,^14.,,. PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION 1. 



'■"y- I loved to plunge, or ply the treacherous bait ; 

 ::•. The spacious harbour with its hundred coves, 



And fairy islets, seats of savage loves. 



he is roused on a far-off shore to the strong- enthusiasm of 

 vigorous verses. 



One of Wentworth's claims to immortality consists in his 

 having been the first to cross the Blue Mountains. After 

 many unsuccessful attempts had been made during a period 

 of twenty-five years to cross that formidable barrier, Went- 

 worth with two young friends, Blaxland and Lawson, managed 

 to find a road across, a feat which led immediately to the 

 foundation of Bathurst and the opening up of the pastoral 

 lands of the interior. Considering that it was close to that 

 town that Hargraves discovered gold some thirty-five years 

 later, and so opened up a fresh career for Australia, it is curious 

 in this poem to come upon the following prophecy in describ- 

 ino; the crossing; of the Blue Mountains : — 



'Sj 



Vast Austral giant of these rugged steeps, 

 Within whose secret cells rich ghtt'ring heaps 

 Thick piled are doomed to sleep, till some one spy 

 The hidden key that opes thy mystery. 

 How mute, how desolate, thy stunted woods ! 

 How dread thy chasms, where many an eagle broods ! 

 How dark thy caves, how lone thy torrent's roar 

 As down thy cliffs precipitously thy jjour ; 

 Broke on our hearts when first with venturous tread, 

 We dared to rouse thee from thy mountain bed. 

 Till, gained with toilsome step thy rocky heath, 

 AVe spied the cheering smokes ascend beneath. 



Throughout the wliole poem there is a feeling that the 

 writer is uttering the sentiments that come warm from the 

 heart, and this of itself makes the reader feel a living interest 

 in it. His hopes and aspirations for his native land constantly 

 occur in uncompromising fashion. For instance, he was one of 

 the very earhest advocates of the cessation of transportation 

 to Australia, and his feelings are thus expressed : — 



Land of my hope, soon may this early blot, 

 Amid thy growing honours be forgot. 

 Soon may a freeman's soul, a freeman's blade, 

 Nerve every arm, and gleam through every glade. 

 No more the outcast convict's clanking chains, 

 Deform thy wilds and stigmatise thy plains. 



He lived to take a prominent part in carrying out the aspira- 

 tions thus early formed. 



It is pleasing also to see in this poem the adumbration of 

 the Sydney University that was to be, — 



