174 



THE DISCOVERY OF PORT DALRYMPLE. 



plains on the North Esk, where they found better pas- 

 ture and a more congenial climate'. Although York 

 Town was now the head quarters, Paterson still kept up 

 an establishment at Outer Cove as his port and his 

 Paterson's depot for stock. He also had a small post at the Low- 

 Journal, 528. Head flagstaff and at Green Island, winch formed his 

 store depot. This did not meet with the approval of the 

 Governor at Sydney, who objected to the division of his 

 forces, and thought they ought to be concentrated at his 

 principal settlement. 



There is little more to tell respecting the York Town 

 Settlement. After a few months' trial Paterson found 

 the site so unsuitable that in March 180(3, he moved his 

 head-quarters to the banks of the North Esk— the pre- 

 sent site of Launceston. A small establishment was, 

 however, maintained in the old port for upwards 

 of a year longer, and then York Town was finally 

 abandoned. 



For long years afterwards the whole district was 

 deserted, save for a few scattered and insignificant hold- 

 ings. Towards the year 1870 (I think) attention was 

 directed to the working of the rich iron deposits in the 

 neighbourhood of Western Arm, and large smelting 

 works were erected at Ilfracombe. The enterprise proved 

 a failure. 



Though the iron industry had failed, gold was destined 

 to restore the fortunes of the district. Gold was dis- 

 covered in 1870 at Cabbage-tree Hill, in the vicinity of 

 Middle Arm, and by the development of the Tasmania 

 Mine a considerable population has been attracted, so 

 that in the present year we have the town of Beacons- 

 field a prosperous mining centre, claiming to be the 

 third town in the Colony, within less than live miles of 

 the spot which Lieutenant-Governor Paterson designed 

 to make the capital of northern Tasmania. 



Anyone who has the curiosity to see the ruins of this 

 early settlement may easily reach the spot from Beacons- 

 field. A rough bush-track, practicable for a chaise cart, 

 winds in a north-westerly direction through miserably 

 poor country, covered with gum forest and a heath-like 

 scrub intermingled with the dwarf grass-tree. After 

 travelling for about 5 miles along this track and crossing 

 the Anderson's Creek of Paterson, we reach M'Millan's 

 Burn, now known as Massey's Creek, and emerge from 

 the bush. Between this creek and a creek on the north, 

 (called by Paterson Kent's Burn, but now known as the 

 York Town Rivulet), just at the head of the Western 



