahed hotels look out from their small-paned windows, burdened with many memories, and fine new four - storied buildings of stone, brick and cement have arisen which would not discredit Sydney. Yet there is an indolent air about everything and everybody —an air of contentment and confidence.
The richness of the soil seems to impart an infection of trustful laziness. Everything grows with a minimum of toil; a neglected backyard becomes a luxuriant pasturage, and a moss that is green as grass puts a beautiful, if not a healthful coat over many old shingle roofs. The new, however, is fast outgrowing the old. The banks have shown their appreciation of the importance of the place by the superior style of their premises. The Maitland Mercury, the oldest paper in the northern district, has expressed its belief in the future by building substantial premises, and the churches make display of faith by solid and beautiful works. The hospital is a large building on a good site, and the schools, both State and private, are large and handsome, well finished and well furnished.” P104

“ Several factories have taken root, and some hundreds of the inhabitants find regular employment in tanning leather, making boots and shoes, building carriages, sawing timber, manufacturing tobacco, brewing beer and making brooms. But the farmers are the mainstay and support of the place, for the land about Maitland is so rich and easily worked that the freehold of a hundred acres is a fair for tune. Some blocks used solely for lucerne growing have been sold at upwards of one hundred pounds an acre. The farmers of the district have also developed an aptitude for skilfully and economically managing their own business.
They were for a long time taxed by the commissions of middlemen, but in a happy moment adopted the idea of a " Farmers’ Union," of which very member should bind himself to sell his produce at auction. The market or fair was inaugurated. It needed no elaborate building, a space of open ground near the railway station, with a few sheds for perishable articles, being sufficient. To this market-place on Wednesday in each week come the farmers and the townsfolk, and many dealers from the port and the metropolis. The gathering is large and unique of its kind. Nowhere in Australia, perhaps, could you find a more thoroughly representative assemblage of Australian bred men and women. The settlement is very old, and many of the farming people are natives of the second and third generation. There are clear indications of the distinctive Australian type, the sallow on men’s faces blotting out the russet which their grandfathers brought from England. There is very little superfluous flesh, either amongst the men or the women. But if the people are beginning to vary a little from the English type, the produce they bring to market varies still more.” P105

“ Certainly the pigs of all sizes, with the dressed sheep of an abnormal fatness, would be familiar enough in England, as would also the crates of poultry of all varieties; but somewhat un-English would appear the piled drays of farmers’ produce great green melons and bulky pumpkins stacked in mounds to be sold by the ton; grapes, rich, luscious, heavy as the clusters of Eschol; oranges in their golden glory; tomatoes in boxes; chillies and pomegranates; bundles of green sorghum and maize and great bales of fragrant lucerne hay. It is such produce as the peasants on the Arno, or even farther south on the warm and fertile slopes of Etna, would bring down to the Italian cities for sale.
All is bought and sold there with abundance of good-humoured Australian banter, and when all is over the farmers mount their drays or carts, waggons or buggies, and jog along homeward with many a gossiping pause. It is their life from week to week, from year to year, a fairly useful and satisfactory life, with which in all our rich coastal districts we ought to be far more familiar, for we have other breadths of naturally fertile country, though few, perhaps, so rich as Maitland in prosperous agricultural development, and certainly very few that would lend themselves so fairly and kindly to artistic treatment. The rich soil and humid climate afford not only luxurious vegetation and beautiful foliage, but an atmosphere which permits warm lights in the foreground, with soft and mellow distances (even before the eye is brought to rest on the spurs of the Liverpool Range), and a sky of all manner of cloud-shapes, from the faintest, fairest forms of cirrus to the dense strata through which the setting sun scarce breaks, and the rolling masses of cumuli with their lustres and lights of silver and gold.
At Maitland are the waterworks for the district. The water is pumped from the river, filtered in large beds and delivered by gravitation. One feature of the scheme is a great artificial lake to be filled whenever the river is clear, so that in flood or fresh the supply may be had from this reserve store, instead of from the turbid stream.” P105

“From Maitland it is but an easy two hours’ journey to the Paterson River and the pretty Paterson village, passing on the way the healthy little settlement of Hinton, lying on the south bank of the Hunter, opposite the junction with the Paterson. In very early days settlers took up the land on the river banks, and within a few years must have set the willow twigs which show such luxurious beauty of form, and yield in summer time such delightful shade. The fruit trees and English oaks on the clearings of the upland have an equal date with the willows, and many an old resident can remember the time when Sydney seemed a month’s journey away, and to travel to Newcastle was to incur unknown risks. Folk live long about the Paterson —perhaps because they live well. Everything favours them; climate is genial, soil rich, nature as beautiful as she is bountiful, and no signs of hurry or bustle anywhere. Sunday is a busy day in the little town, for the Paterson people are fond of their church, or it may be of the pleasant church-going, which to the country settlers is not a dreary pilgrimage along an uncomfortable road or a walk stiff-starched through city streets, but a drive or a gallop of an hour along the bush roads or the river banks, bordered with the fragrant wattles or the shadowy willows.

“ Bright girls and stalwart lads, from the orangeries, vineyards and farms, may be seen on Sunday afternoon, cantering down the village street, tying their horses up to the fence, and, with all the reverence that can be associated with riding habits and spurs, entering the little church.” P106

“ Northward from Maitland the railway proceeds along the narrowing valley of the Hunter River, through country well fitted to the vine —the vineyards at Lochinvar and Branxton being especially celebrated. Just before the first great bridge of the line is reached, stands Singleton, fifty miles from the coast as the rail runs. Singleton dates as a settlement from 1825, and the town has much of the substantial if not the venerable aspect of age. The rich alluvial flats known as Patrick’s Plains will grow maize, tobacco and grapes, as long as people are found to till them, and the coal industry established at Rix’s Creek, three miles away, shows signs of a large development. Singleton is a prosperous and contented colonial town, putting on the airs and aspect of importance only when the annual agricultural display is made in the really fine pavilion of the local show-ground, at which time excellent stock is to be seen in the adjoining stalls and yards.” P106

“Tamworth or Armidale? Which is to be the greater of these northern towns? The question is one of local interest, and provokes some rivalry, not altogether unwholesome. Both show a closer resemblance to English county towns than do most of the inland cities of Australia. Both enjoy a fine and invigorating climate, both have about them fertile areas ample for the support of large populations. Tamworth was the first settled, and in respect to population still retains the lead. Like Maitland, it is a divided town, Tamworth East and Tamworth West.” P109/110

“The western side is the first touched by the railway, and in the course of nature should have been the larger of the two, but the Peel River Company, an offshoot of the Australian Agricultural Company, possessed and used for pastoral purposes all the magnificent land to the south and west, and freehold farmers could get no footing there. No farmers, no town, is a law in these districts. Great squattages are not so favourable to the growth of inland towns as small farms are, because their business lies more with the commercial towns on the coast.
Absentee landed proprietors, especially when they take the form of dividend-seeking companies, have no close sympathy with local movements; for while they favour some forms of enterprise, and often display a spirited application of capital in the way of improvements, they frequently block the natural course of settlement. Tamworth, cramped on the western side, spread to the east across the Peel River. Farmers searched out and took up tracts of country fitted to growing wheat, thus, finding ample means of subsistence, and a sure source of permanent prosperity.
Minerals were found in many localities—gold at Nundle and Barraba, diamonds at Bingera, and copper at Dungowan. Flour mills were erected to grind the wheat, and stores multiplied to supply the wants of increasing population. The Roman Catholics have done most for ecclesiastical architecture in Tamworth, and indeed their church is superior to all the other buildings in the town; they have also a fine well-built convent, to which is attached a good school. The corporation has had the good sense to plant trees along most of the streets, and to found an excellent public library. Amongst the business enterprises of the place are flour and saw mills, coach factories, breweries, and a manufactory of galvanised iron.
Northward from Tamworth the railway route follows the general line of the old road along the backbone of the colony, which here spreads into a great tableland.” P110

“ At the Junction of the north and south arms of the river is the township of Coraki, and at the head of the navigation of the northern arm stands Lismore, the port of the big scrub and the outlet for a large timber trade. The timber-getters, forced to go further and further back, have often to cut; their own tracks-tracks so rough and steep that to bring the lumber down them would to the uninitiated seem impracticable. But bullocks are patient animals; a long team of them pulling together, guided and urged by a skilful driver, do wonders. Lismore is a town of a thousand people, and fully three thousand find profitable employment in the surrounding district. A fine iron bridge spans the river, and good roads are beginning to stretch out into the country, now being settled by industrious farmers. Down the Richmond River, at its southern bend, is the township of Woodburn, the centre of a large area of sugar-growing country and the point nearest to the Clarence River.
The seaport of the Richmond is Ballina, a small place at present, the land on the lower part of the river being poor and sandy. The bar is both difficult and dangerous, and, according to the engineers, to improve the entrance would be an expensive business. Whether to do this, or to connect the commerce of the Richmond with the Clarence by railway, is a local question not yet settled. The Clarence is the larger river of the two; its entrance is already the more available, and it can be the more quickly and economically improved. The basins of the two rivers put together constitute one of the fairest and richest provinces of New South Wales their great want is better communication with the metropolis.” P113

“ South of the Clarence sugar growing is not profitable. The cane thrives luxuriantly enough and many settlers went into the cultivation with high hopes; but there is just enough frost in winter to spoil the sap, and after repeated experiments the attempt had to be abandoned. But both in respect to soil and climate’ the district is admirably adapted to the growth of maize, and this is the great support of the farmers, the market for the produce being principally in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Nambucca and Bellingen Rivers, though small streams, are the outlets for rich districts, in which there are many prosperous settlers whose only want is better means of transit. Farther south lies the large watershed of the Macleay River. The port here is in about the same latitude as Armidale, but the track up to the tableland is very rough, hence the commercial intercourse between the coast and the country inland is limited. The township of the Macleay Valley is Kempsey, with about fifteen hundred inhabitants. The people build great hopes for the future, first on the Government expenditure on the great breakwater at Trial Bay— where the chief labour prison of the colony is situated—and then on the fine harbour of refuge which will be created when the breakwater is finished. Three little villages are situated on the Macleay—Gladstone, Frederickton and Smithtown, of which the last is the most important.
Farther south again lies the similar watershed of the Hastings River, of which the town is Port Macquarie, with a population of about nine hundred. It was a convict settlement in the early days, and many substantial buildings, for which it is difficult to find a use, still remain as relics of the olden time. The newer town is simply the business centre of the agricultural district and the pastoral background. The products of the district are maize, barley, oats and potatoes; the cultivation of the vine is also an important industry. Copper has been found in the vicinity, and, towards the head of the river, gold in payable quantities. The geographical feature of the country is Mount Seaview, rising six thousand feet, and it is the proximity of this great cloud-gatherer that makes Port Macquarie one of the rainiest townships on the coast.” P114

“ Two different routes have been surveyed; one goes from Grafton to Glen Innes, the other starting from the same point passes through the Richmond River district to Tenterfield; each has its local advocates. The latter route would pass through the townships of Casino and Tabulam.
Casino is ninety miles from the sea, at the head of the navigation of one of the branches of the Richmond River. In early days it was a rendezvous for stockmen, squatters and drovers, who sent their fat mobs across the river, where now stands the largest timber bridge in Australia. The whole of this district is a fine grazing country, and the rearing of cattle for the market was its primitive industry. To this was added timber-cutting for the cedar, especially on the lower lands, grew luxuriantly. Timber-getters drew their logs to the water’s edge and floated them in rafts down the river. All the best trees within easy reach of the water have now been cleared away; but as one pursuit decayed, a new one arose to take its place. The advent of sugar growing altered the industrial character of the district, and enabled agriculture to replace the earlier pastoral occupation. The rich flats were eagerly taken up for planting purposes as soon as it was found that sugar would grow and that sugar would pay. Thick scrub, which it was not profitable to clear for pastoral uses, disappeared under the woodman’s axe, and the rich soil became available for tillage. The population around Casino rapidly increased, and the town has now fifteen hundred inhabitants, with churches, schools and a hospital, while the stores and shops along the broad main street give evident signs of a healthy commercial development.” P112

Nearly a hundred years ago —in the month of November of the year 1788 —Governor Phillip went up to the head of the harbour to choose a site for a redoubt, and quarters for those who were to be employed in clearing and tilling the agricultural and in the vicinity. Two years later —so successful had the primitive tillage been —the Governor issued orders for the laying out of a regular town, which received the name of Parramatta.
This old settlement, with a record beginning with the earliest history of the colony, lies at the head of that farthest reaching arm of Port Jackson called the Parramatta River. Steamers of moderate draught run up from Sydney in about two hours, which are passed pleasantly enough. As the river narrows the scenery changes gradually to lower, less rugged and more fertile banks. From the head of the navigation, a tram-line, constructed by private enterprise, conveys passengers to the park gates on the westward side of the town. But there is another and beautiful route by the north shore of the river through Gladesville and Ryde, or longer still by the Lane Cove Road through Hornsby and Pennant Hills —a delightful drive, affording magnificent views of the city and its surroundings; of rolling woodlands, with occasional glimpses of the water, and of glorious orange groves rich with fruit or odorous with bloom.
The town of Parramatta nestles in the bosom of the hills at the head of the river, and is not only quaint but unmistakably old-fashioned. The tale of a hundred years is written plainly on the gray stone walls still backing up the ancient public buildings; on the broad leafy, crowns of the beautiful oaks and the great heads of the stone pines.
Manufactures in the town have been in a small way successful. There are three establishments where wool is woven into tweed, tile and pipe works, and a soap and candle factory. In early days linen was made from flax grown on the Government farm, but that useful industry died out. Conspicuous in the old town are the penal and eleemosynary establishments —general and criminal lunatic asylums accommodating together eight hundred and fifty patients, a reformatory for girls, a benevolent asylum, a commodious gaol, a district hospital, and another for erysipelas. Quite early in the history of the colony Parramatta, a natural water supply, was selected for the pauper and criminal institutions, and most of them have been retained to this day.” P116

“Grammar Schools were established in every colony, but they are not all constituted on the same plan. Some of the earlier in Sydney were purely private institutions, though one of them, the King’s College at Parramatta, was a Church of England institution with an endowment of land.” P780

“ A line of rail-way has been surveyed up the Colo Valley from Richmond, which would strike the Mudgee line about Rylstone, and a far easier gradient could be secured by this route than obtains on the present railway. A trunk line from Sydney may in the future follow the course of this Valley, in which case the present Mudgee line could be extended to the north-west. At present the town is a railway terminus, but does not concentrate very much traffic, because Dubbo catches the inland trade.

From Wallerawang westward to Bathurst the railway line runs through undulating and sometimes rather rough country. The soil is of poor quality though here and there are clearings and little farms. At Rydal may be seen drays loading for the Sunny Corner silver mines, which for a time were very productive, a hundred tons of pure silver having been obtained during a period of six months. But the lode thinned out, and none of the other promising claims in the neighbourhood has as yet realised expectations. The district, however, is of a strongly-marked mineral character, and though eager speculators are quickly discouraged, it is the opinion of geologists that valuable mines will yet be developed in this locality.
Farther to the west is Tarana, the station from which visitors usually start for the Jenolan Caves, although other routes are now open. These caves will be described in a separate chapter. The road falls as the Bathurst plains come in sight —that rich instalment of the great western country which gladdened the eyes of the first explorers, and gave a stimulus to early pastoral occupation.
Bathurst has naturally become the capital of the west, for its site was well chosen. Placed on the banks of the Macquarie it has a secure supply of fresh water, and when viewed from the city the surrounding country is seen to be a girdle of undulating hills, some bare, some highly timbered. The soil is rich, and fails to yield its harvest only in those years of drought when Nature, to put a little restraint on the avarice of man, compels a fallow. The value of the land was keenly appreciated by the early settlers, and the homesteads of the great proprietors crown the hills that make a circle round the town, which is placed on the north bank of the river, and is the centre of a district which from the first has been one of rural industry. Upon that its prosperity still mainly depends, though it has also been the centre to which the business of several mining districts converged. Hill End, Sofala, Turon and Trunkey have all at different times been rushed by miners. The glory of these goldfields, however, has for the present departed, and their thorough development awaits the day when mining shall be more scientifically and economically conducted.” P121

“ Bathurst has naturally become the capital of the west, for its site was well chosen. Placed on the banks of the Macquarie it has a secure supply of fresh water, and when viewed from the city the surrounding country is seen to be a girdle of undulating hills, some bare, some highly timbered. The soil is rich, and fails to yield its harvest only in those years of drought when Nature, to put a little restraint on the avarice of man, compels a fallow. The value of the land was keenly appreciated by the early settlers, and the homesteads of the great proprietors crown the hills that make a circle round the town, which is placed on the north bank of the river, and is the centre of a district which from the first has been one of rural industry. Upon that its prosperity still mainly depends, though it has also been the centre to which the business of several mining districts converged. Hill End, Sofala, Turon and Trunkey have all at different times been rushed by miners. The glory of these goldfields, however, has for the present departed, and their thorough development awaits the day when mining shall be more scientifically and economically conducted.” “ Each of the four great denominations is well represented in Bathurst. The Anglican church of All Saints’ is perhaps the finest building, and, surrounded by exceptionally well-kept grounds, a chief ornament of the town. But more pleasant to the eye is the square-towered cathedral of the Roman Catholics, by reason of the great trees growing close beside and tempering with their deep green tints the dull red of its massive brick walls.”

“ But the block of buildings the Bathurst people regard with most pride, is situated in the centre of the town, and comprises the whole of the public offices —the lands, police, post and telegraph offices, together with the courthouse and the gaol.”
“ The hospital, built on the breadth of another hill about a mile to the north, is in every respect a creditable establishment. There is no building of the kind in the colony better fitted or better situated for hospital work. The wards are lofty and roomy, with windows opening on to an unimpeded view of the fresh green downs. The architectural effect is good, the red brick and the white stone having been blended in an excellent modern Gothic design. P121

“ Twenty miles beyond Blayney along the railway line is Orange. The route trends over elevated ground, the line at one part being over three thousand feet above the level of the sea. Clearings and paddocks are to be seen all along the line, and at some intervening villages, such as Millthorpe and Springhill, large areas of land have been brought under tillage. Near the town the country is more open, and the rich red volcanic soil is well adapted for every description of agriculture. Orange lies among grassy hills over which tower the Canoblas, capped through several months of the year with snow. There is no river near but there is an abundant rainfall, and water is seldom scarce. The district is commonly said to have the most English look of any in the colony, the farms and the vegetation reminding one of English rural scenes. The range of temperature is that of our mountain climate generally —hot in the middle of the day in summer, but cool in the evening, and very cold and bracing in winter. In the gardens and fields the influence of the cooler climate is very noticeable. The daphnes, magnolias, and oleanders of the Sydney gardens are absent, but the hawthorne hedges are vigorous, currants and gooseberries come to perfection, and the wheat harvest is later than that of Bathurst. The district was taken up for a cattle station about the year 1830, and made a great start at the time of the gold fever of 1851. It was at Lewis Ponds, a small tributary of Summer Hill Creek, about three miles from the town, that Mr. E. H. Hargraves made his first discovery of Australian gold, and this set everybody on the alert to look for auriferous indications. Near Lucknow some gravel carted on to a newly-constructed bridge attracted the attention of a few Cornishmen, who during the night carried it down to the creek, washed it, and in the morning sold the results of their night’s labour for sixty pounds a man. Of course there was a wild rush to the pit from which the gravel had been taken.” P122

“ South-west from Orange run some of the head-waters of the Lachlan River, which rise in the Canoblas, traversing in their course the old mining districts of Canowindra and Cargo, and several fertile agricultural areas. A good coach road runs to Forbes, which is situated eighty-four miles distant on the Lachlan River, and along this route a railway line has been surveyed. The land on either side is capable of supporting a large number of settlers, the climate is good, and the soil, except in the broad patches of mineral country exceptionally rich. Forbes was the scene of one of the successful Australian gold rushes. Diggers from the older fields of Young and Grenfell hastened thither; life for a time was wild and impetuous; miners worked with the excitement of gamblers, and the human vultures that crowd round successful diggers to ease them of their cash fared well.”
“With an average rainfall, wheat yields from twenty to thirty bushels an acre, and oats from forty to sixty; potatoes and maize thrive well, and both soil and climate seem specially suited to tobacco. Forbes, as the centre of this rich district, is already a considerable town. It is built on moderately elevated land on the northern bank of the river, which winds along the edge of a broad and fertile flat. This is occasionally submerged; indeed, in times of high flood, the river spreads above and below the town miles wide, filling billabongs and ana-branches innumerable, and storing water for dry seasons. Any damage done by these floods is abundantly compensated by the wealth they leave behind them. Rich flats are on either side, of the river, and the country in the rear yields excellent pasture. Some of the largest sheep stations in the colony lie between Forbes, Condobolin and Booligal farther down the river —Burrawang station, about twenty-five miles distant, having a freehold of about two hundred and fifty thousand acres, and shearing in favourable seasons about two hundred thousand sheep. A railway line has been surveyed from Forbes to Wilcannia, on the River Darling, the central township from which roads go north-west and south-west through a dry, but pastoral district, to the gold and silver bearing country of the Barrier Ranges.” P123

“ Thirty-five miles on and a thousand feet down from Orange, is the mining village of Ironbarks, and twenty-one miles farther the town of Wellington. On either side of the line farms have been established; in dry years the crop is a failure, but in a good season the soil is wonderfully prolific, though too often even plenty of rain has its troubles for the farmer, who sees his hay, oats, or wheat beaten down by a heavy storm just as he was counting on an abundant compensation for all his losses during the years of drought.”
“The buildings of Wellington are substantial and comfortable, rather than beautiful; they are all of brick, and of that deep red tint to which most of the inland clays seem to burn. The hotels are broad-verandahed and cool, the churches roomy and sombre in aspect, the banks and insurance offices somewhat ornate and metropolitan in style, and the stores generally of the old colonial order. Lying grouped in the valley amid the trees by the river’s edge and the rich foliage of orchards and gardens, they form a charming picture —a pleasing head and crown to the valley —which stretches on inland for many a mile. The railway crosses the river by a bridge, the foundations of which were laid with difficulty, as the engineers had to pierce an enormous stratum of drift —an indication of an old geologic age.” P124

The town of Dubbo is a busy one with enlarging industries, and about it are all the indications of stout-hearted occupation and steady advance. Nor is this surprising, for it is not a village set in a pastoral wilderness, but the farthest western outpost of prosperous agriculture. All down the Macquarie anything from maize to wheat, and from cotton to potatoes, may be grown abundantly. For many miles along its farther course the river consists of a series of basin-like depressions, shut in and divided by bars of rock; at varying distances below its present bed extends a stratum of loose drift or gravel, which, touched by a shaft or boring tube, yields a pure and never-failing supply of water. The township of Dubbo lies within one of these basins, and numerous windmills in evergreen gardens irrigate the thirsty soil. The Dubbo basin was probably at one time a lake or marsh similar to those still existing lower down the river, and which was gradually filled up by the detritus brought down by the higher levels, a narrow channel only being kept open. The surface river is but the visible drainage channel; the permanent waters lie below, saved from pollution and heat by the easily-pierced coating of overlying earth. This underground supply of water has an important bearing on the future of the district, as in addition to meeting all domestic demands, it will furnish enough for a limited irrigation. Every settler can have his well and his windmill, with not only a full supply for domestic luxury, but for the requirements of garden, orchard, and paddock. The area capable of irrigation is large, and the agriculture the future will have wide scope in providing provender for the pastoral stations on either side. Nor does the future prosperity of the town depend on agriculture and pastoral work alone. Coal crops up in the neighbourhood, and on the Baltimore Mountain one seam nearly six feet in thickness has been opened out.” P125

“ The Upper Murray country on the western slopes of the Snowy Range, although in many parts rugged, is valuable for horse-breeding. Some of the best horse-stock in Australia are from the hills of this district —a fact recognised by the buyers of Indian remounts. Down the Murray, two miles from the river and twelve from Albury, lies the little settlement of Bowna, surrounded by small farms; and, a few miles off at Tabletop, is a large freehold pastoral property, where horse-breeding is conducted on a very extensive scale. The country to the east of the railway line is picturesque, the scenery being agreeably diversified by a range of hills, of which a castellated mount, known as Tabletop, is the most lofty. In a south-westerly direction is the agricultural settlement of Jindera, but the country for the greater part is used for sheep-grazing. A few miles from the track at Gerogery, several Germans settled upon small vineyards, but it is not until Ettamogah, a point five miles north of the boundary, is in view, that a fair idea of the agricultural wealth of the Murray valley can be formed.” P145

“ A glance at the map of New South Wales at once discloses the reason why Goulburn became first a favourite camp, next a permanent settlement, and then, gradually put on the garb and aspect of a city. A chain of ponds, known as the Mulwarree, joined to the Wollondilly River, afforded an ample water supply for pastoral purposes, and the surrounding country being materially aided by Lakes George and Bathurst, many of the pioneer squatters secured large freehold estates in the neighbourhood. Even in the early days of its existence, Goulburn was remarkable for the variety and extent of its industries. It was admirably laid out in wide streets, the blocks for occupation being in every case rectangular large stores were erected, flour mills were set to work, and tradesmen began small businesses which have since developed into large and important local manufactories.”
“But the principal buildings in Goulburn are the post and telegraph offices, which are surmounted by a high tower, a model gaol, not long since completed, the railway buildings and, now almost ready for occupation, a courthouse and other public offices. The local agricultural society, a vigorous institution, has a show ground which is considered a model for enclosures of the kind. The city is surrounded by valuable estates, upon which stock breeding is conducted on scientific principles, and horses and cattle, bred in the district, have established an enviable reputation; but it is with merino sheep that its greatest triumphs have been achieved. At the annual inter colonial stud sheep fairs held in the metropolis, the sheep from the southern city frequently top the market. A branch line of railway which passes through some excellent agricultural country, is being constructed from Goulburn to Cooma, the central town of the great pastoral plains of Monaro.” P134

“ Lake George, situated twenty-five miles southwest of Goulburn and guarded by spurs of the Great Dividing Range, is the largest lake in the colony, being twenty-five miles in length and eight miles in breadth. The evaporation from this vast sheet of water is very great and thirty-five years ago its bed was perfectly dry. It is now, however, well filled, and although the water is slightly saline, it is a great boon to the occupiers of the land in its neighbourhood. Before proceeding farther inland along the line of the Great Southern Railway, it will be convenient to take a glance at the coast districts, the harbours and. bays of which were described in a former part, and to return to Goulburn by the coach route. Illawarra, the rugged strip of coast-land through which the cedar-cutters of half a century back had to cleave their way —then a dense jungle, but now known as the garden of New South Wales —extends from Coalcliff on the north to Broughton Creek on the south. Its principal town is Wollongong, and there are, besides, the smaller centres, Bulli, Clifton, Wooroona, Figtree and Dapto. The last mentioned is close to the llawarra Lake, on the shores of which the present champion sculler of the world, William Beach, has his home.” P134

“The white sandy bays guarded by bold headlands appear as a fringe to emerald-clad ridges and rich grassy flats, adown which silver-glistening streams glide onward to the sea. The jetties, run out for shipping coal, look like slender frameworks stretching into the ocean, and, dwarfed by distance, along them move what seem to be toy freight trains bearing miniature loads to model vessels. This magnificent distant view is made more impressive by the sudden change in the forest foliage. From a dreary Australian waste, the traveller passes almost with a stride into the dense and varied verdure of a semi-tropical jungle. Great white-trunked figs, bear aloft their broad-leaved, lustrous crowns above the myrtles, pittosporums, and lillipillies which overhang the ferns and mosses of every little ravine. The cabbage-tree palms shoot up straight from matted vines and blossoming creepers, their crowns shewing plume-like against the sky. All is rich luxurious, odorous —a growth proper for a region nearer to the Equator. The reason for this luxuriance, however, is not hard to discover. In olden days the molten trap-rock was forced up from below in long walls or dykes, and spreading over the surface, its decomposition has furnished a rich deep soil. The sloping coastal range, too, is sheltered from the cutting westerly gales, and open to the warm, moist breezes of the sea, thus a climate is secured in which all plants of temperate and semi-tropical zones grow to perfection.
Close to the Bulli Pass is the Bulli coal mine, where from a tunnel four hundred feet above sea-level is drawn an annual output of two hundred thousand tons of valuable coal, and north and south similar mines are at work. Far along the shore extends a range of habitations, and seven miles southward and sixty-four miles from Sydney lies Wollongong, with a trade, mainly seaward, equal to sixty thousand tons yearly. The town is built upon a gently sloping ridge, the point of which forms the southern side of a small harbour. Near the sea, by the side of a large lagoon, the agricultural society’s ground and the racecourse are situated, and at the back on the mountain ridges are hundreds of small dairy farms. The rails are already laid for a line, which will soon be opened, to connect Illawarra with the metropolis. Wollongong will then take an active share in Sydney’s milk trade. Its yearly export of butter is now about seven hundred tons, though the generally fortunate farmers are not wholly exempt from the droughts which afflict other parts of the colony.” P136

“Seven miles distant is Dapto, with its old flour mill and handsome church, at the head of the Illawarra lake; and a few miles farther south where the mountains recede, thus leaving a greater breadth of rich pasture land, lies the little centre of Albion Park, which has its own small port. At this point the lower carboniferous and subcarboniferous strata upon which Wollongong rests is overlaid by basalt. The peaceful village known as Jamberoo rests snugly in a valley on the right, and in front, about four score miles from Sydney is the coast’s famed gem Kiama, noted for its beauty, its butter, its blue stone, and its blow-hole.
This choice spot has been likened to a precious emerald placed in a very rough setting, being most unlike all other parts of the coast, its basaltic bluffs which overhang the ocean bearing rich herbage to their extreme edges. The soil is wonderfully rich, and liberally supports its tillers, who for the greater part are independent freeholders. A block of forty acres here is worth to the farmer more than a square mile of ordinary country and a railway runs almost on its boundary. The trade in its blue stone, immense quantities of which are required for Sydney’s streets, has been to it a great support. Its dairy cattle are the best on the coast, supplying two butter factories; indeed, it was Kiama that started the first. Coal is found in the district, but the seams, which crop out of the hills some miles inland, are at present unworked. The harbour is very small, and when easterly gales set in, dangerous. An excellent coach road leads from Kiama up the mountain to Moss Vale, passing through the village of Robertson and skirting the Wingecarribee Swamp. This is a favourite drive, and picturesque from start to finish.
The drive from Kiama southward to Broughton Creek, a hundred and nine miles distant from the metropolis, is one of the greatest treats the hospitable residents of the coast can place on a traveller’s programme.” P136

"The geology of Bodalla is quartzite and clay slate, with rich alluvial flats through which the river winds, and this formation continues almost to Bega, when basalt again occurs overlying granite and old rocks of probably Devonian origin. Beyond Bodalla is the pretty little village, Cobargo. Ten miles off is its seaport, Bermagui, near which not many years ago rich deposits of gold were found beneath the sands of the sea-shore. There was a great rush of diggers, but the field was soon proved to be but small, not, however, before Lamont Young, a clever geologist of the Mines Department, and a small party sent to make a special survey, disappeared in a most mysterious manner. Their boat was found, but no trace of their bodies. The occurrence is known to this day as the Bermagui mystery.
Bega, one of the most prosperous districts of the coast, next claims attention. The town is placed on a well-chosen site, and being the mart of the district, is a thriving centre. The seaport, Tathra, is ten miles off, but farther south is a more reliable outlet at Eden. The principal industries of the district are maize-growing, cheesemaking and pig slaughtering, Bega bacon commanding the highest price in the metropolitan markets. On the road inland stands Candelo, a romantically situated town, and the centre of one of the best parts of the many good portions of the district. Twofold Bay, however, is not so much used as the founders of the town expected, steamers of small draught being able to make Tathra and Merimbula, which are nearer by road to the chief town. Shipments of cattle, however, are frequently made to Tasmania, and vessels bound for Victoria occasionally make it a port of call.” P137

“From the coast to the cooler regions of the tableland, two roads are open for choice. For a journey in the saddle, the rugged, picturesque track known by the teamsters as "The Big Jack," may be taken; but if coaching or buggy driving is preferred, Tantawanglo Road is the easier. A day’s ride from Bega can be made to cover the intervening space, but it is pleasanter to travel slowly and tarry for a day at Candelo, distant fourteen miles. Prior to 1885, the last year of what may be, without exaggeration, termed the "great drought," Candelo was justly considered one of the most prosperous farming centres of the colony. Luxuriant pastures and never-failing creeks, aided by a climate with which no fault could be found, furnished advantages which industrious farmers were not slow in appreciating. But when after years of prosperity drought came, its results were disastrous in the extreme. There were no stores of fodder to meet the emergency, and immense sums were spent in purchasing hay and corn to save the valuable dairy herds. In too many cases the drought outlasted the bank accounts, and many of the farmers had to face what they had never even dreamed of —ruin. The frowns of adverse fate have disappeared. All is now smiling, and Candelo, with its many pretty buildings and cheerful gardens, is again gay.
It is necessary to rise about two thousand feet before the edge of the great pastoral country, Monaro, is reached. To the west, not many miles off, are the Gippsland Ranges, and closer still, the boundary line which divides the mother colony from Victoria. In front is the cozy town, Bombala, surrounded by grazing estates and farms, the soil of which is as good as any in the colony. Such country as this is admirably suited for farmers in all but one particular —its distance from extensive markets. Hops, equal to the best Kentish, and fruits of almost all kinds may here be grown. In years to come and as population increases, the land may be put to its most profitable uses and large quantities of produce shipped from Eden.” P138

“ Returning to Murrumburrah, and travelling twenty-three miles west along the main southern line, Cootamundra, another important town, is reached. During the past five years what was a mere roadside village has grown to a town with large and expensive buildings, while the country around is well farmed, and produces wheat of admirable quality. Thirty miles to the north west is Temora, which a few years ago was a large goldfield with a population of several thousands.” P140

“ Its mineral returns are now small, but being in the heart of a good agricultural district it will soon regain vigour. From Cootamundra a branch railway line runs to Gundagai, a thriving town situated thirty-four miles distant, at a point which is the head of the navigation of the Murrumbidgee River. The bridge which spans it, together with its viaduct, is nearly three-quarters of a mile in length, the low lands around the town being subject to floods. The original township, which was unfortunately built on the river flat, was almost washed away by a flood which occurred in 1852, nearly four-score dwellings being wrecked and many of their occupants drowned. But Gundagai is again a flourishing place with excellent prospects; its soil is rich, and there are gold reefs, slate quarries, and rich seams of asbestos to be developed. Adelong and Tumut are on the southern side of Gundagai, and materially assist its trade.

From Cootamundra, the main line turns to the south to Junee, a point from which the south western branch to Hay extends, and the first halting-place on any of the colony’s lines at which refreshments could be obtained. On the strength of its railway importance, Junee has become a sturdy place; but the town can make little progress without a good system of water supply.” P140

“ The Darling drains the western rainfall from Bathurst to the northern boundary of the colony, its principal tributaries —the Bogan, the Macquarie, and the Castlereagh —run for a considerable distance north-west, and this greatly puzzled the early explorers, who thought they had found the sources of some river that would empty itself on the northern coast, and it was no little disappointment to find that all these streams converged into the channel of the Darling running to the south-west. The general system of the western watershed, therefore, roughly resembles the shape of an outspread hand, the wrist being the outlet, and the fingers the great feeders. All these branches have picturesque reaches at the beginning, where they are falling from the hills; but once out upon the plains, they have but few tributaries —they zig-zag slowly across the level country, their course being generally marked by a thin fringe of stunted gum trees. They are welcome enough to the thirsty traveller, and the water-frontages are highly prized by stock owners, but they present little to charm an artist’s eye.

When the waters are up, there is something picturesque in the steamboats puffing along through the tree groves with tremendous noise and stir; by day darkening the soft blue of the sky with smoke, and by night, belching meteoric showers of sparks from their funnels, and throwing long rays from their powerful lamps into the weird and silent darkness of the forest that fringes the river’s bank. Sometimes the waters are high enough for these steamers to disregard the channel, and cutting off the bends, to pass over the fallen tree-tops and sunken logs; but in ordinary seasons the navigation is most tortuous, and the risk of impalement on some of the innumerable snags that lie hidden in the channel is not inconsiderable. Along the plains the red gum is the principal river timber. On some rich flats, where the overflow has carried seeds, the marginal strip broadens to a riverside forest, in which some charming, vistas and. natural avenues may be found, the trees tall and well-crowned with dark-green foliage, but a few varieties of wattle are almost the only undergrowth. In the summer of a dry season, the Outlook over all the western country is monotonous in the extreme. Then the great rivers are shrunk to puny streams, and a man may wade across the Darling or swim across the Murray in half a dozen strokes; then the tributaries on the plains and back-blocks have ceased to run, the back-water creeks are covered with a brittle gauze of marsh-film, their courses being marked by only a fringe of stunted box-trees, and their disused channels shown by patches of bare sand or shingle, hot as the desert floor. On the eastern watershed the character of the rivers is altogether different. Some of them are short, and make a straight and quick descent to the coast, their velocity being checked when they reach the narrow strip of plain, where they often form lagoons closed in by a sand-bar, through which, when their torrents are swollen, they force a passage to the sea.” P59

“Here on the banks of the Darling, near its confluence with the Murray, and over seven hundred miles from the metropolis, is a flourishing settlement. Being close to the borders of South Australia, there is regular communication with Adelaide, and it is expected that both Victoria and South Australia will stretch their railways as far as Wentworth. It is probable that some time in the future the south-western line of this colony may be extended so far, but, in the absence of railway lines, Wentworth has an extensive steamboat trade.
Up the Murray from Moama is the delightful little centre, Corowa, which is four hundred miles from the metropolis and forty miles west of Albury. This is one of the most fertile parts of the Murray valley —a perfect paradise for agriculturists a place with a great future, pasturing at present about a million head of stock, much of its progress being due to the efforts of the local agricultural society. Over the Murray, half a mile off, there is a railway station which affords cheap communication with Melbourne.
From this point a northerly course to the Murrumbidgee leads over a pastoral country of first-class quality. En route is Urana, distant seventy-six miles from the main railway line at Wagga Wagga, and only seventeen miles from the Jerilderie branch line. Around the small lake, from which the town takes its name, about one million sheep are pastured. The farmers are increasing in this locality, the soil being as good as any in Riverina, though, as in the case of many other districts, it is a difficult matter to obtain land. It is now seen that it would have been more conducive to the prosperity of New South Wales if the public land had not been so freely parted with by the State at a time when there was only a pastoral demand for it. The opportunities afforded to acquire large estates tempted many capitalists to invest to an extent which made borrowing a necessity. Bad seasons and high rates of interest have placed a heavy handicap on the large freeholds. Hence springs the hope that the time is not far distant when Riverina will have more farms than sheepwalks, and export as many hogsheads of wine as bales of wool; for high prices are required to keep the bank balance of squattages on the right side.” P143

“ Although the country around Wagga Wagga for the greater part is devoted to grazing, the farmers are not without representation, nearly thirty thousand acres being under cultivation, and over a million and a half sheep, with about twenty thousand head of cattle and horses, being pastured in the district. The grazing properties of this portion of the Murrumbidgee are held in high estimation by capitalists, and between the years 1872 and 1880 many of the stations were sold at high prices. Seasons of drought hive, however, much affected the district during the past five years, but it is now again in a prosperous condition.
In sporting matters Wagga Wagga has a strong lead, its jockey club being the most enterprising of its class, and the first to offer large sums as prizes for principal races. Besides the racecourse there is close to the town a large show-ground recently occupied by the local agricultural society. The shipping trade of the river is now but very small, Wagga Wagga having good facilities for the transit of goods by rail to Sydney and Melbourne. In consequence of having a good water-supply it is probable that this town will shortly become the site of extensive railway works, and a proposal has been made that a branch of the southern line should be extended from this point of the Murrumbidgee in a south-easterly direction to Tumberumba, near the upper part of the River Murray.” P145.

Text: "Picturesque Atlas of Australasia 1886"