Volume II Part 42 (2/2)

(Footnote The line of high-water at the full and change is 11 hours 40 minutes, when the rise is 9 feet)

HUMMOCK ISLAND

I was also anxious to obtain a distant seaward view of Hummock Island,

which affords the best shelter for shi+ps in westerly winds

(Footnote This island, which affords a plentiful supply of fuel, is between five and six , and scarcely half a e lies abreast of the middle Hummock, where the depth is six fatho round either the north or south end of the island Some low islets lie a e between; and a reef extends three quarters of a rees 1 rees 27 rees 49 minutes East It is distant three miles and a half from the nearest point of Flinders, where is situated the settlement of Tash between, and the flood-stream comes from the northward The outline of Hu recognised In thick weather the navigatorthis, and the other islands fronting the western side of Flinders, by having a depth of less than thirty fathoms)

The north-west part of Flinders Island has a bold rugged outline From our position off Cape Frankland, we carried a line of soundings across the passage south of Craggy Island, passing two miles to the eastward of it in twenty-seven fathoms We then ran out of the strait and up to Sydney, to leave what stores were not absolutely required during the passage to England, for the use of the shi+ps on the station

RAILROADS FROM SYDNEY

Having spoken of the feasibility of railroads in other parts of New South Wales, I cannot leave Sydney without suggesting what appear tofrom that capital As the country between Parramatta and Sydney is very hilly, I would recommend that part of the journey should be performed in a steaht bank, about seven miles from the town An extension of this line would lead into the north-western interior Towards the south, and in the direction of the Manero district, the line ought to pass round the head of Botany Bay, and by following soht reach nearly to Illawarra, the garden of New South Wales In this manner, the rich Manero corn country, and the coalfields of Illawarra, ious development iretted being obliged to leave this part of Australia without visiting Moreton Bay, as a survey of the mouth of the Brisbane River would have enabled the settlers of that district, now rapidly increasing, to have sent their produce direct froland; whereas, until a chart of it is published, o there The residents are in consequence obliged to sub their merchandise to Sydney The Moreton Bay district is perhaps one of the reat partial elevation and of proximity to the equator, so that, within a comparatively short distance, the productions of both the tropical and the teh plains; bananas, raisins, etc, on the lowlands; in short, as in Mexico, the traveller finds, in ascending from the sea-coast to the suradations of cli from the tropics towards the poles

FAREWELL TO SYDNEY

Our final arrangele was turning out between the heads I cannot for the last time bid adieu to a place, which had beco to the reception I had experienced from its inhabitants To enumerate any particular instances would be invidious; space forbids eneral, therefore, I must say, that every attention which kindness and hospitality could suggest, was paid to the officers of the Beagle, and a debt of gratitude accumulated which it will be difficult to repay

(Footnote It is worthy of ainst the ebb-tide, should get close under the inner south head beforea board across the entrance, as the stream sets round the north head a knot an hour to the northward, but has a southerly direction from one to two miles off)

Fresh easterly winds in the first instance, and light northerly ones latterly, carried us rapidly to the southward, and towards rees 31South by West 1/2 West

(Footnote In this latitude a shoal was reported to have been seen by a vessel bound to Sydney, from Banks Strait, in 1838 The master of her states, that he sounded on it in seven fatho the space of about half a mile As this vessel's latitude, by her run from Banks Strait, enty miles further south, we cannot place much confidence in this report, in which it is stated, that when Cape Barren bore West eightthemselves, near noon, close to broken water, they wore the vessel's head round to the southward, and sounded in seven fathorees 31at the tih sea, and as there was only one cast of the lead taken, in the confusion of wearing, it is possible they ht have been adrift, and the sea, in that neighbourhood, often breaks irregularly as if on foul ground The position of this supposed shoal, by the run frorees 51 rees 40 ives a difference of twenty le has crossed those parallels ten tirees 13 ned this shoal lies sobetween Hobart and Sydney, there is every reason to doubt its existence)

EAST COAST OF TASMANIA

On the 23rd, we passed along the east coast of Tas fine and the water s the accuracy of the present chart, which we found to be about three itude; the latter with respect to the e to say, the position assigned this place in the chart, 147 degrees 28 itude, as Fort Mulgrave is 3 degrees 52 rees 23 minutes 25 seconds East; this, with the error I have already alluded to in the east coast of Tas, points out the necessity of having the survey of that island completed)

JOURNEY TO LAUNCESTON

Next afternoon we entered the Derwent and anchored off Hobart Finding that his Excellency Sir John Franklin had just left for Launceston, I proceeded thither to wait on hie in the weather, it was necessary that we should be always in readiness to leave, and accordingly I travelled by the fastest conveyance, thedrawn by one horse, which, however, by e nine miles an hour It leaves Hobart, at half-past seven PM, and reaches Launceston a little before eleven the following ht; but as the road was excellent, and I ell , the ti the journey was about soers, who appeared to keep all the innkeepers in dread of a visit At one place we stopped at, the host came up with a rueful countenance, and told us that it was only the previous night that he had been stuck up, with a pistol at his head, while they took what they wanted from his larder

(Footnote The most notorious of these characters was one Michael Hoho becaer in 1812 In 1817 he separated froirl, whoht occasion delay He twice surrendered on condition that his life should be spared; but soon resumed his predatory habits In 1818 he was killed by threebeen nearly seven years in the bush, part of the time entirely alone He committed several murders, and robberies innumerable His head was conveyed to Hobart In his knapsack was found a sort of journal of his drealy indicative of the horrors of his mind)

The first half of the journey was over a rather hilly and gradually rising country; the road then winds through ales of mountains The noble Ben Loht as you approach Launceston I was much pleased with the coreater part of which is as sravel walk

RAILROADS IN TASMANIA

I could not avoid, during this journey, being forcibly struck with the great facilities afforded by the road from Hobart to Launceston for a railway; and I have since heard and seen enough to convincebe practicable, but that it would greatly conduce to the prosperity of Tasmania At present, most of the productions of the northern part of the island are necessarily, on account of the expense of land-carriage, shi+pped at Launceston or Port Dalrymple, whereas the Derwent affords such superior facilities for the purposes of commerce, that if a means of cheap and rapid intercourse with it existed, nearly the whole export and import traffic of the coasts would be drawn thither I have already observed that large vessels at Launceston cannot discharge alongside the wharfs Besides, on the whole of the northern coast, with the exception of the Hunter Islands, there is no place of safety for a shi+p in all winds that a stranger would like to run into, thetoo much occupied with shoals On the other hand, Hobart lies on that part of the island whichon a weather shore, whereas the northern side is partly a lee one In saying thus much, I do not mean to imply that a private company, under ordinary circue to itself, though I will go so far as to say, that in a very few years, coht be expected What I especially desire to insist upon, is the fact, that a railroad traversing Tasreat benefit to the community, would stimulate trade, and consequently production, and would aid in restoring the prosperity which it once enjoyed

LABOUR MARKET

This being granted, let us take into consideration the condition of the labour market in that country, and observe what an opportunity now presents itself of executing a work of prodigiouscost It will be seen at once that I allude to the population of probationers, pass-holders, ticket-of-leave men, who now compete with the free inhabitants, and cause the whole land to throng with people in want of work, with paupers and with thieves

The great evil at present complained of by the settlers of Tasmania, is the superabundance of labour In most other colonies the contrary complaint is reat demand in one place would soon relieve the pressure in the other But it lut in the Tasmanian labour market is produced by the presence of crowds of convicts, in various stages of restraint, all prevented fro the island, and forced to remain and seek employment there; so that as soon as the demand for labour falls off, or the supply of it becoe, it is the free population that is necessarily displaced