Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2Sturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
Doctor Gibson had kindly accompanied us to Breadalbane Plains. On the
morning of the 18th he returned to Tyranna, and we pursued our journey,
keeping mostly on a W.S.W. course. From the barren hills over which we
passed, on leaving the plains, we descended upon an undulating country,
and found a change of rock, as well as of vegetation, upon it. Granite
and porphyry constituted its base. An open forest, on which the
eucalyptus mannifera alone prevailed, lay on either side of us, and
although the soil was coarse, and partook in a great measure of the
decomposition of the rock it covered, there was no deficiency of grass.
On the contrary, this part of the interior is decidedly well adapted
for pasturing cattle.
THE LORN.
About 1 p.m. we passed Mr. Hume's station, with whom I remained for a
short time. He had fixed his establishment on the banks of the Lorn, a
small river, issuing from the broken country near Lake George, and now
ascertained to be one of the largest branches of the Lachlan River. We
had descended a barren pass of stringy bark scrub, on sandstone rock, a
little before we reached Mr. Hume's station, but around it the same,
open forest tract again prevailed. We crossed the Lorn, at 2 o'clock,
leaving Mr. Broughton's farm upon our left, and passed through a broken
country, which was very far from being deficient in pasture. We
encamped on the side of a water-course, about 4 o'clock, having
travelled about fifteen miles.
On the 19th, we observed no change in the soil or aspect of the
country, for the first five miles. The eucalyptus mannifera was the
most prevalent of the forest trees, and certainly its presence
indicated a more flourishing state in the minor vegetation. At about
five miles, however, from where we had slept, sandstone reappeared, and
with it the barren scrub that usually grows upon a sandy and
inhospitable soil. One of the drays was upset in its progress down a
broken pass, where the road had been altogether neglected, and it was
difficult to avoid accidents. Fortunately we suffered no further than
in the delay that the necessity of unloading the dray, and reloading
it, occasioned. Mr. O'Brien, an enterprising settler, who had pushed
his flocks to the banks of the Morumbidgee, and who was proceeding to
visit his several stations, overtook us in the midst of our troubles.
We had already passed each other frequently on the road, but he now
preceded me to his establishment at Yass; at which I proposed remaining
for a day. We stopped about three miles short of the plains for the
night, at the gorge of the pass through which we had latterly been
advancing, and had gradually descended to a more open country. From the
place at which we were temporarily delayed, and which is not
inappropriately called the Devil's Pass, the road winds about between
ranges, differing in every respect from any we had as yet noticed. The
sides of the hills were steeper, and their summits sharper, than any we
had crossed.
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