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of the
CO NTINENT a
AUS TRA TTA
1888
Shewing Tracks of different Explorers up to the present fime
GIiGL F OF
Groote Eylondt
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Poh eee Ci.
A COMPLETE history of the exploration of Australia will never
‘ibe written. The story of the settkement of our continent is
necessarily so intermixed with the results of private travels
and adventures, that all the historian can do is to follow out the
career of the public expeditions, and those of private origin
which extended to such a distance, and embraced such important
discoveries, as to render the results matters of national history.
That private individuals have done the bulk of the detail
~work there is no denying; but that work, although every whit
as useful to the community as the more brilliant exploits that
‘carried with them the publicity of Government patronage, has
not found the same careful preservation.
To find the material to write such a history would neces-
sitate the work of a lifetime, and the co-operation of hundreds of
old colonists ; and, when written, it would inevitably, from the
nature of the subject, prove most monotonous reading, and fill,
J am afraid to think, how many volumes. ‘The reader has but
to consider the immense area of country now under pastoral
occupation, and to remember that each countless subordinate
river and tributary creek was the result of some extended
research of the pioneer squatter, to realise this.
Since the hope of finding an inland sea, or main central
range, vanished for ever, the explorer cannot hope to discover
anything much more exciting or interesting than country fitted
for human habitation. The attributes of the native tribes are
very similar throughout. Since the day when Captain Phillip
and his little band settled down here and tried to gain the
friendship of the aboriginal, no startling difference has been
found in him throughout the continent. As he was when
Dampier came to our shores, so is he now in the yet untrodden
parts of Australia, and the explorer knows that from him he
can only gain but a hazardous and uncertain tale of what
lies beyond.
But, in this utter want of knowledge of the country to be
explored, where even the physical laws do not assimilate with
those of other continents, lies the great charm of Australian
“Vi. PREFACE.
exploration. It is the spectacle of one man pitted against the
whole force of nature—not the equal struggle of two human
antagonists, but the old fable of the subtle dwarf and the
self-confident giant. |
When the battle commenced between Sturt and the interior,
he was, as he thought, vanquished, though in reality the victor.
In the history of exploration are to be found some of
the brightest examples of courage and fortitude presented
by any record. In the succeeding pages I| have tried to bring
these episodes prominently to the fore, and bestow upon them
the meed of history.
In compiling this book I have had the sympathy of many
gentlemen, both in this and the neighbouring colonies, and
my best thanks are due to them, especially as, owing to it, I
have been able to make the work perfectly authentic, and I
trust, a thoroughly reliable work of reference.
ERNEST FAVENC.
Sydney, 1388.
Cen TEN TS.
PN PR Ow UC T LON,
PART I.
Rumours of the existence of a Southern Continent in the Sixteenth Century
—Fave and Fave la Grande—Authentic Discoveries and visits of the early
Navigators—Torres sails between New Guinea and Terra Australis—Voyage
of the Duyfhen in 1606—Dirk Hartog on the West Coast, his inscribed plate
—Restored by Vlaming—Afterwards by Hamelin—Nuyts on the South
Coast—Wreck of the Batavia on Houtman’s Abrolhos—Mutiny of Cornelis
—Tasman’s second voyage—Dampier with the Buccaneers—Second voyage
in the Roebuck—Last visit of the Dutch—Captain Cook—Flinders ; his theory
of a Dividing Strait—Plans for exploring the Interior—His Captivity—
Captain King—Concluding remarks
PART II.
The Continent of Australia—Its peculiar formation—The coast range and the
highest peaks thereof—The coastal rivers—The inland rivers—Difference of
vegetation on the tableland and on the coast—Exception to the rule—Vaiuable
timber of the coast districts—Animals common to the whole continent—Some
birds the same—Distinct habits of others—The Australian native and his
unknown origin—Water supply—Upheaval
PART I.
LAND EXPLORATION.
CHAPTER =I
Expeditions of Governor Phillip—Mouth of the Hawkesbury found in Broken
Bay—Second expedition and ascent of the river—Expedition of Captain
Tench—Discovery of the Nepean River—Lieutenant Dawes sent to cross the
Nepean, and to try to penetrate the mountains—Attempt by Governor Phillip
to establish the confluence of the Nepean and Hawkesbury—Failure—The
identity settled by Captain Tench—Escaped convicts try to reach China—
Captain Paterson finds and names the Grose River—Hacking endeavours to
cross the Blue Mountains—The lost cattle found on the Cow Pastures—Bass
attempts the passage of the range—Supposed settlement of a white race in
the interior—Attempt of the convicts to reach it—James Wilson—His life
with the natives— Discovery of the Hunter River by Lieutenant Shortland
CHAPTER II.
The great drought of 1813—The development of country by stocking—
Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth cross the Blue Mountains—Reach the
head of coast waters and return—Surveyor Evans sent out—Crosses the water-
shed and finds the Macquarie River—Construction of road over the range—
Settlement of Bathurst—Visit of Governor Macquarie—Second expedition
under Evans—Discovery of the Lachlan River—Surveyor-General Oxley
explores the Lachlan—Finds the river terminates in swamps—Returns by the
PAGE
35
43
Vill. CONTENTS.
Macquarie—His opinion of the interior—Second expedition down the Mac-
quarie—Disappointment again—Evans finds the Castlereagh—Liverpool
Plains discovered—Oxley descends the range and finds Port Macquarie—
Returns to Newcastle—Currie and Ovens cross the Morumbidgee—Brisbane
Downs and Monaroo—Hume and Hovell cross to Port Phillip—Success of
the expedition
CHAPTER? ‘TI:
Settlement of Moreton Bay—Cunningham in the field again—His discoveries
of the Gwydir, Dumaresque, and Condamine Rivers—The Darling Downs,
and Cunningham’s Gap through the Range to Moreton Bay—Description of
the Gap—Cunningham’s death—Captain Sturt—His first expedition to follow
down the Macquarie—Failure of the river—Efforts of Sturt and Hume to
trace the channel—Discovery of New Year’s Creek (the Bogan)—Come
suddenly on the Darling—Dismay at finding the water salt—Retreat to
Mount Harris—Meet the relief party—Renewed attempt down the Castle-
reagh River—Trace it to the Darling—Find the water in that river still salt—
Return—Second expedition to follow the Morumbidgee—Favourable antici-
pations—Launch of the boats and separation of the party—Unexpected
junction with the Murray—Threatened hostilities with the natives—Averted
in amost singular manner—Junction of large river from the North—Sturt’s
conviction that it is the Darling—Continuation of the voyage—Final arrival
at Lake Alexandrina—Return voyage—Starvation and fatigue—Constant
labour at the oars and stubborn courage of the men—Utter exhaustion—Two
men push forward to the relief party and return with succour
CTIAPTER. “18
Settlement at King George’s Sound—The free colony of Swan River founded
—Governor Stirling—Captain Bannister crosses from Perth to King George’s
Sound—Explorations by Lieutenant Roe—Disappointing nature of the
interior—Bunbury, Wilson, and Moore—Settlement on the North Coast—
Melville Island and Raffles Bay—An escaped convict’s story—The fabulous
Kindur River—Major Mitchell starts in search of it—Discovery of the Namoi
—The Nundawar Range—Failure of the boats—Reach the Gwydir River of
Cunningham—The Karaula—lIts identity with the Darling—Murder of the
two bullock-drivers—Mitchell’s return—Murder of Captain Barker in
Encounter Bay—Major Mitchell’s second expedition to trace the course of
the Darling—Traces the Bogan to its junction with that river—Fort Bourke
—Progress down the river—Hostility of the natives—Skirmish with them—
Return—Mitchell’s third expedition—The Lachlan followed—Junction of the
Darling and the Murray reached—Mitchell’s discovery of Australia Felix
CHAPTER i.
Lieutenants Grey and Lushington on the West Coast—Narrow Escape—Start
with an equipment of Timor Ponies—Grey wounded by the natives—Cave
drawings—Return, having discovered the Glenelg—Grey’s second expedition
—Landed at Bernier Island, in Shark’s Bay, with three whale-boats—Cross to
PAGE
55
78
- I00
CONTENTS.
—— —— — a
Dorre Island—Violent storm— Discovery of the Goscoyne—Return to Bernier
Island—Find their caché of provisions destroyed by a hurricane—Hopeless
position—Attempted landing at Gautheaume Bay—Destruction of the boats
—Walk to Perth—Great sufferings—Death of Smith—Eyre and the over-
landers—Discovery of Lake Hindmarsh—Exploration of Gippsland—Eyre’s
explorations to the north—Discovery of Lake Torrens—Disappointment in the
country bordering on it—Determines to go to King George’s Sound—Repeated
attempts to reach the head of the Great Australian Bight—Loss of horses—
Barren and scrubby country—Final determination to send back most of the
party—Starts with overseer and three natives—Hardship and_ suffering—
Murder of the overseer by two of the natives—Eyre continues his journey with
the remaining boy—Relieved by the Mississippi, whaler—Reaches King
George’s Sound : : , : ; :
COAPLERS Vir
Explorations around Moreton Bay—Development of the Eastern Coast—The
first pioneers of the Darling Downs—Stuart and Sydenham Russell—The
Condamine River and Cecil Plains—Great interest taken in exploration at this
period—Renewed explorations around Lake Torrens—Surveyor-General
Frome—Death of Horrocks, the first explorer to introduce camels—Sturt’s
last expedition—Route by the Darling chosen—Poole fancies that he sees the
inland sea—Discovery of Flood’s Creek—The Prison Depét—Impossible to
advance or retreat—Breaking up of the drought—Death of Poole—Fresh
attempts to the north—The desert—Eyre’s Creek discovered—Return and fresh
attempt—Discoveries of Cooper and Strzelecki Creeks—Retreat to the Depot
Glen—Final return to the Darling—Ludwig Leichhardt, the lost explorer—
His great trip north—Finding of the Burdekin, the Mackenzie, Isaacs, and
Suttor—Murder of the naturalist Gilbert—Discovery of the Gulf Rivers —Arrival
‘at Port Essington—His return and reception—Surveyor-General Mitchell’s
last expedition—Follows up the Balonne—Crosses to the head of the Belyando
—Disappointed in that river—Returns and crosses to the head of the Vic-
toria (Barcoo)—The beautiful Downs country—First mention of the Mitchell
grass—False hopes entertained of the Victoria running into the Gulf of
Carpentaria
CHAPTER: VIk
Kennedy traces the Victoria in its final course south—Re-named the Barcoo—
First notice of the pituri chewing natives—Leichhardt’s second expedition—
Failure and return—Leichhardt’s last expedition—His absolute disappearance
— Conjectures as to his fate—Kennedy starts from Rockingham Bay to Cape
York—Scrubs and swamps—Great exertions—Hostile natives—Insufficiency
of supplies provided—Dying horses—Main party left in Weymouth Bay—
Another separation at Shelburne Bay—Murder of Kennedy at the Escape
River—Rescue of Jacky the black boy—His pathetic tale of suffering—Failure
to find the camp at Shelburne Bay—Rescue of but two survivors at Wey-
mouth Bay—The remainder starved to death—Von Mueller in the Australian
Alps—Western Australia—Landor and Lefroy in 1843—First expedition of
ae Oc te)
i LOZ
X. | CONTENTS.
the brothers Gregory, in 1846—Salt lakes and scrub—Lieutenant Helpman
sent to examine the coal seam discovered—Roe in 1848—His journey to the
east and to the south—A. C. Gregory. attempts to reach the Gascoyne—
Foiled by the nature of the country—Discovers silver ore on the Murchison—
Governor Fitzgerald visits the mine—Wounded by the natives—Rumour of
Leichhardt having been murdered by the blacks—Hely’s expedition in quest
of him—Story unfounded—Austin’s explorations in Western Australia—
Terrible scrubs—Poison camp—Determined efforts to the north—Heat and
thirst—Forced to return
CHAPTER Vil-
A. C. Gregory’s North Australian expedition in 1855-56, accompanied by Baron
Von Mueller and Dr, Elsey—Disappointment in the length of the Victoria—
Journey to the Westward—Discovery of Sturt’s Creek—Its course followed
south—Termination in a salt lake—Return to Victoria ~River—Start home-
ward, overland—The Albert identified—The Leichhardt christened—Return
by the Burdekin and Suttor—Visit of Babbage to Lake Torrens—Expedition
by Goyder—Deceived by mirage—Excitement in Adelaide—Freeling sent
out—Discovers the error—Hack explores the Gawler Range—Discovers Lake
Gairdner— Warburton in the same direction—Swinden and party west of
Lake Torrens—Babbage in the Lake District—His long delay—Warburton
sent to supersede him—Rival claims to discovery—Frank Gregory explores
the Gascoyne in Western Australia—A. C. Gregory follows the Barcoo in
search of Leichhardt—Discovery of a marked tree—Arrival in Adelaide—The
early explorations of M‘Dowall Stuart—Frank Gregory at Nickol Bay—
Discovers the Ashburton—Fine pastoral country—Discovers the De Grey and
Oakover Rivers—Turned back by the desert—Narrow escape.
CHAPTER
Across the continent, from south to north—M‘Dowall Stuart’s first attempt to
reach the north coast—Native warfare—Chambers’ Pillar—Central Mount
Stuart—Singular footprint—Sufferings from thirst—Aboriginal Freemasons—
Attack Creek—Return—Stuart’s second departure—The Victorian expedition
—Costly equipment—Selection of a leader—Burke, and his qualifications
for the post— Wills—Resignation of Landells—Wright left in charge of the
main party— Burke and Wills, with six men, push on to Cooper’s Creek—
Delay of Wright--Burke’s final determination to push on to the north coast—
Starts with Wills and two men—Progress across the continent—Arrival at
the salt water—Wills’ account—Homeward journey—The depot deserted—
Resolve to make for Mount Hopeless—Failure and return—Wills revisits the
depé6t—Kindness of the natives—Burke and King start in search of the blacks
—Death of Burke—King finds Wills dead on his return—Wright and Brahe
visit the depdt—Faii to see traces of Burke’s return—Consternation in Mel-
bourne—Immediate despatch of search parties—Howitt finds King—Narrow
escape of trooper Lyons—Stuart in the north—Hedgewood scrub first seen—
Discovery of Newcastle Waters—All attempts to the north fruitless—Return
of Stuart.
PAGE
. 162
. 184
» 203
CONTENTS. Xi;
Crear Th X. phan
Stuart’s last Expedition—Frew’s Pond—Daly Waters—Arrival at the Sea—The
flag at last hoisted on the northern shore— Return—Serious illness of the
Leader—The Burke relief Expedition—John M‘Kinlay—Native rumours—
Discovery of Gray’s body—Hodgkinson sent to Blanche Water with the news—
Returns with the information of King’s rescue by Howitt—M‘Kinlay starts
north—Reaches the Gulf coast—Makes for the new Queensland settlements
on the Burdekin—Reaches the Bowen River in safety—Mystery of the camels’
tracks—Landsborough’s expedition—Discovery of the Gregory River—The
Herbert—Return to the Albert depédt—News of Burke and Wills—Lands-
borough reduces his party and starts home overland—Returns by way of the
Barcoo—Landsborough and his critics—His work as an Explorer—Walker
starts from Rockhampton—Another IL tree found on the Barcoo—Walker
crosses the head of the Flinders—Finds the tracks of Burke and Wills—Tries
to follow them up—Returns to Queensland—Abandonment of the desert
theory—Private expeditions—Dalrymple and others : ; : : 222
CHAP TER i:
Settlement formed at Somerset, Cape York, by the Queensland Government—
Expedition of the Brothers Jardine —Start from Carpentaria Downs Station—
Disaster by fire—Reduced resources—Arrive at the coast of the Gulf—Hos-
tility of the blacks—Continual attacks—Horses mad through drinking salt
.water—Poison country—An unfortunate camp—Still followed by the natives
—Rain and bog—Dense scrub—Efforts of the two brothers to reach
Somerset—Final Success—Lull in exploration—Private parties—Settlement
at Escape Cliffs by South Australia—J. M‘Kinlay sent up—Narrow escape
from floods— Removal of the settlement to Port Darwin—M'‘Intyre’s expe-
-dition in search of Leichhardt—His death—Hunt in Western Australia—
False reports about traces of Leichhardt—Forrest’s first expedition—Sent to
investigate the report of the murder of white men in the interior—Convinced
of its want of truth—Unpromising country—Second expedition to Eucla—
The cliffs of the Great Bight—Excursion to the north—Safe arrival at Eucla. 238
CEA ER Xih.
The first expeditions of Ernest Giles—Lake Amadens— Determined attempts to
cross the desert—Death of Gibson—Return—Warburton’s expedition—
Messrs. Elder and Hughes—Outfit of camels—Departure from Alice Springs
—Amongst the glens—Waterloo Well—No continuation to Sturt’s Creek—
Sufferings from starvation—Fortunate relief from death by thirst—Arrive
at the head of the Oakover—Lewis starts to obtain succour—His return—
Gosse sent out by the South Australian Government—Exploring bullocks—
Ayre’s rock—Obliged to retreat—Forrest’s expedition from west to east—
Good pastoral country—Windich Springs—The Weld Springs—Attacked by
the natives—Lake Augusta—Dry country—Relieved by a shower—Safe arrival
and great success of the expedition—Ernest Giles in the field—Elder supplies
camels—The longest march ever made in Australia—Wonderful endurance of
the camels—The lonely desert—Strange discovery of water—Queen Victoria’s
Spring—The march renewed—Attacked by blacks —Approach the well-known
country in Western Australia—Safe arrival—Giles returns overland, north of
Forrest’s track—Little or no result—Great drought —The western interior
to
n
rs
Xil. CONTENTS.
CHAPTER Aan.
Further explorations around Lake Eyre—Lewis equipped by Sir Thomas
Elder—He traces the lower course of the Diamantina—Expedition to Char-
lotte Bay under W. Hann—A survivor of the wreck of the Maria—Discovery
of the Palmer—Gold prospects found—Arrival on the east coast—Dense
scrub—Return—The Palmer rush—Hodgkinson sent out—Follows down the
Diamantina—Discovery of the Mulligan—Mistaken for the Herbert—Private
Expedition—The Messrs. Prout—Buchanan—F. Scarr—The Queenslander
expedition—A dry belt of country—Native rites—A good game bag—Arrival
at the telegraph line—Alexander Forrest—The Leopold Range—Caught
between the cliffs and the sea—Fine pastoral country found—Arrival at the
Katherine—The Northern Territory and its future
CHAPTER sly.
The exploration of thecontinent by landalmost completed— Minor expeditions—
The Macarthur and other rivers running into Carpentariatraced—Good country
discovered and opened up—Sir Edward Pellew Group revisited—Lindsay sent
out by the S.A. Government to explore Arnheim’s Land—Rough country and
great loss of horses—O’ Donnell makes an expedition to the Kimberley district
—Sturt and Mitchell’s different experiences with the blacks—Difference in the
east and west coasts—Use of camels—Opinions about them—The future of the
water supply—Adaptability of the country for irrigation—The great springs
_ of the Continent—Some peculiarities of them—Hot springs and mound springs
Parr IL.
MARITIME EXPLORATION.
CAPT ER 2.75
MARITIME DISCOVERIES .
CHAPTER * 204.
Captain Cook compared to former Visitors—Point Hicks—Botany Bay—First
natives seen—Indifference to Overtures—Abundant flora—Entrance to Port
Jackson missed—Endeavour on a reef—Careened—Strange animals—Hostile
natives—A sailor’s devil—Possession Island—Territory of New South Wales—
Torres Straits a passage—La Perouse—Probable fate discovered by Captain
Dillon—M‘Cluer touches Arnheim’s Land—Bligh and Portlock—Wreck of
the Pandora—Vancouver in the south—The D’Entrecasteaux quest—
Recherche Archipelago — Bass and Flinders—Navigation and exploration
extraordinary—The Zom Thumb—Bass explores south—Flinders in the Great
Bight—Bass’s Straits—Flinders in, the Jnvestigator—Special instructions—
King George’s Sound—Loss of boat’s crew—Memory Cove—Baudin’s courtesy
—Port Phillip—Jnvestigator and Lady Nelson on East Coast—The Gulf of
Carpentaria and early Dutch navigators—Duyfhen Point—Cape Keer-Weer—
Mythical rivers charted— Difficulty in recognising their land marks—
Flinders’ great disappointment—A rotten ship—Return by way of west coast
—Cape Vanderlin—Dutch Charts—Malay proas, Pobassoo—Return to Port
Jackson—Wreck of the Porpoise—Prisoner by the French—General de Caen
—Private papers and journals appropriated—Prepares his charts and logs
for press—Death—Sympathy by strangers—Forgotten by Australia—The
fate of Bass—Mysterious disappearance—Supposed Death
PAGE
283
- 295
» 319
CONTENTS. X11.
CHAPTER XVII. a
The French expedition—Buonaparte’s lavish outfitting—Baudin inthe Géographe
—Coast casualties—Sterile and barren appearance—Privations of the crew—
Sails for Timor— Hamelin in the Naturaliste—Explores north-western coast—
Swan River—Isle of Rottnest—Joins her consort at Coepang—Sails for Van
Dieman’s Land—Examination of the south-east coast of Australia—Flinders’
prior visit ignored—French names substituted— Discontent among crew—
Baudin’s unpopularity—Bad food—Port Jackson—Captain King’s Voyages—
Adventures in the Mermaid—An extensive commission—Allan Cunningham,
botanist—Search at Seal Islands for memorial of Flinders’ visit—Seed
sowing—Jeopardy to voyage—Giant anthills—An aboriginal Stoic—Cape
Arnheim and west coast exploration—Macquarie Strait—Audacity of natives
—Botanical results satisfactory— Malay Fleet—Raffles Bay—Port Essington—
Attack by natives—Cape Van Dieman—Malay Teachings—Timor and its
Rajah—Return to Port—Second Voyage—Mermaid and Lady Nelson—East
Coast—Cleveland Bay—Cocoa-nuts and pumice stones—Endeavour River—
Thieving natives—Geological formation of adjacent country—Remarkable
coincidences—Across Gulf of Carpentaria—Inland excursion—Cambridge
Gulf—Ophthalmia amongst crew—Mermaid returns to port . : . ;
CAL THE ox VIII.
King’s Third Voyage—Early misadventures—Examines north-west coast closely
—The Mermaid careened—Unforeseen result—Return to Sydney—The
Bathurst —King’s Fourth Voyage—Last of the Mermaid—Love’s stratagem
—Remarkable cavern—Extraordinary drawings—Chasm Island—South-West
explorations—Revisites his old camp—Rich vegetation—Greville Island—
Skirmish at Hanover Bay—Reminiscence of Dampier—His notes on the
natives and their mode of living—Cape Levéque—Buccaneers’ Archipelago—
Provisions run out—Sails for the Mauritius—Survey of south-west re-com-
menced—Cape Chatham—Oyster Harbour anchorage—A native’s toilet—Seal
hunt—Friendly intercourse—Cape Inscription—Vandalism— Point Cloates not
an island—Vlaming Head—Rowley Shoals—Cunningham—Botanical success
—Rogers Island closely examined—Mainland traced further—An amazing
escape from destruction—Relinquishment of survey—Sails for Sydney—Value
of King’s work—Settlement on Melville Island—Port Essington—Colonisa-
tion—Fort building—A waif—Roguish visitors—Garrison life—Change of
scene—Raffles Bay—Dismal reports—Failure of attempt ; . ; 45
tw
CHAPTER XIX,
Cruise of H.M.S. Beagle—Passengers Grey and Lushington—Swan River—
Northern coast survey commenced —Supposed channel at Dampier’s Land
non-existent— Lieutenant Usborne accidentally shot—King’s Sound—Effects of
a rainy season—Point Cunningham—Skeleton of a native found—New dis-
coveries—Fitzroy River explored—Exciting incident—Boat excursion to
Collier Bay—Swan River—Native steward ‘‘ Miago’’—Amusing inspection
—Meeting with the explorers at Hanover Bay—Lieutenant Grey’s description
of native tribes—Miago’s memory—Fremantle—Needed communication—
XIV. CONTENTS.
Beagle at Hobart Town—Survey work at Cape Otway—Exploration of north-
west coast—Reminiscences of colonisation—-Discovery of the Adelaide River
—A serious comedy—Port Essington and Clarence Straits—Harbour of Port
Darwin named—The Victoria River—Extravagant hopes—Land party
organized—Captain Stokes speared—Return to Swan River—Beagle again
North—Examination of Sweer’s Island—Flinders and Albert Rivers discovered
—Inland navigation—Gun accident—Native mode of burial—Fallacious
Theorising—The Beagle’s surveying concluded—Maritime exploration closes.
CHAPTER XX.
Nationality of the first finders of Australia—Knowledge of the Malays—The
bamboo introduced—Traces of smallpox amongst the natives in the north-
west—Tribal rites—Antipathy to pork—Evidence of admixture in origin—
Influence of Asiatic civilisation partly visible—Coast appearance repelling—
Want of indigenous food plants—Lack of intercourse.with other nations—
Little now left of unexplored country—Conclusions respecting various
geological formations—Extent of continental divisions—Development of
coastal towns—Inducements for population—Necessity of the first explorings
—Pioneer squatters’ efforts—First Australian-born explorer—Desert theory
exploded—Fertile downs everywhere—Want of water apparently insurmount-
able—Heroism of explorers—Inexperience of the early settlers—Grazing
possible—Rapid stocking of country—The barrenness of the ‘‘ Great Bight”’
—Sturt, the Penn of Australia—Results—Mitchell's work—Baron von
Mueller’s researches—A salt lake—Stuart first man across the continent—
Burke and Wills’ heroism—Services of M‘Kinlay and Landsborough—
John Forrest’s journeys—Camel expedition by Giles—The Queenslander
expedition—Further explorations—Stockdale at Cambridge Gulf—Carr-
Boyd and O’Donnell open good country in Western Australia—Work done
by explorers—Their characteristics—Conciusion.
APPENDIX.
The Pandora Pass—Death of Surveyor-General Oxley—List of the men com-
prising Sir Thomas Mitchell’s party on his Expedition to the Victoria (Barcoo)
1846—Richard Cunningham’s Fate—Cave Drawings—Smith, a lad of eighteen
found dead, May 8th, 1839—Eyre’s Letters—Note by Sir George Gipps—
Extract of letter from Major Mitchell—Minute by Sir George Gipps—Extract
of a letter of Mr. Walter Bagot—The last letter received from Dr. Leichhardt
—The Nardoo Plant—The finding of John King—Poison Plants
INDEX OF NAMES, DATES, AND INCIDENTS
CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY
PAGE
369
. 382
. 401
. 427
. 465
CONTENTS.
MAPS AND FAC-SIMILES.
ExpLtorATory Map oF AUSTRALIA
Opposite Title
DAUPHIN MaP_. : Sap Rape : : : - page rs
Map oF TASMAN’S TRACK, 1644 A ; : ‘ : so 0
CAPTAIN FLINDERS’ LETTER To SIR J. BANKS ‘ ‘ : ne
Map oF AUSTRALIA IN 1818 2 : : : ‘ ay 57
Extract FRoM Letrers—E, J. Eyre, Sir G. GIpps, AND
Sir Tuomas MITCHELL ‘ : i f : a
FAC-SIMILE OF SIGNATURES p : : ve 204
CAvE PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS, DISCOVERED
By LIEUTENANT GEORGE Grey, 1838 . : : ; »» 409
SS ee -
f
4
*
¥
EN TRODUCTION.,
PARE iT.
Rumours of the existence of a Southern Continent in the Sixteenth Century—
Fave and Fave la Grande—Authentic Discoveries and visits of the early
Navigators—Torres sails between New Guinea and Terra Australis—Voyage
of the Duyfhen in 1606—Dirk Hartog on the West Coast, his inscribed plate
—Restored by Vlaming—Afterwards by Hamelin—Nuyts on the South
Coast—Wreck of the Batavia on Houtman’s Abrolhos—Mutiny of Cornelis
—Tasman’s second voyage—Dampier with the Buccaneers—Second Voyage
in the Roebuck— Last visit of the Dutch—Captain Cook—Flinders; his
theory of a Dividing Strait—Plans for exploring the Interior—His captivity
—Captain King—Concluding remarks.
THE charm of romance and adventure surrounding the discovery
of hitherto unknown lands has from the earliest ages been
the lure that has tempted men to prosecute voyages and travels
of exploration. Whether under the pretext of science, religion
or conquest, hardship and danger have alike been undergone
with fortitude and cheerfulness, in the hope of being the first
to find things strange and new, and return to civilized com-
munities with the tidings.
In the days of Spain’s supremacy, after the eyes of Europe
had been dazzled with the sight of riches brought from the New
World, and men’s ears filled with fairy-like tales of the wondrous
races discovered, it was but natural that the adventurous
gallants of that age should roam in search of seas yet to be won.
Some such hope of finding a land wherein the glorious
conquests of Cortes and Pizarro could be repeated, brought
De Quiros on a quest that led him almost within hail of our
shores. What little realization of his dreams of cities rich with
temples, blazing with barbaric gold, inhabited by semi-civilized
‘people skilled in strange arts he would have found in the
naked nomads of Terra Australis, and their rude shelters of
boughs and bark we now know; and perhaps, it was as well for
the skilful pilot that he died with his mission unfulfilled, save in
fancy. His lieutenant, Torres, came nearer solving the secret
of the Southern Seas, and, in fact, reports sighting hills to the
southward, which—on slight foundation—are supposed ,to
have been the present Cape York, but more probably were the
B
18 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
higher lands of Prince of Wales Island. In all likelihood he saw
enough of the natives of the Straits to convince him that no such
rich pickings were to be had, as had fallen to the lot of the lucky
conquerers of Mexico and Peru. He came across none of the
legendary canoes from the land of gold, deep laden with the
precious metal, nor sandy beaches strewn with jewels, to be had
for the gathering. He puts on record what he thought of the
islanders in the few terse words, that they were “black, naked and
corpulent,” beyond that, they do not seem to have impressed him.
Apparently they, on their part, were not impressed at being
informed that they were thenceforth subjects of the King of
Spain, for their dislike to Europeans appears to have increased
as the unfortunate Dutch captains, Carstens and Poole, afterwards
found to their cost. Even the gracious act of His Holiness the
Pope in partitioning these unknown lands between Spain and
Portugal did not meet with the favourable consideration at their
hands that it deserved.
The jealousy with which the maritime nations of Europe
guarded their discoveries from each other has been the means
of putting great difficulties in the way of tracing out the early
traditions of the great South Land. The domineering’ Spaniard
looked upon the Portugese navigator as a formidable rival in the
race fortrade; and the sturdy Hollander they regarded asa
natural enemy andarebel. The generous emulation of fellow-
workers in the cause of scientific discovery was unknown, and
the secrets of the sea were scrupulously kept.
On behalf of Dutch reticence, it may be said that the cause
of the merited hatred they bore to Spain was still too fresh in
their memory to allow them to divulge anything that might
possibly benefit a Spaniard. |
Sir William Temple, ambassador at the Hague in the time
of Charles II., gives it as his opinion that ‘“‘a southern continent
has long since been found out.’’ He avers that, according to
descriptions he has gathered, ‘it is as long as Java, and is marked
on the maps by the name of New Holland, but to what extent
the land extends either to the south, the east, or the west, none
know.” He states, that he has heard it said among the Dutch
that their East India Company “have long since forbidden, and
under the greatest penalties, any further attempts at discovering
that continent, having already more trade than they can turn to
account, and fearing some more populous nation of Europe
— — — ee ee
nin
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Z
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OL
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x
al
ye A LARGE CHART OF THE WORLD,
on a plane scale,.on vellum; 8 feet 2 inches x
3 feet 10 inches, highly ornamented with figures,
etc., with the names in French. At the upper
corner, on the left hand, ts a Shield of the Arms
of France, and on the right another shield of
France and Dauphineé quarterly. [twas probably
we
executed in the time of Francis I. of France for
his son, the Dauphin, afterwards Henry I1., as the
Crown over the Arms of France 1s open, which was
so borne till the vear 1536, when it was arched
ds
over.
[AV E:
EXTRACT FROM ‘‘ CATALOGUE OF MAPS AND DRAWINGS IN THE
British Museum.’
Turner & Henderson, Sydney,
INTRODUCTION. 19
might make great establishments of trade in some of these
unknown regions, which might ruin or impair what they already
have in the Indies.”
But although no documentary evidence has been brought to
light, proving beyond all doubt the certain discovery of the
South Land in the sixteenth century, we find on the old charts of
the world various tracings indicating a knowledge of the
existence of this continent, which would appear to have been
derived from other than fabulous sources.
A shadowy claim to the honour of being the first discoverer
of Terra Australis has been advanced on behalf of the French-
man Gonneville, who sailed from Honfleur in 1503, on a voyage
to the East Indies. He is said to have doubled the Cape of
Good Hope, and being driven by stress of weather into an
unknown sea, found a land inhabited by friendly people, with
whom he stayed some time, being accompanied back to France
by one of the king’s sons who was desirous of studying the
precepts of Christianity. The general belief, however, is that it
was probably Madagascar whereon De Gonneville landed.
Another claim, based upon the authority of an ancient map,
is put forward for the noted Portugese navigator Magalhaens,
when in the service of the Emperor Charles V. of Spain; but
there is little appertaining to the arguments advanced on behalf
of this belief to render it credible.
In some of the old charts, dating back to the middle of the
sixteenth century, a large country south of Java is portrayed,
which from its position appears to be intended for the con-
jectural South Land. In all these maps the outlines of this
terra tncognita are so nearly identical that it is evident various
hydrographers drew their inspirations from the same sources.
The annexed tracing is a copy of a portion of one of the most
ancient of these maps; the original was presented to the British
Museum by Sir Joseph Banks in 1790. It is most carefully
drawn, the coast line being elaborately filled in with names in
French, and it is embellished with drawings of animals and men,
being also ornamented with two shields bearing the arms of
France. The map is undated, but was probably designed in the
latter part of the reign of Francis I., for his son, the Dauphin,
afterwards Henry II.
It has been alleged that Captain Cook was guided by these
charts to the eastern shore of New Holland, and the similarity of
20 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
some of the names thereon, such as Coste des Flerbaiges, and
Coste Dangerouse, to names given by him, has been pointed out.
This allegation, however, will not stand criticism. Botany Bay,
for instance, is about the last place that any one would select to
bestow such a name on as Coste des Herbaiges, which name
_ would signify a rich and fertile spot, certainly not such a desolate
place as Botany Bay was in Captain Cook’s time. Captain
Tench, one of the survey party sent there in 1789, writes in his
journal :—‘‘ We were unanimously of the opinion that had not
the nautical part of Mr. Cook’s description been so accurately
laid down, there would exist the utmost reason to believe that
those who have described the contiguous country had never seen
it. On the side of the harbour, a line of sea coast more than
thirty miles long, we did not find two hundred acres which could
be cultivated.” Any approximation then in position between
Botany Bay and the fabulous Coste des Hlerbaiges. must be
considered as accidental.
The generally received opinion of this and the other charts
is, that Java (Fave) is fairly well laid down, and that Great Java
stands for the supposed South Land. Plausible as this theory
reads, it is, however, open. to objection. If it be accepted:
and the narrow strait the river Grande be looked upon as that
portion of the Indian Ocean dividing Java from the north-west
coast of Australia, any resemblance to the present known shape
of our continent is very hard to trace, unless after a most distorted
fashion. If, however, we make the necessary allowances for the
many errors that would creep in from one transcription to
another, and look upon Fave and Fave la Grande as one con-
tinent intersected by a mediterranean sea, we have a fair, if
rude, conception of the north coast of Australia. Moreover, let
the reader imagine a south coast line drawn from Baye Perdue
on the east to Havre de Sylla on the west, doing away with the
conjectural east and west coast continuations south of those
points; the deep inlet between Fave and Fave la Grande standing
for the Gulf of Carpentaria, a very passable outline of the whole
continent is obtained. And it is more than probable that this
view was originally suggested by this map, and from it sprang
the belief current, even to the beginning of this century, that
-an open passage existed from the west coast, either into the
Gulf of Carpentaria, or to the head of Spencer’s Gulf. The
other maps give no more information than this one, and the
INTRODUCTION. yA i
identity of their origin is obvious. One, however, has been
found in the British Museum the features of which are different.
It is a rough copy of an old map showing the north west portion
of acontinent tothe south of “ Java Major.” It bears a legend in
Portugese, of which the following is a_ translation :—‘‘ Nuca
Antara was discovered in the year 1601 by Manoel Godinho
Eredia, by command of the Viceroy Ayres de Soldanha.” This
would point to a Portugese discovery of Australia immediately
preceding the Dutch one. .
In Cornelius Wytfliet’s “ Descriptionis Ptolemaicze Aug-
mentum,” Louvain, 1598, the following passage is to be found :—
“ The Australis Terra is the most southern of all lands; it is sepa-
rated from New Guinea by a narrow strait; its shores are hitherto but
little known, since, after one voyage and another, that route has been
deserted, and seldom is the country visited unless when sailors are
driven there by storms. ‘The Australis Terra begins at two or three
degrees from the equator, and is maintained by some to be of so great
an extent that if it were thoroughly explored it would be regarded asa
fifth part of the world.”
The above is so vague and suppositous that it would
scarcely be worth quoting, were it not for the singular mention
of the narrow strait separating Australis Terra from New Guinea ;
for at this time Torres had not sailed through the straits, nor was
the fact of his having done so known to the world until the end
of the eighteenth century, when Dalrymple discovered his report
amongst the archives of Manila, and did justice to his memory.
In 1605, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, having for his
second in command Luis Vaez de Torres, sailed from Callao
with two well-armed vessels’ and~a corvette. After the
discovery of several islands, they came to a land which
Quiros supposed to be the continent he was in search of,
and therefore named it Australia del Espiritu Santo. ‘At
one hour past midnight,” says Torres, in his account of
the voyage, “the Capiztana” (Quiros’ vessel) “departed with-
out any notice given to us, and without making any signal.”
This extraordinary conduct was supposed to be the result
of discontent and mutiny amongst the sailors, an outbreak
having already taken place which was not quelled quite
so firmly as Torres advocated. After vainly waiting tor many
days, Torres set sail, and first ascertaining that it was
only an island where they had been anchored, he made his way
22 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
by the dangerous south coast of New Guinea to Manila, where
he arrived in 1607.
Up to the preceding year popular knowledge concerning
the South Land must be looked upon as being mixed up with
much that is both doubtful and hazardous. We now, however,
reach the period which may be regarded as the beginning of
the authentic history of the discovery of New Holland. In 1606
the yacht Duyfhen sailed from Bantam, and, coasting along the
south-west shore of New Guinea, her commander unknowingly
crossed the entrance of Torres Straits, and continued his voyage
along the eastern side of the Gulf of Carpentaria, under the
impression that it was part of the same country. They sailed
nearly to latitude 14 degrees south, when want of provisions
and other necessaries compelled them to turn back. Cape
Keer-Weer (Turn Again) they named the furthest point reached
by them. ‘Their report of the country was most unfavourable.
They described it as being “for the greatest part desert, but in
some places .inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages, by whom
some of the crew were murdered, for which reason they could not
learn anything of the land or waters as had been desired of them.”
The name of the captain of the Duyfhen—the Columbus of
the south—has not been preserved. Ten years after this visit,
in 1616, Captain Dirk Hartog, in command of the ship
Endracht, from Amsterdam, discovered the west coast of
Australia. He left a tin plate on an island in Dirk Hartog’s
Roads bearing the following inscription :—
“Ao 1616, den 25sten October, is hier vangecommen het
schip de &Andracht van Amsterdam, den Oppercoopmen
Gilles Mibais van Luyck; schipper Dirk MHartog, van
Amsterdam, den 27sten, dito t’ zeijl gegaen na Bantam, den
Ondercoopman Jan Stoyn, Opperstierman Pieter Dockes, van
Bal Ae r6L6-?* )
Captain Vlaming, of the ship Gee/vink, found this plate
in 1697, and replaced it with another, on which he copied the
original inscription, and added to it as follows :—
“1697. Den 4den Februaij is hier vangecommen het schip
de Geelvink van Amsterdam, den Commandeur _ schipper,
* Translation.—On the 25th October, arrived here the ship Endraght of .
Amsterdam ; the first merchant, Gilles Mibais, of Luyck; Captain Dirk Hartog;
of Amsterdam ; the 27th ditto set sail for Bantam; undermerchant Jan Stoyn,
upper steersman, Pieter Dockes, from Bil, A°, 1616.
INTRODUCTION. 23
Williem de Vlamingh, van Vlielandt, Adsistent Joan van Bremen,
van Coppenhage ; Opperstierman Michiel Blom van Estight, van
Bremen. De Heecker de Vyptang,schipper Gerrit Collaert van
Amsterdam ; Adsistent Theodorus Heermans van de; d’Opper-
stierman Gerrit Gerritz, van Bremen, ’t Galjoot t’ Weseltze,
Gezaghabber Cornelis de Vlamingh van Vlielandt ; Stierman Coert
Gerritz, van Bremen, en van hier gezeilt met ons vloot den
1240 voorts net Zuijtland te onderscecken en gedestineert voor
Batavia.’’*
In 1801, the boatswain of the Naturaliste found this plate
half buried in sand, lying near an oaken post to which it had
been nailed. Captain Hamelin, with rare good taste, had a new
post made, and the- plate erected in the old spot. Another
outward bound ship, the M/auritius, touched on the west coast
in 1618, and discovered and named the Willems River, near the
North-west Cape, probably the present Ashburton. The Leeuwz7n
(Lioness), visited the west coast in 1622, and the well-known
reef of Houtman’s Abrolhos was so-called after Frederick
Houtman, a Dutch navigator of distinction who, however, never
personally visited Australian shores. The next navigator to the
South Land met with an untimely end. In the year 1623,
Governor Coen dispatched two yachts, the Pera and the
Arnhem, on a voyage of discovery. Landing on the coast of
New Guinea, Captain Jan Carstens, of the Arnhem, and eight of
his crew were murdered by the natives, but the vessels pro-
ceeded, and touched upon the north coast of New Holland, west of
the Gulf of Carpentaria, still known as Arnhem’s Land. A
river, the Spult, is here laid down in the old charts, in the
vicinity of the present Liverpool River, and there is also another
opening marked the ‘‘ Speult,’”’ on the eastern side of the Gulf,
since determined to be the Endeavour Strait of Captain Cook,
At Arnhem’s Land the yachts parted, the Pera continuing
the voyage alone. Crossing the head of the Gulf she followed
the course of the Duyfhen, and passing Cape Keer-Weer, made
* Translation.—On the 4th of February, 1697, arrived here the ship
Geelvinck, of Amsterdam; Commandant Wilhelm de Vlaming, of Vlielandt ;
assistant, Jan van Bremen, of Copenhagen, ; first pilot, Michiel Bloem van Estight,
of Bremen. The hooker, the Myptangh, Captain Gerrit Collaert, of Amsterdam,
Assistant Theodorus Heermans, of the same place; first pilot, Gerrit Gerritz, of
Bremen; then the galliot Weseltje, Commander Cornelis de Vlaming, of Vlielandt ;
Pilot Coert Gerritz, from Bremen. Sailed from here with our fleet on the rath,
to explore the South Land, and afterwards bound for Batavia.
24, AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
as far south as 17 degrees, where the Staaten River is laid down.
Their report was also unfavourable, and is summed up in the
official dispatches of the company, thus :—‘‘In this discovery
were found everywhere shallow waters and barren coasts,
islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal
nations, and of very little use to the Dutch East India Company.”
Pera Head, in the Gulf, is another memorial of this voyage. '
Now came the turn of the south coast of New Holland. In
1627, Captain Pieter Nuyts, in his ship the Gulde Zeepard,
accidentally touched on the south coast. He followed it along
for seven or eight hundred miles, and bestowed on it the name
of Pieter Nuyts’ Land. The Vzanen sighted the west coast ip
1628, and kept in sight of it for some two hundred miles, report-
ing ‘“‘a foul and barren shore, green fields, and very wild,
black, barbarous inhabitants.” -
The wreck of the Batavia on Houtman’s Abrolhos, in
1629, is one of the most tragic incidents in éarly Australian
history. The Satavia, commanded by Commodore Francis
Pelsart, was separated from her consorts by a storm, and during
the night of the 4th of June ‘struck on the rocks of Frederick
Houtman. The crew and passengers were landed on one island,
and two small islets in the neighbourhood, and the ship broke
up. No fresh water was found, and Pelsart sailed in one of the
boats in search of some on the mainland. He was unsuccessful,
and finally steered for Batavia. Meanwhile, a terrible scene of
riot and murder was enacted. Jerome Cornelis, the supercargo,
headed a mutiny, and those refusing to join his band were in
part cruelly assasinated. One company however, on one of the
islets, in charge of Weybehays defended themselves valiantly,
finally taking Cornelis prisoner. Fresh water was found, and
the two hostile camps awaited the re-appearance ot Pelsart.
The design of the mutineers had been to surprise Pelsart on his
return, capture his vessel, and sail away on a piratical cruise.
The determined front shown by Weybehays and his party,
who, although unarmed, had twice defeated them with some
slaughter, disarranged their plans.
When the Sardam, with Pelsart on board, hove in sight
of the Abrolhos, the smoke rising from the islands assured the
captain, who was naturally tormented with anxiety, that some,
at any rate survived. To their surprise, a boat came off to meet
them, pulled by men dressed in rich uniforms, made from
|
INTRODUCTION. 25
the silks and stuffs that had formed part of the Latavia’s
cargo. Pelsart’s suspicions were at once aroused, knowing as
he did, that insubordination had shewn itself even before his
departure, These men were ordered to come on board unarmed,
with the alternative of being sunk, and Weybehays coming off
at the same time, they had no choice but to obey, and the whole
of the mutineers were soon in irons. After recovering most of
the treasure, with the exception of one chest, containing eight
thousand rix dollars, a consultation was held as to the fate of
the murderers. It was unanimously decided that, having in view
the overcrowded state of the ship, and the temptation presented
by the recovered treasure, the presence of such turbulent
spirits on board would be dangerous to the safety of the
company. ‘Therefore, it was thought best to try the offenders
there and then, instead of taking them to Batavia. This was
done, and the sentences at once carried into effect. Twomen,
however, were condemned to the more lingering punishment of
being marooned on the mainland, there to meet a cruel death at
the hands of the savages. These two blood-stained criminals
were the first Europeans to leave their bones in Australia, an
unhappy omen of the future. According to the instructions
issued to Tasman, on his second voyage, he was directed to
‘“enquire at the continent thereabout”’ (z.e., the neighbourhood
of the Abrolhos) ‘‘after two Dutchmen, who, having by the
enormity of their crimes forfeited their lives, were put on shore
by the Commodore Francisco Pelsart, if still alive. In such
case, you may make inquiries of them about the situation of
those countries, and if they entreat you to that purpose, give
them passage thither.’”’ He was also instructed to recover, if
possible, the chest of rix dollars. ,Unfortunately Tasman’s
journal has never been discovered, and it is not known how he
fared on his mission. |
_ Captain Gerrit Tomaz Poole sailed from Banda in 1636, with
the yachts Alyn, Amsterdam, and Wezel, to meet his death on
the New Guinea coast, in the same place that had been fatal to
Carstens, and in alike manner. The supercargo took charge,
and prosecuted the voyage, revisiting Arnhem’s Land. |
A name familiar to all is that of Abel Janz Tasman. In 1644,
after his discovery of Van Dieman’s Land, he was sent out ona
second voyage of exploration. His instructions were: ‘To dis-
cover whether Nova Guineaisone continent with the Great South
26 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Land, orseparated by channelsand islands lying between them, and
also whether that New Van Dieman’s Land” (Arnhem’s Land)
‘“is the same continent with these two great countries, or with
one of them.” He was also directed to search for the strait
between New Guinea and New Holland, in a large opening said to
exist in that locality. Apparently, this portion of his instructions
was, for some reasons, not thoroughly carried out. .
Although Tasman’s journal of this voyage has never been
found, we have pretty good evidence that he safely accomplished
it. Dampier, in his volume of voyages, mentions having in his
possession a chart laid down by Tasman, and an outline copy of
the same was inlaid in the floor ef the Groote Zaal, in the
Stadhuys in Amsterdam. The annexed tracing is from a fairly
authenticated copy of Tasman’s map, with the discoveries of
former navigators attached, soundings being given along that
portion of the north-west coast that would have embraced
Tasman’s proposed track. Many of the names still retained in
the Gulf of Carpentaria are significant of Tasman’s visit.
- Vanderlin Island, after Cornelis Van der Lyn; Sweer’s Island,
after Salamon Sweers ; Maria Island, after his supposed sweet-
heart, Maria Van Dieman; and Limmen Bight, after his ship,
the Limmen. This chart may be looked on as being the first
one to give a reliable and good outline of the Australian coast as
then known—namely, from Endeavour Strait, in the extreme
north, to the eastern limit of Pieter Nuyt’s Land, on the south.
The two places where “ F fresh” water is marked would be the
Batavia River, near Cape York, and the present Macarthur
River, at the head of the Gulf, the well defined headlands shewn
there having been resolved by Captain Flinders into a group of
islands, now known as the Sir Edward Pellew Group. Tasman’s
ships were the Lzmmen, the Zeemeuw, and the tender
De Brak. .
The first Englishman to land on New Holland was William
Dampier in 1688. In very bad company, namely, a crew of
buccaneers who left Captain Sharpe and travelled across the
Isthmus of Darien, he visited the west coast of New Holland,
where they remained over a month refitting and cleaning their
ship. Dampier does not seem to have been on the best of terms
with his shipmates, for some difference of opinion arising as to
the final destination of their voyage, he “‘was threatened to be
turned ashoare on New Holland for it, which made me desist,
\ aU
FP deWitts Land, discovered
Milient
\
\
\ 4. 10016.28, by the Dutch
\ ak
\ a
vif
IneLand of Bndracht discovered
by the Dutch 1628
Dirich Burtlog’s Reede
)\ Houtman'’s Abrotho
pred
» and disco"
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ons
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Turner & Henderson, Litho.
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MAP,
SHEWING TASMAN’S ACCEPTED TRACK
ON HIS SECOND
VOYAGE TO NORTH AND NORTH-WEST COAST,
1644.
(From Major’s “Early Navigators.”’)
INTRODUCTION. 4 4
intending, by God’s blessing, to make my escape the first place
I came neare.” His notes on this occasion refer chiefly to the
natives seen, whose personal appearance and habits he considers
alike equally disgusting and repulsive.
Towards the end of the year 1696, William de Vlaming, in
search of the Azdderschap, a missing ship supposed to have
been wrecked on the coast of New Holland, came to the Great
South Land. He found and named the Swan River, this being
the first mention ever made of black swans, two specimens of
which were captured and taken to Batavia. At Dirk Hartog’s
Road, he found, as before-mentioned, the tin plate left by that
captain, and aiter a careful examination of the coast so far as
the North-west Cape, left for Batavia.
Dampier now reappears on the scene in charge of the
Roebuck—a ship sent out by the English Government in 1699.
His account of his voyage is very minute and circumstantial, but
he still retains his aversion to the unfortunate natives, of whom
he always speaks with the greatest scorn. Some of his state-
ments are slightly doubtful, to say the least of it, as, for instance,
one concerning the capture of a large shark, ‘in which we found
the head and bones of a hippopotamus,* the hairy lips of which
were still sound and not putrified, and the jaw was also firm,
out of which we pluckt a great many teeth, two of them eight
inches long and as big as‘a man’s thumb, small at one end and
a little crooked, the rest not above half so long.”
Dampier disputes the accuracy of the “ draught of Tasman’s”’
that he had with him in many particulars, and constantly advances
his theory of the existence of a strait dividing New Holland into
two parts, probably taking this idea, as before indicated, from
the old map of the Dauphin.
In 1705, the ships Vossenbach, Wayer, and Nova Hollandia
were sent out to investigate the north coast, under the command
of Martin van Delft. ‘The journals of the voyage have not been
found, although a report of the notable events that happened was
* M. Malte Brun calls him “the learned and faithful Dampier,” and, in corro-
boration of the hippopotamus story, mentions that Bailly, when exploring the Swan
River, “heard a bellowing much louder than that of an ox from among the reeds
on the river side, which made him suspect that a large quadruped lay somewhere
near him.” It is remarkable that in the several accounts of the early Dutch
visits tothe northern coast no mention is made of alligators, although they are
sO common to all the inlets and rivers of that region, the name Crocodils
Eylanden on one old chart being the sole exception.
28 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
laid. before the Governor-General of the East India Council.
This was the last voyage of exploration undertaken by the
Dutch, and closes the history of the early discovery of New
Holland. The existence of the Southern Land was definitely
established, and it remained for the English and French nations
to determine its size and formation with accuracy, and fill up the
gaps on the coast line.
Sixty-five years passed before Captain Cook sailed through
the Endeavour Strait, finally settling the question of the separa-
tion of this continent from New Guinea, and during that period
New Holland, so far as we know, was unvisited.
The association of Captain Cook with this continent is too
well-known to need more than a passing reference in this intro-
duction. He proved the insularity of the South Land, and
examined the long-neglected east coast.
In 1777, Mons. de St. Alouarn anchored near Cape Leeuwin,
but no details of his visit have been preserved.
In 1791, Captain George Vancouver touched on the south
coast, and gave the name of King George’s Sound to that well-
known harbour; thence he sailed eastward. In the following
year Rear-Admiral Bruny D’Entrecasteaux, in search of the
hapless La Perouse, who so narrowly missed appropriating New
Holland for the French, made an elaborate survey of part of our
south coast. :
Before the close of the century, Bass and Flinders—fit
companions—had commenced their daring exploits in the little
Tom Thumb, and finally, with the sloop Worfolk, established the
existence of the strait named after the enterprising young
surgeon. 7 |
In the year 1799, Flinders went north in the Vorfolz sloop,
and followed up Cook’s discoveries in Moreton Bay. In 1801
he was.appointed to the /nvestigator (formerly the Xenophon),
and sailed from Spithead on the voyage which was to render him
one of the leading figures in Australian history.
Reaching Cape Leeuwin he commenced his survey of the
south coast, discovering and naming the two Gulfs of Spencer
and St. Vincent. The former he at one time thought would lead
him through the continent into the Carpentarian Gulf. He
reached Port Jackson in May, the year after he left England,
and active preparations were soon afterwards commenced to
prepare the ship for her long northern cruise.
eS lo |
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*
a
—e ee
eae
_haunted him always
INTRODUCTION. 29
In July, 1802, the /nuvestigator, with the Lady Nelson as
tender, left Sydney Cove; the object of the voyage being to
thoroughly survey the eastern and northern coasts. Flinders
rounded Cape York, and after a close examination of the Gulf of
Carpentaria, which, like Spencer’s Gulf in the south, deluded him
for a time with the false hope of affording an inlet into the
interior, brought his work to an end at Cape Wessel, in con-
sequence of the rotten state of his ship. He called at Ccepang
in Timor, whence, after obtaining some supplies, he made for
Port Jackson by way of the west coast.
Throughout this cruise it is evident that Flinders was much
impressed by the notion advanced by Dampier, that New
Holland (meaning the north-west portion) was separated from
the land to the south bya strait opening north of Shark’s Bay.
‘‘Unless,” says Dampier, “the high tides and indraught there-
about should be occasioned by the mouth of some large river,
which hath often low lands on each side of the outlet, and many
islands and shoals lying at its entrance; but I rather thought it
a channel or strait than a river.” To quote the words of
Flinders :—
“This opinion he supports by a fair induction from facts, and the
opening of twelve miles wide, seen by Vlaming’s two vessels, near the
same place, and in which they could find no anchorage, strongly
corroborated Dampier’s supposition.”
Later information had demonstrated that the supposed
strait could not lead into the great ocean eastward, as the
English navigator (Dampier) had conjectured, but it was thought
possible that it might communicate with the Gulf of Carpentaria,
and even probable that a passage existed from thence to the
unknown parts of the south coast beyond the Isles of St. Francis
and St. Peters.
“Tn the case of penetrating the interior of Zerra Australis, either
by a great river, or a strait leading to an inland sea, a superior country,
and, perhaps, a different race of people might be found, the knowledge
of which could not fail to be very interesting, and might prove advan-
tageous to the nation making the discovery.”
This was the goal of Flinders’ ambition, the vision that
the discovery of a mediterranean sea.
There being no ship in Port Jackson fit to continue the
survey work left uncompleted by the /xvestigator, Flinders
determined to return to England, and obtain a suitable vessel
30 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
from the Admiralty. He and twenty-two of his men and officers
embarked as passengers in the Porpozse, and left Port Jackson
in company with the Batavian-bound ships Ca¢o and Bridgewater.
They sailed on the roth of August, 1803, and on the night
of the 17th, the Porfozse and Cato struck on a reef, and became
complete wrecks. ‘The crews escaped to a sand-bank adjoining
the reef, and here they were left to their fate by the third ship,
the Bridgewater, the captain of which vessel sailed away to
Batavia, without any attempt being made to save them.
Discipline and order were, however, maintained on Wreck
Reef Bank, as it was called, and Flinders, who took command
after the vessel struck, proceeded to Sydney in the cutter, to
obtain assistance for the remainder of the crews, who were to
employ the time in constructing two decked boats from the
timbers of the Porporse. ‘This perilous voyage in an open boat,
Flinders accomplished safely, and returned in six weeks, with
two colonial schooners, the Cumberland and the Franczs, and
the ship Rolla, bound for Canton. The shipwrecked men were
taken off the bank, and Flinders started for England in the
Cumberland, a small schooner of but twenty-nine tons. On
his way homeward he was forced to put into the Mauritius, to
refit his little craft, before venturing round the Cape of Good
Hope; and on the pretext that the passport he carried did not
afford safe conduct to the Cumberland, having been made out
for the /uvestigator, he was detained a prisoner in the Isle of
France for over six years.
The conduct of General de Caen in this matter has been
severely commented on, as it was entirely due to his personal
pique and jealousy in the affair that this indignity was put upon
Flinders. The generous hospitality extended by the British
settlement to the French navigators at Port Jackson found no
response in this rough specimen of a soldier of the revolution,
who throughout the period of Flinders’ detention, treated him
with studied rudeness and unnecessary harshness.
For three months Flinders was kept close prisoner as a
spy, and for twenty months as an ordinary prisoner of war.
Still during his captivity in the Isle of France, his thoughts were
constantly busied with projects for the further exploration of the
great southern continent he had lately left. In addition to the
chafing weariness of prolonged detention and enforced inactivity,
he was constantly haunted by the dread that the French would,
ey OL rey A POS FD
Sy
INTRODUCTION. 31
after examination of his papers, step in and forestall him in the
matter. Ina letter to Sir Joseph Banks, dated March 2oth, 1806,*
he mentions this fear; and adding, that disappointment and
deferred hope of release have in no way damped his ardour in
the cause of science, advances for consideration a scheme for
exploring the interior of Australia. Though now, after more
than eighty years of discovery have given us an intimate know-
ledge of the nature of the difficulties he would have encountered,
we may smile at the somewhat crude notions of the daring
navigator, we cannot refuse to recognise that a good deal of
thoroughness was mixed up with his plan, simple as it reads.
An incursion of five hundred miles north and south, respectively,
would without doubt, if possible, have done much towards an
earlier knowledge of the interior.
His dream of sailing up a deep estuary—some great water
way—leading. to more fertile lands than those of the coast
inhabited by a superior race of natives, had vanished. As the
shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria rounded his course from south
to west, and from west to north, so the picture his fancy had
painted faded; and he found himself compelled to fall back upon
the conception of a mode of transit patriarchal in its simplicity.
He writes :—
“With five or six asses to carry provisions (and they can be
obtained here), expeditions might be made into the interior of Australia
from the head of the Gulph of Carpentaria in 18 deg., and from the
head of the great gulph on the south coast in 32 deg., until the courses
should nearly meet, five hundred miles each way would most probably
be sufficient, since the country does not appear to be mountainous: a
view of my general chart will exemplify this. In case of being again
sent to Australia, I should much wish that this was a part of my
instructions.’ f
—
* See fac-simile of original letter.
+ Referring to Flinders’ scheme for exploring Australia, it may be amusing to
the reader to contrast it with one projected some years later by M. Malte Brun.
In his case, the amount of material the eminent’ geographer considered necessary
for the expedition is as excessive as that of Captain Flinders’ was simple. His method
for exploring the continent is this: ‘ In order to determine these questions” (namely
the different theories propounded as to the nature of the interior) “it has been
proposed to send an expedition to penetrate the country from Spencer's Gulf. For
such an expedition, men of science and courage ought to be selected. They ought
to be provided with all sorts of implements and stores, and with different animals,
from the powers and instincts of which they may derive assistance. They should
have oxen from Buenos Ayres, or from the English settlements, mules from
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50 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
But Flinders was never fated to see the interior of
Terra Australis, either from the deck of a ship, or from any
point of vantage ; he surveyed its shores, suggested the name
it now bears—Australia, and left the work of discovery, not
even to this day quite completed, to other hands. But though
the name of Flinders has not received the world-wide recog-
nition that has been bestowed upon that ef Cook, in Australia it
should be equally honoured. The land that witnessed his long
labours and heroic courage ought not to repay him with forget-
fulness. '
The crazy state of the /nvestigator having compelled
Flinders to terminate his voyage abruptly, a considerable space
of coast line was still left on the north, and north-west, that had
not been minutely examined. Lieutenant Phillip King, between
the years 1818 and 1822, completed the survey left unfinished by
Flinders, and the work of marine exploration temporarily ceased.
In looking back over the early history of Australia, the
apparently careless manner in which the English became
possessed of the whole of the continent is very noticeable.
Although the Dutch had so long been acquainted with our
shores, and the neighbourhood of their possessions in Java
would have afforded them greater facilities for exploration than
were held by any other nation, no attempt at colonisation was
ever made by them. ‘The apparent poverty, both of the country
and the natives, offered the East India Company no inducement
to extend their operations. Still, in a vague kind of way, the
Senegal, and dromedaries from Africa or Arabia. The oxen would traverse the
woods and the thickets ; the mules would walk securely among rugged rocks and
hilly countries ; the dromedaries would cross the sandy deserts. Thus the expe-
dition would be prepared for any kind of territory that the interior might present.
Dogs also should be taken to raise game, and to discover springs of water; and it
has even been proposed to take pigs, for the sake of finding out esculent roots in
the soil. When no kangaroos and game are to be found the party would
subsist on the flesh of their own flocks. They should be provided witha balloon for
spying at a distance any serious obstacle to their progress in particular directions,
and for extending the range of observations which the eye would take of such level
lands as are too wide to allow any heights beyond them to come within the com-
pass of their view. The journey might be allowed a year or eighteen months,
which would be only at the rate of four or five miles perday. . . . The
author of the present work” (‘‘Universal Geography’’) ‘‘ has discoursed this project
in conversation with the enlightened_and indefatigable traveller, M. Péron, who
saw no insuperable obstacle to its probability, except the existence of an immense
ocean of sand occupying the whole of the interior of the continent, which to him
appeared extremely probable.”
INTRODUCTION. 33
Dutch claim to the western portion of Australia was recognized.
In the patent to the first governor at Port Jackson, the western
limit of New South Wales is fixed at 135 deg. E. longitude, a
position approximating to the boundary of New Holland as fixed
by the Dutch, whereby the country was divided into New
Holland and Terra Australis. This line of demarcation would
bisect the present colony of South Australia. In the early part
of this century, the French evidently considered that they had a
well-founded claim, both to the discovery and possession of the
south coast, west of Nuyts’ “Island of St. Peters.” The name
of ‘Terre Napoleon ”’ was given to it, Spencer’s Gulf becoming
“Golfe Bonaparte,” and the Gulf of St. Vincent ‘ Golfe
Josephine.” Malte Brun remarks :—
‘The claims of the English have no fixed boundaries; they seem
desirous of confounding the whole of New Holland under the modern
name which they have given to the east coast, which was minutely
explored by Captain Cook. It is worthy of remark that the French
geographers had, from a comparison of the tracks navigated by Abel
Tasman, previously concluded on the existence and direction of this
coast itself.” ,
But neither Dutch nor French claims were ever seriously
advanced, and the whole of the continent and adjacent islands
were ceded to the English in much the same happy-go-lucky
fashion that we recently let slip a large portion of New Guinea.
One cause of the apathy displayed was without doubt the
forbidding nature of the reports published by all the navigators.
The coast line had been examined, and the various inlets
followed up without any important or navigable river having
been brought to light, and the absence of fresh water streams in
such a large continent naturally led thinking men to the conclu-
sion that the inland slope was nothing but an arid desert,
parched beneath a rainless sky. The hot winds that had been
experienced on the southern coast aided this belief, and the
natives when interviewed professed no knowledge beyond the
limits of their tribal hunting grounds. The little colony clustered
around Rose Hill, and on the shore of Sydney Cove, was shut
in by the gloomy gorges and unscaleable precipices of the
Czrmarthen Hills, that stayed all progress to the westward, and
the same frowning barrier had been found toextend north andsouth.
Men’s imaginations were exhausted in picturing the physical
appearance of the mysterious interior. Some thought it a vast
C
34 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
level plain, where the few and sluggish rivers were lost in
shallow lakes, to disappear by evaporation; others again,
believed it to be an immense bed of sand where no rivers formed,
and the thirsty sands absorbed the scanty rainfall; and many
imagined an inland sea connected with the ocean by subterranean
outlets: one and all agreed in its inhospitable nature.
There was nothing hopeful nor inspiriting in the outlook to
induce men to attempt to penetrate this silent desert, save the
love of adventure, and the gratification of a laudable curiosity.
The convicts, who in efforts to regain their liberty, from
time to time made desperate attempts to escape, either perished
miserably or, daunted by the sterile nature of the land and the
hostility of the natives, returned to give themselves up, before
reaching any distance from the settlement. The work of
exploration was toilsome and difficult, from the-lack of beasts of
burden. Each member of the party had a heavy pack to carry,
and when to that was added the cumbrous firearms and ammunition
of those times, a day’s journey was no light labour. The weary
system of counting the paces all day must have considerably
added to the monotony of the march. Two thousand and two
hundred paces over good ground were allowed to a mile. When
too, nature had barred the way with an apparently insurmount-
able range, it is not to be wondered at that the area of explored
country was not very widely extended during the first twenty
years of settlement.
In striking contrast to other portions of the world’s sur-
face that have been slowly explored and examined by the
European nations, Australia has throughout retained a character
of its own. From the coastal formation of most lands, fair
indications could be obtained of the character of the interior.
Large rivers gave evidence of a defined system of drainage, the
crests of snow-topped mountain ranges in the distance were
proof of whence these rivers sprang. The native tribes were of
higher intelligence, had a partial knowledge of what lay beyond
their immediate ken, and could show articles of barter and com-
merce that they had obtained from more inland residents.
Australia was a silent and sullen blank, and for a century of
exploration nature has resisted, step by step, the encroachments
on her stronghold, making the invaders pay toll with many a
gallant Jife.
Pane Ul
The Continent of Australia—Its peculiar formation—The coast range and the
highest peaks thereof—The coastal rivers—The inland rivers—Difference
of vegetation on the tableland and on the coast—Exception to the rule—
Valuable timber of the coast districts—Animals common to the whole
continent—Some birds the same—Distinct habits of others—The Australian
native and his unknown origin—Water supply—Upheaval.
IT was comparatively at a late period in the world’s history
when Australia was opened up as a field for geographical
research ; but, notwithstanding that the accumulated knowledge
of centuries was thus brought to bear upon it, the characteristic
and unique formation of the country set at naught all the
approved deductions and theories of the scientific world. A
paradox, or, as a clever writer recently put it, “a surviving
fragment of the primitive world,” with a nature contradictory
and inconsistent, as compared even with itself, cut off from
the rest of the globe, and left to work out the problem of its
existence alone; no wonder it was only after successive
generations had toiled at it, that Australia was, even in part,
understood.
The interior of Australia is, as is well-known, an immense
plain, having an average height of fifteen hundred to two
thousand feet, with a decided tilt, or slope, towards the south-
west. Round the foot of this tableland, is a terrace of lower
country, varying greatly in width. The river systems of the
coastal lands, lying between the sea and the foot of the table-
land, were easily understood and traced, that of the interior was
far more difficult. |
Starting from Cape York, in the extreme north, and follow-
ing down the eastern coast, the edge of the tableland is formed
-of ranges, often of considerable height, the gullies and spurs of
_ which are mostly clothed with scrub and jungle of tropical
growth and luxuriance ; amongst the peaks of this range there are
Distant Peak, 3,573 feet; Pieter Botte Mountain, 3,311 feet;
Grey Peak, 3,357 feet; and the Bellender Kerr Hills, 5,433 feet
high. Further south, the level is more uniform; the isolated
peak of Mount Elliott—which attains a height of 4,075 feet—
36 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
forming the exception, until further south again the elevations
approach to 4,250 feet. An average height of a little over two
thousand feet is then maintained until the border line of Queens-
land is reached, and here—in Mount Lindesay—s,500 feet is met
with. The New England Range maintains this altitude in many
peaks, including Mount Seaview—from which point Oxley sighted
the ocean—6,o000 feet high. Still to the south, the mountains
on the border of the plateau keep up an average of between
three and four thousand feet until, at the south-east extremity
of our continent, the greatest height is attained in Mount
Kosciusko, falling some 70oo feet short of the limit of perpetual
snow, its elevation being 7,308 feet.
To the westward, many of the peaks reach altitudes of over
5,000 and 6,000 feet, until the large depression is encountered
through which the great body of interior waters find their way
to the sea by means of the Murray Channel.
West of this gap, the edge of the tableland is broken, and
depressed, the highest crests of the coastal range rarely reaching
to 3,000 feet in height; and along the shore line, facing the
Great Australian Bight, it is almost non-existent.
On reaching the south-west corner of Australia, the elevated
edge reforms in the Russell and Darling Ranges, and trending
northward, skirting the coast, culminates in Mount Bruce, 4,000
feet above sea level. From hence, the range following the sea
line is broken, rugged and precipitous, but of inconsiderable
height, and when the centre of the Gulf of Carpentaria is reached,
it falls away into highlands and slopes, joining the eastern ranges.
On the great plateau encircled by this range, no elevations
of any moment are to be found; a kind of chain traverses the
centre from north to south, but though in places presenting a
bold formation, the highest altitude attained is in the Macdonnell
Ranges—4,000 feet. .
From the coastal range, the edge of the tableland, flow the
rivers that run direct to the sea on the seaward face; but in
many instances a false tableland occurs, the streams that drain
which unite in forcing their way through deep gorges to the
lowlands of the coast. This false tableland is conspicuous in
the valley of the Upper Burdekin River on the east coast, and on
the head waters of the Fitzroy, The country drained by the top
tributaries of these rivers being only divided from the real table-
land by a gentle ascent, whereas the descent to the coast is
ae eee ae ee | Oe ee eee
INTRODUCTION. 37
steep and abrupt. Most of the northern rivers, too, take their
rise in a plateau that is almost on a level with the great plain,
but cut their way down to the sea through gorges, instead of
being lost in the interior.
It follows then, that the drainage and character of the
terrace surrounding the continent, keeping to natural and known
laws was at once understood, but the drainage of the plateau
was more difficult to comprehend, and it is now known to be
confined to two river systems only, first, that of the Darling and
Murray, which rivers receive all the waters flowing to the westward
of the eastern coast range, and secondly, the lake system further
to the westward; the great salt lakes to the north of Spencer’s
Gulf receiving Cooper’s Creek and its many tributaries, and also
the Diamantina and Herbert; their waters being dissipated by
soakage and evaporation. Westward, again, there is little doubt
that no system exists, the level nature of the country and
intermittent rainfall shortening the existence of the creeks
before they have time to unite their flood waters in one large
permanent channel.
The rivers of the eastern coast are the Kennedy, the
Endeavour, the Barron, the Burdekin with its many tributaries,
the Clark, the Perry, the Star, the Keelbottom, the Fanning, the
Suttor (which last brings down the united waters of the Cape and
Belyando), and finally after passing through the Leichhardt Range
the Bowen, and the Bogie. The Fitzroy, another river of many
tributaries, the Mackenzie, the Isaacs, the Nogoa, and the
Dawson. Then come the Boyne, the Kolan, the Burnett
(which receives another Boyne), the Mary, the Brisbane, all
in the Colony of Queensland. On this coast in New South
Wales, come next the Tweed, the Richmond, and the Clarence;
the Macleay, the Hastings, and the Hunter. The Hawkesbury
the Shoalhaven and the Clyde. The Snowy River, though
rising in New South Wales, discharges itself into the sea in
Victorian waters ; thence we come to the Latrobe and the many
minor streams that flow into the ocean instead of into the great
receiver the Murray. The Glenelg and the Wannon. Then
comes the Murray, the outlet of the inland waters. Westward,
the rivers of the coast become smaller and less frequent, until at
last they cease to exist; but on the western shore—where the
coast range once more reasseris itself—we find in Western
Australia, the Swan, the Irwin, the Greenough, the Murchison,
38 ; AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
and the Gascoyne, the Ashburton, the Fortescue, the De Grey,
and another Fitzroy. On the north coast, we meet with the
Victoria, the Daly, the Adelaide, the Alligator, the Liverpool, the
Roper, the Jimmen Bight, the Macarthur, the Robinson and
the Calvert, the Albert—which is the outlet for the Nicholson and
the Gregory—the Leichhardt and the Flinders, the Norman,
the Gilbert, the Einesleigh, the Mitchell, the Archer, the Jardine,
and the Batavia, which brings us back to our starting point at
Cape York. |
Now come the inland arteries, the streams running through
the tableland and feeding the Darling and the Murray. These are
the Murrumbidgee, which equals the Murray almost in importance,
the Lachlan and the Darling, which brings down the waters of a
hundred streams, the Macquarie, the Castlereagh, and the Bogan,
the Namoi and Gwydir, the Dumaresque, the Condamine, the
Maranoa, the Moonie, and the Warrego. And falling into
the Murray itself, from the south are, the Ovens, the Goulburn,
the Mitta Mitta, the Campaspe and the Loddon.
The other rivers of the inland slope are the Barcoo and
Thomson, forming Cooper’s Creek, the Diamentina, the Burke
and the Hamilton, the Herbert or Georgina, and Eyre Creek, all
these end in the flats and shallows of the Great Salt Lake District.
The remaining watercourses tothe westward cannot be classed
in any way, their course is apparently determined by local ine-
qualities of the surface, and although some are very considerable
in appearance, their flow is so brief that it is impossible to con-
sider them.as at all forming parts of one system ; the longest and
most important is Sturt’s Creek.
The coast country, meaning the land watered by the rivers first
enumerated, has the advantage over the tableland in the matter
of rainfall, and the rivers therefore possess more of the charac-
teristics of running streams, than the chains of isolated ponds
that are known as rivers in the inland slope. The climatic
influence is especially noticeable in the indigenous grasses and
herbage of the two regions. Mr. George Ranken, in one of his
essays on Australian subjects* draws an excellent picture of the
reclamation and transformation of the forest primeval.
‘‘ The first comers in 1788, found before them, as their ships came
to anchor, sandstone bluffs covered with scraggy trees and heath-like
* “ The Squatting System of Australia,” by ‘“ Capricornus.”
j ne , -
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iy
‘
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‘INTRODUCTION. 39
plants, with a bright blue sky above, and an elastic, buoyant atmosphere
around. As they went inland, they found an endless open forest, the
eround being clothed with a light, tufty grass, but it was the starved out-
line of European woodland scenery, for the trees rose bare and branchless
from a thirsty soil, and the grass covered only half the surface of the
earth. Except the grass, and that was thin enough, though it grew
everywhere, the country seemed poor in products, and looked as if it
were involved in a constant struggle between droughts and floods. They
would have judged it to be poor in capability also, if, on further
experience, a vitality had not appeared which seemed to electrify the soil
on the touch of colonisation. Imported animals, trees, and plants lived
and flourished among the dingy forests, which barely yielded food enough
for a few wandering savages.
“ The farther they went, the greater contrast appeared, more drought
and better country ; and in later times, as the last of enigmas, a change
of vegetation and climate seemed to follow the settler with his flocks and
herds. After a few years’ feeding with stock, water has been found
permanently standing in country where it never stood before, and some-
times the tufty herbage has changed into a sward. The flats that used
in one season to show a succession of swamps, and in another a surface
of bare dusty soil, rifted with yawning cracks, has often become good
level turf, intersected with runnels cut by the hoofs of the sheep and
cattle.”
The first invasion of the new territory across the range led to
a terrible feeling of disappointment ; true, that on at once crossing .
the crest of the watershed country was found, which being
partly within the influence of the heavier fall of rain, approached
in every way the perfection dreamt of by the explorers; but as
progress inland was made, a change was found to take place,
and, above all, the familiar indigenous grasses were lost, and
replaced by what the settlers took to be nothing but worthless
weeds. All the now prized edible shrubs, such as the many
kinds of saltbush, the cotton-bush, &c., were amongst these
despised plants; and even the very stock did not take to them,
until some years of use had rendered them familiar. These
drought-resisting plants were at first supposed to be confined to
the inner slope of the range, but the extended exploration of the
continent shows us that where the coast range loses its
character of a pronounced range, and is only represented by an
insignificant rise, the characteristics of the plain are continued
right down to within a short distance of the sea.
This is notably the case on the north, where the Flinders
River and its tributaries drain country that bears all the
40 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
distinctive growth of the interior. On the south coast, west of
the Murray, this is also the case, and in these parts, through the
depression of the range, the climate is much drier. On the
eastern coast, however, the distinction between the uplands and
lowlands is strongly marked both in Queensland and New South
Wales, even in those cases where the rivers rise in uplands
approaching in elevation to the level of the tableland. The
eastern coast of northern Queensland is, from its situation and
the superior height of the coast range combined, the tropical
garden of Australia, the luxuriant growth of vegetation, taking
the form of dense scrubs and jungles springing from a deep, rich
soil. These scrubs, of slightly varying character, form a charac-
teristic of the whole length of the eastern seaboard, and amongst
them we find much valuable timber. The cedar tree is one
important feature, and the kauri pine is found in one small tract
in the north of Queensland.
Further south, however, the trees grow to an enormous
height in the elevated forest lands.. Victoria and Western
Australia are particularly noted for the giant growth of some of
their trees. In Victoria the white gum (eucalyptus amygdalina)
has been found growing to a height of over four hundred feet ;
the red gum (eucalyptus rostrata), and the blue gum (eucalyptus
globulus) also attain a great size in our southern colonies. In
Western Australia the jarrah (eucalyptus marginata) and the
karri (eucalyptus diversicolor) have become noted in the world
as being most valuable hardwoods.
Right through the continent, from east to west, the box tree
(eucalyptus malliodora) is to be found. On the tableland the
timber is altogether of a different growth. The giants of the
slopes of the seaward range are replaced by low, stunted, and
crooked trees, some of them, however, possessing edible foliage.
Most of the acacias are of this kind—the acacia pendula or
myall, the brigalow, the mulga, and yarran. The casuarinse
are common all over Australia, under the name of the oak tree.
The difference between the products of the interior upland
and the coastal lowland is mainly induced by the difference of
climate, those grasses and herbs growing on the tableland, while
repellent in appearance and colour, compared to the richer
herbage of the coast, possess qualities that render them invalu-
able as fodder plants. Once let the grasses of the coast lose
their moisture from drought, and they become sapless and
INTRODUCTION. 41
worthless, but it is not so in the tableland. Months of dry
weather have no effect upon the fattening properties of the
shrubs ; the stock, however, have to become used to feeding on
them before their full value is attained.
Amongst the fauna of Australia the distinction between
coast and tableland is not so well marked, most of the well-
known species ranging indifferently over the whole continent.
-In the kangaroos, differences in size, colour and _ appear-
ance can easily be detected in widely separated localities, but
they do not amount to anything very noticeable to the ordinary
observer. The smaller kinds, the wallaby and kangaroo rat, are
common everywhere on the continent. In birds, however, the
difference is great, the seeds and fruit on which some birds exist
being only found in either the coastal scrubs or lowland country,
whilst many of the parrots and pigeons of the interior could not
live on the coast. So sharply is the line drawn in some places,
that on the dividing watersheds of the east coast flocks of galar
parrots and plain-pigeons will be found feeding on the western
slope of a ridge, but never by any chance crossing on to the
eastern.
Australia is rich in waders, and they are found all over the
continent. The beautiful jabiru, or gigantic crane, is equally at
home in some lonely waterhole in the far west and at the head
of a coast swamp; so, too, the grus Australis, or native
companion, and the quaint and rich-plumaged ibis. The familiar
laughing-jackass is to be found everywhere, but his peculiar note
differs somewhat in different parts; a blackfellow from the south
says that the laugh of the northern bird makes him feel sick,
whilst the northern native says the same of the southern king-
fisher. The great inland plains are the haunt of the flock-
pigeon ; in countless myriads,these beautiful birds come at some
seasons of the year, and in the morning when flying in to the
water they look like distant clouds.
The fish of the tableland differ greatly from those of the
coast. In some of the inland lakes and permanent lagoons they
are so fat as to be almost uneatable, and at times so plentiful
and easily caught that the blackfellows scarcely trouble to get
them, which is rarely the case elsewhere.
The Australian native is a man with an unknown history ;
whether he is an improvement on his remote ancestors or a
degenerate descendant it is impossible to form any idea.
42 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Se ——$
Whoever they were they left nothing behind them, except this
wandering savage, and he has neither traditions nor customs
that tell us anything of the past. The language is a perfect
confusion of tongues, and dialects, words of similar sound and
meaning are often found in places hundreds of miles apart; in
distinct tribes wherein the rest of the language is altogether
different. Their physique does not differ greatly. Perhaps in
the north an admixture of Malay blood gives a handsomer cast
to the features in individual cases, but the Australian native is
unmistakeable wherever you meet him, north, south, east or
west.
The geological formation of Australia is, as is well-known
very old, one third of the continent being desert sandstone with
no marine fossiis, but although, scantily supplied with water on
the surface, there is little doubt of the immensity of the
subterranean supply.
Water has been struck by boring five hundred and seventy-
two feet, and risen to within ten feet of the surface, and on
the Kallara run at one hundred and forty-four, where it rose
twenty-six feet above the surface. Water then, will probably be
found almost anywhere at a depth of six hundred feet, and a
vast portion of the lightly watered plains of the interior will be
worked up to their fullest capabilities by means of boring.
It is generally supposed that the first portion of Australia
that rose above the sea was the south-east corner where the
largest and probably the most active of our volcanoes existed ;
the rise of the whole continent which subsequently took place
would have then left the interior a shallow inland sea, girt
round with a broken chain of more or less active volcanoes.
In time, these grew extinct, the sea evaporated and we were
left with our present coast range, with its now lifeless peaks,
and our depressed inland plateau, with its saline flats and lakes.
ee ee
—— ee
gee OO Aid ee ee
a an &
BG iad a ah aaa
Expeditions of Governor Phillip—Mouth of the Hawkesbury found in Broken
Bay—Second expedition and ascent of the river—Expedition of Captain
Tench—Discovery of the Nepean River—Lieutenant Dawes sent to cross the
Nepean, and to try to penetrate the mountains—Attempt by Governor
Phillip to establish the confluence of the Nepean and Hawkesbury—Failure
—The identity settled by Captain Tench—Escaped convicts try to reach
China—Captain Paterson finds and names the Grose River—Hacking
endeavours to cross the Blue Mountains—The lost cattle found on the
Cow Pastures—Bass attempts the passage of the range—Supposed settle-
ment of a white race in the interior—Attempt of the convicts to reach it
—James Wilson—His life with the natives—Discovery of the Hunter River
by Lieutenant Shortland.
AS may be well supposed, the men who arrived in Australia
in charge of the first party of convicts had more pressing work
on hand than devoting their time to scientific exploration.
Separated by half the world from the source of their supplies,
in charge of a body of criminals of the most dangerous type,
Arthur Phillip and his officers had no light task to perform, and
every credit must be given to the little band of pilgrims who,
beset by danger from within and without, brought the colony
through its infancy without any tragedy happening. Apparently,
these early adventurers were no whit behind travellers of the
present day in bringing back wonderful tales of their discoveries
whenever they essayed a trip into the unknown. One of the
officers writes :—
““We found the convicts particularly happy in fertility of invention
and exaggerated descriptions; hence, large fresh-water rivers, valuable
ores, and quarries of limestone, chalk, and marble were daily proclaimed
soon after we had landed. At first we hearkened with avidity to such
-accounts, but perpetual disappointments taught us to listen with caution,
and to believe from demonstration only.”
Amongst these gentry was a convict named Daly, after-
wards hanged for burglary, who distinguished himself by insti-
gating the first gold prospecting party in Australia. Having
broken up a pair of brass buckles, he mixed the fragments with
sand and stones, and represented the result as specimens of ore
he had found. A party was sent out under his guidance to
44 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1789.
examine the locality, but, needless to say, failed in the endeavour,
the perpetrator of the hoax confessing to it in the end, and
suffering the punishment common at that period.
The discovery of the Hawkesbury River, in the year
following the settlement, may be looked upon as the first effort
emanating from the colony to push exploration to any appreciable
distance.
On the 6th of June, 1789, Governor Phillip, accompanied by
a large party in two boats, proceeded to Broken Bay. After
spending some time without result, they pulled into an inlet, and
suddenly found themselves at the entrance of a fresh-water river,
up which they rowed twenty miles in a westerly direction, but
provisions failing, they turned back.
A second expedition was then undertaken, and this time the
boats penetrated between sixty and seventy miles, inclusive of
the windings of the river. further progress was stayed by a fall.
The party examined the surrounding country, but opinions
differed greatly as to its value; some reporting rich and
beautiful land, others low-lying flats subject to floods. A hill
close by the fall was ascended, and christened Richmond Hill,
and the river was named the Hawkesbury.
On the 26th of the same month, Captain Tench, then in
charge of the newly-formed outpost of Rose Hill, started
on an expedition to the westward. He was accompanied by
Mr. Arndell, assistant-surgeon of the settlement, Mr. Lowes,
surgeon’s mate of the Szrzwzs, two marines, and a convict. His
relation of his trip is interesting, as being the earliest record of
land exploration, and also as containing the account of the
discovery of the Nepean River. An extract from his journal
runs as follows :—
“T left the redoubt at davbreak, pointing our march to a hill
distant five miles, in a westerly or inland direction, which commands a
view of the great chain of mountains called the Czrmarthen Hills,
extending from north to south farther than the eye can reach. Here we
paused, surveying ‘the wild abyss, pondering over our voyage.’ Before
us lay the trackless, immeasurable desert in awful silence. At length,
after consultation, we determined to steer west and by north by compass,
the make of the land indicating the existence of a river. We continued
to march all day through a country untrodden before by an European
foot. Save that a melancholy crow now and then flew croaking over-
head, or a kangaroo was seen to bound at a distance, the picture of
1789-90. | EXAMINATION OF THE NEPEAN. 45
solitude was complete and undisturbed. At four o’clock in the afternoon
we halted near a small pond of water, where we took up our residence
for the night, lighted a fire, and prepared to cook our supper—that was
to broil over a couple of ramrods a few slices of salt pork, and a crow
which we had shot. At daylight we renewed our peregrination, and in
an hour after, we found ourselves on the banks of a river nearly as broad
as the Thames at Putney, and apparently of great depth, the current
running very slowly in a northerly direction. Vast flocks of wild ducks
were swimming in the stream, but, after being once fired at, they grew so
shy that we could not get near them a second time. Nothing is more
certain than that the sound of a gun had never before been heard within
many a mile of this spot.”
A short description of the hunting practices of the natives
here follows, and the explorer then continues :—
“‘ Having remained out three days, we returned to our quarters at
Rose Hill with the pleasing intelligence of our discovery. The country
we had passed through we found tolerably plain, and little encumbered
with underwood, except near the riverside. It is entirely covered with
the same sort of trees as grow near Sydney ; and in some places grass
springs up luxuriantly ; other places are quite bare of it. The soil is
various ; in many places a stiff, arid clay, covered with small pebbles ;
in other places, of a soft, loamy nature ; but invariably in every part near
the river it is a coarse, sterile sand. Our observations on it (particularly
mine, from carrying the compass with which we steered) were not so
numerous as might have been wished. But, certainly, if the qualities of
it be such as to deserve future cultivation, no impediment of surface but
that of cutting down and burning the trees exists to prevent its being tilled.
“To this river the Governor gave the name of Nepean (after
Captain Nepean, of the New South Wales corps). The distance of the
part of the river which was first hit upon from the sea coast is about
thirty-nine miles, in a direct line, almost due west.”
In December, 1789, Governor Phillip despatched a party,
under Lieutenant Dawes, of the Marines, accompanied by
Lieutenant Johnson and Mr. Lowes, to cross the Nepean and try
to penetrate the range beyond. ‘They discovered a ford in the
river, and crossing, proceeded in a.westerly direction. So
rugged and difficult, however, did they find the country that in
three days they had only covered fifteen miles. At a hill that
they called Mount Twiss they turned back, having penetrated
fifty-four miles in a direct line from the sea coast.
In August, 1790, Messrs. Tench, Dawes, and Morgan
explored south and west of Rose Hill. They struck the
46 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1790-93.
Nepean higher up, nearer its source than on the former occasion,
and remained out seven days, penetrating to a considerable
distance in a south-west direction. Near the end of the same
month, the same party made an excursion to the north-west of
Rose Hill, and traced the Nepean to where it was first discovered
by Tench’s party in 1789. |
In April, 1791, Governor Phillip, attended by alarge company,
numbering in all twenty-one persons, including two natives, set
out on an expedition from Rose Hill to determine the identity,
or not, of the Nepean and the Hawkesbury. On the 12th of the
month they struck the river, and followed it down for some
distance, but did not accomplish the object they had in view.
In the following month, however, Messrs. Tench, Dawes,
-and two soldiers, again went out, and settled the vexed question.
About this time, although scarcely to be included in the tale
of exploration, a number of convicts made a desperate attempt
to proceed overland to China. They, however, only managed a
very short stage of the journey—namely, to Broken Bay. Here
they were attacked by the natives, and returned in a demoralised
condition to Rose Hill and gave themselves up.
The impression these deluded men set out under was, that
at a considerable distance to the northward there was a large
river which separated this country from China, and when it was
crossed they would find themselves amongst a copper-coloured
people, who would receive and treat them kindly.
In 1793, Captain Paterson, who had already had some
experience as an African traveller, started on an expedition to
the Czermarthen Hills (by this time beginning to be known as
the Blue Mountains), intending, if possible, to cross the range,
or at any rate, penetrate some distance into it, He was accom-
panied by Captain Johnstone, and Messrs. Palmer and Lang.
The party was well equipped, and provisioned for six weeks.
Pulling up the Hawkesbury, they left the heavy boats at the
fall that had formerly stayed the progress of Governor Phillip,
and taking two light ones with them, they tried to ascend higher
up the river. They managed to reach ten miles beyond the
furthest point ever before visited, and then, their boats having
suffered some damage, and there being a slight fresh in the
river, they returned. The highest-part of the river where they
were they named the ‘‘ Grose,’’ and Paterson, who was a botanist,
discovered several new kinds of plants.
1794-97, | LAND EXPLORATIONS OF .BASS. 4,7
Another determined effort to cross the range that seemed to
defy all the attempts of the colonists was made by quarter-master
Hacking, in 1794. The party succeeded in pushing out twenty
miles further than any European had been, but their report was
unfavourable. They reached the foot of the range, and after
climbing over some eighteen or twenty ridges, formed of little
else but precipitous rocks, they saw before them nothing but the
same savage and inaccessible country. ‘Tier after tier of ranges
rose in view, divided by abrupt and impassable chasms and
gorges. The only natives they saw fled at their approach, and,
saving for the presence of some large red kangaroos, little sign
of animal life was met with. Away to both north and south, the
same iron range could be traced, showing no prospect of gap or
pass, and they returned dispirited. The colonists now began to
look uponthe Blue Mountains as their western limit, and the exten-
sion of settlement in that direction was regarded as chimerical.
The cattle that had escaped from the settlement jhad, with
their usual instinct, wandered on until they had found suitable
grazing land on the Nepean, and there had settled down. When
discovered they had thriven well, and increased into a small herd.
By the Governor’s direction they were left unmolested, being but
occasionally visited, and their run became known as the Cow
Pastures.
Mr. Bass, the bold explorer of Bass Strait, in company with
some other gentlemen, visited these pasture lands in 1797, and
from Mount Taurus, on the Nepean River, took astraight course
to the coast, where a whale boat was sent to meet them. Their
experience was of the usual kind. After leaving the fertile
grazing lands appropriated by the cattle, they crossed a suc-
cession of barren ridges, gradually growing worse and worse
until the sea was reached.
Bass had, before this, attempted to cross the range in
1796. His attempt was of the same character as all the others,
failure and disappointment attending his steps, although the
_ endeavour to obtain success was carried through, as might be
expected, with his usual untiring energy and contempt for
danger. It is sad to think that a career that opened so brilliantly
should have been doomed to close miserably in the mines of
South America.
Having become partially convinced that there was no high
road to be found between Port Jackson and the Chinese Empire,
48 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1798.
some of the convicts (principally the Irish prisoners) became
possessed with the notion that a colony of white people existed
three or four hundred miles in the interior, south-west of the
settlement. This tale, highly embellished, was sufficient to
inflame the imaginations of men condemned to servitude, and
panting for liberty. The existing rumour being found out by
the authorities, it proved on investigation that so far had this
preposterous legend gained ground that written instructions had
been issued for guidance to this Arcadia, accompanied with a
paper having the figure of a compass drawn on it. The
Governor, wishing to save these foolish dupes from the punish-
ment and probable loss of life that would necessarily ensue in
carrying out such a wild project, wrote to a magistrate at
Parramatta the following instructions. He was to go to
Toongabbie, where most of these infatuated men were employed,
and, knowing how impossible it would be to reason them out of
their belief, he was to inform them that four picked men would
be allowed to start out and satisfy themselves of the impossibility
of any show of success attending their search, and that in order
to ensure their safe return three experienced men would be sent
as guides with them.
On receipt of this information so many assembled that
stricter measures had to be taken, and sixteen of the number
were arrested and sent to Sydney for punishment. Four men
were then selected by the malcontents themselves, and were
about to depart in search of the supposed colony when a
treacherous plot was discovered. A scheme was on foot for a
stronger party of convicts to abscond, and these meeting the
explorers at a pre-arranged spot, should there murder the guides,
and having possessed themselves of their weapons, the prisoners
would be at liberty to prosecute their researches alone. Four
soldiers were added to the party to resist any attempt of this
sort, and on the 14th January, 1798, they left Parramatta in
search of El] Dorada.
Amongst the men chosen to act as guides was one James
Wilson, who had for some time previously been living in the
bush with the natives, and had even submitted to his body being
marked and scarred after their fashion. On his return from this
nomadic existence, he stated that he had traversed the country
for nearly one hundred miles in every direction around the
settlement, and discoursed at length upon having seen large
—
,
2: meen
es.
naw eD) Gul of SViacent
4 &é
Turner & Henderson, Sydney, )
1818. | THE INLAND RIVER THEORY. 65
is constantly diffusing and diminishing the waters it originally receives
over low and barren deserts, creating only wet flats and uninhabitable
morasses, and during its Ge pkracted and sinuous course, is never indebted
to a single tributary stream.’
Oxley having successfully carried Bal the Lachlan
expedition, was at once selected to command a similar one
down the Macquarie, on which, now that the former river
had so disappointed expectations, men’s hopes were fixed.
Oxley seems to have been particularly unhappy in his deductions,
every guess hazarded by him as to the future utility of the
country he passed over, or the probable nature of the farther
interior, was incorrect ;. and now the Macquarie was to refuse to
bear his boat’s keel to the westward ; after the same manner as
the Lachlan.
In those days men had not yet mastered the idea that the
physical formation of Australia was not to be worked out on
the same lines as that of other countries ; they looked vainly for
a river with a wide and noble opening, and none being found on
the surveyed coast, conjecture placed it far away in a few
leagues of unexplored shore line on the north-west. The
| constancy with which the southern coast had been examined,
precluded all idea from men’s minds that the entrance to this
long sought river was there. No, it must be yet undiscovered
to the westward. Wentworth says :—
“If the sanguine hopes to which the discovery of this river (the
Macquarie) has given birth, should be realised, and it should be found
to empty itself into the ocean on the north-west coast, which is the only
part of this vast island that has not been accurately surveyed, in what
mighty conceptions of the future greatness and power of this colony,
may we not reasonably indulge ? ‘The nearest distance from the point
at which Mr. Oxley left off, to any part of the western coast, is very
little short of two thousand miles. If this river, therefore, be already of
the size of the Hawkesbury at Windsor, which is not less than two
hundred and fifty yards in breadth, and of sufficient depth to float a
seventy-four gun ship, it is not difficult to tmagine what must be its
magnitude at its confluence with the ocean: before it can arrive at which
it has to traverse a country nearly two thousand miles in extent. If it
possess the usual sinuosities of rivers, its course to the sea cannot be less
than from five to six thousand miles, and the endless accession of
tributary streams which it must receive in its passage through so great
an extent of country will without doubt enable it to vie in point of
magnitude with any river in the world.
E;
66 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. 1818.
It may, therefore, well be imagined that it was in a most
sanguine spirit that Oxley undertook his second journey.
As before, a party had been sent ahead to build boats, and
get everything in readmess, and, on the 6th June, 1818, he
started on his second expedition into the interior. He had with
him, as next in command, the indefatigable Evans, Dr. Harris,
who volunteered, Charles Frazer, botanist, and twelve men,
eighteen horses, two boats, and provisions for twenty-four weeks.
On the 23rd of the month, having reached a distance of
nearly 125 miles from the depot in Wellington Valley, without
the travellers experiencing more obstruction than might have
been expected, two men, Thomas Thatcher and John Hall, were
sent back to Bathurst with a report to Governor Macquarie, as_
had been previously arranged.
No sooner had the two parties separated, one with high
hopes of their future success, the others bearing back tidings of
these confident hopes, than doubt and distrust entered the mind
of the leader. In his journal, written not twenty-four hours
after the departure of his messengers, he says :—
‘“‘ For four or five miles there was no material change in the general
appearance of the country from what it had been on the preceding days,
but for the last six miles the land was very considerably lower, inter-
spersed with plains clear of timber, and dry. On the banks it was still
lower, and in many parts it was evident that the river floods swept over
them, though this did not appear to be universally the case. ;
These unfavourable appearances threw a damp upon our hopes, and we
feared that our anticipations had been too sanguine.”
In his after report to the Governor, forwarded by Mr. Evans
to Newcastle, he writes :—
“My letter, dated the 22nd June last, will have made your
Excellency acquainted with the sanguine hopes I entertained from the
appearance of the river, that its termination would be either in interior
waters or coastwise. When I wrote that letter to your Excellency, I
certainly did not anticipate the possibility that a very few days farther
travelling would lead us to its termination as an accessible river.”
So short-lived were the hopes he had entertained.
On the 30th June, after, for many days, finding the country
becoming flatter and more liable to floods, Oxley found himself
almost hemmed in by water, and had to return with the whole
party to a safer encampment, where a consultation was held. It
was decided to send the horses and baggage back to Mount
1818.] | SUDDEN TERMINATION OF THE MACQUARIE. 67
Harris, a small elevation some fifteen miles higher up the river,
whilst Oxley himself, with four volunteers and the large boat,
proceeded down the river, t aking with them a month’s provisions.
During his absence, Mr. Evans was to proceed to the north-east
some sixty miles, and return upon a more northerly course, this
being the direction the party intended taking if the river failed
them.
Let us see how Oxley fared.
“July 2. I proceeded down the river, during one of the wettest
and most stormy days we had yet experienced. About twenty miles
from where I set out, there was, properly speaking, no country; the
river overflowing its banks, and dividing into streams, which I found had
no permanent separation from the main branch, but united themselves
to it ona multitude of points. We went seven or eight miles farther,
when we stopped for the night, upon a space of ground scarcely large
enough to enable us to kindle a fire. The principal stream ran with
great rapidity and its banks and neighbourhood as far as we could see,
were covered with wood, inclosing us within a margin or bank, vast
spaces of country clear of timber were under water, and covered with
the common reed, which grew to the height of six or seven feet above
the surface. ‘The course and distance by the river was estimated to be
from twenty-seven to thirty miles, on a north-west line.
‘“‘July 3rd. Towards the morning the storm abated, and at daylight
we proceeded on our voyage. The main bed of the river was much
contracted, but very deep, the waters spreading to a depth of a foot or
eighteen inches over the banks, but all running on the same point of
bearing. We met with considerable interruption from fallen timber,
which in places nearly choked up the channel. After going about
twenty miles we lost the land and trees: the channel of the river, which
lay through reeds, and was from one to three feet deep, ran northerly.
This continued for three or four miles further, when although there had
been no previous change in the breadth, depth, and rapidity of
the stream for several miles, and I was sanguine in my expectations
of soon entering the long sought for Australian sea, it all at once
eluded our further search by spreading on every point from north-
- west to north-east, amongst the ocean of reeds that surrounded
us still running with the same rapidity as before. There was no channel
whatever amongst these reeds, and the depth varied from five to three
feet. This astonishing change (for I cannot call it a termination of the
river), of course, left me no alternative but to endeavour to return
to some spot on which we could effect a landing before dark. I
estimated that on this day we had gone about twenty-four miles, on
nearly the same point of bearing as yesterday. To assert positively that
68 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1818.
we were on the margin of the lake or sea into which this great body of
water is discharged might reasonably be deemed a conclusion which has
nothing but conjecture for its basis; but if an opinion may be permitted
to be hazarded from actual appearances, mine is decidedly in favour of
our being in the vicinity of an inland sea or lake, most probably a shoal
one, and gradually filling up by immense depositions from the higher
lands, left by the waters which flow into it. It is most singular that the
high lands on this continent seem to be confined to the sea coast or not
to extend to any distance from it.”
Satisfied that to the westward nothing more could be done
in the way of exploration, Oxley returned to Mount Harris,
where a temporary depét was formed. Mr. Evans immediately
started on a trip to the north-east; he was absent ten days,
during which time he discovered the Castlereagh River.
The weather had set in wet and stormy, the rivers kept
rising and falling, and the level country was soft and boggy,
excessively tiring to their jaded horses; moreover, in conse- -
quence of. the boats being now left behind, the packs were
greatly increased in weight.
On the 20th July, the whole of the party bade adieu to the
Macquarie, which they had once trusted to so fondly, and
commenced their journey to the eastern coast, making in the
first place for Arbuthnot’s Range. Before leaving, a bottle was
buried on Mount Harris, containing a written scheme of their
proposed route and intentions, with some silver coin.
On July 27th, they reached the bank of the Castlereagh,
after a hard struggle through the bogs and swamps. The river
was flooded, and must have risen almost directly after Mr. Evans
crossed it on his homeward route. It was not until the 2nd of
August that the waters fell sufficiently to allow them to
cross. Still steering for the range, their course lay across
shaking quagmires, or wading through miles of water; con-
stantly having to unload and reload the unfortunate horses, who
could scarcely get through the bog without their packs. Before
reaching the range, the party camped at the small hill, previously
ascended by Mr. Evans. Here they found the compass strangely
affected:: on placing it on a rock the card flew round with
extreme velocity, and then suddenly settled at opposite points,
the north point becoming the south. A short distance from the
base of the hill the needle regained its proper position. This
hill received the name of Loadstone Hill.
|
:
.
4
st: re: SB ale haar esetecel oi mat oe ae wae
Fafa
-
1818. ] DISCOVERY OF LIVERPOOL PLAINS. 69
Crossing Arbuthnot Range round the northern base of
Mount Exmouth, the explorers, although still terribly harassed
by the boggy state of the country, found themselves in splendid
pastoral land. Hills, dales, and plains of the richest description
lay before them, and from the elevations the view presented was
of the most varied kind; this tract of country was called by
Oxley Liverpool Plains. On Mount Tetley, and many of the
hills about, the same variations of the compass were observed as
had formerly been noticed on Loadstone Hill. Through this
beautiful district the party now had a less arduous journey than
before, and their horses were able to regain some of their lost
strength.
On the 2nd of September, they crossed a river which they
named the Peel River, and here one of their number narrowly
escaped drowning. Still pushing eastward, and continuing to
travel through beautiful grazing country, Oxley was suddenly
stopped by a deep glen running across his track :-—
‘This tremendous ravine runs near north and south, its breadth at
the bottom does not apparently exceed one hundred or two hundred
feet, whilst the separation of the outer edges is from two to three miles.
1 am certain that in perpendicular depth it exceeds three thousand feet.
The slopes from the edges were so steep and covered with loose stones
that any attempt to descend even on foot was impracticable. From
either side of this abyss, smaller ravines of similar character diverged,
the distance between which seldom exceeded half-a-mile. Down them
trickled small rills of water, derived from the range on which we were.
We could not, however, discern which way the water in the main valley
ran, as the bottom was concealed by a thicket of vines and creeping
plants.”
This barrier turned them to the south, and afterwards to the
west again; on the way, they met with a grand fall one hundred
and fifty feet in height, which they named Becket’s Cataract.
At the head of the glen they found another fall which they
estimated at two hundred and thirty feet in height; crossing
_ above this cataract, which was called Bathurst’s Fall, the eastern
course was once more resumed, and tempests and storms found
them wandering amongst the deep ravines and gloomy forests of
the coast range, seeking for a descent to the lower lands.
On the 23rd of September, Oxley, accompanied by Evans,
ascended a mountain to try and discover a acl route, and
from there caught sight of the sea.
70 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1818.
‘‘ Bilboa’s ecstasy at the first sight of the South Sea could not have
been greater than ours when, on gaining the summit of this mountain,
we beheld Old Ocean at our feet: it inspired us with new life: every
difficulty vanished, and in imagination we were already home.”
Now commenced the final descent, and a perilous one it
was :—
‘“‘ How the horses descended I scarcely know; and the bare recol-
lection of the imminent dangers which they escaped makes me tremble.
At one period of the descent I would willingly have compromised for a
loss of one third of them to ensure the safety of the remainder. It is to
the exertions and steadiness of the men, under Providence, that their
safety must be ascribed. The thick tufts of grass and the loose soil also
gave them a surer footing, of which the men skilfully availed themselves.”’
They were now on a river running direct to the sea, which
was named the Hastings River, and which the party followed
down with more or less trouble until they reached a port at tie
mouth of it, which the explorer, after the fashion of the day,
immediately dubbed Port Macquarie. ‘It is an unfortunate thing
for New South Wales that such an absence of originality with
regard to naming newly discovered places was displayed by the
travellers of that time.
On the 12th of October, the wanderers made a final start
for home, commencing a toilsome march along the coast south.
Stopped and interrupted for a time by many inlets and creeks,
they at last came upon a boat buried in the sand, which had
belonged to a Hawkesbury vessel, lost some time before; this
boat they carried with them as far as Port Stephens, where they
arrived on the 1st of November, using it to facilitate the passage
of the salt water arms. During the latter part of this
wearisome journey, they were much harassed by unprovoked
attacks by the natives, and one of the men, William Black, was
dangerously wounded, being speared through the back and in
the lower part of the body.
Oxley had thus, after innumerable hardships and dangers,
brought his party, with the exception of the wounded man, back
in safety to the settlements. True he had not fulfilled the mission
he was despatched on, but he had discovered large tracts of
valuable land fit for settlement; he had crossed the formidable
coast range far away to the north, and established the fact that
communication between his newly discovered port and the
interior was practicable. Oxley’s expeditions were both well
Nha? il
1819-23. | CURRIE AND OVENS. 71
equipped and well carried out, he also had the assistance of able
and zealous coadjutors, each or any of them being capable of
assuming the leadership in case of misfortune. His travels may
_ be said to inaugurate the series of brilliant exploits in the field of
exploration that we are about to enter on.
In 1819, Messrs. Oxley and Meehan, accompanied by young
Hume, made a short excursion to Jarvis Bay, Oxley returning py
sea, his companions overland.
The era of the pioneer squatter had now commenced ;
henceforth exploration and pastoral enterprise went hand in
hand. North and south of the new town of Bathurst, the
advance of the flocks and herds went on; Oxley’s report may
have somewhat checked a westerly migration, but the stay in
that direction was not doomed to last long. Northward, to and
_ beyond the Cugeegong River and the fertile valley of the Upper
Hunter, southward, towards the mysterious Morumbidgee, which
was now reported as having been found by the settlers, pressed
the pioneers. It is not known who was the first discoverer of
this river. Hume, in company with Throsby, must have been
close to it during their various excursions, and in 1821 Hume
discovered Yass Plains, almost on its bank. It was, however,
destined to be the future highway to the undiscovered land of
the west.
In 1822 Messrs. Lawson and Scott attempted to reach
Liverpool Plains, Oxley’s great discovery, from Bathurst; they
were, however, unable to penetrate the range that formed the
southern boundary of the Plains, and returned, having discovered
a new river at the foot of the range, which they named the
Goulburn.
In 1823, Oxley, Cunningham, and Currie were all in the field
in different directions.
On the 22nd of May, Captain Mark John Currie, R.N.,
accompanied by Brigade-Major Ovens, and having with them
~ Joseph Wild, a notable bushman, started on an exploratory trip
south of Lake George. On the rst of June, they came to the
Morumbidgee, as it was then called, and followed up the bank of
it, looking for a crossing. The day before they had caught sight
of a high range of mountains to the southward, partially snow-
topped. In their progress along the river they came to fine open
downs and plains, which, with the singularly bad taste, which
still, unfortunately, holds sway, Currie immediately named after
me be AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1828.
the then Governor, ‘‘ Brisbane Downs;” although but a short time
before they had learnt from the aborigines the native name of
Monaroo. Fortunately, in this instance, Monaroo has_ been
preserved, and Brisbane Downs forgotten.
On the 6th June they crossed the river, and found the open
country still stretching south, bounded to the west by the snowy
mountains they had formerly seen, and to the east by a range
that they took to be the coast range. ‘Their provisions being
limited, they turned back, and reached Throsby’s farm of Bong-
Bong on the 14th of the same month.
Cunningham, meantime, during the months of April, May,
and June, was busily engaged in the country north of Bathurst.
He had two purposes in view—his pursuit as a botanist, and the
discovery of a pass through the northern range on to Liverpool
Plains, which Lieutenant Lawson had been unable to find. On >
reaching the range he searched vainly to the eastward for any
valley that would enable him to pierce the barrier, and had to
retrace his steps and seek more to the west. Here he came
upon a pass, which he called Pandora’s Pass,* and which he
found to be practicable as a stock route to the plains. He
returned to Bathurst on the 27th of June.
In October, Oxley started from Sydney on a very different
kind of expedition to those lately undertaken by him. His
mission now was to examine the inlets of Port Curtis, Moreton
Bay, and Port Bowen, with a view to forming penal establish-
ments there. On the 21st of October, therefore, 1823, he left in
the colonial cutter Mermaid, accompanied by Messrs. Stirling
and Uniacke. At Port Macquarie, Oxley had the pleasure of
seeing the settlement that had so rapidly sprung up on his
recommendation of the suitability of the port. Further on, they
discovered and named the Tweed River. On the 6th November,
the Mermazd anchored in Port Curtis. Here the party remained
for some time, and found and christened the Boyne River.
Oxley’s report was unfavourable.
‘“‘ Having,”’ he says, ‘‘ viewed and examined with the most anxious
attention every point that afforded the least promise of being eligible for
the site of a settlement, I respectfully submit it as my opinion, that Port
. Curtis and its vicinity do not afford such a site; and I do not think that
any convict establishment could be formed there that would return
either from the natural productions of the country, or as arising from
* See Appendix.
1823. ] DISCOVERY OF THE BRISBANE. 73
agricultural labour, any portion of the great expense which would neces-
- sarily attend its first formation.”
As it was too late in the season to examine Port Bowen,
the Mermaid went south, entered Moreton Bay, and anchored
off the river that Flinders had christened Pumice Stone River,
heading from the Glass House Peaks. Here a singular adventure
occurred :—
“Scarcely was the anchor let go,”’ writes Mr. Uniacke, ‘“‘ when we
perceived a number of natives, at the distance of about a mile, advancing ~
rapidly towards the vessel ; and on looking at them with the glass from
the masthead, I observed one who appeared much larger than the rest,
and of a lighter colour, being a light copper, while all the others were
black.”
This light-coloured native turned out to be a white man,
one Thomas Pamphlet. In company with three others he had left
Sydney in an open boat, to bring cedar from the Five Islands, but,
being driven out to sea by a gale, they had suffered terrible hard-
ships, being (so he stated) at one time twenty-one days without
water, during which time one man had died of thirst. Finally they
were wrecked on Moreton Island, and had lived with the blacks
ever since—a period of seven months. Pamphlet informed them
that his two companions were named Finnegan and Parsons,
and that they had started to make for Sydney, overland, but,
after going some fifty miles, he (Pamphlet) returned, and shortly
afterwards was joined by Finnigan, who had quarrelled with
Parsons. The latter was never heard of.
Next day Finnegan turned up, and both he and Pamphlet,
agreeing that at the south end of the bay there was a large river.
Messrs. Oxley and Stirling started the following morning in the
whale boat to look for it; taking Finnegan with them. They
found the river, and pulled up it about fifty miles, being
greatly satisfied with the discovery. Not being provided for
a longer trip, Oxley turned back at a point he named Termina-
tion Hill, which he ascended and from which he obtained a fine
-view of the further course of the river. Still haunted
by his inland lake theory, and as usual drawing erroneous
deductions, he writes :—
“The nature of the country, and a consideration of all the
circumstances connected with the appearance of the river, justify me in
entertaining a strong belief that the sources of the river will not be found
in mountainous country, but rather that it flows from some lake, which
74 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1824..
will prove to be the receptacle of those interior streams crossed by me
during an expedition of discovery in 1818.”
This river Oxley named the Brisbane, and taking with them
the two rescued men, the M/ermazd set sail for Sydney, where
the party arrived on December 13th. With regard to the
shipwrecked men, it may be here mentioned that their con-
viction at the time they were found was, that they were to
the south of Sydney, somewhere in the neighbourhood of
Jarvis Bay.
Oxley’s work and his life too were now almost at a close.
He died at Kirkham, his private residence, near Sydney, on the
25th of May, 1828. He had been essentially a successful
explorer, for although he had not in every case attained the
issue aimed at, he had always brought his men back in safety,
and had opened up vast tracts of new country.*
The journey made by Messrs. Hume and Hovell across to
Port Phillip has a character of its own, being the first successful
trip undertaken from shore to shore, from the eastern to the
southern coast. The expedition originated from a somewhat
wild idea that entered the head of that unpopular governor
Sir Thomas Brisbane.
Surveyor-General Oxley, not having determined the aues-
tion as to whether any large rivers entered the sea between
Cape Otway and Spencer’s Gulf, excepting to his own satis-
faction, Sir Thomas Brisbane hit upon the scheme of landing a
party of. prisoners near Wilson’s Promontory, and inducing
them, by the offer of a free pardon and a land grant, to find their
way to Sydney overland; and that they should have a better
chance of eventually turning up, it was recommended that
an experienced bushman should be put in charge of them. ‘The
flattering, if somewhat dangerous, offer of this position was made
to Mr. Hume, who, on consideration, declined it; he, however,
offered to conduct a party from Lake George, then the outer-
most station, or nearly so, to Western Port, if the Government
provided necessary assistance. The Government accepted his
offer, but forgot to provide the assistance. This caused much
delay and vexation, and Mr. Hovell, offering to join the party
and find half the necessary men and cattle, the Government
agreed to do something in the matter. This something amounted
*See Appendix.
‘|
1824. | HUME AND HOVELL. 75
to six pack-saddles and gear, one tent of Parramatta cloth, two
tarpaulins, a suit of slop clothes each for the men, two skeleton
charts for tracing their journey, a few bush utensils, and
the following promise: a cash payment for the hire of the
cattle should any important discovery be made. This money
was refused on the return of the party, and Mr. Hume states
that he had even much difficulty in obtaining tickets-of-leave for
the men, and an order to select 1,200 acres of land for himself.
Mr. Hovell was a retired shipmaster, who had been for some
time settled in Australia. Each of the leaders brought with them
three men, so that the strength of the expedition was eight men
in all. They had with them two carts, five bullocks, and three
horses. |
On October 14th, 1824, the party left Lake George. On
reaching the Murrumbidgee they found it flooded, and after
waiting three days, and the river continuing the same, an
attempt was made to cross, and by means of the body of a cart
rigged up as a punt with a tarpaulin, they succeeded.
On the south side of the river they found the country
broken, and somewhat difficult to make good progress through,
but it was all well grassed and adapted to grazing purposes.
Here, as might have been anticipated, they soon had to leave
their carts behind, and pack their cattle for the remainder of
their journey. Following the Murrumbidgee, after a short
distance they left it for a south-west course, which still led them
through hills and valleys rich with good grass and running
water.
On November 8th, they were destined to enjoy a sight
never before witnessed by white men in Australia. Ascending
a range, in order to get a view of the country ahead of them,
they suddenly came in front of snow-capped mountains. There,
under the brilliant: sun of an Australian summer’s day, rose lofty
peaks that might have found a fitting home in some far polar
clime, covered as they were for nearly one-fourth of their height
with glistening snow.
Skirting this range, which was called the Australian Alps,
the travellers, after eight days wandering through the spurs of
the lofty mountains they had just seen, came ona fine flowing
river, which Mr. Hume named after his father the ‘‘ Hume,”
destined to be afterwards called the Murray when visited lower
down.
rie AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1824.
Failing to find a ford, a makeshift boat was constructed by
the aid of the useful tarpaulin, and the passage of the Hume
safely accomplished. Still passing through good available
country watered by fine flowing streams, on the 24th they crossed
the Ovens River, and on the 3rd of December they came to
another river, which they called the Hovell (now the Goulburn),
and on the 16th of the same month reached the sea shore, near
where Geelong now stands. Two days afterwards they com-
menced their return, and on the 18th January arrived at Lake
George.
This exploration had a great and lasting bearing on the
extension of Australian settlement. A few years after one of
the highest authorities then in the colony had deemed the western
interior, beyond a certain limit, unfitted for human habitation ;
and expressed his opinion that the monotonous flats over which
he vainly looked for any rise, extended almost to the sea ~
coast—snow-clad mountains, feeding innumerable streams, were —
discovered to the south of his track. ©
The successful and arduous expedition led by the young
native-born explorer, had the twofold effect of exposing Oxley’s
fallacies, and teaching a lesson of caution to future explorers not to —
indulge hastily in general condemnation. ‘This lesson, however,
has not been heeded ; the history of Australian exploration being
a history of conclusions drawn one year, to be falsified the next.
Hume’s journey to Port Phillip at once added to the British-
Colonial Empire millions of acres of arable land watered by
never-failing rivers, with a climate calculated to foster the
growth of almost any species of fruit or grain.
It isa pity that in concluding the review of an expedition,
fraught with so much benefit to the colony, and carried out with
so much courage, hardihood, and facility of resource. that it
cannot also be said, and marked with the same cheerful spirit
that pervaded those of Oxley’s, but unfortunately, the evil feeling
of jealously that would arise from the presence of two leaders,
showed plainly throughout in petty and undignified squabbles,
which, in after days, led to paper warfare between the two
explorers. it is painful, if amusing, to read of the disagreement
as to their course in very sight of the lately discovered Australian
Alps, and how, on agreeing to separate and divide the outfit, it
was proposed to cut the tent in half, and the only frying-pan
was broken by both parties pulling at it.
Thomas Boyd, the only survivor of the party in 1883; who
was then eighty-six years old, was the first white man to cross
the Murray, which he did, swimming it with a line in his mouth.
In the year named he signed a document, giving the credit of
taking the party through in safety to Hume. Boyd himself was
one of the most active members of the expedition, and always to
the tront when there was any work to be done.
The training that Hume received in this, and his former
journey, admirably qualified him to become the companion of
Sturt in his first expedition when he discovered the other great
artery of the Murray system, the Darling. The young explorer
was thus singularly fortunate in having his name connected with
the discovery of two of the most important rivers in Australia.
In the trip just narrated he and his companion, Hovell, had
arrested the hasty conclusion that was being formed as to the
aridity of the interior. The result of their expedition held out
high hopes. for any future explorer, and the report they brought
in was afterwards fully confirmed by Major Mitchell.
1824.] RESULT OF THE JOURNEY. tye
CHAPTER. II?
Settlement of Moreton Bay—Cunningham in the field again—His discoveries of
the Gwydir, Dumaresque, and Condamine Rivers—The Darling Downs, and
Cunningham’s Gap through the range to Moreton Bay—Description of the
Gap—Cunningham’s death—Captain Sturt—His first expedition to follow
down the Macquarie—Failure of the river—Efforts of Sturt and Hume to
trace the channel—Discovery of New Year’s Creek (the Bogan)—Come
suddenly on the Darling—Dismay at finding the water salt—Retreat to
Mount Harris—Meet the relief, party—Renewed attempt down the Castle-
reagh River—Trace it to the Darling—Find the water in that river still salt
— Return—Second expedition to follow the Morumbidgee—Favourable
anticipations—Launch of the boats and separation of the party—Unexpected
junction with the Murray—Threatened hostilities with the natives—Averted
in a most singular manner—Junction of large river from the North—Sturt’s
conviction that it is the Darling—Continuation of the voyage—Final arrival —
at Lake Alexandrina—Return voyage—Starvation and fatigue—Constant
labour at the oars and stubborn courage of the men—Utter exhaustion—
Two men push forward to the relief party and return with succour.
IN 1824, in consequence of the favourable report of Surveyor
Oxley, a penal settlement was formed at Moreton Bay, but it
was speedily removed to a better site on the Brisbane River,
where the capital of Queensland now stands. The natives
bestowed upon the abandoned settlement the name of ‘‘ Umpie
Bong,”* which name is still preserved as Humpybong. .
In 1825 Major Lockyer made a long boat excursion up the
Brisbane River, and the stream being somewhat swollen by
floods, he was able to penetrate, according to his own account,
nearly one hundred and fifty miles.
He was much taken with the promising nature of the
country, both on the Brisbane and its tributary, the Bremer, and
great hopes, happily fulfilled, were entertained of the success of
the new settlement. During this year Mr. Cunningham had
undertaken another journey to Liverpool Plains. Threading the
pass he had formerly discovered and named Pandora’s Pass, he
crossed the plains, and ascended and examined the table land to
the north, returning to Bathurst.
In 1827 this explorer, whose industry never flagged, started
on the most eventful trip he ever made, destined to considerably
* Literally, dead houses.
ky
1827. | THE DARLING DOWNS. 19
affect the immediate progress of the new colony established at
Moreton Bay. On the goth of April he left Segenhoe Station,
on the Upper Hunter, and on crossing Oxley’s 1818 track to
Port Macquarie, at once entered on the unexplored northern
region. On the 19th May, after traversing a good deal of
unpromising country, a fertile valley was entered, which led
the travellers on to the banks of the Gwydir River, one of
Cunningham’s most important discoveries. He next found and
named the Dumaresque River, and finally emerged on the beautiful
plateau, thenceforth known as the Darling Downs, where the
Condamine River received its name, after the Governor’s aide-de-
camp. Cunningham's description of this tract of pastoral country
is very glo wing :—
‘“‘ Deep ponds, supported by streams from the highlands immediately
to the eastward, extend along their central lower flats. The lower
grounds thus permanently watered present flats which furnish an aimost
inexhaustible range of cattle pasture at all seasons of the year ; the grass
and herbage generally exhibiting in the depth of winter an extreme
luxuriance of growth. From these central grounds rise downs of a rich
black and dry soil, and very ample surface; and as they furnish
abundance of grass and are conveniently watered, yet perfectly beyond
the reach of those floods which take place on the flats in a season of rain,
they constitute a sound and valuable sheep pasture.”’
Here Cunningham halted for some time, with the view of
ascertaining the practicability of a passage across the range to
Moreton Bay.
In exploring the mountains immediately above the tents of
the encampment, a remarkably excavated part of the main range
was discovered, which appeared likely to prove available as a
pass. Upon examination, the gap was found to be rugged and
broken, partially blocked with fallen masses of rocks, and
overgrown by scrub and jungle. Beyond these impediments,
which could soon be removed, the gap now known as
Cunningham’s Gap was apparently available as affording a
descent to the lower coast lands. Relinquishing any further
attempts for the present, either through the mountains or to the
western interior, Cunningham returned to the Hunter, crossing
and re-crossing his outward track. He was absent on this
expedition thirteen weeks. |
The tollowing year the discoverer of the Darling Downs,
accompanied by his old companion, Charles Frazer, Colonial
SO AUSTRALIAN. EXPLORATION. (1828.
Botanist, proceeded by sea to Moreton Bay with the intention of
starting from the settlement and connecting with his camp on
the Darling Downs by way of Cunningham’s Gap. In this
attempt he was also accompanied by the Commandant, Captain
Logan. The party followed up the Logan River, and partly
ascended Mount Lindsay, a lofty and remarkable mountain on
the Dividing Range. They were, however, unsuccessful in finding
the Gap on this occasion. Cunningham, however, immediately
started from Limestone Station on the Bremer, now the town of
Ipswich, and this time was quite successful. On the 24th of
August he writes :—
‘“ About one o’clock we passed a mile to the southward of our last
position, and, entering a valley, we pitched our tents within three miles
of the gap we now suspected to be the Pass of last year’s journey.
“Tt being early in the afternoon, I sent one of my people (who,
having been one of my party on that long tour, knew well the features of
the country lying to the westward of the Dividing Range) to trace a
series of forest ridges, which appeared to lead directly up to the foot of
the hollow-back of the range.
‘To my utmost gratification he returned at dusk, having traced the
ridge about two and a-halt miles to the foot of the Dividing Range,
whence he ascended into the Pass and, from a grassy head immediately
above it, beheld the extensive country lying west of the Main Range. He
recognised Darling and Canning Downs, patches of Peel’s Plains, and
several remarkable points of the forest hills on that side, fully identifying
this hollow-back with the pass discovered last year at the head of Miller’s
Valley, notwithstanding its very different appearance when viewed from
the eastern country.”
The next day, accompanied by one man, Cunningham
ascended the,pass that bears his name. Following the ridges,
they arrived in about two and three-quarter miles to the foot of
the Gap.
Immediately the summit of the pass appeared broad before
us, bounded on each side by most stupendous heads, towering at
least two thousand feet above it.
“Here the difficulties of the Pass commenced. We had now
penetrated to the actual foot of the Pass without the smallest
difficulty, it now remained to ascend by a steep slope to the
level of its entrance. This slope is occupied by a very close
wood, in which red cedar, sassafras, palms, and other ornamental
inter-tropical trees are frequent. Through this shaded wood we
penetrated, climbing up a steep bank of a very rich loose earth,
_ 1828. | CUNNINGHAM’S LAST EXPEDITION. 81
in which large fragments of a very compact rock are embedded.
At length we gained the foot of a wall of bare rock, which we
found stretching from the southward of the Pass.
“This face of naked rock we perceived (by tracing its course
northerly) gradually to fall to the common level, so that, without
the smallest difficulty, and to my utmost surprise, we found
ourselves in the highest part of the Pass, having fully ascertained
the extent of the difficult part, from the entrance into the wood
to this point, not to exceed four hundred yards.”
In this comparatively easy manner was the main range
crossed, and access at once obtained from the coastal districts to
the rich inland slope—a startling result when compared with the
years of labour and baffled hope wasted on the Blue Mountains
before victory was won.
In the following year (1829) Cunningham went on his last
expedition, to the source of the Brisbane River, and this work
concluded ten years of constant and unceasing labour in the
cause of exploration. He died in Sydney ten years afterwards,
7 on the 27th of June, leaving behind an undying name, both as a
botanist and ardent explorer. During his own travels, and
whilst sailing with Captain King, he had seen more of the
continent than any man then living.
Captain Charles Sturt, of the 39th Regiment! What
visions are conjured up when this name comes on the scene!
Cracked and gaping plains, desolate, desert and abandoned of
life, scorched beneath a lurid sun of burning fire, waterless,
hopeless, relentless, and accursed: that is the picture he draws
of the great interior. He had followed up Oxley’s footsteps
and exposed the fallacies into which that explorer had
fallen, and erred just as egregiously himself. True, like
Oxley, he was the sport of the seasons. Oxley had followed
the rivers down when, year after year, the regular rainfall
had made them navigable for his boats, and had finally
lost them in oceans of reeds. Sturt came when the land was
smitten with drought, and the rivers had dwindled down to the
x tiniest trickle.
“In the creeks weeds had grown and withered, and grown again ;
and young saplings were now rising in their beds, nourished by the
moisture that still remained; but the large forest trees were drooping
and many were dead. ‘The emus, with outstretched necks, gasping for
breath, searched the channels of the rivers for water, in vain; and the
F
82 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1828.
native dog, so thin that he could hardly walk, seemed to implore some
merciful hand to despatch him.”
Such was Sturt’s description of the state of the country.
In 1828, the year that witnessed his first expedition, no rain
had fallen for two years, and it seemed as though it would never
fall again. The thoughts of the colonists turned to that shallow
ocean of reeds to the westward wherein Oxley had lost the
Macquarie, and it was thought that now would be the time to
verify its existence or find out what lay beyond. Captain Sturt
was appointed to take command, and with him went Hamilton
Hume, who had so successfully crossed to Port Phillip. The
party consisted, besides, of two soldiers and eight prisoners of the
crown, two of whom were to return with despatches. They had
with them eight riding and seven pack horses, two draught and
eight pack bullocks. They had also with them a small boat
rigged up on a wheeled carriage. |
It would be uninteresting to follow the party over the
already known ground to Mount Harris where Oxley had camped
in 1818; this place Sturt and his men reached on the 2oth
December, 1828.
‘As soon as the camp was fixed, Mr. Hume and I rode to Mount
Harris, over ground subject to flood and covered for the most part by the
polygonum, being too anxious to defer our examination of the neigh-
bourhood even a few hours. Nearly ten years had elapsed since
Mr. Oxley pitched his tents under the smallest of the two hills into
which Mount Harris is broken. ‘There was no difficulty in hitting upon
his position. ‘The trenches that had been cut round the tents were still
perfect, and the marks of the fire places distinguishable ; while the trees
in the neighbourhood had been felled, and round about them the staves
of casks, and a few tent pegs were scattered. . Mr. Oxley had selected
a place at some distance from the river on account of its then swollen
state. JI looked upon it from the same ground and could not discern
the waters in the channel, so much had they fallen below their ordinary
level. On the summit of the great eminence which we ascended, there
remained the half-burnt planks of a boat, some clenched and rusty nails,
and an old trunk ; but my search for the bottle Mr. Oxley had left was
unsuccessful.
‘‘A reflection arose to my mind, on examining these decaying
vestiges of a former expedition, whether I should be more fortunate than
the leader of it, and how far I should be enabled to penetrate beyond
the point which had conquered his perseverance. Only a week before I
left Sydney I had followed Mr. Oxley to the tomb. A man of
Vata Ne
1828. ] THE MACQUARIE LOST AGAIN. 83
uncommon quickness and of great ability. The task of following up
his discoveries was not less enviable than arduous; but, arrived at that
point at which his journey may be said to have terminated and mine
only to commence, I knew not how soon I should be obliged, like him,
to retreat from the marshes and exhalations of so depressed a country.
My eye turned instinctively to the north-west, and the view extended
over an apparently endless forest. I could trace the river line of trees
by their superior height, but saw no see beatanice ‘i reeds save the few
that grew on the banks of the stream.’
Satisfied, after consultation with his companion Hume, that
there was no obstacle to their onward march, they left their
position, intending, as Sturt says, “to close with the marshes.”
The night of the first day found them camped amongst the
reeds, which they came upon sooner than they expected, and the
next day they halted for the purpose of preparing the despatches
for the Governor. On the morning of the 26th, the journey was
resumed, the two messengers leaving for Bathurst, the rest pro-
‘ceeding onward until checked by finding themselves in the great
body of the marsh, which spread in boundless extent around them.
“It was evidently,” says the leader, “lower than the ground on
which we stood; we had, therefore, a complete view of the whole
expanse, and there was a dreariness and desolation pervading the scene
which strengthened as we gazed upon it.”
Under the circumstances, an advance with the main body of
the party was considered unwise, and it was determined to
launch the boat, and try and follow the course of the river,
whilst a simultaneous attempt was made to penetrate the reed-
bed to the north. Accordingly Sturt, with two men, started in
the boat, and Hume and two more struck north.
Sturt’s boating expedition came very quickly to a close. In
the afternoon of the day he started—
‘the channel which had promised so well, without any
_—- eae in its breadth or depth, ceased altogether, and while we were yet
lost in astonishment at so abrupt a termination of it the boat grounded.”
All search was fruitless, and mysteriously and completely
baffled as Oxley had been, so was his successor, and there was
nothing for it but to return to camp.
Hume had been more successful. He reported finding a
serpentine sheet of water to the northward, which he did not
doubt was the channel of the river. He had pushed on, but
was checked by another of the seemingly inevitable marshes,
84 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1828-29.
On the 28th the camp was shifted to this lagoon, and the
boat was launched once more; without result. The new-found
channel was soon lost in reeds and shallows. Forced to halt
again, Hume went to the north-east to scout, and Sturt went
north-west, each accompanied, as before, by two men. They
left the camp on the last day of the year. |
After sunset on the first day, Sturt struck a creek of
considerable size leading northerly, having good water in its
bed. The next day, after passing through alternate plain and
brush for eighteen miles, a second creek was found, inferior to
the first both in size and the quality of the water; it too ran
northerly. Crossing this creek, after a short halt, they travelled
through stony ridges and open forest, and at night camped on
the edge of a waterless plain, after a hot and thirsty ride; here
one of the men, noticing the flight of a pigeon, found a small
puddle of rain water that just sufficed them. Next day, the
country steadily improving in appearance, they made west by
south for an isolated mountain with perpendicular sides, from the
top of which Sturt trusted to see something hopeful ahead. He
was disappointed, the country was monotonous and level, and no
sign of a river could be seen. They camped that night at a
small swamp, and next morning Sturt turned back, like Oxley,
coming to the conclusion that :—
‘‘Yet upon the whole, the space I traversed is unlikely to become
the haunt of civilised man, or will become so in isolated spots, as a
chain of connection to a more fertile country ; if such a country exist to
the westward.”’
Hume had not returned when the party reached the
main camp on the 5th of January; the next day he made his
appearance. He reported having travelled, on various courses,
about thirty miles N.N.W. over an indifferent country. He
had anticipated meeting with the Castlereagh, but had been
forced to conclude that that river had taken a more northerly
course than Mr. Oxley had supposed. He went westward, and
came across fine far-stretching plains, but saw no sign of the
Macquarie River having re-formed, crossing nothing but small
creeks or chains of ponds.
Most of the men, including Hume, complaining of sickness,
the camp was shifted four miles to the north, on to a chain of
ponds reported by Hume. This creek they followed down, when
it disappointed them by disappearing in the marsh. Without
1829. | DISCOVERY OF THE DARLING. 85
water, they continued skirting the low country until fatigue com-
pelled them to stop, when, by digging shallow wells in the reeds,
they obtained a small supply. From here they made their way
by a different route to the hill that had terminated Sturt’s
late trip, and which he had christened Oxley’s Tableland. Here
they rested a few days, and Sturt and Hume, with two men,
made another excursion westward, but without result.
Their only resource now was to make north to a creek that
they had followed down on their way to Oxley’s tableland, and
see where it would lead them.
On the 31st January they came upon this creek, which was
called by them New Year’s Creek, now the Bogan, and the next
day they suddenly found themselves on the brink of a noble
river :—
“The party drew up upon a bank that was from forty to forty-five
feet above the level of the stream. The channel of the river was from
seventy to eighty yards broad, and enclosed an unbroken sheet of water,
evidently very deep, and literally covered with pelicans and other wild
fowl. Our surprise and delight may better be imagined than described.
Our difficulties seemed to be at an end, for here was a river that
promised to reward all our exertions, and which appeared every moment
to increase in importance to our imaginations. Coming from the N.E.
and flowing to the S.W., it had a capacity of channel that proved that
we were as far from its source as from its termination. The paths of the
natives on either side of it were like trodden roads, and the trees that
overhung it were of beautiful and gigantic growth.
“The banks were too precipitous to allow of our watering the
cattle, but the men descended eagerly to quench their thirst,
which a powerful sun had contributed to increase; nor shall I ever
forget the cry of amazement that followed their doing so, or the looks of
terror and disappointment with which they called out to inform me that
the water was so salt as to be unfit to drink. This was indeed too true.
On tasting it, 1 found it extremly nauseous, and strongly impregnated
with salt, being apparently a mixture of sea and fresh water.
Our hopes were annihilated at the moment of their apparent realisation.
The cup of joy was dashed out of our hands before we had time to raise
it to our lips.”
Finding fresh feed lower down the river, the party halted
for the benefit of the cattle, who, unable to drink the water,
soaked their bodies in it. Meantime, although the tracks of the
natives were abundant, they looked in vain for any of them.
Fortunately, that night Hume found a pond of fresh water, and
86 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1829.
the party were refreshed once more. The phenomena of the
salt river was puzzling to Sturt, though too familiar now to
excite wonder ; the long continued drought having lowered the
river so that the brine springs in the banks preponderated over
the fresh water, was of course the explanation, and it isa common
characteristic of inland watercourses. The size of the river and
the saltness of its water, however, partly convinced Sturt that he
was near its confluence with an inland sea; so for six days they
moved slowly down the river, finding, however, no change in its
formation, until the discovery of saline springs in the bank con-
vinced the leader that the saltness was of local origin. |
Leaving the party encamped at a small pool of fresh water,
Sturt and Hume pushed ahead to look for more, but without
success. Before leaving they were startled, one afternoon, by a
loud report like a distant cannon, for which they could in no way
account, as the sky was clear and without a cloud.*
The advance was now checked, no fresh water could be
found onjahead, and their animals were weak and exhausted.
Sturt christened the river the Darling, and gave the order to
retreat. |
As they again approached Mount Harris on the Macquarie,
where they expected to finda relief party with fresh supplies,
fears began to be entertained regarding the safety of those who
might be awaiting them at the depét. The reed beds were in
flames in all parts, and the few natives they met displayed a
guilty timidity, and one was observed with a jacket in his
possession. Their fears were, however, fortunately vain, the
natives had’ made one attempt to surprise the camp, but it had
been frustrated, and the relief party had now been some three
weeks awaiting the return of the explorers.
Sturt rested for some days, during which time Hume
made a short western trip, to the south of the marsh land. He
reported that for thirty miles the country was superior to any-
thing they had yet seen, and exceedingly well watered; beyond
that distance the plains and brush of the remote interior again
resumed their sway.
On the 7th March the party struck camp and made for the
Castlereagh, the relief going back to Bathurst. On the toth
* These strange reports have since been frequently heard, often at the same
moment, at places more than a hundred miles apart, The cause is generally
ascribed to atmospheric disturbances.
1829. ] THE DARLING REVISITED. 87
they reached the Castlereagh, and found it apparently without a
drop of water in its bed. From here downwards the old
harassing hunt for water commenced once more, and as they
descended the river they were further puzzled by the intricate
windings of its course and the number of channels that inter-
sected the depressed country they were travelling through. On
the 29th they again struck the Darling, ninety miles above the
spot where they had discovered it :—
“This singular river still preserved its character so strikingly that
it was impossible not to have recognised it in amoment. The same
steep banks and lofty timber, the same deep reaches, alive with fish,
were here visible as when we left it. A hope naturally arose to our
minds, that if it was unchanged in other respects, it might have lost the
saltness that rendered its waters unfit for use; but in this we were
disappointed—-even its waters continued the same.”’
Fortunately. the adventurers were not this time in such
unhappy straits for water as before, so that the disappointment
was less intense. Knowing what they might expect if they
followed the Darling down south, the party at once halted. It
was evident that to the east and north-east, the rigorous drought
had put its mark on the land, from the fact that large bodies of
natives driven in from that direction were congregated round the
few permanent waters left. A reconnoitring expedition across
the Darling to the N.W. was accordingly determined on, to see
if any advance into the interior was possible, and after a camp
had been formed Sturt and Hume started on the quest. No
encouragement to proceed resulted. By four p.m. they found
themselves on a plain that stretched far away and bounded
the horizon.
“It was dismally brown, a few trees only served to mark the
distance. Up one of the highest I sent Hopkins on, who reported that
he could not see the end of it, and that all around looked blank and
desolate. lt is a singular fact that during the whole day we had not
_ seen a drop of water or a blade of grass.
“To have stopped where we were would, therefore, have been
impossible ; to have advanced would probably have been ruin. Had
there been one favourable circumstance to have encouraged me with the
hope of success I would have proceeded. Had we picked up a stone,
as indicating our approach to high land, I would have gone on; or had
there been a break in the country, or even a change in the vegetation ;
but we had left all traces of the natives behind us, and this seemed a
88 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1829.
desert they never entered—that not even a bird inhabited. I could not
encourage a hope of success, and therefore gave up the point, not from
want of means, but a conviction of the inutility of any further efforts.
If there is any blame to be attached to the measure it is 1 who am in
fault ; but none who had not like me traversed the interior at such a
season would believe the state of the country over whichI had wandered.
During the short interval I had been out, I had seen rivers cease to flow
before me and sheets of water disappear, and had it not been for a
merciful Providence should, ere reaching the Darling, have been
overwhelmed by misfortune.
“‘T am giving no false picture of the reality. So long had the
drought continued that the vegetable kingdom was almost annihilated,
and minor vegetation had disappeared.”’
Once more the order to retreat from the inhospitable
Darling was given, and the weary march home recommenced.
On their way they traced and followed a defined channel, or
depression, formerly crossed by Hume, and ascertained it to
be the outflow of the Macquarie Marshes. On the 7th of April,
1829, they reached Mount Harris.
The mystery of the Macquarie was now, to a certain extent,
cleared up, but there still remained another riddle to solve in
the course and outlet of the Darling. Sturt, the discoverer of this
river, was destined to find the answer to this problem as well.
We have now traced the gradual extension of exploration
to the westward, and seen a river system growing up, as it were,
piece by piece, as the result of these expeditions; it may, there-
fore, be as well to continue to follow up Captain Sturt’s
expeditions, and note how the Murray and its tributary streams
were gradually elaborated, before touching upon events at
this time occurring afar on the south-west coast of the
continent.
The desire to ascertain the course of the Darling naturally
became a subject of great interest so soon as the result of
Captain Sturt’s expedition was known; and the Macquarie and
Lachlan rivers having failed to afford a means of reaching the
interior, it was determined to try the Morumbidgee. The fact
that this river derived its supply from the highest known
mountains, and was independent, to a large extent, of the
periodical rainfall, was.a great inducement to hope for success.
Almost exactly a year after he had started on his journey
down the Macquarie, Captain Sturt left Sydney, on his Morum-
bidgee expedition, on the 3rd of November, 1829.
1829. | STURT’S DEPARTURE FROM SYDNEY. 89
Hume, was not, on this occasion, able to accompany the
party, his own affairs on his farm needing his attention ;
doubtless in spirit he was often with them, and it would have
been but fitting had the discoverer of the Murray or Hume,
been one of the party to first trace its downward course. In
Hume’s place went George M‘Leay, the son of the then
Colonial Secretary, Alexander M‘Leay ; with them also went
Harris, Hopkinson, and Fraser, members of the Macquarie
expedition,
To our modern eyes the appearance of the troop that
marched out of Sydney, early that summer morning, would have
looked strange indeed.
“‘ At a quarter before seven the party filed through the turnpike
gate, and thus commenced its journey with the greatest regularity. I
have the scene even at this distance of time, vividly impressed upon my
mind, and I] have no doubt the kind friend who was with me on the
occasion bears it as strongly on his recollection. My servant Harris,
who had shared my wanderings, and had continued in my service for
eighteen years, led the advance with his companion Hopkinson; nearly
abreast of them the eccentric Frazer stalked along, wholly lost in
thought. The two former had laid aside their military habits, and had
substituted the broad-brimmed hat, and the bushman’s dress in their
place, but it was impossible to guess how Frazer intended to protect
himself from the heat or damp, so little were his habiliments suited for
the occasion. He had his gun over his shoulder, and his double shot
belt as full as it could be of shot, although there was not a chance of his
expending a grain during the day. Some dogs Mr. Maxwell had
kindly sent me followed close at his heels, as if they knew his interest in
them, and they really seemed as if they were aware that they were about
to exchange their late confinement for the freedom of the woods. The
whole of these formed a kind of advanced guard. At some distance in
the rear the drays moved slowly along, on one of which rode the black
boy; Robert Harris, whom I had appointed to superintend the animals
generally, kept his place near the horses, and the heavy Clayton, my
carpenter, brought up the rear.”
It will be needless to follow the progress of the party
through the settled districts that now extended to the banks of
the Morumbidgee : on the 27th, we find them preparing to start
from Mr. Whaby’s station, the last outpost of civilization. From
thence they followed the river down, maintaining constant and
friendly intercourse with the natives on the banks. [For some
time they passed through rich available country, and at one
00; eC" AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1829.
point they made a slight excursion to the north to connect with
Oxley’s most southerly limit; although they did not actually
verify it, Sturt was of the opinion that they were within at least
twenty miles of the range seen by Oxley. Still following the
river they now found its course leading them amongst the plains
and flat country with which they were so well acquainted, and
naturally travelled in the constant dread of the stream conducting
them to the lame and impotent conclusions of the Macquarie
and Lachlan. |
“Our route was over as melancholy a tract as ever was travelled.
The plains to the N. and N.W. bounded the horizon; not a tree of any
kind was visible upon them. It was equally open to the south, and it
appeared as if the river was decoying us into a desert, there to leave us
in difficulty and in distress.”
Sturt now was constantly haunted with the thought of once
more finding himself baffled and perplexed in some vast region |
of flooded country, without a defined system of channels. Every
time he looked at the river he imagined that it had fallen off in
appearance, feeling certain that the flooded spaces over which
he was travelling would soon be succeeded by a country over-
grown with reeds. The flats of polygonum stretched away to
the N.W., and to the S., and the soil itself bore testimony to its
flooded origin. Some natives here met with spoke of the
Colare, a name which Sturt had heard before, and which he took
to mean the Lachlan, from the direction in which the blacks
pointed. -These’men indicated that they were but one day’s
journey from it. Sturt and M‘Leay, therefore, rode to the north to
examine the country ; they found a creek of considerable size,
and from its appearance and the nature of the surrounding flats,
deemed it to be a similar channel from the Lachlan marshes to
the Morumbidgee, as the one Sturt and Hume had formerly
noticed to the north, leading from the great marsh of the Mac-
quarie to the Darling. In point of fact they actually crossed the
Lachlan, and went some distance beyond it, passing close to Oxley’s
lowest camp, as the natives afterwards testified to Major Mitchell.
The extract from the Major’s journal bearing on the subject
runs thus :—
“The natives further informed me that three men on horseback,
who had canoes (boats) on the Murrumbidgee, had visited the Lachlan
thereabouts since, and that after crossing it, and going a little way
beyond, they had returned.”
1829. ] THE REED-BEDS AGAIN. 91
Sturt mentioned seeing the fires of the natives during this
trip, but he did not see them, although it was evident that they
had a good look at him.
On the 26th of December, it seemed that their gloomiest
hopes were to be realised. Traversing plains like those des-
cribed before, Sturt says :—
“‘'The wheels of the drays sank up to their axle-trees, and the horses
above their fetlocks at every step. The fields of polygonum spread on
every side of us, like a dark sea, and the only green object within range
of our vision was the river line of trees. In several instances the force of
both teams was put to one dray, to extricate it from the bed into which
it had sunk, and the labour was considerably increased from the nature
of the weather. The wind was blowing as if through a furnace, from
the N.N.E., and the dust was flying in clouds, so as to render it almost
suffocating to remain exposed to it. This was the only occasion upon
which we felt the hot winds in the interior. We were, about noon,
endeavouring to gain a point of a wood at which I expected to come
upon the river again, but it was impossible for the teams to reach it
without assistance. I therefore sent M‘Leay forward with orders to
unload the pack animals as soon as he should make the river, and send
them back to help the teams. He had scarcely been separated from me
twenty minutes, when one of the men came galloping back to inform me
that no river was to be found—that the country beyond the woods was
covered with reeds as far as the eye could reach, and that Mr. M‘Leay
had sent him back for instructions. ‘This intelligence stunned me for a
moment or two, and I am sure its effect upon the men was very great.
They had unexpectedly arrived at a part of the interior similar to one
they held in dread, and conjured up a thousand difficulties and privations.
I desired the man to recall Mr. M‘Leay; and, after gaining the wood,
moved outside of it at right angles to my former course, and reached the
river, after a day of severe toil and exposure, at half-past five. The
country, indeed, bore every resemblance to that around the marshes of
the Macquarie, but I was too weary to make any further effort ; indeed
it was too late for one to undertake anything until the morning.”
The following day, accompanied by his friend, Sturt pro-
ceeded to examine the river. He found it still running strong,
without any sign of diminution in its flow, but the reedy flats
were so dense and thick that no passage for the teams was prac-
ticable. At noon the leader halted, and announced his intention
of returning to camp. He had come to the determination to
construct the whaleboat he had with him in sections, to send the
teams back, and, with six men and Mr. M‘Leay, to start down
92 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1830.
the river, and follow it wherever it went; whether ever to return
again or not was for the future to determine.
Clayton, the carpenter, was at once set to work upon
the boat, or boats, for a tree was felled, a sawpit rigged
up, and a small boat half the size of the whaleboat built. Every-
body worked hard, and in seven days the boats were afloat, moored
alongside a temporary wharf, ready for loading. Six men were
then chosen to form the crew, who were about to undertake one
of the most eventful and important voyages in Australia’s
history. They were Clayton, the carpenter, Mulholland and
Macnamee, the three soldiers, Harris, Hopkinson and Fraser,
the leader, and M‘Leay—eight in all. The remainder of the
party, under Robert Harris, were to remain stationary one week,
in case of accident, then to proceed to Goulburn Plains and
await instructions from Sydney.
On the 7th of January, 1830, the voyagers started, towing
the smaller boat, the men all in high spirits at the wide prospect
of adventure before them.
Going with the stream they made rapid progress, using
only two oars, but the first day did not suffice to carry them
clear of the reeds, in fact, at night when they landed to camp,
they could scarcely find room to pitch their tents. On the
second day, an accident happened to the skiff they were towing ;
she struck on a log, and immediately sank with all the valuable
cargo she carried. Two days were spent in recovering the
things, as the boat had gone down in twelve feet of water, and
during the time they were so employed, the blacks robbed the
camp of many articles.
Once more on the move, they found the river still winding
its way through a flat expanse of reeds, and threatening to end
as the other rivers had done. On the afternoon of the next day
a change for the better took place; the reeds on both sides of
the river terminated, and the country became more elevated, and
bore the appearance of open forest pasture land; a tributary
creek of considerable size joined the river from the S.E., and
the spirits of the voyagers rose again. More tributaries now
came in from the south-east, and the dangers of navigation
increased, the river being full of snags and fallen timber, and
the utmost care had to be used to keep the boat clear. On the
second day of this distressing work, they were destined to meet
with a surprise.
oak
.
+
q
-
1830.] JUNCTION OF THE MORUMBIDGEE AND MURRAY. 93
“About one we again started. The men looked anxiously ahead,
for the singular change in the river had impressed on them the idea
that we were approaching its termination, or near some adventure. On
a sudden the river took a general southern direction, but, in its tortuous
course, swept round to every point of the compass with the greatest
irregularity. We were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy and
contracted banks, and in such a moment of excitement, had little time
to pay attention to the country through which we were passing. It was,
however, observed that chalybeate springs were numerous close to the
water's edge. At three p.m., Hopkinson called out that we were
approaching a junction, and in less than a minute afterwards we were
hurried into a broad and noble river.
‘It is impossible to describe the effect of so instantaneous a change
upon us. The boats were allowed to drift along at pleasure, and such
was the force with which we had been shot out of the Morumbidgee,
that we were carried nearly to the bank opposite its embouchure, whilst
we continued to gaze in silent astonishment on the capacious channel
we had entered ; and when we looked for that by which we had been
led into it, we could hardly believe that the insignificant gap that pre-
sented itself to us was indeed the termination of the beautiful and noble
stream whose course we had thus successfully followed.”
Sturt had now succeeded beyond his hopes—his bold
adventure had been rewarded even sooner than he could have
expected. He felt assured that at last he floated on the stream
destined to bear him to the sea. The key to the river system
of the south-east portion of the continent was in his grasp, and
all former fallacies and fanciful theories were answered for good.
The voyage down the Murray, as this river was named, after Sir
George Murray, then the head of the Colonial Department, now
continued free from some of the difficulties that had beset them
in the Morumbidgee. The natives again made their appearance,
and were constantly seen every day, some betraying great
timidity, others appearing more curious than frightened. Four
of these natives accompanied them for two days, during which
time the explorers narrowly suffered wreck in a rapid in the river.
They now approached the confluence of the Darling,
although of course they were not then able to verify the
supposition that it was their old friend, and at this point one of
the most singular adventures ever narrated in the intercourse
with native tribes happened.
The wind was fair, and with the sail set, the boat was
making rapid way when, at the termination of a long reach, they
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94 | AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1880.
observed a line of magnificent trees, of green and dense foliage.
A large number of blacks were here assembled, and apparently
with no friendly intentions, armed, painted, and shouting defiance.
Anxious to avert hostilities, Sturt steered straight for them,
thinking to make friends ; but when almost too close to avoid a
meeting, he could see that the matter was serious. The blacks
had their spears poised for throwing, and their women were
behind with a fresh supply. The sail was lowered and the helm
put about, and the boat passed down the stream, the natives
running along the bank, keeping pace with them, shouting and
attempting to take aim. |
To add to their danger the river shoaled rapidly, and a sand-
spit appeared ahead, projecting nearly two-thirds of the way
across the channel, and on this spit the blacks now gathered
with tremendous uproar, evidently determined to make an
assault on the boat as she ran the gauntlet through the narrow
passage. Amongst the four blacks who had accompanied
them for two days was one of superior personal strength
and stature. These men had left the camp of the whites
the night before, and it was believing in their presence in
the crowd before them that led Sturt to disregard the hostile
demonstrations.
A battle now seemed inevitable. Arms were distributed to
the crew, and orders given how to act when the emergency arose.
We will let Sturt tell his own story :—
‘The men assured me they would follow my instructions, and thus
prepared, having already lowered the sail, we drifted onwards with the
current. As we neared the sand-bank, I stood up and made signs to
the natives to desist, but without success. I-took up my gun, therefore,
and cocking it, had already brought it down to a level; a few seconds
more would have closed the life of the nearest savage. The distance
was too trifling for me to doubt the fatal effects of the discharge; for I
was determined to take deadly aim, in hopes that the fall of one man
might save the lives of many. But at the very moment when my hand
was on the trigger, and my eye was along the barrel, my purpose was
checked by M‘Leay, who called to me that another party of blacks had
made their appearance upon the left bank of the river. ‘Turning round,
I observed four men at the top of theirspeed. ‘The foremost of them, as
soon as he got ahead of the boat, threw himself from a considerable
height into the water. He struggled across the channel to the sand-
bank, andin an incredibly short space of time stood in front of the
savage, against whom my aim had been directed. Seizing him by the
1830.] JUNCTION OF THE DARLING. 95
throat, he pushed him backwards, and forcing all who were in the water
upon the bank, he trod its margin with a vehemence and an agitation
that were exceedingly striking. At one moment pointing to the boat, at
another shaking his clenched hand in the faces of the most forward, and
stamping with passion on the sand; his voice, that was at first distinct,
was lost in hoarse murmurs. Two of the four natives remained on the
left bank of the river, the third followed his leader (who proved to be the
remarkable savage I have previously noticed) to the scene of action.
The reader will imagine our feelings on this occasion; it is impossible
to describe them. We were so wholly lost in interest at the scene that
was passing, that the boat was allowed to drift at pleasure.
‘“We were again aroused to action by the boat suddenly striking
upon a shoal, which reached from one side of the river to the other. To
jump out and push her into deep water was but the work of a moment
with the men, and it was just as she floated again that our attention was
withdrawn to a new and beautiful stream, coming apparently from the
north . . . 4
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iii — weer
1843.] STURT’S LAST ENCOUNTER WITH THE DESERT. 141
Amongst the other pioneers who contributed more or less to
spread settlement in the province, and succeeded, may be men-
tioned Messrs. Hawker, Hughes, Campbell, Robinson, and
Heywood.
Perhaps, of all the journeys into the interior, none have
excited more sustained interest than Sturt’s. It must be admitted
that his account, however truthful it may have appeared to him
at the time, is misleading, and overdrawn. But whilst saying
this, let us look at the circumstances under which he received
the impressions he has put on record.
He was a thoroughly broken and disappointed man; for six
months he had been shut up in his weary depot prison, debarred
from making any attempt to complete his work, watching his
friend and companion die slowly before his eyes. When the
kindly rains released him, he was turned back and constantly
back by a strip of desert country, that seemed to dog him which-
ever way he turned. No wonder he fairly hated the place, and
looked at all things through the heated, treacherous haze of the
desert plains.
When, therefore, he speaks of the awful temperature that
rendered life unbearable, and the inland slopes of Australia
unfitted for human habitation, it must be recalled that the party
were weak and suffering, liable to feel oppressive heat or
extreme cold, more keenly than strong and healthy men. In
the.ranges where Sturt spent his summer months of detention,
there is now one of the wonderful mining townships of
Australia, where men toil as laboriously as in a temperate
zone, and the fires of the battery and the smelting furnace
burn steadily day and night, in sight of the spot where
Poole lies buried. And at the lower levels of the shafts
trickle the waters of subterranean streams that Sturt never
dreamt of. But though baffled, and unable to gain the goal
he strove for, never did man better deserve success. His
instructions were to reach the centre of the continent,
to discover whether range or sea existed there; and if the
former, to note the flow of the northern waters, but on
no account to follow them down to the northern sea. As
usual, the Home Office, in their official wisdom, knew more
than did the colonists, and instructed him to proceed by way
of Mount Arden; the route already tried and abandoned by
Eyre. |
142 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1844.
Sturt chose to proceed by the Darling. His plan was to
follow that river up as far as the Williorara or Laidley’s Ponds, a
small western tributary of the Darling, opposite the point were
Mitchell turned back, in 1835, after his conflict with the natives.
Thence he intended to strike north-west, hoping thus to avoid
the gloomy environs of Lake Torrens, and its treacherous bed.
At Moorundi, on the Murray, he was met by Eyre, then
resident magistrate at that place, and here the party mustered
and made their start. ,
Sturt was accompanied by Poole, as second in command,
Browne, who was a thorough bushman and an excellent surgeon,
accompanied him as a friend; with them also went McDowall
Stuart, as draftsman, whose fame as an explorer afterwards
equalled that of his leader, besides twelve men, eleven horses,
thirty bullocks, one boat and boat carriage, one horse dray,
one spring cart, three bullock drays, two hundred sheep, four
kangaroo dogs, and two sheep dogs.
Eyre accompanied the expedition as far as Lake Victoria,
which point they reached on the 1oth of September, 1844.
Here Eyre left | them, /;and -on the,¢zathy,of (October aie
explorers arrived at Williorara, the place where they intended
leaving the Darling for the interior. The appearance of this water-
course very much disappointed Sturt, he had hoped from the
account of the natives to find in it a fair-sized creek, heading
from a low range, distantly visible to the north-west; instead, he
found it a mere channel for the flood water of the Darling,
distributing it into some shallow lakes, back from the river, a
distance of some eight or nine miles, Sturt, as a first step
dispatched Poole and Stuart to the range, to see if they could
obtain any view of the country to the north-west. They were
absent four days, and returned with the rather startling
intelligence, that from the top of a peak in the range, Poole
had seen a large lake studded with islands.
Although in his published journal, written long afterwards,
Sturt makes light of Poole’s fancied lake, which, of course, was
the effect of mirage, at that time his ardent fancy made him
believe that he was on the eve of a great discovery. Ina letter
to Mr. Morphett, of Adelaide, he writes :-—
“Poole has just returned from the ranges. I have not time to
write over again. He says there are high ranges to the N. and N.W.,
and water, a sea extending along the horizon from S.W. by S., and ten
1845 | STURT’S DETENTION. 143
E. of N., in which there are a number of islands and lofty ranges as far
as the eye can reach. What is all this? Are we to be prosperous?
I hope so, and I am sure you do. ‘To-morrow we start for the ranges,
and then for the waters, the strange waters, on which boat never swam,
and over which flag never floated. But both shall ere long. We have
the heart of the interior laid open to us, and shall be off with a flowing
sheet in a few days. Poole says the sea was a deep blue, and that in
the midst of it was a conical island of great height. When will you
hear from me again?”
Poor Sturt! no boat of his was ever to float on that visionary
sea, nor his flag to wave over its dream waters.
The whole of the party now removed to a small shallow
lake, the termination of the Williorara Channel. From here he
started on an excursion to the more distant ranges reported by
Poole, accompanied by Browne and two men, went ahead
for the purpose of finding water of a sufficient permanency to
remove the whole of the party, as at the lake where they were
encamped there was always the chance of becoming embroiled
with the natives. He was successful in finding what he wanted,
and on the 4th of November the main body of the expedition
removed there, now finally leaving the waters of the Darling.
The next day, Sturt and Browne, with three men and the
cart, started on another trip in search of water ahead. This
they found in small quantities, and rain coming on, Sturt
returned and sent Poole out again to search, whilst the camp
was moved on. On his return he reported having seen some
shallow, brackish lakes, and caught sight of Eyre’s Mount Serle.
They were now on the western slope of the Barrier Ranges, and
but for the providential discovery of a fine creek to the north,
would have been unable to retain their position. To this creek
(Flood’s Creek) they removed the camp, and Sturt con-
gratulated himself on the steady and satisfactory progress he
was making. They now left the Barrier Range, and made for
one further north, staying for some ten days at a small lagoon,
during which time an examination of the country ahead was
made.
On the 27th January, 1845, they removed to a creek,
heading from a small range; at the head of this creek was a
fine supply of permanent water, and here the explorers pitched
their tents, little thinking that it would be the 17th of July
following before they would be struck. Perhaps a short
144 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1845.
description from Sturt’s pen will aid the reader’s imagination in
picturing the situation of the party.
“It was not, however, until after we had run down every creek in
the neighbourhood, and had traversed the country in every direction,
that the truth flashed across my mind, and it became evident to me
that we were locked up in the desolate and heated region into which we
had penetrated as effectually as if we had wintered at the Pole. It was
long indeed ere I could bring myself to believe that so great a
misfortune had overtaken us, but so it was. Providence had, in its all:
wise purposes, guided us to the only spot in that wide-spread desert,
where our wants could have been permanently supplied, but had there
stayed our further progress into a region that almost appears to be
forbidden ground.”
“The creek was marked by a line of gum-trees, from the mouth of
the glen to its junction with the main branch, in which, excepting in
isolated spots, water was no longer to be found. The Red Hill (after-
wards called Mount Poole) bore N.N.W. from us, distant three and
a-half miles ; between us and it there were undulating plains, covered with
stones or salsolaceous herbage, excepting in the hollows wherein there
was a little grass. Behind us were level stony plains, with small sandy
undulations bounded by brush, over which the Black Hill was visible,
distant ten miles, bearing $.S.E. from the Red Hill. To the eastward,
the country was as I have described it, hilly. Westward at a quarter of
a mile the low range, through which Depét Creek forces itself, shut out
from our view the extensive plains on which it rises.”’
This then was Sturt’s prison, although at first he had not |
realised that in spite of every precaution, his retreat was cut off
until the next rainfall.
Of Sturt’s existence and occupation during this dreary
period little can be said. He tried in every direction, until
convinced of the uselessness of so doing, sometimes encouraged
and led on by shallow pools in some fragmentary creek bed, at
others, seeing nothing before him but hopeless aridity. Now,
too, he found himself attacked with what he then thought was
rheumatism, but proved to be scurvy, and Poole and Browne
too were afflicted in the same way.
We now come to one of the picturesque incidents that Sturt
has introduced in his narrative, and that help to fix on our
memory the strangely weird picture of the lonely band of men
confronted with the unaccustomed forces of nature in thie
wilderness.
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1845. | A DENIZEN OF THE DESERT. 145
“As we rode across the stony plain lying between us and the hills,
the heated and parching blasts that came upon us, were more than we
could bear. We were in the centre of the plain, when Mr. Browne drew
my attention to a number of small black specks in the upper air. These
spots increasing momentarily in size, were’ evidently approaching us
rapidly. In an incredibly short space of time, we were surrounded by
hundreds of the common kite, stooping down to within a few feet of us,
and then turning away after having eyed us steadily. Several approached
us so closely, that they threw themselves back to avoid contact, opening
their beaks and spreading out their talons. The long flight of these
birds, reaching from the ground into the heavens, put me strongly in
mind of one of Martin’s beautiful designs, in which he produces the
effect of distance by a multitude of objects vanishing from the view.”’
Sturt, during his detention in the depot, made one desper-
ate attempt to the north, when he succeeded in getting a mile
above the 28th parallel, but found nothing to repay him for his
trouble.
And so week after week of this fearful monotony passed on
without hardly a break or change.
Once, an old native wandered to their camp. He was
starving and thirsty, looking a fit being to emerge from the
gaunt waste around them. The dogs attacked him when he
approached, but he stood his ground and fought them valiantly
until they were called off; his whole demeanour was calm and
courageous, and he showed neither surprise nor timidity. He
drank greedily when water was given him, and ate voraciously,
but whence he came the men could not divine nor could he ex-
plain to them. He accepted what was given to him, as a
right expected by one fellow-being from another, cut off in the
desert from their own kin. While he stopped at their camp he
showed that he knew the use of the boat, explaining that it was
upside down, as of course it was, and pointing to the N.W. as
the place where they would want it, raising poor Sturt’s hopes
once more. After a fortnight he departed as he came, saying
he would come back, but he never did.
“With him,” says Sturt pathetically, “all our hopes vanished, for
even the presence of this savage was soothing to us, and so long as he
remained we indulged in anticipations as to the future. From the time
of his departure a gloomy silence pervaded the camp; we were, indeed,
placed under the most trying circumstances, everything combined
to depress our spirits and exhaust our patience. We had witnessed
K
146 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1845.
migration after migration of the feathered tribes, to that point to which we
were sO anxious to push our way. Flights of cockatoos, of parrots, of
pigeons, and of bitterns; birds, also, whose notes had cheered us in the
wilderness, all had taken the same high road to a better and more hos-
pitable region.” :
And now the water began to sink with frightful rapidity,
and they all thought that the end was surely coming. Hoping
against hope, Sturt laid his plans to start as soon as the drought
broke up, himself to proceed north and west whilst poor Poole,
reduced to a frightful condition by scurvy, was to be sent
carefully back as the only means of saving his life.
On the 12th and 13th of July the rain commenced, and the
siege was raised, but Poole never lived to profit by it. Every
arrangement for his comfort was made that the circumstances
permitted, but on the first day’s journey he died, and they
brought his body back to the depot and made his lonely grave
there. Sturt’s way was now open. After burying his lamented
friend, he again despatched the party that was selected to return
home, and, with renewed hope, made preparations for the north-
west. He first, however, removed the depot to a better grassed
locality, water being now plentiful everywhere. During a short
western trip, on the 4th August they found themselves on the
edge of an immense shallow and sandy basin, in which were
detached sheets of water, “as blue as indigo and as salt as brine.”’
This they took to be Lake Torrens, and returned to the depédt
to arrange matters for a final departure.
Stuart was left in charge of the depdt, Browne accom-
paning Sturt; and on the 14th a start was made. For some
days, owing to the pools of surface water left by the recent
rain, they had no difficulty in keeping a straightforward course.
The country passed over consisted of large level plains and long
sand ridges, but they crossed numerous creeks and found more
or less water in all of them, and finally got into a well-grassed,
pleasing looking country, which greatly cheered them with a
prospect of success, when, suddenly, they were confronted by a
wall of sand, and for nearly twenty miles toiled over succeed-
ing ridges. Fortunately, they found both water and feed, but
their hopes received a sudden and complete downfall. Nor did
a walk to the extremity of one of the sand ridges serve to raise
their spirits. Sturt saw before him an immense plain, ofa dark-
purple hue, with its horizon like that of the sea, boundless in the
1845.] DISCOVERY OF EYRE’S CREEK. 147
direction in which he wished to proceed. This was the Stony
Desert. That night they camped in it, and the next morning
came to an earthy plain, with here and there a few bushes of
polygonum growing beside some stray channel, in some of which
they, luckily, found a little muddy rain water still left. When
they camped at night they sighted, for a short time, some hills to
the north, and, on examining them through the telescope, saw
dark shadows on their faces as if produced by cliffs. Next
day they made for these hills, in the hope of finding a change of
country and feed for their horses; but they were disappointed.
Sand ridges in terrible array once more rose up before them.
‘‘Even the animals,’’ says Sturt, ‘appeared to regard them with
dismay.”
Over plains and sand dunes, the former full of yawning
cracks and holes, the party pushed on, subsisting on precarious
pools of muddy water and fast-sinking native wells; until, on the
3rd of September, Flood, the stockman, who was riding ahead,
held up his hat and called aloud to them that a large creek was
in sight.
On coming up the others saw a beautiful watercourse, the
bed of which was full of grass and water. This creek Sturt
called Eyre’s Creek, and it was one of the most important
discoveries he made in this region. Along this watercourse
they made easy stages until the 7th, when the creek was lost,
and the water in the lagoons near the bank was found to be
intensely salt. After repeated efforts to continue his journey,
which only led him amongst the everlasting sand hills, separated
by plains encrusted with salt, Sturt came to the. erroneous
conclusion that he was at the head of the creek, and further
progress impossible. Had he but known it, he was within reach
of permanently watered rivers, along which he could have
travelled as far north as he wished. But there was neither sign
nor clue afforded him; his men were sick, and his retreat to
the depot most precarious ; there was nothing for it but to fall
back again, and after a toilsome journey they reached the depot,
or Fort Grey as they had christened it, on the 2nd October.
Sturt now made up his mind for a final effort due north,
and in company with Stuart and two fresh men, he started on
the gth of October; and on the second day reached Strzelecki
Creek, which was the name they had given to the first creek
crossed on their late expedition. On the 13th, they arrived at
148 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1845.
a a S
the banks of a magnificent channel with grassy banks, fine
trees and abundant water; this was the now well-known
Cooper’s Creek, one of the most important rivers of the interior, .
its tributaries draining the southern slopes of the dividing
watershed in the north.
Sturt on reaching this unexpected discovery was uncertain
whether to follow its course to the eastward, or persevere in his
original intention of pushing to the north. A thunder storm
falling at the time made him adhere to his original course, and
defer the examination of the new river until his return. In
seven days after leaving Cooper’s Creek, he had the negative
satisfaction, as he expected, of gazing over the dreary waste
of the stony desert, unchanged and forbidding as’ever. They
crossed it, and were again turned back by sand hill and
salt plain, and forced to retrace their steps to Cooper’s Creek.
This creek Sturt followed upward for many days, but finding it
did not take him in the direction he desired to go, and moreover,
the large broad channel that they first came to, became divided
into many small ones, which ran through flooded plains, making
the travelling most tiring on their exhausted horses; he
reluctantly turned back. They had found the creek weil popu-
lated with natives, and the prospects of getting on were appar-
ently better than they had ever met with before, but both Sturt
and his men were weak and ill, and his horses theroughly tired
out, and also he was not sure of his retreat.
Following Cooper’s Creek back, they found that the water
had dried up so rapidly that grave fears were entertained that
Strzelecki’s Creek, their main reliance in going back to the
depot, would be dry. Fortunately, they were in time to find a
little muddy fluid left, just enough to serve them. Here they
experienced a hot wind that forced them to camp the whole day,
although most anxious to get on.
bf
“We had scarcely got there,’’ writes Sturt, ‘‘ when the wind, which
had been blowing all the morning hot from the north-east, increased to
a gale, and I shall never forget its withering effects. I sought shelter
behind a large gum tree, but the blasts of heat were so terrific, that I
wondered the very grass did not take fire. This really was nothing
ideal ; everything, both animate and inanimate, gave way before it; the
horses stood with their backs to the wind, and their noses to the ground,
without the muscular strength to raise their heads ; the birds were mute,
and the leaves of the tree under which we were sitting, fell like a snow
1845. | FORT GREY DESERTED. 149
shower around us. At noon, I took a thermometer, graduated to 127
degrees, out of my box, and observed that the mercury was up to 125.
Thinking that it had been unduly influenced, I put it in the fork of a tree
close to me, sheltered alike from the wind and the sun. In this position
I went to examine it about an hour afterwards, when I found that the
mercury had risen to the top of the instrument, and that its further
expansion had burst the bulb, a circumstance that, I believe, no traveller
has had to recount before.”
Let the reader remember when reading the above descrip-
tion, which has been so much quoted, that the man who wrote
it was in such a weakened condition, that he had no energy left
to withstand the hot wind, and that the shade they were
cowering under was of the scantiest description.
They had still a journey of eighty-six miles, back to Fort
Grey, with little prospect of any water being found on the way.
After a long and weary ride they reached it only to find that,
owing to the bad state of the water, Browne had _ been
compelled to fall back on to their old camp at the Depot Glen.
‘‘We reached the plain just as the sun was descending, without
having dismounted from our horses for fifteen hours, and as we rode
down the embankment into it, looked around for the cattle, but
none were to be seen. We looked towards the little sandy mound on
which the tents had stood, but no white objects there met our eye; we
rode slowly up to the stockade and found it silent and deserted. I was
quite sure that Mr. Browne had had urgent reasons for retiring. I had,
indeed, anticipated the measure. I hardly hoped to find him at the
Fort, and had given him instructions on the subject of his removal; yet,
a sickening feeling came over me when I saw that he was really gone ;
not on my own account, for, with the bitter feelings of disappointment
with which J was returning home, I could calmly have laid my head on
that desert, never to raise it again.”’
Riding day and night, Sturt at last reached the encamp-
ment, so exhausted as to be hardly able to stand :—
‘““ When I dismounted, I had nearly fallen forward. Thinking that
one of the kangaroo dogs, in his greeting, had pushed me between the
legs, I turned round to give hima slap, but. no dog was there, and I
soon found out that what I had felt was nothing more than strong
muscular action, brought on by riding.”’
Now came the question of their final escape. The water in
the Depdt Creek was so much reduced that they feared that
there would be none left in Flood’s Creek, and if so, they were
150 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1845.
once more imprisoned. Browne undertook the long ride of
one hundred and eighteen miles, which was to decide the
question. Preparations had to be made for his journey by
filling a bullock skin with water, and sending a dray with it as
far as possible; and on the eighth day he returned.
‘“«« Well Browne,’ said Sturt, who was helpless in his tent, ‘ what
news? Is it to be good or bad?’ ‘there is still water in the creek,’
replied Browne, ‘ but that is all I can say; what there is, is as black as
ink, and we must make haste, for in a week it will be gone.’ ”
The boat that was to have floated on the inland sea, was
left to rot at the Depot Glen, all the heaviest of the stores
abandoned, and the retreat of over two hundred miles to the
Darling commenced.
More bullock skins were fashioned into bags, to carry water
for the stock, and with their aid, and that of a kindly shower of
rain, they crossed the dry stage to Flood’s Creek in safety.
Here they found the vegetation more advanced, and with care,
and constant activity in looking out for water on ahead, they
gradually left behind them the scene of their labours and
approached the Darling; Sturt having to be carried on one of
the drays, and lifted on and off at each stoppage.
On the 21st December, they arrived at the camp of the
relief party, under Piesse, at Williorara, and Sturt’s last
expedition came to an end.
As he has often been termed the father of Australian
exploration, it may be as well to look back on the result of his
life-long labours. His burning desire to reach the heart of
the continent had constantly led him into dangers and
difficulties that other explorers shunned, and unfortunate as he
always was in his seasons, he brought back a forbidding report
of the usefulness of the country he had discovered, which led to
its gradual settlement, only after long years had passed, and
men had grown accustomed to the desert, and laughed at its
terrors ; finding that experience robbed them of their first effect.
Sturt found the Darling, and traced the Murray to its
mouth, thus discovering the great arteries of the water system
of the most populated part of Australia, leaving the details to
be filled in: by others. In the interior he was the finder of
Eyre’s Creek and Cooper’s Creek; one of the tributaries of the
latter was soon afterwards discovered by Mitchell, and named
by him the Victoria, now called the Barcoo. In these two
1845. | STURT’S LIFE AND WORK. 151
creeks, as he called them, on account of the absence of
flowing water in their beds, Sturt unwittingly crossed the
second and only other great inland river system of the continent.
In the basin he traversed, in which these creeks lost their
character, he was riding over the united beds of the Barcoo,
the Thomson, the Diamentina, and the Herbert, west of whose
waters nothing in the shape of a defined system of drainage
exists, until the rivers of the western coast are reached. Asa
scientific explorer then, whose object was to unravel the mystery
of the interior, solve, if possible, the question of its strange
peculiarity, and trace out its physical formation, Sturt may well
be held the first and greatest. His success, perhaps, was
greater than he himself imagined, he came back dispirited with
failure, but as before he had found the broad outlines of the plan
of the drainage of the great plains, to be afterwards completed
by the discoveries of the tributary streams.
In addition to his longing to be the first to reach the centre
of Australia, Sturt fondly hoped that once past the southern
zone of the tropics, he would find himself in a country blessed
with a heavier and more constant rainfall ; as it was impossible
for him to know at that time, that the force of the north-west
monsoon was expended on the northern coast, and none of the
tropical deluge found its way with any degree of regularity to
the thirsty inland slope ; this theory appeared on the face of
it, feasible. Although an after knowledge may have now
enabled us to see the mistakes he made, and to regard his
descriptions of the uninhabitable nature of the interior as
exaggerated, it must be admitted that others in the same place
and circumstances would have made similar errors, and drawn
equally false conclusions.
In taking leave of this explorer, another short extract
from his journal will best show the character of the man of
whom Australians should be so justly proud.
‘“‘ Circumstances may yet arise to give a value to my recent labours,
and my name may be remembered by after generations in Australia, as
the first who tried to penetrate to its centre. If I failed in that great object, I
have one consolation in the retrospectof my pastservices. My pathamongst
Savage tribes has been a bloodless one, not but that I have often been
placed in situations of risk and danger, when I might have been justified
in shedding blood, but I trust I have ever made allowances for human
timidity, and respected the customs of the rudest people.”
152 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1844-45.
The next prominent figure in the history of this time is
Leichhardt, whose unknown fate has been the cause of so much
sentiment clinging about his name.
Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt arrived in the colony in 1842, and
travelled to Moreton Bay overland, where he occupied himself
for two years in short excursions in the neighbourhood, pursuing
his favourite study of physical science. Leichhardt was born in
Beskow, near Berlin, and studied in Berlin. Through a neglect,
he was excluded from the one-year military service, and thereby
induced to escape from the three-yearly service. The conse-
quence was, that he was pursued as a deserter and sentenced zx
contumaciam.
Afterwards, Alexander Von Humboldt succeeded, by repre-
senting his services to science on his first expedition in Aus-
tralia, in obtaining a pardon from the King. By a Cabinet
order Leichhardt received permission to return to Prussia
unpunished. This order, whether of any value to Leichhardt or
not, came too late. When it arrived in Australia he had already
started on his last expedition.
When the expedition was projected from Fort Bourke, on
the Darling, to the Gulf of Carpentaria or Port Essington, he
was desirous of securing the position of naturalist thereon ; the
delay in the starting of it disappointed him, and he made up his
mind to attempt one on his own account, a project in which
he received little encouragement. He persevered, however, and
eking out his own resources, by means of private contributions
he managed to get a party together, and on the rst of October,
1844, he left Jimbour, on the Darling Downs, with six whites
and two blacks, 17 horses, 16 head of cattle, and four kangaroo
dogs ; his other supplies being proportionately meagre.
As Leichhardt’s journal of this trip has been so widely read,
and as it does not possess the same striking interest as that of
Sturt’s, from the more accessible nature of the country travelled
through, and the absence of the constantly threatening dangers
overhanging both Sturt and Eyre, a shorter account of the
progress of the expedition will be found most acceptable.
His plan of starting from the Moreton Bay district,
and proceeding to Port Essington, differed considerably from
that proposed by Sir Thomas Mitchell. The course adopted by
Leichhardt, although longer and more roundabout than that
suggested from Fort Bourke, would be safer for his little band,
1845. | MURDER OF GILBERT. 153
keeping as it would, more to the well-watered coastal districts, and
avoiding the constant separations entailed upon parties traversing
the interior.
Leaving the head waters of the Condamine, the river
which receives so many of the tributary streams of the
Darling Downs, Leichhardt struck a river, which he named the
Dawson, thence he passed westward, on to the fine country of
the Peak Downs, whereon he named the minor waters of the
Comet, Planet, and Zamia Creeks.
On the roth of January, 1845, the Mackenzie River was
discovered, and here the Doctor and the black boy, Charlie,
managed to get lost for two or three days, a faculty which
apparently most of the party happily possessed. Following up
the Isaacs River, a tributary of the Fitzroy, they crossed the
head of it on to the Suttor; the only variation in the monotonous
record of the daily travel being the occasional capture of game,
and the mutinous conduct of the two black boys, who at various
times essayed to leave the party and shift for themselves, but
were on each occasion glad to return.
Following down the Suttor, they arrived at the Burdekin,
the largest river on the east coast, discovered by Leichhardt, up
the valley of which they travelled, until they crossed the
dividing watershed between the waters of the east coast and the
Gulf of Carpentaria, on to the head of the Lynd, which river
they followed to its junction with the Mitchell. Finding the
course of this river leading them too high north, on the eastern
shore of the Gulf, they left it, and struck to the sea coast,
intending to follow round the southern coast at a reasonable
distance inland. Up to this time they had been so little
troubled by the natives, that they had ceased almost to think of
meeting with any hostility from them.
On the night of the 28th June, 1845, they were encamped
at a chain of shallow lagoons, when soon after seven o'clock,
a shower of spears was thrown into the camp, wounding
Messrs. Roper and Calvert, and killing Mr. Gilbert instantly.
So unprepared were the party, that the guns were uncapped,
and it was some time before three or four discharges made the
blacks take to their heels. The body of the naturalist was
buried at the camp, but his grave was unmarked, as in order
to prevent the blacks from disinterring it, a large fire was lit
over the grave to hide its site.
154: AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1845.
From this unfortunate camp the party proceeded slowly
with the two wounded men for some days. A strange incident,
scarcely credible, happened during their tramp round the Gulf.
One night a blackfellow walked deliberately up to the fire round
which the party were assembled, having seemingly mistaken it
for his own. On discovering his mistake, he immediately
climbed up a tree, and raised a horrible din, lamenting, sobbing,
and crying, until they all removed to a short distance and
afforded him a chance of which he eagerly availed himself, of
escaping.
Leichhardt followed round the Gulf shores, naming the
many rivers he crossed after friends or contributors to his expe-
dition, or where he could identify them, retaining the names of
the coast surveys. Onthe 6th of August, he reached a river
which he mistook for the Albert, of Captain Stokes, but which
now bears his name, being so christened by A. C. Gregory, who
rectified his error. On this occasion, Leichhardt did not err so
widely as Burke and Wills did subsequently, when they mistook
the mouth of the Flinders for the Albert. With decreasing
_ supplies and increasing fatigue, they at last reached the large
river in the south-west corner of the Gulf, which he named the
Roper, and here he had the misfortune to lose four horses, and
had to sacrifice the whole of his botanical collection—a heavy
loss. On the 17th December, when very near the last of every-
thing, they arrived at the settlement of Victoria, at Port
Essington, and their long journey of ten months was over.
This expedition, successful as it was in opening up such a
large area of well watered country, attracted universal attention,
and enthusiatic poets broke forth into song at Leichhardt’s
return, as they already had done at his reported death. He was
heartily welcomed back to Sydney, and dubbed by journalists
the ‘Prince of Explorers.” But, perhaps, better still, a solid
money reward was raised by both public and private subscrip-
tion, and shared amongst the party, in due proportions. During
his journey, Leichhardt had discovered many important rivers
draining large and fertile areas. The principal being the
Dawson, the Mackenzie, the Suttor, the Burdekin, and its many
tributaries. The numerous streams of the Gulf of Carpentaria,
and others that have since become almost household words in
Australian geography. He was singularly fortunate on this
occasion ; although, judging by his after career, the luck which
1845. | RETURN OF LEICHHARDT. 155
had carried him through from Moreton Bay to Port Essington
deserted him suddenly and completely. His route had been
through a country so easy to penetrate and well watered, that
on one night only, had the party camped without water. The
blacks, with the exception of the time when Mr. Gilbert was
killed, were neither troublesome nor hostile, beyond occasionally
threatening them. Game was fairly plentiful, and compared
with the obstacles that beset Sturt, Eyre, and Mitchell, the
footsteps of the explorers had been through a garden of Eden.
But what took the public fancy the most was a certain halo
of romance surrounding the journey, partly from the report of
the death of the traveller having been circulated, and partly
from the trip having been successful in reaching the goal aimed
at, and attaining the results desired, namely, an available and
habitable route to the settlement at Port Essington. All these
circumstances, combined with the very slender means which had
enabled the young and enthusiastic explorer to succeed, threw
around Leichhardt’s reputation a glamour, which, fortunately for
his reputation, the mystery surrounding the total and absolute
disappearance of himself and party, in 1848, has deepened,
and kept alive until this day.
Leichhardt added a long string of discoveries to his name
during this one trip, and had his other attempts been as
successful in proportion, he would have taken the first place in
the history of Australian discovery, but it was not to be so, and
on this undoubtedly fruitful expedition his fame now stands.
Before Leichhardt’s return, Sir Thomas Mitchell had started
on his long-delayed journey, which, in the main, had the same
purpose in view as Leichhardt’s. This expedition had been long
talked of. In 1841, communications between Governor Gipps
and Captain Sturt had taken place on the subject, and in
December of the same year, Eyre, not long back from his
journey to King George’s Sound, wrote, offering his services.*
To this the Governor replied that he would be glad to avail
himself of Mr. Eyre’s services, provided that no prior claim to
the post was advanced by Captain Sturt. He also desired
Eyre’s views as to the expense of the party.
Eyre estimated that the sum of five thousand pounds
would, he thought, be sufficient to fully cover every expense,
* See Appendix.
156 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1845.
including the hire of a vessel (to meet the party on the north
coast), and the payment of the wages of the men and the
salaries of the surveyor and draughtsman. But the colony was
not in a mood to indulge in _ such expense, and nothing was
done just then.
In 1843, Major Mitchell submitted a plan of exploration
to the Governor, who promised to consult the Legislative
Council, who approved, and voted a sum of one thousand
pounds towards the expenses. The Governor referred the matter
to Lord Stanley, who gave a favourable reply; but still the
matter was delayed.
In the beginning of the following year (1844), Eyre again
made an offer of his services, intimating that now the altered
circumstances of the colony would allow it to be carried through
at a much cheaper rate. His offer was, however, declined, on
account of the Surveyor-General, to whom the honour right-
fully belonged, being in the field.
In 1845, the Council increased the exploration fund to two
thousand pounds, and Sir George Gipps instructed Major Mitchell
to start.
The views of Sir Thomas were in favour of obtaining a road
to the foot of the Gulf, instead of Port Essington, on account of
reducing the land journey considerably, and also there being
such a reasonable probability that a large river would be found
flowing northward into it.
In a letter which the Surveyor-General received from
Mr. Walter Bagot* about this time, mention is made of the
blacks reporting a large river west of the Darling, running to
the north or north-west. As, however, the natives do not seem
very clear in their knowledge of the difference between flowing
from and flowing to, it was probable that Cooper’s Creek, not
then discovered by Sturt, was the foundation of the legend, or
possibly the Paroo.
During the earlier part of the year, Commissioner Mitchell
(a son of Sir Thomas) made an exploration towards the Darling,
and the discoveries of the Narran, the Balonne, and the Culgoa
have been attributed to him; but, as will be seen by Bagot’s
letter, they were known to the settlers a year before ; no special
interest beyond this is to be found in the narrative of the
journey.
* See Appendix.
1845-46. | PROGRESS UP THE BALONNE. 157
On the 15th of December, 1845, Sir Thomas Mitchell started
from Buree, his old point of departure, at the head of the small
army with which he was once more going to vanquish the
wilderness. Mounted videttes, barometer carrier, carter, and
pioneer, etc., etc., were amongst the list of his subordinates.
Well might poor Leichhardt say, when thinking over his slender
resources—
‘“‘ Believe me, that one experienced and courageous bushman is
worth more than the eight soldiers Sir Thomas intends to take with him.
They will be an immense burthen, and of no use.”’
But Sir Thomas thought otherwise; without soldiers he
considered that certain failure awaited the rash explorer; discip-
line and method were the sheet anchors of his exploratory
existence, every tent in his camp was pitched by line, and
every dray had its station. With the fated Kennedy as
second, and Mr. W. Stephenson as surgeon and collector, he
had also with him twenty-eight men, eight bullock drays,
three horse drays, and two boats; and thus accompanied,
he marched to the north.
Sir Thomas Mitchell struck the Darling much higher than
Fort Bourke, the state of the country at this time of the year
rendering this change in his plan needful. It was not until he
was across the Darling that he was outside the settled districts,
so rapidly had the country been stocked since last he was there,
and even then he was onterritory that his son had lately
explored.
The first river the party struck, west of the Darling, was
the Narran, and this was followed up until the Balonne was
reached, which Mitchell pronounced the finest river in Australia,
with the exception of the Murray. Beyond this, they made the
Culgoa, and, crossing it, struck the river again above the separ-
ation of the two streams, which from thence upwards preserved
the name of the Balonne.
On the 12th April, they reached the natural bridge of rocks
on the Balonne, where the township of St. George now stands,
long known as St. George’s Bridge; and from here Sir Thomas
advanced with a light party, leaving Kennedy to follow on his
tracks with the remainder, after a rest of three weeks.
Soon after leaving the camp, Mitchell crossed the junction
of the Maranoa, but did not at that time like its appearance,
158 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1846.
and only followed it a few miles, returning and keeping the
course of the Balonne until they reached the junction of the
Cogoon from the westward, when they followed the course of
that river, which led them into a beautiful pastoral district around
a solitary hill, which the leader named Mount Abundance, and
here Mitchell first noticed the bottle tree.
Passing over a low range from the Cogoon, after crossing
some tributary streams, Sir Thomas found a river with a north-
erly and southerly course, full of fine reaches of water, which
retained its native name of the Maranoa, being supposed to be
the same as the junction before noticed. Here they awaited
the arrival of Kennedy with the heavy waggons and main body.
On the 1st of June, the party was reunited, and the leader
prepared for a fresh excursion. Before Kennedy left the first
depot, at which, it will be remembered, he was to remain six
weeks, he received despatches from Commissioner Mitchell to
Sir Thomas, by which that gentleman learnt of the success of
Leichhardt’s expedition.
Major Mitchell has been accused of regarding Leichhardt’s
success with jealous eyes, but that can scarcely be the case ; true,
he was of a slightly imperious temper, but he must have felt far
too secure of his own reputation to fear any man’s rivalry. The
hasty and impatient remarks he was occasionally betrayed into
would, no doubt, be the natural result of a man of his tempera-
ment reading such paragraphs in the Sydney newspapers as those
he has quoted in his journal :—
“ Australia Felix and the discoveries of Sir Thomas Mitchell now
dwindle into comparative insignificance.”
“We understand the intrepid Dr. Leichhardt is about to start
another expedition to the Gulf, keeping to the westward of the coast
ranges.”
The last item would be especially annoying, as it would
indicate an intention of trespassing on Mitchell’s then field of
operation.
On the 4th, the Surveyor-General started, intending to be
away from the depét for at least four months. He followed up
the Maranoa, and crossing the broken tableland at its head,
reached the Warrego, afterwards explored by Kennedy. From
this river Mitchell struck north, feeling inclined to think that he
was at last on the long looked for dividing watershed that sepa-
rated the northern from the southern flow.
1846. ] THE BELYANDO RIVER. L59
On the 2nd July, they discovered a fine running stream that
soon broadened into a river, and eventually into a lake,
called by Mitchell Lake Salvator, the river receiving the same
name. ‘Travelling along the basin of the head-waters of the
Nogoa, which, however, turned too much to the eastward for his
purpose, crossing the Claude and the fine country known as
Mantuan Downs, Mitchell ascended a dividing range, and struck
the head of the Belyando—one of the main tributaries of the
Burdekin so lately discovered by Leichhardt. Following it
down through the thick brigalow scrub, which is a marked
feature of this river and its companion the Suttor, of Leichhardt,
the party crossed the southern tropic on the 25th July, being, as
Mitchell says, the first to enter the interior beyond that line. In
this he rather overlooked the fact, which he must have known,
that Leichhardt’s track was only a few miles to the eastward,
and also what he did not then know, that he was not in the
interior but still on coast waters.
On the roth August, the camp was visited by some natives,
who did not appear of the most friendly disposition. They
apparently called the river Belyando, which name was adopted.
On their getting noisy and troublesome, they were ignominiously
put to flight by the dogs charging them. At this point Mitchell
had reluctantly to alter his preconceived opinions and conjectures,
and come to the conclusion that the northern fall of the waters
was still to be looked for to the westward, and that a further
continuance on his present course would lead him on to
Leichhardt’s track. Disappointed, he gave the order to turn
back, and on the last days of August they were once again on
the Nogoa tributaries.
At the foot of the range Mitchell established a second depot,
and on the toth September started with the black boy and
two men for a month’s trip to the westward. On this trip,
he must receive the credit of initiating the now commonly-
used water-bag for carrying water. His, it must be con-
fessed, was a very crude one, being only a thick flour bag,
covered outside with melted mutton fat.
The second day they met some natives, and from one old
woman learnt the names of some of the neighbouring streams,
particularly the Warrego, which river they had crossed on their
outward way. The first river he encountered was the Nive, and
again he, as usual, flattered himself that he was at the head of
160 AUSTRALIAN. EXPLORATION. (1846.
Gulf waters, little thinking that he was on the most northern
tributary of the Darling.
{
1862. | LANDSBOROUGH’S RETURN. 931
which it runs. He named the isolated and remarkable hills
visible from the river Fort Bowen and Mounts Brown and Little.
On the upper part of the Flinders he named Walker’s Creek
_—a considerable tributary—and from there struck more to the
south, towards Bowen Downs—country discovered by himself
and Buchanan two years previously. Here the leader was in
hopes of finding a newly-formed station, and obtaining some
more supplies ; but the country was still untenanted, although in
one place they observed the track of a dray, and they also
saw the tracks of a party of horsemen near Aramac Creek.
They now made for the Thomson, which is formed by the
junction of the Landsborough and Cornish Creeks, but did not
follow it down to the Barcoo, striking that river higher up.
On the Barcoo they had a slight skirmish with the blacks, who
nearly surprised them during the night.
Landsborough was now back in well-known country ; some
of it, in fact, he had been over before himself, and from the
number of trees they saw marked with different initials, it was
evident that before long stock would be on its way out. He
crossed on to the Warrego, followed that river down, and on the
21st of May came to the station of Messrs. Neilson and Williams,
where they heard of the fate of Burke and Wills, the objects
of their search. From here the party proceeded to the
Darling, and finally to Melbourne.
On Landsborough’s arrival in Melbourne, he found that
rumour had accredited him with being more interested in looking
for available pastoral country than in hunting for Burke and
Wills. So far as can be seen, this accusation was utterly
groundless, as there was no saying to what part of the Gulf
Burke and Wills would penetrate, and he was as likely to meet
with traces of them on the Barcoo as well as anywhere else.
With the general belief then current, of the desert nature of the
interior, nobody dreamt that four inexperienced men would have
been able to cross so easily in such a straight line.
The charge lay in a newspaper paragraph that went the round
of the daily papers, an extract from which runs as follows :—
‘Great credit must be given to Mr. Landsborough for the celerity
with which he has accomplished the expedition. At the same time, its
object seems to have been lost sight of at a very early stage of the
journey, as there was not the remotest probability of striking Burke’s
track after quitting the Flinder’s River, and taking a S.S.E. course for
232 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1862.
the remainder of the way. In fact, from that moment all mention *
ceases to be made of the ostensible purpose for which the party was
organised, until Mr. Landsborough reached the Warrego, and received the
intelligence of Burke and Wills having perished, at which great surprise
was expressed. But supposing these gallant men to have been still living,
and anxiously awaiting succour at some one of the ninety camping
places at which they halted, on their arduous journey between the depdt
and the Gulf, what excuse could Mr. Landsborough have offered for
giving so wide a berth to the probable route of the explorers, and for
omitting to endeavour to strike their track, traces of which had been
reported on the Flinders by Mr Walker? We may be reminded that
‘all’s well that ends well,’ that the lamented explorers were beyond the
reach of human assistance, and that Mr. Landsborough has achieved a
most valuable result in following the course he did; but we cannot help
remarking that in so doing he seems to have been more intent upon
serving the cause of pastoral settlement than upon ascertaining if it
were possible to afford relief to the missing men. The impression
produced by a perusal of the despatch which we published on Saturday
last is that the writer was commissioned to open up a practicable route
from the Warrego to the Flinders, and not that he was the leader of a
party which had been organized and despatched ‘for the purpose of
rendering relief, if possible, to the missing explorers under the command
_of Mr. Burke.’ We do not wish to detract one iota from the credit due
to Mr. Landsborough for what he has actually effected, but we must not
lose sight of ‘the mission of humanity’ in which he was professedly
engaged, nor the fact that this mission was replaced by one of a totally
different character, strengthening, as this circumstance does, the con-
viction, which is gaining ground in the public mind, that we have been
deluded in expending large sums of money in sending out relief expe-
ditions which were chiefly employed in exploring available country for
the benefit of the Government and people of Queensland. ‘The cost
and the empty honour has been ours, but theirs has been the substantial
gain.”
The reply to this is very simple. In the first place, Howitt
had been sent especially to follow up Burke from the start, and
would therefore be supposed to be searching the country on the
direct course. Again, Walker was—as Landsborough thought—
then following the homeward track of the lost party. The only
chance of affording succour to the missing men, left to Lands-
borough, was the remote one of accidentally coming upon them.
*This is incorrect. Landsborough particularly mentions in his journal
during his trip to the Barcoo, how anxiously he endeavoured to find out from the
natives if they had seen anybody with camels.
1861.] WALKER LEAVES ROCKHAMPTON. 233
Nobody could have reasonably supposed that such a costly and
elaborately got up expedition would have degenerated into a
scamper across to the Gulf, and a scramble back over the same
country.
Apart from all this, Landsborough did not apply for a lease
of any of the country discovered by him on the search expedi-
tion, the country called Bowen Downs having been his discovery
of two years previously, and considering that he closed his days
in comparative poverty, after all his labour, such insinuations as
the above are most unjust, and would be hardly worthy of com-
ment save for the prominent and adverse notice taken of it by
William Howitt, in general such an impartial historian.
The late William Landsborough first went north to Queens-
land in 1853. In 1854 Messrs. Landsborough and Ranken
formed a station on the Kolan River, between Gayndah and
Gladstone, where between bad seasons and blacks they had con-
siderable trouble. In 1856 his exploring career commenced in
the district of Broadsound and the Isaacs River. In 1858 he
explored the Comet to the watershed, and in the following year
the head-waters of the Thomson.
An old friend and comrade, writing of him, says :—
‘‘ Landsborough’s enterprise was entirely founded on his own self-
reliance. He had neither Government aid nor capitalists at his back
when he achieved his success as an explorer. He was the very model
of.a pioneer—courageous, hardy, good-humoured, and kindly. He was
an excellent horseman, a most entertaining and, at times, eccentric
companion, and he could starve with greater cheerfulness than any man I
ever saw or heard of. But excellent fellow though he was, his very indepen-
dence of character and success in exploring provoked much ill-will.”
It is to be hoped, therefore, that in future Landsborough’s
great services will be regarded in a more just light than they
were by some of his contemporaries, particularly some living
explorers, who resemble the one alluded to by Dr. Lang :—
‘But Mr.
who,
is not the only geographical explorer in Australia
‘ Turk-like, could bear no brother near the throne.’
It seems to be a family failing.”’
Frederick Walker was the leader of the Rockhampton
search expedition. He was an old bushman, had had much to
do with the formation of the native police of Queensland, and
took a party of native troopers with him on this occasion.
234 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. | 1862.
On receiving his commission he pushed rapidly out to the
Barcoo, and in the neighbourhood of the tree marked L, found
by Gregory, discovered another L tree. This may or may not
be considered a corroboration that the first was Leichhardt’s,
there being arguments on both sides. From the Barcoo he struck
north-west to the Alice, seeing some old horse-tracks, which he
thought must be Leichhardt’s, but which were probably those of
Landsborough and Buchanan. From the head-waters of the
Alice and Thomson, Walker struck a river he called the Barkly,
in reality the head of the Flinders. Here he experienced much
difficulty from the rough basaltic nature of the country which
borders the upper reaches of this river. Finally getting on to
the great western plains he unwittingly crossed the Flinders, and
went far to the north looking for it. Bearing into the Gulf, he
had several encounters with the natives, who by this time it may
be supposed began to see too many exploring parties.
Walker’s track down here is rather vague. He may be
said to have run a parallel course to the Flinders River away to
the north of it, until, on nearing the coast, the bend of the river
brought it across his course again. Here he found the tracks of
the camels, which assured him that Burke had at any rate
reached the Gulf in safety. He therefore pushed on to the
depét at the Albert to get a supply of provisions, and return
and follow the tracks up.
He reached the Victoria depét safely, as before related, and
reported his discovery, having had two more skirmishes with the
natives on the way. Fresh provisioned, he made back for the
Flinders, but found it impossible to follow the tracks. From
what he saw, however, he formed a theory that Burke had
retreated towards Queensland, and there he made up his mind
to return. He regained his former course on the river he calls
the Norman, but which may have been the Saxby, and up this
river he toiled till he reached the network of watersheds which
forms such a jumble of broken country at the heads of the
Burdekin, Lynd, Gilbert and Flinders.
Here Walker’s horses suffered severely from the rocks and
stones, until at last, by the time they had reached the Lower
Burdekin, they were well-nigh horseless, and quite starving.
On the 4th of April, 1862, they reached Strathalbyn cattle
station, owned by Messrs. Wood and Robison, not far from
where M‘Kinlay eventually arrived.
1862. | ABANDONMENT OF THE DESERT THEORY 235
M‘Kinlay’s was the last party to use the roundabout and
rugged road to the head of the Burdekin that seemed to have
such attractions for all the explorers. Henceforth the road to
the Gulf lay down the wide plains of the Flinders.
Walker was afterwards employed by the Queensland
Government to explore a track for the telegraph line from
Rockingham Bay to the mouth of the Norman River, in the
Gulf of Carpentaria. This he carried out successfully; but
when at the Gulf he was attacked by the then prevalent
malarial fever, and died there.
This completes the series of expeditions undertaken for the
relief of Burke and Wills. ‘The eastern half of Australia was
now nearly all known—from south to north, and from north to
south, it had been crossed and re-crossed, and future enterprise
was soon to expend itself upon the western half.
So far the results arrived at had been most satisfactory.
Not much over forty years after Oxley’s gloomy prediction of
the future of the interior, country had been found surpassing in
richness any that was then known. The pathways for the
pioneers had been marked out, and a few more years was to see
the whole of the continent up to the western boundary of
Queensland the busy scene of pastoral industry.
Most noticeable in the history we have just recounted is the
persistent manner in which each succeeding explorer found in
all new discoveries the fulfillment of some pet theory. To the
men brought up in the old school of belief in the central desert,
every fresh advance into the interior was only pushing the
desert back a step; it was there still, and, according to some, it
is there now. Others who believed in the great river theory,
imagined its source in the fresh discovery of every inland river ;
and those who pinned their faith on a central range, accepted the
low broken ridges of the M‘Donnel Ranges as the leading spurs.
But the discoveries of the luxuriant new herbage and edible
shrubs of the interior were the greatest stumbling block to all.
That the much-despised sa/so/ea and other shrubs should be
coveted and sought after; that the bugbear of Oxley, the acacia
pendula, should now be held to indicate good country was in-
conceivable; and when, above everything, the most fondly-
cherished of all delusions, that in the torrid north the sheep’s
wool would turn to hair, had to be given up, it was quite evident
that a new order of belief would soon be entertained.
236 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1859-62.
Writers, however, were still found to argue that things must
be after the old opinion. When M‘Kinlay took his little flock of
sheep across Australia and found them grow so fat that, when at
the Gulf, he had to select the leanest one to kill from choice, they
cried out triumphantly, “Ah, but the flesh was tasteless!”
When he assured them that he had never enjoyed better mutton,
they said that it was hunger made him think so.
Still the distinctive value of the country was not under-
stood. Landsborough, who ought certainly to have known
better, speaks highly of the Gulf plains as a suitable sheep run;
but he was not alone in this belief. The valley of the Burdekin,
and many of its tributaries were stocked with sheep by men of
acknowledged experience. Ina few years the error was found
out, and sheep pastures were sought for only in the uplands of
the interior.
But the later explorations had done much good for the new
colony of Queensland. Most of the work, with the exception of
Stuart's, had been wrought out within her boundaries, and
capital and stock flowed in from all sides. This led to many
private expeditions, such as those conducted formerly by
Messrs. Landsborough, Walker, and Buchanan.
Amongst these, one under the leadership of Mr. Dalrymple
penetrated the coast country north of Rockhampton, and dis-
covered the main tributaries of the Lower Burdekin, the Bowen
and the Bogie rivers. They followed down the Burdekin in
1859, and discovered that its embouchere was much higher up
the coast than was supposed. From this point they turned back,
and ascending the coast range, reached the upper waters of the
Burdekin, and discovered the Valley of Lagoons, west of Rock-
ingham Bay. Another party, consisting of Messrs. Cunningham,
Somer, Stenhouse, Allingham, and Miles explored the Upper
Burdekin in the following year, and discovered tracts of good
pastoral country on the many tributaries of that river. The
remarkable running stream which joins the Burdekin below the
township of Dalrymple, and was noticed and called by M‘Kinlay
the Brown River, was really first found by this party, though
where it obtained its present name of Fletcher’s Creek is not on
record.
In the far south, the Great Bight became once more the
scene of interest. In 1862, Goyder paid a visit to the much-
abused region north of Fowler’s Bay, but found nothing to
1863. ] RAPID SPREAD OF SETTLEMENT. 237
reward him but mallee scrub and spinifex. In this year Delisser
and Hardwicke went over the same country, but on a much more
attractive route, as they came upon a large, limitless plain,
covered with grass and saltbush. Unfortunately they could find
no water, but since then this want has been supplied by sinking
and boring, and pastoral settlement has extended so far.
In the year 1863, Mr. Thomas Macfarlane attempted to get
inland, north of the Bight, but was forced to turn back, after
suffering much hardship. He, too, found some fairly-grassed
country, but quite waterless.
In Western Australia, the colonists still made efforts to find
good country east of the Swan River. Lefroy and party pushed
out to the eastward of York, but were not able to give a much
better account of the country than their predecessors. In the
north-west a party of colonists landed at the De Grey River, and
settled on the country found by F. Gregory. Their account
quite confirmed the one given by that explorer previously.
Once more a fresh chapter in the history of exploration has
to be turned. All around the coast the fringe of settlement was
rapidly creeping, the gaps of unoccupied country growing smaller
and fewer every year. The adventurous traveller who now forced
his way through to the late uninhabited north coast would
find several infant settlements ready to receive him, and he
would no longer be obliged to retrace, with weakened frame and
exhausted resources, his toilsome outward track. The last stage
of Australia’s history was about tu set in; the telegraph wire
was soon to follow on Stuart’s footsteps, and the ring of com-
munication to be nearly completed around the continent.
CHAPTER XI.
Settlement formed at Somerset, Cape York, by the Queensland Government—
Expedition of the Brothers Jardine —Start from Carpentaria Downs Station—
Disaster by fire—Reduced resources—Arrive at the coast of the Gulf—Hos-
tility of the blacks—Continual attacks—Horses mad through “drinking salt
water—Poison country—An unfortunate camp—Still followed by the natives
—Rain and bog—Dense _ scrub—Efforts of the two brothers to reach
Somerset—Final Success—Lull in exploration—Private parties—Settlement
at Escape Cliffs by South Australia—J. M‘Kinlay sent up—Narrow escape
from floods— Removal of the settlement to Port Darwin—M ‘Intyre’s expe-
dition in search of Leichhardt—His death—Hunt in Western Australia—
False reports about traces of Leichhardt—Forrest’s first expedition—Sent
to investigate the report of the murder of white men in the interior—Con-
vinced of its want of truth—Unpromising country—Second expedition to
Eucla—The cliffs of the Great Bight—Excursion to the north—Safe arrival
at Eucla.
THE year 1863 was one of great activity in the northern part of
Australia. At Cape York the Imperial Government had, on the
recommendation of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of
Queensland, decided to form a settlement. Mr. Jardine, the
police magistrate of Rockhampton was selected to take command,
and a detachment of marines was sent out to be stationed
there. | 7 |
At the Gulf of Carpentaria the township of Burketown was
springing into existence, under the care of William Lands-
borough, the explorer; and in the north of Arnhem’s Land,
M‘Kinlay was looking for a suitable site to establish a port for
South Australia. Somerset, the formation of which led to the
expedition of the Jardine brothers, was formed on the mainland
at the Albany Pass, opposite the island of that name. Mr.
Jardine was to proceed by sea to his new sphere of office, but
anticipating the want of fresh meat at the new settlement, he
entered into an arrangement with the Government for his two
sons to take a herd of cattle overland to there. Somerset was
near the fatal scene of poor Kennedy’s death, and knowing what
tremendous difficulties that explorer had met with on the east
coast, it was decided to attempt the western fall, through the
unknown country fronting the Gulf.
;
{
:
F]
|
1864, FRANK AND ALEXANDER JARDINE. 239
Both the Jardines were quite young men at the time when
they started, Frank, the accepted leader, being only twenty-two
years old, and his brother, Alexander, twenty. Besides them-
selves, the party was composed of A. J. Richardson, a surveyor
sent by the Government; Messrs. Scrutton, Binney and
Cowderoy, and four natives. They had forty-two horses, and
about two hundred and fifty head of cattle, with four months,
provisions.
Before their final start from Carpentaria Downs Station,
then the furthest occupied country to the north-west, and
supposed to be situated on the Lynd River, of Leichhardt,
Alexander Jardine made a trip of some distance ahead in order
to ensure finding an available road for the cattle, and saving
delay when the actual start took place.
On this preliminary journey he followed the presumed
Lynd down for nearly one hundred and eighty miles, until he
was convinced that there was an error, and that, whatever river
it was, it certainly was not Leichhardt’s, as neither in appear-
ance, direction, nor position did it coincide with that explorer’s
description.
On the subsequent journey with the cattle this supposition
was found to be correct, the river turning out to be a tributary
of the Gilbert, now known as the Einnesleigh. On the rith of
October, after A. Jardine’s return, the final start was made from
Carpentaria Downs, and the whole of the party commenced a
journey destined to be full of peril and adventure.
The beginning of their trip down the Einnesleigh was
unavoidably rough, and on the 22nd of the month they came to
a halt to spell their cattle and look for the Lynd River, to
which they trusted to carry them a good distance on their
way. On the 24th the two brothers started, and in about
thirty miles came to another river, where they found a fine
chain of lagoons, but no country at all resembling the Lynd.
All search beyond being resultless, the went back to the main
body; and, leaving instructions: for the cattle to start by a
certain date for the new-found lagoons, they made another effort
to find the Lynd.
This time they were again rewarded by discovering a good-
sized creek, but no sign of the Lynd was met with, nor did they
ever see it, as owing to an error in the map they had with them,
the location of the river had been thirty miles misplaced.
240 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1864.
Returning to the lagoons, which the cattle had now reached,
instructions were given to start forward, but the first day one of
the series of heavy misfortunes befell them, that afterwards
seemed to dog them so perseveringly. In the morning a large
number of the horses were missing, and leaving a party behind
to find them and come on with the pack-horses, the Jardines and
some of the others made a start with the cattle, and on the
second day reached the large creek, but, to their surprise,
without being overtaken by the men with the pack-horses.
After an anxious day spent in waiting, Alexander Jardine went
back to see what was the matter, and on his way met the missing
party charged with heavy news. Through some carelessness in
allowing the grass around the camp to catch fire, half their
rations, and nearly the whole of their equipment had been burnt.
In addition, one of the most valuable of their horses had been
poisoned. This misfortune coming at such an early stage of the
journey, with all the unknown country ahead of them, was most
serious, and jeopardised their prospect greatly. However, there
was no help for it ; so giving up all hope of the Lynd. they fol-
lowed down the creek they were then camped on.
The natives soon commenced to give them a foretaste of
what they kept up during nearly the whole of the journey.
Once about twenty appeared at sundown, and boldly attacked
the camp with a shower of spears, and two days afterwards the
younger Jardine, when out alone, was suddenly surprised by
them.
The creek finally led them to the Staaten River, and here the
blacks succeeded in stampeding the horses, and it was days
before some of them were recovered.
On the 5th December they left this ill-fated river, and
steered due north, but bad luck followed them, the torment of
mosquitoes and sandflies, added to bad feed, caused their
horses to ramble incessantly, and whilst the brothers were
away on these hunting excursions, the party at the camp
allowed their solitary mule to stray away with his pack on; and
despite all efforts he was never found again. Unfortunately,
this animal carried a lot of their most necessary articles, and
their loss reduced them almost to the same state as the black-
fellows who surrounded them.
Two horses here went mad through drinking salt water, one
died, and the other was too ill to travel, and had to be left.
-
a or rae - oS
pets. ee ee ne aoa
1864. | _ CONSTANT ASSAULTS. | 241
On December the 13th they at last reached the long-desired
Mitchell river, not without having another pitched battle on the
way with the natives.- For the blacks followed them throughout
with the same relentless hostility that they formerly had shown to
Kennedy, and evidently meant to mete out the same fate
to them, for whilst the party were on the Mitchell they
mustered in force, and fell upon the travellers with the greatest
determination, and it was only after a severe contest, and heavy
loss had been inflicted on’ the savages that they retired.
It can be imagined how these continued attacks, in addition
to the harassing nature of the country, gave the party all they
knew to hold their own, and but for the prompt and plucky way
in which these assaults were always met, not one of the little
band would have survived. From what was afterwards found out
from some of the semi-civilized natives about Somerset, these
tribes followed the explorers for over four hundred miles.
Leaving the Mitchell and making north, they travelled
through poor country, thinly grassed, and badly watered, but
the blacks were still on their heels.
On the 28th December, they commenced on the horses,
driving them about, and another stand-up fight ensued. Storms
of rain now set in, and they had to travel through dismal ti-tree
flats, with the constant expectation of being caught by a flood
on low-lying country.
On the 5th of January, they came to a well-grassed valley,
with a good river running through it, which was named the
Archer, and on the gth crossed another river, which was sup-
posed to be the Coen. On leaving this river, troubles thickened
around them ; the rain continued incessantly, the country was so
boggy they could scarcely get their animals along at all, and to
add to everything, when they reached the Batavia, two horses
were drowned in crossing, and six more were poisoned* and died.
Fate seemed to have pretty well done her worst ; they could
do nothing else but face the future manfully. Burying every-
thing they possibly could, they packed all the horses, and started
resolutely on foot. On the 14th, two more horses died, and
the blacks came once more to see how they were getting on.
As may be imagined, the white men were in not much of a
humour for patience, and the skirmish was a brief one.
* See Appendix.
242 - AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. | 1864-65.
On the 17th, two more horses died from the effects of the
poison plant, and they were reduced to fifteen out of the forty-
two with which they started. They were now approaching the
narrow crest of the cape, and found themselves on a dreary
waste of sandy, barren country, whereon only heath grew,
intersected too with boggy creeks. On the roth of January,
they caught a glimpse of the sea to the eastward, from the top
of a tree, and on the 2oth it was in plain view.
They were now amongst the same description of scrubs
that had played such havoc with Kennedy, and day after day
they only advanced a few miles. On the 29th, after many days
of bog and scrub cutting, it was determined to halt the cattle,
whilst the two Jardines made an effort to reach Somerset, and
find a less difficult track, as they now believed themselves only —
twenty miles from that place; but in reality they were more,
although, after the country they had passed through, any calcu-
lation that could be made would be only approximate.
On the 30th January, the brothers, with their most-trusted
black boy, “‘Eulah,” started to find the settlement, taking with
them a small quantity of rations. For a time they were
hemmed-in in a bend of what they took to be the Escape River,
but on leaving it suddenly came on a large river running to the
west coast, which is now known as the Jardine. ‘This forced
them to return to the main camp, and after a few days’ rest,
they made to the north again, swimming their horses over at the
main camp, where the cattle were, and from there starting, this
time down the stream.
This trip was a most fatiguing one, through dense vine
scrub, through which they had to work their way tomahawk in
hand. On the second day they sighted the ocean, and after
travelling towards it, came to a river three-quarters of a mile
wide, which they could not cross. Following it up through
fearful country, as Jardine says, ‘too bad to describe,” they had
to at last camp where they were, being cut off from even
approaching the river by a formidable belt of mangroves. Next
day was spent in like fruitless attempts, and the next the
same. .
It being evident that there was no crossing-place for the
cattle to be found, they turned back to the camp, having come
to the conclusion that the rivers were identical, and that on their
first expedition they had been deceived by a large bend.
5 eT LOE
+ ag
1865. | FINAL ARRIVAL AT SOMERSET. 24:3
Tired and wearied, disappointed at finding themselves so near
the settlement, and yet hemmed in and embarrassed by impene-
trable thickets, and impassable morasses, the brothers now made
_ up their minds to start with the whole party, and try to get round
the big bend of the Escape that they thought they must be on.
After killing a bullock they started, and at their third camp, from
the top of the high ridge they sighted the sea to the westward,
and were able to trace the course of the river the whole way, thus
convincing themselves at last that it was not the Escape they
were on.
A reference to the map will at once explain the peculiarity of
the course of these two rivers that had so puzzled the explorers.
The Jardine is a large river heading from the east coast, and
running with many bends, clear across the promontory to the
west coast, completely heading the Escape which has been a short
course. As the Jardine River was before unknown, and _ the
Escape was well-known, it was but natural that the mistake
should have occurred. Added to all this, they were in the depth
of the wet season, and amidst flooded creeks whose size and
importance could not be fairly gauged.
Once more the two brothers and the black boy swam the
river, and made a third effort to reach Somerset. For two days
they were detained on the bank of a flooded creek, crossing it on
its subsidence on the thirdday. On the 28th February they were
in better country, and a good stage was made, and the next
morning they encountered a tribe of blacks who greeted them
with cries of ‘Alico! Franco! Tobacco!’ and other words.
From these natives they finally selected three as guides, and at
noon the following day reached the settlement.
As was but natural, their long journey had caused their father
great trouble and anxiety; he had done all in his power to help
them at the end, having cut a marked tree line almost across the
promontory, and instructed the blacks in the few English words
they could remember to greet the wanderers if they met with
them, which last device succeeded admirably.
It remains but to be said that the rest of the party and the
remnant of their stock were soon brought in to Somerset, where
a cattle station was formed. When we look at the difficulties
through which they had forced their way, and the unexpected
misfortunes that beset them, one cannot help feeling the greatest
admiration for the two brothers in attaining such success, not
244, AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1863-65.
having lost a member of the party throughout the journey, in
spite of the numberless treacherous attacks of the natives to
which they were subjected, and the daily risks of illness, swim-
ming flooded rivers, and other perils. Above all regret must be
felt that their work was not better rewarded by the discovery of
available pastoral country, but that result it was not in their
power to control. They had at any rate the proud feeling of
having done their duty, and that beset by the same dangers that
had environed poor Kennedy, they had lived to tell the tale when
he had laid down his life.
Whilst the Jardines were fighting their way through to Cape
York, and rendering such good service to geographical research,
a labour which the Royal Geographical Society afterwards
acknowledged by electing the brothers, Fellows of the Society,
and awarding the Murchison grant to each of them, the pioneer
squatters were everywhere busy.
Mr. J. G. Macdonald started with a small party to visit the
much lauded Plains of Promise, and discover a better route for
stock than the one formerly taken by the explorers. By crossing
the dividing range on to the upper part of the Flinders, and
following that river down, a much shorter and more practicable
route was made available for the army of cattle and sheep now
marching to the western pasture land, and the magnificent
country on the river named after the great navigator was brought
prominently into notice.
In the far north of Australia, settlement on a fresh scale was
once more undertaken; this time under purely colonial auspices.
The territory beyond the northern boundary line of South
Australia, extending to the shores of Arnheim’s Land, and part
of the Gulf of Carpentaria hadlongbeen considered No Man’s Land,
although the English had formerly taken possession of it. The
arrival of the Astrolabe and Zelze in Raffles Bay in 1839, gave
colour to the supposition that the French had a design to secure
part of this territory after our first abandonment of it. Fortu-
nately Sir Gordon Bremer was in time to make the second settle-
ment at Port Essington a few short weeks before the appearance
of M. Dumont D’Urville, even as Governor Phillip forestalled La
Perouse.
The territory was provisionally annexed to the Province of
South Australia by commission under the great seal, bearing date
8th July, 1863. It comprised all the country to the northward of
1863-65. | THE SIGHT OF PORT DARWIN SELECTED. 245
the twenty-sixth parallel south latitude, and between the 129th
and 138th degrees of east longitude.
The inland country was known only from the description of
Stuart, Gregory and Leichhardt.
In 1864 an expedition left Adelaide to proceed by sea to
Adam Bay, and there form a depét, whilst search for a suitable
site for atownship was made. Colonel Finnis was sent in charge
of the infant colony, and three vessels, the Henry Lillis, the
Yatala, andthe Geatrice conveyed the emigrants to their destina-
tion, where they safely arrived in August, 1864.
A discretionary power had been entrusted to the leader with
regard to the choice of a suitable position ; Port Essington and
Raffles Bay were excepted, the former failures to establish settle-
ments at those places being probably looked upon as ominous.
Escape Cliffs in Adam Bay, so called from the narrow
escape two officers of the Beagle had from death at the hands
of the natives, was chosen, but the choice was not ratified. A
good deal of dissension broke out in the early days, and J.
M‘Kinlay, the well-known explorer, was sent north to select a
more favourable position, and report generally on the capabilities
of the territory. He organized an exploring party, and left the
camp at Escape Cliffs with the intention of making a long
excursion to the eastward; but he only reached the East
Alligator River, where he was cut off and hemmed in by
sudden floods, and narrowly escaped losing his whole party.
Everything had to be abandoned, and the explorers escaped
from their critical position by resorting to the construction
of coracles of horse hide, by means of which they managed to
save their lives. On his return, M‘Kinlay examined the mouth
of the Daly River in Anson Bay, and recommended it as a site
in preference to Escape Cliffs, the suggestion was not, however,
acted on.
_ This was M‘Kinlay’s last expedition. He died at Gawler,
in South Australia, in December, 1874.
The affairs of the new settlement were now in such a
disorganised state that a commission of enquiry was appointed,
_ and the result was that Colonel Finnis was removed.
Mr. Goyder then selected Port Darwin as a better situation
than that of Escape Cliffs, and the township was laid out and the
residents removed to there. The establishment of the overland
telegraph line soon caused the town of Palmerston to take
246 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1868-65.
permanent importance, which the discovery of gold in the
Northern Territory confirmed.
Western Australia, too, had an unfortunate experience
about this time, an attempt being made to establish a settle-
ment at Camden Harbour. The country was quite unsuitable,
and it was abandoned.
Some fresh interest was now aroused in the unsettled
question of the fate of Leichhardt. A Mr. M‘Intyre, who, in
1864, was taking stock from the Darling to the Flinders River,
found himself stopped on the Queensland border by the stock
regulations then in force in that colony. Whilst detained there
he made several short excursions, and examined the country
between the head of the Paroo and the Barcoo, discovering
many well-watered creeks and a lake of considerable size. On
his return, finding that there was still no chance of his being
allowed to take his stock on, he determined to make a trip to
the Gulf of Carpentaria and examine the country he intended
taking up.
The party left the Paroo on the 21st June, 1864, and
the journey led to an unexpected discovery. On the way
over, M‘Intyre found and buried the bodies of two unfor-
tunate pioneers who had preceded him, Messrs. Curlewis and
M‘Culloch. They had been murdered when asleep by the
natives.
Twenty-two days after leaving the Paroo they reached
Cooper’s Creek, and then pursued much the same track to the
Gulf as that formerly followed by Burke and Wills, and M‘Kinlay.
Three hundred miles from the sea, and to the westward of
Burke’s track, M‘Intyre came upon two old saddle-marked
horses, grazing upon what appeared to be a permanently-
watered creek. A short distance to the eastward he found the
traces of two camps, and two trees marked L. From these
circumstances M‘Intyre concluded that he had come upon new
and important traces of the lost explorer.
On his return to the south, public interest was at once
aroused, and, aided by the championship of Baron Von Mueller,
whose enthusiasm in the cause of discovery never flags, a com-
mittee was formed to organise a party to at once follow up
these clues, and try to set at rest the much-vexed question.’
In order to fully arouse the sympathies of the public, the
matter was with much gallantry placed in the hands of the
1863-65.] FORMATION OF THE TELEGRAPH LINE. 247
ladies of Victoria, and under their auspices a party was equipped
and the command given to Mr. M‘Intyre. Unfortunately for the
success of the expedition, the leader died of malarial fever
before the party leit the settled districts of the Gulf of Carpen-
taria. From the course mapped out for the explorers, there is
no doubt that, even if the aim of the expedition had not been
reached, an earlier knowledge of much unknown country would
have been obtained.
As was but natural, the construction of the overland tele-
graph line between Adelaide and Port Darwin led to numbers
of short explorations on either side of the line, which consider-
ably added to our knowledge of the interior, but of which no
records have been kept.
The establishment of this telegraph line and its mainten-
ance did much towards the settlement of Central Australia. It
formed, as it were, a chain of outposts through the heart of the
continent, and thereby greatly facilitated the success of many
private expeditions undertaken in quest of country for pastoral
purposes. |
South Australia had served a rough apprenticeship in the
cause of exploration, and the experience gained by her pioneers
now stood her in good stead in the successful accomplishment
of the national work she at this time undeftook—the establish-
ment of telegraphic communication with England. Queensland,
the youngest colony of the group, was striving very hard to
secure the landing of the cable on her shores. Walker, the
leader of one of the Burke and Wills search parties, was out
examining the country at the back of Rockingham Bay, and
marking a telegraph line from there to the mouth of the Norman
River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria. South Australia, however, ©
thanks to her energy and superior geographical position,
secured the honour; and already the completion of a railway
across the country which witnessed the repeated efforts of
Stuart is being hastened on.
In Western Australia, in 1864, Hunt made a long excursion
to the eastward of York, and travelled for 400 miles over the °
country lying between the 31st and 32nd parallels. He found
nothing to reward him for his trouble—scrub, salt lakes and
samphire flats were the same wearisome repetition.
During the construction of the overland telegraph line
it was surmised that such a close examination of the country
248 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1866.
as would necessarily ensue, might lead to the finding of
traces of Leichhardt, if he ever had reached so far on his
journey; but none were found. Apparently it suggested
an idea to a prisoner in one of the gaols of New South Wales,
for he made a statement to the effect that he had been
employed as a labourer on the construction of the overland
telegraph line, and whilst so engaged had been in the habit of
making long excursions into the unexplored territory on either
side of the line. During one of these trips he came across some
blacks, who informed him that they had an old white man living
with their tribe. Hume—which was the name of the hero of this
story—professed to have an intimate acquaintance with the habits
and customs of the natives, and willingly accompanied them to
their camp. Here he found a venerable old white man, who
turned out to be Classen—Leichhardt’s brother-in-law—and from
him Hume learnt that the death of the leader and most of his
party happened through a mutiny in the camp, Leichhardt being
murdered, and the party then becoming disorganised and lost.
This absurd story was repeated so earnestly that inquiries were
instituted, and it was found that Hume had really been employed
on the telegraph line, and that whilst there he had been absent
for some time on one or two occasions.
Hume was interviewed by some gentlemen who were in-
terested in the solution of Leichhardt’s fate, and he now added
a little additional matter: that on a subsequent visit he found
that Classen, rendered restless by the near neighbourhood of the
whites, had made an effort to reach them and died in the attempt.
This, with a few variations as to the details of the death of
Leichhardt, led to Hume being released from gaol for the purpose
of leading a party to the spot where Classen had pointed out
that he had concealed Leichhardt’s journals. But for the tragedy
that ended the affair this episode would scarcely be of sufficient
importance to insert in the history of explorations. Money
having been furnished for the purpose, Hume and two com-
panions started on their search. They reached Thargomindah—
then the nucleus of a small township in Western Queensland—
and left a station called Nockatunga to make a short cut across
some dry country. One man only turned up. He said that they
had lost themselves, had separated looking for water, and with
much difficulty he reached the station. Search being instituted
the dead bodies of Hume and the other man were found, they
1859. ] FORREST’S FIRST EXPEDITION. 249
having perished of thirst. This story was revived many years
afterwards by another man, who had lived a good deal on the
frontiers of Queensland. According to him, Leichhardt and
some of his party died of hunger and thirst, Classen was revived
again, and the discoverer stated that he had in his possession a
diary and many relics of the explorer. Although expressing his
willingness to produce the relics on receiving the promise of an
adequate reward, he never did so, and having attained a tempo-
rary notoriety, returned to his former obscurity. This may be
said to end the rumours of the discovery of Leichhardt’s
memorials, They served no good end in any way. ©
John Forrest, of Western Australia, made his first import-
ant journey in 1869. It will be remembered that a report had
been current for many years amongst the natives of Western
Australia, to the effect that a party of white men coming from
the east had been murdered by the natives on the shore of an
interior salt lake. A Mr. Monger, when out west in search of
pastoral country, came across a native who stated that he had
been to the place where the murder was committed, had seen
the remains, and would lead the party there.
As usual with the Australian natives, his story was most
circumstantial. He described the scene of the murder as being
in the neighbourhood of a large lake, so large that it looked like
the sea, and that the white men were attacked and killed whilst
making adamper. These artistic details with which the blacks
embellish their narratives, make it very hard to refuse credence
to them.
Baron Von Mueller immediately wrote to the Western
Australian Government, offering to lead a party there, and
ascertain the truth of the report. The Government took the
matter up, and made preparations to start an expedition. Von
Mueller was, however, prevented by his other engagements
from taking charge, and the command was given to Mr. John
Forrest, a surveyor.
On the 26th of April, 1869, Forrest and his party
reached Yarraging, then the farthest station to the eastward.
On the first of May, when camped at a native well, visited
by Austin in 1854, Forrest says that he could still distinctly
see the trgcks of that explorer’s horses. Past this spot he fell
in with natives, who told him that a large party of men and
horses died at a place in a northerly direction, and that a gun
250 | AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1869.
belonging to.the party was still in the possession of the blacks.
On closer examination this story turned out to relate to nine of
Mr. Austin’s horses poisoned during his expedition. Forrest
continued his journey to the eastward, and on the 18th came to
a large dry salt lake, which henamed Lake Barlee. An attempt
to cross this lake resulted in getting the horses bogged, and a
good deal of hard work had to be gone through before the packs
and horses were once more safe on dry land Lake Barlee was
afterwards found to be of great size, extending for more than
forty miles to the eastward. The native guide Forrest had with
him now became rather doubtful as to the exact position of the
spot where he professed to have seen the remains, and Forrest,
after some searching, came across a large party of the local
inhabitants. But they proved anything but friendly, threw
dowaks at the blackfellow, and advised the whites to go away
before they were killed. As it was getting dark they adopted
this advice, and retreated some five miles and camped, Mr.
Monger having unfortunately lost his revolver in the scrub. Next
morning they managed to get speech with two of the blacks, who
restored the revolver, which they had found, and had been warm-
ing at the fire. These men stated that the bones were two days’
journey to the north, but they were the bones of horses, not of
men, and offered to take the whites there, promising to come
to the camp the following day, a promise which was not kept.
No other intercourse with the blacks was obtainable, at
least none that produced any good results. Oneold man simply
howled piteously all the time they were in his company, and
~another one, who had two children with him, said most emphati-
cally that he had never heard of any horses having been killed,
but that the natives had just killed and eaten his brother.
After vainly searching the district for many days, Forrest
determined to utilise the remainder of the time at his disposal
by examining the country as far to the eastward as his resources
would permit.
It was evident that the story of the white men’s remains
had originated from the bones of the horses that died during
Austin’s trip; and, as no matter how circumstantial might be
the narrations of the blacks, they invariably contradicted them
the next time they were interrogated, it was evideng it would
serve little purpose being led by them on a foolish errand from
place to place. |
1869. | DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE END. 251
After pushing some distance east with very little encourage-
ment in the shape of good country, Forrest, taking with
him one black boy and a seven days’ supply of rations,
made a final excursion ahead, and managed to reach a
point one hundred: miles beyond the spot where he left his
companions encamped. He found nothing to reward him.
It was only by means of shallow and scanty pools of water
that he managed to get so far, and the country where he
turned back was certainly clearer than any he had crossed ;
but it was only open sand plains, with spinifex and large
white gums. He climbed a large gum tree to have a last look
to the eastward, but it was a scene of desolation. Some
rough sandstone cliffs were visible, distant about six miles
N.E.; more to the north, a narrow line of samphire flats
appeared, with cypress and stunted gums on its edges—
everywhere there was spinifex, and no prospect of water.
Forrest turned back, and retraced his steps to where he had
left his companions.
On his homeward way he managed to cross the dry bed of
Lake Barlee, which had so nearly engulfed his horses, and
examined the northern side of it.
On their return track Forrest kept a more northerly and
westerly course, but saw nothing to alter the unfavourable
report of the country made by the former explorers. He re-
turned to Perth on the 6th August.
Forrest was not more successful than those preceding him
in finding good available country to the eastward, but he at any
rate obtained a correct and reliable survey of a good deal of
country hitherto unknown.
On his return to Perth, Baron Von Mueller, whose ardour
in the cause was rather increased by the disappointment experi-
enced in finding that the accounts of the natives were quite
unreliable, recommended a journey from the head waters of the
Murchison in the direction of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Forrest
was quite willing to undertake the trip, but want of funds stood
in the way just then, and the matter was not enthusiastically
_ supported by others.
It was then proposed to make a journey to Adelaide, by
way of the Great Bight, which had not been traversed since
Eyre’s celebrated march round it, and the leadership was offered
to Forrest and accepted by him.
252 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1870.
The party, beside the leader, consisted of his brother
Alexander, two white men and two natives, one of the last having
been on the former trip. A coasting schooner, the Adur, of
thirty tons, was to accompany them round the coast, calling at
Esperance Bay, Israelite Bay, and Eucla, there to supply the
party with fresh stores. On the 30th March, they left Perth.
The first part of the journey to Esperance Bay was through
comparatively settled and well-known country, so that but little
interest attaches to it. At Esperance Bay, where the Messrs.
Dempster had a station, they arrived a few days before the relief
schooner, and on the gth May started for Israelite Bay.
From Esperance Bay to Israelite Bay the record of the
journey is equally tame, and it was not until he once more parted
from his relief boat that Forrest had to encounter the serious
part of his undertaking. He had now to face the line of cliffs
fronting the Bight behind which he had, he knew, little or no
chance of finding water for one hundred and fifty miles. Forrest
says that these cliffs, which fell perpendicularly into the sea,
although grand in the extreme, were terrible to gaze from.
‘“‘ After looking very cautiously over the precipice, we all ran back
quite terror-stricken by the dreadful view.”
Having made what arrangements he could to carry water,
Forrest left the last water on the 5th of April.. They reached
the break in the cliffs where the water was obtainable by digging
amongst the sandhills, on the 13th April, without any loss, -
having luckily found many small rock holes filled with water,
which enabied him to push steadily on.
While recruiting at the sand hills he made an excursion to
the north, and after passing through a fringe of scrub twelve
miles deep, came upon most beautifully grassed downs. At
fifty miles from the sea there was nothing visible but gently
undulating plains of grass and saltbush at far as could be seen.
There being no prospect of finding water, he was forced to turn
back, fortunately finding small waterholes both on his outward
and homeward way. |
On the 24th, they started for Eucla, the last point at which
they were to meet the Adur. On this course he kept to the
north of the Hampton Range, and crossed well-grassed country,
but destitute of surface water, reaching Eucla on the 2nd July.
The Adur was there awaiting them, and the parties were soon
re-united.
1870. | FORREST’S OPINION OF THE SOUTH COAST. 253
On the 8th, Forrest and his brother made another excursion
to the north; he penetrated some thirty miles finding, as before,
beautifully-grassed, boundless plains, but no signs of surface water.
After leaving Eucla, the explorers had a distressing stage to
the head of the Great Bight, where they obtained water by
digging in the sand, the horses having been three days without
a drink, suffering much more than on any previous stage. From
here they soon entered the settled districts of South Australia,
and the exploring came to an end.
Although this trip of Forrest’s can hardly be called an ex-
ploring trip, inasmuch as he was repeating the journey made by
Eyre, he embraced a great deal of new country during its per-
formance, and, owing to the larger facilities he enjoyed, was
able to pronounce a much more impartial verdict than Eyre was
competent to do. Eyre, be it remembered, was struggling on for
his life, Forrest travelled in comparative ease, being able to supply
himself three times from the schooner during the journey; it is
but natural that Eyre’s report should bear a very sombre tinge.
Forrest showed that the fringe of gloomy thicket was only
confined to the coast; beyond, he on every occasion found fine
_ pastoral country. He says :—
‘““The country passed over between longitude 126 deg. 24 min. E.
as a grazing country, far surpasses anything I have ever seen. There is
nothing in the settled portions of Western Australia equal to it, either in
extent or quality ; but the absence of permanent water is a great draw-
back; . . . the country is very level, with scarcely any undulation,
and becomes clearer as you proceed northward.’
The rapid progress now being made in improved methods of
boring for water, will soon bring this country under the sway
of the pastoralists, and without doubt render it one of the most
valuable provinces of Western Australia.
On his arrival in Adelaide, Forrest received a hearty wel-
come, and equally so on his return to Perth. In the following
year Alexander Forrest took charge of a private exploring party
in search of new pastoral country. He had the advantage of a
good season, and reached as far as 123 deg. 37 min. E. longitude;
he then struck S.S.E., towards the coast, finally returning by
way of Messrs. Dempster’s station in Esperance Bay.
Forrest's expedition, unfortunately, left no hope that any
river existed that might possibly have been unknowingly crossed
at its mouth by Eyre.
CHAPTER) ene:
The first expeditions of Ernest Giles—Lake Amadens— Determined attempts to
cross the desert—Death of Gibson—Return—Warburton’s expedition—
Messrs. Elder and Hughes—Outfit of camels—Departure from Alice Springs
—Amongst the glens—Waterloo Well—No continuation to Sturt’s Creek—
Sufferings from starvation—Fortunate reliet from death by thirst—Arrive
at the head of the Oakover—Lewis starts to obtain succour—His return—
Gosse sent out by the South Australian Government—Exploring bullocks—
Ayre’s rock—Obliged to retreat—Forrest’s expedition from west to east—
Good pastoral country—Windich Springs—The Weld Springs—Attacked
by the natives—Lake Augusta—Dry country—Relieved by a shower—Safe
arrival and great success of the expedition—Ernest Giles in the field—
Elder supplies camels—The longest march ever made in Australia—Wonder-
ful endurance of the camels—The lonely desert—Strange discovery of water
—Queen Victoria’s Spring—The march renewed—Attacked by blacks —
Approach the well-known country in Western Australia—Safe arrival—Giles
returns overland, north of Forrest’s track—Little or no result—Great drought
The western interior.
BEFORE following up Forrest’s career as an explorer, and
tracing his most important work of crossing the centre of
Australia from the sea to the telegraph line, we must see what
the South Australians had been doing.
Ernest Giles, in 1872, made an excursion to the westward,
starting from Chambers’ Pillar. His progress was stopped by a>
large, dry, salt lake, to which he gave the high-sounding name
of Lake Amadens, and which unhappily figures on maps of °
Australia in a rather misleading way, as a large, permanent, Jona
jide lake. -Not being able with his small party to ascertain the
exact limits of this obstacle, which was of the same character as
those so often described as barring the way of the Western
Australian explorers, Giles returned, having traversed a good
deal of country, up to that time unknown and unexamined.
In the following year he again took the field, assisted by the
help and sympathy of Baron Von Mueller, and a sum of money
subscribed by the South Australian Government. He left the
settled districts at the river now called the Alberga, which flows
into Lake Eyre, and travelling north-west, made many deter-
mined attempts to cross the spinifex desert that had confronted
him ; but had to return beaten.
On one occasion, anxious to reach a range that he saw in
the distance, and where he hoped to find a change of country,
:
|
|
1873. ] GIBSON’S DESERT. 255
he started with one man and a supply of water on pack horses;
as the horses knocked up they were left to find their way back
themselves, until at last, when but two were left, Giles sent his
companion, Gibson, back on one, whilst he made a final effort
to reach the range.
This trip, which recalls one of the purposeless and impetuous
exploits of Grey, resulted in the death of Gibson and the loss of
several horses. Giles’ horse soon knocked up, and he had to
return on foot.. Having, with really astonishing prudence, left a
keg of water buried on his way out, he made for that. To his
dismay, after proceeding some distance he saw Gibson’s track
turn off on the trail of one of the horses that had been abandoned,
instead of keeping to the outward track. Hoping still that he
might have found his way back, Giles hastened on to the buried
keg, but it was untouched, and he knew that the unfortunate
man’s fate was sealed. Giles made his way back to where the
rest were encamped, and they immediately went in search; but
it was fruitless. Neither man nor horse were ever seen again,
and the scene of his death is now marked on the maps as
“Gibson’s Desert.” During his excursions in various directions,
trying to finda westward route, Giles discovered and traversed
four different ranges of mountains. The party suffered much from
the hostility of the blacks, who on several occasions attacked
them ; and the leader, in his journal, complains, like Warburton,
of the sleepless nights caused by the myriads of ants that in-
fested the desert country. The farthest point reached was the
125th degree of east longitude. He returned to Adelaide after
an absence of twelve months, during which he had gone through
much hardship and danger.
The tract of country between the overland telegraph line
and the western settlements now became the battlefield of the
explorers; few of them, it is true, hoped to find much available
country, the accounts of those who had penetrated a short dis-
tance being so depressing; but they struggled for the honour of
being the first to cross the gap of unknown land, often to the
neglect of careful inspection.
One of the expeditions that led to the western half of the
continent being condemned as a hopeless desert was that
commanded by Colonel Warburton, It was promoted by two
South Australian colonists whose names have been always to
the front when exploration has been concerned—Messrs.
256 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. 1873.
Thomas Elder and Walter Hughes. They jointly fitted out
the expedition, which, it was hoped, would lead to the advance-
ment of geographical knowledge ; unfortunately, the result was
not at all commensurate. The original idea was that the party
should start from about the neighbourhood of Central Mount
Stuart, and make for Perth, this course, however, was not
adhered to. {[n spite of being fitted out solely with camels,
Warburton suffered so much delay in getting through the sand-
hills that his provisions were all consumed and his camels
knocked up before he got half-way through, compelling him to
bear up north to the head waters of the Oakover River,
discovered by F. Gregory.
The party consisted of the leader and his son Richard, Mr.
Lewis (surveyor), one white man, two Afghans, and a black boy.
They had seventeen camels, and six months’ rations. On the
15th of April, 1873, the explorers left Alice Springs, one of the
stations on the overland telegraph line, and on the 17th reached
the Burt, where they left the line and struck out west. War-
burton’s course at first lay some seventy miles south of Central
Mount Stuart; but after a vain search for the rivers Hugh and
Fincke, which were supposed to flow through the M‘Donnell
Ranges, he altered his direction, steering to the north-west,
meaning to connect with A. C. Gregory’s most southerly point
on Sturt’s Creek. Their way for some distance was through
good pastoral country, and in some of the minor ranges beautiful
glens were discovered, with deep permanent pools of water in
their beds. So frightened were the camels at the appearance
of the rocks that surrounded these water-holes, that they would
not approach them to drink, and, in fact, even refused the water
when it was brought to them.
On the 22nd of May, after being some days in poor sandy
country, they came to a good creek, the head of which was
running, and the whole flat where the creek emerged from the
hills was one spring. This spot, the best camp they had yet
seen, was named Eva Springs. Leaving the main party resting
at these springs, Warburton, with two companions, started on
ahead, and were successful in finding some native wells, that
enabled him to break up his camp and move on with the whole
of the men and material.
On the 5th June they crossed the boundary line between
Western Australia and South Australia; but their progress was
1873.] WANT OF FOOD AND REST. 257
now monotonous and most uninteresting, being through the
scrubby, sandy tableland common to the interior.
At some native wells, called by them Waterloo Wells, they
had an enforced spell of more than a month, and in addition lost
three camels, and one of the Afghans nearly died of scurvy.
Afterwards they soon got fairly into the salt-lake country, and
on the 12th August, at the end of a long and exhausting march,
were relieved by one of the small native wells, on which the
blacks of this region exist. They were now by their reckoning
within ten miles of Sturt’s Creek; but although Warburton
made two separate attempts to find it, he was unable to see any
country that at all resembled the description given by Gregory.
He concluded there was some error in the longitude, and
proceeded on his westerly course. The record of the day’s
journey now becomes a simple tale of traversing a barren
country, and an incessant search for native wells; added to
that, the excessive heat, caused by the radiation of the sand-
hills during the day induced the leader to spare his camels
as much as possible, by travelling at night. This naturally
led to a most unsatisfactory inspection being made of the
country, and it is impossible to say what clues or indications
to better country or more permanent waters were passed
by. In fact, he more than once during this part of his journal
mentions the fact of wild geese flying over the camp, although
they never found any surface water to account for their presence.
Starvation was shortly looming ahead ; the constant halts and
delays had so protracted their journey that they were almost at
the end of their resources, and still surrounded by a most inhos-
pitable waste. Sickness, too, came on then, and the full brunt of
the search work ahead fell upon Lewis and the black boy,
Charley; their time was taken up in watching for the smoke of
the natives’ fires, or looking for theirtracks. In the evening they
could travel a little, and in the early morning; at night the
myriads of ants proved an unbearable plague, and prevented the
wearied men getting their natural rest. Their position was as
well nigh hopeless as it was possible for any party to be in; if
they stopped to relieve their camels they starved themselves, and
without rest the camels could not carry them to look for native
wells ahead. At last, on the gth of October, they reached a small
waterhole that the camels themselves had found when straying,
and here perforce, they had to rest, for with the exception of
R
258 . AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1873.
Lewis and the black boy, the remainder of the party were too weak
to do anything. At this camp they slaughtered another of their
precious camels, and for a time satisfied their gnawing hunger
with the fresh meat; they were also lucky enough to get some
galar parrots and pigeons. Here they stayed for nearly three
weeks, and then shifted to another well to the south. _
Warburton now decided to make a desperate push to the
head of the Oakover River, and effect his escape if possible from
the desert; on the evening of the fourth they started, and but
for the black boy would have doubtless all marched on to death.
The boy had left the camp in the morning, after their first night’s
tramp, and coming across the tracks of some natives, ran them
up, finding another well at their camp, by the time he got back,
the party had been obliged to start without him ; fortunately, he
heard the tinkle of the camel bell as he crossed the sand-
hills, and by cooeeing loudly managed to attract attention. He
then led the way to this new source of relief, which, but for him,
the party would have missed.
Again they recommenced their journey to the Oakaven
Lewis and Charley on ahead, Warburton and his son coming on
as fast as their exhausted state would permit ; their only hope for
life now lay in the chance of the advance party finding water
soon and bringing it back to them. At mid-day, on the 14th,
Lewis appeared with a bag of water; another well had been
found, but this time it nearly cost Charley’s life. As he usually
did, he had gone in advance when close to the native camp, in
order not to alarm them. The blacks had received him kindly
and given him water; but when he cooeed for his companions
they took a sudden alarm, and set upon him, spearing him
in the arm and back, and cutting his head open with a club.
The remainder of the party were just able to rescue him. It
seems quite certain that this attack was not premeditated, but
the effect of timidity caused by the unexpected appearance of
the white men and the camels.
At this well the party had to rest, until Lewis and one of the
Afghans pushed on to the head of the Oakover, which they thought
could not be so very far distant, as the nights were cool and
dewy, and in the camp of the natives they found two large sea-
shells, an old iron tomahawk, and part of the tire of a dray wheel. .
On the 19th November Lewis started, and on the 25th he
returned, having been successful in reaching the head waters of
1873. | RELIEF ON THE OAKOVER. 259
the Oakover, and on the 5th December the whole party arrived
at the rocky creek that he had found. They now travelled very
slowly down the river, but saw no signs of settlement, so the
indefatigable Lewis had once more to go ahead, whilst the others
waited and starved on the flesh of the last camel. He had to
ride 170 miles before he arrived at the station of Messrs. Grant,
Harper, and Anderson, who immediately supplied him with fresh
horses and all requisites with which to return to the starving
men.
It was on the 29th of December, and Warburton was lying
in the shade, moodily thinking that the cattle station must be
abandoned, and that Lewis had been forced to go on to Roeburne,
when the black boy, who was climbing up a tree, called out, and
starting to their feet the astonished men found the pack-horses
of the relief party almost in their camp.
Out of the seventeen camels the two that Lewis had ridden
in for help were all that survived, and for the rest of their
equipment, it had been left piece-meal in the desert.
It is distressing to think that all this suffering and labour
should not have been adequately rewarded. Warburton got
into a strip of desert country, but apparently was too much
occupied with pressing straight through to devote any time to
examine any country beyond his track. Whatever may have
been the aridity, the water supply must have been ample to
support such large numbers of natives as he came in contact
with. In one camp there were numbers of women and children
and one cripple; but they quietly vacated the well when the
whites came, without any apparent difficulty, showing that they
had other resources within easy reach.
This trip of Warburton’s, and a succeeding one by
Mr. Ernest Giles, prove conclusively that the possession of
camels leads men to push on, eager to be able to say that they
were the first to get across, leaving the country almost as
unknown as before they traversed it.
But a few days after Warburton started on his adventurous
journey, Mr. W. C. Gosse, in charge of the Central and
Western Exploring Expedition, left Alice Springs, a telegraph
station on the overland line, with the intention of endeavouring
to reach Perth.
On April 23rd, the leader reports leaving the Springs, with
his party all in good spirits; beside the white men, there were
260 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1873.
three Afghan camel-drivers, and the party had a mixed
equipment of camels and horses. On May ist, they left the
telegraph line, and, turning to the westward, soon found them-
selves in excessively dry country.
On the 14th, he had a trip lasting fifty-two hours, without
water for the horses, and one of them died; this happened
whilst on an excursion ahead with his brother, who was acting
as collector to the party. |
Having formed a depét, and sunk a well on a creek he
named the Landor, he made several short trips in different
directions, and on the 21st, in a creek he called the Warburton,
found a considerable pool of water, to which he shifted his main
camp. .
During one of his excursions from this second depdt, he had
the singular experience of riding all day through the heavy rain
and camping at night without water, the sandy soil having
absorbed the rain as quickly as it fell. On his return he found
‘that the creek at his camp was running, and the Afghans had
made repeated attempts to cross one of the camels, but the
animal obstinately refused to do so, which, probably, made the
leader reflect that it was just as well they were not likely to
meet with many running streams.
On June 6th, Major Warburton’s tracks were seen, anda
camp of his found. The next depot formed was at the western
extremity of the Macdonnell Range, at the foot of a hill named
by Ernest Giles, Mount Liebig. From this depét the party moved
to the spot named by the same explorer, Glen Edith, and on their
way augmented their live stock by picking up three bullocks that
had been lost from Alice Springs, and apparently had started
on an exploring trip by themselves. From King’s Creek, their
next depdt, the leader made a long excursion to the south-
west, and at eighty-four miles, after passing over sandhills and
spinifex country, came in sight of a hill, which, on a nearer
approach, proved to be of very singular limestone formation.
‘When I got clear of the sandhills, and was only two miles distant,
and the hill, for the first time coming fairly in view, what was my aston-
ishment to find it was one immense rock rising abruptly from the plain ;
the holes I had noticed were caused by the water in some places forming
immense caves. I rode round the foot of the rock in search of a place
to ascend, and found a waterhole onthe south side, near which I made
an attempt to reach the top, but found it hopeless. Continued along to
1873. ] AYRE’S ROCK. 261
the west, and discovered a strong spring coming from the centre of the
rock, and pouring down some large deep gullies to the foot.
“This seems to be a favourite resort of the natives in the wet
season, judging from the numerous camps in every cave. ‘These caves
are formed by large pieces breaking off the main rock and falling to the
foot. The blacks made holes under them, and the heat of their fires
causes the rock to shell off, forming large arches. They amuse them-
selves covering these with all sorts of devices--some of snakes very
cleverly done, others of two hearts joined together ; and in one I noticed
a drawing of a creek, with an emu track going along the centre.”
On the return journey, he crossed an arm of Lake Amadeus,
and on reaching his camp, the whole party started for Ayer’s
Rock, which was the name Gosse gave to the singular hill he had
discovered, where they arrived safely, and one of the exploring
bullocks was converted into beef.
Rain having set in heavily for some days, he was enabled
to penetrate some distance westward, where he came upon very
good grazing country, but soon got beyond the extent of
the rainfall. After many more attempts, Gosse found himself
obliged to-turn back, the heat of the weather and the dryness of
the country—for they were now in the sandhill region—ren-
dering it almost useless for him to think of risking his party
with any hope of success.
On the 22nd September, he left his fourteenth depét in the
‘Cavenagh Range, and started on his return. His course home
was by way of the Musgrave Ranges, where he found a greater
extent of good pastoral country than he anticipated. He dis-
covered and christened the Marryat and the Alberga, which last
river they followed down almost to the telegraph line, and
arrived at Charlotte Waters in December.
Mr. Gosse’s exploration did not add much fresh information
to what was already known of the district, but it extended the
area of explored country, and he was enabled to correctly lay
down many of the points discovered by Mr. Giles.
In March, 1874, Mr. Ross and his son, with a well-equipped
_ party, consisting of another European and three Arabs, having
with them sixteen camels and fourteen horses, started from the
neighbourhood of the Peake Station, on the telegraph line, to
endeavour to bridge the desert. He was, however, compelled
to return, although he made another effort, after reducing the
number of his party.
262 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1874.
Colonel Warburton having been the first to successfully
make his way from the South Australian border to the settled
part of Western Australia, Forrest was the next to aim and
arrive at a successful issue.
Forrest’s trip was certainly the most commendable of the
two, and by far the most important in its results. Warburton,
with a troop of camels, reached the Oakover River naked and
starving, with but two miserable animals left. Forrest, with
nothing but ordinary pack-horses, crossed the middle of the
continent, where the very heart of the terrible desert was
supposed to exist, and took his men and most of his horses
through in safety.
Forrest, having with him his brother, Alexander Forrest,
two white men, and two natives, left Yuin, then the furthest out-
side station on the Murchison, on the 14th of April. Their course
at first was along the upper part of the Murchison River,
which he describes as running through fine grassy flats, good
loamy soil, with white gums in bed and on flats, the water in
some of the pools being rather brackish. This’ description of
country continued for many days, some of the river water
being at times quite salt. On nearing the head of the Gascoyne
- River, the land was found to be fine, undulating downs, admin
adapted for sheep or cattle.
On the 21st May, they ascended the watershed of the
Murchison, and from the top had a fine view of their future
travelling ground to the eastward. The country appeared level,
with low ranges, but there was an absence of conspicuous hills
—not a promising country for water, but looking as though good
feed would be obtainable.
For the next few days the party were dependent on springs
and small clay-pans. On the 27th when following down acreek,
which was called Kennedy Creek after one of the party, they
arrived at a fine permanent spring, which Forrest characterised as
the best he had ever seen, the grass and herbage around being of
an equally satisfactory description. The springs were named the
Windich Springs after the black boy, Tommy Windich, who had
been with Forrest on three expeditions. To the north-west there
was a fine range of hills, which was named the Carnarvon Range.
The explorers now got into less attractive country, the
spinifex sandhills began to become a familiar feature, and the
water supply less to be depended on.
1874. | THE ATTACK AT WELD SPRINGS. 263
On the 2nd June, Forrest made his next important discovery
of the Weld Springs, which he describes as unlimited in supply,
clear, fresh, and running down the gully wherein it was situated
for over twenty chains. Here they settled down to give their
tired horses a week’s rest.
On the 8th, he started with one boy, to look for water
ahead, leaving instructions for the party to follow on their tracks
in a day’s time. He was unfortunate; the two travelled for
twenty miles over undulating sandhills covered with spinifex
without seeing a sign of water. At daybreak from the top of a
low, stony rise the view was gloomy in the extreme. Far to the
north and east it was all spinifex country with no appearance of
hills or watercourse, in fact a barren worthless desert.
Turning back they met the remainder of the party about
twenty miles from the spring, and the whole party retreated to
their former encampment, and after a day’s rest Alexander
Forrest and a black boy started for a trip to the south-east in
search of water.
During their absence the natives made an unexpected
attack onthecamp. At about oneo’clock about sixty or seventy
natives appeared on the brow of the hill overlooking Weld
Springs, plumed and armed with spears and shields. They
descended the rise and attempted to rush the camp, but were
met with a volley from the whites who were prepared to receive
them. They retired to the top of the hill, and after a consulta-
tation made a second attack, but were checked by a rifle shot
from the leader. ‘This put an end to theassault. That evening
Alexander Forrest and the boy returned, and were much aston-
ished to hear of the day’s adventure. They had been over fifty
miles from camp, had passed over some good feeding country,
but had found no water.
They now set to work and built a rough hut of stone, in
order to ensure safety during the night, as their stay at Weld
Springs seemed likely to be indefinite, and a fresh attack might
be made at any moment. When the hut was finished, Forrest,
taking a boy with him, started on a flying trip due east. This
time they were fortunate enough to find a small supply in some
clay waterholes, and the whole party shifted camp to it.
On the 22nd, the leader made another search ahead, and
in thirty miles came to a fine supply of water in a gully running
through a grassy plain, whereon there was abundant feed.
264 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. . [1874.
Eight miles to the south there was a small salt lake, which was
named Lake Augusta. Another good spring in grassy country
was also found, and on the 30th June, Forrest made a further
exploration ahead to the eastward. This time he was unfortu-
nate, for he soon found himself fairly in the spinifex desert,
and his horses knocked up. By the aid of scanty pools of rain-
water in the rocks he managed to push on some distance,
walking most of the way. He reached a range, and from the
top had an extensive but most discouraging view. Far to the
north and east the horizon was as level and uniform as the sea ;
spinifex everywhere ; neither hills nor ranges could be seen for
a distance of quite thirty miles. ,
He was now perplexed as to his future movements. The
main party were following up his tracks, and there seemed no
prospect of getting through the country ahead of them. For-
tunately they found alittle water, enough to last a day or two,
and there awaited the arrival of their companions.
A search amongst the low ranges was then commenced, as
the only other alternative was a retreat of seventy miles. To
the great relief of every one A. Forrest and the black boy found
water five miles to the south-east, with some coarse rough grass
around it, that would serve them for a time. The younger
Forrest then went ahead, and found some springs twenty-five
miles distant, which were named the Alexander Springs, after
the discoverer.
Another excursion was attended with equally good results as _
regards water, although the country around was not at all
desirable pasture land; and this brought the explorers within
one hundred miles of Gosse’s furthest westerly point. To bridge
this hundred miles proved a weary task. Repeated excursions
only resulted in continued disappointment, and knocked up
horses. At last a kindly shower of rain filled some rock holes to
the north-east of their camp, and after much labour and exertion
the whole party found themselves at an old cam; of Giles,
which he had named Fort Mueller, and as they were also
on Gosse’s tracks the leader was able to congratulate himself
upon the successful accomplishment of his mission.
As the course of party, from here to the telegraph line, was
more or less on the track pursued by Gosse, it is unnecessary to
follow their fortunes any further; some privation had to be endured
and one or two more of the horses gave in; but on Sunday, the
1874. } | TFIETKINS AND YOUNG. 265
27th September, they arrived at the telegraph line some dis-
tance north of the Peake station, thus concluding one of the
most valuable journeys on record.
On their arrival at the station, Forrest learned that Giles
and Ross had both been turned back by the inhospitable country
that he had successfully traversed. The leader and his com-
panions received great applause for the work they had so well
performed, and it at once placed Forrest in the front rank
of explorers. The fact of his having got through with but
the simple and ordinary outfit showed that he possessed high
qualities of foresight and judgment, and the many minor
excursions he made on the way over, although, perhaps, weari-
some and distressing at the time, led to his having a perfect
acquaintance of the country through which he had travelled.
Ernest Giles, after being driven back twice in his attempts to
reach Western Australia, was now equipped with a troop of camels
by Sir Thomas Elder, and made a third and successful effort.
The party started from Beltana and travelled to Youldeh, where
a depét was formed. From here they shifted north to a native
well, called by the natives Oaldabinna. The water supply at this
place proving but scanty, Giles started to the westwardon a search
for more, sending Messrs. Tietkins and Young to the north on
a similar errand. The leader travelled for one hundred and
fifty miles through scrub, and past dry salt lakes, until he came to
anative well or dam, with asmall supply of water in it. Beyond
this he went another thirty miles, but found himself once more
amongst saline flats and scrubs; he therefore returned to the
depot. Messrs. Tietkins and Young had not been as successful,
having found no water. At their furthest point they had come
upon a large number of natives, who, after decamping in a
terrified manner, returned fully armed and painted. No
attempts of the two white men to establish friendly communica-
tions and obtain information succeeded, and they were obliged
to return disappointed.
A slight shower of rain having replenished the well they
were camped at, Giles determined on making a bold push to the
west, and trusting to the hardihood of his camels to carry him
on to water.
On reaching the dam that he had formerly visited, he was
agreeably surprised to find that it had been replenished by the
late rains, and now contained plenty of water for their wants.
266 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1875.
There was excellent feed around this oasis, and they rested until
the water gave signs of diminishing.
At the end of a week, on the 16th September, 1875, they
again closed with the desert surrounding them. For the first
six days of their march they passed through scrubs of oak,
mulga, and sandal-wood; then they entered upon vast plains,
which were well-grassed, and had saltbush and other edible
shrubs growing on them. After crossing these endless downs
for five days, they again re-entered scrub, but of a more open
nature than formerly.
When two hundred and forty-two miles had been covered,
Giles distributed what water he had amongst his camels, which
amounted to four gallons each. The next change that occurred
in the country was the reappearance of sandhills, blacks’ tracks
became plentiful, and smoke was occasionally seen.
On the seventeenth day, when more than three hundred
miles had been travelled, Mr. Tietkins, who judged by the
appearance of the sandhills that there was water in the
neighbourhood, sent the black boy, Tommy, on to a ridge lying
to the south of their course. Fortunate it was that he did so,
for behind it, in a hollow surrounded by sandhills, lay a tiny
lake, which the cavalcade was passing by unknowingly until
Tommy arrested their progress with frantic yells and shouts.
Giles gave this place of succour the name of Victoria Springs,
and rested there nine days.
Recruited and strengthened, a fresh start was made and
they soon got amongst the peculiar features common to the
southern interior of Western Australia, outcrops of granite
boulders, salt lakes and swamps.
In one of these lakes they got their leading camels bogged,
and it was only after hard work and much patience that they
got them out again. Their next relief was at a native well two
hundred miles from Victoria Springs, and here they once more
rested from their weary and long-continued march.
The monotony of their life was, however, rudely broken up
at this encampment by the blacks. During their stay several
natives had made their appearance, and had been kindly received
and treated. No suspicions of treachery were aroused, and the
explorers were just concluding their evening meal when Young
caught sight of a body of armed men approaching, and
gave the alarm in time for the whites to stand to their weapons.
1875, | GILES’ FINAL SUCCESS. 267
Giles says in his journal that they were a “ drilled and perfectly
organized force,” if so, they must have been a higher class of
natives than the usual type of blackfellows, whose proceedings,
as a rule, have little organization about them. A discharge from
the whites was in time to check them before any spears were
thrown, otherwise, from the number of their assailants and the
method of their attack, it was probable that the whole party
would have been murdered.
On leaving this camp the caravan travelled Piervash dense
scrubs, with occasional hills and open patches; in fact, the
country that has of necessity been so often described in these
pages. They were fortunate enough to find some native wells
on their route, and on the 4th of November arrived at an outside
sheep station.
The result of fate trip, satisfactory as it no doubt was to
the leader, who thus saw his many gallant efforts at last crowned
with success, had little or no other fruits to show, not even the
negative one of proving that the desert they had passed through
was an absolutely waterless waste. The very water that saved
their lives they were passing by unheeded; and it was im-
possible for them to say whether similar formations did not
exist on either hand of their line of march.
Like Warburton’s, only without the suffering from starva-
tion, it was a hasty flight on camels, through an unknown
country, and, like his, barren of results beyond a thin line on
the map of Australia.
Expeditions such as these must be looked at from two
points of view; whilst admiring the fortitude and resolution
possessed by the leader who takes his party through such a
waste in safety, we must regret that fuller information and
more patient deductions had not been gained. The fact of
having the means, in their camels, to venture on long dry stages
with impunity, led them to disdain the careful manner in which
Forrest felt his way across; but in the end that explorer had
certainly the best idea of the country he had travelled over.
Giles now retraced his steps from Western Australia to
_the overland line, following a track to the north of Forrest's
route. He went by way of the Murchison, and crossed over to
the Ashburton, which river he followed up to the head. Then
striking to the south of east he came on to his former track of
1873, at the Alfred and Marie Range; the range he had so
268 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. . sf1876,
vainly striven to reach when the unfortunate man Gibson, met
his death. He finally arrived at the Peake station, on the ©
telegraph line.
Few watercourses were crossed, the country was suffering
from extreme drought, and no discoveries of any importance
were made.
_ The journeys of the late explorers had greatly lessened the
area of the country in which fresh discoveries could be looked
for ; true, the results had not been encouraging. ‘The utter and
complete want of a river system, even of the rudest kind, in the
western half of the interior of Australia, was plainly shown.
No continuous line of country could even be traced as corres-
ponding on the routes of the different travellers, and
unfortunately, where good country was found, the want of
surface water held out no encouragement for the grazier to
follow up the explorers’ footsteps. The reclamation of this
country it was evident would have to be a work of time, and
would be dependent greatly on the facility with which the
underground supplies could be tapped. That these supplies
exist, the pioneer work carried on, on the outskirts of the
desert, has proved beyond a doubt; how far they will be carried
into the interior remains to be seen.
GH ATT PReR ATE.
Further explorations around Lake Eyre—Lewis equipped by Sir Thomas Elder—He
traces the lower course of the Diamantina—Expedition to Charlotte Bay under
W. Hann—A survivor of the wreck of the Maria—Discovery of the Palmer—
Gold prospects found—Arrival on the east coast—Dense scrub—Return—T he
Palmer rush—Hodgkinson sent out—Follows down the Diamantina—Dis-
covery of the Mulligan—Mistaken for the Herbert—Private expedition—The
Messrs. Prout—Buchanan—F. Scarr—The Queenslander expedition—A dry
belt of country—Native rites—A good game bag—Arrival at the telegraph
line—Alexander Forrest—The Leopold Range—Caught between the cliffs
and the sea—Fine pastoral country found—Arrival at the Katherine—The
Northern Territory and its future.
BuT although the country to the east of the telegraph line had
up to the year 1874 received such a large share of attention, in
fact, the principal share, there yet remained much unknown
territory to investigate, and many geographical problems to
determine. Chief amongst these was the definition of the many
affluents of Lake Eyre.
The western district of Queensland was drained by rivers
of great magnitude, that found their way through South Aus-
tralia into the lake; but their many channels, and the direction
and size of them had never been fully determined. To further
this end, Sir Thomas Elder equipped Mr. Lewis, who, it will
be remembered, did such good service on Colonel Warburton’s
expedition, and under his leadership an expedition was_ under-
taken which resulted in much valuable information being gained.
Starting from the overland telegraph line, Lewis skirted
Lake Eyre to the north, and penetrated to Eyre’s Creek, in
Queensland territory, and traced that creek and the Diamantina
into Lake Eyre; also confirming the opinion so often advanced
that the waters of Cooper’s Creek found their way into that
receptacle, as well as the more westerly streams.
In Queensland the Government had decided upon further
exploration of the northern promontory ending in Cape York.
More than eight years had elapsed since the Jardines had made
their dashing trip, and their report taken in conjunction with
Kennedy’s did not offer much inducement for anyone to follow
up their footsteps ; but as there was yet a tract of country at
270 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1872.
the base of the promontory comparatively unknown, a party was
organised and placed under the leadership of Mr. William Hann,
one of the pioneer squatters of the north of Queensland.
The object of the trip was in the main an examination of the
country as far north as the 14th parallel, with a special view
to its mineral and other resources; the discovery of gold so far
north in Queensland having caused a hope to be entertained
that its existence would continue along the promontory.
Hann had with him as geologist a Mr. Taylor, and as
botanist, Dr. Tate, a survivor of the melancholy New Guinea
expedition that left Sydney in the brig Marza, only to suffer
wreck on the Barrier Reef, where, in the sea and amongst
the cannibals north of Rockingham Bay, most of the unfortu-
nates left their bones. Apparently, his ardour for exploration
had not been damped by his narrow escape. ,
One other member of the party, a Mr. Nation, was destined -
to meet a tragic death by starvation in the newly-settled district
of the northern territory of South Australia. The party left
Fossilbrook station, on Fossilbrook Creek, a tributary of the
Lynd, which would be north of the starting point of the
Jardines.
On leaving this creek they passed over much rugged and
broken country, the scene of Leichhardt’s first trip, and a spot
which presented many indications of being auriferous. Here
they devoted some days unsuccessfully to prospecting, and on
resuming their northern journey came toa large river, which
was named the Tate. Four days afterwards another one was
struck, which received the name of the Walsh.
From the Walsh the party crossed to the upper part of the
Mitchell River, and thence to a creek marked on Kennedy’s map
as ‘creek ninety yards wide,” which was called the Palmer, and
here Warner, the surveyor, found prospects of gold. Some
further examination of the river resulted in likely-looking
results being obtained, and the find is now a matter of history, —
verified by the discovery of one of the richest goldfields in Queens-
land on the waters of this river.
Above the Palmer, Hann came across a memorial of the trip
of the Jardines in the tracks of some (or descendants) of the cattle,
dropped by them, but he was unable to find them. This was on.
a creek which, he supposed, to be the one named by them the
Kendall.
1872. ] NORTHERN SCRUB. 271
These animals had, no doubt, led a rather harassed life
from the natives since they had last been seen by the whites.
On the rst September, Hann reached his northern limit, the
14th parallel of latitude, and the next day commenced the ascent
of the dividing range between eastern and western waters. A
few days afterwards he sighted the sea, at Princess Charlotte’s
Bay.
From this point the party turned south, and soon came to a
large river, which was named the Normanby, and here a slight
_ skirmish occurred with the natives, with whom they had hitherto
been on friendly terms. Whilst the men were collecting the horses
in the morning, and not suspecting treachery, a body of blacks
attempted to cut them off, each native being well armed with a
bundle of spears. A few shots, however, at long distance were
sufficient to disperse them, so that, fortunately, the affair ended
without bloodshed.
On the 21st September, Hann came to the Endeavour, a
river well-known in the history of Australia. Whilst entangled
in the scrub on the upper reaches of this stream he had the
misfortune to lose one of his best horses by poison, two others
having also eaten of the weed. |
At this point the party had terrible work to encounter; the
old obstacles that had so retarded Kennedy were met with—
scrub impenetrable, and steep ravines. Tracks had to be cut
through the vines, and the horses led on foot down perilous
descents. This went on for days, and an attempt to reach the
sea coast and continue their intended route south, ended in involv-
ing them in a perfect sea of scrub, and the final conclusion that
advance for white men and horses was impossible. Hann had
reluctantly to make up his mind to return to the west, and
abandon the fresh ground to the south of him.
After many entanglements in the ranges, and the usual
confusion arising from the tortuous courses of the rivers, the
watershed was at last crossed, and on the 28th October they
camped once more on the Palmer River. From here they
returned over the country formerly traversed on the outward
_ course, and exploring came to an end. ©
The work had been very hard, especially during the time
the party had been impeded in the scrubs of the east coast,
which fully bore out the reports of the survivors of Kennedy’s
expedition as to the terribly toilsome nature of the labour to be
272 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [L875.
undergone in cutting a track through them. Hann was lucky in
not having his party attacked by sickness during his detention
in such a dangerous locality ; they all returned in safety.
The gold discoveries on the Palmer, and the rush there
which occurred soon after this expedition, led to a vast deal of
exploration being done under the name of prospecting. Small
parties were out in all directions on the rivers named and crossed
by Hann and the heads of those named by Leichhardt, the Lynd
and the Gilbert, were ransacked and searched in every direction.
In 1875, the Queensland Government decided to send out
an expedition to decide upon the amount of pastoral country
existing to the westward of the Diamantina River, and see if it
extended to the boundary of the colony. It was placed under
the command of W. O. Hodgkinson, who had already seen con-
siderable experience as an explorer, having been one of the
members of the Burke and Wills party, and also a member of
M‘Kinlay’s expedition when he traversed the continent. The
second in charge was a mining surveyor and mineralogist, Mr.
Bi Al Kayzer.
Although the expedition was organised as early as Septem-
ber, it was not thought politic to start so soon before the
impending wet season, so the party were directed to muster at
the Etheridge (goldfield), and occupy the time between then
and the end of the year, in examining and reporting on the
country between there and Cloncurry gold-field, on the Clon-
curry River, which was to be the final point of departure.
After some minor excursions in the neighbourhood of the
Cloncurry, Hodgkinson and party left that place in May, 1876,
and proceeded across the dividing watershed to the Diamantina
River, and followed that river down to below the boundary of
the colony of Queensland and South Australia, where it received
the name of the Everett, from Lewis.
This much of the progress of the North West Expedition,
as it was called, included little country not already known, and,
moreover, at this time the district was being settled on in all
parts by the pioneer squatters, the tracks of whose cattle were
now up and down the whole length of the river.
From the lower Diamantina, Hodgkinson made west towards
the boundary of the colony, and beyond Eyre’s Creek found a
fine watercourse running through good pastoral country, which
he branded with the name of the Mulligan River. Following this
1870-76. | FATE OF THE PROUT BROTHERS. 273
river up, and finding it alternately well and poorly watered, the
party crossed from the head of it on to the Herbert, unwitting
that they had done so, and followed that river on until they over-
took Buchanan, Landsborough’s old companion, who, with a
mob of cattle, was re-stocking the Herbert.
As this country had been at one time stocked, and stations
formed and abandoned, exploration may be considered to have
ceased. The surveys of Messrs. Scarr and Jopp soon explained
the mistake fallen into by Hodgkinson as to the identity of
Landsborough’s Herbert and his own Mulligan. It will be
remembered that in the central districts, the watersheds are so
low and the size of the rivers so uncertain, that to find a water-
course dwindle away into nothing in one mile, and expand into a
river the next is notat all surprising, so that to leave the head
of a river and come on to another running in the same direction,
it would appear quite feasible that it was the same river re-formed.
This was the last exploring expedition sent out by the Queens-
land Government; their colony being now nearly entirely known,
and in fact the earlier squatters of the Herbert, before its
abandonment in 1874, were settled some distance across into
South Australian territory.
Unfortunately, the commercial depression of 1871 and 1872
led to the stations on the Herbert being thrown up, and the
country, good as it was, lapsed into its original state of loneliness,
and remained for many years quite unoccupied.
Although Queensland herself had little or no territory within
her own borders left to explore, the energy and enterprise of her
pioneers led to many private explorations being organized across
the border into the colony of South Australia, or rather into the
northern territory of that colony. Amongst those undertaken
in the year 1878 may be instanced one which resulted in the loss
of the entire party.
Induced by the favourable terms offered by the South Aus-
tralian Government to pastoral lessees in the Northern Territory,
two brothers named Prout started out with one man, looking for
country across the Queensland border. They never returned,
and it was not until they had been given up for months that
some of their horses, and finally the bones of one of the brothers,
were discovered by Mr. W. J. H. Carr Boyd.
It was evident, from the fragments of a diary recovered,
that they had extended their researches far into South Australian
S
274 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1878.
territory, and met their death by thirst on their homeward way,
probably from some of the waters they depended upon for their
return having failed them.
In the same year Buchanan made an excursion to the overland
line from the border of Queensland. Crossing from the Ranken—
one of the main heads of the Georgina River, and so called after
one of the pioneers of that district, J. C. L. Ranken—Buchanan,
on a westerly course, came to the head of a creek, running through
fine open downs ; following it down for some days he eventually
lost its channel in flooded country, and striking across a belt of
dry country arrived at Tennant’s Creek station on the overland
line. This creek, which received the name of Buchanan’s Creek,
was a most important discovery, affording in future a highway
and stock route to the great pastoral district lying between the
Queensland border and the overland line.
The next to attack this unknown strip was Frank Scarr, a
Queensland surveyor. He tried to cross the line, to the south
of Buchanan’s track, but was prevented by the waterless belt of
country existing there. During one of his excursions he found
the horses of the ill-fated Prout Brothers, already alluded to.
Finding he could not reach the country he desired to, from
the Queensland border, Scarr made north, and by means of
Buchanan’s Creek arrived at Tennant’s Creek station ; but owing
to the dry season, did not extend his researches further.
In the same year, 1878, a project for an overland railway
line, between Brisbane and Port Darwin, was inaugurated in the
former city. ‘The principle of building the line by means 6f land
grants being one of the chief features of the scheme. Mr.
Gresley Lukin, the then proprietor of the leading Brisbane news-
paper, organised and equipped a party to explore a line of
country, the object being to find out the nature and value of the
land in the neighbourhood of the proposed line, and the
geographical features of the unexplored portion.
The party left Blackall, then the furthest township to the
westward in Queensland, the leader being Mr. E. Favenc,
accompanied by Messrs. S. G. Briggs (surveyor), G. R. Hedley,
and a black boy.
From Blackall the party struck across the settled pastoral
districts until they arrived at Cork station, on the Diamantina.
From there they kept a north-westerly route through the then
unexplored country lying between the Burke and Herbert Rivers.
1878-79.] THE ‘‘ QUEENSLANDER ” EXPEDITION. 275
From the Herbert the Ranken was followed up for some distance,
and the route was then to Buchanan’s Creek, and down that
creek to the last permanent water. From here the party
struck north, and some permanent waters were discovered,
amongst them being the Corella Lagoon, the finest lagoon in
that district. Two lakes of large extent were also seen and
named, but, although at the time of the explorer’s visit they
were extensive sheets of water, seven or eight miles in circum-
ference, they were so shallow fora mile from their shores, that
at that distance, they were only knee deep.
A singular feature of the lakes of this depressed region,
was the fringe of dead trees that surrounded them. From the
age of the trees, and even borders of all the lake beds seen, both
dry and full, it was evident that this must have been the result
of an excessive flood, which had inundated this district during
some past year.
From the Corella Lagoon, where some two or three hun--
dred natives were assembled to celebrate the peculiar tribal
rites common to that religion, and which have never been
witnessed by whites, the expedition proceeded north, and dis-
covered a large creek running from east to west, which
received the name of Cresswell Creek. This creek, which
ran through fine, open downs, was followed until its course
was lost in the flooded country, which is the end of most inland
creeks.
The last permanent water on it was named the Adder Water-
holes, on account of the number of death-adders killed there.
The first excursion from there towards the telegraph line, some
ninety miles away, resulted, in such days of heat, in conjunction
with cracked and fissured plains, that three horses died before
returning to camp. The country was soft, and full of holes and
hollows, and it being the height of summer, the horses could
not travel long stages without water; so there was nothing to do
but await at the Adder Waterholes the falling of a kindly thunder-
storm, to assist them to bridge the gap that ech between them
and the telegraph line.
During their detention at this camp many excursions were
made, and the country traversed found to be mostly richly
grassed downs; and where flooded country was crossed numbers
of the dry beds of former lakes, surrounded by the customary
belt of dead forest were noticed.
276 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [Pare.
The long delay exhausted the supply of rations, but by
means of game, horse-flesh, and the usual bush vegetable, “ blue-
bush and pig-weed,” the party fared sufficiently well.
‘“We made up a list of game that had already been shot for ration
purposes, nearly all by Hedley, who was our chief reliance as a hunter,
and the following is the account up to 11th December :—so parrots
(corellas and galars), 350 ducks (black ducks, teal, whistling ducks, wood
ducks and widgeons), 150 pigeons (principally flock), 11 geese, 4
turkeys, 8 spoonbills, 7 water hens, 2 shags, 1 emu, I native companion,
making atotal of 584 birds, and in addition we had consumed 100 fish.
All of them were shot for actual food, nothing had been wantonly
destroyed. We considerably added to this menu afterwards, including
such choice delicacies as eagle hawk and frogs. Crows and hawks we
carefully reserved to the last when all else should fail. The absence of
kangaroos and other marsupials is a marked feature in this list, there
being none on these wide-stretching downs.”’
In January, 1879, the thunderstorms set in, and enabled the
explorers to reach the line safely at Powell Creek Station. From
here they travelled over known country to Port Darwin.
This expedition had the effect of opening up a good deal
of pastoral country, which is now nearly all stocked.
As might have been expected, the party were most hospi-
tably received at Palmerston, where the inhabitants, in addition
to its chief feature of a railway survey, saw in this expedition
one of the first steps to open up to the world the vast
territory they possessed; for as yet the pastoral industry had
been confined to one or two spirited attempts in the immediate
neighbourhood of the goldfields, the great tableland at the back
whereon there was so much valuable sheep country being
untouched.
Western Australia now sent out another of the exploring
parties, which form such a feature of her history. In 1879,
Alexander Forrest led an expedition from De Grey River to the
telegraph line. The party left Anderson’s Station on the
De Grey River, on the 25th February, and reached Beagle Bay
on the roth April, the country passed over being like most of
the land in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast, poor and
indifferent.
From Beagle Bay they followed the coast round to the
ritzroy River, which empties into King’s Sound, and journeyed
up that river until they reached a range which gave the explorers
1879. ] FORREST ON THE FITZROY. 277
some trouble; in fact, they spent six weeks of constant toil and
trouble endeavouring to penetrate it.
On the 2nd June, Forrest bade good-bye to the Fitzroy,
which he calls “the longest and largest river in Western
Australia, flowing through magnificent flats;’’ and which he says
they had then followed for 240 miles. Leaving the river the
party struck north, looking for a pass through the precipitous
bluffs of King Leopold Range, as it was named. ‘The sea was,
however, reached before this range was surmounted, and
following down the angle now being formed, between the sea
and the range, they at last found themselves enclosed in a
perfect prison; romantic and pretty according to Forrest’s
description, but rather militating against their success. Here too
the blacks approached them in threatening numbers, but after the
display of a little policy, peace was preserved. The rugged nature
of the country began to tell most severely on the horses, ‘‘ how
on earth,” says Forrest, ‘‘they are going to take us on I really
cannot think.” On the 22nd June, they attacked a range, and
finally after a steep climb, which witnessed the death of one of
the horses, they reached the height of 800 feet, and camped ; here
Forrest determined to rest the horses and go ahead on foot,
and explore the country. The result was that they came upon
endless rugged zigzags, which so involved them that they gave
it up in despair and returned to camp.
Forrest had most reluctantly to abandon any idea of crossing
this range and return to the Fitzroy, where they arrived on the
8th of July. Following up a tributary of this river, the Margaret,
they gradually managed to work round the southern end of the
range, which still frowned defiance at them, and at last reached
the summit of the tableland, and saw before them good grassy
hills and plains. Of this country Forrest speaks most enthusi-
astically, and doubtless after their late terrible struggle with
the range it must have appeared a perfect picture of enchantment
to them.
On the 24th, they reached a fine river, running strong, and
named by Forrest the Ord, and for a time he followed its course.
Leaving, he continued his way to the overland telegraph line,
which they were destined not to reach without a struggle. More
rivers were crossed, and the country undulated between rough
ridges and well-grassed flats, and at last, on the 18th August, the
Victoria River of Captain Stokes was reached.
278 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. [1879.
—_—
Now commenced their first privation for want of water.
Their rations were almost expended, and one of the party seri-
ously ill. Taking with him one man (Hicks), Forrest started for
the line to obtain succour, leaving his party in camp to await his
return.
The first stage was for twenty-nine miles, and then they
fortunately found a small pool; on the next day a stage of
thirty-two miles, through the level, grassy country, timbered with
box and intersected by dry swamps, which is so familiar a feature
in the Northern Territory, but at the end they had to camp
without water. They now had no alternative but to push on to
the line at all risks, as it was the nearest point where they could
obtain supplies, and it was useless to think of going back without
them. Unhappily, Forrest was unprovided with a map of
the line, which led to his having to strike at random ; and, as it
happened in the end, resulted in his turning north instead of
south, which brought about needless pain and suffering. Forrest’s
account of their terrible trip runs as follows :—
“August 31. An hour before daylight we started, steering east for
fourteen miles before we rested. The country was similar to that passed
over yesterday. During the mid-day halt we walked about searching for
water in the dry swamps, but were unsuccessful. Here we killed a large
snake, and made off it a miserable meal, thinking that it would relieve our
thirst ; it made us, however, a good deal worse than we were before.
We had only two quarts of water with us, and we both decided not to
touch this until reduced to the last extremity, as we knew not how far we
might have to go before coming to water. At one o’clock we were in
the saddle again, and continued on the same course until sundown, when
we gave our horses a short rest. ‘They were very tired,and did not seem
able to keep up, in the state they were, for much longer. As for our-
selves, we were so thirsty we could scarcely speak. Weshot a hawk, and
cut his throat in order to drink the blood, but it did us no good. What
would we have given for water? No one can have an idea what
thirst is unless he has experienced it under tropicalheat. . . . After
eating our hawk we saddled up, and steered east-north-east for two miles,
when we reached a creek trending north-west. We thought there might
be water in it lower down, so we followed it for a mile or two, when the ©
horse I was riding knocked up, and by lying down compelled us to
halt.”
Forrest now decided to leave the creek, and walk all night,
leading their worn out horses. Fortunately for them they had
not far to go; in two miles Hicks called out that the line was in
1880.] RESULT OF NORTHERN EXPLORATIONS. 279
sight, and forgetting their thirst they cheered lustily. Within
a short distance of where they struck the line, they came to one
of the tanks stationed at intervals for the use of the repairing
parties, and so their thirst was relieved ; but owing to taking the
wrong direction, they travelled away from the nearest station,
Daly Waters, and it was four days before they overtook a
repairing party, under Mr. Wood ; who provided them with food
and fresh horses to take back succour to their comrades.
Thus ended a most successful trip, as the country found by
Forrest is amongst some of the most valuable in the northern
part of Western Australia, and has since been stocked with
both sheep and cattle, and large mineral wealth has been
developed.
The whole of the northern part of the continent of Aus-
tralia seemed for a time to suffer from a blight. The tracks of
the explorers appeared to be checked by some fatal influence.
The Victoria that was thought to be such a grand discovery
turned out but an ordinary coast stream, and on its further investi-
gation to lead to nothing but disappointment. This deduction,
however, under fuller knowledge is gradually departing, and there
is little doubt that the time is not far away when it will attain its
greatest development asa pastoral and mineral country.
There is no doubt that the east and west tracks of the
Queensland explorers, and of Alexander Forrest did more to
throw open the country than did the north and south one of
Stuart, although that was the most important ever made in the
later days of Australia’s history. Stuart showed the feasibility
of crossing the continent in the centre, but even after the
telegraph line was formed on his track, very little was known of
the country on either side. The northern territory had, however,
been the scene of many private expeditions beside those
mentioned here. Some years before Alexander Forrest crossed
over, two residents of the Northern Territory, Phillip Saunders
and Adam Johns, accompanied by a third man, started from
Roebourne in Western Australia, and crossed to the telegraph
line successfully. They were prospecting for gold most of the
way, but the line they took was unlucky, as although they passed
through the now well-known Kimberly country, they failed to
obtain anything like satisfactory prospects. They passed through
much good pastoral country, but at that time stock country was
of no value at such a remote distance from settlement.
280 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. T1884.
There now remains but a few more explorations, and those
mostly in the northern part of Australia. Whatever the yet
large unknown tract of country in the interior will show in the
future it is impossible now to do more than conjecture.
In 1884, Mr. Stockdale, who had had considerable experi-
ence in the other colonies, and was an old bushman, started on
an expedition from Cambridge Gulf to explore the country in
that neighbourhood, with a view to settlement. He proceeded
there by the Whampoa, and on the 13th September he landed at
the gulf, with his party of seven men and the necessary horses, this
being, probably, the first landing that had taken place there since
the days of Captain Stokes. Leaving the gulf, and crossing the
range through a natural gap, which was named after the leader,
they found themselves in well-grassed country, with a fine
stream of water running through it. Their next halting-place
was at a creek they called the Birdie, and they now found numer-
ous camps of the natives, though as yet they did not come into
contact with them. The next creek was named the Patrick,
which was followed down for some distance through very good
country. Here commenced the beginning of the trouble, which
afterwards culminated in a tragedy, one of the men (Ashton)
losing himself, and delaying the party by having to be sought
for. They were now on a river which was called the Forrest,
after the explorer, and here they rested for the sake of their
horses. On leaving it they got into rather stony country until
they arrived at the head of a creek called the Margaret, where
they again rested.
From there they had to face great difficulties in the shape
of mountainous country, the gullies and ravines reminding one of
those described by Grey. On October the 14th, they came toa
fine river, which they named the Lorimer, on which there was a
waterfall one hundred feet high. The large creek next met
with was called the Buchanan.
On the 21st of October a depot was formed, and the leader,
with three men, went south, for the purpose of making a thorough
inspection of the country, leaving the other men to await his
return, having first taken the precaution to bury the main portion
of their stock of provisions in case of accidents.
On November 2nd they narrowly escaped an encounter with
the natives. By means of a little tact bloodshed was avoided.
While amongst the cliffs they came upon some of the native
1884..] TWO MEN LEAVE THE PARTY. 281
drawings and paintings, which have always created so much
interest.
On returning to the depot, after having passed through and
discovered a fine amount of pastoral country, the leader found,
much to his disgust, that the horses he had left to spell there had
been used for kangaroo hunting, and were not in a fit condition
to do much more work. ‘This compelled him to shorten his trip
and start towards the telegraph line.
On getting his party together again, which was a work of
-some difficulty, a start was effected in the direction of the Ord
River, and on the road home the unfortunate occurrence
happened that resulted in the death of two of the men, entirely
the consequence of their own headstrong conduct. ‘The account
had better be given in the words of the leader. Speaking of one
of the two men, he says :—
‘‘ He eats very heartily, and so does Ashton, and both have strong,
lusty voices, but seem to have lost all heart, and the rest of the party are
getting discouraged at the many and serious delays they are causing us.
I have used every means to induce them to rally and pluck up heart,
but it seems all to be totally lost upon them. It is a very trying situation
for me, and I trust God will guide me, and help me to do what is right
and just to all I have in my charge. Mulcahy acknowledged riding
horses in depot out kangarooing, also to taking apples, biscuits, jam,
flour and peas, and to be unworthy of forgiveness or to remain one of the
party. We all forgave him the wrong he had done us freely and truly,
‘“‘ December 17 (Wednesday). Fine morning after very cool night.
Thermometer at daylight, 60 deg. Mulcahy and Ashton both looking
better, but both came to me, and said if I would allow them they would
take three weeks’ rations and camp for a spell on the river, and perhaps
I would send help after them. I tried all in my power to induce them to
struggle on a little further, if only as far as the Wilson River, but could
not alter their determination. Called the rest of the party together, and
as they one and all thought it was best under the circumstances, I had to
consent, so, with Mr. Ricketson’s assistance, measured out to them
twenty pannikins of flour, ten of white sugar, ten of peas, fifteen of dried
apples, four pounds of tea, and a tin of preserved meat. Left them two
double-barrel guns, etc., with about one hundred and fifty cartridges,
fish-hooks, and lines, and camped on the Laurence River. We then
packed up the remainder, and with sad hearts bade them good-bye, and
firmly advised them to get either fish or game, as game is fairly plentiful
around them. Ashton and Mulcahy both expressed a desire to write a
few lines in my diary, and, in the presence of all hands, I allowed them.
282 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. (1884.
Ashton also forwarded by me a note to his aunt in England, but
Mulcahy, although I earnestly desired him to, would not write to either
wife or parents, all he would say being, ‘They will see you at no loss,
old man.’
“It is a dreadful state of affairs, the two biggest and strongest of
our party collapsing like this, and has had a very depressing effect on
me, though I must not show it, for fear of causing a despondent feeling
in the others. I do hope we shall now have fair travelling, and reach
Panton and Osman’s station, and send back horses and relief to those
left behind. They have had any amount of provisions, meat excepted—
sometimes five meals a day, and never less than three.”
The two men were never found, although every endeavour
was made to do so.
Stockdale, not finding Panton and Osman’s station, had to
leave some of his men in camp, and, after a hard struggle,
reached the telegraph line with one companion, and sent back
relief to the others, which duly reached them.
————-_—- - ———
a? Et. SaaS Ss: -*
CHAP DICk. ALY.
The exploration of the Continent by land almost completed—Minor expeditions—
The Macarthur and other rivers running into Carpentaria traced—Good country
discovered and opened up—Sir Edward Pellew Group revisited—Lindsay sent
out by the S.A. Government to explore Arnheim’s Land—Rough country and
great loss of horses—O’Donnell makes an expedition to the Kimberley
district—Sturt and Mitchell’s different experiences with the blacks—Difference
in the East and West Coasts—Use of camels—Opinions about them—The
future of the water supply—Adaptability of the country for irrigation—The
great springs of the Continent—Some peculiarities of them—Hot springs
and mound springs.
THE whole of the continent being now known, and the
mystery of the interior solved, there remained little more for
the explorers of later years to do, but follow up the course of
some tributary, stream or river, the origin of which, though,
perhaps, guessed at, had never been finally settled, nor had the
country drained by them been mapped or defined.
These explorations, useful though they have been in
opening up fresh tracts of country for the pastoralist, have
not the same amount of interest attaching to them possessed
by the earlier travels. Much of the exploration of the
past few years naturally centres round the northern portion
of Australia; there, as the pioneer pushed out, the unknown
parts had to yield up their secret, and the tracks of Macdowall
Stuart were gradually elaborated. The South Australian
Government had made many attempts to reach the Queens-
land border from their overland line, but without success.
In 1778, they had despatched two surveyors—Messrs. Barclay
and Weinnecke—to proceed in that direction, starting from
the neighbourhood of Alice Springs. Barclay had much dry
country to contend with, and managed to reach close to Scarr’s
furthest point when he was making west in the same year, but
- failed to connect with the settlements of Queensland. He made
no important discoveries, being amongst the country common
to the central districts of Australia—alternate desert, and
pastoral land, with few and insignificant watercourses. It being
a matter of moment to settle the position of the border line
‘
284 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
between the two colonies, surveyor Weinnecke was again des-
patched in 1880 to make another attempt. By following
Scarr’s route, via Buchanan’s Creek, he succeeded in reaching
the border. He travelled entirely over the country explored by
Queensland parties. In 1883 Favenc traced the heads of the
rivers running into the Gulf of Carpentaria, near the Queensland
border, and in the following year undertook a more lengthened
expedition from the tableland across the coast range to the
mouth of the Macarthur River. The party left the Queensland
_border and crossed to the overland telegraph line, traversing
mostly open downs country the whole of the way.
From the northern end of NewcastleWaters a fresh departure
was made, and the watercourse that supplies these lagoons
followed up for some fifty miles. From there an easterly course
was kept, and after some privation from want of water, reached
a creek, which was christened Relief Creek, and which proved to
be one of the head waters of the Macarthur. A large extent of
valuable pastoral country was found in the basin drained by this
river, and many fine permanent springs discovered. The party
followed the river down to salt water, and returned by another
route to Daly Waters telegraph station.
The South Australian Government soon after sent a survey
steamer to the group called Sir Edward Pellew’s Islands, which
had not been visited since the days of Flinders. ‘The mouth of
the Macarthur was found and sounded, and shortly afterwards a
township was formed at the head of navigation. The explora-
tions conducted on this river led to a good road being formed
from the interior tableland to the coast and the settlement of
much new country. |
The whole of the territory feast of the overland line was
now rapidly becoming settled, and the explorations made by
Mr. Macphee east of Daly Waters may be said to have
concluded the list of expeditions between the overland line and
the Queensland border.
In 1883 the South Australian Government determined to
complete the exploration of Arnheim’s Land, and Mr. David
Lindsay was despatched on the mission. He left Palmerston
on the 4th June, and proceeded, by way of the Katherine, to the
country north of the Roper River. From there they proceeded
to Blue Mud Bay, and, on the way, had a narrow escape from
being massacred by the natives, who speared four horses,
LINDSAY, O’DONNELL, CARR BOYD. 285
and made an attempt to surprise the camp. Lindsay got
entangled in the broken tableland that ‘caused such trouble to
Leichhardt, and, with one misfortune and another, lost a great
number of his horses—in fact, at one time, he anticipated
having to abandon them all, and make his way into the tele-
graph station on foot. On the whole, the country passed over
was favourable for settlement; in fact, the flats on some portions
of his course were first-class sugar country.
Another journey was undertaken about this time by Messrs.
O’Donnell and Carr Boyd into Western Australia, starting from
the same place as Lindsay, namely, the Katherine telegraph
station. The expedition succeeded in finding a large amount
of pastoral country, but no new geographical discoveries of any
importance were made.
Meantime, the discovery of gold in the Kimberley district
of Western Australia led to that province being searched by
small prospecting parties, and every creek and watercourse
becoming known. ‘his has left but little of the coastal lands
still unexplored in Australia, and there is scant chance of. any-
thing noticeable being found in the interior beyond what we can
fairly conjecture. The utmostan explorer can now hope to find
there is some permanent lagoon or spring, affording a stand-by
for the pastoralist. No such streams as the Murray or Darling
will ever again gladden the eyes of the traveller in the interior,
The greater part of the territory still left to explore is
situated in one colony—that of Western Australia, and, although
the interior has been successively crossed by so many different
men, there yet remains a large area which may be called unknown.
Of what the end will be it is hard to say. Shall we find it bear
out the gloomy predictions of Warburton and Giles? or the
more hopeful one of Forest? One thing we do know—that,
year after year, use is being found for the most repellent
country. When we look back at the verdict pronounced
against the interior of Australia by the early explorers, and
how it has been falsified by time, there is ground for hoping
that even the most despised portions of our continent will yet
be found available for something. }
That, in spite of the monotony of the Great Plain, it is
strange to note the fascination it has had for many of the most
renowned explorers. Sturt, after being reduced to semi-
blindness, found himself compelled to struggle with the desert
286 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
once more. Eyre, left alone in the wilderness, after his awful
experience at the head of the Great Bight, still longed to
venture again, and accompanied his friend Sturt as far as ever
his duties permitted him. Leichhardt died in harness some-
where in Australia, and Kennedy lost his life in his desire to
emulate his former chief, Mitchell. Even the very sterility of
the great solitude seems to have been, in its way, a lure to drag
men back to encounter it once more. |
Knowing now as much as we do of the interior, we can
hardly help being amused at the theories propounded in the old
days by some of the earlier travellers. Oxley was, we know,
wedded to the idea of an inland sea. Sturt, too, when he
looked on the stony desert, saw in it but the dry channel of
some old ocean current; and Eyre was convinced that the
interior was nothing but a parched and arid desert. One after
another, these fallacies were expleded, and now we find that
human and animal life can as easily be adapted to the central
plain as elsewhere.
But the want of knowledge displayed by the natives of
anything beyond their immediate surroundings, was one great
difficulty in the way of the explorers. The blackfellow of
Australia seemed to partake largely of the country he lived in.
His whole life was one fight for existence, and not even the
sudden advent of a strange race could do more than stir him to
a languid curiosity. Bounded, as he always had been, by his
surroundings, and never venturing beyond tribal limits, what
information he was able to impart was, as a rule, meagre and
misleading, and without any good result in the way of assistance
to the explorer. True, we find exceptions to this amongst
them ; two instances may be quoted as exemplifying two different
phases of the native character. One is a picture from Sturt’s
journal, the other from Mitchell.
Sturt and his companions were returning to the depdt from
one of their northern efforts. Suddenly they came across a
party of worn and thirsty natives. What little water the whites
had with them they gave them, but it was only a mouthful
a-piece, and the natives indicating by signs that they were bound
for some distant waterhole, disappeared at a smart trot across
the sandhills. They apparently expressed no surprise at the
sudden meeting in the desert, although they could not have had
the slightest conception of white men before. They seem to
ABORIGINAL TRAITS. 287
have accepted their presence and the friendly drink of water as
only a part of their strange existence.
Far different was the conduct of the Darling River blacks,
who so resented Mitchell’s appearance, that they travelled over
some hundreds of miles to attack him on his second visit. The
ingenuity with which they planned an attack on the party was
a rather remarkable thing in the annals of exploration. Thinking
that the clothing of the whites rendered them secure against
spears, two men were told off for each member of the party, one
to hold the victim whilst the other clubbed him. Fortunately
the scheme was fathomed by one of the lubras with the party ;
but it showed very deep-seated animosity and dislike.
The intercourse, then, that the travellers could expect from
the natives was either passive ignorance or violent hostility. Onthe
few occasions when their services were made use of it amounted
only to finding some scanty well. Again, the nature of the
country was so persistently opposed to all the pre-conceived
notions that the first arrivals brought to the country. It would
seem but rational to suppose that a river or creek would ulti-
mately lead to somewhere, a larger channel, or the sea; but the
rivers of the plain lived and died without any defined end, and
to follow their courses only resulted in disappointment. Add to
all this a dry and hot climate, and we cannot wonder at the slow
progress made in the advance of the first half of the century.
There is little doubt that had fortune turned the prows of
the Dutch vessels on to the north-east coast, instead of the
rough and rugged shores of the west, Australia would have seen
settlement long before the date of Phillip’s landing. But the
Dutch found no inducements whatever on the west; their ships
were wrecked, their crews attacked by the natives, and they had
great difficulty in finding fresh water; so that it was little
wonder that even their energy and adventurous spirit recognised
but nothing in Zerra Australis to repay them for the trouble of
taking possession. ‘The French, too, saw little in the unclaimed
portion of the country they visited to do more than threaten an
occupation, which never took place, and it is doubtful if the
_uninviting shores of Botany Bay would have held out any hope
to a body of free immigrants.
In all these halts on the way to colonization, Australia
seems to have borne but the aspect of her interior plains: for-
midable and repellent to the intruder. Starting from the south,
288 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
the first travellers had to face all the ioneliness and sterility of
Lake Torrens and the other salt lakes, and it was many years
before it was found out that beyond existed good habitable
country. Eyre and Sturt both failed in their efforts to penétrate
north, and it was astonishing how easily it was afterwards
accomplished by two such comparatively inexperienced men as
Burke and Wills. From the west, nature was all against the
explorer, and it was only after the discovery of the Ashburton
that Forest managed to reach the overland line, that river having
helped him well into the centre of the colony. From the north,
the penetration of the Great Plain was only attempted once by
A. C. Gregory, and then he was repulsed. From the eastern
shore, the steady progress, although not destined to finally
succeed, gradually brought nearly half the continent under the
sway of settlement, and the advance was mainly checked by the
disappointment resulting from Kennedy’s examination of the
Barcoo, and its final course into a dreary desert. Of the many
magnificent ‘preparations made, it has not always been the, lot of
the best equipped parties to attain the greatest success, few men
started with less outfit than did Macdowall Stuart, when he
reached to and beyond central Mount Stuart; no men ever left
better provided than did Burke and Wills, and their unfortunate
death by starvation is too well known. The equipment of the
explorer, especially as regards the use of camels, has been a
matter of much dispute. M‘Kinlay speaks highly in praise of
them, Warburton and Giles both ascribe their safety to having
them with them. But although they have been the means of
achieving long stages over dry country, they are treacherous
and dangerous animals to deal with. And should they make
their escape, it would be impossible to recover them with only
horses at command. Then, too, the possession of camels leads
to hasty and hurried examination of country, and the mere fact
of being in command of such means of locomotion entices a man
to push on regardless of caution. M‘Kinlay reports that the
camels seem to thrive well on everything, but Warburton
appeared to have great difficulty in obtaining feed for them in
the sandhill country. Be this as it may, they have done good
service in Australia, but itis not evident that they are always
of equal good.
But the time will, without doubt, soon come when camels
will no longer be required, and the scenes of the forced and
SUBTERRANEAN WATER. 289
painful marches of some of our explorers be watered by the
springs now imprisoned hundreds of feet below the surface.
Since these pages were commenced, one of the strongest out-
flows in the wor!d has been struck near the foot of the range in
Queensland, some hundreds of miles back from the central coast,
in a place which witnessed the last expedition of Major Mitchell.
This discovery, added to the many that have preceded it, leads
to much thought as to the probability of future discoveries, and
the wonderful springs that are already known to exist.
‘Water! water! everywhere, and not a drop to drink.”
Although not absolutely true, in fact, or rather on the surface,
this quotation might be uttered with a strong measure of truth
by many a poor wretch perishing from thirst on a drought-blasted
inland plain, whilst underneath him, at a greater or less distance,
run sunless seas. |
_ Of the magnitude of our great subterranean reservoir who
shall tell? What craft will ever float on its dark surface, under
domes of pendant stalactites, rippling for the first time the ice-
cold waters, and disturbing the eyeless fish in their shadowy
haunts ? Only when here and there we tap it, and the mighty
pressure sends up a thin column of water hundreds of feet in
answer. Or when we notice the strong, constant springs that
at intervals break through the surface crust to gladden us; or
when the deeper internal fires burst forth, and hurl up its waters
in scathing steam and boiling mud, can we guess of the great
hidden sea beneath.
We have a problem given into our hands to solve; it is our
heritage, and we have only just commenced to try and find the
answer. In our fair continent there are thousands upon
thousands of square miles of fertile country that Nature herself
has planned and mapped out into wide fields, with gentle decli-
vities and slopes, fit for the reception of the modest channel that |
shall convey the living water over the great pasture lands; and
now we want the magician to come, and, with the wand of
human skill, bring the interior waters to the surface, and make
the desert blossom.
Of the great supply that lies awaiting us deep down in the
earth’s caverns we have incontestible proofs, and of the force
latent in it to lift it to the surface, to be our willing slave and
bondsman, we, too, have some dawning notion. Will years of
study and observation give us the power to wield the wand at
<
290 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION..
will? We cannot but believe it. Our vast and fertile downs
were never destined to be idle and unproductive for months
and months, dependent only on the niggard clouds o’erhead.
To make Australia the richest and most seli-supporting
country that sun ever shone upon, wherein every man could
follow out the old saying of sitting under his own vine and fig
tree, what is wanted? ‘The answer to this problem is to bring
to our rich alluvial surface the waters under the earth.
On the great inland plateau that occupies two-thirds of the
entire continent, we find the soil teeming with elements of
surpassing fertility. Even the grudging rainfall that comes so
seldom has developed a wealth of indigenous herbage, grasses,
and fodder plants unequalled in any other part of the globe.
The earth seems to have put forth every inherent vitalising power
it possesses to render its creatures independent of cruel seasons.
What traveller but has noticed the magical effect of rain
upon the deep friable soil, formed by the denuded limestone
rock. Almost instantaneously fresh life springs up. Within
but a short time the dry and withered stalks of grass assume a
deep rich green, the soft broad leaves and joints are replete with
moisture. The bare ground is quickly coated with trailing vines
and creepers, bearing succulent seed pods, grateful and moist.
The rough-coated, staggering beast that could scarce drag its
feeble legs out of the muddy waterhole, becomes in a few weeks
strong and vigorous. What would not such a land be witha
constant fertilizing stream of water through, and about it?
In approaching the subject of our subterranean water
supply, the peculiar physical formation of Australia must be
borne in mind. ‘The great flat tableland that stretches in almost
unvarying monotony from shore to shore, fringed round with
its strip of coastal land, resembles—to use a homely simile—
nothing so much as a narrow brimmed, flat crowned hat. The
moisture-laden clouds that visit us, break on the sides of this hat,
giving the brim, or coast, the full benefit of their precipitation ;
drifting over the plateau, or crown, with rapidly decreasing
bulk. ‘Thus, the great plain, in size the greatest, and in soil the
richest part of us, is always labouring under the curse of irregular
and inefficient rainfall; and whatever good we may do in the
way of water storage—and we may do so much—we have always
the threat of many years of drought hanging over, during which
our treasury of water will be drained, and not replenished.
NATURAL OUTLETS. 991
Welling from the sides of the tableland we find large
permanent springs, in many cases the sources of fine strong-
flowing rivers, the component parts of whose waters now first
see the light again after countless ages. Storms and floods may
come and go unheeded, their steady flow is maintained unchecked
by summer or winter weather ; for their birth is deep down in
the earth, where meteorological disturbances are unknown.
Like an old and battered tank, through whose cracked and
leaky sides the water it contains is escaping, so these springs
find vent through fissures in the mighty tableland, to flow down
fine: sea.
Up in the northern provinces where, perhaps, if anything,
the contrast of these flowing streams beneath the parched
surroundings is more striking than in the more temperate
southern clime, there are some mighty leaks in the sides of the
tableland. The Gregory River, in the Burke district of Queens-
land has one unvarying flow; a strong running stream, never
lessened by the longest drought, but gliding beneath cool masses
of tropical foliage and gurgling over rocky bars when all around
is dry. What a great heritage here runs to waste unheeded.
In the northern territory, from out another vent, springs
the Flora River, whose waters ripple over limestone bars in
miniature cascades, from pool to pool, like pigmy reproductions
of the lost terraces of New Zealand. Follow the edge of the
great tableland around, and amongst the deep seams and
fissures of its abrupt descent coastward, we suddenly come,
midst rugged barreness and gloomy grandeur, upon these
messengers from the inner earth. Some enjoying the sunlight,
but for a brief span, disappearing again for ever as, suddenly
as they were up-borne; others finding their way down to the
habitable lowlands and to the sea. But, unfortunately, all these
springs, some of great volume, find issue on the outer edge of
the range; the gradual descent that marks the inner slope is
not the scene of these outbursts. Jere, and throughout the
interior, the waters from below rise in a way that seems to best
befit the weird solitude of the great plain.
At times, on a bare, baked mound elevated above the
surface, there is a dwarf crater filled with water that never over-
flows, and when tapped and exhausted, rises once more to its
former level. Again, canopied by giant ti-trees amid the shrill
shrieking of thousands of noisy parrots, the traveller can pick
299 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
his way along the treacherous paths that wind amongst the hot
springs. Or at the foot of a low range a scanty trickle fills a
rocky pool, and thence is lost.
In the bed of some far inland creek, the water rises in the
sand in shallow pools, during the dark hours of night, to vanish
once more beneath the sun. And in low caverns in the lime-
stone hills, down some deep fissure, can be seen the waters of a
stream, whose rise and course no man has ever traced. Again
a solitary lagoon is found whereon no lily grows, and wherein
no fish swims. Where the belated bushman camping for the
night, finds the next morning that the water has sunk many
feet, or perhaps has risen, when no rain has fallen far or near
for months. All these signs and tokens from the great sea
beneath us may serve as guides to the end.
When one comes to know the real value of water in a
thirsty land, it almost seems like a crime on the part of Nature,
that a spring should rise and flow for a comparatively short
distance, to be lost in the sea. When by placing the source -
some fifteen or twenty miles away the course would run for
hundreds of miles through a dry country. Can human ingenuity
improve on nature ? ,
In this case nature seems to have laid the ground work of
a great comprehensive continental plain ; to have put: the lever .
ready for man to start it, and though the scheme is one of such
magnitude that it may at first glance seem widely impossible,
there is no reason, backed as it would be by natural forces, that
it may not be an accomplishment of the future.
To fully understand the great problem of the water supply
of Australia, it is necessary to comprehend and carry in mind
the wonderfully unique river system of the continent. In an
average area of 1,800 miles east and west, by goo miles north
and south, the whole drainage runs from north to south ; that is
to say, all that finds vent in the ocean. This, of course, is the
surface formation carrying off the rainfall, and has no bearing
on the outbreak of subterranean springs. But, as showing the
upheaval of the land to the northward, it points out that
naturally the flow of irrigation on a large scale will be from
north to south.
It may be said that from the 18th parallel there is a steady
slope southward, broken only by the subordinate natural features
of the country, which necessarily form the irregularities of the
PHYSICAL CONFORMATIONS. 293
smaller tributaries. In this great block of more than a million
and a quarter of square miles there are then all the defined
channels requisite for the carriage of water throughout the heart
of the continent, but with the important fact wanting that they
are destitute of a constant and steady supply from the doubtful
rainfall. ‘Vhe tilt of the northern edge of the plateau puts their
sources above the level of the great springs, and causes them to
be dependent on these intermittent and often scanty rains. And
we know that these rains have failed in producing any compre-
hendable system of drainage over one third of our continent, at,
least, at present with our limited knowledge, the water system
appears wasteful and purposeless throughout that region.
If then the underground sea that exists beneath could be
’ tapped as far north as possible, the water would rise to the |
surface at a much higher level, than would be possible elsewhere,
and much greater use could be made of it, inasmuch as a larger
area would lay below it for fertilization. Now, the question of
the existence of this water supply at a uniform depth beneath
the earth’s surface can be proved by noting the existence of the
springs that we know of, that have found their way without
artificial aid to the light of day. Only those can be brought in
evidence that are unmistakeably outside of local influence, and
are unaffected by wet weather, or dry.
In the north, on the edge of the tableland, they are most
“numerous. On the east coast, at the head of the Burdekin
River, there are unmistakeable signs of an upward effort of the
imprisoned waters to free themselves. One main tributary, a
creek called Fletcher’s Creek, takes its rise in a labyrinth of
basaltic rocks, that for years defied the efforts of the whites to
penetrate. This stream rising from its cradle in the dead lava,
winds in and out of the encompassing stretches of rocks, until it
emerges on the outer country, where it feeds and maintains two
large lakes, ere it is lost in the sandy bed of one of the ana-
branches of the Burdekin. It is one of the strongest and most
consistent outbreaks in the north, and its volume and continuance
show the strength of the source from which it emerges.
The head of the Burdekin itself is amongst lava beds,
wherein there are many similar springs; most of these take the
form of permanent lagoons. To the westward we find ourselves
on a more arid surface, the formation of the ranges not being so
favourable to the development of springs ; and where they do
294 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
occur, they are evidently the product of rainfall. On the water-
shed we are on a corner, as it were, of the inland plain, and our
ascent has put us above the spring level. Lower down, if we
follow the well-known Flinders River, we find in the hot springs
at Mount Brown another upshoot from below that has evidently
come from the neighbourhood of the internal fires themselves.
From this point right away west, skirting the edge of the table-
land, great rushes of water are comparatively common. Some
find their way between basaltic columns, and after feeding the
flow of some large river for many miles, die suddenly, leaving
the lower part of the watercourse a barren, sandy channel. The
heads of the Leichhardt and Gregory Rivers are particularly
prolific in springs; the latter river, as I have already noticed,
being one of the steadiest flowing rivers in Australia. Westward
still, the heads of all the rivers, no matter what their lower
course is like, abound in springs at the break of the descent
from the tableland, and, as nearly as can be computed, all these
occur at nearly about an identical altitude.
To travel west, through to the western shore of Australia;
only gives us the same phenomena: everywhere the belt of
springs is to be found about half-way between the edge of the
tableland and the coast level, just where the abrupt descent
terminates and a gentler slope is entered on. It would be
wearisome to enumerate them all, the fact of their existence is
so well-known in these days.
To fairly see what would be the result of bringing a little
of the great sea of hidden waters to the surface, let us take an
instance of one of the tributaries of that great artery of Aus-
tralia, the Darling. The head waters of the Warrego rise in
latitude 24 deg., and at its very head, within almost a stone’s
throw, are large springs, that find their way down the range into
the lowest river. Thence, through coastal lands, to the eastern
sea board. Now had these springs broken out on the higher
level of the Warrego watershed, their waters would have
benefited hundreds of miles of some of the fairest country in
Australia, that now suffers under constant drought.
The preserving and regulating of their waters, after guiding
them into the channels prepared by Nature, would be an after-
work greatly assisted by the varied formation of the country
through which their courses would run.
SUANOTAXA NVIIVULSNV SNOTAVA JO SHYNLVNDIS ATINISOVA
r
PARR ee
MARITIME DISCOVERIES.
Sate Pel EK Rives
To exhaustively deal with the early maritime discoveries of this
continent would require from the historian a vast power of
research, and especially of caution, in deciding or allotting to any
one country the priority of position as the “ first-finders ;” and
while we know of few studies affording more intellectual
pleasure and enjoyment, we doubt if the result would even then
set at rest the mystery which still enshrouds those narratives.
Since the commencement of this work, however, the
following original paper has been considered worthy of atten-
tion, as it presents the most reasonable and logical theory yet
put forward for the right to consider the French as the original
discoverers, and readers will have pleasure in following out the
various deductions as made by one of our fellow-colonists,
E. Marin La Meslée, Member of the Société de Géographie
Commerciale de Paris, who has, by great research, compiled, in the
following interesting article, the evidence relating to the voyage
of the old Norman navigator, Paulmier de Gonneville, in 1502.
Without endorsing what is here put forward, there is much
in its favour, and it shows a considerable degree of keen argu-
ment and cogent reasoning that, in any case, is a valuable
contribution to this department of literature. Moreover, it may
be the incentive for further exploration of the locality mentioned
at some future time, with the view of solving the secrets of the
strange carving and wonderful cave drawings, to which so much
interest has been attracted.
Most of the modern histories of Australia contain, with regard to
the voyage of De Gonneville, the same stereotyped remarks :—
“A claim has been set forth on behalf of a certain French sailor named
De Gonneville, who is stated to have landed on the coast of Australia in 1503,
but this claim can easily be dismissed, as there is little doubt that the country he
describes is no other than the island of Madagascar.”
This opinion, so generally entertained by modern writers is
probably based on the authority of Admiral Burney, and the eminent
296 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
English geographer, Mr. Major, who, in referring to Burney’s remarks
with regard to this voyage in his paper on “Early Voyages to Terra
Australis,” printed in 1861, merely endorses this statement without
attempting to discuss it. The voyage of Jean Binot Paulmier de
Gonneville is authenticated, however, beyond the possibility of a doubt,
but the mystery to be cleared up as to what part of the Austral world the
old Norman navigator landed upon requires careful handling and very
close discussion.
De Gonneville left Honfleur in the month of June of the year 1503,
in the good ship Z’ spor, and after having rounded the Cape of Good
Hope he was assailed by tempestuous weather and driven into calm
latitudes. After a tedious spell of calm weather, want of water forced
him to make for the first land he could sight. The flight of some birds
coming from the south decided him to run a course to the southward,
and after a few days’ sail he landed on the coast of a large
territory, at the mouth of a fine river, which he compares to the river
Orne, at Caen. There he remained for six months repairing his vessel,
and making exploring excursions in the neighbourhood, holding mean-
while amicable intercourse with the inhabitants. He left this great
Austral Land, to which he gave the name of “‘Southern Indies,” as being
situated, in his estimation, “‘not far from the true course to the East
- Indies,” on the 3rd of July of the year 1504, taking with him two of the
natives, one of whom was the son of the chief of the people among
whom he had resided. On the return voyage no land was seen until the
day after the Feast of St. Denis, 7.¢., the roth of October of the same
year; but on nearing the coast of France the ship was attacked off the
islands of Guernsey and Jersey by an English privateer, who robbed the
navigators of all they brought from the land they had visited, the most
important loss being the journal of the expedition. On his arrival at
Honfleur, De Gonneville immediately entered a plaint before the
Admiralty Court of Normandy, and wrote a report of his voyage, which
was signed by the principal officers of his vessel.
The following is a translation of the title of this document :—
‘‘ Judicial declaration made before the Admiralty Court of Normandy by
Sieur de Gonneville, at the request of the King’s procurator, respecting the voyage
of the good ship L’Espoir, of the port of Honfleur, to the ‘ Southern Indies.’ ”
Extracts from this judicial declaration were published for the first
time in 1663 by the bookseller Cramoisy, who had received them from
a priest named J. B. Paulmier, then Canon of the Cathedral Church
of St. Pierre de Lizieux. The document was addressed to Pope
Alexander VII., and bears the title of—
‘Memorial for the establishment of a Christian mission in the third part of
the world, or ‘Terre Australe.’ Dedicated to His Holiness Pope Alexander VII.,
by a priest originating from that country.”
THE DES BROSSES’ DOCUMENTS. 297
This priest was the direct descendant of one of the “ Australians”’
(a term used for the first time by De Gonneville himself in referring to
the inhabitants of ‘‘ Terre Australe’”’), whom the Norman captain had
brought to France, and to whom at his death he gave his name
and fortune, in his desire to make some atonement for the wrong
which the worthy sailor considered he had inflicted upon the
native by taking him away from his country under a promise to
return, which he was never able to redeem. De Gonneville married
him to one of his relatives, and the priest in question was the grandson
of the ‘‘ Australian,” whose native name was ‘‘ Essomeric.” Canon
Paulmier appears to have been a man of mark in his time, since he was
resident in France as representative of the King of Denmark. He was
also a man of great learning, and Des Brosses informs us that he had
made a particular study of geography and the history of voyages of
discovery, with which he was perfectly acquainted.
The documents published by Des Brosses were translated and
appeared for the first time in English in a work entitled ‘“ ‘Terra
Australis Cognita,”” by the Scotch geographer, Callender, who, like
Des Brosses, was fully convinced that De Gonneville had landed some-
where on what is now known as the Australian Continent. This
territory was named by Des Brosses Australasza as far back as 1761,
and was placed to the southward of the Little Moluccas, where our
maps now show the north-western portion of the Australian Continent.
Some English geographers, however, such as Admiral Burney and
Flinders, differ from the conclusions arrived at by both Des Brosses and
Callender. Burney inclines to the belief that the land visited by
‘De Gonneville could be no other than Madagascar. After him,
Major, than whom no higher or more respected authority exists in
geographical matters of this kind, seems to have too readily accepted
Burney’s opinion. Perhaps they each considered the claim set up on
behalf of De Gonneville as based on insufficient grounds, and were
disposed to doubt, in the face of later knowledge of the natives of
Australia, that De Gonneville could possibly have induced one of his
relatives to marry a representative of these wretched races: and it must be
admitted that herein lies the great stumbling-block in the way of fixing the
position of the territory upon which De Gonneville actually landed. It is
also probable that Burney was led to the conclusion that Madagascar
was the point visited by some inaccuracies in Callender’s translation
with regard to the kind of head-dress described as worn by the women,
which would certainly appear to refer more to the inhabitants of the
great African island than to the Australians. The mystery is a difficult
one to clear up, but subsequent discoveries, and a closer scrutiny of the
Norman captain's narrative, prove, we think, clearly that De Gonneville’s
“Southern Indies” could be no other than the Australian Continent,
298 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
and that he landed in reality at the mouth of some of the rivers on
the north-western coast.
In the first place, the judicial declaration cited above, which had
been for more than three centuries and a half mislaid among the
records of the Admiralty of Normandy, was discovered in the year
1873 by the French geographer, Benoit D’Avezac, who published it
in a pamphlet in which he discusses this question, and concludes that
the land visited by De Gonneville must have been some part of South
America. But this official document, which is similar in almost all
points to the memoirs of the priest, Paulmier, and establishes at
once the fidelity of his extracts and the absolute truth of the
voyage of the French captain, does not contain any additional in-
formation which could lead to such conclusion, based only on his
description of the natives of the ‘‘Southern Indies.” D’Avezac’s contention
cannot be sustained, and must give way before the evidence of other
facts; but as the same arguments against his theory apply also to that
of Burney and Major, we need not discuss it here for the present.
It is, however, necessary, in order that the reader may form a clear
idea of the subject, to quote at length the original memoirs as pub-
lished by the worthy priest. As the translation of Callender is, on the
whole, a fairly good one—although it may be inferred that the Scotch
geographer, who wrote in 1761, was better acquainted with the pure
French of the eighteenth century than with the quaint terms of the old
Norman dialect, in which De Gonneville’s narrative is written—we shall
transcribe here that portion which bears on the subject, reserving to
ourselves the duty of pointing out the few inaccuracies which may have
led Burney and others to erroneous conclusions.
EXTRACT FROM THE MEMOIRS OF J. B. PAULMIER.
“It were to be wished that some better hand than mine were employed to give
an account of these southern regions of the world; but I cannot, without being
wanting to my character, to my birth, and to my profession, omit doing this duty
to the natives of the Southern World. Soon after the Portuguese had discovered
the way to the East Indies, some French merchants, invited by a prospect of
sharing the gains of this trade, fitted out a ship, which, in its route to the Indies,
being driven from the straight course by a tempest, was thrown upon this great
southern land. The natives of this region received the French with the most
cordial hospitality, and, during an abode of six months, did them every good office
in their power. The French, willing to bring some of the natives home with them,
prevailed upon the easy credulity of the chief of that nation to give them one of
his sons, promising that they would return him to his country fully instructed in
the European arts, particularly that of making war, which these Australians
desired above all things. Thus was the Indian brought into France, where he
lived long enough to converse with many who are yet living, and, being baptised,
he received the name and surname of the captain who brought him over. His
godfather, in order to acquit himself in some degree of what he owed to the
Australians, procured him a small establishment in France, and married him to one
PAULMIER’S MEMOIRS. 299
of his own relations. One of the sons of this marriage was my grandfather. The
solemn promise the French had given to the inhabitants to return him among them,
and what I owe to my original country, induces me to give the following short
account of the voyage, compiled from the memoirs of my own family :—
‘“The French having formed the design of following the steps of Vasco de
Gama in the East Indies, equipped a vessel at Honfleur for that voyage, which,
being commanded by the Sieur de Gonneville, weighed anchor in June, 1503, and,
having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, was attacked by a furious storm, which,
driving them far from their intended course, left them uncertain in what part of
the world they were. Being in want of water, and their ship having suffered much
by storm, the sight of some birds from the south induced them to hold their course
that way, where they soon discovered a large country, to which they gave the name
of Southern India, according to the usage of those days, when it was customary to
give the name of India to every new discovered country. They cast anchor in a
river, which they say was of the bigness of the Orne, near Caen. Here they spent
six months refitting their ship, but the crew, being intimidated, obliged Gonneville
to return to France. During his stay in this country he had time to form a most
curious account of the country and the manners of its inhabitants, which he
inserted in his journal; but, unfortunately, being just off the coast of France, he
was taken near the isle of Guernsey by an English privateer, who robbed him of his
journal and everything he had. On his landing he complained to the Admiralty, and,
having emitted the following judicial declaration, at the request of the procurator
of the King, he inserted it in a short relation of the discoveries he had made.
This public act, authenticated by all the proper forms, is dated 19th July, 1505, and
signed by the principal officers of the ship. From this the following are extracts :—
‘““Ttem. They say that during their stay in that country they conversed in all
freedom with the natives, having gained their goodwill by some trifling presents,
That the said Indians were simple people, leading a careless, easy life, subsisting
by hunting and fishing, and on some roots and herbs which the soil furnishes spon-
taneously. Some wear mantles either of skins or of woven mats, and some of
them are made of feathers, like those of the gypsies in our country, only they are
shorter, with a kind of apron girt above the haunches, which the men wear down
to the knee, and the women to the calf of the leg. The women wear collars made
of bones and small shells. The men have no ornament of this sort, but carry a
bow, and arrows pointed with sharp bones. They have also a sword, made of very
hard wood, burned and sharpened at the end; and these are all their weapons.
The women and girls go bare-headed, with their hair neatly tied up in tresses
mixed with flowers of most beautiful colours. The men let their hair hang down,
but they wear crowns of feathers, richly coloured.
*“* They say further, that having gone two days’ journey into the country and
along the coasts both to right and left, they found it very fertile, and full of many
birds, beasts, and fish utterly unknown in Christendom. The late Nicole Le Fevre,
of Honfleur, a volunteer in this voyage, had taken exact draughts of ail these
things. But everything was lost, together with the journals of the voyage when
the ship was taken; and this makes their account very imperfect.
‘Item. They say, further, that the country is not very populous, the natives
living dispersed in villages consisting of thirty, forty, or eighty huts. Those huts
are made of stakes drove into the ground, the intervals being filled up with herbs
and leaves, and a hole at top to let out the smoke. The doors are formed of
sticks neatly tied together, and are shut with wooden keepers like those of the
stables in Normandy. The beds are made of soft mats, skins, or feathers. Their
300 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
household utensils are formed of wood, even the pots with which they boil water ;
but, to preserve them from burning, they are laid over with a kind of clay an inch
thick.
‘Item. They say that the country is divided into many cantons, each of
which has its king, or chief. These kings are highly honoured and feared by
their subjects, though no better dressed or lodged than they. They have power of
life and death over the subjects, of which some of the crew saw a memorable ex-
ample in the person of a young man of twenty years of age, who, ina fit of
passion, had struck his mother. Though no complaint was made, yet the king
sent for him and ordered him to be thrown into the river with a large stone tied to
his neck, having previously called together the young men of that and the
neighbouring villages to witness his punishment.
“The name of this king, to whose territory the ship came, was Arosca. His
canton extended a day’s journey within land, having about a dozen villages in it,
each of which had its particular chief, but under Arosca.. The said Arosca was, to
appearance, about sixty, then a widower, but had six sons—from thirty to fifteen
years of age—who came often to the ship. Arosca was of middle stature, thick
set, of grave but pleasant countenance. He was then at peace with the neighbour-
ing kings, but they and he were at war with the people in the inland country,
against whom he marched twice, during the ship’s stay there. Each time he
had a body of 500 or 600 men with him, and when he returned the last time, there
were great rejoicings made on account of a victory he had gained. There was
nothing but excursions for a few days, in which they begged the French to
march with them, in hopes of being assisted by their firearms, but the commander
excused himself.
“Item. They say that there came five of their kings to see the ship, but
they wore nothing to distinguish them but their plumes of feathers, which, con-
trary to those of their subjects, was of one colour. The principal inhabitants
wore some feathers of the colour of the king’s mixed with the others. Arosca had
his of green.
‘‘Item. They say that these friendly Indians received them as angels from
Heaven, and were infinitely surprised at the bulk of the ship, the artillery, mirrors,
and other things they saw on board. Above all, they were astonished at our
method of communicating our thoughts to each other by letters from the ship to
those on shore, not being able to divine how the letter could speak. For these
reasons they greatly feared the French. At the same time they were so much
beloved by them, on account of some axes, mirrors and knives they gave them,
that they were always ready to do anything in their power to serve the strangers,
bringing them great quantities of flesh and fish, fruits, and other provisions.
Besides which, they brought them large quantities of skins, teathers, and roots, of
dying in different colours, in exchange for which they received different kinds of
hardware of small price, and thus the French got together above one hundred
quinta!s of their goods.
‘Item. They say that, intending to leave there some memorial that this
country had been visited by Christians, they erected a large wooden cross, thirty-
five feet high, and painted over, placed on an eminence in view of the sea. This
they did with much ceremony on the Day of Pentecost, 1504, the cross being car-
ried by the captain and his officers, all barefooted, accompanied by the King
Arosca and the principal Indians, after whom followed the crew, under arms,
singing the Litany. These were accompanied by a crowd of Indians, to whom
they gave to understand the meaning of this ceremony as well as they could.
SEARCH FOR ORIGINAL RECORDS. 301
Having set up the cross, they fired volleys of their cannon and small arms, charging
the Indians to keep carefully and honcur the monument they had set up, and
endeavoured to gain them to this by presenting them with a number of baubles,
which, though of small value, were highly prized by them. On one side of this
cross were engraved the name of the Pope and that of our Sovereign, the name of
the Admiral] of France, and those of the captain and all his crew. On the other
side appeared the Latin verses following, made by the above Nicole Le Fevre,
signifying the date of this transaction—
“ HIC sacra paLMarIUs, post UIt gonIVILLabInotUs,
“ GreX, foClUs parlterqUe UtraqUe progenles.
*‘ Item. They say that, having refitted their ship in the best way they could,
they prepared to return to France, and being willing, after the manner of those
who discover strange lands, to carry some of the natives with them, they per-
suaded the king, Arosca, to let them have one of his sons, promising to the father
that they would bring him back in twenty moons at farthest, with others who
should teach them the use of firearms, and how to make mirrors, axes, knives, and
whatever else they admired among the Christians. These promises determined
Arosca to let his son, called Essomeric, go along with them, to whom he gave for
a companion an Indian of thirty-five years of age, called Namoa. He and his
people convoyed them to the ship, giving them provisions, besides many beautiful
feathers and other rarities, in order to present to the King of France. At parting,
Arosca obliged them to swear that they would return in twenty moons, and when
the ship got under way the whole people gave a great cry, and, forming the sign
of the Cross with their fingers, gave them to understand that they would carefully
preserve the one set up among them.
“Item. They say that they left this southern country July 3rd, 1504, and saw
go land until the day after the Feast of St. Denis, during which time they were
much distressed by a malignant fever, of which their surgeon and three more died,
among whom was the Indian, Namoa. The young son of Arosca also falling sick,
they baptised him by the name of Binot, after their captain, who stood godfather
to him. This was done September 14th, after which the young Indian grew
better and arrived in France.”
Callender further remarks :—
‘“‘ Thus far the judicial declaration emitted by De Gonneville before the Admi-
talty. The rest of the author’s memoir is filled with exhortations to the French to
profit by this lucky discovery, and send the writer back to the country of his
ancestors ; but this appears never to have been done. The author seems to have
begun this extract from De Gonneville’s declaration in that place where he talks
of the manners of the inhabitants, omitting what went before, though it is highly
probable that the navigator must have said something of the voyage outwards and the
portion of the country where he landed, which would have been of great importance
for usto know at thisday. The French writer from whom we havetranslated the above
account informs us that the Count de Maurepas caused search lately through all
the records of the Admiralty in Normandy, in order to find the original of this
declaration, but an interval of two centuries and a half, and the confusions occa-
sioned by the civil wars, had dispersed all the old papers, and all the information
that M. de Maurepas could obtain was that a tradition still subsisted there that
such a piece was once among the records, but they could give no account of what
was become of it. Thus the full account of an attempt which Magellan some
years after finished with success is entirely lost, except the very lame extract we
3)2 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
have been able to lay before the reader. Our French author tells us he has seen
another copy of this memorial at the end of the dedication to Pope Alexander VII.
The author signs his name thus, at full length, ‘ Paulmier, Prétre Indien Chanoine
de l’Eglise Cathédrale de Lizieux.’ The proprietor of this copy has added a note,
testifying that this copy was given him by the author himself in 1664. He com-
mends him as a person of universal knowledge, and one who had travelled all over
Europe. He had made the history of navigation his principal study, and was per-
fectly acquainted with it. In another note we are told that Essomeric, the son of
Arosca, lived to the year 1583, and left posterity under the name of Binot.. One
of his grand-children, J. B. Binot, was President of the Treasury of Provence,
and left an only daughter, who was muirried to the Marquis de la Barbent, May 4th,
1725. Our readers will not be surprised that we have entered into a detail of facts
in order to elucidate and confirm the truth of this first discovery of the Terra
Australis, especially as this account was never seen in our language till now, and
is therefore little known even to those who are otherwise well acquainted with
voyages made to this part of the world.”
Callender, however, has omitted to translate the remainder of
Des Brosses’ account, in which, among other facts, the important state-
ment is made that the priest Paulmier had become personally known to
M. Flaconet, who met him for the first time at the residence of the Lord
Bishops of Heliopolis and Beryte, where he often met him in company
with M. de Flacourt, who had commanded in Madagascar, and
M. Fernamel, father of the Superior of the Foreign Missions. The good
abbé was doing all in his power to persuade these gentlemen to assist in
sending a mission to these Australians, and it also appears that he had
communicated his views on the subject to St. Vincentde Paul, who would
have presented his memorial to the Pope had he not been prevented by
death.
Before attempting to fix the position of the country visited by
De Gonneville, it is necessary to refute here the various opinions ex-
pressed on the subject which refer to countries other than the
Australian Continent. ‘The most ancient is that brought forward by the
geographers, Duval and Nolin, and the navigator, Bouvet, who place
those lands almost immediately to the south of the Cape of Good Hope.
As there are no lands thereabout, this opinion ‘is hardly worth quoting,
but, considering the very limited knowledge of the geography of that
part of the world in those days, the error may be readily understood.
Others, basing their opinion on the length of De Gonneville’s
voyage, have surmised that he might have landed on some part of the
coast of ‘Tasmania or of New Zealand, but this conclusion is equally
untenable, as these islands are not situated within calm latitudes, and
are not near or even in the direction of the ‘‘ true course to the East
Indies,’ which the French sailor was satisfied he was not far off, as,
under this belief, he, on leaving the “ Southern Indies”’ endeavoured to
induce his crew to continue their voyage. Besides, the description given
of the inhabitants and their manners, applies more to natives of a
WHAT CONTINENT ? 303
tropical or semi-tropical climate than to those of such cold regions: as
New Zealand and Tasmania.
We are, therefore, confronted with only one more opinion, which is
held by most English geographers on the high authority of Admiral
Burney. .
“Let the whole account,’’ says Burney, ‘‘ be reconsidered without pre-
possession, and the idea that will immediately and most naturally occur
is that Southern India, discovered by De Gonneville, was Madagascar.
De Gonneville, having doubled (passed round) the Cape, was by tem-
pests driven into calm latitudes, and so near to this land that he was
directed thither by the flight of birds. The refusal of the crew to pro-
ceed to Eastern India would scarcely have happened if they had been
so far advanced to the east as New Holland.”
It is difficult to conceive how Burney could have expressed such an
opinion, unless he was led to that conclusion by some errors in Callen-
der’s translations. ‘There is, in fact, a passage having reference to the
descriptions of the head-dress worn by the native women, in which the
Scotch geographer has given the following version of Des Brosses’
original -—
‘The women and girls go bareheaded, with their hair neatly tied up in tresses,
mixed with flowers of most beautiful colours.’’ ?
‘The original narrative reads thus :—
‘“‘Et vont les femmes et filles téte nue, ayant les cheveux gentiment teurchés
de petits cordons d’herbes teintes de couleurs vives et luisantes.”’
Which means :—
‘“ The women and girls go bare headed, having their hair ornamented with
little strings of grass dyed in bright colours.”
This, as will be seen, is a very different version. Callender evi-
dently did not understand the old Norman expression—genfiment
teurchés, which means ‘‘nicely ornamented,” and translated it by the
word that appeared to him more akin in form, /resses, hence, ‘the
hair neatly tied up in tresses, which is a characteristic custom of the
native women of the island of Madagascar.
But this is a small matter. It is, however, more difficult to dispose
of another fact as telling against the Madagascar theory, which ap-
parently did not strike Burney. Gonneville states that he was driven
into calm latitudes, and after tedious navigation, was directed south-
ward by the flight of birds. It is only necessary here to compare dates
in order to show how misapplied would be this description to the
latitudes within which Madagascar is situated.
De Gonneville left Honfleur in June, 1503, and quitted Southern
India on the 3rd of July of the following year. As he stayed six
months in that country, his outward voyage h:~, therefore, lasted
304. AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION
about seven months, and he must have been in the vicinity of the
Cape of Good Hope about December, 1503, or January, 1504.
As it is a well-known fact that tempestuous weather is generally met with
from the south-west and, moreover, that the prevailing wind during that
season of the year is from the north-west, De Gonneville, whose true
course lay to the north-east, was probably driven much more toward
the east than he expected, for he expressly states that he was convinced
he was not far from the true course to the East Indies. Had the tempests
blown from the soufh-eas¢, there would never, in all probability, have
been any need discussing his account, for he would have had none to
render, as his ship would have been driven very quickly against the East
African coast, or the south-east coast of Madagascar and wrecked.
It must be assumed that De Gonneville was, for his time, a man of
great ability, well versed in nautical matters, and the use of the primitive
instruments which were then known, and his opinion as to the
position of his ship, and his desire to proceed to the East Indies, being
inwardly satisfied that he was not far from the object of his voyage, is
certainly entitled to some consideration, although, unfortunately, he has
not left any indication of the latitude or longitude of the country he
visited. If to this be added the facts that it is precisely in the season
extending from December to March, that. the Madagascar latitudes
are constantly visited by hurricanes, and that the cyclones which
originate in the Indian Ocean burst over the islands of Mauritius
and Reunion, and generally travel towards these coasts, it will be
apparent that the term ‘“‘calm latitudes’’ must necessarily apply to some
other part of the Indian Ocean. It is equally well-known that the belt
which extends round the globe between 10 deg. of latitude, north, and
10 deg. of latitude, south, is in all parts of the ocean, and at all times,
subject to very tedious calms, though the waters may occasionally be
ruffled by very heavy hurricanes and storms. These facts force us to seek
tor the land visited in the neighbourhood of these latitudes. The
objection raised by the sailors to proceed to the East Indies means
nothing, as they had no idea of their position, while as ignorant
and superstitious men, tired of a long and dangerous voyage, they
had little reason to share in their chief’s confidence in his estimate
of the locality they had reached, and had no thought but that of
returning homewards without facing again the dangers of unknown
seas.
Further arguments are not wanting to refute the Madagascar
theory. Inthe first place, the Portuguese, who discovered that island in
1506, and explored its coasts in the following years, could not have long
remained in ignorance of De Gonneville’s voyage. ‘The cross erected
by his companion was, perhaps, not destroyed; but, so short a period
having clapsed between their discoveries and the Norman captain’s
is
MADAGASCAR THEORY UNTENABLE. 305
voyage, the natives could scarcely have forgotten so important an
event. ‘The only alternative theory would be that, in their, explora-
tions along the coast of the island, the Portuguese were so unfortunate
as to land everywhere but near the spot where De Gonneville may be
supposed to have resided. It is stated, moreover, that the priest
Paulmier wrote his memorial to the Pope with the object of obtaining
a Christian mission to the home of his ancestors; but the Portu-
guese missionaries were preaching the Gospel in Madagascar
almost since the first visits of their countrymen to that island, and it is
self-evident that the Abbé, who was often in the company of the priests
who in Paris administered the foreign missions in non-Christian countries,
must have been aware of this fact; while M. de Villermon positively
states that he often met Paulmier in company with M. de Flacourt who
had been Governor of Madagascar where France had established itself as
far back as 1642. What would have been the necessity, it may be
asked, of praying that a Christian mission should be sent to a country
where missions had flourished for overa century, or of founding a French
colony in an island which was already occupied by France, and had
received resident governors ten years before the good priest wrote ?
But there is one last point which is sufficient in itself to remove all
doubts on the subject. Here, again, we must compare dates, and we
find that— .
“They left that country on the 3rd of July, 1504, and did not see land until
the day after the Feast of St. Denis, z.e., toth October, 1504.”
De Gonneville’s report to the Admiralty is dated 15th June, 1505,
and admitting that there was some delay between his landing at Honfleur
and the date of his report, which was signed by the principal officers of
his vessel, he could hardly have reached France before March or April
of that year. As he was, moreover, convinced that the country to which
he had given the name of Southern India lay to the south of the East
Indies, it is evident that on his return home his course must have
been south-west, which, had he started from the east coast of Mada-
gascar, or, as D’Avezac thinks, from that of South America, would
have landed him on his starting point. It is evident that the land he
sighted after three months’ navigation could be no other than the Cape
of Good Hope.
_ This is sufficient, we venture to think, to dispose of the Madagascar
theory, as it does also of the South American one, which, it may be
added, can hardly be admitted as possible, when the length of the
return voyage of De Gonneville (about twelve months) is taken into
consideration, together with the fact that the whole of the South
American coast within the region where De Gonneville might have
landed was explored and settled about the same time, and some record
of his voyage would certainly have been found.
U
306 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Where, then, shall we look for this Southern India, for that fine
river, at the mouth of which De Gonneville remained six months, and
for that fine country which his companions explored in their journeys
with the natives?
A river of the size described pre-supposes a country of considerable
extent, and therefore De Gonneville could not have landed on any of the
islands lying between Madagascar and the Sunda Islands. It could not
have been either of the latter named, as they lie to the north, and not
the south of the calm latitudes referred to by De Gonneville. We
are perforce obliged to admit that, as it was not and cannot have been
Madagascar, it must have been Australia, and in all probability the
north-west coast of the continent, about the Prince Regent and Glenelg
rivers, where the explorers King and Grey found fine rivers and a
rich country fairly populated with a race of warlike natives. It is
certainly difficult when reading the description given of the ‘‘ Aus-
tralians,’ by De Gonneville, to imagine that they could possibly have
had any resemblance to the races we are accustomed to meet with in
almost all parts of Australia. Still less could they have resembled the
wretched creatures which Dampier found inhabiting the west coast,
between Cape Levéque and the North-west Cape, and we must,
therefore, look further north for a country and a race of men answering
better to the description of the Norman captain.
De Gonneville found a fine district, watered by a large river, and
inhabited by men who possessed a kind of rudimentary civilization, a
tribal organization, and obeyedsome established individual authority. He
further tells us that they lived in villages, or agglomerations of huts of
the shape of the covered markets in the Normandy villages—that is
to say, oval or round, made of stakes driven into the ground, and the
intervals filled up with herbs and the leaves of trees; and that the
speech of these people is soft and melodious. He also speaks of
the birds, beasts, fishes, and other curious animals unknown in
Christendom, of which Master Nicole le Fevre, of Honfleur, who
was a volunteer in the voyage, had taken exact draughts. And,
last of all, we are told that De Gonneville induced the chief or king
of the country to allow him to take home his son and another Indian
as a companion, promising to return with them in twenty ‘ moons”
at furthest, and owing to the impossibility of fulfilling that promise,
he procured the young Australian an establishment in France,
and married him to one of his relatives, from whom he had posterity.
This last portion of the narrative would appear the most incredible
of all, if we had not official and documentary evidence of its absolute
truth, as it must certainly be presumed that the Australian could not
possibly have belonged to the wretched races with whom we are
familiar.
CORROBORATIVE TESTIMONY. 307
But, however difficult it may seem to reconcile the account of
De Gonneville with our general knowledge of the natives of Australia,
the task is not so hopeless as at first sight may appear; and we shall
crave the attention of the reader to the following description of the
country and the inhabitants of that part of North-west Australia which
surrounds the Glenelg and Prince Regent and other rivers in their
neighbourhood, discovered and visited for the first time by Captain King
and Lieutenant, now Sir George, Grey, the latter exploring it to some
distance inland in the year 1838.
Referring to that part of the country, Lieut. Grey says in his
“Expedition in North-Western and Western Australia,” p. 179:—
“The peak we ascended afforded us a very beautiful’ view; to the north lay
Prince Regent’s River, and the good country we were now upon extended as far
as the inlets which communicated with this great navigable stream; to the south
and south-westward lay the Glenelg, meandering through as verdant and fertile a
district as the eye of man ever rested on. The luxuriance of tropical vegetation
was now seen to great advantage in the height of the rainy season. The smoke
of native fires rose in every direction from the country which lay like a map at our
feet; and when I recollected that all those natural riches of soil and climate lay
between two navigable rivers, and that its sea coast frontage, not much exceed-
ing fifty miles in latitude, contained three of the finest harbours in the world in
which the tide rose thirty-seven anda half feet, I could not but feel we were ina
land singularly blessed by nature.”
Could any description more closely adapt self to the fine country,
fairly peopled (peuplée entre deux) of which De Gonneville speaks.
Further, on page 195 of the same work, Grey says :—
“We at length reached a watershed connecting the country we had left
with that we were entering upon. . . This watershed consisted principally of a
range of elevated hills, from which streams were thrown off to the Glenelg and to
Prince Regent’s River. The scenery here was fine, but I have so often before des-
cribed the same character of landscape that it will be sufficient to say, we again
looked down from high land on a very fertile country, covered with a tropical
vegetation, and lying between two navigable rivers. J can compare this to no
other Australian scenery, for I have met with nothing in the other portions of the
continent which at all resemble it.”
Referring to the fauna, the same authority says :-—
“North Western Australia seems to be peculiarly prolific in birds, reptiles,
anc insects, who dwell here unmolested.” . . ,
After mentioning several kinds of kangaroos, opossums, native dogs,
etc., the former of which animals are constantly hunted down by the
natives, Grey, speaking of the birds, says ;—
‘To describe the birds common to these parts requires more time than to
detail the names of the few quadrupeds to be found. Indeed, in no other country
that I have ever visited do birds so abound. Even the virgin forests of America
cannot, in my belief, boast of such numerous feathered denizens. . . . The
birds of this country possess, in many instances, an excessively beautiful plumage,
308 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
and he alone who has traversed these wild and romantic regions, who has beheld a
flock of many-coloured parrakeets sweeping like a moving rainbow through the
air, can form any adequate idea of the scenes that then burst on the eye of
the wondering naturalist. As to fish, the rivers abound in many species of excel-
lent fish.”’
Could there be a more fitting description of that country which
De Gonneville and his companions explored along the coast and in the
interior to a distance of two days’ journey, which “‘ they. found very
fertile and full of many birds, beasts, and fish hitherto unknown in
Christendom?’ ‘To what does this latter qualification apply? Certainly
not to birds, beasts, or fish of either South America or Madagascar, as
the American fauna was, to a certain extent, already known in
Christendom, and that of Madagascar, which resembles that of the east
coast of Africa, apart from a few species not particularly remarkable or
numerous, was also well-known to Europeans. ‘These beasts, of which,
to use the old Norman phrase of ‘“‘ Master Nicole Le Fevre, avait
pourtrayé les facons,’’ must have struck him as very peculiar indeed
when he refers to them as ‘utterly unknown in Christendom,” and we
know well that no other country can boast of a fauna so essentially
different to that of any other part of the world as the Australian
Continent.
And now as to the natives of this part of Australia, z.e., the neigh-
bourhood of the Glenelg and Prince Regent’s River. Grey, in page 251
of the above cited work, says :—
‘“‘My knowledge of the natives is chiefly drawn from what I have observed of
their haunts, their painted caves, and drawings. I have, moreover, become
acquainted with several of their weapons, some of their implements, and took
pains to study their disposition and habits as far as I could.
‘“‘In their manner of life, their weapons, and mode of hunting, they closely
resemble the other Australian tribes with which I have since become pretty inti-
mately acquainted, whilst in their form and appearance there is a striking
difference. They are, in general, very tall and robust, and exhibit in their legs
and arms a fine, full development of muscle which is unknown to southern
races. They wear no clothes, and their bodies are marked by scars and wales.
They seem to have noregular mode of dressing their hair, this appearing to depend
entirely on individual taste or caprice.
‘* They appear to live in tribes, subject, perhaps, to some individual authority,
and each tribe has a sort of capital or head-quarters, where the women and
children remain, whilst the men, divided into small parties, hunt and shoot in
every direction. The largest number we saw together, anetasiae women and
children, amounted to nearly two hundred.
‘‘ Their arms consist of stone-headed spears, of throwing-sticks, of boomerangs
or kileys, clubs, and stone hatchets.
‘These natives manufacture their water buckets and weapons very neatly,
and make from the bark of a tree a light but strong cord.
‘* Their huts, of which I only saw those on the coast, are constructed, in an oval
form, of the boughs of trees, and are roofed with dry reeds. The diameter of one
which I measured was about fourteen feet at the base.
DISCREPANCIES CONSIDERED. 309
‘‘ Their language is soft and melodious, so much so as to lead to the inference
that it differs very materially, if not radically, from the more southern Australian
dialects, which I have since had an opportunity to inquire into. ‘Their gesticula-
tion is expressive, and their bearing manly and noble. They never speared a horse
or sheep belonging to us, and, judging by the degree of industry shown in their
paintings, the absence of anything offensive in the subjects delineated, and the
careful finish of some articles of common use, I should infer that, under proper
treatment, they might easily be raised very considerably in the scale of
civilisation.
‘““4 vemarkable circumstance is the presence amongst them of a race, to
appearance, totally different and almost white, who seem to exercise no small
influence over the rest. Iam forced to believe that the distrust evinced towards
strangers arose from these persons, as in both instances when we were attacked,
the hostile party was led by one of these light-coloured men.”
We need only draw the attention of the reader to the close resem-
blance between the description of De Gonneville’s ‘“ Australians” and
that of Grey’s in many particulars, especially in their tribal organization,
the form of their houses,* their language, and the fact of the existence
among them, as leaders of the tribes, of that race of almost white men
also observed about the same parts by Captain King, who thinks that
they are of Malay origin.
There are certain discrepancies, however, which cannot be explained
away, unless it is taken into consideration that Grey visited those coasts
three hundred and thirty years after the French sailor, and that during
that interval of time the customs of the inhabitants cannot fail to have
undergone a change. It may be also that the light-coloured people seen
amongst them are but the remnants of once numerous tribes, probably
of Malay origin, as these latter have left undeniable marks of their having
intermixed with the native races throughout the whole of northern
Australia. One of the points of dissemblance which might be
pointed out is the fact that De Gonneville describes them as using
bews and arrows, which is at variance with our knowledge of
the arms of the Australians, and equally differs from Grey’s
description of the same; but this objection exists also as regards the
inhabitants of Madagascar, who, besides, had already attained a much
higher degree of civilisation than that described by De Gonneville—
being acquainted with the use of iron, the manufacture of cotton and
silk goods, fine mats, and many other articles of value among civilised
people. The Madagascar natives never made use of the skins of
animals as an article of dress, whilst this custom is common to the
aborgines of all parts of Australia, where the kangaroo, opossums, native
* Callender, in his translation omits a passage referring to the form of the
huts of the Australians, which De Gonneville says were ‘‘ en forme de halles,’’
i.e.,in the form of covered markets such as seen in the villages of Normandy,
which are generally oval structures.
310 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
bears, and emus, furnish them with the material, with which they could
manufacture these garments of skins or beds of feathers described by
De Gonneville. But if the theory is accepted, which we are about to
put forward regarding the inhabitants of this part of Australia—that at
the time of De Gonneville’s visit a people of Malay origin inhabited it in
fairly large numbers, of which the light-coloured natives seen by Grey
are the descendants, and that with their disappearance from that
district some of their customs disappeared with them, the natives
of the present day retaining only those best suited to their actual mode
of life—then the Norman captain’s narrative will become intelligible.
Besides, as regards the use of bow and arrow, certainly known to the
Malays, although the intercourse of the latter with other tribes on the
north Australian coast has been undoubtedly frequent, nowhere have
the Australian natives adopted that kind of arm, whilst in New Guinea
and all over Northern Polynesia the bow and arrow is the inevitable war
accoutrement of the savage, who certainly obtained the knowledge of it
from his Malay forefathers. No wonder, then, that in the district
explored by Grey, these arms should have given way to the equally
effective boomerang, throwing-stick, and spears, and other weapons of
the North Australian savage. :
The theory we have just submitted with regard to the country round
the Glenelg River and that of the Prince Regent having been at one time
inhabited by a different and superior race is no idle one, and is proved
by the discoveries of remarkable paintings made by the same Lieutenant
Grey in the caves near the mouth of the above-named rivers.
Again we shall have to quote this excellent author, whose clear and
concise descriptions are of such value, and refer the reader to the
following passages in the diary of his explorations in that part of the
Australian Continent :—
“Qn this sloping roof the principal figure (1) which I have just alluded to was
drawn. In order to produce the greater effect, the rock about it was painted black,
and the figure itself coloured with the most vivid red and white. It thus appeared
to stand out from the rock, and | was certainly surprised at the moment that I first
saw this gigantic head and upper part of a body bending over and staring grimly
down on me.
“Tt would be impossible to convey in words an adequate idea of this uncouth
and savage figure ; I shall, therefore, only give such a succinct account of this and
the other paintings as will serve as a sort of description to accompany the annexed
plates.
“ Length of head and face ast gee fac 2 ft. o in.
Width of face _... fe = sian sas Og 17. ae
Length from bottom of face to navel ... chs 2 5.2
“Its head was encircled by bright red rays, something like the rays which one
sees proceeding from the sun when depicted on the signboard of a public house,
Inside of this came a broad stripe of very brilliant red, which was coped by lines of
white ; both inside and outside of this red space were narrow stripes of a still
mrt
THE CAVES’ PAINTINGS. 311
deeper red, intended probably to mark its boundaries. The face was painted
vividly white and the eyes black, being, however, surrounded by red and yellow
lines. The body, head, and arms were outlined red, the body being curiously
painted with red stripes and bars.
‘‘Upon the rock which formed the left hand wall of this cave, and which partly
faced you on entering, was a very singular painting (2), vividly coloured, repre-
senting four heads joined together. From the mild expression of the countenances,
I imagined them to represent females, and they appeared to be drawn in such a
manner and in such a position as to look up at the principal figure which I have
before described. Each hada very remarkable head-dress, coloured with a deep,
bright biue, and one had a necklace on. Both of the lower figures had a sort of
dress, painted with red, in the same manner as that of the principal figure, and one
of them had a band round the waist. Each of the four faces was marked by a
totally distinct expression of countenance, and although none of them had mouths,
two, I thought, were otherwise rather good-looking. The whole painting was
executed on a white ground, and its dimensions were—
“Total length of painting wk ies aot 4 ft. 6F-in.
Breadth across two upper heads a ‘ait So OL Ss
Breadth across two lower heads he ae Bi a2 et ag
These remarkable paintings attracted Grey’s attention, and led him
wondering as to their origin. ‘The solution to that problem he has
however left to others. (Fig 1, see Appendix.)
According to him, the first two frescoes—vz.e., those situated on the
roof of the cave, representing the principal figure, and that representing
the four persons (probably women), are one subject. A glance at their
position, and the expression of their faces, leads one to accept Grey’s
Opinion as not only admissible, but as the only accurate one. The
group of women is placed in an attitude of prayer, or of submission
towards the central figure, also representing a woman, as all
except the head-dress, which is a little different, exactly resemble the
others ; it is also evident that the artist wished to represent a religious
subject.
It is necessary to remark that the people among which these
drawings have been found belong to an almost savage race, and in
admitting that they may be the work of a superior race that once
inhabited these parts (which, by the way, is the opinion of Sir
George Grey), yet this superior race could hardly be any other but some
Malay tribe. Among these latter, as well as among all savage, or
semi-savage people, woman is considered as a being of an inferior order,
more fit to become a slave than to be worshipped, and as the Malays
had either adopted for centuries past, either one of two creeds, that of
Buddhism from the Hindoos, or that of Mahomet from the Arabs, we
look in vain, save in the former, and that in only one or two well-known
instances, which cannot for a moment be entertained here, for the
worship of a woman. ‘The Malay religious artistic subjects that we
know of are of an order far above that of which we have a sample
312 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
here, and there is no resemblance at all in their paintings with anything
depicted in these caves.
There are several points of importance with regard to these
pictures, to which we beg to direct the reader’s attention. In the
first place, the perfect oval shape of the head; secondly, the colour of
the face, which is painted vzvzdly white, evidently for some purpose;
and thirdly, the fact that the kind of dress worn over the bodies exactly
resembles that described by De Gonneville as worn by the women of
the Southern Indies, made of some kind of matted material, sometimes
also of skins, or of feathers, girt above the haunches and reaching to the
knee. (Fig. 2, see Appendix.)
Compare, also, the date assigned by Grey to these pictures—two or
three centuries, and this coincidence will appear still more remarkable.
But to return to the subject. Itis difficult, if not impossible to
credit the natives at the time of Grey’s visit as being the authors of these
paintings. The eminent traveller absolutely discredits such a possibility,
and attributes them to a far distant epoch, and a totally different race.
The perfect oval shape of the faces was not drawn so without a purpose,
and neither were they painted so vividly white, if the artist had not
desired to pourtray types of a race certainly not existing at present on the
the Australian continent. It is difficult to admit that it might be of
_ Malay origin, as the head-dress, or to describe it more perfectly,
the auwreola surrounding the head, is met with in Buddhist paintings or
sculptures only as surrounding the head of gods, who can always be
recognised by their peculiar and constant characteristics, and nowhere
are these aureolas surrounded with the rays in the shape of ‘‘ faméches,”
which confront us in the drawing of the principal figure. (Fig. 3, see
Appendix.) Itresembles, indeed, much better Grey’s own description :—
“Tts head was encircled by bright red rays, something like the rays which
one sees proceeding from the sun, when depicted on the sign board of a public
house.”
There is evidently here some strange mixture of European and
Malay art, the former exhibited in the remarkable aureolas which so
commonly surround the heads of saints in the old images, in painted
church windows of the middle ages, and the times of De Gonneville,
and the latter in the kind of dress over the body, which appears
to be meant to represent some sort of matted stuff. This painting
is not the work of a native artist; it is unlikely that it could be
the work of Malays, in the third place there is in its position and its
peculiar appearance such a striking touch of an European conception,
mingled with barbaric surroundings, that one is almost inclined to the
belief that we are here in the presence of a subject of religious, nay, a
Christian order.
|
|
.
.
Cc
A STRANGE INSCRIPTION. 313
This deduction may need additional evidence, and if the reader will
kindly follow with us Lieutenant Grey’s steps, he will be placed in the
presence of a still more remarkable painting, which we shall presently
describe.
“The cave was twenty feet deep, and at the entrance seven feet high and
about forty feet wide. As before stated the floor gradually approached the
roof in the direction of the bottom of the cavern, and its width also contracted
so that at the extremity it was not broader than the slab of rock which
formed a natural seat. The principal painting in it was the painting of a man
ten feet six inches in length, clothed from the chin downwards in a red garment
which reached to the wrists and ankles; beyond this red dress the feet and hands
protruded, and were badly executed.
“The face and head of the figure were enveloped in a succession of circular
bandages, or rollers, or what appeared to be painted to represent such. These
were coloured red, yellow, and white, and the eyes were the only features
represented on the face. Upon the highest bandage, or roller, a series of lines
were painted in red, but although so irregularly done as to indicate that they have
some meaning, it is impossible to tell whether they were intended to depict
written characters or some ornament for the head. This figure was so drawn on the
roof that its feet were just in front of the natural seat, whilst its head and face looked
directly down on anyone who stood in the entrance of the cave, but it was totally
invisible from the outside. The painting was more injured by the damp and
atmosphere, and had the appearance of being much more defaced and ancient
than any of the others which we haveseen. There were two other paintings, one on
each side of the rocks, which stood on either side of the natural seat; they were
carefully executed, and yet had no apparent design in them, unless they were
intended to represent some fabulous species of turtle; for the natives of Australia
are generally fond of narrating tales of fabulous and extraordinary animals, such
as gigantic snakes, etc.” (Fig. 4, see Appendix.)
With this drawing, as well as in the others, it is evident that native
talent had nothing todo. Neither had, in all probability, the Malays,
as the form of the dress and its colour are incompatible with anything
we know of these people. Then again the same aureoia surrounds
the head of the figure, and we are inclined to think that this drawing
is due to the same artist who painted those already described.
Although Grey believes that it is a more ancient production, the face
of it having suffered more than the other is in all probability due to
it being more exposed to atmospheric, or other influences, rather than
to its greater antiquity. There are, however, some very interesting
points to examine in this drawing, and in the first place our attention is
drawn to the curious signs inscribed on the aureola surrounding the
head.
At first sight, an illiterate person would at once exclaim, “ these
are Latin characters.”’
Gh See
Five out of six undoubtedly are such, and the sixth appears to be part of
an unfinished or defaced letter, probably F or E. This is evidently very
314 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
remarkable, and more so is the fact which a closer examination discloses
that near the right shoulder of the figure two additional characters, c d,
also undoubtedly of Latin form, are there inscribed, proving the
European origin of this drawing, which resembles exactly those paintings
of the middle ages, representing some holy monk or nun in their habila-
ments, of a coarse, brown cloth, the hands, and still more so the feet in
that position which painters of religious subjects have rendered us so
familiar with on the old church windows, and other paintings of those
times. The practice of printing the name of the saint on the aurcola
encircling the head is also a common one, and perhaps we may find there
an explanation of that painting, which will also prove the others to be of
like origin. These characters are, undoubtedly, Latin, whichever way one
might like to turn them, and their appearance in such a spot is not due
to chance alone. It would be a difficult task to attempt to explain their
meaning, but, perhaps, a further exploration of these singular caves may
bring to light information leading to their identification and explanation.
Suffice it to say that they certainly tend to show the European and
Christian character of these paintings, the first one probably representing
the holy women praying before the Virgin, and the other some holy nun,
as the line over the chin seems to indicate the well-known head-dress.
It may be objected that the Virgin could hardly have been pour-
trayed in such a costume, to which the answer may be made, that it was
a common custom at the time, among the disciples of Francis Xavier
who evangelised India, to represent the Virgin and the saints in the
costume of the country, in order to bring them in an easier way to the
conception of the native mind, a practice, need it be added, which
brought on the head of the Jesuits the most severe condemnation.
If such is the case, and if these paintings are, as we believe, the
work of Europeans, we might look in their vicinity for some other and
still more convincing proof of their origin.
Such is afforded also, and the evidence is telling.
For the last time we shall quote the same eminent author, and at
page 205 of vol. I. of his work, we read :—
‘*‘ After proceeding some distance, we found a cave larger than the one seen
this morning ; of its actual size, however, I have no idea, for being pressed for
time I did not attempt to explore it, having merely ascertained that it contained
no paintings. I was moving on when we observed a profile of a human face and
head, cut out ina sandstone rock which fronted the cave; this rock was so hard
that to have removed such a large portion of it with no better tool than a knife
and hatchet made of stone, such as the Australian natives generally possess, would
have been a work of very great labour. The head was two feet in length, and
sixteen inches in breadth in the broadest part ; the depth of the profile increased
gradually from the edges where it was nothing, to the centre where it was an inch
and a half. The ear was rather badly placed, but otherwise the whole of the work
was good, and far superior to what a savage race could be supposed capable of
A SPHINX. 315
executing. The only proof of antiquity that it bore about it was that all the edges
of the cutting were rounded and perfectly smooth, much more so than they could
have been from any other cause than long exposure to atmospheric influences.
‘“‘ After having made a sketch of this head I returned to the party.”
Now let us examine, without prepossession or prejudice, this
remarkable sculpture, the only head sculptured in rock ever found tn
Australia.
This profile is that of an European, the purity of the lines, the
perfect shape of the head, the straight and well-formed nose, the finely-
cut lips, the round chin, represent the most exact type of an European
head that it could be possible to imagine. Indeed, the fact alone that
the natives have no means of cutting out such a sculpture in the rock, is
enough to induce one to seek elsewhere for its author, and the head is
certainly not that of a Malay; the type is European, and that of the
purest.
We shall go no further with this discussion, which the appearance
of this sculptured profile of an European head closes on our behalf
better than all volumes would do, and resume it in a few words.
De Gonneville, carried away by storms into unknown seas, lands
on a coast which he estimates is situated to the south of India, and the
Islands of Spices, and not far from the true course to the East Indies ;
at the entrance of a fine river, and in a fertile country, whose inhabitants
he describes. They were in all probability of Malay stock, and there
is no difficulty so far to understand his female relative having married a
person of that race, the remnants of which have been met with since by
other travellers.
Three hundred and thirty-five years after De Gonneville’s voyage,
King and Grey explore in the north-west part of Australia, a country
whose description well answers to that visited by De Gonneville, and
never set foot upon by Europeans in the interval. ‘There Grey finds a
river such as De Gonneville describes—a land inhabited by races that
have preserved many of the customs of the ‘‘ Australians” described
by the Norman captain with whom, as a volunteer in the voyage,
had travelled a certain Nicole Le Fevre, a man of some learning,
and a kind of artist, who had pourtrayed strange beasts, etc.,
“utterly unknown in Christendom.” In that country, at a very short
distance from the coast, Grey discovers curious paintings, some
strikingly resembling the pictures of saints as represented on the
Church windows of the time, one of them’ bearing some very remark-
able European letters and characters, and last of all he finds there the
head of an European sculptured in the hard rock, evidently with
instruments such as the natives do not possess.
What are we to conclude from these facts? That there is strong
evidence that De Gonneville, who could have landed nowhere else but
316 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
on Australian soil, had precisely landed on that part of the country
visited by Grey, and that the paintings discovered are the work of some
of his companions.
But although such evidence is strong indeed, it is not yet absolutely
perfect, even for one desirous of solving the problem of fixing the exact
position of the spot visited by the Norman sailor. Others, perhaps, may
give a different interpretation to the figures and the characters repre-
sented above; they are, however, worthy of attracting notice, and if
the result of this investigation is only to draw the attention of those who
are interested in ascertaining the previous history of the country they
inhabit and love, be they members of scientific societies or of colonial
governments, the task undertaken will not prove a thankless one.
One thing is settled, however, beyond the possibility of doubt, and
that is, that De Gonneville landed on no other soil but that of Australia,
and nowhere else but at the mouth of some of the north-western rivers.
The maps of the sixteenth century, known to have existed long
before the voyages of the Dutch and the English, bear witness to the fact
that the north-western part of the coast of Australia was sighted by the
Portuguese on their voyages to and from the East Indies and the Spice
Islands.
A critical examination of these charts, some of which have been
reproduced for the Public Libraries of the chief Australian cities from
the originals in the British Museums, tends to show—although most of the
names of features on the north-west coast are in French—that some of
them appear to have been translatea@ from the Portuguese. ‘The older of
these charts bears the date of the year 1542, but there are two more maps
in the ‘ Bibliotheque Nationale de France ”’ which are still more ancient.
One, which is the work of Guillaume Le Testu, a pilot of Dieppe, shows
a portion of the coast in a fairly correct position, indicating features which
can easily be recognised, although their longitude and latitude are not
exact; the names, which are all in French, do not exhibit any sign of
having been translated from any other language ; and there is little doubt
that Le Testu, who published this chart in 1536, must have heard
of the expedition of De Gonneville, which could hardly have failed
to attract attention at the time among the sailors of note in the ports
of the Normandy coast. Considering the state of geographical science
at that epoch, the delineation of the north-west coast of the Australian
continent is certainly as accurate as that of the island of Java and minor
islands in those regions, which were much better known, and there is in this
fact evidence enough that the data upon which Le Testu, Jean Rotz, and
other cartographers worked, must have been fairly accurate. The Norman
pilot shows on his map the entrance of several rivers and features which
closely resemble the outline of this coast as at present known, but except
in the vicinity of the rivers mentioned, the coast on the south and the north-
CHINESE THEORY CONSIDERED. 317
east is prolonged without data, and merely indicates a probable extension —
of land in these directions. The other maps agree fairly well in this
respect, the outlines of very small portions only of the coast being
susceptible of identification at present. From these facts we may infer
that Guillaume Le Testu probably obtained much of his information
from the report of De Gonneville, whilst Rotz and the authors of the
maps in the British Museum had theirs from Portuguese sources, and
as the latters’ delineation of the north-west coast is less accurate, it may
be that the Portuguese sailors, from whose reports this information was
obtained, merely sighted these coasts without attempting to land.
To close this discussion, it may be added, that in most instances
the early voyages of the Dutch or possibly the Portuguese to Western
Australia were the result of such accidents as befell De Gonneville, as
they were carried by storms out of their course to India or the Sunda
Islands, and thrown on the west coast of the Australian Continent.
The first claim to the discovery of the Australian Continent may be,
therefore, settled in favor of De Gonneville ; although, there is little doubt
that the existence of a great southern land was suspected by the Chinese,
and also by theancients. This great land, situated on the opposite side of
the world, was named by them Az/:-chfon, and its supposed inhabitants
‘‘ Antichtones,” and the fact of the possibility of it being inhabited at all
gave rise to a good deal of discussion among ancient writers. They,
however, agreed in the belief that ‘the fury of the sun, which burns the
intermediate zone,” rendered it inaccessible to the inhabitants of the
world. Plinus, Pomponius Mela, Scipio, Virgilius, Cicero, and
Macrobius considered this land as habitable, and the two last-
mentioned authors held the opinion that it was inhabited by a different
race of beings.
This question was also debated by the early Christian fathers, and
perhaps the most remarkable argument against the existence of the
Antichtones will be found in the works of the celebrated theologian
and venerated father, St. Augustine, who devotes the whole of Chapter
IX., Book XVI. of his admirable work, ‘‘ De Civitate Dei,” to the
discussion of this knotty question.
“Quod vero,” writes St. Augustine, ‘“‘ Antipodes esse fabulantur, id est,
homines a contaria parte terrce, ubi sol oritur, quando occidit nobis, adversa
pedibus nostris calcare vestigia, nulla ratione credendum est. Neque hoc ulla
historica cognitione didicisse se affirmant, sed quali ratiocinando conjectant, es
quod intra con vexa ceeli terra suspenda sit, eurndemque locum mundas habeat, et
infirmum, et medium: et ex hoc opinantur alteram terra partem, que infra est,
habitatione hominum carere non posse. Nec adtendunt, etiamsi figurA conglobata
et rotunda mundus esse credatur, sive aliqua ratione monStretur; non tamen esse
consequens, ut etiam ex illa parte ab aquarum congerie nuda sit terra devide
etiamus nuda sit, neque hoc statum necesse esse, ut homines habeat. Quoniam
nulla modo Scriptura ista mentitur, quce narratis prceteritis facis sidem, eo quod
318 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
ejus proedicta complentur : nimisque absurdum est, ut dicatur aliquos homines ex
hac in illam partem, oceani immensitate trajecta, navigare ac pervenive potuisse,
ut etiam illic ex uno illo primo homine genus institueretur humanum ? ”’
The substance of which is: ‘‘ That there can be nothing more
absurd than the belief of some ancient writers who imagined that the
land on the opposite side of the world could be inhabited by human
beings. Those who made this assertion admit they have no historical
fact to base it upon, and that it is merely a logical deduction of philo-
sophy. But if we accept as true the principles upon which they base
their arguments, is it to be necessarily admitted that because these
countries are habitable, that they are in reality inhabited. As the Holy
Scripture, which is our guide in all matters of belief, makes no mention
of this, and as it isan accepted fact that the descendants of our first
parents could not have sailed to and reached these countries, how is it
possible that they could be inhabited.”
Although the existence of a great Austral land was a subject of
philosophical and theological discussion among the ancients, they,
however, never attempted to sail across that ocean which was the limit of
the world they knew. It is possible that the Chinese may have been
more bold, but it is very doubtful whether they ever sailed so far south
as to land on the coast of the Australian continent. They have left no
trace of their passage, either on the land itself, or among its inhabitants.
Besides, the Chinese were never very enterprising sailors, the form of
their junks, their peculiar sails, and the scantiness of their nautical
knowledge prevented them from extending very far the radius of their
maritime explorations. Marco Polo is the authority generally quoted in
this matter, as he states that the people of Cathay knew of the existence
of a great land far to the southward, with the inhabitants of which they
were accustomed to trade. ‘This is rather an indefinite description, and
might apply to New Guinea as well as to the Australian Continent.
More so to the former and the islands surrounding it on the north and
east, where evidence exists of the voyage of the Chinese traders and
fishermen in search of the precious trepang. But as these holothurice are
generally found in the vicinity of the coral banks of Polynesia, to the
eastward of New Guinea, and not in the direction of the Australian
coast, there is much reason to think that the Chinese claim to the dis-
covery of this continent is purely mythical, although, like the ancients,
they may have believed in its existence as a logical deduction of
philosophy.
SHaPrERK AVI.
Captain Cook compared to former Visitors—Point Hicks—Botany Bay—First
natives seen—Indifference to Overtures—Abundant flora—Entrance to Port
Jackson missed—Zndeavour on a reef—Careened—Strange animals—Hostile
natives—A sailor’s devil—Possession Island—Territory of New South Wales—
Torres Straits a passage—La Perouse—Probable fate discovered by Captain
Dillon—M‘Cluer touches Arnheim’s Land—Bligh and Portlock—Wreck of
the Pandora—Vancouver in the south—The D’Entrecasteaux quest—
Recherche Archipelago — Bass and Flinders—Navigation and exploration
extraordinary—The Jom Thumb—Bass explores south—Flinders in the Great
Bight—Bass’s Straits—Flinders in the /nvestigator—Special instructions—
King George’s Sound—Loss of boat’s crew—Memory Cove—Baudin’s courtesy
—Port Phillip—Jnvestigator and Lady Nelson on East Coast—The Gulf. of
Carpentaria andearly Dutch navigators—Duyfhen Point—Cape Keer-Weer—
Mythical rivers charted— Difficulty in recognising their land marks—
Flinders’ great disappointment—A rotten ship—Return by way of West Coast
—Cape Vanderlin—Dutch Charts—Malay proas, Pobassoo—Return to Port
Jackson—Wreck of the Porpoise—Prisoner by the French—General de Caen
—Private papers and journals appropriated—Prepares his charts and logs
for press—Death—Sympathy by strangers—Forgotten by Australia—The
fate of Bass—Mysterious disappearance—Supposed Death.
THE maritime exploration of our coast may be said to have
fairly commenced on the morning of the rgth of April, 1770,
when Captain Cook first sighted land. True we had many
visitors before,* but none had given the same attention to the
work, with an eye to future colonisation, nor sailed along such
an extent of shore.
The present coast of Gippsland was the place that first
caught the attention of Lieutenant Hicks on that eventful morning,
and Point Hicks received its name in commemoration of the
incident.
From this point they sailed eastward, and at the promon-
tory, where the coast turned to the north, the name of Cape
Howe was bestowed. Cook, fresh from the shores of New
Zealand and its more rugged scenery, was pleasingly impressed
with his distant view of Australia, but it must have been the
force of contrast only, as the portion of Australia first sighted
by him is devoid of interest. No available landing place was
* See Introduction.
320 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
seen; the shore was too tame, and for many days they
coasted along, looking for a break, or entrance, but none could
be found where a safe landing could be effected.
Botany Bay was the spot where the men from the Endeavour
sprang on shore for the first time, and although the flora of the
surrounding country brought joy to the heart of Mr. Banks, the
botanist, it could not have held out very high hopes of the future
to the others.
Here they first saw the natives, ‘“ Indians,” as Cook calls
them, and hoped to effect a peaceable landing. He says:—
“The place where the ship had anchored was abreast of a small
village, consisting of about six or eight houses ; and while we were pre-
paring to hoist out the boat, we saw an old woman followed by three
children come out of the wood; she was loaded with firewood, and each
of the children had also its little burden. She often looked at the ship,
but expressed neither fear nor surprise. Ina short time she kindled a
fire, and four canoes came in from fishing. The men landed, and
having hauled up their boats, began to dress their dinner, to all appear-
ances, wholly unconcerned about us, though we were within half-a-mile
of them. We thought it remarkable that of, all the people we had yet
seen, not one had the least appearance of clothing, the old woman
herself being destitute even of a fig leaf.
‘* After dinner the boats were manned, and we set out from the ship.
We intended to land where we saw the people, and began.to hope that
as they so little regarded the ship’s coming into the bay, they would
as little regard our coming on shore. In this, however, we were disap-
pointed, for as soon as we approached the rocks, two men came down
upon them to dispute our landing, and the rest ran away.”’
For some time they parleyed with the blacks, and threw
them nails, beads, and othertrifles, trying tomake them understand
that only water was wanted, and no harm would be done them;
but the natives refused all offers of friendship, and three charges
of small shot had to be fired at their legs before they would even
allow a peaceable landing.
Many expeditions were made inland for plants, birds, san
flowers, also to try if some intercourse could be established with
the natives, but after the first contest they would not come near
enough to speak to. Nor did they touch any of the presents—
beads, ribbons, and cloth, that had been left about and in their
huts.
The great quantity of plants collected here by Mr. Banks
induced Cook to give it the name of Botany Bay. The King’s
VOYAGING INCIDENTS. 321
colours were hoisted each day of the stay, and the ship’s name
with the date of the year was inscribed upon one of the trees
near the watering place.
Having now provided a supply of fresh water, the anchor
was weighed on the 6th of May, and they sailed northward.
Unaware of what he had missed, Cook passed the entrance of
Port Jackson, and followed up the coast for over a thousand
miles to the north, without incident or adventure, beyond the
routine worle of the ship. But, on June roth, this quiet was
rudely broken by the Ezdeavour running on a coral reef when
off the site of the present town of Cooktown. Fortunately a
jagged point of coral stuck in the hole made, and acted as a
plug, otherwise this voyage of Cook’s would have proved his last,
and the history of this continent been much delayed and altered.
Passing a sail under the hull, and throwing guns and other
stores overboard, Cook got his ship once more afloat, and took
her into the mouth of a river (now the Endeavour River) where,
on a convenient beach, she was careened, and the carpenters
set to work to repair her, whilst a forge was set up, and the
smiths occupied making bolts and nails. Many animals strange
to them were seen, and among them the first kangaroo. One
of the firemen who had been rambling in the woods, told them,
on his return, that he verily believed he had seen the devil.
_ “We naturally enquired in what form he had appeared, and his
answer was in so singular a style, that I shall set it down in his own
words. ‘He was,’ says John, ‘as large as a one gallon keg, and
very like it; he had horns and wings, yet he crept so slowly through
the grass that if I had not been afeard, I might have touched him.’
This formidable apparition we afterwards discovered to have been a bat.
They have indeed no horns, but the fancy of a man who thought he saw
the devil might easily supply that defect.”
Many excursions Mr. Banks and the men made inland,
finding one very useful plant, at the time when scurvy had
appeared among them, a plant that in the West Indies is called
Indian Kale, and served them for greens.
Some communication was established with the natives, but
it ended as usual by their commencing to steal, and having to
be chastised for it. In revenge they set fire to the grass, and
the navigator very nearly lost his whole stock of gunpowder.
He was astonished by the extreme inflammability of the grass and
the consequent difficulty in putting it out, and vowed if ever he
x
322 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
had to camp in such a situation again, he would first clear the
grass around. Leaving the Endeavour River, Cook, after
passing through the Barrier Reef and again repassing it, as he
says, ‘‘ After congratulating ourselves upon passing the reef we
again congratulate ourselves upon repassing it,” landed no more
until he had left Cape York, and there on an island called
‘‘Possession Island,” he formally took possession of the east
coast of New Holland, under the name of New South Wales,
for his Majesty King George III. e
“As I was about to quit the eastern coast of New Holland, which I
had coasted from latitude 38 deg. to this place, and which I am
confident no European had ever seen before, I once more hoisted
English colours, and though I had already taken possession of several
particular parts, I now took possession of the whole eastern coast, from
latitude 38 deg. to this place, latitude 10 deg. 30 min., in right of his
Majesty King George the Third, by the name of New South Wales, with
all the bays, harbours, rivers, and islands situated upon it. We then
fired three volleys of small arms, which were answered by the same
number from the ship.”
This ceremony concluded, and rejoicing in the re-discovery
of Torres Straits—the waters of which had borne no keel since
the gallant Spaniard had passed through—he sailed to New
Guinea, Cook having thus completed the survey of that portion
of the South Land so long left a blank upon the map, never
returned—unless his visit to Van Dieman’s Land, in 1777, can
be called a visit—to our shores, but the names he bestowed
on the many bays, headlands, and islands of the east coast have
clung to them ever since. So accurate were his surveys, even
under extreme difficulties, that he left little for his successors to
do but investigate those portions of the coast he had been forced
to overlook. -
But Cook’s fame and career are such household words
amongst all English-speaking races, and the results of his visit to
Australia so extensive, that no space that this history could afford
would be sufficiently large to appreciate the merits of his work.
When Phillip landed in Botany Bay he was followed, as is
well known, by the distinguished French navigator, La Perouse,
and although the name of this unfortunate man does not enter
largely into the history of our colonisation, it is essential that it
should come under notice. After a short stay, La Perouse
sailed from Australian shores, and of him and his stately ships
/
LA PEROUSE.—BLIGH.—EDWARDS. 323
no tidings ever reached Europe. Years passed, and Captain
Dillon, the master of an English vessel trading amongst the
South Sea Islands, found a sword-belt in the possession of the
natives; this led to further investigations, and the hapless story
was finally elucidated.
Wrecked on the coast of one of the islands, and all attempts
to save the ships having proved futile, the crews took to the
boats, only to suffer death from drowning or at the hands of the
savages. The guns and other heavy equipment were afterwards
recovered, proving beyond doubt that that was the end of the
French vessels and their unhappy commander—the Leichhardt of
the sea.
In 1791, Lieutenant McCluer, of the Bombay Marine,
touched upon the northern coast of Arnheim’s Land, but as he
did not land, no result accrued to the continent from his coming.
Before his advent, however, Captain Bligh, making his way
home from the spot where the mutineers of the Bounty had set
him afloat, passed through Torres Straits, and sighted the main-
land of Australia. Situated as he was, he could do little more
than take hasty observations.
Two years afterwards, the Pandora, under Captain Edwards,
struck on a reef in Torres Straits, and sank in deep water.
Thirty-nine of the crew were drowned, and the remainder, desti-
tute of almost everything, made for the coast of Australia in four
boats. Edwards landed on Prince of Wales Island, but not on
the mainland. He finally reached Timor, with his shipwrecked
men, amongst whom were some of the mutineers of the Bounty.
Many of these men had been obliged to remain on board per-
force, and in no way participated in that famous mutiny. Their
treatment by the captain of the Pandora, and afterwards
by the English authorities, was both harsh and unjust.
In 1792, the Providence and Assistant, Captains Bligh and
Portlock, sailed through the Straits, conveying the bread-fruit
plant from Tahiti to the West Indies. Serving in this expedition
was Lieutenant Flinders.
In 1791, Captain George Vancouver, on his way to America,
came to the southern shore, and found and named King George’s
Sound, He landed and examined the country, but saw nothing
of any consequence, and, after a short stay, sailed away to the
eastward, intending to follow the coast line, but was prevented
by baffling winds.
_ 824 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
In 1793, previously to the /zvestigator, and in the year
following Bligh and Portlock, Messrs. William Bampton and
Matthew Bb. Alt, commanders of the ships Hormuzeer and
Chesterfield, sailed from Norfolk Island, with the intention of
passing through Torres Straits by a route which the commanders
did not know had been before attempted.
The terrible dangers of the Straits encpilatorelea ane to
have deterred others from following them up to the time of the
Investigator.
Vancouver was quickly followed in the year 1792 by M.
D’Entrecasteaux, who, having with him the ships Za Recherche
and L’Espérance, was in quest of the fate of La Perouse. Off
Termination Island—the last land seen by Vancouver—a gale
sprang up, and the French ships had to seek shelter. They
remained at anchor a week, and the officers made many excur- |
sions to the islands now known as the Recherche Archipelago.
He sailed along some portions of the Great Bight, which he
described as of ‘“‘an aspect so uniform tae the most fruitful
imagination could find nothing to say of it.’ Water failing him,
he steered for Van Dieman’s Land.
We now come across one of the grandest names in the
history of our colony. Bass, the surgeon of the Relzance, whose
work has survived him in the name of the well-known strait.
In a tiny cockle shell, the Zom Thumb, a boat of eight
feet long, he and Flinders, at first but an adventurous middy,
cruised around the coast and examined every inlet and opening
visible, at the very peril of their lives. It is almost equal to an
imaginative story of adventures to read the tale of their various
trips, suffice it they did good work, and came back safely to
carry that work on with better and fuller means.
A voyage to Norfolk Island interrupted their further
proceedings until the next year, 1796. Bass and Flinders
then again, in the Zom Thumb, left to explore a large river,
said to fall in the sea some miles to the south of Botany Bay,
and of which there was no indication in Cook’s chart.
In 1797, Bass obtained leave to make an expedition to
the southward and was furnished with a whale boat and a crew
of six men. Although he sailed with only six weeks’ provisions,
by birds and fish caught, and abstinence, he was enabled to
prolong his voyage to eleven weeks, and his labours were
crowned with a success not to be expected from such frail
tow
a a a i i
6 eee eee eee er
BASS'S STRAITS NAMED. 325
Se — ———————————_————— — —
means. In the three hundred miles of coast examined from
Port Jackson to Ram Head, a number of discoveries were made
that had escaped Captain Cook.
From Ram Head—the southernmost part of the coast that
had been examined by Cook—Bass began to reap a rich harvest
of important discoveries, and another three hundred miles
followed, the appearance of which confirmed his belief in the
existence of a strait between the continent and Van Dieman’s
Land.
It was with great reluctance he returned before verifying
this belief beyond doubt of others.
In September, 1798, we find him on board the Norfolk,
associated with Flinders, seeking to prove his theory. After
many and strong head winds, and much delay, the two had the
supreme pleasure of greeting the westward ocean, and returning
to Port Jackson with the tidings.
Flinders says :—
‘To the strait which had been the great object of research, and
whose discovery was now completed, Governor Hunter gave, at my
recommendation, the name of ‘ Bass’s Straits.’ This was no more than
a just tribute to my worthy friend and companion for the extreme
dangers and fatigues he had undergone in first entering it in the
whale boat, and to the correct judgment he had formed, from various
indications, of the existence of a wide opening Pan Van Dieman’s
Land and New South Wales.”
In 1799, Flinders, in the Norfolk, followed up Cook’s disco-
veries in the neighbourhood of Glass House Bay, and in 1801
we must accompany him on his great voyage round Terra
Australis.
The north coast of Australia, both from its more interesting
formation and the lack of settlement, has received a good deal
of attention from our navigators of the present century, and by
far the most fascinating part of Captain Flinders’ log refers to
the north coast. :
In 1802, we find him following the track of M. D’Entre-
casteaux round the Great Bight. Flinders seems to have been
as much puzzled as he was regarding the great extent of level
cliffs passed. He conjectures that within this bank, as he terms
it, there could be nothing but sandy plains or water, and that, in
all probability, it formed a barrier between an exterior and
interior sea. He little thought how, some years afterwards, a
326 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
lonely white man would tramp round those barren cliffs, eagerly
scanning Flinders’ chart for any sign of a break in their iron
uniformity.
On February 16th, 1801, Matthew Flinders was promoted to
the rank of commandant, and left England with the /nvestigator,
to prosecute his voyage to Terra Australis. His instructions
-
Were;
“To make the best of your way to New Holland, running down the
coast from 130 degrees east longitude to Bass’s Straits, putting, if you
should find it necessary, into King George the Thira’s Harbour for
refreshments and water, previous to your commencing the survey, and on
your arrival on the coast, use your best endeavour to discover such
harbours as may be in those parts, and in case you shall discover any
creek or opening likely to lead to an su/land sea or stratt, you are at
liberty either to examine it or not, as you shall judge it most expe-
dient, until a more favourable opportunity shall enable you so to do.
‘‘ When it shall appear to you necessary, you shall repair to Sydney
Cove, for the purpose of refreshing your people, refitting the sloop. under
your command, and consulting the Governor of New South Wales upon
the best means of carrying on the survey of the coast; and having
received from him such information as he may be able to communicate,
and taken under your command the Zady Je/son tender, which you may
expect to find in Sydney Cove, you are to recommence your survey by
first diligently examining the coast from Zass’s Straits to King George
the Third’s Harbour.”
Flinders was then instructed to repair from time to time to
Sydney Cove, to be very diligent in the examination, and to take
particular care to insert in his journal every circumstance that
might be useful to a full and complete knowledge of the coast—
the wind, weather, the productions, comparative fertility of the
soil, the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and to examine
the country as far inland as it was prudent to venture with so
small a party as could be spared from the vessel whenever a
chance of discovering anything useful to the commerce or
manufacturies of the United Kingdom.
From thence they were to explore the north-west coast of
New Holland, where, from the extreme height of tides observed
by Dampier, it was thought probable valuable harbours might be
found; also the Gulf of Carpentaria and the parts to the westward.
When that was completed, a careful investigation and accurate
survey of Torres Straits; then an examination of the whole of
a
a lel eee
FLINDERS SURVEYS KING GEORGE’S SOUND. 327
the remainder of the north, the west, and the north-west coasts
of New Holland.
‘“* So soon as you shall have completed the whole of these surveys
and examinations as above directed, you are to proceed to, and examine
very carefully the ‘east coast of New Holland, seen by Captain Cook,
from Cape Flattery to the Bay of Inlets; and in order to refresh your
people, and give the advantages of variety to the painters, you are at
liberty to touch at the Fijis, or some other islands in the South Seas.”
As soon as the whole of the examinations and surveys were
completed, he was to lose no time in returning with the sloop
under his command to England.
The vessel was fitted with a plant cabin for the purpose of
making botanical collections for the Royal Gardens at Kew, and
on each return to Sydney Cove, all plants, trees, shrubs, etc.,
were to be transferred to the Governor’s garden until the
Investigator sailed for Europe.
King George’s Sound being chosen as the place to prepare
themselves for the examination of the south coast of Terra
Australis, they anchored off Point Possession, on the south side
of the entrance to Princess Royal Harbour, previous to wind
and water being favourable for entering the harbour to refit and
procure wood and fresh water.
Many excursions were made by the naturalist, botanist, and
artist, and a new survey of King George’s Sound made.
‘“On the east side of the entrance to Princess Royal Harbour we
landed, and found a spot of ground six or eight feet square dug up and
trimmed like a garden, and upon it was lying a piece of sheet copper
bearing this inscription :—
‘<* AUGUST 27TH, 1800. Cur. Dixon.
‘— Sure ELLeGoon.’ ”’
This answered the finding of the felled trees on Point
Possession, also of the disappearance of the bottle left by Captain
Vancouver in 1791, containing parchment that Flinders had
looked for on landing.
In Flinders’ description of the country in the neighbourhood
of King George’s Sound he says :— ©
“The basis stone is granite, which frequently shows itself at the
surface in the form of smooth, bare rock; but upon the sea-coast hills
and the shores on the south side of the sound and Princess Royal
Harbour the granite is generally covered with a crust of calcareous
328 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
stone, as it is also upon Michaelmas Island. Captain Vancouver
mentions having found upon the top of Bald Head branches of coral
protruding through the sand, exactly like those seen in the coral beds
beneath the surface of the sea—a circumstance which would seem to
bespeak this country to have emerged from the ocean at no very distant
period of time.
‘“This curious fact I was desirous to verify, and his description
proved to be correct. I found, also, two broken columns of stone, three
or four feet high, formed like stumps of trees, and of a thickness superior
to the body of a man, but whether this was coral or wood now petrified,
or whether they might not have been calcareous rocks worn into that par-
ticular form by the weather I cannot determine. Their elevation above
the present level of the sea could not have been less than four hundred
feet.” |
On January 4th, 1802, a bottle containing parchment, to
inform future visitors of their arrival and departure, was left on
the top of Seal Island, and on the morrow they sailed out of
King George’s Sound to continue the survey eastwards. They
anchored on the 28th in Fowler’s Bay—the extremity of the
then known south coast of Terra Australis.
Off Cape Catastrophe, a cutter, with eight men, was sent
-on shore in search of an anchorage where water could be pro-
cured. Nothing of the boat and crew was again seen but the
wreck of the boat showing that it had been stove in by the rocks.
After a careful but hopeless search for the men, their pressing
need for water caused them to abandon further delay, and they
left to examine the opening to the northward.
“J caused an inscription to be engraven upon a sheet of copper,
and set it up on a stout post at the head of the cove, which I named
Memory Cove, and further to commemorate our loss, I gave each of the
six islands nearest to Cape Catastrophe the name of one of the seamen.”
Flinders sailed up the gulf, which he called Spencer’s Gulf,
and had a long look towards the interior from the summit of
Mount Brown.
The Gulf of St. Vincent then fell to his share to discover, and
shortly afterwards he met with the French ship Le Géographe
Captain Baudin; says Flinders :—
‘““We veered round as Le Géographe was passing, so as to keep our
broadside to her, lest the flag of truce should be a deception, and
having come to the wind on the other tack, a boat was hoisted out, and
I went on board the French ship, which had also hove to.”
EARLY DUTCH CHARTING. 329
The two Captains exchanged passports and information,
but Flinders was afterwards much annoyed to find on the
publication of M. Peron’s book, that all his late discoveries had
been re-christened with French names, and, in fact, his work
ignored completely. Parting from the French ship in Encounter
Bay, as he named it, the English navigator sailed for Port
Jackson.
Suddenly coming to the Harbour of Port Phillip, Flinders
thinks he has entered Port Western, but finds his mistake next
morning; then congratulates himself upon having made a new
and most useful discovery, he says :—
‘There I was again in error, this place, as I afterwards learned in
Port Jackson had been discovered ten weeks before by Lieutenant John
Murray, in command of the Zady Melson. He had given to it the
name of Port Phillip, and to the rocky point on the east side of the
entrance Point Nepean.”
On the gth May, the /uvestigator anchors in Sydney Cove,
and again left in company with the Lady Ne/son, on the morning
of July 22nd, for the examination of the east coast, making
many discoveries before reaching Torres Straits that had
escaped Captain Cook, among others Port Curtis and Port
Bowen.
The Lady Nelson in consequence of being disabled left the
Investigator on the east coast, and returned to Port Jackson.
We will again take up Flinders’ narrative during his
examination of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which had not been
visited since the days of the Dutch ships. The first point
Flinders mentions finding corroborative of the fidelity of their
charts is the entrance to the Batavia River and there is no doubt
that this spot is indicated by the words “‘ fresh water,” in the map
accredited to Tasman, as there is a capital boat entrance of two
fathoms to this stream, and at a comparatively short distance
from the mouth of the water at low tide is quite fresh. ‘This
river heads from a plateau of springs, a tableland covered with
scrubby heath, and intersected by scores of running gullies,
boggy and impassable; in fact, the same country as caused such
trouble to the Jardine brothers when they explored this shore of
the Gulf.
From this place, however, Flinders seems very doubtful
as to the identity of some of the rivers laid down. One point,
330 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
the most remarkable on the coast, and which yet was not in the
Dutch chart, Flinders named ‘‘ Duyfhen Point,” and another, he
called ‘‘ Pera Head,’’ after the second yacht that entered the
Gulf.
At Cape Keer-Weer he fairly gives in that he could see.
nothing approaching a cape, but a slight projection being visible
from the mast-head, out of respect to antiquity, he puts it down
on his map. The ‘ Vereenidge River ’’: he concludes, has no
existence, and the “Nassau River” turned out to be a lagoon at
the back of a beach. Still the existence of anything approaching
the reality of what was indicated on the charts, proves that at
any rate the ships had been there, even if they had not kept
close enough to the land to be quite certain of what they saw.
So shallow is the approach to this shore, that when so far from
land even at the mast-head the tops of the trees could only
be partially distinguished, Flinders only found from four to six
fathoms of water.
Of the Staaten River he says that—‘ Where that river can be
found I know not,” and at last he begins to fancy that the
formation of the mouths of the rivers must have altered since
_Tasman’s time.
Reaching the head of the Gulf, Flinders sighted a hill,
which gave him hope of a change in the flat monotony of the
coast he had now followed for one hundred and seventy-five
leagues. This hill, which turned out to be an island, Flinders
judged to be a headland marked on the western side of
‘““Maatsuyker’s River.” The river he failed to discover, to the
island he gave the name of Sweer’s Island. Here Flinders
remained some time, having found fresh water, and an anchorage
adapted to cleaning and caulking his ship. But a great disap-
pointment awaited him. The report of the master and carpenter
who overhauled the /zvestigator, was to the effect that the ship
was perfectly rotten. It ends in these words:—
“From the state to which the ship seems now advanced, it is our
joint opinion that in twelve months there will scarcely be a sound timber
in her ; but that if she remains in fine weather and happen no accident,
she may run six months longer without much risk.”’
This was a death blow to Flinders’ hope of so completing
the survey of the coast, that no after work should be necessary.
Under the circumstances, he determined to finish the exploration
FLINDERS RETURNS TO PORT JACKSON. 381
of the Gulf, and then to proceed to Port Jackson by way of the
west coast, should the ship prove capable, if not to make for the
nearest port in the West Indies.
Leaving Sweer’s Island, Flinders next investigated Cape
Van Dieman, and found it to be an island, which he called
Mornington Island. Cape Vanderlin of the Dutch was the next
point sighted, and it too was an island, one of the Sir Edward
Pellew Group. On taking leave of this group, Flinders remarks
on these discrepancies as follows :—
“In the old Dutch charts, Cape Vanderlin is represented to be a
great projection from the mainland, and the outer ends of North and
West Islands to be smaller points of it. There are two indents or bights
marked between the points which may correspond to the opening
between the islands, but I find a difficulty in pointing out which are the
four small isles laid down on the west of Cape Vanderlin; neither does
the line of the coast, which is nearly W.S.W. in the old chart, correspond
with that of the outer ends of the islands, and yet there is enough of
similitude in the whole to show the identity. Whether any changes have
taken place in these shores, and made islands of what were parts of the
mainland a century and a half before—or whether the Dutch discoverer
made a distant and cursory examination, and brought conjecture to aid
him in the construction of a chart, as was too much the practice of that
time—it is not now possible to ascertain, but I conceive that the great
alteration produced in the geography of these parts by our survey, gives
authority to apply a name which, without prejudice to the original one,
-should mark the nation by which the survey was made. I have called
the cluster of islands Sir Edward Pellew Group.”
As no marked change has taken place since Flinders’ survey,
we may conclude that kis last conclusion is the right one, and
that a great deal in conjecture was brought to bear on the
construction of the chart. |
Still following the bend ofthe gulf, Flinders next ascertained
that Cape Maria was only an island (Maria Island) and so with
many points up to the northern termination of the Gulf. Along
part of the southern and most western shore of Carpentaria
many indications of the Malay visits were found—scraps of
bamboo, rude stone tireplaces, and stumps of mangrove trees,
cut down with ironaxes. Whenamongst the English Company’s
Islands, a fleet of proas was met with, fishing for trepang. A
friendly interview was obtained with them, and from the chief,
Pobassoo, Flinders learnt that this was the sixth or seventh
voyage that he had made to the Australian coast. He had a
332 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION,
great horror of the pigs on board the /zvestigator, but a decided
liking for the port wine with which he was regaled.
The state of his vessel now decided Flinders to relinquish
the survey, thinking himself fortunate in having escaped any
heavy weather. ,
‘‘ We had continued the survey of the coast for more than one-half
of the six months the master and’ carpenter had judged the ship might
run without much risk, provided she remained in fine weather, and no
accidents happened; and the remainder of the time being not much
more than necessary for us to reach Port Jackson, I judged it imprudent
. to continue the investigation longer. In addition, the state of my own
health, and that of the ship’s company, were urgent to terminate the
examination here. . . . It was, however, not without much regret
that I quitted the coast. . . . The accomplishment of the survey
was, in fact, an object so near my heart, that could I have foreseen the
train of ills that were to follow the decay of the Juvestigator, and prevent
the survey being resumed—and had my existence depended upon the ~
expression of a wish—I do not know that it would have received
utterance.”
Thinking himself fortunate in escaping any heavy weather,
he sailed for Coepang, and from there to Port Jackson.
In July, 1803, in the Porporse, Captain Flinders, with the
officers and men of the /nuvestigator, left Port Jackson for
England, to procure another vessel to continue the survey left
incomplete on the north coast, but were wrecked on Wreck
Reef, and afterwards taken prisoners by the French.
His subsequent career and early death were both unhappy,
and no effort has been made by either England or Australia to
do tardy justice to his name. After his shameful detention in
the Isle of France, and his reluctant release, he returned to
England to find his rightful promotion in the navy had been
passed over during his long years of captivity, and that the
licensed bravo of Napoleon, General de Caen, had retained
(stolen would be the right word) his private journals; and it
was only after much trouble and correspondence between the
two Governments that they were restored. Flinders completed
the work of his life by preparing for the press his charts and
logs, and died on the 14th June, 1814, of—there is every reason
to believe—a broken heart.
Captain King, when he visited the Isle of France after his
Australian surveys, speaks with pride of the kindly memory
BASS.—FLINDERS.—SAD ENDINGS! 333
entertained by the residents for the unfortunate Flinders, and
the contempt bestowed upon his cowardly gaoler.
Australia at the time of the explorer’s detention was not
certainly in a position to demand his liberation. But what has
been done since? Sir John Franklin, an official visitor to our
shores, erected a memorial to him in the little township of Port
Lincoln—a tribute to a brother sailor. Ask the average native-
born Australian of the southern colonies about Flinders. He
will tell you that it is the name of a street in Melbourne. In
Queensland, the boy will say that it is the name of a river some-
where in the colony. That .is the amount of honour Australia
has bestowed on her greatest navigator.
What was the fate of his companion, Bass ?
After the return from the investigation of Bass’s Straits, the
young surgeon shipped on board an armed merchant vessel on a
voyage to South America. At Valparaiso the governor of the
town refused to allow the vessel to trade. Bass, who was then
in command, threatened to bombard the town if the refusal was
not withdrawn. It was rescinded, but, watching their oppor-
tunity, the authorities seized Bass when he was off his guard,
and it is supposed that he was sent to the mines in the interior,
where he died. He was never heard of again, nor was any
attempt made to ascertain his fate.
| Not only can we admire both of these men for their
dauntless courage, so often tried, but all their work on the
coast of Australia was done with no hope of ulterior gain for
themselves ; their one thought was the extension of geographical
knowledge and the benefit of their fellow men.
CORAL T ERs aay ay
The French Expedition—Buonaparte’s lavish outfitting—Baudin in the Géographe
—Coast casualties—Sterile and barren appearance—Privations of the crew—
Sails for Timor— Hamelin in the Naturaliste—Explores North-Western coast—
Swan River—Isle of Rottnest—Joins her consort at Coepang—Sails for Van
Dieman’s Land—Examination of the South-East coast of Australia—Flinders’
prior visit ignored—French names substituted— Discontent among crew—
Baudin’s unpopularity—Bad food—Port Jackson—Captain King’s Voyages—
Adventures in the Mermaid—An extensive commission—Allan Cunningham,
botanist—Search at Seal Islands for memorial of Flinders’ visit—Seed
sowing—Jeopardy to voyage—Giant anthills—An aboriginal Stoic—Cape
Arnhem and west coast exploration—Macquarie Strait—Audacity of natives
—Botanical results satisfactory—Malay Fleet—Raffles Bay—Port Essington—
Attack by natives—Cape Van Dieman—Malay Teachings—Timor and its —
Rajah—Return to Port—Second Voyage—Mermaid and Lady Nelson—East
Coast—Cleveland Bay—Cocoa-nuts and pumice stones—Endeavour River—
Thieving natives—Geological formation of adjacent country—Remarkable
coincidences—Across Gulf of Carpentaria—Inland excursion—Cambridge
Gulf—O phthalmia amongst crew—Mermaid returns to port.
THE voyage of the Géographe and Naturaliste, under
Commander Baudin, was undertaken whilst the explorations of
Flinders were in progress, and their meeting on the south coast,
and the subsequent substitution of French for English names,
led to a very sore feeling on the part of the English navigator.
The expedition was under the special sanction of Buona-
parte, and there is iittle doubt was mainly dictated by his.
morbid jealously of the maritime supremacy of England.
Even at the time when the army of reserve was on the
move to cross the Alps, he found leisure to.attend to the details
of the projected expedition and nominate twenty-three persons
to accompany the ships and make scientific observations.
‘Astronomers, geographers, mineralogist, botanists, zoologists,
draftsmen, horticulturists, all were found ready in number,
double, treble, or even quintreple.”
‘‘ Particular care had been taken that the stores might be abundant
and of the best quality. The naval stores at Havre were entirely at the
disposal of our commander. Considerable sums were granted him for
the purchase of supplies of fresh provisons, such as wines, liquors,
syrups, sweetmeats of different kinds, portable soups, Italian pastes, dry
AN UNPROPITIOUS COAST. 335
lemonade, extracts of beer, etc., some filtering vessels, hand mills, stoves,
apparatus for distilling, etc., had been shipped on board each vessel.”’
Added to which a national medal was struck to preserve
the memory of the undertaking, and unlimited credit opened on
the principal colonies in Asia and Africa.
Think of Flinders in the crazy old /nvestigator, of King and
Cunningham cramped up in the Mermazd, where the cabin was
not big enough for their mess-table, and imagine with what
scorn they would have looked on these luxurious preparations.
M. Peron writes :—
“On the shores to which we were destined were many interesting
nations. It was the wish of the First Consul, that as deputies of Europe,
we should conciliate these uninformed people, and appear among them
as friends and benefactors. By his order the most useful animals were
embarked in our vessels, a number of interesting trees and shrubs were
collected in our ships, with quantities of such seeds as were most
congenial to the temperature of the climate. The most useful tools,
clothing, and ornaments of every sort were provided for them; even the
most particular inventions in optics, chemistry, and natural philosophy
were contributed for their advantage, or to promote their pleasure.”
Certainly if M. Baudin failed it would not be the fault of
the First-Consul.’
On the 27th of May, 1801, the coast of New Holland was
made—“a blackish stripe from the north to the south was the
humble profile of the continent first caught sight of.” Their
first acquaintance with the coast was not encouraging. Landing
at Géographe Bay to examine a river reported to be there, the
long-boat was lost, a sailor named Vasse drowned, and the
Naturaliste |ost two anchors. The ships now parted company,
the Géographe steering north to Dirk Hartog’s Road, or Shark’s
Bay. Here they waited some time for the appearance of the
Naturaliste, but that vessel not appearing, the Géographe sailed
north, and on the 27th July they were in the neighbourhood of
the much visited Rosemary Island. On the 5th of August the
Lacepede Islands were found and named, but no landings were
effected, and the voyagers described the appearance of the
islands as “hideously sterile.”
‘“‘In the midst of these numerous islands there is not anything to
delight the mind. The soil is naked; the ardent sky seems always
clear and without clouds; the waves are scarcely agitated, except by the
“nocturnal tempests: man seems to fly from these ungrateful shores, not
336 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
a part of which, at least as far as we could distinguish, had the smallest
trace of his presence. The aspect is altogether the most whimsical
and savage, at all parts raising itself into a thousand different shapes of
sandy, sterile, and chalky isles, many of them resembling immense
antique tombs ; some of them appear united by chains of reefs, others ©
protected by immense sand-banks, and all that one could see of the
continent displayed the same sterility, and the same monotony of colour
and appearance. The dismayed and astonished navigator turns away
his eyes, fatigued with the contemplation of these unhappy isles and
hideous solitudes, surrounded, as he views them, with continual
dangers; and when he reflects that these inhospitable shores border
those of the archipelago of Asia, on which nature has lavished blessings
and treasures, he can scarcely conceive how so vast a sterility could be
produced in the neighbourhood of such great fecundity. We continued
torange the coast, which seemed to make part of the archipelago, every-
where bordered with reefs and quicksands, against which the sea struck
with violence, and varied itself as it were in sheafs of foam. Never
was such a spectacle before presented to our observation. ‘These
breakers,’’’ says M. Boulanger, in his journal, ‘“‘‘seem to form several
parallel lines at the shore, and little distant one from the other, above
which the waves are seen raising themselves, successively breaking with
great fury, and forming a horrible cascade of about fifteen leagues in
length. We navigated at this time in the midst of shallows; the lead
found only at times six fathoms. Then, though more distant from
the land, we were not out of sight of it. This part of New Holland is truly
frightful. All the islands that we could reconnoitre presented alike
hideous characters of sterility. We continued to sail in the midst of
shallows and sandbanks, compelled to repeatedly tack, and avoiding one
danger only to fall into another.’ ”
Their privations were very heavy at this time; the food to
which they had been reduced since their departure from the Isle
of France had affected the health even of the strongest, and the
scurvy increased its ravages. Added to that, the allowance of
water beginning to fail, and their belief in the utter impossibility
of taking any from these shores, the Géographe, after naming the
archipelago of the north-west coast, Buonapartes, a name now
obsolete, sailed for Timor, and here, after a lapse of some time,
was joined by her consort. The stay at Coepang was a long one,
for scurvy and sickness was rife amongst the crews and many died.
During the time Captain Hamelin of the Maturaliste was
absent from his consort, he had been busy along the coast. The
Swan River was explored by Bailly the naturalist, and the island
of Rottnest examined.
ES EEE
GRACEFUL CONSIDERATION. 337
“The River of Swans,” says M. Bailly, ‘‘ was discovered in 1697 by
Viaming, and was thus named by him, from the great number of black
swans he there saw. ‘The river cannot be considered as proper to
supply the water necessary for a ship; in the first place it is difficult
to enter, and its course is obstructed by many shoals and sandbanks ;
and secondly, the distance from the mouth of the river is too great
before we can find any fresh water.
“In the meantime the days fixed by Captain Hamelin to wait for
the Géographe had expired, and we had heard nothing of her, nor did it
now apppear likely that we should obtain any news of her by staying any
longer on this coast, we therefore determined to sail for Endracht’s Land,
leaving on this island of Rottnest a flag, and a bottle with a letter for
the Commander,‘in case he should touch there.”
Leaving the Isle of Rottnest, they sailed north, intending to
examine the shore, but the wind compelled them to keep off the
land. After several attempts they succeeded in keeping near
enough to distinguish the general constitution of the soil, and
pronounced this part of Edel’s Land of the same melancholy
appearance as the shore of Leeuwin’s Land. On the oth of July
they were in sight of the Isles of Turtel-Duyf and the Abrolhos,
on which Pelsart was wrecked in the year 1629. Their first care
on anchoring in the ‘ Bay of Sea-dogs”’—or Shark’s Bay—so
called by Dampier—was to find if the Géographe was there, or
had been there, this being the second rendezvous appointed.
No signs being found, they concluded to wait eight or ten days
in the hope she would appear.
‘*Our chief coxswain, on his return from the island of Dirck
Hartighs, brought us a pewter plate of about six inches in diameter, on
which was roughly engraven two Dutch inscriptions, the first dated
25th of October, 1616, and the second dated 4th of February, 1697.
This plate had been found on the northern point of the island, which for
this reason we named Cape Inscription. When found it was half
covered with sand, near the remains of a post of oak-wood, to which it
seemed to have been originally nailed.
“ After having carefully copied these two inscriptions, Captain
Hamelin had another post made and erected on the spot, and replaced
the plate in the same place where it had been found. Captain Hamelin
would have thought it sacrilege to carry away this plate, which had been
respected for near two centuries of time, and by all navigators who might
have visited these shores. The Captain also ordered to be placed on
the N.E. of the island a second plate, on which was inscribed the name
of our corvette, and the date of our arrival on these shores.”
¥
338 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Evidently M. de Freycinet had no such veneration for anti-
quity, for on his return from the voyage round the world he
subsequently made, he is reported to have carried the relic home
and deposited it in the Museum of the Institute in Paris.
Having done much to determine the size and formation of
the great bight called Shark’s Bay, the NMaturaliste resumed
her voyage, and joined her consort at Coepang, finding the
Géographe had arrived there more than a month before. The
Naturaliste, more fortunate than her companion, had few cases
of scurvy on board, owing principally to their many and long
stoppages on shore.
The ships in September took their departure from Timor
for Van Dieman’s Land, having on board a large proportion of
sick. On drawing near the coast, the humidity of the climate
and short allowance of water caused many deaths.
‘On the znd of December, in 15 deg., we observed the first bird of
paradise—the most beautiful of equatorial sea-birds. On the 22nd we
saw more of them, and on this day we passed the Tropic of Capricorn.
Thus these observations agree with what is so elegantly said by Buffon
on the limits of the climates in which these beautiful birds are seen.
‘‘ Following the chariot of the sun in the burning zone between the
tropics, ranging continually beneath that ardent sky, without ever
exceeding the extreme boundaries of the route of the mighty stars of
heaven, it announces to the navigator his approaching passage under
the celestial signs.
‘‘On the 29th of December, the sea appeared covered with janthines,
the most beautiful of the testaceous molusques. ‘This jellyfish, by means
of a bunch of small vesicles filled with air, floats on the surface of the
waters. On this shining shell I discovered a new kind of crustaceous
animal, of a beautiful ultramarine blue, like the shell; I knew this to be
a Pinnothera. ‘This discovery is so much the more interesting, as it
does not appear that any of these adhesive animals were ever before
found in univalve shells. On this same day died my colleague,
M. Levillian. During his stay in Dampier’s Bay, he had made a fine
collection of shells and petrifactions, which form long banks on these
shores, and which are so much the more interesting, as most of them
seem to have their living resemblance at the feet of the same rocks,
which are composed of these petrified shells.”
On their departure from Timor the ships sailed for Van
Dieman’s Land, having on board a large proportion of sick, and
losing many lives on the way.
7 ah —-_.
BAUDIN’S CREW DISCONTENTED. 339
Through calms and wind they had much difficulty in
doubling Cape Leeuwin, and on the roth of January, 1802, they
sighted the southern coast of Van Dieman’s Land, and devoted
some time to the examination of that island, finding many
discrepancies in the chart of D’Entrecasteaux.
Sailing up the east coast, the Géographe sighted the main-
land of Australia on the 28th March, near Wilson’s Promontory,
most carefully examining and naming all capes, bays, and
harbours, little thinking that they were directly after Flinders.
Whilst off this shore, the encounter with the /xvestigator took
place, which has before been referred to. After the ships parted,
Baudin continued along the south coast, already surveyed by
Flinders, which he re-christened Napoleon’s Land, and in
Peron’s narrative no reference at all is made to Flinders’ prior
investigation.
The French claim to the discovery and names of these
shores was not received in France until after the publication of
Flinders’ book, which took place the day after his death.
Throughout the voyage Baudin had greatly embittered
himself with hiscrew. He showed no sympathy nor care for the
sick, and was harsh and unfeeling in his conduct to all on board ;
in fact, he is blamed for the constant presence of scurvy that had
decimated his men. He seemed utterly to ignore all precautions
for health, and refused to take the many preventitives that were
accessible to prevent that dread disease. After the magnificent
preparations that had been made, it is astonishing to read of the
state of the ship before entering Port Jackson. M. Peron
writes :—
‘Several of our men had already been committed to the deep ;
already more than the hali of our seamen were incapable of service from
the shocking ravages of scurvy, and only two of our helmsmen were able
to get on deck. ‘The daily increase of this epidemic was alarming to an
extreme degree, and, in fact, how should it be otherwise ?
‘““'Three-quarters of a bottle of stinking water was our daily
allowance ; for more than a year we had not tasted wine; we had not
even a single drop of brandy, instead was substituted half a bottle of a
bad sort of rum, made in the Isle of France, and there only used by the
black slaves. The biscuit served out was full of insects; all our salt
provisions were putrid and rotten, and both the smell and taste were so
Offensive that the almost famished seamen sometimes preferred suffering
all the extremities of want itself to eating these unwholesome provisions,
340 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
and, even in the presence of their commander, often threw their
allowance into the sea.
‘“‘ Besides, there were no comforts of any kind for the sick. The
officers and naturalists were strictly reduced to the same allowance asthe
seamen, and suffered with them the same afflictions of body and mind.”
With unlimited credit and a princely outfit, this state of
things did not speak well for the captain’s management. ,
The sickness of his crew and want of provisions compelled
the French commander to make for Port Jackson, and on arrival
they heard of the safety of the NMaturaliste, that vessel having
parted from them off the coast of Van Dieman’s Land and
arrived there earlier, but left in search of them a few days
before the Géographe made the port.
From Port Jackson the Waturaliste went home to France,
the Géographe, in company with a small vessel purchased in
Sydney, and placed in charge of Lieutenant Freycinet, pursuing
her geographical labours in other parts of the world.
The many voyages of Captain P. P. King, son of the
Governor of that name, are some of the most adventurous
voyages ever chronicled in our history. On the 22nd December,
in a tiny cutter called the A/ermazd, he left Sydney for the first
of his survey trips. It was the year 1817, and his mission was—
“To examine the hitherto unexplored coasts of New South Wales
from Arnhem Bay, near the western entrance of the Gulf of
Carpentaria, westward and southward, as far as the North-West Cape,
including the opening, or deep bay, called Van Dieman’s Bay, and the
cluster of islands called Rosemary Islands, also the inlets behind
them, which should be most minutely examined; and, indeed,
all gulfs and openings should be the objects of particular attention, as
the chief motive for your survey is to discover whether there
be any river on that part of the coast likely to lead to an interior
navigation into this great continent.
‘“‘It is for several reasons most desirable that you should arrive on
this coast and commence your survey as early as possible, and you will
therefore, when the vessel shall be ready, lose no time in proceeding to
the unexplored coasts, but you are at liberty to commence your survey
at whichever side you may judge proper, giving a preference to that
which you think you may be able soonest to reach, but in case you
think that indifferent, my Lords would wish you to commence by the
neighbourhood of the Rosemary Islands.
‘‘ Either on your way out, or on returning, you should examine the
coast between Cape Leeuwin and the Cape Gosselin, in M. De Freycinet’s
AA Ya ee
‘
:
1
a i)
ae,
ES me COO ee el ll ees” ~~
: .
A CONSIDERABLE UNDERTAKING. 341
chart, and generally you will observe that it is very desirable that you
should visit those ranges of coast which the French navigators have
either not seen at all, or at too great a distance to ascertain and lay
down accurately.”
Captain King was further instructed to take from Port
Jackson seeds of all vegetables that he considered most useful to
propagate on the coasts to be visited, and to plant them not
only in the best situations for their preservation, but that, also,
they might be in sight and reach of succeeding navigators.
All notes, surveys, and drawings were to be made in
duplicate, and on every opportunity to dispatch a copy, with
full report, of his progress.
The most important subjects to obtain information on
were :— |
‘““The general nature of the climate as to heat, cold, moisture,
winds, rains, periodical seasons, and the temperature. The direction of
the mountains, their names, general appearance as to shape, whether
detached or continuous in ranges. The animals, whether birds, beasts
or fishes, insects, reptiles, etc., distinguishing those that are wild from
those that are domesticated. The vegetables, and particularly those
that are applicable to any useful purpose, whether in medicine, dyeing,
carpentry, etc.; all woods adapted for furniture, shipbuilding, etc. To
ascertain the quantities in which they are found, the facility, or
otherwise, of floating them down to a convenient place for shipment.
-Minerals, any of the precious stones, how used or valued by the natives ;
the description and characteristic difference of the several tribes of
people on the coast. Their occupation and means of subsistence. A
circumstantial account of such articles growing on the sea coast, if any,
as might be advantageously imported into Great Britain, and those that
would be required by the natives in exchange for them. The state of
the arts, or manufactures, and their comparative perfection in
different tribes. A vocabulary of the language spoken by every tribe
which you meet, using in the compilation of each word the same
English words.”’
How much was expected to be accomplished by King with
his company of seventeen, including Messrs. Bedwell and Roe
as mates, and Mr. Allan Cunningham, botanical collector! he
also had “ Boongaree,’”’ a Port Jackson native, who had
accompanied Captain Flinders in the /uvestigator, and promised
to be of great service in any intercourse with the natives.
Provisions for nine months were procured, and twelve weeks
water.
342 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. |
The dMJermaza’s outfit being completed too early in the
season to attempt the passage by way of Torres Straits to the
north-west coast, King, rather than remain inactive, deter-
mined to sail vzd@ Bass’ Strait and Cape Leeuwin.
At Seal Island they landed, and searched in vain for the
bottle left there by Captain Flinders, containing an account of
the /nxvestigator’s visit, not with any motive of removing it, but
to add a memorandum. On the summit of the island or rock—
for it can scarcely be called an island—the skeleton of a goat's
head was found, and near it were the remains of a glass case-
bottle. These, as was afterwards learned, were left by
Lieutenant Forster, R.N., in 1815, on his passage from Port
Jackson to Europe.
Next day they anchored off Oyster Harbour, and examined
the bar, finding they could lie close to the shore. It was con-
venient for all purposes, the wood being abundant and close
to the waterholes, which were ‘dug in the sand; so that both
wood and water could be procured without going far away
from the vessel, thus preventing any possibility of a surprise
_ from the blacks.
It was here that Captain Vancouver planted and stocked a
garden with vegetables, but no signs of it now remained, also
the ship £//egood's garden, which Captain Flinders found in
1802; the lapse of sixteen years, however, would make a
complete revolution in the vegetation. Cunningham made here
a large collection of seeds and dried specimens from the vast
variety of beautiful plants and flowers.
‘“‘A small spot of ground near our tent was dug up, and enclosed
with a fence, in which Mr. Cunningham sowed many culinary seeds and
peach stones ; and on the stump of a tree, which had been felled by
our wooding party, the name of the vessel and the date of our visit was
inscribed ; but when we visited Oyster Harbour three years afterwards,
no signs remained of the garden, and the inscription was scarcely
perceptible, from the stump having been nearly destroyed by fire.”’
Sickness having attacked the crew, little attempt was made
to investigate the west coast, but a straight course was steered
to Cape North-west, that goal of so many navigators. On the
10th of February, 1818, while at anchor off the Cape, the cable
parted, and they lost one of their anchors, an accident which
considerably endangered the remainder of the voyage, as on the
AN IMPERTURBABLE NATIVE. 343
12th the fluke of a second anchor broke in consequence of the
wind freshening during the night. Three days afterwards they
reached a secure anchorage, which he named the Bay of Rest,
as the crew had been long fatigued when they found it. Here
a landing was effected, and Allan Cunningham took occasion to
measure one of the gigantic ant-hills of that coast. He found
it to be eight feet in height and twenty-six in girth, which after
all is not so large as some to be seen in that region. All
examinations of the country tending to give King and his
companion a very poor opinion of the place; they left the
inlet in which they had found shelter, and the large bay in which
it was situated received the name of Exmouth Gulf.
They pursued their course to the north-east. On the 25th
they arrived at Rosemary Island, so long supposed to mask the
entrance to a strait, and commenced a closer examination of the
coast line. Here the always active botanist planted peach
stones, and the party made their first capture of an “Indian.”
He and some more were paddling from island to island on logs
—their only means of navigation—and a regular “ duck hunt ”’
ensued before one was caught, and taken on board the cutter by
a boat’s crew.
“The tribe of natives collected upon the shore, consisting of about
forty persons, and of whom the greater number were women and
children, the whole party appeared to be overcome with grief, particularly
the women, who most loudly and vehemently expressed their sorrow by
cries and rolling on the ground, covering their bodies with the sand.
When our captive arrived alongside the vessel, and saw Boongaree, he
became somewhat pacified, and suffered himself to be lifted on board;
he was then ornamented with beads and a red cap, and upon our
applauding his appearance, a smile momentarily played on his counten-
ance, but it was soon replaced by a vacant stare. He took little notice
of anything until he saw the fire, and this appeared to occupy his
attention very much. Biscuit was given him, which as soon as he tasted
it he spat out, but some sugared water being offered to him he drank the
whole, and upon sugar being placed before him in a saucer, he was at a
loss how to use it, until one of the boys fed him with his fingers, and
when the saucer was emptied he showed his taste for this food by licking
it with his tongue.”
He was then restored to his log and around his neck a bag
was suspended containing a little of everything he had appeared
to fancy during his short captivity, this was to induce him: to
344 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
give a favourable account to his companions. He rejoined his
tribe, and the amused seamen watched the interview on the
beach. He was ordered to stand at a distance until he had
thrown away the red cap and axe that had been given him.
Each black held his spear poised, and a number of questions
were seemingly put to him. Upon his answering them apparently
satisfactorily he was allowed to approach, his body was carefully
examined, then they seated themselves in a ring, he placed in
the middle. Evidently he told them his story, which occupied
about half an hour. When finished, after great shouting, the
tribe departed to the other side of the island, leaving the presents
on the beach, having carefully examined them first. After some
days spent amongst this group of islands, endeavouring to
establish friendly communication with the natives, the little
vessel resumed her voyage, and on the 4th of March anchored
in and christened Nickol Bay.
Steering on E.S.E. to Cape Arnheim, where the examination
of the west coast was to commence, they named and passed
through Macquarie Strait, and anchored off Goulburn Island,
making a complete survey of the Bay in which they were
anchored, and the surrounding islands, calling them Goulburn
Islands. Here they found traces of the visits of the Malays on
their voyages after treparg, before mentioned by Captain
Flinders, and also could tell from the boldness and cunning of
the natives that they were well used to visitors; they even had
the audacity to swim off after dark and cut the whale boat
adrift, fortunately the theft was detected | efore the boat drifted
out of sight.
Their hostile conduct caused much trouble whilst getting
wood and water, so much so, that King determined to finish
wooding on Sims Island to the northward. It was fortunate that
they were not often obliged to resort to the muskets for defence,
as the greater number of the twelve they had taken from Port
Jackson were useless, yet they were the best they could then
procure in Sydney.
Meantime Cunningham greatly added to his collection,
and took advantage of a good spot of soil to sow every sort of
seed he possessed, but with little hope of their surviving long ;
as fire no doubt would soon destroy all.
“The country was thickly, in some parts impenetrably, clothed with
eucalyptus, acacia, pandanus, fan-palms, and various other trees, whilst
KING AND THE MALAY FLEET. 345
the beaches are in some parts studded, and in others thickly lined with
mangroves. ‘The soil is chiefly of a grey sandy earth, and in some parts
might be called even rich; there was, however, very few places that could
bear so favourable a character.
“The climate here seems to favour vegetation so much, that the
quality of the soil appears to be of minor importance, for everything
thrives and looks verdant.”
Whilst on this part of the coast they encountered a fleet of
Malay proas, fifteen in number, but King, with his little unarmed
cutter, did not care to have any communication with such very
doubtful characters.
On the 16th of April, Raffles Bay was found, and named
after Sir Stamford Raffles, and the next day they entered Port
Essington, which was christened after Vice-Admiral Sir William
Essington.
King thought that:—
“ Port Essington being so good a harbour, and from its proximity
to the Moluccas and New Guinea, and its being in a direct line of com-
munication between Port Jackson and India, as well as from the
commanding situation with respect to the passage through Torres Straits,
it must at no very distant period become a place of great trade, and of
very considerable importance.”
At Knocker’s Bay, immediately to the west of this port,
the natives made a very determined attack on the boat, whilst
she was hemmed in amongst the mangroves, but without doing
any damage. King next entered and examined Van Dieman’s
Gulf, so called by the three Dutch vessels that sailed from Timor in
1705. The examination of this Gulf formed a prominent feature
in his instructions. Here he found part of the Malay fleet at
anchor, and feeling strong enough to encounter a few of them at
a time, he anchored and allowed them to come on board. He
showed them his rough chart, when they instantly understood
the occupation of the cutter. Like the visitors who came off to
Flinders, they showed a great liking for port wine. Upon
mentioning the natives of the coast, and showing a stone- headed
spear, they evinced great disgust. They called them “ Marega,”’
being the Malay definition of that portion of the coast.
King, during his survey of Van Dieman’s Gulf, found and
named the two Alligator Rivers, afterwards traversed by
Leichhardt on his trip to Port Essington. From the Gulf they
346 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
sailed to Melville Island, which was named after the First Lord
of the Admiralty. He says :—
‘‘ We passed round Cape Van Dieman and anchored in the mouth
of a very considerable river-like opening, the size of which inspired us
with the flattering hope of having made an important discovery, for as
yet we had no idea of the insularity of Melville Island.”
Here once more they had trouble with the natives, whose
intercourse with the Malays had made them adroit and
treacherous thieves. |
Whilst on shore taking some bearings, the party was
suddenly surprised, and, beating a hasty retreat, the theodolite
stand and Cunningham’s insect net were left behind, and
immediately appropriated by the natives.
This stand they obstinately refused to deliver or exchange,
although offered tomahawks and other tempting presents. Once,
aiter a long discussion, they brought it down to the beach and
minutely examined it, but the brass mountings took their fancy
too much to allow them to part with it, and King could not take it
by force without bloodshed. On the 19th May, Apsley Strait
was discovered, and the second island received the name of
Bathurst.
King next surveyed and named the Vernon Islands, and
Clarence Strait.
‘The time had now arrived for our leaving the coast; our pro-
visions were drawing to an end, and we had only a sufficiency of bread
to carry us back to Port Jackson; although we had been all the voyage
upon a reduced allowance; our water had also failed, and several casks
which we had calculated upon being full were found to be so bad
that the water was perfectly useless; these casks were made in Sydney,
and proved—like our bread casks—to have been made from the staves
of salt provision casks: besides this defalcation, several puncheons were
found empty, and it was, therefore, doubly necessary that we should
resort to Timor without any more delay.”’
While at Timor, ‘“ Dramah,” the principal rajah of the
Malay fishing fleet, gave King the following information
respecting the coast of New Holland, which he had frequently
visited in command of the fleet that visits its shores yearly for
(réepane ——
‘The coast is called by them ‘ Marega,’ and has been known to
them for many years. A fleet, to the number of two hundred proas,
‘“ DRAMAH’S”’ STORY. 347
annually (this number seems exaggerated), leave Macassar for this
fishery ; it sails in January, during the westerly monsoons, and coasts
from island to island until it reaches the north-east of Timor, where it
steers S.E. and S.S.E., which courses carry them to the coast of New
Holland ; the body of the fleet then steers eastward, leaving here and
there a division of fifteen or sixteen proas, under the command of an
inferior rajah who leads the fleet, and is always implicitly obeyed. His
proa is the only vessel provided with a compass ; it also has one or two
swivel or small guns, and is perhaps armed with musquets. Their
provisions chiefly consist of rice and cocoa-nuts, and their water—which
during the westerly monsoon is easily replenished on all parts of the
coast—is carried in joints of bamboo. Besides trepang, they trade in
sharks’ fins and birds’ nests.”
Their method of curing is thus described by Flinders—
“They get the trepang by diving in from three to eight fathoms of
water, and where it is abundant a man will bring up eight or ten at a
time. The mode of preserving it is thus—the animal is split down on
one side, boiled and pressed with a weight of stones, then stretched open
by slips of bamboo, dried in the sun and afterwards in smoke, when it is
fit to put away in bags, but requires frequent exposureto the sun. ‘There
are two kinds of trepang, the black and the white or grey slug.”
From Dramah’s information, it would seem a perpetual
warfare raged between the natives and Malays, which was
unfortunate for King, as it would make it a very difficult matter
to establish friendly communication with people who could not
be expected to distinguish between the English and Malays.
After a short stay in Timor, he sailed for Sydney by way of the
west coast, and anchored in Port Jackson on the 2oth of July,
1818.
The early loss of the anchors had not allowed King so much
opportunity of detailed examination as would otherwise have
been the case; but much of the work that he had been sent to
do had been carried out; the examinations of the opening
behind Rosemary Island, and of Van Dieman’s Gulf, beside the
survey of the numerous smaller openings and islands.
“Mr. Cunningham made a very valuable and extensive collection
of dried plants and seeds; but, from the small size of our vessel and
the constant occupation of myself and the two midshipmen, who
accompanied me, we had neither space nor time to form any other
collection of natural history than a few insects, and some specimens of
the geology of those parts where we landed.”
348 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
The equipment of the vessel for the second voyage, and the
construction of charts of the first, occupied Captain King until
December, when he left Port Jackson to survey the entrance of
Macquarie Harbour, which had lately been discovered, on the
western coast of Van Dieman’s Land, and in Pepe 1819, he
returned to Sydney.
King now started to return to the scene of his labours, this
time intending to make his way along the east coast and through
Torres Straits. With him went Surveyor-General Oxley, in the
colonial brig, Lady Nelson, to examine Port Macquarie, in New
South Wales, where, it will be remembered, Oxley reached the
coast after his descent of the Main Range. On the 8th of May,
1819, the two vessels left Port Jackson, and arrived at their
destination in two days. Here, after spending a short time in
the necessary examination, they parted company, the Lady
Nelson returning to Sydney with the Surveyor-General, and the
Mermaid continuing her voyage.
The east coast having been twice surveyed by Cook and
Flinders, there was little left beyond minor details for King to
complete. An opening which had escaped Captain Flinders
was examined, finding good, well-sheltered anchorage within.
They named it Rodd’s Bay. Amongst other places they landed
at, was Cleveland Bay.
“Near the extremity of Cape Cleveland some bamboo was picked
up, and also a fresh green cocoa-nut that appeared to have been hastily
tapped for milk. Heaps of pumice stone was noticed upon this beach ;
not any of this production had been met with floating. Hitherto no
cocoa-nuts have been found on this continent, although so great a
portion of it is within the tropic, and its north-east coast, so near to
islands on which this fruit is abundant. Captain Cook imagined that
the husk of one, which his second Lieutenant, Mr. Gore, picked up at
the Endeavour River, and which was covered with barnacles, came from
the Terra del Espiritu Santo of Quiros; but from the prevailing winds
it would appear more likely to have been drifted from New Caledonia,
which island was at that time unknown to him; the fresh appearance of
the cocoa-nut seen by us renders, however, even this conclusion
doubtful ; Captain Flinders also found one as far to the south as Shoal
Water Bay.
“Tn the gullies, Mr. Cunningham reaped an excellent harvest both
of seeds and plants. Here as well as at every other place that we had
landed upon within the tropic, the air is crowded with a species of
butterfly, a great many of which were taken. It is doubtless the same
SS = Lr
ENDEAVOUR RIVER REVISITED. 349
species as that which Captain Cook remaks are so plentiful in Thirsty
Sound. He says, ‘We found also an incredible number of butterflies,
so that for the space of three or four acres the air was so crowded with
them, that millions were to be seen in every direction, at the same time
that every branch and twig were covered with others that were not upon
the wing.’ The numbers seen by us were indeed incredible ; the stem of
every grass tree, which plant grows abundantly upon: the hills, was
covered with them, and on their taking wing the air appeared, as it were,
in perfect motion.”
King landed at the Endeavour River to build a boat that he
had on board in frame—in all probability the very same spot
that Captain Cook landed upon forty-nine years before. He
took the precaution to burn the grass that the natives should not
attempt the same trick upon him that they had played on Cook.
During the time the boat was building the inevitable thieving of
the natives took place, and the usual tactics of firing over their
heads had to be resorted to.
“*On the roth of July our boat was launched and preparations were
made for leaving the place which had afforded us so good an opportunity
of repairing our defects.
“The basis of the country in the vicinity of this river is evidently
granitic; and from the abrupt and primitive appearance of the land
about Cape Tribulation, and to the north of Weary Bay, there is every
reason to suppose that granite is also the principle feature of those
mountains, but the rocks that lie loosely scattered about the beaches and
surface of the hills on the south side of the entrance, are of quartzoze
substance ; and this, likewise, is the character of the hills at the east end
of the northern beach. Where the rocks are coated with a quartzoze
crust, that, in its crumbled state, forms a very productive soil. The
hills on the south side of the port recede from the banks of the river, and
form an amphitheatre of low grassy land, and some tolerable soil, upon
the surface of which, in many parts, we found large blocks of granite
heaped one upon another. Near the tent we found coal, but the presence
of this mineral in a primitive country, at an immense distance from any
part where a coal formation is known to exist, would puzzle the geologist
were I not to explain all 1 know upon the subject.
“Upon referring to the late Sir Joseph Banks’ copy of the “'zdeavour
log, I found the following remark :—‘ June 21st and 22nd, 1770.—
Employed getting our coals on shore.’ There remains no doubt that it
is a relic of that navigator’s voyage, which must have been lying undis-
turbed for nearly half a century.”’
350 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Leaving the Endeavour, the next object of interest they
fell in with was the wreck of a vessel, which, on examination,
proved to be the /rederick, but no signs of the fate of her crew
were to be seen. They next had a narrow escape of being
wrecked themselves on a bank at the mouth of a river running
into Newcastle Bay, which King christened Escape River, and
which was afterwards destined to come into fatal prominence as
the scene of Kennedy’s death.
Off Good Island, in Torres Straits, the arm of their BS.
broke.
‘A remarkable coincidence of our two losses upon the two voyages
has now occurred. Last year, at the North-West Cape, we lost two
anchors just as we were commencing the survey ; and now, on rounding
the North-East Cape, to commence our examination of the north coast,
we have encountered a similar loss; leaving us, in both instances, only
one bower anchor to carry on the survey.”
Eleven weeks now since they had left Port Jackson, during
that time King had laid down the different projections of the
coast, and the track within the Barrier Reefs and between the
Percy Islands and Cape York; surveyed Port Macquarie,
examined Rodd’s Bay, and constructed the boat at the
Endeavour River.
Frequent rain between Cape Grafton and Torres Straits
not only increased the danger of navigation, but the continued
dampness of the small cabins, and—from the small size of the
vessel—no stove to dry them, caused much sickness; but on the
voyage from the straits to the western head of the Gulf of
Carpentaria—Cape Arnhem—they found drier air, and finer
weather, which soon restored the invalids to perfect health.
King sailed across the Gulf, and sighted the land again
at Cape Wessel, and on the 3oth July anchored off the
‘‘Cocodriles’ Eylandts’’ of the old charts. Here King discovered
a river which he named the Liverpool, and is doubtless the
Spult of the Dutch navigators. Up this river, the commander,
accompanied by Bedwell and Cunningham, made a long
excursion, but the country was too flat for him to gain much
information.
At Goulburn Island, where they landed at their old watering
place, they were again attacked by their friends, the natives, as
of old. There is no doubt that the bad habits of these blacks
had been induced by their long intercourse with the Malays.
a
’ —
CAMBRIDGE GULF. 351
Leaving Goulburn Island they passed round Cape Van
Dieman, steering so as to see several parts of the coast of
Melville Island, in order to check the last year’s survey. After
rounding the cape they kept a course down the western side of
Bathurst Island. On the 27th they made land on the south side
of Clarence Strait, in the vicinity of the Vernon Islands.
“This was the last land seen by us on leaving the coast in May,
1818.”
Captain King’s next important discovery was the now
well-known Cambridge Gulf. On Adolphus Island, in the Gulf,
he buried one of his seamen, named William Nicholls, and
in memorial, the north-west point of the island was named after
him. From this point King was very anxious to examine the
coast most carefully, as the French ships, under M. Baudin, had
seen but very little of it; but he had been unable to find fresh
water in Cambridge Gulf, and his stock was running low. They
were very weak handed, three men, besides Mr. Bedwell, being
ill.
“The greater part of the crew were affected with ophthalmia,
probably caused by the excessive glare and reflection of the sun’s rays
from the glassy surface of the sea.”
Under these unfavourable circumstances they were obliged
to make for Coepang. King says :—
“In the space between Cape Bougainville and Cape Voltaire, which
was named Admiralty Gulf, we have given positions to at least forty
islands or islets. Having now emerged from the archipelago of islands
which front this part of the north-west coast, we seized the opportunity
of taking leave of it for the present, and directed our course for Timor.”’
Here he heard that some of the crew of the wrecked vessel,
the /rederick, that they had seen on the east coast, had arrived,
but the greater number of the crew in the long boat had not
been heard of.
On the 12th January, 1820, the Mermazd returned to Port
Jackson, having surveyed five hundred miles of coast, in
addition to five hundred and forty surveyed on the previous
voyage, and a running survey of the east coast from Percy
Islands to Torres Straits, which had not formerly been narrowly
examined.
CHAPTERS y7i
King’s Third Voyage—Early misadventures—Examines North-West coast closely
—The Mermaid careened—Unforeseen result—Return to Sydney—The
Bathurst —King’s Fourth Voyage—Last of the Mermaid—Love’s stratagem
—Remarkable cavern—Extraordinary drawings—Chasm lIsland—South-West
explorations—Revisites his old camp—Rich vegetation—Greville Island—
Skirmish at Hanover Bay—Reminiscence of Dampier—His notes on the
natives and their mode of living—Cape Levéque— Buccaneers’ Archipelago—
Provisions run out—Sails for the Mauritius—Survey of South-West re-com-
menced—Cape Chatham—Oyster Harbour anchorage—A native’s toilet—Seal
hunt—Friendly intercourse—Cape Inscription—Vandalism— Point Cloates not
an island—Vlaming Head—Rowley Shoals—Cunningham—Botanical success
—Rogers Island closely examined—Mainland traced further—An amazing
escape from destruction—Relinquishment of survey—Sails for Sydney—Value
of King’s work—Settlement on Melville Island—Port Essington—Colonisa-
tion—Fort building—A waif—Roguish visitors—Garrison life—Change of
scene—Raffles Bay—Dismal reports—Failure of attempt.
KING, now got ready for his third voyage, and on_ the
14th June, 1820, left Port Jackson to again encounter the perils
of the north coast in his little cutter, with the addition to his
company of Mr. James Hunter, as surgeon.
His late voyage had led him to recommend to vessels the
passage of the Barrier Reef, between the reef and the shore,
instead of the outside passage, that had been usually adopted
by northern bound ships. His start was unfortunate; heavy
weather set in, the cutter lost her bowsprit, and they had to put
back. On the way up, after repairs had been effected, the little
craft struck heavily on a sandbank, and damaged her hull
considerably, but the voyage was continued.
On the roth of August the voyagers were at their former
anchorage at Goulburn Island, taking in fresh water, and
watching narrowly for their old friends the natives, who were so
long in making their appearance. They cut off Lieutenant Roe,
when by himself, and nearly succeeded in spearing him ; he was
only rescued, when quite exhausted, by the boat’s crew coming
to his assistance.
King proceeded to examine that part of the north-west coast
that M. Baudin had overlooked, more minutely than he had
been enabled to do before. Reaching Hunter’s River on
yi me al 9
eae
A DOOMED SHIP. 353
September 14th, an opportunity was offered for filling the water-
casks. The harbour of this river is of considerable size, and
in most parts offers good anchorage, with abundance of fuel
and water. The harbour was called Prince Frederic’s, and the
sound that fronts it, York Sound.
“ After passing Point Hardy we entered a fine harbour, sounde on
the west by a group of islands, and on the east by the projection of land
that forms the western side of Prince Frederic’s Harbour. The flood
tide was not sufficient to carry us to the bottom, so we anchored off the
east end of the southernmost island of the group, which, on the occasion
of the anniversary of the late king’s coronation, was subsequently called
the Coronation Islands. The harbour was called Port Nelson, and a
high, rocky hill that was distinguished over the land to the southward
received the name of Mount Trafalgar.”
From the alarming increase of the leak which the Wermaid
had sprung, it was found necessary to find a place to careen her
in, in order, if possible; the damage might be repaired, that they
might continue the survey, or, at least, ensure their safe return
to Port Jackson. On the sandy beach of a bay, which they
named Careening Bay,a place was found in every way suitable.
‘“These repairs were completed by the 28th, but just as we were
congratulating ourselves upon having performed them, a fresh defect was
discovered, which threatened more alarming consequences than’ the
others. Upon stripping off some sheets of copper, the spike nails which
fastened the planks were found to be decaying, and many were so
entirely decomposed by oxidation that a straw was easily thrust through
the vacant holes. As we had not enough nails to replace the copper, for
that was now our only security, we could not venture to remove more than
a few sheets from those parts which appeared to be the most suspicious,
under all of which we found the nails so defective that we had reason to
fear we might start some planks before we reached Port Jackson.
When the repairs were completed, and the people were more at leisure,
I made an excursion as far as Bat Island, off Cape Brewster. ‘
Bat Island is a mass of sandstone superincumbent upon a quartzoze
basis, and intersected by nearly vertical veins of white quartz, the surface
of which was in a crystallised state. The floor of the cavern was covered
with heaps of water-worn fragments of quartzoze rock containing copper
pyrites, in some of which the cavities were covered by a deposit of
greenish calcedony. The sides of the cavern had a stalagmitical
appearance, but the recess was so dark that we could not ascertain
either its formation or extent. . . On first entering it we were nearly
overpowered by a strong, sulphurous smell, which was soon accounted
Z
354 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
for by the flight of an incredible number of small bats, which were
roosting in the bottom of the cave, and had been disturbed at our
approach. We attempted to grope our way to the bottom, but not
having a light, were soon obliged to give up its further examina-
tion. . . . From the summit of this place a set of bearings were
obtained, particularly of the islands to the northward and - westward,
and Mr. Cunningham secured here specimens of eighteen different sorts
of plants.”’
On the gth, leaving Careening Bay, passing between Cape
Brewster and the Coronation Islands, they enter a spacious
sound, which received the name of Brunswick Sound. And here
they also found and named the Prince Regent’s River, afterwards
the scene of Grey's discomfiture. Here it was patent that, in
spite of their late repairs, the cutter leaked so much that, for the
safety of the crew, King had reluctantly to return to Sydney ;
and when off Botany Bay, narrowly escaped total wreck during
a dark and stormy night. f
The tiny craft that had carried King so far and so safely
was now laid up for repairs, and a brig of one hundred and fifty
tons was purchased and re-christened the Bathurst. On the
26th of May, 1821, King sailed from Port Jackson upon his
fourth and last voyage to the north coast, accompanied by the
merchant ships Dick and San Antonio, bound for Batavia, who
requested permission to accompany King through Torres Straits.
Meantime, the Mermazd had been thoroughly repaired and
fitted out, leaving Port Jackson to carry the first establishment
to Port Macquarie, on which service she was wrecked.
Their company now numbered thirty-three, but three days
after they left port, King says :—
‘A discovery was made of another addition to the crew. Upon
opening the hold, which had been locked ever since the day before we
sailed, a young girl, not more than fourteen years of age, was found
concealed among the casks, where she had secreted herself in order to
accompany the boatswain to sea. Upon being brought on deck she was
in a pitiable plight . . . that her acquaintances, of which she had
many on board, could scarcely recognise her. Upon being interrogated,
she declared she had, unknown to all on board, concealed herself in the
hold the day before the vessel sailed, and that her swain knew nothing of
the step she had taken. As it was now inconvenient to return to put her
on shore, and as the man consented to share his rations with her, she
was allowed to remain; but in a very short time heartily repented of her
imprudence, and would gladly have been re-landed, had it been possible.”
CAVE DRAWINGS. 355
Along the east coast the Bathurst was accompanied by the
Dick and San Antonio, both going north, and near the wreck of
the Frederick, they had a trifling brush with the natives. While
here, Mr. Cunningham visited Clack’s reef :—
“The reef abounded with shells, of which they brought back a
large collection, but not in any great variety; an indifferent Cyprea
was the most common, but there were also some Vo/ut@ and other
shells, besides trepang and As/erz@ in abundance.
‘‘Mr. Cunningham observed a singularly curious cavern upon the
rock, of which he gave me a description in the following account of the
island—
‘““¢The south and south-eastern extremes of Clack’s Island
presented a steep rocky bluff, thinly covered with small trees, I
ascended the steep head, which rose to an elevation of a hundred and
eighty feet above the sea.
“ «The remarkable structure of the geological feature of this islet
led me to examine the south-east part, which was the most exposed to
the weather, and where the disposition of the strata was, of course,
more plainly developed. The base is a coarse granular, silicious
sandstone, in which large pebbles of quartz and jaspar are imbedded.
This stratum continues for sixteen to twenty feet .above the water ; for the
next ten feet there is a horizontal stratum of black schistose rock, which
was of so soft a consistence, that the weather had excavated several
tiers of galleries, upon the roof and sides of which some curious
drawings were observed, which deserve to be particularly described.
They were executed upon a ground of red ochre (rubbed on the black
schistus), and were delineated by dots of white argillaceous earth, which
had been worked up into a paste. They represe nted tolerable figures of
sharks, porpoises, turtles, lizards (of which 1 saw several small ones
among the rocks), trepang, star-fish, clubs, canoes, water-gourds, and
some quadrupeds, which were probably intended to represent kangaroos
and dogs. The figures, besides being outlined by the dots, were decorated
all over with the same pigment in dotted transverse belts. Tracing a
gallery round to windward, it brought me to a commodious cave, or
recess, overhung by a portion of the schistous sufficiently large to shelter
twenty natives, whose recent fire places appeared on the projecting area
of the cave.
““« Many turtles’ heads were placed on the shelfs or niches of the
excavation, amply demonstrative of the luxurious and profuse mode of
life these outcasts of society had, at a period rather recently, followed.
The roof and sides of this snug retreat were also entirely covered with
the uncouth figures I have already described.’
“As this is the first specimen of Australian taste in the fine arts
that we have detected in these voyages, it became me to make a
!
356 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
particular observation thereon. Captain Flinders had discovered figures
on Chasm Island* in the Gulf of Carpentaria, formed with a burnt stick,
but this performance, exceeding a hundred and fifty figures, which
must have occupied much time, appears at least to be one step nearer
refinement than those simply executed with a piece of charred wood.
Immediately above this schistose stratum is a superincumbent mass of
sandstone, which appeared to form the upper stratum of the island.”
From the wreck of the /vrederick the crew had been busy
during their stay here procuring all the spars and planks that
would be of use to them, and on the 25th June the Bathurst got
under weigh, and with her two companions resumed their course
to the northward, following the same route as that traversed
last year by the W/ermazd—steering across the Gulf of Carpen-
taria to Cape Wessell, which they sighted on the 3rd June.
Anchoring in South-West Bay, they landed at their. former
watering place on Goulburn Island, but found the stream had
failed, and the parched appearance of the island showed that the
season had been unusually dry. Leaving South-West Bay, they
passed to the eastward of New Year’s Island, and the following
day sighted Cape Van Dieman. Here they parted company
with their companions, the Yzck and San Antonio, by an inter-
change of three cheers, the Dzck having King’s letters for
conveyance to England. The course of the Bathurst was now
south-west towards Cape Londonderry, sighting, during the
next few days, Eclipse Hill, Sir Graham Moore’s Islands, and
Troughton Island. Light baffling winds detained them for two
days in the vicinity of Cassini Island, and on the 23rd the
* © Chasm Island lies one mile and a half from a low point of Groote Eylandt,
where the shore trends southward and seemed to forma bay. In the deep sides of
‘the chasms were deep holes or caverns, undermining the cliffs ; upon the walls of
which I found rude drawings made with charcoal and something like red paint
upon the white ground of the rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtle,
kangaroos, and a human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see
them, found the representation of a kangaroo, with a file of thirty-two persons
following after it. The third person of the band was twice the height of the
others, and held in his .hand something resembling the ‘ whaddie’ or wooden
sword of the native chiefs of Port Jackson, and was probably intended to represent
a chief. They could not, as with us, indicate superiority by clothing or ornament,
since they wear none of any kind; and, therefore, with the addition of a weapon
similar to the ancients, they seem to have made superiority of person the principal
emblem of superior power, of which, indeed, power is usually a consequence of
the very early stages of society.”
<=, ll on
ee ae
———————— a Sh ULC !T,!,lh
i ls ni tlh \ |
A RESTING PLACE. 357
Bathurst anchored about half a mile off the sandy beach of
Careening Bay.
‘¢ As soon as the vessel was secured we visited the shore, and recog-
nised the site of our last year’s encampment, which had suffered no
alteration except what had been occasioned by a rapid vegetation.
A sterculia, the stem of which had served as one of the props of our mess
tent, and to which we had nailed a sheet of copper, with an inscription,
was considerably grown, and the gum had oozed out in such profusion
where the nails had pierced the bark that it had forced one corner of the
copper off. The large, gouty-stemmed tree on which the Mermazd’s
name had been carved in deep indented characters remained without any
alteration, and seemed likely to bear the marks of our visit longer than
any other memento we had left. The sensations experienced at
revisiting a place which had so seasonably afforded us a friendly shelter
and such unlooked-for convenience for our purposes, can only be
estimated by those who have experienced them; and it is only to
strangers to such feelings that it will appear ridiculous to say that even
the nail to which our thermometer had been suspended was the subject
of pleasurable recognition.
‘‘ No water in the gully where last year it was running, and no sign
that it had contained any for some time, yet from the luxuriant vegetation
and verdant appearance of the grass, it was the more astonishing. After
examining the bight to the eastward, where formerly there had been a
considerable stream, all hope of success in finding water here was given
up, and an anchorage made in St. George’s Basin, finding an abundant
-supply at the cascade in Prince Regent’s River.
‘While the boat’s crew rested and filled their baricas, I ascended
the rocks over which the water was falling, and was surprised to find its
height had been so underrated when we passed by it last year; it was
then thought to be about forty feet, but I now found it could not be less
than one hundred and fifty. The rock—a fine-grained, silicious sand-
stone—is disposed in horizontal strata, from six to twelve feet thick, each
of which projects about three feet from that above it, and forms a con-
tinuity of steps to the summit, which we found some difficulty in
climbing ; but where the distance between the ledges was great, we
assisted our ascent by tufts of grass firmly rooted in the luxurious moss
that grew abundantly about the watercourses. On reaching the summit,
I found that the fall was supplied from a stream winding through rugged
chasms and thickly-matted clusters of plants and trees, among which the
pandanus bore a conspicuous appearance, and gave a picturesque
richness to the place. While admiring the wildness of the scene,
Mr. Montgomery joined me; we did not, however, succeed in following
the stream for more than a hundred yards, for at that distance its
windings were so confused among rocks and spinifex that we could not
358 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
trace its course. Large groves of pandanus and hibiscus, and a variety
of other plants, were growing in great luxuriance upon the banks of the
Prince Regent’s River, but, unhappily, the sterile and rocky appearance
of the country was some alloy to the satisfaction we felt at the first sight
of the fresh water.”
Water had been obtained sufficient to last until October.
Preparations were then made to leave this anchorage, when they
explored Half-way Bay, finding in it a strait that communicated
with Munster Water, so insulating the land that forms the north-
west shore of the Bay. This island was named Greville Island.
Whilst in Hanover Bay, a skirmish with the natives
enlivened proceedings. In spite of all the many warnings the
party had received by this time, they would venture amongst the
natives quite unarmed, and when their men came to their
assistance the muskets, as a rule, would not go off. This time
the surgeon, Mr. Montgomery, was speared in the back—
fortunately, not fatally.
From Hanover Bay, King sailed some distance to the
westward, anchoring on August 21st, near the Lacepede Islands.
The next day Cape Baskerville was named, and the smoke of
fires was noticed at intervals for miles along the shore; from
which, one might infer that this part of the coast was very
populous. Captain Dampier saw forty Indians together on one
of the rocky islands to the eastward of Cape Levéque, and in his
quaint description of them says :—
‘The inhabitants of this country are the miserablest people in the
world. The Hodmadods, of Monomatapa, though a nasty people, yet
for wealth are gentlemen to these, who have no houses and skin
garments, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth, ostrich eggs, etc., as the
Hodmadods have ; and, setting aside their human shape, they differ but
little from brutes. They are tall, straight-bodied, and thin, with small,
long limbs. They have great heads, round foreheads, and great brows.
Their eye-lids are always half-closed to keep the flies out of their eyes,
they being so troublesome here that fanning will not keep them from
coming to one’s face; and without the assistance of both hands to keep
them off, they will creep into one’s nostrils, and mouth too, if the lips
are not shut very close. So that, from infancy, being thus annoyed with
those insects, they do never open their eyes as other people; and there-
fore they cannot see far unless they hold up their heads, as if they were
looking at somewhat over them. They have great bottle noses, pretty
full lips, and wide mouths. The two fore-teeth of their upper jaw are
wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young. Whether they
NATIVE LIFE. anu
draw them out or not I know not. Neither have they any beards. They
are long-visaged, and of a very unpleasant aspect, having not one graceful
feature in their faces. Their hair is black, short, and curled like that of
the negroes; and not long and lank like the common Indians, The
colour of their skins, both of their faces and the rest of their body, is
coal-black like that of the negroes of Guinea. They have no sort of
clothes but a piece of the rind of a tree tied like a girdle about their
waists, and a handful of long grass, or three or four small green boughs
full of leaves thrust under their girdle to cover their nakedness. They
have no houses, but lie in the open air without covering, the earth being
their bed and heaven their canopy.
“They live in companies—twenty or thirty men, women, and
children together. Their only food is a small sort of fish, which they
get by making weirs of stone across little coves or branches of the sea,
every tide bringing in the small fish, and there leaving them a prey to
these people, who constantly attend there to search for them at low
water. This small fry I take to be the top of their fishery. They have
no instruments to catch great fish should they come, and such seldom
stay to be left behind at low water; nor could we catch any fish with our
hooks and lines while we lay there. In other places, at low water, they
seek for cockles, mussels, and periwinkles ; of these shell-fish there are
fewer still, so that their chief dependency is upon what the sea leaves in
their weirs, which, be it much or little, they gather up and march to the
places of their abode. There is neither herb, root, pulse, nor any sort of
grain for them to eat that we saw, nor any sort of bird or beast that they
can catch, having no instruments. I did not perceive that they did
‘ worship anything. These poor people have a sort of weapon to
defend their weirs or fight with their enemies, if they have any, that will
interfere with their poor fishery. They did at first endeavour with
their weapons to frighten us, who, lying ashore, deterred them from
one of their fishing places. Some of them had wooden swords, others
had a sort of lance. The sword is a long, straight pole, sharp at one
end, and hardened afterwards by heat. I saw no iron, nor any sort of
metal ; therefore, it is probable they use stone hatchets. How they get
their fire I know not, but, probably, as Indians do, out of wood. I have
seen the Indians of Bon-Airy do it, and have myself tried the experi-
ment. They take a flat piece of wood that is pretty soft, and make a
small dent in one side of it; then they take another hard, round stick,
about the bigness of one’s little finger.and sharpened at one end like a
pencil; they put that sharp end in the hole or dent of the flat, soft piece,
and then rubbing or twirling the hard piece between the palm of their
hands, they drill the soft piece till it smokes and, at last, takes fire.
‘* These people speak somewhat through the throat, but we could
not understand one word they said. . . . We went over to the
360 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
islands, and there we found a great many of the natives. I do believe
there were forty on one island—men, women, and children. The men,
on our first coming ashore, threatened us with their lances and swords,
but they were frightened by firing our*gun, which we purposely fired
over their heads. The island was.so small that they could not hide °
themselves, but they were much disordered by our landing. This, their
place of dwelling, was only a fire, with a few boughs before it, set up on
the side the winds were off.
‘‘ After we had been here a little while, the men began to be
familiar, and we clothed some of them, designing to have some service
of them forit; for we found some wells of water here, and intended to
carry two or three barrels of it aboard. But it being somewhat trouble-
some to carry to the canoes, we thought to have made these men to
have carried it for us, and therefore, we gave them some old clothes; to
one an old pair of breeches, to another a ragged shirt, to the third a
jacket that was scarce worth owning, which yet would have been very
acceptable at some places where we had been, and so we thought they
might have been with these people. We put them on them, thinking
that this finery would have brought them to work heartily for us; and
our water being filled in small, long barrels, about six gallons in each,
which were made purposely to carry water in, we brought these our new
servants to the well, and put a barrel on each of their shoulders for them
to carry to the canoe. But all the signs we could make were to no
purpose, for they stood like statues, without motion, but grinned like
so many monkeys, staring one upon another; for these poor creatures
seem not accustomed to carry burthens, and I believe that one of our
ship boys, of ten years old, would carry as much as one of them. So
we were forced to carry our water ourselves, and they very fairly put the
clothes off again, and laid them down, as if clothes were only to work in.
I did not perceive that they had any great liking to them at first, neither
did they seem to admire anything we had. Four men, captured while
swimming, were brought aboard ; two of them were middle aged, the
other two young men about eighteen or twenty years old. To these we
gave boiled rice, and with it turtle and manatee boiled. ‘They did
greedily devour what we gave them, but took no notice of the ship, or
anything on it, and when they were set on land again, they ran away as
fast as they could. At our first coming, before we were acquainted with
them, or they with us, a company of them, who lived on the main, came
just against our ship, and standing on a pretty high bank threatened us
with their swords and lances, by shaking them at us; at last the captain
ordered the drum to be beaten, which was done of a sudden with much
vigour, purposely to scare the poor creatures. They, hearing the noise,
ran away as fast as they could drive, and when they ran away in haste
they would cry gurry-gurry, speaking deep down in the throat. Those
BUCCANEERS’ ARCHIPELAGO. 361
—
inhabitants, also, that live on the main would always run away from us ;
yet we took several of them. For, as I have already observed, they had
such bad eyes that they could not see us till we came close to them;
we did always give them victuals, and let them go again.”*
August 20. King, when laying down the plan of the coast
upon his chart, found Cape Levéque to be the point Dampier
anchored under when on his buccaneering voyage in the Cygzet,
1688. In commemoration of his visit the name of Buccaneer’s
Archipelago was given to the islands that front Cygnet Bay,
which bay is so named after his vessel; and on August 26,
Roebuck Bay received its name after the ship Captain Dampier
commanded when he visited this coast in 1699. Their water
being nearly out, and the provisions generally being in a bad
state, besides the want of a second anchor being very much
felt, King deemed it prudent not to rely longer upon the good
fortune that had attended them, but to sail for the Mauritius,
entering Port Louis on September 26th.
On November 15th they were again ready for sea, and left
the Mauritius to re-commence their survey on the south-west
coast of New Holland. Sighting Cape Chatham, a course was
directed to the eastward for King George’s Sound, where they
intended to get wood and water previous to commencing the
examination, and anchored close to the entrance of Princess
Royal Harbour. This harbour not proving suitable, their old
anchorage in Oyster Harbour was taken up. The luxuriant
growth of vegetation had almost entirely destroyed all traces of
the visit of 1818. The garden in which Mr. Cunningham had
planted seeds was covered with three or four feet of additional
soil, formed of sand and decayed vegetable matter, and clothed
with a thicket of plants in flower. The natives appeared to be
very friendly, and some visited the vessel.
‘* After an absence of an hour our two friends returned, when it
appeared that they had been at their toilet, for their noses and faces had
evidently been fresh smeared over with red ochre, which they pointed
out to us as a great ornament; affording another proof that vanity is
inherent in human nature, and not merely the consequence of civilization.
“Two of them were watching a small seal that, having been left by
the tide on the bank, was endeavouring to waddle towards the deep
water. At last one of the natives, fixing his spear in its throwing-stick,
** Dampier.” Vok L,\p' 464.
362 ; AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
advanced very cautiously, and when within ten or twelve yards, lanced it,
and pierced the animal through the neck, when the other instantly ran
up and stuck his spear into it also; and then, beating it about the head
with a small hammer, very soon despatched it. This event collected the
whole tribe to the spot, who assisted in landing their prize and washing
the sand off the body. ‘They then carried the animal to their fire, at the
edge of the grass, and began to devour it even before it was dead.
Curiosity induced Mr. Cunningham and myself to view this barbarous
feast, and we landed about ten minutes after it had commenced. The
moment the boat touched the sand the natives, springing up and throwing
their spears away into the bushes, ran down towards us, and before we
could land, had all seated themselves in the boat, ready to go on board,
in aS unceremonious a manner as passengers would seat themselves in a
ferry-boat ; but they were obliged to wait whilst we landed to witness
their savage feast. On going to the place, we found an old man seated
over the remains of the carcass, two-thirds of which had already disap-
peared. He was holding a long strip of the raw flesh in his left hand,
and tearing it off the body with a sort of knife. A boy was also feasting
with him, and both were too intent upon their breakfast to notice us, or
to be the least disconcerted at our looking on. We, however, were very
soon satisfied, and walked away perfectly disgusted with the sight of so
horrible a repast, and the intolerable stench occasioned by the effluvia
that arose from the dying animal, combined with that of the bodies of
the natives, who had daubed themselves from head to foot with a pigment
made of red-ocherous earth, mixed up with seal-oil. Returning on
board, the natives were very attentive to the mixture of a pudding, and a
few small dumplings were made and given to them, which they put on
the bars of the fire-place, but, being too impatient to wait until they were
baked, ate them in a doughy state, with much relish. One of them, an
old man, was very attentive to the sail-makers cutting out a boat’s sail,
and, at his request, was presented with all the strips that were of no use.
When it was completed, a small piece of canvas was missing. After a
great search, in which the old rogue assisted, it was found secreted under
his arm. The old man appeared ashamed and conscious of his guilt,
and although he was frequently afterwards with us, yet he always hung
down his head and sneaked into the background.”
So with the exception of a few thefts all communication
with the natives was here carried on in a most friendly manner,
and on’ the ist of January the anchors were lifted, and the
Bathurst lett for Seal Island, where they intended to refit the
sails. Leaving King George’s Sound they sailed at a distance
from the land to ensure a quicker passage to Cape Peron, Flinders
and M. Baudin having minutely examined the coast between.
al ee = ll ead
THE INSCRIPTION PLATES. 363
Frederick Houtman’s Abrolhos were sighted on January
17th, and the passage or channel between the Abrolhos Bank
and the coast has been distinguished by the name of Vlaming’s
ship, the Geelvink, since she was the first vessel that passed
there, 1697. The cliffs of Red Point named by Vlaming
partake of a reddish tinge, and appear to be of horizontal
strata; behind Red Point is a bight, named by the French
Gantheaume Bay. Reaching Dirk Hartog’s Island they
anchored off Cape Inscription, and searched for the historical
plates, but although the posts were standing, the plates had
been removed.
King found that former navigators had taken that part of
the coast he named Point Cloates for an island, calling it
Cloates Island; the next day Vlaming Head, of the North-West
Cape, came in sight, and a north course bore him to Rowley
Shoals, wishing to fix their position with greater correctness,
and to examine the extent of the bight round Cape Levéque,
which during the earlier part of their voyage they were obliged
to leave unexplored. Landing next at Point Cunningham, Mr.
Cunningham botanized with great success; a fresh stream was
running down the rocks into the sea, and at the back of the
beach was a hollow full of sweet water; the heat was terrible,
and the soil of a red coloured earth of a very sandy nature.
Another anchor lost, in a bay they afterwards called Disaster
Bay. ‘The succession of bad weather, and only one anchor left,
made it desirable to go to Port George the Fourth, as they
wanted both food and water; and during the delay here, a part
of the crew in the boats could examine the islands in Rogers
Strait, and trace the continuation of the mainland, behind the
islands, that forms the south-east coast of Camden Bay,
of which nothing was known; also continuing the examination
of the deep bay behind Montgomery’s Islands, and connect
that part with the gulf or strait behind Buccaneers’ Archipelago,
which King felt sure existed. Here they had a most amazing
escape, that reads more like fiction than sober fact. The
astonishing influx and reflux of the tides amongst these islands
had been noticed by Dampier, and had led that navigator to
conclude that a strait or large river must be situated near this
part of the coast. Whilst among these islands, King was caught
in one of these tidal draughts during a dead calm. The
following is his description of the position. He was at the
364 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
mast-head—his usual position for conning the ship when near the
land—but seeing his vessel carried swiftly and, as he thought,
inevitably on the rocks, he descended to the deck :—
‘“‘Happily, however, the stream of the tide swept us past the rocks
without accident, and after carrying us about half-a-mile farther, changed
its direction to south-east, and drifted us towards a narrow strait
separating two rocky islands, in the centre of which was.a large insu-
lated rock, that seemed to divide the stream. The boat was now hoisted
out to tow, but we could not succeed in getting the vessel’s head round.
As she approached the strait the channel became much narrower, and
several islands were passed at not more than thirty yards from her course.
The voices of natives were now heard, and soon afterwards some were
seen on either side of the strait, hallooing and waving their arms. We
were so near to one party that they might have thrown their spears on
board. By this ime we were flying past the shore with such velocity
that it made us quite giddy; and our situation was too awful to give us
time to observe the motions of the Indians; for we were entering the
narrowest part of the strait, and the next moment were close to the rock,
which it appeared almost impossible to avoid, and it was more than
probable that the stream it divided would carry us broadside upon it, when
the consequences would have been dreadful. The current, or sluice,
was setting past the rock at the rate of eight or nine knots, and the water
being confined by its intervention, fell at least six or seven feet; at the
moment, however, when we were upon the point of being dashed to
pieces, a sudden breeze providentially sprang up, and filling our sails,
impelled the vessel forward three or four yards. ‘This was enough, but
only just sufficient, for the rudder was not more than six yards from the
rock. No sooner had we passed this frightful danger than the breeze
fell again, and was succeeded by a dead calm; the tide, however, con-
tinued to carry us on with a gradually decreasing strength until one
o'clock, when we felt very little effects from it.”
This was the last danger that King was to escape on the
north-west coast, as after a little more examination of the neigh-
bourhood of this dangerous archipelago, the thick weather and
easterly winds compelled him to relinquish his work and sail for
Sydney.
King left the coast thoroughly impressed with the idea that
behind Buccaneers’ Archipelago there was, if anywhere, an open-
ing into the interior of New Holland ; the constant loss of his
anchors had prevented him from confirming his conjecture ; but
he had good reason for then thinking so. In these days of
strong, well-found surveying steamers, it is wonderful to recall
en eee
ie A S
THE NORTH COAST PROCLAIMED. 365
the work that King did in the Mermazd, amongst all the dangers
of unknown seas, and constantly having to get his wood and
water in the face of hostile savages.
It was not long after his return to England, and whilst
engaged preparing his journal for publication, that he heard a
settlement had been founded on Melville Island, one of his dis-
coveries. As this settlement was in accordance with his recom-
mendation, and a detailed account of its foundation has not been
given in these pages, the present may be a fitting time to do so.
It must be remembered that this settlement was finally,
after many removals, abandoned, and the one established at
Port Essington, when Leichhardt arrived there, was a second
attempt at colonisation.
The Zamar, under captain Bremer, left Sydney in August,
1824, having with her the Countess of Harcourt, and that ever
useful colonial brig, the Lady Nelson.
Arrived at Port Essington, the little fleet anchored off Table
Point, the marines landed, the Union Jack was hoisted, and
formal possession taken of the north coast of Australia, between
the meridians of 129 deg. and 136 deg. east of Greenwich.
After the Zamar had fired a royal salute, and the marines three
volleys, the business of finding a site commenced.
This was no such easy matter, the first object being to find
fresh water ; parties were despatched in all directions, but for a
long time unsuccessfully ; at last some was obtained at a sandy
point, where there was an old Malay encampment, but it was a
deficient supply, only to be got by digging holes in the sand,
and the inducements for remaining were not considered
sufficiently attractive. An examination of St. Asaph Bay, in
Melville Island, was next made, and possession taken in like
“manner; but no fresh water was forthcoming there, and at last,
after much searching, a small river and plenty of water were
found in another part of Melville Island, opposite Harris Island.
A point of the land for the town was fixed upon, and named
Point Barlow, after the commandant. The cove where the ship
anchored was called King’s Cove, and the entrance to Apsley
Strait, Port Cockburn.
A redoubt was built of logs, seventy-five feet long by fifty
broad, and a ditch dug surrounding it; the quarter-deck guns
were mounted, the colours hoisted, and it was formally christened
Fort Dundas, under a royal salute from itself.
366 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
After all this display of enthusiasm and gunpowder, work
commenced in earnest, quarters were built inside the stockade,
a deep well sunk, a wharf constructed, and gardens laid out.
As might have been reasonably supposed, the evil-disposed
natives of the island soon got over their first scare at this
invasion of their territory. At first they came into the fort in
friendly guise. |
‘‘T was greatly astonished to see amongst them,” says Lieutenant
Roe, “a young man of about twenty years of age, not darker in colour
than a Chinese, but with perfect Malay features, and like all the rest,
entirely naked ; he had daubed himself all over with soot and grease to
appear like the others, but the difference was plainly perceptible. On
observing that he was the object of our conversation, a certain archness
and lively expression came over his countenance, which a native
Australian would have strained his features in vain to produce. It
seems probable that he must have been kidnapped when very young, or
found while astray in the woods.”
All this friendliness soon disappeared, the aborigines took
to robbing the working parties of their tools, and spear and
‘musket soon came to be used on either side. Up to the time
the Zamar left, however, no harm had been done. In all, the
settlement consisted of one hundred and twenty-six individuals,
of whom four were women, and forty-five convicts. —
The fortunes of this little colony, and even its existence,
being almost forgotten, it may be interesting to the reader to
follow them to the end. After the Zamar left for India, and
the Countess of Harcourt proceeded on her voyage, the settle-
ment was left with the colonial brig, the Lady Ne/son, as the
nucleus of a fleet, but she sailed for Timor, and was never
heard of again. The hostility of the natives increased, and the
Malays, who were expected to visit and trade with the English,
did not put in an appearance, it being out of the track of their
proas; and of Fort Dundas, of which such high hopes were
entertained, in a few short years not a vestige remained.
At last, what with scurvy amongst the garrison (which,
considering the amount of vegetables grown, should not have
been the case), the incessant feud with the natives, the most
gloomy reports were sent down at every opportunity afforded by
a vessel calling. Latterly, it was unsafe to venture out of the
camp unarmed, and the surgeon and commissariat officer were
murdered only a few yards from the stockade. The public
+
MELVILLE ISLAND COLONISATION. 367
policy pursued was not of a liberal nature, and it was decided to
try the experiment of a settlement on the mainland.
As it was considered that Port Essington was deficient in
fresh water, Raffles Bay was selected, and two years before
Melville Island was finally abandoned, Captain Stirling, of the
Success, was ordered to proceed there. The settlement was
formed on the 18th June, and in honour of the date, was called
Fort Wellington.
The usual scene of activity ensued, the erection of a house,
the formation of a garden, and finally, the old routine of com-
mencing intercourse with the natives ; then the thieving and the
usual retaliation.
Two shipwrecked men were picked up during the early
days of the settlement, one a Portuguese sailor belonging to
the /rederick, wrecked on the east coast, so often mentioned by
King. This man, in company with two others, had escaped in
a small boat, and reached Port Essington, where his two com-
panions had died. The other was a Lascar belonging to the
ship “ame, that had been wrecked in the straits. He had been
with the blacks six or seven years.
On the final abandonment of Melville Island, in 1829, the
live animals, stores, plants, etc., were transferred to Raffles
Bay, but although such doleful accounts of the island had been
sent down, Captain Lawes, who visited it only a few months
before the removal, gives a favourable report of its healthiness,
and of the success attending the growth of vegetables and
tropical fruits. The same dismal reports concerning the un-
healthiness of the climate were reported about Raffles Bay, and,
much to.the surprise of the commandant, Captain Barker, orders
were received to abandon that place, too, in the same year.
On the 28th of August the abandonment took place. The
principal natives, who had been admitted near the settlement,
were taken over the stockade and garden, and an attempt made
to teach them the value of the fruits.
The whites left behind them orange, lime, and lemon trees,
bananas, in abundance, shaddocks, citrons, pine-apples, figs,
custard apples, cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, and many other plants.
In addition, paw-paws, bananas, and cocoa-nuts were planted in
many other places where it was thought they would thrive.
Poultry, pigs, a bull and three cows (buffaloes), a Timor
horse, and mare in foal, were also left, in the hope of their
368 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. |
increasing. An old Union Jack was then nailed on the deserted
fort, and the garrison went on board the brig. On notice being
given of the intended removal, a disposition to abscond had
been evinced by many of the prisoners. Some succeeded; the _
idea being to hide until the departure of the commandant, and
then live with the natives until the arrival of the Malay proas.
All returned and gave themselves up with the exception of two,
and these two were left behind. Their fate is of course unknown. —
This was the end of the first attempt at colonisation of the
north coast.
Rita rk te eiee | A Ot!
Cruise of H.M.S. Beagle—Passengers Grey and Lushington—Swan River—
Northern coast survey commenced —Supposed channel at Dampier’s Land
non-existent — Lieutenant Usborne accidentally shot—King’s Sound—Effects of
a rainy season—Point Cunningham—Skeleton of a native found—New dis-
coveries—Fitzroy River explored—Exciting incident—Boat excursion to
Collier Bay—Swan River—Native steward ‘‘ Miago”’—Amusing inspection
—Meeting with the explorers at Hanover Bay—Lieutenant Grey’s description
of native tribes—Miago’s memory—Fremantle—Needed communication—
Beagle at Hobart Town—Survey work at Cape Otway—Exploration of north-
west coast—Reminiscences of colonisation—Discovery of the Adelaide River
—A serious comedy—Port Essington and Clarence Straits—Harbour of Port
Darwin named—The Victoria River—Extravagant hopes—Land party
organized—Captain Stokes speared—Return to Swan River—Beagle again
North—Examination of Sweer’s Island—Flinders and Albert Rivers discovered
—Inland navigation—Gun accident—Native mode of burial—Fallacious
Theorising—The Beagle’s surveying concluded—Maritime exploration closes.
THE next voyage of importance in these waters was con-
ducted by Captains Wickham and Stokes. Few narratives of
the survey of our coasts have read with so much interest as that
of the cruise of the Beagle. Partly is this owing to the intense
love of exploration and discovery that seems to have animated
the spirit of her commander, Captain Lort Stokes, throughout
whose journal there breathes the very essence of genuine
enthusiasm. In addition, the incidents and results of the survey
added so much to our knowledge of Australia, that one can
look upon him as a most worthy successor to Flinders and
King.
The eagle was an old surveying vessel, and Captain
Stokes had served on board of her for nearly eighteen years,
passing through all the grades, from midshipman upwards, in
many parts of the world. Sheleft Plymouth on the 5th July, 1837,
under the command of John Clements Wickham, who invalided
in March, 1841, when John Lort Stokes, lieutenant and assistant
surveyor, was appointed to the vacant command.
On board the Beagle, at her departure from Plymouth,
were Lieutenants Grey and Lushington, on their way to explore
the interior of Western Australia. These gentlemen parted
company from the Beagle at the Cape of Good Hope, the sloop
2A
370 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
——a
proceeding to the Swan River. In January, 1838, the Beagle
left Swan River, and sailed north, where, on the 15th, they
anchored in Roebuck Bay, and commenced a search for the
much talked of channel supposed to exist by Captains King and
Dampier—a channel that would connect Roebuck Bay with an
opening behind Buccaneer’s Archipelago, thus making Dampier’s
Land an island. As was anticipated by Stokes, this proved
unsuccessful, but the stay there was terminated by an unfor-
tunate but, luckily, not fatal accident, Lieutenant Usborne
being accidentally shot.
‘At the time this unlucky accident occurred, some twenty natives
rushed from the concealment, whence they had been, doubtless,
watching all the proceedings of the party, as though they designed to
bear a part in what probably seemed to them, as poor Usborne went
down, an approaching fray ; however, the sight of the two boats in the
distance, which, upon deploying, they had full in view, deterred them
from acting upon any hostile intentions, supposing such to have existed
in their minds. The accident, however, and their sudden appearance
could only serve additionally to flurry the little party, who had to convey
their disabled officer to a place of safety, and Mr. Helpman, who may
well be pardoned the want of his usual self-possession at such a moment,
left behind a pair of loaded pistols. They would puzzle the savages
greatly, of course, but I hope no ill consequences ensued; if they began
pulling them about, or put them in the fire, the better to separate the
wood and iron, two or three poor wretches might be killed or maimed
for life, and their first recollections of the ‘ Quibra men,’ as Miago.«calls
us, would naturally be anything but favourable.
“Thus disastrously terminated our examination of Roebuck Bay,
in which the cheering reports of former navigators had induced us to
anticipate the discovery of some great water communication with the
interior of this vast continent. A most thorough and careful search had
clearly demonstrated that the hoped-for river must be sought elsewhere.”
Touching here and there along the coast, and having
occasional communication with the natives, which Stokes
amusingly describes, they finally anchored in, and christened
KXing’s Sound after the narrow escape that King experienced
there from the tidal race. The point had now been reached
where they expected to carry on their. most important
operations, and:the first question to settle was if they could
rely on fresh water. The delightful verdure that clothed the
country after the long ranges of sandhills, and shores covered
with mangroves, also the fact of many natives living here, would
ori) v4 %2) Aa,
SOE
a
WEATHER CONTRASTS. 371
on any other coast have been looked upon favourably, but upon
the coasts, and in the heart of Australia nature seems to delight
in contradiction.
Heavy rains provided them with an abundance of rain
water, and they collected in the hollows of the rocks several
boat loads, so preventing a more distant search.
‘‘While waiting here a party was made up for the purpose of
penetrating a little way into the interior. Everything wore a green and
most delightful appearance, but the reader must bear in mind how
vegetation had just been forced by heavy rains upon a light, heated soil,
and also recollect that to one who has been pent up for some time on
board ship a very barren prospect may seem delightful. The country
was more open in.character than I had before noticed it, and the
numerous traces of native fires which we found in the course of the
excursion seemed readily to account for this. Indeed, during dry
seasons it not infrequently happens that an immense tract of land is
desolated with fire, communicated either by the design or carelessness of
the natives, to the dry herbage on the surface. The moment the flame
has been kindled, it only waits for the first breath of air to spread it far
and wide; then, on the wings of the wind, the fiery tempest streams
over the hillsides and through the vast plains. Brushwood and herbage,
the dry grass, the tall reed, the twining parasite, or the giant of the
forest, charred and blackened, but still proudly erect—alike attest and
bewail the conquering fire’s onward march ; and the bleak desert, silent,
‘waste, and lifeless, which it leaves behind, seems for ever doomed to
desolation. Vain fear! ‘The rain descends once more upon the dry
and thirsty soil, and, from that very hour which seemed the date of cureless
ruin, Nature puts forth her wondrous power with increased effort, and
again her green and flower-embroidered mantle decks the earth with a
new beauty.”’
Leaving this anchorage, another was found in a bay on the
mainland, eleven miles N.W. from a remarkable headland, named
by Captain King Point Cunningham, and remained here a week,
by which time the coast, as far as Point Cunningham, was
carefully examined.
‘““We named this Skejeton Point, from our finding here the remains
of a native, placed in a semi-recumbent position under a wide-spreading
gum-tree, enveloped, or, more properly, shrouded, in the bark of the
papyrus. All the bones were closely packed together, the larger being
placed outside, and the general mass, surmounted by the head, resting
on its base; the fleshless, eyeless skull ‘ grinning horribly’ over the right
side. The removal of the skeleton was effected, and presented by
372 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Captain Grey to the Royal College of Surgeons, in whose museum it is
now to be found.”
From the summit of Point Cunningham a fine view of the
opposite shore of the sound was obtained. It appeared very
rugged and broken, and from the geological formation of the
country, and no land to the south-east or south, Captain Stokes’
hopes were again raised of finding the long and anxiously-
expected river. A singular cliff on the south-east side of the
point is called by King, “ Carlisle Head.” Rounding Point
Cunningham, they anchored near a red cliffy head, called by
Captain King “ Foul Point.” It was here King was compelled
to leave the coast, and Foul Point marks the limit of his survey
on the northern shore.
On the 23rd February they crossed the limit of King’s Sound,
and entered unknown waters. Here, at Disaster Bay, Stokes
was sent in command of the whaleboat and yawl, to inspect the
coast ahead, whilst the survey of the bay proceeded. On the
26th, Stokes discovered a new river, which he named the
Fitzroy, after his former commander. Whilst exploring this
river, Stokes and his companions, Helpmann and a sailor, had
a most narrow escape. They had left the boat, and were
making their way through the mangrove-fringed banks on foot
to a certain point where they were to meet the boat again ; but
rising tide proved so strong that the boat could not reach them,
and although Stokes and Helpman could swim, the sailor could
not, and they would not desert him. There they had to stand
with the tide creeping up their bodies, and watch the desperate
efforts of the crew to contend against its force. Only when the
water was high enough to allow the boat to creep along the
shelter of the mangroves, and they were shoulder deep, were
they rescued. |
On the return to the ship, a fresh expedition was imme-
diately despatched, Captain Wickham himself taking command,
and they pulled up the Fitzroy a distance of twenty-two miles
in a straight direction, and ninety miles following the bend of
the river. Returning, Stokes had the satisfaction of seeing a
monster alligator reposing on the mud-bank, where he had
such a near escape from drowning.
After a lengthened survey of the sound, the Beagle
returned to Port George the Fourth, where she arrived on the
7th of April, from whence they made a boat excursion to Collier
MIAGO’S PRIDE. 373
Bay. Many natives were seen on the shore, evidently wanting
to be friendly. On board the Beagle, the party had a native of
Swan River—Miago. He turned out an excellent gun-room
waiter, and they hoped that in any communication with the
natives he might prove useful. When off Point Swan, Stokes
says :— ‘
“They closely examined the heroic Miago, who submitted to be
handled by these much-dreaded ‘northern men’ with a very rueful
countenance, and afterwards construed the way in which one of them
had gently stroked his beard, into an attempt to take him by the throat
and strangle him—an injury and indignity which, when safe on board,
he resented by repeated threats, uttered in a sort of wild chant, of spear-
ing their thighs, back, loins, and, indeed, every individual portion of the
frame. |
‘When Captain Wickham and myself left the ship at Point
Cunningham, in the hope of inducing the natives to return with us,
Miago, hearing of the expected visit, immediately went below and
dressed himself to the best possible advantage. No sooner did the
boat come alongside, than he appeared at the gangway, inquiring, with
the utmost possible dignity, ‘ Where blackfellas?’ and was evidently
deeply mortified that he had no opportunity of ‘astonishing the natives.’”’
On their return to the ship, from the examination of Collier
Bay, they found the exploring party, under Grey and Lushington,
had arrived on the coast at Hanover Bay, twelve miles away.
‘From Lieutenant Grey’s description of the tribes his party had
encountered, he must have been among a people more advanced in
civilization than any we had hitherto seen upon this coast. He found
several curious figures, images, and drawings, generally in colours, upon
the sides of caves in the sandstone rock, which, notwithstanding their
rude style, yet evince a greater degree of advancement and intelligence
than we have been able to find any traces of; at the same time, it must be
remembered that no certain cate absolutely connects these works with
the present generation; the dryness of the natural walls upon which
they are executed, and the absence of any atmospheric moisture may
have, and may yet preserve them for an indefinite period, and their
history, read aright, may testify—not the present condition of the
Australian School of Design, but the perfection which it had formerly
attained. Lieutenant Grey, too, like ourselves, had seen certain indi-
viduals, in company with the natives, much lighter in colour, and
widely differing in figure and physiognomy from the savages by whom
they were surrounded, and was inclined to believe that they are descended
from Dutch sailors who, at different times suffering shipwreck upon the
374 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
coast, have intermarried with its native inhabitants; but as no authentic
records can be produced to prove that this portion of the coast was ever
visited by Dutch navigators at all, I am still more disposed to believe
that these lighter coloured people are Malays captured from the trepang
fishers, or, perhaps, voluntarily associating with the Australians, as we
know that the Australian not ,unfrequently abandons his country and °
his mode of life to visit the Indian Archipelago with them.”
From Port George the Fourth the Beagle sailed for Swan
River, where she arrived on the 25th of “May. Her mos:
important discovery during this cruise was King’s Sound and
the Fitzroy River. As they neared Miago’s birthplace, Stokes
says he questioned him upon the account he intended giving his
friends of the scenes he had witnessed.
‘‘T was quite astonished at the accuracy with which he remembered
the various places we had visited during the voyage. He seemed to
carry the ship's track in his memory with the most careful accuracy.
His description of the ship’s sailing and anchoring was most amusing.
He used to say: ‘Ship walk—walk—all night—hard walk—then,
by-and-by, anchor tumble down.’, His manner of describing his inter-
views with the wicked ‘northern men’ was most graphic. His countenance
and figure became at once instinct with animation and energy, and no
doubt he was then influenced by feelings of baffled hatred and revenge,
from having failed in his much-vaunted determination to carry off in
triumph one of their gins. I would sometimes amuse myself by asking
him how he was to excuse himself to his friends for having failed in the
promised exploit, but the subject was evidently a very unpleasant one,
and he was always anxious to escape it.
‘“We were considerably amused with the consequential air Miago
assumed towards his countrymen on our arrival, which afforded us a not
uninstructive instance of the prevalence of the ordinary infirmities of our
common human nature, whether of pride or vanity, universally to be met
with, both in the civilised man and the uncultivated savage. He declared
that he would not land until they first came off to wait on him. Decorated
with an old full-dress lieutenant’s coat, white trousers, and a cap with a
tall feather, he looked upon himself as a most exalted personage, and
for the whole of the first day remained on board, impatiently, but in vain,
prying into each boat that left the shore for the dusky forms of some of
his quondam friends. His pride, however, could not long withstand the
desire of display. Yielding to the impulse of vanity he, early the
following morning, took his departure from the ship. Those who
witnessed the meeting described it as cool on both sides, arising on the
part of his friends from jealousy; they, perhaps, judging from his costume
that he had abandoned his bush life.”
‘BEAGLE’? WANDERINGS. 375
The Beagle had arrived at Fremantle just in time to allow
her company to share in the annual festivities with which the
inhabitants celebrate the formation of the colony. It may give
some idea of the neglected state of this then infant colony to
mention that during the six months’ absence of the Beagle, only
one boat had arrived there, and that, H.M.S. Pelorus from
the Indian station. Communication with the home country was
sadly needed, apart from the wish for news. Necessary articles
of home manufacture or importation were becoming unattainable.
From the Swan River settlement, the Beagle proceeded to
Sydney, passing Cape Leeuwin on the 23rd June, the south-
western extremity of the continent named by the first discoverer
in 1622, “ Landt van de Lewin,” or the Land of Lions. It was
their intention to pass through Bass’s Strait, but the weather had
been extreme on rounding Cape Leeuwin, making that impossible.
On the morning of the 8th, the south-western extremity of
Van Dieman’s Land was seen. Van Dieman’s Land, as before
noted, was discovered in 1633 by Abel Janz Tasman, the Dutch
navigator, and so named by him after the Governor of Batavia,
under whose authority his voyage had been performed, but the
insularity of the island was not fully proved until Bass passed
through the Strait in 1798.
The bad state of weather detained the Beagle in Hobart
Town for some time, reaching Port Jackson on:July 24th.
| It was not until the 11th of November that the Beagle
left Port Jackson, and anchored close to the southern shore of
Port Phillip. Surveying operations were set to work in good
earnest, chiefly in determining the position of the mouths of the
various channels intersecting the bank that extended across the
entire bay, three miles from the entrance, then continuing the
examination to the westward. Passing the mouth of the
Barwon, the nature of the country begins to change, and high
grassy downs, with rare patches of woodland, present themselves;
then, as they near Cape Otway, a steep rocky coast, with dense
woodland rising abruptly over. it. Cape Otway, being the
northern point of the western extremity of Bass’s Strait, is swept
by all the winds that blow into that end of the funnel, and this
is the cause of the stunted appearance of the trees in that neigh-
bourhood.
Having coasted the northern side of the strait, they cross to
Tasmania to examine the south side.
376 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Again, in May 1840, the Beagle left Sydney to cruise on
the north coast, and explore the north-western part of the con-
tinent, this time taking the inside passage between the east
coast and the Barrier Reef to reach her destination, and after
discovering the mouth of a river near Cape Upstart (the present
Burdekin), and making other minor corrections and additions in
King’s chart, the vessel anchored at the new settlement of Port .
Essington. In 1829, it will be remembered that Fort Dundas
and Fort Wellington had been abandoned, and it was not until
the year 1829 that any fresh attempt was made. The ships
Alligator and Sritomart, under Sir Gordon Bremer and
Lieutenant Owen Stanley, were then despatched to Port
Essington ; but the new settlement to be formed was intended
to be a purely military one, and although many intending
settlers volunteered and sought permission to try their fortunes,
no inducement was held out to them.
The township (destined to follow the date of its prede-
cessors) received the imposing name of Victoria. Noi long after
the arrival of M. D’Urville with the Astrolabe and Zelze in
Raffles Bay, Lieutenant Stewart, when visiting that bay to
invite the French officers to the new settlement, found nothing
remaining of the old one, but the graves of those buried there ;
the garden and stockade had totally disappeared.
Leaving Port Essington, the Beagle discovered a river at
the head of Adam Bay, which was explored for eighty miles,
and called the Adelaide. Here occurred the trago-comic episode
that gave the name of Escape Cliffs to the neighbourhood.
‘Messrs. Fitzmaurice and Keys went ashore to compare the
compasses. From the quantity of iron contained in the rocks it was
necessary to select a spot free from their influence. A sandy beach at
the foot of Escape Cliffs was accordingly chosen. The observations
had been commenced and were about half completed, when on the
summit of the cliffs, which rose about twenty feet above their heads,
suddenly appeared a large party of natives with poised and quivering
spears, as if about immediately to deliver them. Stamping on the ground
and shaking their heads too and fro, they threw out their long shaggy
locks in a circle, whilst their glaring eyes flashed with fury as they
champed and spit out the ends of their long beards (a custom with
Australian natives when in a state of violent excitment). They were
evidently in earnest, and bent on mischief. It was therefore not a little
surprising to behold this paroxysm of rage evaporate before the happy
A DANCE FOR LIFE. Bf aR
presence of mind desks by Mr. Fitzmaurice, in immediately
beginning to dance and shout, though in momentary expectation of
being pierced by a dozen spears. In ‘his he was imitated by Mr. Keys,
and they succeeded in diverting them from their bad designs until a
boat landing in a bay drew off their attention.
‘‘Messrs. Fitzmaurice and Keys had fire-arms lying on the ground
within reach of their hands, the instant, however, they ceased dancing,
and attempted to touch them, a dozen spears were pointed at their
breasts. Their lives hung upon a thread, and their escape must be
regarded as truly wonderful, and only to be attributed to the happy
readiness with which they adapted themselves to the perils of their
situation. This was the last we saw of the natives in Adam Bay, and
the meeting is likely to be long remembered by some and not without
pleasant recollections, for although at the time it was justly looked upon
as a serious affair, it afterwards proved a great source of mirth. No one
could recall to mind, without laughing, the ludicrous figure necessarily
cut by our shipmates, when to amuse the natives they figured on the light
fantastic toe ; they literally danced for their lives.”
The Beagle now returned to Port Essington, first examining
the southern shore of Melville Island. It was a visit not soon
to be forgotten. Here they encountered their first experience
of the green ants. Standing under a tree, whilst taking some
observations, they found themselves covered, and nothing but
undressing, at least tearing off their clothes, relieved them of
the torture. The name of Ant Cliffs records this visit on the
‘south shore of Melville Island.
Leaving Port Essington for the second time on September
4th, 1839, the Beagle threaded her way through Clarence Straits,
to examine the western entrance, and on the 7th came in sight
of the mouth of an opening not examined by Captain King.
The next morning, with the boat provisioned for four days, they
started on their exploring trip, and named the opening Hope
Inlet, to commemorate the feelings it excited on its first dis-
covery, and the bay in which it lies, Shoal Bay, it being very
shallow at the head. Another wide opening, some fifteen miles
ahead, having a more favourable appearance, they pulled for it,
and reached the entrance at dark. In the morning, they found
themselves at the entrance of a large and promising harbour,
which they at once proceeded to investigate, and Stokes gave it
the name of Port Darwin. Stokes seems to have been far
more anxious to discover a river than a harbour ; the discovery
of the Adelaide elated him far more than did the finding of Port
378 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
Darwin, and he does not seem to have at all anticipated finding
the site of the future capital of the north, that was to take the
place of all the former settlements. Stokes returned to the ship,
and the Leagle entered the new found port, and a thorough
survey was made. JResuming her voyage, the Beagle, after
examining Port Patterson and Bynoe Harbour, sailed for a large
opening one hundred and forty miles to the westward.
‘Captain King’s visit to this part of the coast was in 1819, and
under very adverse circumstances ; his vessel had but one anchor left,
and the strong easterly winds then prevailing, with thick hazy weather,
rendered his progress into the opening both difficult and hazardous.
After a trial of two days, and having several narrow escapes from getting
on shore, he bore away to examine the coast to the south-west, where
he was repaid for his disappointment by the discovery of Cambridge
Gulf. Thus did the exploration of this wide and interesting opening
fall to our good fortune.”
The explorers had great hopes of finding the mouth of an
important river. These hopes were rewarded by the discovery
_of the Victoria, which Stokes, in his extravagant joy, deemed
equal in importance tothe Murray. Captain Wickham bestowed
the present name on it, and the delighted explorers proceeded
to trace their new found stream, and pulled up it thirty miles.
After their return, Lieutenant Fitzmaurice returned, having also
discovered a river more to the eastward, which received the
name of Fitzmaurice, after its discoverer. A long and interest-
ing task now commenced—the examination of the new river,
and the process of taking the vessel up as far as possible.
After this had been successfully accomplished, Captain Wickham
being unwell, Stokes was put in charge of a boat party to follow
the river up as far as possible. Taking the boats as far
as practicable, and then forming a land party, they managed
to reach a distance of one hundred and forty miles from the
sea, and finding the river still of considerable size, and full of
large freshwater reaches, Stokes hugged the belief that at last
the highway to the interior was discovered.
His raptures on this point led to a much higher estimate of
the value of this river being entertained than it deserved; and
until its exploration by Gregory,’ many shared Stokes’ opinion
as to its future importance. The party returned in safety, and
on going to weigh the anchors found them so firmly embedded
STOKES AND WICKHAM PART COMPANY. 379
in the bottom, which must have been a quicksand, that they had
to slip both.
While anchored at the mouth of this river, Stokes went
on shore to take observations, and, when ahead of his com-
panions, was suddenly surprised and speared by the natives;
the wound narrowly escaped being a fatal one. By December
12th he was sufficiently recovered to bear the motion of the ship,
and sail was made for Swan River, where they arrived safely,
having made some most important discoveries. A cruise on the
west coast, and to Coepang, followed, and thence they returned
by way of the west coast and Cape Leeuwin to Adelaide.
In the beginning of June, 1841, the Beagle, now in charge
of Captain Stokes, Captain Wickham having gone home on sick
leave, left Sydney for another northern cruise. On the way up
the ship fell in with four merchant vessels, which she convoyed
as far as Booby Island, she herself pursuing her way down the
Gulf of Carpentaria. Their first stay of any length was at
Sweer’s Island, and all the coastal inlets in the neighbourhood
were well examined, resulting in the discovery of the Flinders
River, on the 2oth July, and of the Albert on the 1st of August.
On the merits of this river Stokes waxes nearly as eloquent as
he did over the Victoria, and once more indulges in excited
hopes of reaching the centre of the continent. At fifty miles
from the mouth the fallen logs stayed the progress of the boats,
and the party landed and made an excursion on foot. Stokes
now saw the plains to which he gave the name of the Plains of
Promise, the position of which gave rise to so much discussion
amongst the land explorers in after years. As may be imagined,
the extent of level country, and its apparent richness, gave rise
to much enthusiastic speculation on his part, and he returned to
his ship well satisfied with his work.
During the discovery and examination of ie Albert,
Mr. Fitzmaurice had been engaged to the eastward, where he
found the otker mouth of the Flinders River, known as Bynoe
Inlet. Unfortunately, another gun accident resulted in his
being lamed for life, a charge of shot having entered his foot.
This was the second accident while in the Gulf, a gun having
burst with Lieutenant Gore, and badly lacerated his hand.
On the banks of the Flinders a native burial tree was found :
‘“On the eastern bank rose a tree, the branches of which were laden
with a most singular looking bundle or roll of pieces of wood. Struck
380 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
with its appearance, we rested our oars to observe it. Landing, I
advanced for nearer inspection towards the huge bundle of sticks
before mentioned. It seemed almost like the nest of some new bird,
and greatly excited my curiosity. As I] approached a most unpleasant
smell assailed me, and on climbing up to examine it narrowly I found
that it contained the decaying body of a native.
‘Within the outer covering of sticks was one of net, Sais an inner
one of the bark of the papyrus tree enveloping the corpse. According
to the singular practice of uncivilised peoples of providing for the wants
of those who have nothing more to do with earthly things, some
weapons were deposited with the deceased in this novel kind of
mortuary habitation, and a ltttle beyond was a rill of water.”
The Beagle then sailed to Booby Island, and from there to
Victoria—the settlement at Port Essington—which they found
in a comparatively flourishing state. Strange to say, Stokes,
the discoverer of Port Darwin, says of Port Essington :
‘““As steam communication, moreover, must soon be established
between Singapore and our colonies on the south-eastern shores of
Australia, this port, the only real good one on the north coast, will be of
vast importance as a coal depot.”
Another of the many instances of the hasty and fallacious
deductions of first discovery, a second proof of which was
afforded on the arrival of the Beagle at Swan River, whither,
after calling at Coepang, they directed her course. Here they
found the colonists in a state of doubt as to the existence of an
inlet called Port Grey. A large number of immigrants had
arrived from England, with the intention of settling there, but
owing to the rumours of its non-existence, the name was changed
to Leschenault Inlet. Captain Stokes was asked to settle the
question, which he did by confirming the rumour that there was
no Port Grey, and that the fertile country at the back of the spot
indicated had likewise no existence. Grey, it will be remem-
bered, reported seeing this available country when on his return
from the hairbrained expedition to Sharks’ Bay, and called it the
Province of Victoria, but no subsequent exploration everconfirmed
its existence.
The work of exploration by the Beagle now cane to an end.
Her remaining cruises in Australian waters were in the neigh-
bourhood of the south coast and Tasmania. The work performed
by her was more intimately connected with land exploration
than that done by any other survey ship, and her close examina-
vo»
7 i.
THE ‘‘BEAGLE’S’”?’ WORK CONCLUDED. 381
tion of the north coast resulted in the discovery of many
important rivers. The Flinders, the Albert, the Adelaide,
Victoria, and Fitzroy, all owe their names to the commander of
the Beagle, and with her last cruise the maritime explorations
of Australia may be said to close.
CEDAUP Tain oe
Nationality of the first finders of Australia—Knowledge of the Malays—The
bamboo introduced—Traces of smallpox amongst the natives in the north-
west—Tribal rites—Antipathy to pork—Evidence of admixture in origin—
Influence of Asiatic civilisation partly visible—Coast appearance repelling—
Want of indigenous food plants—Lack of intercourse with other nations—
Little now left of unexplored country—Conclusions respecting various
geological formations—Extent of continental divisions—Development of
coastal towns—Inducements for population—Necessity of the first explorings
—Pioneer squatters’ efforts—First Australian-born explorer—Desert theory
exploded—Fertile downs everywhere—Want of water apparently insurmount-
able—Heroism of explorers—Inexperience of the early settlers—Grazing
possible—Rapid stocking of country—The barrenness of the “ Great Bight”’
'—Sturt, the Penn of Australia—Results—Mitchell’'s work—Baron von
Mueller’s researches—A salt lake—Stuart first man across the continent—
Burke and Wills’ heroism—Services of McKialay and Landsborough—John
Forrest’s journeys—Camel expedition by Giles—The Brisbane Courier
expedition—Further explorations—Stockdale at Cambridge Gulf—Carr-
Boyd and O’Donnell open good country in Western Australia—Work done
by explorers—Their characteristics—Conciusion.
By common consent the nationality of the first navigators who
landed on our shores is awarded to the Spanish. Following
them came the Dutch, and, finally, the French and English. And,
although the record of the Spanish visit to our northern coast is
but vague, the fact of their being the first to acquaint the
Western nations with the undoubted existence of a far southern
land is generally allowed. Amongst the people inhabiting the
many islands of the Malay Archipelago and portions of the
mainland of Asia, there can be little doubt that our continent
was known, and intercourse of an occasional kind carried on
with its natives. That no permanent settlement was ever formed,
or probably attempted, we may ascribe to the unpromising
nature of the soil, compared to the fertile islands left by the
visitors, and the fact that the products of which they came in
search were mostly found in the sea itself, the shore only being
at times visited for obtaining fresh water or seeking shelter.
During these visits no inducements would be forthcoming
for undertaking an excursion inland. The monotonous character
of the country would not excite curiosity, and the absence of all
temptation in the way of articles of barter and traffic likely to be
ie ” ‘
TRIBAL RITES. 383
found, would confine their investigations chiefly to the sea shore.
A temporary camp for drying the sea-slugs of commerce, a
refuge for their crafts when the sudden storms of the tropics
broke loose, met all their requirements. It is to the Malay
ancestors of the men whose proas are still to be found fishing
among the outlying reefs of the north, that we must look for the
first discoverers of our island continent, and failing all written
record or existing monument of their doings, search amongst the
natives themselves for confirmation of the fact.
The presence of the bamboo in Arnheim’s Land only, and
its indigenous nature, is strong evidence of its Malay origin.
It is found in abundance over this large promontory, and on the
banks of the different rivers and creeks. Its extensive spread
and thick growth point to many centuries of introduction, and
that the Australians first obtained it from their northern visitors
is almost certain. In abandoned camps pieces of bamboo would
be left sticking in the ground, and formed, as most of their camps
are, on the sandy banks of a creek, their growth would be under
favourable circumstances, and their spread down the watercourses
rapid.
Amongst all the tribes whose hunting grounds are between
Cape Arnheim and Cambridge Gulf, the traces of small-pox can
be seen unmistakeably on many of the old men. Some are
blind, and deeply pitted, others but lightly marked. Apparently
the disease has worn itself out, for only the oldest members of
the tribes have suffered. None seem to have it now, nor are the
marks of the disease to be seen on the middle-aged men. The
ravages of this scourge must have been confined to the coast
tribes, as no evidence of its having been amongst the natives of
the interior is to be found. The belt of dry country separating
the aborigines of the plain from those of the sea may have saved
the former, as this belt is often left uncrossed for years. This
disease must have been brought from the north, and the date of
its introduction would probably he many centuries back.
Many of their customs and tribal rites beara close resem-
blance to some that may be found in the New Testament, and
are foreign to the usual habits of the Australian blackfellow.
Add to this an innate antipathy to the flesh of swine when tasted
for the first time, and it seems evident that some of the laws
and traditions of more civilised nations have drifted down and
been partly appropriated by the Australians.
354 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
In many of the sea-coast blacks of the north, sleepy eyes
and straight-cut noses are often prominent, and render some of
them especially remarkable; these features giving their faces an
entirely different aspect to the common blackfellow type
adjoining them inland. That, in the event of the wreck of a
proa on the coast, some intermixture of the races would take
place, and the survivors, perhaps, pass the remainder of their
lives amongst the blacks, is quite possible, seeing that to many
of our countrymen it has happened.
The close acquaintanceship shown by the Malay béche-de-
mer fishers with the nooks and inlets that are so thickly strewn
along the coast, west of Cape Wessell, appears to be the result
of much old-world seafaring lore, handed down from father to
son. Whether the Chinese ever ventured so far south as
Australia cannot be affirmed with certainty. Accident may
have led them to our shores, but it is scarcely probable that the
love of adventure would have tempted them so far.
Taking, then, the exceptional customs common to the
natives of that portion of Australia still visited by the.Malays,
and seeing that these customs would only be the outcome of
some centuries of intercourse, it is reasonable to suppose that
from these outposts of Asiatic civilisation came the first adven-
turous traders to the lone land of the south. The distinct type
of the Australian, while showing in exceptional cases the signs
of foreign blood, precludes the idea that the continent was
peopled from the north; but, at the same time, it is evident that
some rudimentary forms of a higher development drifted down
in after ages from that source.
The effect that the repellant nature of the Australian coast
has had upon the southern progress of semi-civilisation is
remarkably distinct. Each successive wave of improvement from
the Asiatic continent seems to grow weaker and weaker as it
travels south, until it breaks hopelessly on Australia. Nor is it
hard to find the reason. The savage, coming from islands where
a rude cultivation of indigenous fruits, valuable in their nature,
had induced primitive land laws, and consequently settled habita-
tions and a defined code of laws concerning tribal rights and
boundaries, found himself amongst a nomadic race, trusting to
hunting and fishing solely for the means of existence. ‘The soil,
formed of the denudation of the sandstone rocks, scantily
fertilised here and there by the decaying jungle, presented no
DEVELOPMENT NOT INFLUENCED. 385
field for rude agriculture, even had the dry seasons permitted ;
and gave forth no native fruits, save tasteless berries and half-
poisonous roots. No knowledge of minerals would tempt him
into the semi-scorched ranges inland ; he would simply see that
life after the old fashion of village existence was no longer for
him, and would become a hunter and fisher like his fellows.
It would have been of inestimable benefit to the Australians,
had tribes from the northern countries, only slightly higher than
themselves in the scale, established a permanent footing on the
mainland, and gradually worked their way throughout the land,
carrying their superior knowledge with them, and having in the
extended area before them a wide field for future development.
Intermixing socially with the aborigines, they would have in a
few generations made an indelible mark upon their mental
capacity, which, after all, is only dormant; and the march of
improvement once set in motion, centuries of confirmed inter-
course with races of greater culture, and the consequent spread
of new ideas would have peopled our continent with a different
race to the improvident native of the present.
But the force of nature was against it ; the new land of the
south held forth no inducements even for the pirate or marauder.
In the hand to mouth struggle for existence, not even a supply
of food would be found in a ransacked camp; no land seen
tempting settlement by its luxuriant vegetation and produce.
The visitors of the straits scorned the inhospitable coast, and
returned north. Only those whom ill-fate had deprived of the
means of return stayed perforce, and lost their identity amongst
the aborigines.
The white man, when he came, looked upon the country as
he would upon an uninhabited land; the native was too far
beneath him to profit by his coming, no inter-mixture of races
could take place, the difference was too widely marked ; and the
aborigines of Australia were from the first numbered amongst
the doomed tribes of the earth. An earlier introduction of the
spirit of progress, however meagre in form, might have saved
them. Had our northern coasts but possessed some lure for
Asiatic nations, the story would have travelled and brought their
overflowing population down to settle the continent long before
the advent of our countrymen.
It is an accepted fact that on the continent of Australia
proper there is very little unexplored territory left, and that we
2B
386 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
pretty well know what resources, in the way of land, we have
still to fall back upon. This acceptance of our knowledge of
the unsettled regions of our country is both right and wrong.
Right, inasmuch that in a general sense, arguing from our
knowledge of climatic influences in different latitudes, we can
infer the particular nature of a particular district, although
untrodden as yet by any one capable of giving us information.
Wrong, in that the geographical formations of Australia are so
persistently antagonistic that no true nor reliable deduction can
always be arrived at. When I say persistently antagonistic, I
mean that the two formations common to the interior, namely,
sandstone and limestone, produce either a desert or a rich
prairie. As a rule, in the vast interior, still unvisited and
unsettled, the conditions are that the soil either grows grasses
and herbs of the most nutritive character, or such as are totally
unfitted to support graminivorous animal life. And these two
conditions we may call antagonistic, as far as our efforts at
practical settlement are concerned. When the outcrop is
limestone, we may reckon on good pastoral country, and a fair
water supply. When the outcrop is the pure red sandstone, we
can hope for little else but the desert spinifex.
The distinction between these two formations is.so strongly
marked that it almost seems that a hard and fast line had, in
places, been drawn between the productive and unproductive
portions of Australia. That these strange and sudden alterations
occur right through the continent, we have the evidence in the
diaries of Giles and Forrest; and although we cannot doubt that
a great portion of unexplored Australia consists of country that
will never support population, we have as yet no valid reason
for condemning the whole.
The continent of Australia contains, roughly speaking,
three millions of square miles less about thirty-five thousand
square miles. It may be summarised as follows: that New
South Wales contains no unexplored country; Victoria, none;
Queensland, a small portion of Cape York Peninsula; South
Australia, a considerable area; and Western Australia, a very
great deal. All the important explorations of late years have
been in the last two mentioned colonies, for the very reason that
in these colonies only the unknown exists. South Australia has
at least 300,000 square miles of unexplored and partly explored
country, and Western Australia can claim more than half a
INCREASING RESOURCES. 387
million of miles just touched here and there by the tracks of
Eyre, Gregory, Giles, Forrest, and Warburton.
In speculating upon the future capabilities of this great
expanse, we must fairly weigh the testimony of these men, and,
by comparison, see what chance we have in the future of finding
fresh pasture lands for the next generation. On the whole the
testimony is unfavourable, but, on close inspection, there are
strange coincidences in their diaries which would lead one
to think that, perhaps, after all the “hopeless desert’’ that
witnessed both their struggles and successes may yet hold
secrets worth knowing and worth seeking for. In our time we
have seen how the desert theory has been exploded in New
South Wales—forced, as it were, outside our boundaries by the
mere expansion of settlement. It is but a question of time
for the mysteries of the yet unknown interior to share the same
fate, and in the solution of the unknown great possibilities exist.
The development of the towns along the northern sea-board
must necessarily be rapid. From the sheep-growing downs of
the inland plateau, to the sugar and coffee-growing flats of the
coast, the exports will be ever on the increase, and the wants of
a growing people will necessitate ports in places that are now un-
inhabited. That the north will become one of the richest portions
of our continent there is no doubt ; its immense mineral wealth
stands but partially revealed, while its adaptability for settlement
is practically unbounded. The progress and utilisation of
the waste Jands of the north will be an interesting experiment
to watch. Nature has, to a great extent, indicated the laws
of settlement that will dominate the territory. To the
capitalist she has given the rich wool-growing slopes of the
inland country, where the expenditure of money is necessary,
in order that the full value may be reaped from the land leased ;
money expended in water-storage, that repays the owner in a
hundred ways. To the man of humbler means, the well-watered
coast districts offer facilities for small cattle stations and
selections, and on the banks of some of the rivers the planter
will soon be making a home, whilst for the miners are the broken
ranges and gullies of the Dividing Range. |
A settled Australia—that is, comparatively settled—this
century may not witness, but that it will be a fact of the future,
few, who have lived in the colonies during the last two decades,
can doubt.
388 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
We may look forward to the crowning work of the future,
when we shall no longer be altogether dependent upon the
caprices of climate; nor sit idly by whilst our heritage of rainfall
rushes past us into the ocean.
From the arrival of Governor Phillip with the first fleet,
1789, to the year 1813, when Wentworth, Lawson, and Blaxland
succeeded in crossing the main range—the Blue Mountains—all
attempts at exploration into the interior had been limited, the
main range proving an impenetrable barrier. For the wants of
the colony, the country up to that time found had proved
sufficient. In the neigbourhood of Sydney, the Nepean, Grose,
and Hawkesbury ; to the north, the River Hunter; and.to the
south, the district known now as the Illawarra. But combined
with the severe drought of 1813, and the increase of stock, it
was necessary to seek pastures new.
Their hopes of finding a navigable river flowing west into the
sea were never realised, although for years it was each explorer’s
dream. On following a stream, they invariably found it run out
into a shallow swamp, and then thought the continent possessed
an inland sea or lake. Oxley pronounced this portion desert, and
to them it then was; no thought could enter their minds of how
after years of stocking, the entire country would change ; how
time and labour alone could make that vast waste profitable.
Directly the pass of the Blue Mountains had been won, and
a public road made across the range, settlers with their stock
steadily flowed west; the township of Bathurst sprang up, and
settlement was made south towards the Shoalhaven River. The
first large expedition into the interior was undertaken by
Oxley, and he again comes to the conclusion that “the interior
westward of a certain meridian is uninhabitable, deprived,
as it is, of wood, water, and grass . . ._ that the interior of
this vast country is a marsh, and uninhabitable.” Only the edge
of the interior crossed, it was early to come to this conclusion.
But we must remember that the party were weary and disgusted
with their want of success—the barren country, with no variety
of trees, or soil; everything always the same. Eventually they
reached good, well-watered country, and turning back from the
Macquarie, delighted with the river, believed that the high
road to the interior had been found.
This trip successful, he again left to follow the Macquarie,
and although the inland sea remained undiscovered, large tracts of
EXPANDING SETTLEMENT. 389
fertile country were opened for settlement; moreover, he had
crossed the coast range to the north, and discovered that Port
Macquarie (which, on following down the River Hastings, he had
found and named) proved a practicable route to the interior.
About this time the pioneer squatter took share with the
explorer, and settlement quickly advanced. Lawson and Scott
were disappointed in their attempt to reach Oxley’s discovery of
Liverpool Plains ; unable to penetrate the southern boundary of
the plains, they discovered the Goulburn River. The year 1823
found Oxley, Cunningham, and Currie, all out in different direc-
tions ; Currie to the south of Lake George, Cunningham engaged
north of Bathurst, first in his capacity of botanist, and the dis-
covery of a pass through the northern range on Liverpool
Plains, which Lawson and Scott had sought in vain. He found
and named the Pandora Pass, it proving practicable as a stock
route.
Oxley then left Sydney in the Wermazd, to examine the
inlets of Port Curtis, Moreton Bay, and Port Bowen, with a view
to forming a penal settlement there. It was on this trip, while
at Moreton Bay, that they rescued from the blacks the two men
Pamphlet and Finnigan, who had been wrecked at Moreton
Island seven months before. Oxley named the Brisbane River.
This was his last work, and he died near Sydney in 1828. His
career as an explorer was very successful. He had done much
to aid the new colony, but was ever disappointed in his hopes
of reaching the inland sea or lake, and of proving, except to his
own satisfaction, whether any large rivers entered the sea
between Cape Otway and Spencer’s Gulf. Then Sir Thomas
Brisbane thought of landing a party of prisoners near Wilson’s
Promontory, and by offer of a free pardon and a land grant, to
find their way back to Sydney.
Mr. Hume, the first Australian-born explorer, and
Mr. Hovell, took a party from Lake George, at that time the most
outside station, to Western Port, and they were the first to see
the Australian Alps. This trip heiped to prove the hasty con-
demnation of Oxley’s “desert” theory, and besides giving to the
colony millions of acres of well-watered fertile country, and adding
another large and important river—the Murray—it also held out
far higher hopes for the future of the interior. During this time
a settlement was formed at Moreton Bay, and subsequently
removed to a better site on the Brisbane River. Cunningham,
Soa er AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
in 1827, left on a trip destined materially to effect the immediate
progress of this new colony. Crossing Oxley’s track, and
entering the unexplored region, after naming the Gwydir and
Dumaresque Rivers, he finally emerged on the Darling Downs.
He was in raptures at the inexhaustible range of cattle pasture,
the permanent water, and the grass and herbage generally.
Then a passage across the range to Moreton Bay was found by
way of Cunningham's Gap, but it was not used until the next
year, when, accompanied by Mr. Frazer, colonial botanist, they
proceeded by sea to Moreton Bay, and connected the settle-,
ment with the Darling Downs. How easy was the main range
crossed here, and the fertile downs laid open, compared to the
years of labour spent on the pass of the Blue Mountains. In
the year following Cunningham made his last expedition, closing
ten years of unceasing work in the cause of exploration.
Sturt followed Oxley’s tracks. He exposed some of Oxley’s
mistakes, but only to make others as great; for the land was
smitten with drought, and the rivers that Oxley had followed
were now mere creeks, and in passing judgment no allowance
was made for the seasons, and the country was valued according to
the standard of other countries. His descriptions of the interior
are woncerful pictures of the desolate, waterless, abandoned
desert, ‘scorched beneath a lurid sun of burning fire.” His
mission was to ascertain what lay beyond the shallow bed of
reeds to the westward, in which Oxley lost the Macquarie; but
as suddenly and as mysteriously the river ran out, and they were
as completely baffled as Oxley had been. Dry on all sides,
nothing was found but stony ridges or open forest, the country
was monotonously level, and no sign of a river. Creek after
creek they followed, only to lose it in a marsh. Suddenly they
found themselves on the banks of a noble river, and from its size
and saltness, Sturt conjectured he was near its confluence with
an inland sea; but to be convinced in a few more days that the
saltness was of local origin, fed by saline springs. ‘This river
Sturt called the Darling. The homeward march began, and the
same harassing hunt for water; no break in the country, or
change in the vegetation ; all brown, blank, and desolate; not
even inhabited by a bird—the drought had so long continued.
Sturt had found the Darling, and he it was who eventually traced
its course and outlet. Starting for that purpose the next year,
they sailed down the Murray, proving its confluence with the
—s
ye Oe aaa
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PROSPECTS. 391
Darling, and on down the united streams of the Murray and
Darling with boundless flats on each side. The river widened
day by day ; the flight of sea-gulls, and the chopping sea caused
by the wind, surely showed they were near the ocean. Still, Sturt
had reached his goal—the Murray ended in a lake. They had
hoped that succour would have waited them, had the ocean been
reached. Now they must re-enter the Murray while the weary
party had still strength to face each day’s never-ending toil, and
return to the camp on the Murrumbidgee. The great satisfaction
of having successfully followed the course of the Murray was
damped by the apparently valueless nature of the country passed
through. And this trip, while adding greatly to Australian
geography, gave a proof of the most patient endurance and
courage—even to heroism—not excelled in the many records of
bravery and dangers undergone by other explorers.
We have now looked through the reports of the country
given by many men, and become familiar with their opinions
of the future of the interior; they are almost unanimous in
pronouncing it barren and uninhabitable. We must remember
it was not their want of ability, but their inexperience of the
value of the native grasses and herbs. In comparison with other
countries, they appeared worthless. They did not realize that
stocking would force the waters into natural channels, and that
the stock would bring fresh grasses in their train, getting
accustomed to and, after a while, fattening on the despised
bushes and herbs. To them it was the embodiment of a desert
—irreclaimable.
During the time these explorations were in progress, a
settlement had been formed in Western Australia, and some
attempt at exploration made, but for a few years not to any
great distance. No difficulties here presented themselves to a
passage through the coast range, and the country discovered
seemed fitted both for pasture and agriculture.
For many years little was done in the way of fresh expe-
ditions, until the year 1831. Major Mitchell in charge of a
party traced the rivers, discovered by Oxley and Cunningham;
his explorations were also surveys and the river system of the
continent was partially worked out, but the hope of a river
running through the interior to the north-west coast had to be
finally abandoned. His report of the country was also more
favourable, and his after expeditions, merely connecting surveys,
392 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
confirming and verifying previous discoveries, rather than an
exploration into the unknown. His reports were glowing of the
country passed through generally ; from snow-topped mountains
to level plains, watered with permanent streams and rivers, fitted
for immediate occupation of the grazier or farmer.
Now it may be said the difficulties were overcome of
entering the interior, for it was assailed from three points;
Perth on the west, Port Phillip and St. Vincent’s Gulf on the
south, and from the settled parts of New South Wales and
Moreton Bay on the east. Henceforth the settler so promptly
followed the explorer, that the country became’ settled and
stocked almost as quickly as known, and, foot by foot, the
desert driven back.
Grey and Lushington wishing to verify the existence or not
of a large river supposed to empty itself into the sea, at
Dampier’s Archipelago, endured great hardships. They were
without experience of the colonies, or of the capabilities of the
country; but as far as they could judge, pronounced the country
well grassed and timbered. Their second trip resulted in the
discovery of the Gascoigne, but little else; no great results to
compensate for their terrible suffering and privation.
Small explorations were rapidly carried on to provide for
the number of stock imported and the best stock routes; and
now it was time to turn north, to look for the inland sea and
the chain of mountains — Australia’s backbone —that was
supposed to exist. E.J. Eyre’s discovery of Lake Torrens turned
the colonists’ attention north as a practicable stock route to
Western Australia. From the sterile nature of the coast of the
bight, and the absence of any rivers emptying into the sea, it
was useless to seek in that direction. His march round the
Great Bight was a journey of terrible suffering; it certainly
proved that no water flowed into the south coast, and gave us
our knowledge of the barren country shut in by the impenetrable,
monotonous cliff line that closed its secrets against our mariners,
but it gave no knowledge of the interior. After some of his men
had deserted, and the one that remained murdered, Eyre, alone,
on foot, with his stubborn courage, wearied out and starving,
followed the coast line for numberless miles. Any errors of
judgment leading to the tragic end of his expedition must needs
be overlooked in the face of the great dangers and the
perseverance that carried him through.
AN AUSTRALIAN ‘‘ PENN.” 393
Sturt has been called the father of Australian exploration,
and may well be held as one of our greatest scientific explorers
—his object always to solve the mystery of the great
interior; its strange peculiarity and physical formation. He
returned disappointed, baffled. But was he in reality beaten ?
He was exceptionally unlucky in his seasons, and the report
of the land he brought back caused settlement to progress
slowly ; only after years, when men had grown accustomed to
the terrors of the desert, and knew that experience robbed them
of their effect, Sturt found, but unwittingly, the outflow of the
secondriver system. He longed tobe the first to reach the centre
of Australia, and hoped that once past the southern zone of the
tropics he would reach a country blessed with a heavy and
constant rainfall. Always he looked back with pleasure upon his
travels, and said: ‘‘My path amongst savage tribes has been
a bloodless one.”
Next among our explorers comes Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt,
and his trip from Fort Burke, on the Darling, to the Gulf of
Carpentaria, which opened up so much well-watered country
and attracted universal attention; but, unlike Sturt, he had
exceptional good fortune, travelling always through country
easy to penetrate and well watered—not one night had the
party to camp without water.
j During this expedition, Sir Thomas Mitchell started with
one having almost the same end in view as Dr. Leichhardt’s.
He did not reach the Gulf, but threw open our wonderful western
prairies, and found the upper tributaries of the second great river
system. ‘This was his last expedition, and it fully confirmed his
reputation. More fortunate than Sturt, he had been favoured
in having plentiful and bountiful seasons of water and vegetation;
but both men had done wonders in the cause of exploration.
Mitchell’s discovery of the Victoria, along the banks of which
river he felt the high road to the north coast was found, was
continued by Kennedy, who had been second in command
during the first expedition of Sir Thomas Mitchell.
With a lightly equipped party Kennedy started to follow the
course of the Victoria. Finally the riverled them into the desert
described by Sturt: ‘‘ Plains gaping with fissures, grassless and
waterless,” and he turned back satisfied that the Victoria had
not its outflow in the Gulf of Carpentaria, as hoped for by Sir
Thomas Mitchell, but lost itself in Cooper’s Creek. The loss of
394 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
flour, through the natives, prevented Kennedy from extending
his explorations towards the Gulf.
Kennedy’s second trip, to examine Cape York Peninsula,
ended most disastrously. Out of his party of thirteen only two
men anda black boy were rescued. Through marshes and scrubs
—seemingly the one monotonous entry in their journal being,
“ Cutting scrub all day ’—they endeavoured to push their way
to Port Albany, the extreme north of the Peninsula, where a ship
would meet them. Saltwater creeks and marshy ground, with
the ranges inhabited by hostile natives, was their prospect, while
their horses were rapidly failing on the sour coast grasses.
From first to last this was a most unfortunate expedition—the
awful and impassable nature of the country travelled through,
the hostile blacks and loss of the horses, and then, when sickness
came upon the little band, it was doomed.
In the south, Baron von Mueller was busy exploring some
of the unknown portion of South Australia and the Australian
Alps—botanical and geographical researches combined. The
heights of several of the highest mountains in Australia were
fixed, and geographical positions accurately placed.
Leichhardt, encouraged by his successes, makes his final ven-
ture, but what befel his party—shall we ever know? It is so late
now that we can entertain little hope of ever elucidating his fate.
In 1846, the Gregory brothers are in the west, led by
A. C. Gregory, who so distinguished himself afterwards as a
scientific explorer, and in 1855 he was in command of the North
Australian Expedition ; with him his brother and the celebrated
botanist Baron Von Mueller. Captain Stokes reported the
Victoria as an important stream, and the probable means of
gaining access to the interior, upon which Gregory traced its
course. He professed great disappointment at the reality of
Captain Stokes’ ‘‘ Plains of Promise,” compared to what he had
been led to expect. The successful conclusion of this expedition,
which had covered nearly five thousand miles, proves Gregory
an explorer of undoubted qualifications, and it is to be regretted
that so scanty a record of his travels has been published.
Lake Torrens still occupied the attention of the South
Australian colonists, its probable extent and direction, and
several expeditions were undertaken to solve the question. To
the south-east fresh water and well grassed pastoral country,
but Lake Torrens still remained as on its first discovery by Eyre
FROM SEA TO SEA. ’ 395
—a dry bed covered with a thick incrustation of salt, and far
away surrounded on all sides by barren country. Goyder found
fresh water in the lake, but its unavailability was confirmed.
M‘Dowall Stuart has been recognised as the man who first
crossed from sea to sea, from the south to the north coast, and
now on Stuart’s track is built the overland telegraph line, a
lasting witness of his indomitable perseverance. In his sub-
sequent expeditions following his old tracks, he was destined to
meet success, and come to the sea near the mouth of the
Adelaide River. Stuart dipped his hands and feet in the sea,
and his initials were cut on the largest tree they could find.
This was his last trip, and he never recovered from the great
suffering of his return journey.
The expedition under Burke and Wills left amid great
celebration ; in fact, it was a gala day in Melbourne, and their
journey through the settled districts one triumphant march.
Their purpose was to cross to Carpentaria. Fate seemed so
propitious that one would think in irony she laughed, as she
thought of their return.
They accomplished their task; they reached the Gulf; but
did not know their exact position; and when they turned
back it became a terrible struggle for existence. In spite
of the princely outfit with which they started, short rations
and great hardships was their lot, and the. men tried to
live like the blacks, on fish and nardoo, and an occasional
crow or hawk which they shot. Wills met his death alone,
while burke and King were searching for food, and to
him, suffering from such extreme exhaustion, death must have
come as the “‘comforter.”’ He met it as a gallant man would,
without fear. From his last entries he had given up hope and
waited calmly. Burke died the second day; when King looked
at him in the dawning light, he saw that he was really alone.
Meantime, the rest of the party were left on Cooper’s Creek,
and were slowly starving to death. Parties from all sides were
now being equipped to go in search of them.
M‘Kinlay’s trip across the continent did great service. It
verified Stuart’s report that the country always considered as a
terrible desert was not unfit for all pastoral occupation, and,
being an experienced man, his report carried conviction.
One of the search parties for Burke and Wills was under
William Landsborough, having, through previous explorations,
396 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
good knowledge of the country; and another, in charge
of Frederick Walker, composed of native troopers. Now the
eastern half of Australia was nearly all known; it had been
crossed and re-crossed from south to north; still, the distinctive
value of the country had yet to be learned, and the delusion
that the sheeps’ wool would turn to hair in the torrid north to be
given up. All around the coast settlement was surely and
steadily creeping, and unoccupied country going further back
every day.
On the north coast, Burketown, under the care of William
Landsbrough, was growing up, and in the north of Arnheim’s
Land, M‘Kinlay was looking for a suitable site to establish a port
for the South Australian Government. Somerset was formed on
the mainland of Cape York Peninsula, and the formation of this
led to the expedition of the Jardine brothers. The successful
termination of their journey, when we look at the difficulties
through which they passed, and the misfortunes they had to
encounter, merits our greatest admiration; and although it did
not result in the discovery of good pastoral country, still they
accomplished their object.
The overland telegraph line, and the small explorations made
on either side of it, led greatly to our knowledge of the interior.
John Forrest made his first important journey in 1869, but
found no great.results in good country to the eastward of Perth.
Then a journey was made from Perth to Adelaide by way of the
Great Bight—never traversed since Eyre’s journey. Owing to
a better equipment, he was able to give a more impartial report
of the country passed through; for Eyre was struggling for life,and
it was natural that nature to him would then look at her blackest.
Warburton and Giles now occupied attention, and their
great hope, the country between the overland telegraph line and
the western settlements.
Warburton’s expedition led to the western half of the
continent being condemned as a hopeless desert. He no doubt
got into a strip of barren country, and being so occupied in
pressing straight through, devoted no time to the examination
of country on either side.
Giles was twice driven back in his attempts to reach
Western Australia. Then, with an equipment of camels, made a
third, and successful, attempt. No discoveries of any importance
were made; the country was suffering from severe drought.
QUEENSLAND’S ENERGY. 397
William Hann, one of the pioneer squatters of the
North of Queensland, took charge of a party sent by the
Queensland Government to investigate the tract of country at
the base of Cape York Peninsula, both for its mineral and other
resources. Naming the Palmer, and finding here prospects of
gold, the further examination of the river resulted in the
discovery of what turned out to be one of the richest goldfields
in Queensland.
Again the Queensland Government sent out an expedition,
under charge of W. O. Hodgkinson, to determine the amount
of pastoral country to the west of the Diamantina River.
Buchanan and F. Scarr next attacked the country between
the overland telegraph line and the Queensland border, and in
1878, Mr Lukin, proprietor of the Courzer, in Brisbane, organised
an expedition for the purpose of exploring the country in the
neighbourhood of a proposed railway line, which had been
inaugurated in Port Darwin, and to find the nature, value, and
geographical features of the unexplored portions. Under the
leadership of Ernest Favenc, the party started from Blackall.
This expedition had the effect of opening up a great area of
good pastoral country, nearly all of which is now stocked.
In 1883, Favenc traced the heads of the rivers running into
the Gulf of Carpentaria, near the Queensland border, and in the
year following, crossed from the Queensland border to the tele-
graph line, and across the coast range to the mouth of the
Macarthur River. Soon after, the South Australian Government
surveyed this river, and opened it as a port; a good road was
formed from the interior to the coast, and the settlement of the
country followed.
In Western Australia, Alexander Forrest led an expedition
from the De Grey River to the telegraph line, which they
reached after a great struggle. It was a most successful trip,
and the district found contains some of the best country in
Western Australia, both for pastoral and mineral purposes.
Stockdale, with a view to settlement, explored the
country in the neighbourhood of Cambridge Gulf. Landing
there by steamer, he began the journey, which ended in a
tragedy. After a hard struggle, he reached the telegraph line.
McPhee’s exploration east of Daly Waters may be said
to conclude the expeditions between the Queensland border and
the overland line.
398 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
To complete the exploration of Arnheim’s Land, the South
Australian Government fitted out an expedition under the
guidance of Mr. David Lindsay, but the country passed over was
not available for pastoral settlement, some of it being good
sugar country. Messrs. Carr Boyd and O’Donnell, undertaking
another trip from the Katherine River to Western Australia,
were more fortunate in finding good country, but no geographical
discovery resulted.
Thus our island continent has been opened to us by the
indomitable courage and endurance of navigators and explorers.
Can we look for instances of greater bravery in the exploration
of any other portion of the globe? Our old navigators, with
their meagre equipment, searched minutely every portion of the
coast, until the termination of the survey of the Beagle, for the
mouth of some river that would communicate with the interior,
as our earlier explorers hoped to find a waterway in the wilder-
ness through which they travelled.
The idea of the work they did, being verified as it now is,
could never have been dreamt of. Think of Flinders, in the old
Investigator, as he sailed from group to group of islands, and
from point to point of reefs; when he got at last through Torres
Straits, and stood down the Gulf, looking up the old land marks
of the early Dutch visitors to our shores—Duyfhen Point, the
Van Alphen River, Groote Eylandt, and the rest—names still
preserved, that bear witness to the brave old navigator who
visited these shores before we did. Many an anxious day and
night, doubtless, he had. Now, with steam at our command,
the straits have become the safe highway of traffic to all the
leading marts of the world.
It is well for us to bear in mind that, as a rule, experienced
bushmen do find the best points of new country, and not the
worst. The after result generally is that the discoveries of the
first explorers are extended, but not improved on. ‘Therefore,
in comparing the different routes that traverse the western half
of our continent, we can safely allow that each man found,
and noted, the most promising features on his line of travel.
By close comparison of the work done by the men who
have laid bare so many of the secrets of the interior, and by
deductions to be drawn from the physical conformation and
climatic peculiarities already revealed, we may, to some extent,
conjecture the possibilities of the future. With every variety of
CONCLUSION. 399
climate between temperate and tropical, with enormous mineral
treasures—the extent of which, even at the present time, can
only be conjectured—boundless areas of virgin soils, and a
coastline dotted with good harbours and navigable rivers, we
have all the elements of a nation yet to take rank among the
recognised powers of the world. But in the interim there is
much to be done. The flat and monotonous nature of most of
the continent, which is at present to a certain extent our bane,
will, when the principles of water storage, and its distributation
are fully understood, be of wonderful assistance. The physical
formation of the interior lends itself to the creation of artificial
channels, and the work of leading waterways through the great
areas of unwatered: country, that for months lie useless and
unproductive, will be comparatively easy. We have always, or
nearly always, our annual floods to depend upon, and the supply
furnished by them should be amply sufficient for use. Flood
water is surplus water, and its conservation should be the thing
aimed at. Many a dry watercourse, that is now but a slight
depression, could be utilised as a channel for conducting the
flood waters to the back country. What would be impossible in
an island of bold mountain ranges, becomes easy in the flats of
our dry interior.
In the dry inland plains, a water supply that will relieve the
frontage from overstocking during the droughty months, means
the preservation of some of our most valuable indigenous fodder
plants. The overcrowding of stock on the natural permanent
waters during dry periods, has often been the cause of a depre-
ciation in the natural grasses on some of our principal rivers.
And whilst this has been going on, sun-cracked lagoons and
lakes, surrounded by good, if dry, feed have been lying un-
noticed and useless, waiting for the time to come when they
would be turned to account. |
Back from the main watercourses are countless natural
reservoirs, that lie for years dry, and drought-smitten, save in
an exceptional flood. They are never filled, and the fact of
supplying them with water is practicably feasible.
In many districts of the inland slope, the rivers have sandy
beds, incapable of retaining the water for more than a few
months ; whilst running parallel with them on either side, are
chains of lagoons that often run dry through the floods not being
excessive enough to overflow the banks. These lagoons are, as
400 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
a rule, well calculated to hold water, and could be brought under
the influence of ordinary floods, instead of being, as now,
dependent upon extraordinary ones; thus atoning for the
insufficient retaining power of the river bed.
The present great need of Australia is the conservation
of water, and the irrigation works which have been already
commenced on the banks of the Murray River, coupled with
the recent discoveries of an apparently unlimited artesian supply
on the arid plains of Western Queensland, testify alike to
the recognition of the want, and to the ease with which it
may be met. One inevitable rule of settlement is that popu-
lation follows water; present prospects therefore amply justify
the hope that at no very distant date the one-time “ central
desert ’’ of the first explorers will be the centre of attraction for
the fast-growing population of the coast line; and that in the
merging together of the peoples of the colonies, now separated
by merely imaginary boundary lines, will be found the one great
help to the fulfilment of the desire of every true Australian—
a Federated Australia—a grand result of the indomitable
courage, heroic self-sacrifice, and dogged perseverance of the
men of all nationalities, who have established a claim to the
proud title of “ Australian Explorer.’
Ae EN x.
THE PANDORA PASS.
THE following memorandum, written on parchment, was enclosed
in a bottle, and buried under a marked tree in the Pandora
Pass :—
‘* MEMORANDUM.
“‘ After a very laborious and harassing journey from Bathurst, since
April last, a party, consisting of five persons, under the direction of
Allan Cunningham, H.M. Botanist (making the sixth individual), having
failed of finding a route to Liverpool Plains, whilst tracing the south
base of the Barrier Mountains (before us north), so far as fifty miles to
the eastward of this spot, at length upon prosecuting their research under
this great mountain belt, in a westerly direction, reached this valley,
and discovered a practicable and easy passage through a low part of the
mountain belt, north by west from this tree, to the very extensive levels
connected with the above-mentioned plains, of which the southernmost
of the chain is distant about eleven or twelve miles (by estimation),
N.N.W. from this valley, and to which a line of trees has been carefully
marked, thus opening an unlimited, unbounded, seemingly well-watered
country, N.N.W., to call forth the exertions of the industrious agri-
culturist and grazier, for whose benefit the present labours of the party
have been extended. This valley, which extends to the S.W. and
W.S.W., has been named ‘ Hawkesbury Vale,’ and the highest point of
the range, bearing N.W. by W. from this tree, was called ‘Mount
Jenkinson,’ the one a former title, and the other the family name of the
noble earl whose present title the plains bear, and which, from the
southern country, this gap affords the only passage likely to be dis-
covered. The party in the earlier and middle stages of their expedition
encountered many privations and local difficulties of travelling to, and
in their return from the eastward ; in spite, however, of these little evils,
‘a hope at the bottom,’ or, at this almost close of their journey, an
encouragement induced them to persevere westerly a limited distance,
and thus it was this passage was discovered. It has therefore been
named ‘ Pandora’s Pass.’ Due east and west by compass from this tree,
in a direct line (by odometrical admeasurement) were planted the fresh
stones of peaches, brought from the colony in April last, with every good
hope that their produce will one day or other afford some refreshment
to the weary farmer, whilst on his route beyond the bourne of the
4.04 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION,
desirable country north of Pandora’s Pass. A like planting took place
on the plains, twelve miles distance north at the last marked trees, with
similar good wishes for their growth. A remarkably high mount above
the pass east, being a guide to the traveller advancing south from the
plains, has been named ‘ Direction Head.’ The situation of this tree is
as follows :—Latitude, observed on the 7th and 8th of June, 1832, 32
deg. 15 min. 19 sec. S; its longitude being presumed about 149 deg.
30 min.E. The party now proceed with the utmost despatch south for
Bathurst.
‘‘ ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.
“June oth, 1823.
‘‘ Buried for the information of the first farmer who may venture to
advance so far to the northwards as this vale, of whom it is requested
this document may not be destroyed, but carried to the settlement of
Bathurst, after opening the bottle.’ (See page 72.)
DEATH OF SURVEYOR-GENERAL OXLEY. 495
DEATH OF SURVEYOR-GENERAL OXLEY,
ABSTRACT FROM THE “ GOVERNMENT GAZETTE” OF May 27TH, 1828.
“Tt would be impossible for his Excellency, consistently with his
feelings, to announce the decease of the late Surveyor-General without
endeavouring to express the sense he entertains of Mr. Oxley’s services,
though he cannot do justice to them.
‘‘From the nature of this colony, the office of Surveyor-General is
amongst the most important under Government, and to perform its
duties in a manner Mr. Oxley has done fora long series of years is as
honourable to his zeal and abilities as it is painful for the Government
to be deprived of them.
“Mr. Oxley entered the public service at an early period of his life,
and has filled the important situation of Surveyor-General for the last
sixteen years.
“Fis exertions in the public service have been unwearied, as has
been proved by his several expeditions to explore the interior. The
public have reaped the benefit, while it is to be apprehended that the
event, which they cannot fail to lament, has been accelerated by the
privations and fatigue he endured during the performance of these
arduous services. Mr. Oxley eminently assisted in unfolding the
advantages of this highly-favoured colony from an early stage of its
existence, and his name will ever be associated with the dawn of its
advancement. It is always gratifying. to the Government to record its
approbation of the services of meritorious public officers, and in
assigning to Mr. Oxley’s name a distinguished place in that class to
which his devotion to the interests of the colony has so justly entitled
him, the Government would do honour to his memory in the same
degree as it feels the loss it has sustained in his death.” (See page 74.)
406 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
LIST OF THE MEN COMPRISING SIR THOMAS MITCHELL’S
PARTY ON HIS EXPEDITION TO THE VICTORIA (BARCOO),
1846.
Sir T. L. MITCHELL, Kt., Surveyor-General—Chief of the
Expedition.
Edmund B. Kennedy, Esq., Assistant Surveyor—Second in
Command.
W. Stephenson, M.R.C.S.L—Surgeon and collector of
objects of natural history.
Peter M‘Avoy, Charles Niblett, William Graham—Mounted
videttes.
Anthony Brown—Tent-keeper.
William Baldock—lIn charge of the horses.
John Waugh Drysdale—Store-keeeper.
Allan Bond, Edward ‘Taylor, William Bond, William
Mortimer, George Allcot, John Slater, Richard Horton, Felix
Maguire—Bullock-drivers.
James Stephens, Job Stanley—Carpenters.
Edward Wilson—Blacksmith.
George Fowkes—Shoemaker.
John Douglas—Barometer-carrier.
Isaac Reid—Sailor and chainman,
Andrew Higgs—Chainman.
William Hunter, Thomas Smith—With the horses.
Patrick ‘Travers—Carter and pioneer.
Douglas Arnott—Shepherd and butcher.
Arthur Bristol—Sailmaker and Sailor.
Eight drays, drawn by eighty bullocks, two boats, thirteen
horses, four private horses, and three light carts, comprised the
means of conveyance, and the party was provided with provisions
for a year; two hundred and fifty sheep (to travel with the party)
constituting the chief part of the animal food. The rest con-
sisted of gelatine, and a small quantity of pork. (See page 105.)
RICHARD CUNNINGHAM’S FATE. 407
RICHARD CUNNINGHAM’S FATE:
Report oF LIEUTENANT ZouCH, OF THE MounTED POLick, REGARDING
THE DEATH OF RICHARD CUNNINGHAM.
“Sir, ‘“‘ Bathurst, December 7th, 1835.
‘‘T have the honour to state that, in conforming with the instructions
contained in the Colonial Secretary’s letter of the 16th October, together
with your orders, directing me to proceed to the interior for the purpose
of ascertaining the fate of Mr. Cunningham, I proceeded with the party
on the 24th of October for Buree, which place I left on the 29th,
accompanied by Sandy (the native black mentioned in my instructions).
On the znd of November I fortunately met with two blacks who knew
the particulars of a white man having been murdered on the Bogan, also
the names and persons of the perpetrators of the deed. They likewise
offered to accompany the police to where the tribe to which the murderers
belonged were encamped. I accordingly took them as guides, and on
the evening of the 6th they informed me they could see the smoke from
the fires of the Myall blacks, on the borders of a lake called Budda.
“On arriving at the banks of the lake, we found a tribe encamped
consisting of upwards of forty men, women, and children, all of whom
we succeeded in making prisoners, without any resistance on their part.
Having questioned them as to the murder of a white man, they acknow-
ledge to one having been killed on the Bogan by four of their tribe,
three of whom they delivered up; the fourth, they stated, was absent on
the Big River. On searching the bags of the tribe, we found a knife, a
glove, and part of a cigar case, which the three blacks acknowledged
they had taken from the white man, and which Muirhead said he was
sure belonged to Mr. Cunningham.
‘““The three murderers, whose names are Wongadgery, Boreeboomalie,
and Bureemal, stated that they and another black, about six moons ago,
met a white man on the Bogan, who came up and made signs that he
was hungry ; that they gave him food, and that he encamped with them
that night. The white man repeatedly getting up during the night
excited suspicion, and they determined to destroy him the following
morning, which they did by Wongadgery going unperceived behind him
and striking him on the back of the head with a nulla-nulla. The other
three men then rushing upon him with their weapons, speedily effected
their purpose.
‘“‘T then determined to proceed to the spot where the murder was
committed, which I was informed by the blacks was distant three days’
journey, but, learning from them that there was a great scarcity of water,
408 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
I deemed it advisable to take only a small party, consisting of three
troopers and Muirhead, and one of the prisoners (Burreemal) as a guide
across to the Bogan, leaving the other two prisoners in charge, under the
command of Corporal Moore, to proceed to a station about thirty miles
distant from Wellington, there to await my return.
““On Tuesday, the roth, I arrived at a place called Currindine,
where the black shewed me some bones, which he said were those of a
white man they had killed, and pointed out a small portion of a coat,
and also of a Manilla hat. Being thus convinced of the truth of their
statement, and also of the spot where the melancholy event had
occurred, I collected all the remains I could discover, and having
deposited them in the ground, raised a small mound over them, and
barked some of the nearest trees, as the only means in my power of
marking the spot.
‘‘ Having thus accomplished the object of my expedition, I pro-
ceeded on my return, and on rejoining the party under Corporal Moore,
I learned the escape of the two prisoners, which took place on the night
of the 11th November, when trooper Lard was on sentry, against whom
I have forwarded a charge for neglect of duty. The fulfilment of my
instructions being thus partially defeated, I considered it my duty to
proceed in search of the runaways, and continued the pursuit, I regret
to say, without success, until I was obliged to return, our stock of pro-
visions being consumed. I arrived here with the party yesterday, and
shall forward the prisoner, ‘ Bureemal,’ to Sydney, together with the
articles I was enabled to collect, supposed to have belonged to the late
Mr. Cunningham.
‘1 have the honor to be, etc.,
“< W. Zoucw,
‘* Lieut. Mounted Police.
‘To CapTaIn WILLIAMS,
“ Commandant of Mounted Police.’’
(See page 106.)
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CAVE DRAWINGS. 409
CAVE DRAWINGS.
THE singular cave paintings found by Lieutenant George Grey
near the Glenelg River, in Western Australia, during the expedi-
tion of 1838.
“The cave was twenty feet deep, and at the entrance seven feet
high, and about forty feet wide. As before stated, the floor gradually
approached the roof in the direction of the bottom of the cavern, and
its width also contracted, so that at the extremity it was not broader than
the slab of rock, which formed a natural seat. The principal painting
in it was the figure of a man ten feet six inches in length, clothed from
the chin downwards in a red garment, which reached to the wrists and
ankles; beyond this red dress the feet and hands protruded and were
badly executed.
“The face and head of the figure were enveloped in a succession of
circular bandages or rollers, or what appeared to be painted to represent
such. These were coloured red, yellow, and white, and the eyes were
the only features represented on the face. Upon the highest bandage or
roller, a series of lines were painted in red, but although so regularly
done as to indicate they have some meaning, it was impossible to tell
whether they were intended to depict written characters, or some
ornament for the head. This figure was so drawn on the roof that its
feet were just in front of the natural seat, whilst its head and face looked
directly down on any one who stood in the entrance of the cave, but
it was totally invisible from the outside. —
“It would be impossible to convey in words an adequate idea of this
uncouth and savage figure; I shall, therefore, only give such a succint
account of this and the other paintings as will serve as a sort of
description. Its head was encircled by bright red rays, something like
the rays which one sees proceeding from the sun, when depicted, on the
signboard of a public house ; inside of this came a broad stripe of very
brilliant red, which was coped by lines of white, but both inside and
outside of this red space were narrow stripes of a still deeper red,
intended probably to mark its boundaries. The face was painted vividly
white and the eyes black; being, however, surrounded by red and
yellow lines, the body, hands and arms were outlined in red, the body
being curiously painted with red stripes and bars.
Upon the rock which formed the left hand wall of this cave, and
which partly faced you on entering, was a very singular painting, vividly
coloured, representing four heads joined together. From the mild expres-
410 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
sion of the countenances, I imagined them to represent females, and they
appeared to be drawn in sucha manner, and in sucha position, as to look
up at the principal figure which I have before described; each had a very
remarkable head dress coloured with a deep bright-blue, and one had a
necklace on. Both of the lower figures had a sort of dress, painted
with red in the same manner as that of the principal figure, and one of
them had a band round her waist. Each of the four faces was marked
by a totally distinct expression of countenance, and although none of
them had mouths, two, I thought, were otherwise rather good looking.
“The whole painting was executed on a white ground. The next
most remarkable drawing in the cave was an ellipse, three feet in length,
and one foot ten inches in breadth. The outside line of this painting
was of a deep-blue colour, the body of the ellipse being of a bright
yellow, dotted over with red lines and spots, whilst across it ran two
transverse lines of blue. The portion of the painting above described
formed the ground, or main part of the picture, and upon this ground
was painted a kangaroo in the act of feeding, two stone spear-heads, and
two black balls. One of the spear-heads was flying to the kangaroo,
and one away from it, so that the whole subject probably constituted a
sort of charm, by which the luck of an enquirer in killing game could
be ascertained.
‘‘ There was another rather humorous sketch, which represented a
native in the act of carrying a kangaroo, the height of the man being
three feet. The number of drawings in the cave could not altogether
have been less than from fifty to sixty, but the majority of them consisted
of men, kangaroos, etc., the figures being carelessly and badly executed,
and being evidently a very different origin to those which I have first
described.
‘‘ Another very striking piece of art was exhibited in the little gloomy
cavities, situated at the back of the main cavern. In these instances
some rock at the sides of the cavity had been selected, and the stamp of
a hand and arm by some means transferred to it. This outline of the
hand and arm was then painted black, and the rock about it white, so
that on entering that part of the cave it appeared as if a human hand
and arm were projecting through a crevice, admitting light.”’
(See page 118.)
WARRUP’S ACCOUNT. ALL
SMITH, A LAD OF EIGHTEEN, FOUND DEAD,
MAY 8TH, 18309.
THE following is Warrup’s account of the finding of Smith’s
body, the young volunteer of Grey’s party who died. Warrup
was a Western Australian native who accompanied the search
party under Mr. Roe :—
“th Day. Thenext day away, away, away, away, returning, on
our tracks returning, on our tracks returning. At Barramba we sit
down; we eat bread and meat; they eat fresh-water mussels; the
natives eat not fresh-water mussels.
“ Away, away, away, away; we reach the water of Djunjup; we
shoot game. Away, away, away, through a forest away, through a forest
away; we see no water. Through a forest away, along our tracks away.
We sleep at Ka-jil-up; rain falls; the water here is good, the horses
feed, well do the horses feed.
“ Away, away; along our tracks away; hills ascending; then
pleasantly away, away, through a forest away, through a forest away ;
we see a water—the water of Goonmarrup. Along the river away, along
the river away, a short distance we go, then away, away, away, through a
forest away.
“Then along another river away, across the river away. At
Meergamuny we sleep, raising huts.
“Still we go onwards along the sea away, through the bush away,
then along the sea away, along the sea away. We see three white men,
three of them we see; they cry out, ‘Where is water?’ water we give
them—brandy and water we give them. We sleep near the sea.
‘« Away, away we go (I, Mr. Roe, and Kinchela), along the shore
away, along the shore away, along the shore away. We see a paper—
the paper of Mortimer and Spofforth. I see Mr. Smith’s footsteps
ascending a sand-hill; onwards I go, regarding his footsteps. I see
Mr. Smith dead. We commence digging the earth. Two sleeps had he
been dead ; greatly did I weep, and much I grieved. In his blanket
folding him, we scraped away the earth.
‘We scrape earth into the grave, we scrape the earth into the grave,
a little wood we place in it. Much earth we heap upon it—much earth
we throw up. No dogs can dig there, so much earth we throw up. The
sun had inclined to the westward as we laid him in the ground.”
(See page 121.)
412 AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.
EyRE’S LETTERS.
“‘ Adelaide, 4th January, 1844.
“Havine observed that during the past year the subject of an over-
land journey from Moreton Bay to Port Essington has again been mooted
by the Legislative Council of New South Wales, I do myself the honour
of applying to you for information as to whether the Executive Govern-
ment have any such expedition in contemplation during the present
year.
‘“‘In the event of such being the case, I beg leave respectfully to
offer my services to conduct the explorations, and should his Excellency
the Governor do me the honour to confide in me so honourable and
important an employment, his Excellency may confidently rely that no
effort or exertions should be wanting on my part to ensure all practicable
success. In a former communication on the subject, I had the honour
of giving a rough estimate of the probable expense of the undertaking,
if carried out in accordance to a plan of operations and a scale of party
then proposed. The altered circumstances of the colonies would now
probably enable an equipment to be prepared at much lower prices than
were then estimated for, and I may remark that, although in my former
letter to his Excellency, Sir G. Gipps, I specified, in accordance with his
Excellency’s request, the nature of the party I thought it advisable to
have, and the general line of route I deemed most likely to be prac-
ticable, I shall be most happy to endeavour to carry out any views his
Excellency may entertain upon the subject, with any party or any
direction his Excellency may think desirable. The only point to which
I would call the attention of his Excellency the Governor, in the event
of an expedition being now in contemplation, is the great necessity there
would be for the party to take the field early in the season, so as to have
the whole winter before them for active operations; and, even then, I
feel very doubtful whether it would be possible for a party to accomplish
the whole distance to Port Essington in less than two winters, being, as I
am, strongly of opinion that it will be found quite impracticable to travel
in a tropical climate during the summer months.
“‘T have the honor to be,
‘Yours obediently,
ge Orreg Pp os 22527)
“« Adelaide, 23rd December, 1841.
“« S1ir,—Having understood from Captain Sturt that your Excellency
is desirous of sending an expedition into the interior from the north-east
coast towards Port Essington, I do myself the honour of addressing
EYRE’S LETTERS. 413
your Excellency upon the subject, as I feel a very great interest in the
investigation of the interior of this singular continent, and shall be most
ready to give my services to conduct an expedition should your
Excellency decide upon fitting one out, and confide to me that respon-
sible and honourable duty. In September last I met with a printed
copy of a letter addressed by your Excellency to Lord John Russell, in
which some allusion was made to your wish to send an expedition to
explore the interior, and I at once wrote to the Colonial Secretary of
Sydney to volunteer my services, but, from various causes, I am induced
to believe that my communication must have miscarried, and I now
therefore beg leave to renew that offer.
“As I am not in possession of your Excellency’s views as to the
nature of the expedition it might be in contemplation to send out, or the
direction it might be considered desirable to take, I cannot do more at
present than express my willingness to engage in the undertaking
generally, and should your Excellency do me the honour of entertaining
the offer I have made, I shall be most happy, when put in possession of
your Excellency’s wishes on the subject, to enter more fully into the
necessary detail.
“ Being now engaged in the public service at some distance
inland, I should be most anxious to have as early notice as possible of
your Excellency’s reply to my proposal, so that, by giving timely notice
to the colonial Government here, no obstruction of the public service
might take place. It would also be necessary for me to be in Sydney
as early as may be practicable to prepare the equipment of the
expedition in time to take the field at the close of the summer.
‘ a a
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