Townships on the Road from Yass to Melbourne

1 May 1841 Geelong Advertiser 

On the Port Phillip road, between Yass and Melbourne, there are three townships lately laid out by the Government.

The first of these is Gundagai; near the crossing place of the Murrumbidgee, sixty miles from Yass.

In this township there is no house of any description, neither is there any in its neighbourhood, except one public house and a blacksmith's shop. 

The next township is Albury, situated (140 miles from Gundagai) at the crossing place of the Hume River; a more eligible spot than this could not have been selected for a township. It is on the bank of a splendid river. It is on the high-road from Sydney to Melbourne.

It is surrounded by hundreds of sheep and cattle stations, in supplying the wants of which a number of mechanics and tradesmen of all sorts will find constant employment; and there is no place within forty five miles of it, on which another town can be built.

As yet, there are only two or three houses here, a public house, (kept by a very respectable man named Brown,) besides a blacksmith's shop, there are also police barracks here, where a few policemen are always stationed.

The wheat crops here this season were the finest in the colony, and the rock melons are even superior to what you have in Sydney. 

The third township is Violet Creek, known here only by the name of Honeysuckle Creek, situated about half-way between the Ovens and Goulburn rivers, being nearly fifty miles from each.

It is a miserable scrub in the midst of a barren wild, with not a human habitation near it.

The soil is poor, timber is stunted and perfectly useless, except for fuel; and the water, which is by no means in great abundance, has a very muddy appearance.

It is quite blue; hence, I suppose, the new name imposed on the place.

While our party was encamping here, I rode for several miles, at nearly right angles to the road, into the bush, when I had an opportunity of seeing the nature of the soil and the aspect of the country.

And really I could not help wondering that your functionaries in Sydney should have fixed for a township on a spot which possesses so few, if any, natural advantages; but you will probably say there is still greater, wonder than this, that men should have been found foolish enough to buy at such high prices, allotments, in a town so un- favourably situated.