A VISIT TO THE SOUTHERN GOLD FIELDS.
FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER>
No. 7.
My last was with reference to the lesser reefs of the Adelong. Since writing, I have met with a person on the
banks of the Murrumbidgee, who has been connected with the quartz reefs in that locality since their first
discovery, and has still an interest in several of the most valuable claims. In the course of conversation he
stated that no claim on the Victoria Reef has ever repaid the expenses of working, and gave as an instance
the claim of Jones and Co., of which he is one of the proprietors. He added that three tons of quartz
carefully selected, did produce at the rate, of seventeen ounces per ton, or fifty-one ounces of
gold in all; but that the raising of this quartz had cost £670. He had contributed £300 as his share of the
expense, and had only received £50 in return. This will convey some idea of the cost at which gold is
obtained from quartz reefs, and of the worth of statements with reference to their produce, which can he
only intended to give them a fictitious value; the gold procured from the quartz in question cost £13 6s. 3d.
per ounce.
The last reef remaining to be noticed is the Gibraltar, situated on the steep descents overhanging
the creek, about two and-a-half miles distant from the great reef. Here the superstrata of sandstone
has been less altered than on the hills further to the southward, but, from the lateral pressure of
the posphyries and granites, it has been irregularly fissured, and the dislocations and faults in the
surface formations are so numerous that no regular reef can be traced for any distance. These
fissures, although wide on the surface, contract when they enter the granites, and seldom exceed a few
inches in width; in some few of the claims a little auriferous quartz was found alternating with barren
quartz until the granites were reached at a depth of from forty to fifty feet, when the reduced width rendered
sinking unprofitable; in others the pursuit of leaders has only led to loss and disappointment, and from none
has sufficient gold been produced to repay the diggers for their labour and expenditure of capital. Beyond
this point the miners have not extended their researches. The range here at its highest elevation gradually
subsides to the northward, when the beautiful strath of the Adelong sweeps away between its mountain
ramparts to the banks of the Murrumbidgee, about twenty-five miles distant.
The inhabitants of Adelong complain that they have not sufficient pasturage for the stock necessary for
the cartage of the quartz from the reefs to the mills, and for other purposes; and that carriers, after perform-
ing a journey of 300 miles, cannot turn their teams out within a mile of the township without having them
impounded as trespassers by the neighbouring lessees. I have heard men state that an attempt has been
made to drive their horses to pound from within sight of the reef. A public meeting has been held on the
subject, and a committee appointed to draw up a memorial to the Government. Subsequently,
the commissioner, who is himself a lesee in the vicinity, informed one of the committee that 6500 acres
had been set apart as pasturage for the township; but where, they had not been yet informed. If it is
on the west side of the creek, which is a hilly, broken country, it is valueless, and this is most
probable, from the usual way of arranging these little matters with an eye to local interests. If it is
measured along the summits and precipitous sides of the range, on the eastern bank, it is equally
worthless: but if, looking a little further to the eastward, it extends from the eastern slopes across the rich
valley of Cidera to the Mingery mountains, about five miles distant from the township, it would answer all
the purposes required, and would include no more than is absolutely necessary for the healthy and
prosperity of so numerous a population. Milk or fresh butter are as scarce at the Adelong as on board a
ship, the former is sold for one shilling a quart, and the latter three shillings per pound when it is to be had.
How the unhappy children are fed is a mystery; that they are fed somehow is pretty certain as they are
numerous, their little spare forms and joyless faces may be seen scattered amongst the huts, or gathered
in groups listlessly passing away the precious hours under the shade of some huge log;-poor children,
their's is a dreary existence -- nurtured in ignorance, familiarised with vice from their cradle, unhabituated
to the restraints of civilization, who will trace the progress of their future years. The country is responsible to
the Christian world for the education of these infants; while we are splitting hairs, weighing atoms,
and battling for the supremacy of dogmas or creedless systems of education, they are fast approaching a
state of primeval barbarism, and their benighted and lost souls will cry to Heaven for vengeance upon
those who have thus left them to perish.
Some direct legislation is necessary on this subject; the mining population as a community are able to
pay for the education of their children, and this ought to be enforced as essential to the future welfare of
the colony. It is possible to form each gold field into a municipality, with power to assess claim-holders for
this purpose; or the half-crown duty, instead of being done away with, might he applied to an
educational fund, to be devoted exclusively to the gold-fields. That our miners will not always limit
themselves to the search for gold is certain; the gold-fields are but the cradle of a race that will endure as
long as our hills and ranges: the schools thus established should, therefore, include geology, mineralogy,
chemistry, and mechanics amongst the higher branches of education taught, and we should thus train a
race of men capable of developing those vast mineral resources to be found within our boundaries, -- a
wealth of iron, copper, lead, tin, gold, and coal unrivalled perhaps in the world in its variety, and which will
most assuredly hereafter form the basis of our national greatness.
And now for another evil -- that withering curse entailed upon us by the cupidity and rascality of the early
settlers, in which crime sought to extinguish remorse, and misery to become oblivious of its sorrows,
and which still hangs like a cloud over the country -- blighting the energies of the people, wasting their
substance, and debasing their manhood, that heritage of woe intemperance. Within sight of the
Commissioner's camp there are said to be not less than thirty sly-grog shops, where the trade is carried on
unblushingly. It is a fact that will be credited with difficulty, and can only be accounted for by the
impossibility of obtaining the evidence necessary to ensure conviction. Some persons might imagine that
the Government, satisfied with the heavy duty levied upon ardent spirits, connive at this illegal traffic, but if
so, why not relieve the publicans from the license-fee, and place all upon the same footing. If a digger is to
be considered a mere revenue-producing machine, at least let us treat those who pay a large sum for
permission to collect this revenue with some show of justice.
The formation of the ranges to the westward of the Adelong Creek, for eight or ten miles, is auriferous, but
not such as to indicate the presence of gold in any large quantity. Quartz reefs are frequent, and from the
specimens that have been brought in by stragglers it is probable that some of them will be worked
with profit hereafter, when quartz invested by granite and averaging from 1 ounce to 30 dwts. of gold per
ton, is considered payable. Drift gold has been found in many small streams between the ranges, but never
in any large quantity. There is, however, an extensive tract of country in this direction, in which men
could realise from 30s. to £2 per week, by working the small streams and ancient water-courses. In one
of the main creeks, about ten miles to the westward of the Adelong, a few parties are at work, who
continue to earn about £3 per week each man; the ground is patchy, and limited in extent. On Sharpe's
Creek, also, about ten miles to the south-west, some gold has I been obtained, both from the fluviatile
deposits and from quartz reefs on the lower ranges, near the banks of the stream; about a dozen men
divide their time between this creek and the middle Adelong, their migrations from one to the other being
regulated in some degree by the supply of water. The Mingery ranges, five miles distant to the eastward,
and running parallel to the Adelong ranges, on the westward, form the water shed of the Adelong; and on
the east that of the Tumut river. Here lofty mountains raise their conical crests high above the neighbouring
ranges; and hands of a talcose achtis containing a large proportion of lime, may be observed stretching
along the flanks of the mountains from base to summit, which, although upheaved and tilted are unaltered,
and still conceal the subjacent igneous rocks. These schists are similar in their character to what those on
the Donkey Hill and Curryjong Range were prior to the outburst of granite in which they are now discovered
to be imbedded, and by which they have been modified. Iron is, however, less abundant, and in some
places its presence is hardly perceptible. Quartz reefs and veins are here frequent, intersecting the
schists: many of them are of considerable width, but none appeared to
me to be auriferous; they are but little honeycombed. I was informed that gold had been frequently
found in these ranges, but I do not believe that it was ever obtained in payable quantities; in fact, nothing
has been discovered on the eastern slopes of the Adelong Range.
Two miles from Adelong, up the creek, a neat little tanyard has been established about twelve
months, where leather of a very superior quality is manufactured. Some of it has already found its way to
the Sydney and Victorian markets, and has met with a ready sale. The pits are somewhat novel in their
construction, being each formed of a single raw hide set in a frame, and appear to answer the purpose
well. The wattle bark is obtained from a distance of about forty miles, at an expense of £5 per ton. I
examined some of the leather, which seemed to be equal to any of colonial manufacture that I had seen.
The operatives are Germans, and the most remarkable feature in the establishment is the extreme
simplicity of the plant and the neatness of the arrangements, the whole cost of which would not, probably,
exceed £50.
There is, as I have formerly observed, a large area of first-class alluvial land situated in the valleys
and along the margins of the numerous streams in the Adelong district. If they had been offered for
sale some months since, many of those who have carried the result of their successful labours to other
lands would have settled down in the district. The time at which an attempt should be made to fix the
population is when a gold field is in the full tide of its prosperity.