016 - Hunter Valley Manuscript - July 1833

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Description(016.jpg) Verso Considered as the [raining] months the former falling very opportunely for the winter crops, the latter for the summer- The rains are usually very heavy and sometimes last without interruption for several weeks, one of the most remarkable phenomena is that the heaviest rains come from the NW whilst the hot winds and several frosts are both aoccasioned by the same wind - Whenever rain comes from the southward the barometer rises unusually high and can only be accounted for by the South wind meeting the regular tropical winds which take either an easterly or westerly course according to the season and [occasioning] the atmosphere in these latitudes which are but a little south of the trades to form a dense column to the southward of the tropical winds - The heats of summer are sometimes intense in January Fahrenheit frequently reaches 110 degrees in the shade, but the hottest weather is seldom accompanied with that close and smothering sensation experienced in the heat of other countries, the hottest weather is usually accompanied with a strong wind from the NW and the only inconvenience is excessive perspiration - The hot days are usually succeeded in the evening by a sea breeze or more commonly by a cool and bracing air from the southward, and occasionally a dense dry bank of clouds arise from the westward which precludes a heavy gale from that quarter which is sometimes heard roaring over the trees for half an hour before it arrives - The lightning on all changes of weather or temperature is very vivid but as the electric fluid follows the chains of mountains which are frequent in all parts of the country very few accidents occurs and its broad and vivid flashes only serve to add a wild grandeur to the solitudes of Australia. The wet seasons are frequently accompanied by floods in the rivers, but now the banks are gradually clearing of the thick brushes which formerly covered them a [freer] scope is given for the water on all sides and floods occasion but little injury - An old settler at Maitland still points to a mark in a gum tree near his house to which he said his boat was moored in a flood. Some ten years since, this mark is about 50 feet high but since that time the tree must have grown much higher or the river sank much lower for since that period it has rarely been known to overflow its banks, and consequently the only inconvenience attending the old boys flood is that no one will believe in it - SubjectNSWHunter ValleySettlerNew South Wales historyAustralian historyMaitlandNew South WalesAustraliaDatenot specifiedSourcehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/2666324794/

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