66 LETTER VI. TRIP TO NEW NORFOLK. Newtown, January 1830. WE have well chosen our residence; Newtown is, by far, the prettiest hamlet as well as the nearest to Hobarton. When you have turned the hill at the top of Elizabeth-street, which I have described, you are at once plunged into the interior of a new country. No formal fields, partitioned out by strait rail fences, like those you have left behind. The woods are still in their primitive state; or, if cleared, the green patches exposed seem natural open glades in the forest for the sun to sport in; and the silvery river, every now and then peeping from behind a hill or glistening through the dark trees, is the only animated object in the solitude. The road descends rapidly, and then ascends a sharp hill, ere coming to the small turning to the right, which through thick plantations of gum and wattle trees, abruptly brings you down the steep hill to Newtown Bay. The hamlet stands, prettily mixed with trees, upon the banks of a small rivulet, which runs into the head of the bay. Newtown Bay is an indent of the river Derwent, which forms thus a succession of little bays on both sides for many miles up its course; between us and Hobarton there is another, called Cornelian Bay; then the harbour itself, otherwise called Sullivan's Cove; and beyond that, Sandy Bay. These add greatly to the beauty of the river, either going up by water, or, as we went the other day to Elizabeth-town, by land. They are like a succession of lakes, the bays and promontories on either side, generally being opposed to each other. On the long narrow peninsula between Newtown and Cornelian Bay there is a miserable little wooden building surrounded with poultry, dignified by the name of Government Farm. The opposite side of the river is very wild, and covered with bush, excepting one little green spot in a deep bay, where lies an estate called Risdon, originally chosen for the site of Hobarton, but abandoned for the present more favourable position. The gardens of all the houses at Newtown are on the banks of the rivulet; not from the want of springs, if wells were sunk, but from the want of and hands to do so. money The hatchet of the settler has not been so unsparing here, and many shrubs are left from the original bush, beautiful specimens of the produce of the country. Here is the native cherry, which looks more like the arbor-vitæ, having a red fruit, with the stone outside; the tea-tree (not the tea-tree of China) with leaves like the myrtle, and a very pretty flower; the lilac, some of which I have seen in England; the she-oak or beef-wood, a forest tree; and many others, with whose names I am unacquainted. It is an extraordinary fact, that there has not been a fruit or vegetable found in the island which is palatable. The wattle tree,* a species of mimosa, is useful in medicine and tanning, and plantations are made for the sake of the bark, which forms one of the exports. In my walks I find a great variety of flowers, * I have ventured to differ from a work on New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, in which the wattle is described as the acacia the flower and leaves differing essentially from the acacia, and exactly resembling those of the mimosa or sensitive plant. Not understanding botany, I consider it necessary to make this remark.-[Note by Ed.] and only regret I am no botanist to class them. I recognise many old acquaintances such as the everlastings, the flax, the wild sorrel with a yellow flower, and the orchis; but amongst all these ornaments of the field, I cannot omit mentioning the grasshoppers, which look more like beautiful butterflies than their namesakes in England. Their wings are very large, and formed with a membrane of a bright yellow colour. Our fields, alas! do not boast of the verdure of Old England, for except after a great deal of rain, they are always brown, from this reason, that the indigenous grasses, of which the kangaroo grass is the most abundant, grow thinly, and very short. Farmers sow pasture land with English grass and clover for the cattle; the latter flourishes most luxuriantly. A friend who has walked over a great part of the country, assures me it is impossible to judge of the vegetable productions of the island, from the confined neighbourhood round Hobarton. Near Mount Wellington, and clothing the steep sides, the shrubs and flowers are much more beautiful; the flowers especially vying with those of the Cape of Good Hope. It has been observed, that there is a great similarity in the vegetable kingdoms of Tasmania, and the Cape, and all Cape flowers thrive particularly well when transplanted hither. The geranium, for instance, grows quite as luxuriantly; but at present the ornamental must yield precedence to the useful, and very fortunately for the poor settlers, these latter repay the culture equally well. Grafts of fruit-trees will produce the first year, if allowed; the second year they are ten or twelve feet high, bearing very fine fruit. The best garden in the colony is near this. It belongs to a brewer, who bought the ground about seven years ago. It was then nothing but bush; he soon cleared it, planted a garden, and built a handsome house. He has taken great pains with the former, and to his cultivation and care the colony is indebted for many superior sorts of fruit. His vines also are superseding the vineyard in our garden, which was planted many years before his. From our garden 300 gallons of very tolerable wine were made one year, and the soil appears so favourable, that the time may come, perhaps, when Tasmania will rival the vineyards of France. This brewer is a favourable instance of the rise of a convict to respectability. He is now, by his good conduct and industry, not only rich, but his family are grown up, and settling respectably. To shew you how the value of land is rising, the farm in which we live, with its garden, and 150 |
