THE GOLD-FIELDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
BATHURST.
FROM OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER
No. 22.
A VERY fair amount of the business of the Western district is transacted in this town,
though it must be owned that as far as the Western Gold-fields are concerned the greatest
part of the supplies are drawn from Sydney direct, from Maitland, or from Mudgee. This
may perhaps be accounted for by the very heavy nature of the roads between Bathurst
and the Western Gold-fields, as compared with that between Mudgee and the same places.
Nearly the whole trade with the Meroo and the Macquarie is monopolised by the latter
places; whilst that with the Turon and the Upper Macquarie more particularly belongs to
Bathurst. There is, in the whole aspect of the town, an air of business that cannot but
strike the visitor, whilst its massive buildings, its extensive stores, and handsome well
stocked shops give an appearance of solidity such as but few country towns present. In
fact, none could fail of at once recognising the chief town of the district, the great artery
through which so extensive a tract of country is fed.
I have before said that the population of Bathurst has not been increased to any great
extent by new arrivals settling there, since the last census was taken. At that time the
number of inhabitants was 3249; whilst in the Police District of Bathurst the number was
12,005.
A very large portion of the population of the district is engaged in agricultural pursuits,
there being no less than 10,724 acres of land in cultivation at the close of 1856. The fine
undulating plains of Bathurst itself, as well as the rich alluvial lands lying between the
long sweeping ranges, that are the peculiar features of this port of the country, present
such great advantages to the agriculturist, when coupled with the proximity to so near and
ready a market as Bathurst, that they have been eagerly seized upon. It may be some
guide to the products of this district to state, that of the total number of acres under
cultivation 6725, or very nearly two-thirds were under wheat crop, whilst the greater part
of the remainder was sown with barley or oats for hay, a small quantity being planted
with potatoes. Looking at the population of the district, and the great distance at which
Bathurst is placed from Sydney-made still greater by the heavy road that traffic must
traverse, it struck me at the time very forcibly that certainly the people of the Bathurst
district had done their quota towards feeding the people of New South Wales, and
improving the country, as nearly an acre per head of the population had been put under
crop, and as much produced as would in all conscience feed the mouths that were there to
consume it. Further than this, unless in cases of extreme high prices, they cannot be
expected to go, as the high rates of carriage, when joined to the great cost of production,
shut the agriculturists of the interior out of the Sydney market, unless, as I before
observed, in extreme cases. It is gratifying, also, to be able to say that the number of acres
cultivated last year in this district was fully 15 per cent, more than those returned for the
preceding year.
In the rapid strides this district has latterly made, it is encouraging to see that something
more than mere present profit has been looked to by the tillers of the soil, and that whilst
the production of wheat and hay-the most readily convertible crops has been increased,
the cultivation of the vine -- destined hereafter, in my humble judgment, to be one of the
main sources of Australian wealth -- has not been neglected. Last year there were 38
acres of vineyard in the Bathurst district, of which 33 acres were in the county of
Roxburgh, and 5 only in Bathurst; the latter consisting mainly of the vineyards of Messrs.
Rankin, Suttor, and Richards. These last produced no wine last year, at least no quantity
worth speaking of, owing to the fruit having been destroyed by the heavy storms of rain
and hail that prevailed during the close of the season. From the 33 acres in the county of
Roxburgh, 3950 gallons of wine were made, a fair earnest, when the unfavourale nature
of the past season be remembered, of what this branch of cultivation may do for Australia.
The average of 120 gallons per acre would give, at 7s. per gallon, about the price, I
believe, at which colonial wine is sold on the vineyards of the Hunter, a gross return of
£42 per acre, the cost of tilling and tending being comparatively small when once the
vineyard is established.
Bathurst itself has many and great advantages. First, from the length of time it has been
established having given it the commercial standing that the metropolis of a large district
ought to occupy, by enabling it to concentrate towards itself the traffic of the extensive
country that lies beyond it. Next, from its local position, as being the centre of a large and
productive agricultural district, as being the nearest point when on an emergency supplies
for the numerous squatting stations of the West may be drawn, as being a good central
starting place for the cattle traffic between Victoria and the West, as being in immediate
proximity to steady paying gold-fields, and as being surrounded by a boundless tract of
auriferous country, at any point of which a new dig- gings may any day be opened by
some lucky chance. Lastly, it has the advantage of a local Press, now firmly established
and worthily conducted, complete in every branch, and second only to the daily Press of
Sydney, through which to make known to the world its resources, its wishes, and its
wants. Bathurst then is destined to take no mean place in the rank of Australian towns, if
the energy and enterprise of its people do but keep up the impetus that its position and
natural advantages will always give it.
BATHURST TO TUENA.
Leaving Bathurst in a direction almost due south, the road passes along the Plain for
some four or five miles, then skirts the lightly timbered ranges that border it, and passing
up the Kaloolah Creek for some three or four miles further, on the regular Fish River
track. At the end of that distance it turns off up a wide valley that debouches into the
plain and is known by the name of the Spring Creek. After travelling up this for some
three miles the track takes across some stony ranges to avoid a deep bend in the creek,
again coming down close upon it at intervals as the windings bend in towards its course.
About 16 miles from Bathurst, there in an inn built on the crest of a fine hill that sweeps
up gracefully from the creek. On coming up to this place I found my road barred by three
little children, of perhaps about four, six, and eight years of age. The eldest and youngest
were girls, the other a boy. They had drawn themselves up across the track as they saw
me approach, the boy putting himself manfully forward as the spokesman. "Have
you seen my mammy?"
was the eager enquiry of the little fellow. "Who is your
mammy, my man?"
said I "Mrs, --"
he answered -- "I forget the
name, and Joe is with her,"
From this I was just as much enlightened as ever and though desirous of pouring a drop
of comfort into their little hearts, I couldn't, like a celebrated politician "see my way
clear"
towards doing it. I remembered however passing a bullock dray, on which
two women were seated, driven by a man who perhaps might have been the celebrated
"Joe." "Was she with a bullock dray, my boy?"
I asked. "No,"
he replied,
"she was on horseback." "Well, my little fellow,"
I said, for I hadn't the heart
to say I had not met his mother, so eager was the poor child's manner, "I have come along
very quick."
I had not, for I had been nearly five hours doing 16 miles, "and so
perhaps your mother is just close behind me."
I could see the faces of the
children fall as I spoke, and the eldest girl almost sobbed at my answer. They then,
stood on one side, and as I was passing them I looked up to the house, all the doors
and windows of which were shut up close. The boy saw the direction of my glance.
"There ain't no grog at home,"
he said. I cared not a pin about that,
for though the sun had gone down and it was already getting dark, I would not have
stopped in that house to have witnessed the misery of those poor little children thus left
alone, and untended, even though there had not been another house within fifty miles. So
I wished the little hero goodnight, and pushed on for the friendly shelter of Coolooloo,
that had been very kindly offered me by Mi. Jones, of Bathurst.
On this creek, and within half a mile of Mr. Jones's station, there have been some rather
extensive diggings, as many as 500 men having been at one time at work at them. They
were then deserted, and I was told that not a dozen men were left upon it. The gold was
very irregularly distributed, and was obtained with very little work from the bed and
banks of the creek, very little sinking having been carried on. I learnt that some very good
hauls had been made here. Within a mile or two of this place a deep shaft had been sunk
by a Mr. Clarke, with the hope, as I was informed, of discovering a silver mine. After
going to a depth of about 120 feet the thing was abandoned. What grounds this person
had for his hope I could not learn, further than that some quartz had been procured, with
some whitish, glittering substance attached that was supposed to be, or to contain, silver
and it was in the expectation of striking a vein of this that a shaft was sunk, haphazard, as
it appeared front the information given me, in some adjoining land.
From Coolooloo the track takes across some broken iron and stringy bark ranges,
occasionally coming upon fine, rich, alluvial flats, all under cultivation. In fact, all the
way from the plains to Moolgonia, a fine station of Mr. Smith's, the rich lands on the
banks of the Spring Creek and the Coolooloo Creek are under cultivation, principally by
small settlers who rent the land. At one spot in particular, about midway between the inn
I have mentioned and Moolgonia, these settlers are congregated so thickly as almost to
form a village. Here a National School, well attended by scholars, has been for sometime
established. Relative to a former teacher at this institution, a rather amusing anecdote was
told me. It appears that the dominie's heart not being entirely fixed upon Mavor and
Lindley Murray, had been encroached upon by the tender passion. A young native girl --
I don't mean a black -- wild as the kangaroo on her country's hills, graceful as the emu of
the plain, and untutored usher coloured countrymen, had, stolen away the affections of
the poor pedagogue. The course of true love, however, ran smooth enough for him. He
told his love, told it not in vain, and at last the happy day was fixed that was to give a
mistress to the bark-roofed school, and a companion to the hitherto lonely dominie. The
poor fellow, however, seemed to be overcome by his success. Prior to his falling into
Cupid's snare he had been remarkably prim and neat, whereas now he gradually sank into
the sloven -- his hair unkempt, ungartered hose, and slippered shoes taking the place of
his former neatness. The bridal day came round, "the guests were bid, and the feast
was spread;"
but the pedagogue, like another Petruchio, seemed inclined for a
"mad wedding."
His chin instead of being newly reaped, was blackened by a thick
stubbly beard, his hair hung down in elfin locks, a dirty shirt and greasy trousers made
him in no fit trim to meet the bride, blooming out as she was, through the spotless white
of her attire. There was, however, something in the eye of the teacher that the bride did
not like, and when summoned to the altar by the priest, on the very first question put by
the rev. gentleman, if they wished to be married? she answered, " He may, but I don't
-- for I'm blowed if I ain't jeerin of him!"
This reply came like a thunder-clap upon
all assembled. The style of rejection was so original also, that it was some time before the
minister of religion could be made to understand that the fair damsel wished to convey an
impression that she was frightened at the manner of her would-be spouse. However, there
was no marriage, and in a few weeks after the dominie resigned the ferrule, to take up the
sheep-crook and the pipe, having engaged in the Arcadian employment of shepherding in
some very out-of-the-way part of the bush.
I am spinning you a very long yarn about nothing, and you have no doubt the impression
that I was very jolly all along this road. Let me then undeceive you by saying at once that
I heard this lute, whilst riding through a heavy snow-storm, the snow beginning to fall
about half-an-hour after I quitted Mr. Jones', and continuing in showers all day long, until
towards evening, when it changed to a regular and continuous heavy rain. After passing
Moolgonia, the track Jokes up the side of a range, and traverses its summit for some five
or six miles, until it falls into a deep stony creek, on the borders of which I was well
enough pleased to find a sheep station; as even the poor accommodation I should find
there was sure to prove more acceptable than a night in the bush in such weather as I had
that day travelled in.