CHAPTER II. 



EASTERN DIVISION. 



YORK, BEVERLEY, AND GREENHILLS DISTRICTS. 



York, 66 miles from Perth on the Eastern railway, is one of 

 the oldest and largest farming centres in the colony. Its fertile 

 lands were discovered by an exploring party led by Captain 

 Stirling, R.N., Lieut. -Governor of the colony. He named the 

 territory in celebration of the fact that a number of persons from 

 the county of York, England, were among the earliest immigrants 

 when Western Australia was founded in 1829. Large grants of 

 this fertile land were bestowed upon the newcomers. There are 

 no Crown estates near York left for selection, but a splendid tract 

 is being opened up beyond Greenhills, 15 miles further east, by the 

 branch line that was authorised during the last session of Parlia- 

 ment. The town of York stands on the banks of the Avon, the 

 chief stream in the eastern districts. The river in the summer 

 time diminishes to a series of deep pools, which are ample, not 

 only for the watering of stock and domestic requirements, but 

 would in places serve to irrigate gardens and orchards. The 

 course of the Avon is marked by a low range of hills, two of the 

 principal of which, Mount Bakewell and Mount Browne, are the 

 chief landmarks of York. From the Avon the country is undulat- 

 ing, and traversed by gullies or brooks, the tributaries of the river. 

 Before the land was cleared in large areas for cultivation it grew, 

 on varying soils, several kinds of timber. In Western Australia the 

 forests are so true an index as to the suitability of the ground on 

 which they grow for various tillage purposes, that it will be 

 instructive to examine these aspects of the York country, 

 especially as the same forest characteristics are found all over the 

 eastern division, which is a very large one, embracing all the 

 agricultural areas lying between Northam and Southern Cross. 



