Thursday, February 29, 2024
impertinent
Note on the Manufacture and
Use of Pith Paper
by George A. Boeck, Dard Hunter Paper Museum 1988
by George A. Boeck, Dard Hunter Paper Museum 1988
The Dard Hunter Paper Museum has recently received some inquiries regarding the conservation practices for what is commonly called pith or rice paper. A search of the literature indicates that very little has been written on the topic. Fortunately, the museum had a sufficient number of undecorated sheets of this material to allocate some specimens for examination and experimentation. Stephanie Watkins, an intern working at the museum as part of her graduate program in art conservation at Buffalo State College, agreed to test the effects of standard conservation practices on a few of these sheets. Ken Grabowski of the Field Museum assisted us through his work on a bibliographic project tracing the misnomer "rice paper" in the botanical and popular literature.
 |
Neither rice nor, strictly speaking, paper, the sheets are actually shaved from the pith of the plant Tetrapanax papyrifera which is indigenous to Taiwan. Examples in museum collections date largely from the end of the nineteenth century when illustrations of Chinese daily life and flora and fauna became popular tourist items among the sailors and merchants on ships visiting Canton. |  |
As a consequence of the popularity of pith paper illustrations, one finds numerous descriptions of the method of manufacture (Swinhoe 1865: 52-53, Rice 1878: Ferris 1888: 297-298, Hosie 1890: 23-24, Williams 1899: 113-114, Matthews 1930: 89-90, Hooker 1953: 79-84, Bell 1985: 103-119 Koretsky 1988: n.p., Harvard on-line), that by Swinhoe in 1865 being particularly clear and concise. The common Chinese names for the plant are bok-shung and, more commonly, tung-tsao or tsuso (Matthews 1930: 89). Indigenous to the mountainous regions of northwestern and eastern Formosa, the plant resembles the castor bean or sycamore.
The plant will usually reach twelve to fifteen feet (3.6 to 4.5 m) in height by its fourth or fifth year. Only the pith of the younger plants, however, is lustrous and white. These the natives harvest every two or three years, usually in winter. New shoots grow from the root stock after the cutting much like bamboo. They then soak the stems in running water for several days and cut them into one to two foot (30.5 to 61 cm) lengths. The pith is removed by driving a dowel against the ground while the stem is aligned above. The pith becomes spotted or looses its luster unless the resulting segment of pith is dried immediately. This drying process may occur in hollowed bamboo to straighten longer sections or to adhere small sections to one another.
Pith paper manufacturers or their agents visit the aboriginal mountain villages near where the plants are collected or cultivated, offering Chinese trade goods for the bundled segments of pith (Matthews 1930: 90). Prior to the Second World War a number of small factories each producing ten to fifteen thousand pounds of paper per year were operating in the Shinshiku Province. Currently only a single factory seems to be operating (Koretsky 1988: n.p.).
Workers in the factories cut the pith into uniform pieces, usually about 3 3/8 inches (8.6 cm) long, although purchase of larger sheets can be arranged. From these segments, workers, usually women working at night in ill-lit rooms (Hosie 1890: 23, Koretsky 1988: n.p.), shave ribbons of pith paper. Their tools include a knife with a twelve inch (30.5 cm) long three inch (7.6 cm) wide blade having an extremely sharp edge and a one-half inch (1.3 cm) thick back. This tool is honed on a block of hardwood. The cutting surface is a smooth brick, stone, or tile measuring about fifteen inches (38 cm) long, six inches (15.2 cm) wide, and one inch (2.5 cm) thick. Horizontal brass strips along the length of this block act as a thickness gauge.
Proceeding quickly to insure uniform thickness (Hooker 1853: 80), the worker uses the left hand to roll the pith and the right hand to guide the knife. At the end of each pass, she returns the pith and knife to the far right of the block until the section of pith is reduced to about an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. A ribbon of four to six feet (1.2 to 1.8 m) is obtained from each section of pith. These ribbons are stacked and pressed in lots of seven hundred fifty to one thousand. The workers trim these stacks into 3 1/4 inch (8.25 cm) to 3 1/2 inch (8.9 cm) squares, although one can arrange to buy larger squares for painting. Simple as this process sounds, considerable dexterity is required to produce the sheets. The workers are apprenticed for three years, during which time they receive room and board from 3 their masters (Swinhoe 1865: 53).
The sheets are sorted into three grades. The first grade is pure white, without perforations. This grade is for export, primarily to China or Japan for painting or making into artificial flowers. The second grade may contain minor perforations, and may be off-color or show some spotting. This grade is usually used locally for making artificial flowers. The lowest grade, between ten and fifteen percent of the pith (Matthews 1930: 90), consists of trimmings and core. This material is used for packaging, absorbent dressings, folk medicines, and small buoys.
The paintings one finds on these papers range from 3 1/4 inch (8.25 cm) squares to four by six (10.2 by 15.2 cm) or even ten by fifteen inch sheets. (25.4 by 38.1 cm). They are prepared in an Oriental style of a figure without background. Museum collections most frequently contain images from natural history and depictions of daily life, especially Chinese professions and trades. To protect the extremely brittle edges, the sheets are often trimmed with ribbon and may be backed with paper. These paintings were made in workshops and sold in sets (Cobb 1956: 246-7). The only mention of an artist responsible for the paintings comes in 1849 from La Volee who identified Lam Qua's Cantonese workshop and studio as a source for paintings on pith and paper. Accounts by La Volee and other travelers make it quite clear, however, that pith paper watercolors were items of manufacture rather than artistic ventures (Crossman 1972: 117). Since the turn of the century, these workshops have produced Western-style embossed Christmas cards as well. Shops making artificial flowers to adorn women's hair and for export to the west, in fact, use the bulk of the pith produced (Flowers 1911: 23). Most of these flowers were made in Canton, Hong Kong, and Japan. The method manufacture involves dyeing for color, cutting the sheets into petal shapes, dampening, and shaping the sheets with the aid of metal tools (Swinhoe 1865: 53). Roses and violets were particularly life-like in appearance and scented. A small amount of the pith paper was attached to bamboo on a rattan frame to make strong, light, water-proof hats, that is pith helmets (Pith 1879).
In addition to the pith growing either wild or under cultivation in Formosa, some plants are cultivated in southern China, India, and Ceylon. The plant as cultivated in India and Ceylon is called taccado and its pith is processed mainly in Malay and Indo-China. The most frequent products are artificial flowers, small figures and toys, festival decorations, and lens paper (Wealth 1976: 199-200). The Indian plant called a shola, actually a legume, is produced in Singapore as floats, buoys, and light sun hats much like Tetrapanax (World 1888: 297-298).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bell, Lilian A. Papyrus, Tapa, Amate, and Rice Paper: Papermaking in Africa, the Pacific, Latin America and Southeast Asia. McMinnville, Oregon: Liliaceae Press, 1985.
Cobb, Margaret E. "Rice-paper Paintings: 'Trivialities' of China Trade." Antiques, March 1956, p. 246-247.
Crossman, Carl L. The China Trade: Export Paintings, Furniture, Silver, and Other Objects. Princeton: Pyne Press, 1972.
Hahne, Bruno. "Observations on the Pith of Fatsia Papyrifera." South African Journal of Natural History, April 1928, p. 19-203.
"Flowers from Pith." Harper's Weekly, March 25, 1911, p. 23.
Chinese Botanical Paintings: Tetrapanax papyriferum (Hook.) Koch, Harvard University Herbaria, http://www.huh.harvard.edu/libraries/Tetrap_exhibit/ChineseBotanicals.html. Consulted 11-23-2010.
Hooker, William Jackson, ed. "The Rice-Paper Plant." Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany, vol. 5, 1853, p. 79-84.
Ferris, George. The World of Wonders. New York: Appleton, 1886.
Hosie, Alexand
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New South Wales
revised July 2017
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| Sydney |
North to Queensland via the Hawkesbury River |
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Western Interior via the Blue Mountains to Broken Hill |
South along the coast |
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South via the Hume Highway (Bushrangers) |
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Route north from Sydney to Queensland
From the north side of the Sydney Harbour, the Pacific Highway (Highway 1) proceeds north through the suburbs along the railway line, until the outskirts of Hornsby, where it becomes the sleek Sydney-Newcastle Freeway just as the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park begins (see North Sydney section for more on the park). The city rail lines, heading all the way to Newcastle, and then into Queensland, follow the road until the waters of the Hawkesbury River at Brooklyn, at which point the train diverges to pass through spectacular scenery inaccessible to those in an automobile. This stretch of the railway, which is fast, inexpensive and frequent enough to be used by commuters as far north as Gosford, is definitely recommended for the visitor. The Old Pacific Highway continues north as route 83 at a more leisurely pace through Gosford and around Lake Macquarie all the way to Newcastle.The Hawkesbury River
As discussed in the section on the Western Suburbs and the towns of Windsor and Richmond, the discovery of the Hawkesbury River by Governor Phillip in 1789, on his third exploration of Broken Bay, was greeted with rejoicing by the fledgling colony, as the land surrounding the river promised fertile ground to plant desperately needed crops. Phillip named the river for Baron Hawkesbury, Earl of Liverpool.
The river originates in the Wollondilly River, which
begins near Crookwell in central New South Wales some
300km west of Sydney, and winds romantically through the
countryside, most picturesque, with many inlets, in the
20km before it reaches Broken Bay and the sea. The
Aborigines called it Deerubbin. Intrepid Watkin Tench,
First Fleet chronicler who discovered the Nepean River,
realised when he revisited the area in 1791 that the
Nepean and the Hawkesbury were the same river. In his
famous Journal of an Excursion Across the Blue
Mountains of New South Wales (1822), Barron Field,
who usually found Australian landscape unpicturesque,
called the river 'the Nile of Botany Bay', and British
author Anthony Trollope, on his famous visit in 1871, was
so taken by the river's charms that he remarked, 'in my
opinion, the Hawkesbury beats the Mississippi'. It is
indeed one of the most grandiose of Australian rivers,
which are often quite sinuous and turgid.
Along with the establishment of prosperous farms and
ship-building industry along its banks, the river
inevitably became the haunt of smugglers in colonial
times, when spirits (that is, rum) were still a form of
currency. The many inlets, coves and caves, now seemingly
so picturesque, were the ideal hideaways for the most
opportunistic pirates. Early poet Charles Harpur
(1813-68), born in Windsor, used the pseudonym 'A
Hawkesbury Lad' and wrote of the river's beauties in poems
such as 'A Storm in the Mountains'; contemporary poet
Robert Adamson also grew up in the district and set many
of his poems here.
The first stop on the river off the main freeway is
Brooklyn, so named because the company that built the
first Hawkesbury River railway bridge was the Union Bridge
Company of Brooklyn, New York. It is easier to reach
Brooklyn by continuing from Hornsby on the Old Pacific
Highway rather than the freeway itself. From Brooklyn, you
can take the Hawkesbury
River Ferries cruises up the river, as well as the
daily ferry service to Patonga across Broken Bay (t 0400
600 111); Patonga has some of the best oysters in the
region.
One of the most interesting ways to see the Hawkesbury
River is to take the River Boat
Mail Run, leaving every weekday morning from
Brooklyn. The boat provides postal services for those who
live along the river, but they allow tourists to come
along for the ride (about four hours; fares adults $55.00,
concession $45.00, children $15.00). Confirm the times but
the 08.15 train from Sydney and the 08.23 from Gosford are
scheduled to link with the postal ferry at Brooklyn.
The freeway continues north over the river at Mooney
Mooney; the bridge itself is awe-inspiring, and it is
worth the stop at the scenic lookout on the northern side
to view the bridge and the extraordinary scenery below.
The freeway now skirts the coastline, with frequent
turn-offs to reach the more interesting lakes and
beachside sites.
Gosford
At 85km north of Sydney, Gosford (population 162,400)
is within commuting distance from the city (the commuter
train from Sydney runs regularly from Central Station),
and has recently experienced a residential boom that has
spoiled whatever small-town charm it may have had. But it
sits at the northern edge of the Brisbane Water National
Park, an enormous (7870 ha) and varied reserve that
encompasses sub-tropical rainforest, estuarine mudflats
and beaches; the popular beachside communities 
Gosford itself has little of historical interest, aside
from the stone
cottage (open Wed., Sat., and Sun. 10.00-15.00)
where poet Henry Kendall lived from 1873 to 1875,
recovering from alcoholism in the care of local timber
merchants, the Fagans. The cottage dates from 1838, and is
now used as a local history museum.
19km southeast of Gosford is the Bouddi
National Park, a series of small beaches with great
opportunities for bushwalking. Directly east of Gosford is
Terrigal, a very popular holiday resort with excellent
surfing. The area from here north to The Entrance on
Tuggerah Lake, c 20km, is filled with caravan parks and
holiday camps taking advantage of the clean beaches and
lakeside views. This is really family holiday country, and
is best avoided during school holidays.
Wyong, 22km north of Gosford on the Pacific Highway,
has an interesting District Museum in the Alison Homestead
(t. 02 43521886; open Sun. - Thurs. 10.00-14.00; admissio
adults$5.00, children $2.00) depicting the history of life
in rural 19C New South Wales. From the northeast side of
Lake Tuggerah it is possible to travel north on the
coastal road as far as Elizabeth Bay to rejoin the Pacific
Highway around the eastern side of Lake Macquarie.
Lake Macquarie
The largest seaboard lake in Australia and the largest saltwater lake in New South Wales, Lake Macquarie has no town centre, but its population (c 204,100) is comprised of tiny settlements around the lake itself. Tourism Lake Macquarie, 228-234 Pacific Highway, Swansea; t 1 800 802 044.
In the 1820s, one of Australia's first missionary
anthropologists, Lancelot Threlkeld (1788-1859),
established an Aboriginal mission at Belmont and later at
Toronto; while they closed in the 1840s, Threlkeld was
able to produce some of the first systematic studies of
Aboriginal languages. In 1841 Threlkeld opened a coal mine
on his property at Toronto, the first in the Lake
Macquarie region. The region is still home to many poets,
including Donald Moore and Roland Robinson. Moore's poem
'No Mark for Lake Macquarie' (1980) captures the confusion
of geographical beauty and modern holiday-makers' noise
that marks the area:
There is for a while
a suspicion of haloes
as the sun goes down
but no son walks
the unquiet waters
among the Saturday
Sunday crowds
of herons cats and outboards
inboards and followers on skis.
| William Dobell lived in
this house from 1942 until his death in 1970, and
became known as one of the area's leading
'identities'. He was born in Newcastle, where his
father was a builder (Robert Dobell built this
house). William demonstrated artistic talents at an
early age, and in the 1920s he studied at Julian
Ashton's school in Sydney. In the 1930s he studied
in England and travelled throughout Europe,
developing a style inspired by the Dutch Masters, as
well as the English artist Walter Sickert and the
French modernist Chaim Soutine. He returned to
Sydney in 1939, where he acquired a circle of
admirers and honed his skills both as a satirical
artist and portrait painter; his work was always
within the social realist direction and never
abstract. Satire and portraiture were at the centre of the controversy that erupted when Dobell received the Archibald Prize in 1944 for his portrait of his friend Joshua Smith. The prize is awarded by the Trustees of the Gallery of New South Wales. Conservative artists, still fighting the anti-modernist battle, argued that the painting was a caricature of Smith rather than a 'likeness', and therefore did not qualify for the portrait prize; the Archibald Prize was, and still is, lucrative and highly coveted. The arguments reached the Supreme Court of New South Wales, becoming Australia's first legal consideration of artistic values, in many ways mirroring a similar modernist-conservative debate between Whistler and John Ruskin in England nearly a century before. The case was eventually dismissed, after much popular debate about the issue; the verdict was greeted as a victory for the modern movement, although Dobell was never really a modernist painter. Dobell continued to paint his portraits until his death, was knighted, and became a venerable figure in Australian art; many of his idiosyncratic works can be seen at his Wangi Wangi house, and in nearly every gallery in Australia. |
The main occupation in the Lake Macquarie region today is fishing, water-skiing, and cruising the lake on such ships as the Wangi Queen and the Macquarie Lady, which leave from the wharves at Toronto and Belmont. From the Morisset exit off the freeway, travel on route 133 c 20km to Wangi Wangi, at the tip of a western inlet of the lake. At 47 Dobell Drive is the home of famous and controversial Australian portrait painter, Sir William Dobell (1899-1970). Dobell House contains a collection of his work and memorabilia (02 4975 4115; open Sat Sun and holidays 13.00-16.00).
From Lake Macquarie you can proceed north back on
route 133 and travel along the lake into Newcastle.
The Sydney-Newcastle Freeway, no. 1, can also be joined
again west of Toronto, for the quickest route into
Newcastle, after which the Freeway connects again to the
Old Pacific Highway.
Newcastle
As Australia's largest industrial city and New South
Wales's second largest city (and with a population of
308,300, the sixth largest in the country), Newcastle has
a dubious reputation in the public's imagination. While
once reviled as a dirty and polluted factory town--writer
Donald Horne called it 'Australia's Pittsburgh'--the city
has gained international recognition in the last two
decades for its efforts to clean up industrial waste and
grime and to emphasise its magnificent geographical
setting. Located on a 
The area was the traditional home of the Awabakal and
Worimi Aboriginal groups. While its real development
stemmed from the discovery of huge coal deposits in the
region, similarities with its English namesake end there.
Newcastle came to world attention in December 1989, when
the area experienced one of Australia's only major
earthquakes, which killed 13 people; community spirit has
led to rebuilding of those areas that were damaged. A
bigger blow has recently struck the region: in 1997, the
town's main industry, the great BHP steel plant which has
been the town's mainstay since 1913, announced that the
factory would close in 1999, leading most to lament the
end of Newcastle's traditional working-class culture and
causing widespread predictions of economic disaster. But
the town has such a splendid physical location that it
seems unlikely that the tourism industry could ever bypass
Newcastle entirely. Like citizens of working-class towns
the world over, the Novocastrians, as they call
themselves, are intensely proud of their city. Tourist
information: 361 Hunter Street.
Festivals in Newcastle include 'Mattara' in the spring;
the name is Aboriginal for 'Hand of Friendship'. The
Newcastle Agricultural Show is held annually in
February/March.
History
Captain Cook described present-day Nobbys Island at the
entrance to present-day Newcastle Harbour as he passed by
in 1770; the harbour itself was first discovered in 1797,
when Governor Hunter ordered a group of marines to search
for four convicts who had escaped by boat and headed
north. While the convicts and the boat were never found,
Lieutenant John Shortland in the Reliance explored the
coastline upon his return to Sydney and found the
Newcastle harbour. He also identified coal in the rocks
along the nearby river, thus naming it the 'Coal' River,
now the Hunter; by 1798 a mining operation began there.
The settlement at present-day Newcastle was not
established until 1804, when New South Wales Governor King
decreed that a new penal colony, for recidivists and
recalcitrants both male and female, should be founded at
the mouth of the Hunter River. Charles Throsby became the
first Commandant with only 20 soldiers and 20 convicts in
the first year. By 1816 Captain Wallis had 1000 convicts
under his control here, 400 of whom began to build the
breakwater in the harbour, connecting Nobbys Island to the
mainland. In the early 1820s the settlement gained its
most fearsome reputation, when Major Morisset, popularly
known as 'King Lash' (later to become the notorious
Commandant of Norfolk Island), imposed his rigorous system
of flogging, and forced convicts to construct the bathing
pool known as Bogey's Hole, along with the backbreaking
task of building the breakwater. By 1823, Morisset left,
and under the term of Captain Gillman, the place became a
free settlement and was named Newcastle. Land grants were
quickly taken up in the region, particularly in the Hunter
Valley, which soon became the breadbasket for the entire
colony and, most importantly, a major source of red cedar
(see box below), the colony's prime timber.
Once Newcastle was declared a free town, the surveyor
Henry Dangar was commissioned to devise a town plan.
Dangar's solution, a simple grid of three east-west and
seven north-south streets with a central north-south
public axis, still forms the basis for Newcastle's inner
city. Dangar also established city blocks of only 90m
width, unlike the larger scale of Melbourne and Adelaide;
this scale accounts for the unusually intimate and compact
dimensions of central Newcastle today. While the 1820s saw
the area become a primary agricultural centre with the
founding of the Australian Agricultural Company, the
town's real industry and reason for being was coal-mining.
The first pit opened in 1831; by 1848, the convict gaol
closed and the last remnants of penal settlement were
removed. In the late 1840s, the opening of the immense
coal deposit, the Borehole Seam, in the present suburb of
Hamilton, led to new miners' encampments outside central
Newcastle. This situation caused Newcastle to develop as a
series of separate villages and townships that were not
amalgamated as Greater Newcastle until the early 20C
although Newcastle itself had become a municipality in
1859.
The area grew rapidly in the 1850s and 1860s, prompted by
the arrival of the railway. Many of the early historical
buildings date from this period. The great number of
elaborate commercial buildings, many of them built by an
immigrant architect from North Germany, Frederick Menkens
(1855-1910), arose in the High Victorian era from 1880 to
1910, when Newcastle's coal-mining still sustained a
thriving economy based on coal and shipping. By the time
of Federation in 1901, however, the coal began to run out,
and the city faced hard times. The decision by the New
South Wales government to build a state dockyard in
Newcastle Harbour coincided with the most significant
event in Newcastle's development: the arrival of the
Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd (BHP) steelworks in 1913, and
the subsequent attraction of additional heavy-industry
factories. By the 1920s, one-third of Newcastle's workers
were employed in either the steelworks or the docks, and
their factories came to dominate Novocastrian skyline and
the citizens' lives; as novelist Elizabeth Harrower, who
was born in the suburb of Mayfield in 1928, wrote, the
city 'had been--you might say on principle--low-lying,
single-storeyed in everything, that is, but steelworks and
factories'.
Newcastle's sprawling suburban development did not augur
well for inner-city living and architecture; still, the
city did see the appearance of some interesting modernist
architecture in the 1960s and 1970s. Particularly
interesting is the work carried out at the University of
Newcastle, especially those buildings completed under the
direction of the German-Swiss-born architect Frederick
Romberg (1913-92), the university's first Professor of
Architecture. Romberg's presence at the university, after
many successful years in Melbourne, inspired other leading
architectural groups to build in the area. The university
campus itself is an important architectural and cultural
centre in the area; physically, it is set in bushland and
is considered the most 'arboreal' of Australian campuses.
Visitors staying for any length of time in the
Newcastle area might want to get a copy of the excellent Architecture Newcastle: A
Guide by Barry Maitland and David Stafford for
the University of Newcastle and the RAIA; it is a thorough
examination of buildings and sites of historical and
architectural interest.
| Red cedar. The use of the common name of 'cedar' for various types of wood in Australia is a good example of the early settlers' practice of giving familiar Northern Hemisphere names to newly discovered flora which in some way resembled the tree or plant they knew at home. When Australians speak of red cedar, they mean Cedrela australis, a large tree of the family Meliaceae, the only species of the genus indigenous to Australia; these trees are not members of the genus cedrus, the 'real' cedar known to Europeans and Americans. Australians also talk of white cedar, Melia dubia, and even Mackay cedar, which is actually Albizzia toona. But red cedar was the timber at the heart of the colonial industry; the tree was once a familiar feature of most eastern coastal forests, and recognised immediately for its durability and flexibility-a feature missing from most other Australian woods. As early as 1795, Australian cedar was exported to India, and cedar felling was an important early industry, especially in the Hawkesbury and Northern coastal regions of New South Wales; the culture of the cedar-getters became legendary, as a rough and ready group. An American, writing about them in 1851, stated 'They labour very hard but they are certain the most improvident set of men in the world, often eclipsing in recklessness, mystery and peculiarity of character the wood-cutters of Campeachy and the lumberers of the Ohio and Mississippi.' Most of the beautiful interior floors and woodwork of the Macquarie-era buildings were of red cedar. By the 1890s, these once majestic trees had been almost entirely logged out; today, red cedar is one of the rarest and most prized woods for furniture-makers, and house salvagers still make enormous profits if they can find old house-fittings of cedar to recycle. |
Newcastle City
The Pacific Highway leads directly into Newcastle City,
becoming the main shopping thoroughfare, Hunter Street,
which ends at the harbour and near Nobbys Island. The
foreshore at this point stretches along the harbour, which
is comprised of the mouth of the Hunter River where it
enters the ocean through an opening between the Nobbys
Island breakwater and the land-spit of Stockton on the
northern bank. Queen's Wharf, a project of the Newcastle
Foreshore development scheme completed for the Bicentenary
in 1988, is the location of the main tourist
centre, and is linked to Hunter Street by a
pedestrian bridge; the redevelopment continues into the
Foreshore Park heading up towards Nobbys Island. The
design of the wharf could be labelled 'post-modern' in its
use of varying shapes and sizes, and won many awards at
the time it first opened. It already appears dated
architecturally, but is a valuable addition to the
cityscape for its reclamation of previously inaccessible
land. You can climb a tower here for magnificent views of
the harbour and the city. A replica of William IV, the
first Australian-built steam/sailing ship, is also moored
along this reclaimed foreshore, and harbour cruises, as
well as the ferry over to Stockton on the other side of
the river, originate from the pier. The tourist centre is
an excellent one, and provides a comprehensive heritage
walk map.
Return to Hunter Street, which at this point is City
Mall, and then becomes Scott Street heading east. Past the
Railway Station, now a rather neglected Victorian
structure, is the Convict Stockade, an unassuming area
between Scott and Bond Streets of great historical
significance for its archaeological record of early
Australian convictism. Nearby, on the corner of Watt and
Scott Streets, is the striking Customs House with
Italianate tower, built in 1877 by Colonial Architect
James Barnet, with 1900 
From Customs House Plaza, travel c 1km towards Nobbys Head and Flagstaff Hill (also known as Beacon Hill). At Stevenson Place and Nobbys Road are 'Boatman's Row' terraces, a group of houses built in 1892 and associated with the lifeboat men responsible for rescue after shipwrecks. Travel up Nobby's Road to Fort Scratchley, now the site of the Military & Maritime Historical Museums (t 02 4929 3066; open Wed.-Mon. 10.00-16.00; admission free). The hill was the site of the town's first coal mine, probably the first mine in Australia. In 1876, in response to fears of Russian invasion, Major-General William Jervois and Lieutenant Colonel Peter Scratchley recommended that fortifications be built at the entrance to Newcastle Harbour. The gun emplacements here, surrounded by concrete walls, were erected between 1881 and 1886. These guns, kept fully operational throughout the 20C, were finally used against a Japanese submarine during the Second World War. The museum on this site houses a collection on nautical history in the region and includes the relics of the French Barque Adolphe, wrecked on the infamous Oyster Bank in 1904; the hull of the ship can be seen against the Stockton Breakwall.
Continue up Nobby Road to Nobbys Head.
In 1816, the then Nobbys Island, still separated from the mainland, became the location of a prison for recalcitrant female convicts. At about the same time, Captain Wallis ordered the building of the breakwater to link the island. Under brutal Major Morisset, work continued in the 1820s, until suspended by Governor Brisbane. The breakwater was finally completed in 1846. In 1854, a certain Colonel Barney of the Royal Engineers, convinced that the island was an obstruction to navigation, attempted to blow it up with two tonnes of gunpowder. Novocastrians protested and the demolition was halted, although 30 feet from the top were cut away. The present lighthouse was erected in 1857, when the coal fire previously used for navigation on Beacon Hill was extinguished. The lighthouse, built by Colonial Architect Alexander Dawson, is the oldest lighthouse in New South Wales installed with modern 'Trinity House' codes.
Return to town via the Shortland Esplanade, travelling
past the old Rock Baths, built in 1883 and known as
Soldiers Baths because of their use by the garrison at
Fort Scratchley. These baths fell into disrepair with the
opening in 1922 of the Ocean Baths to the south by
Newcastle Beach. Shortland Esplanade continues along the
beach past the Royal Newcastle Hospital, situated 
Bogey Hole sits at the edge of King Edward Park, one of the many attractive public parks throughout the city. This one includes sunken gardens, an ironwork rotunda from 1898, and a garden named in honour of Newcastle's American 'sister city', Arcadia, California.
At the top of the park off Reserve Road is the Obelisk, on the site of the settlement's first flour mill, the windmill of which was an important navigational marker from the 1820s until its demolition in 1847. In response to the demand for another marker on the site, the Obelisk was built in 1850. From here, citizens in 1866 watched one of the worst maritime disasters in Australian history, when on a single day five ships were blown onto the notorious Oyster Bank sandspit on the northern side of the harbour.
The Obelisk is also at the edge of the area known as
The Hill, from the early days the location of the best
houses and public buildings. 
The Hill is now dominated by the Newcastle Court House
on Church Street near Bolton Street. Built in 1890 by
Colonial Architect James Barnet and completed by W.L.
Vernon, the building is a well-proportioned example of
High Victorian Classical architecture. It is located on
what was originally the army parade ground and then the
first cricket ground in Newcastle. Around the corner on
Newcomen Street, within the walls of the present James
Fletcher Hospital, the Medical Superintendent's Residence
is an excellent example of an early garrison house with
verandah; it was built in 1841 to serve as officers'
quarters for the barracks. Diagonally across the street
from the Court House on the corner of Church and Bolton
Streets is the former Newcastle East Public School, home
of the oldest continuously existing school in Australia. A
school was on the site from 1816. The present structure is
an example of a rather loosely defined Federation Style
applied to public buildings, completed in 1912 by W.L.
Vernon, with Arts and Crafts-style proportions; the
alternating brick-and-stone bands are referred to as a
'blood and bandages' or 'bacon-rind' façade. The
city undertook a serious and successful renovation of the
building in 1981.
This block of Bolton Street, between Church and King Streets, contains two other exemplary buildings. Cohen's Bond Store, a five-storey warehouse, was one of the most significant commercial works of Frederick Menkens, built in 1901 of monochromatic dark brick. Only the elegant façade remains, with its dramatic arches and detailed cornice; behind is now a car park. In contrast, the corner building on King Street is the Court Chambers, a whimsical two-storey High Victorian office building designed by E.C. Yeomans in 1898. Almost every window and gable includes a different form of decoration, and the corner entrance is topped by the bust of a judge.
Further along Bolton Street, on the corner of Hunter Street is the sober ANZ Bank building, built by Scott and Green in 1914 in what is called an 'Inter-War Commercial Palazzo style'; while around the corner at nos 127-131 Scott Street between Bolton and Newcomen Streets is Frederick Menkens' most exuberant building, now the Air Force Club. Originally built in 1892 to house the offices and auction rooms of wine merchant Joseph Wood, it became the Longworth Institute, with art gallery and recital hall, in 1907. The elaborate decorative façade is the most fanciful indication of Menken's North German origins.
Turn south on Newcomen Street to return to The Hill.
At Kings Street is Claremont House, unique in Newcastle as
an intact Victorian residence in Georgian style. It was
built in the 1840s and was at one time the home of artist
Richard Read, who sold it to mining boss Alexander Brown
in 1843. It is a charming example of a two-storey timber
house with impressive verandah and ironwork balustrade.
About 300m further west on Church Street is St Mary's Star of the Sea Church, built in 1866 as the first Roman Catholic Church in the town. Around the corner on Brown and Tyrrell Streets is the historic Navigation Beacon Tower, erected in 1865 as one of a pair of navigational aids. One tower had a red light, and the other a white light, by which ships could steer a course through the heads into the harbour. Another project of Colonial Architect James Barnet, the towers were used until 1918, when they were made obsolete by other devices.
Tyrrell Street proceeds west to Darby Street and Civic Park, where it becomes Laman Street, in the area known as Cooks Hill. This area is elevated from the main centre of town, offering good views of the area to the ocean.
At no. 1 Laman Street is the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery (Tues-Sun, 10.00-17.00; t 02 4974 5100; free admission), a rather uninspiring contemporary building, opened by the Queen in 1977. The gallery houses the city's art collection, largely Australian works with many examples by Novocastrian native William Dobell, and has regularly changing exhibitions. Next door is the Newcastle Regional Library, formerly the War Memorial Culture Centre, which opened in 1957 with the art gallery and conservatorium of music.
At the corner of Laman and Dawson Streets, an
astonishingly Classical Baptist Tabernacle, built in 1890,
stands as testimony to architect Frederick Menkens' German
training in a variety of stylistic modes. One need only
compare this church, with its Corinthian columns, with
another of Menkens' designs, St Andrew's Presbyterian
Church, across the street on the other corner of Civic
Park. For this church, built in the same year as the
tabernacle, Menkens selected a more predictable Gothic
style, facing the entrance away from the park rather than
facing in and with a highly vertical spire.
In spacious Civic Park is the Captain James Cook Fountain,
the result of a sculptural competition in 1966. The
sculptor Margel Hinder has attempted to incorporate water
and non-water elements to signify, according to one
critic, 'the energy, vigour and metallic strength of
Newcastle'.
The Cooks Hill area was in the early Victorian era a
working-class residential neighbourhood, and some examples
of these domestic structures remain, most of them now used
as galleries or offices. Just as with the campaign to save
The Rocks in Sydney, however, these buildings only barely
escaped the wreckers' ball of the 1970s. The von Bertouch
Galleries, 1-7 Hanniford's Lane off Laman Street,
represents one of the first 'rescues' of these buildings
from demolition. In 1969, the campaign was able to save
these four terrace houses from the 1870s, and turned them
into the first commercial art gallery in Australia outside
the main cities. Also of historical interest in the area
is 'Leslieville', at no. 63 Union Street. Now the
headquarters of the Workers' Educational Association, this
Newcastle suburbs
Many of Newcastle's older suburbs, those that were
developed originally as mining villages, are well worth a
stroll, both for examples of 19C architecture and to visit
the Victorian-era parks, such as Lambton Park in Lambton,
created by ambitious local residents out of swamp and
scrubland. Other mining-village suburbs worth a visit are
Wallsend, established in 1859; Mayfield, in the 1880s the
location of fashionable homes and now the most
working-class neighbourhood; and Waratah, dating from the
1860s, now a students' neighbourhood.
Of particular interest is the very old suburb of Hamilton,
site of Newcastle Racecourse and Learmonth Park, an
Edwardian 'garden suburb'. Hamilton is now the most
multicultural community in Newcastle, with Beaumont Street
as its heart; the street is a good place to find ethnic
eateries and markets.
University of Newcastle
The Hunter Valley
Only 50km west of Newcastle and 200km north of Sydney, Cessnock (population 56,500) marks the beginning of the Hunter Valley, Australia's first centre for viticulture and still one of the leading wine-producing areas in the country. The region extends from Cessnock in the south to the area near the Upper Hunter River in the north, around the town of Scone. Dotted throughout are some of the oldest and still the best known Australian wineries. The region's tourism center is north of Cesnock on highway 82 in Pokolbin (455 Wine Country Dr.; t. 02 4993 6200). They can help with the arrangement of tours, should you wish to partake of the grape and not be worried about driving after drinking (the state's strict .05 limitations are enforced here as well!).
History of the Hunter Valley vineyards
The Hunter Valley was not settled until the 1820s when
explorer and pioneer John Howe blazed a trail from Windsor
through Singleton to Maitland on the Hunter River.
Wine-growing, bizarrely juxtaposed in the region with
coal-mining, was established here almost immediately upon
settlement. While vines accompanied the First Fleet and
early figures such as John Macarthur and Gregory Blaxland
had already established vineyards on their properties from
the earliest days of the colony, wine became a viable
Australian product only after the initiation of the Hunter
Valley vineyards.
James Busby (1810-71) was instrumental in the
establishment of the region for wine-growing. A remarkable
Scottish immigrant (son of the engineer of 'Busby's Bore'
fame in Sydney) with no previous knowledge of wine-making,
Busby decided before arriving in the country that
Australia held great promise for wine-producing. He set
out to learn all he could about viticulture, publishing in
1825, at the age of 24, A Treatise on the Culture of
the Vine, followed in 1830 by A Manual of Plain
Directions for Planting and Cultivating Vineyards and
for Making Wine in New South Wales. Busby was
granted 2000 acres near the Hunter River, and on a trip to
Europe in 1831, he assembled some 400 vine cuttings, both
French and Spanish, to be planted in the Sydney Botanic
Gardens upon his return in 1832, and distributed to
suitable growers throughout the colony. He left Australia
in
1833 for New Zealand, where he was instrumental in the
development of that colony. At that time, he turned over
the mantle of wine developer to Dr Henry Lindeman, founder
of the Lindeman label still in operation today, and George
Wyndham, founder of Wyndham Estates. In 1842, Lindeman, an
ex-navy doctor, purchased the property Cawarra, near
Paterson; by 1861, this estate produced some 5000 gallons
from his own vineyard and 30,000 gallons from grapes
purchased from neighbouring growers. The Cawarra Estate,
listed by the National Trust, with buildings from the
1880s and a wine cellar used from 1853 to 1918, still
stands in the Paterson River Valley, 3km north of
Gresford. (The property is a private residence, not open
to the public.)
The second half of the 19C was the golden era of Hunter
Valley wines, with an increase in yields for their white
table wines and recognition at international exhibitions.
By the turn of the century, however, South Australian
wines came to dominate the market, as Australian tastes
tended towards sweet and fortified wines, a situation that
continued until the 1970s. Hunter Valley whites,
especially Semillon varieties, continued to be produced,
but much of the land was turned back into grazing pasture,
and vineyards were consolidated under a few labels. In the
last twenty years, of course, all this has changed, as
Australian drinking habits have been transformed. An
enthusiastic wine culture, both at home and abroad, has
nurtured new vineyards as well as the expansion of the
established names. Along with Lindeman and Wyndham, these
names include Tyrell's, Drayton's, and Rothbury Estate.
Cessnock
Although wineries (and dining) are the real reason to visit the Hunter Valley, a few other points of interest can be found in the region. The Cessnock Regional Art Gallery mounts modest though interesting exhibits. They also offer art classes for children of various ages (t. 02 4991 6619; confirm the hours but open Tues. to Sun. 10.00-16.00).
30km southwest of Cessnock is the historic village of
Wollombi (an Aboriginal word for 'Meeting of the Waters'),
filled with sandstone buildings dating from the 1840s and
the Endeavour Museum, located in the 1866 Wollombi
Courthouse.
On the road northeast of Cessnock (route 132) is Kurri
Kurri (18km), which has an architecturally curious
three-storey turn-of-the-century pub, the Kurri Kurri
Hotel, on the corner of Land and Hampden Streets. Such
large verandah-and-ironwork hotels in quaint country
villages dot the Hunter Valley landscape, many dating from
the prosperous period before the country-wide economic
depression of the 1890s.
Maitland
Maitland, with a population of 16,800, is on the Hunter River, 28km west of Newcastle. There is a regular train service from Newcastle. Settled in 1818 when convicts were brought up the river to chop cedar trees, Maitland was a flourishing town by the 1840s; until the early 20C, Newcastle students had to travel to Maitland to attend high school. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser was established in 1843 and is the oldest surviving country newspaper in the state. The town's greatest claim to fame in the 20C was as the birthplace of the legendary boxer Les Darcy, who died tragically in America at 21 in 1917; and as the site of devastating floods in 1955.
The tourist
information office is at the corner of New
England Highway and High Street (t 02 4931 2800;
open 10.00-15.00). The entire inner city around High
Street, as well as several buildings on Church Street, are
listed as National Trust properties. Of note are 'Brough
House' and Grossman House, on Church Street, built as
mirror images adjoining each other by merchants Samuel
Owen and Isaac Becket in 1860-62. Brough House is now the
Maitland City Art
Gallery (t 02 4934 9859; Tues.-Sun.
10.00-17.00) and Grossman
House is a history museum (t 02 4933 6452; Sun
10.00-15.00). The Walka
Recreation and Wildlife Reserve is on the grounds of
the 19th c. immediately north of town. In addition
to being a good bird watching venue, it is a pleasant
place for a picnic; the remaining structures feature
ornate brickwork.
Other outstanding structures include 'Aberglasslyn', a
two-storey stone Regency house dating from the 1840s and
situated on the banks of the river; and 'Cintra', Regent
Street, an elegant homestead of the 1880s now open as a
bed and breakfast. At 1 High Street in East Maitland is
Fosters Farm, a small brick and stone farmhouse built in
1829 by ex-convict Samuel Clift.
Only 5km northeast of Maitland is the historic village of Morpeth, at one time the major port on the Hunter River and the seat of the bishops of Newcastle. Established as a river port from 1831-41, it developed on the property of Edward Close. The opening of the Great Northern Railway in 1857 bypassed Morpeth and caused Newcastle's emergence as the regional centre. The town consists of a surprising number of intact buildings from the 1850s, including Close's Georgian-style house 'Closebourne' and a charming courthouse (now a public library) dating from the 1860s as well as numerous shopfronts and verandahs.
From Maitland, the New England Highway (route 15)
continues through historic coal-mining towns such as
Singleton, home of the Australian
Infantry Corps Museum (t. 02 6575 0257; open
Wed.-Sun. 9.00-16.00; admission adults $8.00, concession
$5.00, children $3.00, members of armed services free),
and Muswellbrook and Scone, one of the largest
horsebreeding centres in the world.
20km north of Scone is Burning Mountain Nature Reserve,
site of an underground burning coal seam that has been
smouldering for a thousand years. Early settlers believed
it was a volcano.
Barrington Tops National Park
From Scone, you can take a largely unsealed road 80km
east towards Gloucester to reach this stunning mountain
park. More conveniently, you can travel from Maitland
north towards Gloucester, through the historic village of
Scone, famed for its convict-built Anglican Church of St
John, constructed of local clay bricks in 1833.
New England region
The New England Highway (route 15) northwest from
Newcastle leads inland through the region along the Great
Dividing Range designated since 1836 as New England. First
crossed by explorer John Oxley in 1818 on his way into
Queensland, this farming region sits on a high plateau
which leads to seasonal weather changes unlike those on
the warm northern coast of the state; the region extends
as far north as Warwick in Queensland. As a way to avoid
the most touristy parts of the coast, this route offers an
interesting alternative. Because of its escarpment and its
geological formation, the region is famous for its
fossicking possibilities. Jaspers, serpentine, quartz,
crystal and chalcedony are found throughout the
countryside, and the area around the town of Glen Innes
contains major deposits of sapphires, as well as tin. Some
diamond and gold- mining are also still in operation.
Driving through New England offers picturesque scenery,
with mountains, streams, and deep gorges on one side, and
black-soil plains planted with wheat and cotton on the
other. River fishing is also excellent. The rail from
Sydney travels daily along this route, ending at Armidale
(with bus connections to Inverell).
| Fossicking
can be a pleasant and occasionally remunerative
holiday entertainment. The rules are fairly
simple. Except for New
South Wales, where there are some complicated
provisos, the Northern
Territory, and South
Australia, a license similar to a fishing
license is required --WA,
QLD,
TAS.
Rummaging in streams or along beaches for gems and
minerals is perfectly legal as long as permission has
been granted by the landowner (where there is one) and
no machinery is used. Tools are
okay. Often the streams are far enough
beyond customary routes that overnight camping is
necessary, which is part of the allure. An on-line search will unearth a number of fossicking clubs. They are an excellent start and ready access to Australians at their most natural. There are also a number of tourist concerns catering to those interested in the activity. The gems are largely semi-precious, are found here and there across Australia, and include topaz (low tide at Killiecrakie Bay, Tas.), sapphire (the Bessie Fossicking area near the Blue Hollow Mine far western NSW and Glen Innes and Inverill, also NSW), garnet (Harts Range, NT, 125 km north east of Alice Springs), quartz, gold (the Victorian Gold Triangle), and tin among others. |
Major towns in New England include Tamworth (population
58,2,000), world-famous to country-music fans as the
Down-Under Nashville. Major recording studios for
Australia's thriving country music scene are established
here, and the week-long Country
Music Festival (t 02 6767 5300) occurs here every
year, ending on Australia Day weekend (end of January),
when the country music awards are presented. On a
historical note, Tamworth calls itself the 'city of
light', as it was the first city in the southern
hemisphere to be totally electrified, in 1888. The tourist information
office is at the corner of Peel and Murray Streets
(route 15; t 02 6767 5300). The office can provide
information on possible visits to country-music recording
studios in the city.
Armidale
A further 110km north on the New England Highway is
Armidale (population 23,600), a convenient and pleasant
place to stop over on the Sydney to Brisbane drive. Armidale
Visitor Centre, 82 Marsh Street , Armidale; t 02
6770 3888. The University of New England, formed as an
amalgamation of two university colleges in 1954, is
located 5km northwest of the city, and provides an
academic atmosphere in much of the town. The campus has a
number of impressive buildings, including 'Booloominbah',
a large three-storey residence built by J. Horbury Hunt in
1883. Author Thomas Keneally once taught here, as did the
detective novelist Robert Barnard. Native daughters
include the great poet Judith Wright, who was born at
nearby Thalgarrah Station; and contemporary poet Kaye
Mill, who wrote in one poem, 'Armidale flatly denies
time'. The town sits at 1000m high, and so has true
autumn, with attending colour changes of the area's many
trees.
In town, the New England Regional Art Museum, on Kentucky Street (t 02 6772 0332, Tues - Sat 10.00-16.00; free admission), contains the Hinton Collection, a substantial and significant collection of Australian art. Also in Kentucky Street is the Aboriginal Centre and Keeping Place (t 02 6771 3606, weekdays 09.00-16.00, weekends 10.00-16.00), which has regular exhibitions. In the centre of Armidale, at Dangar and Tingcombe Streets, is the Cathedral Church of St Peter Apostle and Martyr, a veritable extravaganza of brick in Gothic Revival style by J. Horbury Hunt (1871-78).
Route 78 east from Armidale leads to two national parks of
interest. 42km east is Oxley
Wild Rivers National Park (t 13000
72757), a vast (90,276 ha) expanse of gorges, valleys, and
stunning waterfalls, including Australia's highest (457m),
Wollomombi Falls. The park contains some 750 species of
plants. A further 40km east is New
England National Park (t 13000 72757), part of the
World Heritage listed rainforest parks of the northeast
section of the state. The park includes great views and
bushwalks, and provides some interesting cabin
accommodation in the grounds itself.
Another 38km north on the highway leads to the small
town of Guyra (population 2,000), which is an Aboriginal
word for 'fish may be caught'; indeed, the many local
streams provide excellent fishing opportunities. Tourist
information from chamber
of commerce, or from visitNSW
t 02 6779 1241. The town is situated on the highest part
of the Great Dividing Range (at 1320m), so rivers east of
the railway line flow towards the Pacific Ocean, those on
the west flow west to the Murray River and ultimately 
From Guyra, the highway proceeds north 60km to the
dairying and mining town of Glen Innes (population 8,600),
a centre for sapphire fossicking. The town includes many
fine examples of country-town hotels, defining the corners
of the street and including two-storey colonnaded
verandahs; the William's Club Hotel, on the corner of
Wentworth and Grey Streets, is a good example of this
vernacular style. The town also has Land of the Beardies
History House, an amusing folk museum with period rooms
housed in the town's first hospital. Tourist
information office, t 02 6730 2400.
As with so many other areas in Australia, Glen Innes is
immensely proud of its Scottish heritage, hence a number
of Celtic monuments and events: street signs in Gaelic,
the Australian Standing Stones monument on a hill above
town, Celtic Festivals in early May.
West of Glen Innes on route 38 some 67km is Inverell
(population 16,000), centre of sapphire mining. Industrial
diamonds, zircons, and tin are also mined in the area. Tourist information:
Water Towers Complex, Campbell Street, t 02 6722 1693. A
self-guided walk brochure is available from the
information centre, and sapphire fossicking trips can also
be arranged there.
Further west c75km is the small town of Bingara
(population 1,000), also a centre for mining, especially
gold and tourmalines. An interesting way to travel from
Inverell to Bingara is along the small road around Copeton
Dam (a section of the road is unsealed) to the road west
towards Keera along the Gwydir River; the area is filled
with small creeks and rivers and old mines.
The last town of any size in New South Wales on the
New England Highway is Tenterfield (population 7,000),
well-known as the birthplace of entertainer Peter Allen,
whose song 'Tenterfield Saddler' was an international hit
in the 1970s. The town's more serious claim to fame is as
the birthplace of Australian Federation. Here, on 24
October 1889, Sir Henry Parkes (1815-96) gave the famous Tenterfield
Oration, the speech that led to the move towards a
national convention and drafting of an Australian
constitution. These efforts culminated in federation of
the Australian states in 1901. The event is
commenorated at the Sir Henry Parkes Memorial
School of Arts, corner Manners and Rouse Streets
(t 02 6736 3592, dialy 10.00-17.00). On the
Woodenbong Road 29km northeast of Tenterfield is Bald Rock
National Park, with its enormous domed granite rock 213m
high. Also on this road is Boonoo Boonoo National Park,
with river, waterfall, and beautiful spring flowers. Tourist information:
Rouse Street.
The North Coast
The Pacific Highway continues north from Newcastle
through the state's most popular resorts and
holidaymakers' beach towns. The railway from Sydney and
Newcastle continues along the coastline, with a dip inland
at Wauchope (the closest station to Port Macquarie), all
the way to Brisbane.
The great attraction along this stretch is indeed the
extravagant number of beautiful beaches and inlets, as
well as the transformation to tropical terrain as one
nears the Queensland border. The towns, while having some
remnants of historical interest, are now largely geared
towards tourism and suburban living, and will be a
disappointment if not viewed in light of the heavenly
ocean and tropical landscapes surrounding most of them.
Port Stephens is actually the water inlet around which
these small communities are situated. This is an ideal
place to enjoy the charms of the Australian coast, without
the overwhelming hype of the more touristy places. At
Nelson Bay (population 5,400), boat hire and cruises are
available, and one can visit the historic lighthouse at
Nelson Head. Nude bathing is also allowed at Samurai
Beach. Nelson Bay is a great place to see dolphins, and
there are even dolphin watch cruises from the harbour.
From Hawks Nest, travel north c 30km on a dirt road to
Myall
Lakes National Park (t 13000 72757); or turn off
east of Bulahdelah on the Pacific Highway. These lakes,
the largest coastal lake system in the state, are popular
with campers and bushwalkers but not at all overdeveloped.
The park includes ocean beaches with headlands as well,
and is a superb waterbird habitat.
From Bulahdelah, continue north on the Pacific Highway,
past Alum Mountain, known not only for its enormous alum
deposits, but for an abundance of rock orchids. About 5km
north of here is the turnoff to see The Grandis, the
state's biggest tree, a eucalyptus grandis, 76m high and
2.7m wide. You can also travel from Myall Lakes along the
coastal route to the twin towns of Forster-Tuncurry, on
either side of the sea entrance of Wallis Lake.
Taree (population 26,000) is the next community en
route north, located on the Manning River. The town is
72km from Bulahdelah and 340km from Sydney. Popular poet
Les Murray is from this area, where his ancestors were
timber-cutters in the rich forests up 
Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie (population 45,300) is typical of the
tourist-geared towns along the coast. Tourist
information: Horton Street; t 02 6583 1293. While it
was founded in 1821 as a penal colony for repeat offenders
and recalcitrants, it became such a desirable 
Very few reminders of 'The Port's' early history remain,
only St Thomas the Apostle Church (1824-28), a Court House
(1869), and the Historical
Museum on Clarence Street (t 02 6583 1108; open
Mon.-Sat. 9.30-16.30. The town remained for much of the
20C a sleepy little fishing village with a harbour too
unreliable for real commercial development. Tourists and
retirees seeking warmer climes in the 1970s caused the
first real boom for the region. The beaches in the area,
especially Crowdy Bay to the south, and Hat Head to the
north, are what attract visitors; from Port Macquarie
north, the coast becomes increasingly lush and tropical.
While tourism means that some of the tackier holiday
'attractions' begin to make an appearance here, a few of
the more serious venues are worth a visit.
Kooloonbung Creek Nature Park (free admission), near the
centre of town, is a lovely patch of rainforest in the
midst of suburbia. The Sea
Acres Rainforest Centre (t 02 6582 3355, daily
09.00-16.30), on the Pacific Highway, is a serious display
of information about the coastal rainforest regions,
including a 1.3km-long boardwalk (easy wheelchair access)
through the adjacent rainforest floor and canopy. Port
Macquarie is also home to Australia's only Koala Hospital
(t 02 6584 1522, feeding and display at 15.00), housed on
the grounds of a 19C homestead, Roto, which can also be
visited.
 |
The Akubra hat holds a place in Australian life comparable to that of the Stetson in America; it is an icon of the bush, an essential element of Australian dress, at least among the 'jackeroos' and other men of the countryside. The famous slouch hat of the Australian soldier is also made by the Akubra company. Known as 'the twelve-rabbit hat', because most of them are made from rabbit-fur felt, the style that would eventually become known as the Akubra was developed in the early 1870s by Benjamin Dunkerley, first in Tasmania and then in Sydney. The Dunkerley Hat Mills was joined by Stephen Keir, who in 1918 began branding the hat 'Akubra', an Aboriginal word for headdress. In the early 1950s, the company obtained a coveted manufacturing agreement with Stetson in the United States, at a time when most Australian men still wore a hat daily, even in the city. In the 1970s, as hat-wearing fell out of favour with urban folk, the company moved to Kempsey, where it still produces a variety of Akubra headgear, the most prevalent ones readily identifiable as 'The Man from Snowy River' or mounted stockman look. |
47km northwest along the road up the Macleay River is Bellbrook, a National Trust village with a famous old pub.
The area around Bellbrook includes an initiation ground of the Thungutti Aboriginal group, still highly sacred and inaccessible to the public. Another Aboriginal site is at Mount Anderson, northeast of the village; the mountain is a clearly visible landmark of the area, over 850m high. The Aboriginal name for the mountain is 'burrelbulai', or 'cooking-grill mountain', referring to a myth involving a green-twig frame used to grill a large eel from the mountain stream.
Returning to the coast, a small road northeast from Kempsey (right on Gill Street to South West Rocks Road) leads to the beachside community of South West Rocks (population 4,800), on the stunningly beautiful Trial Bay. The area is surrounded by world-class surfing beaches. On the headlands 3km east of the town is Trial Bay Gaol and Arakoon National Park (t.13000 72757). The gaol was built in 1886, and is now a small museum; it stands dramatically as a ruin on a peninsula looking out to sea. It was a prison for German internees during the First World War, and a monument to these prisoners is also on site.
Nambucca Heads houses a history museum at The Headland (t. 02 6568 6380; open Wed., Sat. and Sun !4.00-16.00; admission adults $1.00, children $.50) with local history and Aboriginal artefacts; and Gordon Park Arboretum on Wellington Drive, a small rainforest with boardwalks in the heart of town. Local lookouts, most especially Yarrahapinni Lookout, provide spectacular views of the area, and pleasant river cruises aboard the Nambucca Princess can be booked from the information centre. The area's beaches are some of the best surfing spots in the state.
Some 25km further north turn west onto The Waterfall
Way (route 78); pass through the pleasant village of
Bellingen, with its historical streetscape and an
important artsy-craftsy market the third Saturday of each
month, to reach, 41km west, Dorrigo
National Park (t 13000 72757), another of the
World-Heritage-listed rainforests of the region.
To the west of Dorrigo c 60km is a rugged and remote
area, Guy
Fawkes River National Park (t 13000 72757), a great
place for spectacular views, camping and hard bush-walks.
(Alternatively, you can reach the park via Armidale, 100km
southwest). At Ebor Falls, on the edge of the park, the
Guy Fawkes River plunges spectacularly off the tablelands.
Coffs Harbour
Return to the Pacific Highway and continue north c
25km to Coffs Harbour (population 68,400). Coffs
Harbour airport has direct flights from Sydney and
Brisbane. At this point, the Great Dividing Range reaches
the sea for the only time. Like Port 
The settlement's name is a corruption of Korff's Harbour, a reference to John Korff, a sailor who sheltered near here in 1847. The original settlers in the 1860s and 1870s depended upon the cedar industry and shipping from the town's harbour. The township was laid out in 1887, and the wharf, which shipped timber and other products around the world, was built in 1892. The railway arrived in 1915, marking the end of the port's importance. The town's resort status dates from the early days of the century; in They're a Weird Mob (1957), the main character 'Nino Culotta' spends his honeymoon here, learning to 'crack a wave'. The real tourist boom began in the 1970s, and does not appear to be abating.
The nicest place to visit in town, aside from the surrounding surf-beaches, is the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden, on Hardacre Street (t. 02 6648 4188; hours 9.00-17.00; admission free). Located near the centre of town, the park has great displays and walks through the sub-tropical vegetation of the coast. North of the harbour, one can visit Muttonbird Island, where thousands of these birds breed (see the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, for more on muttonbirds). The National Marine Science Centre's Aquarium (t. 02 6649 3900; open weekdays and holidays 10.00-16.00) is an interesting venue as well. It's displays describe the affect of the confluence of the warm and cooler ocean currents of the Solitary Islands Marine Park affect the marine life here.
The next 84km north along the highway travels inland
to Grafton, while superb and usually isolated surfing
beaches can be reached by small side roads. 26km north of
Coff's Harbour, the village of Woolgoolga includes a
gleaming Sikh Temple, the Guru Nanak Temple (not to be
confused with the touristy Raj Mahal Indian Centre also in
town), evidence of a large Indian population that accounts
for the excellent Indian food available here.
Grafton
Grafton (population 11,400) lies on the Clarence River at the junction of the Pacific and Gwydir Highways; the river, in fact, divides the suburb of South Grafton from the centre of town, and was an obstacle to the completion of the railway until 1932, when a double-deck bridge was completed connecting the two sides. The town is 663km north of Sydney. Tourist Centre, Pacific Highway, t 02 6642 4677.
The river provided the means for early settlement in the area; in the 1830s, exploration began as timber-getters arrived, and soon cattle stations were established. The town was proclaimed in 1849, named after then--Governor Fitzroy's grandfather, the Duke of Grafton. Poet Henry Kendall lived here as a child in the 1850s, as did adventure writer Ion Idriess in the 1890s. Writer Edwin James Brady ran a newspaper here in the 1900s with the wonderful name of the Grafton Grip.
Now Grafton is considered a nice country town, filled
with substantial (if predictable) 19C architecture, and
famed for its glorious jacaranda and flame-trees lining
the streets. In late October, the Jacaranda Festival takes
place when the brilliantly coloured trees are in bloom. Of
the historical buildings, the most interesting are the
Grafton Gaol, designed in 1893 by H.A. Wiltshire, an
elaborate fortress of more imposing proportions than most
country gaols; Schaeffer
House (open Tues-Thurs and Sun 13.00-16.00; t 02
6642 5212), 192 Fitzroy Street, run by the National Trust
as a small regional museum; and Prentice
House (open Tues-Sat. 10.00-16.00; t 02 6642 3177), 158 Fitzroy Street,
which houses a fine provincial art collection.
On Victoria Street is Christ Church Cathedral, designed in
the 1880s by John Horbury Hunt, the Canadian architect
responsible for the cathedral in Newcastle; the interior
of this cathedral is particularly pleasant, with louvred
aisle windows as a concession to the area's tropical
climate. Also in this block of buildings are three civic
buildings designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet: the
Courthouse, 1877-80, of apricot brick; the former Police
Station; and the elegant Post Office, built in 1874 with
clock and bell tower. The notable aspect of the buildings
in this historical precinct is that they are remarkably
intact and well-preserved examples of this period.
In the middle of the Clarence River is Susan Island, which
is home to a huge colony of fruit bats, or Flying Foxes.
These extraordinary creatures are quite common along the
coast, and even in Sydney; with a wing-span of nearly a
metre and with their screeching cry, they can make a
rather terrifying sight when they take off at night, but
they are harmless, although devastating to fruit orchards
and their waste a bother to anyone wishing to be beneath
their daylong rousts.
The highway north now heads back towards the coastline, through Maclean (population 2,600), still on the Clarence River, and home of a large fishing and prawning fleet. These fishermen, along with those in Iluka and Yamba, 21km east, provide about 20 per cent of the state's seafood. The town plays up its Scottish heritage, hosting a Highland Gathering at Easter time. Near Iluka is Woombah Coffee Plantation, the world's southernmost coffee plantation. From Yamba, the little town of Angourie is 5km south; here is a fascinating freshwater pool of unknown depth, only 50m from the ocean, as well as a surf beach with quite enormous waves and conditions for experienced surfers only.
To the north of Iluka, the Bundjalung
National Park (t 13000 72757) stretches along the
coast for 38km of stupendous beaches. The park also
preserves one of the last wild coastal rivers, the Esk, as
well as mangrove flats, cypress swamps and, at Woody Head,
an exceedingly rare coastal rainforest. This region also
had a relatively substantial Aboriginal population;
evidence of indigenous habitation can be found in many
forms, some of them accessible to the public and some not.
Consult the park's information centre to determine which
Aboriginal sites are available to the public.
At Woodburn, 98km north of Grafton, the highway diverges
west to Lismore, and east 10km to Evans Head, another
holiday and fishing resort with a great seafood restaurant
run by the trawler fishermen's co-operative; it is also
known for its safe surf beaches and riverflats. Woodburn
was the site of the settlement of New Italy, established
in the 1880s by a group of Italians from Treviso who had
embarked on the abortive scheme to form a colony in New
Ireland (New Guinea). After much travail, these travellers
were rescued by the New South Wales government and allowed
to select land here on the Richmond River. While the
colony lasted intact for several years, by the 1930s most
of the new generation had moved on to other parts of
Australia.
Just north of Evans Head and east of Woodburn is Broadwater
National Park (t 13000 72757), with 8km of beach and
a walking track around Salty Lagoon, a swamp forest.
Unusual rock formations and small caves have been created
by wave erosion.
At this point, you can continue north on the Pacific
Highway 36km to Ballina (population 10,300) past some
excellent surf beaches; the town itself, on the Richmond
River, is a quiet fishing village with a Maritime
Museum/Tourist Office (t 02 6681 
Lismore
Lismore (population 29,400) is the commercial centre of this exquisitely fertile rural region known incomprehensibly as 'The Big Scrub', apparently because of geological oddities engendered by prehistoric volcanic activities here. Tourist information is at the Wilson's River Heritage Centre, on the corner of Ballina and Molesworth Streets, t 02 6626 0100.
Situated on Wilson's River, the town grew in the 1870s as a centre for the timber industry, and then to accommodate dairy and fruit farming. It continued as a thriving rural community until the 1970s, when the original 'hippies' and serious commune-dwellers discovered the tranquillity and fecundity of the tropical surroundings. These alternative New Age sorts, some now converted even more primitively into 'Ferals', have somewhat transformed the community style; they have now been joined by an active and committed environmentalist contingent, intent on saving the rainforests and other wilderness areas.
Given its current status at the more cultivated end of
'hippie culture', with all the attendant paraphernalia of
arts and crafts and remnants of psychedelia, it seems
incongruous to find in Lismore itself some well-preserved
examples of 19C rectitude and prosperity: a Classical
Revival courthouse from 1888; St Carthage's Catholic
Cathedral, believed to be designed by Wardell and Denning
with a spacious Victorian interior; and an imposing brick
Post Office from 1879, complete with clock tower. The Regional
Art Gallery will re-open in a new building in late
2017 (t 02 6622 2209).
As will be evident from a regional map, the area
around Lismore is filled with a maze of small roads
traversing the wilds of this 
That Nimbin, 30km north of Lismore, is officially the
sister city of Woodstock, New York, should give a good
indication of its public character. In 1973, Nimbin held
an Aquarius Festival that established its
near-mythological stature as the Woodstock of Australia.
Indeed, the place does appear to be stuck in a Seventies
time warp, with psychedelic shopfronts and herbal
tearooms. Even the local Aboriginal legends seem to
enhance this cosmic atmosphere: at nearby Nimbin Rocks, an
outcropping of giant stones surrounding a forest, the
local Bundjalung group believe that a little man named
Nyimbunje, possessor of supernatural powers, is buried,
thereby imbuing the place with a magical aura.
From Ballina, the Pacific Highway continues north 36km into Byron Bay; or take the coastal route, 35km, along another stretch of beautiful surf beaches through the relaxed village of Lennox Head. From Lismore, take the road through Bangalow and into Byron Bay (population 9,000). The Tourist Information Office is in the Stationmaster's Cottage , 69 Jonson Street, t 02 6680 8558. Novelist Craig McGregor, who lived here for many years, provides a great description of this well-known spot:
Byron Bay--an enormous, limitless, crescent-shaped sweep of seawater, fringed with white sand, culminating in a high rocky cape and the virginal white phallus of the lighthouse. The township is a mess of galvanised iron roofs fractured by Norfolk Island pines. Looking north across the bay...past the trails of Brunswick Heads prawn trawlers heading for home, a jagged backdrop of mountains dwindles away into Queensland.
Cape
Byron, 3km southeast, is the site of the lighthouse,
the most powerful on the eastern coast, built in 1901 in
the then-new method of concrete block. The cape itself-the
most easterly point on the Australian continent-was named
by Captain Cook as he sailed by on 15 May 1770, in honour
of the navigator John Byron, Lord Byron's grandfather. Byron Bay is
renowned world-wide to surfers, and has recently become
the summer resort of the rich and famous from 'down South'
in Sydney; people such as Crocodile Dundee's Paul Hogan
now have homes here.
It is conveniently accessible by train and bus from both
north and south. Given this glitzy reincarnation, it is
hard to imagine that the township used to be considered an
ugly working-class community, known primarily for its
abattoir and as the end of a camel track. While the
high-rises of Queensland's Surfer's Paradise can actually
be seen from the hills in town, and the stunning beaches 
Another 32km north is Murwillumbah (population 8,000).
The town sits on the Tweed River, 10km south of the
Queensland border, and 882km north of Sydney. The name
derives from an Aboriginal word meaning either 'place of
many possums' or 'people's campground'. Bob Ellis (b.
1942), journalist and screenwriter of The Year My
Voice Broke and The Nostradamus Kid, was
born here and grew up in nearby Lismore. The most
prominent building in town is the Australian Hotel, on the
corner of Wharf and Commercial Road. It is one of the few
remaining timber weatherboard hotels in the area, built in
1912, with a verandah colonnade extending to the street
kerb. The Tweed
River Regional Art Gallery (open Wed-Sun,
10.00-17.00, t 02 6670 2790) on Queensland Road has a
surprisingly good collection of regional and international
art and craft and hosts the Douglas Moran Portrait Prize.
Tourist
information office on the corner of the Pacific
Highway and Alma Street, t 02 6672 1340.
Of greatest interest in the area is Wollumbin/Mount
Warning National Park (t 13000 72757), 12km southwest of
Murwillumbah off the Murwillumbah-Kyogle Road. The top of
this volcanic mountain is the first place to see the sun
rise in Australia. The name was given to it by Captain
Cook, who nearly ran aground at Point Danger, on the state
border, from where this prominent mountain could be seen
to warn later navigators. Now only half of its original
height, Mount Warning is one of the earth's most ancient
volcanoes; the many walking tracks in the park provide
fantastic views of rainforest and the surrounding
countryside.
From Murwillumbah, it is about 30km via the Pacific Highway to Tweed Heads (population 7,500). Tourist information on the Pacific Highway, t 07 5536 6737. While this is the last settlement in New South Wales, the town is actually a twin city of Coolangatta in Queensland, and is for all intents and purposes a part of the Gold Coast. The appearance of a Big Thing, in this case a Giant Avocado at Avocado Adventureland, 15km south of town, is a good sign that tourist entrapment is beginning. The town is filled with gambling clubs and casinos.
One interesting place to visit is the Minjungbal
Aboriginal Cultural Museum (open daily 10.00-15.00;
t 07 5524 2109; admission adults $15.00 concession $7.50),
Kirkwood Road in South Tweed Heads. It is run by the local
Aboriginal Council, and includes displays and videos about
pre-contact Aboriginal life in the region. In the bushland
nearby is a bora ring, a sacred initiation site.
Straddling the state line at Point Danger is the Captain
Cook Memorial, erected in 1970 to commemorate the
bicentenary of Cook's first voyage. The monument is topped
by a lighthouse containing a laser-beam light visible 35km
out to sea. A replica of the capstan of Captain Cook's
ship Endeavour is here as well, made from the ballast Cook
dumped when the ship ran aground further up the coast on
the Great Barrier Reef; this ballast was recovered along
with the ship's cannons in 1968.
Western interior ~ Blue Mountains to Broken Hill
The Western Suburbs of Sydney have already been
discussed in the main Sydney section. From Penrith, the M4
road continues west across the Nepean River and joins at
Glenbrook with the Great Western Highway (route 32) again.
This road now leads into the Blue Mountains and onto the
plains at Bathurst.
The Sydney trains also travel as far as the Blue
Mountains, a delightful way to venture into this region,
Sydney's favoured holiday spot for 150 years, offering
cooler temperatures in the summer and wintry weather in
July.
The Great Dividing range formed as the Kosciuszko
Uplift in the Pliocene Epoch. The geological event
affected Australia from Cape York (in fact from Papua New
Guinea south) in an arch along the eastern seaboard to the
Victoria-South Australia border. The Dividing Range's
highland regions are generally about 800 to 1000m above
sea level. The mountainous areas were formed by granite
intrusion beneath the sedimentary rocks and often reach
elevations of 2000m.
Blue Mountains
The remarkable valleys and lookouts of the Blue
Mountains were caused as the sandstone surface eroded to
expose Permian shale and coal beneath. These softer
materials eroded more quickly, undercutting the sandstone
to produce cavities, overhangs and vertical faces. The
currency of advances in geological science can be noted
here. Charles Darwin visited the area in 1836. Unable to
conceive of the extreme geological time frame in which
erosion could work, he assumed that the land was formed as
a coastline. The gradual action of erosion has allowed
archaic species of pine and fern to persist here.
The eroded plateau takes its name from the observed blue
tint of both distant objects and haze. The volatile oils
of the eucalypt and tee tree suspended in the air refracts
light more in the low wave-lengths, causing the marked
blue appearance, an effect called Rayleigh Scattering.
While forays into these ranges began with Watkin Tench and
his exploratory party in 1789, the mountains were first
crossed by Gregory Blaxland, surveyor William Lawson, the
young William Charles Wentworth and four convicts in 1813.
As with several earlier attempts, the need for new pasture
land prompted the effort. Unlike these early explorations,
which sought passage along the water courses, Blaxland and
Lawson suggested that the party travel along the ridges.
The current road and rail lines follow their passage,
ascending near Glenbrook to the tableland around Wentworth
Falls. To this point the ridge is never very wide. Shortly
beyond the falls are sheer sandstone walls dropping 300m
to the Jamison Valley.
The Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth party continued as far
as the meadows below Mount York. George W. Evans followed
their course later in the same year, eventually reaching
Lithgow and the plains at Bathurst.
Governor Macquarie then commissioned William Cox to
construct a road following this route through the
mountains. Incredibly, Cox completed the road within six
months. The Governor travelled the route shortly
thereafter, heading a vice-regal party in 1815 which
included artist John William Lewin (1770-1819). Of the 20
or so watercolours Lewin painted, 15 survived in Captain
Henry Antill's journal. These are now at the Mitchell
Library in Sydney and are occasionally on display. In
addition to his work on birds, butterflies and sporting
events, Lewin is mentioned as the first artist to depict
Australian scenes without many of the encumbering
conventions of British painting, so his eucalypts look
like gum trees in an Australian landscape rather than oaks
in composed British scenery.
An artist of a thoroughly different era, Norman Lindsay (1879-1969), had his studio near Springwood (the address is now Faulconbridge, the next settlement along the Great Western Highway). As the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum (14 Norman Lindsay Crescent; open daily 10.00-16.00; t 02 4751 1067; admission adults $17.00, concession $14.00, children $10.00), it is now open to the public, showing Lindsay's sculpture as well as the bacchanalian illustrations so easily recognised as Lindsay's. Many British visitors will recall more readily his children's story, The Magic Pudding.
The railway stops at Wentworth Falls, a good
starting-point for the day visitor wanting to take in some
of the scenery. The falls area was first known as
Weatherboard Hut, after William Cox's slab huts built here
in 1814. Also here is Yester Grange
(t 02 4757 1110), a historic homestead built in 1888, now
an art gallery and tea room with excellent gardens. It is
a pleasant and simple walk to the falls themselves. Be
warned, however: if you decide to climb down the
precipitous cliffside steps for a further bushwalk, the
route back to the top is long and arduous! It is
definitely worth it for the exquisite views, but be
prepared for a good 7-10km hike.
Katoomba
For those coming by train, the logical stopping point is Katoomba (population 8,000). The name derives from the Aboriginal word 'Kedumba', for 'shiny, falling water'. From this hamlet the Katoomba Skyway, built in 1958 over the mountain gorge above Cooks Crossing, and the Scenic Railway (it has been a tourist attraction since the 1880s), descend into the valley. The 45-degree angle makes this a hair-raising trip!
Katoomba is filled with tea rooms, restaurants and guest houses, some of them dating from the Victorian era of holiday travel. One of the loveliest experiences at many of these houses is the Blue Mountains Yulefest, held in July--that is, in the winter--when a Northern Hemisphere Christmas feast makes sense. Such an event makes for a nice winter outing, especially if the area has some snow (a not uncommon occurrence in July).
Katoomba Falls, Echo Point, the Three Sisters and Witches
Leap Falls are all beautiful. The Three Sisters, for over
a century the most famous of the region's characteristic
rock formations, is floodlit at night. Maps of the
numerous trails are available at the Information
Centre at Echo Point.
A less heavily visited area is just beyond Katoomba at Blackheath, also a rail stop on the Sydney route. Starting at the National Parks and Wildlife Services Blue Mountains Heritage Centre on Govett's Leap Road (t 02 4787 8877; open Mon.-Fri. 9.00-16.30), the Fairfax Heritage Track has wheelchair access to Grose Valley and Bridal Veil Falls.
Charles Darwin's walk in this area was from Blackheath to Govett's Leap. Govett, by the way, was not as legend sometimes has it a bushranger who rode his horse over the cliff to die rather than be captured. Rather, Govett was a surveyor with a Scottish ear, a leap being a waterfall in that language. In any event, Govett's Leap, sometimes called Bridal Veil Falls, is a spectacular view. Artists such as the early adventurer Augustus Earle (1793-1838) have made magnificent paintings of the place, and early photographers often depicted genteel tourists standing at this location. Walking farther to the picnic area at Evans Lookout provides more or less continuous views.
The Open Garden Scheme flourishes in the area,
particularly in the spring. The Mount
Tomah Botanic Garden (t 02 4567 3000, open
10.00-16.00 March-Sept; 10.00-17.00 Oct-Feb), on Bells
Line Road, is one of the Sydney Botanic Garden outposts.
It is open daily. Both gardens are across the Grose Valley
via the Darling causeway between Mount Victoria and Bell
or on Bells Line Road from Lithgow.
Except for winter (June through August), the area is well
travelled. Fellow bushwalkers and trekkers can be depended
upon for suggested walks, eateries, routes and directions.
Brochures and assistance can be had through the Blue
Mountains Visitor Information Centre.
The road past Katoomba and Blackheath passes through
Hartley on its way to Lithgow, 40km west. Hartley was the
first settlement (1832) west of the Blue Mountains. Many
of its older buildings date from the 1840s. Near here the
forest gives way to low scrub, grasses and intermittent
eucalypts.
Lithgow
Lithgow (population 20,100) is at the westernmost edge of the Blue Mountains proper. The town came into being as an important centre of coal-mining in the mid-19C, and was renowned as Australia's first producer of steel. Tourist information: 285 Main Street, t 02 6350 3230.
A sudden drop in elevation revealed a coal bed below
the Hawkesbury sandstone and Narrabeen shales which
characterise the 
The coal seam, which is still in production, was
discovered in 1841 by Thomas Brown who built Eskbank House (t
02 6351 3557; open Thurs-Mon 10.00-16.00; admission adults
$7.00, concession $5.00, Lithgow residents about half
that). The house is a simple four rooms with a surrounding
verandah and courtyards, hexagonal garden house and
stables.
In keeping with the origins of the town, a number of
industrial displays are open to visitors as well. The Zig-Zag steam
railway, 10km east of town, in Clarence (t 02 6353
1795; passenger service re-opens in late 2017) has been
restored by local rail buffs. Designed by Chief of
Railways John Whitton, it was an acclaimed feat of
engineering when it opened in 1869. The ride offers
wonderful scenic views and crosses three viaducts. The
ironworks blast furnace site is near Eskbank House. The
pottery kiln on Hassan Street is well preserved. It fired
some glazed pottery but terracotta pipe and bricks were
its primary products. Established in 1875, the plant was
closed in 1908.
Formed of limestone and slate in the upper Silurian
period, the caves feature remarkable stalactites and
stalagmites and fantastic arches and chambers. The Grand
Arch is over 130m long, between 12 and 20m high and
equally wide. The larger Devil's Coachhouse is more than
80m high, 120m long and 35m across.
In 1866 the Jenolan
Caves
Reserve was established in an attempt to protect the
caves' environment, but they remained one of the most
popular tourist destinations. Electric lighting and as
many as 2000 visitors a day seriously eroded the caves's
natural formations. Still the area remains a popular site,
with walking tracks and roads in the region, as well as
good educational displays about the caves themselves.
Guest houses and restaurants are also prevalent around the
site. (Guided tours of the five caves are conducted at various
though frequent intervals; admission $40.00 or
45.00, concession and children $27.00 or $31.50; for more
information t 02 6359 3924.
Bathurst
The next town beyond Lithgow is Bathurst (population
12,200). On the Macquarie River, it is near the site from
which G.W. Evans elected to end his exploration and where
William Cox's road terminated. The town was Australia's
first inland settlement in 1815, named for Lord Bathurst,
Secretary for War and the Colonies. Despite having a coach
service from 1824 (it was a 24-hour journey in 12- to
15-mile intervals), the town's population was meagre until
gold was discovered in the 1850s by an Aboriginal employed
on a property near the Turon River immediately north of
the city. Tourist
information office, 1 Kendall Ave; t 02 6332
1444.
Except for the sandstone of Government House (built c
1820), red brick from Lithgow predominates. The Courthouse
was built by David Jones whose style is recognisably
consistent in his design for the Goulburn Courthouse. A
National Trust house at 321 Russell Street, Miss
Traill's House, (t 02 6332 4232; weekends and
holidays 12.00-15.30; admission adults $10.00, concession
$8.00, children $6.00) is a picturesque Georgian cottage
(c 1845) with gardens.
St Stanislaw College is the oldest Catholic boarding
school in the country, built in 1873 and enlarged
occasionally since. Of the other areas of particular note
here, the entrance to town has lovely poplars lining the
road. The showground's brick gatehouse and timber
pavilions are from the 1880s.
The town also has a particularly good regional art
gallery, at 70-78 Keppel Street (t 02 6333
6555; Tues through Saturdays 10.00-17.00; Sun
11.00-14.00; free admission), with an emphasis on 20C
Australian art, especially the paintings of Lloyd Rees
(1895-1987). The Bathurst
and District Historical Museum, Russell Street
(t 02 6330 8455; Tues.-Sat. 10.00-16.00,
Sun.11.00-14.00; admission adults $3.00, concession and
children $1.00) contains displays of the town's history,
including the discovery of gold.
Bathurst was also the birthplace of Ben Chifley (1885-1951), Labor Prime Minister 1945-49. It was during Chifley's term that the great Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme was initiated, and 'Australia's own automobile', the Holden, first came off the assembly line. Chifley's Cottage (t 02 6332 4755; tours offered Sat. and Sun. 10.00 and 12.00; admission adults $13.00, concession $9.00 children $5.00) at 10 Busby Street, was his lifelong home, and contains artefacts from his life and career.
To the south of Bathurst, 72km along the small Bathurst-Goulbourn Road, you find Abercrombie River National Park and Caves (t 13000 72757), well worth the trip for cave lovers. The caves are set in 2200 ha of wildlife sanctuary; some 80 other caves are scattered throughout the park, discovered in the 1820s by European settlers. The main caves contain the Arch, the biggest natural limestone arch in the Southern hemisphere. Cave tours are scheduled regularly and camping facilities are available.
At Bathurst the main road divides, south to Cowra,
Young, Cootamundra, Wagga Wagga and eventually
Albury/Wodonga; north to Orange, Dubbo and Bourke or
Broken Hill.
South from Bathurst
56km west of Cowra on the Mid-Western Highway is Grenfell (population 900), birthplace of national literary icon Henry Lawson. Every year in June (Lawson was born on 17 June 1867), this tiny town hosts the Henry Lawson Festival of Arts (t. 02 6343 2855), attracting some of the best Australian writers and literary figures for readings and performances. The event is capped by the Guinea Pig Races on the final day of the festival. Grenfell loves these races so much, the town also hosts the guinea pigs for a run on Easter Sunday.
Further south c 70km is Young (population 6900), yet another gold-mining town. Now a centre of cherry and prune orchards, its railway station is quaint and sits in a pleasant park. Tourist information office, Olympic Way, t 02 6382 3394. Every year, the first case of cherries from Young (in December) is auctioned off for charity, often raising $10,000 or more. Young cherries are a special Christmas treat throughout the state.
North from Bathurst
The Mitchell Highway from Bathurst continues west and after c 56km passes through the prosperous old town of Orange (population 40,000). The area was named by explorer General T.L. Mitchell, in honour of the Prince of Orange, later King of the Netherlands. An obelisk in honour of Orange's most famous native son, A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson, has been erected in the town, and every year his birthday, 17 February, is celebrated with a writers' competition sponsored by the local library. The poet Kenneth Slessor was also born here in 1901. Tourist information: Civic Gardens, Byng Street; t 02 6361 5226.
The early gold discoveries at nearby Ophir and Hill End made Orange a wealthy town in the 1850s, evident in the number of substantial and elegant houses and public structures in the area. Of special interest are Bowen Terrace, 3-25 Bathurst Road on the southern approach to town, a rare example of a country town terrace, built in 1872 with stuccoed brick and a continuous roof of corrugated iron. Beautiful examples of fancy ironwork occur at 'Kangaroobie', Molong Road, with encircling verandahs and carved interior woodwork; and at 'Ammerdown', off Molong Road, built in 1906 with polychrome brickwork and cast-iron grates; these are both private residences, not open to the public. In the city centre are excellent Victorian public buildings, including a James Barnet Courthouse (1882) and two notable brickwork churches, St Joseph's (1870) by Edward Gell, and Holy Trinity by Thomas Rowe (1879). On Byng Street near the information centre is another of the state's good regional art galleries (t 02 6361 5136; open daily 10.00-16.00), including the Mary Turner Collection of Australian paintings.
Today, Orange is a centre of the district's
wine-growing interests; the Visitors' Centre
provides information on winery and food tours to the
surrounding region. In April, the 'Food of Orange
District' (FOOD) festival takes place.
From Orange, travel northwest on the Mitchell Highway
(route 32) through agricultural country. The small town of
Wellington (population 4,5000) has an interesting curved
main street, with many early shopfronts. Tourist
information: Cameron Park, t 02 6845 1733. Nine
kilometres from town are Wellington Caves, with very large
stalactite formations and rare cave coral.
Another 50km northwest is Dubbo (population 40,900). Tourist
information: 232 Macquarie Street, t 02 6801
4450. An 
Beyond Dubbo the land becomes quite arid, the scrub giving way to tufted grasses and occasional acacias. The Macquarie River ends in a marsh north of Nyngan. Bourke, 350km to the northwest of Dubbo, is a wool processing centre on the Darling River. Tourist information t 02 6872 1321. The area was explored by Charles Sturt via the river in 1829 and again by T.L. Mitchell in 1835. The stockade Mitchell built on Eight Mile Lagoon is about 10km southwest of Bourke. The phrase 'Back o' Bourke' means something like beyond civilisation. Past Bourke the outback, the great red centre of the continent, begins, sparsely watered with scrubby trees and virtually no ground cover. 260km north is Cunnamulla in Queensland. Bourke is the site of Fred Hollows' grave and memorial, in the cemetery on Cobar Street. Fred Hollows (1929-93) was a great Australian character and world-famous opthamologist who established eye clinics in Third World countries and in Aboriginal communities. His affinity for, and assistance to, oppressed people led to the admiration of many Aboriginal groups, especially those around Bourke. Hollows' work continues through the Fred Hollows Foundation.
To the west of Nyngan another 600km lies Broken Hill
(population 18,500). Tourist
information office, on the corner of Blende and
Bromide Streets, t 08 8080 3560. Broken Hill actually
looks more towards the nearer ports of South Australia
than New South Wales; it is 50km from the South Australian
border, and it operates on Central Standard Time, one-half
hour behind Sydney. The Broken Hill train leaves Sydney
every Tuesday afternoon, arriving in Broken Hill on
Wednesday night; the Indian Pacific also stops here, on
Tuesdays and Fridays en route to Western Australia.
A mining community depending on the silver-lead-zinc
deposits in the Barrier Range, this surprisingly
cultivated town boasts two dozen art galleries and was
home to artists Pro Hart and Jack Absalom, the 'Bushmen of
the Bush'. Canberra sculptor Ingo Kleinert praises the
tip, that is the dump, in the area, from which he gleaned
the corrugated and galvanised roofing necessary to make
his 200-dingo piece, as one of the best in the country.
Serious mining in the area began in the 1880s, BHP being floated in 1885 as 2000 shares at £20 each. BHP, reasonably, stands for Broken Hill Proprietary Company, an indication of the enormous mineral wealth that has been derived from this region. The ore body in question turned out to be over 5km in extent. Strikes by miners in 1892, 1908, 1916 and 1919 were disgraceful affairs, the vicious methods used by the company against miners affecting the reputation of both BHP and the town itself. The settlement in 1920 was a landmark since which reasonable relations have largely prevailed.
Author Arthur Upfield, in one of his best-known 'Bony'
mysteries, The Bachelors of Broken Hill (1958),
describes its atmosphere:
There is nothing
parochial or bucolic about Broken Hill. There is no city
in all Australia remotely like it except perhaps the
golden city of Kalgoorlie. There is nothing of the
snobocracy of Melbourne, or the dog-eat-dog taint of
Sydney, in the community of Broken Hill, and there is no
thoroughfare in Australia quite like Argent Street, Broken
Hill's main shopping centre...You may pause before a
building erected at a section of mining camp of the 1870s;
stay at a hotel the exact replica of those from which
emerged the American Deadwood Dicks; eat at ultra-modern
cafes run by smart Greeks and Italians; hire a gleaming
automobile and shop at lush emporiums.
While some of this ambience has altered in the intervening 40 years, the attitude remains the same.
Although the paved highways in this area are well enough travelled to ensure the safety of tourists, you must inform the local authorities if you plan to take secondary roads. They will give instructions regarding safe travel, the conditions of routes, and necessary subsequent reporting.
TAKE HEED OF ALL INSTRUCTIONS WHEN DRIVING IN THE OUTBACK.
To the southeast of Broken Hill, 111km, near the small settlement of Menindee (where the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition stopped on their way north in 1860), is Kinchega National Park (t 13000 72757), a magnificent surprise in the middle of this vast, dry landscape. On the banks of the Darling River and filled with glittering lakes in an area of 44,180 ha, the park is filled with Aboriginal sites and European relics such as a restored woolshed. The region teems with extraordinary birdlife and massive red river gums along the river. Lake Menindee provides water for Broken Hill; Lake Cawndilla is suitable for swimming. Camping facilities are available on the river and near Lake Cawndilla; it is also possible to book accommodation in the old shearers' quarters.
About 200km southeast of Kinchega National Park, and
more readily accessible (over dirt roads) from Mildura,
Victoria (110km to the southwest) and Balranald, New South
Wales (150km southeast), is Mungo
National Park (Mildura office, t 13000 72757), a
World Heritage-listed site, part of the Willandra Lakes
World Heritage Area.
South of Sydney
South Sydney to the Royal National Park
Getting to the south of Sydney by road leads to one of
the most confusing bottlenecks in the city's
transportation network. Recent efforts to upgrade access
to the Kingsford-Smith International Airport at Mascot
have been bogged down in political battles, so travel is
still tangled. Following the signs to
the airport will take you in the right direction. To
get to Botany Bay and points south from the city, take
Dowling Street, which is marked as both route 64 and
Highway 1; it will become Southern Cross Drive, then
General Holmes Drive at the airport, finally becoming the
Grand Parade along Botany Bay itself.
At Kirrawee, this road joins with the Princes Highway,
which is route 66 from the city, and then becomes Highway
1, to continue along the entire southern coastline of the
state and into Victoria. For day outings, the train
from Central Station runs all the way to Cronulla and
beyond to Wollongong.
La Perouse
The park site of La Perouse sits on the opposite
side of Botany Bay from Captain Cook's landing point at
Kurnell. To reach this interesting fort and memorial site,
take Anzac Parade (route 70) south from the city to the
end.
The place is named for Comte Jean François de Galaup La
Perouse (1741-88), the gentleman captain of a French
expedition to the South Pacific in 1785-88. In his ships
Boussoule and L'Astrolabe, La Perouse and his crew landed
at this spot on Botany Bay only six days after the First
Fleet's arrival in 1788. Relations between these two
camps, astonished to find each other serendipitously in a
new land, were cordial. La Perouse assured Captain Phillip
that his voyage was one of scientific exploration rather
than conquest; he even concurred with Phillip's decision
to move the fleet to a site more suitable than Botany Bay.
La Perouse's men camped on this point until 10 March, then
set sail for the north, never to be heard from again.
Forty years later, other explorers determined that La
Perouse had been shipwrecked near the New Hebrides.
At the very tip of La Perouse is the La Perouse
Memorial Group, now part of Botany
Bay National Park (t 13000 b72757); the site
includes a memorial to the French navigator and a tomb to
Père La Receveur, a priest and naturalist who died on La
Perouse's voyage. These structures were built by early
Colonial Architect George Cookney in 1825; they are some
of the few remaining works by Cookney. Also on the site is
a two-storey octagonal watchtower, built in 1811 and
believed to be the oldest customs house in Australia, and
the oldest building on the New South coast. In the nearby
cable station, built in 1882, is the Laperouse
Museum (the organisers prefer this spelling of the
captain's name) (t 02 9311 3379; open Sun. 10.00-16.00),
with historical displays. A long-standing Aboriginal
community is also located here; they have been giving
boomerang demonstrations, along with a snake show, for
decades.
Botany Bay
Much of Botany Bay has been given over to the airport, oil refineries, and industrial sites, but immediately south of the airport beginning at Brighton-Le-Sands, The Grand Parade presents a pleasant view of the bay, with tourist hotels and beachside cafes along the entire stretch. It is hard to imagine that Captain Cook and Joseph Banks would have chosen this flat, sandy spot as the ideal location for a new settlement; Governor Phillip was wise to look elsewhere for fertile ground.
Directly south of Rockdale is the suburb of Kogarah,
where writer and expatriate raconteur Clive James spent
his childhood; in his Unreliable Memoirs (1980),
he paints an amusing picture of Sydney suburban life,
including the intriguing fact that most of these
neighbourhoods still had outhouses, or 'dunnies', into the
1950s.
Back on The Grand Parade (route 64) along the bay,
continue south. At Sans Souci Wharf on the Georges River,
you can book cruises to explore the upper regions of the
river. The oyster farms of Georges River are reputedly the
source of Sydney's best oysters, which means they are very
good indeed. The cruises will travel past Sylvania Waters,
the overstated residential development, filled with canals
and nouveau riches residents, made famous through the 1991
BBC programme of the same name.
Cross the Georges River at Captain Cook Bridge at Taren
Point. To the west of here in Kareela is the Joseph
Banks Native Plants Reserve, a lovely botanical
display including a 'scented' garden of native plants and
a rainforest environment. The reserve is located on
Manooka Place; turn off the Princes Highway at Bates
Drive, left onto Alpita Street and left again on Garnet
Road. It is open daily 9.00-17.00. Nearby on Bates Drive
is the Kareela
Golf Club (t 02 9521 6279; green fees are
wonderfully inexpensive, less than $30 for 18 holes, $9.00
for $9.00 less for concession and children), reputedly one
of the best places to find Georges River oysters.
Captain Cook's Landing Place
Off Taren Point Road, turn east on Captain Cook Drive to
Kurnell, c 13km, and Captain
Cook's Landing Place Historic Site. Bus 987 from the
city travels here. Some 436 ha have been set aside here as
part of Kumay
Botany Bay National Park for recreational purposes.
On the spot where Cook landed on 29 April 1770 in the
Endeavour, a memorial obelisk was erected in 1870. Other
monuments commemorate Midshipman Isaac Smith, Mrs Cook's
cousin, and the first white man to set foot on the shore;
and Daniel Solander, the Swedish naturalist who
accompanied the voyage (his name has been given to the
boxes that hold botanical specimens).
The Kurnell
Discovery Centre (t 02 9668 9111; open daily
9.30-16.30) in the park presents excellent exhibitions
about Cook's exploration of the region, and also focuses
on the natural history of the Botany Bay wetlands; most of
the vegetation here remains as it would have been at the
time of Cook's landing. Aboriginal rock engravings and
axe-grinding grooves are also in evidence on the site.
Cronulla
Travel west back to Captain Cook Drive and turn south
on Elouera Road to come to Cronulla, rightfully famous for
its glorious surf beaches on Bate Bay. Cronulla is the
administrative centre for the Sutherland Shire, which
includes the Royal National Park. The Cronulla beaches
were the location for the outrageous adolescent activities
recounted in Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey's
controversial book, Puberty
Blues (1979); director Bruce Beresford made the
book into a film in 1981. Cronulla is also the only one of
Sydney's beaches accessible by train; take the Illawarra
line to the Cronulla Station directly on Gunnamatta Bay
for a short walk to the beach.
Cronulla is also located on Port Hacking and the
picturesque Hacking River. Cruises from
the Cronulla Marina (t 02 9523 2990) provide lovely
old-fashioned tours of the many inlets and bays up the
river, blessedly unspoiled by development because the
Royal National Park borders the river to the south.
The 15,014 ha of the Royal National Park can make a
legitimate claim to being the first national park in the
world. While Yellowstone National Park in the USA was
established in 1872, it was not designated in legislation
as a national park until 1883. Sydney's National Park was
gazetted in 1879, the first time this designation was
applied to a public reserve.
The Royal National Park came to world attention during the
devastating bushfires of January 1994, when 98 per cent of
the park, more than 14,500 ha, were entirely burned.
Scenes of its devastation prompted assistance from around
the world, particularly from Sutherland Shire's Japanese
sister city Chuo. Today, the park is a remarkable example
of natural regeneration of Australian vegetation; it is
almost entirely regrown.
The park offers a marvellous conglomeration of coastal
walks, beaches and woodlands, with opportunities to view
some 700 species of flowering native plants, as well as
waterfalls and rockpools. The Visitor's
Centre is located at the Audley entrance from Loftus
and is open daily; it is administered by the New South
Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, South
Metropolitan District (t 13000 72757). As the land of the
Dharawal people, Aboriginal sites are present here, but
are stringently protected by the parks service. The park's
coastal trail, 26km long, travels by a variety of beaches,
some of them patrolled, others secluded and usually
uninhabited.
From Cronulla, head back west to the Princes Highway
(route 1) at Kirrawee; travel south to Loftus, c 2km, to
the Sydney
Tramway Museum (t 02 9542 3646; open Wed.
10.00-15.00 and Sun. 10.00-17.00, check website for much
extended hours during school holidays; admission adults
$18.00, concession $12.00, children $10.00); this can also
be reached by train on the Waterfall Line, and the
Parkline tram from the museum enters the Royal National
Park.
Australian Trams
|
Sydney had one of the largest tram networks in the world until 1961, when the entire system was dismantled, victim of the Sydneysiders' obsession with the motor-car and with being 'modern'. For 100 years, Sydney rivalled Melbourne in tram service, first with horse-drawn cars, then, in 1879, with steam. By the turn of the century, Sydney trams were all electrified, the envy of their southern neighbour. During the 1920s, the phrase 'shooting through like a Bondi tram' demonstrated the domination of this form of transport in the public mind. During the Royal Easter show, the trams could move 50,000 people efficiently and in record time. While very few lamented their disappearance at the time, many Sydneysiders now regret their passing. Indeed, the recent installation of the light-rail lines in the inner city are an attempt to bring back some kind of tram system, but certainly without the character that still prevails on Melbourne's old green-and-yellow boxes. The Tramway Museum provides a 'hands-on' experience, with actual rides on vintage cars. |
South New South Wales
Wollongong
Wollongong (population 295,800) is an industrial city
and port. It lies north of Lake Illawarra and Port Kembla,
and 84km south of Sydney. The Sydney train regularly
travels here from Circular Quay and Central Station, and
some continue on to Bomaderry, with stops at Kiama,
Gerringong and Berry.
The third largest city in New South Wales, it is at the
entrance to the Illawarra region, one of the most scenic
parts of the Australian southern landscape. First mapped
by sea when Bass and Flinders explored the coast in 1796
and first approached by land when Charles Throsby drove
cattle there in 1815, Wollongong's origin rests in
coal-mining in the 1850s. Its Aboriginal name means either
'five clouds' or 'hard ground near the water'. Tourist
information: 93 Crown Street, t 02 2 4267 5910.
The place is dismissed by most as a 'coal town' and is
therefore thought too unattractive to be considered worth
visiting. But it is situated amidst wonderful scenery,
with a dramatic descent from Sydney over Bulli Pass into
town, fern-gully mountains to the west, and fantastic
beaches along its shores. At the beach town of Thirroul,
just off Bulli Pass, the writer D.H. Lawrence, en route to
America, stayed for two months in 1922, and began writing
his Australian-based novel, Kangaroo (1923). The Wollongong
Art Gallery, on the corner of Kembla and Burelli
Streets (t 02 4227 8500; open Tues-Fri 10.00-17.00,
weekends 12.00-16.00) is Australia's largest regional art
museum. It has a good selection of works by Australian
artists, as well as artefacts of Wollongong's exciting
history; admission is free.
After the Second World War, thousands of new migrants from
Europe and the Middle East arrived to work in the
Wollongong factories, creating an ethnic diversity
described in Mary Rose Liverani's wonderful novel Winter
Sparrows (1975). This diversity is also celebrated
annually in late July to Mid-September at the city's Song
and Dance Festival, a most enjoyable event with
food, dancing and entertainment. The University of
Wollongong is a dynamic institution, organising among
other things the Science Centre
and Planetarium (t 02 4286 5000; open daily
10.00-16.00, 9.00-17.00 school holidays; admission adults
$14.00, concession $12.00, children $10.00), a good
hands-on exhibit 'to encourage scientific literacy'. The
centre is located at 60 Squire's Way on the campus north
of the central business district.
South of Wollongong in the suburb of Berkeley is the Nan Tien Temple
(t 02 4272 0600), the largest Buddhist temple in the
Southern hemisphere, opened in 1995. The complex includes
a museum, pagoda, main shrine, many meditation rooms, and
conference facilities that are used for international
gatherings. The temple's Pilgrim Lodge provides
accommodation for those interested in a Buddhist retreat.
Take Berkeley Road off the Southern Freeway to reach the
temple.
Immediately south of town is Lake Illawarra, known for
its superb fishing and prawns; on its south is
Shellharbour, a popular seaside resort. At Bass Point, 3km
southeast of Shellharbour itself, Aboriginal kitchen
middens have been excavated and establish that Aborigines
inhabited the site 17,000 years ago.
Back west on the Princes Highway at this point, you can
take the Illawarra Highway west over Macquarie Pass and
onto Moss Vale in the Southern Tablelands and the Hume
Highway to Canberra. (The state rail line also takes this
route, leaving the coast at the Wollongong suburb of
Dapto.)
Just before Robertson, 28km west of Albion, is a small
park, Macquarie
Pass National Park. It features some of Australia's
most southerly sub-tropical rainforests; the 2km Cascades
Walk from the car park offers spectacular views.
31km along the Illawarra Highway is Robertson, in a
potato-growing district and with spectacular views of the
coast. Robertson recently gained fame as the location for
the filming of George Miller's 1995 talking-pig epic Babe;
the area will surprise any visitor to Australia who
envisaged a country without green meadows or rolling
verdant hills.
Princes Highway, route 1, continues south from
Wollongong along the entire New South Wales coast and into
Victoria and Melbourne. The region from Wollongong as far
south as Bateman's Bay is known as the Illawarra,
appropriately enough an Aboriginal word for 'high and
pleasant place by the sea'.
Continuing on the Princes Highway south and then to the
west, on route 80, is Jamberoo (population 1,600),
surrounded by enormous escarpments and with lush green
pastures attesting to its status as a prime dairy region.
Jamberoo is a real bush town, famed for the Illawarra
Folk Festival, which takes place in
mid-January.
Back on the coast from Jamberoo is Kiama (population 7,7200), an attractive coastal town most famous for its astounding Blowhole, which at times shoots water up to 60m high. It is no surprise to learn that 'Kiama' means 'where the sea makes a noise' in the local Aboriginal (Dharawal) language. From the Blowhole site, you can often spot whales off the coast during the migratory season in September. Also in September, the Kiama Seaside Festival, with all kinds of entertainment and food, takes place. Tourist information is at Blowhole Point; t 02 4232 3322.
At Omega, 8km south of Kiama, you can turn off to a small coastal road to Gerringong (population 3,900), and from there to Seven Mile Beach (now famous for wind-surfing). At the northern end of the beach, a memorial to Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith commemorates the site where the aviator took off for his historic flight to New Zealand in 1933. Bushwalking in the rainforests around the white-sand beaches is excellent.
Continuing south on the Princes Highway, you pass
through Berry, one of the area's earliest settlements. In
1822, Alexander Berry (1781-1873), in partnership with
Edward Wollstonecraft, received a grant here of 4047 ha,
with government assurances that convict labour would be
made available to them to improve the land. While the
convicts were not forthcoming, the pair nonetheless were
able to find workers and eventually claimed more than
260,000 ha, creating a virtual private fiefdom. Industry,
most notably the production of timber from the
once-abundant cedar forests, brought the area great
prosperity. The region also became known for its dairy
farms, as it still is today.
In town are several substantial Victorian buildings on the
National Trust, most of them originally built as banks and
now restaurants and cafes; Berry is a convenient place to
stop for tea.
10km south of here on the Shoalhaven Heads Road is Coolangatta
Estate, the village that grew up around Berry's
original homestead. Most of the historical buildings,
which date from the 1820s and 1830s, are now part of a
tourist resort, although tours are available. From here,
you can also see Mount Coolangatta, which offers beautiful
views of the Shoalhaven River and the coastline.
Kangaroo Valley
Shoalhaven District
Bundanon, the exquisite property on the Shoalhaven River given in 1993 as a 'gift to Australia' by the artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne, is located 21km west from the tourist centre, 8km of which is dirt road. Bundanon was established as a land grant in 1837; four years later it was purchased by Scottish Dr Kenneth Mackenzie, who built the first timber buildings in the 1840s and in 1866 the sandstone house at the centre of the homestead. Mackenzie's son Hugh continued to work Bundanon and purchased the nearby Terrara Estate, building the Terrara House at the beginning of the 20C. In the 1970s, Arthur and Yvonne Boyd purchased the property; in the 1980s, in joint ownership with their friend, the artist Sidney Nolan, they added nearby Eearie Park to the estate's holdings. Here Boyd produced some of his most stunning series of landscapes, capturing the beauty of the Shoalhaven River and its rocky vegetation. In the 1990s, while still resident at Bundanon, the Boyds announced their intention of leaving the property to the Australian Government, to be used as a cultural centre and artists' retreat. In 1993, the gift was officially accepted by Prime Minister Paul Keating on behalf of the Australian people.
Take route 79 south back through Bomaderry and into
Nowra (population 35,900), now the administrative hub of
the Shoalhaven District; the region is known as the
Shoalhaven, after the long, meandering Shoalhaven River,
which winds through town. As the centre for the region's
tourist trade, Nowra has recently become suburbanised,
with fast-food strips and tourist shops everywhere. Shoalhaven Tourist
Centre, Princes Highway and Pleasant Way,
t 02 4421 0778. The region around Nowra is filled
with holiday homes, caravan parks and water-related tours
and cruises. Every type of beach, and accompanying water
sports, can be found within the Nowra area.
Nowra's life in quieter times can be experienced at Meroogal
(t 02 4421 8150, Sat 13.00-17.00, Sun 10.00-17.00,
extended hours in January), on the corner of West and
Worrigee Streets, administered by Sydney's Historic Houses
Trust. Built in 1885, this charming timber house with iron
lace-work balcony belonged to four generations of the
Thorburn family and exhibits a rich collection of domestic
artefacts, particularly highlighting women's life and
activities in the early 20C century.
Jervis Bay
Jervis Bay is c 40km south of Nowra, an extensive
inlet that is now a popular holiday resort. The bay was
first explored in 1791 by Lieutenant Bowen on the
Atlantic, and named in honour of Bowen's commanding
officer Sir John Jervis. First Fleet chronicler Watkin
Tench speaks of the excitement surrounding its discovery
in his wonderful memoirs.
When the government established the Australian Capital
Territory (ACT) in 1908, it was decided that the
Commonwealth required access to the sea; 28 square miles
of Jervis Bay were selected to be the port of the federal
government administered by the ACT. Today the HMAS
Creswell Naval College is located here; the rest of the
inlet, with its beautiful beaches and dark green water,
has developed into prime holiday property amidst nature
reserves. To the south of Jervis Bay itself is the Booderee
Botanical Garden emphasising native plant use in
Aboriginal culture. The birds are happy to be
hand-fed.
Also to the south on Summerland Bay is Wreck Bay, an
Aboriginal community accessible only by permission of the
residents.
Nearby Sussex Inlet provides access to St Georges Basin,
as well as a canal leading to the coast itself; the area
is known for its good fishing, and a variety of beaches.
The Princes Highway continues south through state forests with no views of the coastline; Conola Lake is a popular fishing spot. The coastal plain from here to Bateman's Bay is now dotted with lagoons, inlets and lakes, along with ocean beaches. Milton, 65km south of Nowra, is the birthplace of 'bush poet' Henry Kendall (1839-82) at Kirmington Farm; the site is marked by a stone cairn near the present homestead.
Four kilometres further south is Ulladulla (14,100 population), where the highway again reaches the sea. While 'Ulladulla' sounds Aboriginal, one tribal leader maintains that the town fathers actually 'Aboriginalised' the town's original name of 'Holey Dollar', after the early Australian coinage, to make it sound more authentic. This account is deemed apocryphal, however colourful. The town is a true fishing port, with a fleet in the harbour; at Easter time, the town holds a colourful 'blessing of the fleet' ceremony.
Batemans Bay (11,300 population), an attractively
situated beach town on the Clyde River, marks the end of
the Shoalhaven district; it is the major centre for
Eurobodalla Shire (although Moruya to the south is its
headquarters), which extends west up the Kings Highway
(route 52) leading to Braidwood and Canberra. The bay
itself appeared on Captain Cook's chart, discovered by his
expedition on 21 April 1770; Cook named it after Nathaniel
Bateman, Captain of the Northumberland, on which Cook had
sailed as Master. As the most accessible coastal town from
the ACT, and with the upgrade of the Kings Highway road,
Batemans Bay is overrun with holiday-makers in the summer
and on school holidays, and has consequently lost much of
its earlier fishing-port charm. Eurobodalla Coast
Visitor's Centre, Princes Highway; t 1800 802 528.
Still, it is a great place to find fish restaurants and
Clyde River oysters; you can also hire houseboats here to
travel up the picturesque Clyde River to Nelligen, site of
a homey country-music
festival in September.
Kings Highway to Canberra
The road to Canberra from Bateman's Bay is 150km and
takes two hours to drive, ascending through the fern
gullies of the Budawang Range to the 'cattle country'
region at Braidwood and the beginning of the Monaro Plains
region. Braidwood, 60km west of Bateman's Bay, is filled
with pleasant 19C buildings, a remnant of its days as the
administrative centre of surrounding goldfields, making it
a popular site for filmmakers. Tony Richardson's version
of Ned Kelly (1970) starring Mick Jagger was 
South of Braidwood c 30km is the gorgeous Araluen
Valley, in the 1850s the location of a bustling
gold-fields community; the poet Charles Harpur was a gold
commissioner here, and poet Henry Kendall named his
daughter Araluen, which means 'place of waterlilies' (the
waterlilies are gone, dug up by greedy miners). The valley
is now famous for peaches, which one can buy from roadside
stands in January.
A rugged unsealed road from Araluen travels east all the
way to the coast at Moruya; the trip provides glimpses of
the unspoiled Deua River, which is now part of the Deua
National Park (t 13000 72757).
Also in the region is the old gold-mining village of
Major's Creek, which holds a homey old-fashioned folk festival
in November, with lots of bush ballads and improvised
music.
Queanbeyan (population 38,000) is one of the oldest settlements on the Southern Tablelands, now 10km east of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory. The Southern Highlands train from Sydney to Canberra makes a stop in Queanbeyan, but there is no local train service between the cities. Deane's Bus Service makes regular and frequent runs from Central Canberra to downtown Queanbeyan.
The area was first explored in 1820, and by 1828, an
ex-convict squatter named Timothy Beard had named a
property here along the Molonglo River 'Quinbean',
supposedly Aboriginal for 'clear waters'. The Aborigines
of the region belong to the Ngunnawal group. By 1838,
Queanbeyan was declared a township, although it was still
largely a sheep station. By the 1850s, gold discoveries in
the area led to growth as a regional centre, and in the
1880s, James Farrer's success with rust-free wheat in the
surrounds established the town as a leading agricultural
area.
The most significant event in Queanbeyan's history was the
establishment in 1911 of Canberra as the national capital.
Not only did Queanbeyan grow as a result of the project,
but its borders were strangely cut with the establishment
of the territorial boundaries to the south of town; the
residents of the neighbourhood Oaks Estate are officially
in the ACT (Australian Central Territory), although they
walk across the street to do shopping in New South Wales.
While Canberra remained a 'dry' town from 1911 to 1928,
Queanbeyan established its reputation as the capital's
watering hole--a reputation it has never quite lost.
Snowy Mountains
From Canberra, the Monaro Highway heads south 110km to
Cooma, gateway to the Snowy Mountains
and Kosciuszko
National Park. The Snowy Mountains encompass the
highest mountains in Australia, and Kosciuszko National
Park is, at 690,000 ha, the state's largest national
park. Mount Kosciuszko, at 2228m, is the continent's
highest mountain--its rather piddling elevation an
indication of how flat and old the land is. While you
cannot expect grandiose peaks, this mountainous region is
fascinating to explore, not only for its ski resorts and
alpine meadows, but because the High Country is also the
source of two of Australia's most important rivers, the
Snowy River of 'Banjo' Paterson fame and the Murrumbidgee
River.
Except for some rugged areas in Victoria, the Australian
Alps generally appear more like occasionally broken high
plains than mountains. Their climate and elevation,
however, cause the familiar succession of alpine plant
communities. The open pastures of the Goulburn and Monaro
tablelands are broken by abruptly rising granite
mountains. As the elevations rise the dry eucalypt forests
become wetter and cooler; Stringy Barks are replaced by
Blue Gum and its associates. Eventually the conditions
favour Snow Gums and fairly dense subalpine scrublands. In
the ravines ash, beech and ferns thrive. At the highest
elevations, over 1800m, above timberline herbfields,
ferns, bogs and grasslands typify the alpine plant
communities. Glacial effects are evident at the highest
elevations, particularly in the Kosciuszko area.
The snow country was first described by Hume and Hovell
during their trip to the upper Murray catchment, but early
squatters brought sheep to the highlands by the 1830s. In
1834 Polish explorer Lhotsky described the southern
aspects of the Snowy Mountains. His countryman Count Paul
Strzelecki described the area coming from its western
side, naming its highest peak after patriot and democrat
Tadeusz Kosciuszko in 1840. The first comprehensive survey
was by Thomas Townsend between 1846 and 1850. Perhaps the
most famous descriptions of these mountains were by German
naturalist and artist Ferdinand Mueller in the 1850s and
by English botanist Joseph Hooker in 1860. Mueller was the
Governmental Botanist of Victoria; his collections are in
Melbourne. Hooker wrote the Introductory Essay to
Flora Tasmanie, which correlates Australian flora to
that of geologically related areas of prehistoric
Antarctica and South America. This work can be read in
conjunction with Darwin's to understand the radical
changes in 19C natural science.
Cooma
Cooma (population 6,700) is the starting-point for
any trip to the High Country. The name comes from the
Aboriginal word meaning either 'big lake' or 'open
country'. Captain Mark Currie, Brigadier Major John Ovens
and veteran explorer Joseph Wild first explored the area
in 1823 during a trip on which they found Lake George and
charted the upper Murrumbidgee.
Cooma itself was settled as early as 1826, but was not
surveyed and gazetted until 1849. It grew rapidly for a
few years after 1860 when gold was found at Kiandra, in
the mountains between Cooma and Tumut.
Its present population is due to Merino sheep raising, the
Snowy Mountains Scheme and tourism to the snowfields and
Australian Alps.
Among its architectural sites is St Paul's Church on
Commission Street overlooking the town. Built in 1865, its
alpine ash joinery, roof framing and floors are original.
The spire and roof shingles are from 1891. The rectory is
in Edwardian style and was built in 1906.
The first inn in the district, the former Lord Raglan
Hotel at 11 Lambie Street, is now a gallery. Like most of
the town's commercial buildings, its verandah makes
pleasant what might otherwise seem plain.
The Royal Hotel on Cambie and Sharp Streets remains one of
Cooma's important social centres. Constructed in 1858, it
has a substantial iron verandah and 12-pane windows. Local
residents will describe rough times at the hotel on
weekends when the workers on the Snowy Mountain
Hydro-Electric Scheme came to town.
Cooma's tourist centre is open all year and includes
fairly extensive information about the region. It is
located on the town's main street, next to Centennial
Park. (Tourist
information: 119 Sharp Street; t 02 6452 1108.) This
is a good place to find out about accommodation in the ski
resorts, but it is probably best to arrange this ahead of
time in the many tourist agencies in Sydney, Melbourne or
Canberra who specialise in skiing holidays. The park's
International Avenue of Flags, with its flags from 27
nations, was erected in 1959 in recognition of the many
nationalities who worked on Australia's greatest
technological project, the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric
Scheme, for which Cooma was the headquarters during
construction from 1949 to 1972.
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority
On 17 October 1949, the Snowy
Mountains
Hydro-Electric Scheme was officially opened by
Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley at a ceremony in
Cooma, New South Wales. The project, intended to harness
the waters of the Snowy Mountains to generate power for
the entire country as well as irrigation for the inland,
was the largest and most ambitious engineering project
ever undertaken in Australia. At a cost of
$800,000,000, the scheme would ultimately comprise 16
large dams and several small ones spread over 2000 square
kilometres of the Snowy Mountains, 80 kilometres of
aqueducts with more than 145 kilometres of tunnels, a
pumping station, and seven surface and underground power
stations. Lake Eucumbene, created when Eucumbene Dam was
completed in the late 1950s, caused the entire town of
Adaminaby to be moved; the resultant lake holds nine times
as much water as Sydney Harbour.
The entire Snowy scheme was completed in 1972, under
budget and on time. In 1967 the Scheme was listed as one
of the Seven World Engineering Wonders by the American
Society of Civil Engineers, and the same organisation
recently declared it an International Civil Engineering
Landmark, along with the Panama Canal and the Statue of
Liberty.
The Snowys' authorities did make some effort to consider
environmental questions at the time of construction, but
certainly such considerations would have prevented such a
massive project being constructed today. Indeed, current
residents of the region lament the fact that the
once-mighty Snowy River is now a mere trickle because of
the dams; strong grass-roots movements are afoot to
release more water. Still, the achievements of the scheme
are notable and impressive, and visitors may enjoy a
closer look at the workings of the dams and tunnels. The
Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Authority's headquarters are
on the outskirts of Cooma, with an impressive information
centre (open Mon.-Fri. 8.00-17.00, weekends and
holidays 9.00-14.00). At Cabramurra, Australia's highest
township and one of the permanent townships created by the
scheme, a photographic display concentrates on the 'Snowy
People'. A view of the nearby Tumut Pond Reservoir gives
the most awe-inspiring impression of the gruelling
conditions under which these people worked.
From Cooma, travel 60km to Jindabyne (population
2,600), another town that as a village was moved in 1962
to make way for Jindabyne Dam. As is immediately apparent,
the township is geared for tourists, both winter sports
fans and all year round fishermen. Across from the
information centre is a monument to Kosciuszko and to the
Polish explorer who named Mt Kosciuszko, Paul Strzelecki.
Snowy
River Information Centre, Petamin Plaza; t
02 6456 5600.
20km west of Jindabyne is the entrance to Kosciuszko
National Park, on Sawpit Creek Road (t 13000 72757;
entrance fee winter $29.00 per vehicle, otherwise $17 per
vehicle). The entrance fee is currently being contested by
the ski resorts within the park, but at the moment the fee
still stands. The information centre, a bit further on
from the entrance gate, provides excellent walking-trail
maps and other park information. From here the road
continues through the ski resorts of Smiggin Holes and
Perisher and onto Charlotte Pass at the base of Mt
Kosciuszko.
At Charlotte Pass, site of the coldest recorded
temperatures in Australia (the record is a mere -22ºC!),
is a Swiss-style chalet, built as the Hotel Kosciuszko in
1909. It has twice been rebuilt after fires. From here,
you can walk to the footpaths which lead to the top of Mt
Kosciuszko, a 16km hike. It is more of a cross-country
hike than a mountain climb. En route is Seaman's Hut, a
stone cottage built to commemorate Laurie Seaman, an
American skier who, along with Australian Evan Hayes,
perished in a blizzard in 1928. It is a good reminder that
weather conditions here are variable at all times-there
have even been blizzards on Christmas Day. Be prepared for
inclement weather when travelling anywhere in the Snowy
Mountains.
From the entrance to the park, the Alpine Way travels some
20km to Thredbo Village, the most well known of the ski
resorts. In 1997, the village suffered a disastrous
land-slide, which killed 18 people (one survivor was
found, miraculously, after being buried for three days).
The community is still recovering from this blow to
tourism. The region is certainly the most pleasant place
to visit in the summer, with excellent walks and the
possibility of a chair-lift ride without skiers.
The Alpine Highway from Thredbo continues north c 75km to
Khancoban, another township built by the Snowy Scheme and
site of the Murray 1 Power Station. The drive provides
spectacular mountain views; in the area are opportunities
for trout fishing and whitewater rafting. From Khancoban,
continue on to the old gold-town of Kiandra, now a ghost
town, on the main Snowy Mountains Highway between Tumut
and Cooma, or proceed west into Corryong over the
Victorian border.
|
Skiing in Australia as a
sport, not as transport, was actually practised in
Australia well before it became popular in the
European Alps. In the 1860s, Norwegian gold-miners
at the snow-bound goldfields in nearby Kiandra
introduced the long-pointed ski then used in
Scandinavia. By 1862, ski races were well
established here, and even the Chinese diggers
participated. Kiandra's gold quickly disappeared
and so did the settlement; skiing then became
limited to those few High Country graziers who
stayed in the area. Skiing in Australia is an interesting experience, if for no other reason than to come down a hill of gum-trees and view kangaroos in the snow. While the ski resorts are geared for downhill skiing, with many chair-lifts, none of the hills are spectacularly high; the land seems much more suited for cross-country skiing, an activity that is growing in popularity. Because of the short season, the ski resorts charge astronomical prices for lift tickets and accommodation in season. Still, enthusiasts from as far away as Sydney fill the slopes and the highways every winter weekend. Be sure to make bookings ahead of time if you plan to hit the slopes, and remember that many roads in the region may be impassable. Authorities also require snow chains on cars driving in substantial snow. |
Another interesting feature of the Snowy
Mountains region is the series of Alpine huts dotted
throughout the mountains to provide shelter for those skiing
or walking through the most rugged parts of the region; one
can even stay overnight in these simple dwellings. These
huts were first erected at the beginning of the century, and
are maintained by a devoted group of bushwalkers.
Information on the huts can be obtained from the Cooma
Information Centre, and in any of several books by Klaus
Hueneke, an avid Snowy mountaineer.Skiing in the Snowys centres on Jindabyne and Thredbo. It is more expensive in Australia than it generally is in the United States or Europe. Ski holidays are bookable as packages or in part at any tourist office or travel agent. The Jindabyne Reservation Centre (1800 020 622) will make arrangements for accommodation. Reservations for accommodation are at a premium during the season; take care to book several weeks in advance. During ski season, regularly scheduled flights depart from Sydney. Most visitors either drive their own cars or take the bus, either one of the many charter coaches or regular services through Greyhound-Pioneer, Murrays, or Countrylink.
Back at Cooma, the Monaro Highway continues south across the tussock-grass plains, then splits into two routes. As route 23, the road proceeds south through Bombala and into Victoria; at Cann River, it joins the Princes Highway along the Victorian coast. Route 18 jogs east and becomes a road of lush fern gullies with great views down to the ocean at Bega.
South of Batemans Bay
From Batemans Bay to Bermagui, the Princes Highway
traverses the Eurobodalla Coast. Murrays and
Greyhound-Pioneer have a bus service along the coast, but
there is no local public bus service to speak of; you
really need a car to explore the region. At 
Mogo itself is all craft-and-tea shops; the highway
continues south into Moruya (population 2,500). In the
1850s and 1860s, Moruya was an important stopover on the
way to the goldfields of Araluen; the old road to the
Araluen Valley along the Deua River still enters the town.
Tourist
information: Princes Highway, t 02 4474 1333.
History
Captain Cook sited and named nearby Mt Dromedary when passing by the coast in 1770, and in 1797 a group of shipwrecked survivors walked through the area on their way from Gippsland to Sydney. The first white settler was Irishman Francis Flanagan in 1829. By the end of the 19C, Moruya's isolation was eased by the regular appearance of the steamship ferries plying the coast between Sydney and Melbourne (see Tathra below). In the 1920s, Moruya boomed when the contractors for the Sydney Harbour Bridge chose its quarry on the Moruya River for the granite pylons needed to build the bridge. Hundreds of immigrant stonemasons, most from Scotland and Italy, poured into 'Granite Town', and the wharf became a loading zone for the stone. By the end of the decade, this boom had passed, and Moruya fell back on timber and agricultural industries. The surrounding landscape gives evidence of its position as a leading dairying district. Today it is a leading holiday destination for Canberrans.
A further 20km south is Bodalla, now a major
cheese-making centre. In the 1850s, the area was part of
the 15,000 ha (38,000 acre) holdings of entrepreneur
Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and evidence of his cultivated
ambitions remain in the town's All Saints Anglican Church,
built by leading ecclesiastical architect Edmund Blacket
in Gothic Revival style in 1880 as a memorial to the
town's founder; the castellated tower was added by
Blacket's son Cyril in 1901.
 Thomas Sutcliff Mort and his wife Theresa, ca. 1847 |
Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (1816-78) was one of the most successful and visionary businessmen in colonial Australia. He arrived from Lancashire in Sydney in 1838 as an agent of a brokerage firm that quickly collapsed; Mort then went into business for himself as a wool auctioneer. His firm Mort & Co. became the most important wool-selling agency in Australia, eventually amalgamating with R. Goldsborough & Co. to become Goldsborough & Mort. The company's enormous wool warehouses still stand near Darling Harbour in Sydney, now turned into a car museum and car park. Mort also became involved with steamship companies and mining concerns, both of which made him enormously prosperous. In 1856 he acquired vast land holdings at Bodalla and developed the area into a model dairy farm. He also established some of the first dry docks at Balmain, building ships as well as locomotives, and established the first employee profit-sharing scheme in Australia. He invested immense sums to develop a system of refrigerating meat on ships, the first successful refrigeration endeavour, although he died before the first shipment reached Europe in 1879. |
Immediately north of
Narooma on Kianga Road (east off of Princes Highway) is Box
Cutting Rain Forest Walk , a delightful fairly easy
walk that's really quite accessible. It is marked as a
project of the State Forests and the Greencorps and
carefully tended by people who care about the Walk.On the coast south of Narooma is Mystery Bay, basically a village with several remarkable beaches. The Mystery Bay Campground is adjacent to the Mystery Bay Beach. Rock outcrops near shore protect the beach from heavier waves while allowing some breakers to get through. Up from this beach on Lamont Young Drive about three blocks is a well-tended dirt road to 1080 Beach. This is a long splendid beach with good swells and even a view to Bermagui well to the south. As well as resident wallabies, Mystery Bay boasts poor cell-phone reception. Telstra was prepared to erect a tower, but a local resident objected. We will see how long this situation prevails. Incidentally, the village takes its name from an incident in 1880. The wreckage of a small boat belonging to Bermagui resident Thomas Towers was found here. In addition to Towers, it carried two locals and Lamont Young and his assistant who were inspectors of New South Wales gold mines. None of the five nor their remains were found.
Nearby, among the verdant hills are the twin towns of
Central Tilba (the Saturday morning market is a treat) and
Tilba Tilba, the latter classified by the National Trust
as an 'unusual mountain village'. Founded in the 1890s,
virtually all of the buildings, made of timber, date from
this period; the village is surrounded by spectacular
mountainous terrain. A great favourite with tourists and
film crews alike, the residents carry out crafts, cheese
production, and shoe-making, and give the strong
impression of a village-life commune. From Tilba Tilba, it
is possible to take a walking track up Mt Dromedary.
Bermagui
I was hardly prepared for this land of staggering contrasts, of unbelievable beasts, of the loveliest and strangest birds, of great modern English cities, of vast ranges that rivalled my beloved Arizona, and of endless forestland, or bush, as they call it, never adequately described, no doubt because of beauty and wildness beyond the power of any pen to delineate.
Bermagui lives up to Grey's praises still. Fishing in
all forms dominates, although the coastline also provides
beautiful rugged beaches with splendid rock-pools, and
opportunities for bushwalking. Montague Island, 23km
north, is still an international mecca for big-game
fishermen. The ocean here can be quite cold but still
enjoyable--but do not expect Queensland-style bathing
experiences anywhere along the south coast.
The Sapphire Coast
The coastline from Bermagui to the Victorian border
has acquired the label of the Sapphire Coast, an invention
of the tourist 
Bega is known especially for cheese, and the Bega
Cheese Heritage Centre offers tours and tastings,
and wonderful historical displays about the dairy industry
in Australia.
28km east of Bega is the small fishing village of Tathra, at one time an important stop for the steamship ferries between Sydney and Melbourne. The Tathra Wharf is still intact, parts of it dating from the 1860s; it now houses a Wharf museum, which tells the story of the old steamship trading links (02 6494 4062; open weekends and holidays 10.00-16.00).
Father along the Princes Highway, you enter Merimbula,
now a flashy tourist town, filled with new condominiums,
which takes advantage of its stunning peninsula location,
with lakes, inlets, and sparkling beaches (Merimbula
Tourist Information, Beach Street, t 02 6495 1129).
The region was the land of the Dyirringan people;
Merimbula means 'place of the big snake'. Of historic note
is the Munn Tower House on Monaro Street. Built in the
1870s by Matthew Munn, founder of Merimbula, the building
is a large stone cottage with an added two-storey timber
tower that could be seen for great distances. Munn
developed the area agriculturally, most notably in the
production of 'maizena', a cornflour. Also in town is the
School
Museum, (open Tues., Thurs. and Sun. 13.30-16.30;
admission adults $5.00, others free) between the Anglican
and Roman Catholic churches on Main Street. The museum is
run by the Merimbula-Imlay Historical Society, and
includes local history displays, as well as memorabilia of
the Munn family and a description of shipping on this part
of the south coast.
Pambula and Eden
The Princes Highway continues 6km south to Pambula, an
'historic village' centred on The Grange, the grand
mansion of a 19C sea-captain. Also in the village is a
small stone house that served as a post office and store;
it was built by Syms Covington, who had assisted Charles
Darwin on his Beagle voyage, after which he settled in
Australia and bought land here in 1853.
Directly east of here is the northern section of Ben
Boyd National Park (t 13000 72757), which runs to
Twofold Bay and Eden; the park continues to the south of
Eden and on to Disaster Bay. The Wonboyn Dune System of 26
parallel coastal dunes are in the park, as are nesting
grounds for an endangered species, the Ground Parrot.
|
Ben Boyd (c 1796-1851) was one of the
more colourful figures in Australia's early
history. He was a Scotsman, working as a
stockbroker in London, where he acquired ships for
the purpose of trade with Australia. He devised an
elaborate scheme of floating investments whereby
he could acquire land in several locations
throughout Australia. In 1842, he arrived in
Sydney in his yacht the Wanderer, along with his
brother and the watercolourist Oswald Brierly
(1817-94). By 1843, he had established a bank,
and, using the bank's money, had acquired enormous
properties in the Monaro district, along the
Murray River and at Port Phillip. His most
ambitious venture involved the purchase of several
steamships, which would aid in the founding of the
twin townships of Boyd Town and East Boyd on
Twofold Bay. Boyd built here a jetty and
lighthouse, as well as a Gothic church, a hotel
and several houses. By this time, he had nine
whalers working for him from this port. In 1847,
Boyd tried to ship natives from the South Pacific
to the area to provide cheap labour, but the
scheme failed. |
Eden (population 3,000) on Twofold Bay is a real
fishing port with a fishing fleet and opportunities to
undertake deep-sea fishing cruises. Tourist
Information: Princes Highway; t 02 6496 1953. Eden's
name commemorates not paradise, but the family name 
8km south of Eden on the Princes Highway is the Seahorse Inn
(t 02 6496 1361), built around the remnants of Ben Boyd's
original house. After Boyd's departure and disappearance,
the house became a thriving hotel, used by local whalers
and travellers en route by ship from Sydney to Melbourne.
The inn had fallen into disrepair until it was rebuilt in
the 1930s; it has recently been renovated again. While
there is little evidence of Ben Boyd's original structure,
the inn is still a major landmark in the area, and
provides wonderful views to the beach and Twofold Bay.
Sydney to Melbourne
The Hume Highway
The Hume Highway is the main road to the south and inland between Sydney and Melbourne, a total of 870km or 1020km via Canberra. You can also take the Hume Highway as a tour loop south of Sydney to the Illawarra Highway at Moss Vale just south of Bowral across Macquarie Pass to the ocean and back to Sydney (240km). The main Sydney to Melbourne train route (the Melbourne XPT, travelling daily) follows much of the same route.
The highway, which actually bypasses virtually every town in New South Wales and Victoria, was named for explorer Hamilton Hume (1797-1873). Born in Parramatta, the son of Andrew Hume, the superintendent of convicts, Hume began exploring the country south of his family home in Appin, New South Wales in 1814, when he was seventeen. Three years later, Governor Macquarie arranged for Hume to guide pastoralist-explorers Charles Throsby and James Meehan through the area. They eventually reached the Goulburn Plains and Lake Bathurst. In 1830 Surveyor-General Major Mitchell planned a road and followed Hume's track, which traversed an easier route than the existing route over the Mittagong Range to Bong Bong. By 1832 the road reached Goulburn and by the late 1830s, Albury. Nonetheless, today's hour by car to Berrima took nearly a week then by bullock dray.
While Liverpool, 31km from the heart of Sydney, was
initially a separate town, it is now part of the most
congested districts of suburban development. But since the
inception of the M5 Tollway, the agonising drive through
these streets can be avoided, and Liverpool is thought of
largely as a place to avoid. Still, there are many places
of historical note in the town. The train travels most
expeditiously to Liverpool and on to Campbelltown from
central Sydney. The train also travels to Casula, where
the exciting Casula
Powerhouse Arts Centre (t. 029824 1121;
open daily 10.00-17.00) is located at 1 Casula Road, next
door to the Casula Railway Station . The 1994 design of
the building, a renovation of a 1950s power station, won
the RAIA President's Award for recycled buildings. The
open spaces in two galleries provide great opportunities
for some of the most innovative art shows and performances
in the Sydney region.
In the Liverpool area, two early bridges still in use and
worth comment were constructed under Scottish stonemason
David Lennox. One at Lapstone is known as the
Horseshoe Bridge, (built in 1833
using local stone by a gang of 20 convicts). The
other, the Lansdowne Bridge (1836), is an elegant solution
to a difficult crossing of Prospect Creek on the Hume
Highway more or less between Bankstown and Cabramatta. The
latter design harkens back to Lennox's training under the
great English engineer Telford, particularly the crossing
of the Severn at Over. Another noteworthy
bridge at Lapstone is the Knapsack Viaduct. Designed
and built as a railway bridge by John Whitton in
1863-64. When the train was diverted through the
Glenbrook Tunnel in 1912, the bridge was used for
automobile traffic. It became a walking trail when
the M4 highway was extended to Lapstone in 1993.
Campbelltown
Campbelltown (population 12,550), named for Elizabeth
Campbell, wife of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, is famous
for the Fisher's ghost story centred here. Frederick
Fisher, a convict who arrived in 1816, secured a ticket of
leave and established a farm in the town. Some time after
his disappearance in 1826, a local resident was directed
by Fisher's ghost (or having seen it on a fence rail
convinced the authorities) to search the area. His body
was discovered in a nearby creek. George Worrall, who
rented a nearby farm (or who shared Fisher's hut with
him), was convicted of manslaughter and executed for the
murder. This basic story has been elaborated to heroically
gruesome proportions. The legend is commemorated every
year at the Campbelltown City Festival of Fisher's Ghost,
beginning in early February, and continuing for two to
three weeks, with Highland Games and raft races on the
Nepean River. The
Tourist Centre is at Quondong Cottage, 15 Old
Menangle Road, Campbelltown; t 02 4645 4921.
In nearby Camden, the Macarthur family had their
second residence. Although the bulk of Macarthur's
interests were engaged at Elizabeth Farm in Parramatta,
Camden Park supported, among other enterprises, his
winery. The First Fleet had brought vines to Sydney
(planted in what is now the Botanic Gardens and later at
Government House in Parramatta), but when Macarthur
returned from England and France in 1817, he brought a
number of plants for cultivation here. By 1827, he was
producing 90,000 litres per year and in 1839 he brought
out six German wine-makers to tend the plants. His son
William improved the process to the extent that the wines
and brandies were recognised in Europe.
The Macarthur house was designed by John Verge and built
in 1835. It features a classical stone parapet, a large
two-storey wing (added in c 1880), and single storey
symmetrical wings. In addition to the family mausoleums,
the well-maintained grounds and award-winning gardens are
attractions. The farm is in private hands and, except on
rare occasions like the Open Garden Scheme days, is closed
to the public.
Along with Bowral and Moss Vale nearby in what is called the Southern Tablelands, Mittagong (population 9,000) owes its existence to the railway rather than the road. The name is from an Aboriginal word meaning either 'little mountain' (a reference to Mount Gibraltar) or 'plenty of native dogs'. The area was referred to by Governor Macquarie as early as 1816, but was not settled until William Charker began raising cattle here in 1821; George Cutler ran the area's first licensed inn, known for its breakfasts. Once a renowned bottleneck between Canberra and Sydney, a new bypass now circumvents the town, offering splendid views of rocky escarpments heretofore unseen. Tourist information: Winifred West Park, Hume Highway; t 02 4871 2888. The town has some very good antique stores.
Bowral (population 12,100) is where cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman spent his childhood; his house is now part of the Bradman Museum on St Jude Street (t 02 4862 1247; open daily, 10.00-17.00; admission adults $20.00, concession $15.00, children $11.00). Arthur Upfield, creator of the Napoleon Bonaparte detective series, retired here. He describes the area in his Bony and the Kelly Gang (1960): 'the autumnal tints; the soft blues of the shadows and the jet black gaping jaws of the surrounding mountain slopes and cliffs'. Wingecarribee House, the homestead of the founding Oxley family, was imported as a kit from England in 1857. The Bowral area, along with the other towns of the Southern Highlands, is a popular destination for garden tours, with many nurseries and private gardens open for inspection in the spring. Especially popular is the Tulip Time festival in late September and early October. For tourist information, see Mittagong.
Travellers wishing to return to Sydney at this point
can take the Illawarra Highway. It proceeds east from here
through some spectacular scenery, crossing the coastal
range at Macquarie Pass. Intrepid motorists will be
rewarded in good weather by taking the unsealed road from
just beyond Robertson to Jamberoo.
Those motorists continuing south to Canberra or
Melbourne on the Hume Highway will next pass Berrima
(tourist information at Mittagong; or at Berrima
Courthouse Museum, Wilshire Street, t 02 4871 2888,
10.00-16.00). From the Aboriginal word meaning 'to the
south', Berrima was named by Surveyor-General Major
Mitchell and established at the easily bridged crossing of
the Wingecarribee River on the Great Southern Road opening
the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. It replaced the
first town in the region, Bong Bong, which lacked adequate
water, but did offer the Argyle Inn. The Sydney Gazette
(17 March 1832) mentioned that the inn 'with its dashing
hostess, forms an agreeable insipidity for the dullest of
dull settlements.'
Surveyor-General
Inn, t 02 4877 1226, erected using sandstone blocks
and bricks by William Harper for his son James in 1834)
and the two-storey sandstone residence, Harper's
Mansion, (corner Hume Highway and Wilkinson Street,
t 02 4877 1508, open weekends and holidays
10.30-16.00, admission adults $8.00, concession $7.00,
children free) considerably restored by the National Trust
of New South Wales. The oldest section of the town is
pleasantly laid out and the architecture includes a number
of buildings dating to the 1830s. It is a favoured spot
for travellers to stop, either for a picnic lunch on the
town green or to dine in one of the centre's ambitious
inns. Several shops also cater to antique browsers.
Goulburn
From Berrima to Goulburn is c 80km on the highway.
Advertised as the 'first inland city', Goulburn
(population 22,900) was gazetted by March 1833, and was
already settled in the late 1820s. Originally a garrison
to supervise the convicts impressed to build the road and
to attempt to control the flagrant bushrangers who
operated in the district until the 1870s, the town's
character is now essentially that of a rural service
centre. The main street's design is a particularly good
example of late 19C style. Note the Post Office which was
designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet in 1880. It
features a central clock tower flanked by a two-storey
colonnade of offices. The arches of the ground floor
colonnade have moulded keystones and Doric pilasters. St
Saviour's Cathedral, designed by Edmund Blacket in 1874,
offers interesting interior furnishings and an organ built
by Forster & Andrews (Hull) in 1884. Tourist information: 201
Sloane Street, opposite Belmore Park; t 02 4823 4492.
In addition, two of the town's three historic houses are
maintained for public inspection. These are Riversdale,
Maud Street (t 02 4821 4741; open Sun. 10.00-15.00, Mon.
Tues. and Thurs. 10.00-14.00; admission adults $8.00,
concession $5.00, children free; Devonshire Teas served
the third Sun.), a stone barn built in 1840 on the Sydney
side of town near the gaol, and the only structure 
The Federal Highway to Canberra begins c 13km south of Goulburn. It skirts Lake George's western edge. Like its companion, Lake Bathurst c 20km due east, the lake is quite shallow and occasionally empties if the water table drops. This and the conviction that fishermen too frequently disappear on the lake provoke lively superstitions. In fact, the lake is considerably less dangerous than the 20-minute ride along the two-lane road beside it; the recent upgrading of the road was prompted by the disproportionate number of fatalities occurring along this short stretch. Both lakes were popular tourist attractions in the late 19C, when the water level was very high, but little evidence of the lodges or piers remains.
Further west on the Hume Highway is the Hume or
Frankfield Homestead (closed and offered for sale in 2015,
02 4845 1200), 8km south of Gunning. It was granted to
Francis Hume in 1836 for the capture of Patrick Bourke, a
bushranger. The current 
Yass (population 6,500) was formally laid out by Thomas
Townsend in 1832 and first settled in the 1840s. Tourist information:
Although a new bypass on the highway detours around this
notorious old bottleneck on the route to Melbourne, Yass
is still worth a stop, for its excellent information
centre, and for some good tea rooms. Anyone travelling
from Canberra by train to Melbourne must depart from the
Yass Station (a bus brings passengers from Canberra).
Gundagai
Gundagai itself is a pleasant country town which
offers an excellent Art Deco style theatre (built in 1929
as the Masonic Lodge) with intact interiors. Frank
Rusconi's idiosyncratic Marble Masterpiece, an ornate
model cathedral, is on display at Rusconi's Place. Tourist
information: Sheridan Street; t 02 6944 0250.
The Prince Alfred Bridge, made of three spans of iron and
wooden approaches, was constructed in 1863-65. It crosses
the Murrumbidgee River. Tragically, the town was first
built on the river's flood plain. Ignoring the advice of
the local Aborigines, 80 of the town's 250 inhabitants
drowned and 71 buildings were destroyed by flood in 1852.
The present bridge is now for pedestrian use only.
48km off the Hume Highway east on the Snowy Mountains Highway is Tumut (population 6,200). The name is supposedly Aboriginal for 'a quiet resting place by the river'. Hamilton Hume and William Hovell, during their inland journey to Port Phillip, discovered Tumut valley and river in 1824. Part of the Hume and Hovell Walking Trail is accessible in town. (This trail extends from Gunning to Albury but has various access points throughout for shorter walks; more information from Department of Lands, Wagga Wagga, t 02 6937 2700.) Today, the town is known not only for its mountain scenery, but as the site of one of the great dams of the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme, the Talbingo; group tours can be arranged through the tourist information office: Snowy Mountains Highway; t 02 6947 1849.
Wagga Wagga
48km in the other direction off the Hume Highway is
Wagga Wagga (population 55,800), usually referred to only
as Wagga. From the Aboriginal phrase meaning 'place of
many crows', the area was first described by Charles Sturt
in 1829 as a 'rich and lightly timbered valley ... parts
of the [Murrumbidgee] river were visible through the dark
masses of swamp-oak ... or glittered among the flooded gum
trees'. Originally part of the Wiradjuri tribal grounds,
it was settled by squatters, became a village in 1847 and
a city as late as 1946.
Mark Twain visited the town in 1895 due to its fame as the
home of the Tichborne Claimant, a notorious English legal
case growing out of a satirical mystery written by the
local newspaper editor which featured a local butcher.
More to its credit, the 
From Wagga, you can continue on the Olympic Way for
another 100km to Albury, or return to the Hume Highway,
passing through the little town of Holbrook, with its
amusing town slogan, 'Where the Hell is Holbrook?'
Albury/Wodonga
Our only experiences in Albury (population 51,700) involved fines for parking violations and non-existent cafes. This impression seems to be substantiated by the experiences of such writers as Robert G. Barrett, whose character Les Norton in the story St Kilda Kooler (1990) presents a similar interpretation of the city's charms. Just be sure to park according to the well-concealed traffic signs and do not jaywalk. It's possible that the city fathers have decided that they can make more money providing visitors with a pleasant stay than by fining the unfortunate souls who stop in the town. Situated on the Murray River, the town does indeed have many sites of historic interest. Crossing Place Visitor's Centre, Public Library; t 02 6023 8333.
Albury/Wodonga marks the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Travelling by train from Sydney to Melbourne, the 19C American humorist Mark Twain was prompted at this juncture to observe a singular thing:
... the oddest thing, the strangest thing, the most baffling and unaccountable marvel that Australasia can show. At the frontier between New South Wales and Victoria our multitude of passengers were routed out of their snug beds by lantern-light in the morning in the biting cold of a high altitude to change cars on a road that has no break in it from Sydney to Melbourne! Think of the paralysis of intellect that gave that idea birth ... It is a narrow-gauge road to the frontier, and a broader gauge thence to Melbourne.
This situation arose through miscommunication as well
as state rivalries, but during the era of train travel, it
was the subject of much derision and, indeed,
inconvenience. It has always served as a metaphor for the
lunacy of New South Wales-Victoria competition. The Albury
Railway Station, built in 1881 after designs by New South
Wales Government Railways chief engineer John Whitton, is
an imposing structure with an extremely long platform and
stuccoed decorative elements on the exterior. Its interior
contains most of the original cedar joinery and a domed
booking hall.
It was not until 1993 that the rail gauge problem was
solved and routine rail service from Sydney to Melbourne
was continuous.
Wodonga (population 38,500) is Albury's twin city on the Victorian side of the border. The tourist information office is the same as for Albury.
History
The town began as a squatters' station built by Charles
Huon and called Belvoir from the 1830s until it reverted
to a form of its original name in 1874. The Victorian rail
line reached Wodonga in 1873, eight years before its mate
from Sydney reached Albury and ten years before a bridge
over the Murray allowed passengers to continue to the
Albury station. The absurd controversy regarding the rail
gauge was compounded at this break in the journey. Neither
government would allow the other to disembark at the end
of its territory. Rather, the bridge was built double
width, enabling the northbound train a terminus in Albury
and the southbound train a terminus in Wodonga. After some
acrimony about the Melbourne-bound trains' breakfast break
prior to crossing the river, Albury was selected in 1886
as the station at which travellers changed trains.
Because of the proximity to the Murray River, this region
presents many possibilities for water activities, and
bushwalking tracks dot the landscape. Check with the
information centre for details.
En route to Melbourne
Outside Wodonga, the Hume Highway begins its long and
utterly boring drive into Melbourne. If you have the time
and are driving, it is worthwhile to make some detours off
to the towns along the road.
The wine district of northeast Victoria is west of here,
centred around Rutherglen on the Murray Valley Highway.
The winery at All Saints was established in 1864 by G.S.
Smith and J. Banks. The present building dates from about
1880 and is operated by Smith's descendants. The Mount
Ophir Winery was built by Eisemann & Gleeson during
the last decade of the 19C for the English family
Burgoyne. The Victoria Hotel dates from 1868 and features
a cast-iron verandah and parapet with prominent stables in
the back. Nearly all of the many wineries in the region
are open daily for tastings; tours, as well as maps
highlighting all wineries and opening times, are available
from the Tourist
Information Centre, Drummond Street, Rutherglen, t
02 6032 9166/1 800 62 2871.
Wangaratta (population 18,100) is a pleasant little town at the juncture of the Ovens Highway heading north to Bright and the Victorian Alps. Tourist information; Hume Highway, Murray St., t 1800 801 065.
History
The first settler in the area was George Faithful who took
up land at the junction of the Ovens and King Rivers in
1838. William Clarke is regarded as the father of the
settlement. He opened an inn and operated a punt and stock
crossing. The town was largely deserted during the 1851-52
gold rush, but came to prosper as a staging point en route
to the diggings. Like Glenrowan (see below), Wangaratta
had its own bushranger, Dan 'Mad Dog' Morgan, a vicious
murdering brute so appalling in his crimes that his head
was cut off and sent to the University of Melbourne for
analysis. He was thought to have the brains of a gorilla
(rather a chauvinistic slight for those creatures), but
public sentiment about the dismemberment led to the
reprimand of the local superintendent of police.
The most famous of bushrangers met his end in the small
village of Glenrowan, between Wangaratta and Benalla. Ned
Kelly was finally arrested here in 1880, and his gang
members were killed by the police.
The village of Glenrowan today, of course, plays up to the legend; the Glenrowan Tourist Centre (t 03 5766 2367) is essentially a re-enactment through animation of Kelly's Last Stand.
Benalla (population 9,300) is an otherwise modest town
known for its regional
art gallery (t 03 5762 3027) containing the Ledger
Collection of Colonial and Heidelberg School Paintings.
Located on Bridge Street, the gallery is open normal
business hours. The Old Court House (1864, design by G.
Joacimi) on Arundel Street is evidence of the change to
Victoria's architectural styles. The façade is from 1888.
In October, the town has a Rose Festival. Joe Byrne, of
the Kelly Gang, is buried in the cemetery here. Tourist
information: 14 Mair Street, t 03 5762 1749.
Situated 18km north of Benalla on the old Hume Highway
is Seymour Bridge, set in a park-like setting and also
known as the Old Goulburn Bridge or the Hughes Creek
Bridge. Built in 1859 by Hugh Dalrymple, it is comprised
of six arches supported on piers with string courses.
 Screenshot from The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) |
 Australian bushrangers Thomas and John Clarke under arrest in Braidwood Jail. Thomas is shot in the arm. |
 Death of Australian
bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, wood engraving, 23.3 x
33.0 cm |
 Morgan sticking up the navvies,
burning their tents, and shooting the chinaman,
wood engraving. |
|
The Australian fascination with bushrangers
results from the exploits of a relatively
small number of outlaws active in the 1860s and of
the Ned Kelly gang in the late 1870s. In fact,
highway robbery and preying upon isolated
settlements had its first phase during the
colonial era when convicts who had escaped into
the bush stole sheep and generally operated as
bandits. The surprisingly civil Matthew Brady--he
would tolerate no improprieties against women or
children--and his associates in Tasmania and Bold
Jack Donahue in the Hawkesbury River area of New
South Wales are examples of these sorts. During
the gold rush era, shipments of gold were the
focus of the criminal imagination. Still, the
tendency to bail up (that is to rob) passers-by of
any description was central to the outlaw, many of
whom were ex-convicts from Tasmania. |
Further sources:
Heritage
Council NSW lists numerous interesting properties with
descriptions.The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, t. 13000 72757, has excellent descriptions of the State's park, including public transit instructions.
The National Trust (NSW), like the other National Trust offices, looks after many properties throughout the state, several of which are open to the public.
Sydney
Living Museums, formerly Historic Houses Trust, as
excellent descriptions of the properties it has undertaken
to protect.
Illustrations:
Three Sisters, Blue_Mountains.jpg - This file is a work by Ester Inbar (user:ST or he:user:ST).
800px-Wollongong_Panorama.jpg - Pavel from Sydney, AU
800px-Sydney_Opera_House_with_Tall_Ship.jpg - BenAveling
800px-2007_0817klklk0004.JPG Viewing NW over Hawkesbury River Railway Station showing moored vessels in Sandrook Inlet and Long Island (nature reserve) beyond.- Adam.J.W.C.
800px-Bathurst_Racktrack_Holden_Corner.jpg - Benchill
800px-Wollongong_city.JPG - Igniwalam
450px-DogonTuckerbox.jpg - AYArktos
CaptureofBenHall.jpg - State Library of Victoria
Berowra Waters Ferry - NSW State Archives and Records, 12932_a012_a012X2449000047
Hawkesbury River - Tim Stewart
Pearl Beach - Ray Hayward
Newcastle Conservatorium - University of Newcastle
Christ Church - Endacottmj
Customs House - JROBBO
Bogey Hole - Troydj
Jesmond House - Mark McIntosh
Arnott's ad - Matilda
University of Newcastle Library - University of Newcastle
Saumarez Homestead - flickr
Guyra St Bartholomew's Church - the Espiscopate
Honeysuckle Walk - Linda Muldoon
Myall Creek - http://anothermyallcreekworkphi0003.weebly.com/
Port Stephens Shoal Bay - Phil Whitehouse
Nambucca Heads - https://www.flickr.com/photos/suburbanbloke/
Wingham Brush walk - Poyt448 Peter Woodard
St. Thomas Church - Christopher Wood
Dorrigo Plateau boardwalk -http://www.mossgrove.com.au/features/discover-dorrigo/dorrigo-walking-tracks/142-walk-with-the-birds-boardwalk.html
Big Banana - Paulscf
Big Prawn - cn2480.com.au
Channon markets - Staceynyx
Byron Bay Blues Fest - Evan Malcolm
Mullumbymby railway station - Michael Coghlan
Blue Mountains - Adam.J.W.C.
Three Sisters from Echo Point - Christopher Wood
Bayliss_Three Sisters - Wendy Prince but probably National Library of Australia
Martins of Lithgow -National Gallery of Australia
Chifley Cave Jenolan Caves - Melbouge
Bathurst Production Race Start - Kytabu
Melbourne Tram - Biatch
Cowra Japanese Gardens - (WT-shared) Puzzlement
Bradman House - Virtual Steve
Western Plains Zoo - Snowmanradio
Radio 2B Studio - Blueturtle01
Minnamurra Rainforest - Maksym Kozlenko
Walls of China Mungo National Park - Will Hore-Lacy
Bare Island Fort - NSW National Park
Lydham House - J Bar
Como Hotel - J Bar probably
Royal National Park - Maksym Kozlenko
Port Kembla - Maksym Kozlenko
Minnamurra Rainforest - Maksym Kozlenko
Byangee Walls - Andrew Gray
Boyd painting, Gathering Seaweed - National Gallery Australia
Brawley Point - Nick-D
Fitzroy Falls - Albyontour
Lansdown Bridge - Maudlingothic
Snow Gum - Mayumi Kataoka
Turbines - Ear1grey
Snowy workers - Fairfax
Jindabyne - JASMAC - Jindabyne And Snowy Mountains Accommodation Centre
O'Brien's Alpine Hut - https://memoriesaremadeofthisblog.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/tree-tuesday-3/
Otters at Mogo Zoo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/lukeorourke/5440185506
Bermagui - Bermagui Big-Game Anglers Club
Bega - http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/image/4372 Gregory Heath
Killer Whale - Fanny Schertzer
Hamilton Hume - wiki commons
St. John's Church Campbelltown - Sardaka
Fig Tree Cave - XLerate
Survevor General's Inn Berrima - Bjenks
St Clair Goolburn - Garroorigang
Suttcliff and wife -
Cooma Cottage Yass - AYArktos
Dog on the Tuckerbox - AYArktos
Wagga Wagge Botanic Gardens - Bidgee
Bonegilla Camp 1954 - Nationaal Archief Netherlands
Impressions of a Golden Summer Streeton - Benalla Art Center
Box Cutters Rainforest Walk - Esau
Bushrangers Thomas and John Clarke - Stte Library of NSW
Screen shot from Story of the Kelly Gang - National Film and Sound Archive
Dan Morgan - State Library of Victoria
http://www.esauboeck.com/images
Koretsky, Elaine. "During a visit..." Correspondence, 1988.
Reed, Charles S. "The Pith-paper Industry of Japan." Commerce Reports: A Weekly Survey of Foreign Trade, July 14, 1930, p. 89-90.
"Rice Paper of China." Scientific American, November 23, 1878.
Swinhoe, Robert. "Rice-paper of Formosa." Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, 1865, p. 52-53.
Wells, William S. The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, Government, 5 Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.
Wealth of India: A Dictionary of Indian Raw Materials and Industrial Products. New Delhi: Publications and Information Directorate, 1976.
Illustrations from Harvard University Herberia:
http://www.huh.harvard.edu/libraries/Tetrap_exhibit/ChineseBotanicals.html
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