2 . 6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



abundant harvest within a few months of the sowing, and hay runs up a luxuriant crop. 

 In a good spring season all the flats are green with the young Indian corn, or fragrant 

 with the odour, of new-mown hay ; while amongst the rich native grasses run the clean- 

 looking sheep just relieved of their weighty and valuable fleeces. Around Mudgee there 

 has been a good deal of gold-mining, but the known alluvial deposit has nearly all been 

 gathered, and the development of quartz-reefs proceeds but slowly. There are indications 

 of copper and silver, and also of coal. A line of railway has been surveyed up the 

 Colo Valley from Richmond, which would strike the Mudgee Line about Rylstone, and a 

 far easier gradient could be secured by this route than obtains on the present railway. 

 A trunk-line from Sydney may in the future follow the course of this valley, in which case 

 the Mudgee Line could be extended to the north-west. At present the town is a railway- 

 terminus, but does not concentrate very much traffic, because Dubbo catches the inland trade. 



From Wallerawang westward to Bathurst the railway line runs through undulating 

 and sometimes rather rough country. The soil is of poor quality, though here and there 

 are clearings and little farms. At Rydal may be seen drays loading for the Sunny 

 Corner silver-mines, which for a time were very productive, a hundred tons of pure 

 silver having been obtained during a period of six months. But the lode has become 

 less productive, and none of the other promising "claims" in the neighbourhood has as yet 

 realized expectations. The district, however, is of a strongly-marked mineral character, and 

 though eager speculators are quickly discouraged, it is the opinion of geologists that 

 valuable mines will yet be developed in this locality. 



Farther to the west is Tarana, the station from which visitors usually start for the 

 Jenolan Caves, although other routes are now open. These caves will be described in a 

 separate chapter. The road falls as the Bathurst Plains come in sight that rich instal- 

 ment of the great western country which gladdened the eyes of the first explorers, and 

 gave a stimulus to early pastoral occupation. 



Bathurst has naturally become the capital of the West, for its site was well chosen. 

 Placed on the banks of the Macquarie it has a secure supply of fresh water, and when 

 viewed from the city the surrounding country is seen to be a girdle of undulating hills, 

 some bare, some highly-timbered. The soil is rich, and fails to yield its harvest only 

 in those years of drought when Nature, to put a little restraint on the avarice of man, 

 compels a fallow. The value of the land was keenly appreciated by the early settlers, 

 and the homesteads of the great proprietors crown the hills that make a circle round 

 the town, which is placed on the north bank of the River, and is the centre of a 

 district which from the first has been one of rural industry. Upon that its prosperity 

 still mainly depends, though it has also been the centre to which the business of several 

 mining districts converged. Hill End, Sofala, Turon and Trunkey have all at different 

 times been "rushed" by miners. The glory of these gold-fields, however, has for the 

 present departed, and their thorough development awaits the clay when mining shall be 

 more scientifically and economically conducted. 



Each of the four great denominations is well represented in Bathurst. The Anglican 

 Church of All Saints' is perhaps the finest building ; and, surrounded by exceptionally 

 well-kept grounds, it is a chief ornament of the town. But more pleasant to the eye is the 

 square-towered cathedral of the Roman Catholics, by reason of the great trees growing 



