Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/260

 we noticed a tiny house flanked on either side by two tall brugmancias in flower. And the undergrowth of the bush became more varied. We saw for the first time a curious kind of white bulrush, growing like the "black boys" of Western Australia. They looked just like very tall church candles, their black spikes forming the wick. The bush is always the same, that is, it is always a forest of gums; but it has nevertheless an individual character from the undergrowth in the different states and latitudes.

We stopped for some time at Newcastle, an inferno of smoking chimneys and coal-dust. The coal deposits of New South Wales are its most important source of mineral wealth, and her coalfields are greater in area, and produce a better quality of coal than those of any other state; it is hoped for that reason that New South Wales may become the principal centre of manufacture in the continent. Coal was first discovered in 1797 in the coalfield south of Sydney, and soon after coal was found in the cliffs at Newcastle, which has become an important centre of export.

After leaving Newcastle the line turns westward from the coast and crosses the fertile Hunter River valley, where the soil is so rich that it yields as many as eight crops in one year,