



Produced by Nick Wall, Anne Storer, and the Online
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Transcriber's Notes:
1) Morrumbidgee/Murrumbidgee each used on several occasions
   and left as in the original. 'Morrumbidgee' is the aboriginal
   name for the Murrumbidgee.
2) Used on numerous occasions, civilisation/civilization;
   civilised/civilized; civilising/civilizing; uncivilised/uncivilized:
   left as in the original.
3) Same with variations of colonisation/colonization, and a few other
   "z" words that should be "s" words in their English form.


       *       *       *       *       *




 The
 Englishman's Library.
 XXVI.




 AUSTRALIA,

 ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION;

 CONTAINING
 AN ACCOUNT BOTH OF THE BUSH AND OF THE COLONIES,
 WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE INHABITANTS.

 BY THE
 REV. W. PRIDDEN, M.A.
 VICAR OF BROXTED, ESSEX.


 "_Truth_, in her native calmness and becoming moderation, shall
 be the object of our homage and pursuit; and we will aim at the
 attainment of knowledge for the improvement of our reason, and not
 for the gratification of a passion for disputing."--_Address of
 the Bp of Australia in 1841 to the Church of England Book Society._


 LONDON:
 JAMES BURNS, 17, PORTMAN STREET,
 PORTMAN SQUARE.
 1843.




 LONDON:
 PRINTED BY R. CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL.


       *       *       *       *       *




[Illustration: Map of Australia]




PREFACE.


A few words by way of Preface are requisite, in order that the objects
of the present Work may be stated to the reader, and that he may also
be made acquainted with the sources whence the information here
communicated is derived, and from consulting which he may still
further inform himself concerning Australia. The aim of the writer of
the following pages has been,--while furnishing a description of some
of the most flourishing and interesting settlements belonging to the
British Crown, which, at the same time, exhibit in contrast to each
other the two extremes of savage and civilised life;--to call the
attention of his countrymen, both at home and in the colonies, to
the evils which have arisen from the absence of moral restraint and
religious instruction in colonies of civilised and (nominally)
christian men. And although it must in many ways be a disadvantage
that the person professing to describe a particular country should
have gained all his knowledge of it from the report of others, without
ever having himself set foot upon its shores; yet, in one respect at
least, this may operate advantageously. He is less likely to have
party prejudices or private interests to serve in his account of the
land to which he is a total stranger. In consequence, probably, of his
being an indifferent and impartial observer, not one of our Australian
colonies wears in his eye the appearance of a perfect paradise; but
then, on the other hand, there is not one of those fine settlements
which prejudice urges him to condemn, as though it were barren and
dreary as the Great Sahara itself. And the same circumstance--his
never having breathed the close unwholesome air of colonial
party-politics--will render it less likely that his judgment
respecting persons and disputed opinions should be unduly biassed.
There will be more probability of his judging upon right _principles_,
and although his facts may (in some instances, unavoidably) be less
minutely accurate than an inhabitant of the country would have given,
yet they may be less  and less partially stated. Instead of
giving his own observations as an eye-witness, fraught with his own
particular views, he can calmly weigh the opposite statements of men
of different opinions, and between the two he is more likely to arrive
at the truth. With regard to the present Work, however impartial the
author has endeavoured to be, however free he may be from colonial
passions and interests, he does not wish to deceive the reader by
professing a total freedom from all prejudice. If this were desirable,
it is impossible; it is a qualification which no writer, or reader
either, possesses. But thus much may be stated, that all his
prejudices are in favour of those institutions with which it has
pleased God to bless his native land. In a volume that is intended to
form part of a series called "The Englishman's Library," it may be
permitted, surely, to acknowledge a strong and influencing attachment
to the Sovereign, the Church, and the Constitution of England.

The object and principles of the present volume being thus plainly
set forth, it remains only to mention some of the sources whence the
information contained in it is derived. To the Travels of Captain Grey
on the western coast of New Holland, and to those of Major Mitchell in
the interior, the first portion of this Work is deeply indebted, and
every person interested in the state of the natives, or fond of
perusing travels in a wild and unknown region, may be referred to
these four volumes,[1] where they will find that the extracts here
given are but a specimen of the stores of amusement and information
which they contain. Captain Sturt's "Expeditions" and Mr. Oxley's
"Journal" are both interesting works, but they point rather to the
progress of discovery in New Holland than to the actual state of our
local knowledge of it. Dr. Lang's two volumes upon New South Wales are
full of information from one who has lived there many years, and his
faults are sufficiently obvious for any intelligent reader to guard
against. Mr. Montgomery Martin's little book is a very useful
compendium, and those that desire to know more particulars concerning
the origin of the first English colony in New Holland may be referred
to Collins's account of it. Various interesting particulars respecting
the religious state of the colonies in Australia have been derived
from the correspondence in the possession of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, free access to which was
allowed through the kind introduction of the Rev. C. B. Dalton. Many
other sources of information have been consulted, among which the
Reports of the Parliamentary Committee upon Transportation, in 1837
and 1838; and that of the Committee upon South Australia, in 1841,
must not be left unnoticed. Neither may the work of Judge Burton upon
Religion and Education in New South Wales be passed over in silence;
for, whatever imperfections may be found in his book,[2] the
facts there set forth are valuable, and, for the most part,
incontrovertible, and the principles it exhibits are excellent. From
the works just mentioned the reader may, should he feel inclined,
verify for himself the facts stated in the ensuing pages, or pursue
his inquiries further. In the meantime, he cannot do better than join
the author of the little book which he holds in his hand, in an humble
and earnest prayer to Almighty God, that, in this and in every other
instance, whatever may be the feebleness and imperfection of human
efforts, all things may be made to work together for good towards
promoting the glory of God, the extension of Christ's kingdom, and the
salvation of mankind.

  [1] Published, all of them, by T. and W. Boone, London, to whom it is
  only just to acknowledge their kindness in permitting the use that has
  been made of these two publications in the first portion of the present
  Work.

  [2] See Dr. Ullathorne's Reply to Burton, especially at p. 5, where it
  appears that the judge was not quite impartial in one of his statements.
  Dr. Ullathorne himself has, in his 98 pages, contrived to crowd in at
  least twice as many misrepresentations as Burton's 321 pages contain.
  But that is no excuse. The Romish Church may need, or seem to need,
  such support. The cause defended by Judge Burton needs it not.




#Contents.#


INTRODUCTION.

[Page 1.]

 Subject of the Work--Discovery and Situation of New Holland--Its
   Interior little known--Blue Mountains--Conjectures respecting the
   Interior--Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania.


CHAPTER I.

[Page 8.]

 The Bush described--Remains of it near Sydney--North-western Coast
   of New Holland--Sandy Columns and Fragments--Recollections of
   Home--Gouty Stem Tree--Green Ants--Fine Volcanic District--Cure
   for Cold--Travelling in the Rainy Season--Rich sequestered Valleys--
   Plains near the Lachlan--Falls of the Apsley--Beauties of Nature
   enjoyed by Explorers--Aid afforded by Religion--Trials of Travellers
   in the Bush--Thirst--A Christian's Consolations--Plains of Kolaina,
   or Deceit--Bernier Island--Frederic Smith--A Commander's Cares--Dried
   Streams--Return from a Journey in the Bush--Outsettlers--Islands on
   the Australian Coast--Kangaroo Island--Coral Reefs and Islets.


CHAPTER II.

[Page 42.]

 Forbidding aspect of coast no argument against inland beauty and
   fertility--River Darling--The Murray--Other Rivers of New Holland--
   Contrasts in Australia--The Lachlan, Regent's Lake, &c.--Sturt's
   Descent down the Murray--His Return--Woods--Difficulties and Dangers
   of Bush travelling--Wellington Valley--Australia Felix--Conclusion.


CHAPTER III.

[Page 72.]

 Comparative advantages of Europeans over Savages--Degraded condition
   of Natives of New Holland--Total absence of Clothing--Love of
   Ornaments--Peculiar Rites--Ceremony of knocking out a Tooth--Hardships
   of Savage Life--Revengeful Spirit--Effect of Native Songs in exciting
   Anger--Cruelty--Courage--Indifference to accounts of Civilized Life--
   Contempt of its ways--Treatment of Women--Family Names, and Crests--
   Language--Music.


CHAPTER IV.

[Page 97.]

 Means of Subsistence--A Whale Feast--Hunting the Kangaroo--Australian
   Cookery--Fish--Seal Catching--Turtles--Finding Opossums--Birds--
   Pursuit of the Emu or Cassowary--Disgusting Food of the Natives--
   Vegetables--_By-yu_ Nuts--Evils of European Settlements in cutting
   off the native supply of Food--Native Property in Land--Inhabitants
   of Van Diemen's Land--A word of Advice to Christian Colonists.


CHAPTER V.

[Page 120.]

 First Shyness of Natives natural--Their perplexity between European
   Customs and their own--Health and Longevity--Old Age--Funereal
   Rites--Belief in Sorcery--The _Boyl-yas_--Various modes of
   Interment--Tombs--Riches of a Native--Bodily Excellences--Secrecy--
   Quickness of Sight, &c.--Kaiber and the Watch--The _Warran_ Ground--
   Various Superstitions--Mischief of bad Example, for which the British
   nation is responsible--The Church, the right Instrument, and the only
   one that will be found successful, for civilising the Australian
   Tribes, if they are ever to be civilised.


CHAPTER VI.

[Page 149.]

 Bennillong--Barangaroo's Funeral--The Spitting Tribe--Mulligo's Death--
   The Corrobory--Peerat and his Wives--Woga's Captivity--Ballooderry
   and the Convicts--Native Hospitality and Philosophy--The Widow and
   her Child--Miago.


CHAPTER VII.

[Page 186.]

 Infancy of New South Wales an interesting subject to Englishmen--Arrival,
   in 1788, of the Sirius, and the Supply at Botany Bay--Settlement
   commenced in the Harbour of Port Jackson--Character of the
   Convicts--Influence of Religion--Particulars respecting the Chaplain--
   His peculiar situation and efforts--A Gold Mine pretended to be found--
   Supply of Food precarious--Farming--Failure of Provisions--Erection
   of a Flag-staff at the entrance of Port Jackson--Activity of
   Governor Phillip--Emigration to Norfolk Island--Loss of the Sirius--
   Departure of the Supply for Batavia--Arrivals from England--Cruel
   treatment of Convicts on board--Paramatta founded--Arrival of the
   Second Fleet--State of Agriculture--The Chaplain's bounty abused--
   Attendance at Divine Service--A Church built--Its subsequent fate--
   Scarcity of Provisions, and great Mortality--Profligacy of Convicts--
   Harvest of 1792--Departure of Governor Phillip--Major Grose's
   government--Captain Paterson's--Various occurrences--Drunkenness--Love
   of Money--Spirit of Gambling.


CHAPTER VIII.

[Page 216.]

 Arrival of Governor Hunter--His efforts for reformation--Advancement
   of the Colony towards supplying its own wants--Wild Cattle found--Coal
   discovered--Governor's regulations--Incendiarism--Natives
   troublesome--Difficulties in governing New South Wales--Crimes
   common--Laxity of public opinion--The gaols at Sydney and Paramatta
   purposely set on fire--Departure of Governor Hunter--Captain
   King succeeds him--Norfolk Island abandoned--Sketch of Norfolk
   Island--Settlement of Van Diemen's Land--Free Settlers--Philip
   Schoeffer--The Presbyterian Settlers at Portland Head--Resignation
   of Governor King--Captain Bligh his successor--Great Flood of
   the Hawkesbury--Unpopularity of the Governor--Seizure of his
   person--Rebellion--Usurpation--Arrival of a new Governor, Colonel
   Macquarie--Improvements in his time--Road-making--Passage across the
   Blue Mountains--Public Buildings--Patronage of Emancipists--Discoveries
   in the Interior, and Extension of the Colony--Continued neglect of the
   spiritual need of the Colonists--Governor Macquarie's Departure--His
   own statement of the progress of the Settlement under his
   administration.


CHAPTER IX.

[Page 243.]

 Subject stated--Day-dreams of Colonization--Local divisions of New
   South Wales--Its Counties--Cumberland--Camden--Illawarra and the
   Cow Pastures--Argyle--Bathurst--Northumberland--Coal Pits--Hunter's
   River--Remaining Counties--Sydney--Port Jackson--Buildings,
   &c. of Sydney--Commerce--Public Press--Paramatta--Windsor--Liverpool--
   Conclusion.


CHAPTER X.

[Page 266.]

 Description of Van Diemen's Land--Its local Divisions--Its general
   Character and Aspect--Hobart Town--Launceston--Other Australian
   Colonies--Port Phillip--South Australia--Adelaide--Western Australia--
   Its Towns--North Australia.


CHAPTER XI.

[Page 286.]

 Climate of Australia--Drought--Agriculture--Flocks and Herds--Government
   of the Colonies--Discontent--Means of National Improvement--Bishopric
   of Australia--Tribute of Thanks justly due to the Whig Government--
   Effects of a Bishop being resident in New South Wales--Educational
   provision made by George the Fourth--Dr. Lang's Account of it--Judge
   Burton's--Church and School Corporation, established in 1826; suspended
   in 1829; dissolved in 1833--Causes of this change of Policy--
   Conclusion.


CHAPTER XII.

[Page 307.]

 Inhabitants of Australian Colonies--What seed has been there sown--
   Elements of Society in the Penal Colonies--Convicts--System of
   Assignment--Public Gangs--Mr. Potter Macqueen's Establishment--Norfolk
   Island and its horrors--These have been mitigated of late years--Means
   of reforming Convicts--Prevalence of Vice among them--The class of
   Convicts called _specials_ described.


CHAPTER XIII.

[Page 325.]

 Emancipists--Their general Character--Their conduct in the Jurors' Box
   no argument in favour of bestowing upon them a Representative
   Government--Free Population--Ancient Nobility of Botany Bay--Prevailing
   taste in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land--Love of Gain--Land
   Sharks--Squatters--Overlanders.


CHAPTER XIV.

[Page 338.]

 Importance of Religion--The Lord's Day--Habits of duly observing it
   nearly lost among many of the inhabitants of our Australian
   Colonies--Opposition to Improvement--Religious strife prevails where
   religious union is needed--Sir R. Bourke's novel system of religious
   Establishments--Its practical working--Efforts of the Church coldly
   seconded or else opposed, by Government--Petty Persecutions--Similar
   opposition to National Religious Education as to National Church--
   Blunders respecting the Irish System of Education in 1836--Attempt
   in 1840 to banish the Creed and Catechism from Protestant Schools
   having Government support--Schools of a higher rank in New South
   Wales--King's School, Paramatta--Sydney College--The Australian
   College--The Normal Institution--Proposed College at Liverpool--Other
   Schools--Population of New South Wales in 1841--Emigration--Conclusion.




#Illustrations.#


                                                                  PAGE
 Map of Australia                                         _Frontispiece_
 Reduced Map of Van Diemen's Land                                    1
 Travellers in the Bush                                              8
 Explorers finding the Bed of a dried-up River                      42
 Opossum Hunting                                                    97
 Natives of the Murray Islands in Boats                            120
 Sydney in its Infancy--View from the South                        186
 North View of Sydney                                              243
 Hobart Town                                                       266
 Cape Pillar, near the Entrance of the Derwent, Van Diemen's Land  286
 Conveying Cattle over the Murray, near Lake Alexandria            325


       *       *       *       *       *




[Illustration: VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.]

INTRODUCTION.


The vast tract of country which it is the object of the present volume
to describe in its leading features, both moral and natural, may be said
to consist of two islands, besides many small islets and coral reefs,
which lie scattered around the coasts of these principal divisions. The
larger island of the two, which from its size may well deserve the
appellation of a continent, is called New Holland, or Australia; and is
supposed to be not less than three-fourths of the extent of the whole of
Europe. The smaller island, so well known by the names of Van Diemen's
Land, or Tasmania, (from those of the discoverer, Tasman, and the Dutch
governor of Batavia, Van Diemen) is not to be compared in size to the
other, being about equal in magnitude to Ireland, and, like that island,
abounding in fine and excellent harbours. Although, strictly speaking,
the name of Australia is confined to the former of these two islands,
yet it may be understood to include the smaller island also; and under
this name it is proposed to make the reader familiar with the chief
objects of curiosity in the natural world, and likewise with the state
of human society, whether savage or civilised, in the two islands of New
Holland and Van Diemen's Land, so far as both of these have been
hitherto known and explored.

It is by no means certain what nation may justly lay claim to the honour
of the discovery of New Holland, the coasts of which were probably seen
by the Spaniards, Quiros or Torres, in 1606, and are by some supposed to
have been known to the Spanish and Portuguese yet earlier than this
date, but were not regularly discovered until the Dutch, between the
years 1616 and 1627, explored a considerable portion of the northern and
western shores of that vast island, to which they gave the name of their
own country, Holland. To the Spaniards this land was known by the names
of Terra Australis Incognita, (The Unknown Southern Land,) or Australia
del Espiritu Santo, (The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit,) the meaning
of which last name does not exactly appear, unless it arose from the
discovery of Quiros having been made a little before Whitsuntide. Since
that time the coasts of this immense island, extending, it is said, to
no less than 8000 miles, have been gradually explored, although they
still remain in some parts very imperfectly known. Indeed, it was only
in the year 1798 that Van Diemen's Land was discovered to be an island
separated from New Holland, of which before that time it had been
thought to form a large projection or promontory.

New Holland is situated in the vast ocean extending to the south and
east of the Spice Islands, and it lies about even with the lower part of
the continent of Africa, only at an immense distance due east of it. Its
extreme points of latitude are 39 degrees and 10 1/2 degrees S., and of
longitude 112 degrees and 153 degrees 40 minutes E. from Greenwich,
so that it includes in its huge extent climates both tropical and
temperate, but none that are decidedly cold. It must be remembered,
indeed, that the countries south of the equator become colder at
the same latitude than those that extend towards the north; but,
nevertheless, the nearest point towards the South Pole, 39 degrees,
nearly answering to the situation of Naples in the northern hemisphere,
cannot be otherwise than a mild and warm climate. The shape of New
Holland is very irregular, its coast being much broken and indented by
various great bays and smaller inlets; but it has been estimated to have
a _width_ from E. to W. of 3000 miles, and a breadth from N. to S. of
2000, containing altogether not less than three millions of square
miles. Of course, it is impossible, in so large an extent of country,
that the interior parts of it should have been explored during the few
years in which any portion of it has been occupied by Europeans.
Accordingly, almost all the inland tracts are still a vast blank,
respecting which very little is known, and that little is far from
inviting. Indeed many hindrances oppose themselves to the perfect
discovery of these inland regions, besides those common obstacles, to
encounter and overcome which every traveller who desires to explore
new, wild, and savage countries, must have fully made up his mind.

First among the peculiar difficulties which have opposed the Australian
explorer is the height and ruggedness of that chain of mountains,
called, in the colony of New South Wales, the Blue Mountains, which form
a mighty barrier of more or less elevation along most parts of the
eastern coast of New Holland, sometimes approaching as nearly as 30
miles to the sea, and at other places falling back to a distance of 60
or nearly 100 miles. These mountains are not so very high, the loftiest
points appearing to exceed but little the height of Snowdon in Wales, or
Ben Nevis in Scotland; but their rugged and barren nature, and the great
width to which they frequently extend, render it no very easy matter to
cross them at all. Indeed, although the settlement of New South Wales
was founded in 1788, it was not before 1813 that a route was discovered
across those vast ranges which shut in the colony to the west.
Frequently had the passage over the Blue Mountains been attempted
before, but never with any success; and the farthest point which had
been reached, called Caley's Repulse, was a spot that almost seemed
to forbid man's footsteps to advance beyond it. Nothing was to be
seen there in every direction but immense masses of weather-beaten
sandstone-rock, towering over each other in all the sublimity of
desolation; while a deep chasm, intersecting a lofty ridge covered with
blasted trees, seemed to cut off every hope of farther progress. But all
these difficulties have now long since been got over, and stage-coaches
are able to run across what were a few years ago deemed impassable
hills. Yet, when this dreary barrier of barren mountains has been
crossed, another peculiar hindrance presents itself to the exploring
traveller. In many parts of the interior of New Holland, which have
been visited, the scarcity of water is such that the most distressing
privations have been endured, and the most disagreeable substitutes
employed. And yet, strange to say, the very same country, which
sometimes affords so few springs, and of which the streams become dried
up into chains of dirty pools, and at last into dry ravines and valleys,
is, occasionally, subject to extreme floods from the overflowing of its
rivers, and then offers a new obstacle to the traveller's progress in
the shape of extensive and impassable marshes! To these difficulties
must be added the usual trials of adventurous explorers, the dangers and
perplexities of a journey through pathless forests, the want of game
of any kind in the barren sandstone districts, the perils sometimes
threatened by a visit from the native inhabitants, and, altogether, we
shall have reason rather to feel surprise at what has been done in the
way of inland discovery in New Holland, than to wonder that so much
remains yet undone.

In consequence of the interior portions of the country remaining still
unknown, fancy has been busy in forming notions respecting them, and
one favourite supposition has been that there exists somewhere in the
central part of New Holland an immense lake or inland sea; but of this
no proof whatever can be produced, so that it can only be said that _it
may be so_. Certainly, unless some such means of communication by water,
or some very large navigable river, should exist, it is hardly possible
to imagine how the extensive tracts of inland country can ever become
civilized or inhabited by Europeans. And of that portion which has been
visited a considerable extent of country appears to be shut out by the
natural barrenness of its soil and sandstone-rocks from any prospect of
ever supplying food to the colonies of civilized man. So that, while
the whole of New Holland is an interesting country from its natural
peculiarities, and even the desolate portion of it adds, by its very
desolation, a deep interest to the adventures of those persons who have
had the courage to attempt to explore it; yet the chief prospects of
Australia's future importance seem to be confined to its line of
coast,--no narrow limits in an island so extensive. Hence the colonies
now flourishing on the eastern, southern, and western shores of New
Holland, especially on the first, will form a chief object of attention
in the present work; although, as will be seen by its contents, the
"bush," or wild country, and its savage inhabitants, will be by no
means overlooked.

Respecting Van Diemen's Land much need not be here said, although,
however small in comparative extent, its population was in 1836 above
half of that of the whole colony of New South Wales. It is, therefore,
and always will be, an important island, though, from its mountainous
character and confined limits, it cannot, of course, be expected to keep
pace with the increasing population of the sister colony. Van Diemen's
Land was discovered in 1642, by the Dutchman, Tasman, who first sailed
round its southern point, and ascertained that the great Southern Land,
or Australia, did not extend, as it had been supposed, to the South
Pole. The island was apparently overlooked, until, in 1804, a colony
was founded there by the English, and it was taken possession of in the
name of his Britannic majesty. Since that time, with the exception of
those early hardships to which all colonies seem liable, it has been
flourishing and increasing. To many Englishmen its colder climate,
(which is yet sufficiently mild,) and its supposed resemblance in
appearance and productions to their native land, have appeared
preferable to all the advantages which the larger island possesses.
Van Diemen's Land is divided from New Holland on the north by Bass's
Straits, its extreme points of latitude are 41 deg. 20', and 43 deg.
40' S., and of longitude 144 deg. 40', and 148 deg. 20' E. Its shape is
irregular, being much broken by various inlets, but its greatest extent
from N. to S. is reckoned to be about 210 miles, and from E. to W. 150
miles, containing a surface of about 24,000 square miles. The native
inhabitants of this smaller island have entirely disappeared before the
superior weapons and powers of _civilised_ man.




[Illustration: TRAVELLERS IN THE BUSH.]

CHAPTER I.

THE BUSH, ON OR NEAR THE COAST.


All that country, which remains in a state of nature uncultivated and
uninclosed, is known among the inhabitants of the Australian colonies
by the expressive name of _the Bush_.[3] It includes land and scenery
of every description, and, likewise, no small variety of climate, as
may be supposed from the great extent of the island of New Holland.
Accordingly, without indulging in surmises concerning the yet unknown
parts, it may be safely said, respecting those which have been more or
less frequently visited and accurately explored, that the extremes of
rural beauty and savage wildness of scenery,--smiling plains and barren
deserts, snowy mountains and marshy fens, crowded forests and bare
rocks, green pastures and sandy flats,--every possible variety, in
short, of country and of aspect may be found in that boundless region
which is all included under the general appellation of _the Bush_. To
enter into a particular or regular description of this is clearly no
less impossible than it would be tedious and unprofitable. And yet
there are many descriptions of different portions of it given by
eye-witnesses, many circumstances and natural curiosities belonging to
it, and related to us upon the best authority, which are likely to
please and interest the reader, who can see and adore God everywhere,
and is capable of taking delight in tracing out and following the
footsteps of Almighty Wisdom and Power, even in the wilderness and among
the mountain-tops. It is proposed, therefore, to select a few of the
pictures which have been drawn by the bold explorers of the Bush, so as
to give a general idea of the character, the scenery, the dangers, and
the privations of that portion of the Australian islands. And, having
first become familiar and acquainted with these, we shall be better able
to set a just value, when we turn to the state of the colonies and their
inhabitants, upon that moral courage, that British perseverance and
daring, which have, within the memory of man, changed so many square
miles of bush into fertile and enclosed farms; which have raised a
regular supply of food for many thousands of human beings out of what,
sixty years ago, was, comparatively speaking, a silent and uninhabited
waste. When the troops and convicts, who formed the first colony in New
South Wales, landed at Port Jackson, the inlet on which the town of
Sydney is now situated, "Every man stepped from the boat literally into
a wood. Parties of people were everywhere heard and seen variously
employed; some in clearing ground for the different encampments; others
in pitching tents, or bringing up such stores as were more immediately
wanted; and the spot, which had so lately been the abode of silence and
tranquillity, was now changed to that of noise, clamour, and
confusion."[4]

  [3] It is supposed that the word "Sin," applied to the wilderness
  mentioned in Exodus xvi. 1, and also to the mountain of "Sinai," has
  the same meaning, so that the appellation of "Bush" is no new term.

  [4] Collins' "Account of the Colony of New South Wales," p. 11.

And still, even near to the capital town of the colony, there are
portions of wild country left pretty much in their natural and original
state. Of one of these spots, in the direction of Petersham, the
following lively description from the pen of a gentleman only recently
arrived in the colony, may be acceptable. "To the right lies a large and
open glen, covered with cattle and enclosed with _bush_, (so we call the
forest,) consisting of brushwood and gigantic trees; and, above the
trees, the broad sea of Botany Bay, and the two headlands, Solander and
Banks, with a white stone church and steeple, St. Peter's New Town,
conveying an assurance that there are Englishmen of the right sort not
far from us. And now we plunge into the thicket, with scarcely a track
to guide our steps. I have by this time made acquaintance with the
principal giants of the grove. Some are standing, some are felled; the
unmolested monarchs stand full 200 feet high, and heave their white and
spectral limbs in all directions; the fallen monsters, crushed with
their overthrow, startle