124 J. H. MAIDEN AND R. H. CAMBAGE. 



This second road was deviated by Major (afterwards Sir 

 Thomas) Mitchell in the early thirties just beyond Bowen- 

 f els, and passed through B/ydal, Meadow Flat and Yetholme 

 to Bathurst, and, with some minor deviations, it forms 

 part of the present Sydney to Bathurst road. (See Plan.) 



Allan Cunningham's MS. Journal of this Lachlan trip (to 

 the " western interior " as it was called), is still in exist- 

 ence. Extracts from his Journal have never before been 

 published, and are of special interest to botanists in that 

 they indicate some of his collecting grounds. We have, at 

 different times, traversed on foot the route from Emu 

 Plains to near Bathurst, not confining ourselves to the 

 modern road, but, rough as it is, have followed his steps 

 accurately. We will defer consideration of the neighbour- 

 hood of Bathurst for another paper. 



Allan Cunningham had been sent out as King's Botanist 

 by Sir Joseph Banks, and arrived in Sydney on December 

 21st, 1816. Governor Macquarie requested him to accom- 

 pany Mr. Oxley in the expedition to which allusion has 

 been made. Tliey crossed the Nepean River on 6th April, 

 1817, and from the crossing (Emu Ford) 1 distances as far as 

 Mount York were calculated. Cunningham remarked that 

 the banks of the Nepean are "clothed with spreading trees of 

 the Melia azedarach, called by the settlers 'White Cedar' " 

 which is interesting to those who look upon it as an intro- 

 duced tree, which undoubtedly it is in many parts of New 

 South Wales. 



Springwood.— Cunningham remarks on the "good pastur- 

 age and lofty handsome timber" near the "depot" at 

 Springwood (12^ miles from Emu Ford). This is owing to 

 the presence of the Wianamatta shale which overlies the 

 Hawkesbury sandstone. He notes that "Eucalyptus robusta 



1 The Ford is now silted up, but a view of it, by Lewin, is in possession 

 of the Antill family. 



