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 LIBRARY 
 
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 University of California. 
 
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i H 1 : C I K ( ' I ^ l^A^ W i^UJ^Y 
 
THE INDUSTRIES 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 CHAELES LYNE. 
 
 SYDNEY : THOMAS EICHARDS, GOVERNMENT PRINTER. 
 
 1882. 
 
THE INDIJSTEIES 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 CHARLES LYNE. 
 
 SYDNEY : THOMAS EICHARDS, GOVERNMENT PRINTER. 
 
 18S2. 
 

 5 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter. 
 
 Introduction 
 
 I. — The Valley of the Hunter 
 II.— The Australian Wine Industry 
 
 III. — Stock-breeding 
 
 lY. —.Farming on the Hunter— Tobacco Cultivation 
 v.— Coal-mining at Newcastle 
 VI. — Coal-mining in Illawarra 
 VII.— Farming in Illawarra 
 A'lII. — The Ni^pean Water-works 
 IX. — Industry on the Blue Mountains 
 X. — The LiTHGOW Valley Coal Mines 
 
 XI. — Kerosene Shale and Oil 
 
 XII. — The Eskbank Iron- works 
 
 XIII.— Potteries and Brick Manufacture 
 XIV. — Otjieb Mountain Industries 
 XV. — TuE Fitzkoy Iron-works — Kerosene Oil Ma: 
 XVI. — Industry in the LivERrooL Plains District., 
 
 XVII. — Gold-mining 
 
 XVIII. — The Journey to New England 
 
 XIX. — Armidale 
 
 XX. — The Northern Gold-fields 
 XXI. — The New England District 
 XXII. — Glen Innes and its neighbourhood 
 
 XXIII, —Tix-mininc 
 
 XXIV.— The Copeland Gold-fields 
 
 XXV. — Wool in the North-west 
 
 XXVI. — From Dubbo to Warren aud Cannonbar 
 XXVII. — Life on a .Sheep Station ... 
 XXVIII.— The Wool Trade at Bourke 
 
 XXIX. — BOURKE AND WiLCANNIA ... 
 
 XXX. — The North-west generally 
 
 XXXI. — COBAR AND ITS CoPPER-MINE 
 
 XXXII. — The Murrumbidgsje Wool Trade 
 
 XXXIII. — The Deniliquin District 
 
 XXXIV. — Su(tAR Manufacture 
 
 XXXV. — The Western and Southern Gold-fields 
 
 Appendix— Census of New South Wales, ISSl (PopuUition) 
 
 229495 
 
 Page. 
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ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 r,i;^c. 
 
 TiiK CiRCL'LAK Ql'av, Sydnky (Fioiitispieco) 
 Wkst Maitlaxd, from the River 
 
 Coal Cliff Colliery 
 
 The Vale of Clwydd Colliery 
 
 Kerosene Mine, Hartley' Vale 
 
 The Eskbaxk 1ron-\vork« 
 
 Terra Cotta Works, Lithgow Valley 
 
 Tweed Factury, Buwenfels 
 
 Joauja Creek Mine 
 
 A View in Tamwortii ... 
 
 Alluvial Gold-mining ... 
 
 A Street in Tamworth ... 
 
 The Town of Tenterfield 
 
 Glen Innes 
 
 A^egetable Creek 
 
 Bridge over the Murrl'mbidgee at Hay . 
 A Street in Mudgee 
 The Tovvn of Hill End... 
 Map of New South Wales. 
 
 u 
 
 (H 
 
 96 
 
 102 
 
 lOG 
 
 112 
 
 lis 
 
 122 
 
 130 
 
 140 
 
 146 
 
 ... 162 
 
 170 
 
 174 
 
 246 
 
 264 
 
 268 
 
Preface. 
 
 The contents of this book appeared originally in a series of 
 articles under the title of " The Industries of the Colony," 
 published in the Sydney Morning Herald, and they are now, 
 with the generous consent of the proprietors of that journal, 
 reproduced by the author. They were written in a popular 
 style, and were very generally read and appreciated; and, 
 among other testimonies to their worth, were forwarded to 
 France by the late French Consul in Sydney, M. Ballieu, for 
 the information of the French Government. They are pub- 
 lished in their present form because they give an account of 
 New South Wales and its principal industries which it is 
 thought may prove very useful in attracting to the Colony 
 both population and capital. 
 
THE INDUSTRIES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ik no other way than by visiting the different parts of the Colony, 
 and making a personal examination of all that is to be seen, can a full 
 and accurate account be given of its present condition and its prospects. 
 Statistics tell us a great deal, and the Statistical Register appearing 
 year by year gives information which points unmistakeably to our 
 advancement ; but though figures are very useful they lack the attrac- 
 tiveness which narrative has for the general reader, and it was to give 
 as far as possible an interesting as well as faithful description of the 
 principal industries of New South Wales, and at the same time present 
 to the public a picture of what the interior of this great Colony really 
 is, that the articles which form the contents of this book were written. 
 The journeys undertaken for the purpose of collecting the necessary 
 information occupied several months ; each district and most of the 
 principal towns in the Colony were visited ; and every available means 
 was employed towards securing the object in view. Thei'esult was that 
 the Colony presented itself in an aspect quite different from that 
 which is apparent from a mere statistical statement, and showed itself 
 to be not only a country that had progressed remarkably in the past 
 but a land that had before it a wonderful future. In every direc- 
 tion progi'ess was unmistakable, and the population comfortable and 
 thriving. 
 
 Great changes have taken place within the last few years. On pas- 
 toral land sheep have become much more profitable than cattle, and until 
 the recent successful experiments in sending frozen meat to England 
 squatters were rapidly disposing of their cattle or sending them further 
 inland, and adding to the number of their sheep. This change in 
 squatting operations was due chiefly to the low prices which for some 
 time cattle had been realizing, and to the high jirices which had been 
 obtained for wool. But other considerations also came into view. Much 
 of the pastoral land of the Colony is situated in districts which are not 
 well watered, and droughts tell more severely upon cattle than upon 
 sheep. For several reasons sheep appeared to be more profitable than 
 
 A 
 
2 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 cattle. The retm-ns from cattle depend to a gi'eat extent on the nature 
 of the season ; the increase in numbei's was usually small, and the 
 fattening of the animals was never satisfactory unless the season was 
 favourable. But with sheep the return was nearly always good. They 
 are more easily managed and saved from death during seasons of 
 drought ; they are very prolific, and as both wool and mutton fetch 
 good prices are very profitable. Many of the holders of pastoral runs 
 learned during the last long drought from which the Colony suffered the 
 value of sheep as compared with that of cattle, and being convinced of 
 the wisdom of turning as much as possible of their lands into sheep runs 
 have either disposed of their cattle by sale or removed them to runs 
 further inland and even into Queensland, and have largely increased the 
 number of sheep on the runs from which the cattle have been taken. A 
 change such as this would of itself cause a considerable increase in the 
 annual production of wool, but besides this, imj)rovements made in the 
 carrying capacity of the runs largely add to the quantity of wool 
 produced and sent away. By the system of fencing lately introduced, 
 and the division of the runs into paddocks, the grass grows so well that 
 food becomes plentiful, and as the sheep can roam at will with perfect 
 security, they fatten and thrive wonderfully. Sheplierds have almost 
 disappeared, and all the attention that is paid to the sheep during 
 the intervals between the shearing or lambing seasons is given them 
 by a boundary rider, whose duty it is to occasionally ride round the 
 run and see that the fences are in a good state of repair, and to 
 lay baits to poison native dogs. Pastoral operations at the present 
 day are very different from what they used to be, and something more 
 than mere capital is being employed in the industry. In the majority of 
 instances improvements are being introduced with the object of increasing 
 the yield from the runs to the utmost extent, compatible with a wise 
 pi'ovision for contingencies that arise during very dry seasons, and the 
 result is proving very satisfactory. 
 
 The success of the frozen meat shipments to England may bring about 
 a modification of the plan now followed by many squatters of making 
 pastoral land almost entii-ely sheep runs, for if a meat trade spring up 
 and continue for any length of time between Australia and England the 
 price of cattle must improve considerably, and the cattle kept upon 
 squatting stations will be increased. At present most of the large cattle 
 stations are to be found in the north-western part of Ncav South Wales, 
 adjoining the Borders of Queensland, and in north-western Queensland, 
 where many of the New South Wales stockowners have taken up pastoral 
 leases ; and from these far oft" cattle runs a large supply comes to the 
 Sydney and Melbourne mai'kets. The breeding of thoroughbred stock 
 
Introduction. 3 
 
 receives a good deal of attention in the Colony, and has been of great 
 service in improving the quality of the herds throughout the country ; 
 but those cattle-breeders who have devoted all or most of their efforts to 
 the breeding of thoroughbred cattle have not for some time past found 
 tlie returns commensurate with the labour and expense incurred in the 
 occupation. Some years ago the demand for animals of this kind was 
 very good, and prices were such as to leave very satisfactory profits ; but 
 as the squatting runs became supplied with the number of thoroughbred 
 animals necessary for the improvement of the ordinary cattle on the runs 
 sales were not so brisk and prices fell considerably. Since that period 
 this dulness has to a large extent passed away, and sales are again satis- 
 factory. This jiart of the great pastoral industry of the Colony has been 
 of very much benefit, and if it does not now leave as large a return as 
 formerly it did, breeders, by employing their skill in some other directions 
 not unconnected with their profession, can make their income as large 
 as it was when the demand for thoroughbred stock was all that could 
 be desired. As with thoroughbred cattle, so Avitli thoroughbred horses. 
 Both breeders and hoi'ses have increased so much that pedigree horses 
 do not command the sale they iised to do, but attention is being given to 
 the breeding of a class of horses very much more useful than the mere 
 racer, whose chief or only qualities are speed and endurance, and very 
 much more required in the Colony — good upstanding carriage-horses and 
 serviceable hackneys ; and horse-breeding is therefore not likely to 
 suffer in respect of its being a profitable undertaking. Recently some 
 fii'st-class trotting horses were imported from America, and they will 
 supply a want that has long been felt. 
 
 The breeding of good draught stock has always paid very well, and 
 probably always will ; and not only do large landed proprietors keep 
 good draught stallions and mares, but small farmers may be found in 
 almost every direction with excellent stock of this description, and an 
 income derived from them which places the owners far above the reach of 
 want, and in many cases within the reach of independence and luxury. 
 Farmers too keep sheep, and add considerably to the quantity of wool pro- 
 duced in the Colony. They breed sheep for the same reason as that for 
 which they breed horses, to add something to the returns from agriculture ; 
 and their flocks range from 200 or 300 to 2,000 or 3,000, or even more. 
 
 But extensive, varied, and important as are the operations of pastoral 
 occupiers, it is a matter for surprise to see hoAv simply everything connected 
 with the pastoral industry is carried on. A squatting property is merely a 
 large extent of country in its native state, fenced with a wire fence, and 
 divided into huge sections called paddocks ; watered by a river, by a 
 
4 The Indihstries of Neiv South Wales. 
 
 •creek, or by tanks whicli are simply excavations in the ground, made 
 for the purpose of storing rain-water ; stocked with sheep or cattle, or 
 with both ; and possessing what is known as a homestead or head 
 station, where the proprietor or his representative resides, and where the 
 wool-shed, the drafting yards, and the few other necessaries of station 
 life are to be found. So extensive is the run that one may ride for 
 miles without seeing the smallest sign to indicate that the country is 
 inhabited or ever visited by man, and lai'ge as many of the flocks of 
 sheep or herds of cattle may be they ai'e seldom seen unless searched 
 for. Kangaroos in their wildest state may be frequenty started ; emus 
 stalk through the long grass in pairs or in flocks of a dozen or twenty, 
 and at the least alarm scamper away like the wind ; wild turkeys graze 
 on the herbage of the plains with all the unconcern that comes from 
 undisturbed possession ; and all other appearances of the wild Australian 
 bush are met with, even to the mirage, which from the peculiar formation 
 of the country and conditions of the atmosphere where it occurs deceives 
 the eye with visions of beautiful lakes and luxuriant foliage, where 
 in reality there may be nothing but arid plains or barren desert. The 
 men employed upon a station number in many instances no more than 
 about half-a-dozen, and these include the proprietor or superintendent. 
 More are not necessary until shearing time, when a band or company of 
 shearers comprising perha^is twenty or thirty are engaged to shear the 
 sheep and pack the wool. Horse or bullock teams and the river or the 
 railway do what else is necessary to complete the operations upon a sheep 
 ■ station. On a cattle station the permanent " hands " are just as small 
 in number, and the temporary additional labour required at certain 
 periods is considerably less than what is requisite where sheep are sheared 
 and the wool sent away to market. Nothing could be more healthful 
 than station life, few occupations could be more agreeable to the young 
 or to any who do not wish for an existence in a town or city ; and 
 certainly no industry is more profitable to those who apply themselves to 
 it with intelligence, energy, and self restraint, nor more important to the 
 country. So largely have pastoral operations been entered into tliat little 
 of the pastoral land in any part of the Colony is unoccupied or not in 
 the hands of freeholders or pastoral tenants. Even the back-blocks, 
 where the want of water has to be overcome by the construction of tanks, 
 and where until a few years ago men dreaded to go from fear of gi-eat 
 pecuniary loss and great sufferings from thirst, have been taken up, and 
 much of them so improved by provision for water storage that some of 
 the runs in this part of the Colony are even now, and will doubtless 
 continue to be, among the most productive and best in the country. In 
 good seasons this naturally waterless land is luxuriant with grass, and 
 
Introchwtion. 5 
 
 thougli urouglifc causes much of this grass to wither and disappear, in 
 many places there are edible shrubs called the salt-bush and the cotton- 
 bush Avhich cattle and sheep readily eat and thi'ive upon as satisfactorily 
 as could be wished. 
 
 But while even the distant interior of the Colony is settled so far as 
 being in the hands of squatters who are using the means afforded by it 
 for increasing pastoral production, IsTew South Wales does not reap to 
 the full the advantages which arise from pastoral occupation within its 
 boundaries. Railway extension has not yet progressed sufficiently to 
 catch all the wool that is grown on the backs of the sheep which are 
 numbered in our statistics, and which are bred and maiirtained on our 
 territory ; and large quantities of wool go to Melbourne and to Adelaide,, 
 where what are shipments of New South Wales produce assist in 
 swelling the total of the wool export from the Colonies of Victoria and 
 South Australia. A change, however, in this respect has begun, for 
 with the opening of the railways to Dubbo, Albury, Hanging Rock, 
 and Darlington Point — towns or settlements in the west, south, and 
 south-west, adjacent to the pastoral country — the wool that has hitherto 
 gone to the other Colonies is being attracted to Sydney ; and as the 
 railways are extended farther in the directions which they are now 
 taking the quantity of wool arriving in Sydney will year by year largely 
 increase. So apparent is this to everyone who gives the subject attention 
 that those who are specially interested in the wool going to Melbourne are 
 opening branch offices and establishing branch warehouses in Sydney, in 
 order that though the wool must be shipped from Sydney the business con- 
 nected with it, or with some of it, need not necessarily leave the Melbourne 
 agencies. In the present export of New South Wales wool into Victoria 
 and South Austi-alia for shipment to England from Victorian and South 
 Austi-alian ports, the circumstance of so large a quantity going that way 
 is due to the facilities which some of the rivers in the south and west 
 offer for the conveyance of the wool to a place of shipment, and to the 
 cheapness of river conveyance as compared with the cost of carrying the 
 wool on teams to the nearest New South Wales railway. This differ- 
 ence of cost will of course disappear as the distance between the wool- 
 sheds and the railways decreases, especially as the New South Wales 
 railway authorities have declared their intention to offer every facility 
 that is likely to induce the squatters in all jiarts of the country to send 
 their wool to Sydney, and this the Government will do by means of 
 reasonable freights, rapid transit, good stoi'age, and speedy delivery. 
 
 The progress of the pastoral industry is strikingly shown in the pub- 
 lished statistics, which give the number of live stock in the Colony and 
 
6 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 the quantities and value of the pastoral produce exported. On the 31st 
 March, 1881, there were in the Colony 395,984 horses, 2,580,040 cattle, 
 32,399,547 sheep, and 308,205 pigs. Since the publication of these 
 statistics the number of sheep in the Colony has been shown by the 
 Chief Inspector of Stock to be over 35,000,000. The quantity of wool 
 exported in 1880 was 154,871, 8323bs., of the value of £8,040,625 ; the 
 quantity ten years ago was 65,61 l,953Ibs., of the value of £4,748,160. 
 
 Farming operations are progressing satisfactorily in all parts of the 
 Colony, notwithstanding that from some quarters complaints are heard 
 of excessive railway freights and some other hindrances in the way of 
 cheap and easy transit to a market. Far beyond the settled districts the 
 f ree-selectoi-, taking advantage of the privilege which the land law of the 
 Colony allows him to conditionally purchase sufficient land for a good 
 sized farm, or for a farm and a small grazing area, has made his home, 
 and as the railways are extended these pioneers of the plough will 
 increase in number, and large quantities of land at present unsuitable 
 for anything but sheep or cattle runs in the hands of pastoral lessees 
 will be brought within the influence of cultivators. 
 
 Nearer Sydney and in those districts which are essentially agricultural 
 and close to the railways the condition of most of the farming popula- 
 tion is all. that could be desired. Nothing could be more pleasing than 
 the picture of rural comfort and prosperity which a well-kept New 
 South Wales farm presents, and there are very many such in the 
 various agricultural districts. The crops grow luxuriantly, and yield 
 abundantly ; cattle thrive in the fields ; where there is a gi-azing lease- 
 hold area attached to the farm, sheep increase in number and weight in 
 relatively greater proportion than they do on the more extensive 
 squatting runs; the farmer's stables may — and frequently do — contain one 
 or more valuable horses for breeding purposes ; the dairy is clean and 
 productive ; and the farm-house is substantially built and comfortable. 
 Many of the free-selectors are hard-working prosperous men who own 
 from 1,000 to 3,000 sheep, and from 640 to perhaps 2,000 acres, the 
 last-mentioned area being occupied in those instances where several 
 members of a family have taken up adjoining land. 
 
 Farming itself will yield the farmer a fair profit, but generally it is 
 found that he combines with cultivation the keeping of a small flock of 
 sheep or the breeding of a few draught horses, which adds materially to 
 the income derived from the farm. Wheat-growing is not regarded at 
 the present time as an occupation of as profitable a kind as it ought to 
 be, though the area of land under wheat is very large, for there are 
 difficulties which prevent the cultivation of this cereal from being 
 
Introduction. 7 
 
 as successful as is desirable. A difficulty in some places of getting more 
 than a local market for the wheat makes the returns which the 
 farmer receives from his wheat crop less than they might be under 
 different circumstances, and an enemy in the form of a blight known as 
 " rust" occasionally attacks the crop more or less severely in almost every 
 district in the Colony, and no one appears to know exactly the cause of 
 the disease, or how its evil effects can be prevented. The nature of thci 
 soil, conditions of climate, and method of cultivation may have much to 
 do with it, but the only definite reason given for its appearance is an 
 over-supply of moisture in the soil caused by rain at certain periods of 
 the wheat's growth. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, however, no less than 252,540 acres of land in 
 the Colony are under wheat grown for grain, and for the year which ended 
 in March, 1881, the yield from this acreage was 3,708,737 bushels. This 
 large quantity of grain is not sent out of the Colony, but is made into 
 flour by the mills which are to be found at every agricultural centre, and 
 the flour is distributed over a considerable extent of country, is sold 
 readily, and is well liked. 
 
 The mills for grinding and dressing grain numbered at the end of the 
 year 1880, 150, and the millers look forward confidently to the time 
 when the growth of wheat will be so increased that there will be 
 no difficulty in meeting all the wants that are now supplied by importa- 
 tions of flour from South Austi'alia and from America. A large 
 proportion of a vast extent of country which lies westward, and which is 
 known as the Great Western Plains, is suitable for agi'iculture, but 
 owing to a scarcity of water, to an uncertainty with regard to the 
 seasons, and to an excessive distance from market, few selectors have 
 been venturesome enough to take up land there, and those who have done 
 so depend more upon pastoral occupation in the form of keeping a small 
 flock of sheep than in cultivating the soil. But exi^eriments in boring 
 for water beneath this dry plain country are meeting with splendid 
 success, and this with the progress of railway extension will serve to 
 largely increase the ai-ea under cultivation. Even if farming pure and 
 simple should not extend in any great degree beyond its present limits, 
 which is very improbable, the gro^vth of a class of men who are 
 half farmers and half pastoralists will supply something like a 
 yeomanry in the country who -will occupy a position between the 
 ordinary class of selectors and the lai-ge squatters, and who will be of 
 vei-y great benefit to the Colony. At the present time farmers in the 
 western districts near the railway are crying out for a wider market 
 than is now available for their produce, and they may find a ready sale 
 for all they have among the population of the far west, who are at 
 
8 The Industries of 'New South Wales, 
 
 present supplied from Adelaide or Melboume by way of tlie rivers, which 
 though not always navigable have sufficient water in them at certain 
 periods of the year to enable steamers to ply backwards and forwards. 
 
 Maize, barley, oats, rye, millet, tobacco, and arrowroot are among the 
 produce of the farms, and several of these are employed in manufactures 
 which are steadily growing in importance. The maizena manufactoi'ies 
 of the Colony are among the most successful, and the industry is followed 
 both in the north and in the south. A visit which the writer paid to 
 one of these establishments at Dungog, a thriving town near the head 
 of the Williams River, disclosed a very satisfactory state of things. In 
 a substantial building all the machinery necessary for the business in hand 
 was in full working order, and a numerous staff of workpeople were 
 constantly employed at the different processes connected with the 
 manufacture of the maizena. The maize was bought from the farmers 
 in the district, and thoroughly ground and dressed ; the papers for form- 
 ing the maizena packets were cut and packed ; the boxes in which the 
 packets were placed before being sent away wei-e made ; and while 
 everything associated with the manufacture ajDpeared to be done on the 
 premises, the ^proprietors enjoyed the satisfaction of being able to 
 compete successfully against imported corn flour. Starch also is made at 
 the maizena manufactories. 
 
 Tobacco manufactiire is increasing, and each year a larger quantity of 
 the leaf is grown. Successful cultivation of tobacco depends greatly 
 upon the seasons, but generally speaking it is attended with no 
 difficulty beyond the occasional appearance during or after wet 
 seasons of a blight called " blue mould," which affects the plants 
 as rust injures wheat, and sometimes rather seriously reduces the 
 yield of good leaf from the crop. The industry is too young and 
 the experiments made in the way of testing the suitableness of the 
 soil for the growth of the tobacco plant not numerous nor extensive 
 enough to enable a proper comparison to be made between the Colony 
 and America as tobacco-producing countries, but both the amount of 
 production and the quality of the leaf grown could be greatly improved 
 if farm(;rs were to give the matter more attention than they do. The 
 method of drying and curing the leaf is very primitive on most of the 
 farms, and this interferes more or less with the manufacture of the leaf 
 into tobacco or cigars. Very iew cigars are made, but tobacco in which 
 the colonial leaf is the principal ingredient is manufactured in large 
 quantities, and meets with a ready sale. The general mode of preparing 
 it for consumption is to mix it with a little of the best American leaf, 
 and in that form it appears to be very well liked. 
 
Introduction. 9 
 
 The Statistical Register represents fourteen tobacco manufactories as 
 in existence in the different electoral districts of the Colony ; and though 
 this number is not so large as some which the statistics of former years 
 have shown, there can scarcely be any doubt that the cultivation of the 
 tobacco leaf, crude as it is at the present time, has very much impi'oved 
 from what it used to be, and that the industry therefore shows satis- 
 factory signs of pi'Ogress. 
 
 The practice of buying the leaf consists in persons connected with the 
 factories visiting the farmers and purchasing from them at the farms, 
 and as much as possible is secured for the metropolis, where the tobacco 
 establishments are very much larger and the tobacco trade much more 
 extensive than in the country. 
 
 The land about the Paterson River and within the district of Glendon 
 Brook, not far from the Paterson, is very favourably situated for tobacco 
 cultivation, and very good leaf is grown there. Those portions of the 
 Hunter Valley near the river are rather unfavourable, inasmuch as 
 the plants absorb saltpetre deposited upon the soil doubtless by the flow 
 of the tide, and this ingredient causes the manufactured tobacco to burn 
 badly. Higher up the valley land, and about Tamworth, the outlet of 
 the Liverpool Plains country and lately the terminus of the Great 
 Northern Railway, the soil is considered to be very suitable for tobacco ; 
 and in the districts in the southern part of the Colony the leaf is being 
 grown with much success. 
 
 In some instances the country manufacturers send the leaf in a partly 
 manufactured condition to the manufacturers in Sydney, who put the 
 article through the finishing processes with the aid of far better machinery 
 than is used in the country establishments ; but most of the country-made 
 tobacco, as in fact is tlie case with the tobacco made in Sydney, is sold 
 to country storekeepers, who supply it to the proprietors of squatting 
 stations and to people generally. Colonial grown and mamifactured 
 tobacco forms also one of the exports of the Colony. No less an extent 
 of land than 1,586 acres were under tobacco cultivation in the year 
 1880, and the production amounted to 1,784,752 lbs. 
 
 Two other important industries connected with agriculture in New 
 South Wales are the cultivation of the vine and wine-making, and the 
 growth of the sugai*-cane and the manufacture of sugai*. The latest 
 published returns show that 2,840-| acres of land are used for vine-growing, 
 and that the production of wine amounts in the year to 584,282 
 gallons. The Duke of Manchester, who made a tour of Australia last 
 year, is reported to have recently expressed the opinion that the vines 
 
10 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 of New South Wales are grown on rich alhivial soil which is incapable 
 of producing wines of the rich and delicate flavour found in the products 
 of the vineyards cultivated on the sandy hillsides in the south of France; 
 but it is nevertheless the fact that Frenchmen who have visited this 
 Colony, and who have been considered in the light of connoisseurs or 
 experts in wine-tasting, have declared some of our best wines to be 
 fully equal to some of the choicest bi-ands of the wines of France, and 
 have purchased considerable quantities ; and gradually, in spite of 
 obstacles, colonial wines are becoming better known and better 
 liked in Europe. In New South Wales they are very commonly found 
 upon the luncheon or the dinner table, and are regarded as a refreshing 
 and wholesome drink. The industry has not yet progressed so far as to 
 make sound wholesome "svdne the common beverage of the working 
 classes, but that desideratum will in all probability be the result of the 
 constantly increasing efforts made by the vine-growers of the Colony to 
 improve their system of cultivating the vine and the methods they 
 adopt for making wine and putting it into the market for consumption. 
 At the present time the industry is a large and growing one, giving 
 employment to great numbers of people, and materially assisting the 
 progress and prosperity of the Colony. 
 
 Sugar manufacture is comparatively a new industry, and yet two at 
 least of the northern coast rivers abound in sugar plantations and sugar- 
 mills, and scarcely any but colonial grown or colonial refined sugar is 
 used in the Colony. This industry owes its oi-igin to the late Mr. 
 Thomas Scott, and a few others. Mr. Scott spent the best part of his 
 life in endeavouring to prove that some parts of the Colony were 
 suitable for the growth of the sugar-cane. The great advance of 
 the industry is due to the Colonial Sugar Company, whose enterprise 
 has led them to invest in buildings, plant, steamers, punts, and 
 land in New South Wales and Fiji, to the extent of £650,000. 
 Between 1,000 and 1,200 men are employed by the Company during 
 the sugar season, and their sugar-mills on the Clarence, Richmond, and 
 Tweed Rivers, in the northern coast districts of New South Wales, are 
 capable of j^roducing in the season, which lasts five months, no less than 
 14,000 tons of sugar. This and quantities of imported sugar are refined 
 at the Company's Refinery in Sydney, and can be sold very cheaply, the 
 rates during the past year having been on an average from 20s. to 30s. 
 per ton below the prices ruling in Melbourne. As the annual con- 
 sumption of sugar in New South Wales is about 30,000 tons, this 
 represents a saving to the public, as compared with what is paid in the 
 Colony of Victoria, of £30,000 to £45,000 a year. The private sugar- 
 mills, which are veiy numerous, have sprung into existence fi-om the 
 
Introduction. 11 
 
 circumstances of the cultivation of the sugar-cane being so easy and the 
 manufacture of sugar so profitable ; and the establishment of private 
 mills gave an impetus in a new direction to the iron and engineering 
 industrv, for every one of the private mills has been made in Sydney. 
 The total quantity of sugar manufactured in 1880 was 146,003 cwt., 
 and there were 209,092 gallons of molasses. Ten years ago the product 
 of the industry was 35,836 cwt. sugar and 113,151 gallons of molasses. 
 
 Another of the great industries of the Colony is mining. In none of 
 the many minerals with which New South Wales abounds is the Colony 
 richer than in coal, and the progress which has attended the labour of 
 opening out the coal seams and the development of an important coal 
 trade with almost all parts of the world have been remarkable. North, 
 south, and west mines are to be found, and the rapidly increasing 
 output has given employment to large numbers of people and added 
 greatly to the wealth of the country. Occupying the singular position 
 of being the only Australian Colony in which coal has been discovered 
 in quantities and of a quality which make the working of the seams 
 fairly profitable New South Wales has enjoyed a monopoly of 
 an industry which has been constantly growing in extent and im- 
 portance ; and as in close proximity to the coal measures there are in 
 many places abundant stores of iron, the prospects of advantage to be 
 derived in the future from the possession of mineral treasures of this 
 description are almost incalculable. So extensive are the coal deposits 
 that they are practically inexhaustible, and the quality of the coal is so 
 excellent that it has a high reputation everywhere and for all purposes. 
 Occasionally the trade has been disturbed by temporary difierences 
 between the coal-miners and their employers, but notwithstanding these 
 difliculties in the way of progress the output has increased and the 
 industry has extended its operations year by year, until the annual 
 output has reached 1,466,180 tons, of the value of £615,336. The 
 largest of the coal-mining centres in the Colony is Newcastle, which is 
 situated at the mouth of the river Hunter, and about 70 miles north of 
 Sydney, and in the district of Northumberland. Two other localities 
 well-known for the extent and value of their coal measures are the 
 district of Ulawarra, about 30 miles to the south of Sydney, and the 
 Lithgow Valley or Hartley district, 95 miles to the west of Sydney. 
 Only the coal-mines in the latter district are without facilities for the 
 shipment of their coal. At Newcastle, and on that portion of the coast 
 nearest to the southern collieries, the shipping facilities are ample ; but 
 as soon as arrangements are completed at Darling Harbour — an arm of 
 Port Jackson in which extensive wharf accommodation is being provided 
 by the Government — even the western colliex'ies, which are in the recesses 
 
12 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 of tlie Blue Mountains, will find means for shipping all tlie coal they 
 may desii-e to send away by sailing-vessel or steamer. At present these 
 ■western collieries find a market for their coal within the Colony, and to 
 send it from the mines avail themselves of the Government railways. 
 
 Gold-mining mav be said to be but in its infancy, and there is every 
 appearance of an important future for this branch of the mining 
 industry. In various parts of the Colony rich discoveries are con- 
 stantly being made, and it is the opinion alike of experienced miners 
 and professional geologists that the deposits of the precious metal yet 
 unworked probably exceed by far the quantities, large though they have 
 been, that have been found near to the surface. So it is with tin- 
 mining and copper-mining, except that the tin deposits are not so 
 scattered. All that is required to jiroperly develop these mineral riches 
 are capital and rightly directed enterprise, with a patient foi"bearance in 
 respect of dividends until the mines are thoroughly proved. 
 
 Mining in all its branches is certainly progressing ; and while the 
 annual j^roduction continues to improve the public are begiiming to 
 recognise the importance of supporting the industry in a manner which 
 must eventually prove to those who invest their money in it a lasting 
 source of profit. 
 
 With the progress of these gi'eat industries the Colony is in a position 
 to point to a steady advance in manufactures generally. Year by year 
 there are new manufactoi'ies established and improvements in the 
 methods of manufacture to record ; and in spite of an open market, a 
 large proportion of the articles manufactured in the Colony can hold 
 their own in respect of workmanship, durability, and cheapness. Sydney 
 is now a great centre of manufacturing industiies, some of them of the 
 most important character, and they are extending rapidly to the country 
 towns. Only those who have journeyed into the interior and observed 
 the growth of settlement, the increasing size of the towns, and the 
 industrious and contented character of tlie people, can jiroperly realize 
 the enoi-mous strides which New South Wales has made in the past, 
 the progress she is destined to make in the future, and the oppoi-tunities 
 for getting on that she ofiers to every hard-working and persevering 
 man who cares to come to the Colony and avail himself of the facilities 
 at hand for making a comfortable home and securing a profitable 
 occupation. 
 
The Valley of the JSunter. 15 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE VALLEY OF THE HUNTER. 
 
 In fertility of soil, i-icliness of crops, pastoral wealth, a thriving popula- 
 tion, and withal a healthful climate and pleasant scenery, there are no 
 places in the Colony to surpass the districts of the Hunter. Like the 
 action of the Egyptian stream in overflowing its banks once a year and 
 fertilizing the surrounding country, the waters of the Hunter and its 
 tributaries — -the "Williams and the Paterson — rise in times of flood, and, 
 overspreading the adjoining lands, leave a rich black soil that needs 
 scarcely to be broken by the plough to make it yield harvests in 
 abundance ; and while agriculture is so easy and so profitable in the 
 valley, notwithstanding the losses that sometimes overtake it through 
 the inundations, the higher ground is eminently suited for flocks 
 and herds ; and the two occupations have attracted around them 
 all, or nearly all, those various industries which of necessity become 
 established wherever large numbers of people assemble in communities 
 whose habitations grow from villages into towns, and from towns into 
 cities. 
 
 In the midst of this fruitful land East and "West Maitland stand as a 
 kind of store-house, to which almost everything produced in the country 
 around comes for sale, or for despatch by railway to Newcastle or up- 
 country. As a central depot for stock, these towns ai'e patronized by all 
 the breeders round about, and the sales of cattle, horses, sheep, and other 
 kinds of stock are frequent and large. The last extensive drought affected 
 the pastoral interests considerably ; but that which injured pastoralists was 
 beneficial to agriculturalists, for a very large trade was done by them 
 in sending maize and lucerne far into the interior, where the natural 
 food of cattle had almost entirely disappeared. Floods are the greatest 
 nuisance and source of injury to Hunter River farmers, and yet so 
 remai'kably fertile is the land that they recover their losses with sur- 
 prising rapidity. Even wdien a great flood comes the farmers are in a 
 fairly good condition again within less than twelve months. 
 
 No large flood has visited Maitland since 1875, but there was a small 
 flood as lat-eas 1879, when a good deal of the low-lying land was inundated 
 and some of the lucerne crops injured ; there is, however, always a 
 chance of the lucerne recovering after the subsidence of a flood, if the 
 water should pass off quickly and the weather be not too hot. Of 
 
16 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 course both floods and droughts affect busmess, and for some time 
 business people in Maitland and other towns have felt the effects of the 
 dry weather which stockoAvners and others have experienced. But 
 while the commercial world has suffered somewhat in this respect, the 
 dulness is regarded as only temporary, and from the reports that are 
 made of land sales and other transactions in the disposal of property 
 there can be no doubt al;out the general prosperity of the place. Two 
 estates known as Bolwarra and Lidney were not long ago cut up 
 and sold, and in almost every instance the farms were purchased by 
 the tenants, the prices ranging from £32 to o£59 an acre. In the case 
 of the Lidney tenants, it is said that they did not take advantage of 
 the opportunity given them to purchase their farms on credit, but they 
 paid the purchase money in cash ; and the Bolwarra tenants quickly 
 cleared off most of their indebtedness. Yet some of these people have 
 been recipients of food relief, and that even as late as the last flood. 
 One case is mentioned in which this relief was given, and when the 
 farmer made his purchase of a part of one of these estates he put down 
 500 sovereigns. But although the Hunter districts may be considered 
 more particularly agricultural, yet for cattle and horses it is well known 
 they cannot be beaten. Within a few miles of Maitland some of the 
 finest stock in the Colony are bred, and every one is acquainted with 
 the famous Hereford herds of Eelah and Tocal. Manufacturing indus- 
 tries, too, are numerous and varied ; population is increasing — slowly, 
 it is said, but still satisfactorily ; wages are good ; and there are no 
 more than the average number of unemployed, who are described as 
 belonging to the usual class of idlers. 
 
 Familiar as those accustomed to travel along the Great Northern 
 Railway may be with evidences of the prosperity which exists from 
 Newcastle to Tamworth, the knowledge of this that is gained by mere 
 railway travelling is very little indeed compared with what is gathered 
 by leaving the i-ailway-line and traversing the country through the 
 various towns and settlements, for then the active and well-to-do 
 character of everything and everybody is apparent in all its fulness and 
 all its force. To view Maitland, for instance, from High-street or Elgin- 
 street station, is but to see a very small proportion of a very large city, 
 and a very flourishing and populous district ; but leave the train and 
 drive through the rich agricultural suburbs which lie adjacent to 
 Maitland, and there is a tenfold aspect of town and countiy life — "West 
 Maitland in one direction. East Maitland in another, Morpeth in a third, 
 Hinton in a fourth, Largs in a fifth ; and between them farms or ' 
 grazing paddocks brilliant with young or ripening crops, or ])lentifully 
 stocked with cattle. 
 
The Valley of the Kunter. 17 
 
 In Australia the to'svn is genei-ally but the outlet for the richness 
 of the surrounding district. The source of prosperity and progress 
 is to be found in the fields away from where the people gather 
 thickly together, and in those places where the farmer follows the 
 plough or the gi-azier tends his herd. The farmer must find a market 
 for his produce, the grazier purchasers for his stock, and each avails 
 himself of the most convenient centre ofi"ering the advantages he desires. 
 But towns grow, and as they grow attract population who of themselves 
 make the difierent occupations of mankind necessary amongst them ; 
 and thus we have about the Hunter a condition of affairs springing from 
 the bountiful gifts that Nature has bestowed upon the soil, which has 
 made this part of the ISTorthern district a hive of thriving industry. 
 
 No river in the Colony has so large a number of towns on its banks 
 as are to be found along the course of the Hunter, insignificant as the 
 stream is until it reaches within about 20 miles of the sea ; and no 
 towns in the Colony, however they may be situated, surpass some of the 
 towns of the Hunter district in general prosperity. As for Maitland 
 itself, it ranks perhaps next to Sydney in size, in population, in the 
 amount of business done by its inhabitants, and in commercial soundness. 
 Newcastle, the seaport of the district, may in its coal exports exceed the 
 value within the year of the commercial transactions of its northern 
 neighbour, but, apart from coal, Maitland is probably far ahead, for it 
 is the empoi'ium of the district from Newcastle almost, it might be said, 
 to Tamworth. There is about it, too, a stability and a supply of money 
 which give it a high reputation amongst business people, and provide 
 for industrial enterprise excellent prospects of success. It is a city 
 which in a marked degree has continued to prosper, though the railway 
 has gone far beyond it ; and but for the occasional ravages of floods it 
 would be without any drawback to an uninterrupted advancement. 
 Then, inferior as the other towns on the Hunter may be, when compared 
 with the gTeat centi'al city, they have all something or other to depend 
 upon for a progressive existence, however slow that progress is, and one 
 at least — Singleton — in size and the number of its poj)ulation is both 
 large and important. liaymond Terrace, Hinton, Morpeth, Maitland, 
 Singleton, Muswellbrook, Scone, and Murrurundi are all to be found on 
 the Hunter, with a number of smaller towns that have grown in 
 connection with the agricultural or pastoi'al industries carried on in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 Some of these places have experienced better days than they see now, 
 and from one cause or other, some of the people who took up their resi- 
 dence there in the belief that they could find profitable and permanent 
 
 B 
 
18 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 occupation, have, after certain inducements to remain came to an end, 
 removed elswliere ; but in these cases there are still the rich yields of the 
 land coming in year by yeai', and the germs of industries of a general 
 character which remain to be taken advantage of and made profitable at 
 a time when there will be a better chance of firmly establishing them 
 than there was, perhaps, in days gone by. A town does not always 
 go steadily forward. It frequently rushes ahead in the first days or 
 years of its existence too fast for its permanent good ; and it is only 
 after a reaction and a period of dulness and depression that it sets out 
 upon its career in a sober, calculating, earnest way, and attains a solid 
 prosperity. This is very much like the history of some of the smaller 
 towns in the Hunter district. Every one of them, at one time or other, 
 has been brisk and flourishing, and though that briskness has in some 
 instances departed, and a sleepy, shabby air crept over the streets and 
 the houses, there is no doubt that all will flourish again in time — that 
 as the population of the district generally increases, the new arrivals 
 must in one employment or another spread themselves around these 
 towns, and impart new life and vigour to them. 
 
 It is quite consistent with the haste that frequently characterizes first 
 attempts to establish industries, that in some of these places enterprises 
 should have been started with great expectations of success, and after a 
 period of eSbrt, and ultimately want of i:)rofit, abandoned, and it is no 
 sign of industrial failure deserving of any serious consideration to find 
 evidences of this in country towns. No attempt to establish an industry 
 deserves to succeed when the conditions of its establishment are not 
 siich as to justify the undertaking, and when those conditions are what 
 they should be success is certain ; but though the Hiinter districts may 
 have seen the beginning and the end of many projects, and though in 
 some quarters there may be, in regard to industrial matters, a dulness 
 that is rather prominent, the industries to be met with in full work and 
 returning good profits are far from being few. 
 
 Besides the main stream of the Hunter, there are in these districts 
 the two tributary rivers, the Williams and the Paterson, each rivalling 
 the other in picturesqueness of scenery, in. richness of land about the 
 river banks and the valleys, and in pojDulation and settlement. Few 
 places could be more pleasant to the eye or present greater prospects of 
 success to the agriculturist or the breeder of stock. The land is fully 
 occupied by the farmer, the vigneron, or the pastoralist, and some 
 tolerably large towns or to^vnships have sprung into existence — on the 
 one river, Clarence Town and Dungog, and on the other, Paterson and 
 Gresford. The Hunter River steamers receive a considerable portion of 
 
The Valley of the Hunter. 19 
 
 some of tlieii" cargoes from the districts of which these towns are the 
 outlets, and the decks of the little river steamboats, which collect the 
 produce of the farmers and other occupiers of the soil, present a curiously 
 interesting aspect on what are known as market days. On the Wil- 
 liams River there is a large and increasing traffic of this description, and 
 a rather large steamboat runs regularly on alternate days between 
 Newcastle and Clarence Town, collecting the produce of the districts 
 about the liver, and carrying passengers. Various, indeed, is the 
 steamer's cargo — pigs, bacon, maize, corn, flour, and starch, potatoes, 
 eggs, and butter, hay, millet brooms, poultry, even cockatoos and pai-rots ; 
 anything that the farms or the district will produce, and for which a 
 market can be found. Dealers go among the farmers to purchase what 
 they have to sell, and they ship the produce on board the steamer, by 
 which it is conveyed to Newcastle, and thence forwarded to Sydney. 
 
 The general view of these tributaries of the main stream is much more 
 attractive than that of the Hunter itself, for nature has been much more 
 lavish of her beauties about the two former. The trip up the Williams 
 River is exceedingly interesting, and the drive from Maitland to Pater- 
 son township is one of the prettiest and most agreeable that could be 
 taken. Wide and deep is the Williams stream for miles and miles, 
 bordered with a very pretty fringe of reeds, which are yellow and dry 
 at one part of the year, but green as barley or oats in the spring or the 
 summei', and which form an excellent protection for the river banks, and 
 a safe and favourite resort for wild ducks and water-hens. Farms and 
 grazing land, and vineyards in all the variety of cultivation or ti'eatment, 
 are to be seen on either hand, and behind them ranges of hills or moun- 
 tains, which, with the farm houses, get into most singular positions as 
 the steamer twists and turns along the winding water. Joyous indeed 
 are the spirits on such an excursion. 
 
 The drive along the road to Paterson, and further on to Gresford, 
 is equally charming. Leaving Maitland by Fry k Co.'s coach — a nice 
 roomy vehicle — you pass through the rich farming land of the Pitnacree, 
 Bolwarra, and Dunmore estates, crossing the Pitnacree bridge, which 
 spans the Hunter, and passing along a pretty country road, bordered for 
 a long distance with an earth embankment built to protect some of the 
 farms from the ravages of the river water in flood-time. The river runs 
 fiat and sluggishly close at hand, but the river is scarcely noticed in the 
 attractive pictui-e of farm life in every direction. The fields of maize 
 are faded and dry, and ready for gathering. Some farmers have gathered 
 their mai^e, and heaped the yellow cobs in barns by the haystacks. The 
 lucerne paddocks are green as they can be, and here and there the lucerne 
 
20 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 has been cut and raked into hay-cocks, and carts are gi-adually making 
 their way over the fields, being loaded with hay as they go. Further on 
 hay is being pressed and bound into bales for market, and in another 
 field the plough is at work turning up soil that for richness it would 
 scarcely be possible to find its superior anywhere. 
 
 Emerging from among the fai-ms, there is a remarkable view of Mait- 
 land, Morpeth, Hinton, and Largs, which gives rise to an altogether 
 new sensation with regard to the aspect presented by Australian towns, 
 and the indication by their presence of the thriving state of the Colony, 
 Probably in no place within the Colony, out of Sydney, can the eye at 
 one time see such a number within the same radius ; and the only view 
 to compare it with, though of course there is considerable difference in 
 extent, is that which, from an elevated spot, can be obtained of Sydney 
 and some of its suburbs. 
 
 Nothing could strike the visitor more strongly mth a sense of the 
 populous and important character of the district than what is to be seen 
 in this one view of the Hunter towns ; it seems so strange to see the 
 country towns so near to each other, so numerous, and apparently so 
 large. But passing through Largs, which looks from a distance somewhat 
 more important than it really is, the road goes over hill after hill, in an 
 irregular fashion, skirting well grassed paddocks, and affording a glimpse 
 through the trees, now and then, of some green farm, until the Paterson 
 Hiver comes in sight near an estate called Lemongrove. Not wide, and 
 with a tortuous course that occasionally serves to indicate its presence in 
 almost all directions at once, the stream runs thickly lined with willow- 
 trees, which sometimes are shedding their leaves, and the leaves are then 
 of a pale-green or yellow colour. The hot sun and the want of rain have 
 made the fields of a pale-green or yellow too, but they and the willow- 
 trees look very pretty against a range of mountains which almost 
 encircle the place, and which a,re of a darker green than the fields, and 
 tinted with the pale-blue mist so common about mountain slopes and 
 crevices. Then Tocal, well-known in connection with the stock-breeding 
 industry, comes into view, showing a splendid pastoral jiroperty, and a 
 fine well-built two-storied house on an elevated site not far from the 
 road ; and after Tocal other attractive properties and residences until 
 Paterson township is reached, when the visitor comes in sight of some- 
 thing which has the appearance of antiquity. For the toAvnship is old — 
 very old for an Australian town, and it bears evidence of its age in 
 many directions, but principally about the architecture and condition 
 of an old-fashioned Anglican Church and churchyard, which are well 
 worth inspecting. Most of the houses have drifted into the dotage of 
 
TJie Valley of the Kunler. 21 
 
 habitations ; and some, from the half-obliterated inscriptions upon them, 
 have changed their occupants and their uses so often that it is time 
 they were allowed to rest, as they are resting, and crumble away. The 
 only excitement which the residents seem to indulge in is to watch the 
 arrival of the coaches — a duty which the town policeman and perhaps 
 one or two acquaintances do from a vantage ground in the street, 
 apparently for the same reason that leads a policeman to be always 
 present with a chosen companion or two at the arrival of a steamer. 
 But all this is interesting to a stranger, and it is pleasant to find that 
 the one inn of the place is a clean and comfortable inn ; that the quiet 
 old town, dull as it is, has a history which dates from the early years of 
 settlement in the Colony ; and that the farm-houses which can be seen 
 from the toAvn, about the river flats, snugly embedded in their green 
 nests, give plenty of evidence of comfort and easy circumstances. 
 
22 The Industries of Neto South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE AUSTRALIAN WINE INDUSTRY. 
 
 Of all the industries existing in the Hunter districts none is more 
 extensive or more important than that of vine-growing and the making 
 of wine. The land is admirably adapted for it, and the vineyards are 
 numerous, and, in many instances, large and choice. As for the wine 
 the excellence of much of it has long been known to Australians ; and if 
 the opportunity afforded by the honors awarded to samples of Hunter 
 River vintages, at the late Paris Exhibition, were taken advantage of 
 for the introduction of Australian wine into England upon a much 
 larger scale than hitherto, its excellence might soon be as well-known to 
 people of the old country. Many persons, and more particularly some 
 who have recently arrived from Europe — and whose close acquaintance 
 with the European \d\\Q trade cannot be doubted — see not far distant 
 the commencement of a great future for the wine industry of Australia. 
 The vineyards of Europe are old, and the soil is said to be fast becoming 
 exhausted ; and, moreover, the ravages of the phylloxera and other 
 scourges are making havoc among the vines. But the vineyards of 
 Australia are young, and, with the exception of the oidium, free from 
 ■disease ; and when the European supply of wine becomes insufficient for 
 the demand on the Continent and in England, Australian wines will 
 meet the deficiency, and their merits be properly appreciated. So far 
 the quantities of Avine that have been sent to the Mother Counti-y from 
 the Hunter vineyards appear to have been either small consignments to 
 agents, for the purpose of little more than introducing the wine into the 
 English market, or to meet a few orders from residents at home who are 
 familiar with the taste and understand the excellence of Australian wine 
 as compared with much that is sold as wine in Europe, or to be handed 
 as presents to friends. The time has not arrived when either Australian 
 growers would feel disposed to send large shipments to England, or the 
 taste for Australian wine likely to be so general as to lead to a large 
 consumption by the English people ; but both large shipments and 
 large sales are expected in due course — when the industry here shall 
 have gi'own to that extent necessary to provide for the foreign as well 
 as for the home market, and when certain prejudices against anything 
 colonial shall have been removed, and drinkers of wine be disposed to 
 judge the samples submitted for their taste and inspection, and purchase 
 the wines on their merits. 
 
The Australian Wine Industry. 23 
 
 At present the attention of vignerons is directed particularly to tlie 
 sale of tlieir wines in the Australian market, for even here there is 
 much to overcome before the industry can assume anything like great 
 proportions. Prejudice and a taste for stronger drink interfere to a 
 very considerable extent with the sale, and have, so far, prevented 
 Australian wine from becoming an article of general consumption. 
 These characteristics of people in the Colonies have another and more 
 serious effect. They are showing many of the makers of wine that, if 
 they want to sell their vintages and find the means to continue their 
 industry, they must put into the market something that the people will 
 buy, and to do this they are obliged to sacrifice the purity of much of their 
 wine, and fortify it with spirit so that it shall be strong and heady 
 enough for the public palate. The taste for pure wine appears to be a 
 cultivated one ; and though a certain proportion of the people have 
 acquired this faculty, and purchase their wine supplies accordingly, that 
 proportion is very small compared with those who must have something 
 stronger, and, unfortunately, the preference for strong wines, if wine at 
 all is drunk, appears from the information gathered among those in the 
 trade to be rather on the increase than otherwise. Perhaps there may 
 arise circumstances that will act as a check to this, and promote more 
 largely the sale of wine which is nothing but the pure juice of the 
 grape. But in the meantime the cause of the evil is to be found among 
 the people themselves. If vines are grown and wine is made, the 
 wine must be sold, and those makers who find they cannot secure a 
 market for unfortified wine are scarcely to be blamed if they avail 
 themselves of the advantages offered by the desire for something 
 strongei'. 
 
 With the exception of the INIacarthur vineyard, at Camden, the vine- 
 yards of the Hunter- appear to be the oldest in the Colony ; and at 
 Kirkton, near Branxton, the first vines are said to have been planted 
 between forty and fifty years ago. Very small, of course, the vineyards 
 were when the industry was in its infancy, very crude the operation of 
 wine-making, and very ordinary the wine. Since that time not only 
 have the vineyards rapidly increased in number, but some have grown 
 to a very considerable size ; and the constant introduction of improve- 
 ments in the making of the wine has enabled the growers to produce 
 that which not only pleases the taste of wine-drinkers generally, but 
 elicits the praise of connoisseurs. So well suited, in fact, are the Hunter 
 districts for this industry that vineyards, large or small, are to be found 
 in all directions ; and so easy and profitable, comparatively speaking, is 
 the cultivation of the vine, that the smallest grower can make the 
 business pay. 
 
24 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 The existence of a larger number of wine-makers than are required to 
 supply the demand for wine does not seem to have the effect of improv- 
 ing all the wine that is sold, for many of the small growers produce an 
 inferior article, which does not promote the taste for good wine, and 
 which interferes with the business of those growers who are careful to 
 send nothing but good wine to market ; but this circumstance does not 
 affect the profitableness of the proceeding, and it is not difiicult to 
 imagine how there might be brought about a condition of affairs in which 
 the wine of even the smallest grower would be worth drinking, and the 
 whole of the wine made by growers, small and large, find a ready and 
 satisfactory sale. For if the small grower is careless of time or treat- 
 ment in the preparation of his wine it might — as it sometimes now is — 
 be bought by others who would give it the requisite attention, and there 
 can scarcely be a doubt that the demand for Australian wines will in 
 due course be fully equal to the supply, however large that may be. 
 
 Turning to statistics, the number of acres planted with the vine in 
 the Hunter disti'icts during 1880 for the purposes of wine-making ai-e — 
 in the electoral district of the Hunter, 628| ; in that of Murrurundi, 
 11| ; in that of Scone, 55| ; in that of Morpeth, G4 ; in that of 
 Northumberland — Waratah, 16|^ ; in that of Patrick's Plains, 171|^ ; 
 in that of WoUombi, 141; and in that of Tam worth, 9| ; or, in all, 
 971;j acres, the produce of Avhich yielded 277,527 gallons of wine. The 
 annual yield varies, for the quantity of grapes or wine depends very 
 much upon the kind of weather experienced at certain periods of the 
 year ; but these figures are sufficient to show the extent to which the 
 Hunter vignerons have carried their industry, and so soon as trade shall 
 justify it, both the acreage under crop and the production of wine can 
 be easily and lai-gely increased. 
 
 The season during which I was among the vineyards is not the most 
 interesting in which to visit them, for the vines are in that bare and 
 unattractive condition which is quickly succeeded by pruning, and the 
 pleasant prospect of green leaves and purple clusters, common to the 
 vintage season, is altogether absent. It is difficult to imagine that the 
 twisted and gnarled dry sticks growing by the side of stakes, and 
 partially trained along wires, could ever exhibit the least sign of life ; 
 but let the pruning-knife cut away the superfluous wood, and out of 
 the little excrescences called "eyes" leaflets will bud and expand, new- 
 branches will grow, blossoms will appear, and the vines will gradually 
 become loaded with rich fruit. Pruning was going on then, and at 
 the end of September the vines would begin to sprout ; they are in 
 bloom by about the end of November, and very soon afterwards the 
 
The Australian Wine Industry. 25 
 
 grapes appear. The vintage comraences in February or March. To 
 plant a vineyard and secure a good crop of grapes is a work of no 
 great difficulty and no great expense. Choose suitable soil and insert 
 in the prepai'ed ground the vine-cuttings, and eighteen or twenty months 
 afterwards the vines will produce grapes. 
 
 An eastern slope appears to be the best situation for vineyards in the 
 Hunter district, for then the vines are sheltered from the strong westerly 
 winds, and have the benefit of the sunshine for almost the whole of the 
 day. The high land, too, is said to be more suitable than the flats, 
 though the average yield of grapes and wine to the acre on the hill sides 
 is less than the average on the low land. Four hundred gallons to the 
 acre is considered a very good average for the higher land, and from 700 
 to 1,000 gallons for the vineyards on the flats ; but while the product 
 of the vineyards on the hills is less in quantity it is said to be generally 
 of a better quality, and the cause of this is attributed to the circum- 
 stance of the higher land being dryer and containing less vegetable 
 matter, and being, therefore, not so rich. But when once the vineyard 
 is planted, ordinary attention to the growth of the cuttings, the adoption 
 of measures to remove any signs of oidium or of caterpillars (should 
 either appear), and preparations for pressing the grapes when the vines 
 begin to bear, and for storing and treating the wine, are all that is 
 required ; and these are not matters of greater labovir than have to be 
 encountered in following any other industry, nor are they matters of 
 large pecuniary cost. The oidium disease has been sometimes very 
 bad, but at other times it attacks the vines to only a trifling degree, and 
 the remedy adopted by vignerons generally is to sulphur the vines. 
 There is, however, another method of treating the disease, used by at 
 least one grower, and, it is said, very successfully. Making a mixture 
 of coarse salt, lime, and sulphur — one-third of each — he opens the earth 
 around the roots of the vines, and jjuts a pannikinf ul of the mixture to 
 each vine. This process is described as rather expensive, but is said to 
 result very beneficially, especially if used in conjunction with the 
 ordinary method of sulphuring. From June until the end of August, 
 and in the dry weather, is the time to apply the remedy. When allowed 
 to go unchecked the disease is very destructive ; it comes like a mil- 
 dew just at the time when the vine blossoms are over, and when the 
 grapes are the size of small shot, and after the lapse of a certain period 
 the grapes crack and are spoiled. 
 
 Other nuisances to some of the vine-growers arise from the depreda- 
 tions of caterpillars and beetles, and unless the vines are carefully 
 examined and the insects removed as they make an appearance, an 
 
26 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 entire crop of grapes, and even every leaf on the vines, may be destroyed. 
 Some of the larger growers employ numbers of children to keep the 
 vines clean — particularly to search for and kill the caterpillars in the 
 embryo state ; and without such a precaution it is difficult to say what 
 the extent of the ravages in some places might not be. Standing one 
 day in his vineyard, watching about thirty boys and girls picking the 
 caterpillars off the vines, a vigneron was accosted by a farmer and vine- 
 grower who rode up to the fence and inquired what was being done 
 with all these people in the vineyard. There was a splendid crop of 
 grapes coming on the vines at the time — forty, fifty, or sixty bunches to 
 the vine — and the best efforts were being made to get rid of the cater- 
 pillars, for it was found that they were feeding on the young grapes 
 rather than on the leaves. " We are killing caterpillars," said the 
 vigneron. "Killing caterpillars!" exclaimed the farmer in some 
 surprise. " Yes ; have you not got any on your vines 1 " " No, not 
 one," said the farmer. " Then you are fortunate," remarked the 
 vigneron. " I have got a most tremendous crop on my vines," the 
 farmer continued, " I counted forty, and fifty, and sixty bunches 
 on some of the vines." And then he said " Good-day." A 
 month afterwards, just when the flowering was over, and the 
 grapes were about the size of peas or larger, the two met again, almost 
 at the same spot. At this time the grapes were showing beyond the 
 leaves, and the farmer said, " What a tremendous crop you have got,' 
 
 Mr. ; why, there seems to be as much fruit as leaves !" In the 
 
 manner in which the remark was made, and the general appearance of 
 the speaker, there were not the same cheerfulness and air of triumph 
 conspicuous as at the previous meeting, and apparently something had 
 gone wrong. "Yes," replied the vigneron, "how are your vines?" 
 "Well," the farmer said dubiously, "I don't know what has happened 
 to them ; the grapes seem to have all gone ; there are only two or three 
 bunches on a vine now, and they seem all shrivelled up." And such 
 was the result of want of attention to the catei-pillars. They had eaten 
 oflf the crop, and the farmer was not aware of it. But this nuisance 
 can without much trouble be kept under, and the oidium is the only 
 vine scourge of any particular consequence that has to be encountered. 
 Rain will sometimes come when the vines would be much better without 
 it, and when the grapes are to a considerable extent injured by the 
 downfall, but this is only a difficulty similar to those which have to be 
 met in other branches of agriculture. 
 
 While the young vines are growing, and before the time arrives for 
 the grapes to appear, the vigneron provides himself with the necessaiy 
 facilities for wine-making, by obtaining a press, purchasing casks, and 
 
The Australian Wine Industry. 27 
 
 constructing a cellar. The press may be either a screw-press or a levei'- 
 press — the lever of the latter being one or two immense logs of timber 
 so suspended from upright posts as to provide the pressure necessary for 
 squeezing the juice from the grapes after they have passed through a 
 machine called a " crusher." The casks may be either made on the pre- 
 mises by a cooper employed for the purpose, or obtained from Sydney, 
 or perhaps purchased in the nearest town. Both the trade of the 
 cooper and the bottle-making industiy will in due time be extensively 
 carried on in all districts where the vine is grown and wine is made, but 
 at present the wine trade is not sufficiently large for this. It is usually 
 found cheaper to get casks of the size required from Sydney ; and almost 
 all the bottles used are also obtained from the metropolis secondhand, 
 and at so much per dozen. The cellar need not be very elaborate nor 
 very costly. It is generally a fairly well built wooden shed, with a 
 galvanized iron roof, and earth floor, and sometimes there is a lower or 
 underground compartment in which the older and more matured wines 
 are stored. A well-provided and well-kept cellar is worth seeing, for 
 the long rows of casks, the enormous size of some of them, the bottling 
 apparatus, and the large stock of wine are full of interest to all who 
 can appreciate the evidences of an extensive industry. 
 
 At one vineyard I visited I was very much struck with the picture 
 of easy circumstances and comfort which the vine-grower and his vine- 
 yard property presented ; and it - was the more attractive because it 
 seemed to me a prominent example of the success which in this country 
 may be achieved by those immigrants whom the Colony most requires — 
 men trained in one or other of the European countries to agriculture, 
 and who emigrate to Australia with capital sufficient to establish them 
 upon the soil and enable them to follow their occupation advantageously 
 here. Vine-growers of far higher social position and with properties of 
 much larger pretensions and far gi-eater value might be pointed to as 
 instances of the advantages whicli attend the culture of the vine in New 
 South Wales, but a valuable lesson to be learned from the success of the 
 industry is, perhaps, seen best in the condition of some of the smaller 
 growers, and in none with more force than in the case alluded to. Familiar 
 with the wine trade from his childhood, having in a foreign country been 
 apprenticed, according to custom, for four years, and then sent travelling 
 through the best of the wine districts, he was engaged to come to this 
 Colony and conduct for a company the making of wine in one of the 
 districts of the Hunter. He arrived here twenty -five years ago, bringing 
 with him a tolerably large sum of money, and after serving the company 
 employing him until their vineyard was sold, he, in 1869, bought a 
 small property for himself, and immediately set about converting the 
 
28 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 patch of wild bush he had purchased into a vineyard and orchard of his 
 own. The period was one when, perhaps, there were greater opportuni- 
 ties for obtaining suitable land than there are now ; but while there was 
 that advantage for the cultivator, it was a great deal more difficult then 
 to sell a thousand gallons of wine than it is now to sell twenty thousand 
 gallons, and there was much to learn in the way of improving the method 
 of making the wine. But having cleared his ground, and planted his 
 vine-cuttings and his fruit-trees, he set about providing himself with 
 cellars, and with a house to live in while his plants were growing, and 
 twenty months after planting he made 100 gallons of wine to the acre. 
 In the year 1880 even with an unsatisfactory season with respect to the 
 rain, he made rather more than 700 gallons to the acre, producing 
 3,400 gallons from 4|- acres, and selling 2 tons of table grapes. Oidium 
 came on the vines, and a disease that made its appearance like a covering 
 of soot attacked the orange trees ; but remedies were employed for both, 
 and as far as possible the scourges have been kept under. 
 
 The general aspect of the property is highly suggestive of comfort and 
 thriving circumstances. A substantially-built brick house in the centre 
 of the orchard and gai'den appears from a distance, or from the road, 
 like the residence of a well-to-do gentleman, and inside there is to be 
 found nearly all that is calculated to make life pleasant. Extensive 
 paddocks are at the rear of the residence, and here there are the wine- 
 cellars and other outbuildings common to a farm. Not far ofi", on the 
 slope of a hill, is the vineyard, from the produce of which really good 
 wine is made ; and altogether the prospect is one eminently satisfactory, 
 and showing in a marked manner what may be won from the soil of 
 New South Wales by men who possess a little money to commence 
 with, and who are industrious, thrifty, and persevering. 
 
 " Oh, it is a wonder, this country, to grow things !" said this vigneron 
 to me in a tone of admiration. " When I went home to France" — he has 
 been able out of the profits of his industry here to revisit his native 
 country — " I said to my friends — Youdonotknow what a splendid country 
 that is out there ; you can do what you like, talk what you like, and 
 you can get on as well as you like, and no one interferes with you ; 
 but here, in France, you cannot sit by your own fireside, in your own 
 fire cornel", without being afraid to speak a word. I went home," he 
 continued, " and stopped two years ; spent all the money I took with 
 me, and then came out again. There is no country like this ; it is a 
 splendid country — it will grow anything, and you can do what you 
 like, and get on as you like." 
 
 The social condition of the higher class of vine-growers is equal to 
 that of any other class of lauded proprietors in the Colony. Occasionally 
 
The Australian Wine Industry. 29 
 
 there is to be found an instance of somewhat more show than substance — 
 a cii'cumstance that is common to all classes of society ; but, speaking 
 generally, the position of the larger vine-growers is very similar to that 
 of the richer squatters. All the properties are known by distinct names, 
 and these names are mentioned and referi*ed to in a manner that would 
 lead one unacquainted with the habits of country life to imagine the 
 reference was to well-known towns. The practice, however, is an English 
 one, and is adopted in this country in imitation, apparently, of the 
 landed proprietors of Great Britain, who, as is well-known, have distinctive 
 names for their estates, and make them as prominent as the names of 
 towns and cities. Generally, the estates here have been in the posses- 
 sion of the families who hold them for one or two generations, and 
 though the earlier possessors of the properties had to work and struggle 
 as all persons encountering the difficulties of transforming the untouched 
 bush into tracts of cultivation have to do, their successors have, in many 
 cases, merely to keep moving that which has been left to them, and to 
 enjoy the advantages which arise from the position they have acquired 
 as a kind of landed gentry. 
 
 As for wine and its vii-tues, the vine-grower and his relations drink it 
 and thrive on it. I have seen the wealthy vigneron and his family, 
 from the boy of eight or ten, drinking their wine at lunch from silver 
 cups won as prizes for successful wine exhibits at agricultui^al shows ; 
 I have seen the vigneron of a lower grade and his wife, not caring for 
 any other beverage, drinking nothing but wine at breakfast, dinner, and 
 tea ; and I have seen well-bred and beautiful young ladies not only 
 drinking wine at lunch, but drinking wine Avarm at night before retiring 
 to bed, and yet keeping as well, with as rich a colour, and as pretty and 
 lively as any one could wish. If the merits of an article are proved by 
 the confidence shown in it through the use to which the maker puts it, 
 and by the manner in which he physically improves upon it, Australian 
 wine is recommended as highly as any product of the soil could be. 
 Upon the subject of the wholesomeness of the wine when properly made 
 and matured there seems to be no doubt, and there are very good reasons 
 for believing that Australian wine is of considerably better quality than 
 much of the wine that is imported from Europe. 
 
 When it is borne in mind that the quantity of really good wine made 
 in Europe is believed to be so limited that if not insufficient to supply 
 the demand in the Eui'opean markets the price at which it is sold is so 
 high as to be beyond the means of any but the wealthiest persons, it can 
 be seen at once how little of the wine of this description is likely to be 
 sent out to Australia. That wine, however, which does come here, 
 
30 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 whatever its quality is, fiuds purchasers far more readily, generally 
 speaking, than even the best Australian wines do. This is attributable 
 partly to the preference given in the Colonies to anything of foreign 
 manufacture, under the idea that it must be better than similar articles 
 manufactured here, and partly by the efforts made by wine and spirit 
 merchants to push the trade in imported wines rather than make any 
 special endeavour to increase the consumption of the wines of Australia. 
 To the merchant this may be a question of large or small profits, or there 
 may be sevei-al reasons for the backwardness in supportmg the interests 
 of the Australian makers arising from the circumstance connected with 
 the manner of importation and of supplying hotel-keepers. These last- 
 named personages are certainly not sufferers in the matter of profit, and 
 judging from the prices at which the growers part with their wine the 
 merchants probably do very well in the share of trade which falls to 
 them. If all interested in the trade were satisfied with moderate profits, 
 the sale of the wine would, without doubt, largely increase, but the 
 Australian wine industry will never be in a satisfactory condition until 
 not only the prices charged are such as all people are able to pay, but 
 the appetite of the public for strong drink, and therefoi-e for adulterated 
 or rather fortified wine, is destroyed, and in its place a taste for pure, 
 light, and wholesome wine established. 
 
 It can be easily understood that among wine-drinkers tastes vary 
 considerably, and that it is necessary for makers to provide something 
 to suit each palate. It is the case in Europe, and it is so in Australia. 
 The method adopted here consists either in blending or mixing two or 
 more wines together, or in fortifying a wine with alcohol. Some wines 
 mix very well, and frequently a great improvement is made in the 
 strength or body and in the flavour of an inferior wine, by blending 
 Avith it a wine of fuller body and better quality. Many of the foreign 
 ^vines are dealt with in this manner, and the practice is not considered 
 at all in the light of adulteration, so long as the wines mixed are of the 
 same kinds and no new name is given to the blend. The introduction 
 of alcohol into the wine is diflerent ; and though some of the growers 
 and most of the merchants find it necessary to fortify wine in this 
 manner, in order that a sale shall be found for it, the practice is an 
 oljjectionable one, inasmuch as it tends to keep alive the pernicious 
 craving for strong liquors already too prominent among the people who 
 indulge in stimulants. But unless the alcohol is introduced the wine 
 will not sell, and it is hard to say how, in the present condition of the 
 wine trade, the difficulty in the matter can be overcome. Wine-making, 
 like any other industry, is a commercial speculation, and wine-makers 
 consider that they are only consulting their interests by preparing their 
 
The Australian Wine Industry. 31 
 
 •vfine as they find the tastes of their customers require it. A healthy 
 improvement among the people themselves would reduce the quantity of 
 brandy and increase the consumption of pure wine. Now, however, so 
 general is the appetite for wines with the strength of port and sherry, 
 that several of the growers have stills, and a large quantity of spirit is 
 made and introduced into much of the wine. 
 
 While, however, this fortifying process is employed in the treatment 
 of a considerable -portion of the wine, some of the growers, and especially 
 the larger or the older established ones, are careful that all the wine 
 sold under their labels is puro and properly matured ; and to these 
 vignerons and their efforts we must look for the means of promoting 
 and extending the trade in pure Australian wine. Convinced of the 
 importance of the industry, and the advantages that may accrue from 
 it, not only to themselves but to the country, and jealous of their 
 reputation as wine-growers, they see that no inferior wine leaves their 
 cellars under their name. Should any portion of a vintage be of an 
 inferior description, it may be blended with a better wine, and in that 
 way improved and sold, or it may find a purchaser among those persons 
 who can readily secure customers for a poor wine ; it is not sent into 
 the market in labelled bottles as the good wine is. Some gi'owers "svill 
 not under any circumstances keep a still. Speaking to one iipon the 
 subject, he said, " In a vineyard there is every year a certain propor- 
 tion of wine that is not exactly first-class, and being desirous of putting 
 only first-class wines into the market, I must either turn the refuse into 
 brandy or lose it altogether ; but I do not keep a still here, because 
 some people say that Avhen you have a still there is always a suspicion 
 that the wines are a little fortified. I never fortify my wines, con- 
 sidering that the pure juice of the grape is far healthier, though it may 
 be a little acid, than any wine that contains brandy." 
 
 The only strength of the large, and of the better class of small 
 growers, lies in the purchases made by that portion of the public who 
 desire a good pure wine ; and the extent to which they have succeeded 
 in establishing their products in the market has not been attained 
 without great patience and perseverance. The old growers planted 
 their vineyards and conducted the operation of wine-making according 
 to system, and on some foundation of principles, one being the posses- 
 sion of a fairly suflScient capital ; but inexperienced growers commenced 
 also, and the consequence of their course of action was to considerably 
 injure the interests of all ; for having planted their vines and 
 brought them to the bearing age, they set about making wine, and 
 produced an article which when it got into consumption affected the 
 
32 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 whole of the trade by fx'ightening many people from touching wine at 
 all. Since then things have improved, but a large quantity of inferior 
 wine is still sold, and is consumed by wine drinkers of a certain class ; 
 and in what may be termed the ordinary trade, the better class of 
 growers say they have not much chance against the others. 
 
 Many of the small growers sell their wine quite new, when it con- 
 tains a large proportion of the acid properties found in Australian 
 wine, and when it is not wholesome. The stuff appears to be dispensed 
 largely in wine-shops, but it is sometimes sold in places of much greater 
 pretensions ; and though it cannot be a desirable beverage, it is swallowed 
 in considerable quantities. Occasionally large growers will buy the wine 
 of small growers, and after maturing it sell it with their own, or will 
 buy a small grower's crop of grapes, press them, and make wine from 
 them ; but there is no general practice of that kind. 
 
 For some years past a project has been talked of, in which there is a 
 suggestion to form a company who should construct large and capacious 
 cellars, buy up the grapes of all the small growers, make and mature 
 the wine from them, and sell the wine in a condition fit for drinking and 
 such as to sustain or increase the reputation of Australian wine ; but 
 whether anything of this nature it is likely to be done does not appear. 
 With such a company here, and a proper agency in England, it is 
 thought by some persons that a very large and satisfactory trade might 
 be carried on — that the quality of the wine generally would be consider- 
 ably improved, and that the vine-growing industry would be greatly 
 benefited. The age of the wines sent from the cellars of the larger 
 growers, and from those of the smaller ones who have secured for their 
 wines a rejDutation, is about three years. Sometimes it is less— but that 
 appears to occur only when the demand for the wine is large, and when 
 it cannot be met except by supplying Avine under three years old — and 
 sometimes it is considerably more. 
 
 What i he merchants do with the wine they purchase in hogsheads the 
 growers do not seem to know. They are satisfied if they can sell the 
 wine in bulk at a remunerative price, and the merchants do with it as 
 they like. It appears probable that while a portion of the wine is 
 bottled and sold by them as pure Australian wine, much of it is blended, 
 and, it maj^ be, a part sold as something other than what it really is. It is 
 commonly understood that adultei-ation is practised to a large extent in 
 the wine and spirit trade, and it is believed that Australian wine is used 
 just as a sale can be found for it. Perhaps a merchant will purchase a 
 quantity of good wine from one grower and a quantity of inferior and 
 cheap wine from another, and by mixing or blending some of the good 
 
TJie Australian Wine Industry. 33 
 
 with the bad a profitable price can be obtained for both. It is even 
 hinted that not a little of the wine of the Colony is put into bottles 
 labelled with the labels of European makers, and is sold as wine im- 
 ported from Europe. Claret and hock are wines that it is easy to 
 manage in this way. Some of the Australian red wine would, without 
 any manipulation, be so similar in appearance and taste to French claret 
 that so long as the label of the foreign Avine was upon the bottle, few 
 persons would distinguish the difference ; and, at most, it needs but the 
 introduction of a harmless ingredienf, well-known to those in the trade, 
 to give the Australian wine the peculiar taste of the foreign claret. 
 With hock the deception is considered to be more easy, for the white 
 wines of the Hunter districts, generally speaking, are very mvich like the 
 hocks of the Rhine. The Albury, or southern wines, are stronger, and 
 are regarded as more like the wines of Spain and Portugal. 
 
 If a readier sale or a larger profit can be obtained on imported foreign 
 wines, the reason for the action of merchants in this matter can be seen 
 at once. Whatever can be the most advantageously sold they are likely 
 to devote most attention to, and it is said that in the sale of wine the 
 advantage to the wholesale merchants lies with the imjiorted article. 
 They are charged by some growers with being responsible for much of 
 the apathy which hotel-keepers show in the trade with regard to 
 Australian wine. If publicans cared to do so they might push the trade 
 considerably and make it much better than it is, with considerable 
 advantage also to people who are in the habit of di'inking at hotels. 
 But one of the greatest difiiculties experienced at hotels is to get a fair 
 quantity of colonial wine of good quality and at a reasonable price. At 
 many houses it is impossible to obtain less than a bottle, and then at an 
 exorbitant price, and in almost every case — at least in large towns or 
 cities, notably Sydney — only a claret glassful is given for 6d. In such 
 quantity and at such a jirice it is not possible for Australian wine to 
 become a popular beverage, as no working man's pocket could stand such 
 a condition of things. 
 
 If a man -willing to drink a glass of wine find that he can obtain 
 no quantity less than a bottle, he will purchase a nobbier or glass of 
 spirits ; or if he discover that only the quantity which will fill a wine 
 glass is sold for 6d., he will purchase a large glassful of less wholesome 
 and sometimes positively injurious colonial beer for 3d. And again, if 
 any one desiring a small bottle of wine for lunch find he has to pay for 
 it 2s. or 2s. 6d., which are the prices charged even in the wine-growing 
 districts themselves, he will purchase a bottle of ale for Is. There seems 
 to be no good reason why colonial wine should not be as cheap, or 
 
34) The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 nearly as cheap, as colonial beer. It is true that most of the wine soon 
 spoils, after being opened in the cask or the bottle, and remaining un- 
 consumed for some time ; but that difficulty is not insuperable, and may 
 be got over in one way or another. The facility to spoil if kept long on 
 draught is said to be one reason for fortifying the wine to the strength 
 of port and sherry. But publicans are represented as being very in- 
 different about the sale of Australian wine ; and, as bearing upon the 
 idea that the wholesale wine and spirit merchants make more profit, or 
 reap greater advantages from the sale of imported wiues, many of the 
 publicans are said to be in the power of merchants, and their stock 
 composed and their sales controlled very much as the merchants choose 
 to have them. 
 
 At whatever rate the consumption of wine might increase, the vine- 
 growing districts of the colony are so well suited for the industry that 
 the vineyards could easily be enlarged to the required extent. All that 
 the growers need, as an inducement to increase the number of acres 
 planted, is a market fo*r their wine. One great reason why some of the 
 more important growers bottle and preserve the identity of their wine in 
 the market is of course to promote a sale, and it would please them all 
 if they could at remunerative prices, and without any injurious effect 
 upon the industry, sell the whole of their wine in bulk, and leave not 
 only the bottling but the fining and the maturing of the wine to the 
 merchants. " At present," said a vigneron, whose wine not long ago 
 was awarded one of the highest prizes Australian wine has ever received, 
 ■" At present, with my vineyard of 20 acres, and making 5,000 or 6,000 
 gallons a-year, I must, before I can sell my wine at maturity, do several 
 things — rack it and fine it, and several other things — all of which are a 
 separate branch of the industry, and done by the large houses on the 
 Continent. If there were large houses in Sydney that would pui-chase 
 the wine, say at six months old, mature it, and then sell it, it would be 
 much more in favour of the trade. Just now it is like a man having to 
 gi'ow his own wheat, grind it, make it into bread, and bake it." And 
 another large grower expressed very similar opinions to me. It would 
 pay the growers very well if they could sell all their wine a few months 
 after it is made, and leave the maturing and the bottling to the mer- 
 chants ; and so long as the merchants preserved the identity and the 
 good quality of the wine, neither the public nor the industry would 
 suffer by the change. 
 
 People occasionally complain of a peculiar acidity or sourness about 
 some of the Australian wine, but this peculiarity appears to pass off 
 with age. It is said to be due to the presence of tannin in the wine 
 
TJie Australian Wine Industry. 35 
 
 caused by a quantity of saltpetre or some alkali in the soil, but the 
 opinions of good judges go to show that in time this is likely to disappear 
 altoo-ether. A singular instance of the appearance in the soil of this 
 saltpetre in much more than ordinary quantity was related to me, 
 and attributed to the effects of a heavy flood -which visited the district 
 in 1857, though the authority for the belief in this cause was mere con- 
 jecture. But in the locality where a certain vineyard exists, the water 
 in all the creeks and waterholes was previous to this flood soft and per- 
 fectly sweet, and after the occurrence of the flood all the water became 
 brackish, apparently through some uprising or other accumulation of salt 
 in the ground. The most extraordinary circumstance was, however, 
 that the impregnation of the soil in this manner so afiected the vines that 
 the wine made at the vineyard, even as long after as 1866, was quite 
 brackish — so brackish indeed, that as the vigneron narrating the incident 
 to me said, if 200 lbs. of salt had been put into a cask the wine could not 
 have been worse. Three times the wine was racked, and the saltpetre 
 crystals were observed, and even after the wine had been six months in 
 bottle they were still to be seen. 
 
 Speaking to wine growers in other localities about this matter I could 
 not learn that such an experience had been met with at any distance 
 from where the vineyard referred to is situated, but I found that this 
 vineyard was not the only one that had been affected by the saline 
 accumulation in the soil, for another vineyard in the vicinity exhibited 
 in its first vintage, a few years later than that mentioned above, the same 
 brackish taste ; and the proprietor of this second vineyard stated that 
 even noAv, if a heavy rain comes a few months before the vintage, the 
 wine is sure to be brackish, but that as the wine is kept and matured 
 the brackish taste disappears by evaporation or some other means. • In 
 1871, when the district was visited with very heavy rain, the wine at 
 this place was quite salt. Ploughing the ground tends to prevent this 
 in a large degree, and in the course of some years it is believed the 
 vintages at these vineyards will be as free from unpleasant taste as 
 any others. It is right to state, in order to remove any impression 
 that inferior wine is sent from either of these vineyards, that the 
 wine from at least one of them is considered by competent judges to be 
 equal to any made in the Colony, and enjoys as high a reputation. Age 
 is said to be the proper cure for the acidity which is found in new 
 wine, and thus the longer wine is kept the better it becomes in this 
 respect as well as in others. 
 
 No effort is ever spared by those growers who recognize the value of 
 strict attention in every direction necessary in the making of v,'ine to 
 
36 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 produce and send to market the best article their skill and care can 
 supply, and it would be well if all acted in a similar manner ; for until 
 some common method of procedure be adopted there will always be 
 something material wanted to secure the right conduct of the industry, 
 even if the encouragement on the part of the public were to become such 
 as the importance of the industry to the Colony justifies. That is to say, 
 if Australian wine is to be an article of general consumption, and at the 
 same time a wholesome beverage, something must be done to prevent 
 anything but sound, wholesome wine from being sold, and this might be 
 brought about by some co-operative action on the part of the vignerons 
 themselves. 
 
 At one time there was an association of vine-growers in the Hunter 
 district, and the interchange of ideas was of considerable value, but the 
 association exists no longer, and each grower conducts his operations as 
 he thinks most profitable and advantageous to himself. Probably it 
 would not be difficult to devise a plan by which while vine-gi'owing might 
 be continued to the same extent as now, or, if need be, considerably 
 enlarged, every hogshead of wine made from the grapes should main- 
 tain the reputation which such an industry ought to, and does already 
 in a large degree, enjoy. Combination, or rather co-opei-ation, when 
 rightly established and properly conducted, need not mean monopoly nor 
 injustice to any one, and it may be productive of considerable benefit if 
 its object be merely to check abuses or to guide that independence of 
 action which brings no particular advantage to any one and sometimes 
 injures all. Some of the large growers complain of their smaller rivals 
 selling inferior wine at very cheap rates, and some again complain that 
 the prices of good wine have been affected by the action of others of 
 their number in submitting large quantities of wine for sale at auction. 
 In each of these instances of complaint the difficulty might be overcome, 
 and, with the assistance of all concerned in the trade, instead of finding 
 the present excess of supply beyond the demand there might be eff*ected 
 an improvement which woiild very soon make the demand fully equal 
 if not exceed the supply. 
 
 The co-operation that seems to be required is this: Some method 
 among the vine growers themselves of seeing that all wine sent from 
 their cellars is pure and good ; a determination upon the part of those who 
 bottle the wine not to adulterate it, and not to foi-tify nor blend it in 
 any injurious or improper manner; and a disposition among those who 
 retail the wine to be content with moderate, that is to say, fair profits, 
 and to sell the wine to their customers at prices and in quantity 
 sufficient to induce the public generally to buy. The patronage of the 
 
The Australian Wine Industry. 37 
 
 (general public is of course the great essential, but witli these inducements 
 that iniportant requisite is sure to come, and without them it may never 
 come at all, or, at least, never to that extent which is desirable. At the 
 same time the industry may be encouraged legitimately in other ways. 
 
 Those who regard the growth of the vine in New South Wales as of 
 great value to the Colony are convinced of the importance of keeping it 
 free from any unnecessary restrictions, and allowing the industry to 
 work its way unfettered to that point when it will be the means of 
 greatly ameliorating the condition of the general body of those who 
 imbibe stimulants, and the source of a large export to other countries. 
 In nothing is there to be found a better remedy for the pernicious 
 drinking customs of the land than in the promotioii of a taste for a 
 beverage which shall assuage the thirst, invigorate the system without 
 producing inebriety — unless taken in inordinate quantities, and be harm- 
 less in its efiects ; and these are the qualities of wine which the soil and 
 climate of the Colony are considered to be eminently suited for producing. 
 
 During my visits to the wine-growers, an opinion was more than once 
 expressed by them that an excellent opportunity for benefiting the 
 industry was lost by not having European experts to judge the samples 
 of wine exhibited at the recent International Exhibition. This opinion 
 was not meant as a reflection upon the ability or the decisions of 
 colonial judges so much as it was intended to convey a belief in the 
 greater influence which the decisions of experts from EurojDe would be 
 sure to carry with them, and the effect those decisions would probably 
 have in spreading a knowledge of Australian wines beyond the Colony. 
 But though wine-growers were not fortunate enough to have the wine 
 judged at the Exhibition in this way, unprofessional European connois- 
 seurs passed a high eulogium upon some of the exhibits, and during the 
 period of the Exhibition the foreigners in Sydney — particularly those 
 connected with the foreign men-of-war — both purchased Australian 
 wine largely and liked it exceedingly. Two French gentlemen are 
 said to have visited the cellars in Sydney of one of the largest 
 growers on the Paterson to taste his wine, and so much did they 
 appreciate one sample that they immediately asked what quantity 
 of it there was for sale, bought several cases, paying at the rate 
 of 28s. a dozen, and declared they would take some of it home to France. 
 The proprietor of the cellar expressed some surprise at the extraordinary 
 liking manifested by his visitors for a wine Avhich, in his knowledge of 
 the excellent quality of many of the wines of the Colony, he did not 
 i-egard as anything very extraordinary. " Oh," said one of the French- 
 men, " we can get no such wine as this in France under 60s. a dozen ; 
 we're obliged to put up there with a wine much inferior to this." 
 
38 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 STOCK-BREEDING. 
 
 MoEE important than the wine industry, and longer established, and 
 therefore better known, is the great industry of stock-breeding. For a 
 long time in the early history of the Colony the number of stock it 
 possessed was the gauge by which its progress and prosperity were chiefly 
 measured ; and though the community have passed the period when 
 they looked upon the statistical account of the flocks and herds almost 
 exclusively as evidence of the country's well-being or of its backwardness, 
 the pastoral industry will always be a matter of special interest, and is 
 the more deserving of attention at the present time as pastoralists have 
 not long since passed through one of those critical periods in which 
 they were suftering from a greatly overstocked market and very low 
 prices, "with no prospect of an immediate change for the better. In 
 every direction stockowners complained of dull times, and in some 
 places breeding had been checked until an imjirovement in the demand 
 for stock, and in the prices at which they are purchased, should have 
 made its appearance and provided sufiicient inducement for the resump- 
 tion of operations upon the scale which the resources in the possession 
 of breeders justify. 
 
 In the districts of the Hunter the prevailing dulness was as 
 marked as it was anywhere else, and on all sides an earnest desire 
 was expressed for some new outlet which would relieve the country 
 of its surplus cattle and sheep, and make stock matters brisk and profit- 
 able again. No part of the Colony enjoys a higher reputation for stock 
 than the districts about the Hunter and its tributaries ; they are the 
 home of some of the best known and most highly appreciated pure-bred 
 herds, and for thoroughbred horses are scarcely to be surpassed. Sheep 
 are not so numerous or conspicuous about the Lower Hunter ; but 
 further north, in the upper part of the Hunter valley, a large number 
 of valuable sheep are bred, the country in that locality being splendidly 
 adapted for sheep-breeding, and its capabilities for the purpose being 
 utilized to the fullest extent. From the Hunter districts also come large 
 supplies for the fat stock markets, and altogether, for pastoral industry 
 and wealth, this favoured part of the counti'y is of very considerable 
 importance. The breeds of cattle are Durhams, Herefords, and 
 Devons. As to the relative merits of the three breeds there is, and in 
 
StocJc-hreeding. 39 
 
 all probability always will be, a dispute, and each has numerous admirers. 
 Those who are partial to the Herefords or the Devons say they are more 
 hardy cattle than the Durhams and require less feed ; that the Durham s 
 want better grass than the others, and though they are larger cattle they 
 are much softer, and ■will not travel so well. The Durham fanciers, 
 however, are iirm in maintaining the premier position for that breed, on 
 the ground of gr-eater weight and superior merit generally. 
 
 The dispute has the beneficial result of directing the attention of 
 stockowners to the breeding of three kinds of cattle in the country ; and 
 as in this the public also reap some advantage, there is nothing in the 
 difference of opinion that needs much comment. It is the fact that a 
 breeder of excellent Durham cattle can be found almost alongside a very 
 successful breeder of Hei-efords; and while each is convinced of the 
 superiority of his stock over those of his neighbour, they both progress 
 and flourish, which is tolerably good evidence that both breeds of cattle 
 are suited to the requirements of the Colony. The locality where the 
 Herefords and Devons are chiefly bred is on the Paterson, but they are 
 to be found of very fine quality nearer Maitland, and also higher up the 
 Hunter valley ; the Durhams are bred in both the lower and upper parts 
 of the Hunter districts. 
 
 The occupation of the bi^eeders was a very profitable one until 
 comparatively a short time back, and the depression which then 
 commenced, and until recently was felt in all its fulness, appears to have 
 arisen in very much the same way that a similar condition of things 
 arises in other industries or branches of business. Stock-breeding has 
 been suffering from an over-supply of stock and a reduction in prices 
 consequent upon that over-supply, which seems to have been the natural 
 result of the coui'se of action adopted by the stock-breeders themselves. 
 As the pure-bred herds of the Colony have increased in number they 
 have been more widely scattered through the country, and the difficulty 
 now is, not to find the squatter or the farmer who has a pure-bred 
 animal among his cattle, but to find the squatter or the farmer who has 
 not. This circumstance in itself would furnish a reason for concluding 
 that the stock-breeding industry must in the course of a short period of 
 time be less active than it has been ; but there is another important 
 cause which is considered to have had something to do with the recent 
 depression, and it is the absurdly high prices — " fancy prices'' as they 
 are called — which a few years ago were given for pure-bred cattle, and 
 which being very far beyond the legitimate value of the animals for 
 which they were paid naturally did not last, and very soon caused the 
 prices to fall much lower than probably they would have been under 
 other circumstances for a very long period. 
 
40 Tlie Industries of New South Wales, 
 
 Though not quite of the same character, the state of affairs with regard 
 to stock has been somewhat similar to what has occurred during the 
 periods of sudden and extraordinary briskness and prosperity and of 
 subsequent rapid change and great depression, which have frequently been 
 witnessed in the Colony in connection with other matters of business. 
 A mania seizes people to embark in some particular enterprise and to 
 attain some certain object, and immediately an extraordinary and 
 fictitious value is attached to the object sought. Presently a reaction 
 sets in ; prices fall as suddenly as they rose, and to a much lower level 
 than they were ever before, and then there is a general dulness or 
 stagnation. The Colony is not unfamiliar with a course of events like 
 that. The difference between the prices now received by breeders for 
 pedigree cattle and those they received a few years ago is very remark- 
 able. In the house of one of the most successful breeders of pure stock 
 in the Hunter districts I was shown the portrait of a heifer which was 
 awarded the champion prize at the recent International Exliibition, and 
 which was afterwards sold for 57 guineas ; and I was assured that five 
 years ago a heifer from the same herd, winning a first prize, brought 
 300 guineas. In 1878 a Devon bull, which took the champion prize, 
 was sold for £150, but when this information was given me so dull 
 were cattle of sale he would not bring £50. More pure bred cattle 
 would, however, have been sold, it was said, and of course better prices 
 would have accompanied the increased demand, if the squatters had 
 not been just then rather short of money, and unable to obtain so 
 much assistance from the Banks as they were understood to have enjoyed 
 not long before in their desire to pui'chase land and increase the extent 
 of their holdings. 
 
 The purchase of Crown land at auction appears to have been largely 
 entered into by Colonists generally, including squatters or pastoral 
 lessees, and to find the means of payment they had recourse to the banking- 
 institutions of the Colony to a considerable extent, and then an increased 
 rate of interest acted as a check upon further speculation. This, and the 
 other causes mentioned, joined perhaps with the circumstance that many 
 of the squatters have not quite recovered from the effects of a late severe 
 drought, have affected the stock-breeding industry very much. 
 
 With regard to fat stock the prices have been scarcely above one- 
 third what they were five or six years ago, but this has been due to 
 causes different from those which are considered to have brought about 
 the dulness in the sale of pedigree cattle. The supply of fat stock has 
 become far larger than the demand, through the multiplicity of breeders 
 and the natural increase of their herds ; and without some steady 
 
stock-breeding. 41 
 
 market for the cattle beyond the Colony the state of things now com- 
 plained of will not only continue but will become aggravated. For 
 cattle which a few years ago brought from £8 to £10, prices no higher 
 than from £3 to £4 have sometimes been paid, and the supply may be 
 said to be inexhaustible. 
 
 Not only are there large numbers of stock on the pastoral lands of 
 this Colony, but there is a very large siipply of cattle available and 
 ready at any moment to come into this Colony from the north-west of 
 Queensland ; and constantly new country is being opened up for the 
 depasturing and breeding of stock. This is being effected by sapping 
 or ring-barking upon poor land, which with the trees growing would not 
 furnish feed for anything, but which by the destruction of the trees is 
 gradually being made good sound fattening country that will gi'eatly 
 extend the facilities for breeding or fattening stock for market. Already 
 has this been done largely in the valley of the Hunter, and the 
 capability of the country for carrying stock is in this manner being 
 increased year by year. Hundreds of cattle are now being fattened 
 where some years ago scarcely a beast lived, and this must have a very 
 material influence upon the stock market. 
 
 A great change has come over the Paterson district since ringbarking 
 came into vogue j for while a large number of the paddocks on the banks 
 of the river have been sown with grasses which are used for fattening 
 purposes, the hilly country has been sapped, and the rearing of stock 
 considerably assisted. Not a few cattle and sheep are bred and fattened 
 by the farmers in the Hunter and Paterson districts, and in fact farmers 
 throughout the country appear to be turning a portion of their holdings 
 into grazing paddocks and fattening stock for market. 
 
 In this condition of affairs, stockowners and others interested in the 
 stockbreeding industry see no other remedy for any prevailing depression 
 but exporting meat, and they have been watching with interest the 
 establishment of the trade with England. Further up the Northern 
 districts an indisposition has been apparent, among at least a portion of 
 the owners of stock, to incur any liability or run any risk in the matter, 
 and they have been willing only to supply their cattle to agents, whom 
 they expect to provide all the necessary slaughtering establishments, 
 storage houses, and means of conveyance to Sydney, the agents i-eceiving 
 in return from the owners of the stock forwarded for slaughter and 
 export a certain commission, such as is paid by the shippers of wool or 
 other produce. But about the Hunter there has been a much better 
 spirit manifested, and the stockowners there have determined to give 
 the enterprise all the support they can. They clearly recognize the 
 
42 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 importance and the necessity of taking some definite action in the matter 
 themselves, and not leaving the success of the project wholly dependent 
 upon the efforts of others; but they tliink it unwise to divide the strength 
 which the stockowners of the Colony could unitedly put forth, and 
 therefore, instead of forming a local ■ association to further the under- 
 taking, they have decided to give all the assistance they can to the 
 movement in Sydney. 
 
 In time, if the undertaking prosper, the meat from the Northern 
 districts will probably be shipped from Newcastle, or from Newcastle 
 and Grafton, which are the two outlets for the stock-producing districts 
 in this part of the Colony, To provide for the shipment from Newcastle 
 slaughtering depots would probably be established at Gunnedah and at 
 Muswellbrook or Murrurundi, and refrigerating houses for the reception 
 of the meat would be erected at Newcastle. Then the carcasses might 
 either be conveyed from Newcastle direct to England, or, by steamers 
 specially fitted up for the purpose, to Sydney, where the meat would be 
 transferred to the steamers of the Orient Company. 
 
 While, however, the Hunter River stockowners are looking forward 
 to the advantages expected to result from regular shipments of fresh meat 
 by steamer to England, their prospects are likely to be improved by the 
 starting again of some Meat-preserving-works at Shamrock Hill. These 
 works were in receipt of a subsidy from the stockowners as an induce- 
 ment for them to conduct their operations upon a certain scale, but for 
 some time they were idle. They were to recommence preserving, under 
 the management of Mr. Page, formeidy of the Eamornie Meat-presei'v- 
 ing-works ; and as it was probable that a considerable sum of money 
 would be expended on additional plant, the resumption of operations was 
 expected to give a very satisfactory impetus to the sales of fat stock. 
 Preserved meat in tins can always find a market in England, and this 
 industry would run hand-in-hand with the export of meat in the 
 carcass. 
 
 While the districts of the Hunter are noted for cattle-breeding, they 
 are little or none the less well known for the breeding of horse stock, 
 and at some of the breeding establishments there are to be found sevei-al 
 of the best imported horses in the Colony. Thoroughbred racehorses 
 are represented every year by a large batch of yearlings at tlie Randwick 
 sales, and more useful horsestock find a market in the districts where 
 they are bred, in various other parts of the Colony, and in Queensland. 
 The breeding of horses is, in fact, carried on to a very considerable 
 extent, and it is especially noticeable just now, as it is beginning to 
 exliibit signs of a remarkable change For a long time past the chief 
 
stock-breeding. 43 
 
 quality looked foi' in a liorse lias been pace, and everybody possessed of 
 an animal sliowing a certain fleetness of foot lias regarded it as a great 
 prize. Not unnaturally, tliis led to increased efforts on the part of the 
 established breeders, and to every one else possessed of horses with a 
 racing pedigree or name, breeding what he could for himself ; and the 
 effect has been seen in an overstocked market, and in the greatly 
 reduced prices obtained for yearlings at the annual sales. This 
 condition of affairs, acting upon a conviction which has long been enter- 
 tained by many people, has drawn attention to the desirableness of 
 breeding fewer racehorses, and a larger number of horses of more general 
 use than those which can do nothing but run in a race ; and in the 
 Hunter Districts breeders have commenced in earnest to produce what 
 in New South Wales has long been wanted — a good class of carriage 
 horses and weight-carrying hackneys. Nothing is more rarely seen in 
 our streets than animals of this description, and it is only the strong 
 inclination which has existed for horses possessed of speed that has 
 hitherto prevented breeders from devoting proper attention to this subject. 
 
 Now that the racehorse mania has to some extent decreased, breeders are 
 recognizing the advantages which are likely to result from a change in 
 their system of operations, and recently several first-class coaching stallions 
 have been imported. These have not yet been long enough here to fully 
 justify the expectations entertained with regard to them, but there is no 
 doubt that they will bring about a most desirable change in horse- 
 breeding, and assist in introducing into the Colony a description of 
 horse that is- very much required. Trotting is a quality to which, in 
 the importation of these coaching stallions, particular attention has 
 been directed. Good trottmg horses are in this Colony few and far 
 between ; and though we have for a long time past been in constant 
 communication with America, where the bi-eeding of trotting horses is 
 a specialty, it is only recently that it has been deemed desirable to 
 introduce this quality into the animals bred here ; but now at several 
 establishments about the Hunter there are horses which it is believed 
 will produce excellent carriage animals possessed of all the points that 
 are desirable. For good draught stock the Hunter districts have long, 
 been celebrated, and a large and profitable industiy is carried on in the 
 breeding and sale of horses of this description. Perhaps in no part of 
 the Colony is there anything in this respect to surpass what has been 
 done on the Hunter. Not only have the large breeders very valuable 
 draught stallions and mares, but very many small fai'mers are possessed 
 of similar animals, which they have imported at considerable expense, and 
 from which they derive a very satisfactory income, while at the same time 
 they are domg a great deal to improve the horse stock of the Colony. 
 
44 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 Clydesdales seem to be growing principally into favour, and one of 
 the most taking appearances in a draught horse is plenty of hair 
 about the legs ; breeders cannot in fact get the horses with too much 
 hair on the legs for purchasers. Some people think this is being rather 
 overdone, but the circumstance that the stud price of stallions shows no 
 sign of reduction, and that plenty of mares are always forthcoming, 
 suggests a different conclusion. For good draught horses there always 
 has been and always will be a large demand, because horses of this 
 kind are undoubtedly useful. In the breeding of a racehorse speed is 
 the first consideration, and if the horse should be a failure with regard 
 to i-acing he is generally unfit for anything else ; but in the case of a 
 draught hoi'se there is the material difference that he is always ready 
 for the collar and always serviceable. 
 
 The bi-eeding of carriage horses and hackneys has suggested to many 
 persons the idea that advantages would probably result from a judicious 
 method of crossing the breeds of horse stock, and in several directions 
 an opinion is entertained that this would provide an efficient remedy 
 for the low prices which breeders have now to content themselves with 
 through the over-supply of racehorses. The idea is that a, thoroughbred 
 racing stallion ])ut to a draught mare, or a Clydesdale horse Avith a 
 racing mare — that is crossing the light and heavy bi-eeds — would pro- 
 duce a good class of roadster. Some people, however, say that the only 
 cross of any benefit would be between blood mares and good stylish 
 draught horses, which would produce a good useful roadster or carriage 
 horse ; and others again, think that any violent crosses of this nature 
 would eventually have a bad effect upon the horse stock of the country — 
 that though a fair horse might be obtained, you could not go on 
 breeding with the female, for there would be no saying what the progeny 
 would be, and the breeder might produce all sorts of nondescript animals. 
 Still the more general opinion is that something good would result from 
 such a change in the present plan of breeding, and it is not improbable 
 that some experiments of the kind will be made. There is no doubt 
 that people are getting tired of horses with mere racing qimlities in 
 them ; and it is equally evident that something must be done to relieve 
 the depression which exists at the present time, and has been apparent 
 for the last two or three years, in the market for the sale of thorough- 
 bred yearlings. 
 
 Looking at the stock-breeding industry generally — with regard to 
 cattle, sheep, and horses — it is not at the present time in a very pros- 
 perous state. Stock-breeders have made money, and in the condition in 
 which they now are, it can scarcely be said that they are conducting 
 
Stoch-hreeding . 45 
 
 their operations at a loss ; but they are far from Ijcing in that position 
 Avhich, perhajis, the numbers and merits of the stock they possess entitle 
 them to enjoy. Some of the New South Wales breeders are not back- 
 ward in claiming to be possessed of herds which, for purity of descent 
 and general excellence, are scarcely less valuable if not equal to some 
 of the famed herds in the Mother Country, and undoubtedly much 
 benefit has resulted to the Colony from the effoi'ts that have been made 
 to improve the stock which have been constantly increasing upon our 
 pasture lands. The difficulty, however, that now stands in the way of 
 the industry assuming that flourishing condition which its importance 
 and extent justify will in all probability be only temporary, and so 
 soon as the export of frozen meat is firmly established the desired 
 improvement will come about I'apidly. 
 
 The opportunities for the sale of stock which existed not very long 
 ago, when purchasers were stocking new country in New South Wales, 
 Queensland, and South Australia, are not available now ; but stock- 
 breeders and stockowners see the new outlet afforded by the shipment 
 of meat to England, and have been hopefully waiting the establish- 
 ment of this export ti-ade. The squatters will be the first to be benefited, 
 for their surplus cattle will find a market, and pi-ices will at once 
 improve • and after the squatters, the breeders of pure stock will begin 
 to reap the advantage that must flow to them from the increased demand 
 there will be for thoroughbred animals to mix with the herds on the 
 squatting runs. 
 
46 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 FARMING ON THE HUNTER-TOBACCO 
 CULTIVATION. 
 
 Farming in the Hunter Districts is conducted on a very extensive 
 and profitable scale. Tlie soil is wonderfully rich, and the prosjierity 
 which the farmers enjoy is interrupted by notliing but the occasional 
 floods in the rivers. These visitations, however, can scarcely be regarded 
 as calamities, for they are doubtless the chief source of the land's 
 fertility ; and while they may be destructive to one year's crop, they 
 are productive of richer crops in the years that follow. 
 
 Nothing could be more suggestive of comfort and easy circumstances, 
 with a healthful occupation, than the aspect which many of the farm 
 properties present. Freeholder and tenant farmer m.ay be equally well 
 to do, though of course the first-named is in the more advantageous 
 position for making money ; and the manner in which many of them 
 have become possessed of a little stock, and in which several have pur- 
 chased and use for breeding purposes first-class draught horses, has 
 added very materially to their incomes. Farm labour has been to a 
 greater or less extent judiciously cheapened by the introduction of 
 agricultural machines, and there are at least two establishments near at 
 hand — one, in particular, at Morpeth — which manufacture a considerable 
 number of machines of various kinds that are in use on the farms 
 aroirnd. 
 
 This change from the old system of hand labour foj- almost every- 
 thing largely reduces the cost of farming, and is said to enable the 
 farmers to materially extend their operations. At all agricultural 
 shows in these districts implements of agriculture are made prominent 
 exhibits, and the adoption of improvements in these manufactures 
 appears to have received a considerable impetus by the knov/ledge that 
 was gained from the collections of agricultural machinery shown at the 
 recent International Exhibition. 
 
 To the cultivation of tobacco the farmers of the northern districts 
 devote considerable attention, and in some places the leaf grown is very 
 good. On the lands about the Paterson nearly all the small settlers 
 grow more or less every year, and about Glendon Brook, Wollombi, 
 Singleton, Jerry's Plains, Scone, and Tamworth, there is also a consider- 
 able production. Tobacco cultivation is attended with no difiiculty, 
 
Farming on the Smiter — Tobacco Cnltivation. 47 
 
 beyond the appearance at times of a kind of blight kno-\vn as "blue 
 mould," wliicli affects the plants very much as rust affects wheat and 
 sometimes materially reduces the yield from the crop. But this " blue 
 mould" attacks the plants only under certain extraordinary atmospheric 
 conditions, and may during some seasons be entirely absent, so that, as 
 in other respects, the cultivation of tobacco is a very easy and simple 
 occupation, there is no serious hindrance to its being made very 
 profitable. 
 
 Whether colonial tobacco leaf will ever be produced equal in quality 
 to American leaf is a question that cannot at this time be properly 
 decided, for the excellence of the leaf depends largely upon the suitable- 
 ness of the soil for the growth of the plant, and all the land in the Colony 
 capable of gro\ving tobacco has not yet been tried. The tobacco-fields of 
 America are said to be far superior to most of the land upon which 
 tobacco is grown here, but it does not appear improbable that there is a 
 considerable quantity of land in the Colony very well suited for the 
 tobacco plant, and the method adopted by the farmers here of drying 
 and curing the leaf might be considerably improved and made more 
 beneficial to the tobacco when it is manufactured and ready for con- 
 sumption. The largest tobacco manufacturing firm in Maitland consider 
 the district of Tamworth is likely to be the Virginia of New South 
 Wales. The quality of the leaf grown there is considered to be 
 very superior, and the tobacco manufactured from this leaf is appreciated 
 very much. The Paterson and Glendon Brook leaf is liked better than 
 that produced about Maitland, a circumstance owing entirely to the 
 fact that the soil and the climate are more favourable for the growth of 
 the plant about the former places. On the flats around Maitland salt- 
 petre is taken up into the leaf, and this causes the manufactured tobacco 
 to burn badly, and prevents it from leaving that white ash which is 
 always produced by tobacco of a good description. Tobacco leaf grown 
 on the banks or in the vicinity of a river in which the tide flows is never 
 so good as that grown where there is no chance of saltpetre being absorbed 
 by the plant. 
 
 At present tobacco cultivation is conducted in the Hunter districts 
 on a more extensive scale than in any other part of the Colony, but 
 manufacturers in Maitland are of opinion that eventually the largest 
 production of tobacco will be in the southern districts, where there are 
 more Chinamen and cheap labour. 
 
 There are no less than nine manufactories in the Hunter districts, 
 though only one manufactures anything like a large quantity of tobacco 
 every year ; and in addition to the purchases of the leaf made for these 
 
48 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 factories, buyers from Sydney visit the tobacco-gi'owing farms every 
 season, and secure as much as possible for the metropolis. The manufac- 
 ture is said to be faii'ly profitable, and probably the profits are very 
 satisfactory, especially to the Sydney houses. It is not easy to learn to 
 what extent any industry is paying, for information that would reveal 
 what the profits on any business are might bring rivals into the field, 
 and it is therefore judiciously withheld. Some of the leaf is made up 
 without being mixed with leaf of any other kind, and is what might be 
 termed pure colonial tobacco, but much of it is used with imported 
 American leaf, which is understood to greatly improve it and make it 
 much more agreeable to smokers ; and by putting a pleasant perfume of 
 some kind with it,, and using care in the manufacture, this mixture sells 
 very well. As in every case where deception is easy, tobacco manufac- 
 turers are not free from a charge of making and selling something for 
 what it is not, and it is said that in some places not a little of the 
 colonial leaf is first mixed, and then when made into tobacco sold as 
 pure American. 
 
 Tobacco manufacture in Maitland seems to have fallen off consider- 
 ably because of the competition in Sydney, but there is no falling oft' 
 in the manufacture generally through the Colony. The quantity that is 
 made in Maitland and in other places within the districts where there 
 are manufactories is sent partly to Sydney, but principally to various 
 towns in the nortli, where it is supplied to storekeepers, and by them to 
 stations and to casual purchasers. 
 
 The lands of the Hunter and its tributaries were at one time well 
 suited for the production of wheat, and the wheat crops were very large 
 and satisfactory ; but rust made its appearance and caused so much 
 destruction that a large quantity of wheat is not gi'own now, for many 
 farmers do not care to risk the consequences which might arise from rust 
 attacking their crops. A considerable quantity of seed may be sown 
 each year, and in particularly favourable seasons the return may be very 
 good, but generally a great deal is destroyed by the rust, and this very 
 much disheartens the farmers. Maize and other crops of a general 
 nature are extensively gro^vn, and a large quantity of dairy produce and 
 of farm live stock, such as pigs and poultry, find a ready market in 
 various directions. On the farms about the Paterson district every 
 settler is said to have his score of pigs, which he fattens with maize and 
 ■ afterwards makes into bacon and sends to Sydney, and a good many of 
 the proprietors of the larger estates do a little in the same way. They 
 keep pigs, or purchase from their tenants, taking corn from them as 
 part of the rent of the farms, and then after fattening the pigs they 
 turn them into bacon and send the bacon away for sale. 
 
Farming on the Hunter — Tobacco Cultivation. 49 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that there is no land in these districts 
 which is not in the hands of somebody, but though this is the case there 
 are large estates in some parts well suited for agricultural purposes, and 
 the proprietors of which appear to be very willing to let portions of 
 them to tenant farmers at rentals which will not be any hindrance to 
 the jDrofitableness of the farming operations. There is certainly no 
 better land in the Colony, and sooner or later the whole of it is sure to 
 be in use for that which it is most suited. 
 
 With regard to manufactures and trades generally, Maitland and the 
 towns on either side of it have their fair share, and though, in connec- 
 tion with some of these there is just now a dulness or depression in 
 business, they appear to be firmly established and will make their way. 
 Here and there will be found a man who declares manufactures will 
 never be carried on profitably until the industries of the Colony are 
 " protected," and that it is the free trade policy of the land which 
 prevents them from being as brisk as they might be, but generally the 
 Hunter River people see more clearly, and properly appreciating the 
 resources at their command are content to progress with no other assist- 
 ance than their own abilities and their own persevei'ing efforts. 
 
50 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 COAL-MINING AT NEWCASTLE. 
 
 The rise and progress of the Newcastle coal trade, from the time when 
 the coal seams cropping out of the cliffs near Nobbys disclosed to the 
 early colonists the apparently unlimited treasure that lay buried in the 
 locality, until the convict settlement of those days became transformed 
 into a free and growing city, with a district dotted with mines and 
 traversed by railways, and the " Coal River," as the Hunter was origin- 
 ally named, a great emporium attracting a much larger quantity of 
 shipping than visited even Port Jackson, and the natural outlet for the 
 pi'oduce of an enormous tract of country, rich in agricultui*al, pastoral, 
 and mineral resources, have l^een very remarkable, and have made 
 Newcastle of much importance to the Colony. Little more than fifty 
 years ago coal was unknown amongst the productions of the Colony, 
 and it was not until 1829 that any mention of it was made, and then 
 the output for the year was represented as 800 tons, valued at .£4:00. 
 In 1880 the output at Newcastle reached 1,031,240 tons, and for 1881, 
 — the statistics for which year have not yet been published — the 
 quantity was very large. 
 
 With such an increase it is difficult to realize the fact that this 
 enormous advance has been made within a comparatively short space of 
 years, and that there should be some persons living who can remember 
 the days when the earliest coal mine was worked by convict labour, and 
 when the coals were drawn from the shafts by means of a winch. 
 
 Even before the port of Newcastle was provided with any very 
 special facilities for the shipment of coal, shijis of very large tonnage 
 were in the habit of going there, and towards the winter season the 
 harbour was sure to be well filled with vessels under charter to various 
 parts of the world. As wharfage accommodation was extended, better 
 anchorage or means for mooring the vessels provided, and a greater 
 probability of quick dispatch in the discharge of ballast and the loading 
 of coal ensured by the increase in the number of loading berths, trade 
 rapidly increased, and Newcastle was regarded as a seaport likely to 
 rival in the extent of the business done in connection with it even 
 Sydney. 
 
 Indeed there have been years when the number of vessels in New- 
 castle harbour have considerably exceeded the number that have entered 
 
Coal-mining at Neiocastle. 51 
 
 Port Jackson during the same period, and this is easily explained by the 
 fact that not only did a large proportion of the shipping visiting Sydney 
 go also to Newcastle, hut very many of the British and other foreign 
 vessels bound with general cargoes to Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart 
 Town, Brisbane, and to some of the New Zealand ports, accepted coal 
 charters to load at Newcastle, or purchased cargoes there on ship's 
 account. In those days everybody concerned in the coal trade seemed 
 to be prosperous. Freights were higli, it is true, but notwitlistanding 
 the high freights charters were plentiful ; and the fact that the ship- 
 ments of coal to the various ports did not decrease in any larger ratio 
 than the natural fluctuation of business in any commercial centre would 
 cause proved that charterei's of vessels, and consequently purchasers 
 of coal, found the trade profitable. Coal was selling then at a reason- 
 able price, and at that time there does not appear to have been any 
 complaints of loss on the part of coal proprietors. 
 
 So numerous were vessels at the period referred to that it became a 
 subject of Serious concern where to put them, and it was ]io uncommon 
 thing for large ships to delay their departure from Sydney, though 
 ready for sea, because there was no room for them at Newcastle until 
 some of the vessels already there had left. Other vessels, again, because 
 there was no better place to moor them, were compelled to run on the 
 mud — in no position where thei'e was any danger of them being injured, 
 but simply one in which the authorities were obliged to put them until 
 there was room for them at the ordinary anchorage grounds. To a 
 certain extent the want at that time of many of the facilities which the 
 harbour now possesses led to the overcrowding of the place with shipping, 
 but that which chiefly brought it about was the extensive business 
 done during those years in coah Very large shipments were made to 
 foreign ports — to China and San Francisco especially, and the inter- 
 colonial trade was also very satisfactory. It was at this date that the 
 Wallsend Company particularly were doing a large trade, for Wallsend 
 coal was preferred to any other in San Francisco, and the demand there 
 for Newcastle coal was for a considerable time very gi-eat. 
 
 "With such a constant flow of shipping the people of Newcastle 
 bestirred themselves to obtain as much assistance as possible from the 
 Government in the way of providing further facilities for meeting the 
 requirements of the large and growing trade coming to the port, and 
 gradually the number of cranes on the wharf was increased, the wharf 
 being extended to a considerable distance for the purpose ; new coal 
 staiths were erected ; the harbour was deepened in those places where 
 further depth was required ; additional screw moorings were laid down 
 
52 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 in the " Horseshoe," the name given to that portion of the harbour 
 where ships of large tonnage lie when loaded ; a dredge was built 
 specially for the port, and kept constantly at work ; an extensive 
 discharging and loading wharf, fitted with powerful hydraulic cranes, 
 and connected by branch lines with the Great Northern Railway, and 
 with the railways leading to the collieries, was constructed in a part of 
 the harbour previously unused except as a ballast dyke ; and a strong 
 and serviceable stone breakwater was built in a north-east du-ection 
 from Nobbys Rock, in order to ensure greater safety to vessels 
 entering the port during bad weather. These and other Government 
 works, which were constructed for the benefit of Newcastle, have cost 
 the country about half a million of money ; and of course such an 
 enormous expenditure was only justified by the belief that the coal trade 
 was steadily increasing, and would prove not only of benefit to New- 
 castle and the districts surrounding it, but of lasting importance to the 
 whole Colony. 
 
 An additional inducement to vessels desiring to load coal at Newcastle 
 was the abolition of tonnage dues, though the reason for removing those 
 dues was not so much to serve Newcastle as it was to bring the fiscal 
 policy of the Colony into a condition in accordance with free trade. 
 With all these advantages the coal trade prospered very well for a time, 
 and then from certain causes, arising chiefly from disagreements between 
 the miners and their employers, it fell otf. That is to say, to certain 
 ports the shijjments gradually became' less until they almost stopped ; 
 and though the total export for one year might be very much the same 
 as the total export for another, or might show a small increase through 
 intercolonial purchasers taking a larger quantity of coal during a 
 particular period, and thus apparently balancing the decrease in the 
 shipments to foreign ports, there was not that expansion of trade which 
 from the proportionate increase in past years, and from the growth of 
 manufactures and of the steam traffic of the world, there ought to have 
 been, and which coal-owners showed they anticipated by increasing 
 their appliances for raising an,d sending the coal away from the mines. 
 
 The district is now overcrowded, and in some places there has been a 
 considerable amount of distress, i-elieved only by the storekeepers, upon 
 whose supplies, given on credit, a large part of the men have at times 
 been living. But this state of things is now undergoing a change. With 
 the new year a rise in the price of coal and an increased rate paid to 
 the miner for hewing the coal were agreed upon ; and as a further effort 
 to remove the evils Avhich have interfered with the coal trade and the 
 prosperity of the district the number of hands employed at some of 
 the collieries were reduced. 
 
Coal-mining at Newcastle. 53 
 
 There are no fewer than eight hirge colliery Companies -with mines at 
 work near Newcastle, and there are said to be over 3,000 miners in 
 the district, most of whom are members of a Miners' Union. 
 
 To an observer a colliery township has little of that appeai'ance which 
 anything of a permanent and flourishing nature would bear; and though 
 a certain proportion of the houses are of that style of construction which 
 one might expect to find in a town of substantial character, most of 
 them are of that merely temporary kind which shows the precarious 
 existence which their occupants endure. 
 
 As a class the miners are industrious, and a fair proportion of them 
 are thrifty, sober, and church-going ; but a great stumbling-block to 
 their prosperity has been, in the opinion of many persons, the mistaken 
 course which their leaders have led them to follow in the efforts that have 
 been made to keep up a high price for coal and a high rate of wages — 
 a will-o'-the-wisp that has deluded them into a condition of difficulty and 
 hardship, from which they have not found it easy to extricate themselves. 
 Many of them during the years they have passed in the townships that 
 have grown in the vicinity of the collieries have purchased small allot- 
 ments of land and built neat little cottages, where, in the midst of the 
 comforts common to an English workman's home, they have hoped to 
 pass their lives with pleasure to themselves and benefit to their families ; 
 and to these any disputes which disturb the equilibrium of the coal trade 
 are far more harmful than to others. 
 
 Those who can best engage in a struggle for what they may be pleased 
 to term their rights are the men who never having expended much money 
 or labour in providing for themselves any permanent habitation in the 
 district are able, if necessity should arise, to change their quarters with 
 very little trouble at any time, and this class of men are by far the 
 larger number of those who work in the pits. They live in small slab- 
 and-bark or wattle-and-dab huts, built upon public commonage ground, 
 for Avhich they pay no rent, or upon the ground belonging to the coal 
 Company who employ them, for which they pay a rent of sixpence 
 a week, or a shilling a week if they should work for any Company 
 other than those who are in the position of owners of the ground. 
 
 No men are harder worked than coal-miners, and none are more 
 deserving on that account of sufficient time for recreation, but the hours 
 spent out of the pit are by only a small proportion of the men employed 
 profitably, and consequently most of them live from hand to mouth and 
 are frequently in debt. Their condition as a class might be greatly 
 improved if their habits were changed. 
 
54 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 The history of coal-raiiiiiig in the JSTewca.stle district is a very eventful 
 one. Most persons, wlien considering the coal trade and what has led 
 to its present condition, start from the time when competition existed 
 among the coal proprietors, when profits were meagre and dividends 
 very small, or absent altogether — about the year 1869. Associated 
 colliery proprietors describe that competition as having been almost 
 ruinous, and of such a character as to require a combination of pro- 
 prietors in order to raise the price of coal, and secure an adherence to 
 a fixed selling rate. That the state of trade, the general condition of 
 the district, and the principles of industrial progress justified such a 
 proceeding at the time does not seem clear ; but by some of the proprie- 
 tors the combination was considered necessary. Coal was selling in 
 some instances, it is said, as low as 6s. 9d. per ton ; the advertised prices 
 being 7s. per ton, less 2| per cent, for Lambton, New Lambton, or 
 Waratah Company's coal, and 8s. per ton, less 2|- per cent, for Wallsend, 
 Australian Agricultural, or Co-operative Company's coal. The miners 
 were paid at the rate of 3s. 6d. per ton. These figures left little or no 
 margin for pi"ofit, and this result of the competitive system was in a 
 large degree attributed to the action of the conductors of a certain 
 colliery in taking their own course with regard to the px^ice at which 
 their coal should be sold and thei.r trade carried on. 
 
 Competition, with its meagre profits to most of the collieries, continued 
 till 1872, great efforts being made meanwhile, though iinsuccessfully, 
 to induce this colliery to fall in with the rest of the collieries in taking 
 steps to raise the price of coal ; and in 1872 a combination known as the 
 Northern Coal Sales Association was formed. But before the Association 
 came into existence there was a strike by the miners for the addition of 
 6d. to the rate of 3s. 6d. paid them as wages, and after a struggle 
 the 4 s. rate was given to them. This strike was followed by the intro- 
 duction of the sliding scale, a plan by which the wages of the miners 
 were to rise or fall as the price of coal was regulated ; and the sliding 
 scale was succeeded by the Association, which brought the whole of the 
 masters tog-ether, except those of the colliery alluded to above. This 
 colliery still held aloof, because its conductors deemed it best for the 
 interests of those chiefly concerned in the working of the property to 
 take an independent and competitive course. With the increase of 
 the miners' Avages to 4s. per ton the price of coal in the market was 
 raised from 8s. to 10s., and at that price, so far as the Associated 
 Collieries were concerned, it remained for some time. As for the 
 colliery which kept aloof from the Association, it still acted indepen- 
 dently, and, so it is said, undersold the others. 
 
Coal-mtnlng at Neiocastle. 55 
 
 In the year 1873 anotlier strike by the niiners took place — on that 
 occasion upon tlie question of hours — and trade was again disturbed. 
 For a time the demand on the part of the men was strongly resisted by 
 the associated masters, liut eventually it was conii)lied with in the form 
 of a compromise, and in the course of some months the working hours 
 at present observed at the collieries came into operation. Here, again, 
 the action of the independent proprietary, in regulating the working 
 hours at their colliery according to the wishes of the men — acceding to 
 the demaiids of the Union while the associated proprietors were resisting 
 them, though at the same time giving their men to understand that the 
 old working hours must be again resoi'ted to if the new arrangement did 
 not become general through the district — was opposed to the course 
 desired to be taken by the proprietors of other collieries, and some 
 further irritation and bitterness of feeling were caused. Then came an 
 agreement between the Northern Coal Sales Association and their work- 
 men, and out of the new relations between masters and men, together 
 with a never-ceasing desire to control the operations of the independent 
 colliery, which was always pushing its way ahead of the other collieries, 
 sprang difficulties from which during recent years the disti-ict and 
 port of Newcastle have been suffering. So far as the agreement itself 
 was concerned, it was one that greatly improved the condition of the 
 workmen, while it promised to preserve their employers from the vexa- 
 tious and expensive results of dissensions upon the subjects of wages, 
 hours of lal)Our, and settlement of disputes that are certain to arise at 
 one time or another in the work of coal-mining. Wages were to be 
 regulated by a sliding scale, Avhich would give to the miner three- 
 pence in eveiy shilling added to the selling price of coal, and in no case 
 was the hewing rate to descend below 3s. 6d. a ton ; the hours of labour 
 were fixed according as the men had desii-ed and work by now ; and all 
 disputes were to be settled by a system of arbitration fair to both sides. 
 
 An arrangement of this kind was eminently suited to improve the con- 
 dition of the miners, relie^^e the district from the constant apprehension 
 of difficulties at the mines, and be very beneficial to trade if it were 
 carried out with no ulterior motive ; but subsequent events would seem 
 to indicate that, either at the time the agreement was entered into or 
 soon afterwards, it appeared to the associated masters as a convenient 
 and powerful means for eftecting their wishes with regard to the colliery 
 which had refused to fall in with them. It can easily be understood 
 haw the workmen in any district could be induced to give their support 
 to certain proceedings if they could only be led to believe that the object 
 of those proceedings was as much in their interest as in those of their 
 masters. It was to the interest of the men that the price of coal should 
 
5G The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 be kept up and increased, because as the price became higher their wages 
 were to be raised, and their earnings would be larger — provided, of 
 course, that the high rates did not bring about a deci-ease in the demand 
 for coal. So far then as regards the price of coal and the rate of wages, 
 or in other words the action of the sliding scale, the interests of the 
 masters and those of the men were identical. The masters, to make 
 their position secure, considered it to be necessaiy that all colliery pro- 
 })rietors in the district should join the Association, and be guided by its 
 regulations ; but up to that time, though various methods had been 
 adopted to effect their purpose, they had failed in convincing the supei-- 
 intendent of the independent colliery that a combination such as theix's 
 was better than competition. 
 
 With this colliery adopting a coui'se of its own, and, in short, 
 underselling other collieries, it was evident that high prices could 
 only last for a certain time. But as high prices meant high rates 
 of wages, and low prices low rates of wages, it was clear that the 
 miners might be moved to engage in the crusade against the colliery 
 acting so injuriously to the interests of the others, their action being 
 directed towards securing the co-operation of the workmen. If the 
 miners working at this colliery could be led to entertain the same 
 views as the miners working at the associated collieries, and to fall in 
 with the Coal Miners' Mutual Protective Association, there would be 
 good reason for believing that the proprietors of the colliery would soon 
 come to terms with the Northern Coal Sales Association. The agree- 
 ment, therefore, promised well. But while the efforts to get some 
 control over the operations of this colliery did not cease, nothing par- 
 ticular appears to have been done for a rather long period, the attention 
 of the associated masters being for the time more especially directed to 
 the business of their own collieries, and to the profits that were coming 
 in from the increased prices at which coal was then being sold. From 
 10s. a ton the price was raised to 12s., and from 12s. to 14s., the miners 
 receiving an additional 3d. in each shilling of the increase, and their 
 wages imder the 14s. rate being paid at 5s. a ton. Profits were large, 
 it is said, and some of the smaller collieries are understood to have sub- 
 stantially benefited from the high rates ; but the men, from the over- 
 crowded state of the district and from some other causes, do not appear to 
 have been much better off than before. The satisfaction of the associated 
 masters at the result of raising the price of coal did not continue. 
 The trade at some of the collieries decreased considerably, and some 
 dissension arose. The Companies were supposed to sell their coal at 
 14s. per ton, less 2^ per cent., and upon all sales in excess of a quantity 
 stated Is. Gd. per ton was to be paid back into a common fund, to 
 
Coal-mining at Neiccastle. 57 
 
 recoup those Companies whose trade happened to fall ofT. Jealousy 
 crept in, it is stated, in consequence of some of the proprietors offering 
 improper inducements to purchasers to take their coal, and as this and 
 other circumstances brought about a serious decrease in the trade at 
 some of the collieries, notably at one of the largest, steps began to be 
 taken which threatened the break-up of the Association and the termina- 
 tion of the agi'eement between the iiiasters and the men. That, of 
 course, would mean low prices again and competition. 
 
 To prevent this a vend scheme was thought of and introduced — not 
 by the men, but by the associated masters. It was contended by the 
 advocates of this scheme that it was one by which the coal trade could 
 be carried on fairly and advantageously to all, and that its adoption 
 need not have any injurious effect on the trade of the port. That it did 
 have an injurious effect upon the trade of the port has been shown 
 more than once ; and with regard to the introduction of the scheme, it 
 is believed to have been as much another move to get the whole of the 
 colliery proprietors together, or, in other words, to make another bid for 
 the independent colliery, as it was an effort to preserve the existing 
 arrangements which kept up the price of coal and the rate of wages, and 
 which were intended to prevent any one colliery from securing an undue 
 advantage, as it was termed, over another. Here the assistance that the 
 men could give the masters in having the vend system adopted through- 
 out the district came into view, for, in dividing the trade between the 
 different collieries, the majority of the men were as much interested as 
 their employers, especially as that division of trade was intended to take 
 away from the outside colliery a portion of the large output it had 
 secured by remaining aloof from the Association. 
 
 Briefly stated, the vend was arranged in this way : The sales effected 
 during the two preceding years by each of the collieries were taken as 
 a basis, and for the purpose of preventing, as it was described, anything 
 like a monopoly, a certain percentage was deducted, so as to leave a margin 
 beyond the quantity stated in the vend. To prevent any inconvenience to 
 the public, each of the collieries in the Association was to be at liberty to 
 supply any quantity of coal required in excess of the vend allotted to it, 
 by paying back into a common fund 3s. per ton, to recoup those collieries 
 short of their vend ; and this payment of 3s. per ton for an excess of 
 output was also intended to act as a guarantee against any undue 
 privileges being given to customers for the purpose of inducing them to 
 purchase a particular coal. The associated masters having determined 
 to introduce this scheme, and having allotted a certain vend to each of 
 their collieries, the officers of the Miners' Union appeared on the scene 
 
58 The Industries of New South Wcdes. 
 
 as the advocates of the vend scheme among all the collieries in the 
 district, and with a vend allotment for non-associated collieries. 
 
 At that time sevei-al collieries were outside the Association, and the 
 difficulty of securing that common action which had been sought so long 
 seemed to be getting greater than ever. To lay the scheme clearly 
 before the men, tlie chairman, the secretary, and the treasurer of the 
 Union subscribed their names to a circular setting forth the advantages 
 they expected to result from the adoption of a scheme which would give 
 to eacli colliery a j;?'o oritd share of the total quantity of coal exported 
 from Newcastle, and detailing the quantities which it had been arranged 
 by the associated masters and by them should be the vend of each 
 colliery. In this circular it was represented that the vend scheme 
 emanated from the men whose signatures appeared at the foot ; it was 
 afterwards stated unreservedly that the scheme originated with the 
 associated masters, and that the assistance of the miners' representatives 
 was obtained to put it into force. The suffering amongst the miners at 
 some of the collieries from wmnt of work, whilst at other collieries the 
 workmen were being fully employed, the maintenance of the 1 4s. selling 
 rate and the 5s. hewing rate, and the necessity to deal in some way 
 with "the underselling proprietors," were the chief reasons stated in 
 the circular for proposing the vend scheme ; and after descriljing how 
 there had been " allotted to the non-associated collieries an annual vend 
 based upon the same calculations as those taken by the associated 
 colliery proprietors, by which we propose that the associated shall have 
 the vend they have decided upon, and the non-associated masters the 
 vend which we have fixed for them," and offering various observations 
 on siibjects connected with the coal trade, the document closed with the 
 following significant sentence : — " Labour was never in such a position to 
 assert its rights as it is now, and if this opportunity for preserving them 
 is allowed to pass we will not undertake to become responsible for the 
 consequences which must necessarily follow." 
 
 The scheme did not succeed. Work was carried on at some of the 
 mines according to the vend allotted, but as neither the action of masters 
 nor men was unanimous in the matter, and as in the end dissension was 
 spread worse than before, the scheme had to be abandoned. Such are 
 the facts, shortly stated, relating to the difficulties that have beset the 
 coal industry at Newcastle, which in itself possesses all the requirements 
 for enriching the proprietors and maintaining in comfort and prosi)erity a 
 very large coal-mining population. There are signs of great improvement 
 now. The abandonment of the vend scheme was followed by competi- 
 tion, and coal fell to very low prices ; but now the whole of the large 
 
Coal-mining at Newcastle. 59 
 
 colliei'ie.s, including the one wliicli formerly held aloof from the Associ- 
 ation, have agreed upon a fixed price of 10s. a ton, with a proportionate 
 increase in the wages paid to the miners ; aiUl this, with a judicious 
 reduction in the numher of men employed at the collieries, should make 
 everything as prosperous again as ever. 
 
 The opinions respecting the period which is likely to elapse before 
 that which is known as the Newcastle coal-field will be worked out vary, 
 and there is some difficulty in arriving at a right conclusion, from the 
 circumstance that any conclusion must to a certain extent be based 
 upon conjecture. But even Avhen the present known coal area in the 
 immediate vicinity of Newcastle becomes exhausted the coal trade of 
 Newcastle will not come to an end. There is a vast extent of land rich 
 with coal seams no fai-ther off than Lake Macquarie — a distance from 
 Newcastle of little more than that between the city and Wallsend, and 
 much less than the distance separating the port from some of the other 
 colliery townships. Taking this new field into consideration, the coal 
 supply is practically inexhaustible, and by the time the Newcastle col- 
 lieries have finished their operations the port will probably be reaping 
 the advantages of a large trade with England through direct shipments 
 which have lately been commenced, and of a crowd of manufactories 
 which before very long should be established in the district and working 
 profitably. 
 
 In a place where coal is so plentiful, it is somewhat remai-kable that 
 manufactories have not sprung into existence more rapidly by far than 
 they have ; but whatever has been the cause of this backwardness — -and 
 doubtless the frequently distvirbed condition of the district through the 
 proceedings of the colliers and their employers has had something to do 
 in discouraging enterprise of this kind among people with capital — there 
 is some satisfaction in finding a number of manufacturing industries in 
 o})eration, and they are certain to increase. 
 
 With the immense advantages the port and the district possess New- 
 castle should be the most flourishing place in the Colonies, and its 
 pi'osperity should not be of that artificial character which produces a 
 business activity that remains for a certain period and then passing 
 away leaves behuid it a dulness amounting to utter stagnation, but it 
 should be sound and lasting. To this end it has appeared to many 
 persons necessary that Newcastle should have something' more to depend 
 upon than the coal trade, which experience has proved to be liable to 
 frequent interruptions, resulting in injury to everybody ; and though it 
 is generally believed that with the removal of the difiicultics caused by 
 low prices and the employment of too many men there will be a steady 
 
60 The Industries of Neto South Wales. 
 
 and good trade carried on, yet people rejoice at the pi'ospect opened out 
 by the energies of a mercantile firm who are endeavouring to establish 
 direct commercial relations between the port and Great Britain, and 
 secure for Newcastle a share of those advantages which the metropolis 
 enjoys and thrives up'on. Any one ignorant of the quantity of wool and 
 other pastoral produce, copper, tin, and other minerals that pass through 
 Newcastle to Sydney for shipment from Port Jackson would be 
 astonished at the great advantages that year by year have been slipping 
 through the hands of the people of Newcastle into those of the people of 
 Sydney ; and it is some such solid advantages as these that Newcastle 
 requires in addition to those ai-ising from its coal trade. 
 
 In a very few years the proposed railway to connect Sydney with the 
 Great Northern line at a point close to Newcastle will be constructed, 
 and that railway may in some respects be injurious to Newcastle ; but 
 it remains to be seen whether it will deprive the poi-t of any of that 
 merchandise which will be necessary for its trade with England, for the 
 question that shippers will have to determine will be whether it is 
 cheaper and othei'wise more advantageous to send their pi'oduce the 
 longer distance to Sydney to be shipped to England from Port Jackson 
 than to send it to Newcastle to be shipped to its destination direct from 
 there. There can be little doubt on which side the advantages will lie, 
 if by the time the railway is constructed the trade with England has 
 grown to that extent which the prospects with regard to it at the present 
 time justify people in expecting. 
 
 The trade between Newcastle and England has sprung into existence 
 through the energy of Messrs. J. & A. BroAvn, who have made arrange- 
 ments for receiving a constant succession of direct shipments of general 
 merchandise in first-class vessels from England. An impression has 
 long prevailed that as Newcastle is the natural outlet for the produce 
 of the rich and extensive north-western districts of the Colony, and is 
 admirably suited in other respects for a general shipping trade, as well 
 as for one relating only to coal, it would not be difficult to induce 
 northern importers to have their goods sent from England direct to 
 Newcastle, and northern woolgrowers and other producers to send their 
 produce to England direct from Newcastle. The advantages that would 
 accrue from such an arrangement to the port of Newcastle, and to the 
 whole of the northern and north-western districts, have always appeared 
 to be very great, for a considerable addition to the general expenses 
 incurred by importers and exporters receiving or sending their goods 
 through Newcastle has been caused by the freight and other charges 
 necessary in the transit between Newcastle and Sydney, and in the several 
 
Coal-mining at Newcastle. 61 
 
 transhipments that must take place ; but a want of the necessary enter- 
 prise in one direction or another has hitherto prevented any determined 
 effort being made to alter this state of things, and Sydney has continued 
 to reap the benefit in this regard which might for years past have been 
 enjoyed by its northern neighbour. 
 
 The firm of Bingle k Co. made an experiment many years ago, and it 
 is stated laid on the berth for England from Newcastle one or two wool 
 ships, but sufficient support to justify a continuance of the shipments 
 was not forthcoming, and the project was quickly abandoned. Messrs. 
 J. k A. Brown have entered into the speculation with a determination 
 that promises to overcome all obstacles, and up to the present time there 
 is every prospect of their success. Several vessels with general cargoes 
 have already ai-rived, others are on the way, and others on the berth. 
 The cargoes of some of the vessels have been wholly for consignees in the 
 northern districts, and in other instances a portion of the goods have 
 been for Sydney. It can easily be seen how advantageous it must be 
 for northern importers to have their goods sent direct to Newcastle, 
 for they are landed from the ship into the railway trucks and sent 
 to their destination with no change in their condition from what it 
 was when they left the London Docks. The landing at the Circular 
 Quay, the knocking about and removal to the Newcastle steamer's 
 Avharf, the loading and discharging process in the conveyance to 
 Newcastle or Morpeth, are all avoided and what is of more consequence ; 
 perhaps than anything, the direct shipment costs the importer, it is said, 
 about a fourth of the money he has to pay by having his goods sent to 
 Sydney. 
 
 "With regard to the shipment of wool and other produce from Newcastle 
 to England the Messrs. Brown have large promises of support, and all 
 they i-equire to carry out this part of their project ai-e wool stoi-es. To a 
 less enterprising firm this want might lead to the delay if not to the 
 abandonment of the scheme, especially as most people are in the habit 
 of looking to the Government to supply requirements of this nature. 
 But the Messrs. Brown are acting otherwise. The Government were 
 sounded as to the likelihood of their erecting wool stores on some of the 
 land at Bullock Island, but the prospect of Government assistance in 
 that direction was found to be very poor, and it was then determined by 
 the Messrs. Brown to erect the wool stores themselves. So with that 
 object they have leased sufficient land beyond the A. A. Co. 's coal shoots, 
 and there the stores will be built. So far the direct shipment business 
 from England has paid very well, and it is confidently expected that the 
 return shipments of wool and general produce will also be very profitable. 
 
62 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 Outside the colliery district around Ne\ycastle, and towards and 
 beyond Maitland, the population depend specially upon the pastoral 
 and agricultural interests, and notwithstanding that the country is some- 
 times visited by heavy floods and at other times by parching droughts, the 
 people generally are in a prosperous condition, and in the more important 
 towns— especially in the two INIaitlands— there is a commercial sound- 
 ness which has given them the character of excellent places for business. 
 
Coal-mining in Illawarra, C5 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 COAL-MINING IN ILLAWARRA. 
 
 The coal trade in tlie district of Illawarra differs to some extent 
 from the coal trade at Newcastle, tliough it is equally important, 
 and in the course of time may be quite as large. The total output 
 at the southern collieries for 1880 was 240,211 tons, and last year 
 it was about the same. This is not nearly so gi-eat a quantity 
 as the returns from Newcastle show, but the output is always 
 increasing, and the southern coal-mining industry has been of special 
 value, inasmuch as when the supply from the northern mines has been 
 interrupted by a strike or other difficulty coal has always been obtain- 
 able in the south. The Illawarra district possesses a very extensive 
 coal area, and the coal is of a nature eminently suitable for either steam 
 or household purposes. Special tests of its usefulness for steam purposes. 
 have been made, with results that have been most satisfactory ; and 
 southern coal proprietors anticipate that there will always be sufficient 
 ti'ade at the southern ports to warrant a steady progress in the develop- 
 ment of the mines and the increase of facilities for the dispatch to the 
 place of shipment of the necessary supplies of coal, interrupted only by 
 those obstacles of a general character which at different times of the 
 year invariably affect business in all departments of industry. No 
 district, in fact, could be more bountifully supplied with a valuable 
 mineral than the Illawarra district is supplied with coal, and so advan- 
 tageously has nature placed the coal seams within reach of the miner 
 that the coal can be obtained with the greatest ease, and can be put on 
 board ship at such small expense that the collieries in the south will 
 probably always be able to sell their coal at a price less than that for 
 which any Newcastle colliery can part with its coal, and secure a margin 
 of profit. There are four collieries at work in the district, and very soon 
 there will be a fifth. There are three places of shipment — Coal Clift", 
 BuUi, and Wollongong, and very shortly there will be a fourth; and the 
 capability of the mines for shipping coal may be understood from the 
 statement that Coal Cliff has put out within a year from 30,000 to 50,000 
 tons, Bidli about 100,000 tons, and the two collieries at Wollongong 
 — Mount Pleasant and Mount Keira — over 100,000 tons. 
 
 The whole of the collieries now in operation work one seam of coal, 
 which extends throughout the district, and dips northwards, but this 
 E 
 
66 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 does not appear to be the only seam in the district of good commercial 
 value, and in any case the generally accepted theory respecting the coal 
 deposits of the district goes to show that the supply from even the one 
 seam is practically inexhaustible. The outcrop of the coal-field is said 
 to reach as far south as Broughton's Creek, or the southern part of the 
 Illawarra Range, and it is probable that the seam now being worked 
 extends a considerable distance in that direction ; but if it do not go 
 so far, it is certainly known to exist in a payable condition as 
 far down as Mount Kembla, where a new mine is being opened, and 
 while it extends from Mount Kembla to Coal Cliff it is believed to 
 stretch inland as far as Hartley and Lithgow, where the mines in that 
 district are also probably working it. From Mount Kembla to Coal 
 Cliff is 20 miles, and it is calculated that the seam reaches inland at 
 least a distance equal to this, if not considerably more ; and taking the 
 estimate of those whose business it is to measure the extent of our coal- 
 fields as nearly as they can be measured from known facts and probable 
 circumstances, the number of tons contained in this one seam of coal is 
 set down at many millions. When it is said that comparatively very 
 little of this enormous coal deposit has been worked, and that there ai'e 
 other seams in the district not yet thoroughly tested, it can be under- 
 stood what the supply of the southern coal-mines is likely to be made 
 in the future. 
 
 From an elevation of about 500 feet above the level of the sea at 
 Mount Keira, the mine farthermost to the south and immediately above 
 Wollongong, the seam now being worked dips or descends towards Coal 
 Cliff, where it is found at an elevation little above the sea-level, and 
 where the mine is so situated that the coal is shipped almost from the 
 mouth of the tunnel made in the ocean cliff, into the vessel ready to 
 receive it. Local disturbances interfere here and there with the even 
 run of the coal, and cause some alteration in its course, but the general 
 dip or descent of the seam is as stated, and while Mount Keira mine is 
 worked at an elevation of 500 feet. Mount Pleasant tunnel is a few feet 
 lower, and the Bulli mine is about 300 feet above the sea. This seam 
 goes by the name of the Mount Keira and Bulli seam, and in thickness 
 averages from 6 to 9 feet. In some places the faults in the seam, caused 
 in this district by disturbances which have the appearance of upheavals 
 of stone, and are known as " rolls," narrow down the thickness of the 
 coal, and at Coal Cliff it is found about 5 feet 6 inches in thickness, 
 but it is remarkable that there the seam is very uniform, and " rolls" 
 are entirely absent. In addition to this proved marketable seam there 
 is one much larger, situated lower down than the other, and known 
 in the district as the big seam ; and there are also several small seams. 
 
Coal-mining in lllawarrxi. 67 
 
 The large seam is at least 16 feet in thickness, and should it 
 prove as valuable as some expect it to prove, it will give a far larger 
 estimate of the general coal supply of the district than that stated above 
 in the calculation of the extent of the seam now -worked, because as 
 this large seam is of lower formation than the other, which is the 
 ujjper seam of all, it covers a greater extent of country, and goes further 
 south. No one, of course, can say what faults or disturbances in the 
 coal-field might be met with inland, which would greatly affect the 
 extent or value of the coal supply ; though at the same time there is 
 just as much probability that such faults or disturbances in the coal 
 measures will not be met with, and that the supply of the district will 
 continue inexhaustible. IMucli of the estimate of the extent of both 
 the southern and northei'n coal-fields is based on theory and surmise. 
 The coal measures of the south penetrate into the mountains, and no 
 one knows really how far ; but there is a very general impression that 
 the seams continue until the Blue Mountains are reached, where they 
 are worked at LithgOAv and other places. 
 
 The Illawarra ranges, in the opinion of those who think in this 
 way, ai^e at the eastern edge of the coal basin, while Lithgow and the 
 locality around that placa whex-e coal has been met with are the 
 western edge ; and there are some people who believe that the same 
 coal measures pass up into the northern districts, where the coal 
 changes and improves in quality, through some wonderful process of 
 nature. Based upon this theory, Sydney and its vicinity are supposed 
 to be the centre of the great coal basin. The coal dips from the 
 south towards Sydney, and rises again as it passes northwards from 
 Sydney, reaching as far, it is l)elieved, as the Clarence or the Manning 
 district ; and from this it can be understood why the impression exists 
 that if coal is to be met with under Sydney it can only be found at a 
 very great depth. 
 
 The situation of the mines in the southern districts is novel and 
 romantic in the extreme, for the coal is worked from the mountain side 
 in the midst of some of the most beautiful of natural scenery, and down 
 an immense declivity, by means of tramways and some simple mechanical 
 contrivances, and from the foot of the mountains, by the use of loco- 
 motives or the emploj-ment of horse traction, the waggons convey the 
 mineral to the vessel's side. "Words can but poorly describe the gloiious 
 prospect that meets the eye from the elevation at wliich the coal tunnels 
 at Mount Keira and Mount Pleasant have been driven. Standing near 
 the Mount Pleasant Colliery the spectator gazes upon an almost uninter- 
 rupted coast view from Botany Heads in the north to Kiama Point in 
 
68 Tlie Lidustries of New South Wales. 
 
 the south ; and while the bright blue sea, Avith its fringe of white 
 beaches or rocky headlands or wooded hills, and specked here and there 
 with the sails of ships, lies calm and beautiful, landwise the eye looks 
 down dii-ect upon the various features of a richly fertile country 
 stretching eastward from the base of the mountain range, and passes 
 over hill and dale, forest and clearing, farm and field, town and village, 
 in all manner of picturesque situations, and forming together a most 
 charming panorama. 
 
 I saw it on one of the bi-ightest of days, and in an exceedingly clear 
 atmosphere, and nothing could be more pleasing. Botany Head could 
 just be seen beyond the head or point of Port Hacking, which stood 
 out into the sea bold and prominent, though at a great distance ; and 
 further down the coast the locality of Coal Cliff could be distinguished 
 by some light smoke rising into the air, apparently from a collier steamer, 
 and by an indentation in the highland, which looked like the road which 
 leads to the Coal Cliff township known as Clifton. Steam rising thiok 
 and fiei'cely, as steam always does when steamers just arrived at their 
 destination dispense for the time with their surplus motive power, showed 
 where the Bulli jetty lay, and where the Bulli coal was being shipped, 
 behind a belt of trees which concealed a portion of the beach from 
 view ; and neai'er was the little port of Bellambi, just below the village 
 of Woonoona, at one time the shipping place for coal from a neighbouring 
 colliery which is now closed. Then came the town of Wollongong, 
 prettily situated, cleanly, compact, and generally attractive in appear- 
 ance — particularly because it can boast of two or three church spires, of 
 some well-built residences, and of a light-house which is a prominent 
 feature in the scene. Below this pretty town the farms and farm-houses, 
 for which the district is so famous, began to show themselves, peeping 
 out of the valleys ; and then at intervals of distance the more pretentious 
 residences and grovmds of landed proprietors, to whom many of the farms 
 belong. Tom Thumb Lagoon, a sheet of water not far to the south of 
 Wollongong, came also into the general view, and awakened a remem- 
 brance of the historical anecdote cvirrent in the district that it was into 
 this lagoon where the brave navigators Flinders and Bass entered from 
 stress of Aveather on their peiilous journey southwards in an open boat 
 during the early days of colonization in Australia ; and further southwards 
 still there could be caught a glimpse of the gi'ey waters of Lake Illawarra. 
 Then there were the villages of Charcoal and Dapto, and the two prominent 
 landmarks in the Illawarra Ranges known as Bong Bong and Saddleback. 
 The Five Islands, those curious formations that lie in the ocean so 
 strangely and in such solitude a short distance to the south of the "Wollon- 
 gong Basin, and which must at one time have formed part of the mainland, 
 
Coal-mining in Illawarra. 69 
 
 presented a very j^retty aspect, so calm was the sea and so liglit was the 
 ripple of foam that bordered their edges. Altogether the picture which 
 meets the eye of the southern coal-miner as he goes to his work is 
 one of the most attractive in the Colony. 
 
 Just opposite the Five Islands, and at that part of the coast sheltered 
 by what is known as Five Island Point, a second harbour is being 
 constructed by a new coal-mining Company called the Mount Kembla 
 Company ; and if this harbour should be what the Company expect it 
 to be it will ]:)rove of considerable advantage to Wollongong, for the 
 basin in which all the vessels visiting the port now lie looks exceedingly 
 small, though it is more than adequately provided with shipping 
 facilities in the way of coal-shoots and cranes. 
 
 As far as relates to the miners working at the southern collieries, 
 their condition generally is satisfactory enough. Compared with the 
 Newcastle miner, the miner of Bulli or of any of the other collieries 
 in the south is in a very favourable position ; for while the district is 
 not overcrowded with men, as the northern colliery townships are, the 
 southern miner receives a price for his labour which enables him to 
 make very fair earnings, and the hewing of the coal is, from the 
 peculiar nature of the mineral, a work of much gi'eater ease than it 
 is at any of the collieries around Newcastle. 
 
 The Bulli miners, and those working at Mount Keira and Mount 
 Pleasant, are paid at the rate of about 2s. 9d. per ton, a sum considerably 
 lower in itself than that which has been paid to the Newcastle miners ; 
 but, through the facility with which the southern coal can be hewn 
 and sent oiit of the pit, fully equal to the high rate which has been 
 paid at Newcastle, where the men, by the nature of the coal in their 
 district, have to work harder and cannot put out so much. At Coal 
 Cliff the miners have been paid at the rate of Is. a skip, which makes 
 their earnings about equal to those of their neighbours lower down the 
 coast. It is said that a miner in the southern district can hew and 
 fill almost two tons of coal to one put out by a miner at Newcastle, 
 but certainly three tons to two, for in the south of such a quality is the 
 coal seam that it can be quarried and sent out of the pit with but very 
 little dressing. There, a miner of as little as two or three months' 
 experience can go into a pit and get coal, whereas at Newcastle there is 
 so much hard work in cutting the coal, and so much dressing required 
 before it can be put into the skips, tliat coal-miiiing requires m. most 
 instances the employment of experienced men. 
 
 The principle of the self-acting incline is adopted extensively at all 
 the collieries but Coal Cliff, which, being singularly situated, does not 
 
70 The Inchistries of New South TVales. 
 
 require it ; and it is surprising to see tlie facility with whicli the coal 
 is dra^vn from the mines and sent down the mountain sides towards 
 the places of shipment, while the empty waggons or skips are draAvn 
 up the sides of the mountain and sent under the screens or into the 
 tunnels where the miners are working. This marvellously simple, 
 cheap, and effecti^'e contrivance is more jiarticularly noticeable at 
 Mount Pleasant, where, without the aid of a particle of steam 
 machinery, and by means only of revolving drums and wire ropes, 
 filled waggons are run down the incline a great distance towards the 
 Wollongong basin, while empty waggons are drawn up, and at the same 
 time a surplus haulage power arising from the method adopted is 
 applied to drawing out of the mine the full skips and sending in to 
 the miners the empty ones — the four processes going on at one and the 
 same time. At Bulli this self-acting principle is used to a considerable 
 extent at the colliery, but it is applied chiefly to sending the full 
 waggons down the mountain and drawuig up the empty ones, and the 
 velocity which the full ones attain as they go down carries them to the 
 jetty, where the coal is shipped into the Company's steamers. A new 
 tunnel which the Bulli Company have recently opened will be worked 
 on similar principles, the locomotives which the Company possess being 
 used principally for drawing the empty waggons from the jetty to the 
 foot of the mountain. At Mount Pleasant, where the colliery is 
 situated at a distance from the place of shipment much greater than 
 that Avhich separates the Bulli mine from the Bulli Company's jetty, 
 the waggons after descending the mountain continue their course until 
 they have traversed a considerable portion of the flat land between the 
 mountain and the Wollongong basin, and then they are taken on to 
 the coal staiths by a long team of horses which something like mistaken 
 economy has employed, ever since the colliery was opened, in the place 
 of locomotives. This was the plan adopted for a long time by the 
 Mount Keira Company also, but now they use locomotives, and 
 evidently find them a great improvement. 
 
 No such thing as a combination exists among southern colliery pro- 
 prietors, and each Company conducts its business in its own way. In 
 the Newcastle district such a system is regarded by most of the coal- 
 owners as ruinous, but its result in Illawarra can be seen in the fact 
 that the southern coal trade has seldom been interrupted by anything 
 but general causes, and taking Bulli as an instance, the colliery for 
 a considerable time past has worked with few interruptions what is 
 described as full time, scarcely losing a day. 
 
 The most remarkable of the southern collieries is Coal Cliff", where 
 a tunnel has been driven into the cliff", against which, or on a broken 
 
Coal-mi?iing in Illawarra, 71 
 
 reef bordering it, the ocean beats. Tlie seam of coal— tlie same tliat 
 is worked at Bnlli and at Wollongong — appears in the cliff a few feet 
 above high-water-mark, and disappears a hundred yards or so to the 
 north of the mine beneath the sea. So very near the water is the 
 seam where the Coal Cliff Company are working it that there is 
 scarcely sufficient height to tip the coal from the tunnel mouth down 
 a screen into the waggons, and from the waggons into the steamers. 
 But in this singular place all the appliances for carrying on an exten- 
 sive coal trade have been provided ; and above the cliff, upon a narrow 
 strip of land between the cliff's edge and a precipitous height rising to 
 about 1,300 feet, and forming the northernmost part of the high land 
 which runs down the coast from Bulli, a litlle township has been 
 formed. So high is the view upward that the clouds, when the wind is 
 driving them, seem to brush the trees ; and so deep is the descent down 
 the face of the cliff to the tunnel mouth that, until some substantial 
 steps now existing were constructed, the passage of the miners to and 
 from their work must have beeaa very perilous. Five years ago the 
 mine was started, and a little more than four years ago the Com- 
 pany commenced to ship coal. Now the colliery is capable of putting 
 out 300 tons a day, and having sufficient rolling stock can load 500 
 tons in a day. The Company, however, are somewhat hampered in 
 their business by the circumstance that there is no shelter at this part of 
 the coast for sailing-vessels, and the steamers which take away" the coal 
 can only lie at the jetty and load in fine weather. But though the 
 Company have many difficulties to contend with, they appear to be 
 pushing their way ahead and are adding very considerably to the general 
 yearly output of coal from the district. 
 
 The opening of the Mount Kembla Company's mine should make the 
 Wollongong district busier and facilitate its progress. On the Com- 
 pany's property are the American Creek Kerosene Shale "Works ; but 
 these works are of little importance to the district just now, for they 
 are closed, and it is said the shale does not exist in any considerable 
 quantity. 
 
 Shipping facilities for coal or anything else in the Illawarra district 
 lose their chief value in the want of properly- sheltered harbours along 
 the coast; but at Wollongong, whei^e by far the largest part of the 
 coal produced in the district is put on board the collier vessels, the dis- 
 advantages arising from the natural formation of the coast have been 
 overcome, to a considerable extent, by the construction of a basin in 
 which the shipping lie fairly well protected from bad weather. Near 
 the edge of this basin there have been constructed, by the Government, 
 
72 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 four coal staiths or shoots, and on the side of the basin opposite the 
 coal staiths there have been erected two steam cranes, similar to those 
 in use on the wharf at Newcastle. A third crane is to be placed on a 
 jetty now being constructed between the outer edge of what may be 
 termed the inner basin and the breakwater upon which the "VVoUongong 
 light-house stands. This third crane is required for loading vessels of deep 
 draught, the idea being to have the jetty constructed in T-shape, and to 
 let the vessel lie at the end where the crane will be. It is believed that, 
 with dredging, a depth of water will be obtained sufficient to accommo- 
 date vessels drawing 20 feet ; and though some persons who have 
 seen the basin in bad weather are doubtful about the quietness with 
 which the vessel will lie at the end of the jetty when a heavy sea is 
 running on the coast, it is the 02)inion of the authorities in charge of 
 the work that the berth will prove to be the smoothest of all. It will 
 be seen from these particulars that WoUongong is provided with plenty 
 of facilities for the shipment of its coal, and as a railway will shortly be 
 made to connect the Illawarra district and necessarily its coal mines 
 with Sydney, there will be every opportunity at hand for extending the 
 coal trade as much as colliery proprietors may desire. 
 
 At the Bulli and Coal Cliff jetties there is no shelter at all for shipping, 
 and the coal can be taken away only by steamers, which come alongside 
 when the weather is suitable, load quickly, and speed away to Sydney 
 with their cargoes. As far as Bulli and Coal Cliff are concerned, it is 
 unlikely that there ever will be any other method of shipment ; and yet, 
 even with nothing but the jetties running straight out into the sea, an 
 important coal trade can be carried on. 
 
 With regard to the mining population of the district, there are 215 
 miners working in the Bulli colliery, 110 at Coal Cliff, 120 at Mount 
 Pleasant, and 103 at Mount Keira. In addition to these, there are day 
 labourers numbering about 116 at Bulli, 28 at Coal Cliff, 46 at Mount 
 Pleasant, and 33 at Mount Keira. 
 
 As mentioned before, the coal trade of the district is showing signs of 
 improvement ; but important as this trade is regarded in relation to the 
 productions generally of Illawarra, it is only north of WoUongong where 
 it can be said the population are wholly dependent upon the output of 
 coal ; a mile or a mile and a half to the south of WoUongong coal-mining 
 does not enter into the consideration of the people, and that part of the 
 district is to day the same as it was twenty years ago, and relies chiefly 
 upon dairy farming. 
 
Farming in Illawarra. 73 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FARMING IN ILLAWARRA. 
 
 The remarkable change in soil and vegetation wliicli is met with the 
 moment a certain part of the road on the top of the mountains above 
 Bulli is reached, gives I'ise to a lively anticipation of the beauties and 
 fertility of the Illawarra district to be seen a little further on ; and though 
 wonder and admiration will excite the mind at the surpassing attractive- 
 ness of the prospect which in a very few minutes comes into view with 
 all the picturesque additions that Nature frequently gives her fairest 
 landscapes by the varied glimpses afforded through the kaleidoscopic 
 vagaries of a twisting road, luxuriant foliage, and fantastic rocks, the 
 traveller is not wholly unprepared for meeting something very rare and 
 very beautiful. The change of scene is all the more enjoyable because, 
 added to the peculiar discomforts of the coach ride from Campbelltown, 
 there is the depressing influence upon the spirits of a lengthy tract of 
 barren land which commences soon after the green hills and valleys 
 between Campbelltown and Appin are left behind, and continues until it 
 terminates suddenly in the rich country immediately above the first of 
 the southern colliery townships. Colonial coaches are not what we have 
 all read of and some of us have known in the old country ; and though 
 there are upon the road between Campbelltown and WoUongong some 
 fairly good-looking teams and fairly well-appointed coaches, with drivers 
 who can skilfully handle the ribands, there is nothing of the jovial 
 nature, nothing of the companionship, none of the quaint characteristics 
 which, according to the annals of the coaching days in England, smoothed 
 away the discomforts of the jounieys, and made stage coaches famous. 
 Yet the coaches on the southern coast road are considerably better 
 vehicles to travel in than those which are to be met with in many parts of 
 the interior, and though the drivers may be dull, the passengers squeezed 
 together into a preposterously small space, and shaken almost to pieces, 
 and the coaching meals obtainable on the road very ordinary and in 
 some cases uninviting, the journey can be made in the day-time with a 
 considerable amount of pleasure, and passengers speedily forget all the 
 inconveniences they have suffered in the delight they experience when 
 near their journey's end at the new world opened before them. 
 
 Attractive indeed that new world is, and richly stored with many of 
 those treasures which make a country progressive and a people prosperous 
 
74i The IncUtstries of Neiv South Wales, 
 
 and happy. Coal is the mineral most extensively worked — almost the 
 only mineral to which capitalists have as yet given their attention ; but 
 there are others untouched equally important and valuable, and they in- 
 clude, in considerable quantity, that which with coal is generally regarded 
 as the commodity likely to give the largest impetus to industrial enter- 
 prise and national greatness. When the extensive deposits of iron ore 
 which are said to exist in the Illawarra district can be profitably worked, 
 and tlie manufacture of iron carried on, as the facilities existing for such 
 an industry in the locality of the southern coal mines justify people in 
 believing there would be little difficulty in doing, Illawarra will begin to 
 show in something like fair proportions what its territory really is 
 capable of producing. It is not too improbable a picture to draw for 
 future years^and for not very long hence — in which out of some of the 
 valleys in close proximity to the coal-mmes stacks of tall chimneys shall 
 rise, and the sounds of Ijusy manufactories mingle with the clatter of coal 
 trucks and locomotives. At present, however", the iron ore and those 
 other minerals required in the manufacture of iron, and which are under- 
 stood to exist in various parts of the district, lie uninterfered with. 
 
 A continuous seam of iron ore, averaging about 30 feet in thickness, is 
 said to run from about 2 miles to the south of Port Hacking to Kiama, 
 and three or four kinds of limestone, as well as beds of fire-clay, exist in 
 the district. In one place, coal, iron ore, and limestone have been found 
 within a hundred yards of each other, and the value of the iron which the 
 ore is capable of producing has been proved, for the ore has been properly 
 tested and found of excellent quality. These riches, however, must 
 remain for development in the future. Enterprise does not exist at this 
 time in the degree requisite for such an undertaking, and if it did the 
 labour market is not suitable for the establishment of industries which 
 can, at the best, only very gi-adually extend their operations and secure 
 their position, and certainly could not with any prospect of success pay 
 the high rates of wages now ruling, and submit to some of the restrictions 
 which labouring men are in the habit of imposing upon those who employ 
 them, and upon the works from which they earn their livelihood. 
 
 Apart from coal-mining the prmcipal industry of the Southern district 
 is dairy-farming. Everybody has heard of Wollongong butter, and most 
 people have become acquainted with other descriptions of farm produce 
 from the Illawarra district, notably bacon, and sometimes cheese. The 
 country is overspread with farms, many of them the property of the 
 farmers themselves^ and the others rented from landed proprietors living 
 in the neighbourhood. Rich as the district is in native grasses, many of 
 the farmers have improved their paddocks by sowing English grasses, 
 
Farming in Illmoarra. 75 
 
 and the luxuriant aspect of some of the feeding-grounds forms a very 
 attractive feature in the general scene, and largely accounts for the excel- 
 lence of the dairy produce for which some of the farmers are noted. But 
 while the few are always anxious to improve the means at their disposal 
 for increasing the quantity and richness of the milk which their cows 
 give daily, and are scrupulously attentive to their dairies and to the manu- 
 facture of the article for which the district is so well known, the many 
 are said to be careless, pay little attention to improvement, and are 
 indifferent to the character of the butter they produce and send away, so 
 long as they can find a customer for it. Generally speaking, however, 
 the farmers are a prosperous class, and the picture of rural comfort and 
 easy circumstances which many of their holdings present is a very pleasing 
 one. 
 
 The farm-house is usually built on the summit or slope of a hill, 
 and the paddocks comprising the farm enclose the green hill-slopes and a 
 portion of the valley, with perhaps a stream, prettily bordered with 
 shrubs and trees, running at the foot. The house of the better class of 
 farmers is a plainly built cottage, with little to boast of within except the 
 commonest household necessaries and treasures, but as clean and fresh- 
 looking as care and attention to cleanliness can make it, and a fitting 
 indication of what is likely to be seen in the dairy, which is situated at 
 the back of the dwelling-house, and also is of the plainest construction. 
 But how clean ! The wooden floor has been so carefully scrubbed that 
 there is not a stain nor a speck upon it ; the walls are spotlessly white in 
 their coat of limewash, and the ceiling, little more than a thin covering of 
 canvas, equally as white ; the pans of milk, resting upon wooden stands, 
 and in rows one above another, exhibit in various stages the accumula- 
 tion of cream, and look very inviting ; the wooden trough in which the 
 butter is put v/hen taken from the churn, and in which it is salted, stands, 
 clean and pure, like everything else, in a corner of the dairy ; and just 
 outside, in a small room adjoining the main portion of the dairy, is the 
 churn in Avhich the butter is made. Only one thing more is required to 
 make this section of a pleasant picture of farm life complete, and that is 
 the farmer's wife ; and you see her, plain and neat, and clean as her daiiy 
 is, and moved with a modest pride at witnessing your admiration of her 
 labours. 
 
 In the afternoon you see the rest of the picture. The cows, num- 
 bering from fifty to a hundred, which have been comfortably grazing 
 during tlie day in the paddocks, are being driven home to be milked, and 
 lazily straggle towards the milking-sheds, near which they are enclosed 
 within a small yard, and then taken to the bails and milked in turn. 
 
76 The Industries of Neio South Wales, 
 
 The boys from tlie neiglibouring school have been dismissed from their 
 studies early, in order that they may help to get the cows together, bnt 
 they loiter like the cows, and require as much attention. Can after can 
 of milk, frothy and warm and sweet, ax'e soon, however, on their way to 
 the dairy, to be emptied into the pans, and gradually each animal of the 
 herd yields its quantity to the general store. By the time the milking is 
 finished the sun is sinking, and the sunlight can only be seen in slanting 
 patches about the crevices in the mountains ; and as the shadows deepen 
 a chill strikes the atmosphere, the mists rise, and the evening fires in 
 the cottages within sight send slowly upwards thin straight columns of 
 blue smoke. From a distance the colours of the cows become sober and 
 dim ; the milking-shed now begins to look dreary and unattractive ; 
 preparations are being made for bringing the day's duties to an end ; 
 and down the road, which, as it passes between the different farms, 
 looks very like an English country lane, a little cloud of dust can be 
 seen, caused by the feet of the farmer's horse, as the farmer is hastening 
 home on his way from town. 
 
 It is said that 50,000 cows (more or less) are milked in the district of 
 Illawarra twice a day, and the quantity of butter produced is therefore 
 A^ery large ; but the production is not nearly what it might be, nor what 
 it is likely to be brought to if the success of experiments recently 
 made by sending home to England by steamer some butter manufactured 
 in the WoUongong district be taken advantage of, as it probably will be. 
 At the present time many of the fai-mers milk only a very few cows, 
 and make only a small quantity of butter — only sujSicient, in fact, to 
 enable them to live upon the proceeds when the butter is sold to the 
 agents in Sydney, who dispose of it for general consumption. On 
 market days, as they are called, the farmers drive into Wollongong from 
 the district around, conveying with them theii" kegs of butter, or it may 
 be some sides of bacon, or a few calves or pigs, and having deposited 
 them at the wharf, from which they are conveyed by steamer to Sydney, 
 they either await the receipt of returns from the commission agents in 
 the metropolis, or they draw upon the agents for a portion or the whole 
 of the value of the produce sent to them. No general receiving agency 
 appears to have existed in "Wollongong, nor does any concerted action in 
 the transmission of dairy or farm produce from the district to Sydney 
 seem to have been adopted until lately, when a co-operative Company 
 was formed with great advantage to all who availed themselves of the 
 facilities offered by it. Every man acted for himself, and sent his butter, 
 his bacon, his pigs, or his calves, as he might have them to send, or as he 
 could best make arrangements to send them. 
 
Farming in Illawarra, 77 
 
 Cheese is produced in the district, but to a very limited extent. 
 During a recent summer some Victorian people, Messrs. J. and 
 T. Wilson, started a cheese factory at Dapto, a small village a 
 few miles to the south of Wollongong, and buying up all the milk 
 the farmers around could supply carried on for some time the 
 manufacture of cheese. But the industry was not continued beyond 
 the summer months. Until the winter season began to make its 
 appeai-ance the business appeared to be profitable, for in the summer- 
 time the price of butter is generally low, and it paid the farmers 
 better to sell their milk to the factory than convert it into butter, which 
 they could get rid of only at a very low price. This was advantageous 
 to the cheese manufacturers also ; but in winter the price of butter 
 rises, and it then pays the farmers better to use their milk in the manu- 
 facture of butter than to sell it to a cheese factory. The Dapto factory, 
 therefore, had to close ; but during the time it was at work it used from 
 500 to 600 gallons of milk a day, and the proprietors bought the milk 
 at the rate of 2|d. a gallon, a price that is equal to 7d. a pound for 
 butter. It was profitable to the farmers to sell their milk in this way, 
 because at this time their butter was fetching in Sydney no more than 
 4d. or 5d. a pound. 
 
 The loss to the farmer from the low price at which butter must 
 be sold at certain seasons is likely, from the success of a novel 
 experiment recently made, to be met in a manner quite as good, 
 in the opinion of some persons, as the sale of the milk for the manufac- 
 ture of cheese. Mi*. John Lindsay, J. P., one of the principal farmers 
 of the district, has tested the advantage of having butter hermetically 
 sealed in a tin, and the tin immersed in water at a depth of several feet. 
 The result has been the preservation of the butter for a period of five 
 months, at the end of which time the tin was taken from the tank in 
 which it had been sunk, opened, and the butter found to be as good as 
 it was when the lid of the tin was soldered down. If in the season 
 when butter is a drug in the market it could be preserved in this way 
 until the improved prices become more in accordance with what a pro- 
 ducer of any article considers a fair return for his labour and for the 
 article he sells, a great advantage undoubtedly would accrue to the 
 farmer ; but it is doubtful whether it would in the end be more bene- 
 ficial than selling the milk in the dull season to cheese manufacturers, 
 who would give for it a price that would bring a profit to the farmer, 
 while he would be assisting in the establishment of an industry which 
 would materially help in promoting the prosperity of the district. In 
 the Bega district excellent cheese is made, and the manufacture is con- 
 ducted on a tolerably extensive scale ; but until the Messrs, Wilson 
 
78 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 appeared to show what might be done in this direction about WoUon- 
 gong little or nothing was attempted in the way of cheesemaking in 
 Illawarra, and all that could be found of IllaAvarra cheese was the 
 limited quantity which some of the farmers made for their own use. 
 
 Feoi)le are talking very much about the manner in which the farming 
 industries of the district are likely to go ahead if butter be shipped in 
 large quantities to England, as many seem to tlmak it will be. 
 
 A comparison of the prices realized in London for the butter sent by 
 steamship and those received in Sydney at the time the first shipment to 
 London was made, was considered to be more than sufficient to justify the 
 expectations of the Illawarra people as to the advantages likely to arise 
 from establishing a trade of the kind between New South Wales and 
 England; for v>dnle in London the butter brought as much as 13d. a 
 pound, in Sydney it was being sold at from 4d. to 6d., and was dull of 
 sale at those rates. Attempts to send Wollongong butter home had 
 been made on two or three previous occasions, but each time the 
 experiment failed, in consequence, it is stated, of the defective nature 
 of the arrangements made for keeping the butter cool. The com- 
 pleteness of everything in this respect on board the steamers of the 
 present day makes the necessary degree of cold throughout the voyage 
 a certainty, and at once removes the only obstacle in the way of 
 success. The part of the voyage during which the butter requires the 
 greatest attention in the way of being kept properly cool is when the 
 vessel is crossing the equator, and it has been at that time Avhen the 
 butter sent to London has sometimes deteriorated, through becoming 
 affected by the heat. Now there is every proof that this danger can 
 be easily overcome ; and, elated at the success achieved, the important 
 benefits that may in consequence accrue to the district of Illawarra have 
 been one of the common topics of conversation among the Wollongong 
 people and the farmers roundabout. The cost of sending the butter 
 home would of course depend to a large extent upon the quantity 
 shipped, but there seems to be no doubt that regular shipments to 
 England would be a source of much additional profit to the dair}' men, and 
 would greatly extend the butter-making industry. In the event of such 
 a trade being thoroughly established, the rather loose manner for a long 
 time adopted by the farmers as a body in carrying on the manufacture of 
 butter and supplying the Sydney market would probably be changed for 
 a system which, by bringing the producers together more than they are 
 now, and introducing, in place of the petty trading that exists between 
 individual farmers and the agents in Sydney, a method of business more 
 in accord with the requirements of an important industry, would 
 
Farming in Illawarra. 79 
 
 stimulate the dairymen to improve the article they produced, and, as 
 they improved, and found a better market in the form of higher prices, 
 to increase their production. The surplus quantity would always be 
 kept for shipment to England ; and in the improved condition of things 
 there would of necessity be the requisite cool stores in which the butter 
 would be placed until it was put on board the steamer for conveyance 
 to London. 
 
 If a little of the spirit of a gentleman who, when I visited the district, 
 was there with the intention of extending another industry, by pushing 
 on an important enterprise, could be imparted to the butter question, 
 English bread would soon have u]ion it plenty of Wollongong butter, 
 and the Illawarra people would indeed be living and flourishing upon 
 the fat of the land. Combined with British caution, he appeared to 
 possess that energy, that indiflei'ence to difficulties, that readiness of 
 resource, rapidity of action, and sublime method of elbowing his way 
 through a crowd of impediments which are said to have advanced the 
 Amei-icans to their present position. It was wonderful how he 
 talked, and how he met every doubt and every objection with an 
 irresistible remedy — overthrowing the obstacles in the way of any 
 project as if he were at work in a bowling alley knocking down skittles. 
 At first sight he would appear to be American born and bred, though 
 his build would scarcely justify the thouglit ; but there was no mistaking, 
 from his reply to an inquiry, the fact that though he had been in 
 America he was evidently an Englishman, for he said, lighting his pipe 
 and taking a turn round the room, " I'm English, sir ; I'm as thorough 
 a John Bull as ever was born." He was full of patriotism, as much for 
 the Colonies as for England, and it was intensely interesting to listen to 
 the uninterrupted flow of talk that came from him, frequently rough 
 and ill-sounding, but carrying throughout a rugged eloquence and force 
 which were made all the more attractive by a striking manner of 
 delivery. Smart as America was, she was nowhere compared with these 
 Colonies — nowhere in political institutions, style of government, popular 
 freedom, or natural resources ; and as for her public men compared with 
 those of England — ^vhy, she was very much further off", indeed, than 
 nowhere. No country could be better than New South Wales for 
 any one willing to assist in developing its resources, and no district 
 presented more favourable opportunities for industrial enterjirise in 
 certain directions than the district of Illawarra. Such was the opinion 
 of this active colonist, and if something like his energy were shown by 
 the Illawarra farmers and others, the butter trade with England would 
 soon be all it ought to be. Under the present system by which the 
 farmers make and sell their butter, the supply is not infrequently 
 
80 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 considei'ably in excess of the local demand, and prices are therefore at 
 times very low, and a poor return to the producers. 
 
 All the butter Avhicli is sent from the district is salted, and the 
 ordinary farmer is said to send away about 4 lbs. of butter to the cow 
 in a week. Half-an-hour's churning will produce the article after the 
 cream has been put into the churn, and the churning is done every 
 morning. From the churn the butter is taken and put into a clean 
 trough, and, after being salted, is allowed to remain there till the next 
 morning, by which time the salt has properly penetrated it, and then it 
 is ready to be put into the kegs for market. If the season be a dry 
 one the butter is higher in price, and the farmei-'s profits are propor- 
 tionately greater, the butter selling from perhaps 9d. to Is. a lb. ; in 
 the moist seasons matters are different. But the Illawarra district 
 suffers much less from di'ought and its disastrous results than other 
 parts of the country. The Italian rye grass paddocks which some of the 
 farmers possess are said to furnish excellent food for the cattle ; and one 
 farmer who has tried the experiment declares he can produce as much 
 milk from a hundred acres of the rye gi'ass as he can from one hundred 
 and fifty acres of common grass. 
 
 At one time the district was a large wheat-growing one, and the yield 
 was in some cases as high as 60 bushels to the acre. Thirty bushels to 
 the acre are said to have been looked upon as a very light crop. But 
 rust made its appearance and destroyed everything, and now, with a 
 very small exception, wheat-growing is vmknown. A mill that was 
 built at Wollongong at the time the farmers were producing large wheat 
 crops now gets all its wheat from Sydney ; and another mill at Dapto 
 has been turned into a cheese factoiy. The farming other than dairying 
 done in the district at the present time is, in fact, a mere cypher ; but 
 the products of the dairy are susceptible of considerable increase, and 
 some of the farmers are doing what they can to improve their cattle in 
 the way of making the cows better milkers. Cattle of the Ayrshire and 
 Jersey breeds have been introduced into some of the herds, but a 
 difference of opinion exists as to their relative merits, and as to whether 
 they are any better for dairy purposes than the common dairy cattle of 
 Illawarra, which appear to be chiefly shorthorns or Durhams. At a 
 meeting of the Dapto Agricultural Society the subject was debated, and 
 the question was then decided by a slight majority in favour of the 
 Ayrshires and Jerseys. Some farmers think that though these two 
 breeds of cattle might be better dairy cattle, generally speaking, than 
 those now in the district, yet that the latter are better suited to this 
 particular district from the nature of its soil and grass ; while others 
 
Farming in Ulawarra. 81 
 
 contend that shorthorns are a failure for dairy purposes, that the land 
 is not adapted for such cattle, that they are beef-producers rather than 
 milkers, and that the Jerseys and Ayrshire cattle have been proved to 
 be large butter-producers. It is even said that Jerseys will give more 
 butter on common grass than shorthorns will on the richest artificial 
 food. A cross between the Ayrshire and the shorthorn appears to find 
 a good many supporters, and at any rate the value of the cattle 
 produced in this way will in due time be decided, for the animals have 
 been purchased by some of the farmers with the determination to give 
 them a fair trial. The Jersey cattle, too, will be properly tested. On 
 one farm, where as many as ninety cows are milked daily, I was shown 
 two Ayrshire cows and a bull, and the farmer entertained great 
 expectations from his experiment. The farm was that of Mr. J. 
 Lindsay, J. P., one of the largest dairymen in the district, and a 
 pi'oducer of excellent butter. 
 
 To reach his and other farms in the vicinity, the road, which is iii a 
 condition exceedingly creditable to the local municipality, passes by a 
 grand old figtree that is known as one of the lions of the place, and is 
 the admii'ation of evei'ybody who sees it. The tree is much older than 
 any one living near it can state, and it is said to have been something 
 like its present size when the first white man settled in the district, 
 sixty years ago. Its huge roots rise above the surface of the ground in 
 such an extraordinary manner that they look like great stone buttresses, 
 and this massive appearance continues half-way up the trunk of the 
 tree, which is probably at the lower part 15 feet in diameter, and from 
 a certain height above the ground right to the branches, thickly 
 enveloped by climbing plants, Avhich in the present season are covered 
 with white flowers. Above these clustering vines the branches of the 
 tree spread broadly, and with a remarkable degree of symmetry ; and 
 nothing could be more picturesque or graceful than the general view of 
 this patriarch of the field. It stands on private land near the roadside, 
 and though there maybe many older trees of the kind in existence it would 
 be difficult to find one of greater beauty. Bits of pretty scenery like 
 that in which this tree is the central figure are not uncommon in the 
 Ulawarra district, for so luxuriant is the vegetation in many places that 
 it would be very hard to find a place more generally attractive. On the 
 road between Bulli and Wollongong, for instance, the wild vines have a 
 habit of climbing around the dead trees and clinging to them from the 
 base to the top, as ivy clings to a ruin ; and about the vines butterflies 
 are constantly flitting. Then in the playground of the Coalclifi* Public 
 School there is a group of cabbage palms which, preserved from the axe 
 
 F 
 
82 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 when the ground was cleared, give the place a peculiarly tropical 
 appearance, are exceedingly picturesque, and aftbrd excellent shade for 
 the children. 
 
 It is rather strange to find that in such a beautiful district there 
 should be some very ugly names, but Illawarra is not singular in this 
 respect, and some of the most charming spots in other districts of the 
 Colony have received their designations from the poorest nomenclature. 
 Let only some vulgar shingle-splitter build his hut, or bullock-driver 
 make his camp, and the locality shall receive its baptism at once, and 
 the name stick to it ever after. Thus an attractive little village, a. few 
 miles from "VVollongong, is called Charcoal, probably because somebody, 
 at one time or other, made charcoal there, and a huge projecting cliff, 
 Avhich forms a bold and prominent feature in the mountains near 
 Wollongong, is known as "Brooker's Nose," because a man named 
 Brooker has had a farm in the vicinity. These little peculiarities, 
 however, are not absent from other things in Illawarra, and there is a 
 curious instance in proof of this to be met ^Yith. just outside the town 
 of Bulli. A little weatherbeaten wooden Primitive Methodist Chapel 
 stands there, in form something like a Jewish Tabernacle, very shabby, 
 and situated in the centre of a bare paddock. "Within its Avails on the 
 Sunday for a long period mercy and forgiveness were preached by the 
 clergyman, and on the week-day justice and the " utmost rigour of the 
 law" were administered by the magistrate ; for the edifice was at once 
 a chapel and a court-house, and the poor sinner who on one day met 
 with the utmost leniency for his misdeeds might on the next have been 
 subjected to the direst punishment. The people round about thought 
 it curious, but it seemed to be due to the circumstance that thei'c was 
 no proper building in which the Court business could be conducted, a 
 new Court-house, Avith lockup and police station being not completed. 
 
 The district contains a considerable quantity of stock, consisting 
 chiefly of cattle bred for milking purposes, but irumbers of calves and 
 pigs are sent to Sydney, and sheep are bred on some of the farms for 
 the butchers. People boast that no district in the Colony carries a 
 larger number of stock to the acre than Illawarra does, and certainly 
 much of the land could not easily be surpassed. Farm land is worth 
 on an average about £15 an acre, and town land, in the principal 
 streets, about £i or £5 a foot. The farmers complain of a scarcity of 
 farm labourers. A considerable number of men are said to be walking 
 about idle, but they are chiefly of that class in the habit of finding 
 employment at mines, and they are not suitable for farming work, 
 particularly as they are not content to work on the farms for Avages less 
 
Farming in Illmoarra. 83 
 
 than they have been paid for mining or for duties connected with 
 mining. The cost of labour is one of the difficulties an Illawarva 
 farmer has to contend with. A man used to mining can make in a 
 couple of days, at his usual employment, perhaps as much as he would 
 receive for a week's labour on a farm, and the farm work, therefore, is 
 not to his taste, and it is not to the advantage of the farmer to employ 
 him. Taking the v/hole of the disti'ict into consideration, the trade in 
 dairy produce is represented as rather on the increase every year ; but 
 about Wollongong there has been little or no increase for some time 
 past, and the stock-carrying capacity of the farms is used to its fullest 
 extent. The trade, however, is not always in the same condition — like 
 everything else it fluctuates ; and there are several ways in which the 
 farmers about Wollongong can efiect considerable improvement. 
 
84 The Industries of Neic South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTEU VIII. 
 
 THE NEPEAN WATER-WORKS. 
 
 In Wollongong tliere is to be found a fair propoi-tion of those industries 
 by which ti-adesmen or mechanics live, and they are in a satisfactory 
 condition. As ahnost the only means of transit from one part of the 
 district to another is by buggy or coach, establishments for the 
 construction of vehicles of this description are among the most important 
 of the manufactories of which the place can boast, and they are said 
 to produce excellent articles. At Charcoal, a few miles from Wollongong, 
 there is a rather extensive tannery carried on by Messrs. Richards ife 
 Sons, and employing about twenty-eight men. The industry has been 
 in existence for about twenty years, but it has been conducted by the 
 present proprietors, who succeeded their father, for about ten or eleven 
 years, and from 150 to 200 hides a week are used in the business. 
 Most of the hides produced in the district are bought by the firm, but 
 the greater portion of those used are obtained fi'om Sydney, where 
 nearly the whole of the manufactured leather is sent for sale. This 
 leather consists of various kinds, and to all appearance is of very good 
 quality. Part of it is supplied regularly to certain customers in the 
 metropolis, but most of it is sold by auction, and by either method of 
 disposal it leaves a good return. Buyers know the character of the 
 various tanneries through the country, and according to the reputation 
 a tannery possesses, so is the value attached to the leather it sends to 
 market. The extent of the business already done at the Charcoal 
 tannery amounts, I was informed by one of the proprietors, to consider- 
 ably over £15,000 a year, and the firm expect to materially enlarge 
 their industry by the introduction of some steam machinery which will 
 have the efiect of both facilitating and cheapening the process of 
 tanning the hides. 
 
 Beyond the want through the district of good farm labourers who 
 will work for the usual farm wages, the labour market may be said to 
 be fully supplied ; at the collieries it has been somewhat over-supplied, 
 and many of the men have, on leaving the pits, made their way to 
 Appin, with the object of finding employment at the Nepean Water- 
 works, which are being carried on within a few miles of that place. 
 
 These water-works are a subject of conversation wherever working men 
 are to be found, and as they are regarded in Sydney, as well as in the 
 
The Nepean Water-ioorhs. 85 
 
 country districts, as a means for absorbing a portion of the surplus 
 labour said to exist in the metropolis and in the coimtry, some account 
 of the inanner in which the works are progressing, of the number of men 
 employed, the style of work there is to be done, and the prospects there 
 are of the employment of other men, will doubtless prove interesting to 
 many pei'sons. The information is of value also inasmuch as it describes 
 the kind of work and pay which are open to all adult male immigrants 
 on these works, or on the railways, immediately the immigrants arrive. 
 
 The easiest way to get to the works is to go by train to Campbelltown, 
 and then by coach from Campbelltown to Appin, within about a few 
 miles of which town or village some of the contractors and their men 
 will be found busy at work. There, at the time the writer visited the 
 locality, Mr. Haager had a contract for the cutting of 1,900 feet of the 
 canal or aqueduct which is to convey the water towards Sydney, and 
 very actively he seemed to be carrying on the work. The canvas tents 
 or rudely constructed huts of the workmen were clustei-ed together, in 
 the style to be seen among the navvies at work on a railway extension ; 
 a store had been built, a blacksmith's shop and an oihce for the use of 
 the contractor and his clerk had been erected, and a short distance away 
 on the other side of the valley a farm-house had been turned into a 
 ' public-house, and had succeeded in obtaining a license. Mr. Haager had 
 secured two contracts connected with these works. One was for the 
 cutting of the 1,900 feet of canal, and the other for the construction of 
 a tunnel from the Cataract River to where the canal commences, at a 
 place known as Brooks' Point, close to the Appin Road, a distance of If 
 mile. A considerable portion of the cutting was well on towards com- 
 pletion, but in the construction of the tunnel all that had been done was 
 the partial sinking of two shafts, preparatory to commencing the work of 
 boring the tunnel. At that time no more than eight men were employed 
 at each shaft, which had been sunk to the depth of 1 2 or 14 feet ; but as 
 as soon as the shafts were down to the necessary depth — 100 feet in the 
 case of the first, and 1 60 feet in that of the second — and opened out, as 
 it is termed, a lot of men were to be put on, and the tunnel proceeded 
 with directly. It was expected that the shafts would be finished in 
 about two months. Brick or masonry work would be necessary for the 
 tunnel, unless the boring should be made through stone, in which event,, 
 of course, the employment of bricklayers or masons would not be required. 
 In the cutting contract all the top stuff had been taken out, and the men 
 had worked about 3 feet into the rock. Taking out the top stuff 
 was pick and shovel work, and unskilled labouring men were all that 
 were required to do it ; but excavating the rock was all powder work^ 
 that is, blasting — and for this workmen other than mere day labourers 
 
86 TJie Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 were considered to be necessary. Over a hundred men were employed, I 
 was informed, and tliey were all paid by the day — some 7s., some 7s. 6d., 
 some 8s. ; the money being paid fortnightly. This system of paying 
 every fortnight is, however, sometimes changed to one of paying the men 
 once a month. 
 
 It has been frequently asserted among working men in Sydney, and 
 other places, that the work on this and the other contracts for the con- 
 .struction of the Nepean "Waterworks is too hard and the pay too small 
 for a man to be able to earn anything at it, and that the contractors are 
 altogether too strict with the men they employ. When I was at Mount 
 Keira Colliery, the manager stated that some men he had been obliged 
 to discharge in consequence of the slackness of trade at the colliery, and 
 who had gone to seek employment at the Appin Water-works, had 
 returned, declaring that the labour was altogether too difficult, and that 
 they would far sooner have only two days' work during the week in the 
 coal mine than six at the water-works. Knowing of the existence of 
 this spirit of dissatisfaction in various places, I made special inquiry into 
 the matter. I found that the men employed on the water-works con- 
 tracts had to work hard, for there can be no doubt that excavating rock 
 for nine hours a day is hard work, but beyond this the labour is no 
 harder than nine hours at similar work anywhere else. It is true that 
 the men are kept closely at their work, and that any dereliction of duty 
 is followed by instant dismissal, or dismissal at the close of the day. 
 
 This 2^1an is strictly carried out by all the contractors, and, as will be seen 
 further on, is recognized as absolutely necessary to a due fulfilment of 
 the conditions of the contracts, as far as possible, even by working men 
 themselves, — a number of them having joined together and obtained a 
 contract from the Government for an imjiortant section of the canal, 
 below that portion excavated by Mr. Haager. Tendering for contracts 
 is difterent now from what it used to be, and tenderers are so numerous 
 sometimes that prices have to be cut dov/n to the lowest ebb. It is 
 necessary, then, for the contractor to do all he can to save himself from 
 loss, and one method he adopts is to seek the best workmen for his pur- 
 pose, and see that they perform a full day's work for the wages he pays 
 them. That appears to be the reason why the men on the water-works 
 contracts are kept so closely to their labour during the Avorking hours, 
 and why so many of them have been dismissed for apparently very 
 trivial offences. If a man who obtains employment is attentive to his 
 duties and performs his day's work properly he gets along very well, 
 but otherwise he has to make way for another, and from the first there 
 has been no lack of men coming upon the ground seeking employment. 
 
The Nepean Tf^ater-tcorks, 87 
 
 The conti-actor had a store on the ground, and a boarding-house, or 
 rather dining-room. These, I was informed, were there for the conveni- 
 ence of the men, and I did aiot learn that they were surrounded 
 with any of the evils of the truck system. The store was supplied 
 -with, a stock of general goods, just such as were likely to be re- 
 quired by the workmen or their families, and the boarding-house where 
 many of the men obtained their meals had a well-appointed kitchen 
 attached to it, and was maintained by chai-ging those of the men who 
 patronised it 15s. a week. About twenty of the men availed themselves 
 of this convenience ; others got their meals at two boarding-houses or 
 huts kept by the wives of men employed on the works, and others again 
 provided for themselves, or took their meals with their families. The 
 argument of the contractor in defence of the store was that if the 
 butcher, the baker, and the storekeeper would come to the camp and 
 supply the men at an hour when the men required supplies and had 
 time to get them, there would be no objection to their doing so, but the 
 tradesmen chose their own time, and the men could not be permitted to 
 leave their work under any circumstances, unless by forfeiting part of 
 their w-ages. 
 
 The contract below that of Mr. Haager was given by the Government 
 to a number of Hartley Vale miners, who, suffering from a slackness of 
 work at mining for kerosene shale, joined together and tendered first for 
 the construction of that portion of the tunnel which was placed in the hands 
 of Mr. Haager, and then for a length of the cutting or canal below that 
 covered by Mr. Haager's contract. Their first tender was unsuccessful, 
 but their second was accepted, and very soon they, and others employed 
 by them, were at work vigorously. There were altogether twenty-two 
 in the party comprising the contracting company — twenty miners, a 
 blacksmith, and an engine-fitter ; and they were entrusted with the 
 cutting of two miles of the canal, which for this distance would 
 in depth average aljout 15 feet. Work being very bad at Hartley, 
 these men, eighteen of whom were married, thought that, as much 
 of the skill required in the construction of the water-works was similar 
 to that which they had all their lives been in the habit of employing in 
 mining for shale or coal, the Government would no doubt be willing to 
 give them as fair a cliance of getting a portion of the tunnelling or excava- 
 ting work to do as others obtained. So they made the trial. 
 
 The boring of a portion of the tunnel seemed to be the most likely thing 
 they could secure, and they tendered for it, but their tender was not the 
 lowest. Then they tried for a portion of the cutting, and that they 
 succeeded in getting. Subsequently the work of clearing for a width of 
 
88 The Industries of New South JFcdes. 
 
 two chains the ground through which the cutting runs was given to 
 them, and for this the Government paid day wages. The company 
 found no security, but, from an answer given to a question in the 
 Legislative Assembly, the matter of securities for the due performance 
 of the contract appears to have been under consideration. They pro- 
 duced, however, certificates showing their competency for the work, and 
 from the commencement they appeared to be getting through the work 
 splendidly. Professional contractors were jealous of them ; for the idea 
 of entrusting public works to labouring men, however well such a thing 
 may turn out to be as a means for having contracts expeditiously per- 
 formed, as well as for affording relief to deserving men out of employ- 
 ment, was a novel one, and threatened to put an end to the monopoly 
 which a few persons had enjoyed. These professional contractors say 
 there will be no encouragement at all to men possessed of capital and 
 large plant to come forward and tender for public contracts if the work 
 is going to be given by the Government to a lot of individuals who 
 possess nothing in the world but what they stand up in. But it happens 
 that in the construction of these water- works — at any rate along the 
 length of line which the Hartley Yale miners had under their charge — 
 very little plant was required ; and as for capital, though the miners had 
 no banking account to draw upon, they were in receipt from the Govern- 
 ment, periodically, on the certificate of the Government officer con- 
 stantly looking after the work, of a certain pi-oportion of the money 
 earned on the contract, the same or nearly the same proportion as was paid 
 to the contractors for the other sections, and these payments enabled the 
 men to carry on the work as well as if they were in a position to draw 
 the money from their private purses, and as well as others could do, 
 
 90 per cent, on the "\'alue of the work done, as measured by the 
 Government engineer, the miners received every fortnight, and they paid 
 their workmen and themselves every fortnight. The 10 per cent, 
 was retained by the Government until the contract was completed. 
 All that the men required to get at starting were the necessary tools, 
 barrows, powder, and a few other little things, and those they 
 obtained just as any other persons would. Of course, though twenty- 
 two men were sufficient to set the work going, it soon became necessary 
 to employ others ; and when the writer visited the place forty-six men 
 were busy there excavating different parts of the canal. This number 
 was shortly to be considerably increased, and the company were about 
 to get a travelling steam crane, which they intended to run along the 
 edge of the canal and use for hoisting out of the cutting the large stones 
 after the powder had blown the rock to pieces. This, it was believed, 
 would materially expedite the work, for it would save the immense 
 
TJie Nepean JFater-worhs. 89 
 
 labour of breaking the stones with hammers and then removing the 
 pieces from the cutting with shovels and barrows. 
 
 As the members of the company were in the position of employers 
 having a large and important contract on hand, and as they, too, tendered 
 at a price which probably would not enable them to make much out of 
 the contract, they, like the contractors for the other sections, were careful 
 to employ none but good workmen, and the same strictness was to be 
 found on this section of the works as on the others. If a man was a 
 good workman and remained closely to his work he got along right 
 enough, but if he did not perform a proper day's work for the money 
 paid him he was sent away. 
 
 The manner in which the company looked afte this part of the busi- 
 ness was this : One of their number acted as general superintendent, and 
 the rest were divided into small parties and mixed with the day men or 
 those to whom employment had been given. By this means it could be 
 seen how these latter persons did their work, and if any one of them 
 showed himself to be idle or incompetent, a report was made to that 
 effect at night by one of the company's party who had been working 
 with him, and the delinquent was paid off at once. The wages paid 
 were 7s. 6d. a day. There was no scarcity of men, for it was said a 
 great number came on the ground from morning till night seeking 
 employment. Yery few Newcastle miners put in an appearance. 
 There were more miners from Wollongong and from the Hartley Yale 
 district coming there than men of any other class, and yet there were 
 very many who were not miners. Twenty days only the company had 
 been at work when the writer saw them, and yet they had got through 
 a considerable portion of their labour. They had no shop nor boarding- 
 house, and the men were paid in cash and could go where they liked. 
 There was, however, a private boarding-house or hut on the ground, 
 and that supplied the wants of those of the men who did not provide 
 for themselves. As for stores, the company said the requirements of 
 the men were fully and easily met by the storekeepers, who called at 
 the camp every day. The men had their families with them, and as 
 they had among those alone of their number who came from Hartley 
 thirty-eight children, they were anxious to get a Public School opened 
 there. 
 
 A third section of the water-works in coui'se of construction was in 
 the hands of Mr. W. J. Edwards. This section was indeed the first 
 portion of the works, being the construction of a tunnel from the 
 Nepean River to the Cataract River, a distance of 4|~ miles ; but as it 
 was further away than the others, it was, in following the pegged line, 
 
90 The Industries of New South Wales, 
 
 the last to be seen. The contractor -was dealing with his work by first 
 sinking shafts, and when they were completed the tunnelling would be 
 proceeded with. The plans showed seven shafts, each at a distance of 
 about three-quarters of a mile from the other ; but the contractor believed 
 he would be able to dispense with some of the shafts and still duly carry 
 out the work. The first shaft, which is about three-quarters of a mile 
 from the Cataract River, was down about 60 or 70 feet, and had to be 
 sunk to a depth of 212 feet. The second shaft was down about the 
 same depth as the first. The fourth shaft had been sunk to about 50 
 feet ; the others were not commenced. The deepest shaft, according to 
 the jjlan, is 360 feet. About seventy men were said to be employed ; 
 they received 8s. a day, paid fortnightly ; and the work was carried on 
 unceasingly night and day in three shifts of eight hours each. None of 
 the work on this section appeared to have been sub-let by the contractor, 
 nor had any been sub-let on either of the other sections by the other 
 contractors ; but this sub-letting might, it was understood, as the work 
 proceeded, be adopted to the extent considered necessary or profitable. 
 Wlien the work of sinking the shafts to the level of the tunnel was 
 completed it was believed that four times the number of men at present 
 employed would be taken on, because they would then be able to work 
 in two directions from the bottom of each shaft, and from the faces at 
 the commencement and end of the tunnel. 
 
 These three contracts covered a length of about 9 miles of the 
 waterworks, and the total length of the necessary works is about 60 
 miles. 
 
 At the time this article was written the works vv^ere not sufiiciently 
 opened to permit of the employment of a great number of men, but 
 since then some of the early contracts have been almost completed, and 
 other portions of the works have been contracted for, and are in course of 
 construction. This has justified the employment of a larger number of 
 labourers, and as further contracts are in progress the number of men 
 employed must of course still further increase. But working men need 
 not on contracts of this kind expect to find the labour easy, nor the con- 
 tractors or their overseers any less strict than an employer has a right 
 to be ; nothing more however is required of a workman than that he 
 shall do a fair day's Avork for the money that is paid him. 
 
Industry on the Blue Iloimta'ms. 91 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INDUSTRY ON THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 In no place out of Sydney within the Colony are there to be found 
 greater evidence of progress in the past and solid prosperity in the 
 future than in the little thriving town of Lithgow — or Lithgow, Esk- 
 bank, and the Yale of Clwydd, for tlie three are in reality one — situated 
 just the other side of the Blue Mountains, and within easy reach of 
 Sydney by means of the Great Western Railway. As in the instance 
 of the wonderful results which followed the rubbing of the lamp whose 
 virtues are told in Eastern story, the wild solitudes of the mountains 
 have in a marvellously short space of time answered the call of 
 Australian enterprise, and what no longer back than eight years ago 
 was almost untouched bush, boasting but one or two inhabitants, is to- 
 day a busy manufacturing community, who are solvhag some of the most 
 important problems connected with industrial pursuits in New South 
 Wales. Bountifully supplied as the locality is with rich deposits of 
 minerals and clays, and well provided as it is with means of communi- 
 cation by which markets in various directions can be found, the land lay 
 for some time uninterfered with, and then, its great value suddenly 
 becoming better known and understood, a mania to possess it seized 
 upon various persons, and it was speedily taken up, principally under 
 lease. 
 
 The stories told of the eftbrts made and the manceuvres adopted to 
 obtain portions of the land when once its riches came to be properly 
 appreciated are among the most entertaining and significant, and IMem- 
 bers of Parliament are said to have vied with private individuals in 
 exhibiting the activity and smartness necessary to secure possession of 
 some of the ground. But when once the land was the property of the 
 persons who had been so anxious to obtain it, no time was lost in proving 
 its value : it was not allowed to lie idle. There was no desire, as there 
 is in too many cases of the kind, to hold it and speculate with it for a 
 certain time, and then let it drop into the hands of the Government 
 again. Capital and enterprise saw their opportunity and immediately 
 seized it. The appearance of coal seams led to the opening of coal mines ; 
 rich deposits of iron ore brought about the speedy establishment of iron- 
 works ; beds of clay, highly valuable for bricks and pottery, prompted 
 the construction of brick and pottery works 3 the existence of a copper 
 
92 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 mine not many miles distant along the x-ailway suggested the erection of 
 copper-smelting works ; good timber on the mountains pointed to the 
 fitting up of steam sawmills ; and the salubrity of the climate, as well as 
 the general suitableness of the place for the purpose, showed the late 
 Mr. T. S. Mort the advantage of making the district a great meat 
 emporium for the supply of the metropolis, and, if necessary, the markets 
 of England. 
 
 From the one or two houses of eight years ago the three villages 
 Lithgow, Eskbank, and the Vale of Clwydd have grown until they are 
 now together a well-populated little town, and are rapidly assuming the 
 appearance and character of a place of far more than ordinary importance. 
 The sounds of industry are to be heard on every hand, and its signs are 
 never absent, for night and day the fires of the furnaces are to be seen, 
 and frequently the numerous chimneys, the straight columns of smoke, 
 and the haze hanging about, have much of the appearance of a manu- 
 facturing town in England. Such a busy hive of industry, indeed, it 
 would be difficult to find anywhere else in the colony. 
 
 There are no fewer than four coal-mines in almost constant work, and 
 sending away a very considerable qviantity of coal. Each of the mines 
 is so close to the railway that only a very short siding is necessary for 
 running the trucks from the screens at the pit's mouth to the main line ; 
 and, with the exception of the skips required for raising the coal to the 
 surface of the mine, neither of the Companies considers it necessary to 
 have any rolling stock of its own, for the traffic arrangements of the 
 Railway Department make it advantageous to use the Government trucks. 
 Til en the general expenses connected with getting the coal are so small 
 compared with what they are at some of the other collieries that the coal 
 can be sold very cheaply, and, as at the Southern and Northern coal- 
 mines, the supply of coal in the district appears to be practically 
 unlimited. The iron industry of the place is carried on at what are 
 known as the Eskbank Iron-works, an establishment that is constantly 
 increasing its appliances, and after having struggled bravely through its 
 early difficulties seems to be entering upon a career of success which, if 
 it should prove lasting, will be not only a fitting reward for the perse- 
 verance which has kept the works going in spite of many obstacles, but 
 of great importance to all who are in any way interested in the develop- 
 ment of what ought to prove one of the most valuable of colonial 
 industrial pursuits. 
 
 Next to the Iron-works come the Lithgow Yalley Pottery-works, an 
 establishment which is really creditable in every respect, which is turning 
 out good work, and which, by constantly adding to its machinery, and 
 
Industry on the Blue Mountains. 93 
 
 improving its methods of opei-ation, bids fair to achieve thorough success. 
 Copper-smelting, an industry so easy to be followed where coal is plentiful 
 and cheap, and where the distance and cost are not so great as to prevent 
 the copper ore being brought from the mine, has earned a name for itself 
 at Lithgow, short as the time is since it was started there, for the Esk- 
 bank copper is known in England, and the stamp is said to have a special 
 value attached to it. The Eskbank Works are closed for the present, 
 but copper-smelting is being carried on at some works near the Yale of 
 Clwydd colliery, and there the industry promises to be as successful as it 
 has hitherto been at Eskbank. Nothing, in fact, seems backward or sluggish 
 about Lithgow. 
 
 The progress of the town in its buildings has kept pace with the 
 increase of its population ; and while there are some well-built stores and 
 hotels, which prove the faith which their proprietors have in the stability 
 of the place, the public buildings and the churches are all that are 
 necessary for a town of some importance. A desire to build has been 
 interfered with to a certain extent by a disinclination on the part of some 
 of the holders of land to sell any of it, and this, it is stated, has some- 
 what retarded the progress of Lithgow from a business point of view ; 
 but there are signs of this indisposition to sell the land passing away. 
 
 The value of colonial industries, of whatever kind they may be, can 
 scarcely be over-estimated, but when, as at Lithgow, men are engaged 
 in experiments which may settle the question whether certain important 
 manufactures can or cannot be carried on in the Colony profitably, the 
 subject becomes one of the greatest interest. The want of capital or the 
 want of skill which has hampered the operations of so many of our 
 industries has pi-evented not a few fair projects from receiving a proper 
 trial, and a cry for assistance from the State has been raised not 
 infrequently to hide the failure which has been the natural result of either 
 ill-supported or misdirected effort. It seems to be the natural condition 
 of most, if not of all our industries, that they should be commenced 
 under circumstances which are not sufficient to ensure their success, and 
 the real necessities of the business become apparent only when it is too 
 late to go back without the loss of a considerable amount of time and 
 money. Induced to start the industry under the impression that very 
 little capital will be required, the promoters have soon found their 
 venture a constant drain upon their resources, and then those difficulties 
 which so persistently beset a new business commence and are continually 
 hampering operations. All the money seems to be going out and none 
 to be coming in, and the sanguine expectations of one day are destroyed 
 by the depressing results of the next. But while a miscalculation of the 
 
94 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 cost, and want of the necessary pecuniary means, are causes to whicli 
 may be ascribed much of the backwardness of many colonial industries, a 
 greater drawback is the absence of the requisite skilled labour. 
 
 In several of the industries for which the resources of this Colony 
 are considered to be admirably fitted, the skilled workmen, without 
 whom success is most uncertain, can find sufficiently lucrative employ- 
 ment at home ; and so well are the trade secrets of the British manu- 
 facturers preserved, that almost the only chance of secuiing for the 
 Colonies any approach to the excellence for which English manufactiu-es 
 are celebrated is by importing as much as possible of the machinery 
 used, and trusting to the tact of the colonial workmen to apply it to the 
 best advantage. But as the importation of valuable machinery means 
 the expenditure of a large amount of money, it is seldom that these 
 machines, necessary as they are to success, can be obtained all at once ; 
 and therefore, except under what may be considered very favourable 
 conditions, the progress of colonial industry is necessarily gradual and 
 slow. Two other difficulties the colonial manufacturer has to contend 
 against, and they are not unimportant stumbling-blocks in his career. 
 The difficulty of obtaining workmen with the proper degree of skill is 
 supplemented by the high rates at which he has to pay for the labour 
 he can obtain, and then, though after great expense, patience, and 
 perseverance, he may succeed in producing articles of really good quality, 
 he finds himself met by a prejudice against colonial manufactured goods, 
 which frequently has to be overcome by deception and something like 
 business fraud in jiassing ofi" the colonial articles as goods imported from 
 abroad. 
 
 From this it can be understood how natural a struggling existence 
 is to a colonial industry, and how creditable it is to any company 
 of persons who, remaining true to their purpose, push their way 
 through the difficulties which surround them until success crowns their 
 effi^rts, and the quality and sale of their goods are such as to establish 
 a name for the factory and biing in a fair return of profit upon the 
 money that has been ex])ended. 
 
 It is this gradual but certain development which is apparent 
 among the Lithgow industries. They have had great difficulties to over- 
 come since those persons who took them in hand resolved to test the 
 capabilities of the place for producing some of the most important of 
 manufactures, and all their difficulties have not yet gone by ; but the 
 industries have been carried along so well, in spite of all obstacles, that 
 now there is a very good prospect of their complete success. The 
 circumstance of a sudden want in a community of a large supply of 
 
Industry on the Blue Ilomitains. 95 
 
 oertain articles of manufacture has provided the necessary impetus to 
 not a few of the great industries in England, so that they have been 
 able to shake off the dulness and loss which have followed a general 
 absence of encouragement, and to establish themselves so firmly that 
 they have gone on prosperously ever after • and there are signs of this 
 nature at the manufactories in the mountains. The sudden demand for 
 tramway rails, to be made from colonial iron, and the re-rolling of 
 larger rails for the permanent way, seemed just the things the Eskbank 
 Iron-works required to send the industry ahead. 
 
 There is not half the encouragement to iron manufacturers in smelting 
 iron and rolling it into bai's or rails, which may or may not be after- 
 wards sold, as there is in bending their energies to meet a large order 
 which is to be paid for at a price that will leave some profit, and which 
 may prove the making of the industry. It is the same in all branches 
 of industry and in all departments of life. To have something to work 
 for more than the mere chance of a successful result always carries with 
 it its value, and, provided that this assistance comes at a time when 
 previous exertions and present capability for fulfilling the duties 
 required justify the confidence reposed in the industry or the individual, 
 and removes all suspicion of unfairness to any one else, the eSecfc is 
 almost certain to be beneficial and lasting. The Eskbank Iron-works 
 have secured important work by tender, and there are great hopes that 
 the result will be to establish them firmly as a large and important iron 
 manufactory. The circumstance that the industry has been carried to 
 that high pitch of progress which has enabled the proprietors to under- 
 take this work is not without its significance and value. The other 
 industries in the place have also had some special contracts to keep them 
 going — contracts which they have secured by tender and competition, 
 and these assist them considerably in their efforts to further develop the 
 resources of the district and improve their OAvn position. 
 
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The Lithgoio Valley Coal-mines, 97 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LITHGOW VALLEY COAL-MINES. 
 
 The Lithgow Valley coal trade, and by that is meant the trade carried 
 on by the four coal mines from Lithgow Valley to the Vale of Clwydd, 
 is generally very brisk, and is free from many of the drawbacks 
 experienced in the coal trade in the north and south. The coal itself 
 is considered to be a good household and steam coal, and in appearance 
 is very much like the coal of the southern mines. It finds purchasers 
 in several directions, but principally about Sydney and the metropolitan 
 suburbs, and along the railway line towards Bathurst. A large quantity 
 is supplied to the Government by contract, for the use of the railway 
 goods engines. The passenger engines do not use it, for according to 
 professional opinion a particular kind of furnace is required for burning 
 it to the best advantage, and this furnace the passenger engines are not 
 fitted with. The Lithgow coal makes more ash than other coal does, 
 but no clinker, and what are called shaking grates, or a furnace with 
 bars more than ordinarily wide apart, are said to be necessary iii order 
 to let the ash out easily and promote a good draught of air to keep up 
 the heat of the fire. As the passenger engines are not fitted in this 
 way, only the goods engines use this coal, and the others are supplied 
 with Newcastle coal, which is very much dearer. Still, a very 
 considerable quantity is taken by the Government from the Lithgow 
 Mines, and the quantity increases every year. Six years ago it is said 
 to have been something over 12,000 tons, and now it is close upon 
 45,000 tons. This is a very material item in the general output of the 
 mines, because, by an arrangement among the proprietors, each colliery 
 shares in the advantages of the contract. 
 
 It does not appear that this combination, which is the only one 
 that exists among coal-owners in the west, has any such result as that 
 of compelling the Government to pay an extraordinary price for 
 its supplies] and, on the other hand, it has the effect of benefiting 
 each colliery without making it necessary for either to go to the 
 expense of increasing its appliances beyond what the general trade 
 would justify. The Goveniment of course recognize but one Company 
 in the arrangement for the due performance of the contract, and that 
 Company the one that contracts to supply the coal required for 
 the Western and Southern Railways, but the Companies themselves 
 
98 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 divide tlie trade between tliem, by allotting to three of the collieries an 
 equal share, and giving the fourth a certain proportion of the price 
 received per ton for coal. Thus the Yale of Clwydd Colliery has had 
 the contract ; the Vale of Chvydd, the Lithgow Valley, and the Eskbank 
 Collieries have supj^lied between them the coal required ; and the 
 Bowenfels Colliery has received from the others a certain share of the 
 receipts, as a kind of royalty. The price at which the western coal is 
 sold does not clearly appear, because, apart from the contract ^vith the 
 Government, there is no associated action amongst the coal proprietors ; 
 competition is said to run the prices sometimes veiy low, and each 
 Company carries on its general trade in its own way, and at those prices 
 it is pleased to charge ; but the general rate is understood to have been 
 5s. or 6s. a ton. Added to that, there is the freight charged by the 
 Railway Department for hauling the coal along the "Western Railway, 
 and this, if the price of the coal at the pit's mouth be 6s. a ton, would 
 increase the sum to 14s. when the coal is landed in Sydney. A consider- 
 able reduction in the freight charge would be made if the coal were conveyed 
 in owners' trucks ; but the difficulty that would be experienced in getting 
 the empty trucks back to the pits without any delay makes it far more 
 profitable for the Companies to pay the extra rates and use the 
 Government D trucks, of which there is always a full supply 
 available. The Bowenfels mine possesses some half-dozen trucks of its 
 own, and uses them in addition to the trucks obtained from the Railway 
 authorities, but neither of the other collieries thinks it desirable to 
 adopt such a plan, and one — the Lithgow Valley Colliery — after trying 
 the experiment recently for a short time, gave it up and sold the 
 trucks to the Government, who now use them along with the others. 
 
 A prominent obstacle in the way of a full development of the western 
 coal trade is the want of shipping facilities. So far all the trade has 
 been a land trade, and not until some facilities for shipping coal are 
 provided on the Darling Harbour "Wharf, to which the coal could be 
 conveyed by rail, will there be any chance of finding a sale in inter- 
 colonial or foreign markets. Cranes or any other provision for shipping 
 coal at Darling Harbour would, however, be of little use while the 
 Pyrmont Bridge remained where it is, and that structure would have to 
 be removed. The expense attached to the conveyance of the coal from 
 the mines to Sydney would perhaps make it difficult for the "Western 
 collieries to compete successfully with the collieries at Bulli and "Wollon- 
 gong, or with those at Newcastle, but though heavy railway freight is a 
 drawback, it need not be an insuperable difficulty. The number of actual 
 miners in the Western district is about 150, and they are paid at the 
 rate of 2s. 4d. a ton. This is a rate much below what is paid either at 
 
The Lithgoio Valley Coal-mines. 99 
 
 Newcastle or Illawarra, but nevertheless the men earn very fifood wages, 
 and their general condition appears to be very satisfactory. Beyond the 
 existence of a Union among the men working at the Vale of Clwydd 
 colliery, formed for the protection of their own interests, the miners of 
 the district are free from any association of that nature, and when the 
 writer visited the pits the men did not appear to have any grievances. 
 
 Referring to each collieiy more in detail, the first that comes under 
 notice is the Lithgow Valley Colliery, which has been open for eight or 
 ten years. It is an adit or tunnel in one of the hills at the western end 
 of Lithgow, and less than a quarter of a mile from the main line of railway, 
 with which it is connected by a siding. The coal, drawn from the pit 
 by an engine and ropes in the usual manner, is tipped down a screen 
 into the trucks below, and then removed in the trucks as they are 
 required to be sent away. The out-put is considerable. Five years ago 
 the Company considei'ed their out-put a splendid one if they filled eight 
 trucks a day. They now send away as many as forty trucks a day, and 
 if the demand requii-ed it they could largely increase that quantity. 
 Much of the coal goes to supply the share which the Company have of 
 the contract with the Government, and a great deal of that which sup- 
 plies the general trade of the colliery is sent to the brickmakers in the 
 metropolitan suburbs, Not a little also is used in what might be termed 
 home consumption, for the Company who possess the colliery are the 
 proi^rietors of the Lithgow Valley Pottery Works, and consideraljle 
 advantage is reaped by making the pottery works the consumer of most 
 of the small coal. At one time the Company got I'id of their small coal 
 by throwing it away, and it cost them something considerable even to 
 do that, but now they save it, and either use it themselves or sell it to 
 others. 
 
 The Eskbank Colliery is situated quite close to the railway line, and 
 immediately opposite where the new railway station is to be. The coal is 
 drawn from a shaft 78 feet deep, and the daily out-put is abo\it 180 tons. 
 The mine is at present working constantly, and as the trade always in- 
 creases as winter advances the out-put will probably soon be much larger 
 than it is now. For a considerable portion of last winter the mine produced 
 200 tons a day, and it is stated that the quantity raised each day could 
 easily be increased to 300 tons. In summer the trade is not nearly ^o 
 brisk. Last year the total output of the colliery was over 40,000 tons. 
 As in the case of the other collieries in the west, the coal from the Esk- 
 bank mine is sent in all directions, and a large portion of its goes to the 
 Railway Department, according to the contract for the supply of the 
 railway locomotives. From this colliery also is obtained the coal which 
 
100 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 is used by the Eskbank Iron-works, The seam of coal worked is that 
 which is worked by all. In thickness it is about 10 feet 6 inches, but 
 only about 5 feet 6 inches of the seam is taken out ; for the " tops," as 
 they are termed, though not inferior coal, are described as not so mar- 
 ketable as the rest. Fifty-four men are employed at the colliery, and 
 thirty of these are miners. The latter are paid at the rate of 2 s. 4d. a 
 ton, and the wages of the men have averaged from £12 to £14 a month. 
 
 The Yale of Clwydd Colliery, situated about a mile from the Eskbank 
 Colliery, is one of the deepest coal shafts in the Colony, having been 
 sunk 250 feet, and is well provided with appliances for doing a large 
 trade. It cannot be seen from Lithgow proper, or from Eskbank, 
 because the view is intercepted by some rising ground, but as the popu- 
 lation api^ears to be extending from Lithgow eastwards, probably very 
 soon the houses of the three places will have joined, and the whole 
 locality will be one large town. A very substantial little village has 
 sprung up near the colliery, with a population of about 1.50, and some 
 of the buiklings would not discredit a very much older and larger place. 
 The signs of progress are likely to be materially increased by the drain- 
 ing of a large swamp which lies in the vicinity of the mine, and which 
 would, when drained, be sold for building allotments. The Government 
 have rendered much assistance to the village by constructing to it, and a 
 considerable distance beyond it in the direction of Hartley, a good road 
 from Eskbank, and now this road is recognized as the highway to 
 Hartley Vale. The output of the colliery is about 200 tons a day, and 
 the total output for last year is represented as having been about 50,000 or 
 60,000 tons. The daily yield might be greatly increased, for the facilities 
 the Company possess are very well suited for a large output. Underground 
 the works extend all round for an average distance of about 14 chains. 
 Sixty men are employed, and of these fifty are miners. There is said to 
 have been an attempt some time ago on the part of the men working at 
 the colliery to introduce the vend scheme into the district, but the idea 
 met with disfavour, and as there was no union among the men working 
 at the other collieries, the pi'oposal was veiy soon abandoned. A union 
 does exist among the Vale of Clwydd miners, but among themselves 
 alone, and as far as can be ascertained it does not interfere either with 
 the proper woi-king of the colliery or with the coal trade generally. The 
 contract for supplying the coal required by the Railway Department 
 the Vale of Clwydd Company have had for three years, and to them the 
 Government look for the due fulfilment of the contract, though of course 
 there never is any difficulty in obtaining from either the Lithgow Valley 
 Colliery or the Eskbank Colliery the quantity which, according to the 
 
The LithgoiD Valley Coal-mines. 101 
 
 recognized arrangement, it falls to tlieir shave to provide. The Vale of 
 Chvydd miners can earn, I was informed, as much as from 15s. to 20s. 
 a day each day they work. 
 
 The Bowenfels mine is the fourth colliery of which Lithgow can boast, 
 and is the smallest. It is situated on the north side of the railway, just 
 beyond the Eskbank Iron-works, and the coal is drawn from a tunnel 
 which has been driven in the side of one of the hills or mountains. The 
 daily output is about 40 tons a day, and to raise this quantity but very 
 few miners are required. Work is carried on every day, and the coal, 
 which is of very good quality, is sent away every morning to Sydney 
 and other places, wdiere it is supplied principally to manufacturers. 
 The Bowenfels mine is the only one of the collieries in the West that 
 possesses any waggons of its own, but in the case of that colliery also 
 the advantage of using the Government trucks is found, and most of the 
 coal goes away in the latter. A considerably larger quantity of coal 
 than the present output shows could be raised from the pit if necessity 
 should require it. 
 
KEROSENE MINE, HARTLEY VALE. 
 
Kerosene Shale and Oil. 103 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 KEROSENE SHALE AND OIL. 
 
 A RIDE of a few miles from the Vale of Chvydd will take the visitor 
 to Hartley Vale, a place well known from the circumstance of the 
 existence there of an important kerosene shale mine, the property of 
 the Xew South Y>^aloH Shale and Oil Company. Situated as it i.H, so 
 very far within the intricacies of the Blue Mountains, little can be 
 learned of the industry beyond what can be gained by a glimpse or two 
 from the train of the Company's siding, or of a poi'tion of the village in 
 the A'alley, unless a personal inspection be made ; and the place well 
 repays a visit. The mine is most romantically situated, and the natural 
 difficulties which stood in the v\^ay of sending the shale to market after 
 it was brought out of the mine have been overcome in a manner that to 
 most persons would appear very remarkable. The extent to which the 
 shale exists in the locality/ is believed to be unlimited, and as for the 
 quality of the mineral that is unmistakable. As in nearly all instances 
 of mining in the mountains, the shale is obtained by means of a tunnel 
 which has been di'iven into the hill from a point near to its base, and 
 after penetrating a certain distance has been opened out and worked on 
 the same principles as a coal-mine. To get the shale to the Great 
 Western Railway, and thence to Sydney, there was no other method 
 that appeared feasible but the construction of a tramway from the valley 
 to the top of the mountain, and aftei' that a siding or branch railway 
 from the top of the mountain, Vvdiere the tramway ended, to the main 
 railway line. 
 
 This has been done with v^-onderful success, and, standing near the 
 mine, the visitor sees the tramway up the mountain, on a gradient so 
 steep that it does not appear very much out of the ^terpendicular, and 
 ascending or descending by means of wire ropes and a steam engine, the 
 trucks of shale or the emptied trucks as the work of the mine requires. 
 On the top of the mountain a small locomotive belonging to the 
 Company dr-aws the trucks to and fro betAveen the tramway and the 
 main line of railway. For gas purposes, and for the manufacture of 
 kerosene oil, the shale is considered to be unrivalled, and it is sent 
 away from the mine in various directions by land and sea, even as far as 
 San Francisco. The quantity dispatched in the week at the time the 
 mine was visited was said to be about 200 tons, but trade was then 
 dull, and many of the miners had left to find employment elsewhere. 
 
104 Tlie Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 Nevertlieless, there was no scarcity of shale ready for market, for it seemed 
 to have been the policy of the Company to have their output from the 
 mine considerably in excess of the current demand for the mineral, and 
 there were many thousands of tons of shale ready on the bank to be sent 
 away whenever it might be requii-ed. Nearly 5,000 tons a month have 
 been sent to Sydney when trade has been brisk. 
 
 An idea exists in the minds of some people who give attention to 
 milling matters that the shale deposits in the Colony are not very exten- 
 sive, and that shale-niiiiing is an industry that cannot last very long ; 
 but from the borings that have been made around Hartley the shale 
 there seems to be in unlimited quantity. The thickness of the seam 
 being worked is 3 feet 6 inches, and the supply obtained from the present 
 workings alone will last, it is believed, a very long time. Then, north 
 of the tunnel mouth, and 42 chains away, a bore-hole has been made 
 and the shale found to be good. West, or north-west, and 12 chains 
 away, another bore-hole has proved the shale to exist, and in good 
 quality ; and south of the tunnel also the shale is known to exist in 
 large quantities. At the first-mentioned bore-hole the seam is rather 
 narrower than that being worked, but a little further off it averages 3 
 feet 6 inches, and this is the general average wherever the seam has been 
 proved. The farthest in-drive of the tunnel stood when I visited it at 
 20^ chains, and throughout the workings the shale could be seen of the best 
 quality. The miners were paid at the rate of 6s. a ton, and as many as 
 eighty -five had been at work. Much of the shale was sent to the kerosene 
 oil works belonging to the Company at Waterloo, for the purpose of the 
 kerosene oil manufacture carried on there, and a considerable quantity 
 was retorted at the mine, where ten retorts Avere kept constantly at work, 
 and some fifteen others were being erected. No refining of the oil is 
 done at Hartley Vale, but the crude liquid is taken from the tanks, put 
 into drums and sent to Sydney, and thence to the works at Waterloo. 
 About 2,000 gallons of oil a week are made at the mine, and this 
 quantity will, with the additional retorts and some other improvements 
 that are being made, be very soon largely increased. 
 
 As in all cases of the kind, the opening of the mine promoted settlement, 
 and a very compact little township has been formed in the valley. There are 
 several hotels, a well-built general store, and a fine Public School. The slack - 
 Jiessof work at the mine when I saw it had made everything about the town 
 very dull, and everybody was longing for some improvement in the trade j 
 but there was no want of faith in the place, though it depends upon the 
 shale industry alone, and it only required a resumption of operations by 
 the Company in something like the usual style to make every thing bright 
 and active asrain. 
 
The Eskhank Iron-works. 107 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE ESKBANK IRON-WORKS. 
 
 The activity wliich the Eskbank Iron-works present just now is 
 exceedingly gratifying to all who desire to see tlie success of so important 
 an industry; and judging from the progress of the works in the past, as 
 well as from their present busy appearance, few persons could entertain 
 any doubt of their ultimate success. When it is considered that only 
 six and a half yeai's have elapsed since the foundation-stone of the works 
 was laid, the rapidity with which the industry has advanced is exceed- 
 ingly creditable. But the struggle has been a very up-hill one. There 
 v/as much advantage in having all or most of the materials necessary for 
 the manufacture of iron near at hand, easy of access, and in large quan- 
 tities ; but iron-smelting is a delicate as well as very expensive operation, 
 and difficulties are always thrusting themselves in the way. The iron 
 ores upon the Company's property are said to be equal to any in the 
 world, averaging from 20 to 70 per cent. ; limestone is obtained without 
 much trouble ; and coal is plentiful and cheap a hundred yards or a little 
 more away. So far as natural facilities for the industry are concerned 
 nothing could have been better, but at first the undertaking was very 
 much like a great and costly experiment — one almost certain to have the 
 right result some time or other, but likely to swallow up a large expendi- 
 ture before complete success Avas gained ; and from that time to this it 
 has been necessary to constantly increase the plant. 
 
 The first pig iron was produced within less than a year after the 
 foundation of the w-orks was laid, and the first bar iron two years after 
 that event took place. IMuch more, however, than these results was 
 required, especially if the works were to be properly remunerative, and 
 the complete success that was necessary to make them of any real and 
 permanent A'alue. It was soon seen that the works were capable of doing- 
 all that was expected of them if the proper appliances were obtained, and 
 the requisite perseverance was shown in overcoming the obstacles insepar- 
 able from the earlier stages of such an undertaking ; and the increase of 
 the plant and extension of the works generally have gone on as rapidly 
 as circumstances have permitted. The rate of progi-ess has been very 
 creditable, and extensive as the works have become, the Company are 
 still adding to their plant with a view to further ensure the success of 
 their enterprise. 
 
108 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 Most of the new plant provided has been for the purpose of rolling 
 rails, and almost all the ^^lant vised at the works has been made there. 
 Nothing has been imported that could be manufactured on the premises. 
 During the time that the works have been in operation the Company 
 have produced some thousands of tons of jiig-iron, and also of finished 
 iron formed of pig and scrap iron (including old rails) worked up 
 together. Now the Company have a five years' contract from the 
 Government to work up all the scrap-iron they produce during that 
 period into double-edged rails for the permanent way ; and another 
 contract for the supply of tramway rails that are made from the Com- 
 pany's pig-iron with a mixture of scrap, which is required for the flanges. 
 
 Scarcely anything could have a more beneficial effect upon the progress 
 of the works than these contracts are likely to have, they have given 
 new life to the industry and pushed it ahead vigorously. Twenty tons 
 of the permanent way rails have been turned out per day. They were 
 only the old rails re-rolled ; but the process of heating them, welding 
 them together, and then rolling them into the foi-m required, renders 
 necessary a considerable amount of skill as well as the use of ponderous 
 and costly machinery. Then they are said to be much superior to any 
 rails that are imported and much less expensive. The I'ails for the 
 tramway are in a different category, for they have been really colonial- 
 made rails. As they were intended for the tramway from Elizabeth- 
 street to Randwick, there was no time to be lost in getting them ready. 
 Two months' time the Company had for making them. In all 250 tons of 
 these rails, with the necessary fastenings, had to be supplied, and 100 tons 
 of iron were very quickly prepared and ready for the rolling of the rails. 
 The remainder of the iron was to be provided by starting the Company's 
 blast-furnace, which had been standing idle for some time previous in 
 consequence of a dulness of trade. Keeping the blast-furnace going 
 means an expense, it is said, of something like <£1,200 a month, and an 
 expenditure of that kind can only be met by an adequate demand for 
 the iron the furnace produces. Now that there is an outlet for the pig- 
 iron the furnace will be kept going as before. When the writer visited 
 the works there was some expectation of the Company obtaining a third 
 contract from the Government — in that case for the supply of tramway 
 rails for the double line in Elizabeth-street. 380 tons of what are termed 
 single Webb rail, 83 lbs. to the yard, and 50 Larsen rails for junctions 
 or crossings, were required, and they were to be made and supplied in 
 Sydney within three months. 
 
 But while the iron-works have been very busy with Government 
 contracts, orders have been supplied to private persons. Two of these 
 
The Eshhanh Iron-works. 109 
 
 were for 80 tons of small bridge rails or colliery rails, 14 lbs. to the 
 yard — one lot being for the New Chum Gold-mining Company, 
 Tasmania, and the other for the Adelong Gold-mining Company in this 
 Colony. These rails were made out of the iron produced at the works. 
 Bar-iron is manufactured for sale, and the Company have a,\\ iron yard 
 in Terminus-street, Redfern, from which customers are supplied. 
 
 When bar-iron was first produced some difiiculty was experienced in 
 getting rid of it, because of an objection raised that it was too hard ; but 
 eventually the public were satisfied in that respect, the prejudice was 
 removed, and the necessary market for the iron was secured. A very 
 good sale is now obtained for it. All the iron required by Hudson 
 Brothers during a period of twelve months in the manufacture of rail- 
 way trucks is said to have been supplied by the Eskbank Company ; and 
 Ritchie, the railway carriage builder of Parramatta, has also used the 
 iron in quantity. No difficulty is now found in getting rid of the iron. 
 " In fact," said the manager of the works to me, " we have orders for 
 iron that we cannot supply, and we shall not be able to supply them 
 until two new rolling-mills for bai"-iron and sheets are constructed." 
 Those new rolling-mills were being constructed at the time. All this 
 shows how well this important industry has progressed, and what an 
 excellent prospect there is of its firmly establishing itself in the country. 
 
 The great deterrent in this Colony Avith respect to manufactured articles 
 is not so much the fear that they cannot be produced of as good a quality 
 as the articles imported, as that they cannot be sold at so cheap a price ; 
 but this obstacle, according to the manager of the Eskbank works, has 
 been overcome by him, and the bar-iron manufactured at Lithgow can 
 be and is sold at less than is charged for English iron, and its quality 
 is unquestioned. There is no doubt, that gentleman considers, about the 
 vforks going on ; all that is required is more plant, and that is being 
 obtained. The Avorkmen employed, numbering about 200, are the best 
 that can be procured, and there is no idleness or other interference on 
 the part of the workmen with the proper performance of the daily 
 duties, for almost all the men are engaged on the principle of working 
 by the piece, and only what they do is paid for. The more energetic 
 they are, the better it is for them as well as for tlie Company. Each 
 branch of the industry is placed in charge of one person, who employs 
 othex'S to do what is required, and, according to the outcome of their 
 labours, their employer is paid by the proprietors of the works. 
 
 In this manner all goes on satisfactorily. Cottages have been built on 
 the ground for the accommodation of the workmen, and for these they pay 
 a rent of 6s. 6d. a-week, but this sum includes the cost of a sufficient 
 
110 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 quantity of coal for household purposes, and is therefore not excessive. 
 Looking at this important industry from any stand-point its great value 
 is undeniable, and it is not difficult to see in its success the remarkable 
 impetus that is sure to be imparted to industrial enterprise generally, 
 and particularly to that branch which has for its object the utilising of 
 the rich and extensive iron deposits in the Colony. 
 
 Until lately Eskbank possessed excellent copper-smelting works, but 
 the establishment is closed for the pi-esent, as it has recently changed 
 hands. It may, however, soon be in full play again, and meantime 
 the smelting of copper is being carried on in some works belonging to 
 Mr. Thomas Saywell, of Sydney, and erected near the Yale of Clwydd 
 Colliery. These have been leased to Mr. Lewis Lloyd, who previously 
 was the lessee of the Eskbank works, and he has been busy constructing 
 several additional furnaces. The copper ore comes from Cow Flat and 
 other places in the district. 
 
H 
 
 O 
 O 
 
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 Pi 
 
 H 
 
'Potteries and Brich Manufacture, 113 
 
 CHAPTEH XIII. 
 
 POTTERIES AND BRICK MANUFACTURE. 
 
 Turning from tliese industries to one of another description, which is 
 of a highly important chai-acter, and is conducted on a vei-y extensive 
 scale, the Lithgow Valley Colliery Company's pottery and brick-works 
 come under notice. The making of bricks, as every one knows, is an 
 industry as old as the hills, but some bricks are better than others, and 
 there is just as much scope for ingenuity and improvement in the 
 manufacture of this description of building materials as there is in the 
 manufacture of anything else. Pottery manufacture is a branch of 
 industry which, as far as New South Wales at least is concerned, is 
 more in its infancy, and to judge from statistics is far moi'e difficult to 
 establish firmly in the country. From seventeen potteries which existed 
 in the Colony in 1869 the number has fluctuated, until, in 1880 — the 
 last year for which statistics have been published — it has come down to 
 fifteen, though manufactories for such articles as drain-pipes and tiles 
 have, during the ten years, considerably increased. The cause of the 
 Ijackwardness of the potter's ai't is not hard to find. The Colony may 
 not ])ossess the clay from which is made the finest ware of the English 
 potteries, but it supplies clay from which excellent earthenware might 
 be manufactured, if only the necessary skill were here to use the clay to 
 the best advantage. Our potteries are too few, and the industry is too 
 young to give birth to an Australian Pallissy or a colonial Wedgewood, 
 and in the absence of an inventive genius of our own, as well as owing 
 to the difficulty that is always experienced in obtaining workmen with 
 the requisite knowledge and skill for the manufacture, the industry 
 cannot go ahead as it otherwise might. Yet the manufacture of pottery 
 is advancing steadily and surely, if not rapidly, and the Lithgow Worlcs 
 are a prominent example of perseverance and progress. It has not been 
 possible for the proprietors to give their whole attention to the production 
 of earthenware ; it has been necessary, as can be easily understood, 
 to manufacture other things which were likely to bring in money and 
 extend the works while the more difficult experiment was being carried 
 on. And thus, while in one branch of their business the proprietors 
 have been struggling to produce articles which should be equal if not 
 superior to similar articles produced anywhere, else, and are now with 
 regard to the manufacture of pottery merely in the expex-imental stage, 
 they have been prospering as well as could be desired in another. 
 n 
 
114 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 Lithgow abounds in excellent clays for the manufacture of common 
 bricks, fire-bricks, pipes, tiles, and articles of earthenware used in the 
 household, and on the land attached to the Lithgow Valley Pottery- 
 works these clays are found in abundance. A great demand for bricks, 
 even in the immediate locality of Lithgow, has caused the manufacture 
 of those articles to increase greatly, and large supplies of drain-pipes 
 have been made and sent away. To the sale of these coarser articles the 
 manufacturers look for that encouragement which enables them to 
 increase their efforts to improve the workmanship employed in the 
 higher branch of their business ; but at the same time no pains are 
 spared to produce the bricks and pipes of the best quality. 
 
 Nothing is more conspicuous about the premises of the Lithgow 
 "Valley Pottery-works than the rapidity and completeness with v/hich 
 the introduction of machinery has enabled the various articles to be 
 manufactured. There is as much difference between the common and 
 improved methods of making bricks as one could well conceive, and by 
 the use of machines such as are employed in the potteries of England, 
 drain-pipes and other such articles are produced with an expedition and 
 completeness which is truly wonderful. Little by little the Lithgow 
 industry has grown in size and extended its efforts, until now it stands a 
 manufactory representing the expenditure of several thousands of pounds, 
 and a rapidly maturing growth of industrial enterprise creditable to all 
 concerned in it and highly important to the district in which it is situated. 
 
 Impi'ovement is still going on. It is one of the features of this 
 industry, as it is of the Eskbank Iron- works, that having siirmounted 
 the trials of infancy and obtained something like a firm footing, the 
 proprietors do not stay their hand and carry on theii' business upon the 
 limited scale which, while being slightly profitable, is perhaps thoroughly 
 safe, but rather press on harder than ever, and follow up every success with 
 some effort to succeed still further. Only in this manner can an industry 
 become great and valuable. The circumstance of the Lithgow Valley 
 Colliery being owned by the same gentlemen who are the proprietors of 
 the pottery-works is used to the advantage of the latter, for the two 
 industries are worked together, and the profits of the coal trade are to a 
 large extent employed in the development of the brick and pottery 
 manufacture. There is, in fact, no hesitation in doing all that can be 
 done to keep this industry progressing, and, as a consequence, it is doing 
 a good trade, and is fast assuming sound proportions. 
 
 The works were commenced three yeai's ago, and as quickly as possible 
 all the latest machinery for the manufacture of pipes, sanitary and agri- 
 cultural, and some of the best machines for brick-making, were imported. 
 
Potteries mid Brick Manufacture. 115 
 
 These machines have been ei'ected in spacious sheds, and are driven by a 
 powerful steam-engine ; and, so well connected is everything by the 
 system of manufacture, from the digging of the clay until the brick, or 
 pipe, or piece of pottery is fashioned and afterwards burnt in the kiln, 
 that not a foot of space, nor a minute of time, nor a particle of power 
 is wasted. It might, without any exaggeration, be said that the clay is 
 received by one portion of the machinery, and the bricks or the pipes are 
 turned out ready made by the other. For the pipes, and for the bricks 
 which are made by what is called the dry pi-ocess, an indurated clay is 
 used. This is obtained from a hilt close at hand, and conveyed in skips 
 along a tramway to the upper floor of the works, where it is delivered 
 above a machine known as the " disintegrator." This machine consists 
 of a number of revolving wheels, and, as it receives the clay to be made 
 into bricks, the material is, as the phrase goes, " caught by surprise," and 
 crushed into very fine dust. Passing through the disintegrator th«» 
 crushed clay falls into a "hopper" or box, and then, by means of 
 elevators, is taken up again and thrown into shaking sieves, the wires 
 of which are so close together that only the dust as small as is necessary 
 for the bricks can go through. But a certain proportion of the crushed" 
 clay, being too large to pass through the wires, will remain in the sieves, 
 and that is thrown off them into a shoot, from which it goes into the 
 disintegrator a second time. All this is done by the action of the 
 machinery itself — it does not depend on any manual labour ; and so 
 nicely is everything adjusted that though there are several large hoppers 
 or boxes for holding different kinds of clay, yet while the machine is 
 employed crushing one kind the hoppers not concerned with that parti- 
 cular material become closed, and the crushed clay falls into the proper 
 receptacle. 
 
 On the ground floor are two Kennedy dry-pressing brick machines, 
 one of which is said to have been the pioneer of its kind in the Colonies. 
 The value of these machines lies in their great strength, in the concen- 
 tration of that strength, and in the ease and rapidity with which they 
 may be worked. There is not an atom of waste associated with them 
 in any way. Each machine turns out two bricks at a time, and 
 according to the patentee, it can be employed to the extent of pro- 
 ducing 10,000 bricks in the day. It has been proved at Lithgow as far 
 as 7,000 a day, but it is found of gi-eater advantage to work the machine 
 more slowly, for in that way better bricks are made, and there is less 
 chance of a stoppage in the work through something going wrong. 
 With the two machines, however, 10,000 bricks can be made in the day 
 with ease, and, without seeing the process, it is not easy to understand 
 how compact and hard the bricks are as they ai-e delivered pressed, 
 
116 The Indtisiries of New South Wales. 
 
 without a particle of moisture about them to hold the dust together, 
 from the machine. They then go to the kiln and are burnt, and after- 
 wards are used for ordinary building purposes. 
 
 Other kinds of bricks made on the premises are hand-pressed bricks of 
 various shapes and quality, and fire-bricks. By means of a tile and brick 
 machine, called Clayton's pug-mill, the clay is first worked up into the 
 requisite consistency, and then forced outwards in long strips on to a 
 table, where, by the use of wires, the clay strips are cut into pieces about 
 the length and width of a brick ; and these pieces are then conveyed to 
 a hand-pressing machine, and pressed into what afterwards become the 
 hand-pressed bricks that are more expensive than any others. So great is 
 the demand for the bricks made at the works that the supply can scarcely 
 keep pace with it, and the trade is expected to still further increase. 
 
 In the manufacture of pipes, of which also a large quantity is made, 
 the clay is crushed in the way just described, by the disintegrator, but 
 with the clay are mixed portions of waste pipes and other such things, 
 which, when crushed and mingled with the clay dust, make the material 
 after it is fashioned into a pipe tougher and more durable. From the 
 disintegrator the pipeclay passes, in the form of very fine dust, into a 
 mixing-pan fitted with four large knives and supplied with a certain 
 quantity of water. The knives are fixed at a particular angle, and as 
 the pan is set in motion they slice up the material in the pan, and cause 
 it to find its way gradually through an opening into a pug-mill, where it 
 is kneaded into a substance like dough, and then thrown from the mill 
 on to the floor. From the heap of clay on the floor a boy takes sufticient 
 to fill the cylinder of a pipe-mill, which is fitted with an enormous piston 
 and steam-chest, and is driven by an engine exclusively used for this 
 })urpose, and capable of being worked up to a pressure of 200 B)s. The 
 force generally employed, however, is no more than 100 lbs. But with 
 this pressure the clay, which has been put into the cylinder, is forced 
 downwards, and is taken out of the bottom of the machine a properly- 
 formed pipe, which requires but to be trimmed a little about the ends 
 with a knife before it is placed with others upon the floor to attain the 
 necessary dryness previous to being baked in the kiln. The diameter of 
 the pipes made is from 3 inches up to 2 feet. 
 
 With regard to pottery, the articles that have been produced are, so 
 far, merely the results of experiments, and attention has not yet been 
 directed to anything superior to the cominoner kinds of potteryware. 
 Steps are being taken, however, to introduce improvements in this 
 industry, and no doubt is felt by the proprietors as to the success of the 
 i^ftbrts they intend to make. 
 
JPotteries and Brick Manufacture. 117 
 
 Various pieces of machinery, apart from those mentioned above, and 
 general appliances for the business are to be found about the works, and 
 all are put to some use or other. Recently the Company have com- 
 menced a process of washing their clay l)efore using it for their manu- 
 factures, and for that purpose they have erected a separate engine and 
 puddling machine, and constructed thirty-six large pans, into which the 
 washed clay runs from the machine, and remains until it dries. The 
 clay dealt with in this manner will make, it is believed, a still better 
 description of pipes and bricks, and will be especially valuable for the 
 pottery. In what is called the drying-shed there are two pans, in which 
 the clay for the better descriptions- of pottery is boiled. Of kilns there 
 are five in use, and two other lai-ge ones are in course of construction. 
 The whole of them are close to the works, and to a railway siding which 
 connects the manufactory with the Great Western line, and forms an 
 easy method of sending the bricks or pipes away. Some attention has 
 been given to the manufacture of articles in terra cotta, and a kiln has 
 been built specially for the burning of pottery and terra cotta. All the 
 kilns are over-burners, "clamps" having been abandoned. Looking at 
 the industry as a whole, the spirit that has been infused into the under- 
 taking, and the perseverance with which it has been carried on are 
 worthy of all commendation, for, though profits have been made, there 
 has been a constant expenditure in improvements, and this will be 
 continued until the plan vipon which the Company have determined to 
 conduct their business is completed. 
 
other Mountain Industries. 119 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OTHER MOUNTAIN INDUSTRIES. 
 
 TuE Eskbank Brick-works are situated near the site of the new railway- 
 station, and produce a large number of bricks, for which a ready sale is 
 obtained. All the bricks are hand-made, and new machinery for the 
 manufacture is being procured. The bed of clay that is used is about 
 14 or 15 feet thick. 
 
 The steam sawmills which are in operation at Lithgow are owned 
 by Mr. 'William Wilson, who purchased them some time ago. There are 
 two portable engines on the works, each 12-horse power, and about 
 6,000 feet of timber are cut in a week. This timber is hardwood, 
 cedar, and pine — the hardwood being obtained about the mountains, 
 and the cedar and pine from Sydney. The method of getting the hard- 
 wood logs down the mountains is ratlier curious. Looking at the 
 mountain side fi'om a distance a cleared space from top to bottom appears 
 as if a road had been made there for traffic, but this cleared space is 
 no other than a means for rolling the timber logs down to the valley, 
 •and is called a shoot. To the brow of the mountain the logs are di'awn 
 by horses from where the timber is cut, and after the logs have rolled 
 to the l^ottom they are again drawn l)y horses to the mill. A market 
 for the sawn timber is found in Lithgow, and at places along the line 
 of railway. At Clarence Tunnel, about 10 miles from Lithgow, there is 
 another sawmill, doing about the same amount of business, it is said, as 
 the Lithgow mill, and a third mill has been started on the Sydney side 
 of Blackheath. 
 
 About two years ago the qualities of a mountain stream running near 
 Lithgow were found to be specially suitable for the brewing of beer, and 
 since that time a brewery has existed tliei-e. Almost all the hotels in 
 Lithgow, and others in the district round about, ai'e supplied by this 
 establishment, and exhibits of the beer at agricultural shows obtained in 
 
 1879, at Blayney, the first prize, and at Orange the second prize, and in 
 
 1880, at Bathurst, the first prize again. The brewing is done once a 
 week, and about forty hogsheads can be sent away during that time. 
 Apart from the circumstance that the beer is good and is well liked, it 
 pays the publicans much better to purchase from the Lithgow brev.-ery 
 than to obtain their supplies of colonial ale and porter from Sydney, for 
 every drink sold at Lithgow is 6d. a glass, and in the sale of colonial 
 beer the j^ublicans are said to make a profit of about 150 per cent. 
 
120 The IndusMes of 'New South Wales. 
 
 At tlie time I visited the Meat Company's woi'ks, at tlie establishment 
 erected by the late Mr. T. S. Mort, operations were suspended in con- 
 sequence of an intended dissolution of partnership which had been 
 determined upon, it was said, because of the high rent the Company 
 were paying. This rent was said to be £1,000 a year. The suspension 
 of operations was to be only temporary, and immediately the partnership 
 business was settled the slaughtering of stock and the supply of meat 
 were to be resumed and carried on as before. Everything about the 
 premises was very clean, and there seemed to be nothing wanting to 
 keep the meat free from the handling of the men, which is so common 
 and offensive at the Glebe Island abattoirs and other slaughtering places, 
 and to cause it to become properly cool and set before it was sent 
 away to market. Up to the time when the operations of the Company 
 were temporarily stopped the stock killed numbered from 12 to 18 
 cattle a day, and about 300 sheep, 30 pigs, as many lambs, and per- 
 haps a dozen calves in a week. A considerable quantity of tallow was 
 made on the premises, and sent, with the hides and other things, to 
 Sydney ; and not a particle of offal or refuse of any kind was either 
 wasted or allowed to be about the works. As far as a general inspection 
 of the premises and careful inquiries went everything appeared as it 
 should be, except perhaps the circumstance that the pigs were said to be 
 fed on the blood and on the remains of the offal after the tallow had 
 been taken from it. The establishment might possibly, of course, have 
 presented an aspect somewhat different from what is represented here if 
 slaughtering had been going on at the time, but there was nothing to 
 indicate that it would. 
 
 About a mile and a half from Lithgow are the little village and rail- 
 way station of Bowenfels. The locality is very pretty, and in many 
 respects very English, for the visitor might, from what he can see there, 
 with little difficulty imagine himself among the blackberry bushes and 
 the hawthorn hedges of England. But the special importance of the 
 place lies in the circumstance that a cloth factory is in full operation 
 there, and is an industry that well deserves some notice. Railway 
 travellers to or from Bathurst are familiar with the factory, for the 
 building can from the train be seen standing in the valley ; but, except 
 to those who pay the factory a visit, the only sign of the busy nature of 
 the place is the smoke rising from the factory chimney. Inside the 
 building, which is known by the name of the Cooerwill Cloth-mill, there 
 is a very active scene. There the looms, the carding machines, the 
 spinning mules, and other pieces of machinery used in the business are 
 constantly at work, creating a ceaseless din, and giving employment to 
 as many as foz'ty persons, old and young, who from morning till night 
 
other Mountain Industries. 121 
 
 are busily engaged in tlie mannfacture of woollen clotli, from the pre- 
 liminary process of cleansing the wool until there are produced the large 
 rolls of tweed as they are seen on a tailor's counter. 
 
 The process of cloth manufacture is one very interesting to witness, 
 particularly from the time the wool is put into the huge machine called 
 " the devil," which tears it to shreds and throws it out upon the floor in 
 a miniature snowstorm. Two children feed this machine, and from the 
 heap on the floor the wool is taken and put through a " burring machine," 
 which removes all burrs and other such substances from it. From the 
 burring machine it goes to the carding machines, and pretty indeed is the 
 process of carding the wool, and that of strengthening the threads upon 
 the spinning mules. There are fourteen looms in the factoiy, ten of 
 which are at work daily, and there are twelve hand looms. Everything in 
 fact seems very complete, and the cloth produced is of very good quality. 
 After coming from the loom the cloth goes through various processes 
 before it is fit for market. It is first examined and denuded of all 
 knots and other such faults in the weaving, and it is then taken to a 
 " fulling mill," which has the effect of shrinking the cloth, or giving it a 
 closer texture. Fi-om the fulling mill it is put into a washing machine, 
 and, after having been properly washed and dried, it is taken to an upper 
 floor and put through a machine which shaves the nap off the face of 
 the material. Thence it goes through another machine, which, acting 
 like a brush, removes all the particles of nap that might remain from 
 the previous operation. Finally the cloth is pressed in an hydraulic 
 press, and made into rolls, and it is then ready for sale. Various 
 patterns and qualities of cloth are made, and as many as forty rolls of 
 cloth can, with the machinery at present in use, be manufactured in a 
 week. All that is made can be readily sold. Most of it is sent to the 
 Sydney wholesale houses, but people residing in the vicinity of Bowen- 
 fels and Lithgow visit the mill and buy the cloth at very moderate 
 prices, and in small quantities, as they require it. 
 
JOAUJA CREEK MIJsE. 
 
JFitzroy Iron-ioorlcs — Kerosene Oil. 123 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FITZROY IRON-WORKS-KEROSENE OIL 
 MANUFACTURE. 
 
 MiTTAGOXG, a small town on the Great Southern Railway, 77 miles 
 from Sydney, seemed at one time likely to become the centre of 
 important industries, such as those which are to he found at Lithgow, 
 for at Mittagong the well-known Fitzroy Iron-works were started ; and 
 tilt- commencement of an undertaking of that nature Avas regarded as a 
 step that would probably give the necessary impetus to industi'ial 
 enterprise in other directions. But after much struggling and great 
 expense the proprietors of the iron-works failed to realize their expecta- 
 tions, the works closed, and for the present all operations connected 
 with the manufacture of iron have ceased. Probably this has had a 
 discouraging effect upon other persons of capital who may have looked 
 upon Mittagong as a desirable place for profitable investment ; and 
 beyond some attempts to prove the quality of the coal deposits in the 
 district, and, in the event of the seams being found of a satisfactory 
 description, to work them, no efforts of any consequence appear to have 
 been made with a view to establishing any other industry in the immediate 
 vicinity of the town. 
 
 Further away, however, some 15 or 18 miles, at a place called 
 Joadja Creek, a kerosene shale mine has been opened, and mining 
 for the shale and the manufacture of kerosene oil are being carried 
 on in a manner apparently very profitable to the Company who are 
 the proprietors of the mine, and certainly very satisfactory to all who 
 are in any way interested in the estciblishment of a successful in- 
 dustry in the Colony. This mine and the manufacturing operations 
 connected with it are together a remarkable instance of triiimph over 
 extraordinary difficulties, showing in a marked degree what can be 
 brought about by a system of judicious expenditure, energy, tact, and 
 carefulness generally. In these respects it contrasts very favourably 
 with the more important industry nearer Mittagong, which many persons 
 are disposed to think might, under better management than it received, 
 have been brought to a condition very diflerent from that in which the 
 works are to be seen now. 
 
 In the case of the Joadja industry, the undertaking was commenced 
 and carried on upon a scale which gave the best chance of ultimate 
 
124 The Industries of New South JFales. 
 
 success, for the Company appear to have gone steadily to -svork, doing- 
 little by little, increasing their plant and other facilities for the operations 
 they intended just as they were required, and controlling their capital so 
 that the expenditure should not exceed actual necessities, and every 
 pound sterling be represented by something of equal value. 
 
 The Fitzroy Iron-works seemtohave been less judiciously managed ; and 
 the Company appear to have adopted a system of expenditure which 
 quickly ran through several thousands of pounds that are now regarded 
 as wasted, and in the end contributed largely, it is considered, to the 
 stoppage and the closing of the works. The manufacture of iron by 
 the Fitzroy Iron-works Company does not seem to have failed solely 
 because of the natural difficulties in the way of the success of such an 
 industry. Great obstacles had to be encountered, and in many and 
 unforeseen ways the progress of the industry' was seriously interfered 
 with ; but if the opinion and the statements of people at ]\Iittagong, 
 who may be supposed to be well acquainted with the iron-works, are 
 worth accepting, the manufacture of iron there would have had a very 
 fair chance of success if the industry had been more discreetly conducted. 
 Iron-stone of great richness abounds in the locality — it is to be found 
 in large quantities at the very gates of the works, and though coal and 
 limestone are not so easily procurable, the necessity to get them from a 
 distance is no great drawback to progress and profit. Capital was 
 provided in plenty, and the works erected appeared just what were 
 required, and were elaborate and costly. But any one walking round 
 Mittagong now will have pointed out to him, in several places, the 
 remains of projects for the furtherance of the industry upon which 
 thousands of pounds are said to have been spent quite uselessly ; 
 machinery which when procured must have been and still is very 
 valuable, rusting and apparently going to ruin ; and at the iron-works 
 themselves so many evidences of decay and other hindrances to a 
 recommencement of iron manufacture that, if it should be determined 
 by any one to re-open the works, considerable expense would have to be 
 incurred in repairs and, I was informed, in the alteration of more or 
 less of the plant so as to change and improve the method of operation. 
 
 One of the features in the stojjpage of the industry most to be regretted, 
 perhaps, is the circumstance that a large proportion of the capital 
 expended was English capital, for English capitalists are likely to be 
 deterred from investing their money in colonial industries if they meet 
 with any serious discouragements. It is many months since anything 
 was done at the Fitzroy Iron-works, and at the present time the property 
 appears to be locked up, by reason, it is stated, of some jiroceedings at 
 
Fitzroy Iron-works — Kerosene Oil. 125 
 
 law, taken by a part of the sliarelioklers for tlie pi'otection of tlieir 
 interests. It is understood, however, that this position of affairs woukl 
 not interfere with the resumption of operations at the works, if it shouhl 
 l)e seen at any time that such a course was desirable. 
 
 The locality is a very favourite one of resort for visitors from Sydney 
 in search of a healthy bracing atmosphere, and land has been purchased 
 at high prices whenever it has been found available. So high, in fact, 
 is the price of land in Mittagong, that " You cannot," as a prominent 
 resident remarked, when speaking about the subject, " get an allotment 
 to build a fowl-house upon, unless you talk three figures." The spectacle 
 presented by such an extensive and important collection of works as 
 those at Mittagong going to decay is a very melancholy one, and this 
 feeling is considerably heightened by an examination of the premises, 
 for they seem to have been provided on a most liberal scale with 
 facilities for doing a large business. About the works are to be seen 
 some of the results of the Company's operations — bar-iron, tramway 
 rails, and some of the remains of experiments at making double-headed 
 rails — sure signs that the industry must have advanced considerably 
 beyond the preliminary stages of its career before it came to a 
 standstill. Whether the difficulties in the way of its success were 
 greater than the industry at Eskbank has met with is a question not 
 very easy to answer ; but the Fitzroy Iron- works Company were the 
 first to commence the manufacture of iron, and had to struggle with 
 obstacles long before the Eskbank Iron-works Company was formed ; 
 and, moreover, the younger Company have had the benefit of the services 
 of a gentleman well acquainted with the expex'ience gained in the 
 manufacture of iron at Mittagong, for he was employed there. Hope 
 is still entertained that sufficient inducement will be found to bring 
 aljout another trial of the works at Mittagong. 
 
 At the time of my visit, a gentleman connected with iron-works in 
 England, and who came to the Colony in charge of some machinery 
 exhibited at the recent International Exhibition, was there making 
 some experiments in the expectation of being able to smelt iron by a 
 very mucli simpler and cheaper process than that before adoj)ted. His 
 process was a secret one, and therefore little or no information respecting 
 it was obtainable ; but its importance lay in the circumstance that if he 
 could produce iron in the manner he believed he could, operations at 
 the worlis would, in all probability, be quickly resumed by the Company. 
 Unfortunately this gentleman, while engaged in some of his experiments, 
 sulwequently lost his life. 
 
126 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 The Joadja Creek industry is carried on by the Aus'^ralian Kerosene 
 Oil and Mineral Company, comprising half-a-dozen Sydney merchants, 
 and was commenced about four years ago. The account given of its 
 origin is as peculiar as is the locality where the industry exists. The 
 absolute ti'uth of the story cannot be guaranteed, but it has about it an 
 air of probability, and it is very similar to accounts that have been given 
 of the circumstances which have led to the woi'king of minerals in other 
 places. A bushman is said to have gone into one of the hotels at 
 Mittagong, and to have had his attention directed to some candles 
 burning. Producing from one of his pockets some small pieces of 
 kerosene shale, he remarked, " These are all the candles we burn," and 
 commenced lighting them to show their inflammable nature. " Ah !" 
 said a bystander, who recognized the value of the specimens, " Where 
 did you get that 1 Have you got much of that, old man X' " Oh, yes !" 
 answered the man, " any amount of it on my farm. There's a mountain 
 of it there, Yon can come out and look at it if you like." They went 
 to look at it, and the bystander, after returning to town, quietly went and 
 took up a selection. Another knowing one becoming aware of the 
 matter also went out to the place and took up a selection ; and thus the 
 land upon which the kerosene shale was found was very soon pretty 
 well secured. It remained for a time only, however, in the hands of 
 these smart selectors, for they were bought out, and ultimately the land 
 came into the possession of the Company Vvdio now have it, and are using 
 it to great advantage. 
 
 The situation of the mine and the kerosene works is romantic in the 
 extreme. In the centre of a circle of mountains, where the extent of 
 the valley or basin in any direction vv'ould scarcely exceed the range of 
 a rifle shot, end the approaches to it are almost inaccessible, the huts of 
 the mining village can be seen like toys ; a little further off the v/orks 
 erected by the Company for the manufacture of kerosene oil ; and high 
 above them, on the mountain side, the mine from which the shale is 
 taken. At night, standing on the ridge immediately aljove the 
 village, and between the place and Mittagong, the valley is a tremendous 
 abyss of darkness, with nothing to relieve the intensity of the gloom 
 but the glimmer of a few windov/ or fire lights, and now and then a 
 voice borne upwards unintelligibly upon the wind. The moon tints the 
 depth Avith a mellow and misty radiance, and the early morning or the 
 afternoon sun touches many a tree and hillside with a rich warm colour. 
 
 But in midday the place can best be seen in its sober, active, earnest, 
 industrial importance. Then the charms of natural beauties are 
 forgotten in the interest excited by the signs of labour and tlie 'evidence 
 
Fitzroy Iron-worhs — Kerosene Oil. 127 
 
 of busy and profitable industry — by the sound of the shale falling down 
 the shoots from the mine, the rising steam from boilers, and smoke from 
 furnaces, the passing to and fro of men intent upon various kinds of 
 employment, and by the ascending and descending of loaded waggons 
 upon a tramway from the valley to the summit of the mountain nearest 
 Mittafi'ong. Such a picture of enterprise, activity, and progress it would 
 not be easy to find anywhere else. About four years ago opei'ations at 
 the mine commenced ; about three years ago the fu'st of the plant 
 arrived from England, and the laying of a railway to Mittagong was 
 begun ; about two years ago the first kerosene oil was sent to market, 
 and from that time to this the industry has been progressing every day. 
 
 The shale seams in the Company's property are very curiously 
 situated. They are believed to be the same seams as those found and 
 worked in the Hartley district, but they are considerably thinner. The 
 Joadja mine shows first a freestone roof ; next 8 inches of soft coal, 
 which is used as a good gas coal and for other purj)Oses ; then the top 
 shale, which is from 9 to 11 inches in thickness, and is capable of 
 yielding 100 gallons of crude oil to the ton ; next the bottom shale, 
 ranging in thickness from 12 to 16 inches, for export and for gas 
 purposes ; and then 16 inches of hard inferior coal. Both coal and shale 
 are utilized to the fullest extent. The best of the shale goes to market, 
 while the rest is retorted and its oily properties turned into kerosene, 
 and the coal both goes to market and is used at the works. Such a thing 
 as working a seam of coal no thicker than 8 inches is somewhat of a 
 novelty in mining ; but in an industry like that at Joadja Creek nothing 
 appears to be wasted, and perhaps that is the secret of its success. 
 
 The manager is a shrewd, determined-looking Scotchman, and he has 
 everything upon a substantial basis. He claims for Scotland the credit 
 of originating the shale and oil industry in 1851, at a place called 
 Bathgate, where the shale existed under the name of the " boghead 
 mineral," and the oil was called " paraffine." The much richer shale 
 in this Colony he calls the " Australian boghead mineral"; and in his 
 attachment to the Scottish industry and the time when he himself was 
 engaged in it, he went home, not very long ago, and brought out a 
 number of Scotch people to woi'k the industry here. And very Scotch 
 the place is in consequence. The language is the broadest and some- 
 times the most incomprehensible, the dress in some cases the quaintest, 
 and the habits peculiar. The works erected in the valley are very 
 extensive and complete, and the manufacture of the kerosene oil seems 
 to have been carried to a high state of perfection. The retorts numbered 
 thirty-two when T saw them, and they were to be increased to double that 
 
128 The Industries of New South IVales. 
 
 numlier, for the foundations required for the extra ones were being con- 
 structed, and the additional retorts themselves were on their way from 
 England. Refining the oil, putting it into tins, and packing it in cases, are 
 all done at the works, a])pliances having been provided for almost every 
 operation connected with the industry, and as many as from 400 to 500 
 cases of oil are produced in the week. Even the tins and the cases are made 
 on the premises, and the oil is carefully tested before being sent away. 
 
 The daily output of shale and coal from the mine at the time of the 
 writer's visit was from 40 to 60 tons of the former, and 25 tons of the 
 latter ; and with the completion of the Company's railway, so that it might 
 be connected with the Great Southern Railway at Mittagong, the output 
 would be considerably inci-eased. When I was at the mine the Company's 
 railway terminated within 2i or 3 miles of the main line, and from that 
 point the shale, coal, and cases of oil, after having been drawn from the 
 locality of the works by means of trucks, and a small locomotive, were con- 
 "veyed by horse waggons along the road to the Mittagong Railway station. 
 But the Company's railway was being as quickly as possible extended the 
 necessary length, and a new and much stronger locomotive was being 
 procured from England. To get the loaded trucks from the valley to 
 the top of the mountain, where the railway in the direction of Mittagong 
 commences, a tramway or railway, similar to that at Hartley Yale, has 
 been constructed, and owing to the great height and steepness of the 
 mountain the ascent and descent of the trucks are something terrific. 
 
 It is estimated that there are at least from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 of 
 tons of shale on those portions of the Company's property which have 
 been tested, and it may be that there is a considerable quantity in places 
 not yet examined. The shale and coal are cast from the mouth of the 
 mine down narrow shoots to the valley, and are then put into trucks 
 and sent away — the shale going from Sydney to the United States, to 
 England, and even to the Continent of Europe, for gas purposes. 
 
 The total population of Joadja Creek is about 300. Of these the number 
 of miners employed is about sixty, and forty or fifty other men are at 
 work one way or another. The miners are paid at the rate of 3s. 9d. a 
 ton, a smn considerably less than that given at Hartley ; but the work at 
 Joadja is said to be easier, and the men make good wages. The houses or 
 huts the people live in are chiefly owned by the Company, who had them 
 erected for the use of the workmen, and charge the men a rent of from 
 Is. to 2s. a Aveek, according to the class of house that is occupied; and 
 the Company have also opened a general store, and butcher's and baker's 
 shops, from Avhich to supply the people with provisions. There is a 
 Public School and a post-ofiice ; and altogether the little settlement and 
 its thriving industry are something very novel and very interesting. 
 
Industry in the Liverpool JBlains District. 131 
 
 CHAPTEU XYI. 
 
 INDUSTRY IN THE LIVERPOOL PLAINS DISTRICT. 
 
 Away by train from Maitland, — past the agricultural lands of Lochinvar 
 and Branxton, where some of the largest vineyards and some of the best 
 wine are to be found ; Greta with its coal-mine and colliery township ; 
 the town of Singleton, with its pretty English aspect ; Muswellbrook, 
 Aberdeen, and Scone, old and lazy-looking, but each the outlet of a rich 
 district around it ; Wingen, with its burning mountain, not quite so 
 fierce or imposing as Vesuvius, but nevertheless attractive ; Murrurundi, 
 in its mountain nest ; Willow-tree, still retaining about it some of the 
 curious appearances of the stage-coacli traffic that preceded the railway and 
 the railway train ; Quirindi, where the Bank was robbed ; Werris Creek 
 Junction, and the branch line that runs far away through a gap in the 
 hills to Gunnedah ; and a score of pigmy villages that present themselves 
 here and there in the bush ; — now crossing grassy plains, now thundering 
 through rocky cuttings, now threading the intricacies of mountains, 
 seeing in the constant A'ariation of the scene almost every aspect of Aus- 
 tralian life, — and the railway traveller reaches Tamworth, and crossing 
 a river with an historic name, enters the town at the foot of a mountain 
 range. Tamworth and Peel, — one the name of the town, the other that 
 of the principal river upon the banks of which the town has been built, 
 and both, like so many others through the Colony, full of English asso- 
 ciations and recollections. Liverpool, too, another well-known name in 
 British history of the period when the Colony was in its infancy ; and 
 that is the name of the range of mountains which is crossed at Murru- 
 rundi, on the way to Tamworth, and of the rich plains which are prolific 
 of much that has assisted in making Australia prosperous. 
 
 Few situations for a town or city could be more charming, and few 
 districts in the Colony possess natural resources of greater variety or,, 
 under proper management, more likely to be productive of wealth. A 
 new order of things is apparent the moment the traveller leaves the rail- 
 way station. There is little of the busy commercial aspect of Maitland, 
 and more of the plain slow-going of the country where the people have 
 had less experience of account-books and ledgers, of forges and an^-ils,, 
 than of spades and ploughs, of horse teams and coaches. And yet the 
 progi'ess of the town has been rapid, and its present appearance is very 
 much in its favoui'. The streets are well laid out, and the main thorough 
 fare — Peel-street — would be creditable to a place of much larger size and 
 
132 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 older growth. There may be rather too much galvanized iron about the 
 roofs of the houses, and more of that bricky aspect, which is so con- 
 spicuous at Bathurst, than perhaps is desirable, but there is a substantial 
 appearance about the town generally, notwithstanding, and there are 
 many good buildings ; and though the railway will soon leave the town, 
 and the terminus be many miles further inland, Tamworth is too well 
 established as the outlet of the Liverpool Plains district to suffer very 
 much or very long from that disadvantage. At present it is the gateway 
 to the Northern interior, and one of those pivot towns which people of 
 all classes visit before turning off by different routes to their destinations ; 
 and while there is an abundance of passenger traffic of that description 
 passing backwards and forwards, the town is the centre to which is 
 attracted a large production from the pastoral and agricultural lands 
 that extend in eveiy direction around it. The sheep and cattle bred 
 upon the native grasses are equal to the best ; and the first of the wheat- 
 growing country in the North, where the production of this cereal is 
 large and the cultivation carried on systematically, is to be found in this 
 locality. Minerals, too, are in the hills — gold is obtained in two or three 
 places — in one in considerable quantities ; and splendid forest timber 
 gi'ows in several localities in abundance. 
 
 The land possesses many virtues not yet proj^erly put to use, and, 
 though some of the people of Tamworth complain of a dulness in trade, 
 and entertain an idea that as soon as the railway leaves the place the 
 business as well as the traffic that now sustains the town population 
 will disappear, this is not at all probable, and after the temporary depres- 
 sion which invariably succeeds the removal of the railway terminus 
 further on, the town will, as other jilaces of the kind have done or will 
 yet do, gather its strength together and make its way on a sounder basis 
 than the ephemeral prosperity that attends to a certain point the progress 
 of railway construction, 
 
 Pei'haps if the people of Tamworth were not handicapped in the way 
 they consider they are by the locking-up in the hands of two large 
 English Companies of extensive tracts of the best agricultural land in 
 the Liverpool Plains district, their prosperity might be greater — many of 
 them say it would. The Peel E-iver Company possess some 316,000 
 acres of land upon one side of the Peel River ; and the Australian Agri- 
 cultural Company are the owners of about half a million of acres at 
 WaiTah, which lies on the western side of the Liverpool range and 
 towards Quirindi. The whole of this land is said to be well suited for 
 farming, and some of it, particularly that in the possession of the A. A. 
 Co., has been called the Garden of Liverpool Plains ; but it is used for 
 
Indiistnj in the Liverpool Tlains District. 133 
 
 pastoral purposes only, and those who wonld like to see a fair proportion 
 of the land in the Liverpool Plains district nsed for the settlement of 
 population and the cultivation of wheat, rather than for purposes which 
 interfere with, or rather do not assist, as they believe, the real progress 
 of the place, and for the benefit of persons whose interests are centred in 
 England, murmur very much at the land monopoly which these two 
 English Companies possess through the grants which were made to them 
 many years ago. "We would require," said a miller to me, "three or 
 four more mills if the agricultural land owned by the Peel River Com- 
 pany were thrown open for free selection. And this might be done by 
 passing a Bill to purchase the land from the Company at a fair valuation. 
 Pei'haps," he went on to saj', " this would in one way be an injustice, 
 but it would do a great deal of good to thousands of families, and be a 
 great benefit to the country." Opinions similar to this were expressed 
 by others, and, whatever they may be worth, they serve to show some- 
 thing of the popular sentiment entei'tained regarding a subject which, 
 from whatever point of view it is considered, is deserving of attention. 
 
 Since visiting Tamworth, I have traversed a part of the Colony where 
 another large tract of land, granted to one of these Companies, is lying 
 apparently almost idle, and wliere an incubus of dulness and sloth op- 
 presses the townships or villages in the vicinity, and yet, if the land had 
 been like other land open to the enterprise and labour of those who till 
 the ground or dig the mine, there might liave been a large population in 
 the locality, and pei'haps a rush like the one to Temora, for there is 
 plenty of good agricultural soil, and such indications of the presence of 
 gold that the precious metal is believed to exist over a large extent of 
 land in payable quantities ; but the ground is not likely to be worked 
 because of the restrictions which the owners would impose upon the 
 miners. 
 
 The district of ]jiverpool Plains contains a large area of agricultural 
 land, distributed through five counties, but most of it has been alien- 
 ated. In the county of Buckland, which extends from the Liver- 
 pool Range to Gunnedah, and in which is the A. A. Co.'s Warrah 
 estate, the whole of the land fit for agriculture has passed out of the 
 possession of the Crown, and in the counties of Inglis, Darling, and 
 Parry all but a few thousand acres have been alienated ; but in the 
 county of Nandewar, which stretches from Gunnedah to some distance 
 above Narrabri, there is still a large space of second-class agricultural 
 country lying at the feet of the spurs from the Nandewar Range, and 
 available for selection or open for sale. The counties of Buckland and 
 Parry are apple-tree and box country, and in the latter are the Peel 
 
134 The Industries of Ne^o South JTcdcs. 
 
 Bivei- Co.'s estate and tlie Xundle gold-field, wliich is upon tlie slopes 
 falling from New England, at a height of something like 2,000 feet above 
 the level of tlie sea. The county of Inglis includes part of the table-land 
 of New England, and through this country the railway extension from 
 Tamworth goes, passing along the course of Swamp Oak Creek, a stream 
 in whicli gold has been found, and is said to still exist in small quantities. 
 Another gold-field, though not one of any richness, is to be found in the 
 county of Darling, and is known as the Ironbark and Teatree gold-field ; 
 and traces of copper have also been discovered in this county. The 
 county of Nandewar is said to possess a very extensive coal and shale 
 field — one that does not appear to have been tested, but which can be 
 found extending over thousands of acres of land ; and in this county 
 there are also some excellent forests of ironbark and pine. The counties 
 of Jamieson, Baradine, White, and Pottinger, which cover an enormous 
 expanse of country north-west of Tamworth, are purely pastoral areas ; 
 but it is a notable fact that nearly all the land in the county of Pottinger, 
 and the best of that in the counties of Baradine and White, has been 
 sold. In these two last-mentioned counties is the Robertson Forest, 
 consisting chiefly of ironbark and pine, and said to be the finest forest in 
 this part of the country ; and in the counties of Jamieson and Pottinger 
 are included the plains from whicli the whole of the district within the 
 boundaries of Liverpool Plains takes its general name. 
 
 This short description of the several counties shows how varied and 
 substantial are the resources possessed by the Liverpool Plains district, 
 and at the same time that, comparatively speaking, little of the land 
 which is of use to settlers is now open for selection. Out of the means 
 at hand, however, much more can be done than is now attempted, and 
 the prospects for the future are very satisfactory. The production of 
 wh(iat is one of the largest in the Colony, and the manufacture of flour 
 is carried on extensively and pi'ofitably — so profitably and well, in fact, 
 that it is even thought by some the time will come when flour, as well 
 as wheat, will be sent from Tamworth to England. The best wheat- 
 producing counties are Buckland, Parry, Inglis, Darling, and Nandewar. 
 
 The mills in Tamworth number three ; there is one at Quirindi ; and 
 there are others to be erected at Gunnedah or Narrabri, and at Bingera, 
 Generally those that are in operation are kept well employed grinding 
 wheat grown in the district around, but sometimes it has happened that 
 rust lias made its appearance among the crops, and so affected the 
 harvest returns that in order to keep the mills going some wheat has 
 been imported from Adelaide. Bust, however, is not a constant visitor — 
 it is generally believed to be the result of a superabundance of moisture, 
 
Industry in the Lwer2'>ool Plains District. 135 
 
 find therefore is expected only in very wet seasons — and is not in any 
 respect the serious drawhack to cultivation that it is lower down the 
 country towards Maitland. During a recent yeai', when the winter was 
 a very wet one, the crops were seriously injured by it, and the yield of 
 grain considerably less than usual ; but the experience of the following 
 season gave promise of a very large yield at the next harvest, with a 
 considerable surplus for export from the district to places lower down 
 the country. 
 
 As the production of wheat increases, the necessity to purchase the 
 imported article will cease altogether, and the production is said to be 
 increasing every year. For growing wheat no land could be more 
 suitable ; and competent judges say that in favoui'able seasons the grain 
 is fully equal to any produced in either of the Australian Colonies, not 
 excepting South Australia. The consumption of the flour made at the 
 Tamworth mills was formerly confined to the Liverpool Plains district, 
 but noAv the flour is sent in various directions northwards and north- 
 west, and some even into Queensland. Added to this satisfactory 
 circumstance is the fact that generally there is no importation of flour 
 into the Liverpool Plains district, as with good harvests the millers are 
 able to keep the imported article away. Last year one of the 
 Tamworth mills sent, I was informed, fully 200 tons doA\ai the countiy — 
 to Maitland, Newcastle, and other places. The pi-ice the farmers 
 receive for their wheat does not appear to be very high ; and until the 
 introduction of agricultural machinery, such as reaping and binding 
 machines, Avhich enable the farmers to get the wheat off the land at 
 harvest time rapidly, wheat-growing did not, it is said, pay very well ; 
 but in good seasons the returns are always satisfactory, and in con- 
 sidering Avhether. a certain industry is or is not a paying or profitable 
 one something more than the money return must be taken into account. 
 
 The real question is, as an intelligent person put it to me, " Can you 
 turn your labour and time to better advantage — can you make your 
 time and labour pay you better in any other way V " If people had the 
 means to grow wheat largely," said he, "from 100 acres up to 500, that 
 is what would pay very well. No kind of business will pay well unless 
 you can do a large business. A man may grow 20 acres of wheat and 
 produce nothing else ; and if the })rice he receive for it be all profit, what 
 is it 1 But if he cultivate 200 or 300 acres, and make (say) a shilling 
 a bushel upon the wheat which this extent of land would grow, he 
 will realise something worth having." There are a few persons who 
 are beginning to act in accordance with this idea, and have 100 acre& 
 and upwards under wheat, but 20 acres is about the average extent, 
 
136 The Industries of New South JVales. 
 
 and from that pei-liaps to 50 and 60. The yiekl per acre in favourable 
 seasons has frequently been as high as 50 bushels ; and the quantity of 
 flour made in the town is stated to be from about 1,500 to 2,000 tons in 
 the year. 
 
 The farmers are chiefly free selectors, and many of them add to their 
 incomes by breeding a few sheep. Sheep-farming, in fact, appears to be 
 a favourite occupation with selectors in most parts of the Colony, 
 particularly where the means of access to a good market for agricultural 
 produce are not good ; and sometimes a small herd of cattle is kept. 
 In this manner the farmers utilize all tlie resources at their command, 
 and in many cases their condition is one of comfort and prosperity. If 
 their holdings were larger than they are, their efl"orts to supplement the 
 returns they receive from the cultivation of cereals by depasturing 
 sheep or cattle might bring them into competition with the squatters ; ' 
 but, except in very few cases, the extent to which they engage in 
 pastoral enterprise is too limited for this, and both classes can exist 
 without interference with one another. 
 
 Stock-breeding, and principally the breeding of sheep, is carried on 
 to a very large extent by the squatters, for the country is very well 
 suited for fattening purposes, and the generally high price of wool 
 makes sheep-breeding very profitable, though an uncertainty of climate 
 pi'events this industry from being followed to as large an extent as 
 perhaps the capabilities of the district would justify. Large numbers 
 of store sheep are purchased and brought into the district, and two or 
 three clips of wool taken from them before they are sold again. 
 Thoroughbred cattle and horses are represented in a satisfactory degree 
 upon some of the properties in the district, but this particular industiy 
 has been suff'ering from the prevailing dulness which makes most of the 
 animals difficult of sale and almost unremunerative — or, at least, not 
 nearly so valuable to the breeders as animals of the kind were a few 
 years ago. 
 
 As I found to be the case around Maitland, good draught stock 
 appear to be the only desci-iption of horses that can just now 
 command a ready sale at good prices ; others are much less attractive to 
 purchasers; and thoroughbred cattle are also in but slight demand, 
 unless at very low figures. One of the largest squatters in the district 
 declared to me that cattle-owners were selling stock at a loss of at 
 least 25 per cent. ; and he, like others, attributed that condition of 
 affairs to the fictitious piices which were obtained a few years ago 
 through the impetus given to the purchase of land by the offbi's of 
 money on liberal terms from the Banks, and to the subsequent great 
 
Industry in the Liverpool Flalns District. 137 
 
 inci'ease in the Bank rate of interest, which had the immediate effect of 
 hampering squatting operations and considerably reducing the value 
 of stock and station properties. "The only thing to which we look for 
 relief," he remarked, "is the export meat trade." But while he saw 
 in this trade a remedy for the overburdened condition of the stock 
 market, he did not seem disposed to give any assistance to the move- 
 ment for the establishment of the trade beyond selling his cattle and 
 sheep for shipment, and he assured me this disposition was shared with 
 him by many cattle-owners in the northei'n districts. 
 
 " What we want here," he said, " is a freezing-house, established at 
 some port of shipment, wherever that may be chosen, and agencies con- 
 nected with it. We will consign our beef to the agents, for shipment to 
 London, on the system of the Orient line. We want to ship our beef 
 through agents, the same as we do our wool and tallow. If it be worth 
 their while to put up freezing-houses, the same as wool-stores, in Sydney, 
 we are willing to su])ply our beef. Let the agents provide all facilities, 
 and we will send our cattle and pay the agents' charges. We do not 
 want to be mixed up in any Company; we have enough to do to produce 
 the article for market. We are quite willing to give the export trade 
 a fair trial, even at the risk of loss, if ])eople will undertake the duties 
 of shipment." 
 
 In general industries Tamworth has not yet taken any great stride, 
 but there is all the more room for enterprise, and there are many ways 
 in which an earnest effort in this direction might be made remunerative. 
 In most of our country towns there is too great a disposition to com- 
 plain and too little activity displayed — too large a propensity for letting 
 opportunities slip away, and awaiting the chance establishment of some- 
 thing which will take advantage of the resources of the place and assist 
 in causing the town to progress and the people to improve their 
 condition, for industries to be started as quickly or in such numbers as 
 they ought to be. The want of collective as well as of individual energy 
 keeps many of the towns in the back-ground, and only a steady increase 
 in the population by the introduction of new arrivals unpossessed by 
 the sloth of the old community, and wise and smart enough to strike out 
 for themselves new paths to wealth, is likely in some cases to make the 
 country districts the industrial hive they ought to be. Yet Tamworth 
 has done something in this respect. There are two soap and candle- 
 making establishments, Avhich conduct their operations on a tolei*ably 
 extensive scale ; there are a couple of breweries, and there are also a 
 tannery and a boot and shoe manufactory, — all of which are deserving 
 of mention. A large quantity of soap is made every year, the tallow 
 
13S The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 being obtained in and around the town, and the soap finds its chief 
 market in the north and north-western districts, as far as the borders of 
 Queenshmd. At one of the establishments the industry is being ex- 
 tended as far as the making of sperm candles, and with good prospects 
 of success. Like the soap-making establishments, the boot factory is 
 essentially a local industry, for the boots are manufactured from 
 leather made at the tannery in Tarn worth, and the hides are procured in 
 the district. Various kinds of boots are made, and though the factory 
 is not much more than two years old, the workmanship in the manu- 
 factured articles appears to be excellent, and there is said to be a large 
 demand in the district for the boots which the factory produces. 
 
 Possibly when the railway train passes on to Armidale, and Tam- 
 worth is left more dependent upon itself, its people will find many 
 sources from which they can obtain all that assistance which now comes 
 to them from the trafiic through the town ; and, though a certain 
 depression may be felt when the locomotive leaves the town behind, the 
 district is far too rich and extensive for that depression to be lasting. 
 
Gold-mining. 141 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 GOLD-MINING. 
 
 People say there is plenty of gold in the Liverpool Plains district, 
 and that the gold-fields would be flourishing if only the necessary capital 
 and machinery were at hand to work them. Unfortunately the requisite 
 means for effectively proving the quality of the reefs in the district are 
 not forthcoming, and gold-mining there is not at the present time an 
 industry of that importance which probably, under different circum- 
 stances, it might be made. The principal locality in which the precious 
 metal is found is Nundle Gold-field, which includes two other places, 
 called Bowling Alley Point and Hanging Eock, each being situated from 
 twenty to thirty miles in a south-east direction from Tamworth. At 
 the time of my visit there were not many persons at work on the field, 
 and there was neither escort nor coach communication between either of 
 the places and Tamworth ; but those miners who were engaged at the 
 reefs were patiently continuing their efforts to prove the richness and 
 extent of the stone, and there was a hopeful aspect about mining matters 
 in the locality, if they were not just then very flourishing. The quantity 
 of gold obtained from the reefs during the previous year amounted to 
 1,342 ozs. 15 dwts., and from alluvial claims 2,200 ozs., the total value 
 being £12,931 ; and there were three or four crushing-machines at work 
 on the field. Attention was directed chiefly to the reefs, for some of 
 them were believed to be very rich, and the shafts and tunnels that 
 had been excavated with the object of cutting or striking the reefs at 
 particular depths were works of considerable magnitude. 
 
 The alluvial claims were in some instances paying fair wages, but in 
 others the returns were very small. In several places there was a deep 
 sinking alluvial deposit known as cement, to strike which some very 
 extensive tunnels had been driven, and as far as this cement wash had 
 been tested the yield had been satisfactory, but the stuff was so hard that 
 mere sluice-washing was not sufficient to extract all the gold which the 
 cement was believed to contain, and it had yet to be thoroughly proved by 
 means of good crushing-machines. The mining population of the field 
 was estimated at 220 — 140 Europeans and 80 Chinamen, the latter and 
 about 40 of the European miners being engaged on the alluvial claims. 
 Since the date of my visiting the locality some extensive finds of gold 
 have been made, and the field promises to be one of the best in the 
 Colony. 
 
142 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 The patient, plodding existence wliich this gold-field, in common with 
 several others in the Colony, had drifted into was not one that would 
 attract much population towards it, nor was it one likely to get the place 
 talked about as a mining locality of much importance either to the Colony 
 or to the district in which it is situated. And so, with the exception of 
 those persons who never let a chance escape them of saying all they 
 possibly can in favour of the place in which some of their interests are 
 centred, there did not appear to be many of the people of Tamworth 
 who regarded the Nundle Gold-field in its then condition as anything to 
 be very proud of, or who thought much of what the field might be in the 
 future. But mining matters were not then the fascinating theme they 
 were a few years ago, and not until the evil eflects of the mania of that 
 period have passed away is mining likely to be assisted in the manner 
 which is necessary to a thoroughly successful result. " Some of the 
 reefs on this gold-field," says a recent report of the Warden upon 
 mining at Nundle, " Avhich were so eagerly taken up in 1872, and as 
 hastily abandoned are, I consider, likely to pay if again worked" ; and 
 there is little doubt that when confidence has been fully restored, and 
 men possessed of capital are disposed to invest some of it in the develop- 
 ment of the rich reefs, not only in the Liverpool Plains district, but 
 also in other places where reefs are known to exist, mining will 
 receive an impetus which will make it very profitable to those 
 immediately concerned in it, and of considerable benefit to the Colony 
 generally. 
 
 Every one knows, of course, that all mining investments are, to a 
 greater or less extent, matters of speculation, which people with money 
 to s[jare enter into in the belief that the interest they will receive on their 
 money, if the venture should prove successful, will largely exceed the 
 rate they can obtain by investments of a more certain character ; but 
 there are deposits of minerals — gold among the number — in various 
 parts of the Colony, apparently so rich and easy to be worked, with 
 proper appliances, that they are believed to possess all the conditions 
 necessary for making the employment of capital in working them as safe 
 as it may be to put one's money into Bank shares, but with the difference 
 that the dividends will not come quite so quickly, though when they are 
 received they will be very much larger. Mining in New South Wales 
 is but in its infancy ; little more than surfacing has been done, and 
 the industry yet remains to be conducted in the extensive and scientific 
 manner whicli the valuable mineral deposits of the Colony justify. 
 
 The history of most of our gold-fields is very simple, and in almost 
 every case identical. Gold is discovered in some valley, or on some flat, 
 
Gold-minmg. Ii3 
 
 which ages before formed the bed of a river, and there is a rush of 
 miners to the spot, as there was in the case of Temora. Rich wash- 
 dirt is struck, perhaps close to the surface, or, it may be, at considerable 
 depth ; and while the alluvial gold is being worked by those of the 
 miners wlio have been fortunate enough to drop upon it, others search 
 about for quartz reefs, which they know must exist somewhere in the 
 adjacent hills. Reefs are found, claims are pegged out, leases are taken, 
 holes are dug, and with the aid of a hammer and a dish of water speci- 
 mens are obtained, or a little gold may be " dollied," as it is called. By- 
 and-by the washdirt in the alluvial claims comes to an end ; many of 
 the miners go away — some to other fields, and some to other occupations ; 
 several of the business places which the rush served to bring into 
 existence close ; and an air of dulness and depression creeps over the 
 place. One or two of the quartz reefs are opened out to some extent, but 
 the men who discovered them and have claims where they are have not 
 the means to work them, and at the same time will not part with them. 
 Crushing machineiy is requii-ed, and it is only after long and painful 
 efforts, and with some assistance, that one or two machines are obtained. 
 Even then oj^erations are very slow, and the returns frequently small. 
 Meantime the excitement which the .field occasioned when gold was 
 discovered has all gone ; people have even forgotten that such a place 
 exists ; and all that is heard of it now is what is stated in the annual 
 report of the District Mining Registrar or INIining Warden, which repre- 
 sents chiefly the poor wages which the alluvial fossickers remaining on 
 the field are making, and the great difiiculties that are met with by the 
 parties working the reefs. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the history of almost eveiy gold-field in the Colony. 
 The working miner, possessing scarcely anything but his pick-axe and 
 shovel, does and can do no more than those implements will enable him 
 to do. He cannot of himself find money to provide the necessary 
 machinery to crush the quartz and take the gold from it, and seldom 
 without the money of townspeople, or some such speculative individuals 
 of limited means, can he even test a reef by sinking the proper depth 
 and sending the stone to the surface. 
 
 Here it is where capitalists should step in — not as some of them do, 
 merely to hold the ground until a profitable sum can be obtained for it, 
 and then to part vrith it again, but to work it in a bond fide and 
 complete manner. It is only under a condition of this kind that the 
 mining industry can be carried on properly, and with as much advantage 
 as by a right system can be gained from it. But people of large 
 experience in connection with mining say that most of the capital which 
 
144 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 is invested in this industry is used by the investors very much as the 
 miner employs his tools — for the advantage that can be most easily and 
 quickly secured. If the outlay of a few pounds will make a man a 
 shareholder in the development of what is believed to be a rich reef, 
 the small sum. will be expended in the belief that a speedy and profitable 
 return will be obtained, or that the share can be sold again for some- 
 thing more than the price originally given for it ; or if a small contri- 
 bution is required to a general fund for the purpose of taking up a 
 mineral lease, and thereby locking up from other people land which is 
 of value, and which, worked or unworked, is worth having, that contri- 
 bution will be forthcoming ; but very seldom is there a disposition 
 shown to supply money to that extent which will enable operations to 
 be conducted so that the reefs on a gold-field may be properly worked 
 and the resources of the field fully taken advantage of 
 
 There are some instances where quartz-mining is carried on in this 
 complete way, but most if not all of the gold-fields in the Colony are 
 suffering from a want of the necessary capital to work them, and this 
 want of money is due to the losses of a few years ago, and to a dislike 
 on the part of moneyed persons to speculate in anything that is 
 uncertain. Then there are so many other avenues for investment in 
 this Colony, and money is made so easily, that perhaps, as many people 
 think, not until we are a much older community, Avitli a great deal of 
 spare cash, which it will not be then as easy as it is now to place in the 
 money market at high rates of interest, will the mining districts be as 
 flourishing and progressive as they ought to be. Just now everybody 
 seems bent upon making money rapidly ; and if the mineral resources 
 of New South Wales are to be properly developed, their riches extracted 
 in the fullest degree, and a large mining population permanently and 
 comfortably settled on the land, those who assist in this undertaking by 
 subscribing their capital must be content to look for their profits in the 
 future, and it may be not for themselves but for their children ; for 
 the work, though it will yield large returns, will be a work of time. 
 
 But though the mining districts are waiting for those days when 
 they shall have the means at hand to be brisk and well-to-do again, the 
 excitement of the early digging days has been something more than a 
 flash in the pan. The township that springs into existence almost as 
 rapidly as mushrooms do never entirely disappears, and when the 
 nomads of the crowd have secured what they can and have gone away 
 somewhere else, the I'est of the population settle down into a little 
 community who may be slow-going and dull, but who nevertheless 
 attract around them occupations other than mining, and form the 
 
Gold-mining. 145 
 
 nucleus of what some day will be a busy and thriving inland town. 
 The farmer's plough generally follows the digger's spade, and some of 
 the heaviest crops are obtained from land which at one time yielded a 
 large quantity of gold. The gold prospector has always been a pioneer 
 of settlement, and in very many places through the Colony are little 
 towns or townships which owe their origin and their present existence to 
 the minerals which have been found in their vicinity. One which I have 
 yet to say something about will soon be for a time the terminus of the 
 Great Northern Railway ; and while its well worh ed gold-field is still 
 made to yield some of the precious metal, the town is the centre of a 
 farming district of considerable extent and importance. 
 
The Journey to Neio England. 147 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE JOURNEY TO NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 Cobb it Co., the ubiqvdtous firm of the Colony, present themselves at 
 about 5 o'clock in the evening, in the main street of Tamwortli, for the 
 I)urpose of conveying travellers northwards ; and mounted upon the 
 mail coach one leaves by the Great Northern Road, in the expectation 
 of reaching Armidale early the following morning. The sensations 
 awakened by a coach journey through the midst of the scenes and 
 iiicidents which make country life attractive and valuable are much 
 more vivid and instructive than those which are aroused during the 
 swift flight of a railway train, when everything that comes into view 
 disappears immediately afterwards, and the Avorld seems as short-lived 
 and xuistable as a dream. The fields, the hills, the houses, and the 
 people assume their natural positions and proportions, affording plenty 
 of scope for observation and enlightenment ; and while a deep interest 
 in everything is excited by the constant change of scene, a valuable 
 insight may be gained into the condition and progress of the country. 
 
 It is not possible to properly gauge the grovv'th of the Colony by 
 passing quickly from railway station to railway station, and going no 
 farther than the terminal points. The towns which the railways connect 
 are important factors in a consideration of the rate at which the country 
 is going ahead, for they are evidences of permanent settlement, which is 
 gradually becoming surrounded by all the aids which foster large and 
 thriving cities, but they do not fully indicate either the resources or 
 the state of the country, — they are subject to good or evil influences, as 
 matters through the country generally are prospei'ous or backward ; but 
 one must leave the railway towns and plunge into the interior, among 
 the farm lands of the free selectors, the pastoral runs of the squatters, 
 and the mineral holdings of the miners, to understand i-ightly what we 
 are and what we are likely to be. Journejdng from Tamwortli along 
 the Great Northern Iload, Avith an occasional stoppage, and now and 
 then a branching off from the main route to some localities which lie 
 back from the road, brings to light all the resources of one of the three 
 great divisions of the Colony ; and the way lies through country rich 
 and important in many respects, but when the writer visited it sufFeriiig, 
 as every other district was, from the first effects of what many persons 
 feared would prove a very serious drought. 
 
148 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 Tlie unusual severity of tlie season wliicli v/as rapidly changing to 
 one of summer heat caused Tamworth to array itself inorning after 
 morning in frosty attire, so thick and plentiful that the toAvn sometimes 
 had the appearance of an English town in winter, and the weather was 
 very cold. Keen cutting winds, with clear frosty nights, make a night 
 ride inside or outside a coach an experience that must be treated with 
 an ample provision of rugs and a well-braced system to withstand 
 fatigue, and with these aids to comfort the trip may ])e made with a 
 considerable amount of satisfaction, if not enjoyment. 
 
 While the daylight lasts there is plenty to enliven the traveller. The 
 road runs from Tamworth by the side of the mountains, which lie at the 
 back of the town, past a niimber of farms about the flat lands of the 
 Peel and Cockburn Rivers, and for a considerable distance almost 
 parallel with the route which the railway extension to XJralla is taking. 
 Then it goes through or round the mountains, leaves the railway route, 
 and heads for Moonbi and the high land of New England. The farms 
 look well, and the farmers are said to be fairly prosperous ; but that 
 which was most attractive at this part of the journey was the progress 
 which the railway was making; and the signs of activity for a consider- 
 able distance along the route were numerous and satisfactory. 
 
 Darkness overtakes the coach in the winter season, when the days 
 are short, before the first stage of 15 miles is accomplished ; but the 
 little town of Moonbi, which is the first stopping-place, presents in one 
 of its hotels a picture of roadside inn comfort that is extremely pleasant 
 on a winter's night. Attention to one's wants, a comfortable sitting- 
 room, a blazing wood fire in a capacious fireplace which throws out a 
 genial warmth and generous invitation to sit around and enjoy it, such as 
 coal grates and their limited fuel know nothing of, a well-served supper, 
 and a clean and cosy bedroom, are things not met with too frequently 
 in the bush ; and this little inn is so well knov/n and appreciated that 
 every traveller— and especially those known as " commercials," — who 
 can manage to do so likes to spend a night there on his journey 
 northwards. 
 
 Moonbi, as a town or township, contains little to be proud of, but it 
 lies within a very short distance of the point to which the railway 
 extension has been completed, and where a railway station has been 
 ei-ected, and it is situated not far from the foot of the Moonbi or 
 " Moonboy" E.ange, which borders the country of New England, and at 
 one time was well known as the haunt of Thunderbolt, the bushranger. 
 In the early morning of the winter season the little town is thickly 
 clothed with frost, and in the afternoon, when the sun is sinking and 
 
The Journey to New England. 11-9 
 
 lathing tlie tops of tJie apple-trees in a ricli mellow light, it is a favourite 
 haunt of birds. To a resident of the metropolis, whose eyes seldom 
 meet anytliing more attractive than stony streets and the hard repelling 
 aspect of a thickly populated and busy city, and whose nostrils are 
 strangers to anything sv/eeter or more invigorating than a muggy city 
 atmosphere, there is something peculiarly pleasant in looking upon a 
 winter scene in tlie country, and breathing the fresh, pure, bracing 
 country air. 
 
 At Moonbi it was very interesting to note the wintry asjDect of the 
 landscape in the early morning. The fields, the street, the tops of posts 
 and fences, the roofs of houses, and the branches of trees were gaily 
 dressed in their crisp white covering. Every sloping bank, every little 
 accumulation of leaves or heap of sticks made a peculiarly suitable rest- 
 ing place for the frost, and wherever a pool of water lay a coating of ice 
 was formed. Pumps and tanks were frozen hard, and required to be 
 coaxed into their ordinary condition again by fomentations of hot water, 
 and window-frames were grained and scarred in most fantastic fashion 
 by frost and ice. With very little help from the imagination, one could 
 transform the whole picture into one of those fine old English scenes 
 when the senses are aglow with the excitement of being in the midst of 
 winter's domains, inhaling their healthful and novel delights. 
 
 Further on, in the New England country, there are times when the 
 wind whistles loudly around the corners of the houses, and rumbles 
 about the chimneys, when the snow, falling first like feathers borne upon 
 the breeze, descends thickly and fast, and when all that is wanted is the 
 wassail bowl, or something like it, to impart to the temperament of 
 those sitting around the blazing logs in a snug parlour the ruddy 
 pleasantness and genial spirits so strongly suggested in the cosy glow 
 of the room. The coach ride then is something much more than usually 
 stimulating. The light from the huge coach lamps darts out on either 
 side in fan-like rays, and away ahead in a l:»road bright Hush, illuminat- 
 ing the white ground most curiously, and throwing the horses and their 
 steaming bodies into strong relief ; the driver, closely muffled from head 
 to foot, and yet, as though he had lost his fingers, scarcely able to handle 
 the reins and keep the road ; and the half-frozen passengers, crouching 
 closely together for warmth, occasionally peering out over the light from 
 the coach lamps and the patch of darkness l^eyond at the red windows 
 upon which some household fire is flickering. 
 
 When morning comes, and the whole landscape is seen in its shining 
 white robe, no one can look upon it without a feeling of rapture, and 
 those who hail from beyond the seas regard it with a peculiar interest 
 
150 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 felt only by themselves — it seems to them so much like home. But a 
 frosty night and morning are in their way equally attractive. There is 
 such a crystalline sparkle about the stars, such an invigorating freshness 
 in the atmosphere, such a pleasing sensation of relief at alighting from 
 the coach and stepping from the cold air into the gaping fireplace of, 
 perhaps, a roadside hut, where horses are changed and where hot coffee 
 and crisp warm toast are ready, such an odd experience of chrysalis-like 
 existence in winter clothing, sleepiness and sleeplessness, chilliness and 
 heat, jolting, bouncing, and falling about from one side to the other as 
 some bad parts of the road are encountered, that despite all the discom- 
 fort — which one forgets when it is all over — the journey is well worth 
 undertaking. 
 
 Sometimes, in the ride from Tamworth to Armidale, the passengers 
 are jammed inside the coach most uncomfortably — either crowding or 
 crushing themselves, or incommoded by a quantity of luggage or goods 
 — and it may be that as the passengers are left at one stage or the other, 
 the cold in the coach grows more intense, until one's rug becomes very 
 much like a sheet of cold iron, and one's toes seem to have slipped away 
 altogether ; but then, as a recompense for all this, there are several 
 places of considerable interest to make oneself acquainted with — such as 
 the Moonbi Range, the township of Bendemeer and the late Constable 
 Bowen's exploits, the town of Uralla and the adjacent Rocky River 
 gold-field, and some other localities — each of which has attached to it 
 either a history or some attractive incidents which the coachman can 
 tell with great effect in lessening the discomforts of the journey. 
 
Ar mi dale. 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ARMIDALE. 
 
 Armidale lias a dull, dead, scattered appearance in tlie early dawn 
 when the coach approaches the city and runs through its outskirts, but 
 the suidight and the touch of life which the opening of shops and the 
 appearance of people in the streets give to the place inii)art that aspect 
 of business and that display of buildings which stamp the town as one 
 of considerable importance. Armidale is, in fact, a cathedral city, 
 possessing two cathedrals and two bishops, and it is the largest and the 
 busiest place in New England. There is very little outside bustle ; the 
 streets do not resound with the noise of constant traffic, nor do the pave- 
 ments echo to the tread of many pedesti-ians ; but in a quiet, earnest, 
 effective way the people of Armidale push along, some of them making 
 plenty of money, all or most of them getting a comfortable livelihood, 
 and the city and district, as far as can be seen, gradually going ahead. 
 
 There is frequently more effected in this undemonstrative manner 
 than there is by the rush and excitement which attend the faster life of 
 towns, and Armidale is one of those places which have made good 
 progress without any of that extraneous and fitful help which, in many 
 cases in this Colony, has suddenly brought towns into existence and 
 raised them upon a pinnacle of prosperity, and then almost as suddenly 
 snatched the most of their prosperity away. It would be better if there 
 Avere more industrial enterprise among the Armidale community, but 
 perhaps this is owing in some degree to the want of ready and rapid 
 means of communication Avith other places ; and that which is required 
 to excite the genius of men who are capable of establishing works which 
 will properly develop local resources and afford remunerative employ- 
 ment, and to induce the capitalist to invest a portion of his means in a 
 similar direction, may be supplied by the railway which before very 
 long will connect Armidale with all the country traversed by the Great 
 Northern Line. Railway communication is almost certain to bring with 
 it the heads to plan and the means to put into operation many schemes 
 which now are not likely to be thought of, or if they occur to the mind 
 of any one, are not likely to be carried out in face of the obstacles 
 presented by tedious means of transit and expensive rates of carriage. 
 
 But while Armidale is backward in relation to those industries which 
 sooner or later are the strength of a town, it is the centre of a farming 
 
152 The Industries of New South TFales. 
 
 and pastoral district that is able to hold its own and make its way ^-ery 
 satisfactorily. Wheat cultivation and the manufacture of flour are 
 largely entered into ; and while there are many extensive squatting 
 properties in the district, very many of the farmers possess flocks of 
 sheep numbering from 200 or 300 to as high as 3,000, and constantly 
 engage in sheep-farming as well as in agriculture. A method of opera- 
 tion such as this enables the farmers to work their farms very profitably, 
 and to assist, in a very material degree, the general prospej'ity of the 
 district. 
 
 The great bul.c of the free-selectors in the New England district, 
 I was assured by a Government officer whose duties should make him 
 vihoroughly acquainted with the subject, are bond fide free-selectors — 
 veiy sound, hardworking, prosperous men, who own from 1,000 to 3,000 
 sheep, and in some cases from 640 to perhaps over 2,000 acres, the 
 latter area being occupied in those instances where several members of a 
 family have taken \\]) adjoining land. "Dummyism has been carried 
 on, comparatively, only to a slight extent," he said. "There has been 
 very little indeed of men rushing about and taking up cattle camps for 
 the purpose of being bought oiit by the squatters, and I think there are 
 fewer selections forfeited in the Armidale district for non-compliance with 
 the conditions than in almost any other district in the Colony. In the 
 great majority of the cases inquired into Avhen the improvements had to 
 be made at the rateof <£1 an acre, the selectors had made these improve- 
 ments of a permanent character, and in a great many instances from £1 
 to £o and £6 an acre had been expended upon the selections." 
 
 This gentleman's experience had been that where land had been taken 
 up for the purposes of agriculture and genuine farming it was impossible 
 to clear it, fence it, and othei'wise prepare it for farming operations, 
 under an expenditure of £6 an acre, and in some instances even £10 
 an acre. " Of course," he said, " there have been instances where the 
 conditions of residence have not been fidfilled, and some instances where 
 the improvements have been of such an unsatisfactory character that 
 they could not possibly be passed, and there have been cases where 
 dummyism has l^een committed ; but these have not been very frequent, 
 and inspection is carried on with extreme care." Farming, he considered, 
 paid tolerably. " But the fact is," he went on to say "people expect to 
 make too much money at it. A little farming and keeping a little stock 
 are well enougli As a class, the farmers who are wheat-growers only 
 are a lazy class, The larger class — the sheep-owners — supply something 
 like the yeomaary of the country, those between the ordinary class of 
 selectors and tin; squatters." 
 
Armidcde. 153 
 
 There are four mills in the city, and three of them are employed in 
 grinding wheat. Whether rust will ever make its appearance to such 
 an extent as to seriously affect the crops and reduce the yield, no one of 
 course can say ; but as yet very little rust seems to have visited the 
 district, and the i^roduction of wheat is materially increasing. A much 
 larger quantity than usual has been sown recently, and at the time I 
 was in Armidale the season was considered the best for wheat-o-rowina; 
 that had been experienced for many years. Then while the cultivation 
 of wheat is progressing satisfactorily, the success of the manufacture of 
 this cereal into flour is seen in the fact that the flour is distributed over 
 a considerable extent of country, is sold readily, and is well liked. 
 Large quantities go to Glen Innes, Vegetable Creek, and other places ; 
 and the millers would, they say, compete with flour sold lower down the 
 country, in the direction of TamAvorth, if the railway rates for the con- 
 veyance of floiir from Newcastle to Tamworth were not such as to debar 
 them, the carriage between Armidale and places towards Tamworth 
 being so high that they cannot sell in that direction as cheaply as flour 
 manufactured in Tamworth or brought there from Newcastle can be 
 sold. 
 
 But that which the welfare of Avheat-growing and flour manufacture 
 depends upon chiefly is the absence of rust, and as yet no one seems to 
 know exactly v.diat is the cause of its appearance or how its evil effects 
 can be mitigated. It has almost put an end to wheat-growing in the 
 Hunter districts, it sometimes visits to a rather serious extent the 
 Liverpool Plains district, and in a more limited degree it makes its 
 appearance on the farms in the district around Armidale. Further on, 
 about Glen Innes, rust is scarcely if at all known, but wheat is not 
 grown there in any large quantitj^ and probably the extent to which 
 wheat-growing is carried on in that locality is not suflicient to enable 
 any one to properly judge whether the soil, the conditions of climate, or 
 the method of cultivation, is such as to keep the rust away. From the 
 statements that can be gathered upon the subject, it seems certain that 
 when once rust appears among the wheat in any district it remains there, 
 and not only that, but its ravages gradually increase. Most of the 
 farmers attribute its appearance to an over-supply of moisture in the 
 soil, caused by excessive rainfalls at certain periods of the wheat's 
 growth ; Ijut no one professes to know of an absolute remedy, and no 
 one can tell when his crop is safe from an attack. 
 
 Stock matters in the district of New England were in the unsatisfactory 
 condition which characterized them throughout the Colony, and the low 
 prices which cattle had been sold for were affecting the pastoralists very 
 
154 The Industries of Neic South IFales. 
 
 mucli. Rin,f,'barking has added to the capal)ilities of the various runs to 
 such a degree that the area over which stock now feed is three times 
 "what it was a few years ago ; and in the back country there has been a 
 considerable amount of overbreeding, which has assisted to bring down 
 the market prices of cattle. With regard to sheep there was a better 
 state of things ; and this will continue as long as wool maintains a good 
 price in England. A large number of the sheep stations on the table- 
 land are now wholly or partially fenced, with most beneficial results, it 
 is understood, to the extra number of sheep, which are in tlie proportion 
 of about three to two ; and a good deal of country formerly considered 
 untit for sheep has also been made available for sheep-grazing purposes 
 by this species of improvements. In that portion of the New England 
 district known as the Falls country — such as the heads of the Macleay 
 and JManning Rivers — the runs are greatly infested with marsupials, 
 and in one instance the sheep have had to be removed from a consider- 
 able portion of the run upon which they were kept. On stations in the 
 neighbourhood of Bundarra, also, the kangaroos are said to be very 
 numerous, and there, as elsew-here, their presence in such great numbers 
 is considered to be due chiefly to the destruction of native dogs, but also 
 to the improved nature of the grass in the paddocks. 
 
The Northern Gold-fields. 155 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS. 
 
 Fifteen miles from Armiclale, and but a short distance from the town- 
 ship of Uralhi, lies the Rocky Eiver Gold-field, an auriferous area at one 
 time very celebrated, but now struggling, as most other gold-fields are, 
 in that period of existence when the surface riches having entirely 
 disappeared efforts are made to discover what there is of value below. 
 Looking upon the side of a hill which was dry and barren and warty 
 with heaps of dirt, that in days gone by had been thrown out of holes 
 containing marvellous stores of the precious metal, it was remarked 
 tome, "That is the celebrated Mount Jones," and forthwith a vision 
 arose of a crowd of miners' tents, a busy, rough, and clay-begrimed 
 population, a network of water-races and stores of washdirt, and a 
 roaring thriving township. But all that has passed away, and the 
 life and riches of the hillside belong to the times of over twenty years 
 ago. 
 
 There is probably no more melancholy sight than a deserted gold- 
 field. The gaping holes where men once toiled and found their fortunes 
 are silent and drear as graves, and retain no more of their former 
 attractiveness than what is wrapped in "old hands'" stories or tradition. 
 A few brands upon the surface earth, grass-grown and almost obliterated, 
 and some scattered bottle fragnaents and other signs of life and revelry 
 are all that are left to show where the huts of the miners stood. Here 
 and there the crooked remains of a building, with a weatherworn and 
 lampless post, or a transformation from a grog-shanty into a dwelling- 
 house, exhibit the last of the public-houses of the period. The youth 
 and bustle of the place have wholly gone, and what is left is a remnant 
 of the township that has established itself in a particular part of the 
 field, gathered within it a post and telegraph office, opened two or three 
 general stores, commenced a little agriculture, and made a few efforts to 
 develop the remaining portion of the riches in the gold-field which the 
 haste and the primitive mining of the past led the miners of that day 
 to leave. Here will be pointed out a deserted claim that yielded 
 thousands of pounds, and there another that was even richer. Further 
 on lie a score of claims which followed the lead of gold, and all of which 
 were more or less valuable for the rich store of washdirt they contained, 
 but are now no more than a lot of deserted waterholes ; everything, in 
 
156 Tlie Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 fact, a significant illustration of tlie toilsome character of mining and tlie 
 evanescent nature of that Avhich is obtained after so much labour. 
 
 C4old ! Gold ! Gold ! Gold ! 
 
 Bright and yellow, hard and cold, 
 
 * * '..■ » 
 
 Heavy to get, and light to hold. 
 
 In some respects, however, the " Old Rocky" diflers from this descrip- 
 tion of a gold-field of days gone by. The signs of life and habitation on 
 a portion of the field are few and scanty ; but Avithin a very short 
 distance is the tov/nship of Uralla, which will mark the completion of 
 the contract for the railway extension that is noAv being carried on from 
 Tamworth, and for some time will be the terminus of the Great 
 Northern Railway. Uralla is not a place of much Ijustle or business ; 
 lying within but 15 miles of Armidale, it is likely that the larger 
 and more important town secures from the surrounding district much 
 that might otherwise go to its little neighbour : but about Uralla, 
 though there is but one substantial street, and that the portion of the 
 Great Northern Road which passes through the townshijJ, there are not 
 wanting signs of stability and progress. The toAvnship sprang from the 
 diggings, and probably becoming the chief business quarter in the 
 locality because of its closs proximity to the main line of road, it now 
 regards that part of the gold-field proper where there still are people 
 living and a little business done as a suburb ; and altogether it has the 
 appearance of a place that is sure to increase in growth and in 
 prosperity. 
 
 The principal work that is being carried on at the Rocky River Gold- 
 field is in the hands of a Company known as the Long Tunnel Co. 
 About forty gentlemen, chiefly Sydney capitalists, becoming convinced 
 of the probable existence of gold some distance l^eneath the surface of 
 that portion of the old gold-field called Sydney Flat, determined to 
 thoroughly test the ground, and five years ago the work was commenced. 
 The ixndertaking appears to have been conceived and certainly has been 
 carried out in the true spirit of enterprise, and with that amount of 
 perseverance and patience which are absolutely necessary to the pi'oper 
 "working of the gold deposits that are still known to exist in the Colony. 
 The ground that the Company decided upon testing had lain untouched 
 for fifteen or twenty years, abandoned by the diggers of the old days as 
 ground uiiprofitable to men who were only working miners with nothing 
 but their labour to depend upon for a living, and presenting in the way 
 of gold-mining operations difficulties which were of no ordinary chai-acter. 
 The pi'incipal of these was the necessity to drain the flat of water, which 
 in any shaft sunk to a comparatively shallow depth below the surface, 
 
The Northern Gold-fields. 157 
 
 accumulated so largely as to make it all but impossiljle for men to 
 contiuue working, and to effect the required drainage it was determined 
 to drive a tunnel into the side of the hill called Mount Jones. Thirty 
 acres of ground were taken up, and the work of driving the txmnel 
 commenced, but it was soon found that the extent of ground secured by 
 the Company was not at all commensurate Avith their expenditure, and 
 gradually the area of land was increased to somewhere about 200 acres. 
 
 The labour of driving the tunnel was from the fii'st very great, and 
 no less than 800 feet of the total length was through solid granite, 
 which had to be removed by means of explosives. Expectations that 
 the granite would soon cease and the lal^our of excavating become easier 
 and less expensive were frequently followed by disappointment, and it 
 was only towards the end of 1879 that a favourable change in the 
 character of the ground was met with by the granite assuming a partially 
 decomposed form, and then the progress of the work was more speedy. 
 " During the past year," says a report of one of the local directors to the 
 Mining Department, in January, 1880, " vv'ork has been continuously 
 carried on in three working watches or shifts ; and some idea of the 
 solidity and density of the rock may be formed fi'om the fact that about 
 300 feet only have been tunnelled out in twelve months, at an expense 
 for laljour, material, and plant, of about £120 per month." 
 
 Undoubtedly the tunnel is a remarkable piece of work, credit- 
 able to gold-mining enterprise and deserving of success. To the Com- 
 pany who have so steadily persevered in their object it will probably 
 be the means of effecting all they desire, and to the community it is 
 a signal example of what is required if the mineral riches of the country 
 are to be fitly developed. It may be that extensive deposits of alluvial 
 gold are still to be found in parts of the Colony not yet carefully 
 prospected ; but the gnreat bulk of the mining of the future must be of 
 a description which can be treated only by a large expenditure of 
 capital and by unremitting patience and perseverance, with, it maybe in 
 some instances, a willingness to let the chances of profit go to those 
 who should inherit our projects as they do our possessions. Dividends 
 may come quickly or they may be very tardy in making an appearance ; 
 but what capitalists must do is first to determine upon the value of the 
 gi-ound proposed to be worked, and then to thoroughly test it by mining 
 in a manner scientific and complete ; and this is what the Long Tunnel 
 Co. appear to be doing. 
 
 The tunnel having been driven the necessary distance both for draining 
 the flat and for working the ground, a communication was effected 
 with one of the shafts in which washdirt was struck, and a tramway 
 
158 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 and other appliances for conveying tlie washdirt to the moutli of the 
 tunnel, and thence to the sluice-boxes, -were provided. At the time I 
 saw it the mine presented a very satisfactory appearance. The tram- 
 way was a permanent one, shod with half-round iron and laid on 
 sleepers, and it extended beyond the tunnel mouth some distance along 
 an embankment, at the end of which was a contrivance similar to 
 what is to be seen at collieries for the purpose of tipping the washdirt 
 into the receptacle which holds it before it i^asses into the sluice-boxes. 
 The water which was drained by means of the tunnel from the flat was 
 not allowed to run to waste, but was caught and stored in a dam, where 
 it was always ready for use ; and when sluicing operations were com- 
 menced there was a very efficient sup])ly of water available. 
 
 At that time the washdirt that was being sluiced showed a prospect 
 so good that a belief was entertained it would yield gold to the extent 
 of three ounces to the load or ton. The dirt was coming from an air 
 shaft, originally sunk by Roberts and party, and afterwards utilized by 
 the Long Tunnel Co. It was 4G feet deep, and had been opened out 
 by driving along the line of ground indicated by the washdirt, which 
 showed an average thickness of 9 inches, and above the vv^ashdirt 
 Avas a large deposit of auriferous drift — perhaps two or three feet in 
 depth — that it was believed would pay for sluicing. It was, of course, 
 at the time alluded to, impossible to say how far the washdirt so 
 recently discovered would run, because the Company were v/orking in 
 what is called virgin ground; but the local directors vrcre very sanguine 
 upon the point, and believed the Company had begun to reap the real 
 reward of their expenditure and their energy. In the second air-shaft 
 also washdirt had been struck, but with much water ; and before any- 
 thing could be done with the dirt found there the ground required to be 
 thoroughly drained. 
 
 Next in importance to the Long Tunnel Co., on the Rocky River 
 Gold-field, is the Bullion Gold Prospecting Co., formed for the purpose 
 of carrying on prospecting operations and testing the soundness of the 
 belief entertained with regard to the presence of payable gold in the 
 locality. The Company is a local one, and the necessary working 
 exj^enses are provided by weekly subscriptions, and by aid from the 
 Government out of a Parliamentary vote passed to encourage gold 
 ])rospecting and the discovery of payable gold deposits. This plan of 
 forming a Company from among those of the local residents who have a 
 little money to spare, and subscribing for the purpose of })aying tlie 
 expenses of practical miners who are engaged to examine the tract of 
 country believed to bo auriferous, and to bring to light, for the benefit 
 
The Northern Gold-fields. 159 
 
 of their employers, any deposit of gold that may exist there, is one 
 common to many places in the Colony, and it sometimes results very 
 pi'ofltably to the subscribers. It is, in fact, an undertaking based upon 
 the same principle as that recognized in ventui'es of larger degree, where 
 operations are extensi\e and the sujiply of capital unlimited, and exhibits 
 the same faith in the soundness of the speculation. Occasionally too- 
 confiding subscribers, who are altogether in the hands of the miners 
 whose wages they provide every week or cveiy month, are deceived by 
 the men they employ, and find that though the prospecting goes on no 
 benefit to the subscribers results, and yet gold is found ; but ordinary 
 precaution will prevent deception, and this kind of mining speculation 
 may yet do very much towards establishing new and perniauont mining 
 centres. 
 
 In the belief that the rich gold lead found and worked at Sydney 
 Flat more than twenty years ago extended through and beyond deep 
 ground abandoned in consequence of an excess of water and a heavy 
 and dangerous deposit of loose sand, the Bullion Company commenced 
 their })rospecting operations over three years ago, and since that time 
 have sunk no fewer than seven shafts. The method adopted in dealing 
 with the water and the sand, when in the process of sinking a shaft 
 these difiiculties were encountered, is deserving of attention. It is 
 described in a report forwarded to the Department of Mines : — • 
 
 " When the Bullion Company began operations, advantage was taken 
 of the soft granite which forms the rim of the deep lia:=in or hollow. 
 The first shaft reached the granite at a depth of CO feet, dry. It avus 
 then carried down a further depth of 41 feet in the foft granite, 
 the close greasy texture of which renders it almost impervious to water. 
 After a suflicient well-hole had b'een provided in the bottom of the shaft, 
 and the pump duly fixed for work, a tunnel Avas cut in the direction of 
 the dip, and test -holes bored upwards w^ith an auger. AYhen the water 
 and drift were tapped overhead, a tube 3 inches in diameter, per- 
 forated v.-ith ^-iuch holes about \\ inch apart, was driven into the 
 hole made by the auger, and stopped at the bottom with a wooden plug. 
 The tunnel was driven further until five similar tubes were fixed, and 
 the plugs Avere then withdrav.-n, and the water alloAved to flow in such 
 quantities as the pump could manage, or altogether stopped, at pleasure. 
 This experiment succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations of 
 the Company, as the water came away perfectly clear soon after the 
 tubes were opened, and a few pebbles settled around each hole at the 
 back of the tubes, and effectually prevented the fine loose sand from 
 coming through. A shaft was then sunk over the tunnel, and the 
 ground being thoroughly drained could be worked without trouble." 
 
160 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 Unfortunately for the Company the seventh shaft was declared by the 
 Long Tunnel Company to be vrithin the boundaries of their ground, and 
 the work of prospecting was stoi:)ped, in consequence, for some time. 
 Little daunted, hovrever, at the difficulties they had met with, the 
 Bullion Co. determined to continue their enterprise, and operations 
 were to be resumed by sinking the eighth shaft. 
 
 The claims held and worked by private individuals on the field are 
 rather numerous, and there are a number of Chinese, who are plodding 
 along, securing what they can; but in consequence of long-continued 
 dry weather, wliich made water very scarce and interfered greatly with 
 sluicing operations, the miners have not always been doing well. A 
 little gold is being fotind near Walcha, an agricultural township lying 
 40 miles south of Armidale, but the quantity obtained is very small 
 indeed, and mining operations there are carried on chiefly by a few 
 Chinamen. Ten miles south of Walcha is the Glen Morrison Gold-field. 
 A few years ago this field attracted the same notice that most other 
 gold-fields of that day did, and drew a considerable amount of money 
 from the pockets of people who expected to make fortunes, and, instead, 
 lost all they invested ; and now very little is heard of it. The drawback 
 at the field is the want of capital. It is understood that there are some 
 good reefs in the locality, but no money to properly work them. 
 
 In some other j^laces within the district of Armidale gold-mining is 
 carried on, and a certain quantity of gold is being obtained through the 
 year ; but in no place does it appear that the work is proving very 
 profitable, and, generally, matters on all these small fields are very dull. 
 There is a conviction that in several places gold exists in payable 
 quantities ; but those avIio are convinced of this, or who have possession 
 of the ground, have not the means to avail themselves of the riches 
 which they consider might, by the expenditure of capital, be easily 
 obtained ; and until something is done which will create a stir in the 
 mining pursuits of these localities, population will continue to be scanty 
 and the mining industry backward and devoid of interest. Even the 
 Rocky River Gold-field, one of the oldest and most extensively worked, 
 is considered as anything but exhausted. " I think there is a large 
 quantity of gold in this field," was the opinion exjji-essed to me by an 
 authority upon the subject ; " I do not think the field is, as yet, half 
 developed, but the workings will be very difficult and expensive, and 
 they can only be carried out by properly organized Companies, and by 
 the employment of a large amount of capital." 
 
The New England JDistrict. 163 
 
 CHAPTEU XXI. 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT. 
 
 TwEL"\'E or thirteen miles from Armidale, and on tlie Grafton Eoad, 
 some antimony mining lias been commenced with very good prospects. 
 Several parties of miners are at work there, and though the first appli- 
 cation to take up land Avas made very recently, a large sum of money 
 has been spent upon machinery, and other decided preparations have 
 been made to extensively work the antimony deposit discovered. This 
 mineral has been found to exist in a number of places through the Colony, 
 though in very few only is it being worked on any large scale ; but the 
 quantity of ore and metal exported has increased each year, and the 
 operations in connection with antimony-mining this year will probably 
 exceed anything of the kind hitherto attempted. 
 
 Altogether the mineral resources of the district of Armidale should 
 prove a source of considerable industry and wealth in the future. 
 Time must of course elapse before mining operations there are any more 
 extensive or permanent than they are elsewhere ; but the day must 
 come when capital and experience will be employed to the full extent of 
 their powers, and the NeAV England District become the home of a 
 large and thriving mining population, as well as of people who gain 
 their living by agriculture, pastoi'al pursuits, or general business. It 
 will be then that the robust nature of the country districts Avill begin 
 to rightly show itself, for the proper development of one industiy will 
 lead to the proper development of another, and gradually mines and 
 manufactures will extend their beneficent influences in every dii-ection. 
 
 But while New England is waiting for the time when the district 
 shall be very populous and very flourishing, through a Avise appreciation 
 of its natural resources on the part of men of ideas, of capital, and of 
 energy, there are industries Avhich might be established at the cost of 
 very little expenditure and very little trouble. One of these, and a 
 most important one, is that of fruit-growing and fruit-preserving. The 
 district is eminently suited for the growth of English fruits ; and though 
 this is Avell known, in only one case has any particular efibrt been made 
 to grow fruit extensively, and in that one case the industry has not 
 progressed to the point of preserving beyond what is required for home 
 use, though a large quantity of fruit is allowed each year to go to waste. 
 
164i The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 About 4 miles from Armidale there is a. fruit garden covering an 
 area of 100 acres, and containing perhaps 10,000 trees — principally 
 apple, pear, and cherry trees, but including many other varieties of 
 fruit-trees, and all likely to be very profitable if the fruit were pro- 
 perly utilized. The attention which the garden requires is not very 
 great — pruning at the proper season is the chief duty which the gi-ower 
 has to perform — and the profits from the sale of the fruit only are very 
 satisfactory. Packed in cases, the fruit is sent all round the district 
 and to Grafton and Sydney; "and in the worst years," said the pro- 
 prietor to me, " we can make out of the orchard about ,£500." 
 
 If some preserving establishment — such, for instance, as that at 
 Penrith, the tinned fruits of which are well known as having been con- 
 spicuous at most Intercolonial Exhibitions, — were started in or near 
 Armidale, with the object of purchasing the fruit which might be grown 
 in the district, and then preserving it for the Sydney and other markets, 
 an immense field of profitable industry might be opened out, and 
 Tasmanian or English jams become unknown upon our breakfast or 
 tea tables. In many places through New England fruit is grown upon 
 a small scale, but in no instance that I met with, except the one near 
 Armidale, was there any systematic operation and aim at large profits ; 
 and yet, to any one who took the matter in hand, it would be so profit- 
 able that there would be a large amount of money made out of it. 
 
 "VYith regard to land selection in the disti'ict, it appears to be just 
 'moving, though there is a considerable quantity of good land still 
 available. The virtues of this land, however, are greatly affected by 
 the distance at which it lies from a market, and not until the railway 
 has penetrated right through the district and on to Tenterfield can much 
 of the land which is now lying idle be worked to the advantage of 
 those who might select it. During the whole of 1878 the number of 
 selections taken up in the Lands Ofiice at Armidale were 793, or 
 121,368 acres, but in 1879, principally in consequence of the state of 
 the money market, they fell oflf greatly, and numbered no more than 
 263, or 31,184 acres. Since the beginning of 1880 selection has 
 improved again. There are certain restrictions under the nev/ Land Act 
 which were not enforced under the old, and this increase in the number 
 of selections taken up would be very satisfactory if it were not for the 
 fact that most of them have been to increase the present holdings, there 
 being on many of the old selections improvements sufficient to cover 
 an additional niimber of acres that might be selected and added to the 
 origiual area. It would appear from the information obtained at 
 Armidale that, so far as this district is concerned, the number of 
 
The Neio England District. 165 
 
 selection.s taken up by new selectors is, for some time at least, likely 
 to be fewer than formerly, in conse<.|uence of tlie time of residence 
 having been increased to five years. 
 
 From 60 to 90 miles beyond Armidale the locality of the New 
 England tin-mines is to be found. The central toMJ-n, to which should be 
 attracted much of the wealth that the mineral riches of the tin-fields pro- 
 duce, is Glen Innes ; but for some reason the town of Glen Innes is not 
 flourishing, and seems to be very dull and very slow. It ought to be one 
 of the busiest and most progressive of country towns, but though the tin- 
 mining imparted to it an impetus which sent it ahead wonderfully for 
 a time, all or most of that influence has passed away, and the only hope 
 for the town, until something else appears, is the railway both from 
 Armidale and to Grafton. The town and the district which immediately 
 surrounds it want a market, and until they are provided with a means 
 of easy and cheap communication with other places where they can sell 
 their produce profitably, or from which they are likely to attract to them- 
 selves visitors or residents who may be induced to assist in using to 
 advantage the valuable resources which the town and district in common 
 with others possess, the town will continue to be backward or slow- 
 going. It certainly might do moi'e now than it does ; the people of 
 the town and its vicinity do not appear to be conspicuous for too much 
 energy ; but situated in the midst of an extensive district, at a point 
 which can have no communication with other places except by means 
 of expensive coach travelling, or by slow, and in their way, almost 
 equally expensive teamsters' waggons, there is some excuse for the 
 population losing heart, and perhaps becoming indifierent and indolent. 
 The raihvay should do much towards changing Glen Innes and its 
 district, so that activity shall take the place of indifference, and pros- 
 perity that of a struggling existence ; and the sooner the railway reaches 
 that far into the western interior the better for everybody. Between 
 Armidale and Glen Innes there is a long stretch of country only thinly 
 populated, and much of it is good agricultural land, which can be 
 turned to advantage only when that which it will produce can be sent 
 away by railway train expeditiously and cheaply. 
 
 The journey by coach to Glen Innes is tedious and almost devoid of 
 interest until the high land called Ben Lomond is crossed, and the coach 
 descends the mountain side into a lengthy stretch of flat country known 
 as Stonehenge and the Beardy Plains. Before catcliing a glimpse from 
 the northern summit of Ben Lomond of the plains veiled in that 
 delightful blue haze which so beautifies a distant view, the road passes 
 over the Ben Lomond Range for many miles, with a dreary monotony 
 
166 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 of trees on either side, and only a roadside public-house and post office 
 here and there, and now and then a small strip of valley with a few 
 farms in its recesses to show that any one lives in the neighbourhood. 
 For 17 miles after leaving Armidale the coach is continually ascending; 
 and were it not that the ascent is very gradual almost all the way, 
 such an idea of mountain climbing would be rather startling, and would 
 seem to outvie anything that is done of that description elsewhere. But 
 this 17 miles of the joiirney lands the coach on the top of the i-ange, 
 and then there is the dreary distance across to the valley on the other 
 side and to Glen Innes. 
 
 In fine diy weather, such as was experienced previous to a recent 
 rainfall, Ben Lomond is bathed in a warm sunshine and a clear bracing 
 atmosphere ; but in the depths of a winter which is accompanied by rain 
 or snow the mountain is a terror to northern travellers. The weather 
 becomes intensely cold, and, the snow falling very heavily and drifting, 
 the journey is unpleasant in the extreme, and dangerous, and travellers 
 who have undergone such an experience shrug their shoulders and shake 
 their heads ominously whenever they refer to it. Stonehenge received 
 its name from the circumstance that there exists on the plains, at this 
 particular place, several groups of rocks which are supposed to bear a 
 resemblance to the Druidical remains on Salisbury Plain. They are 
 huge granite boulders, which by a stretch of the imagination may be 
 regarded as relics of ancient temples and altars, for they are very 
 curiously situated, and altogether present a very singular appearance, 
 but they are probably no more than portions of rock from which the soil 
 has in the course of time been washed away, and which have then been 
 left standmg or lying in their present positions. 
 
 The Beardy Plains are very flat, and the river from which the plains 
 apparently take their name sometimes overflows its banks, and together 
 with accumulations of rain-water causes much of the land to be flooded ; 
 and the frequent recurrence of floods may have produced the appearances 
 which led to one part of the plains being called Stonehenge. 
 
 When journeying to Glen Innes in the winter it is dusk by the time 
 Stonehenge is passed, and night befoi-e Glen Innes is reached. Nothing 
 can be seen of the town till the morning ; and then there is the usual 
 main street, with, in some places, large and well-built stores and hotels, 
 and there are the ordinary side and back streets, containing inferior 
 buildings, and these in some cases very scattered. The town dates its 
 prosperity from the opening of the tin-mines ; and its inhabitants regard 
 it as the most central town in New England, and one that is sure to 
 become the most important town in the Northei'n districts. It may 
 
The Neio England District. 167 
 
 progress tliat far, but there are no signs of it at present. There are no 
 industries of any note in the town ; and, though there are two flour-mills 
 there, they appear to do very little, and Armidale flour is the popular 
 article in and around Glen Innes. Before the tin-mining commenced 
 the place was sustained by the few station properties that surrounded it. 
 Then, no sooner did the mining mania break out than people rushed to 
 the place in the belief that fortunes could be made in business, with or 
 without capital ; and, entering into obligations which they afterwards 
 could not fulfil, many of them eventually drifted into what was little 
 better than a struggling existence, and they had not cleared themselves 
 of their difiiculties when a recent depression felt all over the Colony 
 put in an aj^pearance. 
 
 The farmers of the district are credited with having committed a 
 serious blunder two or three years ago, which evenHhe difiiculty they 
 experience in sending their produce to one place or another for sale 
 cannot excuse. This blunder was neither more nor less than allowing 
 the farmers of Warwick, Queensland, to send their produce to Vegetable 
 Creek, the centre of the tin-fields, and only 30 miles, from Glen Innes, 
 and so undersell the local farmers. The Queensland farmers were com- 
 pelled to send what they had for sale 130 miles ; the Glen Innes farmers 
 to reach the same place had to travel less than a fourth of that distance. 
 Maize, hay, oats, and other produce came from Warwick ; and though 
 all these were carried upon the teams which afterwards returned to War- 
 wick loaded with tin — the farmers, by that means, securing an advantage 
 that would not be gained by specially employing teams for the convey- 
 ance of agricultural produce — yet, under any circumstances, the proceed- 
 ing was one which should have aroused the local farmei's to a sense of 
 their position and a knowledge of the importance of guarding their in- 
 terests. The incident is valuable as showing how, in some cases, a want 
 of exertion on the part of local producers will bring upon them evils 
 which some pei'sons might endeavour to prove arise from the absence 
 of restrictions against introducing into the Colony anything produced 
 outside of it. 
 
 During the period of the mining mania there were many attempts to 
 float bogus Companies, and people not infrequently gave absurdly high 
 prices for land Avhich was believed to contain tin, and which turned out 
 to be valueless. This tended to create a depression in Glen Innes, and 
 then the Banks began to press those they had accommodated when the 
 town looked flourishing and prospects of a continuance of prosperity 
 were apparently all that could be desired. But notwithstanding the 
 fact that the town has fallen away into a very dull condition, there are 
 
16S The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 valuable resources about the district which prevent the residents from 
 losing faith in the place, and they are confident that its future will be a 
 very satisfactory one. The land is suitable for farming purposes of all 
 descriptions ; rust is said to be almost entirely unknown ; and if a first- 
 class flour- mill were erected, the town and neighbourhood, it is consi- 
 dered, might at once be supplied with all the flour they want, for many 
 of the selectors have commenced to grow wheat, and, if they continue 
 wheat cultivation, will require a place where they can sell the wheat or 
 have it ground. 
 
 Glen Innes is the town that originated the idea of giving a prize of 
 £1,000 at a race meeting. The movement had its origin in a desire to 
 do something which would attract attention to the district, and the first 
 year the project was tried it appeared to be a great success ; but the 
 next year when it was repeated the losses were heavy, the race club was 
 thrown into confusion, and there are people in Glen Innes who say the 
 whole thing did the town far more harm than good. 
 
 How long it will be before the town is connected by railway with the 
 towns lower doAvn the country towards Newcastle, and by another line 
 of railway with Grafton, it is diflScult to say. The extension of the 
 Great Northern Raihvay to Glen Innes and Tenterfield has been autho- 
 rized, but the line between Grafton and Glen Innes, or its neighbour- 
 hood, is still a subject of speculation. Sooner or later this line must be 
 constructed, for it is of great importance to both towns, and Grafton is 
 the nearest and the natural coast outlet for Glen Innes and other places 
 in its neighbourhood. To Grafton most of the tin ore and the smelted 
 tin produced at Vegetable Creek is sent, and all products of the Glen 
 Innes district which it is necessary to send away by sea must go the 
 same way, for it is the shortest distance and the best route. 
 
Glen Innes and its neigliboiirJiood . 171 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 GLEN INNES AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 The climate at Glen Innes and, in fact all over the district, is magnifi- 
 cent, and the winter season is especially charming to all who love cold 
 mornings and nights, and a bright genial sunshine through the hours of 
 the day. Snow falls occasionally, and of course rain ; but generally 
 winter is attended by nothing worse than frost and ice, and these beautify 
 everything. To see the fields in their white covering when the sun is 
 slowly rising — to listen to the musical notes of the magpies, perched on 
 some of the fences, or looking for their morning meal where the plough 
 has been — to observe how eveiy pond and every corner of a stream, 
 where the water is away from the current, is thickly coated with 
 curiously formed geometrical figures in ice — and to listen as the feet of 
 horses and the wheels of vehicles crash the ice as they pass over it, are 
 experiences altogether new to a stranger in the district, and very inter- 
 esting. While I was in the town it was difficult to pour from a water-jug 
 in the morning sufficient water to wash one's face, and when that which 
 was to be obtained from the jug was turned into a basin little lumps of ice 
 formed instantly all round the basin rim. It was no uncommon thing 
 for a jug to be brought to the coach from the bar of a roadside inn with 
 its contents so frozen that the ice had to be broken by a violent thrust 
 before any water could be obtained from the vessel, and even the milk- 
 jug at a breakfast table was sometimes in almost the same condition. 
 
 Probably if the resources of the district were more widely known, far 
 more interest would be taken in its welfare, and capitalists would turn 
 their attention to the rich mineral deposits that exist there. It is upon 
 the mineral riches of the district that the townspeople of Glen Innes 
 believe their progress and prosperity in the future chiefly depend. The 
 principal portion of the rich tin-fields of New England are within 30 
 miles of the place, though, unfortunately for Glen Innes, the town at 
 present reaps very little benefit from the tin-mining, for at Vegetable Creek 
 there is every provision for business, botli in regard to the purchase of 
 stores and banking transactions, and the tin traffic between the mines 
 there and the seaboard passes by Glen Innes at a distance so great as to 
 prevent the town receiving any advantage from it. But, in addition to 
 the deposits of tin ore, the district is understood to be rich in gold-bearing 
 quartz reefs, and there are also such minerals as bismuth, nickel, and 
 silver. The last-named, however, is principally near Tenterfield, 
 
172 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 Very little is being clone with the gold, for, like the reefs in many 
 other places, it requires capital to work them, and the attention of 
 capitalists in their disposition to invest money has not yet been attracted 
 to any particular extent in this direction. Glen Innes looks forward to 
 the time when there will be sufficient enterprise and money available to 
 work the reefs properly, but as yet there is little sign of that happy 
 period's approach. About 20 miles to the eastward of Glen Innes 
 there is a gold reef which, I was informed, had been taken up over and 
 over again dui-ing seven or eight years ; but the men who usually secure 
 it are prospectors with no means of theii- own to work it, and when they 
 happen to be fortunate enough to obtain any promise of capital they 
 generally quarrel with the capitalist, and the negotiations then fall 
 through. Another effort to work the reef is being made, and at the 
 date this information was supplied it was believed the attempt would be 
 successful. That the venture is a good one is evident from the circum- 
 stance that, according to the accounts given of the richness of the reef, 
 it is believed it will run about 20 ounces to the ton. The situation 
 of the reef is at the Gulf, Oakwood ; and the opinion of the Warden, 
 based upon information he has received in his official capacity, is that 
 capital might make this place one of the richest in the Colony. Nearer 
 to Glen Innes, and within about seventeen miles of the town — at Kings- 
 gate, or, more properly, on the Kingsgate Run — a bismuth mine is being 
 worked, — the only one in the Colony. The deposit is apparently 
 imlimited, and the percentage of metal high ; but the prospects of this 
 mine are not so good as they might be, for there is said to be very little 
 demand just now for bismuth, and any large quantity put into the 
 market would only bring down the price of the mineral considerably. 
 The nickel has been found in small quantities. 
 
 In and about a town like Glen Innes, situated far in the interioi", and 
 but a short distance from where mining is carried on, the population is 
 almost certain to contain individuals who, borne along by the eccentric 
 current of their lives, have drifted from place to place until an 
 obstruction with an attractiveness of one kind or another about it has 
 caused them to find a temporary resting-place, and who become con- 
 spicuous in the town and district for some j^eculiarity which gives them 
 a name and reputation. Every town in the Colony has, in fact, 
 among its population, persons remarkable for something in tins way. 
 Perhaps you will find an old greybeard with bent shoulders and 
 shrunken limbs who remembers the days when half the ground now 
 covered by the shops and residences of Sydney was untouched bush, and 
 who knows the history of everybody occu2:)ying any position of pi'omi- 
 nence in the colonial world. It is very curious to watch him chuckle 
 
Glen Bines and its neighbourhood. 173 
 
 over the thoughts of okl days, and Avhat he could tell if he chose, and to 
 hear him speak of the fathers of prominent people of to-day as though 
 everybody in times gone by were boon companions. Pictures in the 
 history of the Colony are drawn by him of a kind that are not to be 
 seen in books, and, in its way, a truer history of New South Wales can 
 be gathered from the mumbled conversation of an old man like this 
 than can be found in anything that has been printed. 
 
 But as noticeable as he are the number of people from England — 
 " younger sons" and others — who roam about the countiy toAvias, many 
 of them living precariously, but all imbued with the idea that they can 
 do better in the Colonies than they can at home. Some of them manage 
 to get into the Civil Service, and, according to their ability and the 
 influence which they can bring to bear, are assisted by promotion and 
 higher salaries. But young men of this description appear to be far 
 more numerous than are the openings for their emiiloyment in the 
 positions they seek to fill ; and sometimes their mode of life here 
 indicates that they were sent from England, not so much with the 
 object of securing their advancement in the Colony as of getting them 
 out of the way. 
 
 The worst characteristic of many of this class is the apparent con- 
 tempt with which many of them look upon the country and the people 
 who find them the means of livelihood. " Why, what do you think we 
 come out to the Colonies for," I heard one say to an acquaintance in a 
 conversation ; •' do you think we are such fools as to come for the 
 purpose of benefiting you 1 We come here because they won't have us 
 at home, and when we have got all we can out of you, we'll go back, 
 and go somewhere else." 
 
 Not a few of the men who fought in the Zulu war have found 
 their way hither, I met one making for the railway works between 
 Tamworth and Armidale, and he could tell all about Isandlwhana, 
 Zlobane Mountain, and Gingilhovo. Scattered over the country, men 
 of that kind might be valuable in promoting a martial spirit among 
 those with whom they associate, for battles are better appreciated 
 from the lips of a soldier who has been engaged in them than from 
 any other source of information ; and this young trooper could tell 
 of many a stirring incident connected with the disasters to the British 
 arms in Zululand. But, as a rule, these men are little better than 
 rovers, and this ono, since leaving his troop at the Cape, when the 
 war terminated, had been to England, and had come out here with the 
 intention of remaining only until something more enticing attracted him 
 elsewhere. 
 
Tin-mining, 175 
 
 CHAPTEU XXIII. 
 
 TIN-MINING. 
 
 By far the busiest place in that part of New England where Glen 
 Innes is conspicuous is Vegetable Creek, the centre of the tin-mining 
 industry. In the extent and value of the minei'al which is obtained 
 there the plac j is as profitable as a rich gold-field, and the town and 
 its neiglibourhood contain several curious features which, while not 
 wholly unknown in other mining localities, are special characteristics of 
 tin-mining. The heaps of dirt representing worked out ground, and the 
 long irregular direction in which these stretch as they indicate the lead 
 of washdirt in the old river bed where the tin rested until unearthed 
 by the miner, are similar to what ai-e to be seen on most other fields 
 where mining has been carried on ; hut the population is not what is 
 usually met with. The quantity of ore obtained, and the method of 
 dealing with it from the time it is separated from the sand with which 
 it is found until it is sent to the smelting furnace, are different from 
 what is found in mining generally, and the town has not quite the same 
 aspect that other mining towns have. 
 
 A large proportion of the population are Chinamen, and they form a very 
 industrious and interesting community on the tin-fields. It would, in fact, 
 be difficult for many of the tin mines to be worked with any prospect of 
 profit if the Chinese were not there to take them in hand. Even the 
 European tin-miners admit this, for the Chinese can make niining pro- 
 fitable when Europeans cannot, and there is a lai-ge extent of ground 
 whex'e tin ore is obtained which would probably be untouched if Chinese 
 were not employed to work it. In no other industry in the Colony are 
 there so many Chinese employed, and there is a constant succession of 
 them in the work, for as they save sufficient money they return to 
 China, and others come and take their places. In this there does not 
 appear to be any great invasion of the rights of Europeans, for, as far 
 as regards that point, every one concerned in tin-mining seems to look 
 upon the matter with something like indifierence. 
 
 There is an idea prevalent that the Chinese being able to live A'ery 
 cheaply can subsist upon very much lower wages than Europeans can, 
 and are therefore content with smaller returns from the mines. But 
 this idea is, to some extent, a mistaken one. The huts or camps of the 
 Chinese at Vegetable Creek are as comfortable as those of the lower 
 
176 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 class of European miners or labourers, and far more attention is paid 
 to their dietary scale than is met with among the Europeans. The real 
 reason why the Chinese seem to be able to succeed in mining upon 
 ground that yields but little of the mineral searched for is to be seen in 
 their methodical habits, their thrift, and their constant and persevering 
 industry. Probably very few Europeans work as regularly, and, in the 
 end, as well as the Chinese do under the system adopted amongst them 
 at Vegetable Creek, A European can do more work in a given time, 
 for in that respect he is able to show himself the stronger and the better 
 workman ; but he will not exhibit the same tractable plodding spirit, 
 nor will he take the same care of his earnings. Previous to the employ- 
 ment of Cliinese, as at the. present time, some of the largest of the tin 
 mines did not pay ; and now the proprietors of several, having availed 
 themselves of the opportunity offered by the presence of Chinese on the 
 field, have let the mines to the Chinese on tribute — but in all cases first 
 submitting their work to tender — and they are said to be paying very 
 well. 
 
 Tin-mining in the Colony appears to have before it a future very 
 similar to what is anticipated with regard to minmg for gold. The 
 surface tin having been pretty well exhausted, miners are now engaged 
 in deep sinking, and when the yield from the washdirt found at a con- 
 sidei'able depth comes to an end, there are the tin lodes or the reefs to 
 work. For this, much capital and patience will be required. It will 
 probably be some time before the yield of stream tin is finished. There 
 have been some extraordinary finds, not only at Vegetable Creek, but 
 in the neighbourhood of Cope's Creek, near Inverell, and the richness of 
 the washdirt has been remarkable. Much of it has been black with 
 tin. A handful of dirt taken from any part of the heaps formed near 
 the mouths of some of the shafts would require little more than a 
 breath or two to blow the sand away and leave the palm of the hand 
 covered with tin. 
 
 Large sums of money have l^een made on the tin-fields, and large 
 sums have been lost ; for, in the game of speculation which has attended 
 mining of almost every kind in this Colony, there has been a mania to 
 grow suddenly rich by mining for tin as there has been by mining for 
 gold. Even now one hears little or nothing at a place like Vegetable 
 Creek except what has reference to having "struck tin," or to "deep 
 ground," "alluvial," " basalts," or " new fields "; but outside the town 
 itself no such interest as that of years gone l)y is manifested, nor, 
 indeed, v/ith the recollection of past experiences would sxich an interest 
 now be possible. 
 
Tin-mining. 177 
 
 Since the early part of 1880, when the price of tin increased con- 
 siderably, there has been quite a revival in tin-mining. Land that 
 previously would scarcely be looked at has been taken up and worked ; 
 and old workings which had already yielded a considerable quantity of 
 the mineral, but had been almost abandoned, because the rate at which 
 tin was selling made profits in these places too small to be properly 
 remunerative, have been again taken in hand and mined thoroughly. 
 According to the system of tin-mining here the industry is greatly 
 affected by the market price at which tin can be sold ; and in the early 
 part of 1879 tin-mining languished considerably in consequence of the 
 market price falling to a figure which not only hampered operations at 
 existing mines, but hindered to a large extent the efforts made to discover 
 new dei^osits of ore by prospecting. But an improvement in the London 
 market soon set things going again, and a steady increase in the price 
 made everything on the tin-fields very flourishing. 
 
 It is the opinion of most persons who are interested in tin-mines that, 
 so long as a good price for the tin is maintained, tin-mining will continue 
 to progress, and that any material reduction in the price will interfere 
 with mining operations seriously ; but as the tin-mining industry has 
 not been developed to a greater extent than is to be found in mining for 
 other minerals, it is more than probable that with the best and most 
 complete appliances, and with plenty of capital to keep the industry 
 going, work could be carried on very profitably at a much less selling 
 price for tin than is now ruling. The industry itself is not much more 
 than nine years old, the tin-fields having been opened in 1872 ; and 
 though in both shallow woi'kings and deep sinking a large amount of 
 capital has been expended, and in several instances valuable machinery 
 provided, as a whole the system of mining is not elaborate, and much 
 remains to be done before it can be at all complete. . Then, as to the 
 extent of the deposits of ore — with the exception of the sinking for deep 
 leads, which is an undertaking of comparatively recent date, tin-mining 
 has since its commencement been little more than surfacing ; new 
 deposits, or continuations of known existing ones, are frequently being 
 discovered. There are many reasons for believing that other extensive 
 finds will yet be made; and altogether there is a wide field for future 
 enterprise and the investment of capital, and also for the employment 
 of labour. 
 
 There are numbers of places lying back from Vegetable Creek, and on 
 what is known as the table-land, where tin has been found, and where it 
 is said that Em-opean labour could not be employed with the market 
 price of tin at £40, and that if the selling price were to fall to £50 or 
 
 M 
 
178 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 ,£60 it wovilcl in a considerable degree stop both mining and prospecting ; 
 but there are ways of working these table-land deposits which practical 
 mining managers might make much less expensive than others would 
 think necessary or be able to do, and at the same time advantageous to 
 European miners, as well as profitable to those who furjiish the capital 
 for developing the mines. 
 
 Though tin-mining operations commenced rather earlier than the date 
 set down as that of the opening of the tin-fields, it was about the year 
 1872 that any of the mines began to be worked profitably, and then the 
 industry was conducted upon a very small scale. Some of the first 
 deposits of ore were discovered in the neighbourhood of Bendemeer, and 
 at that time the ore was thought to be black sand mixed with gold ; but 
 its real nature and value being ascertained, a number of mines were 
 opened, and mining operations were for a time carried on vigorously, 
 though in the majority of cases, unfortunately for the miners, the work 
 was not profitable, in consequence of the richness of the ground having 
 been over-estimated. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the opening of the mines near Bendemeer, 
 or not long afterwards, a large extent of land was taken up for tin- 
 mining purposes in the neighbourhood of Watson's Creek, about 20 
 miles west of Bendemeer, and there the principal mine, and that which 
 was worked most profitably, was one called the Giant's Den, in the 
 granite ridges, at the head of the creek. Then came information of tin 
 ore having been found near the Queensland border, and very quickly 
 mines Avere opened around Stanthorpe, some of them proving very rich, 
 and yielding very large sums of money to those who held them. The market 
 price of tin was then very much higher than it is now, for at that time 
 it increased in London to £140 or £150 per ton ; but the several prices 
 ruling during the period referred to was about £1 per unit, 75 per cent., 
 ore being worth £75 per ton. After the Stanthorpe mines came some 
 discoveries in the neighbourhood of Dundee, and almost at the same time 
 the deposits at Cope's Creek, near Inverell, were brought to light. The 
 Vegetable Creek discoveries followed quickly afterwards. The mines 
 that were opened near Inverell were worked on a large scale, and with 
 very good results, and the same course was adopted with equally good if 
 not better returns at Vegetable Creek. Many of the original mines 
 have since been worked out, but that circumstance refers only to the 
 subject of the alluvial mining at or near the surface ; in the days when 
 Cope's Creek and Vegetable Creek were new as mining centres deep 
 leads were not talked about, and were entirely unknown. 
 
Tin-mining. 179 
 
 From the mines at Vegetable Creek an enoi'mous quantity of tin ore 
 lias been taken, and the place may be regarded as the centre of the 
 richest discoveries of the mineral. For about 7 or 8 miles along 
 the bed of the creek, and between Tent Hill and what are called the 
 Grampians, the alluvial deposits were worked, and the richest deposits 
 were found at the head of the creek proper, and near the present 
 township. The yield of ore was in some cases very large. 
 
 It was about the end of 1873 that the first deep lead was discovered 
 at Vegetable Creek, and it was found on the property of the Vegetable 
 Creek Tin-mining Company. Traced from the surface to below the 
 pipeclay, it gradually made its way into deep ground which evidently 
 was the bed of an extinct creek, and for a distance of about 500 yards 
 it yielded a large quantity of ore, the lead being patchy here and thei-e, 
 but culminating in a very heavy deposit at a depth of about 50 feet 
 from the surface, and under basaltic formation. Ultimately this deposit 
 Avas worked out, but the deep lead continued from the ground of the 
 Vegetable Creek Tin-mining Company through an adjoining property, 
 where it was worked very profitably, and into what is known as Rose 
 Valley, where the deposit became poor, and the traces of tin very 
 slight. But very soon another deep lead was discovered at Rose Valley, 
 and tliough it did not prove very profitable it gave an impetus to further 
 searches, and a third deep lead was opened in the basaltic hills imme- 
 diately south of Graveyard Creek. The new lead ran parallel with one 
 of the others, and about a mile and a quarter from where the deep 
 dejDosit was first struck, but separated from that by an apparently 
 impenetrable granite range. This circumstance showed that the new 
 lead was a distinct run ; and during the time which has passed since it 
 was first worked a continuation of it has been traced from the Graveyaixl 
 Creek to what are called the Y "Waterholes, a watercourse of recent 
 formation that seems to have intersected the old bed in which the 
 original deposit of ore was found. 
 
 Wlxile these discoveries were being made and oiDerations for the 
 purpose of procuring the tin ore were going on, several other deposits 
 of tin were found in difierent places, but nothing appears to have 
 equalled in importance the further discoveries of deep leads which in 
 1879 were made in Rose Valley. Extraordinarily rich as many of the 
 mines had been, people were beginning to think that the field had seen 
 its best days, and that before very long nothing but the lode tin would 
 remain for further enterprise in tin-mining, and a great dulness was 
 creeping over the industry when efibrts put foi-th very perseveringly 
 to test deeper ground than any tried previously were suddenly crowned 
 
180 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 "with splendid success. Another exceedingly lich lead was discovered at 
 a depth of considerably over 100 feet, and hope reviving amongst the 
 miners generally one party after another worked on until they struck 
 either a continuation of the same lead or found some other ; and now 
 Vegetable Creek is as flourishing as ever. 
 
 In the early days of the deep lead mining some deep leads were 
 discovered at Kangaroo Flat, which is about 12 miles in a north- 
 westerly dii'ection from Vegetable Creek ; and beyond this locality 
 there is a mine known as the Enterprise Mine, which is working a deep 
 lead showing a great quantity of wash. Cope's Creek and its neigh- 
 boux'hood were also, years ago, places where some deep lead mining was 
 carried on, but those operations were of a very limited character, and it 
 is only recently that deep leads have been discovered in that district to 
 any considerable extent. The success which followed the deep sinking 
 in the vicinity of Vegetable Creek led to the belief that equally good 
 results might be obtained in the district of Cope's Creek, and some 
 very good discoveries of alluvial tin have been made by deep sinking at 
 a place called Stannifer, near the old Stannifer mine, which in the 
 early mining days of 1872 was worked for surface tin. Probably the 
 feeders which deposited the surface tin were the feeders of the deep 
 leads that have been discovered, and from the general appearance of the 
 country, coupled with the fact that the creeks in the neighbourhood 
 have contained very rich alluvial deposits of tin ore, it is believed that 
 tlie deep leads, which undoubtedly should exist in the basaltic hills, 
 will also prove very valuable. A great many miners are prospecting 
 between Middle Creek and the Ponds, and some have struck very rich 
 tin there. 
 
 Not only have the discoveries of deep leads at Vegetable Creek and 
 at Stannifer relieved the dulness which was begimaing to affect tin- 
 mining, but they have given rise to the opinion that the industry is as 
 yet only in its earliest infancy. The deep leads, it is considered, will 
 become more and more developed, and prove a source of profit for many 
 years to come, and when they are exhausted, there are the tin lodes, 
 many of which exist in the districts, to fall back upon. Of course the 
 length of time during which the deep leads will yield payable quantities 
 of tin can only be conjectured, but as there are still large tracts of tin- 
 bearing land either only partially worked or not worked at all it is 
 probable that other valuable discoveries will yet be made, and there are 
 many indications of the leads now being worked holding good for a 
 considerable period. The deep mining at Stannifer has not long since 
 commenced, for it is only a little while ago that the leads were struck there ; 
 
Tin'mining. 181 
 
 and at Vegetable Creek miners do not by any means think they are 
 likely to soon come to the end of the rich alluvial deposits they have 
 opened out. 
 
 If only the price of tin will continue remunerative, and the neces- 
 sary supply of water be always at hand, there is every reason to 
 believe that tin-mining will steadily go ahead ; and when it ari'ives at 
 that point where the working miner will have to give way to the 
 capitalist, who must come forwai'd with more enterprise and determina- 
 tion than hitherto has been shown in this direction, there need be no 
 stoppage of operations nor decrease of advantages to either the tin- 
 mining population or to the Colony. " It is easy enough to see the end of 
 the present main creeks and surface deposits, which are of comparatively 
 recent formation," says an authority at Cope's Creek, "but who will 
 venture to estimate the extent of deposits contained in the old river beds 
 and valleys now completely covered over by immense masses of basaltic 
 rock 1***1 have no hesitation in asserting the opinion that the 
 development of these old leads will reveal richer and more extensive 
 deposits than ever yet discovered." " And," said another and even 
 better authority at Vegetable Creek to me, on the subject of lode 
 mining, " there are many lodes containing very rich tin, but they have 
 never been developed, and though they will require a large expenditure 
 of capital, they will eventually be the wealth of this part of the Colony." 
 
 The tribute system upon which most of the mines are now worked is 
 one by which a party of men, Europeans or Chinamen, contract to get 
 the ore from the mine for so much per ton, paid to them by the pro- 
 prietoi'S of the mine which the working party have obtained on tribute ; 
 and while the plan is very profitable to the proprietors it is fairly 
 remunerative to the tributors, and in some instances they do very well. 
 According to the statistics given by the Warden for the year 1879, out of 
 a woi'king population at Vegetable Creek of 1,022 — 663 Europeans and 
 359 Chinese — 98 Europeans and 250 Chinese worked on tribute, at an 
 average price per ton of £22 15s., and 565 Europeans and 109 Chinese 
 worked for wages at average i-ates of 7s. 6d. per day for Europeans and 
 25s. per week for Chinese ; but since then the working population has 
 considerably increased, and the tribute system has very much extended, 
 the practice of working the mines on wages being of course proportion- 
 ately reduced. During 1880 the tribute system was applied wherever 
 practicable, at an average of £27 per ton, and, says the "Warden in his 
 report for the year, " Under this system the mines are cheaply and 
 expeditiously worked in the interests of the owners ; and as the 
 tributors themselves sometimes net large sums the system is equally 
 popular with the working men." 
 
182 The Industries of New South IVates. 
 
 If it had not been for the tribute system not nearly so much mining 
 would have been done ; and many persons say that if it had not been 
 for the Chinese — who are the principal tributors — mining operations 
 would at one time have been greatly impeded, and possibly brought to a 
 complete standstill. In every direction these parties of Chinamen can 
 be seen at work, each man having his allotted task, aaid all exhibiting 
 unremitting industry. Some are employed stripping the surface earth 
 which lies above the washdirt, others wheel away the wash to the sluice- 
 boxes, others again attend to the sluicing, and a fourth contingent work 
 a kind of treadmill which keeps a Californian pump in motion, and 
 supplies the sluice-boxes with the necessary stream of water. 
 
 The increase in the number of Chinese employed in tin-mining 
 has been very large. The total population of the mining district of 
 Veo-etable Creek is estimated now at about 3,000, and of male adults 
 there are about 1,000 Europeans and over 1,000 Chinamen. In the Cope's 
 Creek district there are about 1,500 Europeans and 700 Chinese. Some-- 
 times the Chinese purchase land for mining purposes from Europeans. 
 Many of the European miners do nothing but prospect new ground, and 
 if they find a payable spot they either endeavour to get Chinese to work 
 the ground on tribute or they sell it to them. The " boss" Chinaman, 
 as he is called, or the head of a party, will probably refuse to work 
 the ground on tribute., but he will express his willingness to purchase it, 
 and he will perhaps give for it as much as £20, though the Europeans 
 may have scarcely put a shovel into the ground. 
 
 It is a recognized belief that a mine which will not pay Europeans 
 will pay Chinese ; and though this conviction is to some extent an 
 erroneous one, it appears to suit both classes of miners, and it certainly 
 has the effect of opening out a much larger extent of ground than under 
 other circumstances might be worked, and of making the tin-mining 
 industry much more brisk. This can be seen in the increased quantity 
 of tin ore that has been won during the present year, compared with 
 the returns published as the yield for last year, and also in some degree 
 in the improved condition of the townships which have been established 
 on the tin-fields. 
 
 Alluvial tin-mining is very much the same as alluvial gold-mining, 
 but the tin deposits may last a longer time before being worked out, 
 for the reason that they are generally found in larger watercourses or 
 extinct river beds, and payable tin deposits seem to be very numerous. 
 An opinion has existed at Vegetable Creek that, from changes which 
 have been met with in the appearance of the basalt as sinking has 
 proceeded, it is very possible there are distinct layers of basalt and 
 
Tin-mining. 183 
 
 distinct beds of tin — that more tlian one volcanic disturbance lias 
 occurred in tlie tin districts, possibly producing, as the Mining Regis- 
 trar at Vegetable Creek suggests, two flows of lava, and leading to the 
 conclusion that deep sinking through the hard basaltic bottom may 
 brinf to light deposits of tin equal in richness to if not richer than 
 any yet discovered. The prospects that such an idea opens for the 
 future are of such importance as to fully justify the interest which is 
 felt in the operations of some of the tin-miners at Vegetable Creek 
 Avho are testing this question. 
 
 The discovery of the deep leads, which might fairly be said to have 
 been accidental, has caused tin-miners to bestir themselves in many 
 ways; and rich and extensive as the deep deposits now being worked 
 appear to be, sanguine expectations are entertained of further valuable 
 discoveries. So long as the price of tin remains at such a figure that 
 prospecting as well as actual tin-mining can be carried on profitably, 
 plenty of activity and perseverance will be forthcoming for the work. 
 One find leads to another. Cope's Creek proper has been worked out 
 as completely as is the main portion of Vegetable Creek ; but the 
 discovery of the deep leads in the neighbourhood of Vegetable Creek 
 attracted parties of men to Stannifer, in the neighbourhood of Cope's 
 Creek, to prospect for deep leads there ; and, supported principally by 
 Vegetable Creek people, they persevered until they found what they 
 were searching for. And so it will probably be with other places. 
 The want of water is a serious hindrance to operations on the tin-fields, 
 and at times the scarcity considerably reduces the yield of tin. 
 
 Only when sufficient rain falls can sluicing be carried on constantly 
 and with proper effect at all the mines. The proprietors of the larger 
 mines have, at very considerable expense, constructed dams for the 
 purpose of having by them, for use at all times, a sufficient water 
 supply, and have fitted up expensive pumping machinery and box- 
 fluming for conveying the water from the dams to the sluice-boxes, 
 or wherever else it may be required ; but many of the mines are 
 dependent upon less certain provision for sluicing purposes, and in 
 some cases cai-ts have to be employed to convey the washdirt from one 
 mine where there is no water to another where a supply is preserved, 
 in a dam. In those instances where the dams are extensive and the 
 machinery and box-fluming — or canvas piping, which is sometimes 
 used — is more than ordinarily elaborate, the pumping apparatus lifts 
 the water to a considerable height, and by an ingenious method of 
 ground watercoui'ses the water, after having been conveyed along a 
 veiy lengthy extent of fluming, and after having done the work 
 
184 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 required of it in separating tlie tin from tlie washdirt, runs back into 
 the dams and is used again. The fluming is erected on wooden scaf- 
 folding or staging, at the height from the ground necessary to cause 
 the water to flow where it is wanted ; and, except in one or two 
 instances in connection with mining for gold at the Turon, where the 
 object has been to convey water fi'om one side of the river to the 
 other for skiicing purposes there, this method of providing mines with 
 water is, as far as I have seen, peculiar to tin-mining. 
 
 It has frequently been remarked by people in the tin districts that 
 a Company formed for the purpose of providing a sufficient water 
 siqiply would reap far larger dividends than the xichest mine will 
 pay, but no attempt is made to form such a Company, nor in any other 
 way enter into such a speculation ; in fact, the speculative spirit is 
 as cautious and devoid of enterprise in regard to water supply in 
 mining districts as it is, as far as the supply of capital is concerned, 
 in regard to mining itself. The admission of a wealthy Adelaide firm 
 into the Company who own one of the largest mines at Vegetable 
 Creek led some years ago to the expenditure of a considerable sum 
 of money on the construction of a tramway to convey the washdirt 
 from the mine to the Sovereign River, some miles distant ; but if the 
 same amount of capital had been expended on bringing the water to 
 the creek, it would probably have benefited not only the mine whose 
 owners were more particularly interested in the matter, but all or most 
 of the other mines, the proprietors of which would gladly have paid for 
 the advantage they derived from the wise enterprise of their neighbours. 
 As matters were conducted no one was benefited, and the expenditure 
 was something like a dead loss. A great deal of money was lost or 
 wasted in the early days of tin-mining through mismanagement or 
 incompetency on the part of mining managers, and it is only recently 
 that a more economical and careful system has been introduced. 
 
 The system of working the mines on tribute is one of the improve- 
 ments that have followed the change, and that is no more than about 
 three years old. On the wages plan, it is said, the mines could not be 
 worked profitably to the proprietors ; and by letting the mines to pai-ties of 
 men who are paid so much per ton for the tin they produce, the work pays 
 everybody. Of course the lai-gest profits go, as a rule, to the mine-owners, 
 but, as was pointed out in a previous part of this article, the tributors 
 can do very well also. Day labour is described as having been one of 
 the gi-eatest obstacles in the way of i)rofitable tin-mining, and as soon as 
 the tribute system was brought into use the mines paid at once. It can 
 easily be seen how the employment of a number of men on wages may 
 
Tin-mining, 185 
 
 seriously interfere with the profits which the proprietors of a mine may 
 fairly look for. The successful working of a mine may, and in many 
 cases does, depend on the closest economy in working expenses, and the 
 utmost daily or weekly yield of ore. But men, when paid by the day, 
 irrespective of the amount of work they do, may be idle or active, and 
 frequently, notwithstanding the watchfulness of overseers, are sufficiently 
 idle to make the week's work such that, though it may be easy and 
 profitable to them, it is a loss to their employers. 
 
 In the other case, howevei', when each member of a party of tributors 
 is in the position of a contractor who can only earn what he lives upon 
 by close and constant work, which must be such as to produce a certain 
 amount of money out of which the remuneration of the workmen and 
 the profits of the mine-owners must come, there is a much brighter 
 prospect for the owners, and, in reality, a much better state of things 
 than before for the workmen ; for the men are influenced to more 
 than ordinary efibrts by the knowledge that they have an interest in the 
 mine similar to what is felt by the proprietors, and that the more work 
 they do the larger amount of money they earn to share among them- 
 selves. Some parties of tributors include small capitalists such as store- 
 keepers, who join in the venture with working miners, and in those 
 cases the division of the profits or the payment of certain wages to those 
 who labour in the mine is so arranged as to make the liability of the 
 tributors for the expenses of working the mine equal. 
 
 When letting a mine on tribute the proprietors not only receive the 
 tin at a certain rate per ton, but they are paid for the use of any 
 machinery that is attached to the mine, and in that way receive some 
 return specially for the expenditure they have incurred in providing 
 appliances for working the mine to the best advantage after it has 
 been opened. Generally the only expense necessary to be incurred by 
 the owners of the mine let on tribute, with the exception of the 
 manager's salary, is the wages of a kind of overseer, who keeps an 
 eye upon the machinery or other property connected with the mine in 
 the owner's interest. Tributors might, in many cases, do far worse 
 than apply their energies to the working of a mine already opened and 
 fitted with the necessary machinery for raising the ore ; for, by taking 
 advantage in this manner of the efibrts of others who have proved the 
 richness of certain ground, they avoid all the labour, expense, and 
 uncertainty attendant upon prospecting and upon sinking shafts in 
 ground untried and unknown. 
 
 It may be that, to a certain extent, the tribute system interferes with 
 that kind of enterprise which leads to new discoveries and the fuller 
 
186 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 development of a tin-field, but it has the advantage of distributing more 
 widely the benefits derived from the mines which have been opened, 
 and it is probable that as there always are and always will be some 
 people whose favourite occupation is to roam about the mining districts 
 searchinff for new deposits, mining discovery will not in the end sufier 
 materially. 
 
 The tribute system has not entirely abolished the practice of employ- 
 ing men on wages, for occasionally wages men are put on, and some- 
 times a tribute party find it to their advantage to engage the assistance 
 of men Avhom they employ in this way. The wages range from about 
 35s. to 50s. a week, or about 7s. 6d. or 8s. a day for European labour, 
 boys receiving from 15s. or 16s. to 30s. a week ; and Chinese who are 
 employed by the head of a Chinese tribute party are understood to 
 earn a weekly wage of about £1 and their board and lodging, which 
 in all is said to represent about 30s. Chinese may, however, earn more 
 than this. The practice of working for wages is not a favourite one 
 with European miners, for there is a love of speculation among them 
 which leads them to greatly prefer the chances of a prospecting or a 
 tribute party, and many of them do well. The great prizes on a tin- 
 field, as on any other field where mining is carried on, fall to only a 
 few persons ; but the community generally on the tin-fields of the 
 Colony appear able to make themselves very comfortable. 
 
 The money paid for tin and in wages at Vegetable Creek every month 
 amounts to several thousands of pounds, and this, with the large sum that 
 is expended on the carriage of tin and stores, puts a very large amount 
 of capital into circulation. A miner may be merely a prospector who 
 gives his attention and his labour to finding new payable ground, which 
 as fast as he discovers he parts with for a consideration to some one 
 else, or he may engage with others in the more monotonous though 
 more certain occupation of extracting the ore after indications of its 
 existence have been found ; in each case he can earn sufficient, and 
 frequently more than sufficient, for the comfortable support of himself 
 and his family. His hut is erected on the land which he occupies 
 under the easy conditions which the law imposes, and he may, by going 
 to very little trouble, surround it with all the elevating and attractive 
 influences which make cottage life agreeable. Frequently a little 
 earden can be seen attached to the hut, and the wiiidows are some- 
 times made pleasant with flowers. Inside, the plainness of the walls 
 and the floor and the furniture is often relieved by neatness and that 
 tact which gives everything an inviting appearance by displaying it to 
 the best advantage. The children are healthy and clean, and the well- 
 
Tin-mining. 187 
 
 filled PuLlic School, wliicli is to be found iu eveiy mining township, 
 shows unmistakeably that their education is not neglected. Rough and 
 ready as is much that is seen on a tin-field, there is all the material for 
 a comfortal)ly-settled and thriving community, who, when the hurry and 
 bustle attendant upon the early discoveries have passed away, will, in 
 all probability, go soberly and methodically to work in those branches 
 of the tin-mining industry which, though slower and more laborious, 
 will prove more lasting and beneficial. 
 
 The township of Vegetable Creek, which is a faij- sample of tin- 
 mining townships, occupies a position in a valley that before the spades 
 of the miners were set to work must have looked rather pretty ; but 
 the race for wealth j)ays no regard to natural beauty, and many of the 
 primitive structures of the early days when the tin fever broke out still 
 remain as unsightly objects in the town. Streets, however, have been 
 formed, and the main street is closely filled with buildings, which 
 include stores, hotels, a bank, and a post and telegraph ofiice. Here, 
 though occasionally times may be dull, a considerable amount of 
 business is done ; and the stores will be found well stocked with all 
 kinds of articles. The coach running between the township and Glen 
 Innes conveys a large number of passengers to and fro ; and a curious 
 variety of people the i>opulation of the place sometimes presents. 
 Miners, tradesmen, speculators, tin-buyers, doctors, lawyers, commer- 
 cial travellers, and adventurers of one kind or another seek the means 
 of living and of making money, and all are more or less fortunate. 
 Times were, the people say, when business was much more brisk, and 
 when the appearance of the town was considerably more attractive ; 
 but the recent discoveries of tin at a great depth below the surface, 
 which has established a new era in tin-mining operations, ought before 
 long to make everything almost as lively as before. 
 
 A singular circumstance associated with Vegetable Creek is that the 
 business township is built upon private ground. Taken up by a party 
 of miners as a mineral conditional purchase, the land was afterwards 
 secured by them, and proving the most convenient site for the town, 
 buildings were erected. The site for the Government township was 
 selected four miles away, at Tent Hill, where tin Avas first found in the 
 district ; but Tent Hill is too far out of the way for business people, 
 and apparently for nearly all the mining population. 
 
 But at Tent Hill enterprise and energy have brought about the 
 erection of tin-smelting woi'ks. The locality being considered to be 
 situated in about the centre of the tiai-bearing country, the proprietors 
 of the works determined five years ago to supply what was evidently a 
 
188 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 very great want ; but it has been during the last three years that smelting 
 has been carried on with vigour. Many difficulties have had to be met 
 and overcome. The place is so far removed from where material very 
 necessary in the erection of the works could be procured that almost 
 everything has had to be provided on the ground, even to the making of 
 the bricks for the construction of the furnaces ; and there is no chance 
 of obtaining coal. But all is now in good working order, and a large 
 proportion of the ore obtained at Vegetable Creek, if not most of it, is 
 smelted at these works. Part of the ore is first purchased by the 
 Smelting Company, and the metal afterwards sent to Brisbane or Sydney 
 for shipment. At one time most of the tin smelted in this way was 
 sent to Brisbane for shipment direct to London ; but Sydney has become 
 the central market in the Colonies for tin, and either the mineral goes 
 to the New South Wales metropolis or negotiations take place with some 
 firm there for sales in Brisbane. 
 
 The close proximity of Brisbane to Vegetable Creek seems to have 
 attracted to Queensland much of the tin traffic which otherwise would 
 have gone to Grafton. There appears to be but little difference between 
 the cost of sending tin to Sydney vid Brisbane and vid Grafton, and it 
 suits the proprietors of the smelting-works to send their tin through 
 Brisbane, because they can easily and cheaply get a return loading of 
 maize, timber, or anything else they may require. "We keep the road 
 to Brisbane open," said one of the proprietors, " because the Warwick 
 corn can be landed here more cheaply than from Tenterfield." Tin- 
 buyers visit the field for the purpose of buying ore, chiefly for Smelting 
 Companies in Sydney ; and one or two of the large Mining Companies 
 send their ore to Sydney before parting with their interest in it. 
 Generally, however, it is considered better to have the ore smelted on 
 the field. 
 
 That tin-mining is likely to become a permanent industry in the 
 Colony, afibrding employment to a great number of people, and the 
 means of circulating a large amount of capital year by year, there is 
 more than sufficient evidence to show. The future of the industry 
 depends on the successful working of the reefs, or that which is called 
 the lode tin ; for although further finds of alluvial tin will doubtless be 
 made, and work in connection with the development of those discoveries 
 be carried on for some time, tin-mining must in the end be centred in 
 the opening out of the reefs and in extracting the metal from the stone. 
 Judging from the extent to which the deep leads appear to exist, it will 
 be some years before alluvial mining comes to an end, and in the mean- 
 time there is a good deal of prospecting carried on. Enterprise in that 
 
Tin-mining, 189 
 
 respect weai'S a veiy encouraging aspect ; and so earnest are men in their 
 eflforts to discover new payable ground that a party of them, intent upon 
 this object, will send off two of their number to prospect, while the rest 
 take employment under tributors or others, and secure the necessary 
 ineans for the support of the prospectors and for their own livelihood. 
 But when the alluvial mining is exhausted the tin lodes must be taken 
 in hand, and in those days, probably, capitalists will see it to their 
 advantage to engage in the work of opening out the lodes vigorously 
 and unceasingly. An idea exists that a very large area of land should 
 be granted to any Company enterprising enough to do this, for it is 
 pointed out that after sinking a deep and expensive shaft a lode may be 
 struck at a point where the reef runs off at an angle completely outside 
 the boundaries of the Company's ground, and into the gi'ound of 
 another Company, who would reap the benefit of the discovery at 
 the expense of its neighbour ; but, on the other hand, large grants of 
 that description would probably tend, in many instances, towards 
 monopoly. 
 
 The woi'k of developing the tin lodes must, however, be very ex- 
 pensive. In most countries the lode tin runs to a considerable depth, 
 and is worked deeply, and probably the most profitable tin-mining 
 from the lodes in this Colony Avill be carried on in a similar way. 
 Both crushing and pumping machinery will then be required ; and as 
 the shafts will probably be very deep and the water plentiful, the cost 
 of the machinery for pumping must be great. Even in the deep allu- 
 vial mining the accumulation of water has in some instances put a stop 
 to further sinking. The expense of employing labour may make it 
 necessaiy to obtain machinery even better, perhaps, than that used in 
 tin-mining countries where labour is much cheaper ; and this necessity 
 of incurring gi-eat expense befox'e there can be any prospect of profit, is 
 what may deter capitalists very much from the undertaking. But, 
 possibly, before the yield of stream tin becomes much reduced, men 
 possessing capital, and inclined to invest in mining, will recognize the 
 advantage of applying it to the further development of the tin-fields. 
 The reefs are numerous, and it is believed rich, though very little trial 
 of them has yet been made. 
 
 The principle of working an expensive mine here is in many cases 
 different from what it should be, and from what it is in some other 
 mining countries. In England, for instance, people engaging in such 
 an enterprise subscribe so much capital, and determining to push 
 forward their undertaking to a legitimate end, calculate that the whole 
 of the capital may be expended before any dividends can be expected. 
 
190 The Industries of New South Wates. 
 
 In this Colony a certain amount of money is provided ; but instead of 
 the persons who subscribe the money patiently waiting for dividends, 
 the profits are expected, if not at once, at furthest in a few months, 
 and the result in some instances is that disappointment with regard to 
 immediate profit leads to the stoppage of oj^erations and perhaps to the 
 property changing hands. People who enter into mining enterprise of 
 this descrijjtion shou.ld, after providing the necessary capital, prove the 
 mine thoroughly, and then, and not till then, look for dividends. 
 
 When it is stated that the total yield of tin from workings in the 
 Vegetable Creek district, from 1872 to 31st December, 1880, was 20,988 
 tons, and that there have been large yields also from the districts 
 around Inverell and Tenterfield, some idea can be had of the rich 
 deposits which have been found on and near the surface of the ground. 
 The deep leads may prove much richer, and there is no saying what 
 new deposits may be brought to light. There are still thousands of 
 acres of land vacant and unprospected, and therefore ojDportunities in 
 plenty for further enterprise and profit. 
 
The Copelcmd Gold-fields, 191 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 THE COPELAND GOLD-FIELDS. 
 
 Six miles from Gloucester — a small township in the Port Stephens dis- 
 trict, situated on the Australian Agricultural Company's grant of nearly 
 half a million acres — are the river and township of Barrington, from 
 which the gold-field discovered in the vicinity of Back Creek, a tribu- 
 tary of the Barrington River, took its first name. But as the township 
 of Barrington was several miles away from the actual gold-field, and as 
 a new and separate township sprang into existence in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of where the miners were working, it became necessary 
 to find another name, and the gold-field and mining township were 
 called, out of compliment to the Member for the electorate, Copeland. 
 The gold-field is now recognised as a permanent mining centx-e, which 
 needs only perseverance and judicious working, with a fair expenditure 
 of capital, to make it yield rich returns for a very long time to come. 
 
 It is in an extremely picturesque locality. High mountains, with 
 rough, broken, and, in some parts, almost inaccessible sides, and deep 
 ravines Avhere the vegetation is as thick and luxuriant as it is in the 
 district of Illawarra, impart to the place an aspect of rugged and 
 romantic beauty exceedingly charming to a lover of the beautiful in 
 nature. Before the spades of the miners disturbed the gravelly bed of 
 the creek in which gold was first found, there was a stream running at 
 the bottom of a ravine where the sunlight probably never penetrated 
 through the tangled mass of foliage which rises high into the air, and 
 the pervading silence and solitude of the spot were broken by nothing 
 harsher than the notes of the bell-bird or the sharp whip-like voice of 
 the bird known as the coachman. Even now, when the bed of the 
 creek has the appearance of a line of ant-hills, when the ugly remams of 
 bark huts mark the scenes of revelry and of the greed for gold, and 
 when the vacant ground which has been roughly cleared by the axe has 
 been built upon and shows all the characteristics of a mining town, 
 there are places at which one may step from the burning heat of the 
 open sunlight into a cool retreat, where the wild vines, profusely cling- 
 ing to the trunks and branches of huge trees, form a leafy roof which 
 keeps the ground constantly damp as ^vith dew, and where, though the 
 occasional sound of a miner's sluicing-box or cradle may be heai'd at the 
 
192 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 bottom of the ravine below, nothing of the interference which so rudely 
 disturbs some of the most attractive spots when a gold discovery is 
 announced can be seen. 
 
 B-ough and uneven as the houses of the town are in tlieir situation 
 and appearance, there is something very curious and unusual about 
 them, and on seeing the place for the first time an impression at once 
 seizes the mind of the similarity between the general aspect of the town 
 and that of some of the queerly situated and built towns or villages in 
 the mountainous parts of Europe, such as Switzerland. Descending 
 into the ravine, at the bottom of which runs the creek where the gold 
 was discovered, the town is approached by a road which passes through 
 walls of rocks and mountain slopes, as a river like the ISTepean on the 
 Warragambah runs at the bottom of an immense fissure, with its rocky 
 or tree-covered sides towering hundreds of feet above, and in the ravine 
 at a part where the width of the level ground is not nearly a hundred 
 feet the principal portion of the town is built. Twenty or thirty feet 
 of space is all that divides one side of the main street from the other, 
 and the houses, crowded and cramped, are in many instances standing 
 on the mountain sides with steps to approach them, and the yards 
 stretching upwards behind, and, as it were, holding fast to the houses to 
 prevent them from slipping down. 
 
 Much of the romantic aspect of the town disappears when the visitor 
 is in the very midst of the houses, but still the place is a most singular 
 one, and difierent perhaps from anything of the kind to be seen anywhere 
 else. The signs of permanency and progress are not yet very con- 
 spicuous in the streets ; but then miners, in their search for the precious 
 metal, are heedless of everything but those matters which conduce to 
 their success in winning gold, and the buildings which spring up between 
 the huts of the miners and form streets are erected by tradesmen and 
 speculators, with the same object that influences the miners. It is 
 upon the mountains among the mines where the future condition of the 
 place is best seen ; and after the dulness that always succeeds the early 
 period of a gold-field's existence has passed away the town itself will 
 become bright and busy again. Just now, and for some time past, 
 tradespeople have complained that business is bad, that little or nothing 
 is doing, and that, compared with what their experience has been, the 
 town is almost deserted ; but this is caused simply by the disappearance 
 of that restless population which never stays after the first excitement is 
 over and all the gold near the surface has been obtained ; and as the 
 rich reefs which are being worked, and which, it is believed, will 
 
The Copelcmd Gold-fields. 193 
 
 continue to yield profitable returns for a very long time, are further and 
 still further developed, the old air of prosperity on a sounder and better 
 basis will return. 
 
 Copeland seems to be just now entering its second stage of existence, for 
 new public buildings have recently been erected. For some time past there 
 has been a good school in the town, but now a new Court-house has 
 been built, and jjublic works of that kind do much towards relieving the 
 feeling of depression that sooner or later manifests itself in the case of 
 all gold-fields, and towards promoting a feeling of confidence in the 
 town's future progress. The chief drawback to the prosperity of Cope- 
 land itself is its peculiar position, for while the mountainous nature of 
 the country renders mining very diflicult, and in most instances costly, 
 it offers no inducements for any industry that might be followed by 
 persons not actually engaged in the mines, and yet capable, if the means 
 were at hand, of adding materially to the general well-being of the com- 
 munity. So limited is the extent of land in the immediate vicinity of 
 the town which in any way is useful for general purposes, that there is 
 no chance of cultivating any of it, or of using it for anything except as 
 building space ; but a few miles off, and on the banks of the Barrington 
 lliver, there is rich alluvial soil, which farmers occupy and are cultivating 
 profitably ; and, with the mining in one place and farming in another, 
 the district, which includes the Copeland Gold-field and the Barrington 
 Ptiver, can make headway very well. 
 
 The two important recommendations of extensive, and what are 
 believed to be rich gold deposits, and valuable farming land, are promi- 
 nent features over the whole of that portion of eastern New South 
 Wales between Port Stephens and the Macleay Eivei*, and out west as 
 far as Dungog. Not far from the coast the country becomes very moun- 
 tainous, and in the mountains the gold-bearing reefs have been found. 
 Alluvial gold has not been discovered in any large quantity, but there 
 is no saying to what extent it yet remains to be unearthed, and it is 
 known to exist in at least one place on the A. A. Company's' grant in 
 what some persons believe would be payable deposits if miners could 
 only make suitable arrangements with the owners of the land. Farming 
 land abounds on the banks of some of the rivers or creeks, which are 
 more than usually numerous in this part of the Colony, and at intervals 
 of distance comprising not many miles thei'e are towns existing in a more 
 or less flourishing condition. 
 
 There is an air of stagnation, and a want of that spirit of activity 
 which is conspicuous in anything or anybody that lives an independent 
 existence about one or two of these towns, but those are situated on the 
 
 N 
 
194 The Inchistries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 land "which belongs to the A. A. Company ; around others there is much 
 that is noticeable about places which are gradually going ahead. The 
 ride to the Copeland and Little River Gold-fields reveals all this and 
 much more. Nothing could be more charming than the glimpses of 
 river water which catch the eye at times when the coach, passing over a 
 bridge, affords an opportunity for looking down at a pebbly stream 
 running between banks as grassy, and as pretty with shrubs and trees, 
 as the banks of any English stream, or any stream in the world ; and 
 a view of that kind, fit as it is in itself for artist or poet, has occasionally 
 something more about it which increases its attractiveness, and presents 
 in the one picture rare natural beauties, and that peculiar charm which 
 the husbandman and his labour can throw over a landscape. 
 
 On one side of the river, which winds with the road and runs through 
 a narrow valley, the land may be ploughed and sown with ci'ops of wheat 
 and oats and barley, and on each of the farms may be seen the jilainly- 
 built but comfortable farm-house, occupied by the farmer and his family. 
 Behind the farms a range of mountains rise ; and in the afternoon, when 
 the sun has gone behind the hills, all the evidences of prosperous farm 
 life are presented in the view, even to the children picked up by the 
 coach on their way from school, running and skipping healthfully 
 homewards. 
 
 There are places in the Colony where farming and mining are carried 
 on in the one locality, and by the same people ; but in the district where 
 the Copeland Gold-fields are situated tliis is not possible, the mining 
 being carried on upon the tops and sides of mountains, between which 
 the valleys are very narrow, and the land available for cultivation lying 
 some distance away. Both industries, however, are in a healthy and 
 progressive state. 
 
 The gold which the Copeland mines have already yielded has proved 
 the field to be one which is not likely to be exhausted for some time, 
 and with the necessary capital to provide the facilities required for con- 
 tinuing the sinking shafts, or for tunnelling, for constructing roads or 
 tram^yays to convey the stone from the mines to the batteries, and for 
 properly crushing the stone and saving all the gold which it contains, 
 may be made as profitable as any gold-field in the Colony. The peculiar 
 positions in which the mines have been opened, and the steep and rugged 
 nature of the country between the mines and where the crushing batteries 
 Jiave been erected are such as to make the cost of carriage very great, 
 and to afiect in a very considerable degree the question whether the 
 working of a reef, though it may contain gold, would or would not be 
 payable. 
 
The Copeland Gold-fields. 195 
 
 A large expenditure of money lias been necessary in tlie construction 
 of roads from the mines to the batteries ; and so difficult of access ar? 
 some of the mines that even with the aid of these roads the labour of 
 carting the stone in bullock drays and upon sledges is very great. But 
 the construction of these roads up or down the mountain sides has 
 exhibited remarkable enterprise and perseverance on the part of the 
 miners, for the obstacles that have stood in the way of their successfully 
 working the mines have been far beyond what are commonly met with 
 upon the gold-fields of the Colony; and the determination of the miners 
 to overcome every difficulty is an incontestible proof of their faith in 
 the richness of the field. 
 
 The reefs that have been discovered at Copeland and several other 
 places within the boundaries of the Copeland Gold-field are very numerous^ 
 and all are believed to contain gold, though the question whether in 
 each instance the gold exists in payable quantity remains a matter of 
 conjecture until each reef shall have been properly tested and proved. 
 The principal mine on the field is that of the Mountain Maid Gokb 
 mining Co., and it was tiie large returns of gold which the reef worked 
 in this mine yielded that first brought the field into prominent notice. 
 The largest yield from the mine has been an average of more than 14 
 or 15 ozs. to the ton, and the lowest under 3 ozs. A crushing just 
 completed at the time I visited the field ■showed nearly 1,500 ozs. of 
 gold from 273 tons of quartz. At this period the shaft was down 170 
 feet, and at that depth, and above it, the Company were extending their 
 levels, and stoping as they proceeded. In some places the reef pinches 
 A-ery small, and then widens again — a peculiarity common to all the 
 reefs on the field but one, and that one, which is in a rich claim called 
 the Prince Charlie, has been an almost uniform width from the time 
 it was first worked. 
 
 The history of the field since gold was discovered and mines v/ere 
 opened is much the same as any other. Working miners and capitalists 
 have sunk shafts and driven tunnels into the mountains wherever the 
 reefs have shov«'n themselves or otherwise indicated their presence, and 
 with more or less success. In many instances the labour of opening 
 out the reefs has been very great antl the returns very small ; but in 
 others the gold has been found in more than payable quantities, or to 
 such an extent as to convince the parties working that perseverance and 
 deeper sinking, or a more complete system of underground mining in 
 the way of driving and stoping, will produce profitable returns. So 
 numerous are the reefs and the different spurs which have been discovered, 
 and most of which are being worked, that it would be tedious to refer 
 
196 The Industries of New South JFales. 
 
 to tliem ill detail. Tliey have been divided by the Warden into " those 
 situated on the Eight Hand Branch Creek and those on the left, the 
 reefs on the Bowman Falls, and those on the Bowman River." Then, 
 in addition to these, a considerable number of reefs have been discovered 
 within a circumference of 20 miles from Copeland, at Kerriioit, or 
 Rawdon Vale, Cobark, and Burneal Creeks ; and reefs have also been 
 found, and are being worked, at the Little River and Cherry-tree 
 Creek, near Dungog. 
 
 The principal reefs in the locality of the Right Hand Branch Creek 
 number four ; those on the Left-hand Branch Creek, fifteen ; at the 
 Bowman Falls and River, which are north-east from Copeland, and distant 
 5 or 6 miles, nine ; at Cobark, which is distant about 18 miles west 
 from Copeland, thirteen ; and at Keri'iput, Burneal Creek, Little River, 
 and Cherry-tree Creek, a number of others, but how many exactly has 
 not been ascertained, for but little of the country has been prospected. 
 At each of these gold-fields the country is very mountainous and rough, 
 and in most if not all cases, covered with a dense brush which renders 
 prospecting and mining operations exceedingly difiicult. Carting and 
 crushing are in most of these places very expensive, but several of the 
 mines have not had to contend against these inconveniences. 
 
 Cobark is fortunate in having many of its reefs in what is called soft 
 country, where very little if any explosives need be used, and conse- 
 quently large quantities of quartz can be raised at comj^aratively small 
 cost ; but the only crushing-machine there is a Chilian mill, which the 
 miners, by forming themselves into a co-operative company, have 
 managed to purchase and erect. Crushing and carting can be carried 
 on very cheaply. There is a sufiicient head of water obtainable at all 
 seasons to drive a water-wheel, capable of working fifty stamps; and 
 judging from the size of the reefs the quantity of quartz that can be 
 raised is unlimited. The reefs are not considered to be rich, but they 
 are large and generally close together, and the stone from nearly all the 
 mines could be sent to crushing-machines by means of wire tramways 
 or other similar cheap and eflective appliances. 
 
 With respect to alluvial gold, it was a discovery of this nature at 
 Back Creek which brought to light the reefs in the mountains ; and 
 though no extensive finds of alluvial gold have been made, it occasionally 
 happens that small creeks or gullies in the locality of the field are found 
 to contain gold in quantities which yield what is described as from 
 " tucker to wages." Experienced miners consider there is not much 
 probability of any extensive run of alluvial gold being found in the 
 
The Copeland Gold-fields. 197 
 
 neighbourliood of Copeland, because of the mountainous cliaracter of 
 the country ; bub small runs in gullies and creeks may be discovered at 
 times for some years to come. 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson, the Government Geologist, has expressed the following 
 opinion with regard to the reefs on this gold-field : — " We find," he says, 
 " sets of reefs extending, perhaps, in one general line, but each reef of 
 irregular thickness and length, just as we see in the splitting of cross- 
 grained timber, which does not split in one straight line, but opens in 
 small cracks along the main line of fracture. These considerations are 
 of importance to the miners, as showing that the thickness of the reefs 
 cannot be relied on for continuance in either length or depth, and some 
 reefs may even cut out altogethei', but will probably be connected by 
 distant joints with other similar veins not far off ; and thus we may be 
 assured that though the yield from individual mines will fluctuate 
 considerably at times, yet on the whole the quartz-mining industry on 
 this gold-field may be regarded as of a permanent character. Much 
 will depend upon the systematic development of such reefs. Their 
 variable thickness and extent suggest the precaution of providing in 
 many instances a reserve fund for occasional pros])ecting, and the 
 advantage of the management of the mining operations being under 
 interested and local direction." 
 
 That the field around Copeland is still in its infancy, and that what 
 has been done there is only as surface scratching compared with what is 
 likely to be done, are the opinions of many practical miners on the 
 ground. Though the returns from the gold-field have been very good, 
 and from some of the mines very large, people look for yields quite as 
 satisfactory, if not more so, and with evidences of permanency about 
 them, as mining operations are further advanced. There is one reef, for 
 instance, among those being worked which so far has not shown itself 
 among the number which has yielded the greatest quantity of gold, and 
 yet it is regarded as one of the best reefs on the field or in the country, 
 fi'om the circumstance of the reef or body of stone beiiig larger than 
 usual, the gold more regularly distributed through it, and the reef, on 
 account of its size, more cheaply worked. The difficulty of getting the 
 stone from most of the mines to the crushing-machines, and the eff'ect 
 this has in seriously hampering operations in places which freed from 
 this obstacle would probably pay very well, are likely to be removed to a 
 great extent by the erection of other crushing-machines or by the 
 introduction of facilities for conveying the stone expeditiously and 
 cheaply to the machines now in use. At the time I visited the field, 
 arrangements were being made for the erection of a new machine in 
 
198 The Bidustries of New South JFales. 
 
 the vicinity of tlie Prince Charlie claim, and other claims on the Prince 
 Charlie line of reef ; and, for the conveyance of the stone from the 
 mines on the mountain side to the crushing battery in the valley below, 
 an ovei'head wire tramway was talked of. It will be facilities such 
 as these wdiich will provide the stimulus required for the development 
 of much of the field that otherwise will languish or lie idle. 
 
 At Copeland proper there are two crushing-machines, one on the 
 upper part of the left-hand branch of Back Creek, and the other at 
 Copeland South. Between these two and on the left-hand branch of the 
 creek a Maitland resident was having a third machine erected with 
 improved gold-saving appliances ; and this machine, with that to be 
 erected in connection with the Prince Charlie mine, would make four 
 crushing batteries for that portion of the gold-field in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Copeland. On the Bowman River there is a very 
 compact machine in use, but one having no gold-saving appliances after 
 the tables ; and at the Cobark there is the Chilian mill, driven by water- 
 power. This last is not at all the kind of crushing-machine required ; 
 and before the Cobark can come to the front as a mining centre, a large 
 crushing plant will have to be erected in a central position so as to 
 command the stone from all the mines. At Kerriput the miners had 
 arranged for the erection of a battery, which was to be driven by water- 
 power ; and at Little River a Company was formed for the purpose of 
 erecting a good crushing-machine there. 
 
 Many of the reefs that have been discovered, such as those on the 
 Bowman Falls or Bowman River, at Cobark, Kerriput, and Little River, 
 have either not yet been tried or not properly tried, and there is no 
 saying what some of them may turn out to be. Several that have 
 been prospected and, though found to be gold-bearing, abandoned, 
 because with the difficulties of expensive cartage and perhaps incomplete 
 crushing they were not likely to prove payable, will probably be taken 
 in hand again immediately any prospect is presented of a cheaper method 
 of dealing with the stone after it is taken from the reefs. All that 
 Cobark has seemed to want has been a good crushing plant, and Keri'iput, 
 Little River, and other branch localities within the area of this gold- 
 field have been in the same position. 
 
 On the Bowman Falls some of the reefs are so close together that by 
 taking up a large area of ground, and by tunnelling, it is said a number 
 of the reefs could be cut and worked at the same level ; and though it 
 is believed that the reefs are not rich, yet the quantity of quartz that 
 could Ije raised would make up for the smallness of the yield of gold 
 
The Copeland Gold-Jields. 199 
 
 per ton. So iu otlier instances opportunities are presented for minir.ij 
 operations, wliicli, though not likely to be undertaken now, will form 
 part of the mining of the future. 
 
 The Little River and the "Cherry-tree Hill diggings, both included 
 within the area which is known as the Copeland or Barring-ton Gold- 
 fields, are among the latest discoveries, and, a short time ago, Dungog, 
 Clarence Town, and Maitland were excited over the specimens which 
 were said to have been obtained from some of the reefs. Very good 
 indeed were several of these specimens, and the Commercial Bank at 
 Dungog had on view a number of pieces of quartz thickly studded 
 with gold ; but still the place does not seem to have gone ahead, and 
 frcio the comn.cncement of mining operations there has been, on the 
 } :it of all but people in the township or neighbourhood of Dungog, a 
 lii_ -v.-arJn3ss in having anything to do with the field. This has been 
 due (o the fact, as it was explained to me, of there being until recently 
 no good crushing plant on the ground, which made it useless for men to 
 go there, and to the country being so mountainous and so densely 
 covered with brush and scrub that it was difficult to cut a way to the 
 place where a reef might be found ; and in the absence of appliances 
 which would enable the miners after all their trouble in opening out a 
 reef and in raising stone to crush it and obtain the gold, it was unlikely 
 that any large number of men would take up claims. It is alluvial 
 gold that causes a rush, and generally people are shy of reefs. Whether 
 alluvial gold will ever be found in the locality or not is as yet uncertain. 
 Some persons entertain a belief that it will, and from the time the reefs 
 were discovered, prospecting for alluvial has been carried on ; but others 
 are very doubtful on the point, because of the limited extent of valley 
 or flat land which exists in the neighbourhood of where the reefs have 
 been found. 
 
 The diggings were discovered nearly three years ago, by a prosjoecting 
 company who brought specimens of quartz into Dungog ; and, im- 
 mediately, there was a small rush of people from in and around the 
 town to peg out claims. Since that time shafts have been sunk upon 
 the lines of reefs to a considerable dej^th, and a large quantity of stone 
 has been raised with, in some instances, it has been reported, very fair 
 results. But it is a peculiar feature of this gold-field that the working 
 population has included very few bond fide gold-miners, and that most 
 of those who have taken up claims appear to be tradesmen, farmers, 
 farm labourers, and others of similar classes. This, of course, can be 
 attributed jmitly to the causes mentioned above, and partly, perhaps, to 
 a want of faith in the place until it has shown something of its richness 
 
200 The Industries of Neic South Wales. 
 
 more definite than tliat to be seen from specimens. Tlie want of a 
 good crusliing-macliine was a great drawback to any extensive trial of 
 the field. A small machine was placed on the ground soon after the 
 diggings opened, but with this all the diggers were not satisfied, and, a 
 company having been formed for the purchase and erection of a new 
 one, a machine of ten stampers was obtained from Hill End, and it was 
 believed that wlien this was erected and in working order mining 
 operations would extend and crushings be satisfactory. 
 
 If the accounts given to me of the yield of gold from what were said 
 to be imperfect trial crushings of the stone raised from several of the 
 mines were correct, the result in some instances had been very satis- 
 factory. Tlie information was supplied to me by persons interested in 
 the field, but, nevertheless, as far as I could learn, not likely to 
 exaggerate. At the place where the diggings were discovered a patch 
 of quartz dollied gave an ounce of gold to the ton, and the reef was so 
 soft that it required nothing more than pick and shovel to work it ; but 
 this ounce to the ton did not continue. A party who had sunk about 
 100 feet had crushed stone which yielded 11 dwts. to the ton ; another 
 party, with a shaft down about the same depth, had obtained from a 
 crushing as much as almost 3 ozs. to the ton ; and a crushing of 50 tons 
 of stone from a third claim also yielded 11 dwts. Some of the specimens 
 on view in Dungog would go much more than this, and though speci- 
 mens are not always a fair representation of the richness of quartz reefs, 
 there seemed to be in Dungog, among disinterested as well as interested 
 persons, a strong opinion that the prospects of the field were good, 
 especially as some of the reefs could be very easily worked. At Little 
 River a Government township has been surveyed and marked, and 
 named Wangat. Some people had already taken up their residence 
 there, and it was said an hotel and a store were about to be opened. 
 Mail communication also was talked about between Wangat and Bandon 
 Grove. 
 
 It is in this way that many towns have been established, and the 
 growth and progress of the Colony assisted. Mining enterprise penetrat- 
 ing into the recesses of, it may be, previously unknown or uninhabited 
 districts, brings to light a range of mountains ribbed with gold-bearing 
 reefs, or a valley where ages ago a river ran down its golden sand, and 
 population immediately flocking to the place a township is formed ;, 
 streets are laid out ; houses, stores, and hotels are built ; one by one the 
 advantages enjoyed by older settlements, in the form of public institu- 
 tions erected at the expense of the general revenue, are obtained ; and 
 gradually, in addition to the employment afforded the population at the- 
 
The Copeland Gold-fields. 201 
 
 mines, there spring into existence some of those industries common to 
 large communities, and such as serve to provide a means of livelihood 
 beneficial and lasting. 
 
 Every resident of a mining township need not devote himself to 
 mining, and many employ themselves with something else ; and far 
 removed as a mining town may be from the metropolis of the Colony, 
 the miner may, by means of postal and telegraphic communication, keep 
 himself acquainted with the events of the day, and take as active a part in 
 public afiairs, or that })ortion which chiefly concerns the class to which 
 he belongs, as any one can in the capital itself. To those who do not 
 know him, the gold-miner is something like a red-shirted, thick -bearded 
 man with a slouching hat and heavy boots, living in a tent or a small 
 bark hut, and spending his leisure hours in a drinking or gambling 
 "spree." But that kind of man is not often seen after the early days of 
 a gold-field discovery. He quickly gives place to the steady i-espectable 
 miner, who brings his family with him, employs his leisure in increasing 
 the attractions and the comforts of his home, and takes his part as well 
 as he can among his fellows in those matters which are for the common 
 good. 
 
 It is not long before the population of a mining town becomes a 
 recognized jiart of the State, and not long before the effect of its 
 industrial existence upon the general community is as marked as that 
 resulting from the extended development of any other colonial industry. 
 For the effect of a gold discovery is widespread ; it not only benefits 
 the general public by relieving overcrowded occupations of many of 
 those seeking a livelihood by them, but it establishes a new and thriving 
 community with energies freshly awakened and eveiy inducement for 
 an intelligent exercise of those privileges which are used in connection 
 with matters that concern the well-being of the whole country. 
 
 The rush at Temora when the Temora diggings broke out attracted a 
 number of men from Coi^eland, and that exodus would for a time have 
 the effect of putting an end to a good deal of prosj^ecting, but this necessary 
 adjunct to gold-mining is a work never likely to remain long without 
 miners to take it in hand, and there is plenty of auriferous country not 
 yet tried in any way. A long period will probably elapse before even 
 the extent of land over which gold runs in payable quantities is known, 
 and by that time capitalists may show more willingness than they do 
 now to come forward and assist in developing what is believed to be 
 very rich gold-fields. 
 
202 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 WOOL IN THE NORTH-WEST. 
 
 The large increase in the quantity of wool which has been sent by railway 
 to Sydney recently has brought the north and south-western districts 
 of the Colony into prominent notice, and the time is considered not far 
 distant when all, or nearly all, of the wool and other produce of these 
 rich and important parts of New South Wales will be consigned to 
 Sydney for sale or shipment. The probability of such a satisfactory 
 improvement in the wool trade can be seen in the circumstance that as 
 the railways are extended towards the Darling facilities for the trans- 
 mission of pastoral produce "will be afforded of a kind which river 
 carriers cannot guarantee, and in such a trade as that in wool very much 
 depends upon speedy, certain, and safe conveyance. It is not easy to 
 estimate the advantages which in a few years are likely to be reaped 
 from the districts of the north and south-west. A few years ago much of 
 the vast extent of country comprised within them was uninhabited and 
 almost unknown ; but now squatting and freehold runs abound in every 
 direction, most of the land is securely fenced, and enormous flocks of sheep, 
 which are annually increasing in numbers, are adding to the pastoral wealth 
 of the Colony at a rate which is I'eally astonishing. The well-known back 
 blocks, Avhich at one time weve regarded as nothing better than waterless 
 deserts, are by enterprise and the expenditure of cajiital being made as 
 capable of carrying stock as many well-watered runs on the frontages of 
 creeks and rivers, and pastoral industry has not only availed itself of 
 much that is open to its purpose within the boundaries of Kew South 
 Wales, but it has extended its operation to the adjoining Colony of 
 Queensland, where, in the north-western and south-western country, 
 immense herds of cattle are grazing and helping to supply the markets 
 of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia with the cattle 
 they require. 
 
 The breeding of sheep and cattle will probably always be the principal 
 occupation of the people in the north-west districts of New South 
 Wales ; but mining is already being carried on upon a very extensive 
 scale, and agriculture will ultimately be engaged in to a considerable 
 extent. In the very centre of a large pastoral area probably the richest 
 copper mine in the Colonies has been opened, and for three years it has 
 surprised the public by the manner in which it has yielded its valuable 
 
Wool in the North-ioest. 203 
 
 ore ; and deposits of gold, silver, lead, and bismuth have been found. ■ 
 Much of the country in this direction, however, has been so close 
 to the means of communication with Adelaide or Melbourne that 
 until last year most of the trade went to the Colonies of South 
 Australia and Victoria ; and not only has New South Wales lost the 
 pecuniary advantages derivable from the attraction of this trade to 
 Sydney, but the Colony has had to occupy the position of one seeing the 
 credit which is due to itself for the possession of rich natural resources, 
 and for persevering enterprise and a large and profitable production, 
 enjoyed by others who have had no real right to any of it. The Great 
 Western Railway will bring about the desired change. With the iron 
 horse running no further than Wellington wool teams lined the road to 
 Sydney, and though the low water in the rivers has had much to do with 
 the extraordinary transit of wool to the metropolis of New South Wales, 
 the graziers are perfectly alive to the advantages which the approach of 
 the railway to the Darling is offering, and the further the railway is 
 extended in that direction the greater will be the quantity of wool 
 which the wool stores of Sydney ^vill receive. 
 
 The knowledge which the general public of the Colony have hitherto 
 possessed of the country in the north-west is very limited. Sydney 
 people may be told that nearly 40,000 bales of wool have been sent to 
 Sydney in one year in excess of the number forwarded the year 
 previoiis ; but that information only represents the country from which 
 the wool has come as so many sheep-walks, whereas, important as it is in 
 this respect, there are gradually being made and extended improvements 
 that will attract population and promote the establishment of pursuits 
 which, though they may in some instances interfere in a certain degree 
 \r\th. the pastoral occupants of the land, will more widely extend the 
 benefits that may be derived from the soil, and contribute moi'e 
 effectively to the general prosperity. Towns have sprung into existence 
 and grown to a size which metropolitan residents would be greatly 
 surprised to see, and the extent of the business done in some of them 
 rivals that done in many older and better known places. 
 
 Not being favoured Avith speedy or frequent communication -with Sydney, 
 the people of these isolated communities have grown up, as it were, v/ithin 
 themselves, and in their commercial transactions have dealt chiefly with 
 the nearest markets, which, in consequence of the facilities offered at 
 certain seasons by the river steamers, have been for the mo.st part 
 Adelaide or Melbourne ; but the sympathies of the people are mainly 
 with this Colony of which their districts form part, and they are eagerly 
 looking forward to the time when the railway will enable them to trade 
 
204i The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 with Sydney. Carriage by teams has been too expensive, and the time 
 occupied in travelling the distance between the western railway terminus 
 and the towns in the north-west too long, to make trade with Sydney 
 profitable, except in a season when the low state of the rivers prevents 
 goods being brought from one or other of the adjoining Colonies, and 
 thus it is that very extensive and valuable business has long been lost 
 to New South Wales. Not only has all, or nearly all, the wool, and up 
 to a recent period all the copper, been diverted in this way, but Adelaide 
 and Melbourne merchants have driven a thriving trade in the towns 
 and stations in general merchandise, and derived pecuniary benefit to 
 the extent of very many thousands of pounds. But the time has now 
 arrived when all this is changing, and with every prospect of the change 
 being permanent the trade is being attracted in that direction which the 
 Parliament and the general public of this Colony have so long desired. 
 
 The district of Dubbo, with which railway communication was 
 established recently, and which is on the edge of the salt-bush coiintry, is 
 one of the first of the north-west districts that comes under notice, and 
 there is no other district in the Colony where the herds are better bred 
 or where more attention has been paid to breeding ; but though the 
 Macquarie cattle iiave been known for their excellence far and wide, the 
 general inclination among the squatters now is to get rid of their cattle 
 and stock their runs wholly with sheep. This is due to the low prices 
 wliich cattle for some time past have been realizing, and to the high 
 price which is being obtained for wool. For several reasons sheep 
 appear to be more profitable than cattle.- The returns from cattle depend 
 greatly on the nature of the season ; and while the increase in numbers 
 is usually small, the additional beef which is looked for in the fattening 
 of the stock is not obtained unless the season be a very good one ; but from 
 sheep there is almost always a satisfactory return — they are very prolific, 
 and there is, therefore, the increase ; and there are the wool and the 
 mutton. 
 
 In the times of drought sheep are by far more profitable stock than cattle, 
 as many station-holders learned during the last drought which visited the 
 Colony ; and being convinced of this, many of the squatters have been either 
 disposing of their cattle or removing them to the runs in the northern part 
 of New South Wales or to Queensland, and in their places havebeenlargely 
 increasing the number of sheep on the runs from which the cattle are taken. 
 Some parts of the country about the Macquarie are peculiarly suited for 
 cattle, by reason of the nature of the feed, including reed beds and swamps, 
 and probably in those places cattle will continue to be bred ; and on some 
 stations, which are liable to periodical inundations, cattle will always be 
 
Wool in the North-west. 205 
 
 kept ; but the change from cattle to sheep breeding is nevertheless very 
 oreat, particularly on the back blocks, and the numberof sheep on the runs 
 at the present time is nearly double what it was before the last drought. 
 
 One instance showing the great alteration that has been made 
 represents a run which formerly carried from 8,000 to 10,000 head of 
 cattle, but is now stocked with 4,000 cattle and 50,000 sheep, and is 
 likely to very soon have no cattle upon it, and to have the sheep 
 increased to 100,000. A change so remarkable as this would of itself 
 bring about a considerable increase in the production of wool ; but, in 
 addition to increasing the number of sheep, the capacity of the runs for 
 carrying stock has been greatly improved by artificial water, good 
 fencing, and dividing the runs into paddocks in which the grass grows 
 well and the sheep can roam about with entire security. There is now 
 no necessity for having shepherds to look after the sheep. Sliepherds, 
 in fact, are people of the past, and all the attention that the sheep of 
 the present day receive is that which a boundary rider gives them in 
 riding round the various parts of the run to see that the fences are 
 intact, and to the means adopted to protect the sheep from pests, such as 
 native dogs, by laying poisoned baits to kill them. Intelligence as 
 well as capital is being brought to bear upon their industry by the 
 squatters of the present period, and in the majority of instances 
 improvements are being introduced with the object of increasing the 
 yield from the runs to the utmost extent compatible with a wise pro- 
 vision for contingencies. 
 
 In some cases these eflforts have been followed by the bad effects which 
 arise from overstocking, for in the desire to make the most out of the 
 land a stock-holder has sometimes been shortsighted enough to put 
 upon the run in good seasons every hoof it could hold, and in a time of 
 drought, though the drought may have been but a very slight one, he 
 has felt its evils with as much severity as he would have felt them from 
 a lengthened scarcity of grass and water in earlier times. This was 
 particularly noticeable during the last drought ; for though almost every- 
 body was in some respect a loser, those who had been careful not to 
 overstock their runs lost much less heavily than those who had followed 
 the opposite course. The men who in good seasons made the country 
 carry stock to the utmost limit had no reserve to fall back upon when 
 the bad seasons came, and, as a natural result, suffered severely. 
 
 It was during the period of the last drought that many of the stock- 
 owners of the north-western part of New South Wales took up a large 
 tract of new country in north-western Queensland, and removed their 
 cattle thither ; and the runs in that locality are likely to be among the 
 principal sources of the cattle supply of the future. 
 
206 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 FROM DUBBO TO WARREN AND CANNONBAR. 
 
 A COUNTRY entirely different from any in the northern or eastern parts 
 of New South Wales, and similar only to the plains of the south-west, is 
 met with immediately after leaving Dubbo ; and travelling westward or to 
 the north-west, one vast plain, stretching for hundreds of miles, lies as 
 fiat as a table-top, in many places destitute of trees and exhibiting cer- 
 tain features which are both novel and remarkable. The most striking 
 pai'ts of this singular extent of country are the back blocks, but those 
 are only met with by leaving the main road towards Bourke and travel- 
 ling soiithwards ; the squatting runs that are passed through by the 
 coaches to Bourke are for the greater part well watered, and possess 
 extensive river or creek frontages. 
 
 It is upon a journey through this quarter of the Colony that Australian 
 bush life, pure and simple, is met with on every hand. The more settled 
 parts of the Colony have lost many of those peculiar features which have 
 given a distinctive character to the Australian " bush," but in the districts 
 of the north-west these peculiarities are to be found unaffected by the m-arcli 
 of colonial progress, and in all their native attractiveness. The roadside 
 hotel becomes the resort of station hands and tramps, who, in their dress 
 and their habits are veritable representatives of the rough free life which 
 Australian bushmen leacL Vast lengths of country intervene between 
 the oasis-like spots where station homesteads and their appurtenances, 
 and the only settled population for many miles around, are to be met 
 with. Sheep in great flocks are seen browsing upon the nutritious 
 plants and other herbage with which the runs are covered, and here 
 and there is an enormous herd of cattle, with backs as level as the plain, 
 lazily travelling to market. Kangaroos, emus, wild turkeys, and other 
 Australian game abound, and so little are they disturbed by the few 
 people who form the inhabitants of these far-distant parts of New South 
 Wales that frequently they are quite close to the mail coach and almost 
 utterly regardless of it. In this undisturbed country the road and its 
 revelations are for the most part the only companions of the traveller 
 and, covered with various kinds of " tracks " as it is, he learns to read 
 the road as one would read the pages of a book, and in that way makes 
 himself acquainted with very much of what is going on about him. 
 
From Diibho to Warren and Cannonbar. 207 
 
 It is the custom of the coach which travels from Dubbo to Bourke to 
 leave at night, an arrangement which carries with it the inconvenience 
 and discomfort inseparable from a nocturnal coach ride, and which pre- 
 vents the passengei's from seeing much of the country passed during the 
 first 50 miles of the journey ; but night travelling appears to be indis- 
 pensable when undertaking a trip to the Darling. Very soon after 
 leaving the precincts of Dubbo the great squatting runs of that portion 
 of the Colony are entered, and though here and there may be seen signs 
 of cultivation and to some extent settlement of population, these exist on 
 land which has been taken up as selections on runs, and the land I'ound 
 about them is used for pastoral purposes by the squatters. Station 
 buildings, in fact, quickly become almost the only signs of habitation to 
 be met with ; for though at certain stages of the journey a public-house 
 or a roadside post-office, or it may be a public-house and post-office com- 
 bined, appears, few other buildings of any kind are passed, and those 
 are connected with pastoral pursuits. Farming is carried on in only 
 a very small way, and as the land in the vicinity of Diibbo is left 
 behind cultivation disappears altogether. The soil is princijially of a 
 rich black description, very boggy and uncomfortable for travelling 
 over in Avet weather, but fertile enough if there were any certainty of 
 the seasons. 
 
 The uncertainty of the seasons is said to be an insurmountable obstacle 
 to the success of farming pursuits in the north-west districts, and a farmer, 
 I was told, could never be sure of more than one good crop out of several. 
 But though this seemed to be the general opinion — and the same was 
 erroneously said a few years ago with regard to all land beyond the old 
 settled districts — I found in due time that farmers could get on very 
 well by combining cultivation with grazing ; and that is the class of 
 people who are likely to follow the railway to the Darling in considerable 
 numbei's. As I went further into the interior I ascertained that even 
 farming alone might be made to pay where almost everybody declared it 
 would be ruination to a selector if he were to come and take up land 
 for the purpose of putting it under crops ; but it is not likely that this 
 part of the country, which any one visiting would be disposed to admit 
 is more suitable for grazing than for cultivation, will ever be populated 
 with selectors who will make farming their chief occupation. What is 
 more probable is that, as the railway is extended into these districts, a 
 numerous class of small graziers will spring into existence, and while 
 these men will devote their attention chiefly to the keeping of a few 
 thousand sheep, they will cultivate just sufficient land to supply their 
 own wants, though in some cases they may, Avith more or less success, 
 endeavour to go further and supply the wants of others near them. 
 
208 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 The oiDening for industrial effort of this kind is a very good one, even 
 in the indifference with which the people who now live in these districts 
 have hitherto attended to their own requirements with regard to a supply 
 of the commonest vegetables. It is not an unusual thing to sit down at 
 a table which is destitute of any vegetables, and in most iiistances the 
 suj^ply is very scanty. Here, as elsewhere in the Colony, the much-despised 
 Chinaman is the chief cultivator of vegetables ; and though his success 
 wherever he makes a garden proves clearly that vegetables can be grown, 
 no one else makes the attempt, and many persons Avill deny that the soil 
 and the climate are in any way suitable for cultivation. I remember 
 hearing this idea expressed by a gentleman who was explaining to me the 
 gi-eat inconvenience and loss he had been subjected to by having to get 
 his supply of potatoes by means of the river steamers on the Darling, and 
 half-an-hour afterwards I went into a Chinaman's garden and had dug up 
 for inspection excellent potatoes which the Chinaman, who was a very 
 intelligent gardener, declared he grew every year and sold at a very good 
 price. Intelligence and industry are all that are necessary to obtain a 
 comfortable livelihood in almost any part of the north-west — not excepting 
 even those districts where water is so scanty that the only supply is con- 
 tained in open tanks excavated for the purpose of catching the rainfalls. 
 
 The first township of any importance that is reached on the way to 
 Bourke is Warren. Situated 80 miles from Dubbo, it owes it origin and 
 its existence to the pastoral industry which is carried on all round it. 
 The principal street is formed of the main road to Bourke, and being of 
 black soil, wholly destitute of any metalling, is during wet seasons in a 
 state of bog, but on each side of the street there is a line of buildings, 
 occupied as places of business, or as private residences, and some of them 
 are not by any means destitute of an air of importance. There are 
 several stores, a branch of the Commercial Ban!;, a Court-house, in which 
 a Court of Petty Sessions is held once a week, four hotels, and a number 
 of private houses — all built very compactly, and giving the little town a 
 very substantial appearance. The trade of the place depends upon the 
 pastoral stations in the vicinity and upon traffic, and a considerable 
 amount of business is done. Some farmers are to be found in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and though they cultivate little or nothing in the way of 
 grain, they are said to do very well by dairying, the produce of which 
 they sell in "Warren, Cobar, and other places not very distant from their 
 farms. But farming is not regarded in Warren as a very desirable occu- 
 pation, and many of the selections which have been from time to time 
 taken up by men coming to settle in the district have fallen into the 
 hands of the squatters. One instance was told to me of where, in a 
 distance of -5 miles of frontage to a river or creek, 4 miles were selected, 
 
From Duhho to JVarren and Cannonhar. 209 
 
 and the whole of that extent of land subsequently fell into the hands of 
 the lessee who held a lease of the run. Lessees, in fact, in these 
 districts are understood to pay a larger proportion of interest on con- 
 ditional purchases than selectors do, and in some cases the individual 
 amounts are extraordinary. 
 
 The coach rolls into "Warren by about noon on the morning after 
 leaving Dubbo, and the jaded passengers are allowed an hour or an hour 
 and a-half to rest and get some refreshment. Of this they stand much 
 in need ; for the sixteen hours' journey they have come by the time 
 they reach Warren makes them tired, sleepy, and uncomfortable. This 
 wearisomeness destroys even the pleasure which a coach passenger might 
 be expected to feel at the novelty of his situation. Stufted into the in- 
 side of the coach with other unfortunates who have not the privilege of 
 a seat on the box, he passes the night under a heap of rugs, with his legs 
 cramped from want of room to set his feet dov/n fairly on the coach floor ; 
 his shoulders sore from the continuous jolting, which throws him violently 
 from side to side, and his eyes and head heavy with the close unwholesome 
 atmosphere which, with the coach blinds down, he is compelled to breathe. 
 Welcome, indeed, is the short respite which comes every two or three 
 hours with a change of horses, for then there is a stoppage of about 
 fifteen minutes, an abandonment of the coach for that time, and perhaps, 
 a cup of hot coffee in the hut of the groom Avho looks after the coach 
 horses. 
 
 Even when daylight brings the sun and the varied incidents in a full clear 
 view of the country on either hand, the interest which such a time and such 
 a place would be expected to create is deadened by weariness to such a 
 degi'ee that the passengers look upon the scene listlessly. The wide plain 
 may be brilliant with gaily-coloured flowers, as it was when I saw it with 
 the scarlet and pink blossoms of the Darling pea ; the distant prospect of 
 trees, which occasionally borders the country within the range of sight, 
 as with a low fringe on the horizon, may suggest curious ideas of the 
 similarity between this extraordinary extent of level land and a wide 
 sea ; the remarkable nature of the vegetation which in these districts takes 
 the place of grass in the feeding and fattening of stock may present several 
 very interesting features ; the silence and solitude of the plain may be 
 broken every few minutes by the flight of shrieking galah parrots, or of 
 other birds unknown in the more settled parts of the Colony ; the outlook 
 from the coach may be brimful of what is strange and striking, — but it 
 arouses little or no interest in the minds of the weary passengers, and a.11 
 they think about and all they want are rest and sleep 
 o 
 
210 TJie Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 Leaving Warren, whicli does not fail to strike one as a township that 
 has seen a good deal of progress and that is likely to see more, the road 
 continues over level plains, which in places extend for many miles with- 
 out the vestige of a tree upon them. The coach jolts and rolls over the 
 black soil bog which has been ploughed and trodden by vehicle traffic 
 and by the travellmg of cattle to market into an endless succession of 
 mu.ddy ruts and holes. Beyond the bog on either side is scanty herbage 
 intermixed with a weed called the roly-poly, from the circumstances of 
 its spherical form and the manner in which, when it is in a dry condition, 
 the wind rolls it over the plain, to the gi-eat inconvenience and sometimes 
 danger of spirited horses ; and further away still, in the distance, is a 
 belt of, perhaps, myall trees. The droves of cattle on their way to market, 
 and the large flocks of sheep occasionally passed, give satisfactory 
 evidence of the fattening and wool-growing capabilities of this singular 
 country. The plump, well-rounded, firm appearance of the cattle is 
 such as Sydney slaughter-houses seldom or never see, and the sight of 
 several hundreds of animals in this condition, with such an evenness 
 about their height and size generally that there is no more irregularity 
 in the general appearance of the herd than there is to be found on the 
 level plain itself, is one well worth seeing. The contrast between what 
 the animals are then and what they come to be by the time they reach 
 the Homebush saleyards is very remarkable. All tlie land over which 
 the coach road passes is included in that which forms some station run, 
 but occasionally there is seen a roadside public-house, which has been 
 erected on land selected from the run. In one instance of this kind the 
 selector owned over 1,000 acres, well watered by a creek, and kept 
 a small flock of sheep, which helped to make the selection pay very 
 well. 
 
 By about half -past 9 o'clock in the night followmg that when Dubbo 
 is left the coach reaches Cannonbai-, which lies 125 miles from Dubbo 
 and 330 from Sydney, and at that distance the nature of this flat 
 pastoral country can be better seen and understood. Except in very 
 dry seasons grass is plentiful, and the system now followed of fencing 
 the runs and dividing them into paddocks has done very much to 
 increase the growth of feed. There have been times when these districts 
 have been parched from want of rain, and when, as during the period 
 of the last drought, stock have died in large numbers ; but the danger 
 of future disasters of that kind has been considerably lessened by the 
 provision which the pastoral lessees have made to meet such difficulties. 
 Nature assists them greatly in their eff'orts to follow their industry 
 successfully, for, as if to compensate for the scanty sujjply of grass 
 during the seasons when rain does not fall, or falls only in small quanti- 
 
From Dubho to Warren and Cannonbar. 211 
 
 ties, the laud is to a large extent covered with edible shruhs, the 
 principal of which are the salt-bush and the cotton-bush, and these stock 
 will eat and thrive upon wonderfully. 
 
 Camionbar is a small scattered township, built on the Cannonbar run, 
 and watered by Duck Creek — a stream that runs through a very consider- 
 able length of the country met with on the way to Bourke. Eighteen years 
 ago a post office was established there, and a gentleman who recently sold 
 the Cannonbar run for .£160,000 was appointed postmaster; but previous 
 to that time Cannonbar was no more than a camping-place for overlanders 
 on their way to Bourke, and little better than what it was when Sir 
 Thomas Mitchell passed through it, a very long time ago. The opening 
 of the post office led to the opening of an hotel, a general store, and a 
 blacksmith's shop, and gradually the township assumed its present 
 proportions. 
 
 If it were not for the circumstance that the railway will be taken by 
 a route several miles from Cannonbar, and will give importance to a 
 small township called Nyngan, which is about 15 miles away, and is to 
 have a railway station, Cannonbar might be expected to progress, and in 
 time become an inland town of importance ; but in the choice of 
 iSTyngan as the site for a railway station the people of Cannonbar see 
 the rapid decrease of business in their township, and no prospect of 
 improvement until some fortuitous circumstances arise in the distant 
 future ; and yet Cannonbar is in the centre of a very important 
 pastoral district that is divided into extensive runs, uj)on which there 
 are depastured and shorn every year many thousands of sheep, and this 
 must contribute towards keeping the township in existence, and in time 
 materially assisting it to progress. It is not always that the beneficial 
 results from the existence of a profitable industry are most apparent 
 in its immediate neighbourhood. 
 
212 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTEH XXVII. 
 
 LIFE ON A SHEEP STATION. 
 
 The benefits that arise from the great pastoral industry of the Colony 
 ai-e chiefly seen in the exports of colonial produce Avhich are made from 
 the metropolitan seaport every year, in the increased activity and profit- 
 ableness apparent about our railways and roads during certain seasons, 
 and in the additional prosperity which marks the general reve^"ue ; 
 and it is very suggestive of the wonderful richness of the pastures and 
 of the success with which the pastoral industry is carried on, to compare 
 the great results with the ease with which the industry appears to be 
 conducted. The runs are well fenced with wire fencing, and this costs 
 a large sum of money ; but that done, the principal means for successful 
 sheep-breeding is provided, and except where water is scarce there is 
 not very much else to do. The sheep roam at will in the different 
 paddocks, and with ordinary care will produce an increase in their 
 numbers as high as 70 or 80 per cent, of the breeding ewes. The lambs 
 thrive rapidly, and though in places they are exposed to pests, such as 
 crows and hawks, which sometimes destroy very many, there is generally 
 a satisfactory increase, and on some stations the increase is remarkable. 
 The shearing season makes it necessary to have a wool-shed, sheep-yards, 
 and shearing pens, and generally these are substantially built ; and theii 
 there is the station homestead. But in districts like those of the north- 
 west the homestead on a station or a run is neither a very pretentious nor 
 a very costly structure ; and the number of station hands employed to 
 attend to the run and the work connected with it appears lidiculously few 
 compared with the magnitude of the undertaking they are engaged in. 
 
 It is one of the complaints made against the pastoral tenants that 
 they hold possession of an enormous tract of country and employ but 
 very little labour. They do employ but very little labour ; and even in 
 the shearing season, when work is most plentiful, one company of 
 shearers will travel from station to station and do the work at each, 
 thus reducing the chances of the pastoral districts proving labour- 
 employing centres to a minimum ; but there was a time Avhen they 
 employed a far larger number of people, and the number has been 
 reduced only because the method of working and managing the station 
 properties has, of late years, considerably improved. 
 
Life on a Sheep Station. 213 
 
 A sheep station may be a remarkably profitable investment, and, after 
 the first outlay of capital in providing secure fences and necessary station 
 buildings and yards, may be worked very cheaply. Frequently the 
 proprietor of the run lives in Sydney, Melbourne, or Adelaide, and the 
 property is placed in charge of a superintendent who attends to every- 
 thing. The station homestead may then be a kind of bachelor's hall; 
 but there are many instances where the superintendent, or the pro- 
 prietor, is living on the station with his family, and where all the 
 comforts and brightening influences of family life are to be found. 
 Plainly built of colonial pine — a wood that can be varnished very nicely, 
 and is found in large quantities in the north-west interior — the homestead 
 is well suited to withstand either the heat of summer or the cold of 
 Avinter ; and sometimes it is situated in the midst of an attractive 
 garden, and not far from the reach of a river, the bend of a creek, or 
 the shores of a lake which in this part of the Colony is called, in the 
 language of the aborigines, a " cowall," or " cowell." The site then is at 
 once commanding, cool, and pleasant, and a little Eden to the eyes of a 
 dusty citizen. 
 
 Hospitality is ever to be found there, station rations are wholesome 
 and inviting, and the evenings pass very happily in conversation, or 
 with music, the strains of which sometimes bring to the windows a 
 group of black faces with shining dark eyes, and teeth whiter than 
 polished ivory. Most, if not all, of the station pro]ierties around 
 Cannonbar are well watered, and, in good seasons, well grassed, and 
 they are all very extensive. It is delightfully exhilarating to be mounted 
 on a good horse, and to ride over the run, first to the head station, and 
 then to those parts of the property where the work of the station is 
 more particularly carried on. The plains are very flat, and generally 
 pretty clear of timber. The road leads from paddock to paddock, 
 through gates which afford the necessary passage to ti-avellers without 
 risking the loss of any stock from their straying away, and, as you 
 canter or gallop along, kangaroos make their appearance and begin to 
 bound over the plain some distance ahead ; wild turkeys walk in and 
 out of the low shrubs that grow on the run, and then, rising into the 
 air, soar away to places of greater solitude and safety ; native com- 
 panions stalk in couples, unconcerned ; and eveiy now and then a flight 
 of parrots or other birds disturbs the silence of the place and fills the 
 air with cries. Sheep can be seen in scattered flocks far in the distance, 
 and in some instances herds of cattle. The kangaroos present a very 
 pretty sight. In groups of from three or four, to perhaps eight or 
 ten, they will be seen sitting on the plain watching the approach of a 
 horseman until he reaches within a quarter or half a mile of their position, 
 
214 Tlw Industries of Neio Sotith Wales. 
 
 and tlien away tliey go, giving a sj^lendid exhibition oE tlieir leaping 
 powers until tliey disappear amongst the timber. Further on, towards 
 Bourke, emus are seen in numbers, and they, too, give a fine display of 
 fleetness w^hen alarmed and eager to escajie an apparent danger. 
 
 In fact, the plains are full of interesting features of this and other 
 kinds. The storms that occasionally visit them are wonderfully sunilar 
 in their general appearance to what are met with at sea. On a day 
 during the season of the equinoctial gales, as I was riding to the 
 head station on one of the runs near Cannonbar a thunderstorm was 
 brewing, and it rose over the edge of the plain in the distance, growling 
 and increasing in intensity just as a storm of the kind appears when 
 coming up over the horizon at sea. The sky, inky in colour, and very 
 threatening, is, at sea, made wilder in appearance by the disturbed con- 
 dition of the waves as they are driven to fury by the increasing strength 
 of the wdnd ; and on the plain the sunlight, piercing through a rift of 
 cloud, shone upon a long patch of faded gi-ass, immediately under the 
 dark sky, in such a manner as to make the shining grass appear exactly 
 like a line of foam. Nearer and more near the storm aj)proached, and 
 then the wind came in strong gusts, the rain in torrents, the lightning 
 very viAT.d, and the thunder loud and reverberatory. Not twelve yards 
 from the road the electric fluid shattered a large box-tree and killed a 
 valuable cow that had taken shelter under it, scorching and marking 
 both tree and cow in a most singular manner ; and then the storm, 
 having done so much, and well saturated the plain and the few human 
 beings upon it, passed over and died away in the distance. It was on 
 this station property that I was fortunate enough to witness several of 
 the operations which contribute to the wool supply of the Colony, and 
 they formed a fitting introduction to what I became acquainted with 
 further on. 
 
 INIost of the runs in the Cannonbar country are very well watered by 
 creeks, which communicate vnih either the Bogan or the Macquarie 
 River ; and by the construction of dams across these creeks water can 
 be kept for use through all seasons ; but further inland, and more in 
 what is known as the back country, or those parts which are away alto- 
 gether from the advantages which are derived from the supi)ly of water 
 in the rivers and creeks, the means of watering stock are scanty, and 
 have to be largely supplemented by the storage of rain in tanks, which 
 are now becoming rather numerous. The runs upon which the sheep 
 or cattle are depastured vary in extent and are often very large, and 
 one squatter frequently o'wns several stations. Sheep runs are stocked 
 to the number of about 4,000 or 10,000, up to 150,000 or 200,000, 
 
Life on a Sheep Station. 215 
 
 and cattle runs from perhaps 800 or 900 to 10,000 or 12,000. The 
 cattle are rapidly decreasing in number on some stations from removal, 
 and tlie sheep as rapidly increasing. Eoaming in the vast paddocks as 
 though at large, the sheep thrive wonderfully ; and oidy at the periods 
 when the work of drafting, branding, or shearing has to be performed 
 are they disturbed by the station hands. To any one unfamiliar with 
 the operations connected with the production of our wool supply, the 
 apparent ease with which such a great result is brought about is very 
 remarkable. 
 
 I stayed at a station near Cannonbar one night, in oi'der to witness 
 the drafting and branding of sheep the next moi'ning. Breakfast at 
 sunrise was the last order at night, and a hearty meal of station-fed 
 mutton and well-made damper, with tea, having very fitly prepared us 
 for the experiences of the day, we were very soon in the saddle, and 
 going over the plain towards a distant part of the run, and passing 
 through fine grass and salt-bush and several kinds of timber. The sen- 
 sation of freedom which such a ride over the plain produces in the early 
 morning is very delightful ; and though the ground is rough, and the 
 grass hides many treacherous holes, a watchful eye and a steady hand 
 will keep the horses bounding along, safe from all danger. There may 
 be no sheep in sight, and, to the uninitiated, no sign of their presence 
 upon the run ; but in the midst of a conversation upon the native names 
 of places and upon station matters generally, our guide, the station 
 manager, suddenly turns his horse and remai'ks, " The sheep have gone 
 this way," and, sure enough, we soon see ahead of us a large flock of 
 sheep, whose tracks we dropped across when we altered our course. 
 
 Now comes an interesting time. Sheep are stupid animals, and will 
 persist in running the wrong way, and where one goes the remainder 
 will follow. It takes all we can do, with the aid of a couj)le of sheep- 
 dogs, to drive the flock in the direction of the drafting-yard ; but in 
 due time we reach the yards, and there find a second flock that had just 
 been di-iven in from another part of the run by some of the station 
 people. There is a good deal of shouting, and rushing one way and 
 another, to get the sheep into the yax'd ; and after we have succeeded in 
 getting them there they must be driven through a kind of lane towards 
 a small enclosure, where they are penned previous to passing along a 
 narrow passage leading to two other yards, which are entered by means of 
 a gate that admits to one yard or the other as it is opened or closed by 
 the station manager, who stands at the end of the passage. In this 
 way the drafting is done. A sufficient number of sheep having been 
 penned in the small yard, they are driven along the passage to the 
 
216 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 yards wliere the gate stands ; and there, as rapidly as they like to run, 
 the ewes pass into one enclosure and the lambs into the other. The 
 skill with which the gate is moved backwards and forwards by the 
 manager could only be exliibited after much practice. Sometimes a 
 lamb will have its nose jammed between the gate and a side post as it 
 makes a rush to get into the wi-ong yard ; but it never succeeds in slip- 
 jDing through, and one after another leaps and skips into the yard where 
 it is wanted. 
 
 While this is going on, the fires for heating the branding irons are 
 being lighted, and very soon afterwards the branding of the lambs takes 
 place. The fires are made in a very singular and very effective manner. 
 A box-tree log, hollowed out, and having a small square opening at one 
 end, is stood upright, and made firm in its position by the heaping of earth 
 around its base. A fire is then made in the small opening at the bottom 
 of the log, and a current of air passing upwards through the log, this 
 primitive forge is immediately in full play, on the principle of a blast 
 furnace. The fire is fed from the top, and the flame rushing up the 
 chimney or " spout," as the log is called, produces a heat which very 
 quickly prepares the branding irons for the duty they have to perform. 
 
 Then comes the branding ; and the lambs having been driven into a 
 small yard near where the fires have been lighted, the men and the 
 black boys present rush amongst them, and one after another the sheep 
 are branded. Holding the lamb firmly by the head, and by getting 
 astride of the body preventing any struggling on the part of the animal, 
 the black boy stands until the hot branding iron has been applied to the 
 lamb's nose, and the brand burnt in inefFaceably. The shearing season 
 occurs in the latter part of the year, and a busy time it is. The wool- 
 shed is then the principal scene of activity. Attached to the shed are 
 the shearing yards or pens, and inside the shed are the appliances for 
 sorting and packing the wool, and, in some instances, for washing and 
 scouring it. The shearers are paid so much per score of sheep shorn, 
 and a good shearer can earn very good wages. Throv/ing the sheep 
 upon the floor, he uses the shears with such expedition that the fleece is 
 very quickly ofi" the animal ; and the number shorn in a day is fre- 
 quently veiy large. But the sheep are roughly treated ; and covei'ed 
 with cuts and knocked about as they are in some sheds, they present 
 a very sorry spectacle in their attenuated and curiously white 
 appearance. 
 
 The wool having been taken from the sheep, it has to be sorted, and 
 on many of the stations a wool sorter, who is well paid for what he 
 
Life on a Sheep Station. 217 
 
 does, is specially engaged to do this. Wool classing is very necessary, 
 for there are various qualities of wool, and for the purposes of highly 
 beneficial sale each quality must be kept by itself. Super combmg, iirst 
 combing, second combing, first clothing, second clothing, first pieces, and 
 second pieces are all terms used in the business, and represent various 
 qualities which bring high or low prices in the market. 
 
 Woolwashing is very important also, and on some stations the appli- 
 ances for washing the wool are of a very improved and exj^ensive 
 character. Bat the old method is still generally adopted where the 
 water supply is plentiful, and this is always the case on a station which 
 has a frontage to a river. The woolwashing apparatus is then erected 
 in the stream near the bank, and the wool is carted from the shearing 
 shed in specially fitted waggons. Taken to the river in that way it is 
 first put into large vats of hot water and soap, and there well soaked 
 until the worst portion of its impuiities are either removed or loosened 3 
 and then it is taken from the hot water vats to the stage in the river, 
 and put into perforated zinc boxes that are sunk in the water. There 
 the wool is again well soaked and stirred by men with long poles, and in 
 due time it is taken to a drjang ground on the river bank and dried a 
 clean white colour. The packing of the wool into bales, the pressing, 
 and sometimes the dumping, of the wool, and the loading of the bales 
 upon the teams follow. 
 
 On one large station beyond the Darling I found a wool-scouring 
 machine v/liich was of colonial manufacture and rather expensive, but 
 very effective in cleansing the wool. It consisted of a succession of iron 
 tanks, from one to the other of which the wool Avas passed, partly with 
 the assistance of the men attending to the washing of the wool and 
 partly by the action of the machine itself. From the last tank the wool 
 came clean and white, and, carried between a pair of squeezing rollers, 
 and afterwards between what are called fans, which to a certain extent 
 separated the avooI, it was thrown out upon the floor and taken aAvay to 
 the drying ground. In the soak tank, v/here there is a very consider- 
 able quantity of melted soap, and Avhere tlie wool from the bale is first 
 put, are steam-pipes to keep up the requisite heat, and the means for 
 applying a stream of cold Avater to temper the over-heatediiess of the 
 Avarm Avater Avhenever it is necessary. Kept moving about in the first 
 tank by men Avho are constantly stirring it, the wool is at last pushed 
 forAvard to the end of the tank, Avhere it is immediately caught by a 
 kind of rake fixed to the machine and throAvn on to a slide, or " creeper," 
 as it is technically called, by means of Avhich it is passed through rollers 
 into the second tank. These rollers are so constructed as to present a 
 
218 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 revolving cylinder, with prong-like teeth which drive the wool onwards, 
 and, in some measure, separate it and cleanse it. At the end of the 
 second tank there is another " rake" which, lifting the wool from the 
 water in the tank, throws it on to another slide or creeper, and by means 
 of this creepier the wool is conveyed to a pair of squeezing rollers, which 
 squeeze the wool almost dry. Much whiter than it was at the com- 
 mencement of the scouring process, the wool passes into a third tank, 
 from which another creeper receives it and conveys it through more 
 squeezing rollers into the last tank, where the water is perfectly cleai', 
 and where the last of the impu.rities in the avooI are removed. I saw the 
 same kind of machine at a wool-scouring establishment in Wiloannia, 
 where a large quantity of wool is sent from stations in the district to be 
 scoured. 
 
 Opinions differ as to the advantage of washing the wool. Some 
 persons say it injures and sometimes destroys valuable properties in the 
 wool, while others contend that the possible disadvantage in that respect 
 is more than outweighed by the removal of the dirt which otherwise has 
 to be carried and paid for as if it were wool, and by the higher price 
 which washed wool brings at the wool sales. "Wool-washing, however, 
 on the stations or in their vicinity is becoming very general, and gradu- 
 ally the methods adopted are being considerably improved. 
 
 But the subject of the greatest importance to the graziers in the 
 north-west is the means at hand for the conveyance of their wool to the 
 place of shipment. The river Darling and the river Murrumbidgee 
 being tolerably wide streams, which in certain seasons are deep enough 
 to float small steamers and large flat-bottomed barges, and our railways 
 west and south having been until recently too far away for the graziers 
 to avail themselves of any opportunity for sending their wool to Sydney, 
 the wool in very large quantities has been sent, until the last season 
 but one to Adelaide or Melbourne. The uncertainties, however, insep- 
 arable from the river traffic make the shipment of the wool by the 
 steamers and barges very unsatisfactory, and will be the principal causes 
 of diverting the trade from the rivers, and sending it to the railways and 
 to Sydney. 
 
 Railway extension is certain to make a change, and I found, in talking 
 about the approach of the railway, that there was a perfect willingness on 
 the part of both graziers and tradespeople to deal with Sydney, if they 
 could do it as cheaply as they trade with other places now. The manner 
 in which the wool-growers appreciate the efforts that are being made to 
 
Life on a Sheep Station. 219 
 
 push our railways into the far interior was seen in the extraordinary- 
 increase in the qiiantity of wool received in Sydney during the recent 
 wool season ; and they will take full advantage of the means pro- 
 vided in this manner for speedy and certain conveyance of their produce, 
 if the railway freights are not made too high to permit of wool being 
 sent to Sydney as profitably as it has been sent by way of the rivers. 
 
220 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTER XXYIII. 
 
 THE WOOL TRADE AT BOURKE. 
 
 BouRKE is the first important centre to wliicli the wool is sent from the 
 stations in the north-west for dispatch to a port of shipment, and Boui-ke 
 is the town to which the Great Western Railway is being gradually 
 extended. Situated on the banks of the river Darling, at a distance of 
 543 miles from Sydney, the township of Bourke dates its existence from 
 about the year 1861, when the site was recommended by Commissioner 
 Huthwaite, and the first sale of land in the new township took place at 
 Dubbo. Previous to that, however, by some years, Sir Thomas Mitchell 
 and his exploring party had visited the locality, and a few miles- further 
 down the river than where the township of Bourke has been built, the 
 explorers found it necessary for their defence against the attacks of 
 aboriginals to construct a log stockade, and this they named Fort Bourke, 
 after the then Governor, Sir Bichard Bourke, a name that a station 
 property in the neighbourhood retains to this day. The first public-house 
 built in the new township can still be seen, joined to a more extensive 
 and finished structure which modern ideas and the increase of business 
 haA-e made necessary, and the house in which the police magistrate of the 
 early days, the father of a prominent politician, lived is still standing, 
 but the improvements which, with the progress of the district, have been 
 introduced into the township have made the Bourke of to-day a place of 
 no inconsiderable importance, either in regard to the amount of business 
 done in the tov/n or to its general appearance. 
 
 The incorpoi'ation of the town three years ago assisted the progress of 
 the place greatly by bringing about the improvement of the footpaths, 
 the erection of alignment posts, and the building of more houses ; and 
 now Bourke is a compact town, much larger and better laid out than 
 might be expected in a situation v/hich is almost in the centre of 
 Australia, possessing some neat public buildings, an Anglican and a 
 Boman Catholic church, a mechanics' institute, a hospital, a brewery, 
 two or three large wool stores, and among the general number of 
 habitations some good private residences. Being closely associated with 
 Sydney by reason of the fact that a coach runs between Dubbo and 
 Bourke twice a week, the people of Bourke manifest a large interest 
 in matters connected with the Metropolis of New South Wales, and 
 it may be said that everybody wants to see the railway extended 
 
The Wool Trade at JBourke. 221 
 
 from Dubbo to Bourke as rapidly as possible. This desire is based 
 chiefly on the impression that the railway will afford a more rapid, certain 
 and cheaper means of sending wool and any other produce which the 
 district may supply to Sydney than the river affoi'ds of sending it to 
 Port Victor, to Adelaide, or to Melbourne. 
 
 Bourke is the point to which the traffic from a very extensive radius 
 of country converges. The railway will catch not only the wool from 
 the stations between Dubbo and Bourke, and from those which lie on 
 either side of the route the railway will take — some at a considerable 
 distance — but it is a centre to which will be attracted all the wool from 
 the Warrego River country, and beyond the WaiTego whei^e there is a 
 succession of vast stations, and from the upper part of the Paroo Eivei-, 
 which runs almost parallel with the Warrego. Half the extent of the 
 country watered by that part of the Darling or Barwon River which 
 runs between Bourke and Walgett will be served eventually by the 
 railway which is to be extended to Walgett from Gunnedah and 
 Narrabri, but the wants of the other half will be supplied by the railway 
 to Bourke. Then 80 miles north in a direct line from Boui-ke is 
 the boundary of Queensland, and for that distance and beyond it for 
 hundreds of miles, there are many large stations whose requirements 
 should to a certain extent be met by the New South Wales railways. 
 Even from the stations on the lower part of the Paroo the wool may 
 occasionally come to Bourke, though the nearest place for tlie dispatch 
 of that wool either by steamer or railway to a seaport is Wilcannia, and 
 there it will have to be caught by the railway which must be constructed 
 to that district if all or most of the Darling wool is to be brought to 
 Sydney. 
 
 When it is stated that on the frontages between Walgett on the one 
 side and Wilcannia on the other there must be about 3,000,000 sheep, 
 if not more, that they are increasing rapidly, and that there is scarcely 
 any big station which does not shear 100,000 or 150,000 sheep, and 
 that the stations in the back countiy are also carrying a large number 
 of sheep, it can easily be understood that the traffic on the liver Darling 
 is very considerable. The number of steamers plying on the river 
 appears to be about forty or fifty, and each steamer has one or two 
 barges. There is no uniformity in the size of the boats, and therefore 
 the quantity of wool which they and their barges carry varies, but 
 loaded with a full cargo, a good-sized steamer and its barges will convey 
 as much as 200 or 400 tons, which is packed closely and well secured 
 with ropes, so that while the bales tower high above the decks they 
 
222 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 shall be protected as much as possible from the effects of any accident 
 which is likely in its results to precipitate many of them into the river, 
 as accidents through snags or overhanging trees sometimes do. 
 
 It is difficult to estimate the total quantity of wool sent down the 
 river each year, because it is scarcely ever the same, and the total pro- 
 duction is always on the increase ; but it is very lar'ge, and to forward 
 this large quantity of wool for shipment at either Adelaide or Melbourne 
 there are forwarding agents at Bourke and Wilcannia, and large wool 
 stores where the wool is received from the teamsters who cart it from 
 the various stations, and stored until the river and the steamers are 
 ready to convey it away. That opportunity occurs only during the 
 periods when the river is high enough and remains long enough in that 
 condition to enable the steamers to come up from Wentworth, or from 
 between Wentworth and Menindie, and after taking on board a wool 
 cargo to return to Goolwa or to Echuca. 
 
 Tliis all-important rise in the river is very uncertain : it may occur 
 at any period, and it may not occur until after there has been a delay 
 which has resulted in sex'ious expense to the wool-growers. There has 
 been a time when the river has been almost uninterruptedly navigable 
 for sixteen months, and when during part of that period the water has 
 been over the banks and a boat could be taken for miles away from the 
 course of the stream, and there has been such a state of things as the 
 river being without any very noticeable fresh, and consequently almost 
 entirely unnavigable, for a period of two years. In the one case steamers 
 could, for a long period of time ply up and down the river constantly, and 
 in the other they could scarcely ply at all. But generally speaking two 
 rises in the river are looked for in the year, and, as a rule, at least one 
 takes place and causes the river to be navigable. Here again, however, 
 uncertainty comes in, for the one rise does not always occur at the same 
 period of the year. Being due to rainfalls in New England and in part 
 of Queensland, which swell the rivers and creeks in those directions, the 
 water from which flows down into the Darling, there is no saying when 
 the rain will fall, and consequently when the rise will come, and wool- 
 growers and forwarding agents have but to exercise patience and wait. 
 In about three years out of five, I was told, there are two freshes in the 
 river, and at those times the stream will be navigable in the upper parts 
 for a month or six weeks. 
 
 An idea is entertained by some persons that locking the Darling 
 would make it permanently navigable, as it probably would. 
 
The Wool Trade at Bourke. 223 
 
 No sooner is there tlie sliglitest sign of a rise in the river than 
 steamers prepare to start for Bourke, or as high up the stream as they 
 can go ; and thougii frequently, througli the uncertain nature of the 
 fresh, some of the boats after steaming a considerable distance find they 
 are unable to return, this does not deter them from making the most of 
 any opportunity that offers. In this their owners are actuated by two 
 motives — the desire to bring down wool, and the desire either to convey 
 general merchandise to storekeepers in the river towns, or to trade with 
 storekeepers and others in merchandise of this description on their own 
 account. 
 
 The extent of the business done in this manner has been extraordinary. 
 In some of the steamers a supercargo and salesman has been carried, 
 and in one trip sales have been effected to the amount of .£24,000. In 
 another case £10,000 worth of hay has been sold; and frequently, with 
 all the steamers that carry goods the sales have been very large. Some- 
 times when the trip has been a short one, which means that the steamers 
 have been unable to go far up the river, the sales have amounted to some- 
 thing above £2,000 or £3,000, but at other times they have been as high 
 as £15,000 and £16,000, and, as documents shown to me proved, up to 
 £24,000. These steamers are in fact floating shops ; and as they are fitted 
 with rooms for the display of their goods, and with counters over which 
 to serve them, a purchaser may, when the boat is moored to the river bank, 
 go on board and buy a large stock which will last for months, or enough 
 for only the day's requirements. Account-sales produced to show me 
 the importance of this trade represented the results, through not a veiy 
 long period, of varioiis trips made by several boats owned by an Adelaide 
 firai, and the sales reached the extraordinary sum of £229,687. In 
 doubt as to v,dien supplies can be obtained, and anxious to seize the first 
 opportunity that offers for making necessary additions either to the stock 
 in places of business or to the stores at the stations, storekeepers and 
 station superintendents purchase largely, and often at a high price ; and 
 this is the explanation of the large sales made by the steamers. 
 
 When the railway reaches the river much of this trade will be stopped, 
 for everybody will then be able to replenish his stock as he requires it, 
 and far more cheaply than when he was obliged to lay in a large supply 
 of goods and pay highly for them, and then shortly afterwards, by an 
 unexpected second rise of the river, the arrival of more steamers, and 
 the introduction of their cargoes of merchandise, be undersold and com- 
 pelled to submit to serious loss. 
 
 It is in the uncertainty of the rise in the river and the risks attendant 
 upon its na\dgation that there are to be found the circumstances which 
 will enable the railway when it shall have reached Bourke to enter into 
 a successful competition with its rival. Delay in the despatch of wool 
 
224 Tlie Industries of Neio South IFales. 
 
 from the stations, or from tlie wool stores of tlie forwarding agents on 
 the Darling, means very great expense, and sometimes serious loss, to 
 the wool-growers. The value of last season's clip at one large station to 
 the westward of the Darling was about £25,000; and the loss of interest 
 on that amount, through delay in getting the wool to market and realiz- 
 ing upon it, is to say nothing of the risk by the way, a very imj^ortant 
 item in the calculations of the station proprietors ; it would pay the 
 cost of carriage to Sydney, and almost the cost of sending the wool 
 to England. This delay takes place of necessity when, through the 
 exigencies of climate, the water in the river is too low to permit of 
 free navigation ; but it occurs also when the steamers are able to 
 navigate the river without interruption, for then, though the steamers 
 are busily engaged conveying the wool down the river, they may be 
 unable to take all of the wool away quickly, and some of the wool may 
 have to wait until late in the season. 
 
 There have been instances where the steamers have contracted to take 
 away the wool of particular stations, and after conveying the clip of one 
 station a certain distance have left it there, and have proceeded with 
 that of another station, returning for the first cargo after the second has 
 been delivered. Wool-growers do not like anything of that kind. Then 
 there is never any certainty that the wool will reach its destination in 
 the same condition in which it was put on board the steamers and the 
 barges. Every precaution is taken against accident, and the wool is 
 always insured, but accidents will happen sometimes, and the insurance 
 is an expense that the squatters would be very glad to do without. 
 Striking against a snag — which means a fallen tree-trunk under the 
 surface of the water, or some floatiiig debris washed from the banks in 
 periods of flood — a steamer may have a hole knocked in her bottom and 
 sink, or a barge may have more or less of her cargo overthrown and 
 submerged. An overhanging tree in the night may be the cause of 
 equally serious damage ; and it is not unusual to see at some river-side 
 wool-scouring establishment a number of sodden bales that have been 
 fished from the river, and have to be opened for the purpose of drjdng 
 the wool and repacking it before it can be sent on again to market. 
 The railway will jnit an end to all this, or at least afford a means for 
 its avoidance, and in that fact much of the success of the railway can 
 bo seen. 
 
JBourhe and Wilcannia. 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 BOURKE AND WILCANN'IA. 
 
 While Bourke forms a convenient centre for the country around the 
 Upper Darling, Wilcannia occupies a similar position with relation to 
 the country around the central portion of the river. Both towns are 
 flourishing and progressive, and each is an important emporium for the 
 north-west wool trade. 
 
 At Wilcannia, the Darling is a stream which in fair seasons is about a 
 quarter of a mile wide, and when the water is deep enough, the steamers 
 passing up and down present a sight which is not only interesting in 
 itself ; but, as evidence of the large extent of traffic carried oxa by means 
 of the steamers and their barges, it shows at a glance the importance of 
 the trade which has sprung into existence and is rapidly increasing in 
 this far-distant part of the interior. The banks of the river are high, 
 and formed of that soft alluvial soil which is characteristic of the river 
 banks in almost every instance where a river is found in the southern 
 or western poitions of the Colony, and tlie land stretches away from the 
 river in a flat plain which for a distance of hundreds of miles is relieved 
 in but one or two places by any rising ground approaching in elevation 
 the height of hills or mountains. Most of this country, the exception 
 being that portion of it upon which the town of Wilcannia and a fev/ 
 smaller towns have been built, is occu})ied for pastoral purposes, and in 
 all directions stations appear. 
 
 Nothing could be finer or more satisfactory than the supply of grass 
 and other food for stock which runs on these station properties show 
 in any fair season ; and for months, notwithstanding the want of rain, 
 the grass and herbage on most, if not all, these runs, have been plentiful 
 and luxuriant. Water in some places is not always at hand in the 
 quantity required ; but gradually that difSculty is being overcome. The 
 excavation of tanks for catching and holding rain-water is being supple- 
 mented by borings for water on the principle of sinking artesian wells, 
 and in several places an unlimited supply of good water at a considerable 
 depth fi'om the surface has been obtained. 
 
 Away from the river and creek frontages Nature has not been bounti- 
 ful in the matter of water supply. There are no streams intersecting 
 what are termed the back blocks, and occasionally the country some 
 P 
 
226 The Industries of Neio South TVates. 
 
 distance from the rivers becomes, through the effects of drought, an 
 arid desert. But the great changes that have been made in the character 
 of tliese districts by the construction of tanks for the storage of water, 
 and the further gi-eat benefit that will be derived from the springs 
 discovered by means of boring operations, will in time entirely alter the 
 opinion that has been generally entertained with regard to the condition 
 of pastoral lands in the north-west. Within a radius of 120 miles of 
 Bourke there are nine or ten of these tanks, the water being led to them 
 in the majority of cases by catch- water drains extending several miles ; 
 and wherever there is an undulation or rise in the ground on station 
 property, advantage has been taken of it to gather the water and deliver 
 it into the tanks. 
 
 Wilcannia is a smart-looking town, built on the right bank of the 
 Dai-ling, and showing signs of rapid progress within the last few years. 
 This rapidity of growth gives the town the appearance of being very new, 
 and something which is not clearly definable seems to have sent the 
 place ahead within a very recent period, and to have imparted to it a more 
 populous and much smarter air than towns of its age generally assume. 
 Fourteen years ago there was nothing to be seen on the land where 
 Wilcannia now stands but a shepherd's hut, and this hut, which is still 
 to be found, but is now between a large bonded store and a tine stone 
 dwelling-house and garden, is a small slab building 15 feet by 10 feet, 
 and was used for a long time as the town Court-house. 
 
 The post and telegraph ofifice of to-day, the court-house and gaol, the 
 leading hotel, and one of the principal stores — upon winch as much as 
 £11,000 has been spent — are large and well constructed buildings, the 
 material being chiefly stone, and the style of architecture and of work- 
 manship such as would be creditable in a town of much larger preten- 
 sions ; and the main street, which runs parallel with the river, contains 
 a tolerably long line of places of business. A large wool-washing estab- 
 lishment fitted with machinery of the most approved description carries 
 on its operations on the river bank and within the town ; and among the 
 other local industries started in the place are a couple of breweries. 
 Compai-ed with Bourke, the town looks younger and of a more go-ahead 
 description, but the aspect of the former place suggests stability and 
 progress, notwithstanding that the progress may have been slow. Money 
 seems to be plentiful in both towns, but in Wilcannia there is more of a 
 metropolitan air about the style of the hotels and their charges, and 
 about the manner of living generally. Wharfs have been built at the 
 river bank for the loading and unloading of the steamers, and, as at 
 Bourke, there are bonded stores and a Customs oflicer. 
 
BourJce and Wilccmnia. 227 
 
 The chief points, however, with respect to Wilcannia, considered in 
 relation to tlie industries of the Colony, are the facilities which the 
 position of the town and the enterprise of its business people offer for 
 the receiving of wool from the stations covering a very large extent of 
 country, and for its despatch either by river or by railway. To Wilcannia 
 is attracted the produce from a very extensive radius of country, and to 
 Wilcannia the people of the district consider one of the railway exten- 
 sions to the Dai'ling ought to go. 
 
 The action of a large number of station proprietors in sending their 
 wool of the last season but one from the Bourke district to Sydney natur- 
 ally attracted attention everywhere ; and amongst other results of that 
 proceeding was the exa,mple which Avas shown to the Wilcannia people of 
 what might be done even with the railway so distant as Wellington or 
 Dubbo, and what greater advantages are likely to be derived whenever 
 the railway shall have reached the toAvns on the I'iver. One of the 
 largest as it was one of tlie first of the stations to send its wool from 
 the Bourke district to Wellington was Toorale ; and perhaps a shoi't 
 description of this fine })astoral property Avill be interesting, as showing 
 something of the extent to which pastoi'al occupation and pastoral 
 industry in the north-west have gone. 
 
 The area of the run is 1,430,780 acres, and of this quantity 990,690 
 acres are fenced, and comprise twenty-eight paddocks, varying in size 
 from 3,840 to 127,440 acres each. The water frontages comprise 32 
 miles to the river Darling, and 45 miles on each side of the Warrego 
 River. On the latter river are five dams, which have been constructed 
 at considerable expense, and three other dams are in contemplation. The 
 total number of sheep shorn in the season of 1880 was 179,941 ; in 1879 
 it was 124,000 ; and in 1878 only 64,000. Lambs marked for the three 
 years — 1876, 1877, and 1878 — made in all a total of 36,000, and for 1879 
 and 1880 together, the number was over 103,000. The last season's 
 lambing, as well as that of the previous season, was extremely favour- 
 able, being over 80 per cent. The cattle and horses kept on the station 
 are very few, and not more perhaps than are required in the station 
 work ; but there are two draught and two thoroughbred entires, with 
 good pedigrees, for stud purposes. 
 
 The station plant is extensive and varied, and among tlie principal 
 articles are the following: — Hall's patent steam wool-scouring machine 
 and plant, worked by a powerful steam-engine, and cai)able of turning 
 out twenty-five bales of scoured wool per day, the cost of scoui-ing being- 
 calculated at ll-16ths of a penny per lb. ; two of Robinson ife Son's 
 
228 The Industries of Neio South JVales. 
 
 travelling box sci-ew-pr esses and a patent hydraulic dumping-press, 
 capable of pressing and dumping fifty bales of scoured wool per day ; 
 and excavating plant, consisting of thirteen of S. M'Caughey's patent 
 excavators and six of the same patentee's improved automatic earth 
 scoops. These are at present woi-ked in three parties, "pulling down" 
 or excavating tanks of various sizes, and each excavator and scoop is 
 said to be capable of removing seventy cubic yards of earth per day. 
 The exact cost of working the patent excavators is calculated at 4|^d. 
 per cubic yard, but then the station finds the plant and keeps it in 
 repair. The ordinary cost of excavating tanks is lOd. or Is. per yard ; 
 but in such a case as that at Toorale, where the excavators are provided, 
 the contract is let at 4d. per yard, and tlie wear and tear of the plant, 
 the repairs, and the interest upon the money expended on the plant, barely 
 amount to lid. per yard. 
 
 The work is very elfectually done. Each excavator is drawn by 
 two horses, which are driven by a man sitting behind the horses, 
 and the machine runs upon wheels, in the same way as a small 
 waggon or cart does. As the excavator is drawn over the ground 
 where the tank-sinking is going on a team of bullocks assist the 
 horses, and the scoop of the machine cuts into the ground, and takes up 
 the dirt, which passes along a kind of slide, and then falls into a box or 
 cart, in which it remains until the receptacle is full and the contents 
 carted outside the excavation and emptied upon the ground, where it 
 forms a good embankment for the preservation of the tank. The man 
 sitting behind the horses works everything about the machine from his 
 seat by means of handles conveniently near him. Moving one handle 
 he lets the coops fall immediately it is required, and moving the handle 
 again he raises the scoop from the ground when it has done its work, 
 and the box or cart is filled Avith the dirt taken from the excavation ; 
 and, when outside the tank, the movement of another handle is all that 
 is required to let the dirt taken from the tank drop from the bottom of 
 the machine upon the embankment where it is required. Employed 
 with these machines are light earth-scoops, iised instead of engaging 
 men to woi'k with shovels, for scrajiing up the loose dirt left in the 
 track of the excavators. 
 
 The Toorale Homestead is situated on the Warrego River, at a spot 
 about 10 miles from its junction Avith the Darling, and is replete with 
 conveniences necessary or suitable for working a large station. The 
 buildings, some of which formerly belonged to the Bogan Eiver Com- 
 pany, who in the early days of settlement in the north-west took up a 
 very large extent of country in that direction for pastoral purposes 
 
JBourhe and Wllcannla. 229 
 
 consist of manager's residence, overseer's Louse, kitchen, dairy, store, 
 office, workshops for carpenters, whcehvright, saddler, and blacksmiths, 
 and of course the usual huts for the accommodation of the station hands. 
 Close to the homestead is a neatly kept vegetable garden, which is no 
 unimportant feature in connection v>^ith a well-regulated homestead in 
 these districts ; and stock-yards, large sheep-drafting yards, and home- 
 stead paddocks for the use of working horses and bullocks and for the 
 accommodation of ration sheep, are contiguous. 
 
 Unless a visit be paid to a station property of such dimensions as the 
 above outline description shows Toorale to be, it is difficult to conceive 
 the large extent of the undertaking which some pastoral proprietors 
 have taken in hand. Riding over the Toorale Run all the incidents 
 associated with the north-west plains in their native state are to be met 
 with, and for many miles the traveller might easily think he was cross- 
 ing a country never before trodden nor seen by a white man. In the 
 course of the journey fences appear, tanks come into view, and the road 
 which runs in the direction of the homestead indicates the presence of 
 white residents somewhere in the vicinity ; but exclude these from the 
 general outlook, and the traveller may experience all the curious sensa- 
 tions of a first inhabitant. The sun strikes down on the waterless plain 
 with the heat of a furnace ; the optical illusion known as the mirage, in 
 which the haze of the atmosphere and the glare of the sunlight present 
 in the distance, and sometimes very near, an exact appearance of water, 
 even to the shade of trees on the surface ; and the strange whirlwinds 
 which raise into the air spiral columns of dust, and drive them along as 
 a waterspout travels at sea, arc each to be seen ; and the birds and 
 animals peculiar to the locality move about almost entirely heedless of 
 man, and apparently unconscious of any danger. 
 
 In the season of 1880, the Darling not being navigable, arrangements 
 were made by the owners of Toorale with Messrs. Wright, Heaton, & 
 Co., forwarding agents of Sydney, for the conveyance of the season's 
 clip from the station to Wellington, the rate of carriage being £10 per 
 ton. The wool was loaded at East Toorale, on the south bank of the 
 Darling, about 10 miles from the homestead, the bales being sent across 
 the river on a wire tramway. At the time this loading of the wool on 
 teams for Wellington and Sydney was proceeding there was one of the 
 barges of a Melbourne carrying firm lying at the river bank partly 
 loaded with Toorale wool, but the river having fallen before arrange- 
 ments were made with Wright, Heaton, & Co., the loading of the barge 
 was stopped, and the wool on board was to be taken out and sent across 
 the river to the teams. The wool from Dunlop Station, a large pastoral 
 
230 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 property lower down the Darling River than Toorale, but owned by the 
 same proprietors, also went to Wellington on the teams of Wright, 
 Heatou, & Co., and the wool from a number of other stations in the 
 north-west districts, which previously was sent by the river to Mel- 
 bourne or Adelaide, reached Sydney by the same means, the railway 
 beino; made use of either at Wellington or Gunnedah. 
 
 With the railways penetrating the north and north-western pastoral 
 districts at Walgett, Bourke, and perhaps Wilcannia, the wool traffic 
 and the trade in general merchandise which have hitherto gone from 
 that part of the Colony elsewhere must be attracted to Sydney. 
 
TJie North-ioest generally » 231 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE NORTH-WEST GENERALLY. 
 
 It is always well that the industries best suited to a particulai' district 
 should be encouraged in that district, and doubtless there is something 
 to be said in support of the idea that the Darling River country or the 
 noi'th-west 'districts of the Colony are essentially pastoral districts, and 
 that farming is not a very suitable occupation there, and is not likely to 
 be made very profitable. But though farming, pure and simple, may not 
 pay without irrigation, farming combined with a little grazing will pay 
 very well ; and the probability is that selectors would get on very satis- 
 factorily by cultivating a little land, and in addition to that keeping a 
 small flock of sheep. It is very common for people in these districts to 
 declare that the country is iinfit for any population except squatters ; 
 but despite the uncertainty of the seasons, crops appear to have been 
 grown wherever the attempt to grow them has been made with sufficient 
 earnestness and perseverance, and as the railway progresses towards 
 Bourke and other parts of the Darling, free selectors are certain to make 
 their way in those directions for the purposes of settlement. 
 
 While at Boxn-ke I visited a farm in the locality kept by a man who, 
 some years ago, was fanning on the Hunter, and his prospects of success 
 were excellent. He had taken up 320 acres on a run a few miles out of 
 Bourke, and had put 13 acres of it under crop, by way of experiment, 
 growing principally wheat and barley, which had come up very well 
 and promised to yield abundantly. But, determined not to depend 
 solely on the results from cultivating a portion of his ground, he was 
 keeping a few dairy cows and making butter, which is a very scarce 
 article about Bourke and other parts of the Darling ; and he could 
 sell 30 or 40 pounds of butter every week long before he reached 
 Bourke with any of it. Then he intended to keep poultry and pigs, and, 
 as he could manage it, to get together a few sheep, and do what he could 
 with the land at his disposal in the way of sheep-farming. Dairying, 
 and poultry, pig, and sheep farming are four of the occupations open to 
 selectors in the north-west, and they can all be made profitable. Grapes, 
 too, grow luxuriantly in the Darling country, and vineyards might be 
 cultivated on a large scale. Both Bourke and Louth are supplied with 
 grapes by Chinamen, who grow them in their gardens ; and, in fact, if 
 it were not for the Chinese gardeners vegetables Avould be almost 
 
232 The Industries of Neio South JFales. 
 
 entirely unknown, for none of the European occupants of the soil appear 
 to cultivate them, and in some places they will assert that nothing of 
 the kind can be cultivated. People in these districts seem to discourage 
 — as pastoral leaseholders ever have done throughout the Colony — 
 everything in the way of agTiculture, or at least to be so indifferent to 
 the capabilities of the soil as to make no attempt at seeing what it will 
 produce. 
 
 One thing must be borne in mind when considering the subject of 
 farming in the north-west, and it is that as the railway is extended to 
 the Darling there will be additional means provided for the farmers in 
 the Orange, Wellington, and Dubbo districts for the disposal of their 
 produce, and they have been complaining very much that the Sydney 
 market and the facilities offered them by the Railway Department for 
 the conveyance of their produce to the metropolis have not been 
 sufficient to make farming in the west properly remunerative. A large 
 introduction of farm produce into the north-west districts by the 
 railway would of course considerably affect the condition of the north- 
 west selectors, if they dejDended to any extent upon agriculture alone ; 
 but as farming in that part of the Colony will probably always be an 
 occupation subordinate to that of keeping sheep, railway extension 
 should be beneficial to the selectors in both places. 
 
 Want of water is no doubt at present the great obstacle to settlement, 
 but as the Government take steps along the road lines to meet this want 
 by the construction of more tanks, and perhaps by boring for water 
 beneath the surface, and as the occupants of land bestir themselves in 
 this direction also, the difficulties that now threaten any attempt at 
 general settlement will gradually disappear. The recent discovery of 
 Avater springs by the diamond drill on two or tliree of the large stations 
 in the neighbourhood of the Darling will induce further efforts to find 
 supplies of water at great depths beneath the surface ; and though dis- 
 coveries of this nature upon station properties are of no immediate benefit 
 to free selectors, they point to a method by which large tracts of water- 
 less but well grassed and good growing country open for free selection 
 might be more easily available. 
 
 In many respects the water system of the north-west is very curious. 
 The Avater in the Darling River in times of flood, or of the rise which 
 comes down from the upper part of the stream and makes the river 
 navigable, is said to disajjpear very rapidly, " as though the bottom of 
 the river Avere opened and the water let out"; and a circumstance of 
 that nature, together Avith those Avhicli point to the disappearance 
 beneath the surface of much of the Avater of other streams, and of the 
 
The Nortli-icest generally. 233 
 
 rainfall, suggests the existence at depths which may or may not he great 
 of underground streams or reservoirs of water, which, it is thought, have 
 only to be tapped, to furnish an abundant supply for population and for 
 stock. Much of the water found by well-sinking has proved to be salt or 
 brackish, which is owing probably to the saline qualities of the soil, 
 evidence of which can be seen in the salt herbage which grows over 
 most of the country ; but in several cases where salt water has been 
 struck, means have been used for keeping it out of the well-shaft, and 
 the sinking has been continued until fresh water has been discovered. 
 
 Free selection is not entirely absent from any of the north-west 
 districts, but the free selectors are not numerous, and compared with 
 those in other parts of the Colony their condition is a very miserable 
 one. Sometimes the selector will take advantage of the scarcity of water 
 in a particular locality, and, by constructing a moderately sized tank, 
 be able to make a considerable sum of money by selling water to travellers. 
 On the back blocks between Louth and Cobar, I found a selector who 
 had been living ujion his selection for two years; he had not put up a 
 fence, and his hut, built partly of v/ood and partly of mud, was scarcely 
 habitable ; but, for the storage of water, he had constructed an embank- 
 ment around a depressed portion of the ground near the spot where he 
 lived, and this roughly-formed tank held a considerable supply of rain- 
 water, which he sold at the rate of a shilling a bucket. An attempt 
 had been made by him to grow a crop of wheat, but the season which 
 followed the ploughing and planting was so dry that eight months passed 
 away without the appearance of anything above the ground. Cultivating 
 the soil, however, did not appear to be an occupation to which this 
 selector gave much attention, for he seemed to be doing very well in other 
 ways, and in addition to what he made from possessing a capable tank, 
 he profited to some extent from a small flock of sheep which were 
 shepherded every day by his two children — girls of six and nine 
 years i-espectively. 
 
 Scarcely any country could be better suited for sheep than that in the 
 districts of the north-west, for, with the exception of a few indifferent 
 patches, its fattening qualities are all that could be desired, and in all 
 ordinary seasons grass is abundant. People are said to be constantly 
 visiting the Dai'ling and its neighbourhood looking for land upon which 
 they can enter into pastoral pursuits. Most of the country is in the 
 hands of some one, and any new proprietorship must be brought about 
 by the sale and transfer of station properties. This appears to have led 
 to land-jobbing, and a large extent of country has been in the hands of 
 speculators who have leased it from the Ci'own with the sole object of 
 
234i The Industries of Neic South Wales. 
 
 selling it to the best adA^antage. Journeying from Cobar to Wilcannia, I 
 passed over many miles of splendidly grassed country entirely unstocked 
 and unimproved, and held, I was informed, by speculating lessees. 
 Certain Yictorians in common with our own colonists, are credited witli 
 having engaged in it largely ; but a provision in the recently passed 
 Lands Act Amendment Act, which assesses the land at a higher rate 
 than formerly was the case, will make land-jobbing less profitable, and 
 cause the land to be more thoroughly devoted to the uses contemplated 
 by the law. 
 
 Not the least important feature of the country in the north-west is 
 the fact that in several places valuable minerals exist. Copper — 
 respecting which something will be said in another article — has been 
 found in such quantities and of such richness that one of the mines 
 opened and now working surpasses anything of the kind previously 
 known in this Colony, if not anything of which we have had experience 
 in other Colonies, and an opinion prevails very generally that gold will 
 be discovered in payable quantities in two or three localities not yet 
 prospected. Gold has been found between Bourke and Cobar, but the 
 want of water has made any proper examination or working of the 
 country impossible, and its value as auriferous land has yet to be tested. 
 Recent I'icli finds at Mount Poole, 200 miles north-west of Wilcannia, 
 are the result of indications of the existence of the precious metal 
 discovered some time ago. The Barrier Range, 100 miles west of the 
 Darling, and in the neighbourhood of Wilcannia and Menindie, is said 
 to be teeming with minerals of various kinds ; and lately a mine has 
 been opened there by a party, among whom is the present Mayor of 
 Bourke, for the purpose of working ore containing silver, lead, copper, 
 gold, and bismuth. Other mountain ranges also in the Albert district 
 are believed to contain minerals, and this distant part of the Colony may 
 have a mining future as prosperous as that which is expected from the 
 pastoral industry and from other occupations which will follow the 
 extension of the railway and the spread of pojDulation. 
 
Cohar and its Copper-mine. 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 COBAR AND ITS COPPER-MINE. 
 
 Situated in the heart of the back country, between 90 and 100 miles 
 south from Bourke, and about 120 miles east from "Wilcannia, Cobarand 
 its rich copper-mine are to be found, and both the town and the mine are 
 prominent instances of the wonderful resources of the Colony, and of 
 the remarkable progress which follows their development. The locality 
 where this thriving copper-mining industry has established itself is 
 almost in the centre of the vast plain which lies between the Macquarie 
 and the Bogan, the Dai'ling and the Laclilan Rivers, and for many miles 
 around the country is perfectly waterless ; yet there an extraordinarily 
 rich copper-mine has been opened, and a town established, with unmis- 
 takable signs of permanency about each of them, and with such evidence 
 of increasing importance that the mine is proving itself to be perhaps 
 the richest in the Colonies, and the population of the town is already 
 considerably larger than that of Bourke. 
 
 Communication with other places is still slow and difficult ; the copper 
 must be taken very many miles by teams, and stores for the towns- 
 people must be brought in the same tardy and expensive way ; the only 
 water supply avaihxble is that which is caught from rainfalls in huge open 
 excavations called tanks — in fact, the town and the mine compared with 
 the rest of New South Wales are almost out of the world, so niggardly 
 has Nature been to the locality in some of the essential i-equii'ements for 
 settlement, and so little is known of it by the general public of the 
 Colony ; but nevertheless, enterprise and energy of that kind which 
 rises superior to all obstacles have established "kn industry that is fast 
 extending its influences to other localities in the district which surrounds 
 Cobar, and in two other places at least — at Nymagee and Gii'alambone 
 — copper lodes have been discovered, mines have been opened, and towns 
 are being established. 
 
 To people in Sydney the Cobar copper -mine is little more than an 
 industry which ligures day by day prominently in the stock and share 
 list ; the town is too distant from the settled portions of the Colony and 
 too recent in its growth for much to be known concerning it, and not 
 until railway communication with the district is established will that 
 interest be taken in Cobar and its mineral riches which their importance 
 deserves. If, however, the work of extending the Western railway 
 
236 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 towards Bourke be proceeded with rapidly, only a very short time should 
 elapse before the railway will be within what, compared Avith the present 
 condition of affairs, may be called easy distance of the town, for the 
 extension from Dubbo to Nyngan will carry the line to a point about 70 
 miles from Cobar, and sooner or later a branch railv/ay will be taken to 
 the town itself. 
 
 Seven or eight years ago there was no such place as Cobar in existence, 
 and it is only within the last two or three yeai's that the real importance 
 of the place has manifested itself in rapid progress. Copper was found 
 there a few years ago, and it was believed that the lode discovered was 
 rich and extensive, but it is only within the last two or three years that 
 the mine has been developed to that extent which has made the Cobar 
 shares by far the most valuable mining stock in the market. With an 
 increased output of copper from an improved method of working, and a 
 more profitable return from a steady market for the mineral in England, 
 the small community which settled near the mine when the lode was first 
 opened very soon grew larger, and now, as it has been in other parts of 
 the Colony where population and towns have succeeded the discovery of 
 rich mineral deposits, country which before was vacant or used by none 
 but pastoral lessees is being covered with industrious people who induce 
 others to follow them, and in that way gradually promote settlement 'n\ 
 all directions. 
 
 The town of Cobar is large and scattered, as mining towns generally 
 are, composed chiefly of huts and cottages, which lie about in all dii-ec- 
 tions and cover an extensive area of ground, but containing some sightly 
 buildings which, as the town grows older, will increase in number and 
 improve the general appearance of the place. The population numbers 
 about 2,500, and consists principally of miners and their families. The 
 houses have been erected in such a manner that the town is divided into 
 three portions, with the mine and its appurtenances in the centre ; and 
 these three portions are called the Government Township, the Private 
 Township (or that upon the land taken up by or belonging to the com- 
 pany working the mine), and Cornish Town. Most of the houses are in 
 the Private Township, and there the places of business are centred; in 
 the Government Townsliip, or that part of the general area of Cobar 
 Avhich was surveyed and marked by a Government surveyor as a site for 
 the town, there are very few houses ; but Cornish Town is pretty thickly 
 populated. It is the policy of every company opening a payable mine, 
 and founding a township near it, to have the town centred upon their 
 land, so that a profit may bo derived not only from the mine output, but 
 from the sale or lease of building sites, and it is sometimes the case 
 
Cohar and its Copper-ynine. 237 
 
 that the site selected by the Government for the town remains pai'tially or 
 wholly unoccupied ; but where the public buildings are placed the business 
 houses and tlie general community gathei*. 
 
 The great drawback to the comfort of the inhabitants of Cobar is the 
 want of water, and several times the peojile have been upon the verge of 
 a water famine. Large tanks have been constructed by the Government 
 for supplying household necessities and for the watering of stock ; and 
 the water caught from rainfalls in these receptacles is supplemented by 
 that which many of the people manage to store in small tanks sunk in 
 the ground near to their houses. But, notwithstanding the efforts made in 
 this direction, and tlie assistance which is given the inhabitants in times 
 of scarcity by the Cobar Copper-mining Company from the water in the 
 tanks which the company have been obliged to construct for the supply 
 of the mine, the quantity available has been barely sufficient to meet the 
 demand, and once at least there has been an exodus of women and 
 children to Bourke, so that tliey should escape the misery of utter want. 
 
 Settlement in a part of the country like that in which Cobar is 
 situated may, and does in many cases, lead to prosperity, and even 
 riches ; but hardships have to be endured to a considerable extent before 
 those necessaries of life which new settlements in the far interior of the 
 Colony require are provided. So scarce was the water supply in the 
 early days of Cobar's existence that the princij^al hotelkeeper was 
 unable to allow those visiting or staying at his house more than half 
 a ^\\\t of water a day for cleansing purposes, and for seven weeks it 
 was considered injudicious to use a drop of water for the washing of 
 linen. At that time, too, weeks would go by without flour lieing seen 
 in the township, and when it was to be had .£10 a bag was not con 
 sidered an exorbitant price; 16s. has been paid for as many pounds 
 of flour, and meat has been so scarce that for weeks there has been 
 nothing available but the flesh of the paddymelon. 
 
 Things are much better now, for the richness of the mine has not 
 only caused the population to increase, but it has circulated large sums 
 of money, and this has led to a very great improvement in the manner 
 of living. Several of tlie hotels are kept in a style equal to good hotels 
 in other country towns, and one which was recently burnt down was 
 equal to the best hotels in Bourke. But not until there is something 
 like a permanent sup>ply of water provided for the town will the inhabi- 
 tants be safe from the dangers of a Avater famine. The tanks in which 
 the rain-water is caught are destitute of any covering, and in such a hot 
 climate as that which Cobar experiences evaporation is rapid and 
 extensive. 
 
238 The Indtistrles of New South JVales. 
 
 To any one unacquainted with the climate in this part of the Colony, 
 it is difficult to describe how very hot and unpleasant the summer 
 months sometimes are, and how essential a plentiful supply of pure water 
 is to the population. The sun strikes down with almost tropical strength, 
 and the heated atmosphere envelops the wayfarer, and even the 
 occupant of a house, -with a fervid sensation like that from a bath of 
 heated vapour. Then the wind springing up raises clouds of red dust 
 which blinds the eyes, penetrates the thickest clothes, and finds its way 
 everywhere. A dust storm at Cobar is worse than anything of the kind 
 experienced anywhere else in the Colony, except, pei-haps, at Wilcannia; 
 and sometimes it lasts for days, the wind lulling only at nights, which 
 are generally pleasant and cool. At such a time a bath is invaluable, 
 but it is not always that a bath can be had, and health and comfort 
 consequently suffer. 
 
 Very often in the course of a hot day, when the atmosphere seems 
 motionless, and the sun is glowing with an intense heat, a whirlwind 
 makes its appearance, and then there is to be seen a very interesting- 
 phenomenon of Cobar and the north-west plains. Eotating near the 
 surface of the ground, in perhaps the middle of the street, the wind with 
 a rapidly increasing motion raises the dust in a column, and this column 
 gradually widening at the base, and lengthening as the wind ascending 
 into the air spins with greater velocity, moves along the street at a steady 
 pace until such a vast body of dust is in motion that its base becomes as 
 violently agitated as that of a waterspout at sea, and its summit is rolling 
 in dusky red volumes like thick smoke from a conflagration. Frequently, 
 on the plains, 100 miles or more from Cobar, did I see dust columns, 
 dim and misshapen, stalking along in the distance, as long as the strength 
 cf the whirlwinds which fashioned them lasted ; but nowhere did they 
 appear in such volume as they presented themselves in at Cobar. 
 
 Out of the population of Cobar, about 650 persons are directly 
 employed by the Cobar Copper-mining Company. This large number 
 of workmen is made up of 170 miners underground, 12-5 smelters, about 
 150 wood-carters, and some 205 ore-dressers, brick-makers, tank-sinkers, 
 and others employed in one way or another in work connected with the 
 mine. 650 persons must necessarily earn a large sum of money, and the 
 wages paid by the Company each month amount to a sum which is equal 
 to £1,700 or £1,800 a week. This put into circulation with money 
 earned by other portions of the })opulation in other ways makes Cobar 
 a satisfactory place for business, and a town where the community 
 generally are in the main prosperous and comfortable. 
 
Cohar and its Copper-mine. 239 
 
 The mine is situated on some slightly elevated ground overlooking the 
 three divisions of the township, at a place where the reef in which the 
 copper was first discovered ci'opped out at the surface. There are no less 
 than four shafts, and at the pi'incipal one are the engine-house with the 
 necessary steam winding gear, and the wooden staging required for the 
 temporary reception and the partial dressing or sorting of the ore. 
 Heaps of ore lie about in all directions, with men and boj^s busily 
 engaged sorting and dressing it, and from the mine to the smelting 
 works, which haA'e been built at a distance from the pit of about a 
 qviarter of a mile, is an elevated tramway, upon which the ore is conveyed 
 in trucks from the pit's mouth to the furnaces. These, at the time of my 
 visit, numbered fourteen, and thi-ee others were in course of construction ; 
 and night and day the smelting works present to tlie eye a busy and 
 sti'iking scene. Stores, offices, blacksmith's shop, brickyard, and other 
 things connected with the mine are in the vicinity of either the smelting 
 works or the pit itself, and altogether the Company's plant and material 
 are of such a nature aboveground that, without any knowledge of the 
 remarkable workings in the mine beneath the surface, it can be seen at a 
 glance that the copper-mining industry carried on at Cobar must be very 
 extensive and very valuable. 
 
 As Llie Cobar Copper-mining Company is a combination of other 
 Companies, the shafts which communicate with the workings below 
 are known by different names, and have been sunk to various levels. 
 Renwick's, or the south shaft, when I visited the mine, was down 
 54 fathoms ; Hardie's shaft, north of Renwick's, was down 39 fathoms ; 
 Barton's shaft, north of Hardie's, was down 54 fathoms ; Bradley's 
 shaft, a footway shaft, was down 25 fathoms ; and Becker's shaft, the 
 most northern shaft, was down to the 54-fathom level. Barton's shaft 
 is the main one, and the engine shaft, and there most of the work is 
 carried on. The largest part of the ore is brought to the surface by way 
 of this shaft, and at the bottom two drives have been started. These 
 are being carried north and so\ith along the course of the lode, which at 
 the 54-fathom level consists of sulphurets or yellow ore, and the north 
 drive is intended to connect with a drive on thfe same level running 
 south from Becker's shaft. 
 
 There is, of course, always some doubt as to whether a lode will 
 continue over a length of ground as large and as rich as it may be when 
 struck in one or two particular places ; but with regard to Barton's and 
 Becker's shafts the lode looks at the bottom of one shaft just the same 
 as it does at the bottom of the other, and, as the distance between the 
 two shafts is only 600 feet, it is inferred that the lode runs good all 
 
240 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 through. "Work has been carried on at the bottom of Barton's shaft for 
 nearly three years, and from this shaft most of the ore obtained from the 
 mine has been raised. Next to the 54-fathom level is that at 39 feet, 
 and going south of Barton's shaft the miners are stojiing towards 
 Hardie's shaft, and from Hardie's shaft they are driving on the course 
 of the lode towards Renwick's shaft. By this method of working, as 
 the men are driving on the levels they are cutting out the lode behind 
 them, and then commencing the stopes. Close to the main shaft at this 
 level the lode is not less than 75 feet wide, and in one place a little 
 south of the shaft it measures 100 feet. This extraordinary width of 
 ore is of course exceptional, but it shows what a remarkable dej^osit 
 of copper, so far at any rate as quantity is concerned, the mine possesses. 
 
 Ten fathoms further south than where the lode measures 100 feet, it 
 is 53 feet in width ; and at the time of my visit this was as far in a 
 southerly direction as the miners had stoped. The ore was what is 
 known as the grey ore, Avith a little of the sulphurets on the eastern 
 wall, and looking very well throughout. North of Barton's shaft, where 
 stoping is also jbeing carried on, the stopes are about 30 fathoms long, 
 carrying grey ore all through, and large quantities of the ore lie on the 
 ground ready to be taken to the surface and dressed for the smelting 
 fui'naces. The system of driving and stoi:)ing adopted in the mine is 
 very complete. To non-professional readers it may be stated that the 
 drives are the tunnelling from the shafts, and the stopes are the drives, 
 as it were, that are made to reach the wall on either side of the lode ; 
 and by driving and stoping the Company work the lode completely 
 getting out every bit of ore, and lilling up the cavities as the ore is taken 
 away. The miners work upwards from the levels, the object being to 
 exhaust the whole of the lode, and as fast as a stope is worked out it is 
 filled in, and another drive made. Going north from the main shaft at 
 this level the lode measux-ed 48 feet 7 inches in width. Further on in 
 the same direction, at a distance of 40 fathoms from the shaft, it was 
 37 feet 8 inches, and then it pinched in to very small dimensions and 
 poor quality, but ojDened out again coming fi'om Becker's shaft. 
 
 Going south from the main shaft on this level, a di-ive, known as 
 Thomas' drive, is met with. It is used for the purposes of ventilation, 
 and leads by a good footway to Benwick's shaft. A ladderway passes 
 from the bottom of the shaft to the various levels, and thence to the 
 surface, and the level immediately above that of 39 fathoms is the 
 25 fathoms level. Here the lode was struck by means of what is 
 technically termed a crosscut, first showing itself very narrow, but 
 afterwards opening out to a wide lumj) of ore — from 3 or 4 feet to 
 
Cobar and its Copjyer-mine. 241 
 
 22 feet 7 inches. In other places, however, it is very much wider, and I 
 measured places which were between 40 and 50 feet. Where the lode 
 was very narrow, as it was in some parts, the ore was not very good, 
 but it v/ould pay for dressing. 
 
 The next level is that at 15 fathoms, and these stopes are also con- 
 structed in the usual way. At the bottom of Becker's shaft, which is 
 the shaft next in importance to Barton's, the lode measures 32 feet in 
 width, without the eastern wall being properly shown, and going south 
 the lode widens out. At the higher levels the width varies very much, 
 and here driving is going on in a northerly direction. The ore obtained 
 has to be dressed, and in some places is very inferior, but in others it 
 shows very well. In a large lode, such as that which is being worked 
 in this mine, it is only natural that there should bo a proportion of 
 inferior ore, and until the ore is broken down from the lode it is difficult 
 to say anything of the probable value of the yield. But such a large 
 quantity of valuable ore has been raised, there is such a quantity both 
 below and above ground ready or almost ready for the smelting furnaces, 
 and the general view of the mine is so satisfactory, that there can be no 
 denying the fact of the property being a remarkable one. 
 
 In every copper-mine there is always the possibility of faults being 
 met with, and it may be, of course, that as the work at Cobar progresses 
 the copper lode will be lost or give out ; but it is right to say the pro- 
 babilities seem to be against such a thing. The extraordinary width of 
 the lode at the bottom of the main shaft was greater than has been met 
 with anywhere in the Colonies, and the stopes in some places are as wide 
 as in other mines they have been in length. At the 39-fathom level men 
 have been driving night and day south of Becker's shaft on the course 
 of the lode ; but up to the date when this information was gathered 
 there had been no proof by sinking from the surface of the lode existing 
 south of this point, and noi-th of Becker's shaft also there was no proof 
 of the lode from the surface. But the manager's plan has been to work 
 along the course of the lode from the bottom, and then to sink a shaft 
 where necessary to provide air and the means of raising the ore to the 
 surface — a practice different from the usual one of first sinking a shaft, 
 and then driving in order to strike the lode. For 800 feet north of 
 Becker's shaft, I was informed, the Company's ground extends, and 
 there is a considerable space south of Ilenwick's shaft. 
 
 The method of Avorking adopted by the miners is that of forming 
 
 themselves into parties of four, six, eight, or twelve ; and their paj^ment 
 
 is so much per ton for bi-eaking down the ore, the amount varying 
 
 according to the places where the different parties of men work, and the 
 
 Q 
 
242 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 ease or the difficulty witli wliicli the ore is obtained. All the work is 
 done with powder, and the men are constantly engaged drilling holes in 
 the lode and blii sting. By this time, probably, the Company have two 
 or three of Ford's patent rock drills at work. These labour-saving 
 appliances will enable the manager to open out the mine much more 
 rapidly than by means of hand labour, for the dead work of sinking 
 shafts and driving can be done with much greater expedition, and no 
 time is then lost in making the stopes for the men to get to work and 
 employ themselves in breaking down the ore. Paid at the rate of so 
 much a ton, the miners — who divide themselves into three shifts during 
 the twenty-four hours — are understood to earn £3 a week ; and the men 
 on day work receive 8s. a day. The system of paying by the day exists 
 only to a very limited extent, for it is considered far better for the 
 Company, while at the same time it is profitable to the work-people, to 
 have as many as possible of the duties connected with the mine per- 
 formed by contract. About 250 tons of ore are raised from the pit each 
 day, and this quantity, which consists of several kinds, has to be di-essed 
 in the crackers and rollers near the pit's mouth, or by hand labour, and 
 much of it sorted by men and boys, before it can be sent to the smelting 
 furnaces. Carbonates, grey or hard ore, sulphurets, oxide, and malleable 
 copper require different kinds of treatment in the dressing process, and 
 each description of ore is kept by itself on the bank. 
 
 Communicating with the ore-dressers and extending to the smelting- 
 works is the tramway, along which the trucks of ore are run to the 
 furnaces, and about 100 tons a day are sent from the jiit to the smelting 
 furnaces in this way. A large quantity of inferior ore, or, to describe 
 it perhaps more properly, ore that requires to be dealt with by machinery 
 that will treat it more expeditiously and cheaply than the machinery 
 which the Company have been using up to a recent period will do, is 
 lying upon the surface near the mine, and not long ago the mining 
 manager, Captain Dunstan, visited South Australia with the object of 
 gathering information as to the best method of treating tliese ores. 
 
 At the smelting-works there were at the time of my visit fourteen 
 furnaces in use and three in course of construction ; and this number 
 will in the course of time be increased to twenty-four, which is the 
 limit. During the earlier operations of the Company their practice with 
 regard to the copper was to make pure cakes of copper weighing as much 
 as 1 cwt., but now the metal is made in ingots of 20 lbs., the daily 
 production being about 900 ingots, or 9 tons. 
 
 There are but three processes in the smelting woi'k. The ore is first 
 reduced, then roasted, and then refined. There being a variety of ores, 
 
Cohar and its Copper-mine. 243 
 
 they are judiciously mixed, and quantities, duly weighed, are taken to 
 the furnaces and thrown into the receiving hoppers. From the smelting 
 furnaces, the regulus, which varies from 50 to 60 per cent., is taken to 
 the furnaces known as roasters, and tliei-e brought up to 90 or 95 per 
 cent. ; after which it is passed on to the refinery, and comes out pure 
 copper, which in its liquid state is poured into moulds, cooled with the 
 assistance of water, and then stored for market. 
 
 From whatever point of view Cobar may be considered, the mine and 
 the town are remarkable instances of industrial development and progress; 
 and, to all appeai-ance, the continued prosperity of both appears assured. 
 In all mining enterprises there is the chance of ill success following at 
 one time or other upon a decline in the yield from the mine, but the 
 Cobar Copper-mining Company are confident of the value of the property 
 they possess, if increasing and improving their machinery and adding 
 to their working plant generally are any evidence upon such a point. 
 The principle in the present management of the mine has been not to 
 rush matters, but to make improvements gradually, and to see to the 
 profits. " Rushing the thing through," as it was put to me, " getting 
 machinery and furnaces all up at once, and putting on more men, would 
 only increase the pay-sheets suddenly and decrease the dividends." 
 With the same care in the management as is undei'stood to have been 
 exercised during the past three years, with a better water supply than is 
 now at hand, and with a continuance of the present prospects in the 
 mine itself, there seems to be no reason at all why the Company and the 
 town should not continue to progress. 
 
 The following figures may be interesting, as showing what work was 
 done during the period commencing 1st July, 1877, and ending 31st 
 December, 1881 : — Half-year ended January 12, 1878 : Ore raised, 2,493 
 tons ; ore smelted, 2,530 tons ; output of copper, 268 tons. Half-year 
 ended June 29 : Ore raised, 3,725 tons; ore smelted 3,651 tons; output 
 of copper, 600 tons. Half-year ended January 11, 1879 : Ore raised, 
 5,099 tons 18 cwt. ; ore smelted, 4,738 tons; output of copper, 868 
 tons. Half-year ended June 28, 1879 : Ore raised, 567 tons 13 cwt ; 
 ore smelted, 5,610 tons ; output of copper, 861 tons. Half-year ended 
 January 10, 1880 : Ore raised, 10,442 tons 8 cwt. ; ore smelted, 7,006 
 tons; output of copper, 1,016 tons. Half-year ended June 26, 1880: 
 Ore raised, 10,287 tons; ore smelted, 8,334 tons; output of copper, 
 1,181 tons. Half-year ended December 31, 1880 : Ore raised, 
 14,906 tons; ore smelted, 11,890 tons; output of copper, 1,388 tons. 
 Half-year ended June 30, 1881 : Ore raised, 8,721 tons; ore smelted, 
 9,930 tons; output of copper, 1,163 tons. Half-year ended December 
 
244 TJie Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 31, 1881: Ore raised, 12,388 tons; ore smelted, 11,622 tons; output 
 of copper, 1,405 tons. Totals : Ore i-aised, 73,737 tons 17 cwt. ; ore 
 smelted, 65,311 tons; output of copper, 8,750 tons. 
 
 Since the compilation of this return the work of the mine has greatly 
 increased, and the output has been proportionately large ; and while 
 Cobar is so flourishing copper lodes are being opened in other parts of 
 the district, and Nymagee and Giralambone promise well as the sources 
 of valuable mines and substantial townships. At Nymagee, to which 
 place much of the Cobar enterprising spirit has been carried, a township 
 has been established, shafts have been sunk, and machinery procured 
 and erected for what is expected to become a very extensive under- 
 takino- ; and altogether the pi'ospects of this far-western district with 
 regard to the copper-mining industry is very encouraging. 
 
The 3Iurrumhidgee Wool Trade. 247 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE MURRUMBIDGEE WOOL TRADE. 
 
 Of equal, if not of gi'eater importance than the towns which form the 
 centres of the Darling wool trade is the town of Hay, which is situated 
 460 miles from Sydney, in the heart of our south-western territory, and 
 is the principal receiving depot for the wool produced on the numerous 
 stations about the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan Rivers. The large 
 quantities of wool which annually go to Hay, and from Hay are con- 
 veyed by steamers and barges along the Murrumbidgee and the Murray 
 Rivers to Echuca, and thence by railway to Melbourne, are wholly the 
 produce of New South Wales ; but so soon as the railway now rapidly 
 approaching Hay from Junee on the Great Southern line is completed 
 this trade for the most part will be attracted to Sydney. The spirit of 
 progress, at least as regards outward appearances, seems to have been 
 imported into Hay, for the town is one of the smartest-looking, the 
 best laid out, and the most comfortable in the Colony. 
 
 The main street of Hay is, in respect of the style of its hotel buildings, 
 banks, and stores, equal to the best part of High-street, West INIaitland ; 
 and while the rest of the town contains very well constructed houses, the 
 whole place presents a very inviting aspect, from the circumstance that 
 the streets have been planted with trees, which have grown to a good 
 size, and will in time shade the footpaths from the glare of the hot sun 
 and make a stroll through the town as agreeable as a walk beneath a 
 leafy canopy in the bush. A fine bridge spans the river, and forms the 
 highway to Deniliquin and Melbourne, and the river itself, though 
 muddy in appearance and sv/ift in motion, is broad and deep enough to 
 make steamer and barge traffic common for the most part of the year 
 and the mainstay of the town. Near the river-side and for the supply 
 of the town are water-works erected by the Municipal Council, after the 
 style of water-works at Echuca, on the Melbourne side of the Murray, 
 and the energy of the population has been shown in various other 
 matters intimately concerned in the progress of the town. The occu])a- 
 tions which exist in most centres of population through the Colony, apart 
 from any special soui'ce of industry such as the wool trade, are to be 
 found in Hay, and the people seem to be fairly prosperous. 
 
 Hay is so favourably situated on the river that it forms a most con- 
 venient point to which the wool from the extensive district around can 
 
248 The Industries of New Sotith Wales, 
 
 convei'ge, and by all accounts the wool season previous to my visit was a 
 very busy one, and the number of teams arriving, and steamers and 
 barges passing up and down the river, a sight well worth witnessing. 
 No fewer than twenty steamers with their barges conveyed the season's 
 clip away ; and when it is stated that the cargoes of these vary from 
 600 to 1,300 or 1,500 bales — packed securely four tiers high — it can 
 be understood that the river traffic is of a very extensive and important 
 chai-acter. 
 
 On the way to Echuca, where the Victorian railways are reached, 
 accidents sometimes happen, as they do on the river Darling, and the 
 wool-growers suffer in consequence. Several accidents occurred during 
 the last season. At a wool-scouring establishment on the river bank I 
 saw as many as 200 bales which had been immersed in the river, and 
 had to be washed a second time and repacked. In one case a steamer 
 loaded with wool was snagged so badly that she sank — a tree having 
 peneti'ated the vessel's bottom, making a hole so formidable that it 
 measured 5 feet by 3 feet 6 inches ; in another case the whole of the 
 top tier of bales just placed on board a barge fell from the barge into 
 the water, through an accident caused by a passing steamer ; and a third 
 instance was told me of a steamer losing 120 bales or thereabouts by 
 passing underneath a tree overhanging the river, and coming into such 
 violent contact with the branches that almost the whole of the top tier 
 of bales were swept overboard. 
 
 Wool comes to Hay from a distance extending as far as about 250 or 
 300 miles northwards of the town, and the total quantity received 
 during the season may be set down at 50,000 bales. Thirty-five miles 
 lower down the river than where Hay has been built is a small river 
 township called Maude, and there the steamers take some cargoes of 
 wool on board ; and Balranald, a town built near the junction of the 
 Murrumbidgee and Mui-ray, and occupying the position of an inter- 
 mediate port between Hay and Echuca, is also a depot for wool and a 
 crossing-place for cattle and sheep. But the relative positions of Hay 
 and Balranald, in regard to the river wool traffic and the extent of this 
 southern wool trade, can be judged with tolerable accuracy from a list 
 of the stations which send their wool to market by means of the steamers 
 and their barges which ply on the Murrumbidgee. 
 
 As far as I could learn from the best authorities, the stations send- 
 ing wool from Hay and its neighbourhood, or (say) from Narrandera 
 downwards, are the following : — River stations : Buckingbong, 1,000 
 bales; Gogeldrie, 1,000 ; Tubbo, 1,800; North Yanko, 1,500; Kerra- 
 bury, 1,200 ; Toganmain, 1,500; Groongal, 3,500; Kooba, 1,500; Burra- 
 
The Murrumhidgee Wool Trade. 249 
 
 bogie, 2,000; Howlong, 300; Wardry, 700 ; Eli Elwal, 1,000; Illiliwa, 
 1,800 ; Bynya, 800 ; Mungadal, 700 ; Woolondool, 500 ; Bendrick, 
 500; Perensey, 500; Benerembah, 1,200; Gelani, 300; Toogimbie, 
 900 ; Canoon, 400 ; Nap Nap, 300 (recently this wool was taken to 
 Deniliquin direct); Canally, 1,500; Poonboon, 400; Yanga, 1,200; 
 and Coorong, 1,500. From Hay direct : Gunbar, 3,000 ; Coan 
 Downs, 1,600; Trida, 1,000 ; Merungle, 1,800; Kajulijali, 300 ; Coombie, 
 300 ; Hunthawang, 600 ; North Willandra, 600 ; Yandambah, 300 ; 
 Wooyeo, 1,200 (this wool came last season to Sydney) ; Cowal Cowal, 
 1,500; South Merrowie, 300; Bedooba, 400; Roto, 800; Wirlong, 
 600 ; Kocurry, 300 ; Thule, 250 ; Willandra, 2,500 ; Merri Merrigal, 
 1,400 ; Wirchilliba, 800 ; Alma, 900 ; South Thononga, 1,400 ; Booiigal, 
 800 ; Tarrawonga, 300 ; Yathong, 400 ; North Merrowie, 400 ; Lachlan 
 Downs, 200 ; Gunni Guldrie, 300 ; Merri Merriwah, 200 ; Hartwood 
 (a selection), 150; Uranaway, 300; Uabba, 500; Whoey, North 
 Hyandra, 300 ; Paddington, 500 ; Marfield, 300 ; Yallock, 150 ; 
 Nimagee, 300 ; Nangirebone, 300 ; Ulonga, 1,400 ; Tom's Lake, 300 ; 
 Boorithumbil, 200; Marooba, 100; and Bank Station, 500. Then, in 
 addition to these quantities, there are those which come from selections 
 generally in the district, in all about 2,000 bales. 
 
 These figures show pretty well all the wool that goes down the Mur- 
 rumhidgee from the stations upon the river banks above Hay, and from 
 Hay itself, and the names of the stations sending direct to Balranald 
 were given me as follows : — Mossgiel and Canoble, 2,400 bales ; Boon- 
 daria, 700; North Abbotsford, 800 ; Til Til, 1,200; Clare, 1,500; Oxley, 
 400; Tupra, 1,000; Thelangerin, 500; Paika, 500; Kilfera, 1,500; 
 Magenta, 300; and Kajoulijah, 300. This makes a total of 29,500 
 bales passing down the river from above Hay ; 32,550 bales from Hay 
 direct, and 11,100 bales from Balranald. The number given as going 
 from the last-named place is perhaps approximate only, as efforts are 
 made whenever opportunity offers to divert trade to Balranald, and the 
 quantity of wool that will go that way may, in consequence, be rather 
 larger than what is stated ; but the difference is not so great as to be of 
 very much importance. 
 
 The I'ising of the water in the river is uncertain, but there is a rise at 
 one time or other every year, and generally it lasts from four to six, and 
 sometimes nine months. All kinds of produce come by the river to 
 Hay, and when a dry season is expected the imports from Victoria are 
 very large. Pressed hay, chaff', oats, bran, flour, and potatoes are 
 brought in considerable quantities, and sometimes from long distances. 
 Hay and chaff" come from Ballarat, and potatoes from Ballarat, Ores- 
 
250 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 wick, Woodend, and Kyneton ; and generally the prices at wliicli they 
 can be profitably sold to retail purchasers are very reasonable, and even 
 low. Freights are moderate. From Hay to Melbourne greasy wool is 
 taken for about <£4 a ton, or with insurance — which would be 15s. or 
 17s. 6d. a ton — £4 17s. 6d. Scoured wool is conveyed at a somewhat 
 higher rate, and the figures given me represent £5 15s., including in- 
 surance. 
 
 Considering these rates in comparison with what the Railway Depart- 
 ment is likely to charge for bringing the wool from Hay to Sydney, it is 
 not likely that the steamers could very materially reduce their present 
 freights. Competition among the steamboat owners is now so great that 
 it is said freights have been cut down to almost the lowest point at which 
 it would pay to convey the wool to Victoria ; and a larger sum than 2s. 
 Gd. taken off the pi^esent rates per ton would interfere seriously with the 
 possibility of the trade. More steamers exist now than are required, 
 for at one time the trade on the river was greater than it is at the pre- 
 sent time ; and, as the circumstances which brought about the greater 
 traffic have changed, some of the boats have been laid up, even in the 
 middle of the season. This larger traffic was carried on during the time 
 when the fencing of runs was in full operation. Large quantities of 
 wire for fencing purposes were brought by the steamers for the various 
 stations, and a considerable supply of provisions for the men working on 
 the station properties was constantly required. That demand is past 
 now, for the work which brought the fencers and others associated with 
 them into the district has been completed, and these people have gone 
 somewhere else. 
 
 The traffic upon tho river at the present time is best seen from the 
 fact that from 1st Januaiy, 1880, to 23rd November, 1880, seventy 
 steamers cleared at the Hay Custom-house for Echuca, and these 
 steamer's represented an aggregate tonnage of 17,277 tons. In only one 
 instance did a boat arrive at Hay in ballast ; on all other occasions 
 cargoes of farm produce or of general merchandise were brought, and on 
 the return trips most of the steamers took away wool, tallow, skins, 
 hides, &c. Two well-known Victorian carrying firms have places of 
 business at Hay, and they are waiting to see how the railway from 
 Narrandera to Hay will affect their interests. The matter, it is 
 considered by them, resolves itself into a question of freights — whether 
 the railway will carry the wool and other produce to Sydney at rates 
 which will make it more profitable to station proprietors to send their 
 produce to Sydney than it is now to send it to Melbourne. These 
 carrying firms have been talking about establishing agencies in Sydney, 
 
The Murrumbidgee TVool Trade. 251 
 
 but tliey may wait and see something of the result of railway con- 
 struction before commencing business in the New South Wales 
 metropolis. 
 
 Most of the land in the district around Hay is in the hands of either 
 freeholders, leaseholders, or selectors, and the pastoral runs are, in most 
 cases, fully stocked. Selectors are pretty numerous. The nature of 
 the land is similar to that which is met with between the Lachlan and 
 the Darling — flat, almost treeless, and in most places, excepting the 
 river lands, without water, beyond that which the occupants of the soil 
 obtain for themselves, by either sinking wells or constructing tanks ; 
 and the uncet^tainty of the seasons affects to a certain extent all 
 attempts at cultivation. A few selectors close to the town of Hay 
 cultivate, but most of the others do what they can by keeping as many 
 sheep as their land will hold, and these flocks number in many cases 
 but a very few hundreds. Further up the river there are selectors who 
 are in a very good position indeed. By family selection and other 
 means some thousands of acres may be in the possession of one family, 
 and as many as 3,000 or 4,000 sheep grazing. 
 
 Means of that kind, it can easily be understood, are very profitable 
 when rightly used, and selectors in some parts of the south-western 
 districts are prominent instances of rural prosperity ; but with the 
 smaller selectors about Hay the case is different. The average grazing 
 capacity of the land is represented as 3 acres to the sheep. 
 
 It has been said that the squatters will not buy up the back country 
 but the maps show a diffex-ent state of things, and any one who has seen 
 the rich grass or other feed as it is to be seen through much of the back 
 country cannot wonder at it. During some seasons the ])lains may be 
 very dry, but when grass is scarce there are the salt-bush and cotton-bush 
 and other shrubs for the sheep to fatten upon ; and while the squatter 
 can prosper, the selector may with the progress of railway extension 
 and other improvements do so well that thei'e will in time be every 
 opportunity for the well-being of a large and important class of people, 
 who will be between the squatters on the one hand and the cultivating 
 selectors on the other — a class of small graziers. 
 
252 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIII. 
 
 THE DENILIQUIN DISTRICT. 
 
 Important as the town of Hay is as a central point to wliicli much of 
 the trade of the Southern Districts goes, it is not of greater significance 
 than Deniliquin, which, with its private railway, is a remarkable 
 instance of progress and entei'prise. Free selection gave the place its 
 first impetus, and when the railway was constructed, and communication 
 between the town and Melbourne became frequent and rapid, there was 
 very quickly a great improvement on all sides. Then more stores were 
 opened, additional hotels made their appearance, public buildings of a 
 more than ordinarily pretentious character were erected, and now 
 Deniliquin is one of the largest and smartest-looking towns in the 
 Colony. 
 
 Prettily situated near a river, and with the well-formed streets nicely 
 planted with trees, the green appearance of which contrasts very 
 agreeably with the colour and matei'ial of the buildings, a first view of 
 the town is very pleasing ; and a better acquaintance with it and its 
 people serves only to impress the visitor with a more distinct idea of its 
 importance. One of the hotels is kept in the very best style, and is 
 equal to first-class hotels in Sydney. The Town Hall, a building 
 which is an ornament to the town, and is exceedingly well designed, cost 
 ^4,000, contains a hall 60 feet by 33 feet, with a stage 23 feet in 
 depth, and was erected entirely at the expense of the municipality. The 
 local brewery, situated near the river, and having attached to it a mill 
 which receives wheat from the settlers within a radius of 40 or 50 
 miles, is surrounded by a garden which has been so carefully prepared 
 and is so well tended that it is like a little paradise. Everything about 
 the place, in fact, is attractive, and gives evidence of that prosperity and 
 go-ahead spirit which send a community onward. 
 
 During the river season all the wool that can be sent by the river 
 steamers from Hay to Echuca goes that way as the cheapest, because 
 there is a space of 80 miles between Hay and Deniliquin, which means 
 that length of land carriage, but notwithstanding this the Deniliquin 
 railway receives a large share of the trafiic, which in a very material 
 degree increases the ti-ade of Melbourne. During the year ending June, 
 1880, 24,630 bales of wool were forwarded by this railway to Echuca, 
 and thence by the Victorian lines to Melboui'ne, and the quantity 
 
The Deniliquin Distinct. 253 
 
 conveyed annually averages from about 22,000 to 25,000 bales. The 
 greater part of this is said to be from what was described to me as the 
 "legitimate Deniliquin district," that is, the district immediately 
 surrounding Deniliquin, and of which this town is the natural and 
 proper centre. The quantity that comes to the railway from beyond 
 Hay, I was assured, is only about 2,000 bales at the most. In addition to 
 the wool traffic there is a large traffic in sheep and cattle. For the 
 twelve months ending June, 1880, no fewer than 275,000 sheep and 
 20,000 cattle were carried in the raihvay trucks. During some years 
 the returns have represented far larger numbers, for there have been as 
 many as .350,000 sheep conveyed during tAvelve months. The lowest 
 number shown in the Company's books is 220,000. The sheep come 
 from the country to the north of Hay, extending far up in that direction, 
 and most of the cattle travel from the stations in north-western Queens- 
 land. 
 
 The Melbourne market oifers considerable inducement to stock- 
 breeders, and possibly cattle will continue to go there in numbers ; but 
 the stock tax of 5s. per head on all cattle going into Victoria is regarded 
 as a very grievous impost ; and as, in addition to the tax, there are six 
 days' travelling between Hay and Deniliquin, the Sydney market ought 
 to have a great advantage over that of Melbourne when the railway is 
 extended from Narrandei'a to Hay. This cattle trade will be affected 
 also in a very large degree by the meat-freezing process now coming into 
 use. 
 
 "With regard to freights for wool, it is of some advantage to know 
 what it costs to send wool to Melbourne from Hay by the Deniliquin 
 railway. From Hay to Deniliquin the average price for conveying 
 wool by teams would be about 50s. a ton, which would represent about 
 8s. 6d. a bale. On the raihvay to Melbourne the wool would be conveyed 
 for 9s. 6d. a bale ; and then there is a charge of 3s. a ton, or 6d. a bale, 
 for wharfage. That brings the cost of sending wool to Melbounie by the 
 Deniliquin railway from as far north as Hay to 18s. 6d. a bale. On the 
 Great Western Railway, from Wellington to Sydney, wool was carried 
 last season at 9s. 6d. a bale, and the distance was 280 miles. 
 
 The line that is expected to do most injury to the Deniliquin and 
 Moama railway is that which is to be constructed from Hanging Rock 
 to Jerilderie. The produce that goes from that district to Deniliquin is 
 very considerable, and a railway connecting the place Avith Sydney 
 would catch all the traffic which now goes to Deniliquin, as well as that 
 which finds an outlet at Tocumwal and Corowa, on the river Murray. 
 
254 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 The Deniliquin district is a very flourisliing one. Not only are the 
 squatters doing well, but the selectors are in a very comfortable con- 
 dition. "I have 2,100 acres about 8 miles out," said one selector 
 to me, " and I have paid lis. per acre upon its cost. I cannot be in a 
 bad position to do that. I have about 100 acres under cultivation, 
 and upon the rest I keep sheep. This season I sheared so satisfactorily 
 that I put a cheque for nearly ,£400, for the wool, into the Bank 
 to-day." This selector had obtained his 2,100 acres by family selection. 
 There were eight of them in the family, and six selections of 320 acres 
 each were taken up, 180 acres being subsequently added. No grass 
 right was obtained ; but " if I had a grass right," he said, " I would be 
 willing to give a good rental for it." And so would many other selec- 
 tors. It would be possible for them to live by cultivation alone, for the 
 soil is good, and crops will grow as well around Deniliquin as anywhere 
 else, though there is some uncertainty about the seasons ; but culti- 
 vating part of the land and using the remainder for grazing purposes is 
 the more profitable occupation. 
 
 In the case of the selector referred to, he expected such a good crop 
 of wheat that he intended, if his expectations were realized, to exhibit 
 at the Melbourne Exhibition. He had constructed tanks, and had a 
 very good well at which he had watered 2,000 sheep for fourteen weeks. 
 Finding brackish water at the first sinking of the well he tried a new 
 spot, and obtained water as fresh as rain ; and with the labour of himself 
 and his family it did not cost more than 4d. a yard to construct a tank. 
 Under exceptionally difficult circumstances a tank may be constructed 
 for fi-om 6d. to lOd. or Is. a yard, and in many cases it may be done 
 very cheaply. This expense is one which all selectors who take up 
 land in the back country will have to incur, and with well constructed 
 tanks selectors may flourish in the driest parts of the Colony. The 
 selector who had constructed his tank for 4d. a yard was possessed 
 of machinery to the extent of about £300 worth, and it consisted of 
 threshing machines, reaper, winnower, two double-furrowed ploughs, 
 and a saw-mill. Round about Jerilderie, a district that is closely asso- 
 ciated with Deniliquin, the selectors are in a very good position, and 
 hold blocks of land containing from 640 acres to 4,000. 
 
 Not much wheat is said to be grown around Jerilderie, though all that 
 part of the country is splendid wheat-growing land. Slieep-fai'ming and 
 wool-growing are the principal parts of the selectors' occupation, and so 
 much so that some of the conditional purchasers are really small graziers. 
 The average number of sheep owned by selectors in the Jerilderie dis- 
 trict is said to be 2,000, the numbers ranging from 6,000 to 500, and 
 
The Denillquin District. 255 
 
 horse-breeding is to some extent carried on. Yet with all this pros- 
 perity, many of the selectors of this district, and some around Den- 
 iliquin, desire the abolition of the intei-est payable on the cost of 
 conditional purchases. The origin of their demand is to be found in 
 the proceedings of an Association which has its head-quarters at 
 Jerilderie, and branches of which have been formed at Deniliquin, 
 Moama, Moulamein, and ether places. Men with somewhat better 
 intellects and stronger wills than their fellows have placed before the 
 general body of conditional purchasers certain plausible theories, and 
 induced them to believe they have a real grievance where they have 
 none, and hence the agitation which has taken place. 
 
 One of the leaders in the abolition of interest movement, while con- 
 tending that the selectors should have this concession made to them, told 
 me that in such a well-to-do condition were the selectors around Jeril- 
 derie that the manager of a second Bank which had been opened in 
 the town, was very much afraid his coming there was a great mistake, 
 for the people had got on so well they did not appear to want any- 
 thing in the way of Bank advances. 
 
 A great number of selectors are to be found around Deniliquin, and 
 there also they are a class of men who occupy a good position. 
 They all keep sheep, and while some of them cultivate as much as 160 
 acres, others have under cultivation 50 or 60 acres. The sheep that run 
 on the selections and on land which has been added to the selections 
 by auction purchases range from flocks of 500 to 5,000, many of the 
 selectors being really substantial sheep farmers, and good sound men, 
 making year after year a very satisfactory income. One case was 
 mentioned to me of a selector owning 1,420 acres, whose net returns for 
 the year, after the sale of his wool, amounted to £500 ; and another 
 instance was quoted in which the annual returns from conditionally 
 purchased land were also fully £500, and the occupation of the selector 
 so profitable that not very long ago he was able to take a trip home to 
 his native Scotland. In some places — more particularly out on the 
 plains — there are selectors who live in very poor style, but even they 
 are said to make money ; and certainly the means of getting on in 
 life are within the reach of all who care to propei-ly avail themselves of 
 them. 
 
256 The Industries of New South TFales. 
 
 CHAPTEU XXXIV. 
 
 SUGAR MANUFACTURE. 
 
 On the banks of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed Rivers an industry 
 is being carried on which promises to be one of the most important in 
 the Colony. The Tweed River has been but recently settled by those 
 engaged in the growth of the sugar-cane, and the enterprise has not yet 
 had time to extend its opei-ations there very considerably ; but upon the 
 Clarence and the Richmond Rivers — particularly upon the former — the 
 farmers have for sevei-al years been growing cane very successfully, and 
 a large number of sugar-mills are in operation. Previous to the intro- 
 duction of the sugar industry into the northern coast district, the settlers 
 upon these i-ivers were earning a scanty livelihood by growing maize — an 
 occupation which seems to have failed, chiefly in consequence of low 
 prices and the absence of any method by which the maize could be 
 turned to better account than mere sale ; and when the climate of the 
 district and the appearance of the land on the lower parts of the rivers 
 suggested the suitableness of the locality for the cultivation of the sugar- 
 cane, the farmers were induced to try if cane could be made more 
 profitable than maize, and the result has been a remarkable success. 
 
 Most of the cane fai*ms on the Clarence are fi'ee selections, and it is 
 the same on the Tweed ; but on the Richmond many of the farms have 
 been purchased from landed proprietors or are rented. On the Clarence 
 there is a good deal of broken land, and the strips which are suitable 
 for cane-growing along the river banks and along the various arms of the 
 river and the creeks generally run about eight or nine chains. The 
 banks of the river are flat, and the plantations of cane are divided here 
 and there by groves of banana or plantain trees, while behind is a 
 background of forest timber. Then at short intervals of distance are to 
 be seen the mills, which, in the crushing season, present a very busy 
 appearance. Cane-cutters are in the adjoining plantations, cutting down 
 the cane, stripping it of the leaves, and laying it in heaps for carts to 
 take to the crushing machinery, or to barges which lie at little riverside 
 whax'fs ; the river is lively ^vith small steamers towing the loaded barges to 
 the places on the river bank where the mills to be supplied in this ma-nner 
 have been Ijuilt ; and, generally, everything wears a flourishing aspect. 
 
 The success which has attended the cultivation of the cane has been 
 largely due to the Colonial Sugar Company ; for, having recognized the 
 
Sugar Manufacture. 257 
 
 facilities which the land upon the banks of these rivers afforded for cane- 
 growing, they offered liberal inducements to the farmers to cultivate cane, 
 and erected large and costly mills for the purpose of crushing the cane and 
 converting the juice into sugar. Very quickly prospects became exceedingly 
 encouraging ; and so well has the industry progressed during the years it 
 has been in existence that in addition to three large and well-appointed 
 mills belonging to the Company at the Clarence, one at the Richmond, 
 and another in course of erection at the Tweed, there are a large number 
 of private mills, the sugar-cane plantations line the river banks for many 
 miles, the planters and mill-owners are in a comfortable condition, and 
 the population of the rivers generally who are interested in the enter- 
 prise appear to be as prosperous as could be wished. 
 
 In 1870 the Colonial Sugar Company commenced cane-crushing on the 
 river Macleay, which is nearly 100 miles south of the Clarence, as well 
 as at the Clarence, and one of the large mills now on the latter river 
 was that which was erected on the Macleay ; but the industry did not 
 prosper at the Macleay in consequence of injuries to the crops by 
 frost, and of the farmers not entering into the work of planting the cane 
 with the necessary energy. The success or failure of any enterprise 
 engaged in by settlers depends A^ery much upon their labour, intelligence, 
 and resources generally, as well as upon the energy and attention of 
 others interested in the matter ; and as cane cultivation was not carried 
 on with the proper conditions of success at the Macleay it came to 
 nothing, and the Company's mill was removed to the Clarence, where it 
 was determined to employ every means that Avas likely to make cane- 
 growing and sugar manufacture profitable to the Company and to the 
 farmers, and a successful colonial industry. Cane-planting at the Rich- 
 mond and the Tweed followed the success achieved at the Clarence, and 
 notwithstanding the circumstance that the climate on these rivers, as 
 well as on the Clarence, is not that which is natural to the growth of 
 the sugar-cane, and to some extent, in consequence, the industry may 
 be called a forced one, everybody concerned seems to be very well satis- 
 fied with the progress made. Instead of having a growth all the year 
 round, as is the case in the tropics, cane at the Clarence has only from 
 eight to nine months' growth, there being a complete check in the Avinter, 
 and frosts are sometimes severe and injurious. 
 
 The prevailing mode of cultivation is to get as much cane as will 
 grow from any given area, irrespective of quality, and with the least 
 possible amount of labour. It is said to be no strange thing to find as 
 many as 2,500, and sometimes more, stools of cane per acre, and that, 
 too, of the ribbon variety, which requii-es more room to grow properly 
 R 
 
258 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 than most other kinds; "svheveas from 1,400 to 2,000 of any variety is 
 considex'ed ample, for with that number room is left for a horse 
 cultivator to pass either way l^etween the cane rows until the cane has 
 attained a sufficient height. In the former case a cultivator can work 
 only one way, — the space between the plants, which is from 2 to 3 
 feet, being too limited for anything but hoe woi'k, and that is laborious 
 and expensive, and therefore frequently neglected. 
 
 Until the last two seasons the ribbon variety of cane was that which 
 was chiefly planted, but as this kind takes two years to mature and is 
 a very costly cane to " trash," or clean of dead leaves, the annual varie- 
 ties are coming into favour. Instead of trashing, the practice is becom- 
 ing common in some places of burning the field previous to cutting, by 
 which the grower saves several pounds per acre in labour, but the 
 manufacturer loses as much in net results on crushing. Some of the 
 planters consider that a decided change must shortly be made in all 
 cases where the land has been under crop, as the ribbon-cane is rapidly 
 becoming worn out and susceptible to disease. It is extremely difficult 
 to arrive at a correct estimate of the quantity of cane grown per acre 
 as it varies considerably with the season, but about 30 tons of the 
 ribbon variety, or 20 tons of annual cane, was given me as a fair 
 estimate ; and the proceeds, at the price paid by the proprietors of mills 
 to cane-growers, would enable the farmer to make about £10 per acre 
 per annum. This implies a fair amount of attention to the cane and to 
 trashing, for unless these considerations are attended to the annual 
 income of the grower may be very much reduced. 
 
 Those of the farmers at the Clarence who send their cane to the Com- 
 pany's mills — and formerly all did that — contract to supply the cane from 
 a certain area of ground during a certain number of years, the Company 
 taking delivery of the cane in the field, and paying the farmers at the 
 rate of 10s. per ton, the weight being estimated by measuring the draught 
 of the punts when they are loaded and ready to be towed to the mills. 
 In order to carry out that part of the contract which relates to taking 
 delivery of the cane in the field, the Company send out in the season 
 gangs of cutters, each consisting of from ten to sixteen men, who are 
 supplied with rations and camp equijiage, and are paid so much per ton 
 of cane cut and placed on board the punts or lightex'S. No crop of cane 
 is allowed to remain uncut for more than two years and three months. 
 Virtually the cro[is are taken in the two years, and generally about three 
 cuttings are obtained from one crop. Sometimes when the growth of 
 the cane has been very good it may be cut under the two yeai'S, but that 
 practice is not desirable. 
 
Sugar Manufacture. 259 
 
 The cane-cutters move about from farm to farm until all the cane is 
 cut, and then they are paid off, and nothing more is done by them until 
 the cane-cutting season comes round again. Those of the farmers under 
 contract with the Company, Avhose plantations are within a short distance 
 of the mills, can if they wish it cut their own cane and cart it to the 
 mills, and for this they are allowed a certain remuneration which makes 
 the labour profitable. In many ways the Company have endeavoured to 
 deal with the cane-growers in a fair and equitable manner, and notwith- 
 standing the circumstance that so many private mills have sprung into 
 existence, little or no complaint is to be heard anywhere respecting the rela- 
 tions which have existed between the Company and the farmers. During 
 a recent season a very large portion of the young cane on the Clarence 
 was injured, and much of it destroyed, through being frost-bitten. This 
 would affect the profits of the farmers and of the mill-owners during the 
 following season. 
 
 There are to be found on the river people who say that in a few years 
 no cane will be grown on the Clarence, the frosts and their blighting 
 effect are increasing so much every year ; but that is not the general 
 opinion, and probably not the correct one. Formerly the land near the 
 river was covered with dense scrub, and frosts are said to have been 
 then unknown ; it is only since the land has been cleared that the frosts 
 have made their appearance. Whether the cleaving of the land has had 
 anything to do with the appearance of the frosts does not seem to be 
 clearly understood, but whatever may be the explanation of the matter, 
 frosts are the only scourge the cane-growers are subject to. Some of the 
 farmers propose to avoid the evil by planting annual cane, which many 
 persons believe will grow quite as well and profitably as the biennial 
 variety, and certainly can be cut in a much shorter time ; and however 
 gloomy may be the ideas of some regarding the future effects of frost 
 upon the crops, it is a fact that the area of land planted with the sugar- 
 cane is constantly being increased. 
 
 The crushing season commences in July or August, and continues 
 until about Christmas. The Company used to consider they did well at 
 the Clarence if they crushed 1,000 tons of cane a week; but that 
 quantity they have been gradually increasing until they have reached, 
 in times when everything has been in first-rate order, 1,900 tons a week. 
 The private mills do not, of course, approach anything near that 
 quantity of cane in their crushing returns, but they all do very well. 
 They have not the appliances which the Company's mills possess. 
 From the commencement of their operations on the river the Company 
 have introduced impi-ovements in their machinery or method of woi'k 
 
260 Tlie Industries of Neic South Wales. 
 
 wherever improvements appeared desirable ; and the consequence is that 
 everything about the Company's mills is now in a very perfect state, 
 that operations can be carried on very extensively and expeditiously, 
 and that sugar of very superior quality is made. The Company's mill 
 at the Richmond was to commence work last season. Many of the 
 private mills are no more than the simplest machinery required for the 
 purpose of crushing the cane and converting the juice into sugar. 
 Nearly all have come from the Atlas Engineering Works in Sydney, 
 and, according to the millowners, are susceptible of some improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The absence of a better class of machinery in the private mills 
 results in many cases in the sugar manufactured being of an in- 
 ferior description, or charged with too large a proportion of molasses, 
 and in want of more refining than the Company's sugar made with 
 better appliances for the purpose requii-es. Nevertheless the private 
 millowners can sell all the sugar they make very profitably. Tlie 
 practice has generally been to send it to agents in Sydney, who either 
 find customers for it right off or advance the milloAvner money upon it 
 until it is sold. Some of it is purchased by the Colonial Sugar Company, 
 and sent to their refinery at Pyrmont, where all the sugar made at 
 the Company's mills at the Clarence goes. 
 
 Formerly the small millowners sent their sugar to commission agents 
 in Sydney, and the agents sent it to an auction room, by which method 
 of dealing with it there was a double commission for the sugar manu- 
 facturer to pay, and generally a forced sale at auction. By the. system 
 now follov/ed an advance is made to the millowner on the sugar he sends 
 to Sydney, and a small margin is retained by the agent until the sugar 
 can be profitably disposed of. In one or two instances I saw sugar 
 made at private mills which aj^peared to be equal to that made by the 
 Company, and the proprietor of one of these mills received a certificate 
 of merit for an exhibit of sugar sent by him to the last Exhibition at 
 Paris, and has taken prizes at the agricultural shows held at Grafton. 
 At one time there was a great prejudice against colonial sugars, because 
 of their peculiar smell and flavour, but that feeling is said to liave gone, 
 and there is nov,' no difficulty in placing them in the market. 
 
 The expense connected with the purchase and the erection of a private 
 mill is very considerable — fi-om .£1,500 to £2,000 or more being about 
 the cost — and to a farmer this means the expenditure of a very large 
 sum of money. Many of the millowners have, however, made the 
 amount out of their labour in cane-growing, while others have been 
 assisted by the Banks ; and all are careful to avoid as much as possible 
 
Sugar Manufacture. 261 
 
 any additional expense. To some extent the Sugar Company has been 
 in competition with the Banks in lending money to the farmers ; but 
 where it could be conveniently done the farmers have preferred 
 borrowing from the Banks, though they have had, it is said, to pay a 
 higher rate of interest. Nothing is so signilicant of the profitableness 
 of the industry than the value of cane-growing land. On tlie Lower 
 Clarence land is valued at from £30 to £35 an acre, and I heard of a 
 case where £-i3 an acre was offered for a farm and refused. On the 
 Cxrafton or upper portion of the river, where cane does not grow well, 
 £25 an acre is represented as the average value. These prices include of 
 course the buildings on the land, some of which are very poor and others 
 very good. At the Richmond also cane-growing land is very valuable. 
 
 Most of the cane-growers, as already mentioned, own tlie farms 
 they cultivate • but there are a good many tenants, and tlie latter 
 pay as high as £2 5s. or £3 an acre for the land they occupy. In other 
 parts of the Colony where tenant farmers exist, and where general 
 agriculture is carried on, the land is let for less than half this sum — 
 sometimes for very much less — and the circumstance is important as 
 showing how profitable cane-growing must be. The size of the cane 
 farms vary, and extends from 5, 10, or 20 acres up to 50 or 100. 
 They are larger at the Clarence than at the Richmojid or Tweed, 
 because the industry has been followed there for a longer period than it 
 lias on the other rivers, and they ai-e smallest, perhaps, at the Tweed. 
 
 The millowners crush principally the cane they grow, but in some 
 cases they buy from others, and so increase the returns for the season from 
 their crushing operations. The mills are closed as soon as the crushing 
 season is over, and i*emain closed from Christmas time until June. 
 Generally speaking they are about six months at work and six months 
 idle. In former years they Avere in the habit of crushing cane till 
 January or Februaiy, but the mills at that time were not so powerful 
 as they are now, and could not get through the season's work so 
 expeditiously. Immediately the crushing of the cane comes to an end, 
 the men employed at the mills are, with the exception perhaps of a few 
 who are permanently engaged, paid off, and they go away to different 
 parts of the Colony. There are always plenty of persons seeking work, 
 and generally more than can be taken on. At one or two of the mills 
 Kanakas or South Sea Islanders, who have come over from Queensland 
 after having completed their term of service in that Colony, are 
 employed. They do not ai)pear to work for less money than the 
 European laboui-ers, but they are said to do Avork better than it is done 
 by their white companions, and to be far more tractable. 
 
262 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 Some of the work is done by the piece, and some is paid for by the day 
 or week. The remuneration, in the latter case, for ordinary mill and field 
 hands is from £1 to 25s. a week, with rations ; or 35s. without rations, 
 and perhaps a bonus to those men who remain working throughout 
 the season. At ]iiece or task work, as it is called, the men can earn as 
 much as from 9s. to 12s. a day, and they receive rations. The number 
 of hands employed depends very much upon the manner in which the 
 cane is delivered. If it be carted direct from the field to the mill (as it 
 should be in the case of the small mills) six or seven men would sufl&ce 
 for the field, carts, kc. ; biit when the cane is conveyed to the mills in 
 barges, a large number of men is necessary. With the description of 
 cane grown and the nature of the soil one man, it is said, can for at 
 least six months of the year, if the land is stumped, attend to 10 acres, 
 he doing all the ploughing, planting, cleaning, &c., with perhaps the aid 
 of a boy for a few weeks while thrashing. 
 
 The following return suj^plied to me by one of the proprietors of a 
 private mill clui-ing a recent season gives the value of the cane, the cost 
 of labour, and the amount realized by him as a mill-owner, in the 
 production of 1 ton of .sugar. 
 
 " Value of cane to mill-o-sviiers when ripe and trashed, ready for cutting, and 
 not damaged by fire or frost, Is. being allowed for cartage : — 6 deg., 7s. per ton ; 
 7 deg. , 9s. ; 8 deg. ,11s.; 9 deg., 13s. ; 10 deg., 15s. The usual charge for stripping 
 cane on the Clarence River, when left undone till cutting, is Is. 6d. per ton, which 
 sum should be deducted from these prices. 
 
 ' ' Number of tons of cane required, at respective densities, to make 1 ton of 
 sugar :— 6 deg., 28 to 30 tons; 7 deg., 23 to 25 ; 8 deg., IS to 20 ; 9 deg., 17 to IS ; 
 10 deg., 15 to 17. 
 
 "Cost of labour to cut and deliver at rollers — at 43. 6d. per ton — sufficient 
 cane for making 1 ton of sugar :^At 6 deg., £6 10s. Gd. ; 7 deg., £5 Ss. ; 8 deg., 
 £4 5s. Gd. ; 9 deg., £4 ; 10 deg., £3 12s. 
 
 "Total cost for cane, and delivery thereof, per ton sugar: — AtGdeg., £16 13s. 6d. ; 
 
 7 deg., £1G 4s. ; 8 deg., £15 ; 9 deg., £15 14s. ; 10 deg., £15 12s. 
 
 ' ' Net balance on sale of sugar averaging £27 per ton (last season's average was 
 £24 19s.) : — Per ton sugar made at 6 deg., time — \\ day's work, £10 6s. 6d. ; 7 
 deg., li day's work, £10 16s. ; 8 deg., 9 to 10 hours' work, £12 5s. 6d. ; 9 deg., 
 
 8 to 10 hours' work, £11 6s. ; 10 deg., 7 to 9 hours' work, £11 8s. N.B.— The time 
 taken is frequently over this ; but, if kept going, is correct for a mill capable of 
 making 1 ton j^er diem average. 
 
 • ' The foregoing abstract is made w]} from two or three seasons' work ; last 
 season the average number of tons requii-ed to 1 ton of sugar was 18^- — 8f deg., 
 full ; season before, with average density 7 deg., 24 tons (nearly). 
 
 "Full amount receivable from one week's work, without stoppages : — Crushing 
 cane at 6 deg., average density, £41 Gs. ; at 7 deg., £51 10s. ; at 8 deg., £73 13s. ; 
 at 9 deg., £75 6s. 8d, ; at 10 deg., £85. X.B.— The expense of working on low 
 
^iKjar Manufacture. 263 
 
 density or bad cane is greater than on high or good cane, and the quantity actually 
 crushed per week seldom reaches the above figures. Last season 5?. tons per week 
 were made instead of a possible 6i tons ; and the season before 4^ tons, instead of 
 4J tons. 
 
 "The gross proceeds, to enable mill-owners to clear the ordinary profit of 
 storekeepers and others, allowing and including wear and tear, depreciation, &c. 1 
 of machinery and buildings, must not be less than £60 per week during the whole 
 season, or (say) twenty-five weeks' full work every season." 
 
 An impression exists in the minds of some persons tliat too many- 
 small mills are being erected, and that large central mills to which the 
 cane could be sent for crushing purposes would be much better for many 
 of the growers ; but this is a matter that will work its own cure ; and cane- 
 growing ha\ing been thoroughly established as a profitable undertaking, 
 the success of the industry is considered to be assured. The extensive 
 appliances which the Colonial Sugar Company possess on the northern 
 rivers for the manufacture of sugar, the large refinery they have in 
 Sydney, and the enterprise of the Company in extending their operations 
 whenever there is a favourable opening, are in themselves guarantees 
 that the sugar industry will continue to progress, and, in addition to 
 this, there is the fact that a large population is now settled in the 
 northern coast district devoting all their energies and attention to the 
 same object as that which has proved so profitable to the Company. It 
 is not uninteresting to know that refined colonial sugar is fully equal 
 to refined imported sugar. At the Company's refinery at Pyrmont 
 the mill sugar from the northern rivers, and the sugar imported from 
 Java, Mauritius, and Formosa are received, put through the same 
 i-efining process, and sold in the same way as refined sugar, with no 
 difference in flavour or quality apparent to any one except perhaps an 
 expert. 
 
The Western and Southern Gold-fields. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN GOLD-FIELDS. 
 
 During the past year the old-established gold-fields have suffered by the 
 rush of raiiiers which has taken place wherever a new field has been 
 discovered, and though the number of persons engaged in gold-mining 
 has not been lessened, the quantity of gold obtained — v/hile an increase 
 on the output of the previous year — has been less than might have been 
 the case if many of the gold-miners had remained at their old claims 
 instead of abandoning them in the hope of finding something better at 
 places like Temora and Mount Browne. But in these fresh discoveries 
 both the western and southern portions of the Colony have benefited. 
 The rush to the Temora Gold-field, and to one adjacent to the sea-coast 
 and known as Montreal, has largely increased the population of an 
 important part of the southern districts, and improved in a very con- 
 siderable degree the means of industry and livelihood ; and the opening 
 of the gold-field at Mount Browne is leading to the settlement of people 
 in the far western pastoral country, which, until the occurrence of this 
 gold discovery, was likely to await the arrival of the railway engine 
 before changing its present condition of a vast sheep run to a district 
 capable of supporting a mixed population. 
 
 The prospects at each of these new gold-fields are very encouraging, 
 for notwithstanding that a want of water for sluicing purposes has 
 impeded mining operations, the return of gold has proved the fields to 
 be rich and extensive. On the old gold-fields those mining companies 
 Avho have remained firm to their first trust, and have not been tempted 
 to search in other localities for something more profitable, are making- 
 headway. Some are doing better than others, of course, and now and 
 then a stroke of fortune brings to light a comparatively rich deposit of 
 the precious metal as a reward for persevering industry. Time, and a 
 continuance of the present efforts, it is believed, will result in complete 
 success, for up to the present gold-mining has not been followed to any 
 extent upon strictly scientific principles, and with the assistance of a 
 suflicient expenditure of capital it yet remains for the industiy to be 
 developed to that degree which will enable gold-mining companies to 
 avail themselves fully of the resources which the Colony in this respect 
 possesses. 
 
2G6 The Industries of New South Wales. 
 
 This -work is steadily progressing. Tlie mere surface mining, though 
 not by any means exhausted — for in the opinion of competent judges 
 there is every probability of extensive alluvial deposits being found 
 in parts of the Colony not yet properly prospected — is gradually 
 giving place to deep sinking, the introduction of elaborate and costly 
 machinery, and the investment of capital with the olyject of making the 
 yield of gold as profitable as possible and the industry a sound and 
 permanent one. As confidence in gold-mining under proper manage- 
 ment being a safe field for the employment of capital is restored, and the 
 desire for immediate and large returns gives way to a willingness to 
 wait for dividends until the mines are thoroughly tested and put into 
 proper working order, this new and satisfactory departure in New South 
 Wales gold-mining will continue to progress, and a few years hence we 
 may find gold-mining shares among the firmest stock in the market. 
 
 The most famous gold-field of the western district, and, in fact, of the 
 Colony, is Hill End ; and enormous as the yield of gold has been from 
 the well-known Hawkins' Hill, the future of this hill, when deeper 
 sinking shall have been accomplished, and sufiicient machinery of a 
 suitable description provided, is very ]iromising. The country for many 
 miles around is auriferous, and has afforded employment for a very large 
 population, some of whom have removed to other gold-fields, some 
 retired from mining to live on the wealth they have accumulated, and 
 some settled down in little communities, forming the nucleus of larger 
 and more important bodies of people, and establishing what may ulti- 
 mately become some of the large towns and cities of the interior. 
 
 Leaving Bathurst for Hill End, the country passed through for a few 
 miles consists of rich grassy plains, and then gradually becoming moun- 
 tainous, the locality of the gold-fields is reached. Here Wattle Flat 
 and Sofala, with the far-famed Turon River, are to be found. Wattle 
 Flat is a digging township, Avhich, having seen its best days as an 
 alluvial gold-field, is deserted by all but those who can make a living by 
 cultivating some of the land on the Flat, which is very well suited for 
 agriculture, and by fossicking about to find a little gold. This combina- 
 tion of agriculture and mining is one of the most hopeful signs on the 
 old gold-fields ; for, while it provides a very fair living for the resident 
 miners, it tends to keejD the staple industry of the place in existence 
 until men of capital come forward to test those parts of a field which, 
 the working miner, with nothing to depend upon but his labour, dares 
 not touch. So at Wattle Flat the miners are in part farmers, and 
 appear to get along very comfortably. 
 
The Western and Southern Gold-Jletds. 267 
 
 Sofala is further among the mountains, and close to the river 
 Turon. The town is a curiously cramped little collection of houses, 
 very much in the style of other mountain digging townships whose 
 building space has been very limited, and has drifted into a very 
 dull and sleepy condition, the gold obtained in the vicinity being 
 insufficient to create anything like a stir. Signs of the diggings of 
 the old days, when the gold fever was at its height, are to be seen 
 on the hills, in the river bed, and in the gullies and creeks. Even 
 now miners may be found working old ground, and others are 
 getting a little gold from the bed of the river, which has been turned 
 over man}^ times. One ci-eek passed on the way between Sofala and 
 Hill End is pointed out as a place where at one time " you could get 
 the gold with a teaspoon," so rich was the bed of the stream, and a 
 thunderstorm never failed, it is said, to bring to light quantities of the 
 precious metal. But many parts of this district have yielded large 
 returns, and may yet yield very much moi'e. 
 
 Hill End is reached after a journey of about 30 miles from Bathurst, 
 and the tawn at the present time presents many of the appearances of 
 decay. Thousands and thousands of pounds' worth of gold have been 
 obtained from the mines, and the money that has been in circulation 
 has in past years made the town one of the briskest and best for busi- 
 ness people ; but the alluvial mining having become almost exhausted, 
 the deeper runs of gold which a few years ago yielded such marvellous 
 returns having been worked to the full extent possible without a large 
 expenditure, and there being no means of livelihood on the field but 
 mining, the population has dwindled away until the town itself has 
 become little better than a collection of empty houses and deserted 
 streets. 
 
 Yet a wonderfully rich place it was some years ago, and the stories 
 that are told of the enormous quantities of gold that were taken 
 out of some of the mines are almost beyond credence. Men were in 
 almost the last extremities of poverty one day, and were millionaires 
 the day following. One of the most successful of the Hill End miners, 
 before Dame Fortune smiled on him, lived upon nothing but shins of 
 beef, and not too many of those. Another was earning a jDittance as a 
 barber in the town while his partner was developing the mine, of which 
 both were proprietors, and which eventually proved to be immensely 
 rich. One of the wealthiest at the present day did not know at one 
 time what to do to obtain a loaf of bread. Another was heavily in 
 debt, and subject to continual annoyance from being dunned. At last, 
 tired and sick of this persecution, he said to his most persistent creditor, 
 
The Western and Southern Gold-fields. 269 
 
 " I have only two things in the Avorld- — a horse and cart, and my claim, 
 and you can take which you like."' The creditor took the horse and 
 cart, and six weeks afterwards a rich vein was struck in the mine, 
 ,£48,000 worth of gold was obtained by the proprietor, and he floated 
 another Company for £25,000. These are but some of the incidents of 
 this remarkable gold-field. Wonderful, indeed, was the richness of some 
 of the mines, and the almost fabulous wealth unearthed led to injudicious 
 speculation, and consequent losses, and ultimately to a feeling of distrust 
 with regard to all mining, which has been a very great obstacle in the 
 way of the industry progressing as it ought to do. 
 
 As an instance of the excitement which filled men's minds at the time 
 of the mining mania, as it was called, a claim situated upon a space of 
 ground so small that scarcely a whim could be erected upon it was 
 floated for £20,000. A whim was erected at a cost of £200, a vertical 
 shaft was sunk for £2,000, and £700 was sent home for the purchase of 
 Burley rock-di-ills. By the time these drills arrived in the Colony the 
 gold had given out, the mining excitement was over, the drills were 
 bought for about £200 to go to Adelong, and the claim, with the whim, 
 and everything else, was eventually sold for £30. 
 
 Gold was obtained at Hill End as far back as the years 1850 and 
 1851, the mining at that time being all alluvial, and only a few years 
 have passed since the reefs were discovered. In 1872 scarcely any- 
 thing but reef-mining was being carried on, and it was about that time 
 that the gold at Hawkins' Hill was found. All the richer claims on the 
 hill still remain, but several of them have passed into other hands, and 
 some have amalgamated. These changes in the proprietorship have 
 been due chiefly to the necessity for making the best arrangements 
 possible for the supply of capital which will enable the shafts to be sunk 
 to a greater depth, and the drives and crosscuts to be carried in all the 
 directions in which it is believed gold is likely to be struck. At present 
 and for some time past, the returns of gold from crushings at the Hill 
 have, with one or two exceptions, been insignificant, and all the hope of 
 the place depends upon what the deep sinking will bring to light. In 
 this new departure from ordinary gold-mining the prospects ai-e very 
 encouraging, for the peculiar situation of the Hill, the direction in which 
 the gold-bearing reefs have been found, and the known extent to which 
 they have been worked, point unmistakably to the probable existence of 
 payable gold in other parts of the Hill not yet touched, and where the 
 reefs have " dipped," or passed downwards at great depths. 
 
 The formation of the hills in this locality is very singular. The whole 
 of the country for many miles around is mountainous, and looking from 
 
270 The Industries of New South Whales. 
 
 the end of Hawkins' Hill, where the mines are situated, there is an 
 enormous depression or valley, with the river Turon running through 
 it. The view is very beautiful and very grand, but it is also very 
 remarkable, and suggests an interesting theory with regard to the way 
 in which Hawkins' Hill was formed, and the manner n which the gold- 
 bearing veins of quartz came to be found there. Originally, it is thought, 
 the hills were very much higher than they are now, and the ground was 
 level; forming an extensive plateau, the reefs or veins running through 
 like a ridge, and dipping east and west. There is now in the vicinity of 
 Hawkins' Hill a great break in the reefs. At some period long ago 
 volcanic action produced a disturbance so powerful that the country was 
 broken into mountains and valleys ; a huge ravine was formed between 
 Hawkins' Hill and the mountain adjoining it ; and the reefs being 
 lifted, broken, and distorted, were left cropping out near the surface at 
 the side of the hill where the famous mines were opened, and dipping 
 rapidly into the hill in an easterly direction probably carried to a con- 
 siderable depth shoots of gold which may be as rich as any yet found, 
 but which can only be brought to light by the deep sinking and the 
 elaborate system of mining which some of the Hawkins' Hill Companies 
 are endeavouring to carry out. 
 
 One Company — the owners of the claim known as the Star of Peace — 
 is considerably ahead of all the others in the effort that is being made to 
 properly test the future capabilities of the Hill as a gold-field. By 
 patience, a remarkable perseverance, and the habit of promptly seizing 
 opportunities whenever they presented themselves, one of the proprietors, 
 who is now in England with the object of bringing English capital to 
 the assistance of the undertaking, has managed to secure for the Star of 
 Peace Company the lion's share of the unworked ground at the Hill ; 
 and should the theory of the dip of the reefs and number of veins be 
 correct, and the run of gold be at certain depths — what mining experience 
 points to as extremely probable — this Company, if it can find sufficient 
 money to conduct its operations upon the proper scale, has a very bright 
 future before it. One or two of the other claims — notably the Patriarch 
 — are also creditable instances of that persevering energy which must be 
 brought to bear in mining enterprise if the industry is to prove the 
 success which is desired by all who engage in it. 
 
 To describe Gulgong — another important mining centre — it is scarcely 
 necessary to use more than the word incongruity, for it is at once one of 
 the most charming and one of the most depressing places in the Colony. 
 Stretching away in the distance in every direction are ranges of moun- 
 tains, which, flushed and brightened liy sunlight, and flecked with the 
 
The Western and Southern Gold-fields. 271 
 
 shade of the clouds that hang over them, present a picture of loveliness 
 very seldom seen, while emei'ald spots, that represent the farmer's 
 industry, peep out of every valley into which the glance can penetrate, 
 most picturesquely ; but in and about the town are innumerable heaps of 
 red and yellow dirt, which indicate worked-out gold claims, unsightly 
 bark and slab structures which, deserted by their gold-seeking occupants, 
 have fallen into a state of ruin and decay, quantities of refuse lying 
 about which indicate the boisterous living of former days, and all those 
 Avorthless evidences of bygone wealth and riot which are common to 
 gold-fields when their days of prosperity and money-making are past. 
 
 Within the small radius where the business of the town is carried on, 
 there is, however, more compactness and more appearance of stability, 
 but even here there are decaying theatres, rickety and, in one or two 
 cases, deserted public-houses, and old rotting and tumbledown sheds 
 which have the air of dissipated billiard or dancing saloons. And there 
 is a depression over the place which makes property for the time almost 
 valueless, and houses and land can be bought for a mere nothing compared 
 with what they ought to bring. But notwithstanding these discouraging 
 appearances, there are evidences about the place which show that a time 
 of more solid prosperity than that of the gold-fever will come. There 
 are now in the streets of the town, which are e"S'enly formed though 
 very narrow, some well-built and well-stocked shops and hotels, several 
 of which are enjoying a fair business ; the Borough Council is doing 
 much to imj^rove the place and put it into good order ; and small farms 
 on land taken up by free-selectors are becoming very numerous in the 
 valleys not far from the town. 
 
 Very little gold is now got at G-ulgong, and there are not more than 
 about four or five hundred diggers in the district. Yet, that the pi'ecious 
 metal is so scarce is not to be wondered at when it is stated that as much 
 as sixteen tons of gold have been taken from this gold-field since it opened. 
 From this great yield of wealth it is needless to say that many men 
 made large fortunes ; and perhaps it is as needless to state that nearly 
 all lost them again. A well-known publican in Gulgong has, during his 
 experience on the gold-fields, made several fortunes, and spent them 
 again in speculation ; an alderman of the town, now possessed of just 
 sufficient property to bring him in a rental large enough to keep him 
 decently, was at one time the possessor of more than £30,000, which he 
 lost in speculation and various other ways ; and these are but tyjies of 
 numerous instances. 
 
 Not far from Gulgong are the Home Rule and Canadian Gold-fields. 
 For some distance on the way to Home Rixle the country is full of huge 
 
272 The Industries of Neio South Wales. 
 
 red and yellow mounds, like immense ant-hills, some of whicli are 
 pointed out as places where men have got " a power o' gold," and others 
 as spots where men have worked and toiled to trace the lead, and after 
 weary and long-continued efforts have found nothing. 
 
 The Home Rule, as far as the surrounding country is concerned, is 
 another pretty spot, and, seen from a distance when the sun is out, it 
 presents the green and refreshing appearance of a peaceful country 
 village ; but on approaching it nearer the town is found to be an unsightly 
 little heap of rude buildings thrown into one street, and surrounded with 
 heaps of deserted claims and little lakes of clay- coloured water which 
 are known by the name of dams. The Canadian Gold-field is worse, and 
 at the time I passed through it presented a miserable aj)pearance of 
 straggling half-deserted houses, built in the rudest fashion, and some of 
 them existing apparently in the most wretched way, with inmates who 
 seemed to know little or nothing of cleanliness or comfort. The inevi- 
 table dirt -heaps were all round the place, and the equally inevitable 
 public-houses were there ; but two or three shanties, with intoxicated- 
 looking lamp-posts and lamps, and now tenantless, showed that the 
 drinking traffic was not now so brisk as it used to be. If it were not 
 for the evidences of cultivation in the locality there would be little hope 
 for the immediate future of either of these places ; but the fact that 
 land is being taken up and converted into profitable farms indicates that 
 a time will come when the debasing effects of the gold period will have 
 passed away, and Gulgong, Home Rule, and the Canadian will be clean, 
 profitable, prosperous, and rising towns. 
 
 While upon the subject of gold, I may mention that the Government 
 geological surveyor is said to have been in this district some short time 
 ago, and to have reported upon it in a manner that has given rise to a 
 belief that there are leads in the district not 3^et discovered. Many of 
 the men believe there are still some fine leads in the district, and one 
 party has sunk a shaft to the depth of 230 feet in search of a lead which 
 the opinion of Mr. Wilkinson, the geological surveyor, induced them to 
 think is there. Other claims have been sunk to the depth of 120 or 150 
 feet, and some are paying. Usually the men work in a party, each of 
 whom holds a share in the mine ; but in some cases men are engaged on 
 wages, and they are paid at the rate of £2 10s. a week. 
 
 A deeply-sunk gold-mine presents very little to interest the mere 
 observer. I made a descent down one 127 feet in depth, at Home 
 Rule, and it had little more to show for itself than narrow passages 
 and mud. The shaft appeared scarcely 3 feet wide, boarded all 
 the way down, and the descent was made in an iron cage, into which 
 
The Western and Southerii Gold-fields. 273 
 
 two men and mj^self squeezed as closely together as possible in order 
 to escape being jammed in the shaft. The bottom of the mine is 
 much like that of a coal-pit. The drives or passages are timbered 
 in the same way, with a roof and sides of slabs supported by props, 
 and trucks of washdirt in which the gold is understood to be are 
 sent from the workings to the mouth of the shaft along wooden 
 tramways. The fioor of the various passages is nothing but mud 
 and pools of water, and the roof and sides are constantly dripping 
 with moisture. The washdirt — a damp pebbly clay — is dug out and sent 
 to the surface, where it is puddled and sluiced, which means that the 
 precious metal is separated fi'om the dirt in which it is found, and the 
 gold is then collected. Frequently the run of the gold is lost, and the 
 diggers have to drive under the earth in all directions to find it. 
 
 oo^ 
 
 On the other gold-fields in the west work is pi'ogressing steadily. No 
 finds of a special character have been made for some little time ; b\it 
 there is a strong belief in the minds of many that good days iire in store 
 for several of the old fields, and the Mining Warden, in a recent report 
 upon the Mudgee Mining District, which includes Gulgong, points out 
 the improbability of the district, which comprises several hundred square 
 miles, being denuded of the precious metal by the quantities v^diich have 
 been taken from it, and expresses an opinion that much payable ground 
 might be opened if powerful pumping and other machinery wci'c brouglit 
 into use. 
 
 So it is Avith the gold-fields in the south. Gold exists in payabde 
 quantities in very many places ; but until methods of overcoming certain 
 difficulties at present in the way of profitable Avorking have been 
 adopted most of the known gold deposits must remain almost untouched. 
 In one place a want of water is found to be an insuperable obstacle to 
 the industiy ; in another the want of means to carry oflf an over-supply 
 of water which floods the claims and prevents the miners from working ; 
 and in others there is experienced the difficulty of dealing with gold- 
 bearing stone without the proper machinery to crush it, or, when it is 
 crushed, to extract the gold from the baser metals which encompass it. 
 Capital is the great remedy required ; and as that is employed so will 
 gold-mining prosper. Even as things ai'e, however, the outlook is very 
 satisfactory ; and, according to the latest reports of the officers of the 
 Mining Department, the yield of gold throughout the Colony during the 
 present year should be largely in excess of that for 1881. 
 
275 
 
 CENSUS OF NEAV SOUTH WALES, 1881.* 
 
 (POPULATION.) 
 
 No. 1. — Eetiirn showing the Population o£ each Electoral, Eegistry, or 
 Census District, according to the Census Eeturns of 1881. 
 
 No. 2. — Eeturn showing the increase of the Population, numerical, 
 centesimal, and annual centesimal average, during the decennial 
 period 1871-1881, of the Metropolitan, Suburban, and Country- 
 Districts. 
 
 No. 3. — Eeturn showing the increase of the Population of Tow^ns and 
 Villages, during the decennial period 1871-1881. 
 
 No. 4. — Eeturn of Towns^ Villages, etc., which either did not exist when 
 the Census was taken in 1871, or w'hose Population did not 
 number 100 persons. 
 
 No. 5. — Eeturn of Municipalities, showing the Population of the 
 incorporated portions of the Colony and the increase during the 
 decennial period 1871-1881. 
 
 * Note— This document was printed by order of the Colonial Secretary as indicating the 
 direi;tion the Census returns led, but as the Census remains yet to be compared and completed it 
 sliould not be regarded as absolutelj' authentic. 
 
276 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 Return sliowing the Population of each of the Electoral Districts of 
 the Colony of New South Wales, according to the Census taken on 
 the 3rd day of April, 1881. 
 
 Electorate or Registry District. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 1 
 
 Total. 
 
 Sydney East — Bourke "Ward ... 
 
 2,672 
 
 2,628 
 
 5,300 
 
 Fitzroy ,, 
 
 7,507 
 
 8,373 
 
 15,880 
 
 Macquarie Ward 
 
 4,279 
 
 3,804 
 
 8,083 
 
 „ South— Cook „ 
 
 12,528 
 
 13,009 
 
 25,537 
 
 Phillip „ 
 
 5,684 
 
 5,391 
 
 11,075 
 
 ,, West — Brisbane „ 
 
 4,290 
 
 2,929 
 
 7,219 
 
 Denison „ 
 
 8,275 
 
 7,505 
 
 15,780 
 
 Gipps „ 
 
 5,894 
 
 5,089 
 
 10,983 
 
 Islands of Port Jackson 
 
 113 
 
 182 
 
 295 
 
 Shipping ... 
 
 3,159 
 
 68 
 
 3,227 
 
 Suburbs. 
 
 54,401 
 
 48,978 
 
 103,379 
 
 Balmain ... 
 
 8,506 
 
 8,423 
 
 16,929 
 
 Canterbury 
 
 
 10,865 
 
 11,569 
 
 22,434 
 
 The Glebe 
 
 
 5,192 
 
 5,664 
 
 10,856 
 
 NewtoAvn... 
 
 
 7,713 
 
 8,032 
 
 15,745 
 
 Paddington 
 
 
 9,684 
 
 10,536 
 
 20,220 
 
 Pedfern ... 
 
 
 12,068 
 
 11,570 
 
 23,638 
 
 St. Leonards 
 
 
 5,499 
 
 5,511 
 
 11,010 
 
 CouxTRY Districts, 
 
 59,527 
 
 61,305 
 
 120,832 
 
 Albury 
 
 3,118 
 
 2,597 
 
 5,715 
 
 Argj'le 
 
 
 5,568 
 
 4,797 
 
 10,365 
 
 Balranald... 
 
 
 5,511 
 
 2,624 
 
 8,135 
 
 Bathurst ... 
 
 
 3,657 
 
 3,564 
 
 7,221 
 
 The Bogan 
 
 
 7,895 
 
 5,149 
 
 13,044 
 
 Boorowa ... 
 
 
 2,433 
 
 1,873 
 
 4,306 
 
 Bourke ... 
 
 
 5,743 
 
 2,382 
 
 8,125 
 
 Braidwood 
 
 
 3,701 
 
 3,247 
 
 6,948 
 
 Camden ... 
 
 
 8,417 
 
 7,306 
 
 15,723 
 
 Carcoar ... 
 
 
 5,848 
 
 4,634 
 
 10,482 
 
 The Clarence 
 
 
 3,674 
 
 3,078 
 
 6,752 
 
 Central Cumberland 
 
 
 8,363 
 
 6,893 
 
 1.5,256 
 
 Durham ... 
 
 
 3,206 
 
 2,739 
 
 5,945 
 
 Eden 
 
 
 6,398 
 
 5,086 
 
 11,484 
 
 Forbes 
 
 
 4,582 
 
 3,177 
 
 7,759 
 
 Glen Innes 
 
 
 4,637 
 
 2,263 
 
 6,900 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 
 8,105 
 
 2,538 
 
 5,643 
 
 Goulburn... 
 
 
 3,578 
 
 3,261 
 
 6,839 
 
 Grafton ... 
 
 
 4,140 
 
 3,604 
 
 7,744 
 
 Grenfell ... 
 
 
 3,331 
 
 2,215 
 
 5,546 
 
 Gundagai... 
 
 
 3,599 
 
 2,932 
 
 6,531 
 
 Gunnedah 
 
 
 4,499 
 
 2,989 
 
 7,488 
 
277 
 
 No. 1 — continued. 
 
 Electorate or Registry District, 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 The Gwydir 
 
 . 3,414 
 
 2,076 
 
 5,490 
 
 Hartley 
 
 
 
 . 5,077 
 
 3 
 
 596 
 
 8 
 
 673 
 
 The Hastings and Mannin 
 
 S 
 
 
 . 5,044 
 
 4 
 
 265 
 
 9 
 
 309 
 
 The Hawkesbuiy 
 
 
 
 . 4,469 
 
 4 
 
 2.30 
 
 8 
 
 699 
 
 The Hume 
 
 
 
 . 5,471 
 
 3 
 
 810 
 
 9 
 
 281 
 
 The Hunter 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,850 
 
 2 
 
 680 
 
 5 
 
 530 
 
 The Upper Huntej 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 . 6,053 
 
 5 
 
 268 
 
 11 
 
 321 
 
 lllawarra... 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,726 
 
 3 
 
 483 
 
 7 
 
 209 
 
 Inverell ... 
 
 
 
 
 . 4,413 
 
 2 
 
 773 
 
 7 
 
 186 
 
 Kiama 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,975 
 
 2 
 
 760 
 
 5 
 
 735 
 
 The Macleay 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,843 
 
 3 
 
 280 
 
 7 
 
 123 
 
 East Macquarie .. 
 
 
 
 
 . 4,676 
 
 3 
 
 511 
 
 8 
 
 187 
 
 West Macquarie... 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,460 
 
 2 
 
 181 
 
 4 
 
 641 
 
 East. Maitland 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,128 
 
 1 
 
 975 
 
 4 
 
 103 
 
 West Maitland . . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,800 
 
 2 
 
 903 
 
 5 
 
 703 
 
 Molong ... 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,880 
 
 2 
 
 997 
 
 6 
 
 877 
 
 Monaro ... 
 
 
 
 
 . 5,941 
 
 4 
 
 810 
 
 10 
 
 751 
 
 Morpeth 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,512 
 
 2 
 
 432 
 
 4 
 
 944 
 
 Mudgee ... 
 
 
 
 
 . 9,924 
 
 8 
 
 053 
 
 17 
 
 977 
 
 The INIurray 
 
 
 
 
 . 5,242 
 
 3 
 
 666 
 
 8 
 
 908 
 
 The Murrumbidgee 
 
 
 
 
 . 11,536 
 
 6 
 
 811 
 
 18 
 
 347 
 
 The Namoi 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,393 
 
 2 
 
 216 
 
 5 
 
 609 
 
 The Nepean 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,213 
 
 2 
 
 818 
 
 6 
 
 031 
 
 Newcastle 
 
 
 
 
 . 8,155 
 
 7 
 
 441 
 
 15 
 
 596 
 
 New England 
 
 
 
 
 . 8,935 
 
 6 
 
 287 
 
 15 
 
 222 
 
 Northumberland . . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 7,769 
 
 7 
 
 004 
 
 14 
 
 773 
 
 Orange 
 
 
 
 
 . 4,991 
 
 4 
 
 481 
 
 9 
 
 472 
 
 Parramatta 
 
 
 
 
 . 4,856 
 
 3 
 
 576 
 
 8 
 
 432 
 
 Patrick's Plains . . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,577 
 
 3 
 
 444 
 
 7 
 
 021 
 
 Queanbeyan 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,974 
 
 2 
 
 485 
 
 5 
 
 459 
 
 The Eichmond ... 
 
 
 
 
 . 5,290 
 
 3 
 
 976 
 
 9 
 
 266 
 
 Shoalhaven 
 
 
 
 
 . 4,478 
 
 3 
 
 915 
 
 8 
 
 393 
 
 Tamworth 
 
 
 
 
 . 7,535 
 
 5 
 
 703 
 
 13 
 
 238 
 
 Tenterfield 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,857 
 
 1 
 
 998 
 
 4 
 
 855 
 
 Tumut 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,761 
 
 2 
 
 924 
 
 6 
 
 685 
 
 Welling-ton 
 
 
 
 
 . 3,423 
 
 2 
 
 611 
 
 6 
 
 034 
 
 Wentworth 
 
 
 
 
 . 4,445 
 
 1 
 
 704 
 
 6 
 
 149 
 
 Wollombi 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,845 
 
 2 
 
 489 
 
 5 
 
 334 
 
 Yass Plains 
 
 
 
 
 . 4,249 
 
 3 
 
 644 
 
 7 
 
 893 
 
 Young 
 
 
 
 
 . 7,038 
 
 4 
 
 812 
 
 11 
 
 850 
 
 Total of Country Districts . . 
 
 . 297,221 
 
 230,036 
 
 527,257 
 
 Recapitulation, 
 
 
 
 
 Population of Sydney 
 
 . 54,401 
 
 48,978 
 
 103,379 
 
 „ Suburbs 
 
 . 59,527 
 
 61,305 
 
 120,832 
 
 „ Country Districts ... 
 
 . 297,221 
 
 230,036 
 
 527,257 
 
 Total Population of 
 
 the Col 
 
 ony 
 
 
 . 411,149 
 
 340,319 
 
 751,468 
 
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279 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Retuen showing the Increase of Populatiom o£ Towns and Tillages during the 
 
 decennial period 1871-1881. 
 
 
 Town or Village. 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Census of 1871, 1 
 
 Census of 1881. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 Kegistry District. 
 
 i 
 
 "3 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 "3 
 !3 
 
 "3 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 "3 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 Albury 
 
 Albury 
 
 996 
 
 54 
 
 84 
 
 137 
 
 82 
 
 388 
 
 2,611 
 
 84 
 
 115 
 
 458 
 
 93 
 
 255 
 
 204 
 
 283 
 
 87 
 
 71 
 
 131 
 
 218 
 
 68 
 
 60 
 
 202 
 
 65 
 
 150 
 
 86 
 
 70 
 
 74 
 
 957 
 
 151 
 
 172 
 
 204 
 
 140 
 
 258 
 
 65 
 
 101 
 
 63 
 
 270 
 
 68 
 
 376 
 
 204 
 
 258 
 
 144 
 
 2,247 
 
 1,135 
 
 140 
 
 114 
 
 240 
 81 
 
 910 
 58 
 81 
 96 
 38 
 
 276 
 
 2,419 
 
 45 
 
 94 
 
 378 
 
 m 
 
 191 
 
 114 
 
 309 
 
 92 
 
 63 
 
 160 
 
 234 
 
 53 
 
 73 
 
 193 
 
 57 
 
 115 
 
 45 
 
 67 
 
 65 
 
 381 
 
 113 
 
 178 
 
 192 
 
 148 
 
 258 
 
 53 
 
 113 
 
 52 
 
 277 
 
 59 
 
 334 
 
 139 
 
 277 
 
 145 
 
 2,206 
 
 1,115 
 
 97 
 
 109 
 
 219 
 63 
 
 1,906 
 112 
 165 
 233 
 120 
 664 
 
 5,030 
 129 
 209 
 836 
 159 
 446 
 318 
 592 
 179 
 134 
 291 
 452 
 121 
 133 
 395 
 122 
 265 
 131 
 137 
 139 
 
 1,338 
 264 
 350 
 396 
 288 
 516 
 118 
 214 
 115 
 547 
 127 
 710 
 343 
 535 
 289 
 
 4,453 
 
 2,250 
 237 
 223 
 
 459 
 144 
 
 2,157 
 
 97 
 179 
 359 
 
 89 
 1,218 
 *3,657 
 344 
 461 
 1,817 
 227 
 346 
 718 
 356 
 130 
 318 
 252 
 335 
 147 
 161 
 251 
 381 
 312 
 123 
 128 
 266 
 tl,26o 
 158 
 184 
 225 
 141 
 867 
 
 79 
 110 
 
 72 
 
 408 
 
 239 
 
 1,168 
 
 761 
 
 344 
 
 176 
 
 ^3,071 
 
 1,985 
 
 511 
 
 111 
 
 705 
 80 
 
 1,883 
 
 75 
 
 147 
 
 287 
 
 56 
 
 855 
 
 3,564 
 128 
 339 
 
 1,382 
 202 
 307 
 420 
 332 
 125 
 252 
 247 
 332 
 128 
 202 
 289 
 339 
 316 
 90 
 104 
 232 
 501 
 130 
 186 
 211 
 152 
 767 
 67 
 121 
 53 
 421 
 174 
 
 1,023 
 566 
 350 
 168 
 
 2,810 
 
 1,906 
 427 
 122 
 
 626 
 92 
 
 4,040 
 172 
 326 
 646 
 145 
 
 2,073 
 
 7,221 
 472 
 800 
 
 3,199 
 429 
 653 
 
 1,138 
 688 
 255 
 570 
 499 
 667 
 275 
 363 
 540 
 720 
 628 
 213 
 232 
 498 
 
 1,766 
 288 
 370 
 436 
 293 
 
 1,634 
 116 
 231 
 125 
 829 
 413 
 
 2,191 
 
 1,327 
 691 
 344 
 
 5,881 
 
 3,891 
 938 
 233 
 
 1,331 
 172 
 
 1,161 
 
 43 
 
 95 
 
 222 
 
 7 
 
 830 
 
 1,C43 
 
 260 
 
 346 
 
 1,359 
 
 134 
 
 91 
 
 514 
 
 73 
 
 43 
 
 247 
 
 121 
 
 117 
 
 79 
 
 101 
 
 49 
 
 316 
 
 162 
 
 37 
 
 58 
 
 192 
 
 308 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 609 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 138 
 
 171 
 
 792 
 
 557 
 
 86 
 
 3V 
 
 824 
 
 850 
 
 371 
 
 3 
 
 decrease 
 
 465 
 1 
 
 decrease 
 
 973 
 
 17 
 
 66 
 
 191 
 
 18 
 
 579 
 
 1,145 
 
 83 
 
 245 
 
 1,004 
 
 136 
 
 116 
 
 306 
 
 23 
 
 33 
 
 189 
 
 87 
 
 98 
 
 75 
 
 129 
 
 96 
 
 282 
 
 201 
 
 45 
 
 37 
 
 167 
 
 120 
 
 17 
 
 8 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 509 
 
 14 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 144 
 
 115 
 
 689 
 
 427 
 
 73 
 
 23 
 
 604 
 
 791 
 
 3.30 
 
 13 
 
 407 
 29 
 
 2,134 
 
 Areyle 
 
 Marulan 
 
 60 
 
 
 Teralga 
 
 161 
 
 Balr^nald 
 
 Bah'auald 
 
 413 
 
 
 Booligal 
 
 25 
 
 
 ETav 
 
 1,409 
 2,191 
 
 Bathurst . 
 
 Bathurst 
 
 Bogan 
 
 Cannonbar 
 
 343 
 
 
 Coonamble 
 
 591 
 
 
 Dubbo 
 
 2,363 
 
 
 Warren 
 
 270 
 
 BuiTowa 
 
 Burrowa 
 
 207 
 
 Boiu'ke 
 
 Bourke 
 
 820 
 
 Camden 
 
 Campbelltown 
 
 A ijpin 
 
 96 
 
 
 76 
 
 
 Moss Vale 
 
 436 
 
 
 Mittagoiig: or Nattai . . 
 Picton 
 
 208 
 215 
 
 
 Wilton 
 
 154 
 
 
 Bowral 
 
 230 
 
 Carcoar 
 
 Carcoar 
 
 145 
 
 
 Blajney 
 
 598 
 
 
 Cowra 
 
 363 
 
 
 Tueua 
 
 82 
 
 The Clarence 
 
 Lawrence 
 
 95 
 
 Central Cuniberland . . 
 
 Maclean 
 
 Iiivcrpool 
 
 359 
 
 428 
 
 Smithficld 
 
 24 
 
 Durham 
 
 Clarence Town ... 
 Dunsfoof 
 
 20 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 Paterson 
 
 5 
 
 Eden 
 
 Bega 
 
 1,118 
 
 
 Candelo 
 
 28 
 
 
 Eden 
 
 17 
 
 
 Merimbu] a 
 
 10 
 
 
 Moniya 
 
 282 
 
 
 Nelligen 
 
 286 
 
 Forbes .... 
 
 Forbes 
 
 1,481 
 
 Grlen Innes 
 
 Glen Innes 
 
 984 
 
 Grioucester 
 
 Raymond Terrace.. 
 Stroud 
 
 159 
 
 
 55 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 1,428 
 
 Grafton 
 
 Grafton 
 
 1,641 
 
 Gundagai 
 
 Cootamundra 
 
 Gundagai South ... 
 
 Gunnedali 
 
 701 
 
 Gunnedali 
 
 10 
 
 872 
 
 
 Wallabadah 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 
 * Including 130 males, 23 females (total, 153) in the Gaol. t Including 724 males in the Asylum. 
 
 X Including 121 males, 12 females (total 133) in the Gaol. 
 
280 
 
 
 
 No 
 
 . 3 — continued. 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 Town or Village. 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Census of IS 
 
 71. 
 
 Census of 1881. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 Registry District. 
 
 1 
 
 OD 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 •3 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 The Gwydir 
 
 Warialda 
 
 74 
 
 63 
 
 379 
 
 164 
 
 82 
 
 54 
 
 121 
 
 508 
 
 837 
 
 108 
 
 56 
 
 71 
 
 62 
 
 120 
 
 150 
 
 168 
 
 300 
 641 
 269 
 384 
 61 
 104 
 297 
 122 
 
 275 
 
 65 
 
 856 
 
 2,417 
 
 185 
 
 301 
 
 287 
 
 69 
 
 179 
 
 591 
 
 930 
 
 448 
 
 124 
 
 665 
 
 105 
 
 130 
 
 82 
 
 69 
 
 1,026 
 
 94 
 
 178 
 
 59 
 
 415 
 
 225 
 
 3,715 
 
 174 
 
 57 
 
 58 
 
 312 
 
 175 
 
 66 
 
 48 
 
 120 
 
 557 
 
 895 
 
 81 
 
 51 
 
 67 
 
 54 
 
 137 
 
 137 
 
 143 
 
 274 
 656 
 210 
 399 
 73 
 84 
 328 
 118 
 
 "'210 
 
 70 
 819 
 2,662 
 175 
 264 
 205 
 
 33 
 170 
 645 
 806 
 268 
 115 
 453 
 
 65 
 151 
 
 60 
 
 44 
 832 
 
 69 
 135 
 
 77 
 
 421 
 
 197 
 
 3,866 
 
 167 
 
 131 
 121 
 691 
 339 
 
 148 
 102 
 211 
 1,065 
 1,732 
 189 
 107 
 138 
 116 
 257 
 287 
 311 
 
 574 
 1,297 
 509 
 783 
 134 
 188 
 625 
 240 
 
 "485 
 135 
 
 1,675 
 
 5,079 
 360 
 565 
 492 
 102 
 349 
 
 1,236 
 
 1,786 
 716 
 239 
 
 1,118 
 170 
 281 
 142 
 113 
 
 1,858 
 163 
 313 
 136 
 836 
 422 
 
 7,581 
 341 
 
 143 
 111 
 391 
 
 238 
 143 
 104 
 180 
 593 
 956 
 242 
 237 
 393 
 79 
 155 
 164 
 103 
 
 300 
 
 782 
 629 
 605 
 81 
 111 
 284 
 141 
 
 284 
 
 91 
 
 *1,008 
 
 2,609 
 405 
 510 
 571 
 195 
 241 
 676 
 
 1,222 
 '587 
 160 
 
 1,341 
 203 
 634 
 740 
 220 
 
 2,157 
 222 
 451 
 272 
 771 
 326 
 
 4,497 
 336 
 
 125 
 106 
 382 
 250 
 123 
 119 
 171 
 646 
 1,034 
 253 
 185 
 297 
 65 
 153 
 178 
 241 
 
 300 
 853 
 583 
 556 
 85 
 110 
 331 
 155 
 192 
 262 
 89 
 996 
 
 2,691 
 350 
 490 
 471 
 76 
 234 
 696 
 
 1,270 
 636 
 173 
 
 1,165 
 150 
 570 
 402 
 178 
 
 1,818 
 183 
 331 
 258 
 696 
 282 
 
 4,489 
 330 
 
 268 
 217 
 773 
 488 
 266 
 223 
 351 
 1,239 
 1,990 
 495 
 422 
 690 
 144 
 308 
 3<12 
 344 
 
 600 
 
 1,635 
 
 1,212 
 
 1,161 
 
 166 
 
 221 
 
 615 
 
 296 
 
 410 
 
 546 
 
 180 
 
 2,004 
 
 5,300 
 
 755 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,042 
 
 271 
 
 475 
 
 1,372 
 
 2,492 
 
 1,223 
 
 333 
 
 2,506 
 
 353 
 
 1,204 
 
 1,142 
 
 398 
 
 3,975 
 
 405 
 
 832 
 
 530 
 
 1,467 
 
 608 
 
 8,986 
 
 666 
 
 69 
 
 48 
 
 12 
 
 74 
 
 61 
 
 50 
 
 59 
 
 85 
 
 119 
 
 131 
 
 181 
 
 322 
 
 17 
 
 35 
 
 14 
 
 65 
 
 decrease 
 
 141 
 360 
 221 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 ( 224 
 
 9 
 
 26 
 
 152 
 
 192 
 
 220 
 
 209 
 
 281 
 
 126 
 
 62 
 
 85 
 
 292 
 
 139 
 
 36 
 
 676 
 
 98 
 
 504 
 
 658 
 
 151 
 
 1,131 
 
 128 
 
 273 
 
 213 
 
 356 
 
 101 
 
 782 
 
 162 
 
 68 
 
 48 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 57 
 
 71 
 
 51 
 
 89 
 
 139 
 
 172 
 
 134 
 
 230 
 
 11 
 
 16 
 
 41 
 
 98 
 
 26 
 
 197 
 
 343 
 
 157 
 
 12 
 
 26 
 
 232 
 
 52 
 
 19 
 
 177 
 
 29 
 
 175 
 
 226 
 
 266 
 
 43 
 
 64 
 
 51 
 
 414 
 
 368 
 
 58 
 
 712 
 
 85 
 
 419 
 
 342 
 
 134 
 
 986 
 
 114 
 
 246 
 
 181 
 
 275 
 
 85 
 
 623 
 
 163 
 
 137 
 
 The Hastings and 
 Manning. 
 
 Cundletown 
 
 96 
 
 Port Macquarie ... 
 Taree 
 
 82 
 149 
 
 
 Tinonce 
 
 118 
 
 
 Wingliam 
 
 121 
 
 The Hawkesburj.. 
 
 Pitt Town 
 
 110 
 
 Richmond 
 
 174 
 
 
 Windsor 
 
 258 
 
 The Hume 
 
 Corowa 
 
 306 
 
 
 Howlong 
 
 315 
 
 The Hunter 
 
 The Upper Hunter 
 
 Tumberumba 
 
 Bisliop's Bridge ... 
 Haydonton 
 
 552 
 28 
 51 
 
 Merriwa 
 
 55 
 
 
 Murrurundi 
 
 33 
 
 
 Scone 
 
 26 
 
 Illawar ra 
 
 WoUongong 
 
 Inverell 
 
 838 
 
 Inverell 
 
 703 
 
 Kiama 
 
 Kiama 
 
 378 
 
 The Macleay 
 
 •East Macquarie ... 
 West Macquaiie... 
 East Maitland ... 
 West Maitland ... 
 Molong 
 
 Shellharbour 
 
 Frederickton 
 
 Kempsej West ... 
 
 ,, East 
 
 Central... 
 Kelso 
 
 32 
 33 
 
 456 
 
 61 
 
 Rockley 
 
 East Maitland 
 
 West Maitland ... 
 Molong 
 
 45 
 329 
 221 
 395 
 
 Monaro 
 
 Bombala 
 
 435 
 
 
 Cooma 
 
 550 
 
 
 Kiandra 
 
 169 
 
 Morpeth 
 
 Hinton 
 
 126 
 
 
 Morpeth 
 
 136 
 
 Mudgce 
 
 Miidgee 
 
 706 
 
 
 Hill End 
 
 507 
 
 
 Ky Intone 
 
 94 
 
 The Murray 
 
 Deniliquin 
 
 1,388 
 
 Jerildcrie 
 
 183 
 
 TheMurrumbidgee 
 
 Moama & Suburb? 
 Narrandera 
 
 923 
 
 1,000 
 
 Urana 
 
 285 
 
 The Namoi 
 
 Wagga Wagea 
 
 Coonabarabran ... 
 Narrabri 
 
 2,117 
 242 
 
 
 519 
 
 The Nepean 
 
 Emu 
 
 394 
 
 Penrith 
 
 631 
 
 
 St. Mary's 
 
 186 
 
 Newcastle 
 
 Newcastle 
 
 1,405 
 
 
 Stockton 
 
 325 
 
 
 
 
 ^ Including? 147 males, 7 females (total 154), in the Gaol. 
 
281 
 
 No. 3 — continued. 
 
 Electorate or 
 Registry District. 
 
 Town or Village. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Census of 1871. 
 
 Census of 1881. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 ]SreAv England. 
 
 Orange 
 
 Parramatfca 
 
 Patrick's Plains 
 
 Queanbeyan .., 
 
 The Richmond 
 ShoalhaTen 
 
 Tarn worth 
 
 Tenterfield 
 
 Tumnt 
 
 Wellington , 
 
 TVcntwortli , 
 
 WoUombi 
 
 Yass Plains 
 
 Young 
 
 Armidale 
 
 Bendeniccr 
 
 Bundarra 
 
 Uralla 
 
 Walcha 
 
 Orange 
 
 Parraiuatta 
 
 Broke 
 
 Jerry's Plains 
 
 Singleton 
 
 Bungendore 
 
 Queanbeyan 
 
 Casino 
 
 I^owra 
 
 Shoalharen and") 
 
 Numba ) 
 
 Nundle 
 
 Tamworth 
 
 Tenterfield 
 
 Tumut 
 
 Wellington , 
 
 Elision 
 
 Went worth 
 
 Wilcannia 
 
 Gosford 
 
 Gunning 
 
 Yass , 
 
 Wombat 
 
 Young 
 
 720 
 
 58 
 
 96 
 
 128 
 
 125 
 
 755 
 
 3,i31 
 
 60 
 
 8i 
 
 567 
 
 109 
 
 344 
 
 145 
 
 123 
 
 332 
 
 71 
 806 
 476 
 300 
 292 
 
 56 
 231 
 176 
 
 96 
 135 
 581 
 129 
 468 
 
 649 
 52 
 
 88 
 
 126 
 
 121 
 
 701 
 
 2,669 
 
 57 
 
 75 
 620 
 
 88 
 338 
 139 
 120 
 
 314 
 
 61 
 
 705 
 
 435 
 
 255 
 
 257 
 
 44 
 
 214 
 
 88 
 
 72 
 
 137 
 
 586 
 
 106 
 
 324 
 
 1,369 
 110 
 184 
 254 
 246 
 
 1,456 
 
 6,103 
 117 
 159 
 
 1,187 
 197 
 682 
 284 
 243 
 
 616 
 
 132 
 
 1,511 
 
 911 
 
 555 
 
 549 
 100 
 415 
 264 
 168 
 272 
 1,167 
 235 
 792 
 
 1,190 
 
 997 
 
 128 
 
 98 
 
 166 
 
 135 
 
 209 
 
 171 
 
 152 
 
 157 
 
 1,369 
 
 1,332 
 
 4,856 
 
 3,576 
 
 77 
 
 90 
 
 150 
 
 145 
 
 956 
 
 995 
 
 148 
 
 122 
 
 475 
 
 464 
 
 313 
 
 277 
 
 468 
 
 418 
 
 ' 303 
 
 275 
 
 339 
 
 300 
 
 88 
 
 82 
 
 1,824 
 
 1,788 
 
 494 
 
 454 
 
 407 
 
 380 
 
 725 
 
 615 
 
 70 
 
 47 
 
 367 
 
 322 
 
 976 
 
 448 
 
 125 
 
 114 
 
 217 
 
 192 
 
 905 
 
 899 
 
 192 
 
 127 
 
 782 
 
 735 
 
 2,187 
 226 
 301 
 380 
 309 
 
 2,701 
 
 *8,432 
 
 167 
 
 295 
 
 1,951 
 270 
 939 
 590 
 886 
 578 
 639 
 170 
 
 3,612 
 948 
 787 
 
 1,340 
 117 
 689 
 
 1,424 
 239 
 409 
 
 1,804 
 319 
 
 1,517 
 
 470 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 81 
 
 27 
 
 614 
 
 1,422 
 
 17 
 
 66 
 
 389 
 
 39 
 
 131 
 
 168 
 
 345 
 
 i 310 
 
 17 
 1,018 
 
 18 
 107 
 433 
 
 14 
 136 
 800 
 
 29 
 
 82 
 324 
 
 63 
 314 
 
 348 
 
 46 
 
 47 
 
 45 
 
 36 
 
 631 
 
 907 
 
 33 
 
 70 
 
 37 
 
 34 
 
 126 
 
 138 
 
 298 
 
 261 
 
 21 
 1,083 
 
 19 
 125 
 358 
 3 
 108 
 360 
 
 42 
 
 55 
 313 
 
 21 
 411 
 
 818 
 116 
 117 
 126 
 
 63 
 1,245 
 2,329 
 
 50 
 136 
 764 
 
 73 
 257 
 30S 
 643 
 
 571 
 
 38 
 
 2,101 
 
 37 
 232 
 791 
 
 17 
 
 244 
 
 1,160 
 
 71 
 137 
 637 
 
 84 
 725 
 
 ■ Including 1,C64 males, 353 females (total, 2,017), in Gaols and Asylums. 
 
282 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 Return of ToAvns, Villages, &c., wliicli either did not exist when the Census 
 was taken in 1871, or whose populations did not number 100 persons. 
 
 Electorate or Registry 
 
 Town or Village. 
 
 Population. 
 
 District. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Argyle 
 
 Crookwell 
 
 127 
 
 113 
 
 240 
 
 Bogan 
 
 Bulgandramine . . . 
 
 336 
 
 106 
 
 442 
 
 
 Cobborah 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 
 113 
 
 
 Coolah ... 
 
 86 
 
 79 
 
 165 
 
 
 Marthaguy 
 
 275 
 
 185 
 
 460 
 
 
 Merri Merri 
 
 123 
 
 39 
 
 162 
 
 
 Talbragar 
 
 152 
 
 111 
 
 263 
 
 
 Willie Coper 
 
 268 
 
 125 
 
 393 
 
 Bourke 
 
 Barringun 
 
 78 
 
 35 
 
 113 
 
 
 Brewarrina 
 
 210 
 
 134 
 
 344 
 
 
 Cobar 
 
 1,301 
 
 558 
 
 1,859 
 
 
 Gongolgon 
 
 56 
 
 49 
 
 105 
 
 Braidwood ... 
 
 Araluen 
 
 323 
 
 286 
 
 609 
 
 
 „ West ... 
 
 U8 
 
 122 
 
 270 
 
 
 Elrington 
 
 89 
 
 86 
 
 175 
 
 Carcoar 
 
 Mandurama 
 
 69 
 
 54 
 
 123 
 
 
 Milburn Creek ... 
 
 226 
 
 76 
 
 502 
 
 The Clarence 
 
 Brushgrove 
 
 68 
 
 47 
 
 115 
 
 
 Iluka 
 
 115 
 
 75 
 
 190 
 
 Central Cumberland 
 
 Granville 
 
 176 
 
 196 
 
 372 
 
 
 Guildford 
 
 73 
 
 53 
 
 126 
 
 
 Bookwood 
 
 138 
 
 109 
 
 247 
 
 Durham 
 
 Gresf ord 
 
 178 
 
 168 
 
 346 
 
 
 Lostock ... 
 
 89 
 
 71 
 
 160 
 
 Eden 
 
 Bateman's Bay ... 
 
 147 
 
 119 
 
 266 
 
 
 Bodalla ... 
 
 229 
 
 146 
 
 375 
 
 
 Brogo 
 
 114 
 
 89 
 
 203 
 
 
 Eurobodalla 
 
 85 
 
 52 
 
 137 
 
 
 Mullenderee 
 
 95 
 
 72 
 
 167 
 
 
 Wolumla 
 
 185 
 
 167 
 
 352 
 
 Forbes 
 
 Wyndham 
 Condobolin 
 
 64 
 
 285 
 
 76 
 182 
 
 140 
 
 467 
 
 
 Parkes ... 
 
 1,098 
 
 863 
 
 1,961 
 
 Glen Innes ... 
 
 Dundee ... 
 
 275 
 
 99 
 
 374 
 
 
 Vegetable Creek 
 
 2,011 
 
 659 
 
 2,670 
 
 
 Wellingrove 
 
 317 
 
 230 
 
 547 
 
 Gloucester ... 
 
 A. A. Co.'s Estate 
 
 542 
 
 445 
 
 987 
 
 Grafton 
 
 Grenfell 
 
 Copeland 
 
 Copmanliurst 
 
 Goolagong 
 
 268 
 111 
 
 57 
 
 204 
 
 95 
 47 
 
 472 
 206 
 104 
 
 Gundagai ... 
 
 Bethungra 
 
 61 
 
 43 
 
 104 
 

 283 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 4 — continued. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Electorate or Registry 
 
 Town or Village. 
 
 
 
 
 District. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total, 
 
 Guniiedah ... 
 
 Boggabri 
 
 291 
 
 162 
 
 453 
 
 
 Breeza ... 
 
 73 
 
 57 
 
 130 
 
 
 Carroll 
 
 123 
 
 108 
 
 231 
 
 
 Doughboy Hollow 
 
 74 
 
 66 
 
 140 
 
 
 Quirindi 
 
 156 
 
 122 
 
 278 
 
 The Gwydir 
 
 Bingera ... 
 
 215 
 
 199 
 
 414 
 
 
 Moree 
 
 174 
 
 121 
 
 295 
 
 Hartley 
 
 Lithgow... 
 
 1,172 
 
 940 
 
 2,112 
 
 
 Wallerawang 
 
 1,490 
 
 817 
 
 2,307 
 
 The Hastings and Manning 
 
 Forster ... 
 
 105 
 
 78 
 
 183 
 
 The Hume 
 
 Germanton 
 
 282 
 
 180 
 
 462 
 
 
 Gerogery 
 
 135 
 
 92 
 
 227 
 
 The Himter 
 
 Cessnock 
 
 69 
 
 61 
 
 130 
 
 
 Gosforth 
 
 56 
 
 55 
 
 111 
 
 
 Greta 
 
 279 
 
 291 
 
 570 
 
 
 Rothbury 
 
 88 
 
 98 
 
 186 
 
 The Upper Hunter 
 
 Dennian Town . . . 
 
 284 
 
 273 
 
 557 
 
 
 Moonanbrook . . . 
 
 79 
 
 75 
 
 154 
 
 
 Murrulla 
 
 59 
 
 48 
 
 107 
 
 Illawarra ... 
 
 Bulli 
 
 645 
 
 542 
 
 1,187 
 
 
 Clifton 
 
 236 
 
 149 
 
 385 
 
 
 Woonoona 
 
 217 
 
 224 
 
 441 
 
 Inverell 
 
 Auburn Vale 
 
 567 
 
 430 
 
 997 
 
 
 Byron ... 
 
 393 
 
 276 
 
 669 
 
 
 Newstead 
 
 293 
 
 200 
 
 493 
 
 
 Tingha 
 
 1,757 
 
 667 
 
 2,424 
 
 
 WellangTa 
 
 206 
 
 131 
 
 337 
 
 Kiama 
 
 Gerringong 
 
 62 
 
 69 
 
 131 
 
 
 Jamberoo 
 
 72 
 
 59 
 
 131 
 
 The Macleay 
 
 Bellinger River... 
 
 325 
 
 258 
 
 583 
 
 
 Gladstone 
 
 64 
 
 57 
 
 121 
 
 
 Nambucca 
 
 379 
 
 283 
 
 662 
 
 East Macquarie 
 
 Oberon ... 
 
 59 
 
 43 
 
 102 
 
 
 O'Connell 
 
 60 
 
 40 
 
 100 
 
 
 White Rock 
 
 69 
 
 56 
 
 125 
 
 West Macquarie ... 
 
 Perth 
 
 113 
 
 118 
 
 231 
 
 East Maitland 
 
 *Minmi 
 
 418 
 
 358 
 
 776 
 
 Molong ... ... 
 
 Cargo 
 
 150 
 
 136 
 
 286 
 
 
 Cudal 
 
 132 
 
 103 
 
 235 
 
 Monaro 
 
 Delegate 
 
 81 
 
 63 
 
 144 
 
 
 Seymour 
 
 237 
 
 191 
 
 428 
 
 Morpeth 
 
 Butter wick 
 
 318 
 
 305 
 
 623 
 
 Mudgee 
 
 Gulgong... 
 
 624 
 
 588 
 
 1,212 
 
 
 Home Rule 
 
 201 
 
 207 
 
 408 
 
 
 Ilford 
 
 91 
 
 71 
 
 i 
 
 162 
 
 * See also " Minmi," Northumberland. 
 
28i 
 
 No. 4 — continued. 
 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Electorate or Registry 
 
 Town or Village. 
 
 
 
 
 District. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 The Murray 
 
 Mathoura 
 
 79 
 
 64 
 
 143 
 
 
 Moulamein 
 
 56 
 
 64 
 
 120 
 
 The Murrumbidgee 
 
 Cargelligo 
 
 110 
 
 56 
 
 166 
 
 
 Hiliston 
 
 206 
 
 131 
 
 337 
 
 
 Junee 
 
 323 
 
 215 
 
 538 
 
 
 Wallacetown 
 
 109 
 
 94 
 
 203 
 
 The Namoi... 
 
 Wallgett 
 
 226 
 
 149 
 
 375 
 
 The Ne];)eaii 
 
 Luddenham 
 
 83 
 
 76 
 
 159 
 
 Newcastle ... 
 
 Hamilton 
 
 1,013 
 
 898 
 
 1,911 
 
 
 Onebygamba 
 
 408 
 
 397 
 
 805 
 
 
 Wickham 
 
 853 
 
 782 
 
 1,635 
 
 Northumberland ... 
 
 Adamstown ' ... 
 
 290 
 
 271 
 
 561 
 
 
 Charleston 
 
 142 
 
 126 
 
 268 
 
 
 Lambton 
 
 1,289 
 
 1,223 
 
 2,512 
 
 
 *Minmi ... 
 
 631 
 
 529 
 
 1,160 
 
 
 Wallsend 
 
 513 
 
 546 
 
 1,059 
 
 Patrick's Pkiins 
 
 Belford 
 
 99 
 
 122 
 
 221 
 
 
 Goorangoola 
 
 60 
 
 47 
 
 107 
 
 The Piichmond 
 
 Ballina ... 
 
 197 
 
 162 
 
 359 
 
 
 Gundarumba 
 
 82 
 
 61 
 
 143 
 
 
 Lismore ... 
 
 249 
 
 224 
 
 473 
 
 
 Warden 
 
 101 
 
 72 
 
 173 
 
 
 Woodburn 
 
 73 
 
 36 
 
 109 
 
 Tamworth ... 
 
 Barraba ... 
 
 138 
 
 91 
 
 229 
 
 
 Bowling Alley Pt. 
 
 92 
 
 87 
 
 179 
 
 
 Goonoo Goonoo... 
 
 275 
 
 253 
 
 628 
 
 
 Swamp Oak Creek 
 
 151 
 
 95 
 
 246 
 
 Tumut 
 
 Wandalgo 
 
 Q>Q> 
 
 47 
 
 113 
 
 Wentworth 
 
 Menindie 
 
 156 
 
 105 
 
 261 
 
 Yass 
 
 Bowning 
 
 96 
 
 87 
 
 183 
 
 
 Dalton ... 
 
 61 
 
 51 
 
 112 
 
 
 Grabben Gullen. . . 
 
 100 
 
 76 
 
 176 
 
 
 Wheeo ... 
 
 103 
 
 85 
 
 188 
 
 Young 
 
 Burrangong 
 
 175 
 
 122 
 
 297 
 
 
 Marengo 
 
 557 
 
 446 
 
 1,003 
 
 
 Murrumburrah . . . 
 
 880 
 
 740 
 
 1,620 
 
 
 Temora ... 
 
 2,264 
 
 990 
 
 3,254 
 
 *s 
 
 se also " Minnii," East Mait 
 
 and. 
 
 
 
 Minini (East Maitlaiid) and Minml (Northumberland) are one township, although in two Electoral 
 Districts, the total poi)ulation being 1,049 males, 887 females, 1,930 persons. 
 
2S5 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 Eetuen o£ Muuicipalities, sliowiug the population of the incorporated 
 portions of the Colony, and the increase during the decennial period 
 1871-1881. 
 
 Municipality. 
 
 Total 
 
 Population 
 
 in 1871. 
 
 Total 
 
 Population 
 
 in 1881. 
 
 Total Increase. 
 
 Boroughs. 
 
 Sydney 
 
 Alburj 
 
 Alexandria ... 
 
 Armidale 
 
 Ashfield 
 
 Balmain 
 
 Bathurst 
 
 Burwood 
 
 Camperdown 
 
 Central Illawarra ... 
 
 Cudgegong 
 
 "Darlington ... 
 
 The Glebe 
 
 Goulburn 
 Grafton 
 
 Hill End 
 
 Hunter's Hill 
 Kiama 
 Marriclvville 
 EastMaitland 
 "West Maitland 
 
 Morpeth 
 
 Mudgee 
 
 Newcastle ... 
 
 Newtown 
 
 North AVilloughby ... 
 
 Orange 
 
 Paddington ... 
 
 Parramatta ... 
 
 Petersham ... 
 
 Plattsburg ... 
 
 Randwick 
 
 Eedferu 
 
 Richmond ... 
 
 Shellharbour 
 
 Singleton 
 
 East St. Leonards ... 
 
 St. Leonards 
 
 Tamworth ... 
 
 Victoria 
 
 74,423 
 2,592 
 2,123 
 1,369 
 
 6,272 
 5,030 
 
 i,950 
 2,392 
 2,342 
 1,398 
 5,721 
 4,453 
 2,250 
 
 i,425 
 4,253 
 1,464 
 
 2,282 
 5,383 
 1,236 
 1,786 
 7,581 
 4,328 
 553 
 1,456 
 4,250 
 6,103 
 
 1,789 
 6,616 
 
 1,732 
 
 1,187 
 
 941 
 
 997 
 
 1,128 
 
 100,152 
 5,715 
 3,449 
 2,187 
 4,087 
 
 15,063 
 7,221 
 2,472 
 3,522 
 2,550 
 2.533 
 2,026 
 
 10,500 
 0,839 
 3,891 
 1,223 
 2,282 
 2,700 
 3,501 
 2,302 
 5,703 
 1,372 
 2,492 
 8,986 
 8,327 
 1,411 
 2,701 
 9,608 
 8,432 
 3,413 
 1,898 
 2,079 
 
 10,868 
 1,239 
 1,400 
 1,951 
 2,320 
 2,647 
 4,096 
 2,182 
 
 25,729 
 
 3,123 
 
 1,326 
 
 818 
 
 4,087 
 
 8,791 
 
 2,191 
 
 2,472 
 
 1,572 
 
 158 
 
 191 
 
 628 
 
 4,779 
 
 2,386 
 
 1,641 
 
 1,223 
 
 857 
 
 decrease 1,553 
 
 2,037 
 
 20 
 
 820 
 
 136 
 
 706 
 
 1,405 
 
 3,999 
 
 858 
 
 1,245 
 
 5,358 
 
 2,329 
 
 3,413 
 
 1,898 
 
 290 
 
 4,252 
 
 1,239 
 
 332 
 
 764 
 
 1,379 
 
 1,650 
 
 4,096 
 
 1,054 
 
 decrease 
 
286 
 
 No. 5 — continued. 
 
 Municipality, 
 
 Total 
 
 Population 
 
 in 1871. 
 
 Total 
 
 Population 
 
 in 1881. 
 
 Total Increase. 
 
 "Wagga Wagga 
 
 "Wallsend 
 
 Waterloo 
 
 Waverley 
 
 Windsor 
 
 Wollongong 
 
 Woollahra . . . 
 
 Municipal Districts. 
 
 West Botany 
 
 Bourke 
 
 Broughton Creek and Bomaderry 
 
 Broughton Vale 
 
 Canterbury . 
 
 Carcoar 
 
 Casino 
 
 Cooma 
 
 Coonamble . 
 
 Deniliquin . 
 
 Central Shoalhaven 
 
 Dubbo 
 
 Five Dock 
 
 Porbes 
 
 Gerringong 
 
 Grleu Innes 
 
 Grulgong 
 
 Hamilton 
 
 Hay ... 
 
 luverell 
 
 Lambton 
 
 Leiclibardt 
 
 Lismore 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 Manly 
 
 Molong 
 
 Muswellbrook 
 
 Macdonaldtown 
 
 North Illawarra 
 
 Nowra 
 
 Numba 
 
 Penrith 
 
 Prospect and Sherwood 
 
 Eyde 
 
 1,858 
 
 2,988 
 1,377 
 
 1,297 
 4,061 
 
 764 
 1,154 
 
 1,118 
 
 1,276 
 
 1,445 
 '763 
 "646 
 
 1,461 
 
 3,975 
 2,156 
 5,762 
 2,365 
 1,990 
 1,635 
 6,168 
 
 1,959 
 
 1,378 
 
 1,288 
 
 457 
 
 590 
 
 540 
 
 718 
 
 1,042 
 
 1,226 
 
 2,455 
 
 578 
 
 3,334 
 
 888 
 
 2,191 
 
 1,047 
 
 1,327 
 
 1,642 
 
 2,215 
 
 2,073 
 
 1,965 
 
 2,903 
 
 1,866 
 
 992 
 
 1,768 
 
 1,327 
 
 874 
 
 1,074 
 
 1,870 
 
 1,011 
 
 886 
 
 639 
 
 2,310 
 
 672 
 
 1,673 
 
 2,117 
 2,156 
 2,774 
 
 988 
 1,990 
 
 338 
 2,107 
 
 1,195 
 
 1,378 
 
 134 
 
 457 
 
 590 
 
 540 
 
 718 
 
 1,042 
 
 1,226 
 
 1,337 
 
 578 
 
 3,334 
 
 888 
 
 915 
 
 1,047 
 
 1,327 
 
 1,642 
 
 2,215 
 
 2,073 
 
 1,965 
 
 2,903 
 
 1,866 
 
 992 
 
 1,768 
 
 1,327 
 
 874 
 
 decrease 371 
 
 1,870 
 
 248 
 
 886 
 
 decrease 7 
 
 2,310 
 
 672 
 
 212 
 
287 
 
 No. 5 — continued. 
 
 Municipality. 
 
 Total 
 
 Population 
 
 in 1871. 
 
 Total 
 
 Population 
 
 in 1881. 
 
 Total Increase. 
 
 St. Peters ... 
 
 Tenterfield .. 
 
 1,242 
 
 2,272 
 1,816 
 1,615 
 1,560 
 1,714 
 1,563 
 752 
 2,399 
 1,804 
 
 1,030 
 
 1,816 
 
 Ulladulla . 
 
 
 1,615 
 
 TJlmarra 
 
 
 1,560 
 
 Waratali 
 
 Wellington ... 
 
 Wentworth . . . 
 
 Wickhain 
 
 Yass ... ... ••• 
 
 1,530 
 
 184 
 1,563 
 
 ""' *398 
 
 752 
 2,001 
 1,804 
 
 
 
 
 
 192,183 
 
 355,664 
 
 165,744 
 
 Deduct decrease. 
 
 Municipality of Kiama 
 
 „ Shellharbour 
 „ Muswellbrook 
 „ Numba ... 
 
 1,553 
 332 
 
 371 
 
 7 
 
 
 2,263 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 163,481 
 
 Sydney : Thomas Richards, Government Printer, — 1882. 
 

 _^^^HL 
 
SyrliifTV. Thuniiis Kiuhan 
 
A 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 20Sep5\U- 
 
 LD 21-95m-ll,'50(2877sl6)476 
 
YD 21585 
 
 A 
 
 229495 
 
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