OUR COAL AND COAL POETS. 131 



coaJ, and being, as it were, the capping of the coal measures. I 

 conld not possibly see any coal itself, because none exists above 

 the surface here (not even of the 7-feet thick top seam), as it 

 dips under the sea at " Coalcliff," on the south side of the Bulgo 

 Eange, which divides Hacking Creek from lUawarra, through 

 which the tunnel should pass, and where the magnificent moun- 

 tain and marine scenery will be first met in its fullest and 

 stupendous grandeur, overlooking Stanwell Park and a great 

 deal of the Illawarra coast country. 



Returning to my narrative of our journey, we reached the 

 first inhabited free selector's house about mid-day on Sunday, 

 and felt much relief in finding any beaten path under our feet 

 once more. The pleasure evinced by the family of the free 

 selector (Hamilton) on hearing of our mission, was shown by 

 their overwhelming hospitality. Our constant aneroid elevations 

 taken along the creek gave us cheering hopes that the total 

 height of "the creek would not be at all obstructive to the form- 

 ing of a railway in such a broken country ; whilst at the same 

 time I was satisfied to find that Mr. Stephens (who has had great 

 experience in the Old World, and who partially surveyed the 

 Toowoomba grand mountain line, in Queensland, for eighteen 

 miles, and engineered the whole of it, with its eleven tunnels, 

 being in all two miles and a half) made light of the difficulties 

 that would seem insurmountable to non-professional men ; and 

 when we finally worked our way out, the next day, to the Bulgo 

 Eange, at the head of the creek, by Mr. Grilbert Hargrave's house, 

 and after Mr. Stephens had taken his views of the hills that he 

 overlooked from the top of the dividing range, then only 200 

 feet above us, I was extremely pleased to hear him say that, by 

 tunnelling at this spot through Bulgo, out near the head of the 

 Hacking Creek, he would only have 350 feet of greatest height 

 to overcome between Wollongong and Sydney ; that if all was 

 equally feasible to the south, it would be a good coal-traffic route, 

 all downward gradients being of a very easy character, whilst 

 probably fifteen miles of the road along Hacking Creek would 

 be at about 1 in 400, or practically a level line but with sufficient 

 downward gradient which might admit of all coal trains and 

 other trains to pass down for fifteen miles entirely by their own 

 gravity, and without need of much break power. 



On Sunday afternoon we descended to Stanwell Park House, 

 which is 91 feet above the sea. The next day was devoted to the 

 viewing of CoalcliflT, when Mr. Stephens, with practised quick- 

 ness, determined on the expediency of a 50-chain tunnel at 275 

 feet above the sea, to pierce this great coal cliif, which had before 

 seemed to be so serious a barrier, and by which he at once showed 

 the saving of half the length of line that would have been used 

 hj going round the cliflT, as first proposed by me. Having fixed 



