104 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822 



had to be turned loose at night to get \yater and grass, could 

 not find all of them. After waiting some time we thought it 

 best to proceed, excepting one dray which the overseer was to 

 watch whilst the men sought for the bullocks. As the road this 

 day was something better, we got nine miles to two bark huts 

 that had been erected by the men em];loyed in mending the 

 road, but were never empty. We were very glad to' take 

 possession of one of them, and our men of the other, as it had 

 ra,ined all night and all day. 



" As in England you never saw anything like these huts, j 

 fear from my description you will not understand them. Some 

 stumps of trees were stuck in the ground, the outside bark from 

 the trees was tied to them with narrow slips of what is called 

 " stringy bark " ; being tough it answers the purpose of cord ; 

 the roof is done in the same manner. They had a kind of 

 chimney, but neither windows nor doors — only a space left to 

 enter. As many men were obliged to sleep here, all round 

 inside the hut stakes were placed, and across and on the top 

 were laid pieces of bark so as to form berths to sleep on." 



At this point there is a break in the story. The account 

 of the rest of the journey and the reception of the party by 

 residents in Bathurst, for reasons therein given, is completed in 

 a letter addressed by Mrs. Hawkins to her grandchildren nearly 

 fifty years after the event. The second letter is dated Sydney, 

 19th October, 1871, and is as follows : — 



" That it may be understood why I write what I am about 

 to do, after nearly fifty years since the foregoing was written, 

 I must explain that I arrived in this colony in January, 1822, 

 and in April, with my mother, my husband and family, we left 

 Sydney to go to Bathurst, a place then but little known. It 

 was a tedious journey, and everything was so new and strange 

 to me, that on my arrival I wrote an account of it to my sister 

 in England. At that time any information of the colonies was 

 interesting, and my letter was sent to the Times office for 

 publication, but before it went one of my nieces copied the first 

 part of it, and as they never received back the original from the 

 office, the account the family now have is unfinished ; and, 

 feeling a wish for the conclusion, I am asked if I can write it, 

 which to the best of my recollection, I will. 



" I will now describe my journey from the Bark Huts where 

 we had to remain until the bullocks were found, as they had again 

 strayed away. At this distance of time, I cannot enter into all the 



