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A USTRALASIA ILL US TRA TED. 



the most recent machinery. The coarser productions are naturally those for which there 

 is tin- greater demand, and drain-pipes, tiles and bricks are the articles principally 

 manufactured. Enough, however, has been done with pottery of the finer kinds to show 

 the potentialities of the industry, and with abundance of the best clay close to coal, 

 Lithgow has its hope in reserve. 



Beyond Lithgow is the pretty, old road-side village of Bowenfels, and still farther 

 on \Vallerawang a township lying in the centre of a district rich in mineral wealth. 

 At this point a branch line strikes off in a north-westerly direction to the town of 

 Mudgee, about eighty miles distant. The route lies through somewhat rugged country, 

 which is only sparsely populated. The line runs not far from the dividing ridge, and skirts 

 the heads of the streams running down into the Colo. On the western side stretches 

 a large area of country unmistakably auriferous, in which rich patches of gold have 

 been found. The enthusiasm for mining has, however, greatly fallen off, and a systematic 

 investigation of the district awaits the time when under-ground work can be carried on 

 more economically. At Cudgegong, which is near the railway route, cinnabar ore has 

 been found, but only in quantities to tempt, not to reward, the enterprise of the miner. 

 Before the line reaches Mudgee the character of the country improves, and a fine 

 grazing district comes into view. The town itself exhibits a curious mixture of the old 

 and the new. It was an early centre of pastoral occupation, but it is now showing the 

 effects of railway communication. The trees on the River are old, the crumbling cottages 

 on the outskirts are old, the ways of the people savour of old colonization, while the 

 new churches, banks and public buildings appear as innovations on an established order. 



Mudgee is the first place on 

 a western journey where the 

 true bush - life is reached ; 

 men with genuine Australian 

 swags on their backs pass 

 frequently ; station-hands, 

 lithe, spare, and brown from 

 much riding under hot skies, 

 come in booted and spurred. 

 On the road by the Race- 

 course a trim jockey exercises 

 a well-clothed racer, and past 

 him rides a " cockatoo-boy " 

 on a palfrey whose hide knows 

 no more of grooming than 

 that of a kangaroo. Mudgee, with all its old-world air, has the capabilities of a beautiful 

 town, being laid out on a rich Hat, surrounded by well-grassed, highly-timbered hills. 



It is more than fifty years since the. first settlers came to Mudgee. They obtained 

 large grants of the rich soil, and all throve on them ; they have passed away, and their 

 sons gather the fruit of their labours. Their homesteads stand on the surrounding hills, 

 three or four miles from the town substantial, comfortable places, with broad and shady 

 trees on the lawns, and roses in the gardens, making Australian November fragrant as 



TIII-: ROMAN CATHOLIC < ATIIKDKAL AT BATHURST. 





