Physiography of Werrihee Area. 301 



(a) Communications — Roads and Railways. 



(b) Water Conservation. 



(c) Population and Occupations. 



(a) Roads and Railways. — The chief lines of communication in 

 the Werribee area lie along tlie level plains of tlie Ballan and the 

 Port Phillip Sunklands. The road and railway from Melbourne to 

 •Geelong both cross the lower Werribee plains, with that directness 

 that characterises roads, etc., in an area of 'easy grades. Numerous 

 other roads criss-cross the Werribee plains providing easy com- 

 munication between Melbourne, Bacchus Marsh, Melton, Balliang, 

 Little River, Werribee, Anakie, Geelong, etc. These roads are all 

 in fairly good order, the main roads especially so. 



The Ballarat-Melboui-ne railway and the main road between the 

 same centres had of necessity to ascend the formidable obstacle of 

 the RoAvsley or Bacchus Marsh scarp, since that feature stands 

 normal to the line joining these places, and extends for many miles 

 to the north and south. The leality of this barrier is also sug- 

 gested by the fact that the main or only communication between 

 Ballarat and the seaboard was, for many years, through Geelong, 

 along a route that avoided the scarp. This statement is based on 

 the writer's recollections of the reminiscences of numerous pioneers 

 of the " digging days," the early fifties; the chief mode of trans- 

 port to Ballarat and the neighbouring diggings was, in those days, 

 *' by bullock dray from Geelong." 



The grades above and below the Rowsley scarp present no diffi- 

 culties, although the dissection of the upland ** plains " has caused 

 the present railway line to bend somew^hat in places. The ascent 

 of the scarp is made at Bacchus Marsh, where that feature is 

 lowest. The train climba the 1300 feet between Bacchus Marsh and 

 Ingliston partly by means of a long loop, high grades prevailing 

 all the way. The present road has been selected along the valley 

 sides to the north of the Werribee, where the scarp is deeply dis- 

 sected . 



The roads from Melton to Gisborne, and from Bacchus Marsh to 

 Bullengarook, both contain very steep pinches, where ascending 

 from the plains to the \iplifted block. Both roads are selected 

 largely along basaltic flows, but neither is greatly used. 



No road leads fi-om the lower plains on to the Brisbane 

 Ranges, excepting a very poor and little used road at the Anakies. 

 The grades are high, and the scarp is possible of ascent here only 

 because of the accimiulation of the volcanic material of the Anakies 

 close against it. An old railway survey also chose this route. 



