TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALKS. 



'39 



run of two hundred and sixty miles. The only considerable stream between that point 

 and Sydney is the George's River, which also has a northerly course for some distance, 

 but it turns to the east at Liverpool, makes a 

 curve south and debouches into Botany Bay. 



But north of Sydney is a noble stream 

 which in its lower reaches is called the 

 Hawkesbury. Some of its tributaries, rising 

 as far south as Goulburn, are likewise forced 

 into a northerly course by the secondary 

 coastal range. The Nepean and the Nattai 

 drain the western slope of the coast-range, 

 while the Warragamba, which joins the Wollon- 

 dilly, drains the southern slopes of the Blue 

 Mountains. The united waters go north as 

 far as Wiseman's Ferry, where they turn to 

 the east and find their outlet to the sea 

 through Broken Bay. This river thus almost 

 encircles the metropolitan county of Cumber- 

 land, for some of the tributaries to the Nepean 

 rise on the western slopes of the hill at the 

 back of Wollongong, and it is from these 

 streams running clown in sandstone gorges 

 that the water-supply of Sydney is now 

 obtained. At a lower point in the Nepean 

 is the Camclen District, to which the cattle 

 that escaped from the first settlement betook 

 themselves as the best grazing-ground near 

 Sydney. Lower down the river, from Penrith 

 to Richmond and Windsor, is a broad valley 

 with rich soil, a deposit from frequent floods, 

 and this was the first agricultural land farmed 

 by the early settlers. The river, therefore, 

 which enfolds the metropolitan county as in 

 its arm, is identified with the struggles of the 

 young colony, and is still closely connected 

 with the needs of Sydney. It gave the settlers 

 their first rich pasturage ; its banks were 

 the scene of the first great wool-farm ; its 

 rich flats gave the first harvest ; and the 

 gorges in its upper reaches now give their 

 daily supply of water to the city, to whose inhabitants it is a holiday play-ground. 



Towards its mouth the Hawkesbury becomes romantic. This part of the river is 

 to Australia what the Rhine is to Europe. It is the river of the artist and the tourist, 

 and a favourite haunt of the yachtsman. The great bridge of the Newcastle Railway 



