NEW KNlil.ANl) (N.S.AV.). 



REMINISCENCES DCKINii THE FIFTIES. 



PART I. 



By the Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C 



(Head bt'f'oiy the llni/ttl Sucietij of (Jid'i'unhoid, 12t/i April, 1902 j. 



Early in the fifties I made my first acquaintance with the New 

 England district of New South Wales. Travelling now is very 

 dift'erent to travelling half a century ago. Australia had no 

 .railways at the time to which I refer. There were coaches on 

 some of the principal roads, but as a rule, those persons whO' 

 wished to move from one district to another used their own 

 conveyances when they needed vehicles. Most of them rode 

 from place to place, and on the whole, this was the best means 

 of locomotion, because what by courtesy were called roads, 

 were merely rough bush tracks. The friend with whom I made 

 this my first trip from Sydney to the south-eastern part of 

 New England, had a couple of horses of his own, one of which 

 carried a pack-saddle and our extra clothing, etc. I had 

 secured a useful horse for myself, and one evening, at about 

 10 o'clock, we left the A.S.N. Company's old wharf in 

 Darling Harbour for the Hunter River. I refrain from refer- 

 ring too particularly to that sea trip. Many persons in 

 those days were well acquainted with the s.s. Rose, Thistle and 

 Shamrock, and my own experiences were like those of others. 

 We passed in under Nobby's in the early morning, steamed 

 steadily up the Hunter River, and were glad to be put ashore- 

 at about 11 a.m., at Raymond Terrace, where we spent the 

 rest of the day. Fairly early next morning we got 

 away from the hotel, and started for Stroud, 34 miles 

 distant. This was not much of a day's journey, and the 



