i^S AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



Northward from its starting-point in the Alps, and in its axis generally parallel with the 

 coast, runs this great range. It changes its name as many of our Australian rivers change 

 their names, the continuity not being recognized by the first discoverers. At Kosciusko it 

 is called the Muniong Chain, and this range runs parallel to the Gourock Spur, with 

 Jindulian, its highest point, four thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea. 

 Around the head-waters of the Murrumbidgee, the Great Divide and its lateral spurs 

 are known as the Monaro and Murrumbidgee Ranges. The former reaches its greatest 

 elevation at the head of the Kybean River, and the latter culminates in Marragural, 

 nearly seven thousand feet. Continuing northward, the Cullarin Range, with its 

 Mundoonen Peak, leads on to the minor spurs known as the Hunter, Mittagong and 

 Macquarie Ranges, and the cordillera east of Sydney is called the Blue Mountains. 

 Here are many notable points, highest of which is Mount Beemarang, over four thou- 

 sand feet, which altitude is nearly attained by Mount- Clarence in this same division of 

 the Great Divide. The average elevation of the main chain at this part is three thou- 

 sand three hundred feet, and the Blue Mountains proper extend from the thirty-fourth 

 parallel of latitude northward to the Liverpool Range. At Monaro the height is much 

 less than on the principal part of the Muniong Range, yet it is sufficient to produce a 

 long and rigorous winter, even in the towns that nestle in the valleys, or on the slopes 

 of the hills. But north of Monaro there is a decided drop. The plateau of the main 

 range is here comparatively narrow ; th^re are no towering peaks, no stupendous crags 

 or lofty isolated summits. The backbone is less marked, and otherwise so level and 

 diversified in character as almost to escape recognition. In the latitude of Goulburn the 

 plateau widens out, but the general height is not more than two thousand feet ; and on 

 to the northward it grows still more elevated and rugged. 



At the Blue Mountains " The Mountains " par excellence to the people of Sydney 

 the backbone asserts itself and takes bold shape again. The grim escarpment of the 

 seaward face of this section of the Big Divide is associated with all the history, trials 

 and efforts of the early Australian colonists. Governor Phillip saw it in his first journey 

 inland ; looked out towards it from his Rose Hill farm and his settlement on Toon- 

 gabbie and Castle Hill. The bold blue bastion guarded all the secret of the inner land 

 through the first twenty years of Australian history. A road painfully made by convict 

 labour, and for years painfully traversed, opened the far west to commerce, but only 

 with the railway did the beauties and pleasures and glories of the mountains become 

 accessible to the multitudes of the city. They are all within an easy journey now. 

 Without serious effort or hardship or privation of any kind, the tourist of to-clay may 

 stand on the precise spot where, after much trial and endurance, the gallant little band 

 of first explorers stood ; may pass by the graves of the soldiers who kept the first 

 camp at Blackheath ; may look at the marvel of Govett's Leap ; at the Grose and 

 Kanimbula Valleys ; at the multitude of waterfalls ; and softest and perhaps loveliest 

 picture of all at the plains and the river below Lapstone Hill. 



But he who would really know the mountains, must give weeks and months to them ; 

 must not only see the mysteries and beauties of the everlasting gulfs, the falling waters, 

 the distant forest-carpet and the lace-like fringe of ferns and flowers, but he must let the 

 majestic colouring and clothing of the sunset sink into his being. He must watch while 



