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Report on the Examination of Crown Lands etc. in the County of Wellington
Appendix I. Exploration, County of Wellington - From Roger River to Marrawah Plain
Appendix II. Exploration 5700 acres State Forest Reserve - Parish of Lerunna
Appendix III. Parish of Warra
Appendix IV. Parish of Marrawah
Appendix V. Parish of Lerunna
Appendix VI. Parish of Riengeena
Appendix VII. V.D.L. Co's Woolnorth Block
Appendix VIII. Parish of Williams
Appendix IX. Parish of Togari
Appendix X. Parishes of Malompto and Terragomna
Appendix XI. Parish of Mowbray
Appendix XII. Parish of Ford
Appendix XIII. Parish of Poilinna
Appendix XIV. Parish of Gibson
Appendix XV. Parishes of Trowutta and Meryanna
Appendix XVI. Hunters Islands

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APPENDIX VI.
Parish of Riengeena

      The parish of Riengeena joins Lerunna on the south, and was
all timber and scrub country with the exception of about 200 acres
in the extreme south west, where it touched the coastal plain. About
2,000 acres on the west adjoining Marrawah has been alienated and
forms part of that district and is roaded from it. Some of this land
is well improved and is of a high quality very level or undulating
country of basalt and limestone and alluvial formation.
      Adjoining this on the East, and extending from North to
South across the parish is the well known Welcome Swamp area
containing 5500 acres of rich alluvial swamp and rising land very
similar to the more developed lands of the Mowbray Swamp which are
proving beyond question the wonderful fertility of this type of
country. The Welcome Swamp is about 100 feet above sea level, with
ample fall for drainage and was withdrawn from selection on the
23/5/22 although all applications for selection had been turned
down for about 10 years previously. It is understood that most of
it is held under lease from the Forestry Dept, and that these leases
were granted for ten years from 1925, thus holding up all further
improvement for what would appear to be, under the circumstances,
an unnecessarily long period. East and North from the edge of
the Welcome Swamp, Bonds Tier extends to the V.D.L. Coy line and
over it, and on the East it extends to the flats along the Montagu
River, an area of about 6,000 acres of first and second class hill
country, chiefly grey soil of a rather clayey nature and carrying
stringy bark, myrtle, sassafras, musk, dogwood, lancewood, laurel
and some cathead fern, generally somewhat similar to Christmas Hills,
and is in fact a continuation of the Lunta Tier. Bonds Tier is
about 300 to 400 feet above sea level, and is all held under timber
lease chiefly for stringy bark. South of the Welcome area is flat
country or slightly rising ground, except for the end of Lunter Tier,
and explorations so far would indicate almost wholly first and second
class land.
      The South East portion, North and North East of the Lunter
Tier is flat or swampy country and according to lines run by Mr.
Lovell, or by myself, chiefly of first or second class quality, and

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Well. 1a, 1c.

APPENDIX VI.
Parish of Riengeena (2)

this would appear to extend to the parish boundary. As the
Montagu River flows through this portion it is very wet, and is
quite useful unless drained. The balance of the Parish, between
[Harrisson presumably meant to write 'useless unless drained']
Bonds Tier and the Eastern boundary comprises two or three thousand
acres of low flat or swampy first and second class land of which
more than half appears to be particularly good.
      Most of the Parish is held under timber lease, either
for blackwood or hardwood, or both, and there seems to be some
more available to the South, but what extent is unknown as the
Forestry leases in the Welcome have not been marked off by an
authorised surveyor, and are therefore unchartered. Upon Bonds
Tier some of the leases have had all blackwood removed, and only
hardwood remains. There is one small mill at Redpa, cutting
blackwood but any hardwood marketed from the parish is sent in
the log to the mills at Smithton. Seven or eight hundred acres
of the Welcome area has been drained and subdivided and has given
ample evidence of great fertility, although it has not had much
chance of development. Scrubbed in a very wet season, it caught
fire soon after the scrub was felled, and only one acquainted with
this class of country could realise the hopeless result. Some of
it was picked up, and eventually laid down late in the year, and
the lots leased to settlers the following autumn, but this long
delay was a serious handicap as this class of land should be
burnt, sown down and occupied as soon as possible after the burn,
so the occupier can pick it up, let off the surplus water etc, and
get his grass growing before the rubbish starts. There appears
to be a good fall to drain the whole of the Welcome area, and
several miles of levels actually taken in the Montagu Swamp proves
that there is sufficient fall there. The strip of alienated land
in the West of the parish is well roaded, but there are no other
roads in the parish outside this area. The Smithton-Marrawah
proposed road has been laid out right across the parish from East
to West in an almost direct line and will be a base from which
the good land on either side can be opened up. The Marrawah
Tramway also runs right across, near the V.D.L. Coy boundary, and

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Well. 1a, 1c.

APPENDIX VI.
Parish of Riengeena (3)

its branch, the Welcome Valley line runs to within two and three
miles of the southern boundary towards the S.W. corner, and most
of the parish is within two miles of a tram, the farthest portion
being about five miles off. In considering the allocation of the
large areas of improvable land in the parishes through which the
Marrawah tramway is running it must be remembered that this line
cannot obtain permanent paying freight in sufficient quantities
to make it a paying proposition, when there is no selection along
15 miles of its length. The rainfall here would be about 50 inches
with a somewhat similar climate to Marrawah. About half the parish
would average little over a hundred feet in elevation and the
remainder about twice that height and the higher country carries
numerous springs which could also permanently water the flats.
Practically all improvable country would be arable, and although
large quantities of timber have been removed from the Crown Land
there are very large areas still carrying hardwood, which could
be marketed at a reasonable cost. Bonds Tier of fair high country
surrounded on three sides by good swamp land will prove very
valuable for working in with the lower class of country around it.

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