Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/80

 foreseen that, within a few miles of the plains of pasture land which have realised to the first settlers hundreds of thousands of pounds in wool, gold lay in heaps for gathering; and that within the lifetime of Wentworth, the explorer, an unbroken army of gold adventurers would crowd the highway from Sidney to the "City of the Plains," and in one year double the exports and the consuming powers of the colony.

The road to Bathurst Plains, executed in an incredibly short period, under the direction of Governor Macquarie, was materially improved by succeeding governors, and especially by the surveyor-general, Sir Thomas Mitchell, the Cook of Australian inland discovery. Sir Thomas Mitchell effected works second only in importance and merit of design and execution to the Siraplon Pass over the Alps. It is unfortunate that he was not permitted to carry out other public works which he suggested at a period when the barracks and gaols were filled with idle convicts. The road by Mount York was so steep that bullock drivers were in the habit of cutting down and attaching part of a tree to their drays, by way of substitute for a drag. Sir Thomas filled up an intervening valley by cutting down part of the summit of Mount Victoria.

Under Macquarie, in addition to the Bathurst, the Argyle district, one of the best agricultural and pastoral districts on the road, of which Goulburn is the centre, was discovered; as also Port Macquarie, afterwards a penal settlement, at the mouth of the River Hastings, leading to a fertile district, as yet, in consequence of the price of land and labour, unoccupied to its full extent. Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general, traced the Rivers Lachlan and Macquarie to the west of the Blue Mountains, where they disappear in a swamp in dry seasons, and in seasons of extraordinary rain form an inland sea. Macquarie also formed one penal settlement on the fertile soil of Emu Plains, and another in the coal district at the mouth of the River Hunter, not improperly named Newcastle. He also materially improved the aspect of Sydney by laying it out on a new plan, and gave encouragement to every useful enterprise. He was wise enough to see the importance of, and did his best to create, a class of small farmers, who, tilling the ground with their own hands, would be independent of hired labour, and assist in protecting the colony against the effects of a dearth of corn. With this view, he gave grants of thirty acres each to emancipated convicts. Unfortunately, he did not accompany this wise measure with an importation of female population.

Among the gossiping libels against the yeomanry class current among the squatocracy is a statement that Macquarie's settlers sold all their farms for rum. This statement was investigated by Mrs. Chis-