286 ' [Assembly 



of the Hunter and the arable country generally, for 1 50 miles 

 around Sydney, may be said to be under cultivation, profitably 

 even at this time when labor is particularly scarce and expensive. 

 Wheat, in many cases yields 30 bushels to the acre. The finest 

 and most productive is that produced in the Southern province of 

 Australia, "Vandiemans Land" or " Tasmania." 



The geological formation of New South Wales is similar to that 

 of the United States as it regards the coal measures ; but the 

 oscillations and volcanic forces approach much nearer the eastern 

 coast. The existence of active volcanic action at Mount Wingen, 

 OQ the coast between Sydney and Newcastle, and at Smoky Cape, 

 are evidences of existing causes for future elevations and erup- 

 tions of the land extending eastward. We hear from the abori- 

 gines that volcanos exist to the northwest of great size, but we 

 have no other evidence as the country has not yet been explored. 

 These volcanic fires on the coast originate in the immense beds of 

 coal with which New South Wales abounds. I observe, by a late 

 paper, some extraordinary geological movement has taken place 

 since I left the colonies. 



One of the most remarkable features of the country is, that 

 the rivers run inland, and on the eastern coast there are none but 

 " bar " rivers, of very insignificant character. Their extraordi- 

 nary tendency to run westward was most striking to me. 50 or 

 60 miles north of Brisbane or Moreton Bay a deep stream rises 

 about twelve miles from the ocean, in a ravine at the west side of 

 one of the " glass houses" (name of the five mountains in this 

 region) runs round it to the southeast, when it suddenly turns to 

 the westward, makes its way through a range of mountains into 

 the Stanley river, and then into the Brisbane, coursing over more 

 than a hundred miles inland, at the same time the land between 

 the spot where it rises and the ocean appears perfectly level. 

 Those rivers west of the " coast range" all tend to the westward. 

 Whether the whole of their waters find their way to the sea, down 

 the " Murray" to the western coast, or empties themselves into 

 the Great Desert, no white man has ever ascertained. 



