Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 2: With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South WalesMitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
History
Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 2: With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South Wales
Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone), 1792-1855
The country to the eastward of the Shoalhaven river, that is to say
between it and the sea-coast, is very wild and mountainous. The higher
part including Currocbilly and the Pigeon house (summits) consists of
sandstone passing from a fine to a coarse grain, occasionally containing
pebbles of quartz, and in some of the varieties numerous specks of
decomposed felspar. The lower parts of the same country, according to the
rocks seen in Yalwal creek, consist of granite, basalt, and compact
felspar. Nearer the coast a friable whitish sandstone affords but a poor
soil, except where the partial occurrence of decomposed laminated felspar
and gneiss produced one somewhat better. This country comprises the
county of St. Vincent, bounded on one side by the Shoalhaven river and on
the other by the sea-coast. The southern portion of that county affords
the greatest quantity of soil available either for cultivation or
pasture; although around Bateman Bay, which is its limit on the south,
much good land cannot be expected as Snapper Island at the entrance
consists of grey compact quartz only, with white veins of crystalline
quartz.
UPPER SHOALHAVEN.
The country on the upper part of the Shoalhaven river comprises much good
land. The river flows there nearly on a level with the surface and
resembles an English stream. The temperature at the elevation of about
2000 feet above the sea is so low even in summer that potatoes and
gooseberries, for both of which the climate of Sydney is too hot, grow
luxuriantly. A rich field for geological research will probably be found
in that neighbourhood.
CARWARY.
In a hasty ride which I took as far as Carwary in 1832, I was conducted
by my friend Mr. Ryrie to a remarkable cavern under white marble where I
found trap; a vein of ironstone of a fused appearance; a quartzose
ferruginous conglomerate; a calcareous tuff containing fragments of these
rocks; and specular iron ore in abundance near the same spot.
But still further southward and on the range separating the country at
the head of the Shoalhaven river from the ravines on the coast, I was
shown an antre vast which, for aught I know, may involve in its recesses
more of the wild and wonderful than any of the deserts idle which I have
since explored.
VAST SUBSIDENCE ON A MOUNTAIN THERE.
A part of the surface of that elevated country had subsided, carrying
trees along with it to the depth of about 400 yards, and left a yawning
opening about 300 yards wide resembling a gigantic quarry, at the bottom
of which the sunken trees continued to grow. In the eastern side of the
bottom of this subsidence a large opening extended under the rock and
seemed to lead to a subterraneous cavity of great dimensions.
GOULBURN TOWNSHIP.
November 1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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