A VISIT TO THE NORTHERN GOLD FIELDS.
FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.
No. 12.
THE fountains of the M'Leod, whose beetling crags, impervious scrubs, and treacherous swamps,
were insufficient to protect its golden treasures from the hands of the spoiler, are behind us
as we direct our course towards the setting sun. The track leading us along the crest of the
range that connects the bleak and desolate region in our rear with the great plateau. On our
left are the descents to Demon Creek, and on our right is a broad valley, beyond which the main
range rises; its heights crowned with masses of nude rock in many a fantastic form. Amongst these,
one stupendous block of granite, balanced upon a sharp pinnacle, stands pre-eminent, and is known
far and near as Wellington's Lookout. Below this airy pinnacle, numerous streams, shaded by dense
forests, rush down the rugged mountain slopes to the cataract river. All these watercourses are
supposed to be auriferous; a few have been examined, and in every instance were found to be
gold-bearing. At the present moment they are attracting some attention. As we journeyed onwards
an occasional wreath of smoke, curling upwards from the dark glens that furrow the sides of the
mountain, marks the whereabouts of a party of prospectors. Nothing human but a gold-digger would
ever find his way into those dreary solitudes.
Passing the Gold Commissioner's camp, in a lovely situation, about a mile further you reach a wide
undulating plain, lightly sprinkled with a growth of worthless timber. Rocks disappear, and the
surface is covered with a light sandy soil, on which the close short grasses of New England make
their appearance. From this spot you see no more of the coarse, rank vegetation which prevails in
the Clarence district. Twelve miles further and you reach Barney Downs, where boulders of pegmatite,
and occasional masses of granite, are again exhibited, crossing through the green sward on the crests
and slopes of the low bald ridges. Here you are fairly out of tho auriferous formations; and here
you cross the last stream that flows to the eastward. The road now intersects a fine open country,
on which timber becomes more scarce as you advance, when a ride of six miles brings you to the margin
of Tenterfield Downs; an open rolling plain declining to the westward, now lays spread out before you,
and the low knolls, which swell like the heavings of the Pacific, are crested with long lines of
boulders, resting upon the short velvet grass, and denoting the gradual degradation of the district.
As you advance the monotohy of the road is relieved by enclosures of from five to ten acres in extent
which have been recently brought under cultivation. A sluggish stream emerging from amongst the ridges
wanders across the flats, and on its shrubless banks are a cluster of houses surrounded by a few
detached cottages which rise amidst a labyrinth of fences, diversified by gardens -- some of which
are miniature famms, and others combine the ornamental with the useful; beyond these are little
homesteads, scattered over the plain which stretches to the base of the distant ranges.
The village of Tenterfield has advanced with rapid strides since eopening of the Clarence gold-fields,
upon which the inhabitants chiefly rely for a market, the production hitherto has been limited to a
little wheat, maize, potatoes, and vegetables, for all of which they found a ready sale -- particularly
the latter. A branch of the Joint Stock Bank has been established here within the last few months.
There is also a good flour mill within a distance of two miles of the town, and there are about
forty-five farms, varying in extent from thirty to eighty acres each, which are close to the
township, have recently passed the hammer, and are now open for selection and immediate occupation
at the price of £1 per acre. Many of them are treeless, and simply require to be fenced, ploughed,
and sown. The land is fertile, and suitable for the growth of wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize,
and potatoes, with, all the fruits and vegetable productions of England or the South of Europe.
Like all mountain regions, Tenterfield is sometimes visited by destructive hailstorms, but with a
moderate heat in summer, and a sharp bracing atmosphere, with occasional frost and snow in winter;
its salubrity is such as has starved one medical man after another out of the district, and if it
were not for ladies, children, and accidents, his services would not be required once in a decade.
The roads are naturally good in every direction, except in the descents towards the coast, which
the broken character of a portion of the intervening country will always render difficult of access.
The fertility of this portion of New England, and its adaptation for the cereal and vegetable
productions of a more southern latitude, is due to its elevation; as the country declines to the
westward it grows gradually less suitable for the culture of breadstuffs, until at last it becomes,
as far as they are concerned, utterly sterile. The day is therefore not far distant when a large
pastoral population on the banks of the Maranoa, the Culgoa, the Barwin, and the hundred tributaries
of the Upper Darling will be dependent upon the heights of New England for their supplies of flour.
Although the township of Tenterfield lays on both sides of an unsightly creek (for here it can be
hardly called a river); there is no bridge, and the communication with the western bank is often
interrupted for days together. A causeway has been built by the adjacent proprietors, but it was
originally ill-contrived, and has been recently so much damaged by floods as to be now worse than
useless.
There is no place of worship at present, but the foundation of a church has been laid, which
progresses slowly. Badly as the people are off for churches, they are still worse off for schools;
and the future of the large number of children in the district can be contemplated with no feelings
of satisfaction. What shame and grief, what punishment and pain, Sport of fierce passions,
must each child sustain.
There is no lack, however, of public-houses, as there are four in the town and a fifth is about to
be built -- two of these were erected at a cost of several thousand pounds each. There is also a
bowling-alley, where the balls may be heard rolling at all hours of the day or night. The population
of the town, including a circuit of three miles, does not exceed 400, so that the duty of propelling
these balls both night and day must press heavily upon the inhabitants, and leave but little time
for such humdrum occupations as building, fencing, ploughing, and sowing.
The average annual contribution to the revenue of each male adult in New South Wales, on account of
his consumption of spirituous and fermented liquors and tobacco, is about £3 1s, consequently his
expenditure for these unnecessary articles cannot be less than £12 per annum, forming an aggregate
of £1,800,000 over one million and three-quarters sterling; a sum m excess of the value of our
export of wool and hides, or 80 per cent, more than the worth of all the gold obtained by our 15,000
miners within the same period. There is about one public-house for every eighty-six men; and 5
per cent, of the population are engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the sale of liquors.
However this wasteful liquifaction of the wealth of the population may he deplored or condemned,
it can hardly be a subject of surprise that we can neither afford to build churches, support
ministers of religion, as educate our children, and that the unceasing outcry is for more policemen,
more gaols, and more judges. The country surrounding Tenterfield is open, well grassed, and presents
many instances of beauty, reminding the beholder of some of the finest park scenery in Devonshire.
Water is abundant, as there are numerous swamps and springs at the base of the naked masses of
granite which, mantled round with shrubs and verdure, form the neighbouring ranges; these are the
source of the many everflowing streams that flow into the Mole and the Dumaresq, important
watercourses which convey the drainage of this portion of the plateau to the main tributaries of
the Darling.
The southern road from Tenterfield stretches-along a broad undulating plain, flanked by steep
granite ranges, whose rugged cuffs appear to be the wreck of still greater elevations. These
increase in wild grandeur as you proceed, until at a distance of eight miles from the settlement
you find yourself under the Bluff, a stupendous pile ot nude rock, whose toppling crest, at an
elevation of about 1000 feet, over-hangs the road. The valley here contracts, and there is some
evidence that one of those ranges which stretch across the plateau from east to west has been broken
through at this spot by aqueous action. Huge fragments of rock piled at the base of the precipice
denote the rapid degradation of the heights, and the locality abounds with springs which collect
into a large stream in the vicinity.
The granitic upheavals, which form the ranges referred to, spring it right angles from the chain of
mountains which here forms the eastern rim oí the plateau, expending for many miles they decline in
altitude as they advance westward, until they either terminate in bluffs or subside in the great
plains. Ihe distance between these ranges is from ten to fifteen miles; they vary in elevation,
and the granites of which they are formed appeal to be metaliferous, but not gold-bearing. Two
miles further you cross one of the heads of the Mole Brier, deep in the granites. The granitic drift
is here very deep, and it is said that gold has been obtained in this port of the stream, which I
do not credit, as there is no appearauce of any work having been performed. Two or three holes have
been sunk near the bluffs without success -- in fact, I do not believe that gold will be found on
the New England granites, except in the neighbourhood of places where traces of the sedimentary
rocks are still evident.
Passing over an uninteresting country for ten miles further without seeing hoof or hut, you arrive
at Bolivia station, situated in an extensive marshy plain stretching far to the westward. The main
range here to the eastward rises to a great elevation, and has been seldom traversed, it is said
that tin, lead, and graphite abound on the slopes and in the vallies, and it is probable that gold
will be discovered on the eastern descents. A shepherd's hut has been here converted into an
accommodation house, which was much required on this dreary road, the nearest inn being forty two
miles distant from Tenterfield. Cold and bleak as it must be during the winter months, Bolivia
boasts of a fine orchard, where fruits indigenous to Europe, particularly apples, arrive at great
perfecion. The plains and ridges are fertile, being covered to some depth with a black trappean soil
containing some traces of lime, which has been carried to the flats by the floods from the mountains
to the eastward. Ihe district, too cold and marshy for sheep (which usually deteriorate the second
or third jyear), is suitable for cattle although in very cold seasons they also become little better
than so many bags of bones.
I here found a party of prospectors, who had been several weeks rambling amongst the watercourses to
the westward, and had not found gold any where in payable quantities although they frequently
discovered small patches in the neighbourhood of conglomerates, where the colour could be obtained,
as a whole they were much dissatisfied with the lesult of their explorations, and believed that the
auriferous character of New England had been exaggerated. Had they directed their researches about
thirty miles more to the eastward it is probable that they would have found reason to alter their
opinion.
Crossing Bolivia gap about a mile distant from the station, and passing between piles und masses of
metaliferous granite, and over two miles of broken country, you descend again upon beautiful open
plains, and about eight miles further arrive at Deepwater station, situated upon the margin of a
vast treeless plain which appears in ancient times to have formed the bed of a shallow lake. This
vast marsh is intersected by the main branch of the Mole, flowing from the mountains to the
south-east. On the south side the country becomes undulating, the land is of great fertility, and
the long reaches of the river present some fine English aspects. As usual, there is but little
timber, and what there is is scattered in clumps over the wide expanse of green sward. A finer site
for a village could not be selected than at the crossing place, but at present there is no market,
as about five acres of cultivation would supply the necessities of all the inhabitants from
Tenterfield to Dundee. A wreck of altered slates and sandstones may be observed, invested by granite
and forming bars across the channel of the sluggish stream, fragments of quartz may also be noticed
on the surface. I may add, that I was informed by a shepherd that gold had been frequently procured
nearer to the mountains, and from the general formation I would not be surprised to learn at some
future day that a payable gold-field had been discovered about the head waters of this branch of the
river.
Twelve miles further of open country across rolling plains, black soil flats, over ridges; and
another westerly range without a single hut to relieve the monotony of the road, and you find
yourself on the banks of the Severn at Dundee, which consists of an inn, a store, a mill, and an
unlimited number of town allotments to be sold this month.