CHAPTER IV. RETURN HOME
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CHAPTER IV.
RETURN HOME.
I WENT to Otago in the Lord Worsley, and lodged at Smithes Boarding House, close to the Barracks. Dunedin was advancing very rapidly. The Aldinga arrived with the English mails from Melbourne on the 17th; and as she left again the next day with the homeward mails, I went in her. We touched at the Bluff for the Southland letters, caught a glimpse of part of Stewart's Island, 1 passed Solander Rock, made 288 knots next day by steam alone; ran into a N.W. gale, fortunately got under the lee of Tasmania, and on the 24th reached Melbourne. Our mails were soon transferred to the P. and O. steamer Bombay, and some of ourselves to Menzies' Hotel.
The railway from Geelong to Ballaarat had been opened during my absence, and I now took the
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opportunity of travelling on it. The permanent way was very even and good, and the stations were built of good solid stone, in a first-rate style. There were two stations at Ballaarat.
At Melbourne there was a great feeling of sympathy shown for the Lancashire operatives, and a sum of upwards of £11,000 has been sent home. I believe that but for the heavy claims of local distress, the subscription would have been still more munificent. 2
About this time a project was revived (which Mr.
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T. Saunders, F.G.S., mooted in a little book he published in 1853) 3 to colonize the north of Queensland on the shores of Carpentaria. According to Leichardt, Burke and Wills, Landsborough, McKinlay, Walker, and others, the district is well watered, and good for pastoral purposes, with a fine climate, the winds being often bracing, and the nights frequently cold. Mr. Saunders suggested that it should be called the Province of Albert; but the Melbourne projectors of an expedition thither have called it Prince Albert Land, which will be confounded with the New Zealand Northern Settlement. If this new colony be established, a very extensive trade would no doubt be soon opened up with the large islands to the north, and even with China.
After a few days I went in the Balclutha to Sydney, and thence about sixty miles further north to Newcastle, on the river Hunter. It is the centre of a great coal district, and is kept in constant communication with Sydney, as two steamers ply almost daily between the two cities. Unfortunately, the trade is much damaged, in consequence of a system of strikes which have come into fashion at Newcastle. This coal is very generally used for steam and other purposes throughout the Colonies, though there are other mines in work elsewhere. In both Islands of New Zealand good coal has been found, and no
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doubt, when labour is cheaper, the mines will be worked. In Canterbury last winter (i. e. June and July) I believe coal was nearly £7 a ton, and wood was extremely scarce.
The Great Northern Railway begins at Newcastle, and runs through Maitland (a good sized town) to Branxton, where I took a coach to Singleton. There was nothing very remarkable in the appearance of that district; but no doubt its agricultural riches will be increased by the railway passing through it. This is the overland route to Queensland, and passes through a rich pastoral district, about Armidale and Tamworth. A little way up the Hunter, is Paterson's Creek, and here I went in a boat to shoot black swans, wild ducks, and pelicans. The two former kinds of birds were very numerous, but I could not get within shot of any of them.
Shortly after my return to Sydney, I went by the Great Southern Railway to Campbelltown (thirty-three miles), and by coach (thirty miles) to Wollongong, on the coast south of Botany Bay. There were coal mines in the neighbourhood, at Bellambi, which seemed to be yielding good returns. Wollongong is celebrated for its butter and dairy produce. By land it is almost shut out from Sydney by the hills a few miles from the town, which are the steepest I ever went up or down in any vehicle. The forest and bush are very luxuriant on these hills, and I saw several tree ferns and supple jacks.
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The Illawarra district beyond is still more beautiful from its timber and vegetation.
Several coasting steamers, during the week, touch at Wollongong to and from Sydney. One goes as far south as Moruya, a little to the north of Twofold Bay, where some good silver mines have been discovered. Australia seems well supplied with coal, iron, copper, silver and gold; and New Zealand with gold, ironsand, chrome ore, and coal.
On returning to Sydney I visited the Australian Steam Navigation Company's Works. They seemed very complete, having a large slip, on which two or three steamers can be hauled up at the same time; also shears for masts, and large furnaces, anvils, castings, and machinery for cutting and hammering iron. On their wharf was a large boiler they had just made for the City of Hobart Steamer. They have nineteen steamers of an aggregate of nearly 8000 tons. There are three or four other Steam Companies in Sydney, and also a large dry dock, into which the P. and O. Mail Steamers are taken when they arrive. There are also manufactories for cloth, and sugar refining.
On the 22nd of August I left Sydney in the P. and O. Steamer Madras, en route for England. We reached Melbourne on the 24th, and left again on the 26th, and had two heavy westerly gales before reaching King George's Sound in Western Australia, a distance of 1300 miles. Here we coaled;
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and I heard that Robson or Redpath was realizing large sums as a photographer at Perth, on the Swan river. Twelve days more, and we reached Point de Galle, in Ceylon. Here we and our mails were transferred to the Candia from Calcutta, along with the passengers and mails from China by the Columbian, We called in at Aden, and arrived at Suez behind our time, in consequence of a strong and refreshing head gale in the Red Sea. Thence we went to Alexandria and Malta, and passing between Sardinia and Corsica near Caprera, reached Marseilles on the 13th, and arrived in England on the 15th of October.
