010 - Hunter Valley Manuscript - July 1833

About the original

Description(010.jpg) Verso The only difficulty in the navigation is about four miles above Newcastle where there is a large expanse of water which is very shallow and the channel navigated by shipping very intricate, here the water when low sometimes shoals to less than six feet. The skippers of the steam boats now know its [linuiosities] so well that they venture thro it at half speed. The banks of the river are covered with thick bush except where clearances have been made for farms. The strong deep and thick bushes with their variety of foliage and beautiful blossums rising on the almost perpendicular banks of the stream form a particoloured screen to the deep smooth river, and produce an awful sensation of quiet on the mind of the stranger, where there is nothing to break the repose of the scene except occasionally a few black swans, or a solitary kangaroo half swimming half wading across the stream, but even these are gradually disappearing since our steamers have picked up a few of these solitaries in their aquatic excursions and taken them a much longer voyage than they at first contemplated when they entrusted themselves to this treacherous element. From Maitland to Sydney a distance of about 129 miles by land there is now a road formed, which is unquestionably a most stupendous undertaking, nearly fifty miles of it runs thro a chain of mountains and the road is cut out of their sides occasionally in parts that are nearly perpendicular, for the lovers of the picturesque this road has a thousand charms, but it is to be feared that the years of uncaring toil and the immense sums which have been [expended] on it, have been spent in [vain] since Steam Navigation has opened so much speedier and convenient a course for this traffic of this district of the Colony. SubjectNew South Wales historyNSWHunter ValleySettlerAustralian historyMaitlandAustraliaDatenot specifiedSourcehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/2665497075/

Identifiernot specified

OCR Text Transcription Edit Edit +-Close

Editing is temporarily disabled

Cancel Edit

Start typing here to find a location	Latitude	Longitude	Zoom	Actions

loading google map....

Save Cancel