Sydney Morning Herald 2 July 1857

THE GOLD-FIELDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

MURRENDI TO BURRENDONG.

FROM OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER

No. 13.

LEAVING Murrendi rather later than usual, on a fine clear frosty morning, I started with the expectation of doing the eighteen miles that were said to separate the two places, by dinner time. But the old proverb of

L'homme propose, &c.,

was well verified in my case. I was told that there was a good road all the way, and , that all I had to do to reach Burrendong was to keep the right hand track in every instance. With this clear direction, I thought it impossible to go astray. The track took me first down the river to within a short distance of the junction of the Cudgegong and the Meroo, along rich alluvial flats similar to those now being worked at Murrendi, but the purchased property of Mr. Cox, and passed that gentleman's cattle station. I may mention here that there has been some little skirmishing between Mr. Cox and the diggers, though it has not been attended with any serious result. The ground now being worked is, as I have said, a portion of the land leased by that gentleman under the pre-emptive right, and at first, as I have been informed, the lessee made a claim on the diggers for a monthly payment, for liberty to work. This was refused on the one side, and insisted upon on the other, and was only given up on the interference of the Crown Lands Commissioner. Mr. Cox, however, was sufficiently remunerated by the monopoly of the supply of meat to these diggings. This monopoly led, in a short time, to neglect on the part of Mr. Cox's overseer, and the meat supplied was of very inferior quality. Upon this, a person brought a flock of sheep, for slaughter upon the diggings -- Mr. Cox's leased land -- and the consequence was that they were seized for the purpose of being impounded. This result was avoided by the owner of the sheep forcibly re-obtaining possession of them from the person making the seizure. There the matter ended, the finale of all this never having been made public. It is believed, however, that the affair was settled, and Mr. Cox retains the monopoly of the beef and mutton trade, reading his overseer a lecture, I presume, upon the necessity of furnishing good meat, as since that time there have been no grounds of complaint. This is an episode that I have considered worth mentioning, as shewing the variety of questions that are continually arising out of the occupation of Crown Lands as gold-fields. Now, to return to my road. Before reaching the junction, of the two rivers, the track bears away to the left, over some short stoney ranges, and then descends into the valley of the Cudgegong below its confluence with the Meroo. Here, on the borders of a deep creek, and near the point where it empties itself into the river, I carno across a sheep station, and, to make assurance doubly sure, I again inquired my route, as I had a very strong impression that a man with a tongue in his mouth ought never to be lost for want of asking his way. I received the same answer as before, to keep all the right hand tracks.

"But,"

said my informant,

"there is only the one road. There is a left hand track, but that will take you to the same place, only it goes round to avoid the hill."

Here, then, all was perfectly clear and straightforward -- only the one road, so I could not go wrong. I followed the track along the river, now over the flats on its margin, then, as the ranges came down too bluffly upon the course of the stream to allow a passage for a man or horse, crossing steep ranges, ascending on the one side merely to come down on the other. After about six miles of this kind of work, the road crossed the river and wound through some very broken stoney country, the mountains on the other side rearing themselves up to an enormous height perpendicularly from the bed of the stream, showing nothing but a sheer unbroken face of rock, upon which even a chamois would not have found a footing. Twice again the road crossed the river, as the country on either side became impassable to vehicles. After crossing the third time, I had travelled I should think about a mile along the road, when I observed the tracks diverge. I had my doubts about the right hand road, because it seemed to me to go too much up into the mountains; how- ever, as I recollected what the man had said about avoiding the hill, and as I saw just as many wheel tracks on the one as on the other, I took that to the right. Over mountains and rocks where the uninitiated traveller would never believe it possible that a dray could go, did I follow those wheel marks for some six or seven miles, until I began to look out for Burrendong, having then certainly travelled close upon the prescribed distance; but judge of my annoyance as I found the tracks leaving me one by one, until at last only one solitary wheel rut was left me, and that an old one that was all but obliterated, whilst the road, originally so broad and well defined, had dwindled down into a most unmistakable cattle track. Determined, however, to see the end of it, I pushed along, and in about half a mile further my road brought me into the midst of a very large cattle camp, and there left me and though I searched in every direction I was not able to pick up the wheel tracks on the other side of the camp. Here was a pretty pickle! In place of being at Burrendong, as I ought then to have been, I was lodged in a cattle camp, in the heart of the mountains; whilst as it was getting late in the day, it would leave me still a long distance to go, if I retraced my tracks over those terrible hills, the thought of which at once made me put my veto upon that course. However, I knew that by going down the hills I must come to the river; and that either on one side or the other the true road must run, for it could never traverse the gigantic mountains that bounded the valley of the stream on both sides. Being certain of this, I hung my horse's bridle on my arm, and descended the mountain to the river. I found a crossing place, after some trouble, and sure enough on the other side I came upon a road, but not the one I wanted, for, following it for a mile, it led me to a deserted sheep station and there ceased. This time I did not want to pause and consider. The road was to my left somewhere, and to the left I must go. There were some heavy ranges here coming close down into the river bed, and possibly the track might be on the other side of them, so leading my horse, I made for the gap in the hills that was nearest to me, and by some considerable agility on the part of myself and my equine companion, succeeded in crossing; when, what was my astonishment at again seeing the river running down at my feet, so that from where I stood, I could by putting out my strength a little have thrown a stone into it on either side. I was puzzled a little at this, but imagined directly that I had been unlucky enough to cross just at one of the deep tortuous bends that these rivers so often taken. I descended the hill with much more trouble than I had ascended it on the other side, as in some places my poor horse required considerable coaxing before he could be induced to slide down some of the rocks we had to pass. On reaching the stream, however, it appeared to me to be a much larger body of water, with a heavier current than the one I had just crossed. I discovered afterwards that it was a different river; that I had crossed the Cudgegong a little above its confluence with the Macquarie, which latter was the stream I had afterwards come upon. I had to descend the river a good mile before I could find a crossing place, but once over only a few minutes put me upon the road. Pursuing this for about two miles over a good level country, I reached a small station just at dusk, and discovered from the inhabitants that I was still five miles from Burrendong. Luckily for me, the road to this distance was a very good one, with no hills to surmount, or no gullies to cross; for, as it had to be got over in the dark, if it had been otherwise I should have been kept out in the frosty night much longer than would have been pleasant. To tell you the truth, the frosts in these high mountain regions are no joke, particularly to one who, like myself, has for the last few years led a town life. The barking of the dogs that guarded the diggers' tents first announced my approach to human habitations, and soon I could perceive the glimmer of the camp fires, dotted about here and there, burning out clearly in the frosty air. It was with flattering congratulations to myself that a few minutes afterwards I entered the only inn on the place, though its appearance did not give promise of the best accommodation. . The Burrendong diggings are situated amongst a series of low ranges that break off from the high, mountains bordering the Macquarie River on its western bank, and about six miles in a straight line, from its junction with the Cudgegong. There were barely 100 men at work here, though the number of diggers in the palmy days of these diggings reached as high as 600. A great deal of work has been done in some places, the earth being turned over and rooted up so as scarcely to leave a passage. This is particularly the case on a spot known as the Potato Ground, so called, I believe, from the large quantity of nuggets obtained there. The Potato Ground was worked over some twelve months back, but latterly there has been a rush to the spot again, owing to a lucky find of a nest of nuggets weighing together about 35 ounces; and here the principal part of the diggers are now at work. Others again are scattered amongst the ranges, some here, some there as fancy leads them. No great stroke is however doing, owing to the want of water, as, from the back creeks being all dry, the stuff has to be carted down to the river to wash and this is attended with an expence that few of the men are prepared to bear. The digging here is very shallow; the sinkings, ranging from two feet to six feet, are made on the face of the ranges and even on their very summits, through a debris of broken schist and slate mixed with reddish earth. Through this the larger nuggets are found distributed, whilst the washing stuff consists sometimes of a stiff red clay, and some-times of a clear white pipeclay. In the former the gold is found much coarser and more nuggetty than in the latter, though all the gold procured here is large and principally water-worn on one face only. On removing the washing-stuff, the sharp edges of the different layers of slate are broken off, as in the intervals between them the richest finds have been made. Three puddling machines have been, erected here, but the want of water has as yet kept them from working. With the first rain it is intended to pass through them all the stuff left upon the old workings, in which since their desertion several large nuggets have at times been found. One great find that was recorded in the newspapers at the time, consisted of a 26½ oz. nugget, two of 7 ozs., two of 5 ozs., and several smaller nuggets; altogether between 60 ozs. and 70 ozs , all found in the one hole and close together. There are some fine alluvial flats extending for some distance along the river; from its banks to the base of the ranges and at an average width of about half a mile. These have been prospected, but never regularly worked. I was astonished at finding this, as they looked exceedingly promising; and with gold in the ranges above them, it would seem almost certain that it should be found also in the flats below. The sinking, however, is thought to be very deep, as these flats stand at least seventy or eighty feet above the river level, and this has deterred many; whilst in one or two holes dug the water came in so fast that they had to be deserted. Mr. Lake, the innkeeper here, informed me that if the weather continued dry, he should put down a hole on the flat near his house, if only to decide the question. What with the drought, and what with the want of energy or capital on the part of the diggers to open new ground, the yield has fallen off very considerably. There are no regular gold buyers, so that I could get no very correct return; persons in business, however, take gold from their customers, and the innkeeper thought that more came into his hands than into those of any other party. For the previous week, he said he had not received more than about 12 ozs, and during the two weeks preceding that he had purchased 40 ozs. One the whole, it was considered that not more than 10 ozs. per week were produced just then. Dams have been made on some of the back creeks to retain the water, should wet weather set in; and, with a heavy fall of rain, the diggers hoped to be able to pay themselves for their past ill success. As it is, however, very many cannot afford to wait for the change of weather, and the number of working hands was, consequently, lessening daily, one or another dropping away as he could hold out no longer. Burrendong, however, has in its time turned out a very large quantity of gold, and there is no doubt that there are many places in the vicinity of the old workings equally as rich as the spots already sunk upon. About fifty diggers had gone over to a mountain, called Hill Jingerrie, which overhangs the Cudgegong a little above its junction with the Macquarie. The surfacing on this mountain was expected to turn out very good, though from the ground being at a considerable distance from the river, it can only be worked in wet weather. The men alluded to had gone to make preparations, by the construction of dams for sluicing, for the rain that, it was hoped, would shortly spread from the coast in this direction; and they all had high expectations of a very large yield from this locality, as first-rate prospects had been obtained in almost every spot tried.