Hume & Murrumbidgee are Bank High News from the Interior (From Various
Correspondents) Yass. The
Sydney Herald 16 September 1840
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Having
just returned from the Hume River, I beg to send you such scraps and shreds
of local intelligence as I have collected on my travels. You
will doubtless be glad to hear that from the Murrumbidgee to the Hume, the
grass is very abundant and the wheat crops are looking remarkably well. Wheat
is now selling on the Tumut River at 10s. per bushel
and is expected soon to fall to half that price. There
are very few stations in this district where the squatters, have not raised
wheat enough to supply their own establishment. In consequence of the
abundance of grass and the very mild winter we have had, cattle are so fat,
that with the exception of the milch cows, it would
perhaps be difficult to find a beast here that is not fit for the butchers. Within
the last two months we have had copious rains. The rivers Hume mid
Murrumbidgee are bank high. I had to swim my horse across each of them. A
few days previous to my arrival at the Hume, a Mr. Walker lost a £70 horse in
attempting to cross that river; and Mr. Cooper has recently met with a
similar accident in attempting to cross the Murrumbidgee. On
this I occasion Cooper himself had very nearly lost
his life. At
the crossing place at the Hume, (on the Port Phillip Road) there is a
substantial canoe, and there is also on each side a very good landing place,
but at the Murrumbidgee there is neither a proper landing place nor a safe
punt. The
miserably rickety looking punt, kept here is owned by a person named Andrews,
who keeps a public house at the crossing place. In
this small punt which I suppose might have originally cost £3 or, £4, you are
half up to your knees in water and dirt, and if you have any goods to cross
you must youself find men to work the punt. In
order to give you some idea of the moderate charge, I may tell you that on
Thursday last a Mr. White or Wright from Berrima, crossed with his own men
four dray loads in this punt, for the use of which he had to pay £ 4. Through
the medium of your paper, which I find is read by every respectable squatter
in these districts, I would suggest to the numerous stockholders beyond the
Murrumbidgee, the expediency of building by subscription a safe and proper
punt capable of crossing horses, &c., at the expense of £4 or £5, a good
landing place might be made on each side the river. The
proprietors of stock in these districts would find it their interest to
commit this punt to the care of some sober, blacksmith for whom there is now
a good opening here and who for a stipulated amount of yearly wages, might be
required to work the punt for the subscribers. You
will probably feel desirous to know the current prices of live stock in,
these districts. A
mixed herd of cattle may still be purchased at £5 a head. For sheep there is
scarcely any demand. But if you have horses for sale, you may obtain any
price which your conscience will allow you to ask. At
the outstations on the Ovens and Broken River the poor blacks are still troublesome, they know very well that the shield of
protection is thrown over them whatever may be the number and turpitude of
the crimes committed by them. I
am sorry to tell you that the disease called the black leg,
has lately carried off a number of cattle, in the neighbourhood
of the Hume River. This disease has made its appearance on the Hume some time
ago. I
will soon write to you again, and give you some of the Yass news, at present
I can only add that notwithstanding the late rains, this town and its
vicinity present a miserable aspect. Nobody
resides here except those who cannot leave it. From
the stinted appearance of vegetation and the sterility of the soil you would
suppose that the curse of heaven has rested on Yass and its neighbourhood. |