Title

Scene up the River Huon. Van Diemen's Land. [by Joseph Lycett].

Author

Author not identified

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

1825

Type

About the work

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Scene up the River Huon, Van Diemen’s Land.

THE Scenery in general up this River is so extremely grand and picturesque, it may justly be described as sublime. The high mountainous land which overhangs the banks of the River is chiefly covered with brush of the Eucalyptus, &c. and affords a very beautiful back-ground to the various Scenes which present themselves, the hills being adorned with it from their bases almost to their lofty summits; whilst here and there majestically towers the tall, dark Huon Pine, whose high spiral figure forms a grand contrast to the various other trees. The Huon Pine is found in great abundance in this part of the country: it grows from sixty to ninety feet in height, and its girth is frequently from fifteen to twenty feet. The wood of this noble tree is a beautiful, fine, close-grained timber, and is exceedingly valuable for the purposes of building, and for household furniture, boat-building, &c. The RIVER HUON is situated about thirty miles south-west from HOBART TOWN by water: the distance by land is much less, but the road is greatly obstructed by impediments, arising from the hilly nature of the country, and the prodigious growth of under wood.

A small Island, called HUON ISLAND, at the entrance of the River in STORM PASSAGE, is about fifteen miles from the head of it, where it is a mere rivulet: it soon, however, expands into a river, reflecting, as in a mirror, the close dark foliage of the Huon Pine, the different species of the Eucalyptus and casurinas, and the large masses of rock, which in several places hang immediately over the water, producing a strikingly picturesque effect, in contrast with the variegated foliage of the woods above.

The land being so hilly, and so much covered with brush, there are only a few small patches that would in any degree repay the labour of the agriculturalist; but in some places near the water there is excellent grass.

The RIVER HUON, in most parts of it, is from three-quarters of a mile to a mile in width, and in some places it is much wider, being, at the entrance from D'ENTRECASTEAUX'S PASSAGE at HUON ISLAND, three miles across. Its extent is not more than fifteen miles, but it is enriched with scenery which, in sublimity and picturesque grandeur, is not surpassed, if equalled, by any river in the world.

All the different sorts of Timber peculiar to the country are met with in this neighbourhood; and the usual kinds of Birds frequent the River and the Bush.

Accompanying text, 1825.