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NOTES OF A VISIT TO THE CLARENCE  

AND RICHMOND RIVERS.

By the Rev. Dr. Lang.

(From the Empire, November 4.)

Tuesday, 10th October, 1865. Em- barked on board the Grafton, steamer, for Grafton, Clarence River, at IO p.m., and after coaling at Newcastle in the morning

of Wednesday, the 11th, crossed the Cla- rence River bar about noon, on Thursday, the 12th, the weather having been fine

throughout. The works at the Clarence   bar have been stopped for some time past; but it seems to be admitted by nautical men that the navigation has been sensibly improved by the portion of the breakwater already constructed. There is a great difference of opinion indeed as to the prin- ciple on which the proposed improvements are to proceed; some nautical men being of opinion that it would have been prefer- able to have removed the rocks on the south side, where the channel is deepest, by blasting, and constructing a strong dike on the north side of the entrance, to pre-

vent the moveable sands on that side from   being washed away, and the channel from shifting, as it does, with every gale. For   my own part, I do not pretend to decide where engineer doctors disagree.

From the stoppage of the works at the Clarence breakwater; while the vote for them is still unexhausted, as well as from what I afterwards saw, both on the river and in the district generally, I would sug- gest that this portion of the territory should be designated, by way of short title, The Neglected District. But who would not sympathise with thc local Government under such circumstances? How can it be supposed that a few gentle- men in Sydney, however able and in- telligent, who have other matters of far more importance upon their hands, should know anything of the condition and re- quirements of a district of country as large as a European kingdom three or four hundred miles off at its nearest points, and which, moreover, they have never visited them- selves? " Out of sight out of mind" is as true in public matters as in private in the affairs of Governments as well as in those of individuals. For example, here is the noblest river on the east coast of Australia - a river half a mile wide fifty miles from its mouth, and on the banks of which a comparatively numerous and industrious population are rapidly settling; and yet its channel has never been surveyed or buoyed off! And the consequence is that every time one passes up or down the noble river, one or more unfortunate vessels are to be seen lying aground upon its shallows. The Government of Queens- land have a river, the Mary, much inferior to the Clarence in every respect, being navigable only thirty-five miles up, to Maryborough, the chief town on the river, and the land on the lower part of its course being greatly inferior to that on the Clarence. But the Mary being much nearer Brisbane than the Clarence is to Sydney, it is within the purview of the local Government, and derives from it all the benefits which that more favorable position ensures. The Mary, therefore, has been carefully surveyed by the local Government, and its channels so carefully buoyed off, by means of posts and boards painted white fixed up along its banks, that a landsman even might pilot a vessel up its course. But who thinks or knows anything of that remote stream, the Clarence, in Sydney! One might as well talk of Dr. Livingstone's famous dis- coveries, the Zambese and the Shire rivers,

in Central Africa.

The sail up the Clarence River in its   natural state was exquisitely romantic and beautiful from the luxuriant indigenous

vegetation on its banks. This sylvan   beauty has been sadly invaded of late, by the hand of man, and the progress of im- provement ; to give place, however, at no distant period to scenes of beauty of a dif- ferent kind and of a far more interesting character. The free selector has been abroad upon the Clarence River; and the available land on both of its banks as well as on the islands in its course, and the various navigable channels into which it divides itself, is now occupied extensively by a numerous body of improvers, who are cutting down the native forest in all direc- tions, erecting their slab houses on the banks, and transforming the seemingly impenetrable and useless jungle into fields of maize and other agricultural products By-and-bye we shall have churches and schools, towns and villages, along these banks, and the wilderness will again

blossom as a rose. It is a remarkable cir- cumstance, of which I was assured by a gentleman who ought to know, that of the free selectors from Grafton downwards to the mouth of the river, three-fourths are Scotchmen, and of these a pretty large pro- portion are Highlanders. It is, doubtless, a good sort of material for laying the ground tier of society with in a new coun- try; and in these " unhappy times" of universal suffrage and democratic institu- tions, there is some hope for society after all with such men " to come up to the poll." They are not the cattle that will consent to be bought and sold in the political market at the bidding of some publican and sinner. They will exercise for the most part a sound judgment, which will doubtless be under the direction of firm integrity. I confess, indeed, I have the highest hopes of the future of this noble district from the comparatively large num- ber of such men as are now settling in many little groups both on the Clarence

and on the Richmond Rivers.

The lower part of the Clarence, for many miles up from the sea, has undoubtedly been, at no very remote geological period, a wide estuary; and the islands and low- lands along its course have been gradually formed by the deposits of successive floods in many past generations.

The grand staple of this district, and the chief dependence of the numerous free selectors who have made it their home, is maize, of which I was assured the product for the present year would amount to up- wards of half a million of bushels. It is a

certain crop in this district, aud wheat rather a precarious one, except on the forestland back from the river. Cotton and the sugar-cane have been tried on a small scale; and there is no doubt that

the soil and climate are admirably adapted

for both of these branches of cultivation; but there are certain appliances wanted for the successful growth of cotton, as a staple article of produce, which an unskilled agri- cultural population cannot be supposed to be possessed of, and the consequence has been that cotton growing has hitherto proved rather a failure on the Clarence. This has arisen partly also from there being no competition as yet among the Sydney merchants for this commodity, while those who do purchase it do so only at a ruinous loss to the grower. The cultivation of the sugar-cane is sure to progress rapidly in this district, there being already some agitation on the subject in various quarters on the river ; and the growth of both of these articles of produce will, ere long, not only supersede the exclusive growth of maize, but prove a mine of wealth for the district of incomparably greater value than the richest gold-field in Australia.

Palmer Island, about six miles long, is the nearest the heads under settlement, and it has already got its complement of free selectors; but the first stopping place of any importance on the river is what is called the Rocky Mouth, or M.'Lean town- ship, about twenty miles up and thirty from Grafton. It is admirably situated at the junction of the north and south arms of the river, with Woodford Island, which is now under free selection, and from six- teen to eighteen miles in length between them ; the channel being navigable on both sides of the island. The next im- portant stopping place on the river is Law- rence, or the Elbow, ten mile's further up and twenty from Grafton. Lawrence has a beautiful sheet of water, called Broad- water, into which the river expands at this point, to look out upon. Lawrence is the starting point for the Richmond River and for Tenterfield in New England; the dis- tance to both of these localities being much

smaller than from Grafton.

Thc next stopping place on the river is Ulmarra, about four miles from Grafton. This is a regular agricultural and maize growing settlement, of which the popula- tion has been gradually increasing, princi- pally by arrivals from the Hunter and the Manning rivers, during the five years that have elapsed since my last visit to these regions. We got up to the Com- pany's wharf, at Grafton, about half-past 7 p.m. of the 12th, it being then quite

dark.

The town of Grafton, which has now a population of 2300 souls, is much indebted to the zeal and energy of its municipal corporation, who have formed and im- proved the streets and thoroughfares in a very creditable manner the present Mayor being T. Bawden, Esq. Like Washington in America, as described by the Russian Ambassador, who was there when I was, a quarter of a century ago, it is a town " of splendid distances ;" the population being widely scattered over an extent of ground that would serve for a city of 150,000 inhabitants. The two original sins of Grafton are its being situated on flooded land, and having no supply of fresh water but from wells. Only think of the principal business street of the place, Prince's-street, being navigated by boats, and having a depth of four feet of water in most parts of it during the last floods. What misery and desolation, as well as destruction of property, not to speak of disease from malaria in a hot climate, must be the result of so monstrous an arrangement, when Grafton has a popu- lation as it will doubtless have eventu- ally of a hundred thousand or more! Had the surveyor who laid out the town in such a locality no eyes in his head, to look

at the trees around him on the site of Grafton, and to see the rack that would have told him, as plainly as if it had been printed in a book, how high the last flood had risen ? But this is only one of the numerous instances which this district presents of the little wisdom with which the colonial world is governed.

Friday, 13th Ootober. I had scarcely got breakfast to-day when I received a call at the hotel at which I had put up for the night from an influential resident of the place to have a talk about separation. I had been charged in the years I860 and 1861 with a petition to her Majesty the Queen, from the inhabitants of the Clarence and Richmond Rivers district, praying for separation from New South Wales at the 30th parallel of latitude, and for annexa- tion to Queensland. In that prayer I cor- dially concurred at the time, believing that the 30th parallel was the only proper boundary line between the two conter-

minous colonies of New South Wales and

Queensland, and believing also that the boundary fixed by the late Governor, Sir William Denison, had nothing else to

recommend it than that it threw

into New South Wales a portion of territory that two successive Acts of the Imperial Parliament had declared did not rightly belong to that colony. But I con- fess I was not a little surprised to find that thc movement at the Clarence, and through- out the district, was not now in favor of separation and annexation to Queensland, but of separation pure, as it was styled, or in other words for a separate and distinct colony for the Clarence and Richmond dis- trict. I was somewhat startled, I repeat it, at the first announcement of this idea, and disposed to regard it as both unreason- able and impracticable ; but on examining tlie subject a little more minutely, I could see very plainly that it was neither the ono nor the other; and if the candid reader will only look into the matter, I am quite sure he will be of the same opinion.

In a despatch to the Secretary of State for the time being, the late Sir George Gipps described the Clarence River as being three hundred aud forty miles from Sydney. Such, then, is the nearest part of the Clarence and Richmond district; and what may be the extent of that district itself? Why, the portion of New South Wales to the northward of the 30th degree of latitude that is, the Clarence and Richmond Rivers district is not less than

58,000 square miles in extent, that is 40 square miles more than all England and Wales. And will any person pretend to say that the inhabitants of such a country have not as good a right to good Govern- ment, or, in other words, to govern them-

selves, as we have ?

The population of the portion of terri- tory to the northward of the 30th parallel of latitude, is at present 12,465, that is a

larger population than Van Diemen's Land had when it was separated from New South Wales forty years ago ; and let it be observed that Yan Diemen's Land has an area of not more than 24,000 square miles, that is not nearly one-half the extent of the Clarence district of New South Wales. The live stock of the Clarence district is at present 17,217 horses; 543,8G0 cattle; S53.621 sheep; and 5964 swine. And besides other articles of produce, such as wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and grapes, the product of maize, the principal staple of the district, is, as I have already stated, half a million of bushels.

And on what do the inhabitants of that district rely for their hopes of success in this matter ? Not certainly on the mere justice and equity of the measure, for that would be rather a questionable ground of hope in any struggle- with this great'colony. They occupy a very different position from what this would imply. They rely on the express words of an Act of the Imperial Parliament, passed fifteen years ago, and never repealed. That Act ensures to the resident householders of the Clarence and Richmond districts their separation from New South Wales at tho 30th parallel of latitude, whenever they choose to petition her Majesty for it, and in the face of such a right, it would obviously bo the sheerest folly in us to stand in their way.

l am quite aware of what I may expect in certain quarters for putting forth such views and opinions before the public of this colony. I shall doubtless be held up as little better than a traitor, who, would dismember this great colony, and vote away, what I do not deny, is one of the fairest portions of it. But I trust I shall never be deterred, by whatever amount of obloquy and vituperation I may encounter in the process, from advocating the right of my fellow-colonists of Australia to the best possible government they can possibly obtain in any part of this vast territory.

Sabbath, l5th October. My principal object in visiting the Clarence River on the present occasion had been to prepare the way for the settlement of one or two Presbyterian ministers in the district. I had been instrumental at different times

in settling three different ministers of the Presbyterian Church in that district - the first in 1850 ; the second in 1854; and the third in 1857 ; two of whom had died, while the third (although the first in the order of time) had been obliged to leave

the district from disease and death in his family. I had, therefore, resolved to visit the Clarence district for some months past, but had deferred doing so till the union of the Presbyterian Church had been

effected.

Preached in tho Presbyterian Church, Grafton, to remarkably good congregations, both morning and afternoon, explaining the object of my visit, which I had deferred till the completion of the union of tho Presby- terian Church, and the course which it was proposed to pursue for the dispensation of the ordinances of religion on both rivers. The Presbyterian Church at Grafton - for the repairs of which, as it had been long unused and neglected, since the death of the late minister, I succeeded in get- ting up a subscription during my stay - is a substantial weatherboard building, erected, during the ministry of the late Rev. James Collins, on an allotment of ground granted for the purpose by Mr. Alderman Avery, of Grafton, to the late Synod of New South Wales. So early as the year 1858, that synod had applied to the Government, through the committee at Grafton, for an allotment for Presbyterian Church purposes, and an allotmont of the usual extent was granted accordingly, in one of the best localities in the town, being in Prince's-street, and above tho reach of floods.

Unwilling to remain unoccupied while I should be officiating at Grafton, Mr. Thom bad ridden up, ou Saturday, the 14th, to a Presbyterian settlement, at a place called Smith's Flat, about twenty-two miles further up the river, whero he met with a very cordial reception, and held Divine service twice on Sabbath, with much acceptance, ia a non-vested schoolhouse, recently erected in the neighborhood, re- turning to Grafton on Monday, the 10th.

(To be continued.)

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