The Great Western Road illustrated by Frank Walker FRAHS

The Great Viestern Road. j.
ment o f a new settlement. Their product i
was a determination not to acquiesce in
difficulties which other Governors were,
ready to accept as insuperable. Their result
is seen throughout New South Wales
and Tasmania, which abound in monuments
of a great roadmaker and townplanner.
Fortunately Macquarie had besides
his other gifts the gift o f being able
to choose the right rtmn for a given task.
William Cox had shown both on his voyage!
from England and in the management ofj
his farm, that he could preserve discipline,!
and at the same time secure the goodwill
of his men. h e treated his servants as if
they were human beings, each with a
normal share o f self respect, and in consequence
was rewarded by an astonishing
amount of work. The success with which
he carried the road over the Blue Mountains
is attested by the letter written to
him after Macquarie, with his w ife and
Cox, had driven to Bathurst. The difficulties
of the task are shown without exaggeration,
and with great modesty in
Cox’s journal, which is, fortunately, still
j preserved. It was an astonishing achievement
to build a road 101 miles long within
six months, over an uncleared range of
hills, and with only thirty men. most of
them unskilled. The pioneer Had to contend
with a wet season, and with much
sickness among his few men. The chart
he had to use was in some places defective,
and his appliances for blasting and bridging
were extremely primitive. His difficulties
were properly appreciated by Macquarie
as he drove over the road down
what he describes as a rugged and tremendous
descent executed with skill and
stability, or on to the ridge which he called
Mount York. We do well to honour today
the memory of these two devoted public
servants. They neither o f them could
anticipate the vast and fertile areas which
the new road would open up. But their
labours are the foundation o f the greatest
industry in this State, and their examples
are such as should perpetually be kept alive
by a people who wish to understand and
take pride in their history.
T H S R O M A N C E OP T H E G R E A T
W E S T E R N R O A D — C A P T . B U L L ,
CDttTBIANDANT ON T H E B L U E
&OUXTTAINS ZN T H E F O R T IE S .
I continue m y rem in iscen ces o f C olonel
Bull (see ‘ ’T ru th ’' 2 2 /5 /2 1 ).
C olonel B u ll’ s con n ection w ith the
Im perial and local fo rce s in A u stra ­
lia leach ed close upon fo r ty y ea rs.
I .joined the V olunteer F orce in M elbourne
in 1862— there w as no, standard
m easurem ent then—rand w as present
w ith C olonel B ull at the first encam p­
m ent on the W erribee, in April, IS 62,
and a w et encam pm ent it w a s; and
at a sham fight, at B.ed Bluff, w h ere
I nearly lost the num ber o f m$r m ess
through the error o f a rear rank m an
w ho discharged his m usket w ithout
! g o in g through the n ecessa ry cerem on y
o f w ithdraw ing the old -fash ion ed ram ­
rod. N o breech-loaders in those d ays.
* * •
Such is the life sto ry o f C olonel Bull
as I knew it. But, I cou ld n ot a llow
su ch an h istoric figure to be sim ply
a record, w ithout m aking an effort
to gain som e fu rth er p articu la rs as
to his adm in istration on the Blu©
M ountain s. Through the kind offices
o f M r. P ascoe, T ow n Clerk o f Castlem
aine ( V ic .) I g ot into com m u n ication
w ith a son, M r. W illia m M cL eod
Bull, o f Bendigo, and through him to
other m em bers o f the fa m ily, w ho su p ­
plied me w ith in terestin g ' hiatter con ­
nected w ith the C olon el's w ork on
the M ountains in the forties— seven ty
Todd years a g o . Colonel B ull died at
G oulburn, N ew South W ales, in 1900,
aged 95 years, lea v in g a w idow , aged
92, w ho died three years later (r e ­
g isterin g the sam e a ge as her late
husband, 95 y e a rs4, and s is children ,
or rather, three sons and three d a u g h ­
ters, lon g past child h ood a g e. C olonel
B ull w as in receip t o f tw o pensions,
Im perial and C olon ia l. T he C olonel’ s
d om estic record is, perhaps, unique in
fa m ily h istories. M r. M cL eod B u ll
w rote in D ecem ber last, “ I f you warn
a n y dates re m y fa th er's life, le t m e
know , and
I w ill find them fo r yott^
H e arrived in N ew South TVales in
IS 42, and took ch arge at 18 M ile H o l­
lo w (first), and then on to B lackheath,
a s soon as the house w as bu ilt, reliev
in g Captain D ay— SOth R egim en t.
I w as born there in 1847. T h ere a re
s ix o f us still alive, X b ein g the
y o u n g e s t".
*• • •
T h e old su rv eyors o f the thirties,
S ir T h om as M itchell— then know n as
M ajor M itchell— W illia m R om aine G o-
vett, . w ho d iscovered the fa m ou s
“ G ovett’ s Leap, and others, in the
absen ce o f d istin ctiv e landm arks, gave
the h ollow s or valleys, w ith t h e -m ile ­
age, in all their road su rveys. T hus
“ 17 M ile H ollow ” is now Linden, “ 18
M ile H o llo w " B u ll's Cam p, “ 20 M ile
H o llo w " W ood ford , and “ 24 M ile H o l­
lo w ’ * L a w son .
* * •
M r. M cL eod B u ll w as so good as to
send m e the nam es, ages, and addresses
o f his fa m ily . Please, in th is c o n ­
n ection, rem em ber th at Colonel B u ll