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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 XV.
Parishes of Trowutta & Meryanna

      The parishes of Trowutta and Meryanna, which form one convenient
unit, join Malompto and Terragomna on the west, extending southerly
from Gibson to the Arthur River, and combining in one excellent area
of closer settlement, usually in hundred acre lots, of which only
two lots containing 420 acres were held 25 years ago, these parishes
being an extension from the large adjoining recent selections com-
prising more than half the parish of Gibson. Twenty-five years ago
the Crown Land was 50 chains from the Irishtown Hall and five miles
from Smithton on the Trowutta road, but today there is now a solid
belt of selection here, extending just twenty miles to the Arthur
River, ranging up to nine miles in width, with an average of about
half that distance, and with a standard railway running nine miles
through it from the back country. This area is carrying a good
population, about a family to every third or fourth lot, and is one
of the very best closely settled areas in the State. This successful
settlement is particularly satisfactory in view of the utter
inadequacy of road development in the early stages, which made it
almost impossible for the settlers to reside on their lots for quite
a number of years, and then, when this was rectified to a certain
extent, war and post war conditions have absolutely discouraged all
land development and improvement. As is partly the case in Gibson,
the Trowutta Railway and the survey of the extension to the Arthur
River, roughly divides the hill country on the east from the flats
on the west along the valley of the Roger and Duck Rivers. In
these flats are about 1,000 acres of third class plain etc., mostly
unalienated, the balance being flat or swampy land, of which a narrow
strip along the railway has been alienated, as well as a few lots
on the Duck River. Most of the Crown Land and much of the selected
land, is wet enough to require more or less drainage, and is first
class land of very good quality as a rule, but the unalienated land
is practically wholly included in timber leases, or in the 500 acre
State forest. The dedication of the latter was in my opinion a
very serious mistake, as it is excellent swampy flat, only 1½ miles
from the Trowutta Railway Station, and half a mile from the proposed
extension, and the present metalled main road. Similar land in the

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APPENDIX XV
Parishes of Trowutta & Meryanna (2)

district produces up to 10 tons of potatoes to the acre, which
gives some idea of the freight which might be expected from this
area when developed. No investigation was made into the question
of drainage, which should have received the most careful considera-
tion when such an area is dedicated, for in this and other instances
the State Forest must be drained, or large adjoining areas rendered
quite useless. Three good streams run through this State Forest,
as well as smaller ones, and all must be snagged and possibly
deepened before the land on three sides of it can be fully developed.
To the east of the Trowutta railway and north of Duck River, the
selected land is practically all very good, or fair basaltic country,
of which perhaps a quarter would be rather broken, the balance flat
or with easy slopes fit for cultivation and averaging probably 500
feet above sea level with a maximum of about 800 feet. South east,
beyond Surrey Hills, the Crown Land is of poorer quality, chiefly
second and third class. South of Duck River, and North of the Roger
is the fine basaltic plateau, usually meant when "Trowutta" is
referred to. Originally a myrtle forest, this plateau averages
probably 500 feet above the Duck River Valley, with a maximum of
perhaps 800 feet above sea level, is of good average quality, and
so level on top that twelve miles of road runs either due east and
west or due north and south along the original boundaries of the
selections, the longest straight being three miles in length. Being
myrtle country, the farms are being improved, and developed satis-
factorily and are producing excellent crops of potatoes, grain etc.
as well as quantities of cream and beef etc. On the south west,
west and north of the plateau, the land falls rather steeply away,
forming a belt of rather steep and broken country, but all of it
contains a good proportion of arable land. South, from the Roger
River, to the Arthur River, is about 5,000 acres of fair basaltic
myrtle country, held by free soldier selectors, and a few others,
and similar to the "Trowutta" area in quality and character. The
average, on the whole, is not quite such good land, and the plateau
not quite so uniform, falling steeply on the south and west into the
Arthur and Roger Valleys. The balance of the Crown Land, southward

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Well. 2b.

APPENDIX XV.
Parishes of Trowutta & Meryanna (3)

from these selections to the Arthur River is chiefly second class,
with both first and third also, but on the whole is steep and rather
broken. The unselected land in the east of these parishes, between
the Duck and Arthur rivers, is of poorer quality than the remainder
of the parish, the selected land generally falling off, all round,
into second and third class country. Fifteen miles west [sic!] of the
coastal plains at Marrawah, through timbered country and generally
fair land, we again meet the open button grass plains here, and they
appear to be of very considerable extent, divided by patches and
belts of timber, as a rule of little commercial value. I have very
little direct knowledge of the land much beyond the surveyed lots
about here, and it may be advisable to run one or two short lines
to definitely ascertain more about the 5,000 acres or so involved,
but I am rather pessimistic about the quality. In connection with
the rough description of these parishes as given above, I would draw
the attention of the Board to the vast area of consistently good
high basaltic country extending in a solid belt from the Green Hills
at Stanley through Forest, Mengha, Irishtown and Trowutta to the
Arthur River, of which only a fraction is developed up to the limit,
and point out the great influence such an extensive area of rich
developed country must have on the future use of the other large
adjoining areas of first and second class lands, especially the flat
and swampy portions of the district, which are so valuable for
summer feed, change of country etc. when worked with the older lands.
It has been noted here, as elsewhere, that a block of high and low
country worked together, give ideal conditions for the grazing and
dairying industries.
      The rainfall throughout the parishes of Trowutta and Meryanna
would average about 60 inches, rain falling mildly on a majority of
the days in the year, and the parishes are exceptionally well watered
by an abundance of small creeks which spring out of the basaltic
hills in every direction. The elevation varies from 50 feet to
about 850 feet with a mean of 300 to 400 feet, the plateaux are
rather windy and exposed, and by no means cold, as the winds come
from the ocean twenty miles away, and snow is seldom seen more than

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APPENDIX XV.
Parishes of Trowutta and Meryanna (4)

once or twice a year. The plateaux are served by three good
metalled roads leading to railway stations at Irishtown, Edith
Creek and Trowutta respectively, nearly the whole of the good land
being within six miles in a direct line from the railway and when
further opened up by the necessary roads, will be able to deliver
their products at reasonable cost at the port of Stanley.
      Again referring to the Crown Land in the east of these
parishes, between the Duck and Arthur rivers, I have reason to
believe they contain little first class land, being largely plain,
and it did not appear necessary to especially explore them at this
stage. If the Board require further information here it would be
more easily obtained when the adjoining large areas of Crown Lands to
the eastward were reported upon.

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