Title

Plate 24: Goulbourn River near Shepparton. [by Eugene von Guérard].

Author

Author not identified

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

1868

Type

About the work

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Plate 24: Goulbourn River near Shepparton.

As there is considerable uniformity, not to say monotony, in the river scenery of Victoria, the accompanying view, taken at a spot near the junction of the Goulburn with the Broken River, may be taken as fairly representative of the general character of Victorian rivers. Affluent streams in the rainy season, their Volume is diminished and circumscribed within a narrow channel during the summer time; and while they are liable to inundation at one period of the year, they are also apt, in some instances at least, to disappear altogether at another. From the latter failing, however, the Goulburn, taking its rise, as it does, in what is known as the Great Dividing Range, and flowing for upwards of 250 miles before it discharges its waters in the Murray, is happily free. In its devious course it receives, as tributaries, nine rivers and about twenty creeks, a few of which still retain the musically-sounding names bestowed upon them by the aborigines, while others have received such appellations as Gaffney’s, Flour-bag, and Sailor Bill's. It drains an area of 6,700 miles, and most of its higher tributaries are permanent. Among the latter are the Styx and Acheron, and one of the ten townships upon its banks is entitled Arcadia, from the general resemblance of the primitive manners of the people to those of their Greek prototypes when Pan was supreme. The crossing-place represented in the engraving is at the township of Shepparton, about 130 miles north-east from Melbourne, and contains no more than thirty inhabitants.

Accompanying text, 1868.