NEW SOUTH WALES. 257 



of. They made the passage from Sydney to Woolongong in a 

 steamer. Owing to the steamer not being well adapted for a sea- 

 voyage, much inconvenience, delay, and disappointment occur on 

 this route, although upon the whole it facilitates the intercommuni- 

 cation between this district and the city. Woolongong, the port at 

 which the steamer stops, is a small thriving town, and will be the 

 principal one of this district. It has no natural harbour, but one is 

 now under construction, at the expense of government, by excavating 

 the solid rock (limestone), for the accommodation of steamers and 

 small vessels : a large number of convicts were at work upon it. The 

 port will never be fully protected until the proposed pier or break- 

 water is built, for during half the year, the sea makes it dangerous 

 to lie at anchor in the roadstead, notwithstanding the strong- moorings 

 which have been laid down. It will also be very difficult to enter 

 the basin in bad weather, until such a breakwater is in existence to 

 protect it. The basin, when completed, will contain about half a 

 dozen vessels. The construction of the breakwater is carried on at 

 the same time as that of the basin, and the stone excavated from the 

 one is used in the construction of the other. Both were to have been 

 finished in 1842. 



The district of Illawarra is held by a few persons, who have large 

 grants of land. The roads are constructed and kept in order at the 

 expense of the government. When one of the residents was asked 

 whether the road was a public one, he answered, it was a " govern- 

 ment road." 



The convict population, including ticket-of-leave holders, in this 

 district, bears a proportion to the free as one to three. Of the 

 remaining two-thirds, more than one-half are emancipists and ex- 

 pirees. The proportion of women to men is also about one to 

 three. 



For the hospitable reception given them by Mr. Plunket, the 

 Attorney-General of the colony, our gentlemen are under great 

 obligation. He happened to be spending some time at his farm, near 

 Woolongong. This contains about two hundred acres, and is ex- 

 ceedingly pretty. The residence of Mr. Plunket is a neat cottage, 

 built after the manner of the settlers, and is well adapted to the 

 country. It is surrounded by the most luxuriant foliage, nearly all 

 of which has a tropical character, and includes palms, cabbage-trees, 

 and several varieties of tree-ferns, all growing' to a great height. 



A drive through the woods, accompanied by the ladies of the 



vol. ii. 65 



