MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
161 
South Wales territory north of the Murray capable of 
supporting vast numbers of either sheep or cattle. This 
great district may be regarded as extending for 600 
miles along the river, from 100 miles below the junc¬ 
tion of the KTumimbidgeo to the Edward, and is gene¬ 
rally alluded to as the Mnrrnmbidgee district. 
About 350 miles before reaching Albury a manifest 
improvement takes place in the character of the country 
adjoining the river. The climate also changes for the 
better, and the country in the back ground gives pro¬ 
mise of a fine agricultural district. 
The influence which the waters of a navigable river 
have upon the welfare and civilization of a people must 
at all times be considerable in Australia. 
Cultivation and population gradually but surely 
ascend it; villages are formed at the confluence of 
streams and rivers, and these soon become towns and 
cities, the centres of civilization and of commerce. 
Whereas, looking at those parts of Australia which 
have made the least progress, we shall find that it is in 
the interior, where the country' is not intersected by 
any considerable stream or river, and whore, in conse¬ 
quence, there exists but a scanty' population who follow 
pastoral pursuits, a state by' no means conducive to the 
progress of civilization. 
If we extend our survey of the rivers of Australia 
along the Eastern coast, we find that into Shoalhaven 
there falls a river of considerable magnitude, hut the 
entrance is difficult and obstructed with shoals, and the 
country for some distance along the banks is low and 
swampy. 
This river has its source about 30 miles from the 
coast, and, after a northerly course of about 100 miles, 
falls into the sea at Slioalhaven. 
The great Bosvrorth Gully on the Shoalhaven river 
is a most remarkable geological feature. It is said to 
be 4 miles wide and 2 miles deep, its depth being thus 
one-half its breadth; hut these dimensions are probably 
exaggerated. 
It is, however, an undoubted fact that the most 
tremendous ravines or gullies are occasionally' to be 
met with in the course of some of the rivers of Aus¬ 
tralia, 
Mr. Oxley (formerly Survey'or-General) who first 
explored the valley of Apslev river, thus describes 
one of these ravines:—“This tremendous ravine,”says 
Mr. Oxley', “runs nearly North and South ; its breadth 
at the bottom does not apparently' exceed 100 or 200 
feet, while the separation of tho outer edges is from two 
to three miles. 
“ I am certain that in perpendicular depth it exceeds 
3000 feet. From, either side of this abyss, smaller 
ravines, of similar character, diverged; tho distance 
between which seldom exceeded half a mile.” 
This ravine was the bed of the river Apsley, and it 
seems probable that it was formed bv the working of 
the stream, during many ages. 
The rivers that fall into Botany Bay and Port 
Jackson are of veiy trifling dimensions, and it is 
probably' to these rivers that tire writer of the paper, 
read at the Philosophical Society, referred, when he 
stated that “ there is no river in New South Wales of 
sufficient capacity to float a canoe I” 
The Hawkesbury river which falls into Broken Bay 
is a river of considerable magnitude. It rises near 
Lake George, runs for some distance parallel to the 
Shoalhaven river, but its course is very circuitous. At 
its source it is called tho Wollondilly, then the Warra- 
gumba, next the Nepean* and lastly the Ilawkesburv. 
This practice of calling the same river by different 
names prevails in other parts of the colony', and leads 
to mush confusion of terms, if not of ideas. 
The next ris'er of importance is the Hunter, and 
this river, with its tributaries, waters an extensive and 
fertile district, comprised within the vallov of the 
Hunter, which includes the valley of the William and 
the Paterson. 
The Hunter river being navigable for sea-going 
vessels as far as Morpeth, that place is made the ter¬ 
minus of water conveyance from Sydney, and of land- 
carriage from the interior In consequence, however, 
of flats and shoals in the river* tho steamers are often 
liable to detention, in suite of their light draught of 
water; and several plans have been proposed for 
deepening the channel over tho flats. 
In a short “ Memoir relative to the improvement of 
Harbours and Fivers in Australia,” published by tho 
miter in 1856, the following passages relating to tho 
Hunter occur: — “Thus tho flats on the lower Hunter 
mil, it is to bo feared, be re-formed, in spite of all 
endeavours to remove them by dredging, unless an 
increased velocity can bo given to the out-flowing 
stream, by confining its current within certain limits, 
by' such means as dams or weirs on the branches, and 
longitudinal dykes or “levees” in the stream, being 
embankments carried in a parallel direction with the 
river’s course, and formed of permanent materials, for 
tho purpose of contracting the tidal current, and of 
increasing the scouring power.” (Page 11.) 
And again at page 25 u The lower part of the 
Hunter river divides itself into several small branches, 
which are only navigable for boats, and by closing 
these branches by r dams or weirs, a larger body' of water 
would be thrown into the main channel, thus deepening 
it bv the additional scour thus produced; and this 
would be ••till further augmented by' tho construction of 
a longitudinal dyke or levee, to contract the channel 
over the flats.” 
It is believed that the improvements in progress on 
the lower Hunter are based upon the principles herein 
suggested ; and that means have been adopted to direct 
tho current of the river, as far as possible, into one 
course, and to close up the smaller branches, thus pre¬ 
venting the water from spending its strength in passing 
through them. 
It seems certain that improvements in rivers must 
he based on a knowledge of the changes in the bed of 
the river, the soil of the banks, and the velocity of the 
current, and that such improvements be not only practi¬ 
cable, but also of a permanent character.^ 
The river Po, situated in the great plain of N orthern 
Italy', affords an instructive example of the effects pro¬ 
duced by the Italian engineers. According to Ly r ell, 
the changes gradually' effected in the channel of this 
river have been considerable. Extensive lakes and 
marshes have been gradually filled up, as those near 
Parma, Placentia, and Cremona, and many have been 
drained naturally' by'the deepening of tho river’s bed, 
which frequently deviated from its course and invaded 
new territories. To check these deviations, a general 
system of embanking this river was adopted by the 
early Italian engineers so far back as the thirteenth 
century, and the Po, the Adige, and almost all their 
tributaries, are now confined between, high artificial 
banks. The increased velocity of the current acquired 
by streams thus closed in enables them to carry a much 
larger proportion of foreign matter to the sea. 
From Port Stephens to Port Macquarie the principal 
river is the Manning, which empties itself into the sea 
by two mouths at Harrington and Farquhar Inlets. It 
has, however, a dangerous bar with only 7 to 8 feet of 
water at low tide. The Hastings River, which falls 
into Port Macquarie, has also a bar at its entrance, and 
flows through a very mountainous country', an elevated 
peak of which* called Sca-Yiew Hill, is said to have an 
elevation of nearly 6000 feet. 
The Macleay Iiiver falls into Trial Bay in lat. 30 
deg. 45 min. or thereabouts; it waters an extensive 
and fertile district, the sources of tins river being in 
the table land of New England. 
From hence to Shoal Bay there are few rivers of any 
magnitude. 
The Clarence River falls into Shoal Bay in lat. 
29.30, and is one of the most important rivers in this 
part of the colony. -It is distant from^ Sydney 380 
miles, and its head waters take their rise in the divid¬ 
ing range near Mount Lindsay, which locality gives 
rise also to the Richmond and the Logan rivers. 
