CHAPTER VI. 



THE WILLIAMS DISTRICT. 



Intersected by the Perth-Albany road, which in a former 

 chapter is treated as the eastern boundary of the south-western 

 district, is the Williams district. The \Villiams territory is dealt 

 with as part of the southern district notwithstanding that it runs 

 west beyond " southern " lines because its soil, climate, and rain- 

 fall have more affinity w r ith the features of the country along the 

 Great Southern than that bordering on the South-western railway. 

 That is to say, it is much drier than the section near the coast line, 

 of which Pinjarrah and Bunbury are the principal centres ; the soil 

 is of a lighter character, the timber is smaller, and therefore 

 cheaper to remove, the arable areas are larger, the natural 

 herbage in its virgin state more scanty than will be seen in the 

 south-west proper. The essential advantage which distinguishes 

 the Williams from the southern division is that the former is the 

 better w r atered. While there are hundreds of miles of fertile 

 country near the Great Southern railway, w r hich runs from Perth to 

 Albany, that are solely dependent upon a conserved water supply, 

 the Williams has the Hotham, the Arthur, Murray, Williams, and 

 the Beaufort rivers, which never go dry, running east to west a few 

 leagues apart from each other. Moreover, the Williams has 24 

 inches of rainfall, while the south has 16, but it partakes of the dis- 

 advantage of the latter in carrying poison in places. It is, how- 

 ever, one of the oldest settled farming places in the colony, and the 

 residents mostly have large holdings on which they combine the 

 raising of sheep with the growth of cereals. Two causes have 

 operated against new settlement to any large extent the lack of 

 railway communication and large private estates. It will be 

 necessary to examine these causes more closely than the mere 

 naming of them, to see how far they are in process uf being re- 

 moved, lest the readers of this GUIDE may be led astray by being 

 diverted from the Williams, under the impression that they cannot 

 get a desirable foothold there. 



A survey of the route of a railway from Pinjarrah to Marra- 

 clong, which is about 45 miles from Pinjarrah to the Williams, is 

 now being made. This is regarded as the first section of a line 

 that will ultimately join the Great Southern railway at Wagin Lake. 

 When this junction is made the journey between Albany and Perth 

 will lie reduced by about 100 miles, and a very large tract of country 

 will be opened up, while easy transit to market will be given for a 

 large quantity of produce which has now to be carted from 40 to 



