Clement Hodgkinson

“ It is astonishing what a fondness the Australian natives display for the tribes to which they belong, and the localities in which they are accustomed to roam; they cannot bear even a short separation from their fellows, and their usual haunts, without feeling a strong desire to return to them.
The glen of the Bellengen, and the surrounding mountains, appeared singularly romantic from the high range on which we bivouacked, beneath the dear moonlight sky. ”

“ The surrounding ranges of hills were all either very lightly wooded and grassy, or else covered over with brush timber and entangled vegetation. Most of the park-like hills rose in round conical summits, and were probably composed of clay slate; whilst one heavily wooded range, on the south bank of the river, was crowned by huge masses of rock, overgrown with creepers, and resembling the ivy-clothed battlements of some ancient fortress. ”

“ A person with a small capital, which he has invested in sheep in New South Wales, would find that his occupation as a flock-master in that colony, would be attended with little of that intense application to business, long continued toil, or harassing cares and anxiety, which necessarily fall to the lot of the small capitalist in England, who embarks his all in a desperate and unequal struggle with the over numerous competitors in every profession or trade in the mother country. ”

“ Having given the blacks some flour and tea, and made some hot rum and water, we stripped off our wet clothes, and enveloping ourselves in our blankets, soon felt quite comfortable. The night was very tempestuous, many a tree, uprooted by the wind, fell with a thundering crash down the precipitous ravines; whilst the trees over our heads rocked fearfully under the influence of the violent gusts which swept over that exposed mountain top. I frequently expected that our frail erection of bark and branches would be blown over the side of the range by the force of the wind. ”

“ There are many inexplicable causes which produce wonderful diversity of climate. Thus, if I were called upon to judge from analogy, I should have no hesitation in saying that Australia was a most unhealthy country for Europeans; for the estuaries of its rivers, its creeks, salt-water inlets and mud flats, abound in mangroves, which have been considered by the best authorities the chief cause of the unequalled unhealthiness of the rivers on the coast of Western Africa. ”

“ A well trained dog, in coming along-side of a kangaroo, springs on that animal whilst in the air, seizing it near the root of the tail; the weight of the dog, brings him to the ground, when the former instantly lets go the tail and festens on the throat. In effecting this manoeuvre, an awkward dog is frequently torn, or ripped open, by the kangaroo's hind legs, which are armed with hooked claws of great size. It is no uncommon occurrence for him to stop and stand at bay against a tree; when a dog ventures to attack the kangaroo whilst in this position, he generally suffers for his temerity ”

“ I am sorry to observe, that this tribe, which behaved so well to me, was the one which subsequently attacked and murdered the cedar sawyers on their first migration to the Nambucca river.
We had been rising from the last stream along a brushy, narrow ridge, with dense brushy hollows on both sides of us, and we now came to a very steep ascent. Although my pack-horse had a very light load, we were here obliged to take it off, and distribute it among the blacks, who carried their burdens on their heads; and dismounting ourselves, we toiled up to the summit, leading the horses after us. ”

“ Indeed, from the immense distance of Australia from the mother country and other markets, I consider that the cultivation of the land for the production of grain, with a view to its exportation, presents very dismal prospects for the future, and I fully expect to find, in the course of a year or two, that much good land, now cultivated in Van Diemen's Land and South Australia, must revert to a state of nature. Nevertheless, Australia is much more adapted for the production of wheat, than has been generally supposed. ”

“ It lives entirely in dense brushes, and feeds on the berries of various trees belonging to the myrtle tribe. This bird is rather difficult to shoot, as it sits buried in the dense foliage overhead, and starts off suddenly on the approach of man, with a rapid flight, making a loud whirring sound with its wings, like a partridge. ”

“ Having been at that time constantly engaged, for nearly twelve months, in the survey of the MacLeay river, I determined to give the men assigned to me for my surveying party, a little repose; whilst I started with our stockman—an active intelligent fellow, on whose coolness and courage I knew I could rely, in case we encountered any hostility from the blacks—on an excursion over the mountains towards this new river, keeping inland as much as possible, as by so doing I should be better enabled to judge if it were a stream of any importance. ”

“ Acts of treachery sometimes occur between individual natives, but these acts, though they involve the tribe, to which the offending party belongs, in war with the other tribe, are always punished, as the offender has always to bear the brunt of the engagement, and stand for some time alone, unassisted by his companions, as a butt for the spears of the immediate relations of the man whom he has killed or wounded. ”

“ Experience is our only guide to enable us to form an opinion of the salubrity of the climate of any country: Hong-Kong was always supposed to be a healthy island, and yet we now learn, after a frightful mortality among our troops and seamen in that settlement, that in order to guard against disease there, it is necessary to take greater care of oneself, and submit to more annoying precautions than in India itself ”

“ However, even in the most distant regions of New South Wales, beyond the limits of location, there is much more intercourse among the squatters, or licensed occupiers of land, than would be imagined. In those districts near the coast, many of the squatters are retired officers, who are often married men, with large families; of course, wherever female society extends its influence, the bush-life of Australia is deprived of much of its roughness, and the agrèmens of civilized life are in some measure preserved by small social reunions, music, boating parties, races, &c. ”

“ The stream itself, of crystal brightness, rushes rapidly through the glen, over a bed of large pebbles, and frequently forms diminutive cascades over opposing rocks; this, with the magnificent trees, and beautiful flowering creepers, forming natural arches, with a glimpse of distant hills, softened and blended with the deep azure of an Australian sky, cannot fail of affording gratification to any one who can admire nature unadorned by art. The ranges of hills in the neighbourhood of Dongai Creek, are principally composed of clay-slate, and other soft slaty rocks. ”