I Was Told At Sydney Not To Form Too Bad An
Opinion Of Australia By Judging Of The Country From The
Roadside, Nor Too Good A One From Bathurst; In This Latter
Respect, I Did Not Feel Myself In The Least Danger Of Being
Prejudiced.
The season, it must be owned, had been one of great
drought, and the country did not wear a favourable aspect;
although I understand it was incomparably worse two or
three months before.
The secret of the rapidly growing
prosperity of Bathurst is, that the brown pasture which
appears to the stranger's eye so wretched, is excellent for
sheep-grazing. The town stands, at the height of 2200 feet
above the sea, on the banks of the Macquarie. This is one of
the rivers flowing into the vast and scarcely known interior.
The line of water-shed, which divides the inland streams from
those on the coast, has a height of about 3000 feet, and runs
in a north and south direction at the distance of from eighty
to a hundred miles from the sea-side. The Macquarie figures
in the map as a respectable river, and it is the largest of
those draining this part of the water-shed; yet to my surprise
I found it a mere chain of ponds, separated from each other
by spaces almost dry. Generally a small stream is running;
and sometimes there are high and impetuous floods. Scanty
as the supply of the water is throughout this district, it
becomes still scantier further inland.
22nd. - I commenced my return, and followed a new road
called Lockyer's Line, along which the country is rather more
hilly and picturesque. This was a long day's ride; and the
house where I wished to sleep was some way off the road,
and not easily found. I met on this occasion, and indeed on
all others, a very general and ready civility among the lower
orders, which, when one considers what they are, and what
they have been, would scarcely have been expected. The
farm where I passed the night, was owned by two young
men who had only lately come out, and were beginning a
settler's life. The total want of almost every comfort was
not attractive; but future and certain prosperity was before
their eyes, and that not far distant.
The next day we passed through large tracts of country in
flames, volumes of smoke sweeping across the road. Before
noon we joined our former road, and ascended Mount Victoria.
I slept at the Weatherboard, and before dark took
another walk to the amphitheatre. On the road to Sydney
I spent a very pleasant evening with Captain King at Dunheved;
and thus ended my little excursion in the colony of
New South Wales.
Before arriving here the three things which interested me
most were - the state of society amongst the higher classes,
the condition of the convicts, and the degree of attraction
sufficient to induce persons to emigrate. Of course, after
so very short a visit, one's opinion is worth scarcely anything;
but it is as difficult not to form some opinion, as it is
to form a correct judgment. On the whole, from what I
heard, more than from what I saw, I was disappointed in the
state of society. The whole community is rancorously
divided into parties on almost every subject. Among those
who, from their station in life, ought to be the best, many
live in such open profligacy that respectable people cannot
associate with them. There is much jealousy between the
children of the rich emancipist and the free settlers, the
former being pleased to consider honest men as interlopers.
The whole population, poor and rich, are bent on acquiring
wealth: amongst the higher orders, wool and sheep-grazing
form the constant subject of conversation. There are many
serious drawbacks to the comforts of a family, the chief of
which, perhaps, is being surrounded by convict servants.
How thoroughly odious to every feeling, to be waited on by
a man who the day before, perhaps, was flogged, from your
representation, for some trifling misdemeanor. The female
servants are of course, much worse: hence children learn the
vilest expressions, and it is fortunate, if not equally vile
ideas.
On the other hand, the capital of a person, without any
trouble on his part, produces him treble interest to what it
will in England; and with care he is sure to grow rich. The
luxuries of life are in abundance, and very little dearer than
in England, and most articles of food are cheaper. The
climate is splendid, and perfectly healthy; but to my mind
its charms are lost by the uninviting aspect of the country.
Settlers possess a great advantage in finding their sons of
service when very young. At the age of from sixteen to
twenty, they frequently take charge of distant farming stations.
This, however, must happen at the expense of their
boys associating entirely with convict servants. I am not
aware that the tone of society has assumed any peculiar
character; but with such habits, and without intellectual
pursuits, it can hardly fail to deteriorate. My opinion is
such, that nothing but rather sharp necessity should compel
me to emigrate.
The rapid prosperity and future prospects of this colony
are to me, not understanding these subjects, very puzzling.
The two main exports are wool and whale-oil, and to both
of these productions there is a limit. The country is totally
unfit for canals, therefore there is a not very distant point,
beyond which the land-carriage of wool will not repay the
expense of shearing and tending sheep. Pasture everywhere
is so thin that settlers have already pushed far into the
interior: moreover, the country further inland becomes extremely
poor. Agriculture, on account of the droughts, can
never succeed on an extended scale: therefore, so far as I
can see, Australia must ultimately depend upon being the
centre of commerce for the southern hemisphere, and perhaps
on her future manufactories.
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