Mount Victoria, NSW, Wednesday night, July 13/98.
Yesterday, Tuesday, morning after breakfast, Mr. Leask & I set out to view the magnificient [sic] harbour of Sydney from Mosman point, about 10 minutes’ walk from his house, & we stood beside a pretty house called, “Abbotsford,” to get the view. The morning was fine, tho’ over Sydney it was a shade hazy. We returned to his house & by then the sun had got into a suitable position for photographing him & family at front of house, & I think the results will be good. We then left to get the 5 to 9 boat for Sydney & landed at the jetty, Circular Quay, at 9:15. We parted, he to his office, I on a bus for station, but I stopped at post office, George St., on the way to post my diary, up to date, & some New Zealand letters, Mr. Withy, Mr. H. Leask, Mr. Furness, Mr. Cobb, & Cook’s agency (I had decided not to go by the Saturday, 16th, steamer as it would have been too much of a rush after doing Bathurst, & I have the Tolsons, Lawsons & others yet to see, & as I explained in my last, I loose [sic] no time by going direct to Auckland.) & just as I had slipped my letters into the box, who should tap my shoulder but Mr. W. McLean, just coming into business. He stays at Neutral Bay, opposite Mosman’s Bay. We walked as far as the Strand together & I took a bus for the station, reaching there at 10 o’clock, & left at 10:15 on my way to [5:54] Bathurst, a long ride for so short a distance, 145 miles, 7 hours & 12 minutes. Travelling is slow here compared with home, & what is called express, & there is only one per day each way, stops at every station, if required. Much of the journey is very, very interesting. Some very grand mountain scenery. First, & soon after leaving Sydney, we travel through lovely orange groves & some vineyards, & where vegetation is very beautiful. Paramatta is the district for oranges & lemons (this is where one of the Lawsons, Mrs. Kedge, lives. I told you I had spent an evening there), then the country is plain & scrubby, that is bush, until the Emu Plains are reached, & I was much charmed here, very much, & we came on the mountains as we leave the edge of these lovely plains, the celebrated Blue Mountains of New South Wales. We skirted the side, then through a tunnel, & out on the other side of these beautiful mountains, gradually rising all the journey. The Emu Plains are 87 feet above sea level & the other side of the tunnel is 598 feet, then rising all the way till Clarance is reached, 3,658 feet, & here the celebrated & world wonder is to be seen, the Great Zig Zag Railway, a de[s]cent of 433 feet all most within eye sight. The engineering here is a most wonderful construction. It must be seen to be understood. The engine is twice detached, changing ends, & the whole compas is within a distance which can be viewed out of the carriage windows. It is a thrilling, & yet a charming, sight, & worthy a long journey to see the likes, but between the Blue Mountains, being first approached, & this Zig Zag, there are some beautiful parts & much, aye, as far [5:55] as far [sic] as the eye can reach, & that’s a very long distance in such a clear atmospheric regions, nothing but forests of trees & bush covering hundreds of thousands of acres of land, not been touched by the hand of man. Much of this is said to be poor land & not worth clearing. Here & there you come upon great broad expanses of open cleared country, grazing & some arable. The hill scenery too is very fine & the railway for miles runs along the face of the hills, & overlooking great valleys, all forest. The bigness or magnitude is appal[l]ing & difficult to imagine, both wild, weird, grand, & soft are the descriptions which can be applied to great areas the eye can clearly discern, & so on, right up to Bathurst. But I’ve omitted to say that just on the margin of the Emu Plains, the big river, Neapean, is crossed by a very fine iron bridge. On 2 platforms there were enormous quantities of rabbits & hares for freezing & exporting, & would be in Sydney same day at evening. I was much taken up with the beautiful scenery between Leura & Mount Victoria. Well, I arrived at Bathurst, & David was on the platform, glad to meet each other, but more on this subject when I get home & it will keep.[1] My hotel was the Royal, & very comfortable. We had a walk & long chat, & this Wednesday morning after breakfast, we had a short walk. I took my Kodak & got David on a film, then back to hotel, squared up, & set off for station to get the 9:37 back to Mount Victoria. I photo’d him again on our way down to the station. The bus took down my little baggage. We walked for convenience, parted & waved to each other till the train was out of sight. He was going [5:56] to start for up country today, Wednesday.
I came back the same route – no other – & got out at Mount Victoria, 12:40 p.m., traversing the Zig Zag again, & it was even more charming & fascinating than yesterday. The colonials may well boast about this engineering & picturesque place, & by the way, tho’ the sun was so scorching hot yesterday, there was ice at Bathurst, the first natural I’ve seen since leaving home, & I set my foot upon it & spoke of “bendy leather”[2] to David, & also as we came along whereever there was any water, there was ice. The sun soon became very powerful & had to be shut out of the carriages. Such is winter here, to me, hot during day, but cold at night & early morning, tho’ I don’t feel the cold, being always well wrapped in bed & the “Greenock Socks” on. Now, about Mount Victoria. I got, in addition to my first class ticket for Bathurst, 2 – 3 – 0 return break points anywhere, Cook’s coupons for 2 days & from this Mount Victoria, I have a drive of 25 miles tomorrow, Thursday, morning, to view Govett’s Leap, Leura Falls, & Wentworth Falls, starting from the hotel here, “The Imperial”, at 8 o’clock, lunch at Wentworth, & join the train at Wentworth station at 1:44 p.m. (this is the train I came on with from Bathurst today, here at 12:40) which experience I will give after the event. After lunch today I rested, then set out to see the view hereabouts, which is a walk of about ½ hour to Mount Piddington from which a beautiful panoram[a] is to be viewed over a long distance of valley called “Kanimbula”, one mass of tree forest, mountain, cragg [sic] & dell. Oh, what a fine sight. I stood gazing & gazing & rivited [sic], air so sweet, clear, & delicious to breath[e], just life-giving. I photo’d the spot from which I [5:57] viewed this scene. On it stands an erection for the convenience of picnics & this is included in the photo, & as it was lovely, bright sunshine & the sun at my back, the picture ought to be good. While here a finger post directs you to Fairy Dell, a great descent by Zig Zag road, & called the little Zig Zag. I got down & saw the water fall but it was a big climb up again. I was pleased I had gone down, very rugged, rocky & wonderful formation & distortion of rocks, paths made as good as can be. 3 men were busy on the paths. The government & local authorities are eagerly cultivating all natural scenery in their respective colonies as a means to traffic & residence for city merchants. Well, after I got to the top again & to the point from where I began the descent, the magnificent view really charmed me more & more, & I again spent a while gazing on the rare scene. I returned to hotel, had a short rest, then a walk to view the straggling little town. It soon darkened as the sun declined about 5:30 & I returned to the hotel for the night. Dinner at 6 o’clock, & since then I have written this portion of my diary.
In most of the railway stations I was amused to see advertising plates, duplicates of what are in our stations, Champion’s vinegar, Pears’ soap, Bryant & May[3], Izal[4], Allan & Hanbury’s food &c. &c. &c., but I believe I’ve referred to this before, having seen the like all through India. How very near home these incidents catching the eye brings one. Even this evening as I was walking out I saw on the road a cast away label, “McEwan’s Edinbro’ Ale”. There must be an enormous export trade done by all our great manufactures at home. I’m daily surprised as my eye is attracted to [5:58] so much that is of British production.
I note in the “Mails” you’ve had an anniversary of Mr. Adamson‘s ordination, & his friend, the Revd. W. Hussy Griffiths, has been the preacher. I’m pleased the event was celebrated & I hope will be perpetuated. Also, I see Hartlepool are having candidates. Miss Dixon at Melbourne told me Mr. Whyte had gone. I earnestly hope they may make a suitable choice & redeem the cause. We should be interested, as a happy settlement ought to enliven Presbyterianism in both towns, & how nice for the young ministers. They can help each other to their mutual comfort very beneficially. By the way, while in McLean’s office on Monday afternoon, he was then writing home to Purves, Gray’s[5] nephew, & he was going to tell him I had just pop[p]ed in to see him. Possibly, should he chance to call in at 58, as he sometimes does, he may just mention it to Willie. Now I will close for tonight. It is 9:35, time I was in bed.
[1] Some news about David that William doesn’t want to commit to paper, neither in his journal nor in letters. Barbara asks him about it later and he insists, “‘David’ will keep.”
[2] Scots dialect: ice that undulates when passing over it.
[3] Manufacturers of safety matches
[4] A disinfectant made from distilled coal tar by Newton, Chambers & Co. starting in the 1890’s
[5] Sir William Gray, shipbuilder and first Mayor of West Hartlepool. Sir William Gray was one of Hartlepool’s most successful businessmen. He had two quite separate careers, first as a shop owner, and then as the founder of a shipbuilding empire, which would last for almost a hundred years. He was also involved in the local government of both Hartlepool and West Hartlepool, which was a rarity in the days when the town was clearly divided. When he was 20 years old, he moved to the rapidly growing new town of West Hartlepool to start his own drapers business. In 1862 William Gray was elected Mayor of Hartlepool. Around this time he sold the drapers business and became involved in shipbuilding. In 1887-88 William Gray became the first Mayor of West Hartlepool, the only person ever to have been Mayor of both towns. In 1890 Queen Victoria knighted him for his services to the two towns and industry. In the same year he was made the first Freeman of the Borough of West Hartlepool.