Australian Town and Country Journal at KellyGang 22/6/1872 (7)
Bush hospitality is proverbial, and that at Widgiewa is a glorious example of the rule. After dinner a most pleasant evening was spent, and early on the following morning refreshed and in exuberant spirits, I was prepared for an inspection of this fine homestead.
Widgiewa House and buildings are in the form of square. This is a very convenient arrangement for all connected with the station. At the extreme end is the pleasant residence, spacious, well constructed of pine, and having a partially trellis work verandah in front and the sides, A long porchway, also trellised, connect the kitchen with the house. At another corner is Bachelor's Hall, the retreat for "moderate indulgence' after dinner on the part of the gentlemen and sleeping apartments for the bachelors generally. At another end of the square is the station store, well stocked with drapery, grocery, and everything else requisite for bush purposes.
Before the house is a pleasant shrubbery, a garden, and vineyard - the latter at the time of my visit yielding delicious full flavoured grapes. In the centre of the square, at an elevation of about fourteen feet, there is an iron tank, on four pillars, capable of containing 3000 gallons of water. It is filled by a force pump from the Colombo Creek below; and hose pipes laid on from the tank water every part of the garden and orchard in front of the residence. The homestead is on the top of a sandhill of moderate height; from the verandah a good part of the station is seen. When Mr Cochran took possession, living at Widgiewa was attended with considerable discomfort to the family, through the sand being blown about and causing opthalmia.
Having placed a fence round the sandhill, Mr Cochran planted it with couch grass, which had the effect of thoroughly laying the sand, and in its place or rather over it is now growing a fine lawn, soft as velvet. The trial has demonstrated the fact that couch grass is most invaluable in laying sand and changing barren sandhills into pasture lands.
Widgiewa, stands prominent among the principalities of Riverina for three things, vis: the extent, the improvements, and the completeness of the station. Widgiewa covers about 92,000 acres, or nearly 150 square miles of country, It is divided and subdivided into nine paddocks, varying in size from 5000 to 15,000 acres, beside a number of smaller paddocks for home use. The principal water-course for the supply of the station is the Colombo Creek, which draws its water from the Yanko. Some years ago a project was made and partially carried to out make a cutting so as to allow the water of the Murrumbidgee to flow into the Yanko.
A sum of £20,000 was expended on the work, and Mr Cochran contributed .£2000 as his share towards the carrying out of this great work. When thoroughly completed, and a steam engine with centrifugal pumps attached were in full work it was calculated that the Yanko, Colombo, and Billabong would have a continuous supply of witter throughout the year. The work already done has been of great service, for in every rise of the Murrumbidgee the water overflows and escapes through the cutting. The Colombo, below the house, is a fine sheet of water (thrown buck by dams), from which abundance of Murray cod and porch are obtained. Other large sums of money have been expended in making dams and securing a good water supply for Widgiewa. There arc twelve or thirteen tanks or dams on the station, many slabbed to keep the earth from falling in.
The station gives constant employment to twenty five or thirty men beside the large number at shearing seasons. The station carries about 50,000 sheep. The woolshed is a good large structure (150 by 30 feet erected about half a mile from the residence. Over £15,000 has been expended in improving Widgiewa since Mr Cochran came over from Victoria, and bough the station. There are over 150 miles of fencing on Widgiewa, which cost about .£50 per mile. After an inspection of all these improvements one must come to the conclusion that Widgiewa is unquestionably one of the most complete and compact stations of Riverina.
Leaving Wídgiewa, and taking a northerly course for eight miles across fine country lightly timbered or over small plains, Colombo, an out station of Mr Jenkins was reached, The persons in charge directed me in a still northerly course for fourteen miles past some sand hills and pine plantations which led me to Yarrabree station, one of the celebrated Peters ' properties, It is under the management of R L Burt , Esq. About the house there are growing some of the prettiest clumps of pine, myall, and cuba trees that I have seen in my travels. The pine-trees about Mr Burt’s residence owe their fine appearance in a measure to being "pruned" when young. The Yarrabree woolshed hits the reputation of being, if not the finest, one of the finest in Riverina.
Haying partaken of Mr Burt's hospitality for a few hours I continued my journey of forty-five miles to Buckenbong . The first three miles over slightly undulating country led to "tine important and rising- township of Cuddell ," boasting of two public houses half a mile apart. The first hotel seems fairly respectable. It is called the Royal, and carried on by W Honey .
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