Courtesy of Trove Australian Town and Country Journal 29 April 1871
[BY OUR TRAVELLING REPORTER.]
WELL, gentle reader, so we meet again at Casino. I am a little before you in the matter of time, and have “done” the greater part of the river by myself, but shall have much pleasure in going over it again in your agreeable company, and pointing out to you the various subjects connected with it that are worthy of remark.
“How did you get along between Grafton and this township?”
I came with a young mailman, who was mounted on a nag afflicted with a propensity for arching his back, commonly known as bucking; about six miles out of Grafton a violent fit of this description came on, at the termination of which the young mailman, though an excellent rider, was rolled in the dust, and her Majesty’s mails went for an airing over the Crown lands of this colony. I got out of my saddle, and he got in, after which my mare went also for an airing, leaving me to an hour’s meditation in the road, when another horseman came up, who also aired his horse in the same manner. Her Majesty’s mails returned almost, but again disappeared suddenly amongst the timber for another hour, after which the bucking propensity became reduced, and my steed looked in excellent condition for a fifty mile stage to Myrtle Creek, which was our destination for that day.
“How was the road generally?”
Good for thirty miles to the Cross-roads, where the coach road from Lawrence (ten miles) joins, being of the Clarence River soil sandy; rather ridgy, and but moderately good for another fifteen miles, and very boggy and bad about Myrtle Creek, where more rain appears to fall than in the Clarence River district. The change (and it is a great one) between the Clarence and Richmond River soils commences about Myrtle Creek, a tributary of the Richmond, becoming very marked upon the horses’ legs as we proceeded. There are two places of accommodation at Myrtle Creek – one kept by a poor widow who has recently lost her husband by drowning in the creek; the other is by Ben Sellars, a very old resident, having very good accommodation, and a neat and well-kept garden, as well as paddocks. – Did you ever meet Japhet in search of a father?
“Can’t say I ever did.”
Nor I; but I met here John Chinaman in search of a wife, and in course of conversation on this delicate subject, it appeared that John was not at all sure be would be as successful in his chase for this female as my companions had been in their chase for H.M.’s mail; and he was still less decided as to her being worth the search, supposing it to be successful.
We found the last fifteen miles to consist of rather swampy level ground, the vegetation being principally gum and apple tree, with good grass. This arm of the river we forded just above the town, over a ledge of rocks, the approach to which on the north side is very well made. The whole distance from Grafton to Casino is seventy miles; and now we have at length met once again, shall we commence operations? Where would you like to begin?
“We entered the Clarence by the mouth, suppose we reverse the mode and begin the Richmond near the head?”
Agreed. I will just give you an outline of the physical features of the district, which will enable you, by a glance at the map, to understand more clearly many important details which must he introduced to your notice. I have instructed Mr. Yabsley to build us another boat at Coraki, and from his skill in boat-building, I have no doubt a first-class article will be turned out.
The Richmond River is the second in length volume, and importance of the sugar rivers of the colony, the cane, however, being rather in the future than the present. It does not boast so many important tributaries, nor roll such a body of water to the ocean as the Clarence, and its average breadth is not more than half the width at Coraki, forty-five miles from the Heads, being small compared with the Clarence at Grafton, fifty miles from that river’s mouth. Yet the Richmond is very deep, and navigable for an equal distance; for Lismore is as far from the sea as Copmanhurst, and the river and creeks are navigable for several miles above Lismore, say eighty miles in all; while the amount of land available and suitable for settlement is greater the immense tract of country stretching between the Richmond and the Tweed, at present all but unoccupied and all but unknown, except to the cedar cutters, presenting such advantages of soil, climate, water supply, and position, as will in a few years constitute it one of the finest districts in the colony.
The Richmond heads from Mount Lindsay, a lofty and remarkable summit in the McPherson Range, which separates this colony from Queensland, and flows a long way before receiving any tributary of importance till it reaches Coraki, where the North Arm, the more useful arm of the two, though a much shorter one, joins it; a few miles further down, the Bungawalbin Creek, called at its head Myrtle Creek, comes in under the name of the South Arm, the last and only other addition being the Emigrant Creek from the north, three miles above Ballina. The mouth of the river has a bad bar, and the south-easterly gales set in over it and up the open reach for miles above with tremendous force; and the detentions in such weather as has prevailed for the last twelve months, have entailed great loss of time and money, – as many as twenty eight vessels being seen last week bar-bound.
The soil of the Richmond basin differs widely from that of its neighbour the Clarence: that of the former being stiff, cold, and heavy, while that of the latter is open, genial, and light. The sandy alluvium that overlies the carboniferous sandstones of the Clarence basin allows the roots of vegetation to spread with great rapidity, and the growth of plants is proportionably rapid; a soil that, being tickled with the hoe, will laugh with a crop of corn; but it takes a deal of tickling to make the Richmond so much as smile, for it is not a soil very sensitive to this light treatment. The soil of the river banks is largely composed of clay of a peculiar and soapy nature, averaging from one to three feet deep, where the oxidizing power of the atmosphere appears to end, and cold, dull clay, the deposit of ages of floods, continues till a great bed of pipeclay is reached, which, in its turn, most probably rests on a bed rock of slate. Such a surface, under favourable circumstances – warm suns and occasional showers – will perform well enough, and under a drought will retain moisture a long while below; but protracted wet weather renders it cold and increscent, while sudden bursts of sunshine only make matters worse by killing the plants above before they have taken sufficient root below; for the stiff, clay repelling the root from penetrating downward, causes it to spread laterally just under the surface, and a few days of such a sun as shines upon the Richmond will bake the surface like an Egyptian brick, in which these young radicles being included, are baked also. Now the difference between the one to three feet of soil, and the ten to thirty feet of clay under it, is only this: the former is clay oxidized by the atmosphere, assisted by decomposed vegetation, and the latter is clay without these additions; it follows, then, if the clay were brought to the surface it should turn to soil also, and this is found to be the case, for the subsoil clay on being exposed throws off water like grease, or a bar of soap, but crumbles away rapidly in air, and soon forms what is termed soil, which soil, in order to make sure of a crop, requires working, deep ploughing, and draining. The hoe is but a poor tool here. Most of the great swamps which abound on both banks of this river are above water-level, and therefore capable of drainage, some at a trifling cost, which might be made very trifling by the use of the dam-maker or scoop, described in this journal a twelvemonth since, as of boiler-plate iron, and worked by bullocks over deeply ploughed ground.
“But to pass from agriculture to pasture; tell us about this Casino.”
Casino is the centre of a splendid grass country, and surrounded by stations, nine of which are within a reasonable distance; it is, in fact, a squatting township. The site is above the reach of any but a very extraordinary flood; it is also above the reach of any but a very extraordinary navigation, which is not, perhaps, so fortunate, no boat coming within two miles of the town. A very neat church (of England) has just been erected, and will shortly be consecrated, the Rev. Mr. Dunning having recently arrived to take charge. The school musters forty pupils in average attendance; and here, the evening I arrived, I had an opportunity of listening to a rehearsal of Haydn’s Oratorio – the Creation, which, I understand, is to form part of the opening of the church ceremonials. Coraki, 15th April, 1871.
Courtesy of Trove Australian Town and Country Journal 13 May 1871
[BY OUR TRAVELLING REPORTER.]
My companion and friend, you are very quiet; you have scarcely made a remark since we commenced.
“I was meditating, and came to the conclusion that you had broken out in a fresh place.”
“What, about the founder of Coraki? I think it must be these rivers, for they are continually breaking out in fresh places, making mouths at the ocean, frightening small vessels, and detaining them against their own wills, and much more against their owners’; being so long among them I have caught the same complaint. But come and see the new screw boat built for us by Mr. Yabsley; I knew his experience would suggest improvements in the construction and motive-power. See the two horizontal wheels at the stern work outwards, by a pinion and bevelled gear above set in motion by a hand winch in the boat, and to vary the work and relieve the hand, a treadle is also added, to be worked by the foot. The horizontal wheels are nine inches in diameter with revolving paddles to lock against the stream, but open and stand on edge in returning, the whole being flanked and protected from fouling and injury by two lobes or wings of iron projecting from the boat’s lower ribs. Some improvements have also been made in the awning aft, the sides being constructed as blinds to roll up by a spring, and composed of brush lawyers to resemble the Indian tatty. The whole is in Richmond pine framing, with planks of cedar, with lockers of rose wood; and being painted with taste, has a very gay appearance.”
“It has; and seems too luxurious almost for our business; we shall rather astonish the inhabitants of the river.”
“Oh, when I came alone, you know, I came in the ordinary way, for I procured a cranky concern, the same that drowned the minister, Mr. Tom, which I soon exchanged for a boat of Mr. Krauss’s, and pulled a pair of oars 100 miles, mostly against the tide, from Coraki to Ballina and back, visiting Duck Creek by the way, as well as the plantations and mills on the North Creek, the high table-land, and the coast gold-washings, being back the same day week. But our stern-paddle (without steam) boat awaits us, shall we get on ?”
The river here, at the junction of the North Arm, is not quite so imposing as the Clarence, being only sixty yards wide; but at the great flood in March last, when it rained for three weeks right off, the waters were so well on that boats traversed the country anywhere for miles, sometimes over the tops of trees, and houses have been rebuilt where the water stood ten feet deep.
“The abrupt twists of this river open out on some beautiful ‘bits’ of scenery; how pretty is this lilac flower, which resembles a petunia, twining amongst the dense foliage of the brush which overhangs the water, forming a dark cool shade and cover for water fowl; apparently the haunt of birds quite new to me. Whose is this tall iron building?”
“Yeagher’s store; then come Mr. Percy’s pretty cottage, Mr. Krauss’s neat cottage and garden, and a long way further down stands Chamber’s sugar mill, followed by Mr. Newby’s farm.”
Ten miles bring us to the Elbow, where the river has, in the prehistoric age, taken a new turn and left its old bed, where a sheet of water three miles long and cut off from the present stream still bears witness to its ancient course. The farm of Mr. Williams is in this bend, and another very crooked bend of five miles brings us to Rocky Mouth or Woodburn, which appears to be the best part of the river. There is a bar across the stream here, but the channel, though narrow, is deep and buoyed. The Tuckombill Creek joins on the south side, and township allotments have been sold alongside and on the river bank. There are also a new church and school, and a good site for a large sugar-mill, being centrally situated among settlers that are able and willing to plant. On the north bank is the residence of Mr. Gollan, J.P., who has the post-office, and who is a most obliging and hospitable man, with whom I stayed the night on my voyage down. A little further you see right and left of you the cottages of Mr. Lang, Mr. Gray, and Mr. Duffy, Mr. Dawson’s store, Mr. Isbestor’s, and others.
“What is that creeper on Mr. Lang’s verandah?” Isn’t it a splendid flower? It measures six inches across when open, which however happens at night, for it closes by day. The white flower and bright green leaves contrast vividly when fresh.
Mr. Robins’s house, Waterview, nine miles further down, overlooks a fine bend of the river, backed by a high ridge of micaceous sandstone, well timbered, and reserved as a cattle refuge in times of fresh and flood. Opposite is an extensive town reserve which, like other reserves, is still tenanted by the original timber, and is a remarkably pretty spot, with moderately high land at the back, well grassed. The river begins to widen, and the residence of that old and respected resident of the river, Mr. Cook, is seen on the south bank. Mr. Cook has been no less than forty years on these rivers, and as a referee for facts concerning them is a walking historian. Many a “strange story” could he relate of cedar-cutters and aboriginals in the earlier days, and in this new table-land evidences of work done, and money expended by him, in the attempt to form roads, are still to be seen, and “some notion may be gathered of the trials of the way, when it took four-and-twenty bullocks to pull an empty dray.”
“This is a very nice house and garden, and what a fine view of the river, which runs very wide just here; is that an island? “Yes, reserved, as I understand all the islands are, and thickly clothed with brush.
“How nobly the pine towers above the other timber, it’s dark horizontal branches looking not unlike the Araucaria of Norfolk Island; it seems a pity it should be so rapidly disappearing under the onslaught now being made upon it.”
Two bad seasons have been very hard upon men, many of whom came upon the river to farm without the means of farming, and to live without the means of living; failing to raise maize, it necessarily followed they must raise something, so they razed the pine and sold it, selections being taken up in places for that special object.
Do not understand from this, however, that the Richmond will not grow maize; it is not the grain’s fault nor the soil’s fault, but the want of proper understanding and cultivation of the ground. Proper cultivation requires bullocks, ploughs, and harrows, and unless a man has means to procure and constantly use those, he will be almost powerless to farm on the Richmond. This is naturally demonstrated, for wherever the bank soil stands in ridges, naturally drained, there the corn looks well.
This sheet of water we are now passing over, and where a good deal of weather is generally knocking about, is called Foul Weather Reach, and when I had the pleasure of pulling across it the other day against wind and tide. I thought it a very correct title.
Passing through this channel alongside the islands we open out a house on a hil l- Mr. McDonald’s – and a little further down is Mr. Cook’s, jun., a butchering business, after which another Broadwater opens out on the left, and the river turns sharp to the right at the base of another hill.
They seem to repeat the Clarence on this river regarding names, as the Elbow, Rocky Mouth, and Broadwater; and though the river is not half the average width of the Clarence, the natural details are perhaps more beautiful in some cases. The islands have less monotony about them; the Richmond pine and box give great character to the timber; the rosy-red branches of the box harmonizing gloriously with the brilliant green of the fig like foliage, while many of the little hills and rises come to the water’s edge and form marked and picturesque features in the view.
Cabbage-tree and Pimlico Islands now occur, adorned by lofty cabbage palms and bangalows. We take the extreme left channel here, which is two miles shorter, though rather narrow; and now from Broadwater to Ballina both banks are disfigured by small, wretched, tenantless cabins, the inhabitants of which appear to have buried themselves in the depths of the bush. These are relieved occasionally by a cottage of the better sort, neat and tidy, and not unfrequently by a field of bright green corn, or corn in a ripe brown state, the busy haunt of white cockatoos and black crows, whose mingled calls of assembly and warning join in with the settler’s shouts, varied occasionally by the report of a gun, when the din is doubled.
Wardell, or Blackwall, is on yonder point, thirty five miles from Coraki and ten from Ballina. Originally a colony of cedar-cutters under the name of Blackwall, it became the Government township of Wyrallah (sic) Wardell, and would have been deserted but for the erection of Mr. Carter’s saw-mill, which employs twelve hands. There is a circular saw bench, and a single breaking down saw on the American principle, and the amount sawn is 30,000 feet a week mostly pine. The landing gear is worked by steam, and a tramway of beech, iron plated, removes sawn timber to a telescope shoot for shipment. Two engines of ten and fifteen horse-power, assisted by two boilers – a tubular and a flue – perform most of the work at this mill, which is of comparatively recent establishment.
The hill stands on a sand bank which must once have been a sea wall, for the indications are much the same as those on the sea coast, though, the present river mouth is ten miles off. Wyrallah (sic) Wardell enjoys the advantage of a post-office a mile and a-half up the river and on the opposite side of the river; the public house is also a mile off, and is also on the opposite side of the river, which, under existing circumstances, is perhaps rather an advantage than otherwise; but surely the post-office might come a little nearer.
Then come Mr. McKenzie’s store, with its pyramid of stones in front to form a landing place, and then Tyler’s Star Hotel, four miles below which a very wide opening on the left indicates the mouth of Emigrant Creek, after leaving which and turning a point, the broad mouth of the river and the ocean come in sight.
“I see a number of vessels detained yet. Is that Ballina on the left?”
Yes, Ballina is on the north bank, divided into East and West Ballina by the North Creek, and like many other places, looks best at a distance. Shall we strike the harp in praise of Ballina?
“Strike anything you like, except me.”
A broad license. Ballina then enjoys several peculiarities worthy of the notice of antiquarians, and especially of those interested in the abstruse subjects connected with genealogy. Founded originally on cedar and sea sand, Ballina is very little on the square, and is much troubled with cross-cuts in the scrub; much of it is also very low and much given to heavy wet; in fact, and this effect is a marked feature in Ballina, people, and particularly women, and more particularly married women, are as often found outside as inside in consequence of heavy wet; and this marked feature is in itself quite remarkable and often remarked with pain. The streets being narrow and the lanes nowhere, every house hangs on its own hook, and turns its back, its aide, or its angle to its neighbour, in blissful ignorance of manners; but the general inclination is to the S.E., where most of the wind comes from. “Blow! My blessed word (says an inhabitant) it does blow here – barricade doors and windows or it ‘ud soon have the roof off!” Does it blow stronger than the inhabitants can blow, do y’e think?
“Bless ye! Well, they are pretty good at it too, but they gives in to a sou’-easter; oh, yes!”
Ballina has a considerable oil factory, or, as it is more correctly pronounced in the American tongue “ile,” and considering the small population, the mobs roll up uncommonly strong and appear to have taken very kindly to “ile,” so that in many instances the two have run together and become one. Great inconvenience has been experienced by this flourishing seaport for want of a pier or jetty. Many an enterprising Ballinarine would build one, but then the Government must be consulted in the matter. It is written that for a term of eight, years ye ‘umble request of ye loyal subjects of her Majesty for leave to erect, project, and perfect, has been before every department; and still the jetty remains a heap of loose stones – waiting, waiting, waiting.
Smith, of the Slogo-office; Brown, of the Nogo office; Jones, of the Punctualdelay Department; and Robinson, of the Solid-obstruction Branch, have severally and collectively taken up (and laid down) the Ballina pier on paper, and severally retired upon Parramatta and the Zig-Zag upon sick leave; the last-named gentleman, indeed, boldly penetrated to the heights of Mount Victoria, but found the air a little too strong. Still we look to bold Robinson to take up this pier again, and set it straight if he can.
“Why, this river has two mouths, and there are three vessels apparently aground in that channel under the hill, beside these half-dozen anchored in mid-stream. To the mate of one who looked over the side: “How long have you been here?”
“Five weeks, mate, and likely to be five more.”
“Isn’t it an extraordinary thing that steam is not applied to tug these vessels out?”
Of course it is one of many other extraordinary things; you see ten vessels now, but a few days ago there were eight-and-twenty waiting to depart, each of which would willingly have paid from £8 to £10 to be towed out; this is money, and when added to odd traffic on the river, would keep a tug fully employed.
“But I suppose this is quite an exceptional season for shipping business also?”
Quite. They say they have never encountered such a continuance of sea winds and consequent delays before. But we will go and see Mr. Henderson, who is clerk of the court, senior-constable, and scientific correspondent, and he will tell us that the population of Ballina is 350, and that of the lower river 1200. A court-house and two hotels grace the town. And here I will leave you, at Wood’s Hotel, while I go and examine the mines upon the coast. Lismore, April 18th, 1871.