|
pp. 129-140.
“Leaving the hospitable mansion of Messrs. Berry [Shoalhaven], our path, for nine miles, lies on a hard beach [Seven Mile Beach]. The horses now stretch themselves to their full speed, and rejoice at their emancipation from the bush. In the surf, porpoises are often seen at play. When the traveller quits the beach, he climbs an ascent [Gerroa Headland], and is suddenly in the midst of country differing essentially from any to which I have as yet introduced the reader; and when his progress has been continued for a short time, he is astonished by finding himself in the midst of tropical scenery. The cabbage-tree palm is found on every side; the feathery-leaved fern-tree abounds; and one is surrounded by foliage of the most vivid green. Luxuriant creepers ascend lofty trees, and depend from them in matted and interlaced festoons, whilst some of the stems of the climbing plants are like cordage ‘fantastically tangled.’ The aspect of the country is very rich; the soil is a red loam; and vistas, in the thick woods, offer occasionally a beautiful perspective, with here and there a glimpse of the bright sea, on whose restless waves the sunbeams dance.
“The district we have entered is called Illawarra, the native name bestowed by the aborigines; and, I have been told, that it means ‘happy valley.’* [Footnote - * The following are such native names as I chance to recollect: ‘Illawarra, Ulladulla, Coolangatta, Bengalla, Kiama, Woollongong, Bongbong, Jerringong, Woolloomaloo, Woolloomalan, Mooroo, Curabobbila.’ I have been told, more than once, that there is an affinity between the language of the aborigines and that of Eastern nations.] It consists principally, of a belt of rich, brushy country, about forty miles in length, backed, at no great distance from the sea, by mountains. These are clothed with brush; but, above the dark undergrowth, rise different species of the eucalypti; and, when the mountains are viewed from a distance, they have certainly much of the appearance of the olive-clad hills of Italy. Their crests, no doubt, collect and condense the fleecy clouds which roll up, and are scattered abroad over them, when the wind is to the southward. If one climbs the heights, a magnificent panorama is presented to the eye. In front, in the distance, lies the sea; and, immediately beneath you, a richly-wooded country, dotted with farms and clearings, in the midst of which is spread a broad lake [Lake Illawarra]. Amongst the inhabitants of the mountains are the brush turkey, which forms a huge nest common to a community, and wild cattle. These last are savage and dangerous, and much degenerated from the parent stock, being heavy in front and light in the hind quarters. In streams is found the platypus; indeed, this nondescript is common in many parts of the colony, and is to be seen in the evenings swimming on the surface of the water, in quest of flies and other insects.
“Amongst the tree that, in this district, arrest the traveller’s attention, is the gigantic fig-tree. It is produced by seed deposited by birds, in an undigested state, in the cleft of a gum or of a wild plum-tree. The seed germinates, and produces a parasite, which sends its tendrils to the ground. Here these, taking root, gradually envelop their foster parent and destroy it; and, becoming united, usurp its place, and form a large forest tree, which rises to the height of sixty feet and upwards. This bears a fruit sought out by the beautiful crested pigeon. Another tree is a species of myrtle, eugenia myrtifolia [Lilly Pilly or Bush Cherry]. It is often six feet in girth,, is covered with myrtle flowers, and bears a wax-like fruit, the size and shape of a bullace, but pink on one side, and of a sub-acid flavour. [Illawarra Escarpment Fauna and Flora]
“An emigrant mechanic gives a description of the recesses of the Illawarra mountains: - ‘The spot where we had pitched our tent was a small grassy forest on the hill side; and everywhere around it - down below in the endless ravines, and up towards the insurmountable heights of the range - was thick tangled brush, growing amidst lofty trees, so thick that beneath them was perpetual shadow, or, rather, something more gloomy still. The ground was covered with decaying leaves, and old, water-logged, windfall trees, so rotten that the foot could break its way deep into the substance of that gnarled wood which at one time would have stopped a cannon-ball. Wherever you went, creeks of crystal ice-like water, plunging down the mountain side, each in its stony bed, kept up a murmur day and night; never changing, except when increased by rains into the roar of a torrent. This mountain, or, more properly, heap of mountains, ran down where we were at work nearly into the sea, and, for many miles, every way, the character of the vegetation is as I have described. Here and there, certainly, a little patch of grassy forest would assert a place for itself on the shoulder of a hill, amd partly down the side; but, generally, the entire surface of the mountain, for many miles up and down the coast, every way, was clothed with this thick brush; besides which, so irregular, and broken, and confused was the surface of the range itself, that even the best bushmen felt timid of committing themselves to it. Some of the (cedar) trees were noble looking objects, with their great spurs running out at the butt like the buttresses of a castle; and when one of them fell before the axe, what a body of timber it crushed down before it, and what an opening it made in the brush !* [Footnote - * ‘Settlers and Convicts.’ By an Emigrant Mechanic. - P. 57, 83.]
“At another page our emigrant says: - ‘The soil is excellent; I have heard some of the settlers say that they could dig down forty feet through the soil of their farms on this seaside tract without finding a stone large as a pea. It was, therefore, one of the most amiable features of the policy of the best Governor this colony ever had, to give out in this district farms to a number of little settlers, for a poor man’s use of land is, of course, agricultural, and a fertile soil must be an immense advantage.’
“Numerous settlers are located at the foot of the mountains; and some in nooks perfectly out of sight; so that one might often pass through Illawarra without being aware of their existence. There are, however, to be detected, as one passes along the high road, abundant symptoms of a busy and thriving community; and, whenever I renewed my visits, I observed the progress of improvement. The port of the district is within a reasonable distance (fifty miles) of Sydney: and a steamer and numerous sailing vessels ply for the convenience of the settlers. Hence, they are on a far better footing than the farmer in the bush; and are able to send to market regular supplies of fresh butter and fresh fruit. Much of their attention is given to dairy-farms, on which the white clover flourishes; and it even spreads so as to cover the sides of the roads. Their dairy-cows are beautifully bred. They have also reason to be proud of their gardens; and I propose to introduce the reader to the show-garden of the district, which is the property of an enterprising man, who was long the master of a trading vessel. Sailors always make good settlers. This garden is situate in a warm hollow; and the approach to it is by means of a rustic bridge, thrown over a clear and rapid stream, into which droop the branches of a fine weeping-willow. Passing the bridge, we enter an arbour covered with fuschias, the double white moss rose, and the bignonia. The garden hedge is of lemon; laid, and trimmed like a holly hedge. On each side the middle walk, and fronting the visitor as he enters, is a mass of plantain stems (here called the banana) full thirty feet in circumference, and, in season, laden with fruit. The stems are about twelve feet in height; and from them depend the beautiful purple sheaths of the younger fruit. There are many plots of them about the garden; and a bunch of the fruit sells in Sydney for half-a-crown [2s. 6d.]. On the sides of some of the walks are orange, lemon, and shaddock trees, the citron, and the flowering almond; and, on the sides of others, standard peaches and apricots, and weeping nectarines, with occasionally mulberries, and the finest variety of pears. The squares are filled with plum, apple, cherry, and medlar trees. There are two very fine walnut-trees, being amongst the first that have borne in the colony. Other squares between the walks, to the extent of three acres, are filled with vines in full bearing. Some of the orange, lemon, and citron trees are from eighteen to twenty feet in height, and have always two crops hanging on them, and often three. At eight or ten years of age, each of these trees produces in the course of the year from one hundred to three hundred dozen. The pomegranates are in high perfection; and the hops are said to vie with the finest from Farnham. The ground is covered with melons in every variety; whilst the asparagus-beds would bear a comparison with those of Battersea, Fulham, or Putney. I must not forget to mention the loquat, raspberries, cape-gooseberries, and filberts. In one corner of the garden, in a damp spot, grow the osiers, of which they make baskets for packing the fruit. Every fruit is superior of its kind; and it appears that in this district can be grown in the open air all the fruits of England, with all those of a tropical climate, the pine-apple excepted; but this succeeds in the open air, at Moreton Bay. I must also except currants and gooseberries, which do not generally succeed in the colony, except on high table-land. In the stream is English watercress; and the hawthorn is grown in the garden as a memento of old England and her green lanes. The walnut here bears in the tenth year, and the mulberry in the third. Another settler has the following succession of peaches, bearing from January to June, both inclusive: - ‘The early Newington’ - ‘the Noblesse’ - ‘the Roman,’ and ‘the late June,’ which corresponds with the October peach in England, and is here a delicious table-fruit, being highly improved in flavour by the effects of climate. He has ‘the Moor Park’ apricot, and ‘the blood nectarine’ (a colonial variety), ‘the weeping nectarine,’ and ‘the double-flowering Chinese nectarine,’ which perfects it fruits here.* [Footnote - * A gardener advertises, in a Sydney paper, that he has for sale of vine cuttings 41 different sorts; of apples, 36; of pears, 10; of plums, 10; of apricots, 4; of cherries, 5; of peaches and nectarines, 14; of figs, 5; of mulberries, 2; of oranges, 11; of camellias, 15; of magnolias, 6; of laurel roses, 10; of other roses, 40; of passion flowers, 10; besides multitudes of other things.] [A staggering variety of fruit by today’s standards !]
“In this climate one can eat with safety almost any quantity of fruit.
‘Feed him with apricots and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries.’
“I have often been amused by the picture afforded by a huge settler devouring peaches. He plants himself under a standard tree, loaded with large and delicious fruit, and there sucks in the refreshing food, stooping all the time, in order that the juice, instead of meandering down the corners of his mouth, may fall on the ground. He is at length reluctantly compelled to desist, and walks off disconsolate, in the mood of the midshipman who cried because he could eat no more pudding. But, in fact, peaches cannot be considered as food, but as drink. They are a great luxury; as also is a glass of cold and clear water, which descends the dry throat like a liquid avalanche, and is said - so the story goes - literally to hiss and fiz when it comes in contact with the parched interior; the patient, meanwhile, gaping again like a fish upon dry land.
“At a short distance from the garden I have described, is to be seen the silicified stump of a tree. The roots are plainly to be seen; and it has exactly the appearance of the stump of a tree turned into stone as it stood. On the river Hunter many of these specimens are to be seen. At Carrington Park, some of them exist in a gully, opposite the house, and appear to have been washed out of the soil. I recollect showing one of these to a friend, who was at first persuaded it was a bona fide stump, but on attempting to lift it, he soon discovered his error.
“In this district is to be found a numerous class of small settlers called ‘clearing-lease men.’ They take a small piece of uncleared land (each about thirty acres), on condition of having it rent-free for six years, and form on it a kind of shanty, much in the style of a gipsy’s tent; being often nothing more than a bark roof placed on the ground. Under this they live whilst they clear and improve their little holding; though ultimately they run up decent huts. By the time their original tenancy expires, they have generally got on pretty well in the world, and can afford to pay about ten pounds a-year for their now reclaimed land. Most of these men have a dairy cow and a mare, which get their own living under the mountains; and the sale of their butter and of their crops, and the money they occasionally earn from the other settlers as labourers, keep the pot boiling. I have seen one of them give six guineas for a dairy cow; which is a large price in a country so abounding with cattle. Butcher’s meat is generally very cheap; and I have known rounds of fresh beef to be carted from a boiling-down establishment in this district, and delivered at a distance of fifteen miles at one penny a pound. These men are fully aware of the advantage of being near a market. ‘What,’ said one of them, ‘do you think I’d consent to be banished down to Holy Dollar [Ulladulla] ? What could I do there, I wonder ?’ A clearing-lease man must have some experience in the colony before he can with prudence commence operations, and he must capital enough to support himself and family for one year. In fact, he must lay in supplies as if he were bound on a voyage of discovery, and twelve months were to elapse before he could hope joyfully to exclaim, ‘Land ! Ho !’
“I believe that most of the settlers in Illawarra, of whatever grade, are comfortable and happy.
“The English bee has been introduced into Illawarra within the last few years, and with much success. The power this insect has of producing its own species, appears to be much increased in this climate, where there is no pinching winter. The produce of one hive , in three years, three hundred hives; besides those that escaped into the bush, and became wild. This statement may appear extraordinary, at first sight, but a reference to figures will attest its truth; and it must be recollected that the parent hive, and each of its swarms, with their produce again, and so on, are all continually increasing.....
“Some of the housewives manufacture from honey a most excellent wine, which, the longer it is kept, the better it is; and much honey is sent to Sydney for sale and export. By referring to a local paper, I am enabled to give some particulars of the honey trade. One settler sent to England the produce of forty hives, which yielded about 1000 lbs. of rough comb, and in taking the honey, not a single hive of the bees was lost. The net produce was 7 cwt. and 10 lbs. of honey, and 34 lbs. of wax. This was sold in England for 20 guineas; but brokerages, duty, &c., had to be deducted, leaving only 16l. 9s. 5d. I learn from the same source, that another settler sent to England a ton of honey and 4 cwt. of wax; and, of course, the larger the export, the less, in proportion, will be the expenses.
“I believe Illawarra to be, so far as nature is concerned, one of the most charming places in the world. Sir Thomas Mitchell calls it an earthly paradise.* [Footnote - * ‘Three Expeditions,’ vol, ii. p. 322.] The fine streams that gush from the hills, afford ample means of artificial irrigation; and, when this shall be adopted, it will be, indeed, ‘a land of wheat and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive-oil, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt not eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it.’ - (Deuteronomy viii., 8, 9.)
“At the pretty town of Woollongong [Wollongong] is the port of the district, and an artificial harbour has been cut in the rock. A neat church has been erected at ‘Dunlop Vale,’ but is, as some think, disfigured by a cross, which is stuck over the entrance, and certainly looks rather forlorn. Some of the settlers are much scandalised by its presence as if it were a crucifix, and, thinking it savours of Popery, refuse to subscribe to the building.....”
pp. 148-149.
“I was accustomed, when passing through Illawarra, to stop at the house of a farmer, who had been set up in the world under the system that once prevailed in the colony. On his arrival in the country, the government had given him land, supplied him with convict labour, with rations for the support of the convicts for a time, and with seed wheat. He was subsequently called upon to pay the value of the wheat, and of some milch cows which were also furnished him. He married a young person who had been educated in the orphan asylum, and to whom the government gave, as her dowry, a hundred acres of land. When I knew him he had feathered his nest very satisfactorily. He had a good house and extensive outbuildings, which were surrounded by an apple orchard, and by fine orange-trees in full bearing. He had a good deal of very rich land in cultivation, and his maize was most magnificent. His wife - a most respectable person - was then an excellent and diligent mistress; and round his board were a number of stout boys, who were very useful to their father, and also very well behaved; although when I first knew them, they used to laugh at me being ‘a new chum.’ On fine summer evenings, this settler used to sit in his verandah, which overlooks his farm, and, gravely smoking his pipe, discuss what the government formerly did for settlers, to make it worth their while to come into the colony, and what it does now. He did not think that it acts wisely in taking from a settler a pound sterling for every acre of land he acquires, and in laying out his money, or the greater part of it, in importing men, women, and children, not one of whom, in such a wide country, he may ever chance to set his eyes upon. This, he thought, crippled the settler at the outset; and that it was absurd to attempt to establish people in the colony by emptying their pockets, and making it difficult for them to obtain land at all. He did not think that capitalists would be tempted to come into the country by shutting its door in their faces, nor yet that strangers can manage colonial matters with more exquisite cunning than practical settlers, who, if left to themselves, would devise the best means of supplying themselves with labour. Finally, he was of opinion, that the regulations now in force, whilst they aim at the introduction of labour, tend practically to shut out those who should employ it as landowners.”
|
