THE PROSPECTS OF PORT DARWIN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 571, 28 March 1873, Page 3

THE PROSPECTS OF PORT DARWIN.

An old resident of the Ovens and Murray district, at present at Port Darwin, has furnished a friend at Wodonga with a dismal account of Port Darwin, and the Ovens and Mercury Advertiser publishes the letter as follows:—“ There are no new discoveries but the richness of the gold field is confirmed. ’ This was the last telegram I saw in Melbourne from Port Darwin. When we reached here wo asked in vain for the way to the gold field. ‘Gold field he d ,’ was the answer. The South Australian Government want the country opened up; how far they succed by false reports I cannot say. There are 300 unfortunates here without the means of getting back. No ships return from this port to any of the other colonies; and even if there were, few of those who Were could pay their passages I have made up my mind to stay through the wet season, and will have another try up country. For the next three month nothing in the shape of prospecting can be done, as the country is a perfect bog. • If you hear of any g«od accounts by that time you could make a few hundreds by bringing fifty horses here. Even now useful horses, fit for packing' and riding would

bring’from 50/, to 100/, each. The Govern ment, the telegraph, and private parties would eagerly buy horses if they chance; at present there is uuthiug to he hail but a few rats of ponies brought from Timor. They sell from 10/, to 20/, are about nine or ten hands high and are the most useless things in shape of horseflesh I ever saw. A Queensland man has just arrived here with a few breeding cows, and has, I believe, taken up 300 square miles of country one beast to the square mile for the first years and rent free for seven years. So “if you think of turning squatter, this is the place to come to; lam afraid, however, that it would be a long time before there would be any market for cattle in this part of the world. Breeding horses for India would, I think, be the more lucrative of the two enterprises, as this place is in every way suited for it. We are camped on a nice place here, about a quater of a mile from the beach. Water at the port is very scarce just in the dry season but the rain is coming with a vengence, and we are badly prepare ed for it. Our calico tents are no protection against the heavy rains, as for bark there is none. It is a very poorly timbered country; in fact, it is a wretched hole. No ’possums, no game, no fruit. Plenty flies— March and sand; flies by day, and mosquitoes by night, and ants in thousands. Without a mosquito curtain, a man could not live here.”