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
most luxuriant pasture. Only in one place did the sandy superficies
upon the plain indicate that it was there subject to flood.
The Morumbidgee from Juggiong to our present encampment had held a
general S.S.W. course, but from the summit of a hill behind the tents
it now appeared to be gradually sweeping round to the westward; and I
could trace the line of trees upon its banks, through a rich and
extensive valley in that direction, as far as my sight could reach. The
country to the S.E. maintained its lofty character, but to the westward
the hills and ranges were evidently decreasing in height, and the
distant interior seemed fast sinking to a level. The general direction
of the ranges had been from N. to S., and as we had been travelling
parallel to them, their valleys were shut from our view. Now, however,
several rich and extensive ones became visible, opening from the
southward into the valley of the Morumbidgee, and, as a further
evidence of a change of country from a confused to a more open one, a
plain of considerable size stretched from immediately beneath the hill
on which I was to the N.W.
GEOLOGY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
The Morumbidgee itself, from the length and regularity of its reaches,
as well as from its increased size, seemed to intimate that it had
successfully struggled through the broken country in which it rises,
and that it would henceforward meet with fewer interruptions to its
course. It still, however, preserved all the characters of a mountain
stream; having alternate rapids and deep pools, being in many places
encumbered with fallen timber, and generally running over a shingly
bed, composed of rounded fragments of every rock of which the
neighbouring ranges were formed, and many others that had been swept by
the torrents down it. The rock formation of the hills upon its right
continued of that chlorite schist which prevailed near Mr. Whaby's,
which I have already noticed, and quartz still appeared in large
masses, on the loftier ranges opposite, so that the geology of the
neighbourhood could not be said to have undergone any material change.
It might, however, be considered an extraordinary feature in it, that a
small hill of blue limestone existed upon the left bank of the river.
The last place at which we had seen limestone was at Yass, but I had
learned from Mr. Whaby, that, together with whinstone, it was abundant
near a Mr. Rose's station on the Dumot, that was not at any great
distance. The irregularity, however, of the intervening country, made
the appearance of this solitary rock more singular.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account