von Guérard wrote: "The abundance of wild fowl on the Lake renders it a favorite haunt of sportsmen; while the forests which clothe the sides of the Illawarra, or Merryong Range, likewise teem with game. Few scenes combine so many picturesque elements as this, in which the placid beauty of the Lake, sprinkled with islands, and set in a zone of smiling pastures and umbrageous woods, is contrasted so effectively with the rugged grandeur of the predominating mountains, and the noble expanse of the neighbouring ocean."